Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments yesterday:

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Old Red Lion Theatre a short walk from Angel underground station to watch the play Ikaria. It was a bout the deteriorating relationship between a young man and woman at university. The young man begins to experience mental health problems and will not allow her or his parents to support him. He is referred for counselling with the on campus counsellor, but he swerves the initial appointment. His continuing descent into depression is not helped by his drug use. Ultimately the love of his girlfriend and parents does not help him to overcome his demons. This play is very thought-provoking and deals with some very serious issues. For me this play is a 9/10.    I got my ticket which was worth £12.50 for a concessions ticket for £4.   

liberty_lily

My recent champagne moments haven't involved much expenditure, just some sewing/upholstery and clearing up of feathers 😂 Oh, and lots of patience 😁

Tbh, we're both way too busy to wander round the shops and even internet shopping has taken a back seat lately...although I do need to purchase three metres of bright orange upholstery braid from somewhere so I think ebay will be getting a visit soon!

This week I'm working on reupholstering the two Aesthetic Movement dining chairs (that came to us covered in a pretty pink velvet, which were it a linen I'd have probably retained). The chairs were just £200 from a favourite local dealer a couple of years ago. The bargainicious burnt orange/cream Fermoie linen I'm using was just £45 and I spent £3.73 on upholstery tacks after failing to find my electric staple gun. So, all in all it'll be a budget makeover but they'll hopefully look champagne worthy 😉

Alongside this, my cushion project is making progress too (although the fiddly embellishment is taking longer than expected) and has cost £0 - the luscious green silk velvet fabric was in my stash, I've repatriated some purple beaded trim (originally a carboot find that I'd applied to the edges of a much smaller cushion in 2016), whilst the feather cushion pad started life considerably larger but I cut it down to the required 65cm size 😁 The latter was a messy job but saved forking out £12+ on a new pad!

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments yesterday and today:

Yesterday afternoon I went to Streatham Odeon to watch the film.  I had a silver screen ticket which only cost me £3.50. This is an action packed film with Idris Elba in the lead. I enjoyed the film, but there was a lot of gory violence which was hard to watch without me feeling a bit queasy. For me this film was an 8/10. I got a free cup of tea that was worth £2.50.   

Today I went to the second rehearsal of the Matinee Idols and Walnut Tree primary school choir. We practised a few of the carols we will be singing on 30th November. The school children seem to know the chosen carols a lot better than the adults. I presume they practised the carols together. 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments yesterday:

I went to see the play Super High Resolution at the Soho Theatre. It is a play about a female junior doctor working in a NHS hospital. It shows how overworked she is and what a toll this takes on her daily life and how she suffers from incessant insomnia. She starts a relationship with a younger man, who is a relative of one of her patients, which is inadvisable if not strictly unethical. Her life completely unravels when her father dies, and she fails to get to his bedside before he dies. The audience were given lots of trigger warnings by Soho Theatre, because this play deals with some very dark issues. I really enjoyed the play, as I really cared about what was happening with the characters, especially the lead female character and her elderly patient who is trying to hide the fact that she is in such despair that she is suicidal. For me this play is a 9.5/10.  I got my ticket that was worth £25.50 for a concession ticket for only £5. 

Wednesday2000

I went to see Harry Hill at a local theatre last night. We ate at a pub beforehand and there was a 20% discount off our meals if we showed our tickets which was very good value.:) We also had some luck as we got the bus there as it was drizzling and the bus driver didn't have any change as we only had a tenner so he let the four of us ride on the bus for free!

Yesterday I also met a lovely lady from this forum beforehand at a Christmas fayre. She is the first person I have ever met from this forum. I got a very nice M&S bowl for £2 there that I'm using as a fruit bowl. 

We finally saw a bit of the local Belfairs woods and I want to go back there when I have more time and it is not such wet weather.

liberty_lily

How nice of the bus driver, Wednesday 😃

My champagne moments over the past few days have included painting the former snug fire surround using several base coats of old no longer required paint (it's going from Lamp Black to Yeabridge Green which is considerably lighter), then top coating with a tester pot. I'll finish it with some Annie Sloan wax left from another project. So all in all a free makeover 😁

Whilst visiting the supermarket - which happens to be a few steps from Homesense 😉 - we popped into the latter and picked up our favourite Parks lime, basil and mandarin candle in the large size which has a ridiculous RRP of £155, but was priced at just £27 😄 Perfect for Christmas!

Humdinger1

Helen, just looking into wish you luck.  You will make a fab job of the move and everything that follows.   Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

helensbiggestfan

Humdinger1 said:

Helen, just looking into wish you luck.  You will make a fab job of the move and everything that follows.   Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

Ah thank you.....what a lovely thing to say.  

Well here we go, finally my big champagne moment. 

Exchanged contracts, lease signed, rent paid, van booked.  Wahoo.  🥂💃.  I'm so excited!!!!!  

The rental is gorgeous, the rent is fixed for a year so need to panic over rising rents.  The property has a much better energy rating than my current home, so hopefully I will be nice and cosy and the bills might even be a bit lower.  

The property is actually just a 5 minute walk from our old family home.  I feel like I'm going home. 😁

Will do a proper catch up later.  

sugarbaby125

Helen congratulations on exchanging contracts and on finding a rental property that you are really happy with 

liberty_lily

My recent champagne moments - my superstar DH has now plastered two thirds of the extension walls (just the remaining third, a few odd areas and the - undeniably huge/awkward - ceiling to do this weekend - more labouring on the agenda for me!) 🤩

I was hoping to take advantage of the Pooky black friday sale by purchasing the lampshade I've been coveting for the one remaining table lamp that doesn't yet have one. Annoyingly it is out of stock.....but I parked my disappointment and recovered an existing shade using left over Liberty wallpaper from the kitchen as a temporary placeholder 😉 Cost £0 😁

It wasn't all disappointment on the black friday front as I picked up the F&B emulsion and eggshell required to complete the living room for 15% off 😄