Tuesday 28 May 2013

Simple ways to de-stress your life

Hello!

You look a bit stressed - are you feeling stressed? Come sit down here, let me bake you some biscuits.

Better?

Life can be stressful. There are things that can stress you out that are out of your immediate control - coastal erosion... fuel price increases... canned laughter on sitcoms to name a few, that can leave you completely disillusioned with life... and then there are things that stress you out that you CAN change. Easily and for very little money.

(Most of these are materialistic things - I can't help when it comes to anything REALLY serious right now. Sorry).

1. Display accessories in an easy-to-view way. I'm talking about jewellery as someone who sees accessorising as a religion. Having recently started back in the shitty wonderful world of full-time employment and having to get out of the door by 8.05am looking halfway decent, I've tried to find ways of making this easier. So I've hung all my necklaces up on a over-the-door-hanger so I can just walk up and pick them out. Simple.

2. Colour code your wardrobe. There is some initial work involved in this one and it's probably not the most exciting thing you'll ever do in life, but once you maintain it, it's so helpful! Sure you don't need me to tell you how to do this.

3. Buy some drawer dividers. Honestly, these are probably the best things I've purchased recently. My make up drawer (yes, there's a whole drawer) was looking scary every time I opened it and I'd fling things about like a mad woman in the morning... until I got these! Now my essentials that I use every day are in one compartment... hair things like clips, bands and grips that would otherwise be lost in the Bermuda Triangle that used to be my drawer are now adorned and used and other less-used items are in another. Happy Katie.

4. Listen to music when you get home from work. Get that TV off, you! I can see you slobbing on the sofa clutching your remote. And I can see you're wearing a snuggie too. Yes you might have been sitting down ALL DAY at work and you want to sit down now, but having music on at home is scientifically proven (by me) to make you more likely to move around and feel happier and less stressed after a long day at the office.

Those are a good starting point for you. You don't have to thank me... but if you want to then get me some Cadbury's. Thanks!



Image from: http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/snuggleduststudios/product/love-is-nice-to-come-home-to-wall-sticker

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Something of a film review: The Great Gatsby

Last night I was completely swept away into a glamorous night of glitz, high fashion, pure wealth, fast cars and loud music.

Yep, that's right, I went to watch The Great Gatsby. At the cinema. In Bradford. In 3D.

My life is craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy right now.

It struck me during the film *spoiler alert* that I haven't yet seen a film where Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't die. Seriously, Titanic, Romeo & Juliet, Django Unchained (which I saw on the flight home from Kenya while sitting next to an Amish lady - I felt like a bad person).

Do you think he is becoming typecast? Still, he does it for me and while I didn't cry like I did at Titanic, I REALLY enjoyed the film and just love anything Baz Lurhmann gets his hands on. Maybe he should have directed Titanic? The soundtrack on that would have been killer.

Anyway, I left the cinema feeling so underdressed compared to the dresses in that film. I want every single drop waist, feathered, beaded dress I can get my hands on. I also need a cigarette holder and a headpiece.

Everyone was fantastic in the film and the houses they used...*sigh* I want to go to New York more than ever right now, but I want to go fifty years ago - SOMEONE MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

Anyway, today I wore my sparkly headband in a nod to Gatsby-esque fashion... now for the drop waisted dress to arrive...

Hey there, Old Sport.


My mission to reclaim my weekdays continues. I just have to remember that it's ok to stay up a little past 11 and feel a little snoozy at my desk the next day in exchange for not becoming so acquainted with my sofa and GETTING OUTSIDE.

Sunday 19 May 2013

Things I Want

As I sit here patiently WAITING for my first monthly wage of 2013 (come on May 24th, I'm waiting for you!) I'm mentally compiling a list of things I want to buy... I do have a credit card but I'm being kind of good and refraining from spending what I don't have:






  • Flights to Pisa - they're only £16 each way in June for a weekend break with Ryanair!
  • A princess bed for the spare room - I want to invest in making our home EVEN nicer
  • A cat. Pretty self-explanatory
  • This lighthouse lamp. I don't even know where it would go, I WANT IT
  • Same goes for this Eiffel Tower lamp... 

String Art - A great wedding present!

Oh hiya,

I've been wanting to post these photos for a while, but I made this as a present for our friend's wedding, so I had to wait until I'd given it to them in case they read this and saw it before and it ruined the surprise!

Basically, two of my friends, Matt and Lucy got married yesterday and the reception was in the grounds of their own home (they've got a nice place, lots of land). In order to make room for the marquee, they hired a tree surgeon to remove a tree.

The problem was that they removed the WRONG TREE and managed to chop down a beautiful weeping willow as well as the tree they wanted removed.

Ooops. They won't be getting a recommendation...

Anyway, they were gutted as it was a really old tree and a huge part of their garden, but they had pieces of the willow tree chopped up and ready to burn, and I had the idea of making a string art project for them using a piece of their tree, so it could live on in their home.

Plus I'm broke at the moment and thought a hand made present might be a nice inexpensive touch! :)









It was super quick and easy, my little niece and I had lots of fun making it. 

Firstly, we got some nails, in hindsight I would have preferred smaller nails as it was quite nail-heavy overall on the smaller hearts, but they were all I had. We had pencil drawn a heart shape and hammered nails into the general heart shape.

The hardest part was tying a knot in the thread to start it and finish the heart. It all has to look neat and I'm quite clumsy with thread anyway.

Next is the fun part and you just weave around the entire heart and push the thread to the bottom of the shape and then just start randomly weaving round each nail randomly in a criss-cross fashion until you're happy with the result.

Finally, thread all around the heart again at the top of the nail to create a 3D effect and tie the thread in as much of a knot as you can to finish.

Et voila! One quick and easy heartfelt tree stump string art!

Monday 13 May 2013

Some old photos I found...

As I was posting about our wedding the other day I stumbled across some photos I haven't seen for a while...

I LOVE looking through photos. I really should print more off, but mostly they just live inside my computer or in albums on Facebook.

More pre-wedding photos :)

Our first night in Calverley

Celebrating Beth's 21st birthday 

My niece doing a Selfie

Nan & Dad at our wedding

Walking in the Dales

Happy Birthday me!

Sunday 12 May 2013

Happy Second Wedding Anniversary - A Few Wedding Tips...

I haven't talked about weddings on here for a while... it's been all Kenya, Kenya and a bit more Kenya... and the fact that our two year wedding anniversary has arrived is NOT allowed to be overshadowed :)

I love being married. A LOT of people ask you after the big event 'How is married life?' and I'm here to tell you that once you emerge, dazed and a little honeymoon tanned from the wedding bubble... the truth is... it really isn't any different to life before marriage. Sorry. That's not a bad thing though!



There is more of a connection between you for a few weeks/months due to the experience you've just shared (standing up in front of your friends and family saying your vows such a wonderfully bizarre romantic experience) but soon enough Real Life kicks in and before you know it you're heading out to work of a morning, cooking dinner, watching TV and you get used to wearing your second ring and people (me) kinda stop talking about WEDDING THIS WEDDING THAT in every sentence.




I now have the pleasure of three of my friends (including one of those as my little sister, Beth) getting wed within the next year or so and it's so great to watch them go through the build up, the prep, the STRESS, the excitement and anticipation. I know each of their weddings will be fab and totally different from each other and I can't WAIT.

I wanted to share a few tips and reassurances in the build up to your wedding:

* At some point, you WILL dislike your wedding dress. It's true! You go through all the rigmarole of choosing the perfect dress, finding it, buying it (ouch) and then.... nothing. It takes a few months to have it made and delivered and by that time you've only got memories of what it looked like (and that was a sample you tried on). When YOUR dress comes and you try it on, don't be surprised if it doesn't live up to what you remembered. After all, you paid so much for it and it seemed like the perfect dress for you a few months ago but it's more real now you've paid for it and only have this one dress. Remember WHY you loved it and try it on with a gorgeous necklace and shoes to bring back the love :)

* Hen do - it's ok to have a small one. I'm not sure where this idea has come from that you need to have a hen do with at least 30 people on and it needs to be abroad and it needs to be expensive, that's not what most nights out with your friends are like are they and you still have fun don't you? Why can't a hen do just be a night out? It has all this pressure on it to be amazing and the more you plan, the less fun it will be!

* Your husband-to-be will not be bothered, it doesn't mean he doesn't want to marry you :) I remember asking Josh at one point in the run up to our wedding, what colour napkins he wanted on the tables... the look on his face was 'basically, I couldn't give a shit babe'. I MAY have over reacted at the time thinking he didn't care about the wedding. The truth is, men DO want to get married, but they're just not bothered about the detail and you can actually learn something from their attitude. Don't lose sight of the important thing; it's about you two marrying, not about matching tableware together...

* Your wedding photographer IS worth the expense. My photographer (http://www.sarahjanesphotography.co.uk/) was amazing and completely worth the fee we paid. She even helped me put on my wedding dress which I so appreciated. A good wedding photographer will be a huge help, have loads of experience and add to the excitement of the day without making you feel you're missing most of it by standing in front of a camera. Some of the best shots she took were us all getting on with the day and enjoying ourselves!

*Your husband to be will probably go to a strip club on his stag do. It's so cliche and predictable, but it will probably happen and you might never know about it.

* It's not all about wedding photo albums. We just couldn't afford an album having returned from honeymoon a little bit broke, financially. In hindsight maybe we should have put money aside before we got married to pay for the album, but I'm not sure how much I'd sit and look at the album anyway. I had our favourite picture made into a big canvas and it's hanging on the wall of our bedroom. I see it every morning and I LOVE it. Other images are dotted around our house in frames and we're constantly reminded of our wedding day, I think I prefer it that way.

Do you have any tips to share?


Friday 3 May 2013

SUN AT LAST!

At long last, we had a sunny day yesterday!

Costa Del Sol Bradford!
It's about time we were able to sit in the garden and be WARM. I even went in a convertible car yesterday with the TOP DOWN while eating chocolate pretzels - good times.

Then we sat in the garden of a friend's house and steadily made our way through 7 bottles of wine. Between 3 of us.

My head this morning was not happy.

England, you're not ALL BAD. (Sure I'll change my mind next week at some point and continue pining over Kenya.