Sass please

Now not only am I already well and truly bubbling over with Christmas cheer and expecting a very sassy season of festivities, the Duffin Clan are expecting a new addition to the fam for the celebrations. A PUPPY! Sassy the puppy. The name is yet to be confirmed, but it's three against one and I have a sneaky suspiction this Setter is going to be the most lovable tart around. Now it would be impossible to describe the size of my grin after receiving this news, so here are a few snaps of my first Christmas wish come true. If this doesn't make you scrooges out there smile God only knows what will. Lets just hope all of my dreams come true and my active readers want to fill my stocking with the list of goodies I will be posting shortly. Watch this space.

Small town, pretty girls and big ideas

Banbury, the grim little town whose residents hope the OX postcode can deviously fool any outsider into thinking that we have similar status to that of the trendy cobbled streets of Oxford. When in fact, we have one club renowned for its sticky floors and a nursery rhyme I naively believed to be famous, despite only being known to my fellow townies. Alas! I am a lover, not a hater of this place I call home. Although I cannot lie about actively job/house hunting for a crib in the big city, I am proud to say I am a Banbury girl at heart, and Banbury holds a few gems.

What I hear you cry?! Well for starters, that nursery rhyme! "Ride a cock horse to Banbury cross...", where the fine lady on her white horse is covered in rings. As a ring hoarder myself I am clearly a product of my surroundings, and my surroundings are surprisingly artistic. After attending a visual arts sixth form and art college I was lucky enough to meet many clever clowns who not only see the world in pretty pictures like myself, but can draw a bloody good picture too. Now since it would be wrong to include myself in the category of 'Banbury's Finest' and I am still waiting to be discovered, here is a snap of one my fellow fashionistas from Banbury and a dab hand with a biro.

Anais in denim with her hand drawn Alice in Wonderland customisation (2013) by Amy Duffin