Tuesday 31 May 2011

Beautiful wedding.

With just 3 and a half weeks to go I'm fizzing with nervous energy, I'm not nervous about getting married (much), I'm nervous about everything coming together in time. I'm sure it will, I just have to stay focused. We achieved a lot last week:

My ring - check
Robs suit and shoes - check
Hymn book ready for order of service - check
Paid church fee - check
Had dress fitting and hair trial - check

Still outstanding:
Robs ring
Order of service
Table plan
Meeting with photographer

I know they'll be other things, but it makes me feel better thinking I have everything in hand. I can't believe how quickly it's come around.

I stumbled upon the below shoot about a year ago, I love the detail, I love the retro feel, I love everything about it.




So sweet, fingers crossed our day will be just as lovely...I wonder if Rob could learn to juggle in 3 weeks.....too much?
xo.

Sunday 29 May 2011

Sunday matinee...

I had big (exciting) plans for today, I was off to Nottingham's biggest car boot sale, I could barely contain my excitement this morning as I got myself and LV ready...I was in such a great mood that I bundled LV into the car and we headed to Cafe Nero for a cheeky pan aux raisin to make sure we were fuelled up to the max and wouldn't need any breaks for food while we were at the sale. My excitement was halted when on arrival at the car boot sale site Sal (passenger, sister and fellow car boot attendee) read aloud the sign at the entrance 'no car boot sale today' WHAT?! no car boot sale, I can't describe how disappointed I felt. Deflated we headed home and I tried to come up with some alternative activities for the day. We ran some errands, tidied LV's room, ventured out to the shops and then settled down for a Sunday matinee. I'm not sure who was more excited about this, me or LV...LV was definitely giddy about the popcorn, but I was hyper with glee as I've had visions of us settling down to watch a Sunday afternoon film since LV was born. I don't know why, I just think it's fun and I think that as LV gets older it'll be a nice family moment.

The 'moment' lasted half an hour...Rob fell asleep and as soon as LV ran out of popcorn she was ready to hype around again, watching a film was a no go. Oh well, it was a nice half hour, I'll probably never know what happens in the rest of Kung Fu Panda, but to be honest I'm not that fussed.



Looks like this could be the best film Robs ever seen!

First taste of popcorn and I'm sure it won't be the last.
xo.

Friday 27 May 2011

Monsoon mad.

I love Monsoon. I love their ladieswear, but I am mostly smitten with their childrenswear. They make the cutest clothes for little girls, I truly adore them. They are pricey (in my opinion) and it's hard to justify spending lots of money on clothes that will get covered in food/paint/mud within 5 minutes, but they are quite simply lovely.

Baby Girl Katie Blouse £18

Baby Girl Polly Shell Top £24 

Elizabeth Print Jumpsuit £26

Baby Girl Cicely Check Camisole £18

Baby Girl Gingham Playsuit £16

I caved...I bought...I had to. LV is now the proud new owner of the Baby Girl Gingham Playsuit. This will be her 'best' summer outfit, she can wear it to EVERYTHING that requires a 'best' outfit like friends birthday parties or sitting nicely on the sofa not playing with anything messy. Perfect.

xo.




Thursday 26 May 2011

Wedding Hair.

I have my first wedding hair trial on Monday, I'm excited, but also a bit nervous. I have an idea of what I want, something like the below:


My fave!

I love all styles, but think the second is probably the easiest to achieve as well as being more timeless. I'm a massive fan of plaits, but I'm not convinced that they're right for my wedding. So I think I'll work to picture 2 and will post the results next week. I can't believe the wedding is only 4 weeks away, yikes and we still have so much to do:
Order of service
Rings
Suit
Ties
Table plan
Presents
Honeymoon
Shoes for LV
2 Bridesmaid dresses
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek stay calm. I have two days off work before the wedding so hopefully I can get some last minute bits done then. Hen next weekend...can't wait.
xo.

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Say what LV?

The below took place as I entered LV's bedroom to collect her this morning:

Me: 'Morning LV'
LV: 'Morning mummy' pointing at her pillow 'It's dirty and soft'
Me: 'That was clean on yesterday, it's not dirty'
LV: 'Oh, it's flowery and soft, not dirty'
Me:'That's right'
LV: 'I'll have my cake now' as LV went to bed last night I had cakes in the oven ready for cake Wednesday in work...
Me: 'Not for breakfast, maybe after nursery'
LV: 'I'll just have a big half now'
A big half hahaha...I didn't cave...cake at 6.30am sounds amazing but we always wait until after 7am to eat cake it's our law.

xo.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Crafty cards and amazing muffins.

We took things pretty easy today after dashing about yesterday. LV and I made a few cards to send to friends, she's chief sticker. She's getting really good at keeping the glue on the thing she's trying to stick ...less mess, excellent.


I have come to the conclusion that you can be rubbish at drawing and not very good at cutting shapes out, but so long as you use coloured card the result will be semi-attractive! (e.g freaky stars and lopsided bunny head, oh and the snail with an eye on its neck).

Then we baked my favourite: Blueberry & Almond Muffins.


Amazing.
This is how we got there...

Ran out of muffin cases.

11 went in, 10 came out...Magic! Not really, one got really burnt and I felt embarrassed by it so I chucked it before taking the pic.

Ingredients:
200g Plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground mixed spice
50g ground almonds
175g Caster sugar
200ml buttermilk
1 egg (large)
50g butter (melted)
100g blueberries
2 tbsp chopped/flaked almonds (to top with)

Makes 12 muffins

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, mixed spice, sugar and ground almonds into mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl beat buttermilk, egg and butter together.
4. Mix dry and wet ingredients together until smooth.
5. Fold in blueberries.
6. Top with chopped/flaked almonds.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.

= Totally gorgeous blueberry and almond muffins, we're going to eat them with custard after a Sunday roast dinner. YUM.

xo.




Saturday 21 May 2011

I heart vintage crockery..

Our day started at 6am, LV was up like a lark "Mummy I'm hiding, I'm hiding, come find me', I'd have preferred a leisurely lie in, but once she's up, she's up and she's so perky it doesn't usually take me long before I'm bouncing around after her. We got ready for the day ahead, ate breakfast and then we didn't stop ALL DAY, I'm exhasuted.

It went a bit like this:

Writing out playlist for arrival drinks (Wedding)
Present buying for LV's friends birthday party
Taking LV to said friends party
Appointment at florists to discuss Wedding flowers - table arrangements
Charity shop perusal - found two more wedding vases, a lovely tea cup and a lamp shade..yippeee
Lunch at Pizza Express - (LV slept the for the whole meal...this never happens)
Phone call to check on Auction bids...I WON!!!!!
Trip to Auction to collect winnings
Home via the garden centre for compost
Sorting through winnings
Re-potting tomato plants (extra exciting news, there's a tiny tomato on my mutilated plant...seriously against all odds!)
Dinner at Sal & Toms
Collapse

Today's fabulous finds:

Lovely pink vintage tea cup.


Two more wedding vases (total £4...amazing)


Pink, grey & white fringed lampshade, couldn't resist (£1) and it has a home already!


Fabulous.


Auction winnings...tea party equipment:

Mixed vintage crockery.



I love a good auction. Tomorrow I would like to do...NOTHING.
xo.

Friday 20 May 2011

Auction Day.

Friday is my favourite day of the working week, for obvious reasons. There is another reason why I love Friday's though and that's because it's auction day...well, not strictly true, Saturday is auction day but Friday is lot release day! Yippee. I like to view everything online, make a list of rooms/lots I want to see and then wait impatiently for the working day to end and my auction adventure to begin. I have managed to get some great pieces at the auction including a G-plan sideboard, an Ercol drop leaf table with stickleback chairs, a chest of drawers, a floor lamp and a gilt framed mirror all for very reasonable prices. Today I'm on a new mission, a mission to find gorgeous vintage china, I'm doing this for a number of reasons:
1. I love it
2. My hen do is a tea party (to start with) and I need some equipment
3. I love it
4. I'm hosting a Strawberry tea party for Cancer Research UK in July and can use it for this
5. I love it
I think you'll agree a trip to the auction is indeed a must. This is what I'll be keeping an eye out for:


Love

Love

Love.

xo.





Thursday 19 May 2011

Wedding Day...at nursery

As I lay in bed last night drifting gently towards a peaceful 8 hours I was gripped with panic as I remembered that it was fancy dress at nursery tomorrow, but not just that (I have an emergency Minnie mouse costume for these times) the theme was weddings! LV doesn't have any white dresses, no princess costumes, no tiaras, nothing remotely weddingy. A problem. Then it occurred to me, LV does have a pair of bunny ears (from last months Easter bunny party), she could go as the Wedding Bunny! Thank goodness, a solution, so I went to sleep having solved this dilemma. When I woke I must admit the idea wasn't quite so genius, but I decided to go with it and LV was all over the idea!

Here she is, the Wedding Bunny!


She definitely stood out from the crowd.
xo.

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Say what LV?

The below took place whilst I was flitting about trying to get us ready for work/nursery:

LV: 'Mummy mummy it's Santa Claus' (as she stands in front of the TV)
Me: 'Really, are you sure it's Santa' (perplexed with it being May)
LV: 'Mummy come see, it's Santa'
Me: 'Mummy's just trying to get ready for work poppet, hold on'
LV: 'MUMMY, MUMMY, MUMMY'
Me: (going to the TV) ' OK, where's Santa'
LV: 'There...there....there he is'
Me: 'That's not Santa, that's Mickey Mouse with a wizards hat on...'
LV: 'oh it's Santa Mouse'
Me: 'No, it's Mickey Mouse'
LV: 'OK Mummy' (said in a tone like she was letting me win!)

I wake up excited about what she'll have to say that day...
xo.

Tuesday 17 May 2011

We grow our own vege...not very well

I thought it time to post progress on the plants we bought a few weeks ago. You'll remember I was a little baffled by the instructions provided by the garden centre assistant, but thought 'how hard can it be?' well, it appears to be very hard...they're just not thriving as I'd hoped. There's a range of issues, the pepper plant hasn't grown at all since we bought it, the chili plant has grown a tiny bit but it's bottom leaves are turning yellow, the plum tomato plant is doing ok and has definitely increased in size, but the other tomato plant is a total let down, it hasn't really grown and now it's leaves are breaking off....I also committed a faux pas with this one as I was sure the garden centre assistant instructed me to remove the flowers from the plant so I did this (without too much thought), to later learn that the flowers were the tomatoes and I had in fact mutilated it! Here is how they looked 4 weeks ago:


Here they are now, a sorry bunch, particularly the tomato plant i tortured accidentally...

(L-R) Mutilated tomato plant, energetic plum tomato plant, stunted pepper plant, yellow leaved chili plant.

I will persevere until the bitter end (which I don't think is far away).
xo.

Sunday 15 May 2011

Banana and cinnamon muffins for breakfast?...go on then

The wedding diet was supposed to start last week, it didn't. I have no excuse, it just didn't happen and now I'm seeing a bit of a worrying pattern...when I'm feeling a bit anxious I eat. However, I haven't given up all hope of shedding a couple of pounds before the big day, I'm hoping nervous energy will boost my metabolism and I'm going to try and be very sensible for the next 6 weeks. Before I made this decision I baked banana and cinnamon muffins, so I had to delay the start of the diet, no big deal, I'll start tomorrow..promise. During the week breakfast is a rushed affair, I tend to be applying mascara whilst shovelling cereal into my mouth whilst negotiating with LV that a two course breakfast will suffice. So, at the weekend, we try to make a bit more of an event out of breakfast and we all sit down at the table to eat together....Rob didn't make it this morning, he was struggling to keep more than one eye open so I gave him a lie in pass (so kind). Muffins will be off the menu for a few weeks, starting tomorrow!








xo.

Thursday 12 May 2011

Is it mad to get excited about a fridge?

I'm thinking that the answer to this question is definitely yes, but I just can't help it. I love looking at pictures of kitchens, I drift off into 'dream home' zone where I fantasize about how I could decorate my own. I have what I want in my minds eye, a cosy hub for all family activity, where we cook, relax, eat together....I'm collecting the contents and will hopefully make my vision a reality someday soon. Until then check out this amazing fridge!


It's massive...love the colour too and then I found this...

an amazing pastel coloured cooker!

Dreamy.

I just totally love them. A kitchen with items like these above would definitely inspire me to spend more time there thus forcing me to learn to cook something other than cake?! and if it didn't, I'd just sit in it, admiring it, all day long.
xo.

Monday 9 May 2011

America...stop stealing my friends!

This weekend was bitter sweet, I had the pleasure of hanging with my my favourite gang of gal pals, but it was tinged with sadness as we were saying 'au revoir' to two  members, George and Jo. George is off to California and Jo New York, sounds rubbish I know. Both are transferring with work and both are about to embark on what I'm sure will be life changing adventures. I'm proud and excited for them. I'm also pretty psyched about heading out to the US of A myself to pay the girls a visit. So, the leaving do, what a hoot we had, there was marshmallows, pizza, cookies, chips and dip...balloons, stars and stripes themed tablecloths, paper plates and a PINATA!!amazing. There was music, dancing, cocktails, laughter and an incredibly painful headache the morning after to the extent where I had to support my head with my hands as I descended the stairs, but it was indeed a small price to pay for a fabulous party, with beautiful friends.

Another key highlight was Ally coming to bed (an hour after me) and announcing to me as I stirred that she was not LV, this I realised as LV is my daughter, 2.5 years old, whereas Al is 28 and I have no recollection of giving birth to her! After this misunderstanding she collapsed into bed and instructed I turn the light off.....'sure no probs Al', I've only been asleep for an hour and then woken in unusual circumstances with you claiming not to be my daughter!! A lowlight was receiving a text message at 7am (4 hours after getting into bed, 3 hours after the offspring mix up) that woke me, from a colleague stating he 'still had my fake Christmas tree at his and when would I like it back..' ummmm not now, how about at CHRISTMAS!! and not 7am on a Sunday morning.

Highlights:


Me and Jo, I am short, but not a borrower - Jo is standing on a ledge

This is lovely, apart from the double chin I'm sporting but I thought I'd kindly take one for the team as the others look splendid. Jo, George, Em, Me (with the double chin).


Sneaky, sneaky Emily!


Hahahahaha


Jo, Han, Al, George, Em, Me (trying to hide a cigarette - naughty)

Thank you for a fantastic night girls...(and for all the other fantastic days/nights over the last 13 years). xo.

Friday 6 May 2011

Say what LV?

I love LV's interpretation of some of the classics, she's clearly a budding lyricist:
"Swinkle swinkle chocolate box, how a wonder what you are"
hmmmmmmm

This mornings greeting:
"My mummy...I not sad I just lonely"
Quoting her favourite bedtime book Lost and Found

Journey back from Wales
"Stop mummy, the cows are eating our lunch!"
I have not once fed LV grass for her lunch, not once!

Getting dressed
"I'll wear these leggings as a dress"
I'm not sure how you'll do that LV

Looking out the window
"Where's sun gone mummy?"
Me: "It's behind the clouds"
"Can it come to our house?"
Me: "Not for dinner, but when the clouds move you'll be able to see it"
"No thanks"
OK then....

xo.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Wedding menu. YUM.

Last night we went to our wedding venue for the menu tasting and it was AMAZING. I was super excited and Rob was really tired, not an ideal combination but I tried to tone it down in order for us both to survive (and enjoy!) the occasion. We started with canapes, they're in keeping with the venue being a pub and were delicious (apart from the anchovy pastry straw thing that looked great but tasted gross - it was Robs decision to keep them in...and he does have a point when he says ' you don't like fish, of course you won't like them, but lots of people do like fish', ho hum, I do think I'll need to signpost these though as I don't want anyone getting a nasty surprise when they think they're tucking into a cheese straw!):

Homemade sausages with homemade mustard
 Meatballs with stuffing
Goats cheese and tomato tartlet
Scary straws
 Welsh rarebit

We tried to be sensible and hold back, but we ate the lot.
I was so excited about the main:


Fillet steak with chips and salad garnish and homemade tomato sauce

It was the nicest steak I've ever eaten, truly delicious. I was full, so full and we debated whether we could even squeeze in a pudding and then it arrived and before my brain reminded me to take a picture of it, I ate it ALL. I do love a good Eton Mess! Another 'to do' ticked off the list. And here's a sneaky peak at our venue:


Only 7 weeks to go! xo.