T-Bars and Fur

Some of my absolute favourite Christmas presents.

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Binging on baubles.

A company that I work for 'All About Eve' has been all about the sequinned and sparkly baubles this Christmas. Although pricey, they are absolute stunning and timeless.

I bought quite a few because I have decided that they are an investment for all my future Christmas trees. The great thing about these beautiful baubles is the fact that they are not outrightly festive, they don't have pictures of father Christmas on them and they don't say 'ho ho ho', so what is stopping me from having them out all year round. I have decided to buy a beautiful silver bowl to have in my room and fill it to the brim with these beaded baubles, just to give my room a touch of sparkle.

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Home made yule log

Tis the season to make home made yule log, falalalalalalalala!

I have never liked Christmas pudding or Christmas cake so I always opt for Yule log instead, (Chocolate swiss roll decorated like a log!)

You will need:

4 large eggs

100g caster sugar

65g self-raising flour

45g cocoa powder

Chocolate icing and topping

450 ml double cream

Apricot jam (I swapped this for nutella)

Icing sugar for dusting

http://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/mary-berry-christmas-chocolate-log

Red magazine uploaded the recipe so have a try for yourself!! It is incredibly rich though, I ate FAR TOO MUCH. 

What festive treats have you been making?

♥

A few days in Bristol...

Seeing as Christmas is the time for being with those that you love, I hopped on the train to Bristol to stay with the boyf for a few days and to do some sightseeing. 

It was SUCH a magical time: German Christmas markets, warm churros and chocolate, hipster curries, record shopping and beautiful sightseeing.

I cannot wait to go back!

It is definitely the most wonderful time of the year. 

♥

ADVENT

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

On the first day of Christmas I always get swept up in the festivities: I whack on the Michael Buble Christmas album, watch ELF or the Muppet Christmas Carol and open the first window of my advent calendar, but for me, the way to feel festive the quickest:

A festive candle.

My choice: My absolute favourite - Winter Candle by All About Eve.

It smells of mulled wine, cinnamon, spices, warmth. 

One whiff of this candle and I feel like I am actually in a Shakin Stevens music video.

Quick fix to feeling festive: Light a festive smelling candle, don your favourite Christmas jumper and make yourself a creamy hot chocolate. Then snuggle on the sofa with someone special and watch your favourite Christmas film. 

♥

PROUD Christmas design show

 I arrived in Reigate on Friday to set up the PROUD Christmas design show with my sister (the creator and director of the company). We were given the keys to the hall where the show was taking place at 10pm on Friday night to get ready to open the show to the general public at 10am the following morning. When we arrived, we were taken aback by the state of the hall, it looked awful - covered in tinsel, scout posters and basket ball hoops.   

We were faced with the challenge of converting this badly furnished scout hall into a chic and tasteful setting for a design show. Armed with red bull, lemon drizzle cake and the Michael Buble Christmas album, we managed. 

The design show was a great success and huge amounts of fun to be involved in.

Before:

After:

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Dough Dough Deliveries

I woke up to a wonderful surprise today from my sister who sent me a congratulatory cookie because...

I got the job opportunity that I was applying for.

I will be launching a chapter of the online student magazine: Her Campus, at my university.

I am so excited and thrilled to have got the job, so the biscuit delivery was such a lovely surprise and just what I needed!!

I haven't heard of Dough Dough before but I've done some research and it sounds incredible! It's basically an online biscuit delivery service, like moon pig but instead of cards its all things sweet and sugary as well as cards!!

http://www.doughdough.com

Take a look! As a biscuit lover it BLEW MY MIND.

I must be careful though...I don't want to eat so many that I turn into a lump of dough!!

♥

Fireworks at the Castle

Remember, remember, the fifth of November. Gun powder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gun powder and treason should ever be forgot.

Bonfire night is one of my favourite nights of the year! Bonfires, sparklers, wooly hats, mittens, wellies and marshmallows, topped off with a spectacular firework display. 

What's not to love! It is so quintessentially British!!

This bonfire night I was in Norwich so my friends and I trudged up to the castle to watch a fantastic firework display, toast marshmallows and drink hot chocolates topped with whipped cream!

Happy Bonfire Night Everyone!!

♥

Christmas Show Invite

There is nothing more exciting than receiving your sister's Christmas design show invitation in the post.

For those of you who are new to my little blog, my sister Rosie is a designer and has launched her own company specialising in ink designs, cards and framed pieces. 

This invitation would be exciting if I was a regular punter as it would mean a wonderful opportunity to drink Prosecco and to eat canapes all day, but I am not a regular punter. I watched my sister set up her company, have worked for and with her over the years, and now as well as being a full time student, blogger and writer, I also am the stylist and visual merchandise executive of Proud Couture Ltd.

This Christmas show invitation excites me because it means a long weekend of work for PROUD and an excuse to go home for the weekend for some r and r.

♥

These are a few of my favourite things

 I have incredibly expensive taste and when it comes to room furnishings, I spare no expense, liking my room to look as beautiful as it possibly can. However, I am also a firm believer that a person's most important and precious possessions are by no means the most expensive. Looking around my room, I like to do the 'fire test': If there was a fire, which possessions would you risk your life to save and which would you just leave. Personally I wouldn't grab my laptop, TV or expensive hair straighteners, I would instead save the following.

Shells

These shells are one of my favourite decorations in my room. Costing nothing, the love of my life picked them up off the beach for me in Bulgaria after he absailed into the black sea. It was at a moment in our relationship when we were apart and so the fact that he saved them for me means so much. To everyone else, these shells may just be a pretty addition to a dresser, but for me they are a constant and positive reminder of a person, place and time. Despite having no financial worth, they are priceless and irreplaceable to me.

PROUD sewn girl

This framed sewn design is an original by my sister, a successful designer with a growing business. It means so much to me because it fills me with pride seeing how far she has come. When she sewed this personalised design for me (the high top know and the cup and saucer of tea - my trademark look), she was just sitting with me on the sofa watching TV and now she has her own company and is creating work that is decorating houses up and down the country. Even though she made this in 10 minutes, it will always be my favourite of her work. 

Cup and saucer

I picked this cup and saucer up from All about Eve, one of my all time favourite shops in Reigate. It is a fundamental furnishing to my room due to my unhealthy obsession with tea, but the reason why it is so truly special to me is because I bought it the same moment that I realised what I wanted to become when I was older and what I wanted to work towards.  

Sheep on a plaque

This is one of the weirdest objects in my room but by far my absolute favourite. Years ago when my boyfriend and I were mere acquaintances that fancied each other, I concussed myself on a night out and he had to go with me to hospital. The next day he went into town to buy me a get well soon present...I was thinking flowers, chocolates, a teddy - anything like that. He brought me back this...A sheep on a plaque. I love it so much because it reminds me of those times years ago as well as reminding me why I am still with him today.

I will ALWAYS be the type of girl who loves furnishing and decorating my house to perfection; the kind of person who will splurge on mirrored glass candle holders and huge bouquets of artificial flowers rather than a TV or a car. Despite my lack of will power when it comes to expensive decorations, I think it is always important to remember that the best furnishings cost the least as we can see, and that it is important to surround yourself with things that will make you happy, no matter how random they look...otherwise everyone's houses will look the same.   

♥

Inside my bedroom...

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Hiding ugly things

This is my beautiful silver mirrored glass pot collection. I have them dotted around my room and they look so beautiful and chic...little does anyone know what's inside them...

As a girl, there are lots of things you don't really want on show when your friends, boyfriend etc. are in your room e.g. your tampons, your sanitary towels, your condoms, your contraceptive pill - all in their bright, ugly packaging...I choose to hide them all in these stunning silver pots.

It keeps my private things hidden and keeps my room looking gorgeous without having tampons spilling out of bags or on my dressing table.

Job done.

♥

Messy bed hair

I spend more time on my hair than anyone I know and as my natural hair is corkscrew ringlets, I usually straighten my hair as hard as I can with my afro GHDs to get rid of any trace of fuzz. To straighten my whole head of hair, it takes me about 2 hours!!!! No joke. I will quite literally put on a long film and sit in front of it straightening my fro an by the end I MIGHT be finished.

That being said, my favourite hair style is messy bed hair, quite literally sleeping on your hair when it's looking perfect and then voila...you're done.

It may not be to everyone's taste but I find that within reason, the messier and more casual the hairdo, the sexier.

♥

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Pretty sights and peony fairy lights

This autumn I have a slight (huge) obsession with silver mirrored glass. 

I can't walk past a silver mirrored pot or bowl without buying it immediately so now my collection has grown so big that my bedroom is basically a mirrored glass museum.

They can instantly add class to any room but they are extremely fragile and can shatter so easily so be careful!!

Here is my current collection accessorised with my pastel peony fairylights.

Mirrored glass large pot - All About Eve £16.95

Mirrored glass pumpkin pot - All About Eve £11.95

Mirrored glass small pot - All About Eve £14.95

Pink peony fairy lights - £6.00

White embellished mirror - £35.00

♥

Pancakes, police cars and pink lilies

It's been an eventful few days to say the least.

I woke up bright and early to meet one of my favourite girls for an earlybird breakfast of pancakes, tea and coffee at a Brasserie down the road to fuel us for our day of work. On our way out, a cyclist got hit by a car in front of us. He was lying the road and no one helped; no cars stopped, no people came over, it was really surprising, but we ran over and helped him up and sat with him while the paramedics checked him over (we were allowed to sit in the back of the Police car and pretend to be criminals)!!

The next day, he arrived on our door with two beautiful bouquets of flowers and completely made my day.

Do good things and they will be returned to you

...in the form of lilies.

♥