Je reviens!!

I wanted to write this post so badly...I have missed blogging more than I can say, much more than I thought I would! I've been 'out of action' - and still am to a certain extent - because our big computer is (still) not working. It contains all my photos. So annoying!! I just have this little laptop, which keeps me in the loop but also means that I can't post my own pictures at present....and that's something I find so important on the other blogs I visit & love. I think that a good blog requires the proper images to complement the words, don't you?!

So Monaco, Nice, Portofino, Corsica...will all have to wait for another day I'm afraid. It's no good unless I can SHOW you how magical they all were. And I will, I absolutely promise you. I'll be back with a special giveaway to celebrate the return of the full Mozart's Girl experience (I'm having fun planning it already!)

In the meantime, we are off to the beautiful Lake District on Friday...taking Alice with us as we've hired a dog-friendly cottage for the week! As it's about 6 hours drive from home, we thought it would be a good idea to leave on Friday and break the journey for the night. So we're stopping at the town of Carnforth in Lancashire. If this doesn't ring a bell, it's railway station was the setting for one of my Top 5 movies of all time.....the wonderful Brief Encounter.

Luckily, it's one of Paul's Top 5 too....we're forever quoting from the film and last year went to a special screening at the British Film Institute with an introductory talk given by Celia Johnson's daughter, Lucy Fleming.

So we'll be making a Saturday morning pilgrimage to that hallowed train platform before wending our way to Windermere for a week of walking, eating & visiting wonderful places like Hilltop - the farm of Beatrix Potter, now owned by the National Trust.

We've been so busy in preparation as we both have to work extra hard before we're 'allowed' to go away. Being self-employed is amazing in so many ways (and I wouldn't change it) but it does mean covering every eventuality before leaving which can be a bit exhausting. We also decided to redecorate our living room last week...well, I say 'decided' but it was more of a necessity really! Previously it was painted in a beautiful soft bluey green...jewel like, easy to live with and went with everything. Everything, that is, except the new rug that we impetuously saw and fell in love with over the last Bank Holiday weekend in London. Here it is:

just gorgeous (we think) but if there's one colour it doesn't go with, it's bluey-green! So we repainted the walls in Smoked Trout, which is a beautiful pinky-brown. Such hard work! It's years since I've really done any decorating...I'd forgotten the moving furniture bits. And the covering everything bits. And the climbing up ladders bits. And I've never had to do it with the naughty, nosey fox terrier bits before!! Still, we both worked hard over the weekend and got it all done and the rug down by Sunday evening. And I'm so glad now that we did, of course! It's like having a whole new room - and Alice is very happy with it all and prefers sleeping on the new carpet to her bed!

I'll be blogging from the Lake District - and I'm taking LOTS of pictures so  I can share everything with you as soon as possible. Thanks for sticking with me - I've missed you! xox