Holidays = Updating

Yes World, I have managed to scrape together a whole week of time off from work.
Well, when I say 'work' I'm referring to the kind that I get paid for, as opposed to what I'm spending my days doing on my [supposed to be] R&R.
This obviously means that I am actually trying to catch up with a few of the many and varied tasks that need doing in my house.

As I write this, I am still vaguely green around the fingertips and am wafting the aroma of eau d'espirit blanc as i wander around clutching a cup of [particularly pleasant] rose tea.

The green is from the not-yet-finished repainting of my front door, from a dark green to a vibrant lime green. I had in mind a quick couple of layers of gloss and hey presto! a zingy new look.
Simple yes? Sadly No.
I'm on day 3, 2 coats of undercoat, followed by 2 of gloss, sanding down between coats, a stubborn door number [still in place because the screw head broke] and its going to need at least 1 more coat.

So I'm taking this morning off to let it dry completely again, hence the update, interspersed with a quick
 [who am I kidding] shufti around Pinterest.
That'll keep me entertained for a couple of hours at least while I decide if I will go to to the Body Adorned exhibition at the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill tomorrow.

Time to put the kettle on again and ponder...

Just a few reasons why I love the Design Museum

The Idea of a Tree,
Designed by mischer'traxler

Extrusions, designed by Thomas Heatherwick Studio

Soma, by Ayama Serfati

I went around the Design Museum on Wednesday,  my first visit in quite a few months, and, as always, i was left awed and inspired by the exhibits.
I went because I realised that it was the last week for the Urban Africa exhibition by David Adjaye

It consists of a series of photographs plus graphical information about african countries and was thought provoking.

But as always, it was the pieces on show in the annual Brit Insurance Designs of the Year that had me wowed.
From the amazing folding plug and sugru moulding putty to the astounding BMW concept car.
Go and see this while its there.
You wont be disappointed.

1:1 - Architects Build Small Spaces

While i was in London on my weekly jaunt to my favourite city I wandered in to the V&A
I recently added membership of this august and inspiring museum to the ever increasing stack of cards that fills my purse because i realised that it was fast overtaking the Design Museum as the most likely place to find me, and the membership has paid for its-self already due to its magic free entry properties at the exhibitions they host.
In particular the Grace Kelly exhibition [ still on as we speak and well worth a visit ] had me feeling like a mini celeb as people in front of me were turned away because they hadn't pre booked [ it was -really- busy ] and i was waved through at a flash of my shiny new membership card.

I didn't need the card yesterday however, because i was looking at the 1:1 - Architects Build Small Spaces exhibition, which is free!
There were some amazing concepts, and i loved the information given on the shortlisted projects that didn't get to be built as well as those that did.

My personal favourite has to be this.

Its inscribed inside with words from an old Norse poem, it sits on a base of wood chippings encased in mesh that look like cooled lava flows until you look closer.
Its by Helen And Hard Architects  and there's a video here which explains the concept.

There were lots of other amazing builds too, including a spiral staircase with performance booths of red velvet that could be opened or shut for different uses which I'm sad to have missed  in action, but  this installation touched me on a deeper, less conscious level than the others.

Its the kind of space i would love to have in my garden, for sitting inside and thinking, or just to enjoy the sense of peace it gave me.

Knit a Squid

I was looking around for things to do on my day off next week and came across stitch a squid at the Natural History Museum
Not that its any use for next week, because its tomorrow, but I think I'll grab the chance to go along while I'm on holiday and can actually get there early enough to get to.

Its part of the Relax, Unwind and Enjoy after hours programme at the Museum.
Sadly the last of the year I think.

I signed up for the Stitch London while I was at it.
I normally have some knitting stashed away in my bag, and have often wondered about joining a stitch and bitch group, but most meet on the same evening every week and start way too early for me to get to under normal circumstances.
This one changes its venue and day each time though, so hopefully I can get to go on the random evenings when I'm wandering around London.

Edited Friday 27th august

Knit a Squid was fun!
There were loads of people there.
Possibly because of its being advertised on the museum website as well as being a normal Stitch London meet.
It was really friendly though :D
I didnt knit a squid myself, although lessons and patterns were available.
I carried on making the scarf that has been my project since February when my aunt sent me part of her stash.
She had found some beautiful silk wool in a shop, but there was only about 100grammes of it, and she couldn't decide what to make, so when she saw the hat I'd knitted for my daughter she thought it would be perfect.
When i got it, I decided it was far too gorgeous a yarn to use for a hat, so i found a suitable lace pattern and started the scarf.
Being a somewhat intermittent knitter, its still not finished, though I'm hoping that by Xmas it will be winging its way back as a thank you.
Pictures of finished item will no doubt surface in a later blog, so give a cheer if you see them and know i will have sighed with relief and satisfaction as i cast off the last stitch.

busy busy...

i didn't used to beleive my grandparents when they said that life speeds up as you get older until after I had children of my own.
Then time began to change.
Life began to kick in to overdrive.
Or perhaps it's just my perception of time thats clicked over a notch or two.
Either way I blink and a week or a month has gone, whoosh, leaving me with a blurred mushed together series of after images.

Lately I've been trying to change things down a gear, with mixed success.
My meds [ for my lovely lovely thyroid problem ] weren't working properly, leaving me with numerous symptoms that were all pretty innocuous individually, but when added together left me like some aching, lethargic blob.
Luckily my blood test confirmed that it was my thyroxine level that needed boosting, so I'm now popping an extra tab and beginning to feel more normal.
Well, if normal can be used to describe me :D

So....what have I got up to now the aches are a fading memory?
Well, I managed to fit in going to see the Out of the Ordinary exhibition at the V&A.

There were some amazing exhibits , but I think my favourite was the lung made from blown glass, and lit so that it almost fluouresced.
Gorgeous.

We had our works Christmas Do in feb too, and got taken to see the Cirque du Soleil at the Albert Hall.

I wasn't sure what to expect , but it was an amazing spectacle and I had a great evening.

Then came the downside.
I had a couple of nights of uncomfortable wear in my lenses, and like a twit, didn't get anyone to check that everything was ok until it got REALLY uncomfortable.
By which time i had got a corneal ulcer.

If you look carefully you can see a tiny white spot at about 10'o'clock on my cornea....actually, given how the photo has loaded its about at 7 o clock in this blog....hard to see given the blood-shot runny nature of my eye, but it's there.
Believe me, the little bugger is making its presence felt in a major way.
Painful doesn't even half go there.
Arrrggghhhhhhhhhhh, more like.

So to cheer myself up I've just booked to go and see Jose Gonzalez in April.
*bounces a bit*

Oh, and now it's time for my hourly dose of chloramphenicol.
And something that makes it taste better.
Not that i drink the stuff you understand....its just that it runs down the back of my throat when i put it in my eyes and then i can taste it for ages.
yuk.

I hope it heals soon.
x

Tempus Fugit far too quickly

I've been a bit remiss in my blogging on here .
I have phases when I use one of my blogs over the others [ yeah, its sad , I have more than one ]
I'm trying to thin it down.
The trouble is I'm not sure if i use them to offload on or if they are for keeping in touch withpeople or letting them know wht I've been doing.
Maybe once I've decided that I'll be able to come up with some rationalisation.

However...

I'm going to play catch up a bit here.
Now as this involves digging deep into the aging memory banks and giving them the obligatory thump to get them moving I can't guarentee that the order will have any relation to the actual timespan.

So, what have I been up to?

Oh, as its still relatively fresh in my head, i took Emma to the Sit-Up tv studios yesterday to see what goes on.



This is the kind of stuff they film there.

One of our friends is a camera operator on the channel, and as she knows that its what Emma wants to do she asked if we wanted to go see.

It WAS interesting :D

What else?

Erm, I leaned to be a spy with Jo at the Science of spying exhibition at the science museum.


They had loads of fun stuff there.





This is getting too long to be manageable now, so I'll leave the work/awards/patchworking and anything else for next time.

Showgirls

I guess it's not completely unexpected to see a programme celebrating Kylie's return to the stage with her showgirld tour, but it's appropriate for me to find it while I'm flicking through the TV channels on the evening after I've taken emma up to the V&A to see it.

Normally i would have passed on by , but it's interesting to see the costumes as they were intended, with the right lighting etc.

We had a good day out.
Sushi, Kylie and Harrods.
Although it was slightly marred by being locked in to the V&A durign a security alert.
We guessed that something had been taken , as it included bag searches before anyone was allowed to leave and a complete shut down of all exits.

I didn't get over to Fopps to see the John Butler Trio who were doing a preview gig , but i was just too tired.

It seems like recently I'm having more and more trouble trying not to fall asleep at some incredibly early hour.

And now I'm waiting for Dave to get home from football and trying hard to stay awake.
I don't think I'm winning :D

V&A

I went to see the Kylie exhibition yesterday at the V&A.
The showgirls section is amazing, and I would have loved to take some photos, but unfortunately it was NOT allowed.
So all I have is my memory of the most elaborate confections full of glitz and sparkle , and a photo of the wall outside the exhibition where visitors posted messages for her.
I guess they ran out of hearts at some point, but the plain old yellow post-its somehow make the whole thing.

A week off work.

I actually got around to taking some time off.

About time too.

Not that I've been dossing about doing nothing.

I went to the design museum to see the Vision Aid Overseas chandeliers



and the Alan Fletcher work, and fell in love with this little sweetie