Knock, knock, knock… but nobody’s home! That’s why we found it waiting on our doorstep when we got back last night.

Hurrah for online shopping! The fruits of last week’s two day marathon of purchases are beginning to materialise… First thing to arrive, and probably the most important: the carseat. Now we will be allowed to drive home from the hospital with our precious cargo. In the end I decided to go with my instinct and get the one that just stays in the car. After trawling through page after page of (often rather condescending) internet forum discussions debating the merits of various carseats, I finally came to my senses and reasoned that all carseats are manufactured to meet a certain standard above which is deemed SAFE, and as long as it fits properly in the car, it’ll do the job nicely. We don’t have a big car and this one is nice and small so neither of us will have to eat the dashboard once it’s installed.

Add this to our haul from the baby shower on Saturday and my big shopping spree in Babies ‘R’ Us the other day, and we’re mounting up quite a few supplies already. And they all seem to meet with young Chesterfield’s approval too which is good. What we were aiming for in fact.

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Nice things come in big packages

It’s been just over a week now since my visa was verbally issued, in fact a week to the day since there was a knock at the door and a courier delivered the actual visa into my sticky hands. And now that a week has gone by, it’s given me time to settle into the life changing event that is about to happen. To be perfectly honest, last weekend I was a bit of a mess. Although I’d been waiting an entire year for this whole permission to emigrate thing to happen, it suddenly became very real and for three whole days, no make that *four* whole days I felt completely and utterly sick. On the Sunday, it was all too much to cope with- I stayed in bed that morning until about 11.30am, only to return to it at around 4.30pm where I stayed for the rest of the day. It seemed like the best option. It even showed up in my horseriding lesson early in the week too- I just couldn’t focus properly. But here we are a whole week later, and once again I am fine, and once again I’m starting to look forward to it.

The US Embassy in London

So my big day last Friday all started with a 5.30am wakeup call- for once I didn’t mind it this time. A quick stop in the bathroom and a quick change of clothes later and I was hitching a ride with Young Father down to the train station, ready to catch the 6.15am express to London. It was a very calm and relaxed journey, so unlike the days when I used to commute to the city during rush hour, all the time fighting to get a seat, and hoping and praying that someone would open a window to get some fresh air in as the airconditioning was always far from adequate. But at this time in the morning, I had my choice of seats from a practically empty carriage and and had a thoroughly nice time looking out of the window as we went. Everything looked perfectly pretty in the early morning sun. There was also a little mist over the river that morning, and I made a point to note that I really should get up with the birds one day in the next few weeks and head out at daybreak to take some photos. Definitely something I want to put in my memory book.

I got to Paddington bang on time which meant that there was enough time for them to grab a coffee from Starbucks. I had my usual (a venti-decaf-one-shot-whole-milk-latte) but I had to send it back twice. OK, it’s not the easiest of orders to get right and I usually have to send it back every now and again, but to get it wrong two times? The first I got was a caffeinated TRIPLE shot (hmm, no), and the second time they poured the espresso too early and so the whole thing was…well, I won’t go into that now, but I *will* make a post when we’re back in California about the art of espresso. There’s more to it than you might think….says the ex coffee-master-barista

So third time lucky and I got the right beverage, and eventually I made it onto the bus bound for the embassy. Rush hour was just starting, but the traffic wasn’t too bad. The bus turned around Admiralty Arch at the top of Hyde Park and onto Oxford Street and I gingerly made my way down the stairs, being careful not to spill the coffee that had required oh so much effort to get. The bus stopped, I got off, and then a five minute walk later and I was at Grosvenor Square where the embassy was located. Last time I had been here was a couple of years ago, not long after 9/11 and the whole place was heaving with police and security; roadblocks were in place all around the square and big screens were up around the building although they may also have been doing construction at the time. Today however, the area hummed to a much more peaceful tone and cars and taxis were skirting the square like they used to.

By this time it was 8am. My interview was scheduled for 8.30am so I was there in good time. As I walked out the little park in the square that had also reopened to the public since I was here last time it became evident that security was still tight however, unbelievably tight. Policemen with guns everywhere, and the occasional dog. This portion of the street was still blocked off- it had been pedestrianised in fact, and right in the middle was a security setup very similar to that which you encounter when you first go to the airport and check your bags in for an American flight. There was a little podium, staffed by two or three agents, and then zig-zag lines and zig-zag lines of those seat-belt type barriers leading up to a (what I presumed to be bullet-proof) glass portico. The role of these agents was to check our official appointment letters and passports and make sure we were on the list of people to be admitted to the embassy that day. They also instructed me to remove my belt and put it in my bag as we would have to walk through metal detectors before we got into the building. I was then sent to join the line of people zig-zagging through the barriers. Compared to me, most people didn’t have much documentation with them- here was I with a big heavy concertina file containing every single piece of correspondence and duplicates of every single official document ever relating to me, and they just had little slip wallets with a couple of bits of paper. For a moment I thought that I was laughably overprepared but then it appeared that they mostly had a different appointment letter to mine- the one that I had received was all black and white, whereas they mostly had letters with paragraphs of red ink on them. They were all just here for regular visas. A little note here- there was no shelter for any of the people standing in line, so had it been raining we would have had no choice but to get wet.

The glass security portico in front of the embassy building

After about 20-25 minutes of standing in this line (yay for my coffee!) I reached the front, directly oppossite the portico. I then had to walk forward to another checkpoint and again show my passport and appointment letter to another security guard, who sent me off to the side to join another queue, this time inside the barriered area, just in front of the portico doors. For the past half hour I had seen a lot of people enter the portico, and a lot of people sent back out again as they hadn’t passed the screening. They had written in the letters and had also posted it on signs outside that abolutely no electronic or data storage devices were allowed inside the embassy- no cameras, no ipods, no mobile phones, no PDAs, no memory sticks. And by ‘no electronic devices’, they also included ‘no remote control car keys’ and this is where a lot of people were getting caught out. With no left luggage facilities on offer, these people had to walk about 1/2 a mile away to the nearest place that would store items for them (the security guards had lists of storage places, the nearest of which was a pharmacy that charged £10 per item). Fortunately I’m a stickler for details and was aware of their restrictions and had packed my bag accordingly, so with one quick x-ray of my bag and a stroll through the metal detector I was quickly on my way out of the portico, past the rifle-wielding policemen and was rounding the corner of the building to the steps of the main entrance.

The stairs to the main entrance of the US Embassy

By this time it was 8.45am (15 minutes after my scheduled appointment) but I wasn’t concerned as I had read a report previously on an immigration forum that they allocate the same time to a whole block of people and once you were inside the building it didn’t matter. Sure enough when I went through the doors and up to reception, the girl behind the desk asked “Visa or immigration?” to which I replied “Immigration” and she gave me ticket with “5009” printed on it. I then turned left and went up the stairs, opened the door and entered into a giant hall filled with chairs and people, with hundreds of eyes all watching the TV screens hanging from the ceiling to see when their number would be called. Years ago I had been here with my dad when he had had to get a plain old tourist visa to visit the US and it hadn’t changed one bit- except that the screens were now flat-panel LCD. Aside from this, it all still looked very 1960s. All down the left side of the room were big glass windows looking out to the square below. Because this hall was also eastward-facing, they had tried to filter out as much of the blaring sun as they could with blinds, and had installed giant floor fans to keep the air moving. So depending on where you sat you were either frying under glass, or searching around for a coat to withstand the windtunnel blast of chilly air from the fans. At the far end of the room was a small tuckshop selling drinks and snacks, and at the rear end was the counter for the courier service that they used to deliver your visa-stamped passport back to you. On the right side of the room were windows/booths numbered 1-11 with various people hunched over talking through glass to embassy people, often speaking so loudly that you could eavesdrop on their conversations if you were in a chair nearby. Booths 12-25 were situated just around the corner, down a little corridor past the loos where there was no waiting area and it was much quieter and more private. There were also a couple of computers where you could fill in and print out applications for non-immigrant visas.

As I had walked in (8.45am) they were serving ticket #5003 so I had a bit of time to wait. They had divided people into categories according to which visa type they were applying for- Immigrant visas were all in the 5000s, non-immigrants were all in the 1000s, and “E” visas were all in the 2000s. They also gave an indication as to how many people were waiting in each category at any given time. When I walked in there were seven other immigrants, 48 non-immigrants and four “E” visas. There was also a category for Department of Homeland Security, except there weren’t any applicants for that on this occasion.

Over the next hour, they ploughed through a load of the 1000 tickets, but the 5000s weren’t moving very much. This made me a little nervous as the time between each 5000 ticket was about half an hour- what on earth were they asking?? Suddenly the pint of coffee that I had consumed the hour before had worked its way through my system, and combined with the nerves I was up and down from my seat literally every ten minutes. I started reading my book but it began to get exciting and I was worried that I would become so absorbed in the story that I would miss hearing my number, so I went into the little corridor by the loos and started looking at the paintings by American artists that they’d hung up there. They had also posted little informative posters next to each one so it was an excellent way to pass the time. Eventually 5007 and 5008 were called over the loud speakerr so I psyched myself up for being called in about half an hour, and made another trip to the loo. But yes, you can guess what happened….I had to quickly dash out again, run to the computer screen to check that my ears weren’t decieving me, and then trot down to the far end of the hall to booth #1. It was now 10.15am.

The lady behind the glass counter seemed flustered, and apologised profusely that things were taking so long. Apparently their computer system had been down that morning and they were going to try to speed things along. I handed over my passport and she disappeared off to retrieve my file. I was actually amazed at how their seemingly primitive system worked- my documents were all there! She took my ticket, stuck the number on the back of my passport, and stuck something else on my file, and then went through all the documents that it contained, checking each one at every stage. It was rather an odd feeling seeing everything that I had sent to them, and also seeing things with DrMrNin’s handwriting on them that he had sent in from his end that I hadn’t seen before. His handwriting was in England but he wasn’t. Odd. Anyway, all my documents were fine and they didn’t need to see any of the duplicates that I had taken along with me just in case. She then took an electronic scan of my fingerprints on both hands and handed back a whole stack of the various passport photos that I had had to submit at various stages throughout the process and he told me to “pick one, any one”.  Included in the stack was the infamous two inch square mugshot but instead I chose a regular passport photo that I’d had taken last summer when my hair was a better colour (hehehe).  I was half expecting her to return it as it was the wrong shape, but hey ho she didn’t and instead gave me a pink form that I would need to use for the courier service at the very very end, and also a GIANT yellow envelope with my name in GIANT writing across it containing my chest x-ray. She told me I need to take this on the plane with me to give to border control when I arrive in the US. So 10 minutes after my number was called, that was it for the first stage and she told me to take another seat and listen out for my number again so I would know when to go for my interview.

The pink form that I had been given to fill in also had written on it instructions about the next stage, warning me that I could be in for another couple of hours of waiting around. It also warned sternly that if I missed the call for my interview, I would have to go home and wait for another letter inviting me to the embassy and do the whole thing all over again. So after I’d filled out my address I skipped off the loo one more time so that I could get myself settled in comfortably and be able to give my full attention to the screens (this time my number would be called out of sequence, so it was imperative that I should concentrate). Surely the coffee was almost through by now??! But yes, you guessed it my number was called the instant I locked the door, so I had to dash out again almost sending a small child flying in the process, glance at the screen to find out where I was supposed to be, and find my way around to window #16.

Behind the glass sat a *very* nice man. He greeted me, scanned my finger, asked when we had got married and then congratulated me as we’d just had our anniversary. I also pointed out that I’d just had my birthday and he congratulated me for that too. He then looked at my form, commented on where DrMrNin worked, asked what he did there and then asked me if we would continue to be living in the same place. Turns out he was completely familiar with the area and DrMrNin’s workplace as he had once lived in the same city and in fact knew *exactly* where our apartment was. Small world! He asked how we’d met and I gave him the nerdy grad school story and he inquired as to what sort of career path I wanted to take after the move and if I had good contacts I could make use of out there. It was all very chatty, more conversational about a common talking point than anything else, not like an interview at all. And then he smiled and said “Well congratulations, your visa has been approved and you’re now an official permanent resident of the United States“. Ahh, music to my ears! And THAT WAS IT. He then took a couple of minutes to explain that I was getting a “CR-1″ which stands for “Conditional Residence” as we’ve been married for less than four years, and so because of that my residence permit is valid for two years, and 90 days before it expires I have to apply for adjustment of status. But the Greencard I get (the work permit portion of the visa) is valid for a lifetime, but I have to renew it every ten years, unless I choose to become a US citizen which I can do after seven years. From here all that was left to do then was to take my pink form to the courier desk at the back of the big hall and pay £19 for the shipping service (I got the £4 upgrade to have them deliver it before 12pm) and be on my way.

By 10.45am on Friday 15th August 2008, I was out of the building, officially a permanent resident of the United States!

Thereafter was an afternoon of celebrating with my favourite things. I wasn’t hugely hungry for lunch as I’d spent the morning nibbling though a bag of mixed nuts and feasting on jellybabies, so I went to the Waitrose foodhall underneath John Lewis (the same place where Mutti and I had bought our piggy lemon drizzle cake) and bought some big juicy green grapes, and one of those flat peaches that look like squahed bottoms that Melissa has raved so much about in the past. I’m not normally a peach person (wouldyoubelieve!) but I have to agree that these were quite tasty. I also wore my nice new swanky sunglasses that my kind husband treated me to as a celebratory present, but moving swiftly on….

After this came a wander down Bond Street looking in the windows of the posh shops full of things I can’t afford, followed by a stop for tea at MY FAVOURITE MACAROON SHOP IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!

Ladurée macaroons are THE BEST

Have you ever heard of Ladurée? They are a Parisian patisserie and HOMYGOD THEIR MACAROONS ARE TO DIE FOR. Their website is also super pretty and well worth a look. Oh just imagine to be able to go to their shop in Paris, I would be in macaroon heaven…..

The Ladurée café in the Burlington Arcade

I discovered Ladurée macaroons after I had had my medical the other week so my stop here for tea was entirely planned. OK, so this particular cafe is just two tables outside the shop, but the macaroons are completely worth it (have I made my point?!) and the setting is just completely perfect. There are only two Ladurée shops in London, one of which is in Harrods, and then there’s this one in the Burlington Arcade, a little covered colonade of shops which is the EPITOME of elegance. It’s soooo lovely inside. Let me see if there’s a picture…

Yes, here’s one:

Photo by George P. Landow

And here are a couple more too…(click to enlarge)

Photos by George P. Landow

See? Pretty!

Sadly there is no Ladurée in San Francisco, but I am not alone in wondering and there seems to be an online discussion about where to buy comparable substitutes in the city, SQUEEE I can’t wait to sample them

Afterwards my afternoon of elegance and treats continued and I ended up spending a very happy couple of hours wandering around Fortnum and Mason which would easily be my very most beloved and favourite shop in the whole wide universe. Imagine the quality, luxury and excellence of Williams Sonoma, now imagine it being completely made over my Martha Stewart so it contains even more of only the VERY FINEST things, multiply that by SQUILLION and make it on five floors selling everything from bath towels to garden trugs and then you’ve just about got Fortnum and Mason. Hey, I’m in the mood for showing photos that aren’t my own today, so thi is what I mean.

This is the main part of the ground floor, here they sell mainly tea, biscuits, chocolates and preserves:

And here’s another part where they sell flowers:

Photo by Andrew Dunn

Fortnums is reason alone to want to go to London. A reason I like it so much is that despite the elegance and grandeur, it’s not at all revoltingly ostentatious, it’s welcoming to all, and the prices are surprisingly not unreasonable given the level and status of the store. It’s certainly not at the cheap end of the scale and I most definitely wouldn’t choose to shop there for day-to-day goods, but it’s absolutely possible to pick up beautiful things there that make excellent gifts. In fact that’s what I do fairly regularly, and the quality is just outstanding. And who could resist a present from Fortnums?

A quick trip downstairs to the main food hall to get a small bottle of Fortnums pink champagne and it was finally time to go home.

All in all a thoroughly pleasing and successful day. More importantly, AMERICA HERE I COME!

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as The day that it finally happened (part 2)

My reasons for wanting it to be nice tomorrow are twofold: In the morning I’m going out hacking for the first time since spring. I cannot tell you how excited I am as galloping through the countryside on horseback is incomparible to any other feeling.

The other reason I want it to be nice is that my sister has recently applied for and has been accepted to feature on Not On The High Street which is an online marketplace for unique handmade items, kind of like a more professional version of Etsy. They are apparently very discerning about who they will accept, and claim to turn down 95% of applicants. So this is quite a big deal *ESPECIALLY* because they also act as agents and send out PR to all the big magazines like Marie Claire and Country Living and all that sort of thing.

Anyway, one of the things they’ve asked for in order to do the PR is a portfolio of nice ultra-high quality photographs (they actually said that that the pictures in her application were what made her stand out), so that’s what tomorrow afternoon is about. Even though my mum usually takes most of the pics for her, Malph asked if this time I’d mind taking them as the resolution on my camera is a lot bigger than hers and the NOTHS people are quite strict on the formatting. I’ve been searching through my hard drives to see if there is anything that we might have already, but she’s been so busy making new things these past few months that my pictures are all a bit out of date. The last time I took pictures for her was last November, which is ages ago. She didn’t have a shop then, just her blog on which she’d post pictures of all the things she’d made. I remember that day well, and it was also the time that I think I took one of my all time favourite pictures (above)- it was just before the coming of a big storm that we could see coming over the hills in the distance and we were increasingly fighting the ever-buffeting wind. And then it got too dark for any more camera fun, so we picked some blackberries and got in the car to go back home. I think we still have some of the berries left in the freezer, ooh I should bake a pie this weekend!

The NOTHS “photoshoot” (hehe) is “scheduled” (hehehe) for tomorrow afternoon so we have until then to decide where we’re going to do it. We’ve been trying to think all day where might be a good spot as we want it to pick up the same rustic theme of her sewing (barley field? in front of the old barn??), but looking at that November photo again, I think that’s actually quite a nice spot. We so desperately want everything to turn out ok, as if we can get some really nice photos there might be just a very small chance that they might get featured in a magazine, and how exciting would that be??!! I can’t bear thinking about it.

Oh, by the way, my sister’s “rustic chic” shop is also open too and can be found over at MalphiStyle.com. She’s worked really hard at setting it up, and I hope you like it. Please wander over and see what you think, we’d appreciate your feedback 

On that note I should get to bed so I’m actually awake for all that needs to be done tomorrow

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Please let the weather be nice tomorrow…

*Eight* whole skeins of chocolate brown Rowan Kidsilk Haze for just *four whole British pounds*! Yes, that works out at being  just £0.50 per skein instead of £6.75! How could I leave that behind? I also got five and a half balls of sage green Rowan Silken Tweed for the same price too. Bargains of the century or what??!

Today was that big monthly jumble sale that we always go to and for some reason the haberdashery section was overflowing with knitting materials- everyone must be having a spring clean. That combined with the bad weather which deterred a lot of people from attending meant that there were *plenty* of bargains to be had. And it wasn’t just the crafting section either…

   
(click the pics to enlarge)

I also got a white top by Joseph for £2, a white linen Thomas Pink tunic for £3, and a Paul Costelloe blouse for £3 all of which were probably only worn once (because it’s near quite a well-to-do area down in these parts one can often pick up some *real* clothing bargains; I’ve even seen a genuine Gucci bag for sale there for £10 in the past). But by far my favourite clothing purchase was a rather snug 100% wool argyle pullover for only £2. Overall it’s been a good week in terms of charity shop purchases as I also picked up a Ralph Lauren Blue Label shirt a couple of days ago for £5.99 which seems hugely expensive in comparison, but then Oxfam always tends to be on the pricey side.

There is seriously *nothing* that you can’t buy at this jumble sale, it’s completely amazing. I even managed to pick up a load of dolly clothes including a rather nice knitted jacket for Joyce, my Peteena.

I’m already excited for the next big sale in July, I wonder what I’ll find at that one?!

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Bargains GALORE!

and this…

and this…

I can’t wait for my new things to arrive

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as I *puffy heart* Etsy because…

There’s still a lot to do beforehand though… there was a little ‘discussion’ in The Family Home on Wednesday regarding where I could and could not store some of my packed boxes (ready to ship to the US), and as a result my room is now stuffed full of things again. Boo, just when I had it 99.9% cleared and ready to be unveiled as my new office. I would post a picture, but it’s far too depressing. There’s also laundry to be done of course, and the general gathering of bits and pieces that need to be packed for the trip. My guidebooks arrived from Amazon the other day- note that I used the plural as two of the same book arrived….

Yes, silly me must have added it twice to my shopping cart so now I have to send one back, DOH! Ooh, I also bought a new hat today (in the sale making it even more appealing)…

VERDANT, isn’t it? It reminded me of something that one of my girls might wear and of course that meant that I *had* to buy it. I think I might knit a mini version of it at some point so we could match in a silly fun sort of way, hee hee!

I also bought two rather pleasingly large fruit cakes. Dundee cakes to be precise.

Actually, I got these yesterday at that monthly charity sale that we always go to. It’s really burst-in-your-mouth-fruity-cakey good. I’m not normally into fruit cake at all, I’ve always had an aversion but for this one I make an exception. It’s made by the Lions Club if that means anything to anyone, and it’s so good it’s won awards. What with the plan for next week to revolve around cooked breakfasts, visits to tearooms, and picnicing in the car after (probably not very) long walks with a flask of tea and wodge of cake, they seemed ideal.

But possibly the best purchase of all though was for dear little Cecily. Twenty Whole British Pence bought her a rather lovely rocking chair with which she is exceedingly pleased. You can by her face.

Cecily unfortunately has a weak chest so I’m going to crochet her a blanket so she can wrap herself up in it and rock in her chair when she’s feeling wheezy. She also gets very cold hands which is why she’s pulled her cuffs down over them. Her chronic malaise somewhat explains her subdued arrival and why she hasn’t been properly introduced yet as when she came to us she was VERY POORLY INDEED and had to be put straight to bed where she stayed for a good few weeks. This accounts for why she was on hand to help nurse Eliza through her ordeal – she was already there in the same bed. But that’s what happens when one travels all the way from Japan in the dead of winter wearing nothing but a swimsuit. Cecily came to live with us about a month ago, not long after ‘Holly‘ (in inverted commas as she’s considering changing her name, but that’s too long a story to explain right now). Because of this she was also a little bit nervous about being introduced to her ‘daddy’ in case he got cross about her adoption fees and travel expenses and wanted to send her back Thankfully when he did find out about her that turned out not to be the case.

But anyway, the other day she was feeling well enough to get out of bed and was finally feeling ready to be introduced to the world. We didn’t venture far for a little photoshoot, just into the conservatory but here she is, Miss Cecily Jane. She’s rather girly.

Unfortunately during the photoshoot Cecily caught a chill and has now returned to bed.

Right, I must check on her and head to bed myself, but before I do, here’s another little view that the thought of me actually seeing in real life next week is making me EEEEEEEEEKS too excited to sleep!

Originally uploaded by icre8art.

I’m going to be there next week, TIDDLY SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Shopping for our trip – I’m so excited I can barely sleep!

Meet the newest member of my plastic family

(unfortunately she has no name yet… any ideas??!!!)

*edit* The sweet new girl now has a name, but we’re sleeping on it just to be sure. Thanks awfully for all your good suggestions

Please say hello to Little Miss Holly Winter

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Here it is!!!

Contents revealed tomorrow

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Some more good news

After a little bit of discussion over on the TIB forum, I was much relieved to hear that other people had had similar issues with their V-Smash Blythes, and a lot of it tended to revolve around the same thing……we felt overwhelmed by their hair. Compared to Paige and Scarlett, Eliza has about twice the amount of follicles as her sisters, combined. She was less of a little Blythe, but more of a little Cousin It. See what I mean? Beautiful colour, but MUCH OF IT.

So I made a rather drastic decision on Friday night to CUT IT, but I thought if we all did it together, it would help us all bond. The others were highly alarmed when they heard that the scissors were coming out, but we (even Eliza) were all in agreeance, she had too much hair, and some of it simply had to go.

Actually, when it came to it, I was too scared to cut off any of Eliza’s beautiful hair, but Paige was feeling braver than me. What a nice sister she is!

Poor Scarlett could barely watch as Paige started lunging at Eliza’s hair with the scissors. Paige actually got rather into it in the end, and bits of red hair went flying to the sound of *snip, snip, snip*.

Poor Eliza got more nervous by the minute as Paige wouldn’t let her look in the mirror until it was finished. Luckily Scarlett was there to give her some support and help her through it.

I’m not surprised she was feeling a bit worried, just look at the amount of hair that tumbled to her feet. Let’s just say that Paige was doing a very thorough job with those scissors.

But Paige was feeling highly confident about it, and was altogether very pleased with herself.

Eventually Paige announced that she was finsihed. This was when Scarlett was almost sick with anxiety- what if her sister didn’t like her makeover?

But we all agreed that Paige had done an excellent job. I was so pleased! At last I was finally able to see the little Blythe behind all that red hair not just a walking hairball, and what a pretty little Blythe she is too!

WELL DONE PAIGE!! And more importantly, HELLO ELIZA!!!

Quite a lot came off in the end- about 1.5 inches or so. This was quite a major haircut, but it made such a world of difference

Friends over on the TIB forum had also suggested that a very good way to bond was to go out for a little daytrip and photoshoot, so I decided to turn the whole of Saturday into Eliza Day, and she came with me to the big charity sale that’s held in a nearby big old stately home every three weeks. This is one of my very favourite events around here and there would have to be an extremely large and fabulously important something else going on that would make me miss it. It’s all subdivided into categories like you’d find in a department store including a wonderful crafts section that turns into a humungous scrummage as soon as they let you through the gate. As usual I came away with armfuls of bounty- trimmings and lace, an assortment of knitting needles and double pointers (I’ve discovered knitting in the round), a couple of skeins of mohair, and some cones of 1 ply that I can use for knitting in miniature, plus a couple of other things. But by far the greatest find of all was this……

An entire set of crochet hooks, all for just £2.50! I need never buy another crochet hook again! Unless of course I happen upon any antique ivory ones which are by far the loveliest to craft with.

But anyway, after raiding the haberdashery section, and the dolls clothes bit (hooray, I found some little Blythe-sized boots!), Eliza and I slipped out into the grounds and did a bit of tree climbing…

And took some photos in the morning sun…

She really is a pretty little thing.

*puffy heart Blythe love*

And I think this did the trick! After this, I really felt as if I had got to know her and I felt so much relief! And now that I could see her personality coming through, it was an excellent time to visit the patchwork shop to choose some fabric to make an outfit for her. We actually picked up quite a few choices in the end, all with tiny little prints on them so I’m sure I’ll be making for her sisters too

Unfortunately my nice sewing machine is over in California right now, but tonight I won a wheelie carry case on ebay that should work out for it, and so DrMrNin can now bring it over with him when he comes in about six weeks.

All in all hooray for a rather lovely weekend, bonding with my Blyhe. And finally no more guilt about not being able to cope with all that hair

And hooray too for playing with my camera again as *finally* the light was strong enough to be able to take some non-grainy pics

I hope everyone else also had lovely weekends too

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as A Weekend of Bonding, Part 1

Flickr is apparently having a massage, so you’ll have to wait to hear about my latest knitting news and my obsession with Ravelry as I want to be able to show you pictures

Right, back to my needles….

OK, so flickr is working again, woot! Upon review, this post was rather long, so I’ve put my knitting news in tomorrow’s post instead

Yesterday all day, the weather was horrible. It rained as if it hadn’t rained for years, and the damp coldness rose up through my feet and chilled me from the inside out. Although the temperature couldn’t be described as freezing, there was a certain type of damp coldness that we get here in England that I have yet to experience anywhere else to quite the same degree, although I’m sure it happens. I call it damply cold. It’s usually when it’s a bit to warm to be freezing, but a bit too cold to be snug. It’s the opposite cold to invigorating, and the type of weather which cools your bones and then all your layers of bodyfat and clothing do nothing but insulate your core from warming up again. Brrrrr.

This morning the sun was out at least, but it was still miserably damply cold. I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed, heaved myself into the shower, and then crawled into the car and Mutti, Malph and I headed out on a 45 minute drive to one of the nearby towns which can otherwise be described as Crafters’ Paradise. It’s only a small town, but my goodness has it got more than its fair share of hobbying goodness. Actually, it’s one giant crafting store owned by the same family, but split over three sites, and divided by category: a haberdashers, a papercraft shop, and one for both interior design and wool. Each is an Aladdin’s Cave in its own right.

Our first stop was the haberdashers which is of course always Malph’s favourite stop. It’s a great place not only for fabrics, but it also has one of the most impressive selections of ribbons and trimmings for miles around. Naturally she was in her element, and stocked up for her future projects. I had quite a successful little 30 minutes in there too and came out with some yellow fleece that I’d been after for ages to make a chicken outfit for Paige, some lovely soft denim that would make a nice pair of Blythe-sized jeans, and a couple of other fabrics and trimmings that would make nice pretty little summer dresses, again small-sized. I also picked up some embellishments that are the perfect size for jazzing up the fronts of little sweaters. Unfortunately I had the dippy Saturday girl who was not only incapable of cutting a straight line, but she also forgot to put some velvet ribbon that I bought in the bag so now I am without for the week, sigh. She also required a calculator to work out one quarter of £3.99. Next stop was the scrapbooking shop where I skipped with glee when I found little packets of miniature buttons for only 60p, practically the same buttons that can be found in the patchwork shop in the other town for £4.50. Naturally I purchased. And then finally….the best bit saved for last, the wool shop. Oh I was in there for hours. What a marvellous, marvellous place. Wool as far as the eye can see, wool of every colour, every brand, every fiber, and more Rowan than even John Lewis up in London. They even had a shelf full of the old Rowan Knitting Magazines and I managed to pick up a copy of Rowan Knitting Mag #37 which I’d been on the hunt for for ages and was just about to buy online. MOREOVER, they even had the Rowan Kidsilk Haze in ‘Blush’ (deep dusky pink) so now I can start work on the Rowan Butterfly Vest …but the short version which looks like this. Unfortunately they didn’t have the right colour Louisa Harding Kimono Angora Pure yarn I wanted for making the Juliet Scarf that I’ve had my eye on, but I’m going to see if I can order it online….I’m amazed that the scarf only takes just ONE SKEIN, which means that it will only cost £3.95!!! Anyway, I also managed to somehow come home with a couple of Louisa Harding books and a Rowan Summer Tweed book, and some stitch markers which are apparently required for the making of the Butterfly Vest. I was tempted to also come home with a rather nice looking handcarved beechwood crochet hook, but I put my foot down before getting too carried away. So aside from the books, here’s my total stash for today……I call it a successful shopping trip (click on the pic to see the flickr notes for what’s wha). There was also some shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste, but they didn’t want to be photographed.

As weather forecast predicts much the same for Sunday, I’ve made the decision not to leave the house for the rest of the weekend unless I really have to, but to focus my energies instead on my knitting. Oh, and sorting out the girls’ California wardrobes of course.

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Crafty Shopping Successes

My sister now has her own Etsy shop.

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Shameless plug

and this entire outfit…

And how could I leave this which was being sold on the Blythe Forum?

I also bought a couple of pairs of trousers, some jeans, a hoodie, some tee shirts, a jacket, a hat….there’s quite a bit of bootie coming our way. There are almost as many Blythe clothing shops out there as people ones!

Yes, I’ve been hard at work Christmas shopping today. I managed to pick up quite a few things except most of them seem to be for Paige Technically they’re from LordProfMrNin as they’re his present to me…..SPEAKING OF WHOM it’s only NINE DAYS to go until his grand arrival, which means he actually flies out in just eight. Whoopeee! I’ve been looking forward to this for months. But what makes it even more exciting now is that he’ll be flying over with PAIGE’S SISTER! EEEKS!

This is what she’s going to look like…this isn’t her exactly, but she’s just like it (photo courtesy of Pistache)

I have a couple of names in mind for her (Anya? Cecily? Celia?) but I’ll wait until she arrives to see what she looks like first. I’ll also have to give her some clothes as the poor girl is arriving practically in the nude It’s just as well that Paige is getting lots of new clothes in that case…they can share

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Ut oh….

My Christmas Wish List 

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as All I want for Christmas…

May I please have THIS in my stocking (size small)? It’s the BEST THING EVER.

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Dear Father Christmas

Still on the subject of the postal service, after six weeks of delays caused by lost letters, having to resend forms that weren’t signed properly and things taking two weeks to arrive instead of taking three days (that actually happened twice adding a whole month to the delay), all my immigration paperwork is FINALLY complete, and MrNin sent it all off from the post office this morning. YAY! We’re taking no chances with this one so he made sure he got lots of receipts, proof of posting, and arranged for a delivery receipt to be sent to him when it reaches the INS. Fingers crossed it gets there ok.

Project Bedroom is also making progress It’s definitely taking longer than I want it to, but I’m usually so tired when I get home from work that all I want to do is change into some comfy clothes and put my feet up with a big mug of steaming hot tea. I’ve been making valiant efforts at the weekends though (when I’m not out playing in the countryside, that is). There’s still masses to clear/pack up, but it’s mainly lots of little bits now- I’m not quite ready to post a visual update just yet as the photos don’t paint a fair picture (bad unintentional pun- sorry), but maybe I will get around to it this weekend . But the pile of things that I move from the floor to the bed, and then back to the floor again is definitely shrinking down, it’s just a few items now:

As you can see, it’s now mainly books, and err, feminine hygiene equipment I didn’t realise quite how many “supplies” I had tucked away in all the pockets of all my various bags, and after my little tampon harvest, I’ve now accrued what amounts to an entire month’s supply. Hurrah for not having to spend money that amount of money this month (I resent that it is so expensive, in my world it should be FREE!)

As usual, I also had a little helper keeping a careful audit of all my things:

Speaking of my Barnaby-helper, my patchwork quilt is running a little behind schedule as I planned last weekend to go and buy fabric for the backing, but I hadn’t finished sewing it. What put me back is that I *think* I may have sewed in one of the carefully arranged strips back-to-front which is massively annoying, but it’s taught me a lesson that when I’m tired from work I should relax head to bed early instead of sew. I’m not really having much luck with domestic projects at the moment, am I? Ho well, I can easily fix it.

The other thing that we did last weekend was to go to a big charity sale that takes place every month. There’s seriously nothing you can’t buy there and it’s the sort of place that makes one question why one should ever have to buy anything full price ever again, or wonder if there’s actually any point buying new things is when there are so many good used things that can be recycled in another home. Sometimes I buy a lot there (e.g. the chinawear that we used for the centerpieces at our wedding), sometimes nothing at all. Sometimes there are absolute bargains to be had, but other times there’s something so good that I don’t mind spending a bit more on it. Saturday was one of those days when I stumbled upon a rather nice colourful wrap dress that it would have been foolish to leave behind. It even had the original store tags on it! It’s a little bit big, but that kind of adds to the style of it (I hope, anyway), and thanks to a nice burst of early evening sunshine the other day, I was able to get it all nice and clean ready for a wearing.

If the weather’s nice, I might even climb into it this coming weekend

Right, off to bed for me. It’s going to be a long day for me tomorrow as my manager has called a TWO HOUR staff meeting that starts at HALF PAST SEVEN IN THE EVENING! Can you believe it? I’m going to have to come all the way home on the bus, sit for half an hour, and then jump in the car and head all the way back in (it’s far too expensive to park the car all day so I always take the bus, but the buses to my parents’ house stop at 7pm). At least I’m getting paid, at least I’m getting paid…. and I’ve decided to treat myself to something nice with those two hours of bonus wages.

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as Updates galore