Soup and nails...

Made some delicious and savagely healthy broccoli soup at the weekend...took a picture of the cooking but forgot to take one of the finished product as we wolfed it down so fast!  So simple and delicious and even more so with a little blue cheese crumbled on top.

And...nails...yes indeed...who would be happy to receive some nails in the post...me!  Aren't they cute...they have little flower heads and I bought them on nonesuchthings.

About the house...

In December, we painted our house inside from top to bottom (yayy for us!) - the same very pale grey colour with white on all the woodwork.  Of course, there is a little bit left to do - isn't there always - we haven't done the kitchen yet (which is tiny, so no big deal) as I want to paint one wall pink and haven't chosen the exact shade yet.  Also, want to paint the wall our bed sits against and possibly one wall in our hallway in Down Pipe (F&B) so a little left to do but that's mostly me humming and hawing!

And, just before Christmas we got our new sofa - hurrah!  I managed to sell our old Habitat Sofa for 400 euros and bought an Ikea Karlstad sofa instead which I am really happy with.  It's such good value (and we got 30% off because the box was slightly damaged and the edge of one corner of the sofa a little scuffed!).  I didn't want the standard beech legs and was planning to get a chrome underframe but these were not in stock so I got a set of chrome legs for 25 euros and actually think I prefer them.   We went to Ikea again last week to pick up the footstool.  I need to get some nice cushions - just using this Ikea one from the snug for the moment.  What I especially like about this sofa is that if we get bored of it we can change the whole look with new covers...perfect!

Oh...I must introduce you to Harvey (he is a giraffe).  I got him as a present from my husband...he is handmade by Ruth (daughter-in-law of Ian who I mentioned for creating the Christmas card in this post).  Isn't he the cutest little chap??

Have a great day!

Cake..

I made my first cake using the Primrose Bakery book.   A flourless chocolate cake - it was absolutely delicious!!  Can't wait to try more - thinking of making the Maple and Pecan Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Icing next!  (Diet??  What diet??).  

I had made some very healthy broccoli soup before I started on the chocolate cake and of course, that stunk the place out a bit even tho I had all the doors closed throughout the house.  But, once the cake was in the oven, a really strong and glorious chocolate aroma wound its way around instead so I ran upstairs and opened all the doors to let it get in everywhere!!  Even when I went out to the shops I could smell chocolate from myself...my idea of bliss!!  I used Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate and I think that is why the smell was so wonderfully strong :)

Great mail day!!

Hi there...yesterday started out like a pile of poo when I got a call asking if I could work for a few hours....arrgghh...I'm on holidays - I was so grumpy!  Anyway, a little while later the doorbell rang and it was Mr UPS!  Remember this post?  Well, I have been watching the Orla Kiely website like a beady eyed little hawk waiting for the sale to start!  Imagine my delight when I found everything was 50% off!!!  Ok, so it's still out of my budget but I splurged anyway...et voila!!

Love it!  I then went for a Shellac manicure as a treat for being hauled into working!  I maybe go for a manicure once a year but I just discovered Shellac a couple of weeks ago and love it!!  I got a dark grey colour (Asphalt) yesterday and am planning black for a few weeks time for a 40th birthday party (to which I will wear my new and fancy Orla dress!). 

Did some more work this morning but pretty much finished now.  Am going to do some ironing and tidying (life laundry kind of stuff!) now and then we are going to see the American version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" which should be interesting to compare against the Swedish film. 

Decorations are only half down...but plan to finish those tomorrow.  I will then sit down and make my 2012 List!  That's stuff I would like to do and achieve for 2012!

Have a great day!

Winter warmer...

Yesterday was a lovely day...really cold, blue sky and a fresh breeze!  I got all wrapped up in my woolly hat, my cosy parka and my scarf and gloves, popped coats on the woofers and we all headed up to the park for a lovely refreshing walk.  When we came back we decided to make some brown bread and some veggie soup...totally delicious and just right to warm us up!

Happy New Year

Hello and Happy New Year!   I hope yours is everything you want it to be!  We had a fantastic New Year's Eve - we spent it with good friends, had lots of good food and, of course, lots of fun and frolics!  Took a few snaps of Christmas in our home as all the decoration comes down on Wednesday.  I usually take everything down on 1st January but because we are still on holidays and have people coming to visit tomorrow evening we are still in total holiday mode!!   The last picture shows my favourite Christmas card this year - it's drawn by our very good friend Ian!