A truckload of blu tack

Hey m'dears :) 

Have you had a nice day? 

Mine has mostly involved eating Nutella on sourdough toast, and was therefore AWESOME. The consumption of Nutella was basically compulsory, because this morning I managed to summon the energy to fulfil my bi-annual urge to go for a run. Pretty amazing, eh? *waits patiently for award*

As I only run for about twenty minutes every six months, and don't do any exercise in between, I was stupidly proud of doing 5.5km in less than 35 minutes. I wasn't actually running for the entire time, but there were some pretty steep hills involved; and I have the fitness levels of an octogenarian with a lifelong allergy to cardio. 

I didn't take any photos of myself post-run, but here's an
artist's impression of my face. AKA Sweaty Tomato. 

After a few hours' recouping from my exertions, comforted by various Kirstie and Phil re-runs and aforementioned Nutella-slathered toast, I felt the need to complete a mini makeover of our guest room. 

To set the scene- one of my school friends stayed with us for a while just after we bought our house, due to landing a job practically in our back garden. Unfortunately, the posters that said put up whilst staying with us took pieces of the wallpaper with them when he left. Almost three years later, I decided something had to be done. 

A few holes shown in red circles of shame (added during editing-
my friend didn't circle them afterwards to highlight what he'd done :p)

My solution was, naturally, to cover the wall in maps. It's what I do. A lot. So, here's a DIY with how to create your very own Map Wall.

You will need:
- Sufficient maps to cover your chosen wall.
- Lots of Blu Tack
- Scissors/craft knife
- Something to distract your boyfriend so he doesn't realise what you're doing or become suspicious of the ominous silence whilst you're busy blu-tacking*. 
- Snacks to keep your strength up. 

Method:

1. Use craft knife/scissors to cut maps to size, and to fit them around any sockets or light switches. 

2. Stick maps to wall with plenty of blu tack, to ensure they don't fall off in the night, making a loud noise that wakes you in a blind panic that burglars are trying to steal your collection of Nicolas Cage DVDs**. 

3. Make sure to eat plenty of snacks to keep your strength up. After all, you're a runner now and runners need lots of carbs. Or chocolate. Either works.  

I was considering adding a "route" of red wool all over the wall, to represent an epic journey. However, I restrained myself. Not because I was worried about the room becoming seriously OTT maps-wise (the chest of drawers is in here too); but because I thought it might look like one of those boards detectives use in the movies when trying to solve a murder. 

What do you think? Too much? 

Katie xxx 

* The Grand Prix works pretty well. Thanks, Formula 1!

** Could happen. 

Summer of Colour

Hello lovelies!

Are you having a nice weekend? 

I've been determined to make the most of all this glorious sunshine (i.e. minimising my moaning about how it's TOO DAMN HOT ALL THE TIME) because I know winter is going to sneak up like a ninja and then I'll be lamenting the lack of long sunny afternoons and lazy Sunday BBQs. Although returning to our Sunday Roast routine will offer some small consolation because man, do I love gravy. 

I've also added a few more spots of colour to our current décor to ensure I feel summery even when I'm inside sheltering from the Scorching Ball Of Death. This was initiated by Zara Home's mega sale (which is still on by the way- go go go!!), and I've been dancing for joy pretty much non-stop* since I finally became the proud owner of one of their duvet covers**. I've been coveting Zara Home's wonderful bedding collections for nearly half a decade, but the combination of crazy high prices for the Super King sized options and delivery costs starting at FIFTEEN ENGLISH POUNDS(!) meant I stuck to lusting after them from afar. 

Duvet cover and pillowcase in situ. It's like SLEEPING IN A RAINBOW.

When I found out Zara Home was opening a store in Brighton I'm pretty sure I shouted "WOOHOOOO!" with more enthusiasm than a child at the start of the summer holidays. As I now had the option to pick up my purchases instore and avoid the obscene postage costs, I decided to treat myself to said duvet cover plus a new pillowcase from the Kid's range sale and an ashtray that I thought would make the perfect soap dish in our bathroom; because for some unknown reason the Playmobile boat has worked out to be less practical than I'd expected***. 

Unfortunately, the dimensions listed on the website for the ashtray were slightly off because they stated it measured 18 x 18 x 4 cm, when in reality it measures 8 x 6 x 2 cm. I didn't notice this until I got home but, in testament to my laziness, it has not been returned to the store - despite being hilariously tiny. Thankfully, we have plenty of miniature soaps purloined from our stays in fancy hotel rooms to keep things in proportion. 

Next to tiny hotel soap to give idea of scale.

It is pretty though, isn't it?

To balance out my splurge on paisley-patterned goodness, the remainder of my additions have been sourced for free. A gorgeous plant from Katy (which I've managed to keep alive for THREE WHOLE WEEKS), an upcycled "vase" which was previously one of the light shades in our old bathroom, more flowers from the garden, and a giant baked bean tin from my Mum. 

The lavender smells absolutely amazing. I have no idea what
the other stuff is, besides pretty and free (two of my favourite things).

I find it really uplifting being surrounded by so much colour. Do you feel the same, or are you all about neutral colours and calm serenity? 

Katie xxx * Which is just as well, because I can't remember the last time I wasn't eating a Double Caramel Magnum.

** Which is now £10 less than what I paid for it (grr!), so go grab yourself a bargain!

*** Don't panic- the toothbrush holder is still going strong. 

The bird is the word

Also, LEGO. LEGO is also the word. Put them together and what've you got?

No, not Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo. Better. That's right- better than Disney. What you get is Thomas Poulsom's incredible collection of LEGO birds. How utterly fantastic are these?!

Bradley the Blue Jay

Marky the Macaw

Monty the Mountain Bluebird

Bobby Robin

I particularly love the fact that most of Thomas's creations have such adorably alliterative names. You can see more of his incredible work on his Flickr page.

AND you can also vote for his birds to become real life LEGO kits(!) here on the LEGO website. Because, let's be honest- who wouldn't want a LEGO parrot kit for summer time or a LEGO robin at Christmas? NO ONE. That's who.

Katie xxx

P.S. Technically not a bird, but how sweet is Roger the Badger?!

Please note, all photos are copywrite and have been very kindly loaned to me by Thomas (thanks Thomas!). 

A Totally Wise Investment

Let's be honest here. A £5-off-a-£20-spend voucher from Achica arriving on pay day was never going to end well, was it?

Thankfully, I acted in an incredibly sensible and mature manner and invested my hard-earning cash in something beautiful and functional that will last me forever. Isn't it gorgeous?

Bodum 3 cup French Press coffee maker

I saved a whopping 65% on this beast. Pretty good going, eh? 

Let's just skim over the part where I spent £36 on 3240g of chocolate buttons. 

Button picture borrowed from The Wicked Chocolate Company. 

I mean, really, it was a perfectly justified purchase, because:

• They're the best chocolate buttons in the whole wide world
• They were a really reasonable price, so I practically made money
• It's not like I'm going to eat them all in a week or two
• I think Tom's going relish the chance to live solely on rice and beans this month, because it'll turn our dinners into a real life episode Ready, Steady, Cook as we try to turn the same 2 ingredients into another completely different meal. 
• I've invested the majority some a bit of my money in a good quality, long lasting cafetiere, which is super wisdomous of me. 
• I'm totally going to share them. Totally.

Before you start getting all "well, THAT was a waste of money"

I reckon I need to get my own TV show about how to create a robust investment portfolio. You'd watch it, right? 

Katie xxx

Weird and wonderful wine

Hello m'dears

Sorry for the silence; I've been racing through Peter James' Roy Grace series of police thrillers set in Brighton, and have struggled to put any of them down long enough to blog. I'm particularly enjoying the series because, thanks to years of living in Brighton, I've visited the majority of the locations in which James sets his scenes. Except Brighton police station, I hasten to add!

Today, Tom and I went on a drive through the countryside, originally planning to stop for lunch at a lovely looking pub we'd spied on previous jaunts. Unfortunately, upon arrival we discovered that it was actually rather run down and the menu was a short list of overpriced items requiring the sole culinary skill of being able to close a panini toaster. Sad face.

We headed onwards to find an alternative lunch location, and ended up at another new discovery- the Cock Inn (teehee) in Wivelsfield Green, where I devoured a cappuccino (with a FREE BISCUIT. Win.), and a vast plateful of all the healthy food groups - double carbohydrates, garlic butter, melted cheese, and mayonnaise. Yum. 

Edinburgh Day 2 Part 2

Hello lovelies

Here's Part 2 of my summary (yes, summary!) of our first full day in Edinburgh. You can catch the first half of our excursion here. 

I'm going to skip the middle bit where we struggled to find somewhere nice for lunch because, in our classic holiday style, we left it until the very last stomach-rumbling minute. This meant I turned into She Hulk, causing us to leg it into the nearest place that sold anything edible so I wouldn't start ripping bollards out of the pavement whilst yelling "KATIE SMASH". Thankfully, it was reasonably cheap; as the pub we chose totally Derren-Brown-d my lunch by sucking out all of the flavour yet making it look like a regular potato with cheese and beans. 

The other reason for the rushed lunch was because we wanted to go to the zoo.

We love the zoo. It's our favourite. Anywhere with monkeys is a winner in my book, and Edinburgh Zoo turned out to be a pretty good one. We saw teeny baby gibbons, huuuuge rhinoserousserisess, and a whole pile of penguins.

Aren't emu ears weird?

My favourite critters were the monkeys, who were all wearing personalised necklaces complete with the plastic beads I remember using to make bracelets in the 90s. I like to think they made them for each other as friendship necklaces. 

One thing I don't like about the zoo is kids banging on the enclosure windows and trying to wake up the animals. And if Mum/Dad starts doing it too, Tom and I have no problem with tutting incredibly loudly at them. Because we're disapproving and British. Whilst I love the opportunity to view so many wonderful animals, it must be truly horrific for them to spend their lives in captivity instead of in the wild, and the last thing they need is little Johnny making a racket when they're trying to have a kip. 

Thankfully, there wasn't much need for tutting on that particular trip, but we did witness a smallish boy having what appeared to be a mega tantrum and sobbing his eyes out. I was all ready to put on my Cape of Judgement, until I overheard him sob "I, I, I, I wish I was a caterpillar". That made me want to buy him a balloon. 

Luckily, this child still has all his fingers.

Our final, and favourite, attraction of the day was the Camera Obscura. The camera sits on the fifth floor of an amazing museum of magic and illusions. The girl who showed us the camera in motion was very entertaining and told us some wonderful anecdotes about all the sights we could see from the top of the tower. We found out the Parthenon-style columned structure on a nearby hill only had 12 pillars instead of the intended 48, because every time a pillar was completed there was a city-wide celebration - and they ran out of money a quarter of the way through! 

The park near to the train station apparently used to be a lake, and emptying it took the people of Edinburgh over SIXTY YEARS because they did it by filling up large barrels with lake water and rolling them down to the sea. Apparently, when the lake was drained, they found 300 cadavers lying at the bottom- due to that charming olden days tradition of witch ducking....

I honestly cannot recommend the Camera Obscura enough- we spent almost two hours in the museum playing with all the weird mirror tricks, checking out the incredible holograms, and trying to see the magic eye pictures. N.B. I could not do this; magic eye pictures are my nemesis. 

Us, caught on heat-sensitive camera. My nose is always cold, which is
probably the reason it runs ALL THE TIME, like it's in the depths of winter.
Except, for my nose, it's always winter and never Christmas. *sob*

Tom's been insisting for years that he's taller than me....

We'll just see about that.

This mirror-lined corridor was the most fun to take photos in, because it contained hundreds of tiny, colour-changing bulbs behind the glass. The reflections between the two sets of mirrors made it look like the lights were stretching on forever; and by slowing down the exposure on our cameras we managed to get some really unusual shots.

 
Tired out from all the walking/staring at magic eye pictures, we stomped back to the flat and collapsed on the sofas (another plus about Airbnb!) before heading out for dinner. We opted for Rivage, an Indian restaurant that was literally a thirty-second stagger from the front door, and were both so glad that we tried it. The food was absolutely, utterly delicious. Tom even declared it one of the best curries he'd ever eaten; and that boy has eaten A LOT of curry. 

Photo nicked from Tom, as I was too greedy busy to photograph it

Stuffed to the brim with vegetable pakoras, mushrooms and peas in a cashew nut sauce, a butterbean and potato side, buttery garlic naan, saffron rice and a mango lassi (and that was just for me!) we stumbled back to the flat to fall into bed and dream about bombing dinosaurs with apples and morphing into caterpillars.

Katie xxx

Edinburgh: Day 2 Part 1

Hello lovelies!

Are you ready to here more about our weekend in Edinburgh?

Saturday (our first full day there) turned into a self-imposed challenge to fit in as many Tourist Attractions as we could- making the most of the savings from our Edinburgh Tourist Passes. I'm pleased to say we met our own challenge head-on, and managed to save over £50 of entry costs, even after the cost of the tickets! 

Dressed to fight dinosaurs.

We grabbed a freshly baked breakfast from Manna House (unknowing bestowers of the FREE SANDWICHES), washed down with a bottle of apple juice I reckon Enid Blyton would've been proud of. I selected an "apple cinnamon bomb" complete with a faux cinnamon stick made of chocolate. Mostly because I figured if it looked like fruit, it had to be good for me somehow :p

First stop on our epic adventure was Dynamic Earth, because it was the closest attraction to the flat, and the website makes it sound like a hybrid of Dante's Peak and Jurassic Park. 

Sadly, the reality is rather, erm, tame (bless it) so we left as soon as we could find an exit (about an hour in, having travelled through ice and fire and a "raining" rainforest that was dryer than most puddles). My favourite part was probably the "Time Machine" (aka glass-walled lift) because it reminded me of this scene from The Cabin In The Woods. Still, I still learnt a thing or two. For example, did you know that when the continents were forming before the Ice Age started they moved at the same speed that human fingernails grow?

Bagpipe man. Just because.

Having escaped the wrath of the volcano (/fairy lights), we stomped along to the Surgeon's Museum. The museum front is super-fancy, with huge pillars and banners, but we had to follow a little sign directing us to the unlocked side entrance. Which turned out to be a front door in the middle of a row of houses, and made me suspect we'd unwittingly been tricked into becoming non-anaesthetised surgical experiments. 

Fancy front door...

Ominous side door

Thankfully, we ended up in the museum and not in a laboratory/cage, and spent a very enjoyable hour peering at weird and wonderful medical instruments, reading fascinating factoids about ancient operative techniques, and looking at a lot of weird-shaped skulls. The most impressive thing we saw was a 1:1 scale model of a huge facial tumour, about the size of a football, which a surgeon had successfully removed from a man's face in the days before anaesthetics - in a miraculous 24 minutes with a loss of only 250ml of blood!

After all that gawking at skeletons, we needed a cake break. We hopped into the Black Medicine Coffee Co. to escape the drizzle, as it sounded like they took coffee pretty darn seriously. We were certainly not disappointed, even though I opted for a Calmer Chameleon (teehee) smoothie of strawberry, mango and honey, instead of a coffee; as my apple bomb breakfast had been marginally less nutritious than I'd hoped. We did, however, also split a slab of Malteaser tiffin that was seriously delicious. 

Watch out for these- it's a sign of good coffee!

Our final stop of the morning was Gladstone's Land, a fancy old house on Royal Mile, where we met the sweetest old Scottish* lady who regaled us with some truly brilliant tales about life in Scotland back in the day, and her work for the Scottish National Trust. My favourite story was about her recent trip to a primary school, to tell the children about life in Scotland 400 years ago, and one little boy asking her "Were you there?". She had a proper giggle about it and agreed that when you're only 7 there's no way of telling whether an old lady is 100 or 400... :)

The house is under the protection of the Scottish National Trust, so it turns out we could've gotten in for free anyway with our National Trust passes. I did ask whether our tickets being doubly-free meant they'd pay us to visit, but apparently not. 

The family that owned it were seriously rich compared to all the poor people living on the streets. Not only did they have a piano forte and a four poster bed, but they also completed a Grand Designs-worthy overhaul of their home; adding a huge two-story extension on the front of the house. 

This isn't the house; it's just a shot I took of the High Street.
Aren't the buildings pretty though?

I'm going to write about the second half of Day 2 in another post- as I'm worried you'll use your eyes up if you have to read any more words today!

Katie xxx

* Whilst writing this, I had to Google the question "are Scottish people Scotch?" because I no idea whether the term was still acceptable/in use (it's not). Three words in, Google offered me the second most popular search for people asking "are Scottish people...". The end of that question? IRISH. 

Humanity, I do despair. 

Edinburgh Day 1: Bargains and Freebies

Hello lovelies!

How have you been? Did you have a nice weekend?

This has been a while in coming, so it's high time I told you about our long weekend away in Edinburgh! It. Was. Brilliant. We walked and walked, and stopped for cake, and walked and walked some more. I took approximately 56,000 photos of stunning architecture, beautiful vistas, and everything we ate (the majority of my snaps, as we ate A LOT). 

We booked flights with Easyjet from Southend's new "London" airport (what a fib! It's about 90 minutes outside London!) as they were at more reasonable times than the pre-dawn flights from Gatwick. Southend airport is also just down the road from my lovely In Laws (perhaps slightly too close... we waved out of the plane's window as we took off in case they were watching from their back garden), which meant we could spend the night before at their house feasting on one of my MIL's excellent dinners too. 

We hadn't really planned much of an itinerary at all before we set off, which I realise doesn't really fit with my Organise It To Within An Inch Of Its Life mentality about, well, everything; but I genuinely enjoy getting a bit lost in new cities and just seeing what we discover. And I did have a quick look for the top touristy things to do to make sure we didn't miss anything too amazing; which is how I discovered the Edinburgh Tourist Pass. 

Passes can be purchased for 1-3 days, with adult prices from £30pp, and include a return bus ticket to the airport which would cost £6 on its own. The passes can be used on a different date to the bus ticket too, so we bought two one-day passes upon arrival at the airport and then hopped on the bus into the city centre. 

Our friend Tom, aka Mr Skulls and Ponies, had recently been waxing lyrical about Airbnb; an alternative choice for holiday accommodation that offers the opportunity to rent someone's flat/house (or just a room in their home) instead of staying in a hotel. We decided using Airbnb would give us the perfect home-from-home for the weekend, instead of ending up feeling trapped in our hotel room for the evening after returning exhausted from sightseeing. After spotting the photos of this amazing flat, we were sold.  

To be honest, it was the excellent collection of art that really sold this flat to me.

Our flight was slightly delayed getting in, so we were a little late in getting to the flat. Thankfully the lovely owner was completely understanding, and made sure we knew where all the important things were before leaving us alone for the weekend in her stunning flat. 

By the time we'd dumped our suitcase at the flat, and scarfed down a very tasty late lunch of burgers from Holyrood 9A, we decided to make the most of the early-evening sunshine and walked up to Arthur's Seat to see the lay of the land. 

EPIC halloumi burger. Photo pinched from Tom's flickr

We were very impressed with ourselves for reaching the top in only half an hour- especially as we'd chosen the steepest route. And then we saw a guy RUNNING up the side of the mountain. Who was less out of breath than I was. Not only that, but on our way back down he passed us FOUR TIMES, having run over the summit each time too. I have no idea how any human being could possible become that fit. Although I have a sneaking suspicion the formula is something along the lines of more-exercise-less-cheesecake; so I'm certainly not interested in becoming the next Super Human running (wo)man.

The monument at the top of Arthur's Seat reads "All shoes go to heaven";
surprising apt as I did actually wear out my shoes whilst we were in Edinburgh!

After managing not to plummet down any rocky crags during our climb, I still only narrowly escaped our jaunt with my life due to a being mobbed by a flock of Evil Swans. I'd just stepped down onto a small gravel beach flanking the lake at the foot of Arthur's Seat, when a thuggish group of 5 swans suddenly rushed the beach and headed straight for me! I swear one of them had a tattooed beak and a wingduster. 

One of the Evil Swans

All limbs thankfully still intact, on our way back to the flat we popped into Cornelius, an off-licence we'd been recommended to visit by the flat's owner, and bought a few bottles of local ales and ciders. Whilst trying to choose from the impressive selection, we deliberated aloud about dinner choices; as neither of us were hungry enough for a proper dinner thanks to the mega burgers. Then, as the sales girl was totting up our order, she asked us one of the best questions in the whole world. "Would you like some free sandwiches?".

Why is that even a QUESTION?! FREE SANDWICHES(?!?!) And they were fresh from the bakery next door (which had just closed for the night) that we were planning to test out the next day for breakfast.

Any holiday that starts off with fried cheese, brushes with feathery death, and FREE SANDWICHES is always going to be a winner isn't it?

Katie xxx