And off we went.....

At the ripe old age of 40 - yes, still coming to terms with that - I am ashamed to say that I have never stepped over the border and into Scotland, so when asked what I would like for a 40th birthday present, the first thing that came to mind was a trip to Edinburgh. OMG, he did me proud! It is still hideous being 40, but it is wonderful sharing it with someone who makes you feel special!

The hotel - Tigerlily - just what the doctor ordered! http://www.tigerlilyedinburgh.co.uk/

Room 33

Ahh - we've arrived!

The sights.......

Alright?

Ivan (Mr Bicknell) getting into the spirit of things!!

The nice windows - well, shopping, city, has to be done huh?

And then there was the art - why oh why oh why didn't I study in Edinburgh - hmmm, that would have cut out quite an interesting chapter of my life - and more's the point - why don't more of my students apply there?  The galleries are magnificent and it was so nice to just wander around them, discuss the work and drink afternoon tea together in very sumptuous surroundings - the Dean gallery was stunning! I can feel an art trip there coming on.........

Edinburgh museum of modern art

No - he wouldn't budge, not even with brute force or gentle persuasion!

?

Ahhh - french students, of course! Ivan (Mr Bicknell) - official photographer! Probably not what Charles Jencks had in mind!!

I can't help myself, but I love the work of Jeff Koons and it was brilliant to see so much of his work in one place.

The Dean Gallery

Homage to Paolozzi....

And I discovered August Sandler - I have been missing something here - this exhibition is worth a trip to Edinburgh all by itself - look him up, these photos are truly beautiful.

Afternoon tea and a trip to the mad loos!

The Scottish national gallery

Rembrandt - self portrait age about 51, 1657

French drawing exhibition

Seurat - study of bather

Study of Drapery Joseph-Ferdinand Lancrenon

Main gallery

Ken Currie - Three Oncologists.

Spooky....

And speaking of which - well, you can't go to Edinburgh without doing a bit of ghost hunting....

So, you go underground into the vaults which apperently are the most haunted buildings in the whole of the U.K. and Ivan (Mr Bicknell) wasn't scared at all..........

Nothing to guide us but candle light - oh, and of course mad Lizzie.... this is how you use your ghost busting box.....

Did anyone hear that?

Hooray, hooray, hooray, hooray, it's the holidays!!

Now you know that I love my job right? But blimey, it has been a full-on term - so many issues and so little time to deal with them all - you know, whenever I hear people saying - "teachers - nice life" I want to drag them into a week of my life - it is exhausting, but of course, very rewarding too, don't get me wrong, but god, I need this holiday. It is also going to be my 40th birthday all over again with Ivan (Mr Bicknell) and I travelling up to Edinburgh for the mini-break he booked for us last month....watch this space!

Talking of birthdays, the weekend started with a trip to a fab local restaurant courtesy of Ivan's (Mr Bicknell's) mum Judith.

JSW is in Petersfield and is a bit of a favourite of ours - but be warned, it has to be a special occasion - and in our case, a wonderful gift, as it is a little on the "gulp" side of the price of things!! Thoroughly recommended though!

We had the tasting menu - which lerts you try quite a variety of flavours - but whatever you have, it's all good! Thank you lovely Judith! XXX

A bit like buses, another invitaion came too, but this time for dinner - you do not even need to know how much I ate last Saturday, but it was really great to catch up with Sue, J, Lynda and Derek for the evening! Needless to say, Sunday was spent doing lots of gardening and dog walking, and oh yes, packing......



Not that interesting but......

It fills me with the hope that sunshine and warm weather is on its way.

This is the lovely sunny image that was refelected on our bathroom wall this morning - shame I missed the e off the bath(e) text though - top tip, when your husband says that you absolutely cannot stick large lettering to your wall, install him in front of a very exciting football match on the telly with a whole bottle of wine and get to work with the (quick drying) no more nails glue, so that it is all done and dusted before he has a chance to do anything about it!!!!



Rocking the Brighton Bazaar!

So they did it - here are the results from our recent trip to Brighton - a project all about interior styling, the idea was to create a chair, a canvas and some kind of lighting - all dressing the same white cube. And by golly, didn't they do well?!

AMY B

BECCA

COURTNEY

ELLIE J

EMILY B

G

ELLIE L

HANNAH O

ISH



This is actually NOT by me, but by ISH - it just happens to have been published on my youtube account - I am NOT this clever!!!

ISSIE I

MISS HYNDS

JESS

LOTTIE

LUCINDA

MIRIAM

NANCY

TED

A day out

Sometimes when the opportunity arises you need to grab a day out don't you? And when the media department offered me the chance to escape from college for the day, I well, jumped would be a bit too enthusiastic wouldn't it, so umm, gently moved forward at the chance! A day at Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush was what was on the cards - something to do with shopolgogy (?), and by chance there were a few extra places available so the lovely Lottie, Ted and Ish came along too - at least they would have a legitimate reason for taking in the designer village and the big fashion wardrobe experience promo that was going on! I didn't feel too bad though as we had already had a mammoth day at college this week with FMP (Final Major Project) proposals - more on that in a later post - God, I cannot believe it is that time of year again already, and as it was made perfectly clear to me that everyone was tired enough, an unexpected day to do a bit of self-directed research seemed appropriate!

Although it was toooo big, toooo tempting and tooooo short a time to do any meaningful shopping (Mr Bicknell will be pleased to hear), it did make me think about how far shopping malls have come on since my first forays into the Friary in Guidford to checkout Clockhouse in C&A when I was eventually let lose! This one means business it has everything you could imagine and takes itself very seriously with its own in-house blog and range of events. All I can say is thank god I am not close enough to make the most of it!

http://www.westfieldstylenotes.com/



I pinched this pic from Lottie - I couldn't be bothered to go upstairs!

Lynne the media guru - before......

And after.... Ghd'd and fabulous!

I couldn't resist these....

I noticed that a couple of my lovely ex-students, Charlie and Lou were sharing these on facebook - very funny! Or am i just a bit mean?