A sunny award...

Last week I got a lovely blog award from the fab Ali at Zombies Wear Eyeliner - go check her out, she has excellent taste in make up!  I could probably learn a lesson or two actually, think I own about 10 cosmetics...  Anyway, here's the rules...

- Include award logo in a post

- Answer 10 questions about yourself (below)

- Nominate 10-12 other fabulous bloggers

- Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blog, letting them know about the award

- Share the love and link the person who nominated you

1 - What would you most like to change about yourself?

I'd like to be one of those people who sees the good side of everything and puts everyone at ease with their friendly manner, I'm so not like that!  Or someone who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'procrastination'...

2 - What's your theme song?

Possibly anything by Taylor Swift - I get what she's talking about in all those disillusioned songs.

3 - One part of your life, a memory, action, etc. that you wish you could surgically remove from your brain?

Meh, I'm of the opinion that everything happens for a reason, therefore even the horrible memories must have taught me a life lesson somewhere.  Some were definitely more obvious than others, but if I changed any of them I'd be a different (likely more naive) person, which I'm not so sure would be a good thing...

4 - What generation do you wish you'd been a part of?

Ah difficult!  I've always found the 70s rather attractive, but actually my generation really has it pretty good.  If anything I'd like to experience what the future would be like 100 years from now, since I'm not sure mankind will last that long, plus we've changed so much since 100 years ago, where else can we go but down?

5 - What was your favourite childhood toy?

I was a hardcore Barbie fan!  My best friend didn't like playing with them so my neighbour or brother were always roped in to invent storylines and embellish costumes.  I had a playroom upstairs in our house with all Barbie ever needed - a camper, multiple cars and horses, about a million outfits, a pool, an improvised house and another 20 'friends' that looked just like her.  And a fair few boyfriends of course ;)  Also up there were a bunch of Puppy in my Pockets, Polly Pockets (I liked the miniatures!), baby dolls and Lego.  Not that I was spoiled or anything...

6 - What is your favourite house cleaning chore?

Must admit me and my hoover get on really well - I always feel rooms look much better with a freshly hoovered carpet!  And doing the ironing is quite satisfying too, getting all those creases out.  I can just about tolerate dusting but cleaning the bathroom is my worst nightmare...

7 - Do you Twitter?

I sure do!  Find me here :)

8 - Any goals?

To tour America.  And more of the world.  Short terms goals are to find a worthwhile job and actually save enough money for the first plan...  Wouldn't mind being able to quit eating sugar, but may as well stick with the realistic ones ;)

9 - Do you really drink margaritas all the time?

Eh no... but I do drink Budweiser on occassion!

10 - What's the ugliest car you've ever driven and were embarrassed to be seen in?

Well my second car was pretty hideous - a maroon Ford Escort that cost £500 from the local garage, I called it my 'old man car'.  I eventually sold it and went without cause it had so many problems.  Really if a car works effectively I don't much care what it looks like!  Altho I will never own a white car or a Ford Ka, you have my word.

And now my nominees!

Sarah at Sarah Rooftops

Rebecca at A Domino Effect

Rosie at A Rosie Outlook

Roisin at But It Can't Be From Dolly Clackett...

Kerry at Kestrel Finds and Makes

Kat at Legs Eleven

Kristin at High Socks

Sarah at First Kiss Time

Caitlin at To Make Love Stay

Jade at Dotty Dolly

All very good sunny reads! (see what I did there... ;))

:)

Saturday Sun...

  Saturday was one of those excellent random days where all the right elements come together at once - best friends came home, the sun came out and my camera battery was fully charged.  We went out for a pub lunch, where I had my usual two beers and got a only a tiny bit giggly...  Then we took Mhairi's dogs a walk and got ice cream and did some of our famous posing in the bandstand.  I'm really getting to like these sunny days ;)

I was pretending Mhairi was Elizabeth Bennett here ;)

I'm wearing an M&S T, vintage skirt and Converse.  Mhairi wears a cute maxi dress and Crocs that are apparently suitable for walking but admittedly ugly...

Bounty ice cream - mineminemine

Oh look, my future husband on a pack of kids sweets!

  Our new catchphrase has become 'See you in Wales!'  Less than six weeks to our hols, can hardly wait!  If anyone has any tips for stuff to do in North Wales feel free to share, none of us have been there before so any insider tips would be helpful - I'm determined to find a fun swimming pool, John wants to climb a mountain and Mhairi just wants to sleep and watch Downton Abbey.  Which sounds pretty awesome to me...  Davy and Moffat are clearly just gonna let us get on with it, so we have loads more fun still to plan!

:)

Making work outfits fun...

Jumper - Dorothy Perkins (gift from Char)
Trousers - H&M
Loafers - M&S (here)

Necklace - Accessorize (birthday gift)

  I actually wore something interesting to work the other day so thought I'd take some pics!  Char sent me this fabby jumper for my birthday last week - clearly she's picked up on my flamingo love!  Despite the heat I had to wear it...  She also sent a gorgeous vintage skirt that I can't wait to style, and tons of other goodies, I was ridiculously spoiled :)  These trousers were an H&M find early this year - only £10!  Had to size up tho, that's somewhere definitely not in on the vanity sizing issue!  They fit fab anyway, and are perfect for work, as are my beautiful 'birthday shoes' from M&S - may consider them my shoe find of the year, I'm totally in love with them (and once the heel rubbing goes away I'm betting they'll love me back...).

  This week I'm getting on with more tiny hat knitting and doing a museum tour in Glasgow with my friend on Thursday (now the schools are back we can do fun things without screaming kids around ;)) - anyone got tips for where we should visit?

:)

Faff Favourites...

Taking shadow pics yesterday...

  Today I'm nursing a rather red arm from spending the day out in the sun yesterday (yes, ONE arm got burnt, no idea...) - stand by for pics later in the week!  I'm also a bit overexcited about just winning a GANT dress on eBay for less than a tenner, fingers crossed it's as lovely in real life, my eBay luck hasn't been great lately...  Anyway, on with the links!

I don't NEED a bag, but I really really WANT this one - I have such fussy bag style, only own about 4!

I Love Men...

This love story gave me tingles...

Read this if your day is sucking (step 8 brought tears of hysterical laughter to my eyes...)

Found another fabby style blogger - this girls style is like mine in my wildest dreams...

Date A Girl Who Reads

:)

How to make super quick pompoms!

  So it's time to start knitting tiny hats again - the Innocent Big Knit is back!  I'm knitting them for our local Age UK this year - if they get over 1500 hats they get a share in the proceeds, so for the next month my needles will be going crazy trying to beat my target from 2 years ago (93!  Last year I did something like 7, let's just forget about that...).  My friend's mum is collecting them so I don't even have to do all the faffing with postage part, yay :)  She also taught me a super quick method for making pompoms, which was actually the thing that put me off making them last year - spending ages wrapping wool round cardboard wasn't exactly exciting OR quick...  These ones aren't quite so perfect, but they take a fraction of the time, which definitely makes them a winner!

  Right, let's get started!

1 - First, choose your wool and wrap about this amount round two fingers (about 2 layers)

- If using more than one colour, wrap the next one round the top of that, or you can wind them both at the same time.

2 - Now the fiddly part - slip the wool off your fingers and onto your lap, then tie a length of wool around the middle (double knotting it obviously!)

3 - Grab your wool in one hand and some sharp scissors in the other (taking care to keep your fingers out the way...) and cut along the loops on both sides.

4 - Holding on to the tie strings, give it a shake out, trim the longer bits and voila!  One super quick, super cute pompom for your tiny hat!

  If you want bigger pompoms just use more fingers and wool - I've mostly made wee ones but the two blue striped hats in the top pic were done using three fingers, so you can see a difference.  

  Anyone else knitting tiny hats?  Direct me to your pics for inspiration!

:)

Pastel coloured weekend casualness...

So on Saturday, my friends parents decided to have a BBQ, and since we were all home for the weekend I duly bought a case of beer, some dessert, and hitched a lift out.  It was really rather fun!  I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Outfit pic outtake...

Hat - pals dad
Hoodie - Target
Tshirt - River Island
Shorts - TK Maxx (mens)
Converse - TK Maxx

 As you can see, we were a bit merry by the end!  In fact if I can work out how to put videos on here there's a rather funny one of me and Gordon dancing to Will.I.Am...yeah... may just not figure that out, for your sake!

Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

:)

Faff Favourites...

So I had a fun weekend...

  Argh, my friends parents had an impromptu bbq last night, so much fun and picture taking was done!  Shall share some pics in my next post - the above is just the tip of the iceberg...  ;)

I cut my hair this week using this wonderfully easy tutorial again - I heart longer hair, so easy to disguise mistakes manage!

Discovered yet another fabby blog - a tall, knitty girl, my fave!  (Love this post about creative journalling)

I decided to join '30 Days of Lists' to get my writing mojo back!  Not yet decided if I'll post them on here, may do some select ones...

Possible best DIY ever...?

This wee musical gadget kept me amused for way too long....

Sarah is starting a super exciting venture - Pay What You Will blog design!

Striking Truths - a manifesto a day

Some rather excellent rules for living...

You're not going to die

:)

What I've been up to...

...receiving practical birthday gifts...

...helping our enthusiastic employees prep for Brave...

...getting new fabby books!

...and going to the library anyway...

...admiring my wee cousins taste in Converse...

...getting into the Scottish spirit for work...

...buying new longed for winter boots...

...getting a fabby parcel from Sarah...

...eating broken birthday chocolate...

...and partying with friends...

...in photographic locations!

  Phew!  How's everyone elses week been?

:)

New Glasses!

  After initial doubts, I'm a bit in love with my new glasses now.  It's the one thing I'm completely terrible at shopping for - the optician picked my last pair, they were the only ones I even tried on! - so I waited until Mother was off work and she came along and picked them for me.  Because I get my lenses at the same place, they gave me a pretty generous discount too - win!  I'm repaying them today by taking in about 12 old pairs of glasses for their charity scheme, hoping for some good karma now... ;)

  Anyone else have pretty glasses?  We could start an awesome, short sighted, trendy 4 eyed people club!

:)