Friday 31 December 2010

in 2010

I baked




 I finally went camping.  Twice.

I rediscovered my creativity



I missed friends and family.
and realised how important they are to me.

I have accepted that I need to wear more sun cream.
I have thought a lot about my health.
After being diagnosed with having an under active thyroid.
 I have been wearing a lot of Earthy colours.
Which I had previously always avoided, but I now embrace :)
 I have been making our home 'ours'.
I have been out of the city.
I have been looking.
I have been thinking.
I have enjoyed playing word games and going to pub quizzes.
Even though I make silly mistakes.
Janet Jackson, not Janet Jacket...
 
and most of all, I have tried to enjoy the simple things.
but next year, I will try harder.


Wishing you all a very happy new year full of adventures :)

Many photographs are courtesy of Steve Poxson.

Monday 27 December 2010

coming home for Christmas

Myself and Steve today returned to Leicester after celebrating Christmas back in Luton with my family.  If I spend more than a couple of days there, I find it really difficult to leave, and get too comfortable being back at 'home'.  It is nice to be back at our flat though, and I have began to think about my plans for 2011.  I don't really believe in New Years resolutions, because as we all know, they are far too easy to break.  But, for a while I have been thinking that there are a few things that I want to change about my life, and why not start off the new year with good intentions? :)

I hope that you all had a lovely time celebrating Christmas, I received some much loved gifts myself, which I promise to post about another day!  I must be getting old, because I am now much happier receiving a few perfectly suited presents as opposed to piles and piles of 'stuff', and I was a tiny bit disappointed to not have received any slippers (I did get four pairs of socks though!)

Right, it's nearly 11pm and I'm off to eat some stollen and drink some tea, after all, it is Christmas :)

Wednesday 22 December 2010

patience is a virtue

I have wanted a leopard print coat for literally years (faux fur though of course!).  I had never managed to find one that suits my figure and one that I could afford, until a couple of weeks ago...  I was browsing around our local Oxfam shop, when I spied this coat on one of the rails.  Picking it up, I saw that it was a medium, so far so good.  Polyester - great news, no animals have died to make it!  £8.99?  

Oh.  My.  Goodness. 

Then came the scary bit please, please, please look nice!  And luckily - it did!  Well, I think so anyway :)  Definitely one of my favourite bargains ever.  It is all I have been wearing ever since, including today when me and Steve went for a little walk to have some lunch at Salvador Deli (tehe!) and to collect my cheese order for Christmas - cheese is really rather a big deal in the Firmin household!  We popped into a couple of charity shops as always, and I got myself another how to make soft toys book from the 1970s.  I am really loving the thought of creating my own soft toys, perhaps a project for the new year?  I also found a book all about Feminism, which for some reason just jumped out at me, and now I have two weeks off work I may find some time to do some reading!

I hope that you're all feeling festive, and that the snow isn't ruining your plans!

Tuesday 21 December 2010

Sweet Treats


I had an idea last week that I was going to turn myself into some sort of Willy Wonka and make loads and loads of sweets to give as Christmas gifts.  I went to the supermarket and stocked up on sugar, cream, syrup, chocolate etc. and at the weekend began creating (after a two day mission to try to find a sugar thermometer!).

I had the perfect cookbook to work from, Sweet Treats, made by those behind the utterly wonderful Australian magazine, Frankie.  If you are unfamiliar with this magazine, I cannot recommend it enough!  It is full of cute handmade items, features on artists and musicians, old fashioned recipes and other inspiring, beautiful and nostalgic things :)  I used to buy my copy at Borders, but now I get the issues delivered to my house (for my last two birthdays, Steve has brought me a much loved subscription to it!)

As the magazine is Australian, the measurements are in cups - which to be honest, I prefer to conventional weighing scales, it's so much quicker and seems to create less mess somehow!  Also, it took some research on good old Google to work out what Glucose Syrup is (Corn Syrup to Americans, Golden Syrup to British!)  I had already made the honeycomb a few months ago, which was fairly successful, except I think I became a bit over excited when adding the bicarbonate of soda, had a strange chemically taste - urg!

This weekend I tried out peanut brittle, chocolate truffles, brown cow caramels and candy hearts (or in my case, candy jigsaw pieces!)  Some were more successful than others, but all in all, the recipes were clear and easy, often they just required a lot of time and patience.  My first batch of toffee did not turn out too well, because I was too impatient and didn't allow the sugar to get hot enough!  

I have just finished work for Christmas, so now it is time to relax (and try to eat my way through the 17 mince pies that we still have in the cupboard!)
Merry Christmas!

Q: where does Tarzan buy his clothes?..

A:  from a jungle sale.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

All I want for Christmas is...


To be back in the 1990s, with all of this rad stuff!!

Monday 6 December 2010

squirrel, squirrel in a tree.

I made this squirrel cushion for my friend James' birthday a few weeks ago, but couldn't share it until now incase he caught a glimpse at my blog :)

Sunday 5 December 2010

drum roll please...

Well done Amy!  

Can you please e-mail me your address and let me know what letter and colour you would like your cross stitch badge, and I will get your goodies in the post asap!

Thank you to everyone that entered!  For those that unfortunately did not win this time, remember to take a little peek at my Folksy shop for some Christmas present ideas (or just a treat for yourself!)  I am giving away a free Robin pin badge with every order throughout December :)


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