Wrapping it all up

After a brief two month hiatus for which I can only apologise for I am back for the New Year.

I found that towards the end of last year I really wasn't in the mood for blogging and I was suffering from writers block. I didn't just want to blog for the sake of blogging, so decided to give myself a little bit of a rest.

What better way to start the New Year than by wrapping 2015 up, and what a year I had!

At the start of the year I was good to my resolutions and managed to lose 17lbs in six months, although I may have just put it all back on with the amount of cheese that I have been consuming over the last two weeks. As always I make resolutions and fail to keep most of them so this year I'm not making any at all! 



After a few months of uncertainty I was made permanent in a job which I absolutely adore. Most recently I have just become a Manager as well which is something that I had hoped to achieve before I became thirty and a goal which I am thrilled to have reached. To be able to not mind going into work on a Monday morning, to have a brilliant working and personal relationship with my boss and to have friends who support me and are a joy to see five days a week is something that people dream of.



With the summer came Glastonbury and the engagement! Exactly five years after we had met Leigh proposed to me at the top of Glastonbury and of course I screamed 'Yes!' Swift wedding planning began and we fixed a date for October 2016.



I also completed my final Open Uni course in the summer which meant that finally after five years of study I walked across the stage at the Barbican Centre and picked up my 2.1 English Literature degree and I felt so proud of myself.
 


Things have been going so well that I almost fear that they won't continue into 2016! But with going to LA for my best friend's wedding in March (and finally getting to go to Disney!) to my own wedding in October with a honeymoon in Bali I think that 2016 is going to be a cracker as well.



I wish you all a very pleasant year and I hope it brings you everything you desire. Here's to 2016!

C x

Wedmin

Wedmin (or wedding admin) has completely taken over my life. Everyone keeps saying to me "how have you got everything so sorted?!" ~ the answer is easy, I love a project!

I have dived into wedding planning like I might dive into a box of fried chicken after a night out. With total enthusiasm and a complete lack of shame. And why shouldn't I? It all needs to be sorted so I might as well do it when I can.

To this end I have so far completed the following tasks with still a year to go until I get married:

• Date booked - we are having a October wedding
• Save the dates sent
• Venue hired
• Church hired
• DJ hired
• Catering chosen
• Decorations started
• Invites designed
• Florist appointment made
• Table plan 80% complete
• Videographer hired
• Photographer almost booked and of course 
• Wedding dress found.   

This does not mean that I am some kind of crazy, this just means that I know what I want and there is no point denying it. 

I would like to point out though that I am having a few problems, wrestling with myself over money, and wondering if I can really justify spending £500 more on a photographer just because I like her personality better than the £900 one. There was also a huge amount of guilt attached to finding "The Dress" which I will go into more detail in a post to follow ~ oh the suspense ~  

I went to the National Wedding Show at the weekend with a couple of other friends who are also getting married and we had a fantastic time. I was going to blog about it but it turns out that when you are there you kind of just get sucked into it all and I barely took any photos show off the exhibits, although of course I still managed to take some for research!

 If you are getting married though I really do think you pop along to a wedding show. Even if you don't end up using any of the vendors you meet it is a great place to be able to get away with talking about your day, plus it is always lovely to watch a fashion show and look at all the beautiful dresses. The next National Wedding Show is in February and you can buy tickets here.

So far I am 100% happy with the choices that we have made and I find myself thinking about the big day constantly. I do have wedding fever and I am pretty bloody happy about that. At the rate I'm going I will have several stress free months before the big day because I will have got it all done by May!  

C x

Glastonbury 2015

I may have dropped the ball slightly on this post - a month after the event is very bad even for me, who can be a lazy blogger at the best of times. But I am on holiday so I really have no excuse!

As most of you will know I am a huge Glastonbury lover, and after two years away it felt like a lifetime. This year, for me, had a brilliant line-up, I went with some very good friends and really I was just ready to immerse myself in the whole experience again.

Of course it didn't disappoint because how could it. Even the hour queue to get in (a first for me!), and the sweaty walk with what felt like my body weight resting on my back couldn't dampen any spirits. Even getting absolutely and completely drenched on Friday whilst dancing to Mary J. Blige didn't bring me down that much, although later realising that I could wring water out of my bra wasn't fantastic.

Bands I loved played, and a certain artist I had always wanted to see headlined. Once again I made it through Glastonbury without going to the Rabbit Hole but I was having so much fun doing other things that it didn't really matter. I sort of wish for a year with a crap line-up though just so I can go and do all the fun things that there are. This was my fifth year at Glastonbury and still I haven't seen everything there is on offer. Sometimes you just end up walking in to completely random things without realising, like the Dalai Lama giving a speech on love or a band at West Holts who had just stepped in to cover and were brilliant with the crowd.

My highlights this year were getting the a section of the crowd around us to start singing Golddigger before it came on at Kanye West started by my friend and I, the crowd cheering at Years & Years because gay marriage is now legal across the whole of the US, raving out to Chemical Brothers covered in glow-sticks, the heavy bass vibrating my voice at Jamie XX, getting dirty feet and not really giving a damn, 100,000 people chanting 'Lionel, Lionel, Lionel!' and of course getting engaged.

It is always so hard to leave that place, it becomes home for five days and there isn't anything better than waking up in the morning, crawling out of your tent and seeing the Pyramid stage, along with thousands of other tents, every single one of them having such a different Glastonbury experience. I say this every single time I go but if you haven't been at least try it once. Try it and maybe you will see what I mean when I say that Glastonbury is the greatest place on earth.

C x

I'M ENGAGED!!!

Not such a subtle title but one that I am very excited about writing!

On Wednesday 24th June 2015, exactly five years after Leigh and I met he only went and proposed!

As you can imagine this post will be filled with lots of exclamation marks....

We arrived at Glastonbury (I will be doing a proper run down post soon) and that evening we all went up towards the flag field, where you have a brilliant view over the whole of Glastonbury.

After we had sat for a bit we moved right up to the very top of the field, where he turned to me, told me how much he loved me and asked me to stand before getting down on one knee and asking me to be his wife. Of course my reaction was elegant and smooth.......

I basically screamed, cried, shook and then proceeded to shout from the very top of the hill 'I'm engaged!' to which several people looked round and clapped and cheered. One man even came over and said how happy he was to be a witness to it all and would be off to tell his friends about it.

Not only do I love Leigh very much but he's got a smart head on him too, thinking to propose with a fake ring that looked just like my real one so if it got lost at Glastonbury it really wouldn't matter. As such I didn't get the real sparkler until Monday which required a whole five days of waiting in which time I actually got quite attached to the fake one!

Fake Ring

Real Ring

I am so very happy at the thought of marrying him and I may have already started a major planning mission, which I'm sure I will document on here as well.

Without this becoming a completely soppy post I just wanted to say that I really do love you, and I can't wait to be your wife for the rest of our lives ...

C x

White Chocolate & Summer Fruits Mousse

Perfect for having for pud after a romantic dinner this Valentine's weekend or maybe just because you like tasty treats! Try to split one if you can but best make two as you will be reluctant to share!

Ingredients

500g summer fruits
225g white chocolate
7g powdered gelatine
450ml double cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
30g icing sugar

Method to the Madness

Put three quarters of the fruit into a blender and whizz until smooth and pureed. Press through a sieve into a bowl to get rid of the pips.

Slice some of the remaining fruit and add to the puree and add the lemon juice.

Heat your white chocolate in a pan

In a small bowl add the gelatine to about 50ml of water and leave to stand for 5 minutes

Place a quarter of the cream along with all the icing sugar into a plan and simmer until warm. Add the gelatine water and stir for five minutes making sure the mixture doesnt boil.

Pour the mixture into the melted chocolate and stir until smooth before adding three quarters of the puree

Put the remaining cream in a bowl and whisk until peaks forrm.

Fold the cream into the chocolate and fruit mixture.

 Transfer the mixture into glasses and place in the fridge for a minimum of two hours but preferably overnight.

Add some of the remaining puree and grate some white chocolate over to serve.

Happy Valentine's Day all!

C x

Valentine's Day Gift Guide

Should you wish to buy your loved ones (or yourselves) a present this coming Valentine's Day I have a handy guide for boys and girls if you are stuck for ideas! Show the special people in your life how much you really love them with lots of stuff.

For the girls

1. Date Jar
2. Chloe Perfume
3. Jewelery Box
4. Leather gloves
5. Slate Coasters
6. Indoor Allotment
7. Bee Necklace
8. Clutch
9. Candle
10. Flowers
11. Selfie stick

For the boys

1. Scarf
2. Bracelets
3. Grooming kit
4. Hunters hip flask
5. Cufflinks
6. Smartphone projector
7. Robcop mug
8. iphone speaker
9. Remote controlled helicopter
10. Lap tray

C x

Christmas Presents

I thought I would share with you a selection of my Christmas Presents as I know I love seeing what other people received! I got some crackers of presents this year.

1. My main present from Leigh. I have been going on and on about how rubbish the lighting is in my kitchen and how I can never take decent photographs for Pourable Sunshine. All this is about to change as he bought me a photography light which should help improve the quality drastically!

2. My parents bought me the beautiful Rose Gold Michael Kors watch I have been lusting after for most of the year. I am in love!

3. Another Leigh present! An i-music pillow (which works with all devices including my Samsung. Not sure why it has to be called an i pillow...) so I can watch all of my youtube videos at night without disturbing him.

4. I received a couple of new cookbooks to add to my ever growing collection, one of my favourites was this one.

5. I got a very interesting looking bread maker from my brother and his girlfriend

6. Some lovely bowls from my youngest brother

7. Leigh's parents got me a cake stand to display my wares

8. A fondue for making melty chocolate and cheese!

9. My old microwaveable toy was falling apart so now I have a new one!

10. The sorting hat put me into Slytherin so Leigh thought I should have the scarf

11. Jelly Babies are my favourite sweet and now I have loads of them

12. This Camembert baker will be used more that it should be...


What did you get for Christmas that you love? Let me know in the comments below! I hope you had a lovely Christmas!

C x

*Disclaimer: I have not written this post to brag or gloat but merely to share what good taste my family have in presents.

A Letter

Dear 16 year old self,

I thought ten years on I might be able to impart some of my 'wisdom'. So here is a letter to you.

Try not to care so much about what people think of you. Dont stress. This I say with the upmost sincerity. You will worry yourself into the ground. Stop crying over boys, they really aren't worth it. You need to realise that relationships end for a reason, and that reason is obvious. It was never going to work and they aren't good enough for you. I know it hurts but you will learn something from each one. It sounds oh so cliched but we like a cliche so seriously hold out for the good one.
Stop being so bloody mean to your parents. They love you and you should love them because they are quite frankly, awesome. So stop being a spoilt brat who thinks she is right all the time. You aren't and Mum is. Trust me on this one. I know the phone calls asking where you are can be annoying but honestly, in 10 years,  you will be calling her all the time just to catch up.
While we are at it stop being so angsty. It's really not worth our time and will achieve nothing. You need to be nice to the people that love you and stop pushing them away with bullshit and drama. You will still have people that you went to school with that are your very best friends even 10 years on so try hard not to piss them off or give them memories they can throw back at you in the future to embarrass you. On that note make sure you always make the effort to keep in touch with your friends but don't be upset if they don't make the effort back, the ones that matter will.
Please do try and do well in your GCSE's even though they won't really matter in 10 years. They will set you up with discipline and get you into college. Speaking of college, you will drop out 3 months before you take your A Levels but it was for a good life experience reason, besides we go on to spend 6 years getting a degree in English Literature, which is what we always wanted and we didn't need the A Levels anyway. But do keep writing. Write every day if you can, take the time to do so. Also don't worry about your shoddy maths. www.percentagecaculator.net is our friend.
I know you will have just got your first job washing dishes for £5 an hour. This is actually a very good rate for a 16 year old and you should really open up a bank account, (not with HSBC - they are crap), and start saving now. I know our dream is to have our own house, be married and have a child by the time we are 25 but I'm telling you now this hasn't happened. The reason we don't have a house is because we didn't save. The other things are down to your future boyfriend and out of my control.......
I'm not going to tell you to stop smoking because I quite enjoy it still but perhaps maybe consider if it is the best thing. I'm not going to tell you to drink less either because that's also up there on the list of things that are enjoyable but I will give you two tips. Drinking to excess to get over a break up is not a good idea and avoid milkshakes on a hangover. They don't mix well with us.
Please try and fight our intolerance to exercise and our love of melted cheese and fried chicken. You will still be unhappy with your body 10 years on but if you could just maybe look after it a bit better that would be great. On that note, stop wearing short skirts and getting your boobs out. Listen to your mother. We suit mid length skirts that show of our calves and you are asking for the wrong kind of attention with those low cut tops.
In a few years time you will get a call from your best friend asking you to move to Cardiff. Do this without a second of hesitation. They will be some of the best years of your life, and you will meet a group of people who mean the world to you and who love you for being you, even if you did take the Harry Potter Sorting Hat test and you are a Slytherin. Yeah. I know.
You need to have fun now and stop worrying about the future, and who likes you, and who thinks you are funny. Honestly the future will sort itself. Just stop stressing about the little things that really wont matter 10 years down the line because I can tell you, currently, life is pretty bloody great.  

C x

Thoughtful Thursday

Reading ~ The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Loving ~ Leigh for being there for me

Wearing ~ my Hawaiian print trousers and a strappy top

Anticipating ~ pay day

Eating ~ a prawn salad

Drinking ~ Guanabana juice

Wishing for ~ the end of the week

Craving ~ CHEESE

Listening to ~ All Night by Parov Stelar

Wondering ~ why I have to be so allergic to mosquito bites

Watching ~ looking forward to watching my first ever episode of British Bake Off tonight

Learning ~ that every so often it's ok to have a bad week

Searching ~ the housing sites for a home that doesn't look completely horrible

Planning ~ the best way to save some money for the future

Trying ~ to lose some weight again

C xxx

Thoughtful Thursday

Reading ~ The Wrong Knickers by Bryony Gordon

Loving ~ that the sun is shining and it's Sports Day at work today

Wearing ~ a red maxi dress and black lace kimono

Anticipating ~ going to Bath this weekend to meet my new baby niece

Eating ~ a polo

Drinking ~ water

Wishing for ~ sleep

Craving ~ a home cooked meal

Listening to ~ Holdin On - Flume

Wondering ~ if I should start writing short stories again

Watching ~ the nursery children practising for Sports Day

Learning ~ that children are fickle

Searching ~ for things I cant afford

Planning ~ what to pack for holiday

Trying ~ not to count down the days until holiday so it comes quicker!

C xxx

Thoughtful Thursday

Reading ~ Mortal Instruments: City of Bones - Cassandra Clare

Loving ~ that I have a day off tomorrow. Long Weekend!

Wearing ~ A midi pink skirt and black top

Anticipating ~ Playing Sims all day tomorrow

Eating ~ Golden Grahams

Drinking ~ Tea

Wishing for ~ 5pm so I can get home

Craving ~ Toast and honey

Listening to ~ Sing - Ed Sheeran

Wondering ~ what it would be like to be a lady of leisure

Watching ~ the clock tick

Learning ~ that nothing beats sitting down

Searching ~ for more holiday clothes

Planning ~ what to do with my long weekend

Trying ~ not to think about the fact I'm not at Glastonbury

C xxx

The Perfect World

Do you ever get that feeling that everyone’s is having a bigger, brighter, more fantastic life that you are?

As a blogger and an avid blog reader I have read about so many other people’s lives and it’s sometimes hard to remember that what they are showing you and the image that they are portraying is one of perfection of their own making. Now don’t get me wrong – some of the blogs that I read, I really do think that their life is like that. Especially the lucky ones that are able to blog full time and are endorsed and sponsored to travel to far off places and go to amazing social events but the majority (I like to think deep down) are just a normal people.

I sometimes wonder what the image of me is. I like to think that I come off as a cool fun adult who lives in London, who hangs out with her close group of friends and goes to fun events, whilst maintaining my full time job and gaining a degree, all the while cooking and balancing a mixing bowl on one hip and sipping a drink with the other hand. Or maybe people just think I’m really boring, pretentious and they wish I would stop posting my blog columns on facebook and clogging up their newsfeed.

The thing is, the reason that I really keep the blog, is because it is a way to keep a diary of everything. Having failed spectacularly at keeping a handwritten one past my 22^nd birthday I now find that this is the best way to remember everything that I have done. I’m not going to lie, this is the whole point to this post – I do sometimes sit there and count my followers and wish that I had thousands of followers who hung on to my every word but I know that at least 40 people read my columns when I post them and that makes me happy (One of my posts reached 100 views the other day which made me smile lots!).     

It’s just so easy to portray a lifestyle that you want people to see on the internet. The amount of times that I have posted about something, and told a little white lie just to make it sound like I know what I’m talking about, before my friends – the ones who were there with me – call me out on it. Sometimes I’m not even aware I’m doing it! Photographs are the other easy thing to fake. The right light, angle and background can make the double chin disappear and the face seem radiant.  It is the same with pictures around the house. Look at my perfect tidy house, it is always this way with no mess at all…

Oh no wait……
 

We live in a world and a culture where everyone is always trying to keep this façade of perfect up. I want to know how all these other bloggers find people to take pictures of them as they walk down the street. I know that my friends wouldn't follow me around with a camera, waiting while I posed!  I say this not because I plan on changing it but because I am trying to make my own self aware that this happens so when I see someone else blog about that holiday with the pictures of perfect bliss:

Or the beautifully lit food shots that make your mouth water, I just have to try and remember that they have probably spent an hour trying to get that one shot and they burnt the first batch:

What do you think? Would you prefer to see the messy side of things, rather than the perfect? Would you prefer to hear about the slightly rotund girl who is forgetful, a bit of a bitch, loves a gossip and can’t go a day without eating cheese (hence the rotund-ness). The girl who spends 20 minutes taking pictures of food before she will eat it, and won’t let her boyfriend eat either. The one who much prefers to sit on the sofa watching TV than actually exploring the amazing city she lives in and who tried to cram a year’s worth of revision into 4 days because instead of revising she was baking lemon cakes and getting pissed with her friends.     

I just needed to have a bit of a chat today actually, and this is the most diary like post I’ve done in a long time. Sometimes I just need to sit down and talk. Not that it’s changed anything though – I’m still a bloody jealous person who wishes I could be paid to write a blog and travel the world but I guess sometimes it’s much more preferable to sit at home with the boy and the cat and eat an entire melted camembert with a four pack of cider.

C xxx