Friday 19 February 2010

Window shopping on a wintery day!…

At the beginning of the half term break we set aside today  for a family day out…waiting to see what the weather would do before making plans as to where we would go. Alas, we woke this morning to a hard frost, soon washed away by heavy rain as we breakfasted & by the time we were ready to leave we were in a blizzard! Not to be outdone, we set off to Milton Keynes, at least we could spend a day under cover!!   18Feb2010 001

Our first call was Ikea…normally a place to spend money on things you didn’t even know you needed…not today…I bought only the planned two packs of serviettes!!




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I was allowed to nip into  Hobbycraft while Lee & the boys spent time playing with the display gadgetry in PC World! But again came out with only 1 box of glue dots!! I think I may be spending waaay too much time with my good friend Karen!!LOL!!


After that we headed off to
X-Scape for lunch at Nando’s…18Feb2010 043

We have never yet been there yet, where we’ve been able to just walk in & be seated, so we filled the waiting time by watching the skiers in the ‘Sno!Zone’.

Today I chose a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, generously drizzled with Extra Hot Peri Peri sauce!! Needless to say I also downed copious amounts of water!!

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I tried to get a decent shot of all the illuminated white paper lanterns that hang from the timber beamed ceiling,but to no avail!! So you’ll have to make do with this frieze…which tells the story of the Portuguese cockerel & how he came to be a good luck symbol in Portugal! 


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Once lunch was out of the way we had a mooch around the skate/snowboarding shops where Nathan is in seventh heaven!! We soon had a list of ‘must haves’ for his forthcoming birthday…to add to the list given while playing with the gadgets in PC World!!! He wishes!!!

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Then we braved the now torrential rain to get to the main shopping mall…& while my boys (All 3 !!) went off to the Lego shop & ‘GAME’…I perused the new spring collection in my favourite shop of all time…Hobbs. Gorgeous stuff indeed, but again…not a penny spent!!

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Now, Alex hates shopping…as you can probably tell by his body language…not to mention the look on his face!! So I had to work overtime on keeping him distracted to give us all a chance to see what we wanted to see!!


Nathan, on the other hand is his18Feb2010 062
mothers son & can easily match my enthusiasm for bargain hunting! I snapped him on this bronze book sculpture today…it’s been outside Waterstone’s book shop for as long as I can remember & the boys both love to try & move the heavy ball on its chain, but I’ve never taken a photo before!!


I’ve put together a collage of photo’s from today’s outing for this weeks ‘52 Walks 2010’ submission…the current added challenge is ‘Entrances & Exits’ but there were none that inspired me today!!
MK5210Anyone who knows Milton Keynes will appreciate how quiet the mall looks…considering that it’s half term I’d expected it to be heaving, but it was actually quite pleasant not to be pushed and shoved as we went about…I gave ‘Hotel Chocolat’ a VERY wide berth!!!

To finish up today….a couple of LO’s!! It’s the deadline for the Dixie Pieces ‘Beat the Blues’ crop challenges tonight…& here are my final two submissions…the first was a colour challenge..just light blue, dark blue & lime green…with a spring photo & theme…
 springwalkrsize
I used a photo of Lee & the boys taken last year at Priory Park, feeding the ducks, swans, geese, seagulls……I do love it when I can use up bits of ‘vintage’ stash & scraps!!

The second challenge was a sketch & blue had to be used, so this is what I came up with…
29resize

This photo seems like a lifetime ago!!! My 29th birthday!!! Do you know…I still have those button fly, red label Levi 501’s…packed away in the loft! Size 14 & waiting patiently to be worn again!! It always amazes me that I used to think I was so fat then…Oh to be that fat again…soon…please!!!

If you’ve made it to here…thanks for trawling through & hanging in there!! I know I tend to ramble, but it may be a few days before I post again…I’ve been busy with scrapping so feel I really must knuckle down to some serious housework over the next few days…and it’s FREE insertion day on ebay tomorrow, so I must get some stuff (that I’ve been meaning to list since before Christmas) listed & sold!! Well if I’m not spending it I might as well be making it!!

Thanks again for dropping by & I wish you all a fabulous weekend…whatever you have planned! {{{Hugs}}}

10 comments:

Baroness Bijoutery said...

Sounds like a great days outing...I'm not big on Malls, avoid whenever possible...But I do love to window shop downtown...I have to be in a mood to actually shop and spend money and that doesn't happen that often...Glad you had a good day...Your two pieces are beautiful..great work..

Sian said...

Yes, I'm feeling a bout of housework coming on. I really need to step away from the computer! Beautiful blues on your layouts Sandi :)

karen said...

That's my girl.Keep that purse firmly in your pocket.Gold star for you.

Jocelyn said...

Love these pics...looks like a fun day....so wish I lived close, you could take me to those YUMMY shops and restaurants!!

What great LO's...love them both!!

Wishing you a Fabulous weekend!!! :-)

Lisa said...

Hey Sweet Lady! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and giving me an update. I've sooooo missed you! Looks like you are putting your new toy to VERY good use...your pics are amazing!!! I know you must be getting excited about your trip to Chicago. Wish I lived closer as I would love to meet you while you are in the States. *sigh* Maybe one day! Hugs and more hugs!!! L

sarah said...

thanks so much for your SWEET SWEET SWEET comment that you left on my blog. i totally appreciate you coming over and reading my blog! :)

feel free to stop by anytime. i'll def be back at yours!

hugs,
sarah.

humel said...

Love your layouts, love your photo story (great angled pics!) - and love the Hereford connection!! I grew up in Ross-on-Wye :-)

'Come on you Bulls...'

debs14 said...

You didn't go into Hotel Chocolat?!!!! Such willpower! Sounds like you had a good day out though. I've never been to Milton Keynes, looks like is is a great place to shop though.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree I need to get on with some housework too but there are all ways so much more exciting things to get up too have a fab weekend:)

Denise said...

Hi Sandi, faound you via Debs14 and Karen's blogs. Looks like you had a really good day and I love the angled photos :-)