New Year'e Eve

How did you spend it?

We went to one of our favourite clubs in town called Eddies with some of our best friends.  We had a really good night and it was amazing to be able to say "We're getting married this year!"

I tried out my fake eyelashes and whilst they looked good, I was permanently paranoid they'd come off.  Our first stop of the night was to our friend's Kelly and Nic's apartment.  When I got there I realised one of the eyelashes had started to peel off I tried to ignore it but by the time I'd got to the pub the left eyelash came off in my hand.  Wasn't impressed!

Before my eyelash fell off, with my brother Paul

I did really like the bambi look, but I think I'm going to have a look into getting shorter thicker ones and always, always take the glue out with me!  For the wedding I might even look into getting them professionally attached one eye lash at a time!

New Years Day we had a big meal around my mom and dad's house.  I decorated the table again but changed it a little from Christmas Day.  Mom and Dad spent most of the day in the kitchen preparing the meal which was amazing! A fabulous way to start the New Year

 

Christmas Presents

I have been soo lucky this year! I have had everything I wanted and more!

My dad surprised me and Has with a new digital SLR camera, it's amazing!  It's a Nikon D5000 and I'm still learning the different setting but even switching everything to automatic, the camera takes great photos.

Say Cheese!

Suzie bought me the best mug ever!  It reads "I ♥ Spreadsheets" after all I am the spreadsheet queen!  She also bought me a pack of "Hen Night Howlers" the first game I read involved a banana, a condom and the players mouth... lets just say we won't be playing most of those on the hen night! Thank you Suzie

Hayley somehow managed to track down my perfume!!  I couldn't believe it!  I will now be able to wear Love by Nina Ricci on my wedding day!  Thank you Hayley!

Paul bought me my gorgeous earrings I wanted for the wedding from Yarwood White

I wore them on Christmas day but now they've been put away, not to be worn until November!

I had loads of other bits and bobs, Has bought me, amongst other things, Stephen Fry in America which I can't wait to watch, a New Moon fleece blanket (because I am secretly 13!) and an amazing book of the top 100 cities in the world!

I had new pajamas, 2 new pairs of slippers and 2 new dressing gowns... I guess when people think of me they think snuggly, cosy and sleepy.  They're not wrong either!

I had a wonderful Christmas, not just because of the great gifts I received but I've loved spending extra time with my friends and family.  This is why I love Christmas so much.

Christmas Table Inspiration The Finale!

After the weeks of preparing, it took about 40 minutes to put the Christmas table together.  It was quite hectic trying to arrange everything before the family arrived but we managed.  Despite my best efforts to be prepared I still forgot a few things, but it all turned out well in the end and we improvised with a few new vases.

Christmas Table Inspiration Part 4

Christmas Eve was super busy, as I'm sure it was for hundreds of other people, but as late as 10.30 I was up decorating the bags for the peppermint sandwich cookies.

Earlier on in the day Hayley helped me "Christmasfy" some boring candle holders and vases ready for the Christmas table.

Just a few mini touches made even the most plain looking candle sparkle with Christmas.

I was up early and managed to get in to Hobbycraft for opening, they had already started to reduce their Christmas range so I picked up a few packs of stickers, ribbon and sparkley baubles.

These were old holders that came with fragrance candles all ready in them, I'd already burnt down most of the candle, so I took those out and put tea lights in them.  They are slightly frosted so they look really pretty with tea lights in them.

Christmas Table Inspiration Part 3

I'd seen a recipe for peppermint cookie sandwiches on Joy the Baker.  The looked amazing and sounded delicious.  I wanted to give my family a little Christmas favour so decided to make these.

Hayley helped me make them on Christmas Eve. You can find the recipe here.

Making cookies is messy business!

After cutting out large circles for the cookies we soon found we didn't have enough cookies to go around, which meant we re-rolled the dough and used a smaller cutter.

Hayley models the peppermint sandwich cookies beautifully!

After mixing, cooking, sandwiching and cooling all that was left was to put them in the bags I had prepared earlier, a la Blue Peter and set them out on the table.

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone has a fab Christmas!

Eat, drink, sing, party and be very merry!

Much Love xxx

Follow Father Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and we're in the kitchen preparing the turkey, getting ready to make peppermint sandwich cookies and following Father Christmas' progress as he delivers his presents to all the boys and girls!

At the moment he's in the Solomon Islands.

Have a fab Christmas everyone, I hope Father Christmas brings you everything you wished for! x

Christmas Films - Updated

I made my "Christmas Films to watch" list back in November. So far I've been able to see...

Home Alone, We watched this on Saturday night when our friends came round to play games. The scene were Kevin puts the spider on Marv's face has me in hysterics every time! It's making me laugh just thinking about it!

Scrooged, We watched this the day we put up our Christmas tree - a festive film to kick start the season!

Father Christmas, I actually watched this back in November, I asked Has to buy it for me and watched it as soon as it arrived in the post! I'd forgotten Father Christmas was an alcoholic!

Elf, this was on TV not so long ago so I snuggled up in bed to watch it!

Miracle On 34th Street, this was on TV too, I half watched it and half listened to the chart countdown last night to find out who was Christmas Number 1

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, I've seen this twice in the last few weeks! We watched it on DVD then it was on TV yesterday, it's such a fab film so so funny!

The Nightmare Before Christmas, again this was on TV yesterday, I literally stayed in bed all day yesterday, switching the channels to find another film once one had finish!

There are still a few more I HAVE to watch before Christmas, although I'm not sure when I'm going to get round to it! We are suppose to be seeing the new Christmas Carol film by Disney at the IMAX tomorrow which I'm looking forward to, but I'd love to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life over the next few days.

It's a Wonderful Life

"Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings."

Snowflake Gift Tags

I'm not entirely sure where the idea came from but I decided I would make wooden snowflake decorations for people this year.

I bought 9 wooden snowflakes from eBay and made a hole big enough so I'd be able to push ribbon through later.

I then painted both sides with white acrylic paint. I did add blue glitter to the paint but it didn't work out so well. The paint just coated the glitter so I didn't really get the effect I was going for.

I left them for a few days to dry. If I did this project again I would definitely hang the snowflakes up to dry instead of lying them flat. When I came to paint the other side bits had dried on the opposite side in lumps, so it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked.

Once they were dry I wrote the names on and poked the ribbon (also from eBay) through the hole.

I'm really pleased with the way they have come out. I shall be giving them out on presents but hopefully they will get put up on Christmas trees too!

I wont do what you tell me

For the first time since 1998 I listened to the Christmas chart countdown, why you ask?  Because for the first time the XFactor winner (Joe Mcelderry) was challenged to the number 1 spot by Rage Against the Machine!

For the last few years the Christmas Number 1 spot has automatically gone to the XFactor winner however this year the "people" decided enough was enough and Facebook and Twitter campaigns were started to get Rage's "Killing in the Name" to Christmas Number 1.  This has been huge, everyone has been talking about it.
I didn't jump on the bandwagon straight away, I was just glad Joe wasn't singing Journey's hit!  That was until I read this.  It annoys me how some people assume that because Joe won the XFactor that he is entitled to the Christmas number 1 spot.  Well Joe and Simon Cowell are now well and truely eating their words because by the power of social media Rage Against the Macine took the number 1 spot selling 500,000 downloads of "Killing in the Name"

During the run up to the countdown Rage Against the Machine promised to do a free gig in the UK if they reached number 1 and they have also donated the earnings to a homeless charity Shelter

Even though I'm not Radio 1's biggest fan it was well worth listening to the chart just to hear Zac from Rage say "We would like to congratulate Joe and Simon for having the number two single in the charts"  ouch!

This has made my weekend!

Christmas Table Inspiration Part 2

What do you think?

Had a quick play around tonight with the things I had.  On the day I'll have white table cloths and silver crackers.  Also I'm not sure whether the plates will be set ready on the table.

My little Christmas tree candles are from Laura Ashley

I intend to write and attach name tags on to the baubles in the wine glasses and also place either a white or silver table runner down the middle.

I'm also giving peppermint sandwich cookies in little white bags as Christmas favours.  As soon as all the bits and pieces arrive from eBay I'll be starting that project.

Because the table will have to accommodate 15 people I don't want there to be an obvious centre decoration.  I don't want things to look too symetrical.  I'll be getting more candles over the next couple of days but so far I'm really pleased with the way it looks.

What do you think?

Christmas Table Inspiration

This year the 15 (!) of us will be spending Christmas around my aunt and uncles house.  Over the last year or so their house has undergone major surgery!  I'm talking about major renovations to the downstairs of their house.  They have knocked through walls and created new spaces.  It's taken a while but it's all slowly coming together.

It means however that their dining table and other pieces of furniture wont be arriving until just days before Christmas!  Eeek!  So as well as organising the Christmas dinner my aunt has to deal with the stress of organising her home.

I sent her an email asking if she needed any help and I have been put in charge of decorating the table.  For the last two years we have had Christmas dinner round my Mom and Dad's where I have arranged the table, so I'm getting quite used to this job role!

This year I have decided to go with a winter wonderland theme.  I have picked up inspiration from a number of places and have already bought a few bits.  Tonight when I get home I shall be doing a few test runs to see how if looks and decide on what else I need to get to complete the look.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Christmas Cupcakes

Friday night Suzie and I made Christmas Cupcakes.

They were incredibly yummy and so easy to make.

Christmas Cupcakes.
2 large eggs, cracked open
1 tsp vanilla essence
125g/4oz caster sugar
125g/4oz soft margarine
125g/4oz self-raising flour

A sprinkle of white chocolate chips

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. 
• Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat them together until the mixture is smooth and slightly lighter in colour.
• Line a bun tin or cupcake tin with paper cake cases and half-fill each case with the cake mixture.  Suzie and I made bite-sized cupcakes so our mixture obviously went a long way
• Cook the cakes for 10-12 minutes.  (Cook for 18-20 minutes for normal sized cupcakes) You can tell they are done when they have risen up, are golden in colour, and spring back into shape when lightly pressed.

To decorate

140g/5oz butter, softened
280g/10oz icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
a few drops food colouring

• Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
• Then add the remaining icing sugar with one tablespoon of the milk.
• Beat until creamy then add the food colouring and mix well. 
• Add extra icing sugar to thicken or a little extra milk to make more runny if necessary.

We split our icing in half to make both red and green icing and then we used an icing tube to decorate our cupcakes.

We added silver balls and a star on top of our Christmas Tree Cupcakes and sprinkles icing sugar over our Christmas Poinsettia Cupcakes.

And because we hadn't had enough sugar that evening Suzie tested her new candy floss machine out on me!

Mmmmmm Sugary!

Oh Christmas Tree...

We put up our Christmas Tree and decorations this weekend, whilst watching one of my favourite Christmas films Scrooged.  Christmas has well and truly arrived in our house!

Our tree is full of special baubles we've picked up over the years.  We have a cute (cheesy!) decoration we picked up in Las Vegas last year

We bought these glitter Mickey Mouse baubles in the Disney Store on Fifth Avenue in New York

As well as these fabulous Mickey and Minnie glove stockings

No part of the room is left out, the tree is a sweet wooden decoration I picked up at the Birmingham German Market a few years ago and the snowman tea light holder was a gift from my godparents.

We also hang these star lights around our DVD shelves

before you ask, the last time we counted... over a thousand!

This is my newest Christmas decoration addition

He's from John Lewis so Hayley managed to get him for me at a discounted price.  I love him!

My new snowman is also from John Lewis, you can just about see him here in the corner

I saw him on the website last year, but he quickly sold out.  This year I was first in line!

I have loads of decorations safely stored away for when we get our own home.  Our tree is too small to hold some of the ones I have.  I can't wait until next year when I can finally get them out!

German Market Madness

Last night I met up with good friends I used to work with.  We all have the same ridiculously silly sense of humour, and generally crack up over the stupidest things!  Needless to say days at work were a lot brighter when I worked with them!

We met up at Starbucks where Heather was treated to her first ever Starbucks!  First Ever!

First stop was the carousel at the German Market...

German beers...

and by lots of messing around and Christmas merriment!

Next we decided to test the Old Joint Stock Pub's claim of their pies being legendary...
Steven and Jamie take their pie decision very seriously, I believe they both picked a steak and ale pie

We all came to the decision that yes these pies were indeed legendary!  If you're ever in Birmingham and fancy a nibble...  I can recommend the vegetarian shepherds pie!

Happy December!

Yippee!  The first of December is here which means I can finally start to get excited about Christmas without people saying "It's too early!"

We put our office Christmas tree up yesterday and will putting my one up at some point this week.
My Christmas Shopping List is looking a lot better now I've been paid.  I managed to get most of it sorted yesterday - I love internet shopping!  It means I can enjoy the Christmas buzz of town without feeling the stress of having to get somewhere in my hour lunch break!

I am lucky enough to work in Birmingham city centre which means I get to visit the Frankfurt German Market whenever I want!  I love it, I hardly ever buy any thing from there (it's a little over priced) but the atmosphere is so wonderful and it feels so Christmassy!

Sneak Peak

For the last few years I have made our Christmas cards.  I used to make cards for all ocassions and have a cupboard full of crafty goodies, but over the last few months I haven't really had the time to make any.

I decided I would make time and do our own Christmas cards.  I put together a few ideas using Illustrator and Photoshop and printed them off on fancy card.  To finish off the cards I've been adding some Christmas sparkle and roped Has into helping me this morning.

I don't want to post a picture of the cards until I've given them out to people.  But I'm rather pleased with them!
I've actually had a rather crafty day today... stay tuned for another Christmas project I'm working on!