It's my sister-in-law's birthday today and I had no card, no present and no idea, even if I had them, when I would get over to give them to her.

Not that I was panicking or anything.

Oh and did I mention I had a hospital appointment that was going to take up half the morning too?

So, there I was, running out of time big time, but fortunately I at least knew what I had in mind for her....just as long as it worked.

She and my brother travel a lot...and I mean A LOT! (me, jealous? well, actually, yeah, I am!) and one of the things I love having with me, when I do get to travel, is pretty accessories to organise my packing. My lovely friend, Tara, who is going off on her own travelling adventure tomorrow, showed me something similar that she has for her smalls and it was something I was wanting to try for a while now.

Perfect opportunity and as it turned out a perfect present because, guess what my brother bought her for her birthday? Only a 4 day trip to New York! As I said, me, jealous? Yeah, just a bit...

It's my favourite time of year, but at the same time not.

I love summer and I love long lazy days when we don't have to rush from activity to activity, endless hours of deadlines.

But juggling this with working is no fun.

I think a lot of us are the same.

Working from home means many interrupted weeks of trying to keep on top of work whilst not really having the proper time to do so.

My kids are getting older, which does mean they can be abandoned to keep themselves occupied. But guilt, coupled with knowing that means hanging out in front of the electrics for hours, soon gets me attending to them rather than getting on with the piling up work.

Tomorrow we are going out for the day.

No work, no neglecting children, just summer fun.

The day after we'll be back to neglect...

I've just had a birthday.

It wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst.

I've been feeling a tad strange recently, which is hardly surprising with all the goings on lately and my birthday seemed to come and go without me getting overly excited.

Or maybe that's just age.

It hardly seems a year ago that I bought this book with my birthday book money. I always ask my In Laws for an Amazon voucher (it's safer that way), so I can purchase all those books (well some of them anyway) that have made their way onto the wish-list over the year.

Seeing as though this book has been in my possession for a year now, I thought I'd better dip into it before the new batch arrive.

There are quite a few patterns in here that I've marked that I want to make, but it's this fab Everything Tote that I most wanted to do.

I'm in holiday mode at the moment, having just booked our summer holiday last night, so this seemed perfect for that.

I love this bag already. The handles are very comfortable and it's so roomy - it will no doubt be filled with everything-but-the-kitchen-sink all summer long.

Ok, summer is still a long way off, but at least I'm prepared, hey?