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.

Colour, Colour, Colour...

I love colour, it has a big effect on me and can make me feel passionate and inspired and very hungry for more. There are lots of colour combinations that I am really drawn to, Turquoise and hot pink; 
lavender and Sage green; When I see certain colours they absolutely sing to me. The trouble is that I don't reflect that in anything that I wear, or buy. The colours of my wardrobe and that of my home don't reflect my feelings about colour at all. I am always inspired and a little bit envious of the people who's personal styles completely reflect their personality. These people surround themselves with creativity in everything they do. From how they dress and decorate their homes to how they cook and even how they give gifts. Everything has a creative and colourful twist and there is a little bit of art in everything they do.

This is how I want to be and so I am trying (starting with this blog) to add a little bit of colour, creativity and art into my life. I'll keep you posted!

Pushing Daisies...

                
I am very in love with Pushing daisies. I think it is the most visually beautiful series, as well as being funny and interesting. The styling is a dream and the sets and colours are stunning, so much fun to look at.

I love the photo's that accompany the series and Chuck's outfits...sigh! How I would love to dress like that!

This bee inspired picture is my favourite...

The whole series is a little slice of 50's Americana wrapped up in a pie crust. I was so upset when they cancelled it. This lead to the writers having to tie up all the stories in a very unsatisfying last episode.

                                                                                                                                                                                               I wish they would bring it back, it's definitely my kind of eye candy!

Easter bonnet

I know this is a few months late but I just thought I'd post about the hat me and the boys made for my eldest's Easter bonnet parade.

We were very proud of ourselves. I made the hat out of cardboard and the boys did the gluing, painting and decorating. I just put all the pieces together at the end. Not a bad effort, been as I only remembered he needed one the afternoon before!

Here's the boy himself, modeling the finished product!

Sunday Baking

Making Whoopie...

I love cooking sweet treats on a Sunday morning. Me and Mr Man take it in turns to have a lie in at the weekend and Sunday is his day. Me and the boys are usually up and about at half seven in the morning and whilst the boys are watching TV, I take the opportunity to shut myself away in the kitchen without being disturbed and bake. I find it really peaceful and relaxing and it's when I like to try out a new recipe. On the whole I don't relish cooking, as it usually comes hand in hand with the evening rush of feeding the boys, getting them bathed, ready for bed and settled down. More often than not it's just another job to do, but on a Sunday it's a pleasure. Today I made Whoopie pies, which was a new one on me as I'd never even heard of them! They turned out really well but I made them far too big so they were very filling.

These ones were coconut and raspberry and even though I found them a bit sickly, everyone else loved them, which made the morning even better.

Punch and Judy

I took the boys to our local town show today. They had a lovely time, there were stalls, bouncy castles, ice cream, hook-a-duck and a proper old fashioned Punch and Judy show. With that and the sun shining I could almost imagine we were at the seaside!

That's the way to do it!

Family sized Pizza

Thought I would make a pizza from scratch for tea tonight. How easy, if I had known it was so quick I'd have done it before! I made it from a Gino Dicampo recipe I cut out of one of my (many) magazines. I made double quantities to make a giant one.

Ingredients

• 2tsp quick action bread yeast
• 350g strong plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 2tbsp olive oil (plus extra for greasing)
• Passata
• dried Oregano
• Your choice of pizza toppings
• black pepper

Method 
Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Add yeast and a pinch of salt to 140ml warm water. Put flour into bowl, make a well in the centre add yeast, water and oil. Mix with a wooden spoon to form dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface; work with your hands for 5mins (it's very sticky). Place in a greased bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave at room temperature until it has doubled in size (such a lovely surprise to see, even though you know what is supposed to have happened!)

Turn dough onto floured surface and push out from centre to form your base. Place on an oiled baking tray.
Spread Passata on top and then add your toppings. Sprinkle with the dried Oregano and black pepper and cook in oven for 20mins or until edges are golden brown. Simples!

I topped it with diced green and red peppers, pepperoni, mozzarella and mature cheddar...yum. It was delicious and a big hit with the boys, big and small!

Makes me want to eat it all over again!

Grey Day

What a horrible day it is here today. It's grey and gloomy and feels really oppressive. I found myself getting over the top stressed this morning, trying to get the boys ready for school and nursery and then in town everyone seemed miserable and grumpy and no one was smiling! It felt like someone had died. Went to the coffee shop to cheer myself up and spent a lot of time giggling at the supremely funny book I took in with me (more about that in a later post!) When I emerged into the town again ready to pick up my boy, I felt much cheerier, amazing what a good read can do!

Black and White movie night

I thought it might be fun to start having a black and white movie night for me and Mr Man. Popcorn, PJ's and all those classic movies that I've heard about so many times but have never seen.

Here's the list...
*  Casablanca
*  A Streetcar named desire
*  Citizen Cane
*  Psycho
*  Duck Soup
*  Sunset Boulevard
*  Top Hat
*  Incredible shrinking man
*  On The Waterfront
*  The Big Sleep
*  Manhattan
*  Mr Deeds Goes To Town
*  The Philadelphia Story
*  Stalag 17
*  Bringing Up Baby
*  His Girl Friday
*  Mr Smith Goes To Washington
*  North By Northwest
*  Dr Strangelove
*  The Shop Around The Corner
*  From Here To Eternity
*  It Happened One Night
*  The Thin Man
*  The Apartment
*  Abbot & Costello, Hold That Ghost

I think that's plenty to be going on with! Think we'll do a musicals list after that and then a B movie list! Wonder what Mr Man will think of my plan?

Pudding Club

Last Friday was my first Pudding Club. It's run on the first Sunday of every month at my favourite place to meet in town, The Almanac. It was lovely, me, my mum, my sister, my godmother and her daughter went and we all had a great time. The pudding boards were £10 each and for that you got 4 portions of different summer puddings. There was strawberry and champagne jelly, sticky toffee pudding, a raspberry cream and a lemon meringue cream slice. They were all gorgeous, I had my own board (greedy one that I am!) but couldn't finish it all. During all this eating there was chatting, laughing and tea drinking, all to the fantastic sound of this v v talented man

http://www.thomkirkpatric.com/      Amazingly talented!

Easy peasy Playdough

      

I just had to share this dough recipe with you as it is so easy to make, it took about 2 minutes to make each of these! Recipe found on http://www.becomingdomestic.co.uk/

Playdough recipe:

Your will need: 

• 1/2 cup of salt
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tablespoon of Cream of Tartar (this is a natural powdered raising agent for use in scones, soda bread and a wide range of other recipes)
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• I cup of boiling water (from the kettle) mixed with
• food colouring

What to do:

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then mix vigorously with the hot water.

How easy is that! some variations I've read are to use baby oil instead of normal oil for a nicer smell, to add a few drops of essential oil (again, for a nicer smell), to add glitter and also if you add only half the amount of Cream of Tartar it's supposed to make a stiffer dough.

May reads.....

No1 Ladies Detective Agency, Morality For Beautiful Girls- Alexander McCall Smith

I love this series of books following Mma Ramotse, owner of the No1 Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana. They are beautifully written and so easy to get into. They never fail to make me smile and the descriptions are so wonderful it always makes me want to visit Botswana. I have only just discovered these books and am now totally hooked. They are a perfect, relaxing read before bed.

Salmon Fishing In The Yemen- Paul Torday.

I picked this book up from the library as I had heard of it before and knew it was meant to be a good read. I wasn't sure it was going to be my thing but was surprised by the story which was funny and interesting and not at all serious, as I thought it would be. It was done in the style of letters and emails between the characters and personal accounts from Dr Alfred Jones (the man leading the project to introduce Salmon into the Wadis of the Yemen) I didn't find the book to be a really easy read and had to steel myself to get back into it sometimes, but whenever I did I really enjoyed it. The only thing I didn't enjoy about this book was the ending, but at least it was surprising and I certainly didn't expect it!

Agatha Raisin and The Quiche Of Death- M. C. Beaton

This was a brilliant read and perfect for me to plough through in the coffee shop whilst waiting to pick up my youngest from Nursery. They are a bit like a comedy Miss Marple but with the main character being a retired, high flying, dragon of a business woman. The characters are brilliant and the plot is wonderful. There are 20 books in the series so far, with one more due for release soon so there are plenty for me to keep me going  (I hate it when you get to the end of a much enjoyed series of books and you know there aren't going to be any more ) I can't wait to read the next one! I think that a pot of Earl Grey tea and a pecan and banana loaf are the perfect accompaniment to this read (well that's how I do it anyway).

                                                      

Sex In The City

I went to see this movie on it's opening night, last weekend with the girls, just how I would recommend this should be done. We were all ready, wearing our casual but glam outfits, with our hair and makeup done, jewellery on and we even wore heels for the occasion! and what happened? we were completely outdone by lots of much younger, slimmer and fabulously glamorous girls. So we did what any self respecting yummy mummy's would do, we bought chocolate, sweets and popcorn and thought bugger em! This date had been on my calender for the last month and I was really looking forward to having a girly night out, my kind of night out, one that involves eating, sitting down and watching an overgrown TV. We love love loved this film, just as we did the first, it was fab and made me laugh, lust (over the fashion) and even cry (when Charlotte and Miranda are talking about being mums). It was a really good night and I left the cinema feeling as fabulous as they were in the movie! and the green dress that Carrie wore in the end? Oh how I wish!

Prince of Persia

Me and Mr man went to see this last Wednesday on our weekly date night. Our first time doing Orange Wednesday, what a bargain! I didn't know much about this movie but thought it looked a bit like The Mummy so we decided to give it a try. It was brilliant, unexpected and I loved it and not just for the v lovely  leading man! It was funny in places but was also full of action, magic and adventure. The cast was packed with people I recognised and most of them I knew but just couldn't place. What a deeply annoying game it was to play on the way home trying to work them out...Oh I know him!...God what have I seen him in! He's from errrm....Oh, I'll just google it when we get home! Was very surprised to find out that the film is based on a computer game, it's much better than you would expect. Gemma Arterton is gorgeous in this, oh how i wish I looked like that! So all in all a great night even though the cinema smelt like a loo (apparently a dodgy air freshener!)

10 things about me...

                                    1.  I'm half Portuguese
                                    2.  I'm shorter than Kylie
                                    3.  I can't whistle
                                    4.  I've got 2 little boys
                                    5.  I'm allergic to caffeine
                                    6.  I'm learning to drive
                                    7.  I share the Queens birthday
                                    8.  I've never been to Scotland
                                    9.  I used to be a Hairdresser
                                   10. I'd like to write children's books

Loves..

Lime green, Giraffes, Breakfast at Tiffany's, chocolate, Gin&Tonic, magazines, Pushing Daisies, Cow nosed Rays, making lists, Paulo Nuitini, taking photo's, Pear Cider, drinking tea, Kath and Kim, my bed, chatting with friends, Turquoise, having painted nails, baking, buying books, The Good life, the smell of cut grass, my nan's hands, fresh flowers, making plans, having my hair done, movie night, Kings Of Leon, Peach schnapps, French and Saunders, holidays, getting dressed up, buying presents, Zebra Finches, new notebooks, the library, The Puppini Sisters, going to the theatre, weekends away, vanilla latte, sunshine.