31 March 2014

House Tour: Living Room update

Hello lovelies!

Did you have a nice weekend?

Mine involved a garden picnic, a bit of sewing, a pub lunch in the sunshine, a hand massage, shopping with girlfriends, hairstyle experimentation, and a chocolate festival(!)

The glorious spring sunshine has stirred my (normally very much quashed) desire to complete some jobs which have been languishing on the To Do List in my House scrapbook. I've got plenty of half-finished jobs to choose from, but while I tackle those I thought I'd share some of the decorative updates in our living room since I last posted some photos.



We've added a picture ledge behind the sofa, to fill the previously blank space. I'm really enjoying being able to mix-and-match the objects and pictures on the shelves whenever I want to. 



It's currently holding Ikea frames containing postcards from this collection, two Pink Floyd albums (Tom's contribution), one of my new Tom Frost postcards, and an excellent piece of colouring in Tom and I did together at Dinosaur Isle on the Isle of Wight.



I've also displayed the box my postcards came in, my Smile art, and some pretty paper from Homemaker magazine.



My favourite lamp is currently filled with my spools of sewing thread, and I've kept out one of the tealight houses I displayed at Christmas under a glass dome from DotComGiftShop (a total bargain in their current sale). 



Our fireplace is looking cheery thanks to the flowers I was given last weekend, and my Lego letters (which remain one of my all-time favourite DIYs). 



I recently discovered that Paperchase's individual sheets of wrapping paper fit exactly into Ikea's Ribba Frames. This made me incredibly happy, because it's essentially poster-sized art for under £3. I was originally hoping to put this frame on the picture ledge but it's too tall, but I kinda like it leaning against the wall all casual-like. 



Are you feeling the spring cleaning urge? 

Katie xxx

26 March 2014

The Girl with the Windup Heart

I'm feeling very saudade today.

It's the closest word the internet appears to offer for that feeling when one finishes a really good book; a bittersweet combination of happiness from finding out the ending, and sadness that you've run out of story to absorb yourself in.

The cause of my saudade-ness is due to finishing The Girl with the Windup Heart*, which I raced through in what seemed like a matter of minutes because I loved it too much to put it down for longer than a shower (and only then because I don't have a waterproof cover for my Kindle).



Any story with characters called Griffin King and Jack Dandy has got to be a winner, right? The protagonist is a girl after my own heart, too:

"While not a new thought, the depth of meaning behind it finally hit her. She loved him. As in loved him more than her own life. Loved him more than biscuits or hot chocolate."

That's some pretty serious love right there. Although I notice she didn't say biscuits AND hot chocolate. Probably because a love of that magnitude could never exist. 

I was really excited to get my mitts on this book because it's set in Victorian London, with a steampunk element and a bit of fantasy thrown in too; my current favourite genre mash-up. It turned out to be even better than I'd expected, because some characters also have super powers- like comic book heroes! Part of the story is set in a circus (always a plus with me), and there's a brooding man with excellent hair who rides the Victorian steampunk equivalent of a motorbike. SWOON.

This is the fourth book of the Steampunk Chronicles by Kady Cross, which also has three novellas/teasers/prequels. I was worried I'd find it difficult to get into, because I haven't read the other books in the series, but that wasn't the case at all. Thankfully, it also contained minimum spoilers about the previous books in the series; so I'm planning to devour them all and just pretend they're prequels.

The Girl with the Windup Heart is being published on 27 May 2014 so I reckon anyone who fancies reading it could get through the other 3 books before it comes out. Just prepare yourself for some serious post-series saudade-ness.

Katie xxx

*This (e)book was kindly sent to me to review, but the opinions (and swooning over L'Oréal-worthy motorbike riders) are all me.

25 March 2014

The Magic Skirt

Hello lovelies!

How are you? 

I had a completely different post planned for today, but that will just have to wait, because this morning I realised I've owned the skirt I wore to work today for almost TEN YEARS. I'm waiting for the call from Oprah to go and tell the world about it. In the meantime, I'm going to tell you about it. 


I bought this skirt (from a charity shop, natch) for my Record of Achievement Ceremony at the end of my GCSEs. It was the first piece of relatively grown up clothing I'd ever owned, and I remember being told by a boy I'd scarcely spoken to before that I "scrubbed up well" when he saw me in it. 

In my mid-teens I was a lanky beanpole, but for some reason this skirt fit me perfectly; despite being an M&S size 16. I think it's meant to be worn on the waist, and I wear it on my hips, but to be honest I don't think the sizing even matters with this skirt because it's magic!!


That's right, people. It's Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants style magic. Except, rather than fitting four very differently shaped and sized friends (which is a totally believable thing for a pair of jeans to do), it's fit me constantly over the last 10 years - whether I've been size 8 slim or size 14 curvy. 

I was going to say it also differs from the jeans in the Travelling Pants because I hadn't experienced any life-changing revelations whilst wearing it but, actually, I've worn it to all of my job interviews; so I guess I have had a few. 

Yes, it gets all wrinkled at the back whenever I sit down, and it's been washed so many times it's definitely grey rather than black, but I just can't bring myself to get rid of it! 

Do you have any clothes you just can't bear to throw away? Or any magic ones?

Katie xxx

23 March 2014

Goody Bags and Gerberas

I think it's fairly safe to assume that any weekend which starts with winning a musical chairs/dance-off hybrid is going to end up being pretty amazeballs.

I spent Friday night at my friend's birthday party (at a bar in Brighton), and laughed so many belly laughs I was rather disappointed not to wake up with a six pack on Saturday*. The laughter was due to a so-good-I-wish-I-could-bottle-it combination of excellent people (including Captain Morgan, who actually is bottled...), a glow-stick related "challenge"** which I found almost impossible (I blame the Captain), and winning a game of musical chairs which turned into a dance off! It was a close-run thing though; I got so into throwing shapes to Sussudio I nearly forgot to dive for the chair!

If all of that wasn't enough to make it the party of the year, my friend also gave out goody bags! They included colouring pencils, sweeties, the aforementioned glow-sticks, party popper, paracetamol and those little fluffy Easter chicks. Incredible.

They were dinosaur goody bags too!! Eep!

Yesterday I drove to a girlfriend's house and back on my own - thankfully without incident (I hate driving). The driving stress was more than made up for by several hours of putting the world to rights over cups of tea, hearing about my friend's amazing adventures in Australia, swapping very belated Christmas presents (and early birthday presents for me) and getting to see my friend in her wedding dress (I'm going to be one of her bridesmaids in November).


Part of my present haul - so cute!


My present haul was completely overwhelming and left me feeling utterly spoilt. I got this mug and the matching plate, an adorable tea strainer, a "K" Scrabble coaster, a delicious looking tape-measure, and some pretty tissues. I'm hoping I can use the tissues without accidentally committing treason. Surely it's illegal to blow one's nose on the guards at Buckingham Palace?! I also received the hedgehog socks above, and this amazing deer head all the way from Aus (which circumvents Tom's Stag Ban because it has a loophole for presents!)


I also received a seriously stupendous bunch of flowers, which I managed to split up into five(!) arrangements and placed all around the house. I don't actually own any proper vases, so I used...

A spray-painted milk bottle; my go-to vessel for gerberas, which are my favourite flower
The metal jug I got for Christmas
A jar which used to hold dried sage - the label left stripes of glue around it but I like the pattern
An old light fitting from our bathroom before we did it up
And a recently emptied jar from the larder, complete with blackboard foil label

I ended up bailing on my original plans for today (to hang out with some lovely blogger types) due to getting soaked three minutes after leaving the house thanks to an unexpected downpour, which made me realise how much I needed a duvet day. I feel really sad I didn't see the girls, but glad that I took time to recuperate after the rest of my busy weekend.

What did you get up to this weekend? 

Katie xxx

* Who am I kidding? I always hope to wake up with a six pack - but belly laughs are basically crunches, right? So it was almost a possibility!


** The "challenge" was to fasten a glow-stick around your own wrist, using one hand. Everyone else completed it in under three minutes. It took me AN HOUR AND A HALF. Thankfully, I redeemed myself shortly afterwards with my musical chairs prowess.

20 March 2014

Three Things Thursday

Hey m'dears!

Happy Friday Eve :) 

Have you got nice plans for the weekend? I've got a birthday party, with dancing no less, then I'm seeing my two oldest friends to talk all things wedding-related and probably eat too many biscuits, and then a meet-up with some fellow bloggers in Brighton for tea and chatting and probably eating too much cake. I'd better make sure I do plenty of dancing on Friday!!

Here are three things which have floated my boat today:

1. This article by Stylist magazine about an amazing dome home. It's looks so cheery and cosy, and it was built for under £6,500! I'm trying to figure out if we've got space for one in the garden so we can sell our house and pay off the mortgage... I love the idea of having to source curved furniture!

How adorable is that windowseat? And the amazing hammock on the roof!
[image source]


I love the idea of diving through that oval doorway onto the bed, like a lion jumping through hoops in the circus.
[image source]

2. Finding a box of amazing Tom Frost postcards, which contains all of his prints that I've been lusting after for ages. It was an an absolute bargain too, compared to the price of the official full-sized prints (£6.50 for 12!)


[image source]

Aren't they gorgeous? I just can't pick a favourite!

3. Adding lots of birthday present ideas to my Amazon Wishlist, because I'm a totally selfless person and don't want people stressing about what to buy me. *polishes halo* There's some pretty awesome stuff out there on the internet at the moment...


This drink dispenser would definitely make summer party cocktails a breeze
Who WOULDN'T want to fall asleep on a tiger's face?! 
Vase, shampoo bottle, salad dressing container...
Is there anything this pretty bottle couldn't be?!
What time is it, you say? I can't believe you even have to ask.
I've been lusting after this fun top since I saw it on Hannah's blog months ago

Ok, I'd better stop there, or I'm going to end up buying everything off my wishlist myself!!

What have you got lined up for the weekend? 

Katie xxx

19 March 2014

Resolution update: Happy Things

Hello lovelies!

How's your week going?

I've been meaning to share an update on my List of Loveliness resolution for a while, and last night I finished the pen I'd been using and simultaneously reached the halfway point in my awesome notebook; which seems like a good point for reflection.

I have to say, 2014 has been a bit of a rollercoaster so far, and I've been dwelling on the negatives more than I normally would. Which I've realised is rather ridiculous, given that so much good stuff has happened that I've used up an entire Biro in under 3 months!

To make sure I gave a suitably random sample of my 247(!) points of happiness to date, I've included every 25th entry. For no reason other than I'm 25 (for another two weeks, anyway) so that seemed like a good number to choose. Here goes...

25. Forcing myself to spend some time sorting out the garden, then feeling proud of how much better it looks.
Approaching another of my resolutions with as much enthusiasm as I could possibly muster for a task involving mud and spiders. 

50. Buying a second hand Roberts radio from the flea market- after a flash of inspiration to turn it into a handbag!
I was going to wait until I'd finished this DIY before telling y'all about it, but my stupid "every 25th entry" honesty just let that cat out of the (super awesome radio) bag. Oops. 

Bargain radio. Before I attacked it with all of Tom's tools. 

75. Picking such an amazing place to stay including a pool, air hockey, table tennis, vast sofas and willow pattern china.
An entry from our Isle of Wight adventure.

100. Peanut M&Ms.
'Nuff said. 

125. Finding some serious bargains in the veggie feat freezer section, and buying six boxes.
"Feat" is mine and Tom's term for "fake meat", which I eat sometimes due to being one of those vegetarian types. We also have terms for specific kinds of feat including fricken (fake chicken), facon (fake bacon), and fish (fake fish. Oh wait....) 

"Fausages" (pronouced faux-sages). Do you see what we did there?
[image source]

150. Tom being equal parts hilarious and adorable.
He is, y'know. 

175. Pushing myself to clean the bathroom, which is now all sparkly.
Ooh look at me go - two recorded incidences of housework in under 3 months. I'd better slow down or I might get Duster's Elbow. 

200. Being on comedy fire, sans drink.
At my friend Pat's birthday party (the one with the Viking Longboat). I was the designated driver, but still managed to make my friend Jenny laugh until she cried about Ready, Steady, Cook. I wasn't aiming for tears, I hasten to add; that would be pretty mean!!

225. Weirdest, but one of the funniest plays I have ever seen- involving taxidermy, working at B&Q, chicken fillet vaginas, and stalking men at Morrison's checkouts. Odd.
Yep. Thanks, Sick Festival. I don't know what to say...

Did you make any resolutions? How are they going? 

Katie xxx

18 March 2014

Nailvarnish and Nostalgia

There's nothing quite like an unexpected, ominous email is there? Especially one that hints at new, embarrassing things being published about you on the internet.

I received the following message from my Uncle earlier this week...

Hi Katie,

Sorry for the pic on Facebook, but you both looked so funny!

Here is one you might like.

Steve x

Erk!! Naturally, I headed straight over to Facebook, to discover this gem: 


The classic "oh look - no arms!" Pyjama Party. To be honest, I was expecting worse. There are some photos floating around somewhere of my brother in one of my headbands. He's 24 now, and in the Navy. Haha.

The photo Steve thought I'd prefer? This one:

Me and my Granddad Des (husband of the excellent Pam)

I've clearly always been a lover of a novelty jumper or six..... This one was adorned with Liquorice Allsorts.

As the glacé cherry on the top of this week's nostalgia trifle, I decided to buy some nail varnish; something I haven't worn since I was a girl (when my artistic Mum used to paint them for me). I was fully aware that I'd never be as talented with my talons as my brilliant friend Alice, but was hoping I'd somehow managed to improve since my childhood. No such luck - my hands look like they've been attacked by three drunken toddlers with tins of gloss paint!

"Artist's" impression. I definitely can't call myself an artist any more.

Care to share any embarrassing childhood photos? You know you want to!

Katie xxx

10 March 2014

Good Books and Green Soup

Hey m'dear! 

How was your weekend? 


Mine included an edible Viking longboat, two cans of spray-paint, a Beer and Cider Festival, dirty burgers eaten al fresco (three cheers for weather that's warm enough to sit outside!), succumbing to the urge to Spring Clean, tea with my grandparents, and lots of laughter.

Although, none of the above would have happened if I hadn't finished reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor on Thursday. It was so captivating that I flat-out refused to put it down until I'd finished, a la Disney's Belle. I don't think I knocked anyone's teeth out with a wooden cart - but one can never be certain. I devoured it in less than three days, and that was only because I had to go to work; as my employers don't give paid leave to people engrossed in a really good book. Meanies. 



[image source]

The first part of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy revolves around angels and monsters, and the protagonist is a kick-ass girl with bright blue hair and incredible artistic talents. Serious girl crush alert. I would highly recommend it, but don't start reading it just before something important, like your wedding, because you'll probably decide to skip it. 

On Friday night we were treated to some truly incredibly tapas, courtesy of my school friends Jenny and Pat, in celebration of Pat's birthday. Jenny is an amazing cook, and is currently in the process of cooking her way around the world.



The world's best veggie paella
[photo nicked from Jenny]

I enviously shared the Game of Thrones cake Jenny made for Pat's birthday on here last year, and this year's cake surpassed it! Jenny made a Viking longboat out of the best brownies I've ever tasted. And I've tasted a lot of brownies. 


The birthday boy's portion. He loves cake almost as much as I do!

Just look at that horse's head carved out of icing. Incredible, no?

We spent Saturday afternoon with some of our Isle of Wight crew at the Sussex Beer and Cider Festival, where I continued my valiant efforts to try and like beer. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful, and felt very disappointed that despite the guidebook's promises of notes of chocolate, biscuits, honey, and wine, they all just tasted like beer (aka disgusting). Thank goodness for cider! 

Post-drinking, we headed to Grubbs (who do the best takeaway meat and veggie burgers in Brighton, dontchaknow) and spent the afternoon having a rather heated discussion about the best way to pair socks. 

Sunday's glorious sunshine put me in the mood to Spring Clean. I felt positively giddy about the chance to dry our clothes outside, and the possibility of seeing rays of sunlight streaming through our windows- once I'd actually cleaned them! I juggled housework with a few projects from my To Do list, which I'm hoping to share here later this week. Thankfully, the grey spray-paint I managed to get all over my right hand washed off before work today; I looked like a cyborg! I replenished my energy levels with an appropriately spring green home-made soup, and fancy pants goats cheese on toast. And then double-checked my energy levels were safe with a maple pecan Danish. One can never be too careful! 



Hulk Green soup and cheese on toast.
Which I shared with Tom - I'm not that greedy!

Sunday evening involved a movie, a takeaway curry, and catching up on some blog reading. What did you get up to? And, more importantly, do you like beer? 

Katie xxx

4 March 2014

Random Desk Crap

My work decided to implement a mass desk move yesterday (don't worry- I've stayed put by my window!) and someone decided it was time to sort out the pile of Random Desk Crap left behind by our floor's predecessors. I really do mean Random Crap too. The desk behind me heralded a 2ft-high model of Mr Burns, which turned out to be the most "ordinary" object of the lot! We found a snow-globe of Lands End, a glass bottle containing a torn-out page from a naked ladies magazine, and a plastic panda with a flip-top head and a smaller panda where its brain should be. It was like the world's creepiest novelty tombola. 

Of course, that didn't stop me having a good rummage; because other people's old rubbish is one of my favourite things. Especially when it's free. 

I ended up nabbing a whole carrier bag of mystery fridge magnets, and two models of Bender from Futurama. I thought they were just dolls until I got home and saw the boxes said WIND UP ROBOT. Even more awesomely, I've just checked Ebay and I think they might be worth a bit of money!

When I opened the bag of fridge magnets I was over the moon to discover these totally amazeballs letterpress magnets. I absolutely love them, and I think they go perfectly with the fabric on my DIY magnetic Scrabble board



I decided to use the fancy alphabet magnets to decorate the gas fire in our dining room, which has been looking rather sad since I decided it was too much hassle to remove 100+ magnetic Scrabble tiles from it whenever I wanted to play Bananagrams




I love how these magnets look like curly handwriting

The final set of magnets was themed around the weather. They're towards the low-quality end of the novelty scale, so I've just put them on the fridge like a normal person. 



Finally, and nothing to do with magnets - I promised Emma Kate a photo of my new dress, which apparently makes me look like a Willowpattern Plate.




I really need to buy a full-length mirror if I'm going to start posting outfit photos...

What's the best thing you've ever found for free? 

Katie xxx

3 March 2014

Adventuring on the Isle of Wight

Hey m'dears!


I am LOVING your hair today; it's looking shinier than a diamond dipped in glitter. 

I've just realised that I never told you all about my adventures on the Isle of Wight, which happened back in January(!!). Better late than never I suppose... 

At the end of January, Tom and I plus 8 of our besties (four other couples) caught the ferry over to the Isle of Wight for a long weekend of wholesome activities, excessive cheese consumption, and laughing so much that we cried. The photos below were taken by Tom with a new lens I got for his birthday; it selectively blurs photos so you can make them look like miniatures. Tom took thousands of photos over the weekend, in thirty-second bursts, and subsequently made a stop-motion video of our holiday! 

I'd proposed the trip as a way to celebrate four big birthdays in the group during January/early February (a collective 119th birthday) and when I found Brummel Barn I couldn't believe my luck. Dividing the hire between 10 meant it only cost us £70 each for 3 nights in the amazing, self-catering barn conversion, which also had air hockey, table tennis, billiards, darts, a gym, and a heated indoor pool - all of which we could use for free! The barn was spacious, cosy, and full of thoughtful touches - from stacks of boardgames and books to borrow, to cafetieres and maps of the local area. 


We blew up 100 balloons as a surprise for one of the birthday boys.
They kept us amused all weekend.

We had a really fantastic time on the island, and visited a number of local landmarks, including the Needles at Alum Bay, the Garlic Farm, and Dinosaur Isle! Dinosaur Isle was a ridiculous amount of fun. We wore our party hats from that morning's birthday breakfast, and spent a rather competitive hour or so completing the free children's quiz sheets in pairs. 


Getting our quiz on.

The staff at Dinosaur Isle were absolutely brilliant and not only let us play with all the games, jigsaws, colouring sheets and dinosaur onesies in the education centre upstairs (despite being at least 15 years older than their usual visitors), but also marked our quizzes and gave stickers to the winning team!! It totally made our day. 

So, apparently, this is what my face does upon seeing a room full of life-size, mechanical dinosaurs...
Followed by this...
This is my favourite photo OF ALL TIME. BFFs plus dinosaur onesies 4 eva.
I'm 75% sure we weren't actually talking to the stuffed toy dinosaurs....

On our last night we visited the New Inn, which has won the Best Pub Food award on the Isle of Wight for the last 10 years! It was easy to see why, because the food was utterly delicious; and the best part was that the New Inn has a standing offer of £20 for a 3 course dinner on Sunday to Thursday evenings, which is also BOGOF. We really couldn't believe that so much lip-smackingly good food cost us a tenner each!! Madness.


Scoffing our bargain dinner.

I can heartily recommend the Isle of Wight for a day trip or a weekend away; especially Brummel Barn. We're hoping to head back in the summer so the boys can go out on their bikes, as Cheverton Farm is also the island's mountain bike trail centre, whilst us girls head back to the Garlic Farm to scoff more of their dangerously good garlic butter. Mmmm...


Oh yeah, and the Garlic Farm does DINOSAUR SHAPED BISCUITS!

Katie xxx

P.S. This post wasn't in collaboration with anyone - I just really love the Isle of Wight!

2 March 2014

Unicorns and Brunch

Dear Foreigner*, 

Great news! I've found out what love is, and I can show you

Love is when your friend spends enough money in Joy to qualify for their offer of a FREE(!!) unicorn dress worth £35, and then GIVES you the dress because it's "not her style"!!!


IT'S GOT UNICORNS ON IT!!

Friends are awesome, aren't they? 

Yesterday was one of those days which was exactly what I needed. The perfect combination of productive, active, pretty and cake. My inner blogger kept yelling "You should be documenting today with photos!!" but, since my phone broke, I've been using Tom's old iPhone; which has the worst camera in the world. Sadly, this means the internet will never get to appreciate the beauty of a rail of vintage sweatshirts hung to look like a rainbow, or the piece of graffiti which said "It's only my revolution if I'm dancing", complete with dancing Storm Trooper. Sorry, internet.

First on the day's agenda, once I'd done the boring bits like cleaning the bathroom and getting dressed (in my ridiculously bright pink jumper, my Lego Batman necklace, and my Designosaur velociraptor brooch) was brunch. Mange Tout turned out to be the perfect brunch venue for Holly and me, thanks to their awesome Pain Perdue; something I'd never tried before. It's basically cinnamon cake, jam and ice-cream, marketed as breakfast food. AMAZING.



To burn off our breakfasts, and burn through our bank accounts, we went for a wander through the Brighton Lanes, trying on dresses and cooing over beautiful homewares. We ventured into Tiger, which we both love almost as much as we love our Mums, and I'm very proud to report I only bought things I actually needed. The classic purchase combo of a tea strainer, a shower cap, and some PVA, if you're wondering. I'm surprised they don't sell those things in a ready-made kit.

After my impressive restraint in Tiger, I thought it would be safe to venture into T K Maxx. As someone who loves a bargain, T K Maxx and Homesense are seriously dangerous territory; because EVERYTHING is on sale. I ended up with two new dresses, after Holly declared that the first made me look like a Candyfloss Princess, and the second made me look like a Willowpattern Plate. If those two looks aren't in Vogue this year, I'll eat my hat.

We had lunch** at The Marwood Coffee Shop, which is hands-down the hippest cafe I've ever visited. It's like Urban Outfitters decided to open a cafe (ironically, of course). The nachos were pretty good though.

I'm sorry for the lack of photos, because I don't think my description can possibly do this place justice, but I'll give it my best shot! The Marwood has plastic Star Wars spaceships suspended from the ceiling, a stag head adorned with comedy giant sunglasses and a hat, and a wall of printed extracts straight from Passive Aggressive Notes. We ate at a table made from an old Apple computer tower, turned on its side with upcycled legs. My favourite part was a sign on the till saying "Every tip you tip, Nicholas Cage contemplates retirement.". As an unabashed fan of Mr Cage, I was tempted to ask if that meant I could take some of their tips instead. 


A rare picture of my face, in my NEW UNICORN DRESS!!

What's your stand on brunch? And have you ever done something as awesome as giving away a free unicorn dress? 

Katie xxx

* The 80s band! Please don't fret that this blog has suddenly become a hive of bigotry. 

** Awesome as brunch is, it definitely doesn't negate the need for lunch in my book.