Five Things Friday

Hello lovelies!

How's your week been? My holiday's been absolute bliss so far - the perfect balance of socialising, lie-ins, creativity, reading, and Nutella - and I've still got three whole days of adventure to go!

Since waking up at TWO AYE EM this morning, I've decided to make the most of being conscious at Stupid O'clock and share a few things that've made my week extra special before heading off to The Big Smoke. I've also done a lot of eBay trawling for "pretty power tools"... Seriously- why hasn't anyone designed a polkadot hammer drill yet?! HUGE market gap there....

1. Glowasaurus 
Like the majority of people who grew up in the early nineties, my childhood bedroom ceiling was enhanced with an entirely fictitious constellation of glow in the dark stars. I'd already decided that I'll be painting the inside of my new wardrobe dark blue, and adding some kind of celestial decorations. Then I found these:

My expectations have been officially surpassed. Bravo, whoever invented these. Bravo. Also - they were also only 75p for 24! Which I'm sure you'll all agree, is totally amazeballs. 

2. Dress Code: Astro-tastic 
The space-tacular background in the photo above is the pillowcase from a duvet set my (now most favourite) friend spotted in a charity shop last weekend and practically ran to show me (her loveliness really does know no bounds). In a matter of milliseconds I went from devastated (it was only a single duvet; far too small for my bed) to ecstatic, when I realised duvet covers are basically just huge pieces of fabric - and this one was in the most epic print I've ever seen. For THREE ENGLISH POUNDS. 

Cue my first ever attempt at sewing a dress from scratch, sans-pattern. I'm pretty bloody pleased with it, even if I do say so myself. And I've even worn it outside already without it falling apart and exposing my wobbly bits too - hurrah! 

I even added pockets which, as every girl knows, are the ultimate silver lining of all good dresses. Ironically, I didn't add a lining.

Apologies - I've just realised it looks a bit like I'm flashing you my dress's lady-parts. Or perhaps my mind just gets extra filthy when it's tired. Anyway... There's still enough fabric left over to make at least 3 cushions too; which means I'll be camouflaged on my future sofa, like the World's Comfiest Ninja.

2. On Point Homewares
Earlier this week I actually WOOPED when I discovered that Primark's latest homeware collection is essentially "Hipster Chic". I've been lusting after a light-up arrow for years, but every one I've found until now has cost £60+. This one was a tenner. And I got to use it to show off my New Hair.

Despite evidence to the contrary, I swear my right eye has an iris too. It's quite similar to the other one.

The best part of this photo was that a random woman saw me taking it, despite the fact I'd basically buried myself in a hedge. I felt no shame*. 

3. Assault coursing
I spent Wednesday afternoon at a Kids' Fun Day in Brighton. With a friend and her 5 year old, I hasten to add. Not on my own like some kind of Duplo-loving weirdo... Said small child absolutely thrashed me at the assault course (that kid is a beanbag throwing CHAMPION) but I was still given a bracelet thingy as a consolation prize. 

I actually snort-laughed when I put this on. I'm surprised my wrist didn't go into shock for being touched by something sports-related. 

4. Finding interiors inspiration
In two brilliant books I browsed through in Waterstones. 

And an even more fantastic throw-back I found in a charity shop, entitled "Kevin McCloud's Decorating Book". Just check out the intro page!! *swoon*

5. Getting crafty
I've had multiple opportunities to get creative this week, which has felt like food for my soul (only marginally less pretentious, as it was all done in crayons). I've also eaten a lot of awesome food; but that's for my thighs, not my soul. 

One project has to stay super-secret for now, because it's related to this weekend's plans, but I can share this Lego card I made for a friend's little brother. Because making Lego cards is what all the cool kids are doing with their Friday nights nowadays, don'tchaknow...

Right - I'm off to the Zoo. I have a sneaking suspicion I may fall asleep in front of the monkey enclosure... 

Katie xxx

*OK, I felt medium shame.

Fish Facts and Italian Figs

Hello lovelies! 

Oops. It's been a while again, hasn't it? If it helps, I've learned a helluva lot in these past few weeks, and I'm going to share some of it with you now; so settle yo' pretty self down to learn some wisdoms... 

Discovery number 1 was that, apparently, my non-competitive approach to most boardgames (I'm one of those annoying people who genuinely thinks it's the "just taking part" that counts) does NOT apply to Jungle Speed. Essentially, Jungle Speed is a more hardcore, multi-player version of Snap. There might have been an accidental hand-gouging incident and/or a moment when I nearly wrestled a fellow Jungle Speed-er onto the pub floor whilst grappling over the Jungle Speed stick (which looks rather disconcertingly like something you'd find in Anne Summers). It was possibly not my classiest hour, but I like to think the fact that the game is French (the root of all class) gave me a marginal touch of sophistication. Ahem.

[image source]

Secondly, I discovered that (apparently!) some fish like PARSNIPS; something I heard on a recent behind-the-scenes tour of Brighton Sealife Centre, along with a myriad of other aquatic facts. Other gems included the fact that octopuseseses can squeeze their entire body through a hole the size of their beak. Yes - beak. Admittedly, I already knew the beak part, but the idea of a motorbike-sized octopod wriggling through a hole the diameter of a Smarties tube seems rather creepily surreal. 

Say whaaaat?!

I have no idea why I chose those two metaphors, by the way; clearly I have subliminal, repressed urges to join a biker gang with it's own tuck shop. Ok, they're not that repressed. 

Thirdly, thanks to this summer's genius Lego/Sealife Centre collaboration, I can confirm I (somewhat shamefully) adore Girl Lego. I want to stress very strongly here that I am NOT OK with "made for girls" Lego; the idea of girls only being able to Lego Up when it comes in a Barbie-approved colour pallet is equal parts offensive, outdated and ridiculous. But I have to admit, the pink and purple bricks did make constructing a Lego jellyfish much easier; an opinion endorsed by my male Lego playmates. Ha.

I didn't photograph my jellyfish, so here's another fun fact

Number four is a different kind of discovery, and I would be very grateful if you could please all cross, double-cross and triple-cross your fingers (like Heston's triple-cooked chips, but less crispy) for me, because I think I've finally found somewhere to live that is not my parents' futon. I am incredibly grateful to them for the on-going use of said futon, but that hasn't stopped me planning my return to mattress-based solo living (which sounds much filthier than I intended). I intend to stay in bed for AT LEAST two weeks solid. You might need to post me snacks. 

The hot chocolate I bought to celebrate finding a flat.

And the ADORABLE cream tea I had for breakfast the next day. WHAT? I was still celebrating!!

Finally, given the current state of my futon-dwelling back, my general love for all things nice-smelling, and the fact that The Body Shop's coconut perfume is my "Signature Scent", I was excited x 3,000 when I received an invite to The Body Shop's summer range launch at Brighton Marina(!) Although, come to think of it, aside from anosmics, I guess everyone loves nice-smelling things?! Please do let me know if you're the kind of person who would reject a Hot Cross Bun scented candle in favour of Eau Du Unwashed Rugby Socks. 

Baskets of chips = the perfect seaside snack

Apologies; I digress. Post RSVP'ing (accompanying by girlish shrieking), I took Skye on a mini road trip along the seafront (complete with Taylor Swift car-eoke, of course!) to meet the team and hear all about turning my bathroom into a SPATHROOM. GENIUS. The Body Shop girls gave us a whistle-stop tour of the scrummy new products and some of the classics (the Body Shop's equivalent of a little black dress and a Breton top) in their newly branded Beauty Gems range (basically the in-store equivalent of a hot tip from your best friend).

I swear to God, this moisturiser is the best thing I have ever smelled. I wanted to spread it on toast.

We were then treated to a skin consultation session, during which Skye was told that her self-selected skincare products are perfect for her skin, and I apologised profusely for my skincare "routine" of scrubbing my face in the shower and the fact that my chin was covered in flaky pastry after I'd inelegantly devouring this whilst the consultant was talking to Skye: 

After physically forcing myself to put the Kukui moisturiser down, I spritzed on a squirt of their new Indian Jasmine perfume, which was delicious. I then subsequently discovered that I preferred the even more delicious Italian Summer Fig one, and found myself suffering from Spritzer's Remorse (aka a Serious First World Problem). Thankfully, the Body Shop saved the day like a perfectly-exfoliated, animal-cruelty free superhero by putting bottles of the Fig perfume in the goody bags! 

In summary- puns, chips, bubbles and smelly things?! What is NOT to love? OOH - and tiny pots of Eton Mess (I can't believe I almost forgot those!) 

Have you discovered any fun fish facts recently? 

Wishing you all a magical weekend full of adventures; like a grown-up version of an Enid Blyton novel- sponsored by red wine and brunch.

Katie xxx

Six Things Sunday

Hello my lovelies!

How have your weekends been? Mine's involved cocktails, fancy dress, fresh-from-the-oven French pastries, and five hours(!) of gardening (to counteract the pastries). It's been the icing on the cake of a really good week, which also included these six fantastic things:

1. New followers
*Waves and proffers packet of biscuits* Heartfelt greetings to those of you who've recently started following my ramblings! I feel honoured that you've decided to stick around, but I must warn you to prepare your eyes for lots of photographs like this:

All images from Kimberly Hamner's Pinterest board. I feel like Kimberly and I would get on rather well... Unless we actually met Jo Manganiello. Then we'd probably fight to the death.

2. Unexpected presents
I would like to think that I always treated my polkadot satchel with the utmost dignity and respect, but apparently that wasn't enough; the strap broke last week and managed to whip me across the face in the process. Needless to say, I was very relieved that the buckle wasn't still attached to the end of it! 

Being able to use my gorgeous new weekend bag as a replacement handbag has prevented me from becoming inconsolable about the breakage, but it's still a rather sad day when your accessories start assaulting you! After I shared my woes with Anna, as a fellow polkadot satchel owner, she very sweetly decided to send me a present to cheer me up! I was so excited to find out what she'd sent me, which turned out to be this gorgeous clasp purse:

The best thing about this purse (besides being absolutely beautiful) is that it has two compartments; so I can separate the ID for my second, secret identity my cards and cash. Genius! Thank you so much Anna xxx

3. Mini Godzilla
My personal highlight of the Lego Movie was discovering the existence of LEGO GODZILLA!!! Technically, he's Lego Lizard Man; but it's basically the same thing. I might have tracked down and bought a figure online before the movie had even finished... 

Lego Godzilla now lives inside the glass dome with my metal tealight house - I like the juxtaposition of tiny Godzilla and giant building. 

4. Fancy chairs
Whilst visiting Eastbourne for work on Thursday, I spotted this rather unusual chair in the window of Barley Sugar: 

It's rather pricey, at three thousand English pounds(!), and I'm not sure how comfortable it would be with those tassels, but I reckon sitting in it equates with starring in the final scene of An Officer and a Gentleman. And it would probably cost a lot more than £3,000 to hire Richard Gere to carry you around your living room....

5. Marzipan moggies
Friday night was my bestie's birthday party, and I decided to sculpt miniature models of her cats out of marzipan to go on her birthday cake. This is the second time I've made Fran marzipan sweets, but I'll admit I was unsure how she'd feel about devouring her cats - even if they were almondy and delicious.

6. Treasure hunts
Rather than just handing over Fran's birthday presents, I decided to create a treasure hunt, complete with rhyming clues (I do love a bit of rhyme). I've included one below in case you fancy leaving a comment with a guess of what the gift was/where I hid it:

I'm squirrelled away with my brothers and sisters

We take you on journeys, without fear of blisters

Some of us wear jackets, but we don't have faces

I'll inspire you to travel to faraway places.

I'm linking up again with the fabulous Hannah's The Week That Was: Captured, and would heartily recommend it; Hannah is a very gracious hostess!

What fun things have you discovered recently?

Katie xxx

HOLD THE PHONE

I had a whole other post planned for this evening, but then I discovered that LEGO MAKES DINOSAURS!! All other thoughts were immediately obliterated. 

I want to be reincarnated as one of these. Probably the velociraptor. 

Which one is your favourite*? 

Katie xxx

* It's ok to say all of them.

All images from Lego Dinosaur website.

A new age bracket

Hey y'all*!

*Turns face back and forth* Can you see any extra wrinkles? 

As of Thursday, I'm now the grand ol' age of 26 - moving into a whole new age bracket on multiple-choice forms, and no longer scraping into the Young Person category for National Trust membership (which costs less than half the price of an adult one). Boo.

On the plus side, I managed to stretch my birthday celebrations out over three days; which I reckon is pretty good going. I also only worked on Tuesday and Wednesday - something I could very easily get used to! 

Birthday cards and a pretty new book

I spent Thursday morning chilling out at home with Marmite on toast and Sarah Moore's Vintage Home (a present from Tom, which I asked for after reading the lovely Anna's review), followed by an afternoon of shopping hardcore cardio/weightlifting due to buying the bits for my parcel for Lauren's Easter Gift Swap. I somehow managed to spend an hour and a half in Brighton Homesense. The evening involved a pre-theatre dinner in Wagamamas, and being treated to a White Russian and front-row seats for the hilarious David Sedaris by a girlfriend (thanks again, Holly!). 

It also involved a lot of my new favourite tea.
This stuff is SERIOUSLY delicious. Seriously.

Tom and I spent Friday exploring Groombridge Place, which was so amazing I've decided it's worthy of a post of all of its own - so you'll have to keep your eyes peeled later in the week. It involved giant swings**, drunken gardens, and raptors. You know it's going to be good.

Yesterday Tom and I hosted my birthday party, which meant a morning of cleaning the house, making salads, and lining up cakes, before an afternoon of eating too much BBQ food, copious laughter with some of my all time favourite people, and plenty of rum. 

Believe it or not, five kinds of cake is pretty restrained for one of my parties...

Oh, and presents! Amongst other treats, I'm now the proud owner of this INCREDIBLE alarm clock:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
[image source]

Today has involved tea with my parents, leftover BBQ food, and scoffing miniature scones whilst catching up on some good TV. Tomorrow will centre around counting down the minutes until Made in Chelsea Season 7 starts. Eep!

What did you get up to this week? 

Katie xxx 

P.S. I'm linking this post up with the fabulous Hannah's The Week That Was: Captured (TWTWC).

* Sorry, I've been watching too much Nashville. 

** Honestly- those swings have ruined regular-sized swings for me, forever. It was totally worth it. 

Cheap and cheerful DIY accessories

Since spending all my money on my own weight in chocolate buttons, I've forced myself to be much thriftier with my craft projects. I've used old maps my Mum got for free to give our guest room a makeover, and updated an old cushion with fabric pens and scraps. 

Last week I ended up wearing an entirely black outfit to work, which I decided was missing something just before I left the house. As I'm totally down with the kids and trendy and whatnot, I decided it needed some neon jewellery. 

Unfortunately, my jewellery box yielded nothing in neon (unsurprisingly, really, as all my jewellery is made of Lego figures), so I decided to raid my ribbon stash* and find an alternative option. I ended up stitching together two strands of bright pink cord, which had previously been the handles of a cardboard shopping bag(!), with a clashing neon thread.

Post clear-out, our house is looking much tidier; but I felt like it needed a few more personal touches (made on the cheap, obviously). After witnessing the incredible things Thomas Poulsom can do with Lego, I decided to try my own Lego project. Sadly, it wasn't a grandfather clock - but I'm certainly going to build up to that once I've sourced 7,000 additional bricks. This is what I came up with instead:

Each piece is about 20cm and 6cm deep.
I would've made them bigger, but I ran out of bricks.

The letters are now in pride of place on our living room fireplace, and I'm grateful to know that if anyone knocks them off they'll be much easier to put back together than our other ornaments. 

What do you think? 

Katie xxx

* Which is actually kept in my bargainous button box- to confuse any thieves looking for my button collection. Mwhahaha.

The bird is the word

Also, LEGO. LEGO is also the word. Put them together and what've you got?

No, not Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo. Better. That's right- better than Disney. What you get is Thomas Poulsom's incredible collection of LEGO birds. How utterly fantastic are these?!

Bradley the Blue Jay

Marky the Macaw

Monty the Mountain Bluebird

Bobby Robin

I particularly love the fact that most of Thomas's creations have such adorably alliterative names. You can see more of his incredible work on his Flickr page.

AND you can also vote for his birds to become real life LEGO kits(!) here on the LEGO website. Because, let's be honest- who wouldn't want a LEGO parrot kit for summer time or a LEGO robin at Christmas? NO ONE. That's who.

Katie xxx

P.S. Technically not a bird, but how sweet is Roger the Badger?!

Please note, all photos are copywrite and have been very kindly loaned to me by Thomas (thanks Thomas!). 

Advent Treasure Hunt - Week 1

One week into December, Tom has managed to solve seven devious Advent Calendar Treasure Hunt clues- like a beardy Miss Marple. The first week's worth of presents were all quite similar, as I didn't want the coffee beans going stale and I thought it would be cruel to make Tom wait longer than a few days to find all three parts of the Lego kit.

I've included the clues below so you call all take part in guessing where I hid them too (some of my clues are a lot easier than others; one of my future clues just says "Larder"...). Gold stars all round for any correct guesses :)

Day 1

Clue - "Present 1 is a pick-me-up to help you battle the daily grind; I've hidden it with the gadget you use to smash up others of it's kind"

Present - "Sumatra Blue Batak" coffee beans from the Whole Foods Market on Kensington High Street. 

I picked up several types of beans on my recent jaunt to London, and I was worried Tom would suss out I'd bought them as soon as I brought them home because even with them sealed in an old Quality Street tin there was the most deliciously overpowering smell of coffee.

Day 2

Clue - "In one of the places we store our clothes, you'll find something to make your chest hair grow(s)" - might've taken a few liberties with rhyming for this one.

Present - Ass Kickin' Roasted Garlic Hot Sauce from Tom's all-time favourite website Scorchio. 

Day 3

Clue - "Present number three is part of a (bis)kit; I can't give you the instructions yet because it will ruin it!"

Present - The motorbike kit part of this super-awesome Wolverine Lego Kit. (Which has gone on sale since I bought it... Dammit!) Anyway- it looks freakin' awesome, and the helicopter is meant to fire missiles or something....

Day 4

Clue - "Wake up and smell the... "

Present - "French Roast" coffee beans, again from Whole Foods Market. Can't remember the description; perhaps it tastes like sunburnt French people?

Day 5

Clue - "The second part of the mystery kit, Present 5 is hidden in the best kind of basket"

Present - The second part of the Wolverine Lego Kit.

Adorable Lego figure, and perfect excuse for gratuitous pic of Hugh Jackman....

Day 6

Clue - "Present 6 is on the same thread as Present 4" 

Present - The final bag of coffee beans - this time "Organic Bolivian"; with hints of spice and caramel (apparently)

Day 7

Clue - "Present 7 is the final part of the mystery kit; you'll find it and the instructions where the boys often sit"

Present - The final bag of bits for the Wolverine Helicopter. Tom spent yesterday afternoon making up the kit and he seems really happy with it :) Although I've warned him if I end up getting a helicopter missile in the eye, I will be confiscating it. Haha

Katie xxx