Me and My Cousins (and You and Your Cousins).

Just a couple of pictures today of my sister and I with two of our girl cousins taken at my sister's 'leaving for Hong Kong' party last month.

I like to think that I'm quite lucky when it comes to family, although now we're now mostly grown and don't see each other that often when we come together it's just as good as catching up with old friends and I really love that. ♥

I know I'll probably get a serious Face-Time from my sister when she sees this complaining about her serious footwear problem, but oh well...

:: Have you entered my giveaway to win tickets to the Royal Berkshire County Show on the 20th September? ::

Must Dash!

Here are some neat things I bought from my current favourite shop in Dorking when I was back there last weekend. Feather & Fern had been enticing me with their new stock through their Facebook and Twitter all week and due to needing to pick up wrapping paper and a card for my sister's birthday, I knew it would be hard not to get some things for myself too.

I guess I'm kind of sorry about the poor lighting but it's tough to squeeze things in with a full time job now the hours of daylight are decreasing. I don't think these are too orange, and I think there's been far to much chat about 'the importance of using daylight' moving around lately, it's not as important as it's being made out to be...

This gentlemanly mug was a must. It's quite thin too so perfect for the mornings when I want to drink my tea/coffee quickly. I mainly got it because I couldn't resist the pun, or the price - it was only £5.99!

I've kept coming back to this bunting and finally shelled out for it. I think it will come in handy for sprucing up our bedroom but also might be good for the (kind of) party we're planning for November. The polka dots are so cute!

This Denbies postcard is so neat. I actually had my eye on their limited edition Boxhill print they had for the Olympic cycling, but I think it would be a little too much. Although I love Dorking and it will always make me think of 'home' and my family, I think this tiny postcard when placed in a frame will pay homage enough - I do kind of wish it was a Boxhill one though.

This is the birthday card I got my sister, I put cat puns in it, see anyone familiar? :3


I may have saved a strip of this for myself after wrapping Lucy's present.

Feather & Fern is such a lovely shop and definitely worth a visit if you're in the Dorking area, great for gifts and homewares. Plus they stock Rob Ryan things so were always going to be a winner.

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Here are some photos that don't really fit in anywhere but are from last weekend. I was surrounded by super-affectionate animals and it was great. Saying that makes me feel a little guilty though as Doll has been quite nice to be the last couple of days.
My Gran had my Uncle's chocolate labrador, Molly, to stay. She is the loveliest dog and was a great spooning partner on Saturday night, even if she snores and dreams about eating. ♥


Friday night's Newbury sunset.


My favourite old lady was a bit of grump about having a dog staying over, but still up for cuddles and scratches behind the ear.




Sums up their general mood towards each other, although Molly doesn't really care, there was a bit of yowling on Suzie's part.

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I've been listening to this a crazy amount lately, it's really good, I'm a big fan of a good mash up.

I still have some photographs from when I went to visit my sister at her University for her birthday last Sunday to share with you. I'm really looking forward to doing nothing except shopping for my A/W12 wardrobe this weekend.
Key items on my list are; new boots, a winter coat and pretty coat hangers.

My Favourite Old Lady.

I figured that I mention my cat, Doll so much but hardly ever talk about Suzie anymore. Suzie is our family cat, who was adopted full-time by my Gran when we were busy moving a few years ago. As she had her every need attended to, we decided to let her stay with my Gran, and in her older years I'd definitely say it's overall the better thing for her anyway.

We share a birthday so these were taken a couple of weekends ago when I was staying with my Gran. She's like my sister and the nicest cat, although Dolly's improving there's a lot she can learn from Suzie, who's now the grand old age of 17. She's been part of my life for such a long time and is always pleased to see me so it's hard to imagine how I'll feel when she's not around anymore but she's hanging in there well and truly as despite not being up to hunting (she's brought us in bats and even bunnies among the usual birds and mice!) and slowing up, she's a lot more with it than her age would imply. She's really easy to take photos of and likes nothing more than cuddling up on the nearest person's lap.

Hardly recent.

I've not really had the get-up and go to take photographs what with the terrible weather and generally being a bit pre-occupied recently. It feels like two or three weeks since I shot the #DitchingDieting march, which is crazy because it was only at the beginning of the week.

I've been cat-sitting for my Gran in Dorking this week, not very exciting but it's nice to have the company of Suzie because she actually cares if you pet her or pay her attention. Dolly needs to get her shit together and learn how to be a real cat.

It's not been a stimulating week really, one of those weeks where you apply for job after job and get almost nothing. I've had a rejection from one of the jobs I interviewed for last week, so that's a bit of a bummer, but I'll be interning for a couple of weeks from the 1st February at a magazine called Shortlist, I would do it for longer but I simply can't sustain that lifestyle anymore. Someone just needs to recognise my talent, like now so I can be an adult.
I have a few pretty exciting jobs to apply for today and then I'm hoping Moon can come over for steak, I've got to time it well because he's working nights at weekends at the moment, so I don't want to wake him up too soon.

Here are some photos that I took at the beginning of the week. How many of you have figured out how to get your free Facebook business cards from Moo.com, it's a pretty sweet deal. I already have some really nice ones from Moo, so I had a bit of fun with these ones, but they're a really good idea, especially on a promotional level both for Facebook integration and Moo.com itself. I thought the quote on the back looked really good, I'll be so impressed if you can tell me where it's from, even my most-knowledgeable friend on the subject didn't manage it.



Last weekend my Gran brought round this book, it's kind of like a baby book for cats. My Gran said she's had it for ages, since we got Felix but she just kept it. It's quite a nice idea but quite tough to fill in for Dolly because there's so much we don't know about her, I'm still going to give it a go though.

Obviously, a 'random' blog post wouldn't be complete without some photos of Dolly Cat herself. She's actually getting much easier to photograph as she's becoming less and less skittish, no where near on Suzie level yet, but we'll give her a little more time.

Super sorter.

I'm currently watching 'Natures Miracle Babies' (the weirdest nature programme soundtrack, ever) and sifting through my photos from Brittany, feeling much less lonely than I was but I really should have something to eat.

Have a photo of my cat sitting in a window to prepare yourself for my photo-essay epic that's bound to come up later. I hate Sundays they're so quiet and boring, and I never get any e-mails.

Suzie.

My cat loves having her portrait taken.

Ready Freddy.

I am all packed and ready for Glastonbury, only two more sleeps to go now, might be the last big photo post I do before then, hopefully someone from a job I've applied for will look me up in the time I am gone.
I am most proud of these.


I had a bit of fun playing around with my 35mm lens, on the 'Action' setting so I could get some good ones of my cat - iknorite, so original. You might be seeing a lot of 'depth of fielding' (a technical term), from now on as I'm in love with how this lens works. So, so in love.



Made my decision to definitely go and see Mumford and Sons on Friday ♥, lovely, wonderful men, even if it will be crazy-busy.
I've somehow managed to get roped into going to ChessingtonWOF with my sister tomorrow, so I will be asleep by like 9, meaning I will be able to be up for 4, as we are now leaving at 5 instead of 7 - eep.

Finally, lookers; my sister and I are some.

All images © Ruth Johnston 2010.

I hope you have a nice week!

I love my cat.

My cat doesn't love Whiskas, my cat doesn't like cat food, she'll eat it, but she'd rather have people food. She is basically a small furry person. Not in a weird 'cat-person' way though.

© Ruth Johnston, 2009

The snow is lovely but deadly, it's a bit too slippy to actually do much outdoors - I'm not sure much of it is snow anymore.

© Ruth Johnston, 2009

I have bought these boots specifically to cope with these situations though.
I hope they'll come tomorrow so I can actually finish my Christmas shopping.
No physical work has been produced since yesterday afternoon, I should probably get onto that. Although I have done a lot of reading for my essay.