Giveaway!

I promised you all a little gift from Paris, to celebrate my blogiversary, so here it is! I picked up this Paris Style book from the Taschen shop on the Rue de Buci, just round the corner from our hotel. The 2 magnets were purchased from the cute little souviner shops along the Quais of the left bank. I also purchased one for myself which is now on my fridge. I love the vintage style of them.

I will also throw in this Festvial&Co poster that I picked up as a freebie from Shakespeare & Co. I got one for myself too and you can see it on my wall here! I like it; it makes me feel literary and clever although I didn't even go to the festival... Oh well.

To enter, simply leave a comment telling me about your favourite holiday! Winners will be chosen on 5th August, 12pm BST, so get your entries in now!

Paris

Paris was wonderful! Although my poor feet were so sore and were in dire need of a pedicure when I got back. We did so many things, including visiting Laduree (their hot chocolate is amazing, as are their cakes), going up the eiffel tower after queuing for over 2 hours, visiting the Pompidou centre (EU citizens under 26 get free entry!), having a picnic on the left bank watching the boats go by, eating lots of Bethillion ice cream (Scott became slightly obsessed with it), watching the bastille day fireworks from the Pantheon, going to Shakespeare & Co, going to the Scare Couer and being annoyed with all the 'tourist traps' and thinking it wasn't anything like in Amelie, wandering around the Pigalle and being asked if we want to see a 'show', having breakfast at Paul's bakery every morning and being embarassed by how badly we spoke French.

Happy Birthday Afeitar!

 

Jek in the box

My little blog is one year old today! It's been a wonderful year and of course my favourite thing about blogging is reading all your lovely comments and discovering new blogs. To celebrate, I looked back over all my entries and found some of my favourite ones to share with you - some that newer readers may have missed and some that older readers might remember! 

• My Bedroom - I did a little tour of my bedroom for you all. I love nosying in other people's bedrooms!
• Hats - Experimenting with Poladroid and discussing hats. I love hats and have always been a hat person.
• Beetroot brownies - trying out a Hugh Fearney-Whittingstall recipe, these were so yummy!
  
• Another Place - Crosby Beach & the Anthony Gormley statues.
• Chocolate & Hazelnut Cupcakes - Trying out the Hummingbird cook book.
• Blackberry Picking - foraging for blackberries with Pepe & Scott
• Apple Picking - A favourite autumnal activity!
  
• A simple outfit - just a nice outfit but I liked this post
  
• Day 2 in Bath - Visiting the Roman baths on a very cold day.
  
• Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes - Some of the best looking cupcakes I've ever made I think
  
• What's in your bag - Again, I am so nosy, so I love these kind of posts.

I honestly can't believe it's been a year! I go to Paris at the weekend, so to thank all of my readers I shall bring back a little souviner to give away on the blog, so keep your eye out for that at the end of next week. Thank you all!

This is what I've worn this evening, after a horrible day in work. The skirt was a complete bargain from h&m, £7 in the sale! I had seen it before but reasoned that I already had enough polka dot skirts, but at £7 I couldn't resist and it's quickly becoming one of my favourite skirts. The cut is just perfect for me I think. I love dresing up after a bad day to make myself feel better. A bit of lipstick always helps too. And then I decided to bake some scones and make some ice cream sandwiches, which also always makes me feel better. Baking is so relaxing and therapeutic for me, except when things go wrong!

This happened the other day! I was making 2 dozen cupcakes for my sister to take into work for her birthday. I was making them the evening before and we had been having a heatwave. It was 9pm but was still about 26c. Frosting does not like the heat at all! I started to pipe the vanilla frosting onto the cupcakes but it was too warm and it started to clog up the piping nozzle. I got a bit angry and had a bit of a tantrum, before I calmed down and decide to solve the problem. Everything worked out okay in the end. The chocolate ones looked especially good, as the icing was a bit sturdier. I also used my edible glitter for the first time and I love it. I need more in other colours!

I hope everyone is having a better weekend than I am, stuck in work. Also, happy 4th July to all you yankees!

Berry picking

Last Sunday Scott and myself decided to go strawberry picking at our local pick your own farm. We went last year too, if any long term readers remember! We also got a lovely bounty of redcurrants and blackcurrants. I have made jam from the strawberries, sorbet from the blackcurrants and red onion and redcurrant relish from the redcurrants. I love going to pick fruit, it's definitely one of my favourite things to do in the summer, although we did end up covered in nettle stings and juice stains! However, we know where I food has come from and how fresh it is which made up for it. I'm going to go back for the next crop of strawberries in a few weeks too! (Also, thank you to Scott for being a wonderful photographer haha)