Hapi-Ness

back to square one

2011-09-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning on my way to work I recieved a phone call that my little jinxy had been found dead in a neighbours garden. This is now the third cat we have lost in 3 years and appears to be another case of poisening.
Unfortunately this has been a major set back in my recovery from depression and I feel just as bad as I did several months ago.
Rest in peace my little angel

fancy vintage giveaway

2011-08-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

The lovely Fancy Vintage is having a spondiferous giveaway! Get yourself over there to check out her beautiful photographs and being in for a chance of winning the cutest bundle ever!

wooowwwww

2011-08-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

How frickin awsome is this!
I found this on a random flick through etsy and I just HAD to show this off to you all!

phew!

2011-08-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hello all
I'm really sorry I never came back with those birthday photo's!
The past few weeks have been a pretty even mix of highs and lows and I just never got around to coming back here!

Well I have thought of a way to try and help vent my daily frustrations as part of a way to get control of my depression, in the form of another blog entitled bitchi-ness.
I find little things annoy me every single day, and I don't always have an outlet, which has undoubtedly contributed to my reasonably recent sinicism.
I have also freshened up with a beautiful new blog layout courtesy of blogger candy! She has a range of gorgeous designs and they're all totally free :)
And as a final freshen up I am very pleased to announce that after a year of "normal" hair colour I have finally injected a little pinky goodness into my barnett!

It's not the best photo as it was taken at work with my phone hehe! I had to hold it infront of a mirror so I could make sure I was facing the camera in the right place!

Well for tonight this will be all I post, my fingers are pretty tired from my first rant! But when I finally get my days off next week I shall return!

Goodnight all you lovely ladies
xxxx Ness xxxx

oldness

2011-07-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

Today I am officially 22! I shall post piccies of all of my new loveliness soon!! xxxx

a light at the end of the tunnel

2011-06-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hello all :) today I am posting a progress update as I am on the road to life recovery.
It has been no secret that life has been pretty tough for the past year, with one string of bad luck after the other. My mood and general well being took a nose dive and I stopped taking pleasure in all of the things I usually enjoy.
This all progressed to a stage where I would be in floods of tears everyday for no reason at all and began to self harm.
Eventually after a string of arguments with Mr S and the realisation I hadn't been out with friends in over 8 months I decided to visit the doctors where I was diagnosed with serious chronic depression. I was referred into therapy and after a few weeks I reluctantly agreed to begin a course of anti depressents.
I am now 2 weeks in to my tablets and am pleased to announce that my mood is making a slow and steady recovery, and I am now in a position to begin to try and enjoy life again :) starting with getting my social life back on track!
I wanted to post today for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I've missed all of you lovely ladies, and secondly to note a couple of lessons I have learned since being diagnosed!
The main lesson is that depression is a real illness! This might sound silly but my view has always been that of my parents, depression is a state of mind which everyone is in control of, and can be dealt with on your own. This is the very reason it took me so long to see my GP. But the fact is that slipping in to depression is very real and very easy, so anyone who notices they are avoiding people and events consistently, is constantly being self critical and cant explain why they feel so angry/upset so much of the time visit your doctor.
The next lesson is that anti depressants are not something to be scared of. Like many people I'd only ever read side effects and horror stories about AD's. I refused my GP's first offer of AD's as I thought I'd be drugged out of my skull for the majority of time.
The truth is actually far from this. There are many types of AD available and my GP decided to prescribe a pill which slowly boosts my endorphines and makes me gradually feel more like a normal human! I haven't experienced any side effects and although the tablets haven't physically made me feel any different I have noticed my symptoms are gradually starting to improve.
The final lesson I've learnt is that I can overcome this :) and although it may take a while I know I can be strong!

oooooffftt

2011-03-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

I feel really terrible about my birthday swap contributions so far due to very low funds and have recently been hit with yet another blow.
Unfortunately exactly one week after matty's bike was stolen, so was mine! Someone actually broke in to my garden and stole my beautiful vespa.
It was found by the police but unfortunately has been totally destroyed, every single part of it has either been pulled off and stolen or has been smashed to pieces.
This came exactly 4 days after I paid for it to go through it's MOT and brought brand new tyres and brake pads.
Unfortunately the insurance had just expired as I was going to start riding again last monday but will not get the chance to ever ride it again!
Because of this I am going to continue to put presents together, but they will have to be whatever I can afford! I had so many wonderful ideas for each and every one of you lovely ladies and am heartbroken that funds will not allow this.
I felt i needed to explain myself as I have not been satisfied with any of my gifts sent out so far, especially after seeing some of the lovely things people have been putting together! I am very very sorry!
Someday my cloud will have a silver lining!

Help!

2011-02-25T13:38:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovelies!
Today I just need to ask a very quick favour from any of the ladies that are participating in the birthday swap!
I have managed to lose the file with everyone's blog addresses etc. So if anybody still has a copy I would really appreciate it if you could forward this to me :)

I hope you're all very well and enjoying 2011 so far! For me it is definately starting to get better :) and I ha with the exception of the theft of Matty's motorbike!
Some awful toerag took it straight off our driveway a couple of days ago and has caused us a nightmare of stress!
Fortunately the bike was found, filthy, drained of oil and needing a lot of repair. But it's back home none the less :)
Matt has also finally found a new job, and although it's very low pay and not many hours it is better than nothing :D

a healthy little idea

2011-02-01T03:48:00.000-08:00

Hello all! This is going to be one of my flying visit posts so I can update on what has happened in the past month!
First of all I would like to share a tasty little treat with you, that from today I am going to try and have every day for a week for breakfast to try and aid my diet!
As you may have guessed by the picture this is indeed a smoothie recipe :D
This is actually my first ever smoothie as i HATE bananas!!!
All you need is.....
1 small hand full blueberries
1 small hand full grapes
1/2 hand full of porridge oats
4tbsp low fat strawberry yoghurt (more if you want it thicker!)
a splash of fruit juice (I used apple and blackcurrant)
1 small handfull frozen fruit (i used mixed summer berries)

Just pop all of you ingredients into a blender, or a jug if you are like me and only have a hand blender!
Whiz everything together until it's a nice yummy smoothie mix, adding more juice or yoghurt depending how thick you want it :)

I make myself about 3/4 a pint and it is super filling! I've always had breakfast in the morning but still find i'm hungry by 10.30am so hopefully this is a new healthy way to keep me feeling full till lunch time!

Secondly I just HAD to show you all this beautiful website if you didn't already know it! An angel at my table was first introduced to me by my colleague Helen. I'd mentioned that last year I spotted some gorgeous bird cage wall art in the background of an episode of ugly betty!

Since seeing them I knew I had to find them but spent months searching the web with no luck!

Finally Helen stumbled across the exact paintings and sent me the link :D The image shown is one of a set of 3 and the website is definately worth a look!

That's just about it for things to share at the moment :) although as of today we have finally sold our old vectra and the renault clio, meaning we can finally start spending some money on doing up the house! Yipee!

TTFN!

2011-01-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Well my dear blogland friends, I'm afraid I am going to be saying goodbye for a while.
Unfortunately the past 6 months have shown me that i have few too many things to juggle, and posting on here has become more of a chore to try and keep on top of!
This isn't really a massive suprise as my lack of posting since starting full time work is evident!
So I shall be on hiatus for the next few months until my situation changes :) I will still pop by and post a little something when I have the time, and will still check out all of your lovely blogs :)
Thank you all for being so awsome :D

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

christmas yummies three and giveaway winners!

2010-12-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

Hello all! Once again I have been a bad blogger and keep disappearing! But with my holiday hampers I just haven't been out of my kitchen!

Today is the day I pick out the winners of my crafty giveaway from my lovely hat :) and I am very pleased to announce that the three winners are......
LissyLou
Emma-Jayne
&
Rachel
I shall be messaging you ladies to get your addresses and will be posting on tuesday!

Today is also due for another yummy recipe! So far I can honestly say my nougart attempt was an utter disaster! But the chutney went very well :) And I have also made this recipe too which is very easy and VERY yummy!

Chicken Liver Pate

You will need......
220g/8oz butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
450g/1lb chicken livers, trimmed and cut in half
1 tbsp brandy
1tsp mustard powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf, to garnish
2-3 fresh cranberries, to garnish

1. Melt 110g/4oz of the butter in a pan over a medium heat, then add the onion and fry until softened, but not coloured

2.Add the garlic and chicken livers and fry the livers until golden-brown all over and cooked through. Add the brandy and mustard powder and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

3.Place the liver mixture and 55g/2oz of the remaining butter into a food processor and blend until smooth. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4.Transfer the pâté into a serving ramekin or small dish and decorate with a couple of cranberries and a bay leaf.

5.Melt the remaining 55g/2oz of butter in a clean pan. Skim off the froth and pour the butter over the pâté. Transfer to the fridge to chill, then serve from the ramekin when ready.

(I have taken photo's of my Pate but unfortunately my camera cable is missing! photo's will follow shortly :) )

christmas yummies two!

2010-12-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hello all! It's time for another very delayed christmas recipe!
Sorry it's been a couple of weeks! I fell over on the ice a couple of weeks ago and bruised my coccyx, it has been far too painful to sit still long enough to blog since! But it is feeling much better now and so I can share another recipe with you all :). This particular one I will be making myself tomorrow!!

Spicey cranberry Chutney

30 grams dried apricots finely chopped
110g brown sugar (recipe does not specify what type so I will be using soft brown!)
80g raisins
235ml water
285g fresh cranberries
1 granny smith apple, peeled cored and chopped
2g grated lemon zest
60ml fresh lemon juice
20g chopped crystallised ginger
2g red pepper flakes

1. In a saucepan, combine apricots, brown sugar, raisins and water and bring to boil.

2. Reduce heat to simmer and continue to stir for 5 minutes.

3. Stir in cranberries, apple and lemon zest and simmer for another 10 minutes

4. Stir lemon juice, ginger and pepper flakes into the mixture before removing from heat.

5. Portion into sterilized jars and allow to cool

I'm really looking forward to this one, i picked up all of my ingredients today and they smell yummy!

Also I have managed to gather some lovely goodies to pop in with the giveaways for the lucky winners! So if you haven't signed up to join in already then what are you waitiing for? hehe :D

Christmas yummies!

2010-11-29T03:13:00.000-08:00

Well now this year I have decided to do something a little different :) every year I have the daunting task of christmas shopping, trying to find things to buy for all of my family and friends! And when you don't have a clue what they want it can sometimes be rather tricky!
But this year due to lack of pennies, I have decided that christmas shall be handmade! And I couldn't be more excited to get started! :D
I have decided that for parents and brothers I will make a nice little hamper full of yummy christmas food! And I thought I would share a few recipe's with you over the next few days :) so for today!

Peppermint nougart!!

You will need.....
900g granulated sugar
300g corn syrup
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
6 drops red food colouring

1. Oil a 9" by 9" pan and a spoon and set aside. Combine sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan with 175ml water and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until mixture reaches 260 degrees if you have a good thermometer!

2. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks in a large bowl using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed. Reduce speed to medium and slowly pour sugar mixture into egg whites. Add peppermint and continue to beat until mixture is very thick and fluffy, about 12 minutes.

3. Immediately transfer to prepared pan and smooth using back of oiled spoon. Dot surface with red food coloring and drag a skewer through to create a marbled effect. Let stand at room temperature until firm, about 2 hours. Slice into 1-inch squares.

Alternatively you can dollop the mixture onto a baking sheet and sprinkle on grated chocolate, yummy :D
(I am going to start making all of my recipe's from next week, but if you beat me to it be sure to let me know how yours turn out!)

crafty giveaway!

2010-11-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

Well as my last post was such a long one I thought I'd make a new one especially for this :). Over the past week I have been clearing through all of my crafty bits and pieces and have decided I have way way way too much!! So rather than throwing it all out, I decided it should all go to people who will put it all to good use :D and that's where you come in!
I have all sorts, from raw wool tops, card toppers, letterpress and balls of wool! Plus much more besides :) I easily have enough to gift out to at least 3 people :) but I decided we should make this a little more fun!
So I shall be making 3 packages, with a mixture of crafty bits and of course some little goodies just for good measure! All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is follow my blog and leave a comment on this post :D And if you post my button on your blog I will enter you twice! Yay!

I will be picking the winners from a hat on the 18th December :) good luck!

another come back!

2010-11-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Sorry it's been so long since my last post, a little ray of sunshine had started to peek through our grey clouds, only to be covered over again with a huge thunderstorm!
Our shiny new (all be it second hand) renault clio turned out to be a scam, and within 2 weeks it also died. At the moment we are still trying to scrimp and save to find out exactly what is wrong with the car and if we can afford to fix it (so long the garage has given us a list as long as our arms of things it needs replacing!) and then the gentleman who was meant to be buying our vectra pulled out, meaning we had to stump up the very last of our money to pay back his deposit.
All of this coupled with the christmas rush at work, which consists of screaming crying customers coming in mad busy waves all through the day.
Then our gorgeous little kitty cat Jinx went missing and everything seemed to be falling appart.

Fortunately a week later little Jinxy came strolling back in as cool as a cucumber, not knowing how much he had me worried, especially after losing 2 cats in the past 2 years already! At the time this was a very small consolation as we still had bills coming out our ears and only one income. But 2 weeks ago something wonderful happened, and worked much better than anything the doctor could have given me to make me happy again :)

Yep! Kirstie's Homemade home! It sounds mental I know but I am a control freak and had lost a grip on every part of my life. My only release used to be crafting, but with so much stress I hadn't done anything creative in nearly 6 months! But one hour of beautiful things and lots of inspiration, I started to get itchy fingers to reach for a crochet hook.
A few weeks on and I finally decided it was time to stop sulking and start making! The last episode was such an inspiration to me and has had me happily scribbling up plans for our garden and how to do up the house without having to spend a fortune.
And best of all, as my biggest worry for quite some time has been money, and how will I ever afford christmas? I now have a full list of gifts I plan to make for all of my friends and family :D meaning I can save lots of pennies and still give a gift full of thought and love!

I have also decided to have a major clear out, as thanks to my diet I have now lost a stone and a half and am in need of a total wardrobe makeover :). So to make space I am having a huge clear out on ebay to make some pennies to go towards some shiny new rags!

And where better to go at this time of year than the clothes show!! I'm going next friday with the lovely Helen from work and can't wait :) Will be sure to show off any goodies I find!

I'm sorry this has been such a long post! I'm going to go and catch up with all of the lovely blogs I have been missing for the past few weeks!
Hugs and Kisses
Ness xxx

all systems go!!

2010-10-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

Well today I feel like i've taken a bunch of these :) As you all know the past few months have been abit of a nightmare! But at last everything is starting to fall in to place :) Mr and Mr S have decided that we don't want to be apart and have agreed to put more effort in to time together! Also, after the death of our lovely car a few months ago, and trying desperately to save up to get it fixed we have decided to give up, and so have sold our lovely new vectra for an older renault clio :) which looks pretty much identical to this!

Infact I am going to go and pick up the little beauty in an hour :) huzzah!
Also on friday I was very excited to recieve a great big parcel from Mr Postman! It was my marvelous swap from Vintage Vicki and was jam-packed with goodies!

Everything was wrapped in lovely orange tissue, with a pretty card, sweeties and halloween sequins for good measure :D

I absolutely love everything i recieved :) which included a GORGEOUS hand made witch dolly! A super sweet cath kidston mug with a tin :D Some sweeties, some hot chocolate sachets, a pretty mushroom keyring, some home made jam, some socks, mini marshmallows, a notebook, a casserole and stew cook book, some chocolate, and a yummy candle!

Thank you Vicki :D xxx

busy busy busy!

2010-10-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies! Phew I have been pretty quiet on here for the past week and a half, as I have been snowed under with things to do! I've had a lovely time going around various shops and places trying to find all manner of goodies. I have recently taken part in Crafty helen's pumpkin swap and have had a great time picking up lovely bits and pieces for my lovely partner Vicki.I hope she likes all the goodies! I'm also planning a big halloween party this year and have had to start from scratch finding all kinds of different decorations and tableware! I am most definately super excited :D

On another note, this beautiful little bear could go to a very lucky winner in aid of cancer awareness UK. For a chance of winning her pop over to sew special bears.

diet progress

2010-09-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well as of tomorrow it will have been two weeks since starting my rosemary conley diet, and i am pleased to announce that so far I have lost 9lbs :D which is very impressive to say I have not been following the food plan or doing as much exercise! I am now a size 12 and have managed to get my waist down to 29 inches :) very very happy! I still have another 3 weeks to go and am definately going to up my game to try and keep the weight loss up! My goal is to lose another stone and then buy myself something pretty to wear for christmas :)

To a wonderful lady

2010-09-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

The wonderful Coco Rose aka Vanessa (best name in the world by the way ;) lol!) has Been kind enough to give me this wonderful award! Vanessa has been so lovely to me and is a genuinely amazing lady :) so this is a big thanks!!
Right now time for the award game :) apparently I now need to tell you all 7 things about little old me that you didn't know! So here it goes! :D

1. Growing up I was always a tomboy, being the only girl with two big brothers meant I used to love nothing more than climbing trees and getting dirty :) I still act like a total boy in many aspects of life! Although now I'm getting older I am definately a big fan of all things pink and fluffy :D

2. Up until the beginning of this year I had NEVER tried carrot cake! I have always been a very very fussy eater, and was never convinced by carrots in cake! However after making it for a friend I have become hooked :) it in now my firm favourite, even more than chocolate! :O

3. i LOVE flowers! Growing up I always wanted my own garden where I could grow all manner of flowers and fruit and veggies :D Unfortunately now I do have my own garden, the evil neighbour at the end of our garden has blocked out all of our sunlight with his evil 25ft hedges! Boo!!

4. As I mentioned earlier I have always been a very fussy eater, and there is nothing I hate more than mushrooms! The main thing that puts me off foods is the texture, and there is just nothing to like for me about mushrooms! The only time they make it into my dinner is if they are chopped and diced to itsy bitsy teeny weeeeeeny pieces!!

5. I am a total horror movie buff! I have been a big fan of horror since a very young age :) I just do not scare! I see all new horror movies as a challenge to see if they creep me out :P

6. I am a metal head :) I may love all things pink and pretty, and may love my home to look like the love child of laura ashley and cath kidston! But deep down I love nothing more than having a good rock session :D although the majority of the time I do listen to the milder side of rock ;) I especially love dokken, journey and the scorpions!

7. And finally I am peter pan! Well the lady version of course :P I never ever grew up! Deep down I am just a big kid, nothing makes me happier than being surrounded by sweets and cuddly toys! I am especially in love with all things sanrio, or anything over-cute ;)
And now that you all know about the weird and wonderful world of ness, I must pick another 5 lovely blogs to pass this award on to :) and they are...........
Are we nearly there yet?
Kelly's recipes for life
Florence and Mary
Fondant Kiss
Crafty Helen @ home

I heart Jam Tart

2010-09-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to treat myself to a little retail therapy after a pretty stressful week :) my first purchase was this yummy yummy jug from jam tart. This particular jug was actually for sale at one of my local favourite shops, and the best part was it was reduced from £25 to £16 :D yay!
Jam tart do lots of lovely lovely things :) here's a couple of my other favourite jam tart designs :)

I have a bit of a crazy obsession with storage jars, i just can't get enough :D

This lovely design is actually a tea towel! And it's in the sale :D wow!

I also went in to T K MAXX to treat myself to a new leather jacket :D it's not exactly the same as the one in the photo, but it is lovely! I also brought the most gorgeous long brown woolen coat. It's a little too big for me, but it is so comfortable i feel like a princess in it! Will get some photo's when it's not raining so much outside! Thanks to all you wonderful ladies who have sent me your wishes and comments, I appreciate it so much and you have all made me feel so much better :) I love you all! xxx

feeling down :(

2010-09-20T04:33:00.000-07:00

Just when things were picking up, everything has come crashing back down again! This past week has been a nightmare and I am in need of a SERIOUS pick-me-up! I have been feeling very very poorly for the past few days, i feel dizzy and sweaty and achy all the time :( so I have taken 2 days off work to try and get myself fighting fit again!
Also this weekend I have decided to take a break away from Mr S, and he has moved back in with his mum and dad for a few weeks whilst we work out some problems in our relationship.
********I have removed this part of my post just in case some certain silly people take it the wrong way, not worth it!!********
. So the agenda for the rest of the day? Lots of tea and pretty blog/shop browsing, it always makes me feel better :)

happy inside

2010-09-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

I absolutely LOVE this new ikea advert, and had to share it with anyone and everyone who has or hasn't seen it yet :D it's just too cute for words!
Also I have decided to share ONE of my terrible graduation photo's with you all :P

I have a terrible tendancy to ALWAYS pull a silly face whenever i see a camera, this one is the least silly :) me and mr S.
Finally a big sorry to everybody, my blogger has been playing up lately, there are atleast 10 blogs I have commented on only to be faced with a "Problem loading page" message a few mins later :( boo!! x

if i were rich!

2010-09-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

Ok so one of my favourite things to do when i'm bored at home, is to trawl through lovely homes for sale on the net!! I love imagining I have millions of pounds and that I could afford any of the ones I see! It is a VERY distant dream, but a little fantasy is always good, so i thought I would share with you some of my dream houses for sale in nottingham!

This Gorgeous house has the most stunning garden, and the room sizes are HUGE!!

I drive past this house all the time on my way through Southwell :) i always slow right down just to stare!! Look at the rooms!!!

This home is so quirky, I love it :D

I loooovvveeee the gardens around this house, and the rooms are incredible!

How about having your own lake?? This one is very modern compared to my usual tastes but i certainly wouldn't turn it down!

How's this for curb appeal!! a great big WOW!

And finally this house is more like a hotel! Just look at all of the photo's, I can't believe i've never noticed this place!
Ahhhhh wouldn't it be lovely to spend just a week in one of these places :) I know what I will be dreaming about tonight!!

new diet starts NOW!

2010-09-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hello ladies! Well today I officially started the Rosemary Conley inch loss plan with my mum! It's a diet and exercise regime that claims you can loose a stone in a month (wouldn't that be nice?!) Our first meeting was tonight at 7.30, where we were given a little goody bag and our target card. The best things in my bag were firstly the magic measure

It's a regular measure that comes with colour coded clips. You get two of each colour clip, one that doesn't come off once it's closed, and one that does! The point of this is to mark your original measurements all over, so you can see how many inches you've lost :) it seems like a good idea for motivation, we'll see how it goes!

Secondly are these portion pots, you get a little guide to tell you what each pot measures, to help make sure you have the right sized portion! It will make life much easier, but knowing my usual portions i think I will be going hungry a few times in the next couple of weeks, especially as for the first 2 weeks of the plan you can only have 1400 cals a day!!
Not too long ago I did take part in the this morning healthy starts diet. This was a good diet as it was nice to have meals planned out without counting all of the calories. Admittedly i did loose nearly 2 stone on that diet, but I did not get my money's worth as due to matt loosing his job, we couldn't afford to buy any of the groceries we needed for the recipes! Fingers crossed this one is a little more affordable and is easier to stick too :) I will keep you posted on my hopeful weight loss!!

new ideas for my head!

2010-09-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

Ok so as some of you may know I have a bit of a thing for colouring my hair :) my most recent favourite was my lovely bright red! Unfortunately the red would only last an average of 2 days!! I loved the colour soooo much, but staining my hands and neck every other day wasn't an option! Another shock was to find that red is even harder to bleach out than black! So for the past couple of months I have been a brunette, and as of 2 weeks ago, I am now an odd gingery blonde!

Not far off this colour! It's not the nicest colour in the world, but it is working progress, as this is the beautiful colour I want to get to!

Isn't it yummy :D but it seems a very distant dream right now!! So far my hair has been bleached 4 times and it is STILL orange!! But it'll all be worth it in the end :D
Also a big thanks for all your messages for my graduation :) it was a lovely day, and being in all the black robes, and having the ceremony in lincoln cathedral felt just like being in harry potter! hehe! Photo's will be coming as soon as dad gives my camera back!

Graduation!

2010-09-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

Today is my graduation day from Lincoln uni :) I am very much looking forward to getting it all out of the way! I have been haunted by dreams of falling flat on my face for the past week, so today will be full of nerves and giggles hehe!

Fingers crossed it all goes well!!

Discount count down!!

2010-09-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hi all!
I've been itching for a good old fashioned shopping spree for a while! But with only one income coming in and a hell of a lot of payments going out, I have to keep on waiting to get my fix!!
In another week I will finally be entitled to my staff discount at dwell, which is great as I have a list as long as my arm of things I want to buy when we have the cash! Here are some of the bits I'm loving right now :D

This table is just too beautiful! In real life the veneer is so yummy! Definately want this in my kitchen :D

This coat stand is amazing, I'd just use it to hang ornaments or jewellery from!

These glasses are stunning, they have a really classy vintage look, and are so sparkly :D

Another awsome bit of sparkle! This skull is covered in little diamonte's! It's so rock and roll :P

This sofa is beautiful, the colour is soooooo nice! I always have to stroke our model in the showroom when I go past hehe!!

I love this vase, it's really heavy, but the roses are so pretty! We had one of these with a lovely flower arrangement on display in our window last week, Looks amazing!!

Finally these salt and pepper shakers. A customer ordered some of these and picked them up today, I had a sneek peak at them as we haven't had any in our store yet! They are ADORABLE! I have to have to HAVE to buy these when I have some more pennies :D

For now though I'm just enjoying seeing all of the new pieces coming in from the new catalogue :) every delivery is like christmas! Except I don't get to take everything home! If anybody wants to check out the rest of dwell's goodies, I can pop you on the mailing list to recieve our catalogue and vouchers :D yay!! xx

Fun with lights!

2010-08-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

Ok so the other week we recieved an email at work to let us know that marketing had set up 20% off vouchers for our store, available through a website. The website was mydeco.co.uk, and we decided to take a sneaky peak.

Mydeco is such a cool website, it's a sort of comparison site for all different lovely things to decorate your entire home! The other day I spotted the above chandelier on their home page, and I have fallen in love!!

Which has lead me on to trawl through pages of chandeliers, oohing and ahhing over my favourite finds

I really love these bright and quirky takes on chandeliers, and with pretty much all of these being under £100 I can see one of these winding up in my spare room!

and they call it kitty love

2010-08-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

Well it's only been a few days since we brought little Roxy home, and already her and Jinx are best friends! In fact, they're a little too close! And so Jinx has spent the last few days outside having plenty of cold showers, and will be getting the snip next wednesday!!

Things I wont be buying again!

2010-08-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's no secret that me and Mr S have been very low on cash for the past few months, meaning we have been trying to watch the pennies as much as possible. Because of this, I have been keeping my eyes open for any bargains. I recently made the most of a 3 for 2 offer on maybelline products at boots, and also saved some cash by buying a cheaper dry shampoo from superdrug. Sadly these products are so useless, that I couldn't help but tell you all about them!

First of all, the dry shampoo. I usually buy batiste which was £2.09 in superdrug, so when I spotted tresseme's equivalent for around 50p less I thought I'd go for it.
BIG MISTAKE! I've tried my fair share of dry shampoo's and this is definately the worst! It is so thick it turned my hair white with the smallest amount of spray, and gave my hair a really horrible texture that just wouldn't brush out! The only way this dry shampoo will make your hair look fresher, is after you've had the shower to wash the bloody stuff out!

Secondly is maybelline's new falsies mascara. It was on an introductory price in boots a little while ago and was part of a 3 for 2 offer. I thought I was getting a real bargain after the advert saying 9 out of 10 people would recommend it. I'm not the biggest mascara user as I'm lucky enough to have naturally black eyelashes, however it's always nice to give them a boost! This mascara is definately the worst I've used. The brush is an awquard shape to use, and pulls out such thick clumps of gooey mascara, that makes such a mess and takes forever to dry!

Finally is maybelline's line definer eye liner. This liner looked perfect, it gives a nice clean, thin line which is great for adding a nice little flick! However, it is very very messy, designed like a pen you get a fair amount of liner smudge onto your fingers when applying, and after a couple of hours the lines on your eyes will have smudged or rubbed off all together! Tres dissapointing :(
Has anyone else used any of these products yet? If so what did you think? :) x

Another new layout!

2010-08-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so for the past few months my laptop has been dead and broken. At the moment I'm saving up so buy a shiny new one :) but for now I am using Mr S' notebook, which unfortunately only has a 8.9" screen! Meaning I can only see the very middle of my blog! However, I was pretty sure the background had vanished from my blog! So after a good amount of template hunting, i finally found a nice and simple replacement :) yay!
The only thing I'm not too pleased with is i need a new banner, and some of the fonts are a little dull, but this will have to wait until I have a bigger laptop, as this one is just too weeny to see anything!

names!

2010-08-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today i got a phone call offering me this little lady for free under the promise of a good home :) so now she is wandering around infront of me, having a good explore of my living room! Leaving me time to think of the perfect name for her :) so far I have thought of misty, twilah and betsy, any suggestions? :)

Hapi-ness again

2010-08-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Hi all
I'm pleased to announce that after a week of time to get my head together, and a little bit of retail therapy! I am finally bouncing back into being Hapi-ness.
I have decided to rehome another little kitty, as our little jinx has been so sad since Esme died :( so at the moment we are on the look out for the perfect addition to our family!

Because it has been FOREVER since I have had regular updates with blogger, i have a nice range of goodies lined up to give away over the next few weeks! Yay!
I have missed all of my blogging buddies so much!! So right now I am going to have a trawl through some of my favourite blogs to catch up with everybody :)

a terrible month

2010-08-10T04:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all. I'm sorry it's been such a long time since I posted anything, but the past month has been a horrible month, and I just couldn't concentrate enough to sit down and write about anything. However today I feel like I have to.

Last week my beautiful little girl esme went missing. I put posters up all over our estate to try and find her. I got a phone call yesterday to tell me someone thinks they had found her. Unfortunately she'd been dead in their garden for 3 days. I'm sure you can imagine how horrible it was to go and bring her home and make sure it was her by this point, which has left me in a state of pure misery since.
Other problems before this happened have also included a car accident (no body was hurt but we now are paying through the nose on insurance.) Matt lost his job, my vespa broke over and over costing nearly £500 to fix, which has been such a struggle to afford, and the stress and arguments that have entailed.

The only thing that has been keeping me going is the hope that things can only get better, and that my string of bad luck might finally be over :(

birthday time!

2010-07-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Woohoo :) in another hour and a half I will finally be 21! I can't wait to open all of my things >_< and best of all this weekend we're going to alton towers with my lovely chums :D huzzah!!
On another note, I am still using my partner's laptop as unfortunately mine has died beyond repair! So i'm currently saving up for a shiny new one! I'm going to have to give up on uploading any photo's for a while but I'm going to get back on track with my dear blog, and all of my dear blogging buddies!!! xxx

too good to be true

2010-06-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hi again all! Well bad news for blogging from me at the moment, the day after our internet came back on, my keyboard on my laptop decided it couldn't go on another day! So once again i'm on a borrowed laptop, waiting to upload my swap photo's!!

back at last!

2010-06-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
Phew, it's been a hectic couple of weeks, with no internet! It finally came back to life today :) and i have so many blogs and emails and things to catch up on! At the moment i am on day 5 of a 9 day straight at work, so am getting home feeling very sleepy! So it might take me a few days to get back on track with you all, but it will be done!! I have a bunch of swap pictures to post up for you all ^_^ which I'll get onto asap. In other news......this morning i met this man!

Yep, it's peirs morgan! Whilst waiting outside a pub at 9.30 this morning (ready to have breakfast with everybody from work) Peirs just came over and asked for directions to the nearest tesco! Which just happens to be right next door to dwell I might add. I was fairly star struck, but pretended not to recognise him, so as not to give off the "crazy, annoying fan" vibe :P but it was still very cool! And i've just been itching to brag about it all day! hehehe!!

silly virgin

2010-06-10T03:21:00.000-07:00

Hello all! sorry i haven't been around alot lately, my internet has been down since the storms on saturday, and rather annoyingly virgin have an automated message to tell me it's broken, rather then telling when it will be fixed! At the moment i'm at my partner's parents house, which is quite litterally a quater of a mile up the road from us, yet their virgin internet is fine! Anyway, i hope you are all ok and that you've mostly recieved your swap goodies :) I will have a look at posts and pictures once my net is back up, as this computer's keyboard doesn't work properly!!! in other news, I have been working with dwell since monday and i love it :) am very pleased to have left pets at home!! Take care all :) xxx

gaahh!!

2010-06-03T05:36:00.000-07:00

Today comes armed with a mini rant! The sun is out and it is so lovely and warm outside! Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, our garden is on hold at the minute, so isn't very nice to sit outside in at the minute, but a couple of ice lollies on the grass is always nice ;) unfortunately, it is now time for the BIGGEST annoyance of the year!

BUGS AND FLIES!! We have a fly screen on our back door, but it doesn't reach the ground (i know, pointless right?) and then because of the heat, I have all of our windows open. My cats wont go outside now, because they're having much too much fun chasing flies around the house. I think I now have more wildlife in here than I do in my garden!

the little mermaid

2010-06-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I became the very lucky owner of a little treasure chest :) the wonderful Lucy from crafting in the beach hut was one of my swp partners from the fairytale swap (I forgot to count myself in with everybody else who joined in!) I chose to recieve the little mermaid, and this is what i got :)

This was the pretty selection when i opened up the lid of my parcel

I got so many goodies, including a disney cd, picture frame, little book, small treasure chest, lots of little shells and stones, little charms and coins, a lovely for to brush my hair! the prettiest tin ever, a hand made phone case, a pack of otsits, some fabric, a little necklace and bracelet, a gorgeous apple mug, some disney stickers, a little glass fish and a hand made card! wow!

I love this little tin that some of my bits came in :) it is the cutest little thing ever. Thanks Lucy!
I've popped these photos up on the flickr group, don't forget to put yours up too :)

mixed up

2010-05-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hello all of my lovely ladies. Well this weekend has been a pretty awsome one, on saturday me and matt went to a pool party in leicster which was brilliant, and then followed it up at a bbq party on sunday. Lots of drinking and messing around, which i've missed so much!
Unfortunately, today gave us abit of a blow, as my partner's boss (who is a total JERK!) has decided to foot us with a bill for a mistake on a job from a few months ago. The bill is £290, nearly £100 more than matt earns in a week. His boss, i may add, earns around £1400 per week minimum. He is also the type of man that will let matt work for a week and then not pay him, to try and "get the money back." For the past 6 months or so matt has been getting into a horrible state of stress from constantly getting rubbish from work. Unfortunately, he has been in the plumbing industry for 5 years now, has no experience in any other kind of job, and with the lack of income and extremely high outgoings this month, it is certainly getting on top of both of us!

Swap madness!!

2010-05-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

Wow! Today has been my first day of no responsibility :) with the exception of a few days of work, the next two weeks have been laid out to let me treat myself! And what better way than swaps and giveaways :) I have such a passion for making little gifts, and even more so, recieving them!! So today I have been rummaging through your lovely blogs, and finding links to other blogs and so on which has been lovely :D and I'm very pleased to announce that along with my own Fairytale Swap, I have now joined faerienuff's Strawberry Swap, Fondant Kiss's Boudoir Swap, LaaLaa's lovely Giveaway and Mel's Giveaway too! Some of these Swaps and Giveaways are still open ^_^ so go ahead and check them out! And even if they're closed, each of these ladies have such wonderful blogs, it's certainly worth a visit anyway!!

Progress

2010-05-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

PHEW! well guys, as of 2.30pm yesterday, I am officially free from Uni! No more lessons, no more projects, and no more comuting! HUZZAH! I can't even tell you how pleased I am to have finished :) not living in the same county as my uni has made it so difficult over the past 3 years, meaning I have missed out on all nights out and other studenty things! So for the next 2 weeks, until I start my new job, I am going to be celebrating my freedom :)starting with catching up with blogs!
On another note, I'm very excited to say that I have nearly finished making my swap packages to send! I just need two more things to come through the post and then I can finish everything off ^_^
I hope all of you are having fun with your swaps, I can't wait to see what you come up with ^_^

Flickr group

2010-05-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

For when you're all ready, here is a lovely flickr group to upload pics of all your packages! I can't wait to see what you all recieve :D

time for change!

2010-05-20T03:45:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Today I decided that I've had enough of my podgy belly. For the past few months I have been trying (and failing) to go to the gym on a regular basis. For a while I managed to go to the gym and swimming at least once a week, and I managed to loose a stone! I've kept the weight off, but have found everything starting to get a little wobbly again, and so I have decided, it's time I try my first ever real diet. I have signed up to this morning's Kick start diet plan :) this is the first one I've ever found that takes your bone structure into account, along with budget and where you shop. They have 12 different diet plans, and I chose the mediteranian option :D it's given me a list of what I should eat every day for 12 weeks! And it all sounds yummy. So as of today I will be paying very close attention to what I eat, and will let you all know how it goes ;) hurray!

super duper!

2010-05-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Just to let you know, today I got a phone call to confirm my job at Dwell :D I'll be starting next month! And I'm so happy I could cry :D Here's the website for my shiny new store! http://dwell.co.uk/ Also, I can earn 20p per copy if people sign up to recieve the free dwell catalogue! So if anyone wants to sign up then let me know ;) hehehe

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

2010-05-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, but i'm finally in my last 2 weeks of university!! And today I went in to photograph some of my 3d work :) i thought I'd share my two most recent pieces with you all. Both images are photo's of some 3d, needle felted sculptures I made, based on the beatles song 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds.'

The first image is based on the first verse of the song, showing tangerine trees, and the girl with kaleidoscope eyes :) the second is from the second verse, based on a rocking horse person, some very tall green and yellow flowers, and some marshmallows! I'll be soooo happy to finish this course :) let the count down begin!

It has begun!

2010-05-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
As I have an even number of people signed up for the swap I have just finished assigning each of you to a partner, although I still need to email you all individually with your partners name and what their story is :D Unfortunately, as alot more of us Brits have signed up, not everybody who wanted a partner abroad has been able to have one. I really hope this is ok! But if anyone has a major issue with this then please email me and I'll see if there's anything i can do :)
Don't forget to communicate with your partner to get a better understanding as to the things they like and don't like, and also, for people posting abroad, remember to double check with your partner if anything can't be sent to them due to customs!
I am going to allow everybody 4 weeks until all of the packages need to be sent, so all packages should be posted by the 5th of June :). This should be more than enough time to build up a lovely package :D
I am also planning to set up a Flickr page for everybody to upload photo's of what you recieve ^_^ will post the link up here once it's all set up :D
Well off i pop to send out all of your emails :D let the fun begin!

**********UPDATE**********
Just to let you all know, I have now emailed all of you with your partners details :) if any of you have not recieved an email then please let me know! Also, if any body has any problems with any part of the swap, just email me and I'll do my best to help :) Hope you all have a wonderful time with this swap! Thank you all so much for joining in and being so lovely :)
Ness xxx

confuzzled

2010-05-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I'm going to have a little bit of a random post here, hoping to get a little advice etc from anyone who can offer it ^_^
OK, so here's my dilema. I'm currently on the hunt for a full time job for when I finish uni in the next couple of weeks. The first company I applied for, Dwell, is a lovely shop that specialises in contemporary furniture and home wares. They only have one position available that needs filling soon, and I have the opportunity to go for it. But on the other hand, another place I have applied for, The White Company, are currently building a new store in Nottingham, and are needing a whole team of staff. Because of this, they will take longer to get back to me before I get any interviews etc. I would so love to work for the white company, but am worried that if I turn down the job at dwell, then I might not get in to the white company. But at the same time, if i take the job at dwell, and then get offered a job at the white company, i'd be gutted! I know i'm getting way too caught up in all of this :P but any suggestions etc would be lovely :D Thank you! xxx

seen it, want it, neeeeeeeed it!

2010-05-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

I just had to post up these wellies, i want them so bad! I spotted them last week in accessorize, but they didn't have any in my size! :( booo!!!

a new opportunity

2010-05-06T01:24:00.000-07:00

Today I'm feeling pretty excited :) I've just recieved a phone call from my local Dwell store, who have invited me in for a trial day, to see if i would like a full time job there :) This will be my first full time job ever, as in a couple of weeks, I will no longer be a student!! Dwell's furniture is so lovely :) it'd be nice to work somewhere so pretty! But i have applied for a few other places too, so we'll have to see what my options are :)

On another note! I have been organising all of you lovely people's entries to the fairytale swap :D I have begun to pair up partners, however, not every option has enough people! And as i like to make sure everybody gets what they want, i am setting you all a mission :D I need to find one more person who only wants to post within the UK (although i'm happy to fill this spot :) ), but I also ideally need about 3 more people willing to post abroad, from outside of the UK :) there are alot of us brits ;) so if anybody has a friend who would like to get involved then send them this way :D
xxx

another day of loveliness

2010-05-05T02:43:00.000-07:00

Huzzah and Hooray ^_^ about an hour ago my jolly postman stopped round to give me to mysterious little packages! The frst one I opened was from the ever so wonderful Kelly.

She sent me an adorable Cath Kidston keyring, to give my vespa key something pretty to team up with! Just look how good it looks when it's in action hehe!

My second package was actually an item I ordered from etsy a while ago ^_^

it is my very own, beautiful hand knitted panda toy!! I spotted these a while ago in the lovely Yoomii's etsy shop :).
She's made out of lovely soft cotton, and is looking forward to sitting amongst all of my other lttle panda's in my bedroom!

On another note, today and tomorrow I will be organising all information from the fairtytale swap, getting ready to assign partners! If anybody has missed any info etc, then I will contact you :) x

5 more days!

2010-05-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! There's only 5 days left until the fairy tale swap closes, and all of you are assigned to your partners! So let's see if we can have one final push to get all of your friends involved :) I will be posting who each person is partnered with on here, and also emailing each of you, so if anybody has not included their email address, then please either email me or post it on here :)
I hope you are all very excited! I know I am!!

goodies from sophie

2010-04-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

To give me another little boost, on wednesday I recieved a very pretty package from the lovely Chez Sophie. It came at just the right time :) as the loss of holly has been giving me a fair amount of low moments this week. The package is actually from Sophie's lovely Vintage and Thrifted giveaway, which i was fortunate enough to come third place in!

Everthing was wrapped up so sweetly, it was just like christmas! And there were so many things, i struggled to get everything in one photo!

I recieved a very very pretty little card from sophie :) a lovely vintage tea plate, a little box of buttons and appliques, a gorgeous lace collar (which i need to find a pretty top to put it on!) some lengths of lace and ribbon, some vintage spools of thread, 3 vintage hankies, and some embroidery thread :D

It's such an inspiring gift, I can't wait to use everything in a bunch of projects! Thank you Sophie :D xxx

good times, bad times

2010-04-29T03:30:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been a little bit of a roller coaster of emotions for me. On monday morning my poor dog holly was put to sleep. She seemed so healthy up until the day, but when taking her in to the vets, they found she had a heart murmer, shadows on the lung, and several other things :( it's been horrible since, and I'm going to miss her so much.
But on Tuesday, it was mine and Matt's 4th anniversary, and for a bit of a cheer up, he took me out to derby for the day, for a touch of retail therapy. We had a lovely time, and it helped to take my mind off things :) So now is the time to show off what we brought! (be warned, this post is about to get very picture heavy!)

This was the adorable sight I was greeted with when I opened my anniversary present in the morning. Granted it wasn't a suprise as I was with matt when he brought them :P They are called Bonnie and Clyde! And are the cutest oil and vinegar despensers ever!

I wanted them after spotting them in a lovely little shop in Nottingham we found a few weeks ago, where I brought an adorable mug from the same range!!

She's called Lulu, and look! She even has little feet!

Anyway, back on to things we brought on our little day trip :) the first thing was a new doormat! from paperchase!(I know! I don't take much to please :P)

Then we got a new kettle from lakeland! Ours had given up some time ago :P

And I brought the cutest bag I've ever seen too :D and just as an extra bonus, it's huge!!

It has Yes on one side and no on the other! how cute is that :D

It even came with a bag to put it in! I've never had a bag that had a bag to put it in :P

And the lining is just delicious.
That's all the photo's I have of things we brought, although Matt got a new game and a tattoo, and I picked up a few other little bits and bobs for myself :) I do actually have some other photo's to show off from the package I recieved from the lovely Chez Sophie! But I'm going to pop them in a seperate post later on ^_^ xxx

lucky me :)

2010-04-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

I have been a terribly lucky girl this week for things coming through my letter box :) but the sweetest thing by far was the gorgeous package I recieved from Alison, at Gingercat :D. Alison was my good enough to eat swap partner :) and what a sweety she is! Here are some of the lovely bits and bobs that were in my package :)

There's a lovely cupcake bath bomb, some fair trade coffee, fair trade earl gray tea, a hand made needle case and hand made pin cushion, some pretty cake toppers, very very pretty paper cases, and a scrummy candle :) I also recieved a lovely card, which is already pinned up on my wall :) a blank cath kidston card for me to send to a friend! And some little chocolates (which are already living in my belly hehe!) And everything was lovingly packed in the cutest cupcake boxes ever :D This is by far the nicest swap package I have ever recieved, and I am so grateful for recieving such a brilliant partner ^_^ Thank you Alison!
But that's not all! Part of the swap was also to include a yummy recipe, and Alison gave me an absolute winner for carrot cupcakes! Here are some I made using her recipe, the paper cases I recieved, and the cake toppers!

Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom :D

another lovely magazine

2010-04-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

Another sweet little magazine came through my front door this morning :) advertising a lovely company named plumo. They have some lovely lovely home items, as well as fashion etc. Unfortunately though they are rather expensive! None the less, here are some of my favourite items available on their site :)

fairytale swap!

2010-04-14T05:24:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone :D I have decided to host my very first swap! The theme is fairy tales, and i have decided the easiest way to do this, is for each person who signs up to chose a fairytale, that their partner can base a package on. You will have a choice to create a package to the value of either £5 or £10, so that each person may recieve a package to the same value as the one they sent. If anybody is unwilling to send packages abroad then please let me know!
For everyone wishing to take part, please leave a comment containing your name, email address, your chosen fairy tale and your package value :) the deadline for everyone to sign up to this swap will be Sunday the 9th of May. After this I will assign partners to everyone, so you know what package you'll be making :D Also, people are welcome to chose the same fairytale as somebody else :) i'm aware that certain stories will be favourites to lots of you :D
As this is my first swap, i need all the help i can get to encourage people to sign up! If all of my lovely blog friends would be so kind as to spread the word, and pop the button up for me :D xxx
-----EXTRA INFO-----
Just a note to all of you crafters taking part :) it'd be lovely to include hand made items in your package, especially as you can make it as relevant to the story as possible! However, not everybody is a crafter, and so please don't fill your package with £10 or £5 worth of your own items, as this won't be fair on people who have to buy everything for their packages :)
For anybody who needs them, here are some examples of things you could include in your packages :)
-keyrings
-jewellery
-candy (check with your partner if they are able to recieve food items if they live abroad! this has happened to me in the past when posting a package to mexico)
-hand made items, such as toys or art work
-candles
-soaps and smellies
-vintage items, ornaments etc
-paper goods
Anything you can find really that relates to your given story :) As this is the first swap that I have hosted, I'm aware that I may not have included all information required! If anybody has any questions etc then please let me know in your comments :) Once I assign partners to everyone, I will put up a new post with all of the rules again, so that everyone knows what is happening :)

a pretty place

2010-04-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

This morning a lovely little catalogue flopped through my letter box (yes, some mail does arrive!) which was just so pretty (and affordable!) that I had to share with you all :) The company is called Cox and Cox, and they sell all manner of items, from craft to decor :) The above image is of their lovely robin's egg soaps, and here are some more of their pretty items!

a lovely french style shelf

An oh-so-cute musical toadstool

Gorgeous storage bags

Pretty gift tags and ribbon

A week day, chalk board, shelf and hook thingy!

A sun canopy!

And the nicest bird table i've seen :)

i hate royal mail!

2010-04-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, brace your selves for a rant! For the past 3 years my relationship with royal mail has been a thin one. It all began when we lived in our first flat, and whenever I had a parcel delivered, the post man would never ever knock on the door, and would just leave a "sorry you were out" card, regardless of whether I was home or not. This meant I would usually have to walk to the sorting office twice a week! In our home now, our postman never shows his face before 2pm, parcels or no! Because of this, I am never home to recieve parcels, and there for have to AGAIN try to get to the sorting office twice a week, which is about 3 miles away. Fortunately this is no longer such a problem since getting my vespa! But today took the biscuit! Today I drove down to the sorting office, armed with my "sorry you were out" card, which stated that the item needed to be signed for. Imagine my suprise when the gentleman behind the counter told me that even though I had the card that proved the parcel wasn't delivered, that their system said I had already recieved the parcel, and it was nowhere to be found. Better still is this is the second week in a row this has happened, meaning I have two parcels missing somewhere out there, and the manager of the sorting office has made no effort what so ever to fix anything! For such a major company that used to be known for its reliability, I can safely say that Royal Mail is a joke, that needs fixing ASAP!!!

final hair

2010-04-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Today I am still a happy bunny :) My hair dye came through the post this morning, and I couldn't wait to give it a try! I love the colour so much, the orange yesterday was nice but I am a sucker for lovely red hair :) here's how it turned out!

And just to show you how bright it really is, i took a photo on my actual camera too!

I love this colour so much, and as my insurance documents came in the post today, I will be picking up my new vespa tomorrow! Then we can see how my hair goes with the bike :D huzzah!!

new hair progress!

2010-04-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this week is absolute torture right now! Last thursday I passed my CBT test, meaning my brand new vespa was officially mine to ride :D However! Because of the silly easter holidays, I still haven't received my insurance documents, meaning I still can't tax my bike! So until my post decides to arrive, I can't ride my lovely vespa at all! But I have decided to pay it a tribute, and over the past few days have been dying my hair, so that I can come up with a red that is just like my bike :D Here is what it looks like so far!!

Yesterday I bleached, and today I dyed it Infra red by Manic Panic. It's a little too bright and orange for me though, so I've ordered a Jar of Vampire red to try and take it a little darker :)

awards!

2010-04-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to the lovely Sophie from Chez Sophie, and the wonderful Nina from Nina Seven, who gave me these pretty awards the other day ^_^ and now it's time to pass them around! It's too hard to choose who to pass these out to ^_^ everyone who visits my blog is so appreciated, so you all deserve these for brightening my day with your comments!! And now it is time for my '7 things about me' :D
1. I am one of the most indecisive people you will ever meet! I have 2 favourite colours because I could never chose just one!

2. I hate flying! Although I love to go on holiday, being on a plane scares me so much, and usually ends up in a mild panic attack when we land :P

3. I love home made food, when I was about 13 I decided to stop eating any ready meals or tinned foods (other than veg) altogether. I would chose a big bowl of home made soup over a cheese burger any day :)

4. I have a secret love for potatoes. They are the best things in the world! Especially mashed up with cheese!!

5. I hate mushrooms! Everything about them!! The smell, the taste, and most of all the texture!

6. I love to go shopping, but I don’t like to spend money! Which usually ends up with me finding stuff that I WANT to buy in town, and then buying something the same or similar on ebay for much less!

and finally...

7. I really love going to the gym, I’ve only been a member for a couple of months, but being able to get all of my tension etc out, and working towards a slimmer figure all make me feel so positive when I leave :)

yay!!!

2010-04-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

Huzzah and Hooray :D today I passed my CBT test, which means tomorrow I can pick up my vespa and take it home with me!!! I am such a happy kitty :) x

a swap idea!

2010-03-31T03:36:00.000-07:00

Ok my lovelies, I absolutely love swaps :) and it has been a while since I have taken part in one! So i have decided to come up with my own :D My plan is to theme it on bed time stories!! Books like the little mermaid, little red riding hood, sleeping beauty etc. This means that the package you put together should be full of little bits and pieces that can relate to the story you choose :) This is just an idea for now, but if you think you would like to take part then let me know! And I will draft a proper button, entry form etc :D

happy ness

2010-03-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

:) Today is a day that gives me lots of reasons to smile :) Yesterday, my lovely friend, Miss Katie came over from Lincoln, with her Mr Johnny, to stay over for the night :D I had a lovely time, and wish they could have stayed longer! But unfortunately, today was also the day of my second bike lesson :) and after another half an hour of driving around on a scooter, my instructor told me I am all ready for my CBT test on thursday :) which means I am 1 leap closer to riding my new Vespa!!!

I am now back at home, and it is currently black outside and hammering down with rain! But this makes me smile even more! Because it waited until I was home ^_^ And finally, I have just applied for another job! Fingers crossed I will find the right place soon :D

if you go down to the woods today

2010-03-26T04:24:00.000-07:00

Say hello to my newest purchase from the lovely y0omii :D And I just have to show off her lovely lovely items. Just check out this awesome little easter buddy!

Some lovely papers?

Or some sweet gurumi!!

Y0omii is currently having a special offer in her shop, offering an extra 12% off items at the checkout :D I think they're all lovely, and definately wish I had more pennies to spend!!

fun 50's

2010-03-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

I have to share this with you all! For any of the lovely ladies out there that have a real love of vintage styles and fashion, if you haven't already, you simply MUST check out Lisa Freemont Street, a very pretty lady with a talent for showing us all how to create some lovely vintage looks!

freaky deaky

2010-03-24T03:32:00.000-07:00

Ok the image isn't relevant, but it made me giggle :P Yesterday I went on my first scooter lesson! Was rather scary, but very fun :D Next week I am going on one more lesson and then having my test! Fingers crossed that it all goes well, just need to work on my confidence a little more! But sitting ontop of a 125cc engine for the first time will always be a little freaky :P

yipee

2010-03-23T03:44:00.001-07:00

Today I get to go shopping for some new motorbike gear to wear on my scooter, and I get to go on my first bike lesson too! I'm so very excited :) Should be driving around on my new ride in the next few weeks!

last change i promise!

2010-03-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

haha so I got ithy fingers again and decided I didn't have quite enough colour in my blog! So, from inspiration of my happy pictures this morning, and the lovely background provided by Hot bliggity blogI have another new blog design! But i'm happy with this new layout, and have a couple of new buttons for anyone who wants to take them and post them around for me! This would make me happy =^_^=

happy monday!

2010-03-22T05:45:00.000-07:00

Today when I woke up, I thought about all of the things that make me happy :) and right now I have no reason at all not to smile!! Last night I became the owner of a GORGEOUS red vespa, something i've always wanted :D After 2 weeks of very hard work, I have shifted 6lbs, and 2 inches from my body, and am still going strong :)

We have nearly finished our living room and it looks spiffing! I have the lovliest boyfriend ever who I had a wonderful day with yesterday :) The spring flowers in my garden have all sprouted, and we already have some beautiful colours!

Soon I will be finishing uni, and getting a full time job, which means I won't have to work any more weekends, after 7 years of working saturdays! And I have such lovely friends :) yes, life is good today!!

sooo happy

2010-03-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Say hello to my new ride!! Just won this little beauty on ebay :D I have wanted a vespa since I was 12!! I think I might wee :D

Protect your chicken!

2010-03-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

ok, so i'm a total saddo! I looovveeee Dokken so much, and although this is rather old now, it still makes me laugh every time. Protect your chicken from Dokken!
If you are as sad as me and you loved this too, you'll be glad to know they have more than one version of this vid!! Hurray!

i want your buttons!

2010-03-19T07:37:00.001-07:00

Wehey! Yesterday I found a brilliant tutorial that has given me a wonderful new three column blog :D because of this I now have lots and lots of lovely link space, so I want your buttons!! If anyone has any buttons advertising any lovely blogs, or any other pretty things you think would look good on here, then please let me know :D

sshhoooooeeeessss

2010-03-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

Today I will be putting these gorgeous bits on ebay :) along with 3 pairs of lovely vintage gloves! If anybody is interested, you can view my items here

very early planning!

2010-03-17T05:25:00.000-07:00

Well I've always been one for planning ahead, and decided to make a start on plotting out my birthday this year :) it's a big one! I will be 21 in July, and want to have a big mix up of all of my favourite birthdays over the past few years :)

This year I want to spend the day with all of my friends at alton towers :) I did this for my 18th and had such a brilliant time!

Also last year I had a wonderful bbq for my friends, which I loved :) so this year will be another garden party after a day trip to the theme park! Last year was hello kitty theme, and this year I don't know what to do! But pink and flowery will always be good!

Finally, on my actual birthday, I want to go out with mine and matt's family, and have a lovely big meal like I did for my 18th :) I love spending birthdays with family, but my friends and family are so different that everything works much better to have 3 events :) plus it means an extra long birthday celebration! hurray!! xo

happy st patricks

2010-03-17T02:18:00.001-07:00

Happy St Patricks everyone :)

excitement

2010-03-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Ok so basically the reason I haven't been on here much recently is because a) We have redone our living room again and it is all looking goorrggeeouse :) b) Because I have soooo much uni work to catch up on and stuff for shops! and c) Because I have been busy hunting down my dream machine :) This week I will be taking my first lesson on a scooter, and in a few weeks I will be taking my test!!

As soon as my test is out of the way my dad has said he'll let me borrow some money to go towards my very own vespa!! I have sooo many ideas what I want from my dream bike, from a custom paint job to lovely pink seats! So to get us all in the mood, lets sit back and enjoy some vespa goodness!!

back again!

2010-03-16T04:07:00.000-07:00

Hello all! gosh I have been lazy with blogging recently, but i have lots and lots of things to catch up with :) to make things easier I hope to do a few seperate posts a day or one every other day until I am well and truly back up to date!! So to start us all off I thought I'd give you something lovely to look at :) in the form of some lovely shoes I'd love to own!!

un-bear-ably cute!

2010-02-12T02:47:00.000-08:00

I finally got my laptop back this week, so can finally do my lovely favourite charts :D here's a super cute collection of bears for you to enjoy ^^

1::VintageCoquette 2::LuvlyGurumi 3::vloutextiles 4::prettyrandomobjects

for her

2010-02-08T01:19:00.000-08:00

Whoops! What a busy day I had yesterday, i totally forgot to do my daily picks! So here are some belated etsy pics for the lovely ladies in your life :)

Stiletto
KnitKnoodler
Gypsymoondesigns
thefuzzymonkey

for him

2010-02-06T02:55:00.000-08:00

Today's top picks are from etsy, showing a few nice little gift ideas for your man :D I absolutely love the silver guitar pick ^.^
UrbanAntix

Sarahandbendrix
byHannahDesign
KnittyVet

2010-02-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

Today I have been trailing through the wonders of Etsy, and have picked out my favourite creations to make your home feel a little more loved up for valentines day :)
InMyBlueRoom
Bekahjennings
Sabahnur
Maliasma
KIKIbirdCrafts
twoinspireyou

All you need is love

2010-02-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for this years valentines day! I have the whole weekend booked off which means 3 solid days of loveliness with my little ewok :3 this morning I decided to get all of my pressies and card online, and boy are there alot of cool things to chose from!
First up are some AMAZING cards from Marks and Spencers, this is where mine is from!

a jolly quick briefing

2010-02-04T05:53:00.000-08:00

Hello All! As you may have noticed I have not been around very much for about a month now! This is due to my wonderful gift of everything going wrong at the same time. As you know I lost my laptop last month due to various buggaries from viruses and an old hard drive. This was fixed and I had vista put onto my laptop, but then none of the drivers would download so it's still unusable! So right now I am on my partner's iddy biddy laptop as a temporary solution. Also I have been super poorly over the past few weeks, and have had to stay in bed for LITERALLY a whole week! it was HORRIBLE! I can finally move around abit more now and should be fit to actually leave my house next week! Until I get my laptop fixed I can't produce any images or graphics, so for now any posts I make will have to be from found images, but it's better than nothing :D So as of right now I plan to get us all in the mood for valentines day!! xxxxxx

happy mondays!

2010-01-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

A cheery bit of January fun for you all now :) The wonderful Kelly will be hosting a monthly give away, on the first monday of every month, for the rest of the year! Now doesn't that sound like a bloody good plan?? Yes it does! So get your butts over there, and check out her lovely blog :)

on hiatus

2010-01-04T08:33:00.001-08:00

Hello all! I hope you all had a wonderful new year :D and that 2010 brings lots of lovely things to you all! The bummer is that I managed to get the new year bug, and have been very ill for the last few days :( not only this, but apparently my PC has gotten very ill too! It appears to have a virus, which is preventing me from opening any of my documents, control panel etc. As far as I'm aware this is from installing an internet toolbar, the one with the 'mywebface' and 'zwinky' applications. Which I would like to warn all of you not to bother with! The cartoons are not worth losing your computers for! Most unfortunately is the fact that my dissertation is due to be finished soon, and I can't even open microsoft word! I can't even open my documents or my computer to transfer my work onto a usb so that it isn't all lost! So for about a week my pc will be dead, and getting ready to be reborn! Stay safe all, and don't download ANYTHING that is as pointless as a stupid internet toolbar!!

merry christmas!!

2009-12-24T15:31:00.001-08:00

christmas wish list part 2 - TOPSHOP

2009-12-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

After a matter of minutes of walking into topshop on monday, i found sooooo many things that I wanted to take home with me!! Unfortunately topshop isn't the cheapest of places, and i have no money left at all! So for now, these are all a distant dream...

Please please please santa, bring me some topshop goodies!!

all your dog wants for christmas is......

2009-12-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

wow, ok so i treated myself to my 'once in a blue moon' gossip magazine yesterday, and in the christmas special of 'naff and weird' gifts, i stumbled across THIS!

Yep...it's a sex toy for dogs, and the best part? it's about £360!!! but it made me laugh so much that i just had to share this with you all :) and if you want to buy one??? well first of all i'd recommend getting help, and then you can run along to www.hotdollfordog.com :D

christmas kitties

2009-12-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

we have some cute little colar covers that are on sale at work :) I just couldn't resist getting one each for my little sweeties!!

merry catmas!!

Belated bunny

2009-12-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

Thought I would FINALLY post up some pics of my final piece for the 'story about a rabbit' project, being as I told Kimberly that they were up on here and then realised they weren't! So here are 2 photo's of my crazy looking scary bunny :)

it's begining to look a lot like christmas

2009-12-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well christmas is getting ever closer, and I have now put up all of my decorations! (well ok nearly all!) This year I have managed to get my hands on some gorgeous new tree decorations :) My dear mum and dad let me root through all of their old ornaments, and left me pulling out some gorgeous gold stars, shiny red baubles and a couple of rocking horse decorations. And Matt's lovely parents have given us some amazing floral and vintage picture covered baubles :D Coupled with our old decorations and a few of my own hand made ones, I think our tree is looking rather nice this year!

You can also see the lovely garland, snowmen hooks and bell decorations on my fireplace, along with our old stag decorations and, of course, our stockings!! I also have my 2 christmas tins on our coffee table, next to 2 of my teacup candles! Unfortunately we don't have many presents under the tree yet, but there is plenty of time until christmas ;)

And finally, my absolute favourite thing ever that I brought last week at the Nottingham German market. This GORGEOUS little mushroom incence burner is the sweetest thing ever. You put an incence cone inside the house, and the smoke comes out the chimney! How sweet is that!!
I am totally loving christmas this year, although I am not as prepared as usual! But sitting here in my living room, surrounded by such pretty things makes me feel so warm and cosy inside :)

Holidays are coming!

2009-12-02T03:45:00.000-08:00

Yahoo :D christmas is just around the corner, and although it seems to have really crept up on me this year, my tree is up and I'm rearing to go! I have spent the past few days desperately trying to find time to make some christmas decorations this year! My first plan was to make a bunch of these hand felted baubles :) I love them but I have already ran out of ribbon and balls! I promised the girls at Kathleen and Lily's that I'd have some christmassy things ready to hand in to them this week, but with the panic of how much time it can take to make these felt baubles, I went for plan 2!

These sweet little decorations are made from various upcycled fabrics, and have lovely hand stitched faces and a tiny little bell on their ribbon collars! But once again I have ran out of ribbon, so for now these little guys are all I have to show for my hard work :P but not to worry! Today I shall be storming the shops to get a whole new supply, and hope to turn a bunch more of these guys out by the end of the week :D

tea cup candles - the results

2009-11-20T02:53:00.000-08:00

Today I finally got hold of my candle making bits, and with absolutly no experience in making candles at all, I jumped straight in :) Unfortunatly being the clumsy lady that I am, I managed to break the glass bottle of cherry frangrance all over the floor :( but on the plus side my kitchen smells lovely now!

I didn't buy enough wax to fill the cups as much as I would have liked, but I'm pleased with how these turned out so am now on the look out for more tea cups and saucers so that I can carry on making some more :D

Also! Yesterday was a super busy day for me, as I have FINALLY got around to finishing off my work space :) It's now all painted, and has had a big move around. I now have a bunch of new shelves, although I have a few left to put up, so once these are finished I will report back with photos!!
Not only this, but I have been finding some stunning bits from charity shops lately. The main things I have been buying have been tea cups (obviously!!) and lovely glass jars!! I found the most amazing floral glass jar yesterday, but I have plans to fill it up for christmas and will get some photos then ;)

Well I have to go away again now! I have a bunch of gift boxes to print on to present some of my bits in over christmas :D Take care all!!
xxx

Woooooww

2009-11-18T03:23:00.000-08:00

Wow! Today I stumbled across the most amazing illustrator ever! Abigail Brown creates illustrations by using either her STUNNING fabric creations, or illustrating in the same style that she creates these softies! Right now I am planning my self directed project at uni, and am hoping to create a series of 3D dolls :D

Abigail's work is such an inspiration for this, as her style is exactly my cup of tea :D and I intend to keep a close eye on her work from now on!

santa baby!

2009-11-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

Well it's nearly christmas :D and what better excuse for a little window shopping??

I have been trawling the web all year, finding sooo many things that I am totally lusting over, and now I have the perfect excuse to show everybody else!!

These oh so stunning, limited edition dorothy shoes at Harrods! I would give my right arm to own these beauties, but they are only available in London and I can't afford to go there :(!!

A gorgeous Jan Constantine Pillow! There are sooo many to choose from!!

This covers two of my christmas wishes!! I want to collect some more lovely tea cups and saucers, but would also love to own the full Cath Kidston spray flower tableware collection too!

A set of GHD hair stylers!! And a little birdy tells me that these are already in my christmas stocking ;) hehe

This ADORABLE tiny polka dot tea set. Designed for kids in a lovely little wicker hamper. I don't care if I am too old for this!!

Some lovely vintage coloured glass jars and bottles :D I already found 2 amazing bottles in a charity shop a few weeks ago, and I think I have picked up a new habit!

And finally! (for now at least :P) I would LOVE anything from Chet and Dot at etsy! I have been following them for years and still need to pick exactly what I want!! Too hard to choose from such cute pieces :P

I will naturally carry on window shopping over the next few weeks running up to christmas! And so I'm sure I'll add more to my list during that time ;) So stick around!!
xxxx

Happy potatoes!

2009-11-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

I saw this advert on TV today and it made me smile :) a tiny little set of hands that cuddle potatoes!!! and a little fairy kiss of seasoning :D xxx

Pointless scribbling

2009-11-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

I was very bored on friday and couldn't help but do some bored doodles of cats. Firstly because I am gradually becoming a cat lay :P and secondly because I do intend to create a range of cat themed toys soon! And because I am feeling thoroughly lazy today, I thought I'd share it with all of you :P Although some of the images are missing due to my silly scanner!