Ideal Home Show

Today my lovely friend Alice and I visited the Ideal Home Show in London town, after I was lucky enough to win a pair of tickets in Lucy's giveaway.

We...

- Met Alan Titchmarsh
Sort of...

- Pretended to be royalty

- Got lost in the World of Pleather 

There are no photos of our time in World of Pleather- it was too traumatic.

- Had a free Benefit "Make-upper" and got (some of) our nails painted

- Found an amazing cafe and had the nicest lunch
Served up in frying pans... the photo does it absolutely no justice. It was DELICIOUS. 

- Visited "Delboy's" flat
Where I managed to literally bump into David Jason, with my bag full of Easter eggs. Thankfully he wasn't cross, and even called called me sweetheart. Claim to fame, much? :p

- Admired some Underground cakes

- Saw a lot of Smeg fridges
And found out they are apparently the best place to keep books. By the way, Alice and I have already patented the fridge-library combo. It's called a fribrary. 

- Had the option to learn scything 
Obviously. I mean, we were at a home show. We opted to drink hot chocolate and look at scatter cushions instead. 

Thank you Lucy for the tickets- we had a lovely day out! 

Katie xxx

Just Beachy

Today has involved...

- Doing some driving 
Driving is a really big deal for me. I've never felt confident in my driving ability due to a combination of lack of experience and my tendency to over-think everything, which has created an evil super-villain voice in my head that keeps muttering about dented hubcaps, smashed off wing mirrors, and kids who run out in the road to get their footballs. 

- A frost-bitten walk in the icy cold wind
Tom and I spent the morning being daredevils and stomping along the cliff path at Beachy Head. I'd never been before, and Tom only once before when doing some night-time photography with a friend. I found it rather frightening that some parts of the cliff face were completely open-  not even a pathetically weedy wire fence to keep people from accidentally falling over the edge. 

Tom and I have agreed that I am definitely NOT the kind of person who lives life "on the edge". I am very much the kind of person who lives life "right in the middle"; covered in a blanket, drinking tea and reading a book, occasionally yelling at the people who are living on the edge to "BE CAREFUL!!". 

- Hearty food and Hot Cross Buns
We bought some fresh bread and soup for lunch on our way home from Beachy Head, and couldn't resist grabbing a packet of fresh hot cross buns. Tesco's bakery was churning out approximately 3,000,000 buns a minute, and they smelt SO DAMN GOOD. As we passed the "root vegetables" section we walked what felt like a wall of hot-cross-bun-smell. I wish they made scented candles in that flavour.

- Reorganising the larder
I'm mentioned before exactly how much I love to organise, and with this seemingly never-ending winter our collective subconsciouses seem to be intent on forcing us to buy and store as much food as possible. Thankfully our squirrel-like tendencies faded before we were forced to start ripping up the carpet and burying tins of baked beans under the floor. 

Horrible mess. Just look at it. Disgraceful. 

Due to our excessive purchasing of all the main food groups (Emergency M&Ms, wine, and wholewheat spaghetti) our "larder", aka The Under-Stairs Cupboard, was looking an absolute state. The house was strewn with tins of plum tomatoes that hadn't got a home (poor little mites). So I rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in. 

Much better (there's an order to it, I swear!)

I hope you're all having a most excellent Easter weekend! 

Katie xxx

Three Things Thursday

Hello my dears

Happy faux-Friday to you all! I hope you've got a lovely long weekend off work (thanks, Jesus!) and lots of excellent plans to fill it with. I'm off for six whole glorious days, as I decided to take off Tuesday and Wednesday next week too because it's my birthday (on Wednesday). Yippee! 

In addition to the no work giddiness, here are three other things making me smile today:

1. Silly signs

A friend shared this list of Things British People Know To Be True on Facebook earlier in the week, and these two sets of photos made me giggle a lot.

The Argus is the same paper that reported the Horror Duck Attack

This sign is apparently somewhere on the London underground. Brilliant.

2. Better butter beans

Tesco recently had an offer on Napolina tinned beans, so Tom and I decided to give them a try instead of buying the mid-range Tesco tins. Butter beans are one of my favourite foods (probably because they contain the word "butter") - I'd happily eat them straight from the tin.

The difference in quality was astonishing- Napolina beans are about three times plumper, a better colour, and taste so creamy you'd think they WERE made of butter.

Napolina beans - fatter than a chubby cowboy baby

So we've decided to carry on buying them (well done Tesco, suckering us in with your BOGOF offers!) because we've the difference in taste is worth the extra 17-odd pence a tin. Our latest batch of home-made hummus was out of this world, thanks to some fancy-pants chickpeas. Who knew a store-cupboard staple could vary so much?!

3. Surprise presents

I've mentioned before how much I love sending (and receiving) silly surprise presents, and whilst shopping for delicious coffee syrups I had a little brainwave for the perfect spontaneous gift for my lovely sister-in-law.

Said SIL is currently cooking a baby in her belly, which I am VERY excited about as a first-time Auntie (despite the fact that being an Auntie makes me feel OLD). I imagine I'll be spending most of the foreseeable future making baby versions of things like this, and forcing her to put the baby in them (Sorry, Nicci!)

The last time I saw Nicci she mentioned how much she was craving gin and tonics, so when I spotted this syrup I thought- GENIUS. It's non-alcoholic, which means Nicci can guzzle away to her hearts content without having to worry about the baby coming out with six eyes or something (although that would be kind of awesome).

I think Nicci quite liked it :p

Wishing you all a brilliant Easter weekend with truckloads of eggy goodness!! Katie xxx

FREEBIES

Hey guys!!! I have some exciting news to share with you. No, not the news about the Ryan Gosling emergency hotline. Better. 

I've mentioned before that buying home magazines is my guilty pleasure; they just seem like a lot of money for some pretty bits of paper. Then my tip-top top-tip boyfriend told me about Zinio; a website where you can subscribe to magazines electronically for less monies. 

The idea didn't really appeal to me at first- I like having a physical magazine to flip through/fold down the corners of/rip pages out of to stick on my cork board and drool over when I'm eating my breakfast at the weekend (not ACTUALLY drooling on them, you understand; I mastered eating cereal without dribbling the milk everywhere in December ages ago).

But THEN Tom told me that if one signs up for an account with Zinio (get me, using "one"- it's like I'm the Queen!!) for free, a few days later they send you a $10 code, with no minimum spend! :) You can grab $10 worth of magazines for absolutely zilch. The issues I chose came to a little over $10, but two electronic magazines still only cost me 40p. I'm a little sad I can't hold them in my hands properly, but given that the off-the-shelf price would've been closer to £7 for both of them, I'm not going to start getting fussy.

Price? FREEEEEEE

Price? Freeeee.... ish. Ok, 40p. 

You can totally do it too- just sign up to Zinio and wait for your code. 

Katie xxx

P.S. This post wasn't sponsored by Zinio- I just like helping people get stuff for free :) 

Dilemma

I've gotten myself in a bit of a pickle here, folks. After a couple of months of saving my pennies, with the intention of treating myself to this beautiful Armchair of Dreams, which I will undoubtedly use every day for cosy afternoons curled up with a book and a cup of tea, I've just spotted this in a magazine and now can't decide which I'd prefer. It's the eternal question really, isn't it? Armchair or treehouse?

Or

????

Help!

Katie xxx

Six Things Sunday

Hello lovelies

I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend. My weekend has been incredibly relaxed; revolving around pottering, daydreaming, reading, looking at nice kitchens on Pinterest, and eating far too much delicious food (hell-o elasticated waistbands for work this week).

Here are six things I'm feeling very grateful for at the moment:

1. Craft Inspiration

I bought Tom a t-shirt for Christmas 2009 which turned out to be much too big. I decided to try and make it smaller for him myself using my sewing machine, which ended up failing miserably and turning it into a "Wyld Stallyns" t-shirt, as Tom and I call tops that look like this. It's been sat in my "To Fix" pile ever since- and even moved house with us- but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Then today I remembered Tom wanted me to make him a cushion for the Man Cave so he could nap more comfortably for secret ninja reasons. Eh voila:

2. Ryan Gosling 

Apparently, website Blinkbox has set up a helpline for fans of Ryan Gosling, after the news that he plans to take a break from acting to focus on directing instead. Fans* can call the emergency number and listen to audio recordings of some of his most famous lines of dialogue. Seriously.

For those of you too distraught by the news to even pick up the phone.
You're welcome.

3. The weather
Ha- got you. That's a total lie. 

I was DETERMINED on Monday not to wear winter clothing again until November, which means I walked to work in just my new Easter cardigan (with other clothes underneath, I hasten to add; I didn't wear a coat). 

I've decided to sell the story of my rather shivery walk home from work to Take A Break magazine, which will be entitled "How my optimism nearly killed me". 

By the way, I realise my hair is rather "lion's mane-y" in the picture above. That's how I like it. And it was also the inspiration for this. 

4. Shania Twain
I love her. And listening to her music reminds me of the summer I spent doing pretty much nothing but watching Ally McBeal, eating pretzels, and singing along loudly to Shania Twain whilst dancing around my bedroom. I was an incredibly rock and roll teenager, you know. 

Shania showing off that more is definitely, well, more.
Also, how strong must her NECK be?!

5. Jack Wills
Ok, this one is also sort of a lie. I've always thought Jack Wills sold nothing but incredibly overpriced/snobby rugby shirts and hoodies, and I've never understood why someone would pay over £60 for an item of clothing that essentially had someone else's name on it. Unless that person was Batman. And by that I mean someone buying a jumper saying "Batman", not Batman wearing Jack Wills. That would be weird. 

But Jack Wills clothes seem to be everywhere at the moment, with lots of lovely fashion bloggers doing promo shoots and running competitions to win one of their dresses. So I decided to take a snoop at their website and, you know what?! Some of their clothes are actually really beautiful. The floral prints in particular are so incredibly sweet. And I've now spotted this rucksack and this cushion in the sale and I kind of want them... dammit. 

6. Lack of Lepidopterophobia

Aka a phobia of butterflies. Because, with the exception of a tiger, two ladybirds, and a Spiderman, that was ALL I was asked to paint on children's faces/arms/hands at my friend's little boy's party. Seriously, kids- you could've been freakin' PIRATES or something.

Butterflies. The vanilla ice-cream of face painting. 

What've you been up to this weekend? Anything you're particularly thankful for? 

Katie xxx

*And by "fans" I obviously mean "people with serious issues". 

Polkadot Pockets

What's cookin', good lookin'?

Today I'm going to show evidence of me doing something we're all told not to do, under those generalising-phrases-that-don't-really-make-sense Rules of Life. Such as; "Don't judge a book by it's cover".... 

I mean, if you DON'T judge a book by it's cover, how are you going to know if it's a genre you like? I have one rule when I go book-hunting at the library: if the cover shows a skinny cartoon woman with a big hat drinking a cup of tea and/or carrying shopping bags, and is called something like "Wedding Belles" or "Mary Kate is getting married" I am checking that thing out. If it looks like this, I am not checking it out:

Disclaimer: I'm not saying that this book isn't great reading (it might be-
I don't know). It's just that reading about war makes me cry.
So I don't do it. 

Anyway, today I wanted to talk to you about: Putting Things In Pigeon-holes.  I'm all for not pigeon-holing people (like in Dom Joly's Trigger Happy TV sketches with the mild-mannered punk) because appearances certainly can't tell you what a person is really like. But I am definitely up for literally pigeon-holing things by organising them into little spaces (or pockets, in this case).

If I was going to meet a stranger at a train station and wanted them to recognise me, I would probably describe myself as "the tall, very organised girl wearing polkadots, eating a cake" because chances are I would be wearing polkadots and eating a cake, and I imagine my organisational skills to be a visible aura that oozes out of my (perfectly aligned) pores. Cleaning, I have no time for (hence our filthy windows) but tidying? That, I will MAKE time for.

So imagine my glee when the third item sent to me by the lovely DotComGiftShop was this brilliant multi-pocketed, polkadot-covered organiser. SWOON. 

Of course, I immediately began thinking about all the things I could fill it with- and which room it should go in. It could be...

1. A craft organiser
With envelopes, stamps, crochet hooks, felt-tips, animal post-its, blackboard foil, knitting needles, and Emergency M&Ms. 

2. Extra food storage
For our larder (aka, the under-stairs cupboard). To house pasta, biscuits, hot sauces (for which Tom's love knows no bounds), oil, picnic cutlery, and Emergency M&Ms. 

3. Bathroom Storage
For handy-to-grab items such as deodorant, shampoo, shower gel, face masks, medicine, moisturiser, and Emergency M&Ms.

The wall tidy is also made from 90% recycled materials- how excellent is that? I've decided to use it for envelopes and stationary for writing letters*; and it's currently hanging from my Duck and Cow hooks at the end of my craft bookcase. 

What would you use it for? 

Katie xxx

*And Emergency M&Ms. Obviously. 

Standard Saturday...

... In our house.

Have a great weekend!

Katie xxx

Five Things Friday

Yippee! It's the weekend!!

To celebrate, here's a smorgasbord of things that I think are darn tootin' excellent. 

1. Dinotastic Discovery

A friend sent me a link to this excellent story about a little girl who discovered a brand new species of dinosaur!! They've named it after her and everything- not too shabby for someone who isn't tall enough to ride a rollercoaster! 

Vectidraco Daisymorrisae - Daisy Morris's dragon from the Isle of Wight

I'm going to get me to the Isle of Wight STAT so I can find a Katiesaurus!!! 

2. Complimentary, my dear Watson

Who isn't a sucker for having nice things said about them?! I've had two particularly grin-enducing comments recently from the brilliant Jen and kind-hearted Charis which really made my day:

If there's one thing I want my hypothetical great-great-grandchildren to be told about me, it's that I made people laugh. Whether on purpose, or by accident... 

3. Setting up my own Starbucks

I've had my eye on some of these Monin syrups for a while- the kind they have lining the shelves of the barrista section in Generic Coffee Chains across the globe. They're the only reason I'll ever consider spending £3.50 on something that costs aforementioned Evil Consumerist Dark Lords of Coffee approximately 3.5p to make. So I decided to buy my own instead. In your FACE, Captain Starbucks. 

(L-R) Toffee Nut, White Chocolate, Vanilla, Caramel, Vanilla,
Hazelnut, Gingerbread, Chocolate Cookie

These bottles are going to last me until I'm at least 75. I scarcely ever drink coffee really, and there's no chance of them going off before I can finish them because they contain absolutely nothing natural what.so.ever. If there's ever a nuclear war I'm pretty sure getting into a bath full of this stuff would keep me safe from the fallout.

4. Rainy walks home

I'm sure I've waffled on before about how, given the option, I would just live in pyjamas and grandad jumpers and forgo normal clothes. Some days I just want to Pyjama Up as soon as I get home from work. Which means I don't really mind if a sudden turn in the weather makes my fifteen-minute walk home slightly wetter than anticipated. It's the perfect excuse to towel-dry my hair and fling on my PJs at 4pm. Bliss. 

5. Dancing like a loon

I know I'm about 9 months late to the Bruno Mars party, but now I'm here I'm heading straight to the dance floor. I haven't been able to get this song out of my head for the last month; and every time I hear it I want to flail about grinning like a loon. Dancing is weird, huh?

Have you discovered (or rediscovered) anything good recently? Please do share!

Katie xxx

Slice of life

Hello lovelies! 

Happy Friday Eve! The weekend's so close I can almost taste it (my weekends taste like pancakes. Lots and lots of pancakes).

This is the second instalment of my series looking at the beautiful things I was sent by DotComGiftShop (for those of you who missed my first review, or want another look at the World's Cutest Crocodile, you can read about him here). 

Obviously, I squealed with a great deal of clichéd girlish excitement when my DotComGiftShop parcel arrived because, well, anything free is better than nothing free (especially when I've basically been sent free things as a reward for spending hours choosing the abs-iest picture of Joe Manganiello to illustrate my point about, well, erm.... something important) and lovely free things are the nicest of all. Or so I thought (dun dun duuuuuuunnnnnnn*!)

Cup of tea.

Turns out, there IS something even nicer than lovely free things. And that is lovely, free, functional things that I actually need. I've needed (NEEDED. Not wanted) a cake slice for the length of my entire life. Which is a super long time. Because I like to pretend my life is an amalgamation of a Cath Kidston catalogue, Country Living magazine, and erm... a world where it's socially acceptable to dance at the bus stop. And serving slices of homemade cake with an old-and-slightly-melted plastic spatula doesn't fit AT ALL with the rest of my chintzy life. It's embarrassing. More embarrassing than people catching you rocking out at the bus stop. 

So, when I unwrapped this gorgeous Regency Cake Slice I did a celebratory dance worthy of any bus stop. No longer do I have to dish up my desserts hidden in the kitchen- I can serve them proudly at the table. 

This slice is the perfect slice for an acceptable "normal" wedge of cake. It's been mentioned by guests that "Tom and Katie Portion Sizes" are slightly above the norm. In our defence, they have to be; our one House Rule is no guest can leave without feeling ever-so-slightly-uncomfortably full. I know. We're monsters.

The cake slice is really pretty with Beauty-and-the-Beast-esque embossed roses along the handle, and nice and comfortable to hold (very important for a house where "No thanks, I don't want seconds" is a swearword**). You can grab one for yourself here. 

Katie xxx

*I had to put ominous music here because I couldn't think of the nice equivalent. What's the opposite of Scary Horror Film music?!

** Ok, it's a sentence- but we don't like nitpicking in this house, either- so watch it!