Weekly Gratitude

Yay, it's Monday again, and this week I'm saying thank you for:

- books (in general)
- languages (English in particular, I absolutely adore it)
- being able to work from home (again)
- the lovely sunny day today, despite the cold
- small mercies, like morning school walks with my girl!

Blossoms & Tweed & Cheep-Cheep

The last one from the old-outfit lot. Oooold! Still at our flat, which was over a month ago (and let's be honest, for an outfit to be blogged about, that's old). I liked it, though, and wanted to share it.

I'm wearing:

- shoes - Slovenian brand, bought at the local shoe shop about fifteen years ago; the shoe shop no longer exists...
- (double) tights - local store
- dress - Benetton
- rollneck - Dorothy Perkins
- jacket - InWear
- scarf - Benetton
- bird brooch - hand-made by my friend Marysia

A very happy Thanksgiving to all American bloggers!

Weekly Gratitude

This week, my dear blogging friends, I'm grateful for:

Picture: source

- you!
- my upcoming meeting with best friend
- celebrating my friend's 40th birthday last Friday (we watched 'Johnny English 2'!)
- my friends' phone calls
- friendly strangers

Nothing But Favourites

Another favourite! From a few weeks ago, sorry, but what with all my working projects it took me a while to get round to posting it. Apart from the photo below, featured in one of my gratitude posts...

I absolutely adore this outfit. The textures, the colours, the accessories, the lot. I love the thick black tights and the chic flats. I love my old jeans skirt and black roll-neck (can't be seen, actually). I love my tweedy jacket and Harris Tweed bag. And, last but not least, I loooove my Mum's Laura Ashley scarf, my pink beret and my birdie brooch!

I'm wearing:

- flats - local boutique
- tights - local supermarket
- skirt - ek jeans
- roll-neck - Dorothy Perkins
- jacket - InWear
- scarf - Laura Ashley (borrowed from my Mum)
- beret - Seeberger
- bag - BlackHouse bags
- brooch - hand-made by Marysia

Oh, and I love the sun!

Weekly Gratitude

On this sunny yet incredibly cold November Monday I'm extremely grateful for:

- the prettiest bird in the world, Bibury, which 'flew in' from Britain last week; thank you so much, Gretel!
- my new favourite brooch, from Britain, of course; thank you so much, Vanessa!
- parties, parties and more parties last weekend; thank you, friends!
- my lovely neighbours, always ready to help; thank you, Marysia!
- any housework I manage to do these days; thank you, Time!

Alison's Gift

I'm about two months behind the whole thing but since I did say thank you at the time I guess it's not too late to present this lovely surprise from my dear blogging friend Alison.

This lovely surprise package couldn't have reached me at a more appropriate time - my husband had just broken his both arms and I was caught in the middle of an extensive and demanding translating project.

So what can be better than a packet of precious Harris Tweedy goodies all the way from Scotland? Not much, if you ask me! Add a little dress-up doll and some Liberty fabric on top and you've got me!

Just look at all these lovely colours and patterns - and the crafting possibilities, endless!

As I'd already purchased two similar dolls from Alison she kindly decided to send me another one so that I can dress her myself. Being the kindest person there is, she provided the clothing material as well. So, ta-dah...

Quite fancy, don't you think?

I've already managed to make some other little projects with the Harris Tweed scraps, but that's for another post. Until then! And thank you so much once again, Alison!

An Outfit (Well, Two, Actually)

At long last an outfit (two outfits!) post again. You can tell it's from ages ago because
a) it's taken at our flat, and we moved three and a half weeks ago, and
b) I'm not wearing as much as I am these days - it's getting so cooold!

This is an awful lot of pictures, but I like picking out details these days, so bear with me, please.

I love grey even though it seems boring and sad at first. With a few shots of pink and green, I think it's a happy colour! Well, almost anything pink and green is happy in my book...

I found these grey flats at our local shoe shop which I don't wander into very often, but every now and then there's a delightful pair of footwear waiting just for me! Or so I like to believe :)

I'm wearing:

- flats - local boutique
- tights - NKD
- skirt - Boden
- grey top - H&M
- pink top - Mexx
skinny leather belt - H&M
- jacket - InWear
- scarf - local boutique
- corsage - H&M
- leather bag - Zara

Another picture of my blog title - Angels & Blossoms...

And here's outfit number two!

She knows what to do in front of the camera,
she's seen Mummy too many times, oh dear...

Oh, how I love this girl! And her big brother, of course!

My girl is wearing:

- boots - H&M
- tights - local supermarket
- dress - Benetton (birthday present!)
- cardigan - H&M

Happy weekend, dear friends!

Weekly Gratitude

This week, my friends, I'm grateful for small mercies:

- our first weeks in the house together as a family (today my husband started work again after three months away - summer holiday plus sick-leave - or better put: broken-arms-leave)
- my health (no small mercy, actually)
- our family trip to the capital last Saturday
- lovely weather last weekend, even though only so slightly unusual for the beginning of November
- colourful leaves
- my walk & jog today

Fancy A Giveaway?

Not here at my blog, unfortunately (hopefully soon, though!), but there are two absolutely wonderful giveaways hosted out in the blogosphere, by two lovely ladies and my dear blogging friends, Alison and Jenny.

I realise I'm slightly behind time, as the giveaways were announced a few days ago, but they're still open, so do take your chance - even though mine are decreasing by this announcement...

I really, really love the goodies to be won, and a selfless person that I am, I'm spreading the word! So, do check Alison's and Jenny's blog and leave a comment! And keep your fingers crossed!!!

Current Reading & Favourite Books

Hi, everyone, it's been a long time! Another translating job done, hopefully I'll have some time for myself now... :) As I've mentioned in my last Gratitude Post I do follow your blogs regularly, I just don't invest much time into comments when I have deadlines to meet.

I've just checked Franca's blog and her topic really appealed to me - reading! I've told you before that I can't imagine life without books and I'm always ready to share my current bedside (and any other side, for that matter) read. As a voracious reader, I have a list of favourite books as well, naturally. So, here goes:

- at the moment I'm reading 'The Miracle of Grace' by the contemporary Irish author Kate Kerrigan. It's a brilliant book about mother-daughter relationship, highly recommended for all mums and daughters out there!

- before 'Grace' I again spent a considerable amount of time re-reading Agatha Christie's books. What can I say? I'm a fan.

- another great book which I read about a year ago (at the time when my husband lost his Dad) was a breath-taking novel by Brian J. Gail, 'Fatherless', about a Catholic priest and his parishioners dealing with Life.

- I totally adore novels by Louise Harwood, my two favourites being 'Calling On Lily' and 'Six Reasons to Stay a Virgin' - I know, chic lit, but really irresistible.

- one of my all-time favourite authors must be Ian McEwan - every time he publishes a book I literally devour it, and am always hungry for more...

- another member of the above-mentioned category is definitely the British author David Lodge, his books practically read themselves once you open them...

- I really enjoyed 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows that I read a while ago - do have a look!

- books that I've re-read countless times include 'Pride & Prejudice' by Jane Austen (I bet you've never heard of her!), my Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary (yes, I'm afraid I'm the sort of person who enjoys reading dictionaries...), and DK's Eyewitness Travel 'Back Roads Great Britain' - yes, I read travel guides for pleasure as well. I'm that weird.

- plus there's a book I'm really looking forward to reading as soon as I finish 'Grace', it's a study on modern Britain by Danny Dorling called 'So You Think You Know About Britain?' - I was told it was tremendously enjoyable. Can't wait!

What are your favourite books and what are you reading at the moment? Do share, please!