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. 

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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.   

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Inside my bedroom...

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