28 November 2013

Marrakesh

Hello love bugs!

What've I missed?

Fancy hearing all about my Moroccan adventure and looking at some photos of interesting doors? Well, your prayers have been answered!



I'm not quite sure exactly what I'd expected Marrakech to be like, beyond colourful pyramids of spices and plenty of tagines, but it turned out to be generally so much more than I'd anticipated. More colourful, more exotic, more intense, and definitely louder. 






We learnt very quickly that the most important thing to carry round with you (besides loo roll and sanitising hand gel!) is a sense of humour; because most conversations seemed to be a lighthearted sales pitch for one thing or another. Once we'd found our feet, we wandered for hours on end through the maze of never-ending souks in the Medina, feasted in delicious restaurants staffed by French Hipsters in the Ville Nouvelle, and tried to take in everything we could see until our minds were saturated with colour.





We made the most of the French influences that create the weft of the tapestry that is Morocco by breakfasting on pain au chocolat and custard tarts, and embraced the wonders of African heritage which forms the warp, from dusty streets to bustling markets to lush gardens filled with the sound of tinkling fountains.


One of many mint teas

We basked in golden sunshine within the walls of ruined palaces, attempted (and failed) to avoid the snake-charming touts in the Jemaa el Fna, and scrambled up almost sheer cliff faces in the Atlas Mountains to see a waterfall. 





Some of us got sweatier from the climb than others. Haha. 

We got the hang of haggling, to the point where the sellers declared I must be "half-Berber" (which I was weirdly proud of, even though I'm sure they say that to everyone) and spent a dirham or two on artisan goods from the sense-awakening souks.


We've decided to declare our holiday a definite success :)

If you want to see any more of my photos, you can find them on flickr

Katie xxx

18 November 2013

Monday

Hello lovelies

How's your Monday been? Good? Middling? In need of copious amounts of wine? I hope it was the former. Although feel free to pretend it was the latter if you're feeling the need for wine regardless! 

Last week at work was utterly beyond awful for me,but this week things are thankfully much, much better. I also moved desks on Friday afternoon as part of a big re-shuffle; and it feels like a brand new start. This has made me happy for several reasons:

1. I managed to grab a different desk to the one I was allocated and it's BY A RUDDY WINDOW. I work in a building which has more gloomy corners full of shadows and SAD than it even has walls. Which you wouldn't think is even possible but it totally is. I am so SO excited about being able to see daylight and gazing daydreamily over the gorgeous vista outside of MY window. Of the office carpark... ahem. But thank heaven for small victories! 


Strangely, I have yet to take a photo of my new car park view;
so here's something funny from the internet instead

2. I've decided to become one of those people with pointless personal stuff all over their desk. After years of refusing to become one of those people with the stuffed animals and the framed photos of kids/Derren Brown/the Royal family (I kid you not!) I've now decided to embrace it. Today I added a framed print from my bookcase and a pretty mug to put all my pens in (the bunting-covered one from this post). 


The Witch Hare by Teresa Winchester

This is the print I've taken to work. I bought the greeting card version from Teresa at a Brighton art fair- it was a wee bit cheaper than the full-size print!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Stress ball? Tiny Feng Shui garden thing complete with sand? One of those executive toys where all the balls swing back and forth*? Only time will tell. Part of me is incredibly tempted to stick pompom trim all round the edge....


3. I've got that back-to-school feeling of anticipation and excitement about what the future might hold. Which is basically a legitimate reason to indulge my eternal desire to go shopping in Paperchase for new stationery. Right?


Perhaps this awesome robot notebook? I think so. 

In other news, I want to introduce you to my latest internet discovery: Fisherman Bob. He comes as a brooch and necklace but, more importantly, since when did Tom pose for this?! I need one of these STAT. Mostly for the next time I lose Tom in Ikea; so I can just point at my brooch and people will be able to help me find him. Admittedly he'll have to grow his beard back first... 


Aside from Fisherman Bob's lack of tomatoes, I can't tell these two apart. 


So, what's new with you?

Katie xxx

*snigger

14 November 2013

"We just need a blood sample"

In case you weren't aware, I work for the NHS. Not the actual saving-lives bit. In the officey bit. Although I reckon I could save someone's life with a hole-punch, a treasury tag, and one of those stabby-mouthed things for removing staples if I really needed to.

Yesterday afternoon I went to a meeting (mostly for the free biscuits) where I discovered that not only do we have a Day Team and a Night Team to look after elderly patients with dementia, but we also have a Twilight Team!! How reassuring must it be for confused older people to wake up to this?!:



Haha

Katie xxx

10 November 2013

In which I climb Everest

Hello lovelies!

Happy Sunday :) Have you got nice plans?

We've got sunny blue skies here, aka the perfect weather for watching re-runs of Dawson's Creek on Netflix. The original theme song is basically the soundtrack to my life. Although I'm sure everyone can identify with "Every voice inside my head is telling me to run like mad. Oh bows and arrows, stars and sunsets. Hey, hey, hey, yeah. Hey, hey, head yeah"?!

I digress. What I really wanted to talk to you all about today is how I'm going to become a world-class athlete.

*Helpful pause to allow you to clean up the tea you spilled/snorted all over your keyboard upon reading that*

Ok?

You see, last week I lent someone my headphones, which they subsequently broke (they don't read this blog, by the way, so I promise this isn't a passive-aggressive metaphorical horse head on their pillow. (OHMYLORD - I totally need to make a horse's head pillowcase!)). This meant I needed to buy some new ones, so yesterday I popped into Homesense to find a marked-down pair; because if there's one thing love it's a bargain. And Jack from Dawson's Creek (before he got all perma-tanned and turned into a bit of a bitch in Season 5).


Where he found the time to apply foundation is beyond me,
when he had SO MUCH BROODING TO DO

I found a pair of these babies marked down from an RRP of £40 to £5.99(!) The best part is that the packaging described them as an EXTREME SPORTS headset. Checkout Guy asked if I was planning to do some extreme sports and I was all "Absolutely. Lack of suitable earphones has been all that's been holding me back from climbing Everest and completing a triathlon."


My new Iqua ear-go earphones with fancy "lobe-clips". Fancy.

Now I've got these headphones I have no doubt my life is going to transform into one of those adverts for women's products. The ones that are all "Hey ladies! Don't worry. You can still ride a horse, windsurf, bungee-jump and wrestle a bear all at the same time EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE A UTERUS!"


That's me*. Did that this morning before breakfast.
[image source

I'll keep y'all updated on the bear-wrestling.

Katie xxx

*That's a lie. 

7 November 2013

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Hello lovelies!

Back by popular request*, here's some more of me wittering on about things. 

There have been two big changes around here in the last week.

The first is that thanks to the MEGA STORM which hit last weekend, our garden fence is now decking. 


Aw shucks.
Sod's Law that it would be the side we're responsible for maintaining. Although, to be fair, the fence was basically only held up by a tiny wall and a dozen snail trails. Its days were numbered. Nonetheless, part of me thinks it was actually Karma that knocked our fence down after I was so scathing about all the severe weather warnings. "What is all this nonsense? Everyone's acting like it's going to be like Twister all over again!". 

Sadly, whilst it was a bit like Twister, there was no sign of Cary Elwes. Admittedly, I would only be interested in the Cary Elwes of 26 years ago**, so it would've had to be a time travelling twister too. 


** You know what I've just realised? This film is older than me.
Which means Westley is probably now a little bit too old for me. Sad face.

It was also not like Twister because I am guessing Twister's budget was less than it's apparently going to cost to fix our fence. I think it would be cheaper to move. Or build a special force field dome over the garden a la Stephen King (/The Simpsons Movie).

Speaking of The Simpsons Movie, that totally reminds me. Last night Tom and I were watching Striking Distance last night (FYI- don't bother) and it suddenly dawned on me how much Bruce Willis looks like Homer Simpson. Or vice versa. Whatever. Turns out I'm not the only one who thinks so. My point is, am I now supposed to become less attracted to Bruce Willis or more attracted to Homer Simpson?!



Anyway... the second change around here is that someone stole half of Tom's face. Thankfully only the hairy part of it. To show support for Movember, Tom shaved his beard off (with my assistance) on 31 October. It's the first time I have EVER seen his chin (which proves how completely un-shallow I am; I've been in love with this boy for over FIVE YEARS, and I had no idea what his chin looked like. I'm basically Mother Teresa***)


From Hagrid to Super Mario in one fell swoop. 

So. What's new with you? 

Katie xxx

*Seriously, someone requested this :)

*** Note to self: check whether Mother Teresa is famous because she fell in love with a lot of bearded men. 

3 November 2013

Console table DIY

.... for lazy people. It doesn't even involve tools*!

I've been debating for months on whether to put a console table in our hall. We've got the space, but I was still worried it would make the hallway feel cramped if I chose the wrong table. I also didn't want to something which would end up covered in Tom's unopened post; but I probably shouldn't ask for miracles...

We needed something reasonably shallow, so it wouldn't get in the way of the front door, and initially considered buying a table with nice legs (I am SUCH a leg girl when it comes to furniture) and cutting it in half like this:


Look at those legs! Swit-swoo
source

However, I was unsure whether screwing a table to the wall was the best choice, because it meant that in six months' time when I was bored of it (I'm very fickle like that) and wanted to take it down there would be a load of holes to fill in. Booooring.

Then I spotted this awesome tray in Ideal Home magazine and all previous plans were abandoned. 



I bought the tray, then hopped straight over to ebay to track down two more of the vintage apple crates we've used in the living room. After stacking them up like building blocks, we now have a hall table with bonus shoe storage:




It may sound daft but moving the fruit bowl from the kitchen and freeing up more counter space is one of the biggest benefits to come from doing this. I've replaced our old fruit basket with one of my fancy-pants jars (without the lid) until I can find a proper fruit bowl.


The tray means Tom now has somewhere to chuck all the stuff boys carry around in their pockets when he gets home from work. It's also free-standing, so the wall remains hole-free, and all of the components can be used for storage elsewhere when I get bored of it. The best part of all? To date, it's remained clear of unopened-post!

Katie xxx

*Ok, ok. "DIY" might be a bit of an exaggeration, seeing as all you'd need to do to replicate this is buy some crates....

1 November 2013

Beautiful Bars

I like chocolate*. Quite a lot. You may have noticedI also like beautiful packaging. 

So when I saw these beauties glowing like edible jewels** in Tesco's confectionery aisle, combining two of my favourite things, I had to sweep a few into my basket. Purely for aesthetic reasons, as I'm sure you'll understand. Also, they're currently on offer for two-for-£2. 



Aren't they lovely? I opted for the four bars which caught my eye first, and can confirm they are also delicious. My dedication to chocolate sampling for journalistic reasons knows no bounds. You're welcome. 

The main reason I like the packaging is because it reminds me of the covers of the beautiful Penguin Clothbound Classics



Which I would love to own, by the way, if any of you are feeling generous and happen to have a spare £426.20 sitting around (don't worry- they do free shipping!)

Katie xxx

* This is like saying that lions like gazelle. Except I don't have to chase down my chocolate across a dusty savannah. Shame, really. It would probably burn off a few Twixes.

**Sorry; I think I having a bit of a Nigella moment.