London

I'll admit it - I miss London and I love going to visit... I also love coming back home though. Here are a few fake polaroids from the weekend, we didn't take many photos as we were rushing around a bit - we didn't even get a chance to get some Laduree macaroons and I printed out a map and everything :)

We had a picnic on the grass, wondered around Hyde Park and saw Bruce Springsteen - it was absolutely amazing!

Here's to Happiness (Boyfriend)

To celebrate my 10th follower (I'm into the double figures now, wow!!) I bullied asked Boyfriend into thinking up his Here's to Happiness list - I think he may have put the first one in for my benefit but it still makes me all glowy :)

Boyfriend's Here's to Happiness List:

1. Spending time with Rhianne
2. Seeing cats and dogs out and about
3. Eating lunch in the park when they've just cut the grass
4. Going to concerts
5. Finding a cool t shirt or record in a charity shop
6. Watching a Norwich City match (his favorite football team)
7. Yo Gabba Gabba!
8. Going to ATP
9. Playing on the xbox.
10. Going out for a nice meal

So my two latest followers are:

Adele: Poptart
I stumbled onto her blog a few weeks ago and its lovely, so excited to have new blog friends in England.

Katie: Leeds Grub
I think I have followed this blog for almost as long as I have been blogging - we love food so a blog focusing on just Leeds is extremely handy and brilliant (I found Bon Bons through this blog and also got a free coffee, yeay)

p.s. I have to admit Yo Gabba Gabba would be in my top ten as well - we have been watching it alot! Have you seen it? Its amazing!

So...

{Image is from the Holga 35mm Flickr group by NottheDodo- I wish we had our holga for tomorrow in London... at least its been dispatched though, yeay!}

I popped onto Boyfriends computer to check a few things - like you do... and of course I get sucked into Blogger and reading blogs - oops :) Good thing boyfriend has his football games to distract him.

Anyway I just wanted to say that Becks, my newest follower has a blog, yeay!! I didn't realise before or I would have written about it yesterday. Anyway her lovely blog Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo (awesome name!) is great, check it out!

I'll try and resist blogger for the next couple of days (I'm meant to be on holiday in London you see) but it seems I'm weak and can not resist!

Things I've learnt from blogs this week...

Its been another busy but enjoyable week, I realise that I haven't put the photos from Flamingo land on here yet though - oops. They will have to wait until next week now I guess. We've got another long weekend this week, we're going to London on Sunday, I can't wait! Hope you all have lovely weekends as well :)

1. I love Alice Mara ceramics - the concept is just brilliant!
2. Swings are great anywhere!
3. This skirt makes me happy...
4. This necklace is stunning and the bride made it herself, amazing.
5. Emma Watson has style (she also looks amazing in the Burberry adverts)

Also Hello to my new follower Beck_teria, thanks for following :)

Pay it Forward Cont.

After a long day yesterday I got home to find a package waiting for me - all the way from America! Isn't it amazing how I knew of nobody in America before I started my blog and now I'm getting parcels from there! Yeay!

Heres my little surprise that I received from Erin as part of Pay it Forward - I love the cards (I do have a fondness for the letter R) and the little note, thanks Erin!!

Also Pay it Forward has gone from me to Fancy Schmancy to Countrygirl/Citygirl - absolutely amazing!

p.s. I also love all Erin's matching labels and lovely handwriting - its all in the details :)

Oh my...

I've seen this bag bouncing around a number of blogs lately but none had a link to where to get it until now. I think I'm in love - I can't even pick a favourite out of the colours....
(You can get the from here by the way)

Holga anticipation...

1. Fresh Fodder For The New Economy, 2. Ghost, 3. beach, 4. oxford, 5. Bumble In The Jungle 2009, 6. Blooming Friends, 7. gustavo, 8. ломо, 9. double solitary

How amazing are these photos, theres a whole Flickr group dedicated to the Holga 135, I love them all.

Also I showed Boyfriend the group yesterday and now he's really excited about 'our' new camera too - I have a feeling he will be stealing it from me periodically... hehe!

Oh oh and he said he might get me the fisheye lens for my birthday (all the way in Sept)
isn't he nice? :)

10 months!!

As excited as I am about my new camera, I'm also hugely excited about my friends wedding next year!! And now theres only 10 months to go!

During the last month I have tried on a beautiful bridesmaid dress (it really was lovely) and thats it - I really feel like I should be doing more to help but I haven't been given anything to do yet... so instead I shall share another snippet of the wedding and hopefully this time next month I will have a longer list of duties to report...

{all images from favorideas.com}

The theme of the wedding is going to be butterflies - how gorgeous!! Its going to be stunning...

Hopefully I will have had enough practice with my new camera by then to get some great photos... I'm so excited!!

Eeeeeeee!!

After making my list of things to do yesterday I decided that instead of waiting around making excuses (I'll wait til my birthday etc) I was just going to do one of them... so I ordered my first Holga camera off Ebay! Its a holga 135BC which takes 35mm film. I decided to get this one as I have no idea where I can get 120 film from in England or even where to process it and I can get 35mm from my local supermarket and process 35mm film just about anywhere... phew!!

I can not wait to take it around Kirkstall Abbey when it gets here or to the beach in August!

p.s. I was just reading up on it and it looks like you can get a fisheye lens for it as well... Wooo! Maybe I'll ask for that for my birthday instead :)

10 things to do before 2010...

I saw this by Jessica at The Pink Needle and thought it was a great idea... oh I do love a good list :)

1. Go to the cinema and see Up! Everyone is talking about how great it is and its not out over here yet.... boo!
2. Visit Wales (I've never been before, I'm very excited)
3. Get a holga camera (again very excited)
4. Buy boyfriend an amazing birthday present - his birthday was in April, oops.
5. Do another Pay it Forward thing (or maybe a swap) its so much fun!!
6. Get some yellow tights - I keep going on about them and I still haven't found a pair
7. Learn how to use a sewing machine (and perhaps even buy one first) I want to try this...
8. Read the books that are piled on my bookcase which I haven't read yet
9. Bake my own chocolate French Macarons, yum
10. Make something in a slow cooker - but what to make..?

I think the rest of the year is going to be great, yeay!

Boyzone (Manchester)

My inner 12 year old had the best time at this concert!! There was once a time when my bedroom walls were completely plastered with huge posters of Boyzone and you would think that at 23 I would have been a little more mature....

Haha, no! I sang along, danced and screamed as much as the rest of the crowd and the fact that we were in the 2nd row was absolutely amazing!

{Clare swears Ronan is looking into her camera - what do you think?}

The highlight of the night for me was Stephen Gately performing 'All the Single Ladies'! Awesome!

Things I've Learnt This Week

Well, its been a short working week and its going to be a long weekend, yeay!! My younger sister is here today so I wrote this yesterday and set it to post later - I hope it works. So excited about my sister and her fella being here, we're having a trip to Manchester and hopefully Flamingo Land... I hope the weather holds. Hope you all have lovely weekends as well, see you next week :)

1. I told Boyfriend ages ago that I would like a pig - I especially want one of these... eep!
2. Weddings invitations are amazing! I love everything about this one, the story, the fonts...
3. I love things that look like something else... (like the popcorn cupcakes, hehe) These cookies are awesome. How great would it be to make actual button size ones of these and put them onto cupcakes with icing... ohhhhhhh.....
4. I guess these count in the same category - Crayons that look like stones... I love!
5. Cupcake liners are multi functional, yeay!

p.s. Hello Erika C! Thanks for following :)

Pay it Forward

As I mentioned last week, Erin from Perfect Sentiment did a post about Paying it Forward. When I first read the post I had a serious think about commenting on it - could I pay it forward? Would I do it on my blog? What could I do? Then I just did it - I ignored all the reasons not too (lack of ideas for one) and decided that I wanted to do something nice for other people - I wanted to pay it forward and I wanted to do it on my blog!

Once I had hit return I realised the comments were moderated and that the chance of me being in the top 3 was quite low... after all that agonising. So it was a bit of a shock when I heard from Erin, a good shock though. All this week I have been thinking (and so has boyfriend) about what to do and we've finally figured it out... so here are the rules:

The first three people who leave a comment on this post will receive a little surprise from me (and boyfriend!) The only catch is that you have to pay it forward to three more people. You don't have to have a blog to do this, just promise to keep it going by surprising three more people however you'd like.

How exciting! :)

(I'll probably do other things outside of my blog too - its fun to surprise people!)

Peacock Feathers....

{I remembered something I was going to post, huzzah}

After lusting over this cardi by Matthew Williamson...

and then sulking that people were putting it on Ebay for much more money than it was worth. I got distracted by other things that had peacock feathers...

Here are a few things on Etsy (my latest distraction) that I love!

{ A Feathered Dream Headband by sophistiKTion}

{Pretty as a Peacock in Green Pencil Purse by Portemone}

{Silver Peacock Feather Cuff by dirtystory}

{5 Postcard Set - The Elegant Peacock by AFancifulTwist}

Heres to Happiness...

I had loads of ideas of what to blog about yesterday... and today I've completely forgotten them and I had at least 3 ideas. Disaster! Hopefully they will come back to me during the day....

For now I can gush about my new follower Evelyn :) Check out her lovely blog A Star of Love, I love it...

And I've decided to do another Here's to Happiness list - my last one was in April so I feel its time :)

1. Wearing summer shoes for the first time during the year and not having to worry about my feet getting wet
2. A cold glass of water
3. Eating fresh fruit for dessert (our faves at the moment are oranges, pineapple and kiki, yum)
4. Long weekends, woo
5. Sorting out boyfriends wardrobe - I whinge when I'm doing it but he has some nice clothes - possibly more than me!
6. Chatting to friends I haven't talked to in a while
7. Looking forward to seeing my family soon (sister on friday and parents & puppy in two weeks, yeay)
8. bright red nails
9. brownies
10. trying on bridesmaid dresses

I love making lists, they really do cheer me up :)

Dear boyfriend...

I'm sorry I steal your camera when you want to be the one taking photos - especially as I worry think you might be a better photographer than me... I adore both these photos of me - thank you.

p.s. I'm also sorry I'm rubbish at getting up in the morning and I snap at you when I'm tired/hungry/annoyed... etc

Harewood House

Why do the best weekends always go so fast? We have just had the most amazing few days with the boyfriends parents - they took us out for dinner (twice) and they took us to Harewood House . It was amazing, we went to the Planetarium, looked around the ground floor and the lower grounds, had a picnic and went around the bird garden which was my favourite part.

Here are a few photos that I took - which are now (fake) polaroids... I love them!


I absolutely love these last two photos!!

Things I've learnt from blogs this week...

Yeay its Friday, I'm super excited about the weekend as Boyfriend's Parents are here and its going to be lovely. I hope everyone else has a lovely weekend as well :)

1. I know this has been bouncing around for a while but I really think that I need some Japanese masking tape... or any coloured tape... I love!
2. I'm seriously considering having a black painted bathroom, we stayed in a hotel in London last year which had black tiles and it was almost as lovely as this - not sure boyfriend will agree though...
3. Postits and notes never let me down and this sliced bread notebook is amazing!
4. I wish I had this wardrobe and could draw as well - I love the yellow hat and shoes.
5. I really hope I find my happy place one day. That would be brillant!

p.s. Erin from Perfect Sentiment is paying it forward to me which I'm very excited about... I'll sort something out for it next week once I've decided on something to pass on... any suggestions as my mind is completely blank at the moment?

Birthday Card (Helen) Part II

Today is Helen and her twin brothers birthday, so I thought I would share the finished version of her birthday card with you, but first...

How cute were they when they were lickle? I love this picture!

Here is a scan of the final version, I sewed two borders around it and added a few beads. It looked pretty cute in the end so I was happy. I hope she likes it.

Latest blog crush...

I am totally in love with Creature Comforts at the moment - I don't remember how I found it, but I'm not sure I could ever live without it now.

Also check out the blogroll - it puts mine to shame! I can not wait to look through all of these (though I will have to restrain myself I think...)

Oh my...

I love rugs and if I was going to get a new one I would be solely tempted by

one of these from Gan Rugs! They also have loads of lovely duvet covers... sigh.

{I also love love love the socks!}

{and the swing!}

Some (fake) polaroids I was saving for a rainy day...

Oh my....

How much do you love this owl necklace - I found it through Polyvore and now I want this too.

The fact that it opens up to a clock is just too cute.

p.s. Nov 2010 update - you can buy this necklace from Cutie Pie - cute!!

Summer...

The more I think about it, the more I can't wait for it to be actually summer here... I keep hearing rumours that its going to be sunny! I hope so. Maybe in time for Supersonic? That would be great!!

I saw this bag in Topshop last week and oh my, it would be perfect for the summer! I found it on Polyvore and heres what happened... oops :)

Is £25 too much for a bag....?

Feeling much better...

{Image found here}

Yeay, I'm feeling much better today: I didn't get woken up by the neighbours last night and I finally sorted out my blogroll - check it out, it took me ages but it looks great!

Heres a quick list of things that cheered me up over the past 24 hours...

1. Boyfriend shouting 'Hello' when I got home
2. Beating Boyfriend on Rockband (its such a rare occasion!)
3. Getting fish and chips for dinner even though we are meant to be healthy eating and saving money - oops!!
4. Talking about looking for a new house (with a garden!) even though we probably won't.
5. Watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition - I always cry and I love it
6. Eating a cupcake without icing for breakfast, yummy!
7. Nearly choking on the bus from laughing at a funny tweet from my friend.
8. The little french girl on the bus (about 4) she spoke beautifully and gave me the funniest look when I was choking laughing.
9. Playing Left for Dead online with my sister (shes about a 4 hours drive away) we were 'bonding' according to my Mum - bless
10. Planning something to do for my birthday - its not for a while but I like to get excited about things :)

All I need to do now is find a swing to sit on for a bit... that would be great.

Argh!

I really wanted to write a nice post about the cupcakes and roast veg (they were great!) from yesterday but I'm tired, sad and grumpy today after an odd weekend and dissapointing morning (its only 9.30am too) Here's a few reasons I'm grumpy:

• The BNP got a seat in Yorkshire and Humber - I wonder if all the people who didn't vote still feel they did the right thing? I voted primarily to try to stop this from happening. Voting isn't just about giving the right people power its about stopping the wrong people from getting it as well.
  
  
• Drivers in Leeds are insane... in the 5 minute walk it takes to get to Morrisons we saw a huge van cut up a car, a motorcyclist without a helmet doing wheelies in the middle of the crossing and drivers speeding away from the lights resulting in near accidents. I can't even drive (yet) and I already have road rage!
  
  
• Yesterday I dropped a plate and the wok, I burnt my finger, I knocked everything off the sofa, I nearly fell down the stairs, we broke the coffee table and now I can't straighten my right arm properly which is a little bit weird and painful...
  
  
• We didn't do anywhere near enough cleaning - though our bedroom does look nice again after the couple of hours it took to sort that out (sorry for the neglect bedroom)
  
  
• Our neighbours decided that 5.30am this morning was an appropiate time to shout and throw things around. I honestly thought someone was trying to get into our house due to the amount of noise they made! Then once they had stopped it took me ages to fall back asleep... Ug!!

On the plus side I am eating one of the cupcakes as I type and its helping to make me feel a bit better and less likely to have a frustrated/angry cry.

Things I've learnt from blogs this week...

Another week gone already, its going to be July soon!

1. This is a great idea... I think I might have to make one of these for each of my favorite beaches in Norfolk (though I have no idea where I would put them...)
2. You can get cupcake liner's - how adorable is this?!
3. Goldendoodles may be the cutest puppies... ever.
4. I'm definately having a cupcake thing at the moment - how awesome do these popcorn cupcakes look though? I want to make some. Right now.
5. Quirky bags are awesome! I heart this bag too.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend, I'm cleaning the house (woo) in time for Boyfriend's parents who are visiting next weekend. It has to be spotless.

Birthday card (Helen)

After looking at some illustration blogs I decided that it was time for me to start drawing again. I haven't drawn for fun in what feels like 4 years (uni wasn't for fun...) but what to draw? I settled on drawing a birthday card for one of my friends Helen. She loves elephants and when we were living in London I took her to see Hanson at the Koko... so I thought I would combine the two!

After scanning the drawing I thinned out the top black line (I got a bit too enthusiastic) and added the text - my handwriting is awful, so I thought a nice font would look better. I then experimented with adding some grey to give it a bit more depth

And this one I did for me - mainly because I wanted to colour something in, hehe.

Boyfriend wasn't too keen on this one (maybe because of the pink?) but I love it!

'Its Wednesday... I'm in Love'

{perfect picture - fountaincoke on flickr}

I've lost count of the number of times I've fallen in love with my boyfriend... just as I think I can't love him any more he says or does something that makes my heart flutter.

If he didn't already have my heart yesterday I would have thought that he was a man after it!

We were sitting on the couch talking about weddings (happening a bit at the moment, which is bizarre as neither of us really want to get married yet, I blame all our friends getting married!) and I said that I loved the photobooth idea and he said...

"Wouldn't it better to have someone go round with a polaroid camera? Then people could write things underneath the photo and we could stick them on a wall."

Eeep!! Yes it would! That sounds perfect to me :)

(I hope he doesn't read this now - its a bit embarrassing when you get caught gushing...

how cute is he for coming up with that himself though !)

Oh my...

This might be the most perfect wedding shoot ever!!

bow ties, streamers, fairy lights, beautiful dresses, gorgeous hair, hats,

initialed buttons, parasols, banjos, vintage cameras, braces, candles,

mismatched chairs, photo frames in trees...

I just need to remember to breathe now.

Oh Hello Friend Giveaway Favourites...

1. I love love love this teacup print!! And check out the Double Happiness blog too... yeay!

2. I love swings! This print is just magical and so is the blog to match...


3. This Panda tote bag may actually be too cute! Panda's + yellow = :)
I also love the Ninja prints from this shop and the blog...

The perfect summers evening!

I honestly can't believe that it is June already - where has the time gone? I can believe that it is Summer though! The sun is shining, the evenings are long and the flips flops and pumps are out... (yeay)

Yesterday boyfriend and I had the loveliest summer evening - we baked bread (well, all we had to do was add water to a mix and put it in the oven) which smelt amazing and we had home made potato salad with cold sausages... yum!

We also finished off the last of the Norfolk ale and sat on our front door step in the sunshine...

It really was perfect!

p.s. I love him :)

Reason I love Leeds #3

Bon Bons of Leeds

I'll admit that in almost two years of living in Leeds that I had not been into Bon Bon's until Saturday... I had read about it here and here though.

For a chocolate lover like me it was heaven - so many delicious looking chocolate and sweets in one small adorable shop! It was almost too much to take in.

Unfortunately we weren't there to get chocolate for us, we were there to get a birthday present and for £5 we got 9 chocolates in the cutest box and we got it gift wrapped, bargain!

They all looked delicious so it was hard to pick just 9 especially when you are picking for someone else - it would have been so easy to pick ones I wanted (Salt caramel, chocolate mousse... I could go on.)

The birthday girl did let me have one though - an amaretto one that looked like a little cupcake and yes, it was amazing!!