good surprises

Over the last week or so I've been super lucky to be on the receiving end of some lovely little surprises, so lovely in fact that I thought I'd share them.

Last Tuesday after a long day's location shoot my boss gave me some beautiful pink tulips (we rarely have flowers in the flat so I was pretty chuffed). When I got home I found that Mitch had bought me a new pair of red converse (to replace my v.knackered pair with holes in the soles). It was a completely unexpected but a perfect gift (thanks Mitch, i love them). Lastly my order from Ohh Deer had arrived - it's a plain paged notebook (with a v.pretty cover). I can't wait to fill it with doodlings and ideas!

Also last week my friend offered me a free ticket to visit John Keats' house in Hampstead, with a promise of some tea & cake AND a good ramble on Hampstead Heath, how could I refuse?! We ventured out to north London on Saturday. It was interesting to see where Keats' had lived during the last two years of his short life. I studied him at Uni and found his poetry to be a lot more engaging than some of the other romantic poets on the course. The museum has lots of paintings and illustrations of Keats as well as his death mask. The house is laid out and furnished in a similar way to how it would have been in the 1820s. One room contains information about Fanny Brawne, John Keats' love and recipiant of many letters, who lived next door to Wentworth Place. She was interested in fashion, altering her own clothes and scrapbooking from fashion magazines of the time. Keats and Fanny were engaged to be married when Keats died in Rome of TB at the age of 25. My friend recommended that I watch Bright Star, if I do I'll have to have something cheery to watch after it. The stroll over Hampstead Heath is best described as: bracing. It was super windy and very cold but the view from the top of the hill is quite amazing - all of London is at your feet!

So the Sunday scone wasn't really a 'surprise' but it was a nice little treat as I rarely get to spend weekend mornings with Mitch. But, when he's not working we head to Relay Tea in the village and enjoy a homemade scone with jam & clotted cream washed down nicely with a vanilla chai tea. If you're ever in Brixton at the weekend I'd recommend a visit, they make lots of other baked treats too.

The final surprise in this little series happened on Wednesday. It was another photo shoot, in the studio this time, with the very talented lady who made the quilt for the magazine. On this occasion she was making three patchwork projects also for the magazine. The last time I saw her I'd mentioned that I'd learned to knit was thinking about buying some needles - she's a knitter too. Long story short she turned up at the studio with a large bunch of knitting needles for me! I think there's about 7 different pairs! But that wasn't all. She also gave me a pair of trainers which she'd only worn once because they didn't fit her properly. And they're not just any trainers - they're limited edition nike trainers with a floral liberty print :D a-mazing! I put them on straight away and wore them all day (childish? me? never). As for the needles, I really can't wait to have another go - next stop, yarn!