Lion Lamp

If any of you also fell in love with the gorgeous lamp I wrote about earlier in October, I can confirm it's now in the 30% off lighting sale at Laura Ashley!

When I saw the sale sign in the window on my way home today I punched the air like a freeze-frame from The Breakfast Club, then ran in faster than you can say OHMYGODTHEBEAUTIFULLAMPISONSALEGIVEITTOMENOW (and/or sing it like Verruca Salt, I don't care).

Here it is in our living room in all it's endless-filling-possibilities-filled glory. Is that too many fills? 

I may have to start a new series of posts called "Stuff I Have Put In My Lamp". 

Katie xxx

Rain Smell, Yoofs, and Skeleton Babies

Hello lovelies

How are you?

Today has been a day of odd things. I spent my day in meetings at a local farm which is currently running Halloween activity days for little ones. This meant that the cafe was filled with tiny children dressed as ghouls and skeletons. They were all so adorable I could practically feel my ovaries exploding (in a non-gross way, obviously). 

Babies in Halloween costumes: my hormones' Kryptonite.

Then, on my way home, a gang of hoodie-wearing yoofs BMX-d right at me whilst taking up the entire freakin' pavement. As I'm basically the world's youngest cantankerous old woman, my knee-jerk response was to glare at them all whilst thinking "Kids like you are the reason people think teenagers are such rude knobheads!". And you know what they did? They WOLF WHISTLED ME. I hasten to add, it was dark, so they most likely couldn't see my face, but seriously:

1. I'm basically old enough to be their mother. 

2. Wolf-whistling AND poor pavement manners? What are the youth of today coming to?

3. Did they not see me glaring?! 

I'm now paranoid that my scornful glare is easily confused for a look of lust. What if the people I see leaving their dogs' mess think I'm sending them come-hither signals? Because there are few things sexier than irresponsible dog owners...

On the plus side:

1. Apparently you can now tour the inside of buildings on Google Earth (just famous ones. Don't panic! The Google Earth van hasn't snuck into your house whilst you were at work!)

2. I've just discovered that "petrichor" is the proper word for after-it's-rained smell and there are proper nouns for a bunch of other stuff I thought was nameless.

Petrichor. Gorgeous photo by Román P. G.

3. Tom has just informed me using shift + F3 in MS Word allows you to change the case of entire sentences. SO IT DOESN'T MATTER IF I ACCIDENTALLY TYPE WHOLE SENTENCES IN CAPITAL LETTERS AFTER MY FAT THUMB TURNS ON THE CAPS LOCK KEY. Woohoo!

4. I've finally managed to find some consecutive days when I (hopefully) won't be nose-bleed-inducingly busy at work, so Tom and I are heading off to Marrakesh to celebrate! I'm SO excited- I've wanted to visit Morocco for years. No idea why, as I know nothing about the culture beyond couscous and tagines, and recent research which has informed me that Moroccans don't believe in vegetarianism, and I'll have to wear full length skirts and blouses like some sort of demure lady-person. At least I've got time for some pre-holiday maxi-skirt shopping! 

Rather in love with this asos skirt

Have you been to Marrakesh? I'd love some tips on cool places to visit/eat in! Or do you know any other awesome shortcut keys? 

I'm off to practice my glaring in the mirror.

Katie xxx

Faux Shizzle

Guys! GUYS! Guess what?!! I've finally managed to wear Tom down persuade Tom to let me buy a(nother) wall-mounted stag head to accompany the pompom garland I'm making for Christmas*!! I'm pretty sure this is only a temporary lift of the Stag Ban, and I've had to pinky-swear it'll be taken down the minute December is over (there go my New Year's plans!) but STILL. *Does the dance of a girl about to purchase a new stag head* (a super cool dance, which may involve miming antlers.)

Now the most important question (in my life) is: Which deer head do I buy?! With me being all vegetarian and whatnot, it's going to be a faux one. I realise my sofa is made of an entire herd of cattle; but I think an actual deer corpse on my wall would make me feel like this.

There are so many beautiful options to choose from- I really can't make up my mind! 

Wooden:

1. MIHO Roe Rene / 2. Construction Kit Model / 3. Green / 4. Wooden

Classic:

1. Black / 2. White gloss / 3. White / 4. Natural

Fancy:

1. Paisley / 2. Silver / 3. Purple Glitter / 4. Flowers

Plush:

1. Steiff / 2. Moose / 3. White Tailed Deer / 4. Kitsch

or Novelty:

1. Light-up lantern / 2. Fairy lights / 3. SINGING!!

Which one do you guys think I should get**?

Katie xxx

*I know, I know, I said the C word- but after reading the Ideal Home Christmas issue last night I'm now itching to dust everything with icing sugar and spray my house silver to complete the Winter Wonderland colour scheme. 

** All, right? I should get them all. Yes. 

Cider and Sparkle

I have a sneaking suspicion that, if I were to admit feeling anything other than head-over-ankle-boots adoration about autumn, I'd be expelled from the blogging community faster than you can say "Instagram Photo Of A Starbucks Latte In A Hand-Knitted Cup Warmer". Thankfully, I genuinely do adore it.

To me, autumn means:

1. Getting to wear my excessive collection of novelty/strange knitwear (hello Owl Jumper!).

2. Excellent opportunities for nature-based photography.

3. Lots of stews, preferably with coriander dumplings.

4. An unquashable compulsion to make things out of wool. I've gone a bit pompom mad after spotting this gorgeous garland:

[image from tea pea]

Until I've made enough pompoms for a suitably impressive garland, I'm going to keep them in one of my new jars. Although, I think I really need a deer head to set them off properly (not a real one obviously. Eurgh.)

5. Upping my hot chocolate consumption to a practically death-defying quantities*. Except today, when I decided to switch things up and mull some cider. 

Mulled cider in a teacup. Because early-afternoon drinking goes from "problem" to "classy" the minute one involves a saucer, doncha know.

The only thing I don't like about autumn is the ever-earlier-encroaching darkness. Gloom isn't cheering for anyone (except maybe goths?), so I was thrilled when DotComGiftShop sent me one of these beautiful antique baubles to brighten up my life living room.

This bauble is more than your average decoration, because:

1. It's absolutely huge (15cm diameter - like a sparkly, festive melon).

2. It's filled with fairy lights. So, when you turn it on, it looks like a cluster of fireflies having a party inside an antique silver disco ball. There's no way that could be anything but cheering!

It's also excellent at illuminating the face of That Other Bloke From Queen
on the front of record sleeves.

I have to say, though, it looks rather lonely on its own. There's only one thing for it - I'm going to have to buy it some little friends. 

Katie xxx

*Did you know humans can die from Theobromine poisoning after eating one kilo of chocolate? Amateurs! And who says I don't live on the edge?!

I Love Lamp

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm in love. 

Well, I'm additionally in love. I already love lots of things (Tom, breakfast, weekends, weekend breakfasts with Tom... you get the idea), but I popped into Laura Ashley on my way home today to have a long mooch around their extra-10%-off sale section and I saw THIS. 

We genuinely need a table lamp for our living room, and how brilliant is this one?!? The jar part opens so you can put in anything you want- it's essentially an ever-changing lamp base.  

My first thought was to put lots of white candles in the base, as some sort of new-old juxtaposition wotsit. Then I thought, lemons (I've got no idea where this "put lemons in jars" obsession is stemming from, but it doesn't seem to want to stop), and Lego. I could do baubles for Christmas, pine cones for autumn, cacti for my inner hipster... M&Ms for always. 

The only snag is, this lamp wasn't actually IN the sale section. It's from the brand new collection which means it's still at the full RRP of £65. I am therefore about to scour to the very depths of the internet for a decent Laura Ashley discount code. Wish me luck, world! 

Katie xxx

Six Things Sunday

Hello lovelies!

How are you?

It's been a while since I've done one of these lists, so here are six things I'm smiling about at the moment:

1. Halloween
Halloween is my favourite festivity (mostly because I love face paint. In case you hadn't noticed...) and, despite having yet to make any plans for partying this year, I'm still brainstorming potential costume options for Tom and I. 

I've been trying to persuade him to go as the Dothraki King and Queen from Game of Thrones with me, but he refuses to go topless in public. Boooo.

Ok, ok - mostly I just want to put Tom's
beard into a ponytail. Haha.

And check out these amazing carved pumpkins; I wish the UK had something like this!

Image source

2. New pretty jars
A few weeks ago Achica was offering free delivery on all orders, and after spotting they had some of my favourite fancy-pants jars for a mere £10 each I treated myself to the shapes I was missing from my collection.

I have no idea what I'm going to put in them yet (for some reason I keep thinking "lemons" - but who needs that many lemons?!) but I am very excited about the endless possibilities. Please excuse the crummy phone photo.

Any ideas what I can fill these with? Cookies? Sand? M&Ms?

3. Good food
Now the weather's turned colder, we've replaced BBQs with Sunday Roasts in our house and I've reverted to my winter level of cake consumption. Not because of greed, I hasten to add- it's for selfless environmental reasons. You see, me being fatter = feeling the cold less = waiting longer to put the heating on. I'm like a one-woman Greenpeace.

Check out this amazing cupcake one of my team made me at work. 
She's definitely getting full marks on her next appraisal...

4. Entertaining TV
I'm currently in the midst of my first cold of this winter, so I've been resting up with gallons of orange juice and feel very thankful there's plenty of good TV on at the moment to keep me entertained between naps on the sofa. I've recently been watching Nashville (and now want to be a country music singer when I grow up, in addition to seriously overusing the term y'all...), the Great British Bake Off and Downton Abbey, and found out yesterday that Made In Chelsea Season 6 starts airing tomorrow. EEEEEEEP!! 

Millie preparing to gouge Spencer's eyes out... Join the queue, girl.
[image from Reveal]

5. Good reads
I've sped through several excellent books recently, my favourites of which have been The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. 

The Night Circus is the most magical book I've read in a very long time. The story is captivating and enchanting, and Morgenstern's world is one I'd quite happily lose myself for ever. I've no doubt the film rights have already been snapped up (probably by Tim Burton) and I'm hoping any future cinematic versions are the visual feast that this gripping story deserves.

I found Eleanor & Park to be an utterly adorable read, even though the plot is far from sickly sweet and deals with much darker themes then just general teen angst. The characters are well rounded and identifiable - definitely the kind of kids I would want to smoosh the cheeks of if I met them in real life. I might've shed a tear or two at the end, but I'm not going to give away any spoilers. 

I would heartily recommend either book if you're feeling in need of a little escapism.

6. Competition winner! 
Congratulations to Anastasia from Girl Reviews Things for winning my 50,000 pageviews giveaway! I'll be posting out your prizes this week :)

What've you been enjoying doing recently? Wearing jumpers? Listening to Wagner? Watching Youtube videos of dancing monkeys?

Katie xxx

50,000 page views giveaway

This giveaway is now closed.

This little blog just hit 50,000 page views (most of which are probably Tom's Mum - Hi, Julie!) and the lovely folks from Rex London (previously DotComGiftShop) have very kindly donated two fantastic prizes to make it a proper celebration :)

I want to thank each and every one of you for reading my nonsense and leaving such brilliant comments; whether you've been here since the very beginning or you've just joined the party. It's so fantastic to feel like I'm part of a proper community of crafty, talented, witty people that I can socialise with from the comfort of my sofa (and without any of you knowing my face is covered in bits of toast and jam...). I would also like to extend a particularly heartfelt welcome to whomever it was that found my blog by searching for "mouldy food"(!) Errr.... What are you trying to say, Google?!

Want to see the fantastic prizes? Thought so! Between these two, I think I've got my whole blog theme covered :)

First up - a fancy-pants Regency Roses teapot.

Gorgeous, innit?

Secondly, a build-it-yourself, wind-up DINOSAUR!! Just like the ones I was raving about earlier this year.

To have a chance of winning these goodies, you just need to follow the instructions on the widget below. The competition closes at midnight on Sunday 12 October. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Katie xxx