Blue Star Tea and Tropical Teeth

Today I got to wear my brand new (and totally rawrsome) dinosaur t-shirt so, regardless of whatever else happened, I knew it was going to be a brilliant day. As it turned out, the other things that happened today were pretty awesome too, which is always a winner. 

I spent the morning mooching round the second hand shops on Blatchington Road in Hove, on the hunt for a yellow armchair. No luck there, but I did find and fall head-over-heels in love with this amazing globe bar:

I might actually have grown up after all since turning 25 because I am very proud to say that I did not buy it. Despite the fact I'm pretty sure it would have been the globe-shaped cherry on my cake-shaped life. There's absolutely nowhere we could fit it in our house (and I tried to think of a possible location for a very long time) unless we ripped out half our kitchen units and took up a liquid diet for the rest of our days. BUT, I persuaded Holly to persuade her boyfriend Chris to buy it instead. It's definitely the most sensible thing to do, as Holly makes much better cocktails than me anyway. And I can go round and admire the globe whilst sampling them. 

We went for lunch in the excellent Ethel's kitchen, where we both had halloumi and falafel wraps and the tastiest chips we've collectively munched on in quite some time. 

Halloumi and falafel wrap with chips.
Because everything is better with double carbs.

Holly accompanied her lunch with Rose Lemonade, which smelt and tasted like summer, and I ordered Earl Grey Blue Star tea because it sounded like a cup of magic. I was hoping it would turn up looking like this:

But it actually looked like this:

Still, the cup and saucer were rather beautiful, and it tasted much nicer than the paper stars probably would've. 

We braved the rain with our chip-filled bellies and waddled (sorry; I waddled- Holly glided like a graceful swan) along to the Oxfam bookshop where I picked up three absolutely essential bargains:

1. The Lonely Planet Guide to Morocco: £2. 
I'm hoping we'll be able to afford a holiday to Morocco this year. Or Iceland. Or Greece. One of the three. And we'll definitely need a Lonely Planet guide when we go because it will help us find veggie-friendly restaurants in a hurry. This should stop me from getting so hungry I turn into the She Hulk and start smashing things. I'm only half kidding when I say I carry Emergency M&Ms for the sake of humanity (mostly for Tom's sake, poor guy!).

2. Funnybones by Allan Ahlberg and Andre Amstutz: 79p
I absolutely adored the Funnybones books when I was little, and I still love them now. I picked up this compendium of 6 stories because the illustrations are utterly brilliant. I know, I know- children's books are meant to be for children. But I promise I will read this to my friends' kids whenever they come round. And perhaps a few times to myself first. For practice, obviously- I have to make sure I can sing the ghost train song properly after all!

I actually did skim-read my way through the Funnybones book on the train home, grinning at all the colourful illustrations. The hipster girl sitting opposite me was clearly very amused by this, but as she was wearing her hat like this, I assumed her opinion on me was void. 

3. A brilliant Babar diary: 29p
Aside from the fantastic, nostalgia-inducing illustrations, the other reasons I wanted this book was because someone had previously used it to record the birthdays and anniversaries of their friends/children/friends' children... Some of the dates have beautifully handwritten entries such as "Joe + Laura (1998 Wedd)" and "Hannah Rose Smith (1995) 7lb 2oz". I love finding handwriting in second hand books- it's like getting to peek into other people's past lives. 

As this diary has already been used, I'm planning to turn the illustrations into greetings cards. They're too sweet to waste sitting in an old diary no-one uses any more. 

It was tipping it down on my walk back from the station, so I arrived home absolutely soaked and with very squelchy shoes. However, it was the perfect excuse for pyjamas, tea and Medicinal M&Ms at 4.30. N.B. Medicinal M&Ms are completely different to Emergency M&Ms; they are for situations where one's health is in serious peril. Also, peanut M&Ms are for emergencies, and chocolate ones are medicine.

Please excuse weird right foot here. I'm was halfway through making a fist
with my toes; because I am basically John McClane in Die Hard.

And, even if it continues raining until September, now every time I clean my teeth it'll be like I'm on a tropical island, thanks to my new toothbrush:

Katie xxx