Best of 2012

Hello lovelies!

I've noticed a few of my fellow bloggers writing a summary post of their experiences this year and I totally want to jump on that wagon because my 2012 has been awesome (good luck, 2013!). Nothing particularly life-changing has happened, with the possible exception of my new job, but I think I've laughed a lot more this year than I did last year- and that's definitely the trajectory I want for my laughter graph. 

After testing out a lot of fonts for my graph title, "laughter" no longer looks like a real word.

I also like an excuse to make a list, especially if I can categorise things, so here's my list of my highlights from 2012. 

Awesome people
Despite seeing in 2012 in Venice, Tom and I agree that our best holiday this year was our summery week of messing about in boats up in Norfolk with some of our favourite people (I call us "the Power 8", despite continual protests from the others to not do so!). We played board games, drank too much, and made rather shame-faced, clinking trips to the nearest bottle bank. Good times were had by all, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another group holiday this year, with even more ridiculous hats. 

Getting my DIY on
Between my rediscovery of fabric pens to my recent discovery of porcelain pens, there is now nothing in our house that is safe from my crafty clutches. I've upcycled furniture (including a chest of drawers, dresser, and footstool), decorated our pillowcases, and fancied up our crockery. My NY Resolution for 2011 was to have a crafted thing in every room of our house, and I think I've nearly achieved it, with only got the bathroom to go. Ooh, I wonder if porcelain pens would work on the toilet?! Is that weird?

Decorating our house: 
After nearly two and a half years in our cute little house, we've nearly finished the decorating (HURRAH!). I've never previously been bothered about hanging art or photos on the walls of wherever I've lived, but after realising how much more homely and personal it makes our house look, I've been framing anything that's flat enough to fit. Tea-towels, playing cards, bits of fabric, and cross-stitched samplers have failed to escape my framing sprees, and I'm really enjoying building up our gallery wall in the hallway. 

With the end of painting in sight I'm really looking forward to sharing some room tours with you all next year :) I also plan to continue crafting as much as I possibly can (and as much as Tom will allow... I have a feeling making a mirror ball for the bathroom might be pushing it one step too far. Booo) and sharing my crafting successes (and failures) with you all. 

It felt fantastic to reach the milestone of 10,000 page views this year and, whilst pageviews really aren't what blogging is all about, it's certainly inspired me to dedicate more time to my blog next year. Thank you, again, all of you that have visited and left me such kind comments (especially you, Anonymous- you say such lovely things before promoting your weight-loss-and-gambling-tips website). So, you can expect to see many more thought-provoking, philosophical discussions about chocolate pie and Keanu Reeves uploaded here during 2013. I do hope you'll pop back and say hello!

Which one is more delicious?! It's like Sophie's Choice!!

Wishing you all a truly fantastic 2013!

Katie xxx

Christmas Cold

Hello lovelies :) 

Did you have a nice Christmas?

Despite coming down with the mother of all colds late on Christmas Eve, I had a really wonderful Christmas with unbelievable amounts of delicious food, stacks of presents (I am one very lucky girl!) and a lot of laughter with my awesome other half and his lovely family. 

Miraculously, without any prior warning that I was going to end up poorly over Christmas, Tom and his family managed to sort me out with all of the ingredients to facilitate a speedy and comfortable recovery... 

Thanks to Tom's Mum, I am now the proud owner of a cableknit jumper! I'm cosied up in it today trying to banish the remains of this bug. 

You can pick up a blue or purple version of the jumper here

And I think Tom's family might've noticed my love of hot chocolate... haha. The Praline White Hot Chocolate has definitely been more effective on my cold than a Lemsip!

It's a shame I was so snotty over Christmas, as it meant I couldn't visit Tom's brilliant grandparents. Hopefully I'll be able to see them in January; when Tom's Granddad is turning 90!! 

Although, I suppose bright red, shiny noses are rather festive, aren't they?!

Katie xxx

The Sweetest Swap with Sparklegirl

Hello m'dears!

I've got a very exciting announcement... I've discovered my fellow blogger Sparklegirl is secretly a wizard!! It's the only way Jen could possibly have managed to fit so many goodies into her swap box- haha! I mentioned how excited I was about doing our little post-swap earlier this year, and Jen's Parcel of Awesomeness turned up on my doormat last week!

Mysterious parcel of wonder

The swap came about after I discovered the existence of David's Tea; my eyes practically popped out of their sockets when I saw all of the incredible flavours of tea. Then I found out they didn't ship to the UK and was about to give up and have a cry. However, I pulled myself together when I realised it was an awesome opportunity to get to know Jen a little better and share some Christmas cheer via a swap of British and Canadian/US goodies!

Jen was totally up for it (hurrah!) and we spent ages emailing back and forth long lists of confectionery, teas and desserts before settling on some key things we both wanted, and getting some ideas for some added surprise extras. These are some of the wonderful things she sent me. 

Lots of little chocolate bars and some adorable Hello Kitty pocky

CANDY CANE HOT CHOCOLATE!! I'm very glad customs didn't bust this parcel open; it looks a bit dodgy, doesn't it!?

A handmade purse! You can check out Jen's other makes in her wonderful Etsy shop

Lots and lots of David's Tea including Amaretto, Birthday Cake, Cherry Cola, Movie Night and Oh Canada. And a super-cute Christmas card :)

I love how teeny the KitKat bar is- I feel like a giant! Adorable :)

The combined aroma is utterly delicious; the tea smells absolutely heavenly and our whole house now smells like a sweet shop! :) Perfect for Christmas!

Thank you so much Jen- I had a wonderful time swapping goodies with you! 

Katie xxx

P.S. I also wrote Jen a Christmas-themed guest blog post earlier this month. You can have a read, and visit Jen's awesome blog, here. 

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, spent doing whatever you most want to do. Whether that's surrounded by friends, gathering with family, snuggled up with your special someone, or in blissful solitude with a good book and a vat of eggnog....

A pic from our recent jaunt to Drusillas... Whaddayamean it's Photoshopped? It's a ruddy Christmas miracle!

Katie xxx

Advent Treasure Hunt - Weeks 3 & 4

That's it... The Advent Treasure Hunt is over. I can't believe Tom's managed to figure out all twenty four clues (and eat the majority of his presents!). You can see the clues and presents from Week 1 here and Week 2 here. But on the plus side, that means tomorrow is CHRISTMAS. 

Day 15

Clue - "Watch out for giant spiders"

Present - Lindt sea salt chocolate. I actually don't like this flavour, so Tom had a chance of getting stuck in first!

Day 16

Clue - "This gift is actually practical, and he has a wonderful bedside manner"

Present - Dinosaur rubber from Paperchase (I gave Tom the Iguanodon)

Day 17

Clue - "The future filling of many hootiful sandwiches"

Present - Bacon chilli jam. I had a feeling this was going to be a firm favourite, and as the jar is already nearly empty I'm assuming I was right :p I might have to buy Tom a whole crate of this for his birthday. 

Day 18

Clue - "Present 18 will hopefully be the source of many future tasty platefuls of dinner"

Present - Weird and wonderful Asian pickle-mustard thing. I have no idea what it is because I can't read the packaging! But Tom loves being a bit of a mad scientist in the kitchen, so he doesn't mind! :)

Day 19

Clue - "You'll be able to find present 19 hidden behind a blackout screen"

Present - Naga Napalm Onion Relish. Tom loves regular onion marmalade, and I tried making my own last year with relative success, but adding chilli to it has to be a winner! 

Day 20

Clue - "The site of yesterday's distress, I have a sinking feeling you won't find today's hiding place hard to guess!"

Present - Another unknown Asian chilli sauce thing. 

Day 21

Clue - "In the larder"

Present - Dumpling Sauce (Hot) (obviously). I've asked my little bro to get us a bamboo steamer kit for Christmas. Mostly because I want to try Jamie's Coconut Buns. Yum. 

Day 22

Clue - "A nice easy clue for present 22- find it quick so it doesn't start tasting like shoe!"

Present - Liberty Ale from the Anchor Brewing Company.

Day 23

Clue - "Second to last present- number 23; hidden where I first realised you were the one for me"

Present - Sussex beer mustard

Day 24

Clue - "I've run out of hiding places for present 24. So it's hidden very cunningly in the middle of the floor"

Present - Prickly Oil. Because it sounded hilarious and like something Eeyore would eat.

I certainly had a lot of fun putting this together for Tom; buying the presents, writing the clues, and watching him trying to figure them out. He seemed really happy with it too; although I have a feeling he thought I did this more for me than him, as every day I'd yell "DO YOUR ADVENT CALENDAR" as soon as he got in from work :p 

Roll on next Advent. I'm going to aim for more cryptic clues, and a wider range of presents (although Tom does really love his condiments!) Or maybe just 24 jars of Bacon Chilli Jam...

Katie xxx

Seeing Stars

After being seriously inspired by Becks' super-dooper-easy make-it-in-minutes fudge recipe, I simply HAD to get my bake on and whip up some festive and sugar-filled goodies.

I made milk chocolate fudge with snowflake sprinkles (part of a baking-themed Christmas present from a very lovely friend), and double-choc-with-mint fudge with what was intended to be candy cane smashed up all over the top. However, I couldn't find any candy canes for sale (despite my very thorough search of both the seasonal and the confectionery isles in Tesco; I was leaving no stone unturned there!) but when I got home I found an old stick of rock in the bottom of our sweetie tin. It was red and white so I reckoned it was an excellent substitute. It was only after I'd smashed it all into my fudge mix I realised it was strawberry flavour. Oops! I'll just say I was trying to channel Heston...

I also whipped up a batch of Hummingbird Bakery sugar cookies. My Aunt bought me one of their cookbooks as an early Christmas present and this was the first recipe I tried from it. A friend had warned me the recipe made a LOT of cookies, so I tried to choose a reasonably large cutter for my shapes. However, I still ended up making about 100 cookies!! Hence why instead of icing them properly I went for more of a scatter-gun approach... But I did put some edible glitter in the icing. 

I swore after making these I never wanted to see another star cutter again as long as I lived; but I'm going to make some of Nigella's Cheese Stars (with a twist) this afternoon to take with us to the in-laws' tomorrow along with the fudge and the cookies. If any of them survive the night, that is; I know how greedy Tom Santa can be!!

Katie xxx

The most important birthday in December

Today, known to most people as Christmas Eve Eve, is also my Mum's birthday. She truly doesn't want people to make a fuss, but I can't stop myself making her little presents regardless. I know all children think theirs is the Best Mum in the World, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. 

This morning I unearthed a make-your-own badge kit Tom bought me a few years ago and decided to make her a special birthday badge she can wear all year round, using the power of cross-stitch. 

I made the pattern up as I went along, but I've included a copy below in case you have anything or anyone in your life you feel is lacking in cross-stitched cupcakes.

FYI: The 2 stitches in the middle of the 2nd line are 1/2 purple, 1/2 red

Happy Birthday, Mum :)

Katie xxx

Top 5 Christmas Films: Guest Post for Sparklegirl

Hello lovelies!

I was honoured to be asked by the lovely Jen over at Sparklegirl to write a guest post for her whilst she was extra-busy with work during the holiday season. I decided to write about my Top 5 Christmas Films, and my post is now live on Jen's (excellent!) blog if you fancy going for a peep. 

I hope you're all full to bursting with mulled wine and festive cheer! 

Katie xxx

10,000 Pageviews Giveaway Winner

Evening m'dears!

My 10,000 pageviews celebration competition has now closed; thank you very much to all of you who entered and tweeted about it! 

I used a random number generator to choose the winner, and the winning comment was number 11. Congratulations, Alicestronaut! 

Sorry to those of you who didn't win; I hope Santa brings you lots of other awesome presents! 

Katie xxx

Day out at Drusillas

Last week a very kind colleague (and newest blog follower- hello, Luca!) gave me two free tickets to Drusillas! The perfect combination of my favourite price and one of my favourite days out; going to the zoo. 

Tom and I have visited Drusilla's before; it's less than 20 minutes drive from our house and is crammed with troupes of monkeys, weird and wonderful snuffly things and clouds of bats. However, unless you've befriended someone who works  or volunteers there/found a discount code I would say it's rather overpriced; especially as they don't have any lions, tigers OR bears... 

This sad-faced little fella is a Binturong. I kid you not, they smell EXACTLY like buttered popcorn; the whole area stank like the entrance to Cineworld! Don't believe me?

This little lady reminded me of an opera-singing diva in a giant fur coat

The old double-lizard trick

Polka dots and red earrings? Seriously chic

Showing a bit o' leg

I LOVE his Poirot moustache!

Just LOOK at those eyes... beautiful. 

I don't know what was in the air on Sunday, but everywhere we looked animals were either fighting or canoodling. It was pretty hilarious to see how oblivious all of the visiting families were to the rather amorous activities some of the inhabitants were indulging in. 

Showing Batman how it's done

Adorable Public Display of Affection...

Come on guys; get a room!

 Katie xxx