February 5th 2013
Filed under General
My knitting mojo has been missing lately hence the lack of updates, but when Jason mentioned he with all this colder weather he wanted a hat. This was a major deal really as in the last 7 years that I have been knitting regularly I have only made Jason three pairs of socks. It’s not the boyfriend curse, he just isn’t the sort of guy who wears sweaters or scarves.
When I pressed him about the hat, he said he wanted it to be like Stan’s without the pompom (did I mention he’s a huge South Park fan), he also said he liked the feel of my Gretel, as it wasn’t scratchy like normal wool. I hunted on the Malabrigo website, I found the right shades of red and blue, Vermillion and Azul Bonito.
October 30th 2012
Filed under General
With the 50th Annivesary of James Bond this month and the latest installment being released in the UK, I thought I would share with you some of my favourite things linked to 007!
- Best Of Bond – James Bond
£10.00 from Amazon.
What is a Bond film without a killer theme song. Over the years there have been some classic themes, from Carly Simon’s Nobody Does it Better to both of Shirley Bassey’s offerings Diamonds are Forever and Goldfinger. This album collects all the tunes in one place (it doesn’t have the current Adele song on it) as well as some other memorable tunes from the films.
- Skyfall in cinemas now.
You can’t mentioned the past 50 years of Bond without a shout out to the latest film – Craig is back in the tuxedo and his licence to kill! I will leave it spoiler free – but suggest you all go and see it.
- James Bond 50 Years of Movie Posters £19.25 from Amazon
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This amazing book has all 23 of movie posters from around the whole, including some rarer posters like a version of Licence to Kill under it’s original name Licence Revoked, and the teaser poster for Skyfall. A must for any classic movie fan.
- OPI The Man With The Golden Gun £29.99 John Lewis.
It seems I am not on the only one who loves 007, my favourite nail varnish brand has also gone Bond crazy with a collection of colours inspired by each film. Without a doubt this is my favourite an amazing top coat with flecks of real gold! Not just a a glittery top coat, but confetti style gold flakes.
- Sipsmith Vodka
Like Bond, I love a good martini! Over the summer I became obsessed with Sipsmith Vodka (and their Summercup), this vodka is actually distilled in a house here in Hammersmith using barley, giving it a lovely smooth taste.
October 15th 2012
Filed under Hats
Well in recent months my knitting has been pushed to the side as I concentrate on working and studying, I am so far behind on my 12 FOAM challenge (to have one Finished Object A Month). There is something about this time of year that has inspired me, be it the colder weather, the colours or darker nights spend indoors. Whatever the reason, I am knitting again!
One of the first things I wanted to knit was a cabled hat for the winter, in a golden-orange shade. I wanted a soft chunky yarn and failed to find anything inspiring in John Lewis so instead opted to go for Malabrigo Merino Worsted. To me this yarn is like an old friend, reliable, soft and comes in a range of colours (I adore their Lace and Sock Yarn too). I opted for Sunshine, which isn’t a very autumnal name, but to me looks like the changing leaves.
As for a a pattern, I opted for another Gretel – I have made this pattern twice before, love the cables and they way they form part of the increases and decreases, and the fit is perfect for me.
October 2nd 2012
Filed under General
There’s no “Things I Love” post this month, instead I am going to do another Fall Bucket List. We had a lot of fun last year, baking, eating and celebrating, that I thought we should do it again this year!
- Make Pumpkin Spiced Muffins.
- Attempt to make Fudge (again).
- Knit an Autumnal Hat!
- Work our way through the Starbucks Holiday Menus.
- Decorate the house for Halloween.
- Have a Halloween themed meal for my birthday.
- Watch a Scary Movie.
- Make a Bonfire night feast.
- Go to the Guy Fawkes Celebration in our local park.
- Go for Thanksgiving Dinner in London.
I’m also taking part in Fat Mum Slim’s Photo a Day Challenge for October, you can follow my photos on Twitter, Instagram or Flickr.
September 7th 2012
Filed under General, The Things I Love
- Orla Kiely for Uniqlo (Prices Vary)
I adore Uniqlo for my basics – t-shirts, cardigans and coloured jeans, This year they have done a couple of interesting collaborations, with Laura Ashley, Lulu Guiness and Orla Kiely – so my t-shirts have suddenly become very colourful. This week, they launched their Autumn/Winter Orla Kiely Collection, which is just amazing, long sleeve t-shirts, tunic dresses and scarves all in the classic Orla Kiely prints!
- Bloglovin - Free (just have to register online)
Ever since Bloglines closed a few years ago, I have been hunting for a new RSS reader, I tried Google Reader for a long time and it seemed to be working, then I discovered Bloglovin which is clean, easy to use and has some amazing extra features, like buttons to post to twitter, or pinterest, and a plugin for Chrome to tell you when you have new posts to read.
- Revlon Just Bitten £18 from Boots
Normally, when it comes to make-up I am a MAC addict, but recently I was out sans lip-gloss so had to find a colour from the High Street. In Boots, I discovered this new lip balm from Revlon, with a minty tingle and a pop of colour, perfect for moisturizing your lips in the autumn.
- Downton Abbey - N/A (Season 1 & 2 on Amazon).
I think I am the last person to discover this show! A friend loaned me the DVD’s early in the summer and the box set has sat on the side gathering dust over the Olympics, but in my post-sport blues I thought I would give it a go. It was the perfect antidote to the intense Olympics, a nice relaxing period drama. I can see the new season becoming part of my weekly routine, relaxing viewing on the Sunday night to wind down after the weekend before the work week begins.
- Cool Lime Refresha – Varies from Starbucks
For each season, I have a Starbucks drink, Gingerbread Latte’s for Christmas season, Vanilla Spiced Latte for the rest of winter, Mocha Frappuccino for the Summer – although they are amazingly high in calories, so I love their alternative summer drinks, like the Lemon Frappuccino from a few years ago. This year, there drinks are Refresha, low-calorie pick-me-up coffee drinks without the coffee flavour, instead the Cool Lime version tastes like a virgin Mojito.
August 16th 2012
Filed under General
So for week two of the Olympics, Jason and his friend went to watch the Beach Volleyball at Horse Guard’s Parade and I met up with them afterwards to check out BT Live at Hyde Park. Which was lovely, five screens all showing different events although everyone was just focused on the 100m Men’s Final.
The next day, was a big one of us – the day we got to go to The Olympics Park! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go to the Stadium, as we had tickets to the Basketball. We did however, get to see the US “Dream Team.” Now I did joke on twitter before hand that “everything I knew about basketball was from One Tree Hill“ So I got a little primer from Jason to the tube.
I won’t bored you with my squealing about wonderful the park is, but I will mention that is was huge! When we first entered the park, the sign said it was a 20 minute walk to the Basketball Arena – which we thought was an over exaggeration, but it was, in fact it took us a lot longer as we kept stopping to take photos.
The next few days, I settled into a routine of watching trails in the morning, stopping for lunch, housework and fresh air and then back in front of the TV for the evening sessions. When Jason has a day off, we did head back to Hyde Park – you guessed it to sit in the park and watch more sport!
Our final event of the Olympics, was the Football Final – back at Wembley. As Team GB got knocked out early on in the competition, we were excited to see Brazil and Mexico play and attended the game as neutrals – although I think I was secretly supporting Mexico as we went there on holiday. To be honest, all I wanted to see was a Medal Ceremony – it was almost as exciting as the game.
I can’t actually believe it’s over! What an amazing 16 days, I am so proud of my city and country!
August 9th 2012
Filed under General
A year ago (was it really that long ago), Jason and I both applied for several lots of Olympics Tickets, we opted for a lot of football games, beach volleyball, basketball and the Opening Ceremony. We didn’t get Opening Ceremony tickets – did anyone? But we were successful with the other events.
So, like most the country we sat down on a Friday night and watched the Opening Ceremony on T.V.- those of you following me on Twitter/Facebook will know that I adored the Opening Ceremony, it made me so proud to be British! I sung along to all the songs, joining in with the dancing and generally taking in all the amazement!
The next afternoon, still on a high from the night before we took to the streets with thousands of others to watch the Road Cycle Race. I have to admit, a lot of our photos were a blur (this was one of the only decent ones). After the racers whizzed pass us we headed into a local pub to watch to the end of the race and find out who won.
Sunday afternoon was spend at Wembley, watching two games. Although, we have been there many a time, there was something amazing about being their for the Olympics. Especially, if you remember the stadium was used for the the 1948 London Games.
On Monday evening, after work rather than sitting at home, we decided to soak up the Olympic atmosphere some more and headed out to Potter’s Field – just over the river from Jason’s work to sit in the park, enjoy a drink and watch the big screen. Since then I have to admit I have clocked an awful lot of time in front of the T.V. becoming engrossed in all sort of new sports, swimming, cycling and even rowing!
July 31st 2012
Filed under The Things I Love
This Month’s Things I Love has a very London 2012 theme!
- Burger and Lobster, two locations in London, prices vary.
Visiting London, want somewhere amazing to eat, check out Burger and Lobster. There is no menu here as they only have 3 things on the menu, Burger, Lobster or a Lobster Roll (which I can fully recommend), each which is £20. They do have a pretty impressive drinks menu, complete with an array of cocktails. Lobster and Cocktails – what more does a girl need!
- Team GB Scarf £5 Next
I am loving the Olympics and have wanted to show off my Team GB pride, but without kitting myself out head to toe in merchandise. I wanted something small, wearable and something I wouldn’t mind wearing in a months time. I think this little scarf does the trick, it’s small enough to attach to my handbag but larger enough to wave about during the national anthem.
- London 2012 Join In app Free
I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of Official apps for the Olympics, but I have been amazed with this one, the location feature shows you interesting events happening in area, from outdoor screens to watch the games, the national hospitality houses around town, as well as the normal sporting events.
- Butter London Nail Polish, Heavy Medal Collection £30
Now, I love my nail varnishes, and it seems every nail polish brand out there has done an Olympics or Jubilee themed nail varnish, but I’m not sure I would like to do the whole red, white and blue thing, I was on the lookout for different. I think this works, the Heavy Medal Collection – bronze, silver and gold! As well as working for the Olympics these shades will be brilliant in the party season at the end of the year!
- Kate Spade London Calling Bangle $88 Kate Spade Stores
This bangle has been on my wish list for a while, and I am thinking now is the perfect time to buy it, chunky, red and quoting an amazing song – what more to you need. I also think it will look great with my Brooklyn version of the bracelet.
July 9th 2012
Filed under General
One of the things I am most looking forward to about the Olympics was seeing the Olympic Flame, after all it is the symbol of the ancient games, when the route for the torch relay was announced a few months ago, I remember hunting the listings for our home town. Unfortunately they were not planning on releasing the route for London until nearer the time. So next I looked for other local places and discovered the flame was passing very close to my In-Laws house in Stevenage, it also happened to be the weekend closest to my Mother-in-Law’s birthday, so we planned a little trip to visit them.
So on Sunday morning in the pouring rain we stood around and watched the procession of sponsorship van and cars pass, before watching Sarah Gosling (a former Olympic Gold Medallist) carrying the torch along Stevenage Old Town. We were amazed with the atmosphere, hundreds of people lining the street, the police on bike hi-fiving the crowds, the sponsership vans getting the crowd to dance, everyone was joining in.
In the afternoon, we had an indoor barbecue for my Mother-in-Law’s birthday, I had decided to make a cheesecake for the event. When browsing on Pinterest last week I saw this Olympic Pizza Cake, I thought what I great idea! Instead of just covering the cake in strawberries, I could create some themed Olympic Rings 
The recipe, is the Baked Cheesecake from Hummingbird Book, the only adjustment I have made is to make the base, I find the one in the recipe a little thin and prefer more crust to my cheesecake.
Base
200g plain flour
75g butter
75g soft brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
I then just decorated the cake with blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, banana and kiwi. I know the rings should be interlinked – but I didn’t have the patiences to mess around with that and plus we all know the Olympic Rings are copy-written and I didn’t want to get in trouble.
July 3rd 2012
Filed under General, The Things I Love
- Suits Season 1 available from Amazon
I watched a few episodes of these series when it aired earlier this year, and brought the DVD on a whim, however I was quickly hooked – yes it is yet another law room drama, but it also features whitty chat, hundreds of movie quotes and a pretty good soundtrack. Oh and Harvey Specter is the Man!
- The Stone Roses Available on CD/Digital Download
Often when asked I will always say 1996 was the best year for music, in my opinion so many great albums where released in that year, it was also the year one of my favourite bands split up. For the next 15 years, me like many other Stone Roses fans waited for reunion, every few years a rumor would appear, and just as quickly it would disappear, until last year! Within the space of three days, the reunion was confirmed, a tour was announced and tickets went on sale. Well that amazing concert was last weekend – and luckily we were there, in anticipation of the concert I have been listening to this album all month.
- Song Pop (Free app).
A few weeks ago, I friend mentioned this addictive new app, which was a “name that tune” type game, I pointed out I knew nothing about modern music, but then he said out you could pick an era or genre to guess from. So I downloaded it, and I was hooked. The game is like Draw Something, you take turns listening to music and trying to name the artist or song.
- The Lizzie Bennetts Diaries (Free)
This is a new love (as in yesterday when someone sent me the link), Have you ever imagined what if in Pride and Prejudice was written today, and Elizabeth Bennett kept a v-log explaining her meeting with Darcy and subsequent adventures? Well now you don’t have to. Hank Green and Bernie Su have done it for you, these humorous videos by Lizzie and Charlotte (which occasionally feature her sisters), give a modern spin to Austen’s classic tale.
- Samba Swirl Several locations in London, prices vary.
Regular readers of this blog will know I love FroYo, (no trip to Selfridges is complete without a trip to Pinkberry), when I discovered this place near our house I had to give it ago. They work a little differently from traditional stores, as it is all self service. They have up to 6 flavours to try from (and these change each day), then you can add your fruit, sweets etc. Finally the whole thing is weighed to determine the price – just like in the pick and mix. So far, I have tried the Pistachio, Cookies n’ Cream and White Choc Macadamia – and keep going back for more.
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