Out with the old, so long 2012!

Before you can read me, you got to learn how to see me 
'Free your mind' En Vogue

In an effort to start a-fresh and return to the blogosphere with some sort of focus and regular timetabling of posts I thought I'd clear out all the posts that didn't make it, the outfits that didn't appear and the bits of usefulness that didn't seem post-worthy.

What you didn't see me wearing:

Cast your mind's back to when the weather was sunny and it felt like summer for all of 5 minutes...

New Look vest, charity shop belt, Miss Selfridge skirt and Topshop sandals via ebay, Matalan necklace

Topshop Maxi and sandals via ebay, Dorothy Perkins belt, Miss Selfridge, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, H&M and New Look jewellery

Back in September I posted this on tackling the trends, with a focus on military, here is the outfit exactly as I had planned to style it:

YMCA charity shop knit, Levi's cut-offs, Mark and Spencer ankle boots via ebay and H&M necklace

I posted this about the amazing tea party my friends all threw for me on my news of my departure to London. the sophisticated antics of afternoon tea were followed swiftly by drinks and dancing, with this being my outfit of choice:

Topshop chain detail vest, River Island skirt, Office shoes all via ebay, River Island necklace and Matalan earrings

My love in with trousers continues:

Left: New Look vest and shoes, AA Disco Pants via ebay, charity shop belt, Topshop earrings
Right: AA bodysuit, Twentyeighttwelve by S.Miller jeans, Miss Selfridge Necklace and New Look earrings

A little bit of nail art:

Nail art using confetti (lots of topcoat needed to stop the corners catching on the stars! Needless to say it looked prettier than it was practical)

What I've been eating:

 My favourite sushi place at home, Woktastic

Tempura squid and the best 'peanut butter chocolate stack' ever. (Tastes just like a Snickers)

  

Baking in the new flat a slightly odd looking  (but damn tasty) Victoria sponge and a banana and walnut cake

Afternoon tea

   What I've been seeing:

Beautiful flowers from my flatmates rents for our new home

Anthropologie London

 Bizarre memo in Costa in London... actual 'LOL' moment

Although I have been living in London for a month, my foray into real London life starts tomorrow when I start my new job in Central London. I will officially feel like an adult.

KDx

What to do this weekend in Birmingham

What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine.
With what we have lets put it together and we can shine

'My favourite things' Outkast

It's Wednesday, mid-week, hump day, whatever you want to call it, all that matters is that it's almost the weekend, which is exactly what is occupying my thoughts. 

This Saturday 17th November, Birmingham will be having it's first 'Vintage Fayre and Suitcase Rummage,' and yours truly will be taking part, manning a stall and selling my wares out of a couple of old suitcases. Hosted by Sue of Reclaim To Fame (who's work is that of my best friend's aunt) in Selly Oak's Methodist Church from 11am-2pm. 

Alongside vintage sellers such as Loyal Tea Vintage, Redditch based Love Vintage and Birmingham's Forgotten Vintage, there will also be ample opportunity to snap up some unique presents in time for Christmas. (Yes it's barely November and we're already talking Christmas!) Jewellery from the likes of Spangle & Dangle, and Vintage Junkie, artwork from Amber Drew, Stephen Hewson and Jurassic Panda, homewares, photography and hand crafted artwork will all be available. You will also be able to get your hands on some contemporary Christmas decorations from Sweetheart Designs.

When it all gets a bit too much and you are in need of a little pick me up, refreshments, cake pops and sweet treats will be on sale from Sarahs SweetFeet. 

For me, this couldn't have been timed better. I am moving to London, and have long avoided a trip to the bottom of Narnia, which to everyone else is known as my (vast) wardrobe(s), as sadly, I cannot take everything with me. Having now amassed a pile of goodies, my task will be to transform what resembles the aftermath of a mass trying on session into something that is more presentable like this...

(Inspirational images from the event page)

Admission to the event is just 50p, which might otherwise get you a Mars Bar if you shop around. As I don't like Mars Bars, for me it's a no-brainer decision. More information on the event can be found here and here. I'll be taking lots of pictures, and hopefully I'll go home with some of the money I make on the day. I will not be operating a sell-one-buy-one policy... she says...

Hopefully see some all of you on Saturday!

KDx

The music went and led me astray

Friction "Led Astray"

As I'd wrote about in an earlier post here, I was taken by the idea of a Spring suit,or co-ord and here's my interpretation as worn out on Friday night when we dined at La Tasca for my good friend Laura's birthday. It turned out to be a bit of a double celebration as she only went and bagged herself a new job after unfortunately having to endure an interview on her birthday, but it was all worth it in the end! 

American Apparel black u-back body, Asos floral shorts via ebay, Oasis blazer and Topshop boots

Despite the undesirable weather conditions, I perked up my hands with a summer nail look

I brought this Rimmel Lasting Finish nail varnish in 'Hot and Spicy' for a bargainous £1.24 in Morrison's whilst on my lunch break, admittedly my main reason for painting my nails was that I had brought the colour that day; how can you fail to transport yourself to hotter climes with zingy nails like this? The colour also looks a dead ringer for Models Own 'Hedonist' that has been spotted on numerous bloggers fingers. For my ring finger I used one of my favourite Nails Inc's, 'Lanseborough Place'. I have also discovered an amazing nail art/inspiration blog that actually comes courtesy of the Guardian-so I thank them for bringing it to my attention. The blog is called 'The Nail Saurus' and is written by 21 year-old Sammy from South Wales, you can find her amazing nail creations here. After reading through post after post I have to say my once creative self isn't feeling so advanced right about now, but she has filled me with some ideas and reignited my love for diy nails, so hopefully there will be some to feature shortly!

Right, back to the food. As much as I enjoy La Tasca I felt that being a party they neglected us a little, as they were so keen to serve us our food, which seems like a bonus, we were denied the 'tapas' experience and ended up with a table of soon-to-be cold food as we just couldn't eat it quick enough. In previous visits they had brought a selection of plates out in succession, so you had chance to enjoy them, before they were cleared away and the next lot brought out, hence our decision for choosing La Tasca; you get 13 girls together and they are going to want to talk! So sadly it felt like a lot of food went to waste. The food was as good as I remembered, albeit it in huge quantities, so I can't say I'll be rushing to recommend the party menu to anyone in the near future, just stick to small groups and I'm sure you'll get a more authentic Spanish tapas experience; the La Tasca I know.

Saturday was just spent wandering around town before a girly night in with our very expectant mother-to-be. Truth be known, a little part of me hoped we might be front line for a piece of the action, but the baby's not quite ready to meet us yet, so the wait continues...

Warehouse black and white cardigan, Zara leopard pumps and Topshop taupe leather shorts via ebay, H&M sleeveless shirt and New Look necklace

I'd been after some leather shorts for an age, but the real ones were always too expensive for me to justify for what in reality is so little material, and the fake ones always seemed to air on the side of bondage, anyone for shiny fake leather?! *shudders* The search inevitably continued. As with most things I tend to buy there is no time frame, which I find is the best way to shop; so as I rarely need anything for a specific outing, I can hold out until I get things at the right price, which in this case was 99p, and £3 delivery. Can't argue with that. In my opinion they were more than worth the wait, especially as it's May and I am still able to get away with wearing them with tights and not look like I am planning to lose my body weight in sweat alone.

As with every alcohol free weekend, food comes to the fore. Being hungover doesn't allow yourself to truly enjoy nice food, so a Sunday afternoon spent baking when I would normally contend with the suppressed fat girl isn't an option, so today Momma Bear and I donned our finest aprons and baked. We opted for scones (my tea habit needs some substance so as not to completely drown my insides) We followed James Martin's recipe from the BBC Food website, the only change we made was the addition of chopped glacé cherries because I love them and sultanas are a product of the devil  quite frankly.

Trust me when I say that it was absolute torture taking a picture of my lovingly jammed scone opposed to just scoffing it down asap. A bake I recommend to all. We only managed to get 7 scones out of the '8-10' mixture though, so I would ignore that bit, as if we rolled the mixture out any thinner I think we would have had cherry biscuits.

According to those that deliver the weather, this week we are supposed to see marked improvements. I'm going to do as every British person does at the hint of sunshine and harass all those around me into having a bbq, and at the risk of looking stupid spend a day without tights (I've been gradual tanning in preparation for this day to come so as not to be taken by surprise!)

Willie Nelson has been singing it for years... Bring me sunshine god dammit!

KDx

So hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks

Alt J "Breezeblocks"

A decidedly quiet weekend due to the absolutely hectic 6-day working week, which culminated in the event that we had been meticulously planning actually taking place on the Saturday. There is nothing more depressing on a Friday than settling down in front of the television as you set your alarm for 6:45am. Now, it's not because I am not a morning person, I really am reasonably perky first thing, but knowing you have to hold back on a weekend until Saturday night to really enjoy what there is of a weekend makes me sad. Just plain sad! All the stress was worth it in the end though as the event was a huge success. For some light relief I went out for a curry with some of the boys and girls on Saturday night. I should have known as soon as I wore an outfit that involved heels I was really gearing myself for an actual night out. One drink, and one more, before you know it it's 4am. Quiet curry? I really should know myself better than this by now.

Topshop leopard print body, Warehouse burgundy jeans both via ebay, New Look patent heels and Warehouse green belt. Jewellery Miss Selfridge, charity shop, and H&M

This is exactly the sort of night where I had envisaged I would always wear a 'jeans and heels' combination, going out for something to eat when you want to look dressed up, but not like you've got sidetracked on the way to the club. It's also a time when I imagine a blazer would come in handy... I am edging closer to nailing down 'The One!'

This weekend really was all about Sunday. In my group of girl friends there is about 13 of us, give or take a couple, and another one of our friends is pregnant and Sunday was the day of her baby shower. She knew of the date, but nothing more, so it was as much a surprise to her as to us when we walked into the school hall venue to be greeted by a Mad Hatters style tea party, envy doesn't even come close to how I felt-it was beautiful, and  so damn tasty!

Vintage china tea cups and saucers, tea in a teapot and cute cakes. In this picture there is courgette cake with cream cheese frosting and sugar biscuits, my first of many cups of tea and ginger and lemongrass lemonade. I made sure I sampled as much of what was on offer as possible, the lemon meringue cupcakes and white chocolate cupcakes both came highly recommended. After gorging myself on cakes (to the point of feeling sick) I could only fit in one measly sandwich, which meant I missed out on chocolate orange cake pops, sandwiches cut into triangles, (the best way to eat sandwiches in my opinion) and chocolate cornflake cakes. The savoury and sweet treats were all made by my friend's very talented family, I think between them they have all creative bases covered, from artists to bakers! This is what I wore for what turned out for me to be a cake fest come babyshower, luckily my choice of loose fitting dress allowed for maximum cake consumption.

River Island dress and Zara leopard print pumps via ebay, charity shop belt and Dorothy Perkins belt

Next week is the beginning of the 'Birthday Week', it's basically me giving myself a hall pass to do whatever the hell I like because it's my birthday, sadly if it involves any more cake I think I might just blow. A birthday week without cake... let's see how long this lasts!

Hope some of you managed a healthier weekend than I did, needless to say my intentions on heading to the gym after returning from the pub didn't plan out. Tomorrow I will put myself through my paces, famous last words!

KDx

Where you been hiding lately, where you been hiding from the news?

Ben Howard "The Wolves"

Here's what I got up to the rest of the weekend. So as not to overload you with too much food related content in one go, you've had ample time to digest the first post (yep, pun intended), I'll continue. I have unintentionally given up alcohol for Lent, by this I mean I haven't had a drop since Lent began. My weekend was uncharacteristically quiet and devoid of any hard liquor. If I will stick to this accidental alcohol fast, only time will tell, which ultimately hangs in the balance once the weekend arrives. But the lack of alcohol has by no means meant a lack of indulgence, I have simply replaced drinking with eating, and a lot of it!


Saturday night, the bestest and I cooked a veritable feast!

To start we had herb poached egg, roasted asparagus and smocked salmon inspired by Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Great Britain", followed by Moroccan chicken, lemon and courgette couscous, loosely following this recipe and this recipe, finishing with cinnamon baked pears inspired by this recipe, but we skipped on the sugar  and ameretti in replacement of chocolate Philadelphia, as gross as that sounds it's like the best chocolate cheesecake topping ever!

The real high point of the weekend though was the glimpse of sunshine!! It might not have stayed out long, and it might not have been that warm, but there was actual sunshine! I would like to think that this may be the long awaited signal of British Spring time? Those of you that follow me on Twitter will know that I fully embraced this fact and threw caution to the wind, along with my old faithful 60 denier tights and downgraded to 40s. Yes, I made the transition, and I urge you all to join in too!

H&M black maxi, charity shop St.Michael black and gold belt, Miss Selfridge coral multi-bead necklace

Pink Converse via ebay with H&M Kids pink ankle frill socks

This is actually what I wore Sunday to enjoy the last of the sun, as it was inevitably short lived. I also wore my Oasis leather jacket with this outfit, sunny it might have been but official maxi dress weather it was not. Being an all black outfit and not wanting to look like death walking, I livened my outfit with my baby pink Cons and matching frill ankle socks and a bright necklace, it's a great way to wear a normally Summer associated maxi dress in Spring. How do you ease yourself out of your winter wardrobes?

KDx

You won't get no dessert 'till you clean off your plate

Weird Al Yankovic "Eat it"


Having to work on a Saturday is a rarity, so I was only too happy to return home to find that this had arrived in the post for me, the only thing better than a bargain is an edible freebie:

Graze box

Those of you not familiar with Graze boxes (as I wasn't, prior to the introduction from a friend at work, who is also to thank for my lovely header and logo-Thanks Stu!) they bill themselves as 'Nature Delivered'. The idea is that you can select via their website foods you would like to be delivered-normally to your place of work, but as I did, to your home address, on dedicated days of the week in a letter boxed sized 100% biodegradable, recyclable box. The foods are arranged into categories, dips and dippers, breads, crackers, flapjacks, olives, natural treats, dried fruit and nut mixes, nuts, dried fruit and seeds. Prior to selecting your foods you rate them as either bin, try, like, love or send soon. This is then saved in your preferences, and depending on how you choose your box to be compiled, you will get a mixture of the items you have rated. I was tempted to cheat a little and select all of the items I had rated as 'send soon' but in my quest for the ultimate Ibiza body ( in just over 21 weeks, or only 149 days) I didn't as this would have resulted in flapjack, bread and dips, more flapjack and chocolate...Not really my idea of 'Nature Delivered', more like supermarket bakery delivered! You can also tailor your box further by selecting the 'Graze Health Eating Plans' whereby the boxes exlude or include specific foods, for instance the 'Light Box' only contains foods between 54 and 146 calories, other plans include the 'Boost Box' and the 'Eatwell Box'. 

  

First of all the box, I was really impressed by how well considered the packaging was, the personalisation on the welcome booklet was a really nice touch, as was the little bit of graffiti I found inside the box, 'ellie woz ere,' Hi Ellie!

Inside are the four foods I received, top left, Fruity Ploughmans, bramley apple and pear chutney with a roasted poppy seed flatbreads, top right, Apple and Cinamon flapjacks, bottom left, Pina Colada, dried pineapple, mango and coconut flakes and bottom right, Natural Vanilla Seed,vanilla sunflower seeds and vanilla pumpkin seeds. I wouldn't have necessarily chosen them, but that's the element of the Graze box I liked. You can also opt in to receive an email the evening before so you know what will be getting in your delivery, I call this cheating, but I also hate not knowing, so I did get my email Friday evening :) The food was perfectly portioned and really tasty, my favourite had to come in the form of the dried pineapple in the Pina Colada, something I had never considered, the Vanilla Seeds were also delicious and would make a nice addition to natural yoghurt, I may have to seek out a recipe....

Now the cost, Because I had a 'feed your friends' code, my  first box was free.But you still 

have to enter your card details for future deliveries, but even so you have up until the night before your scheduled delivery to cancel. The Graze boxes are priced at a very reasonable £3.79 per box, which I think is a complete steal! I wouldn't have a box delivered everyday to work as was the intention behind the original idea of Graze boxes, as I think it might become a little expensive over time, but as something to look forward to once a weekend, I would seriously consider it. I can really see how this idea would work for people that are chained to their desks and can't always gauruntee they will be able to escape the confides of their office to pick up a healthy, albeit natural lunch via the lure of the fast food outlets en route. 

For all of you that are interested in trying Graze boxes out for yourself for free, visit the website here and enter the code CLQN2GH.

KDx