Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing festive period. You can check out the highlights of my break in the video above. I've been making these Christmas video for 6 years and I love looking back at the old ones.

I thought I would take this opportunity to take a brief look back at 2018 and share some things that maybe weren't mentioned on the blog.

Andrew and I ended up taking quite a few trips this year starting with Holland in February (I highly recommend the pancake boat in Rotterdam!). We also went to the South Downs and the Peak District, where we stayed in some great Air BnBs. Then we ended the summer with a holiday to Austria, visiting Vienna and Salzburg.

August marked us being in our house for a whole year and earlier in the year we got our bathroom re-done. It involved a week of showering at our parents' houses and using a bucket to flush the toilet but it was worth it!

We got engaged this year!

There's no big proposal story here. We just started looking at venues and went from there.

This year has been fantastic for my little craft business. I set up an Instagram account for my felt dogs (and other animals!) which has really helped it grow. Check out @lisasfeltfriends to follow along.

I made at least 55 custom felt animals this year, plus all the standard felt animals I sold in my Etsy shop.

How was your 2018?

A Chocolate Day in York

At the start of the week my boyfriend and I went to York for a couple of days to start off our school holiday. Andrew has quite a big sweet tooth so as an early birthday present I booked us on to a tour at York's Chocolate story, and a chocolate workshop at York's Cocoa House.

First up was the Chocolate Story tour. It was very informative and each section came with a taster which was a bonus, though next time I'll give the cold chocolate water (similar to what the Aztecs drank) a miss. The tour ended with a chance to make our own chocolate lollies which were cooled and bagged up ready for us after a demonstration by their chocolatier on how to make filled chocolates.

In the afternoon we headed to the Cocoa House for our 'design and make your own chocolate bar' workshop. We were given different kinds of a chocolate buttons to try to decide which chocolate we wanted to use for our bar. 95% cocoa chocolate? No thank you. We went for the 55% dark chocolate instead.

Our bar was made of 300g of chocolate buttons which we melted using a hair dryer. There was a choice of flavourings to add to the melted chocolate and we chose mint. We poured the melted chocolate into plastic take-away containerss and added Smarties and sprinkles for decoration.
When we came back the next day to pick up our chocolate bar they'd wrapped it up nicely in cellophane tied with ribbons!

It was a really fun day but after such a chocolate filled time we were ready for a very savoury dinner with lots of vegetables!

This Week I...

 ...got my hair cut!
Since my last hair cut was three years ago this was kind of a big deal. During those 3 years I finally moved out of my parents house which meant I had to find somewhere to get my hair cut in my new town. I did thorough research and was happy with the place I decided on. A small, independent salon whose owner came with great reviews. She did a great job and discussed with me at the start which style would work best, although, word to all hairdressers; don't carry on the conversation whilst you're using the hair dryer. That can just be our quiet time, ok?

Like my last few hair cuts I will again be donating my hair to the Little Princess Trust. When I get around to posting it that is, for now it's just in a plastic bag on my kitchen table, creeping out my boyfriend.

This Week I...

 ...took the Year 11s on an art trip to London to visit the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern. It was my first chance to check out the new bit of the Tate Modern which includes a viewing platform on the 10th floor which gives you a pretty good view of the city.

It was back to London on Saturday to start half term fun times with my boyfriend. First stop; the Natural History Museum. Have you guys seen all the variations of elephants there used to be? Tusks in all kinds of places!

In the evening we met up with my sister to go to Nashville Nights. It was Andrew's first time and he fit in very well in his plaid shirt.

What did you get up to this week?

This Week I...

...finally met up with my friends for the first time since Lizzi's wedding. We went to Cafe Rouge for a breakfast that lasted 3 hours. Bacon and pancakes!

As we hadn't seen each other since before Christmas we used this opportunity to exchange our Secret Santa presents. This resulted in the table being covered with glitter. You're welcome Cafe Rouge.

 

My other slightly Christmas related activity this week was making cookies with my boyfriend using the leftover frozen dough from when we made Christmas cookies back in December. Using just four coloured icing pens limited our decoration options, but they don't have to look pretty to be delicious.

How was your week?

My Christmas Video

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. I had a great time seeing lots of family and friends. The only thing I asked for was some digital kitchen scales which shows how much of an adult I've become.

Here's my video of all the Christmastivities I got up to including; ice skating, my friend's winter wedding, a few trips to look at Christmas decorations, family gatherings and Christmas Day itself. Enjoy!

This Week I...

 ...was a bridesmaid for my best friend Lizzi! It was so lovely to spend the morning with the girls having our hair and make up done. We all looked so pretty!

Lizzi and Lewis did a great job with their decorations for a winter wedding. How cute are the light up Mr & Mrs? And that cake was delicious. Chocolate, carrot, and red velvet!

My boyfriend scrubbed up pretty well and impressed everyone with his moves on the dancefloor. Seriously, I think he's got himself a fan club.

How was your week?

This Week I...

...went to my friend Lizzi's Hen Do in Edinburgh!

It was a pretty packed weekend with lots of fun activities.

First up was a cocktail making masterclass at Revolution. The class is made for hen parties and was really fun. Our barman James even made sure to include non-drinker me and Lizzi's pregnant sister. Non-alcoholic strawberry woo-woo = yum! 

On Sunday, after a night of karaoke, we had a much needed spa day. I had my first proper massage which I found to be part relaxing, part torture. 

After the spa we headed to a hotel for afternoon tea. The food was amazing and there was so much of it! This photo only shows half of what we had. Little smoked salmon bagels, warm scones, sticky toffee cake. And it wasn't miniature portions like regular afternoon teas.

This Week I...

...had a weekend in London to celebrate the fact that Lizzi is getting married in less than 90 days!!

We stayed at the Grange Strathmore hotel, in a room for all four of us, and immediately put on the bath robes upon arrival #luxury.

In the evening we surprised Lizzi by taking her to see Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Pixie Lott.

The next day, after a glorious breakfast buffet, we decided to do a spot of shopping, heading first for Harrods. Their Christmas World is a magical place and I want to live in it.

How was your week?

This Summer I...

After a week in Seattle my boyfriend and I caught the Amtrak down to Portland. The four hour journey didn't seem too long and it was considerably cheaper than flying, plus we had some great views out of the window.

One of our favourite things we did during our stay was go on the Multnomah Falls and Columbia River Gorge Tour. The 5-stop tour lasted half a day and included three waterfalls and the Bonneville Dam and fishery. It was great to get out of the city and see some of the North-West's great scenery.

We also visited the Oregon Zoo in Washington Park. We found out beforehand that if you go on a Tuesday entry is only $4, so we did just that.

We used Washington Park's free shuttle bus to also vist the Japanese Garden and the Rose Garden.

We couldn't go to Portland without trying a Voodoo Donut. So good! And not as sweet as I was expecting considering America's love of super sweet frosting.

Another cool thing we found out about before we went was every second Thursday of the month Ground Kontrol Arcade holds a special evening where you pay $5 to get in and then all the games are free play. It was awesome. We played Pacman, Tetris, Street Fighter, pinball, some weird paper boy game where the controller is bike handle bars. $5 well spent!

Have you ever been to Portland or Seattle? Is there anything else we should have done? 

This Summer I...

I've been rather quiet online over the summer because I've been really busy offline. But now summer is over and I'm ready to tell you all about it.

At the start of August I went to Seattle! My boyfriend's best friend was getting married there so we flew over for the wedding, and did lots of touristy things at the same time.

The wedding was lovely; the venue was really pretty, it was catered by Chipotle, and it gave me a chance to show off all my best dance moves.

We used Air BnB and stayed in an apartment which was about a 10 minutes walk from Green Lake, which was near the wedding venue.

We saw fish being thrown at Pike Place, went on the monorail, went to the Science Center, had a barbeque in the woods near the lake, saw the first Starbucks, watched a Say Yes to the Dress Marathon on the morning of the wedding...

And we went to see a baseball game which, between you and me, was pretty boring. But at least there were chicken fingers!

Stay tuned to find out where I went next!

This Week I...

...celebrated my birthday!

I had the day off on Friday so my parents took me to Hunstanton beach. The sea was surprisingly not cold so we had a paddle.

We did classic British beach things like 2p machines and crazy golf.

On my actual birthday I made cakes and watched a lot of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with my boyfriend because that's what 26 year olds do.

How was your week?

This Week I...

...went to Aberdeen!

My cousin Miriam will be graduating from Aberdeen University in a few weeks so my friend Daisy and I took the opportunity to go and visit her before she leaves.

Miriam took us around the university campus, including it's own botanical gardens. We were very lucky with the weather as it was warm and sunny most of the days we were there. 

We also ventured out of the city and went to visit three castles in two days. This one in Stonehaven had a lovely walk/trek up to it.

How was your week? 

Birthday Drawing

My boyfriend's birthday was last month and I had no idea what to get him. Shopping for boys is hard!

So I whipped up some art. To him it says super thoughtful, but for me it's the easy option.

I picked a photo from a recent selfie session and cropped it to make it a bit more artsy, then I just drew it out using sketching pencils.

I bought a frame to put the drawing in - so it wasn't a complete cheapo present - and it fits in really well with the rest of his room.

And guys, that globe is also a lamp. Whaaaaa!

Ladies, what presents do you get for your guys? Cos I've got no clue for the next time I have to buy him a gift.

This Week I...

...met up with the girls for Robyn's birthday at Just Desserts. Raisin waffle with cinnamon and maple syrup anyone?

On Friday night I went to the second Nashville Night in London. It was a great night yet again. We saw the guys we met last time and hung out with new people; it's one big country party!

My sister requested Red Solo Cup and everyone was super excited when it came on.

How was your week?

This Week I...

...went to Dinosaur Adventure Golf!

It's basically an 18 hole crazy golf course that has great big model dinosaurs all around making noise.

Surprisingly I won the game, beating my boyfriend by 2 points. I was so confident that I wouldn't win I suggested before we started that the winner buys dinner.

Also this week I finally got the craft corner in my new flat sorted! I'm very fortunate that the living room has space for the tray unit that my Mum's school were getting rid of, which will double up as a work top. It's been in my parent's garage for months waiting for me to move out.

I also put up the pink and purple shelving unit when I realised the trays wouldn't be enough. I have so much stuff!

I've labelled the trays using strips of laminated paper and a white board pen so I can easily change things around if I need too.

How was your week?

This Week I...

...moved into my own flat! I have officially moved out of my parents house and taken all my stuff with me. Guys, I have a lot of stuff.

The flat has some furniture already from previous tenants including two wardrobes, so I have one just for dresses!

And I'm re-purposing this wine rack as a shoe rack. Works perfectly.

How was your week?