Save a Little 2 for Me...

I am a regular peruser of The Nearsighted Owl blog and when I saw Rachele's 'Proud of my Size Link Up' blog post I was totally inspired by her body confidence, honesty and guts! 

I used to try and diet and try to exercise more and still I would look at myself and not see the person so many others would. A turning point came for me a couple of years ago when I became very ill and in the end discovered I was gluten intolerant. This was the health mallet that helped me to put the nail in the stupid, miserable diets' coffin. All of a sudden a lot of the food I ate was completely off the menu and it was a struggle to re-adjust my whole food world. I learnt how to feed my body and heal myself back to full health and I have never looked back, well maybe the odd peek over my shoulder.   

I now realise that I am so lucky and grateful to be healthy again and I LOVE being a size 10. I have stopped buying the typical lady magazines that are full of diets, self loathing and cellulite highlighting and now buy magazines about gardening and interior decorating. No body hatred slathered in those pages thank you very much.  

I think as I get older I become more comfortable in my skin and care less about how 'media sexy' I might look. I now enjoy going on a night out with my vitals covered and some Doc Matin boots on and I don't even care if people spy an odd fat roll here and there. I still get days where I shudder at the thought of trying on my old trousers and not being able to button them up, but it is easier to manage these wobbles and enjoy a nice piece of cheese on toast instead (gluten free toast of course). 

So come ladies get in front of that camera and show the world how lovely you all are whatever size you may be <3 

Saturday Funness!

I had so much fun today! Got up in the daylight, which was just wonderful then ed, mum and I went to Shrewsbury where we had a poke around the shops and a coffee. Chilled out in the afternoon and then we went to my best friends' house and Ed and I were lucky enough to see and torment our two gorgeous goth kids (instead of god children in case you are wondering) before they went to bed. Wine was drunk, giggles and many crazy stories followed. Such an awesome day <3

I Have Never Met a Pumpkin I didn't Like.

With one week to go to Halloween I am pleased to announce that I have bought my pumpkin! It was the biggest one in the pile but it was right at the bottom. Ed, being the gentleman he is, scrambled and dug through them to release this little beauty into my clutches. I have no idea what I am going to carve this year... but I am going to start planning, probably tomorrow as I have a headache coming on and need my bed. 

What are you going to be pumpkin carving this year?

Nails, Nails, Nails...

I have to admit that I am not the best person at painting my nails. In fact painting my nails usually ends up with me getting in a bit of a grump and reaching for the nail polish remover. But after a bit of a hectic day when I got home I decided to jump in the bath then get some teal on. 

I have got an uber obsession with turquoise to teal tones right now. They are like warm chocolate brownies and ice cream to my soul, so these two colours side by side make me feel super happy.

I coated my nails in the lighter colour first, then used some french tip stickers to alternative the curve pointing up and down. Then I painted the darker tone on the top and covered with a clear top coat. I am really pleased with these nails, when I showed Ed he was very impressed (I think secretly he was just pleased I didn't get in a nail painting grump like usual hehe).

Hope you are all having a rather chipper Tuesday evening <3 

Greenhouse Day!

I won this greenhouse on eBay last week, I really wanted to get one before the spring arrives (I know it is a long way off yet) so I can be all ready for the growing season on the allotment. Thankfully the weather held up and it was a lovely, sunny, Autumn day.

I think Ed and I were a little intimidated when we walked up to it, I just thought 'where do we start?!' But Ed got his toolbox out of the car and away we went.

Ed was gurning away trying to unscrew the bolts at the same time as dodging all the spiders. There were so many! Really big fat ones. They gave me the creeps. My job was to pull out all the clips that held the panels in, which pinged everywhere when released from the frame.  

And ZAP, as if by magic one and a half hours later the greenhouse was demolished! The guy we bought it off also let us have the potting up tables which I was super happy about, that was the only shelf that wouldn't fit in the car.

Just in case you wondered what a greenhouse looked like packed into a Ford Focus, here is the picture evidence. Ed teased me all the way home that the spiders were going to come and get me in the car! Which I think was a bit mean as I was scarred for life when I was little and there was a massive wolf spider climbing up my seat belt in the car... Eeeek. I will have to find some way of getting him back hehe. 

We didn't have time put the greenhouse up at the allotment, I think it will take most of a day. It needs a really good scrubbing too before we put it up. Ed was also very restrained, as he didn't get his DIY bossy head on! It was a test for our marriage but one we definitely passed. Can't wait to put it up at the allotment and for spring to come so I can start growing seeds!

Hope you all had a great weekend. 

Friday Eve and Full of Weekend Frolics.

Well it is Friday Eve (or more commonly known as Thursday) and I am looking forward to a chilled out weekend ahead of me. Last weekend we went to my mother in laws house near Peterborough and had lots of fun, I took all these pics and just never got round to posting them. So here they are... 

This is Ed's cat that lives with his mum, well she kind of turned up one day and Ed fed her cat crunchies so she stayed. She is the cutest, Ed's mum calls her Tiddles but we think she looks more like a Kiki. 

Hope you all have lovely weekend plans ahead of you <3 

Audio Book Review - From A to Bee by James Dearsley

This is one of the latest books I have just finished on Audible. It was Audible's pick of week a little while ago and it caught my eye. A few years ago I went to Acton Scott historic working farm and they had a couple of guys there talking about bees and beekeeping. I was just amazed and intriged at by it all, but didn't really think anything more of it until I saw this book.

I gave this book 4 stars out or 5 because it is so entertaining as well as being a fountain of bee keeping information. I learnt so much from this book and it has really ignited my passion for keeping bees. The book is written in diary form and follows James on his unfolding adventure on keeping bees and getting one jar of honey before the year is out. It gets so exciting towards the end as it is not certain whether he will achieve his goal or not! I would recommend this book to everyone, even if you don't know that you are interested in bees! Because it is a lovely, entertaining, enlightening read that will not only keep you amused for hours but it will also gives you loads of random facts about bees to impress all your friends. I feel a bit sorry for Ed who has had to listen to it all over the past couple of weeks hehe. 

Have a good rest of the evening.     

Nottingham Beer Festival 2012.

Yesterday we went to the Nottingham Beer Festival and it was a lot of fun! The festival is held over the whole weekend and this year there was over 1000 beers to try and over 200 ciders. Ed and I met up with a bunch of our mates there and it was a blast.

We were even in luck with the weather it was a lovely sunny day, it did turn a little bit cold as the evening drew in. There were some really yummy beers there, my favourite beers were Abduction from the Dancing Duck Brewery, Lord Marples from Thornbridge Brewery and I fell in love with Bee's Knee's from The Nook Brewhouse. This fine hoppy bitter is brewed with Yorkshire honey and it was like drinking beery sunshine, perfect for summing up the lovely day that I had... And obviously Ed and I made sure we drank responsibly hehe.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Marvin the Marrow's Days are Numbered!

My friend at work said he had a marrow that he wanted to get rid of, so I eagerly said that I would have it. I didn't expect it to be quite this large though! He really is a monster, I think I will make some chutney with him next week and some other marrowy concoctions. But before I chop him up I thought share what he gets up to when Ed and I are out of the house. 

Marvin gets up, goes shopping in his new wellington boots on because it is rainy outside. When he gets home he amuses himself by starting a new croqueting project. 

He then chills out by playing some guitar, has a Dead Pony Club beer (which is his favourite) then he finishes up his day by writing up his blog. 

I am rather looking forward to making some chutney next week and I might even try baking a courgette cake... but shhhh don't tell Marvin.

Hope you all have a fun Friday planned.

Make Raised Beds and get the Digging Done, While the Sun Shines.

There is an old saying that goes 'Make hay while the sun shines', it was a beautiful sunny weekend so I took advantage of it and 'Made a raised bed and did some digging whilst the autumny sun shone'. I was so pleased that we managed to get these jobs done, the combination of fresh air, autumn sun and a flask of green tea really helped me feel better after my day in bed on Friday.

We went and got some wood on Saturday morning and just managed to squeeze it into the car. And Ed went to work on building the raised bed. I must admit I left him to it because he gets a bit scary when he is holding tools, its like DIY Jekyll and Hyde! So I decided to get some weeding done on the four front raised beds. I then dug in some organic manure so the soil will be in tip top condition in the spring (Ed had disappeared back home by the time the smelly poo came out). 

Today I set to digging over the large veg patch at the front of our plot. This was very hard work but it needed to get done before the heavy frosts starts to fall. I just thought about my dad when I was digging because I used to always help him out in the garden when he was digging over the veg plot, usually I would have to pick up all the weeds. Once I had dug it all over I sowed half of the patch with my green manure (because I vastly underestimated how much seed I needed) and hope the birds didn't swoop down and fill their tummies with my rye when I went home. I also got two bulbs of garlic planted as well, which is very exciting. Can't wait to see them peeking out of the soil.

This is a sneaky pic that I took over one of our neighbours fences in the allotment, that pumpkin is huge! I wonder what they are going to do with, it would look amazing as a jack-O-lantern, then made into a lovely soup or something... *yum*.

Hope you have all had a great weekend in the autumny sun.

The Great British Garlic Challenge & My Green Manure.

I've not been very well today so I have spent all day in bed, so when Ed got home from work carrying this little box it really cheered me up. Ed and I love garlic, we managed to buy some from our local market this time last year-ish from the Isle of Wight and it was so delicious. So when I was researching where to get some garlic from to grow I stumbled upon The Garlic Farm. I found their website really useful it really is the one stop shop for garlicky wisdom. I then saw that they are running a competition called The Great British Garlic Challenge  where they are looking to find the best amateur garlic grower in the UK and that was the point where my competitive streak began to surface, especially when I saw how good the prize is. So I ordered my Solent Wight bulbs and was very pleased when they came in a few days.   

I love how they package up their garlic, it feels like you are getting such a wonderful little present through the post that has had a great lot of care and attention put into it. 

The bulbs look strong and robust, ready to be in the running to win The Great British Garlic Challenge.

And the bulbs even come with a little information card that has tips for growing and even recipes on the other side. I love this company, I think the detail and passion is so evident in every level of the service that I have received. And if I don't win the challenge I will definitely be pestering Ed to take me there next year. So I am excited that planting garlic will be one of the allotment jobs for me at the weekend, the others will be fixing the one raised bed then digging some organic manure into them and the other job is so sow some green manure in the big veg patch at the front of our plot.

This is Hungarian Grazing Rye one of the plants that is classed as a green manure. Basically it locks lots of loveliness into the soil ready to give plants I grow in the spring a good start. It is also really good at suppressing weeds *YEY*. 

There are many types of green manure available for lots of different soil types and what time of year you want to sow. The website I got my seed from is really informative www.sowseeds.co.uk. The seed came in a couple of days as well which was fab. The only down side is I totally underestimated how much I needed, I ordered enough for 6m squared when I probably needed double that. Oh well it just gives me an excuse to order some more off seeds off them, as they have a rather tempting veg section with seeds that I can sow now, in the colder months. Just have to hope that I feel well enough to at least get some of the jobs done over the weekend.

Hope you have lots of autumny adventures planned this weekend.

Campervan Melamine Loveliness.

Ed and I are looking to buy a VW T25 campervan, hopefully before next summer! We are very excited about all the adventures that we can have in one. We have decided it will probably be called Doris, but I did see one with a moustache which I loved and would have definitely called that one Poirot. When Ed's birthday came around the other week I decided to buy him/us some cute melamine that can live in the camper when we get it.  

These first two sets are by Kath Kidston and I have to admit that they were in the kids section, so they are probably for clumsy toddlers. But I thought they would look adorable in a camper with a chintzy interior. 

I found this this random harlequin set of melamine in a gorgeous vintage shop in Whitby. I got 3 yellow plates, 1 orange plate and an orange cup for around £10. Then the kind lady gave us an extra mug and the two coasters for free, I think, because she thought Ed was cute and the fact that I had my Diana F+ camera with me and she really wanted one. 

So this is our lovely dining set ready to go campervanning with up in the summer! It makes me so excited to look at this set of melamine and imagine the fun these items will share with us next year. Just need to keep an eye out for cutlery and other quaint little bits and bobs now. 

A Very Moomin Birthday.

It was my birthday on Saturday and I decided to go home to my parents for the weekend. I wasn't expecting a cake but when Ed and I got there on Friday my mum was so excited that she couldn't keep it a secret until Saturday. This is possibly the best cake in the world! It has some of my favourite things on it, moomins, bats and toadstools! (I will be letting Ed eat the bats because I always think that black icing tastes a bit funky).

This is a gluten free victoria sponge with butter cream and home made raspberry jam... or in other words YUM YUM! I did feel sad cutting this lovely cake up but it was worth it because it is delicious and moist. 

Hope you all had a fun weekend and that your Monday was as good as a Monday could be.