Weekend :: Inside

My weekend seemed to be one of contrasts. The contrast between warm, cosy inside stuff and cold, snowy outside stuff. Between the bold, bright colours of my home and the muted, whites and greys of the winter landscape. Between quiet time spent walking and picnicking together, and the noisy, brash time spent shopping together.
The contrast delighted me. When I uploaded the photos from the camera this morning, I loved the combination of Inside and Outside, of almost black and white, snow-filled country landscapes and these bright and breezy, colour-filled domestic landscapes.

So today....some colourful pictures from my weekend :: inside.

Above photo, taken Friday night by Little Man.
A picture of me as you will often find me in the evenings :: snuggled in my favourite brush cotton winter jammies, toes cosy, fluffy hot water bottle filled, pondering where to snuggle myself for the evenings crochet session. Bed or sofa? Fireside or duvet comfort? Ripple or granny blanket? Ahh, lifes little dilemmas!

Saturday morning :: sitting like a cat in a little patch of warm sunlight streaming in through the window. It was the most delicious sensation feeling the sun's warmth on my face.

This weeks fresh flowers are humble daffodils :: I love that they are so cheap to buy right now, so that for £2 I can fill jugs and jam jars and old bottles and distribute this yellow cheerfulness all over the house. Waking up to daffodils beside the bed is just wonderful. Ditto having them in the bathroom to gaze upon as I brush my teeth.

A tidied room :: Little lady spilled orange juice all over the sofa during the week. Luckily it has removable, washable cotton covers. So with the sofa all clean I plumped the cushions, cleared the table, straightened the blankets and the room looked unusually spik and span. Needless to say it does not look like that this morning.

Fireside :: we continue to love our open fire. We light it most evenings, and for much of the weekend and it gives such a huge amount of pleasure. Warm, cosy, inviting, relaxing.

Tete a tete :: at their peak now. I have loved watching these grow and bloom. Today I've bought a few more little pots home from the supermarket, ready to replace these ones as they fade.

Cheery :: They light up the room, make my heart sing.

Retail Therapy :: I am passing through that phase again right now, I go through shopping phases every so often until I am cautioned by The Management and kindly asked to stop spending money needlessly. 
Our shopping destination of choice was a very large Boundary Mill store in Lancashire. For those of you not familiar with BM, its a large, out-of-town retail store which sells branded goods at a discount price. The goods are usually end of line, or slight seconds. There are various departments, my favourites being the art department and the bedding department.

Husband and I very rarely go shopping together because it usually doesn't work out amicably. But we are able to get away with going shopping here together because there are many Departments catering for all.
This is our strategy :: we go our separate ways for a while (me to the cards/posters, him to the discount books) then rendez vous at the saucepans. It works for us. We both adore the kitchen department, ditto the arts and crafts. So far so good.

He begins to get antsy when forced into the bedding department though, especially when I start systematically opening all the plastic packets of pillowcases to spread them out and see which ones I like best. I cannot resist these hideously expensive Designers Guild ones (RRP £20 each, reduced to Half Price).
But I am smart enough to recognise the husband-fed-up signs and to then be quick, and to suggest a coffee in the cafe to ease the pain of spending a rather large amount of money on things we don't really need. 

We agree over coffee and an unfeasibly large muffin that we've enjoyed a good shopping trip, because he purchased an inch-thick book on war aircraft and got to fondle knives and stainless steel, and I purchased some pretty CK mugs, more cards for The Inspiration Stash, a beautiful plastic plate and of course the aforementioned Hideosuly Expensive pillowcases.
All in all, a good day.

Tomorrow :: the Outside stuff.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Comments

[Jude]

Did you make those gorgeous slippers??
Looks like a great day out, I do agree that it's best to put husband in safe area whilst you go play. They all have a tendancy to go into sweats when wallet is called for.
Looking forward to next episode

[Potiron]

Love those mary janes!!!!

And I needed the bright cheerful colors of the daffodils and your home decoration on this very bleak grey and very sad day for me....

Thanks!!!

[luanne]

what lucky, lucky find on those gorgeous DG pillowcases! they look like they were made especially to come home with you and befriend all your lovely crochet blankets.

thanks for a great dose of monday morning color therapy! now i must head out to the supermarket in search of some daffodils...

[Julie]

lovely post, gorgeous colours, and so needed when mostly outside is faded to grey.

I love your home - it looks so, well, homely, beautiful, but not in a 'too perfect to relax' way but welcoming and comfortable. Hope you can see what I mean, I can't express it very clearly, just wished mine looked like it. x

[Hannah]

I love your slippers: they are so cute!!! x

[gardenymph]

And a lovely weekend it was! Oh how I wish I had a source for Cath Kidston over here. I think I read somewhere that she will be offering more here soon. I sure hope so, or maybe I don't, considering how much I might spend. :~)

[Jane]

Such bright loveliness as always, Lucy!
xx

[Judy]

What a cheerful post and a lovely home you have. I love to snuggle up in my pj's.

[Kristina]

Really great photos! Love the colours... so keep posting :)

[oceans5]

Your blog is like my morning coffee. When I wake up and check bloglines I always hope that you have posted so I can start my day off cheerful. I love all your photos. That plate is wonderful. I love how you have decorated your home. I am all about color too and I get so much inspiration from you. :)

[emma]

Good choice on the pillow case front. DG stuff never ever fades and you cannot beat the colours. I have bought it like other people by CK stuff. I have quite a few duvet covers that are always well reduced in the sales. It is just so cheerful. I hope they survive the recession. They are doing free P&P at the moment not that I have ordered anything but they seem to have lots of stuff on sale - very worrying - it is the one place I would find difficult to live without inspiration wise. I love collecting their little magazine/leaflet thingys. Tricia Guild's books make good eye candy too Lucy and they should be available by order from your Library.

Have a good week.

Love Emma xxxxx

[Pj]

Your his & her shopping experience made me laugh - my husband breaks out in a cold sweat when we approach certain shops! Very often he stays outside & lets me get on with it - fine by me!;)