Mum's birthday

Happy Birthday Mum!

And so, last weekend I went home to North Wales to celebrate my Mum's 50th birthday - there was plenty of food and more than enough cider and wine.

I couldn't decide for months what to get my mum as a gift - I wanted something special, but also something she'd use. Buying her a star to commemorate her 50th didn't really appeal.

In the end I decided on 3 separate gifts. The first one was a Spode Italian Blue cake stand. My mum collects Spode plates and the like but they tend to be for display purposes only. I wanted her to have something beautiful she could use - and so I chose this.

And she used it this weekend for her pretty pink birthday cake.

                                 

The second gift was a box full of goodies. It began as something small to add to the main gifts, but actually, it turned out to be a large box full of luxurious creams and serums, a romcom DVD, pretty stationery, chamomile tea and many more things. My mum was like a little child - oohing and aahing at every new thing she found. I'd definitely recommend anyone to do this - it seemed so personal, and the smile on my mum's face was priceless.

And then, my last gift was a photo album full of photos of me and my brother in chronological order - from the day I was born to an outing we all had in Portmeirion last year. My mum loved it and spent hours flicking through it. It was basically a pretty photo album from Paperchase and around 50 photos I managed to find in old albums and on facebook. Simple but very effective.

Mum, I hope you had a good one!

My birthday outfit

So, as I mentioned, this week I'm on the lookout for a pretty dress and some nice new heels for my birthday next month. And as I'm off this week, I thought I'd do some online browsing, as well as pop to the high street.

I tried this dress a few weeks ago in House of Fraser but didn't have an event in mind at the time. Now that I have a posh party which happens to be on my birthday, this would do nicely.

I've also seen this dress on a friend at a recent wedding - she looked stunning in it. I'm not sure how I'll look, but I reckon it's worth a go.

And to go with these beautiful dresses, I'm going to need some new heels. I'm not a big heels girl, but I think this party requires them. Maybe something in nude to keep me going throughout the summer? And nothing that's too high, I already fall over in regular heels! Maybe something like this:

Or this?

Hmm. I love clothes but I'm not so great at shopping - I need some more patience I think.

Wish me luck on my shopping trip this week!

A week off

A week off! Woo! can you tell I'm excited?

I haven't really had anytime off since Christmas so I'm super excited to be finishing early today and enjoying a whole week off.

I'm off to North Wales this weekend as it's my mum's 50th birthday - so a lovely 4 hour drive with the Other Half behaving like a bored child this afternoon and then a whole weekend of eating, drinking and celebrating - it should be fun! Oh, and I've also made her a cake - I hope she likes it!

 

 

We're also planning on a day in London next Wednesday - mooching about in Tate Gallery and the Natural History Museum along with a nice lunch and a couple of glasses of wine - all in one day so it'll be a knackering day, but I'm sure it'll be fun. We're trying out the Megabus cheap fares - £10 return - waaay cheaper than the train fare.

 

Otherwise, I'm looking forward to days of reading at the local cafe, doing all sorts of crafts (which I hope to share with you here), doing some dress shopping for my birthday next month, and possibly buying myself a nice big bunch of tulips, just because.

 

 

I hope all you lovely people have some amazing plans for the Bank Holiday Weekend - enjoy...and wish me luck on my 4 hour car journey today! ;-)

Photos:

Coffee shop
Tulips
Dress shopping
Monet painting

Coconut & Cream

I was in Home Bargains over the weekend - you know, popping in to get washing up liquid and toilet roll but coming out with cupcake decorations and an array of body products. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. I call it the "Ikea candle effect" - browsing around Ikea and always ending up buying a candle, or two.

However, I thought I'd share a lovely treat I found, for 69p, with you.

 

I'm not saying that this will leave your skin silky smooth and that you never need to pay the higher prices for products in Superdrug or Boots again, but I'll tell you what I like about it.

It smells exactly like suncream. I know, maybe not everyone gets this, but I hope a few of you do! This smell makes me smile and reminds me of long summer days or holidays on the beach.

So, I've left this little tube of sunny times on my desk at work. And when I'm getting stressed out or annoyed, I rub a bit into my hands, and enjoy.

Anyone else have any weird and wonderful ways of feeling happier at work?



Photo from Bath and Body Shop

Pretty Peacocks finds

I know I should be saving for curtains and carpets in the new house, but I just couldn't resist this pretty outfit in Peacocks over the weekend.

The sun was out and I felt like being optimistic that I will get the chance to wear these shorts all summer. I hope anyway.

I teamed the shorts with this relatively plain white top. The photo doesn't really do it any justice, but they look good together. I was trying to go for effortless, but this seems to be quite a bit of effort for me. How do these girls throw on shorts and tshirts and manage to look great ay?

 

Ah well, for £20 the Other Half can't be too annoyed can he?



Photos from Peacocks

Dear Diary...

Hello everyone - I hope you all had a wonderfully sunny weekend!

 

I have a couple of photos for you of our BBQ on Friday night - yum - it was good!

 

I also did plenty of cycling, drinking wine and reading - you can't really go wrong can you?

 

So, today I thought I'd talk about my diary. I keep a diary and have done so for the last 15 years. 15 years of my life jotted down in scribbles, rants and random musings.

 

And just in case I haven't mentioned it, I'm 26, well 27 this year, and so there are a lot of random musings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mum bought me my first diary. Not because she's ever written one, but because it had a picture of a bear on it. That year, every single one of my presents had something to do with bears - it was my thing that year. And so it began.

 

Every year after that my mum has bought me a diary - starting off with a few lines to jot down important things like what I had for lunch at school and who's treehouse is the best, in diaries with themes varying from Roald Dahl to Jaqueline Wilson. However, these days, even though my mum is still the one who buys me my diary, she seems to find beautiful classic ones every year. This simple pink one is my 2014 diary.

 

 



 

And, even though I'll never reveal what I write in my diaries to you lovely people (because you'd probably be bored to tears!), it would be interesting to see how many other people keep a diary? Or do you think it's lost on the younger generation?

Even though I find it a bit of a chore some days, or have nothing particularly interesting to write about, I'll never stop writing them now. I can't wait to be 80 years old, in my rocking chair, reading about what I did and what I worried about in my 20's. I really hope I'll laugh at how silly I'd been.

Barbecue season has arrived!

It's Fridaaay - and a sunny one as well!

And guess what I'm up to tonight? Yep - first BBQ of the year - and I can't wait!

The Other Half isn't really a barbecue person, and sees it as a lot of effort for what you get. I can see his point, but I'm guessing if I get the food started tonight before he even gets home and all he has to do is eat, he won't say no.

So, as probably everyone in Britain is in BBQ mode this weekend, I went out and bought a few things last night, just in case.

Here's what I'm thinking:

• Burgers
• Spicy chicken thighs
• Wedges
• Coleslaw
• Potato salad
• Salad an dressing
• Corn on the cob
• Beer/wine

I always find it a bit expensive when you're having a barbecue for two, but as most of our friends have weddings or other plans this weekend, it'll just be me and the Other Half.

I can't wait to finish work, get the food going, put some music on, light a few candles and enjoy the evening with a glass in hand.

I hope all you lovely people have some amazing plans to make the most of this beautiful weather we're having! And if you're having a barbecue - what do you normally have?


Picture from artyvisio - Johan Messley

Fairy cakes

Happy Monday everyone!

The sun is shining, could summer really be on its way?

Anyway, today my theme is fairy cakes. Yum yum yum. I just love them.

Whenever I have a bad day at work and fancy chilling out at home, I tend to pop into the supermarket on the way home, grab some eggs, flour, sugar, butter and icing sugar and enjoy a couple of relaxing hours mixing (by hand!) and decorating pretty little fairy cakes.

I know cupcakes are the 'in-thing' but I just love fairy cakes. They're bite size, well, just, and they tend to cook better, for me anyway.

I've also been experimenting with using oil instead of butter, or sometimes half butter, half oil and the results are amazing - the cakes are so much lighter...and the mixing is so much easier.

And as I had a day off last Monday (thank you bank holidays!), I enjoyed a few relaxing hours in the kitchen whilst the Other Half shouted obscenities at his PS3, or whatever.

I'm sure you'e done at least some baking, so I won't pretend that I have THE best cake recipe and that you should do as I do - I'm sure you have some awesome mothers who all have their own superb recipes. But, here's what I do - in not too much detail - I wouldn't want to bore you.

To make 24 fairy cakes:

8oz self raising flour
8oz sugar
8oz butter (or 4oz oil and 4oz butter)
4 eggs
1/2 tablespoon of baking powder

I mix the butter (and oil if using) with the sugar until all the lumps are gone. I add half the eggs and half the flour, mix, then add the rest of the eggs, the rest of the flour and some baking powder. You should end up with a silky smooth batter. 

I spoon a good amount of the mixture in each case and bake for approximately 15 minutes - checking all the time. I tend to use the finger test to see when they're ready - if you press the cake lightly with your finger and the cake bounces back up - they're done.

I tend to decorate my cakes with butter icing - oh so naughty but oh so good.

To decorate 24 fairy cakes, generously:

18oz sieved icing sugar
9oz butter (not the low fat version or it will be too runny)
1 teaspoon of good quality vanilla essence (I used to buy the cheap version thinking it was the same - trust me, it's not)

And basically - you mix it all together - as easy as that.

Using a spatula, place all the icing in a piping bag - I used to use the syringe type decorator but have since found that those disposable bags are sooo much easier and give a better finish. Anyone else fill theirs using a vase? Just place the bag in a large vase, spoon the mix into the bag and then take the bag out of the vase. No mess.

It's not necessary, but it does makes life a lot easier. And please don't go spending on one of these, a vase will do the job just fine.

And then it's up to you - go nuts and do whatever you like. Here are a few ideas to get you started - I'm by no stretch of the imagination the best decorator in the world, but as long as they taste good, who cares ay?

Piping bag photo from chefmommy-brandao blog.

Home Sweet Home

Well hello there readers!

It's been a busy week, so not much time for writing I'm afraid.

However, we've had some good news - our offer was accepted on a house yesterday - woo! Hopefully this one will turn out better than our last offer.

This house is quite a bit smaller but is all done and ready to go. I think after the disastrous survey on the previous house, we're both quite happy to not have too big a project and just move from our temporary rental into our home - all we'll have to do is buy some curtains and a few pieces of furniture. That is, if the survey for this one comes back alright...

So, back to square one with the mortgage as well, due to these new rules coming into force last month. We'll probably have to keep receipts for haircuts and every bar of chocolate we buy, in my case, this might be a lot - oops!

Ah well, the joys of buying a house ay! At least we seem to be getting somewhere with this one - we might even be lucky enough to enjoy the new garden this summer, I hope anyway!

Photo from House to Home

Davina McCall

Last year I somehow put on around a stone in weight - ha, who am I kidding - I know how - waaaay too much chocolate! It didn't bother me to begin with but when it came to the summer months and my usual dresses didn't fit - then it became a problem.

So, my mum had recently been on the Weight Watchers diet and was really successful, losing around a stone and a half - go mum! So, I decided to give it a go.

Now, I don't normally try diets but this one was so good - not easy, but doable with a bit of effort.

However, I love my food - I love takeaways, I love baking and I love eating out - not a good combo for losing weight. So, exercise was a huge help, and I found that Davina McCall's Dvds were the best.

You really do feel like you're working out with a friend as it's not really taken all that seriously and even though you sweat and go all red (which is the whole point), it's not too much hard work. And by now, it's become part of my routine, and a great stress buster!

I managed to lose a stone and a half....and put half a stone back on! But, I've never stopped with the exercise. I used to laugh at people who did exercises every day, went jogging and cycling....and now I'm one of those annoying people! Well, not that annoying I hope - a few aerobics sessions with good old Davina, a jog every week (ahem, maybe two weeks!) and cycling to work...when it's sunny...which isn't very often. So, see, I'm not too annoying.

But if anyone out there needs a recommendation for a great aerobics DVD, I highly recommend this one. 

Measuring spoons

A random post it might be, but I just love my measuring spoons.

My mum taught me to cook and bake and has passed on some great kitchen gadgets, but she never owned a set of measuring spoons.

As I've been baking a lot more over the last few years, and after a few failed recipes and not being able to figure out what I did wrong, I decided to buy some measuring spoons- and they've been priceless.

As you probably already know, baking is precise. You can't just throw in "roughly" 8oz of flour or "around" a tablespoon of baking powder, or it won't work.

I love these and use them when baking and cooking - the green curry recipe I got from Thailand is superb and definitely requires precision to get the flavours spot on.

My mum is sill to be converted.

So, do you use measuring spoons? Or do you have any favourite kitchen gadgets you'd like to share?

Happy Friday!

So who wants a picture of a cute monkey?

Happy Friday everyone - and enjoy the long bank holiday weekend - woo!

I'm having a lazy evening in whilst the Other Half is out tonight at a work do in his tuxedo - rather him than me - and I'm planning on indulging in a chinese takeaway, a bottle of wine and a big bar of chocolate whilst watching Gossip Girl and a good old chick flick.

Then, tomorrow I have a 50's themed hen do in my blue and white polka dot dress, watching Happy Days at the local theatre, enjoying a 3 course Italian meal and then some karaoke - should be good!

Sunday is my best friends' birthday so there will probably be some more eating and drinking, before taking Monday to recover...and maybe exercise. Maybe.

I hope you have some amazing plans! Have a good one!