Disco baking....

Ginger bread men 'Saturday Night Fever' stylee. Thats how we roll in this house!

Party time

I am going to have a party.....fancy coming?

It is a lovely warm Summer evening (so obviously this is just an imaginary one!)

There are coloured tea light holders dotted around on the tables and up the path of my gorgeous, huge, well decorated house!

 found on http://www.rockettstgeorge.co.uk/

bowls of colourful jelly beans on all the tables

Jars of bright summer flowers

                                        

Big lawn games for all the children to play

The playlist is-

                                                                                                         

Along with some really good 80's and 90's tunes....a bit of barefoot dancing is required in these situations!

We will be eating barbecue food and Pizza and drinking juice cocktails

and Pimms...yum!

 After eating, drinking and dancing we will gather to relax on the grass on the tastefully strewn around Kath Kidston cushions

and blankets

                                     

 in front of a big screen and watch....

With big bowls of sweet popcorn and cups of tea :)

Best party I've ever thrown!........... Same again next year? x

July Reads

Wait for it...this is going to be a biggie!

The No1 Ladies Detective Agency Series- Alexander McCall Smith

The Good Husband Of Zebra Drive

The Miracle At Speedy Motors

As you will have previously seen, I love this series and am very fond of it's main character, Mma Ramotswe. They are wonderful reads and I can't wait to get my hands on the next 2 of the books and then I'll be crossing my fingers that he writes some more!

Agatha Raisin Series- M C Beaton

The Vicious Vet

The Potted Gardener

The Walkers of Dembley

The Terrible Tourist

The Wellspring Of Death

The Wizard Of Evesham

The Witch Of Wyckenhadden

The Fairies of Fryfam

Love From Hell

This is another favourite series of mine, as you can see! They are such a relaxing and easy read and that's why I've managed to read so many! I love the new cover illustrations as I am definitely someone who judges a book by it's cover, so i think the new ones are charming and fun and much more appealing. Another thing that I love about this series is that it's set around the Cotswold's and Warwickshire and so I recognise alot of the places mentioned (this always gives me a childlike thrill!)

July Loves (late!)

Reading like a mad thing

I have read ,read, read this past month, 11 books to be exact! Not a clue how I've managed that! 

Eating Peanut m&m's and watching desperate Housewives whilst doing my ironing.

I don't usually do ironing regularly, I just do it as and when. Which leads to very messy and chaotic mornings, trying to find clothes and iron them all whilst getting two small boys ready! It is no fun at all. But the above routine, done every other night has lead to a much more serene household.....and yes, the bottom picture is exactly what I look like when I'm doing it!!......I'm very glam don't you know!

Wanting to buy some Jelly shoes

Just because....... Yummy!

Can you see me?

For a while now I have been wondering if I should be more visible on my blog. There are lots of blogs that I enjoy reading where the authors use themselves as the subject of many of their pictures. I am usually ok with having my picture taken, but the thought of using pictures of myself regularly on my blog is a little intimidating. But then on the other hand I am very interested in the photography side of self portrait, and there in lies my dilema! I'll have to think about it a bit more I think :)

Sunday Baking

I made Coconut Macaroons on Sunday from the lovely The Gentle Art Of Domesticity by Jane Brocket. They were so easy to make and smelt wonderful. Mr Man loves them, so it was at his request that I gave them a go.You make them like a meringue at the start so the whole process was a bit different to my usual baking and there was hardly any washing up at the end..result!

June reads....

No1 Ladies Detective Agency series

All such wonderful relaxing reads. My Mma Ramotswe is played by Sharon D Clarke who was Lola in Holby City :)

The Tent The Bucket And Me

This book was absolutely fantastic, I loved it from start to finish and it had me laughing out loud whilst sitting in the coffee shop. Yes there were a few odd looks but I just couldn't help it! Read it and you'll see what I mean, go on....you know you want to!

my notice board

This is my Menu board that I have at home, It's stuck on the side of the fridge (I used the magnetic strips you buy from craft shops) and displays the menu for the week. I find this a really easy way to organise meals. I can plan the weeks menu before I go shopping and so it saves money and stops me wasting food, which is all good! Get me,being all organised!

Converse

I heart my Converse.

My Beautiful cookery books

I have a bit of a cookery book obsession and can't resist buying them, especially if they look beautiful! I snapped this one up as soon as it came out as I'd been waiting for it to be released. These are my favourite type of cookery books as they are part autobiography as well.

 I love reading about how food and cooking have been such an important part of the authors life and all the story's that go with that.

The photo's and styling in this book are so wonderful and has a very tactile Italian feel to it. It's split into sections based on different colours, Red, Orange, Yellow, Pink, Green, Gold, White, Brown, Monochrome, Stripes and Multicolour

This book is full of scrumptious recipes for healthy treats and cakes as their base ingredients are vegetables. It has wonderful diary accounts of how the recipes were created, even the disasters! Any book that can show me how to make healthy chocolate cake is a winner for me, truly having your cake and eating it!

This book is a wonderful read as all the recipes are taken from different children's books, many that I recognised and had read myself . It's lovely to learn how to create a proper old fashioned nursery tea or an adventurers picnic.

This book always comes in handy in our family as it is wonderfully easy and focuses on cooking with children, getting them involved in making their own food. It also tells you a brilliantly easy way to show children how to make their own butter!

                                      
Now all I have to do is start actually cooking the recipes, rather than just drooling over the pages!

Colour Wonder...

WOW! Can't get more colourful than that! How fantastic.

June Loves...

Pear Bulmers- I am loving this on a hot evening with ice, so refreshing!

World Cup- I have made an effort this year to find out what all the fuss is about. I have watched both England matches so far and I have to say I'm enjoying knowing what everyone is talking about and having an opinion myself!

Cut out map prints- I love these unique pictures, so beautiful and I have decided I am definitely going to get one this year. So upset that they have sold out of the Turquoise London prints. I was dying to own one! Find them at http://www.famillesummerbelle.com/ also make sure you check out their Blog, so inspiring.