View of Folly Hill from Badbury Clump (image found on Flickr)
...enjoying a cuppa brew on a lazy Saturday morning. Followed by a walk with the dog. Today Dave and I took our pooch, Butler, to a close-by bit of forest called Badbury Clump, which is just a few miles from our house. It's a wonderful way to start the day - it's full of meandering paths, wooded areas and open fields. We left there feeling fully invigorated and ready to face the day. And I intend of filling the rest of mine with some painting, reading Moby Dick and then making another batch of homemade tortillas for Fajita Fun Night. Dave's sister, Helen, and her husband, Mark, are coming over for dinner. I'm sure we can count on playing a game or two and having a good laugh. I'm very excited. Plus, I get to brag to Helen about my recent purchases.
Helen and Mark at the coast
Helen is a bit of a fashionista. She always sports the cutest clothes which are always matched up with the perfect shoes. She was the one who introduced me to the shop White Stuff. If you're a regular reader, you'll know that Dave and I lived with Helen and Mark for a short time while we waited for our house to be ready for moving in. In her bathroom Helen keeps a stack of catalogues from various shops. I think it can be agreed that the bathroom is universally the best place to do a bit of light reading. And it was in that very room that I first picked up an issue of White Stuff. To say that I fell in love is a bit of an exaggeration. But only just. (Whereas, I am in love with Anthropologie. But I suppose there's room for more than one love in life, right?) What I love about White Stuff's stuff is in the details: cute buttons, colourful embroidery and crocheted lace. It just makes me, well, happy. Appropriate given their tagline: happyness in every stitch!
A bit of backstory for you. Last weekend Dave and I were travelling home from the New Forest with his parents and we stopped in Marlborough for a pub lunch. A bit of potentially useful information about the town (you never know, it might come up in a pub quiz): Marlborough is home to the widest High Street in all of England. And on this very wide street - and it is indeed wide - sits a happy little White Stuff store. Somehow I just knew that they had a sale on. I don't know, but I think it might be because women are somehow hardwired to be telepathic recipients to such information. And, like a moth drawn to light, I was magnetically pulled into the store.
And this is where the story gets interesting. I'm in the store while Dave walked around outside doing whatever he could to avoid coming into the store (because it's in their hardwiring to avoid the void that has just sucked their partners into). I don't know how long I was in the store looking around before he came in to check on me. I had found a skirt that I wanted so bad I actually needed it. And then to my surprise he said, "what about these tops here? Have you looked at any of these?" What? Ummmm...no, but I will. So I looked through the selection, found a few items and took them to the dressing room. Dave was the ever-dutiful husband and stood outside to give me his impression on each outfit. After I'd finished with all of them he said, "why don't you just get all of them." My jaw dropped. These must be the words that every woman longs to hear when she's in a shop with her husband. Very quickly I said OK for fear that this strange spell which had been cast over my husband would break, losing the moment forever.
When I got home I pulled my new purchases from the bag and looked at them adoringly. As every women on the planet does when she gets new things. And then I realized that my new inventory of pendants and crocheted necklaces would be the perfect accessories for my new rags. So today as I got dressed in my new White Stuff tunic, I went through my inventory trying to decide what would go best and realized they would all look great. I settled on the Stella in magenta. But I'm kind of inclined to change the pendant every hour for a new look. Dumb I know. But who can control the desires of their heart? And with that, I better go - there are 18 necklaces and only 10 hours left in the day!
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