I recently made my husband go through all his clothes that were overflowing out of our dressers and sort them into things he actually wears and things he doesn't. In the discard pile were a ton of cool tshirts so I decided to steal them for crafty things.

Today I turned his old thundercats tshirt (which he got for xmas and never wore) into an awesome pair of underwear.



There are a ton more I want to do, including an awesome Sid Vicious one, however, I ran out of elastic so hopefully I'll get to it next weekend 

Oh and I used this tute as a guide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T5iIcc-gZ4

I've come home to my package and gotten excited all over again!  

Prepare to be jealous  

This is the whole lot: Tesla and her fancy new sweater, a super cute photo album, a Kafka tote bag (love it!), a pin, a Budweiser Budvar coaster, a duck cookie cutter, some pear tea, a pack of matches, lots of sweeties and chocolates (one chocolate bar came with me to work this morning and did not return ), a Czech coin, a pea key chain, a turtle charm, a notepad, a cinnamon scented pillow (if you put a hot mug on it, it releases the scent), some pasta in a traditional Czech sauce, a beeswax candle, a Bedřich Smetana CD (famous Czech composer), an orange bracelet (my favourite colour!) and some fairy tale erasers.



Close ups...

The little turtle:


The matchbox:


The fantastic photo album




The keychain:


It is super geeky but has Mendel written on the back, a fantastic nod to mine and Anofeles' shared geekery (the scientist who used peas to prove the existance of genetic traits which can be inherited).




Thank you SO much Anofeles! I love everything! You've been a great swap partner and your souveniers are so thoughtful! I can't thank you enough! I hope Ricki makes it home soon!

Edit: I also got a magnet but I brought it to work with me and it's on my cubicle wall now!

My mother-in-law's birthday is next week and she loves to bake so we bought her a lovely hardcover baking book called "British Baking". So, we took that as a theme and also got her some baking tins and some union jack cupcake cases and union jack edible sugar decorations. We couldn't find anything else along this theme but didn't think what we had was quite enough. My husband is a typical male and waited until today to get the gifts, despite the fact that we're giving them to her tomorrow so we came home from the shops and I hurried and whipped up an apron along the theme.

The new season of Boardwalk Empire starts in just under a week.  (Yay!) When it first aired last year I was totally coveteing the cloche hats, flapper clothes and art deco style. I've had a search of the forums and it doesn't appear there has been a Boardwalk Empire swap previously (unless I just totally suck at using the search function). Would anyone want to take part in a Boardwalk Empire themed swap? I think I'm too much of a noob to be an organiser but I would help out as much as possible if there was any interest ! 

Since its our last ever weekend with Ricki, we surprised her with her own little cake!

1) Oooh, you're right, it was Caterbury cathedral! I mix everything  Some places were very similar and taking photos was not allowed as well.. I also was somewhere where HP was shot but now I think it was Oxford University! Aww.. if I went to England nowadays I'd totally remember everything I'd see but when I was there I wasn't as interested as I'm now

2) You're pretty and you two look great together!

3) That place looks so mysterious, it's wonderful.

It is easy to mix them up - England certainly isn't short on cathedrals and most of them were built around the same time so the famous ones all look very similar.

And thank you for the compliment, that is very kind of you

Today I took Ricki around the city and we got lots of pictures but I don't think I'll update the blog until Ricki's return package arrives home - I want at least some of them to be a surprise

Two quick ones though, we went down to the river and relaxed on the fake beach. For the summer, a small section of the quayside has been filled in with sand and palm trees so there is a beach right in the centre of the town.

I think I was there once! Isn't there a part of Magna Carta in the cathedral?
Such beautiful architecture..

I think that might be Caterbury Cathedral but they look very very similar!

ooh awesome!  We visited Alnwick castle in Northumbria last year where some of the hogwarts filming was done

I love Alnwick Castle! Especially the bird of prey demonstrations. I got to hold an owl there and it was so much fun (even though I was the only adult doing it and I think it was more for the kids )

Last night after work Ricki and I celebrated the weekend by going out for drinks.



And today we had a poke round Tynemouth Priory.



We took about a billion pictures today and more can be seen on Ricki's blog: http://ecoli-travels.blogspot.com/

Today we went to the city of Durham to go check out the famous cathedral, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and dates back to 1093!





Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures inside the cathedral itself as it is still used as a place of worship all day long. We did get some pictures inside of the cloisters though...






And if you are a Harry Potter fan, you might find those cloisters familiar looking!

That tattoo is fab! The concept is great, but its super impressive that it turned out so well in the flesh, so to speak!

Anofeles, those pictures of Prague are amazing! Its so beautiful. I think I'm definitely going there next summer now!

We were reading the local paper tonight and saw Ricki got name checked.

Uh oh!

We went and had a wander around Prudhoe Castle - Only ruins remain of this medieval castle but I'd never been so taking Ricki was a good excuse to have a visit.