80% Full Of Wine (And Some Fireworks)

HAPPY MONDAY. This needs capitals so you shout it in your head, and then therefore believe that it is in fact a happy Monday. :)

After a lot of brain work, I concluded that at the peak of this weekend I was approximately 80% full of wine. It all stared on Friday with a work lunch at Homeslice, with the biggest pizzas and even bigger bottles of wine. Nobody decided do tell me that they measure how much you've drunk, and charge you by the ruler, as was. Therefore I thought it was rude to be bought wine and not attempt to finish the bottle. Nightmare.

Wine-gate continued on Friday night, where we went back to Steve's house and had a meal out with his parents. I LOVE visiting their house, not least for the fact that they have two of the most incredibly brilliant dogs I have ever known...Basil and Hector. They're two unbelievably fluffy and daft labradoodles who are just far too brilliant. 

Steve's mum has been doing some decorating, and bought this beautiful chair from eBay which can be customised with the fabric of your choice. Straight on the wishlist.

Saturday night was a house warming/fireworks party. Being a massive nana, I had half body outside the house, half body inside the house, to enable a swift leap to safety in the probable event of a wayward firework. With a small wine in hand to calm my nerves, naturally. Apart from on over-excitable catherine wheel it was alllll fine.

Sunday afternoon included lovely little wander from central London to South Kensington via the incredible lights of Harrods. It's kinda hard to miss them. It's officially Christmas!

If you've got a cuppa on the go, take 2 minutes and check out Them on YouTube... it's a brand new channel bringing you all the goss from Youtube's finest (and I also may or not present it!) It would be lovely if you had a watch though. Thank you love you and bye!

x

Oop North

This weekend I made the lovely pilgrimage back up north to my home town. I don't think you ever quite appreciate home until you move away. In a nutshell, the weekend was mainly made up of food and a minor ginger-based disaster, but it was flipping lovely, as ever.

It all kicked off with this. There is nothing quite like Northern chip shop gravy.

Mumma and Dadda Shaw have invested in a Tassimo coffee maker, which makes the prettiest layered coffees. You're meant to mix it, but that just spoils the pretty. It was munched with a cranberry and orange cupcake, and then followed by a salted caramel cupcake. Amazing. I'm going to try and nab the recipe and post it on here...

Everytime I go home I see myself turning into my Mum a little bit more. This weekend was definitely no exception...

About 15 minutes from where I live is Thaymars - the place for the best ice cream. You may have heard of them... keep your eyes peeled for their ice creamy goodness as they sell it quite largely now. From the days of a tiny tea room at the back of their house, they've transformed into this. This weekend was the turn of banana and toffee. Beauuutiful. 

Mumma Shaw makes a mean yorkshire pud. Apparently  it's all down to the not-so-secret ingredient of sparkling water...

And now to the minor disaster. During a trip to Meadowhall (think Sheffield's version of Westfield/Trafford Centre) I had the marvellous idea of going auburn! Oh Hey Tone inspired this, and I went for Feria shade 74 in Mango. This was the result...

I'm still not quite over it, and neither is my hair. Mumma Shaw with all her wisdom suggested I wear a hat the following day.

x

Make a House a Home

Or flat, in our case. We moved into our North London flat in January, and as a result of being newly graduates, paying London rent prices and moving into an unfurnished flat, it has taken a while to get it sorted. For the first month we were sleeping on a mattress on the floor and eating off paper plates, but I kinda liked that.

Nothing we have got costs the earth, and nothing really matches. But I kinda like that too.

The latest decor addition has been this AMAZING map which our friend and graphic designer made for us. My geography skills are frankly disgusting, and I've wanted a world map for a while but hadn't seen one I liked. I got the idea for this off Etsy and then Ryan just biggered and bettered it x10000, and petsonalised it with places we've both lived and been. Pretty good ehhhh?! Get in touch with him through Twitter if you want any more info: @RyanJLissamore.