My Month in Numbers 2014: May

Greetings, hi, hola.

You know what I'm going to say don't you?

[No, not "Is it Tuesday today?" which is something I ask James on a spectacularly regular basis. Usually on a Monday; because working from home wreaks havoc with my sense of days / dates and it's always important to know when it is in fact Tuesday ... because that's when Elementary' is on.]

No, what I was going to say was ... it's the end of another month [again! I know! I just keeps on happening doesn't it?!] and that means that it's time for another numberly summary of my previous 31 days.

If you'd like to join the ever-evolving Month in Numbers community there are a few guidelines for you here. Please give them a quick read if you're new to it. [Don't worry. It's free of charge! But you do need to have been alive during the previous month so you can write about it. Which is pretty manageable I think.]

Anyway ... I'll come and visit your stats soon, until then ... here's mine ....

625 [on Virgin] = my newest favourite TV channel 'NHK World'. We've only had the channel for a week and but, in between news programmes, the Japanese channel has some great shows and documentaries about fashion, craft and travel. What's not to enjoy?

5 = the number of meals out / special occasions during which I ate something nice!

Which included ...

1 = a lunch with friends at a local garden centre which has a very quaint vintage-style tea room inside one of their plant greenhouses!

I had hoped that, as it was a sunny day and we were under all that glass, I might have grown a little.

Alas, I don't think it worked ...

2 = tea + cakes [plural!] at a charity fundraiser. 3 = lunch in town with Mam.

4 = the 2nd year in a row we celebrated James's birthday with a lunch at Robineau Patisserie:  

3 courses each. And it was delicious. As usual.

and  5 = a meal to mark our anniversary.

 

22 years = how long James and I've been together. 

Obviously I met him when I was 5 and we've been together ever since ... ahem ...

Actually below is one of the earliest photos I could find of us together. From an age before digital cameras. Taken in a photo-booth!! In the days before photo-booths were just a novelty all the cool kids had at their parties! 

On the actual day of our not-a-wedding-anniversary-because-we-haven't-had-a-wedding-but-it's-still-an-anniversary anniversary we travelled ...

85 miles to visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. [I blogged further photos from our day trip last week in my 'Zoom In Zoom Out' post] 

It was a beautiful day and probably the nicest, weather wise of the entire month! And we say lots of arty-soul-sustaining sculpture including ...

... a 2.7m man or 'Network' by Tom Price as it's officially called:

And we browsed the 40+ pieces in the major Ursula von Rydingsvard exhibition:

James sneaked this photo of me reading the exhibition guide while wandering past one of my favourite pieces.

We also visited 'Seizure' the Roger Hiorns work which is a re-located council flat which has been transformed by 75,000 litres of liquid copper sulphate ... naturally.

We didn't take any photos while we were inside it, so for a clearer idea of what it is you might like to visit its page of the YSP site here - the slideshow on there includes a video you can watch too ...because it's impossible to explain it in words!! 

While in the sculpture park gift shop [which is a treat in itself!] ... I spotted this which managed to combine 3 of my favourite things ...

1. Papery supplies
2. Patterns!!
3. and something with a good number I can use in a Month in Numbers post!!

I convinced myself it was worth buying as I could use the cards in my crafting kits ... then I got them home ... and drooled over them ... and patted them ... and gazed at them ...

And I'm finding it hard to let go ...

But, speaking of things that come in blocks of 100 ...

1 out of 100 = how many original hoop designs by Kirsty Neale I now have in my possession!

Because she's generally lovely and splendid Kirsty sent me some happy mail this month which included one of the designs which featured in her book 'Hoop-La!' which was published last year. Gorgeous isn't it?

Amongst other things my happy mail parcel also included some zebra print sticky tape 'cos ... well ... that's the kind of thing people send me.

4 = the number of parcels "for the lady" that arrived on the same morning. At least that's how the Postman referred to me when he handed all my mail over to James last Saturday. Oooh get me. I'm a lady now!

And speaking of happy mail for the lady ...

Happy mail #2 = Katie Licht and I indulged in a spot of ephemera-stash-swapping and, alongside some lovely vintage pages, my parcel from Katie included her super-cool 'Advice for Modern Life' zine [which she blogged about here]:

Like Kirsty, Katie was one of the bloggers I 'tagged' at the end of my blog hop post during the month - along with Vicky Trainor. And last week they all picked up the blog were I hopped-off so ...

... if you haven't already been to visit all 3 of my tagees ... would you hop back to my post sometime to find their links at the bottom ... and go say hello? They created 3 great posts between them and you'll find lots to inspire you there I promise!

-----------------------------------------

Thanks for reading my vital statistics for May - one of my favourite months round here - and if you've got your own to share, let me know [don't forget the guidelines here if you're new] ... and I'll drop by to visit soon.

Here's hoping June is a veritable treat for you and all those you love.

Julie x