An exciting Thursday evening ...

As regular readers will know, I have a NFS (new favourite shop) ... well, not so new now!  Ever since discovering Joules in York last summer, I have become addicted, and I have to admit it, a little bit obsessed with their pretty clothes!  I have the catalogue on my bedside table, the website set as a favourite ... I look forward to the new collection being released ... and eagerly await the sales! (Yes, unfortunately my civil service wage is not enough to support my Joules habit!)

Anyway, yesterday Joules opened a new shop in Wimbledon and sent me a 10% voucher to use. It would have been rude to refuse ...

I dragged a friend up to Wimbledon Village, I think I may have converted her to Joules and had she not been planning to head off to New Zealand on her travels in August, I think that she would have made a purchase or two .....

You will probably remember my wish list .... ever since I saw the Penelope dress, I have wanted it ... the perfect outfit for a May birthday, an afternoon tea with girlfriends, a holiday to Venice ... I MUST HAVE IT - but I am trying to save pennies, and couldn't really justify it. 

 
However, a 10% voucher makes it a bargain ... so I now have the beautiful dress, and a nice sweatshirt cardie thing to wear camping .... and I also got a basket of veg as I had spent over a certain amount.

How happy was I?  All that, and a glass of fizz and canapes while browsing.  I could hardly contain my excitement!  I love Joules!!!

Hurray! It's Friday ... I hope you are all relaxing and ready for a lovely weekend!  I have escaped work ... and am sitting in the garden with a nice glass of rose, catching up with blogging, reading two days worth of papers (yeah ... apparently I am supposed to be up to date with the media for my job - oops!) and am about to get stuck into "The Bolter" by Frances Osborne - has anyone read this? It's fabulous! 

Pay It Forward

This is the first time I have seen one of these and what you need to do is leave a comment on my blog and the first three people will receive a hand made gift from me! The only thing you have to do is participate and carry on the gift giving to three more people...as soon as you have left a comment do a "pay it forward post" on your blog and continue the giving.

Don't forget to let me know how to get in contact with you so I can send you a gift. 

I've no idea what the gift will be! I found this post on Shabby Chick's blog so I'm carrying it on :)

Look what we have found ....

Behind the horrible 70's panelled door ....
after a little bit of hammering ... (not sure why this photo insisted on uploading on it's side ...)

A lovely old door! 

Happy Easter!!

We have decamped to the living room while we are decorating our bedroom .... and having spent yesterday listening to Radio 2 LOUD - we forgot to turn it down and I was rudely awoken at 0645 by the alarm!

Anyway, waking up that early meant that I spotted Mr Plum's Easter treat for me ... and the reason why he told me not to buy any Easter eggs ..... 

An Easter Egg Hunt!!

Of course we will share the eggs ........ now, which one to have for breakfast .....

Keep Calm and Carry On

I got carried away last night after discovering the Barter Books website and thought these posters would look fab in our hallway ... once it has been redecorated and decluttered

and of course, a much needed 

Keep Calm mug to take to work ..... 

A slightly late Yummy Recipe Swap for February ...

I'm not the only one whose life has got in the away of making and collecting bits and bobs for swaps ..... I managed to get my batch of "sweetheart" themed goodies off to my swap partner in the USA in time for Valentines Day ... my swap partner was caught up with various things ... but I received my parcel today! I picked it up from the local Post Office (and had to explain that I didn't have any id to prove that I was actually Victoria Plum ... ha ha ha) and then perused my goodies while having breakfast in Ikea!  

I must get on with getting my goodies out to Tracy my swap partner for Mollycupcakes Heart Swap!!

I hope that you are all having lovely Easter Saturdays ... we are decorating our bedroom this weekend ... nothing too drastic, but the walls are currently bright pink, so we have chosen a slightly calmer colour called "satin bow" .... I'll keep you posted on our progress (remember us decorating the kitchen?) 

The wallpaper scraper is calling ..... 

Springtime in London

It's been a while since I last posted ... sorry! 

A big sorry to Sue, the winner of my 100th post giveaway - your prize will be in the post very soon ... and a huge sorry to Tracy .... your heart swap goodies will be on their way to you in the next week, or so!  Hope that's alright - I'm usually much more organised than this, but it has been a rather hectic month or so....

Well, anyway - I'm back and in the garden so will be blogging more regularly (and hope the lovely readers who were leaving me such lovely comments are still reading!).  

Here's a few pictures to bring you up to speed with what's been occurring at Plum House ....

Pretty flowers in the garden ....

Gorgeous blue forget-me-nots

Window boxes ... the herb one is looking a bit sad for itself - hopefully a bit of sunshine will perk it up a bit!

Pink hyrdranga! I love these, my Nana had one in her garden and I always thought it was the most amazing flower - such wonderful colours! I just need to get some of the proper compost for it!

Tomatoes ...

Peppers, aubergine, leeks ...

Marigolds (to put near my tomatoes and keep pests away!) ...

I'm now off to the kitchen to knock up some rock cakes for afternoon tea! Yum!! When we woke up this morning we thought about heading to B&Q and getting paint to decorate the bedroom, but instead have spent the day pottering around listening to Radio 2 ... suddenly it is 3.30pm and having spent an hour or so in the greenhouse attempting to transplant flower seedlings into hanging baskets  ... I can no longer be bothered!

Mr Plum's Nanna sadly passed away at the beginning of March ... here's her wedding picture - doesn't she look glam? She will be sorely missed by all ....