Weekly Snaps #6

Sunshine! That is mostly all I have to say. However, this weather means legs. And getting my problem legs out is fairly terrifying! Possible leg care post in the pipeline! Does anyone have any tips for getting the pins summertime-ready? Without further ado...

1 & 2. No one knows how huge this is! I am genuinely frightened of cats. I have no idea why, because I absolutely love animals, to a scary degree. I went to a friend's house one night last week and this little character didn't even give me time to be scared, jumping on my lap as soon as I sat down. Well, that confronted that fear pretty quickly. I'm also allergic to cats; my nose and eyes were not feeling so top by the time I left!

3. Tried to force this down after my kettlebell class last week. I know it's good for me, but oh my word it was awful. It tastes and feels disgusting. I managed a sum of two very small bites.

4. Made the sensible decision and bought Lush's Mask of Magnaminty of the Caudalie mask. I much prefer the natural feeling of the product and my skin feels lovely and plumped up for days afterwards! Saved myself about £20 in the process too..

5. Had the most lovely lunch at The Stable with my friends Beth and James, and of course Dave. I haven't seen Beth for almost a whole year, since uni, so spending the day with her in my corner of the country was just lovely! It was just so nice to see her.

6. And look! The bins are really huge here. Or is she just really tiny?!

Happy Monday everyone, I hope it was everything you hoped it would be and more!

A few Caudalie samples..

I felt a bit ashamed of myself to begin with; I gave in to the hype surrounding the Caudalie Beauty Elixir and bought one at the weekend. I don't like to think of myself as the type of person who could be so easily swayed, but apparently I am! And I think I'm OK with that. Particularly after using the product! It isn't talked about so much for nothing, let me tell you. It gives me the exact look I've been trying to achieve for months now, dewy, but not obviously so. I'd say that was £9 well spent!

But this post is more about the samples I was given by the lovely gentleman in the shop, who I've since found out was the co-founder. Eek! I was really intrigued looking at all the other Caudalie products; after hearing so much about one product I almost forgot that there would be a whole other host of skincare. I was given a mix of everything - he even gave me some little things to give to Dave! The service in this shop was on a whole other level. I think that's what is really nice about independent shops. (Also, they just won the Telegraph Best Small Shop 2012 award, how exciting. Read about them here.)

Caudalie Purifying Mask

Caudalie Purifying Mask

This sample was so cute, it had the exact right amount of product for one application. The directions tell you to apply the mask to dry skin. I don't usually like face masks like this because they tend to get a bit messy, but this was a dream. The water almost dilutes the mask, so a small amount of product goes a long way. You leave the mask on for 10 minutes and then rinse off with water. The mask felt lovely whilst on; it wasn't too drying and it didn't burn my skin. I have quite sensitive skin and find that a lot of face masks tend to give a burning sensation after about five minutes and leave my skin very red. The only thing I didn't really like about this was that it took forever to remove. Even when I thought it was all off I could still feel a slightly slimey residue and had to rinse again. I guess that just means it's really getting in there and doing its job! After I'd managed to get it all off though, my skin felt incredible. I won't say it looked incredible, because that is not modest and terribly un-British, but it did look pretty good. I can still see the effects two days later, my skin looks much clearer and cleaner with a more even tone. I'm considering buying the full size of this product as I'm currently on the lookout for a face mask as I don't currently use one. You know it's a sorry state of affairs when your boyfriend is telling you that you really should!

Eye and lip cream

Pulpe Vitaminee Eye and Lip Cream

I've never used an eye cream before and I won't lie, I'm not entirely sure what they do. However I do know that I rub my eyes more than I should, and anything that can stop them wrinkling before their time is a good thing. I've only used this twice, at night. It says to apply morning and evening, but I feel a little weird applying it in the morning. It's very thick so takes a while to absorb - I don't usually leave myself enough time in the morning, so I can't wait around for it to soak in before make-up! I do really like it though, it might all be in my imagination, but my eyes look a little less puffy already? I usually use Touche Eclat, but have absolutely and completely run out. I can usually notice the difference, but today I can happily go without. It may seem optimistic, but I'm going to put it down to this eye cream. I can't say I'd buy the full size, simply because I just don't understand eye cream!

Vinosource S.O.S Thirst Quenching Serum

Vinosource S.O.S Thirst Quenching Serum

Now this didn't actually come from Medusa Apothecary, I got this in my April Glossybox. My holy grail product is Lancome Visionnaire serum, so truth be told I wasn't that excited to see another serum. I started using this in the morning and saving my thicker, richer serum for the evenings. It's super hydrating and I notice that my skin isn't as dry as the day wears on. My make up tends to start looking really obvious and a bit chalky on the surface of my skin by about 3pm, but since I've been using this I honestly haven't noticed it as much. I don't know how it does it, it feels like it works really deep and sticks around for the whole day! I'm definitely purchasing one when this runs out. I think it's a really reasonable price too, so I can spend a little less on serum in the long run because my Lancome Visonnaire will last longer. I honestly let out a little sob everytime I have to re-buy it.

Nourishing Body Lotion
There's not all that much that can be said about a body lotion. I tend to steer clear of lotions in favour of thicker more richer moisturisers, because I find that lotions don't soak into my skin all that well and just seem to lurk around on the surface. I have hideously problem legs and a lotion just doesn't cut it. This, however, is a seriously luxury lotion. It's so rich and creamy and soaks in straight away. It's very similar to the Biotherm Anti-drying Body Milk, which I love, just slightly less watery. It also smells amazing. I thought it smelt really lemony and fresh, but after seeing the grapes on the front I'll retract that. It just smells lovely. When something on my person smells really good I always feel very 'wafty', like I'm wafting around the house in my own little haze of yumminess! I definitely get that with this. I think it's fairly pricey for a body lotion, at £23 I don't think I will be availing myself of this, I'll stick with my Sanctuary Body Souffle I think!

Vinosource Moisturizing Matifying Fluid
This came in a teeny tiny little pink foil pyramid, it was literally only enough for one use, so I didn't think it warranted a photo! It's difficult to get a feel for a moisturiser after only one use, but I think I like this. The moisturiser has a very watery consistency and soaks in very quickly, which I like. Other than that, there's not really that much to say about this.

Overall, I'm really impressed with Caudalie and on the whole I think it's reasonably priced. My mum has told me since I was old enough to know what skincare is that French skincare is the best, and it would seem she is correct!

I'd love to know if anyone has tried any other Caudalie products and what you thought of them!

Weekly Snaps #5

So I have amassed enough interesting experiences to share a few! It feels like I use this blog mainly as a means to discuss the weather, but I think it's just because the weather is so Hideous at the moment. With a capital H. Either way, I just haven't been doing that much because of all the rain. Between the rain and decorating flats with Dave, here's what I managed to squeeze in.

1. My parents spent the weekend in London for my Dad's graduation ceremony. The letters after his name are longer than his actual name, I swear. My mum brought me back Essie's Mint Candy Apple, which I immediately, and rather messily, painted on. I have no idea how she remembered this, I didn't even ask her to get it?! She must be actually listening when I'm harping on about anything and everything.

2. I caved to the hype surrounding this and bought a Caudalie Beauty Elixir. I picked one up for my mum too as I thought it would work wonders for her. She's only used it once and loves it already. I found this in Medusa Apothecary in Dorchester. There are only two of these shops and they're both in the South West, but it has to be the most beautiful shop I've ever been in. Think Harry Potter style apothecary and you're almost there. The man who served me was absolutely lovely and gave me more Caudalie samples than I could carry. I may do another little post on everything he gave me because it was all truly amazing.

3. David and I went to the kite festival! This is my favourite thing ever. I used to go there with a friend from school every year, and one year we bought matching pink and purple kites and named them Pinky and Perky. I would like to add this was many, many years ago. Good memories! This was probably the only sunny day of the last few weeks. Very misleading from indoors, I didn't wear enough layers and I was absolutely freezing!

4. Dave and I had Thai food for lunch one day. I love eating Thai food, it reminds me of when we were in Thailand together, many moons ago! Man I need a holiday, stat!

5. Saturday night cocktails with Dave! We both went a little 'off-menu', and requested different things. Totally the best thing to do! I had some sort of mango/lychee concoction, which was amazing! 

6. I hit the 50% mark in A Game of Thrones. It is such a good book, but probably one of the longest I have read in a long time, so I felt this was a landmark percentage! I want to get to the end so badly so that I can start watching the first series of the television programme, I don't want to start watching before just in case it ruins the book for me. 

Happy Monday everyone!

Travel A-Z!

I remembered seeing this post over on Niina's blog quite a while back and loving it. With all the rain we've been having I started to feel really nostalgic for my travelling days, so thought I would do this post! Thankfully, the sun has come out today, so I'm writing this in my conservatory in the sunshine with my feet hanging out of the door! I have a duff laptop that complains if you unplug it from the charger, so that puts paid to outside blogging!

So here we go!

A - Age you went on your first international trip.

I was three years old when I went to Greece. I don't really remember much of the holiday, but the things I do remember are pretty strange! These things must have really made an impression on me; sleeping with a lilo beside my bed incase I fell out in the night; another little girl offering me Opal Fruits at the airport; discussing the pronunciation of spaghetti on the beach (I used to say 'pasghetti'); finding a starfish, and being given a free Looney Tunes lolly everyday by the lady in the shop near our villa! Ah, the three year old mind!

B - Best foreign beer you've had and where.

I drank a LOT of Godfather beer when I was in India, in the Himalayas. It was pretty much all you could get that wasn't going to potentially kill you. I loved that the volume of alcohol was 5-8%. They didn't even know?!

C - Cuisine, favourite.

I loved the food in Thailand the best. Once I got over my food fears and stopped worrying if it was going to make me ill, it was amazing. 25baht Pad Thai on the street is one of my most memorable meals! 

Krabi, Thailand

D - Destinations. Favourite, least favourite, and why.

Out of the places I have visited, my favourite destination is definitely Australia. I just love it, the people are so friendly, the weather is amazing and the scenery is beautiful. I can't put my finger on it, I just love it. My least favourite is probably France. I know it's only just over the pond, but I always feel uncomfortable in France, like the French really don't want me there! I've not had wonderful experiences there. Maybe now I'm older and wiser I'll try again!

E - Event you experience abroad that made you say 'wow'.

This is a really difficult question because there are so many of these and there's probably a ton I don't even remember. Something that I really remember loving is one tiny little island I stayed on in Fiji. The locals would dance for us every night and they even took us to their tiny little church on Sunday morning. It was possibly the sweatiest I've ever been, but I've never felt more welcome anywhere than there.

F - Favourite mode of transport.

This is weird because I love travelling and going to new places, but I hate flying, and I know that's the obvious answer! I have an absolutely irrational fear of it. It's got worse recently and the sad thing is I can't imagine ever taking a long haul flight again. I know I will, because I want to so badly, but I don't know how I'll get over it. Answering the actual question now, my favourite way to travel is by car, because you get to see all the lovely scenery and I think it helps you get a real feel for a place and feel more at home there!

G - Greatest feeling while travelling.

Feeling really comfortable somewhere, like you belong there and should have been there all along! It's the feeling you get after a few days of exploring, when you're not the new girl anymore. Basically just finding a place that suits you and you really click with.

 H - Hottest place you've travelled to.

The more time that passes since being in these places, the less I remember the intensity of the heat. I remember having a genuinely gross sweaty upper lip in Fiji, wanting to cry because I was so hot in Thailand, and saying that leaving the hotel in Las Vegas was walking into an oven. I really can't decide which was hotter. I think maybe Thailand.

I - Incredible service you've experienced and where.

I'll never forget this, because it was so unexpected. We went to a small family run fish and chip restaurant in Mission Beach, Australia for dinner one night, and after sitting in the outdoor seating area all night, the owners gave us the keys and told us to lock up when we were done and put the keys through the letterbox! I couldn't believe how lovely and trusting they were. It made me love Mission Beach so much. 

J - Journey that took the longest.

Leh to New Delhi, hands down. We flew from Delhi to Leh, but on the way back we drove. For THREE days. The first day was the worst ever, it was 18 solid hours in Jeeps on the worst road in the world. Genuinely, it is actually the worst road in the world. I couldn't even enjoy the scenery.

K - Keepsake from your travels.

I never keep a diary at home, but everytime I travel I without fail keep a travel journal. Then I fill it with all things I gather on that trip, like leaflets, receipts for special things, everything! Really random things too.

L - Let down sight. Where and why?

In India I saw the Taj Mahal. At the time I thought it was a huge let down, but in retrospect maybe not so much? It took us five hours to drive there, and when we got there it was tiiiiny. Really small. I thought it was the Indian equivalent of a castle that you could go in and look around. That's just because 16 year old me didn't actually know the story of the Taj Mahal. We got there, looked at it, then drove back.

M - Moment you fell in love with travel.

In Greece for the second time. Looking out of the window of my room at all the little streets I hadn't walked up yet, and thinking, I'm a grown up now and can go out right now and explore by myself! That's when I realise I could explore ANYWHERE by myself. It was the most exciting feeling.

N - Nicest hotel you've stayed in.

I stayed in an amazing hotel in Australia, in my own suite! But that doesn't count because my flight was cancelled and Qantas was paying for it. Still, amazing. I loved Octopus resort in Fiji. We definitely couldn't afford it, but after the roach infested dormitories we'd been sleeping in, we really needed a treat. And a shower! On the day we arrived there were a couple getting married at the resort so we knew we'd hit gold. We were basically part of the wedding party because the place was so small!

Octopus Resort, Fiji. This place was actual, genuine real tropical paradise. Take me baaaaaack!

O - Obsession. What are you obsessed with taking pictures of when travelling?

Food. I always take pictures of my food! I have no idea why. Different foods is one of my favourite parts of travelling. This is totally weird, but I get so excited about the different crisps I'll be able to get in other countries!

P - Passport stamps. How many and from where?

Current passport - none, it's new. Old passport, LOADS. I have an Indian visa, and two stamps from every single country I went to in my gap year. And some from family holidays. I miss my old passport!

Q - Quirkiest attraction you've visited and where?

Without a doubt the giant mango in Australia. It was on the East coast somewhere, I don't really know where. We'd been driving for about 6 or 7 hours and saw a sign for Giant Mango, so we turned off. It was literally just a huge fake mango at the side of the road! 

 

R - Random experience. (Made this one up myself because R was GONE! Gasp!)

Walking down Hollywood Boulevard and being told, "If you're not living on the edge you're taking up too much room!" by a man who was polishing the stars on the walk of fame. If that's not living on the edge, I don't know what is.

S - Splurge; something you have no problem forking over money for while travelling.

This sounds really pretentious, but experiences. I have no problem paying a whack of money to go and do something really cool that I can't do in my own country. Black Water Rafting in New Zealand = amazing!

T - Touristy thing you've done.

Walked the entire length of the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Both sides of the road baby! I think that was pretty touristy.

U - Unforgettable travel memory.

All the amazing and interesting people I met from all over the world. 

 

V - Visas. How many and for where?

One in my passport for India and one in cyberspace somewhere for Australia!

W - Wine. Best glass and where?

At a vineyard in New Zealand. 

X - eXcellent view and from where?

I would imagine from the sky when I did my sky dive. If only I'd remembered to open my eyes. Damn. Aside from that, flying out of Sydney over the harbour.

Y - Years spent travelling?

Collectively, probably just over a year. More please!

Z - Zealous sports fans and where?

Can't say I've really come across any!? My friends in Australia were very defensive of Aussie rules football though.

Well that was fun! I love a good old reminisce! Looking back at all this has definitely inspired me to travel more. I will get on a plane again! Think I might start short-haul and try to see a bit more of Europe first.

If you haven't looked at Niina's blog yet, go, do it now!

Happy travels!

Weekly Snaps #4

Without further ado.. last week! This is a fairly grey post because, let's face it, its been a fairly grey week. Come on sunshine, do your thing.

1. Dave and I took Rocky for a walk just as the heaven's opened, but I didn't mind one bit because we saw this gorgeous double rainbow! That my friends, is what dreams are made of. My camera doesn't quite do it justice.

2. I know this is just a tea bag, but it has ACTUAL flowers in it. It's an Earl Grey Teapig, possibly the most luxurious (and expensive) tea I have ever tasted. There are little blue cornflowers in there because "they just look so pretty". I swear this tea has my name written all over it.

3. The island of Portland taken from our dog walk. I like to admire it from a distance. 

4. Dave and I had breakfast at Time for Tea; they probably do the best breakfast I have tasted. And compared to London prices it is SO reasonable. We love us a good breakfast.

5. The cutest His and Hers gingerbread people. I feel like the girl definitely gets the better deal here, there's way more chocolate on the girl one! We of course indulged.

6. This is weird and makes me feel a bit sick, but last weekend I discovered my friend's thumb could do this. I think I'm right in thinking that not a lot of thumbs can do that. In other news, I hadn't seen said friend for about four years, so it was lovely to spend time together.

7. Your favourite German Shepherd, Rocky!

8. The most hilarious sentence from the back of the Teapigs box; "Most Earl Greys use poor quality China base tea, which is like palming yourself off as landed gentry when all you own is a Barbour jacket." I feel like that really resonates!

So next week I plan to do a lot more crafting, and I will endeavour to send off some MA application forms. So expect some slightly more exciting photographs. Less dogs, less tea.

Happy Monday!

Book Challenge #3 - Domiknitrix

It may have seemed that I had forgotten about the book challenge that I rather optimistically set myself. This is absolutely not the case, I have just been monumentally lazy with posting about it! So here is a post that we'll backdate to Valentine's Day. 

I absolutely love giving my boyfriend handmade presents. (See previous million posts.) I'm not sure if he loves it so much, but he's really good at pretending if he doesn't. It all started two Easters ago, when I decided to make him a giant Easter themed iced cake. I won't lie, it was no oil painting, but it did taste amazing. I like to think since then that the gifts have only got better. To be fair, they couldn't really have got worse. 

For Valentine's Day this year I wanted to get Dave something super. It was the first present giving occasion that for our whole relationship that I had really been in a position to spend a bit more money. I knew that he loved my Kindle and would seriously make use of one of his own, so it was decided. A Kindle it was. But I was a tiny bit aware that it wasn't a particularly personal gift. It was very thoughtful, because I knew he would be so happy, but it didn't take much to click the order button on Amazon. So I decided to make something I'd had my eye on for a while.

I borrowed this book from a friend at uni and, I'm ashamed to say, never got round to giving it back. Keisha, if you're reading this, I have your book! And sorry. So! Every now and again I would open the book at this page and think, "Oh, I really must make that soon", close it up and put it back on the shelf. And I finally did it!

I'm so glad I decided to make it in the end; it was a fairly easy pattern and I think it turned out quite well! I hadn't done any knitting for so long, so it was almost like going back to the beginning. I really need to get a stitch counter or use some form of writing implement, because I got so confused on the second pattern piece that they are quite drastically different sizes. It didn't show up when I sewed it all together though, fortunately. The embroidery on the front isn't quite as neat and uniformed as in the book, but I think this adds to its authenticity and charm!
 

Dave absolutely loved it, and even though he is a MAN, it is still propped up lovingly on his bedside table. Probably because I would instigate the Spanish Inquisition if it ever moved.
 

Now that I've made something from this book I feel rather accomplished in the art of gothic knitting and feel rather inspired to take up another project! There are some things in the book that I won't touch with a barge pole, but other things - when done in the right colours - could be very tasteful!

Domiknitrix, check!

Nailed.

My quest for the perfect fingernail has taken me down many avenues. I feel like I'm only just discovering how to look after my nails. For example, I have a lot of excess dry skin around my fingernails which someone informed me is called a cuticle. Who knew? Mental. I've started using Lush's Lemony Flutter cuticle butter, which is just amazing. It makes my nails look so much healthier and neater, I absolutely love it. It's not too greasy, which is good, as I really can't abide having a greasy, filmy layer on my hands. So I'm glad that this soaks in quickly. 

I have also discovered Models Own. This is where all the cool nail varnish has been hiding, clearly. I recently purchased three of the new Hedkandi collaboration and I just can't get enough of them. It was 3 for 2, so it would have been foolish not to take advantage. I availed myself of Beach Party, Ibiza Mix and Disco Heaven. Now I haven't used Disco Heaven yet, but the other two are just so far up my street.   

Beach Party is the brightest, most beautiful orange colour I have ever seen. To begin with it did look a bit like I had coloured in my nails with a highlighter pen, but that look does grow on you. And Ibiza Mix speaks for itself; I love me a glitter nail varnish. I think it would probably look better layered over a more subtle colour, because the orange slightly overpowers it and you can't see the colours quite as well. 

I only painted these bad boys yesterday and I annoyingly have to take it off today, because I have work tomorrow and bright orange nails will probably not go down so well...

I really think Beach Party is the perfect orange colour for the summer; allow yourselves to imagine it against a tan. I know, right! All we need now is a bit of sunshine and warmth and we might be halfway there..

Weekly Snaps #3

I hope everyone has had  a lovely week and made the most of their extra long weekend! Here are a few photos from last week. There are less this week; I was back at work and apparently just had a less interesting time...

1. My Easter egg from my parents! This was such a nice little surprise; I can't remember the last time my parents got me and my sisters eggs?! It made it extra special because it was so unexpected.

2. I went to see 21 Jump Street with David. I feel like I haven't seen a funny film in ages, and if it is funny it usually makes me cry too - that sort of laugh-and-cry-at-the-same-time type film. But this was just pure hilarity. I've never seen Channing Tatum in anything other than girly chick flicks, where he tends to play a dancer (typecast much?!), but this role suits him down to the ground. And I just love the relationship between his and Jonah Hill's character, they really gel well. I can't recommend it enough!

3. Some gorgeous handmade coasters my mum brought back for me from Cornwall. I always seems to have a little collection of glasses on my bedside table and they have been known to leave the odd watermark here and there. But no longer! And these motivate me to take any surplus glasses downstairs to the dishwasher!

4. The Easter egg I made for David of which I am ridiculously proud. Words cannot describe. It's filled with all of his favourite chocolates. And he loved it. Success!

5. A lovely lunch my Mum and I shared last week. I love meals like this; I tend to get a bit bored if I have to trawl through a whole plate of the exact same thing. All washed down with a nice glass of elderflower presse.

6. I badly need to do something with all my Vogue magazines. I've had a subscription for about four years now and I find it so difficult to throw them away! I have about five times what you see in the picture. At the moment, I'm thinking of giving them to the textiles department of my old school so students can use them for inspiration for projects. Can anyone think of anything really cool I could do with them? I'm totally at a loss.

7. Picked up this handbag in the Warehouse sale. I think they always have really good sales, but that might be because I think everything is so overpriced in the first place! I love this though and it goes with EVERYTHING.

8. I can't get enough of this lip scrub. I seem to be constantly on the lookout for something to soften up my lips. It tastes amazing! I use my Elizabeth Arden lip balm afterwards and I actually think it might be working! 

I have vowed to blog more this week, but we'll see...

Happy Thursday!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Sunday everyone! I've just got back from a super long walk along the beach with my family, which involved a lovely cold can of Coca Cola, as Lent is over today! A happy day for all, I'm sure you'll agree. I hope everyone else has had equally lovely days.

I always get super excited for Easter Sunday; my boyfriend always gets me the coolest most original egg. He is simply marvellous at sourcing gifts. We've given each other an Easter egg every year since we met, I have no idea why - it's just something we started and then never stopped. And it would be weird if we stopped now. This year I wanted to do something extra different. I'd been doing a little casual egg browsing and was wholly unimpressed by this years offerings! The only thing I could potentially have gone for was a Hotel Chocolat treat, but at a minimum of £25 each, I thought they were a little steep. 

In a stroke of genius when I was at work one night, I decided to papier mache a giant egg and fill it with all of David's favourite chocolates. I knew he would love it and it was super thoughtful. And so my adventure began in the confectionary aisle of the supermarket...

 

Then I papier mached a giant balloon! In hindsight, it is slightly too big and doesn't have enough layers to be quite strong enough.. I am a HUGE perfectionist. And I tell you, it's a curse. When I painted it, it went all floppy again, so I declared a state of emergency and put it in the oven to dry out. Which would have worked a treat, had it not warped the shape of one of the halves so they didn't fit together anymore. Fear not, copious amounts of sellotape later, the egg is whole. And full of lots of yummy goodies that will probably last Dave the whole year. 

I can't even explain how excited I am to give this to Dave, I think it's the best thing I've ever made for him. Here is the finished article...

So proud!

I'm going to have to tell him that once it's opened, it sure isn't going back together again. So maybe take it home and show it off before he cracks it open. Because it's fairly unimpressive without the ribbon, plus some sellotape and in two halves!

Hope everyone has had a lovely extra long weekend, roast dinners all round. :-)

Weekly Snaps #2

Ok, so fortnightly snaps this time. I've just finished two weeks holiday from work and had the most delightful time. In the first week I did lots of blogging, but one of my sisters was home from uni for the second week so I ended up not even turning my laptop on. Here are a few snaps of the most delightfully sunny two weeks!

Click the photo to make it bigger so you can actually see what all these things are..

1. At the end of my first weeks holiday, I went to London to pick my sister up and help her carry her ridiculously heavy luggage home. In my three whole years of living in London, I never actually stopped to watch the street performers in Covent Garden. But these guys were seriously amazing. I have never seen anyone look quite so at home on a unicycle. But then I have seen relatively few people on unicycles. Look how high that thing is!

2. This cute little florist in Covent Garden is new to me; its in a new development that wasn't finished when I left. I believe it's called St Martin's Courtyard, and its just like a little village. We sat there for about half an hour and I almost completely forgot I was in the middle of the city.

3. I cashed in my Glossybox offer of a complimentary hand and arm massage with Molton Brown at Harrods, and received this cute little gift bag full of tons of samples from their new skincare range. The eye cream is AMAZING.

4. The courtyard in the V&A is one of my favourite places in London, strangely enough. My sister lives in South Kensington, a stone's throw from the V&A, she can practically see this from her window yet she'd never been! We sat and had lunch there in the sunshine! 

5. Again, a first for me! I went on my first Thames river cruise. It wasn't one of the actual tours, we just hopped on one for the clippers for a more scenic journey to Greenwich Market. I snapped this photo when we directly under the London Eye. 

6. Took this in the reflection of my sister's sunglasses. This is probably the most arty photo I've ever taken and I'm ridiculously proud!

7. I had a birthday!

8. We ate at The Stable (again) for my birthday, and this was the view from our table. 

9. Garlic bread! The weirdest, most buttery garlic bread I've ever eaten. This garlic bread + lilac jeans = disaster.

10. Dave and I went to town with the sole purpose of buying a Rossi's ice cream. If you haven't tasted it you won't understand, but its the best. It's practically famous.

11. Said ice cream.

12. The Hunger Games! I won't go into this now, but I wasn't massively impressed with the film. If you've seen it but haven't read the books, I would LOVE to know what you thought of it. 

13. Sat here for a few hours on my birthday, waiting for everyone to finish work so we could do birthday type things. I was really enjoying myself until I looked down and saw a dead pigeon floating in the harbour. Directly beneath where I was sitting.

14. Dave and I went on a super long walk with...

15. Rocky the dog! Only the best dog ever. Dog owners, feel free to contest this.

16. It was a seriously long walk, so a Lush bath bomb on return was a prerequisite. I didn't realise this had glitter in it until it was far too late. Needless to say, I am still finding glitter now.

Wowza. Terribly sorry if this is awfully boring, it wasn't supposed to be this long... Also, it may appear that I have forgotten about my book challenge. Well this is just not so. I have an incredibly overdue post on something I knitted in February that looks suspiciously like a heart. When I've taken some photos it's going straight on here. I'm also planning to knit a German Shepherd before April is out, but don't hold me to that. 

Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine! :-)

Weekly Snaps 1.

Pretend it's Sunday. I feel like I need to install some kind of structure in this blog, so instead of collecting enough blog worthy pictures and then randomly posting them whenever, I'm going to post on a Sunday regardless of whether or not its interesting enough. A true portrayal of my week! So. Last week.

1. Revlon Nail Varnish in 211 - Charming. A lilac-y dream!

2. I love scented candles so much, but I find that the ones that burn the best and with the strongest fragrance are quite expensive. I chanced upon this bad boy in Ikea, for only 89p! They had so many lovely scents - I may or may not have bought more than one.

3. A blue rose. A BLUE ROSE?! I saw this at our local florist and stood outside staring for a while. Am I very behind in not knowing about these?

4. The most retro nail accessory I think I've ever seen. My grandma gave this to us on one of her cupboard cleaning sessions; I swear it's literally from the 50's. As old as it may be, it actually works and for possibly the first time ever, I did not smudge my nails! Win.

5. The best dog in the world. Rocky the German Shepherd. 

6. The most gorgeous day ever, photographed from the window of my workplace. When at work. It doesn't get much worse than that..

7. My Harrods Glossybox! The most exciting day of the month.

8. I ate a waffle with syrup and strawberries. It was good. Waffle convert.

9. Maxfactor Fantasy Fire. Apparently this is difficult to get hold of.. I managed to find two pots in my closest Superdrug! I'm not mad about dark purple, but this has the most insane amount of different coloured glitter in it. I love it!

10. A Burt's Bees tinted lipbalm. Well technically just the packaging. I just thought the packaging was super nice. Easily taken in by these things.

11. The tulips I got my Mumma for Mothers Day. This may have been slightly selfish because tulips are my all time favourite flower ever. 

12. My sister has of late become obsessed with the vanilla latte. She's trawled every Starbucks in London trying to find vanilla syrup to buy, to no avail. But I found some in my sleepy seaside town! So I bought it to give to her for her birthday. She then subsequently came home, walked into my room and saw it.

Review; Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick

If you're anything like me, the words Elizabeth Arden will not really incite much excitement. I have a mental block on it just because you can buy it in a chemist and because my Granny wears Elizabeth Arden perfume. I mean, don't get me wrong, she always smells lovely, it just doesn't make me see it as a relevant brand. So swiftly after saying all this, let me wholeheartedly take it back.

I was watching one of Fleur's monthly favourites videos (I'm very sorry I don't remember which one it was) and she said she was loving Elizabeth Arden's Eight Hour Repair lip balm. I'd obviously heard of the original Eight Hour Cream, due to its somewhat cult status, but I had no idea it came in stick format! I have a real problem with chapped lips. I mean, a real problem. I can't wear lipgloss, lipstick or anything with any slight colour in because it just looks hideous on cracked lips. I swear I've tried every lip balm going and nothing seems to work. I'm am slightly to blame; I have been known to bite my lips when anxious and I often don't even know I'm doing it, which is a huge part of my problem. So I knew I absolutely had to try this. I was getting so desperate that even the price didn't put me off. It is slightly pricier at £20, but you have to think about these things relatively. If I take a packed lunch to work for just four days of the week, I'll have paid for it. Done!

I love the packaging for this - it's so luxurious for a lip balm and slightly justifies the price. I won't lie, it doesn't smell amazing, but it doesn't have an entirely odious scent. It does, however, seem to work really well. My lips are barely broken at all and I can actually smile without wincing, which is refreshing. I used this overnight and in the morning my lips felt amazingly soft; usually when I lip-balm before bed I find it makes my teeth feel a bit funny the next morning?

Its SPF 15 too which means it'll be perfect for summer too. You just can't win, in the winter I get chapped lips in the cold, then in the summer I get chapped lips because they burn!

This has swiftly become a firm favourite of mine; I'll keep using it and we'll see if it works long term!

Lunch at The Stable

 

Yesterday we had an absolute Mothers Day feast. (So unsure about the apostrophe rule with Mothers Day. Mother's Day? Mothers' Day? ARGH). My sisters both came home from uni to surprise my mum, so it was super nice to all be back together for the weekend. It was particularly nice to not be knocking around the house by myself all the time..

So on Sunday we went for lunch at The Stable, on Weymouth harbourside. I absolutely love it there, it's so rustic and I'm a sucker for their Lamb Roast pizza. You have never tasted a pizza this good; it's piled high with roast lamb, mint, roasted onions and roast sweet potato. It's a taste explosion. All they offer is pizza, pie and 57 different varieties of cider. I wasn't sure if my mum would like it, as I wouldn't exactly put her down as a cider kinda gal, but she completely fell for its rustic charm too. 

I had a Lyme Bay sparkling cider and I am SUCH a lightweight I had a hangover by 6pm. Which then developed into a full blown, terrible head cold. So now I'm completely blaming the cider for a cold I probably already had anyway. 

When we finished our meal we came outside and were confronted by this view.

As much as I miss London and really want to move back, I completely love Weymouth. I mean, look at that!

All in all, a quite wonderful day was had by all.

Hope you all had lovely weekends!

Confessions of a nail biter...

I absolutely love this time of year. The evenings are getting lighter, the sun is shining more and everyone just seems generally happier. Particularly myself. I swear I'm a nicer person in the warmer months. Put me in a hot, foreign country and I'm practically a saint.

However, I find I NEVER know what to wear at this time of year; I'm always too hot, too cold, too colourful, not colourful enough - NIGHTMARE. I always want a bit of a colour injection around about now, but definitely don't want the hefty price tag that comes with it. So now comes the vacuous, girly bit. That I LOVE. 

For nineteen of my twenty-years I've been a nail-biter. Although, pretty sure I wasn't biting them straight from the womb, so maybe slightly less. My impetus to stop was an intended lighthearted comment from my boyfriend, calling me man-hands. But man, that stings deep. So I just stopped! I can't even fathom why I ever bit my nails, they are so much nicer now and the thought of gnawing at them and putting them in. my. mouth, is totally disgusting. It's equivalent to picking up a nail clipping and putting it in your mouth. Sorry, that was gross, too gross.

ANYWAY. I've now become obsessed with nail varnish. I never really touched the stuff pre-non nibbling because, let's face it, nail varnish does not look good on a millimetre of fingernail.

I love these nail varnishes. I think Revlon nail varnish is so good, it's so shiny and full of colour and stays on for a really long time. Please excuse my somewhat basic terms, I don't know the nail varnish lingo. I think these are the perfect pop of colour to gently ease me into my spring and summer clothes, without spending a small fortune. Which I categorically do not have.

It goes against everything I believe in to like lilac nail varnish; I had a lilac bedroom when I was about twelve and ever since then I pretty much hated it. Oh, but there's change in the air. I just love this, it's so different and really makes me feel like spring is here. I'm really going all the way too - it's not just the nails, I adore these little beauties from M&S...

When I first saw these, I thought they were disgusting, but I literally cannot stop thinking about them. If worn correctly, I think these could be seriously cool. 

Think about it.

Clearing out the cupboards!

I currently have a surplus of days off on my hands. A blessing, some might say. A curse in disguise, I swiftly answer. I swear my mother goes out of her way to find jobs for me to do. Not that I mind one iota helping out around the house, I actually love cleaning and making rooms look pretty, but I hate uncomfortable jobs. And clearing out the kitchen cupboards required me to sit for hours of freezing cold floor tiles with my head shoved in a disintegrating cupboard.

Now this post is also fairly embarrassing, as my find will probably indicate just how long it's been since someone showed these cupboards any attention.. But, I found these!

Proper 70's throwback!

I absolutely adore these. The only thing that has crossed my mind, is that if one was to use these for their intended purpose, one would be required to write the recipe down before one started; they cleverly have the recipe written on the base of the dish, which would be covered with potato after Step 1. Given that my baking exploration has not gone well of late, I might just look at these a while longer and appreciate them without any food in them. It's probably safer.

I'm going to have a little browse and see if I can find anything to go with them!

Long time no blog!

I feel like I've neglected my blog a bit. I've discovered the hideously addictive world of YouTube beauty videos and I've been well and truly ensnared. The burning obsession seems to have now become but a glowing ember, but I've come out the other side with a weird desire to vlog. Not sure if this is a good idea. We'll see.

Now today is a very exciting day. Today I have left the Blackberry world and entered the iWorld. I just coined that phrase ALL BY MYSELF. Good, huh? I have a shiny white iPhone 4 that I think I love too much. I know that I've caught on about three years too late; I remember in the first year of uni being so in awe of all the 'cool kids' uploading their super hip Instagram photos. Yep, that was pretty much a recurrent theme right through to the third year. And subsequent graduation!

But today, I present to you, my new favourite piece of technology!

 

Wahhh, I love it so much! And I LOVE Instagram. I think this is going to make blogging so much easier and way less painless, so expect lots more pictures! 

The only thing I'm very slightly worried about is the white parts getting all make-uppy. Does anyone with a white phone have this problem?

Happy Friday everyone!

A week in the life... #2

It turns out that last week was fairly eventful too. Perhaps even more so than the week before! So here are a few pictures of my week.

On Saturday I went to Plymouth with my almost whole family. One of my sisters goes to uni there, so we drove down to see her and meet my uncle and cousins there, who live in Cornwall. My grandma had been staying for the week so we drove her down and swapped her with them to take her the rest of the way home! We had a lovely lunch and went to the aquarium. I love doing things like that, especially with my younger cousins; it gives me the perfect excuse to behave like a bit of a child. I absolutely LOVED this tank; it curved backwards behind you so it was almost like you were in the tank.Very cool. 

I went fabric shopping with my Grandma and picked up some adorable fabric for making all sorts of lovely things. Dog print, again. One thinks one may be obsessed. I've already whipped up a doorstop with some of it.

On Valentines Day, my boyfriend told me to expect an adventure. I literally had no idea where we were going or what we would be doing. All I knew was that I had to wear warm clothes and take a torch. My imagination was going mental. My surprise was a nighttime trip to Moors Valley Country Park, where The Electric Forest had taken over the treetops. It was basically a light, sound and art installation through a forest trail. It took about two hours to walk through it and it was absolutely AMAZING.

I finished both these books this week. Usually I hate reading more than one book at any one time, so I really don't know how this happened. I suddenly had four books on the go and my mind was very muddled! I love Dave Gorman books - he is so funny and has the best attitude to life ever. They always inspire me to do something I've never done before and to stop being such a wimp. I also finished 'The Four Hour Work Week'. I won't lie, it took me a while to trawl through this. It's about how to do less and achieve more, but not in a lazy way. I like non-fiction, but this was non-fiction at it's most extreme. It did help me relax a bit about what I am doing with my life though and now I have all sorts of exciting ideas!

I've done lots of scrapbooking this week. My room is a total mess and as I've gone through it I've found lots of scraps of things I wanted to keep that I never got round to putting in. I like to stick everything in a book because it appeals to my very organised, slightly OCD, nature. This way, it's much more difficult to absentmindedly put something important in the bin.

My red rose from Valentines Day that is absolutely towering over my chest of drawers. I put it in my mum's antique vase thing - it's green glass and very, very tall and thin. I love it. Then there is my card, simple and understated, just how I like it. 

And then the coolest thing, hearts projected onto the forest floor at The Electric Forest. 

Less hearts next week, promise.

Falling out of love with Delia.

Oh my. Oh my, oh my. After my recent discovery of Delia's Complete How To Cook, I tried to emulate my previous success and make a lemon meringue pie. Using, no less, my new pie dish. Which I love. HOWEVER. The lemon meringue pie was a bit fat fail of a pie. Granted, it does look ok and I really thought I'd done it. If only we could have just looked at it forever. 

 So the meringue could have been a little higher. The whisked egg whites were perfect right until I put the sugar in with them; I think maybe I used the wrong type and it was too heavy. It tasted yummy though. 

The pastry was a little blighter this time too. I just couldn't roll it out any wider, so I ended up stretching it a little to reach the rim of the dish. Bad idea. After about 5 minutes in the oven the pastry had slipped down the sides of the dish leaving little crusty bits along the top. YUM. 

And now we move onto the lemon filling. This is the first time I have ever used cornflour and I wasn't exactly au fait with what it does. The recipe tells you to boil the water with the lemon zest in it, add it to the cornflour and then transfer all of this back to the pan and bring to the boil while still stirring, so it doesn't stick. I didn't even get a chance to stop it sticking; it was like a big lump of lemony wallpaper paste before I could even think what was happening. But then I added the rest of the ingredients and all seemed to be well again. So I piled it all into the pastry case and popped it in the oven. 

As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So, Sunday evening, main courses polished off, out comes the pie. As soon as it got cut I could see something had gone drastically wrong. The meringue looked and tasted fine, but the filling was like cement?! I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be silky and melt in your mouth-y, whereas mine looked as set as it possibly could be and, put simply, lumpy. Which my dad will happily attest to; he had one bite and just couldn't go on. My grandma ate all of hers, but I think she was just being nice. So, the rest of the pie went in the bin.

After making the leek and goats cheese tart from this book, I mentioned that it was pretty difficult to follow in the heat of the moment, due to it being one huge chunk of prose. I'm not saying it's entirely the fault of the book, but that most definitely goes some way to explain why this went so wrong. I got all flappy and kept losing my place and splashing egg everywhere. Nightmare. So today I am making some Earl Grey cupcakes to remind myself I can bake a little bit well. 

Can anyone shed any light on what I might have done wrong?

A week in the life...

 I actually wrote this post last week, about the previous week, but have been so lazy with photos that it's taken me this long to finish it. But I thought I would post it anyway.

I've seen this sort of post on so many blogs, and I absolutely love reading them. I think it appeals to the nosiness of the human nature. Not in a bad way, it's just so interesting to read what other people love and what they do with their time. Some people are so creative and do the craziest things - I think that's what makes blogs so inspiring.

So, I thought I would just post a few photos of my week!

On Tuesday, my boyfriend picked me up from work and took me out to dinner! This doesn't happen every week, don't get too excited. We went to The Stable, a new restaurant that's just opened in Weymouth in what used to be the harbour master's store room. It was absolutely AMAZING. I want everyone to go there and appreciate the sheer joy. I will blog about it later and make everyone go there.

I bought this super cute Valentines Day card in M&S. I hate really cutesy or overly sentimental cards, and thought this was just the right side of cute. Ironic though, as my boyfriend and I both suffer horrendously from sea sickness. Thus, will never be on a boat together.

My mum went to a Jamie at Home party a while ago - I was invited but politely declined! She bought this gorgeous pie dish because that very same day I'd been complaining that we had barely anything we needed in the kitchen. Still in dire need of a pestle and mortar if anyone can point me in the direction of a nice and realistically priced one. There's only so much longer that I can use a ramequin and a rolling pin...

I've spent a fair amount of this week knitting. I'm using a super simple pattern from a  book that I've never used before, to make something heart shaped... I'm planning a whole post for it when it's finished, but until then this is all you're getting!

So, if I have an equally interesting week next week and then the week after that, this post might become a regular thing! One can only hope...

Hope you all have thoroughly exciting weekends!

Book Challenge #2 - Delia's Complete How to Cook

Leek and goat's cheese tart

So we move onto book #2 of the challenge! I think this challenge is going to take me a little longer than I had at first anticipated; so far it seems to take me three or four days to work up to actually making anything. I choose my book and recipe/project, and then think about it for a few days, before sitting myself down and having stern yet encouraging words! That said, I am relishing the challenge and I've already learnt SO much. 

I bought this book just at the start of my second year at university - I'd just moved from halls into a lovely little house with a little kitchen (in retrospect the kitchen was TOO little) and I was convinced this book would teach me how to cook and I'd be a proper little homemaker. Needless to say, the kitchen was always post-apocalyptic and I didn't use the book once. Until now!

There's a story to this one too. When I first met my boyfriend, four and a half years ago, I told him I was really good at making quiche. Truth was, I'd made one in Food Technology when I was in Year Eight. In my defence I do remember it turning out really quite well. So it transpired that I would make him a quiche for a picnic lunch. I got as far as trying to roll the pastry out and the tears of pure frustration began... I couldn't roll it out without it going into holes and sticking to my work surface, no matter how much flour I dusted it with! It wasn't so much dusted as absolutely coated, actually. The pastry went in the bin and for about four years I have lived with the constant teasing EVERYTIME someone so much as mentions quiche. It's been tough and there have been tears. So I really had something to prove this time.

Thankfully, Delia came through for me. I can't quite put into words quite how proud I am of this. After four years of quiche related bullying, I had assigned myself to the ranks of those who cannot make pastry. But look, look! I can! Turns out that the thirty minutes in the fridge is really quite crucial.. oops!

The goats cheese and leeks go SO well together - I love leeks with all my heart and goats cheese not so much, but I think the absolute leekiness of it cancels it out somewhat. Either way, it's entirely delicious and I would never have thought myself capable of creating such a masterpiece!

My only really tiny qualm with this book is the way its written. The instructions are just one big bulk of text, no numbers or bullet points or anything to separate it and make it more manageable. I almost found myself needing a highlighter while I was reading this recipe. Or a magnifying glass. An eye test, perhaps? I'm afraid I won't be writing the recipe out, it really is so long and I keep losing my place. I would seriously recommend this book though, it's full of food that normal people actually eat, as opposed to fussy, fiddly things that just aren't realistically achievable. 

I'm definitely going to use this book a lot more, I feel like I've 'discovered' it now. And now I know I can make pastry, I feel like the world is my oyster!

Happy Baking!