Shoes, Dublin, Conkers and a Spa Break

I paused my Sentence a Day posts a few months ago but now I'm raring to go again, albeit a few days late with September. Without further ado....

Sun Sept 1:
Got inveigled into going to a dealer for a test drive by the hubster. Took ages! Wasn't able to do a blog shoot.

Mon Sept 2: Bright and sunny.  Roads busier as the kids have gone back to school. Ventured into a field near the office to do my shoot, the post is here. Box of bulbs came today, hooray.

Tues Sept 3: Left at 2, wasn't feeling great.

Weds Sept 4: Changed two of my social media handles to reflect the blog's name rather than mine. Working from home and v busy.

Thurs Sept 5: Unusually at home because of an evening event, the Vionic runway show in London. My, what a glamorous audience! Nice to have a few glasses of champagne and a catch up with Jacqui and Michelle.

Fri Sept 6: exhausting day. Went to the pub in the evening for John's sisters 60th. She doesn't know there's also a lunch in Dublin on Sun - it's a surprise.  Goodness knows how we kept it a secret.

Sat Sept 7: off to Dublin. Easy trip. Checked into our hotel near the park  (pic at top). Saw Riverdance at the Gaiety Theatre. Really good show.

Went to a traditional Irish pub for dinner with live music, and had this delicious lamb shank.

Sun Sept 8: warm pleasant day. Went for a walk around the city centre and posed by the Phil Lynott statue.  The surprise lunch was booked at Fire, a former municipal building.

The extended family was present, a lot of whom live in Ireland. Read here about Sue's reaction.  This is what I wore.

Mon 9 September: drizzly.  Walked to the Shelbourne Hotel to get a cab to the airport with John's other sister and her husband. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was arriving in Dublin so traffic was at a standstill. We were home by 2pm - rushed off to do some food shopping.

Tues 10 September: I'm on holiday for the rest of this week. Did a few chores and set off for Grayshott Spa, about an hour and a half's drive. I last went there about 20 years ago! Did an aqua aerobics class right away. Then had a massage.  Dinner was sublime.Three courses and healthy but delicious. I'm here for four nights.

Weds September 11: keen to do a lot of exercise today. Did circuits, stretching. Had an aromatherapy massage with Faye who did yesterday's massage and is so easy to talk to. Did Pilates in the afternoon using balls of different sizes - very challenging!

Thurs September 12: knees quite sore today so need to be careful about what exercise I do. Did a walk followed by a short session in the gym and then a swim. Had "lymphatic drainage" with Urzula. This was surprisingly tiring. Had a personal training session to learn some new stretches.  Dinner was smoked haddock kedgeree, below, followed by baked apple with dates and lavender cream. Divine.

Fri September 13: feeling great! Went to a stretch class and then did aqua aerobics in the sunshine in the outdoors pool in sun. The day was rounded off with a facial and the dinner highlight was honeycomb ice cream (and I normally don't even eat desserts).

Sat September 14:  decided to leave Grayshott before 9 as I have a lot to do today. I collected a meat order for tomorrow.  Did some gardening, removed a huge penstemon and got rid of a Christmas tree which came in a small pot a few years ago but is now looking a bit sad.

Sun September 15: Went to Power Plate, cooked sirloin for lunch, John's daughter and husband came. Sunny.  Planted most of my daffodil bulbs. Wrote Wednesday's blog post.

Mon September 16: back at work.  V quiet in the office.  Ploughed through emails then had to turn a pres around v quickly.

Tues September 17: at an all day off site meeting. Photos. Sunny but cold. Long day.

Weds September 18: Working at home, very busy day.  Went to Power Plate. Tried a new dinner, recipe with aubergines and lamb steaks.  Not a success.

Thurs September 17: in the office. Was dreading today for various reasons and woke up in night but everything went ok.

Fri September 18: working at home. Sunny, colder. V busy again - it's the run up to a major event that we run, and I'm the campaign manager.  J got my winter clothes down, five bags. Two bags went up. I make a note of what's in each, otherwise he claims he can't find the bags!

Sat September 19: the last official day of summer, and gifted with brilliant weather. Did power plate and food shopping. Then went to a "welcome to the world" party (similar to a christening) for John's first grand child. It was a lovely day.

Sun 20 September:  did some blog photography and wrote 2 posts. Roast chicken. Dreamed that I couldn't find my car. Boris was telling me I wouldn't get it back. Looked up the meaning of this dream and it's not good!

Mon September 23: in office. After three trips to petrol stations looking for a working air machine, I was finally convinced to go to Kwik Fit to have a slow puncture looked at. Unfortunately it can't be repaired.  Booked in for tomorrow for a new tyre, nearly £200.

Tues September 24. Terrible rain. Took car to the garage again for the new tyre, and got quite wet on the walk to work. Felt a bit carb deprived and headachey.  Revolting silage smell from a farmer spraying his fields, and and cars in the upper deck at work got splattered.  Came home and had to face a late meeting.

Weds September 25: At home.  Long day, ended at 8pm.

Thurs September 26th: had a day off. An old friend Margery was visiting from Dorset. We went to the William Blake exhibition (disappointing) followed by a lovely lunch.

Fri September 27th: worked at home. A free pair of bamboo socks came in the post - my third pair!

I gathered some conkers on the way to Power Plate. They're useful on window sills for deterring spiders.

Sat September 28th
Had hair done. Big drama, armed police chased a car through nearby Loughton.  For dinner I created a recipe from one of my low carb cook books: ratatouille with ginger/mandarin lemon sole.  Did a mini shoot by Virginia creeper, now a glorious red.

Sun September 29
Went to Power Plate. Very windy today. We had roast beef and I made a casserole.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter