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

Six Things Sunday

Hello lovelies!

How have your weekends been so far? I reckon we need to have more three day weekends; they're definitely better than two day weekends. Who's with me? 

My weekend has been pretty excellent so far, and I've shared a few highlights below:

1. Wine
Wine is excellent. I might have participated in a glass before writing this post. Mmmm... wine.

2. Incredible presents (Part 1)
My friend Lucy bought me this incredible weekend bag as a belated birthday present:

image source

Little did Lucy know, I'd earmarked this bag a few weeks ago as a potential new luggage option for city breaks. I've got a serious case of wanderlust at the moment, and I'm hoping we can find time to explore a few new sites in the UK in the next month or so. 

3. Incredible presents (Part 2)
If the beautiful bag wasn't enough, Lucy also bought me a seriously amazing mug from Creature Cups. I've been lusting after the whole range for quite some time, and Lucy definitely chose the perfect one for me:

Just an ordinary mug of coffee... until the T-Rex appears out of nowhere!

4. Comedy gifts
Whilst out for a ladies' lunch, I spotted a selection of beers from this brewery, and felt compelled to buy Tom a bottle (especially as I'd been so spoilt myself with lovely presents!). 

Teehee

5. Channelling Tony Robinson
For the last few weekends I've basically been in my own version of Time Team, due to unearthing all kinds of bits and pieces whilst digging up some of the flowerbeds in our garden. Sadly, there's been no Roman pottery or pirate gold, but I did find a newt skeleton (we have live ones in our pond).

6. Crafty time
I spent most of today covered in PVA and bits of wool, making a new homage (/shamelessly plagiarised) craft project. I'm going to share the finished item later this week, but here's a sneak peak:

What have you been up to this weekend? 

Katie xxx

Three Things Tuesday

S'up homies!

Are you having a good week? Mine has been tip top so far, for the three reasons mentioned below...

1. Surprisosaur
My working day got a whole lot better after a colleague gave me a completely unexpected dinosaur-shaped present! Eeep! 

He is my new desk mascot, and I have named him Garibaldi, because he reminds me of the illustration that accompanied one of my favourite childhood poems about a dragon who lived in a biscuit tin and ate garibaldi biscuits all day. No prizes for guessing why it was one of my favourites! (Side note- one of my other favourite poems is "When We Had Icecream" by Michael Rosen. Again, unsurprisingly, pudding related). 

I decided Garibaldi needed fancying-up a bit (there's nothing quite so dapper as a well dressed dinosaur, don't you know!), and this is what I came up with: 

Fancy pants party-time dinosaur. Fancy, eh?

2. Cartoon bags a-go-go
After seeing the lovely Kezzie sporting the most amazing bag I have ever seen in the history of my eyes seeing things yesterday, I knew I simply HAD to have one. Yes; it was very much a Veruca Salt moment, but with slightly less singing. Now I just have to narrow down my favourites of these mind-bending bags and pick the one I want to buy. *Sigh* Life is hard. 

3. THE GREATEST BARGAIN IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD
I decided to pop into the Steamer Trading Outlet shop near my house on the way home (the main reason I wanted to buy this house, to be honest :p) and spent ages rummaging through all the wonky salt mills and lidless Le Creuset pans to find some pretty random crap totally essential kitchenware that I didn't know how we'd functioned without before (I'm looking at you, avocado masher). 

In the end, all I bought was a Christmas tree cookie cutter (obviously) and some saucers. But these were no ordinary saucers. They were in the "everything is 10p" section, so buying 6 mix and matched ones only cost me 60p (Mathtastic, eh? I'm like Carol Vorderman. But with a less nice bum). When I got them home, I peeled off reduced sticker after reduced sticker until I got to the original price stickers. The total RRP for those six saucers? TWENTY FOUR ENGLISH POUNDS. 

I would put a picture of the saucers here, but they are just normal white saucers. Nothing exciting. So, here's a picture of a kitten in a teacup instead.

Katie xxx

P.S. Seriously- SIXTY PEE! *pinches self*

Snoop inside my satchel (ooh-er!)

Hello lovelies! 

I'm about to share something more intimate than I ever have before... I'm going to let you have a good old (cyber) rummage through my handbag! 

I've seen posts like this before, but felt particularly inspired by this lovely lady's post earlier today- showing off her pretty things in style! And, as I just treated myself to a new bag on Sunday, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity- as it's all still nice and organised (does anyone else think the best thing about getting a new bag is spending ages putting all their things in it oh-so-neatly? No? Just me?)

So, this is my lovely new bag, that I spotted (ha!) whilst snooping around the Laines in lovely sea-sidey Brighton. 

And this is what's in it:

So, what is all this crap, I hear you cry? 

1. Tweezers
These had to be number one. I honestly don't know what I'd do without tweezers (well, apart from looking like this). This is my emergency pair for those "oh my god, where did that come from?!" moments (come on ladies, we all have them, right? RIGHT?!) when I'm out of the house. 

2. Sunglasses case
To keep my sunglasses scratch- and crumb-free

3. Purse
My lovely MIL bought me this for Christmas two years ago. She certainly knows the way to my heart is via the Cath Kidston website. 

4. Tissues
My nose is the bane of my life (as anyone who knows me will attest). It is set off by heat, cold, food, drink, breathing, moving, EVERYTHING... making me look like a snotty toddler, only without the adorable toddlerness. Although, that said, thanks to making sure I always have a pack of these in my bag I don't wipe my nose on people's shoulders- so perhaps I'm one up on snotty toddlers after all. 

5. (Skeleton) Keys
There seems to be a very skully theme going on with these. I bought the key covers when my boyfriend and I got our very own place, as they were deemed "manly" enough to share the set between us. 
The keyring was a present from my bestie, and I count it as a key-ring and rape alarm- as it makes a horrible noise and flashes red lights when you press the little button on the top. To be honest, it would probably only be effective if the rapist had severe epilepsy; but fingers crossed I'll never have to find that one out!

6. Hand Cream
In addition to the hairy/snotty thing (what a delight I am!) I suffer from a medical condition known as "Old Lady Hands", where I need to moisturise them a lot or they'll crack. I picked up loads of these lovely Crabtree & Evelyn hand-creams when they were on sale at Achica; they smell lovely and a little goes a long way. 

7. Umbrella
I'm weirdly fussy when it comes to umbrellas- they have to fold up super-small or I know I won't bother taking them with me unless it's actually raining when I leave the house, but they also have to be super-strong because the flimsy ones flip inside-out instantly and then break, and what's the point in that?!

8. Concealer
Weirdly (to some), I don't normally wear any make-up at all- I'm a very low maintenance shower-and-go kinda gal. Which is why I am cheap and bought an Aldi budget version of the famous YSL Touche Eclat concealer most girls seem to swear by. I use concealer so infrequently, spending twenty-odd squids on it doesn't appeal to me at all. However, I keep it in my bag for emergency spot situations- those times when you get a spot SO BIG you know everyone will end up talking to the spot, instead of you. 

9. Sunny-Gs
Since my granddad regaled me with horror stories of his cataract operation (you can SEE THE NEEDLE COMING TOWARDS YOUR EYE!!!) I wear the biggest sunglasses I can find. These were an emergency buy a few months ago, when I was nowhere near home and summer suddenly arrived. They were a TK Maxx bargain (£17 from an RRP of £99!) and I think they're ruddy hilarious. 

10. My phone
It's not the best in the world, because I signed up on a whim and thought it was pretty. My technologically-minded boyfriend gave me a Disappointed Head Shake when I came home with this. "What does it do?" "I don't know - but look how shiny and white it is!"

11. Kindle
A present from my lovely other half, and I love it A LOT. I was originally really sceptical of Kindles and thought they were demon spawn trying to replace lovely books. But, thankfully, I've made room for both in my life- and I walk with less of a hunchback now my handbag isn't crammed with huge trashy novels. 

12. Headphones
These are good for hearing things. Obviously, I had to get white ones to go with my mp3 player. 

13. Nivea moisturiser
This is hands-down the best facial moisturiser I've found for my skin- and it's cheap as chips; hurrah! I tend to buy the biggest bargain bucket-load of it that I can find, then decant a bit into this tiny travel tub to carry round with me during the day. 

14. Hairbands
Now my hair is long again, I need to carry round the paraphernalia to keep it under control. Having my only hair-band snap on a hot day is my idea of a grouch-inducing nightmare, so I always make sure my bag is well stocked. It's also nice to be able to offer them to other girls if they're in need- bonds us like sisters, innit. 

15. Hair clips
My hair is too heavy for regular hair grips to ever have a chance, so I've got to use these industrial strength crocodile-clip ones instead. 

16. A pen
Whilst I don't usually carry anything to write on, you never know when you might need an Emergency Pen. Spontaneous pub quiz? You're sorted. Want to give someone your number and they don't have a phone? You can scrawl it on their arm/hand/face. Thanks to all of the events I organise for work, I get my pens free from. This one has a handy twist-top. Well done, Sofitel. 

17. MP3 player
I'm beginning to think I may be a technology racist... everything I own is white. I love this little thing- it's teeny tiny but stores loads of songs, and the simplicity pleases me- the buttons are hidden under the frame around the edge of the screen.

18. Vaseline
Not something I use a lot, but when my lips are dry nothing else will do. I'm just not a colourful-lip-gloss/strawberry-lip-balm kind of girl. 

19. Mirror
This was originally the top of a powder compact from the Body Shop; I think it's probably time I invested in a new one that hasn't got broken bits of plastic on it. Very handy to have though, and a quick-and-easy way to reassure myself my teeth are spinach-free. Also good for sending signals from lighthouses whenever I'm following a band of Smugglers in an Enid Blyton story...

20. Suncream
If I haven't mentioned before how pasty I am, I will do so now. I am pasty. My skin goes from milky-white to strawberry-red in a matter of nanoseconds, so I try to slap on the Factor 50 pretty much any time I leave the house. 

So, there you have it, a good old snoop at my stuff. Have you done a post like this? Please do send me a link if you have! What essentials do you keep in your handbag?

P.s. I had far too much fun laying everything out like this; thankfully managed to not get too OCD about it and bring out a ruler or anything. But if you love neatly organised things too, I cannot recommend this blog enough