A Tiny Bit Of Thrifting

Happy Saturday everyone!

Hope you have lots of exciting bank holiday weekend plans... I'd love to know what you are up to!

My plans are as yet undecided, but in the week I did decide that a tiny spot of thrifting was in order, its been a while since I found anything good in the charity shops, but on Wednesday I popped into one of my favourites to see if there was anything new.

Hidden under a load of old tat was this pink glass trinket bowl (or at least thats what I'm using it for) I think it was part of a dressing table set, but it was all on its own, waiting for a nice new owner to take it home and show it some love! Only 75p for this little lovely.

Perfect for storing my pretty new clips, so that I can see them and reach them when I need them, if I put them in a drawer I guarantee I will have lost them all within a week. Hair clips just seem to vanish with me, and these are definately worth holding on to!

Under a stack of plain white and lovely shades of mustard yellow dinner plates I saw a glimmer of gold edge, slowly and carefully I moved all the crappy plates off to one side to reveal these beauties...

They are a perfect size for a sandwich, or to help with portion control (much needed here!) and were only £1 each in perfect condition. I have a side plate and cup and saucer in this range, so it was nice to add a few more pieces to the collection.

What thrifty treats have you found lately?

X

Hair, But Pretty

No Friday frocks or tops today, haven't had a chance to take any decent photos of my clobber, but wanted to show you how I have been "wearing" my hair the last couple of days.

I picked up these gorgeous rose hair slides in New Look the other day, you get a pack of five, and I was determined to use as many of them as I could in one go as they are so pretty and pastel :)

I have to wear my hair up all the time for work, but I really don't think it suits my face to have it up, so I like to do something a bit interesting with clips, bows and headbands to distract from my boring hair (which seriously needs a dye job! mousey brown anyone?) 

So I did this, with four of the five rosey clips, pinned down the side of my hair in little twists - I look like I have a LOT of baby hair in this photo above! Seriously, theres loads going on, I never realised how much until now...

The other thing I have been wearing, which is great for keeping those flyaway hairs out of my face is this head band/scarf/bow thingy...girly and pretty, again - I have no 'edge'!

At least the headband bow should distract from my baby hair!

X

Cutting and Pasting

I love my recipe folder, I love finding something new and exciting and adding it to my other recipes. I am a big fan of the foodie magazines you can get in the supermarket, and almost always pick these up as not only are they full of inspiration, they are always beautifully styled, and thats something that appeals to me big time.

My recipe folder is from Paperchase (love that store) and was a christmas gift last year. Since then I have religiously gone through any old magazines to check if there are any nice recipes to add, be it a Sunday freebie with a paper, one of my mums mags, a supermarket mag, or my favourites :: Prima and Essentials, such great reads, and full of information.

I also really love the menu cards and weekly menu plans that all the supermarkets are now doing and always come home with a handful of cards to add to my folder. If I see something in a magazine that I like the look or sound of, I usually cut out the photo and stick it in next to the recipe too, as I like to see the what the finished dish should look like (aka what to aim for!)

Last months Waitrose Food magazine was especially beautiful, so much so that I tore out whole pages of Easter baking and recipes as they were so lovely to look out. The styling is really something that can sway me with regards to recipes. I like my food to look good!

But these are not for my recipe folder, oh no, these are going in the inspiration file!

Do you collect recipes and inspirational images?

If so, I'd love to see some of them!

X

Our Anniversary

Friday was our fifth anniversary and so we took a little stroll down by my favourite part of the canal on our way to the quirky little restaurant we had picked to go for dinner... just walking down here makes me smile, I love it so much and it feels really special to us, as its a place we like to go to as often as we can. 

I also LOVE being nosey and peeking into the boats and admiring their little gardens and flowers, there is something really lovely about canal boats, they have a certain charm to them I think. I thought these two boats moored side by side were particularly pretty.

So we walked along, taking some photos to record our anniversary day :) its nice to have photos to look back on for each year I think...

Our destination: The Breakfast Club, Angel, which doesn't just serve breakfast!

Its a really cute little cafe/restaurant along Camden Passage in Islington, we've been here once before, for breakfast, which was rather lovely, so we opted for dinner on this particular evening.

A freshly pressed apple juice for me and a strawberry milkshake for him :)

My delicious haloumi and sun dried tomato salad wrap....mmm

Last but not least, posh brownie and ice cream with berries to share.

Happy Anniversary A x

Fridays Fancy Frock

Last weekend we went to a naming day for my nephew, who will be turning one at the end of the month. The dress code said formal, but obviously it was not held in a church so I didn't go too formal. 

I wore this dress that I picked up in Primark for the occasion which was £10 and is so pretty and floaty.

I teamed it with this 3/4 length nude cardigan from H&M - I am really loving all the pretty nude coloured things in the shops at the moment, its all very romantic looking I think :)

The shoes and bag were Primark bargains, just £6 and £5, respectively, and these are my favourite style of heeled shoes, I love Mary Janes, and strappy court shoes, and these were in the perfect colour to match my outfit.

I wore some pastel pink rosey rings as accessories...

And a heap of beady bracelets on one wrist...

I also added a little floral bow hair slide - its all very twee and girly, which is exactly what I like.

Hope your not finding the picture too scary!

XG

Our Norfolk Holiday Part 4 : The Beach Hut

On our last day in Norfolk we decided to go down to the beach in Sheringham, which is a really lovely sandy beach, just five minutes from the gorgeous house we stayed in, and handily, we had the keys to a beach hut down on the beach.

We were so lucky to have such great weather again, although it was so windy, it was still nice and sunny, which is what you want on your holiday! 

We strolled past all of the beach huts, choosing our favourite colours and names, until we came to the last beach hut in the row...

"Blossom Beach"

We opened her up and stepped inside...

And she was oh so beautifully decorated, as you can see.

Pretty things as far as the eye could see!

We made ourselves a cuppa and sat in the beach hut - too cold outside!! 

I really hope to return to Norfolk sometime soon, I felt as though there was more for us to see and do, and it would be lovely to visit the beach in the summer, and actually sit outside catching some sun!

X Gem

Our Norfolk Holiday Part 3 : Days Out

Welcome back to part 3 of our Norfolk holiday, days out!

One of the loveliest days we had was the day we went to Wiveton Farm Cafe for the afternoon. The weather was gorgeous and so was the cafe, very colourful, bright and welcoming.

I loved the sugar pot and jug of pretty flowers on the table...

Lovely selection of lunches, although we had already eaten so just ordered a little snack!

Mmmmm my order :: Hot Chocolate and a Chocolate and Hazelnut Brownie

(thats for the chocoholic in me!)

We sat outside in the sun, but it was equally lovely inside. I really loved the brightly painted garden furniture - so much more exciting than brown wood, don't you think?

They also have a sweet little gift shop and sell lots of their own locally farmed produce as well as a unique Emma Bridgewater range of china that is made especially for Wiveton Farm.

Sunny rays and lovely days...

The next day saw us take a drive to Wells, and explore the town and visit the sea front as the tide was in.

I can't believe how vividly blue these photos have turned out, it was such a sunny day, it was also an incredibly windy day too, hence no photos of me and my windswept hair!

There were so many Union Jacks flapping in the wind as it was the royal wedding weekend, which were lovely to see.

We took a little wander down to the sand but it was far too cold to go any further! We just admired the colourful boats and enjoyed the view.

See you soon for Part 4 

X