Last of the birthday blog posts... my birthday cards!

I love birthdays, Doesn't everyone? One of my favourite things about my birthday is receiving cards from my friends and family. Coincidentally, I also love sending cards to other people. They might not cost much or take much time to buy, write and send, but cards are a really thoughtful way of showing someone that you're thinking of them and wishing them well.

The cards I receive always have a very definite set of themes... pink, flowers, cakes and fluffy things! I had some beautiful cards from family members this year which I've pictured below - I even had a pretty birthday card from the in-laws' pets. I also love receiving 'Auntie' birthday cards from my nephews, particularly as my oldest nephew is now able to write the card himself. I think you'll agree that the themes I've mentioned above all feature strongly in this particular set of cards...

My birthday cards from work colleagues were an interesting mixture of humorous, floral and Disney-themed! One of my colleagues is well aware of my feelings towards the monarchy so the Kate and Wills card was an ironic choice, in case you were wondering. The card on the bottom left was thoughtfully arranged by Sue and signed by any colleagues who hadn't sent me a separate birthday card, and I loved my personalised Minnie card from Claire. All in all, a great birthday card haul from my colleagues.

I also had some lovely cards from various friends... as you can see, the standard themes continue! I had a couple of Welsh cards from this group of people, and I also received a brilliant personalised card from Liz which was full of hilarious memories from years gone by. I loved the thought that went into the messages inside this particular group of cards and I felt very privileged to have such generous friends with excellent card-buying/writing (and personalising) skills. 

My 30th birthday lasted longer than I could ever have imagined and I'm sure it's an occasion I'll remember for a very long time. Thank you to everyone who took the time to buy a gift, send a card or message me on the day itself - it means a lot. 

I'm now off to return the favour by writing my next set of cards for upcoming events/birthdays! 

New thing every week in 2015 #2

After publishing my first 'new thing every week' post a few days ago, it's now time to look at the new things I did in the next ten weeks of 2015. I'm really enjoying putting this series together as it's reminding me of all the great times I had last year, so it's definitely something I want to continue in 2016. It's almost doubling up as a 'highlights of 2015' series!

So, here goes... the second ten weeks of 2015 were more photo heavy than the first ten so there's plenty for you to feast your eyes on. 

Week 11 (12-17 March) - Went to a housing rally in London.

Week 12 (18-24 March) - Went on a Bannatyne's spa day for Fee's hen weekend. 

Week 13 (25-31 March) - Celebrated our seven month wedding anniversary.

Week 14 (1-7 April) - Went to the Forest of Dean for Fee and Dave's wedding. 

Week 15 (8-14 April) - Tried Katsu curry at Wagamama... it was good.  

Week 16 (15-21 April) - Went for a walk around Cosmeston Country Park on my own. 

Week 17 (22-28 April) - Went on holiday to Amalfi.

Week 18 (29 April - 5 May) - Had a Limoncello Fever.

Week 19 (6-12 May) - Bought a hanging basket for the front of our house. 

Week 20 (13-19 May) - Had a make-your-own pizza from Asda.

Look out for the next instalment in a few days!

My birthday haul

I haven't done a 'What I had for my birthday/Christmas' post for a few years... probably not since the crushing stress of planning a wedding. Yes, it really is that bad, but the end result is totally worth it. I thought it was time to rectify this delay as I received so many lovely presents for my 29th birthday a few days ago.

I asked my parents for money for my birthday this year so that I could spend it on a Pandora bracelet which I've been coveting for a long time. I specifically booked a day off work last Friday so that I could go into town to buy my new bracelet. I love it! I bought the bracelet and the 'B' charm with my birthday money from my parents and my grandmother, then Neil bought me another charm over the weekend as a late birthday present. I think the Pandora shop might become an expensive habit over the next few months!

As well as my Pandora bracelet, I also had more jewellery for my birthday... a Jon Richard necklace and bracelet from Neil and a beautiful homemade bracelet from Sarah, my lovely colleague. I've already worn all these unique pieces in the last few days and they'll definitely be coming on holiday with me in September. 

A girl can never have enough toiletries (just ask my overflowing bathroom toiletry rack), and I had more than my fair share for my birthday from my in laws, Sian and Amy. I'm very excited about using the Body Shop bath jelly as I'm currently using the Frosted Cranberry shower gel which I had from Sian for Christmas, and it smells amazing. The Ted Baker goodies from Sian also smell really lovely... everything made by Ted Baker seems to smell divine. Last but not least, I can't wait to try out my in-shower gradual tanning lotion from my in laws. I'm ridiculously pale/transparent at the moment so it's a very welcome solution! 

No birthday would be complete without a few entertainment presents. I have a well populated Amazon wishlist which influenced certain purchases from Neil and my sister... Big Hero 6 and The Theory of Everything are two of the best films I've seen in the cinema this year. I also loved Delivery Man last year, and who doesn't (secretly) love Taylor Swift? Shake it off! 

I've never ever bought a pair of sunglasses worth more than £5, so I was very excited when Neil's parents bought me this lovely pair for my birthday. They definitely look more classy than my Primark specials! Another definite item for my holiday list. 

It definitely wouldn't be a real birthday without some new Disney pyjamas. Neil is well aware of this as he started the Disney pyjamas tradition so he now has to continue with it until the end of time. This resulted in some lovely new summer pyjamas with Eeyore emblazoned all over them... how cute are these?! 

Neil also bought a lovely Animal hoodie for my birthday as he knows I'm partial to that kind of thing. He's a good one! 

I've been banging on about discovering the amazing Limoncello Fever since our recent holiday to Amalfi so it's no surprise that I received the two key ingredients for my birthday from Edwina and my in laws. I've had two Limoncello Fevers today and I can confirm that they're delicious (and quite potent) in this country too. 

Neil's parents' pets are also very generous when it comes to my birthday and they bought me some lovely candles this year. They're very clever!

Although I managed to wait until my birthday to open most of my presents, I actually opened Sarah's presents two days early this year. I had a very stressful day on Tuesday and I'd arranged to meet Sarah at the cinema in the evening. She had my birthday presents with her, and I'm sure you'd agree that it would have been very rude not to open them in front of her. I'll be honest with you here... the Tangfastics are nearly all gone already. However, I haven't tried the hot chocolate sachets, marshmallows or the mug yet so I'm looking forward to those! I really love the inscription on the mug: 'Friends are like stars, you don't always see them  but you know they are there.'

As well as my bottle of Prosecco, Edwina bought some lovely flowers for my birthday which brightened up the office on Thursday. They're also doing a great job of brightening up my kitchen windowsill with their yellows, pinks, purples and greens. 

Another purchase from my Amazon wish list... my sister and my nephews bought me a heat guard for my precious GHD straighteners which will be very useful when I go on holiday. I also had some pretty Cath Kidston earrings from Amy which I can't wait to try out. 

Nicola bought me a New Look gift card for my birthday so I merrily spent it in town the following day. Here's what I spent it on... look at these beautiful colours! 

Last but not least, who doesn't love having chocolate for their birthday? If you don't love having chocolate for your birthday, I don't think we can be friends. Thanks, Neil :) 

So there's my birthday haul for this year... I've been very lucky! Have you written any haul posts lately? I'd love to read them if so, I'm very nosey when it comes to other people's gifts! 

Favourite wedding suppliers #3 - Flowers with a Twist

This is the third blog post in my 'favourite wedding suppliers' series (you can read the first two posts here and here). I'm really enjoying writing these posts as it's a lovely way of reliving the memories from the big day as well as a great opportunity to give something back to my fantastic suppliers.

I started thinking about my wedding flowers very early on in the planning process. I knew from the beginning that I wanted a very simple round bouquet with neutral colours. The cascading bouquets look really beautiful on other (taller) brides but I decided I was too short to get away with one of those... it would have hidden most of my dress! I set up meetings with three florists in early January to discuss my wedding flowers, and this is when I met the lovely Suzi from Flowers with a Twist.

I knew I wanted to go with Flowers with a Twist as soon as I'd sat down with Suzi for five minutes. She was so knowledgeable about what type and size of bouquet I should go for, as well as which flowers would complement my colour scheme. Turquoise was a slightly awkward colour scheme when it came to planning the flowers, seeing as there are no turquoise flowers in existence! I also learnt that there are several different types of roses... that was definitely new to me.

Although I was set on having ivory roses for all the bouquets and buttonholes by this point as I didn't want to add too many colours to the wedding colour pallet, Suzi suggested that I should differentiate my bouquet from the bridesmaids' bouquets by adding a few subtle touches. After seeing a few examples of what I could add to my own bouquet, I decided to go for ivory roses with little turquoise diamantés in my bouquet and smaller ivory rose bouquets for the bridesmaids. I also ordered ivory rose buttonholes for the groom, best man, groomsmen, and immediate family. Suzi suggested that I ordered a fabric buttonhole for my little three year old nephew to make sure it stayed pristine all day, and that I should get magnetic buttonholes for the ladies so that the pin didn't mark their dresses. I would never have thought of either of those factors!

As you can see, the flowers looked really beautiful on the day. They turned up in immaculate condition on the morning of the wedding, 45 minutes ahead of schedule. I definitely wasn't going to have any complaints about items turning up early! The buttonholes were all clearly marked for each person and presented carefully on different pieces of card, not just all together in a box as I'd expected. The ivory roses looked so stunning next to our colour scheme and were a lovely contrast with the bridesmaids' dresses, and the buttonholes were the perfect match for the men's suits. The roses were all so perfectly intricate and I fell in love with them straight away. 

Suzi at Flowers with a Twist was helpful and attentive right from the beginning of the process and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this company to anyone looking for striking wedding flowers and sound advice on the subject. The whole process was very organised (just as I like it if you hadn't already guessed by now), and the final price was extremely reasonable and very competitive. The flowers were all delivered to my front door without a hitch and they stayed fresh all day. Perfect. 

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I didn't follow the tradition of throwing my beautiful bouquet... I was too selfish and wanted to keep it all to myself! 

Idyllic Images #31

Beautiful flowers from my parents' garden

Idyllic Images #29

Beautiful flowers in my parents' garden 

Turning our house into a home #2

We've done a lot more work in our new house over the last few weeks, particularly over the Easter weekend, so I thought I'd share some photos of how things are progressing. We've certainly achieved a lot since my first 'Turning our house into a home' post!

I've done lots of work on our front garden... do you like my pink garden gloves? I went to B&M Bargains and kitted myself out with gardening gloves and a mini fork and trowel. The flower bed below was full of horrible sprawling plants and weeds so I decided to pull them all up and start again. This was a strangely therapeutic task. I've planted lots of flower seeds so I'm hoping this will be full of colourful flowers in a few months!

My parents also bought us these cute little wooden fences as a present to separate the flower bed from the lawn and to add a bit of character. I think they make the front garden look extra homely and it'll look so pretty when (if!) the flowers start blooming in a few months. 

On top of our gardening work, we've also added a lot of fixtures and fittings inside the house, as well as a few pieces of furniture in our bedroom. It's so lovely to see the house finally coming together with our own little touches. Luckily we have very similar tastes so there haven't been any (major) squabbles about colours, curtains or cabinets! 

Talking of cabinets, I love our shiny new bathroom cabinet... I can even reach the top shelves, just about. 

We've also bought all our curtain rails and have put up these beautiful curtains in our bedroom. The photo doesn't do the colour justice, but they're a lovely baby blue with a delicate white floral pattern. The walls are a very light shade of blue so the curtains are a great match. The silver curtain rail matches the silver door handles and light switches... as you can tell, I love a bit of colour coordination! 

We also spent far too much time in IKEA over the Easter weekend and bought our chest of drawers and matching bedside tables. Our bedroom is full of white furniture as the doors are all white and the feature wall is white and grey/silver, so everything matches perfectly. Obviously.

I'm also a big fan of the little grey and chrome lamps we bought from Argos a few months ago. Got to love the all important finishing touches! 

The bedroom is quickly becoming my favourite room. I love the colour scheme as it's perfect for a room that should be the most relaxing room in the house, and the white furniture is just beautiful. 

It's all coming together slowly, and we have lots of other exciting house plans over the next few months as we continue to make it our own. 

Have you moved house recently and blogged about your experiences? Send me your links! 

Idyllic Images #26

Daffodils... Spring is here!

Valentine's surprise... salted caramel brownies

Regular readers of my blog will remember from last year's Valentine's post that I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. I don't believe in going all out and spending loads of money on one day every year... shouldn't we do little things every day (which don't necessarily cost lots of money) to show people that we love them?

Anyway, even though I never make a big fuss on Valentine's Day, I decided to bake a chocolatey surprise for Neil. I love baking and I hadn't had a chance to bake anything since before Christmas, so this also gave me a good excuse to use my new baking goodies!

My new apron!

As soon as I read Kaz's blog post on her salted caramel brownies, I knew I just had to try this recipe and that it was the perfect baking adventure for my surprise Valentine's Day treat. I made chocolate brownies last June which were rather amazing, so I thought it would be interesting to make a different kind of brownie this time.


Ingredients

180g plain flour
3tbsp cocoa powder
300g dark chocolate
150g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
220g soft brown sugar
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract

50g chocolate chips (optional - I had some left over from a previous baking adventure!)
1 tin of Caramel
1 tsp salt

Can you tell that I shop in Tesco?

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and line your baking tin with baking paper. 

2. Place the chocolate and butter into a bowl over a pan of water and stir on a medium heat until it's all melted. I had to use a cereal bowl and a milk pan because I didn't have a large heatproof bowl... this is not recommended! Let's just say that the bowl was very full. 

3. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract to a bowl, then add the chocolate/butter mixture and mix until smooth. I forgot that I was supposed to use two types of sugar so only put the caster sugar in... I then added the brown sugar a bit later on when I realised that I'd left it out. I don't think it made much difference, but just bear in mind that there are two types of sugar to add. I used my electric mixer... works like a dream!

4. Sieve in the flour and cocoa powder and beat the mixture until it's all combined. I also had to add the brown sugar here as I forgot to do this in step 3, and I also added the chocolate chips at this stage. My mixture was extremely thick at this point... possibly this was because I added the brown sugar at the wrong point. I used the electric mixer for a minute or two but then had to switch to a wooden spoon. As you can see from the photo below, my mixer was a bit clogged up!

5. Put half the mixture into the baking tin, making sure it's spread evenly. This step was very tricky as my mixture was so thick, so mine wasn't spread particularly evenly.

6. Add the salt to the tin of caramel, making sure you mix thoroughly. Add a layer of caramel on top of the brownie mix, making sure that you leave a small gap around the edge. 

7. Layer the remaining brownie mixture on top of the caramel. Again, this was very difficult as a result of my super thick mixture and I didn't quite have enough mixture left to cover all the caramel, as you can see below. 

8. Bake the brownies in the oven for approximately 30 minutes, then leave to cool before cutting up and serving. Mine were extremely moist and gloopy when they came out of the oven so I couldn't even cut them into squares, but the mixture solidified as it got cooler. As you can see, it didn't matter that I hadn't covered all the caramel with the brownie mixture as the top layer of chocolate seemed to be magically spread evenly after it came out of the oven. 

I was very worried when the brownies first came out of the oven as I couldn't cut them into chunks due to the moistness of the mixture, but they turned out fine in the end. I cut half the mixture into chunks (after I'd left it to cool for a while) and put the chunks into my new baking tin. I then put them on my little table with chocolates, a lit Yankee Candle and Valentine's card ready for Neil's arrival. I know, I know... I needn't have bought the chocolates, but the hazelnut praline in these Cadbury chocolates is so good!

Neil had also ignored the 'no presents' rule and arrived with a beautiful bunch of pink and red flowers and a little chocolate rose. We're a sneaky pair!

What did you get up to on Valentine's Day? Did you bake anything? Send me your links!