woyww 311 - long but you don't have to read it all

Got all muddled and thought it was the great ATC swap today.  Doh!  Still time to do some more.

Well, what a busy time I have had of it, travelling around.  First Spain, then home for three days and off to my friend's house for a few days and a trip to another friend straight afterwards.  Then home for two days and off again to Nottingham to see my lovely friend Liz who is going through chemo at the moment for breast cancer.

What a wonderful lady she is.  It was so good to see her and reassure myself that she is still, kind of ok, and the little tinker had gone and made us some biscuits (I had made some buns to take down with me).  Well, Liz has discovered zentangling and what wonderful work she has been doing.  You can check it out on her blog here because she has now posted some pictures of some of her work.  We had a wonderful time with me trying on her hats, she has some amazing creations and they are so comfortable to wear.  Anyhow it is the 'tangling' I was going to mention, I am digressing.

Liz is convinced I can do it (me not so) and as she pointed out, it will be good with the journalling that I have been doing of late.  Imagine me doing my own borders.

Well, she set me off on a hunt for a couple of books she recommended.  One was available in supermarkets - err, supermarkets?

After visiting quite a few and then ringing other branches of Sainsbury's/Tesco/Asda/Morrisons I gave up.  Chas finally found one of them on a bookazine for me and I duly paid up and was ready to receive it tomorrow when I got an email telling me they had refunded the money as they did not have any copies.  To cut a long story short I am now paying over the odds for it via ebay.  Guess what? Chas was in our local tiny Morrisons today and he rang me to tell me they had it on the shelf!!!  The one place I had not checked ... ah well, woe is me.  I don't need two and the order is on its way.  Roll on Thursday.

Anyway, here is my desk, complete with a journal page that needs some doodling on:

Observant followers of WOYWW will notice that I have a little room to the left of where I normally sit - I have cleared a bit of space by moving some drawers along.  Much better for me to work.  But look what I got today

More Dylusion stamps.  Have waited ages for these and am now raring to go in my journal with some more images.  There are some new stencils underneath too.  Doing a (Helen) Happy Dance.

I am so tidy because as outlined at the beginning I have been away rather a lot and today my niece came with her adorable baby boy.  She is a beautiful girl, both inside and out, and as a result she has a very happy little boy who has the most beautiful blue eyes and is so so good.  I would love to post a picture of them but am always wary of posting kiddie pictures on the internet and would not do so without her permission.  You just have to take it from me, they are both beautiful.

Can't leave this post without telling you about last week when I went to see Liz.  We stayed at the Eco Hotel (De Vere) in the grounds of Nottingham University.  Fabulous - will go again.  Everything is "green" and the rooms are quite minimal but to a high standard.  Comfortable in every way - and I am hard to please about beds!

The restaurant was good, we had a lovely three course meal in the evening and a super breakfast next morning.  Staff are very nice and extremely polite and helpful.  All in all I can recommend it for a good night's stay.

Shower

Bathroom with lovely toiletries

Bed

Desk & TV

View from our window (floor to ceiling window)
Just to show how modern it is in design

Iron, ironing board, hospitality tray, safe, hairdryer (all tucked away in the wardrobe with a full length mirror and lots of coathangers).

Just wish I had taken some photos of the reception/bar/restaurant areas - everything sparkling clean and modern.

hotel entrance looking from side

(see the apple)

Hope I have convinced some of you to give it a try, it is very moderately priced.  The next day we went to Newstead Abbey, but that will have to wait for another post.  Must get over to the stamping-ground to see some pictures and hear the news about the crop last weekend.  Hopefully next year ...