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Saturday 26 February 2011

Flea Market Treasure Hunting Success!

Monthly Flea Market @ Drill Hall, Dalmeny St, Edinburgh

I love this space, it's so airy and light and just beautiful.. you can rent the studios upstairs..   community space!

This is the second or third one I've been to, and I'm so happy to see that it's really starting to pick up and draw a crowd... stalls and perusers alike! I just have so much fun browsing and am really sad that two of the girls won't be here for the next one... I'm slowly losing my market buddies.. but such is the way with transient friends and life on the road... Markets are a great reason for the girls to get together and we usually go for drinks/tea/coffee/bite after and usually it's just a great day hanging out... Annnnyways...

Today I found two fantastic treasures...

This cute brooch! Only £3! 
This super cute 1925 Bakelite Thermos! I think it's amazing and a total bargain at £3!!

While I am sharing treasures, I thought I would share these little guys with you as well... they are our Elves that we bought in Iceland.. I think they're so cute!! Tho they are far too big to fit in their little house!!! They are handmade from wool... each and every one.. :)


Have you found any good treasures lately?? What are some of your treasures??

Friday 25 February 2011

Penmanship...

So a few weekends ago I was at the wedding of Mr. & Mrs. P&M D in Manchester, gorgeous wedding, beautiful bride and the sun was shining in full force, the sky was blue and clear!

Invariably at these occasions, the time came when the Guestbook made its way around. Then came the discussion of 'who gets to write in it'... Mr T said that Ms D had the honour on their behalf because she has pretty writing.. the mister said I had to write our message because I have much neater writing than he..

Which got me to thinking.. why is it that girls (almost always) have much neater and "prettier" if not just more legible writing!!?? Seriously.. as a secretary/ admin assistant/ exec assistant/ receptionist.. I have worked with many misters and misses and as a general rule, ladies always write far more legibly than gentlemen...

But I have also noticed in recent times, that my own penmanship is getting worse, potentially due to the fact that I rarely write things down anymore... I do most of my correspondence over email and/or facebook and if not over the internet, most often by text message... I am not much of a phone person... I used to be.. in high school I spent countless hours blethering on the phone to friends.. often into the wee hours of the night, whispering under the covers to avoid getting yelled at by my parentals to go to sleep!

I'm not sure when I stopped being a phone person, but apparently I'm just not... I often see other friends on ye old facebook arranging to skype each other and wonder why noone ever wants to skype with me?? Then when I eventually DO get requests for skype dates, it's often during times when I can't make it.. :(  The last decent phone conversation I had with anyone was a) with mother - which was at least a couple of months ago and b) with Ms Sok when she lived in Doha and was arranging to come visit me in Edinburgh, and THAT was sometime in 2009!! Tho I did have a brief skype with Mr J last week for about half an hour...

I digress! With a lovely Hallmark Holiday just been and plenty of friends getting engaged (seriously, I've had 4 sets of friends announce engagements since New Year), there have been many cards to write  scribble in make a mess of .. I made such a mess in fact, of two cards, I ended up typing my message, printing it out, and sticking it into the cards instead...

Now, maybe I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to card writing... but when people send me cards, they are things I keep* and treasure.. and I know this isn't most people's approach to cards.. but I like to think that some of my cards are kept so I like them to look neat and tidy.. (same with present wrapping, even though I know it's going to get ripped and destroyed, I still need to make it neat and tidy).. but I got to thinking... when did my handwriting start getting so bad???

Ugh!! Do people just not take pride in their (physical) writing anymore?? Or are we all just out of practice?? When I've asked my friends, most of them say, the last time they had to sit down and physically write something (more than just a quick note etc) was probably at school.. 3 hour long English exams anyone?? Where you wrote till you hand cramped, then you wrote some more??!!  - Maybe that's why we don't write anymore?? We're all traumatised!!

What do you think of YOUR handwriting???


*as in, when I had to clear up and pack the contents of my parent's house (after I finished univeristy) I found birthday and Christmas cards which I'd received in PRIMARY SCHOOL!! no joke!! Some of them, I don't even remember who the people ARE anymore.. but some of them.. a card in the shape of an english sheepdog (they had one as a pet), given to me by my BFF at the time Emma, really made me smile.. I still have that card, it's in storage now, but I've kept it.. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.. you could say I'm a little bit of a hoarder!! 


Fill in the Blank Friday!



1.   I am currently obsessed with       buying things for the flat... ANYTHING.. EVERYTHING.. cups, plates, bowls (none of which we need).. mops, bucket, electric whisk (I TOTALLY NEED one of these! - honest! I tried to hand mix muffin batter this week... SUCH hard work!!).. anti slip matting for under the runner in the hall.. I'm even excited about buying an extendible shower curtain rail...  no - like I honestly am...  

2.  Today I am    happy    because,    I just had a fabulous lunch date with Ms B.. AND was treated to a bacon roll for breakfast by another of my super wonderful colleagues!! and I am wearing a brooch that Ms Y made me for my birthday :)  

3.  The age I am is    28     and the age I feel is    28?  I don't feel any older today and I don't feel like I did at any age leading up until now.. so I can only deduce that I feel like my age??    

4.  My favorite place is     with my friends.. being with people I love and enjoy spending time with is what makes me truly happy.. I've moved so many times and lived in so many different places that it's hard to pin point a physical location.. but it doesn't really matter where you are if you are with people who can make you laugh.. you could be anywhere and nowhere..  

5.  Something I have been procrastinating is     starting the #30 days of me challenge and going through my photos and sending them away to print...  I tackled my mess of a recipe folder last night, so that was something off the list! yeay!  

6.  The last thing I purchased was        lunch with Ms B! Before that, I purchased the cutest new lunch bag! It's insulated and is black and white hexagonal print and I love it!! Maybe tonight I will put up a photo of it... the mister also kindly bought me a GORGEOUS Le Cafetiere Medina Teapot...(pictured below) because I couldn't afford to buy it AND my lunch bag because pay day isn't until tomorrow... *is lucky*  


7.  The thing I love most about my home is       everything! We just moved in not even a month ago, so I am still enamoured with everything.. haha.. if I had to choose one thing (aside from the mister) it would have to be having my own dressing room! Well, it's the spare bedroom, but all my clothes are in there so I call it my dressing room.. :) and maybe my new teapot..   

Medina Teapot
Isn't it so pretty!!??!

Thursday 24 February 2011

Gourmet Chick: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

I love all things Heston - so reading this blog post by the fabulous Gourmet Chick just really really made me want to go to London and splurge loads of money to eat at Dinner...

Gourmet Chick: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal: "Believe the hype. Run, don't walk to try and score yourself a table at the amazing Dinner, Heston Blumenthal's latest offering."

This has been sitting in my drafts for a few days.. oops!

I would even love to "just" go to the Fat Duck... maybe it'll be easier to get a booking there now that he has a new restaurant open....

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter NOMMINESS!!


I don't believe in using glasses...
This is my lame attempt at 'styling'.. haha... let's hope I get better with practice!

Tonight I burnt an entire batch of 12 apple muffins... :(  the mister suggested I make another, but by the time I'd made us dinner and we'd finished eating it, it was well past 9.30pm and I couldn't really be bothered to be honest... not to be discouraged tho...

Inspired by this post I decided I would make the mister some treats for all the hard work he put in over the weekend doing lots and lots of driving... That story will come later..  and considering I told him to go and get PB on his way home from work.. I meant to make them yesterday only to find I had a dismal amount of PB left in the jar...

Anyways, the treats were a success!! Not hard considering they encompass two things which he LOVES.. Choc & PB...

They are SO super simple, tho a tad messy, but totally worth it!!

I used about 700g of chocolate and made 15 biscuit 'sandwiches'.... I used an entire 500g block and threw in some extra I had lying around from previous baking, the last two sandwiches weren't completely covered but there was enough left over for the mister to lick the spatula!

Haven't had a chance to photo them... they are still on a tray in the fridge.. but Keira's photo is super pretty and they pretty much look the same...hopefully if there are still some left tomorrow, I will take my own photos.... and if any of our cameras will co operate...

Ah well... bed time!!

NOMMINESS! Minus a few... 

[edit: photos updated on 24.02.11 @ 12.20am]


Friday 18 February 2011

ARRRRR Monkey!!

I found..


I <3 Monkeys
I <3 Pirates
I <3 Octopus

Hooorah!!!!! I am going to print this picture, take it home, frame it, or put it on my wall somehow...

It made me happy!! :)

I am also going to email it to the mister...  he emails me cute pictures all the time.. sometimes it feels like we have cute picture email-a-thons... which also make me happy.. :)

Mister Google Reader...

What would I do without you???

You make blog reading so easy...

But I must stop adding blogs to you... I have enough trouble keeping up with the 18 blogs I have on there already... tho yesterday I discovered I can put tags on my starred blog posts and you will keep them organised into little categories for me... I 'heart' you...

How else would I wile away the many hours at work avoiding filing...???

I would never bother with blog reading if I had to bookmark each blog and then load each bookmark.. but you keep everything so nicely organised and.. did I mention... EASY?? already...

Thank You Ms. Sok for showing me the way of the Google Reader... even if you use it on your fancy schmancy iPad.... 

{I have an aversion to all iThings... tho I have a gen1 iPoo'd nano... which I 'heart'.. but it was before the 'iAmASleekWhiteiThing' phase, and before iPhones took over the World.. so he doesen't count... he's retro so he's cool...}

Fill in the blank Friday

[photo courtesy of Lauren @ the little things we do]


1.   I am       very full and a little bit sleepy from the bacon baguette my colleague was nice enough to treat me to this morning..  

2.  The bravest thing I've ever done was    jump out of a perfectly good cable car with a giant elastic band attached to my ankles, 134m above the River Nevis..  It only took me 2 attempts to actually jump..  This is what it looks like..  

3.  I feel prettiest when       I am in the embrace of a good friend.. I love hugs.. they make everything better...  

4.  Something that keeps me awake at night is     not a lot really.. I am very good at sleeping..  

5.  My favorite meal in the entire world is     noodle soup.. any kind... udon.. soba.. laksa.. pho.. beef brisket.. thin noodles.. fat noodles.. rice noodles.. egg noodles... YUMMMMMMMM!!!  

6.  The way to my heart is        food..   yummy yummy food..   oh and hugs...   LOTS and LOTS of hugs..   and spoiling me will get you far as well..  I am a little princess (not in an overly girly way).. but I like to be spoilt..  and I am lucky, as there are many people in this world who spoil me...   

7.  I would like to       have a nap to digest my bacon baguette... but I can't... coz I'm at work..  



Happy Friday!!



Tuesday 15 February 2011

30 Days of Me: The Prep..


So it was a thing a group of bloggers from around NZ did last year. A list of the participants can be found here.
The list of topics are:
Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 02- The meaning behind your blog name
Day 03- A picture of you and your friends
Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to
Day 06- Favorite super hero and why
Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days
Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad
Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one
Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16- Another picture of yourself
Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- What you think about your friends
Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30- Your favorite song.
I should really set myself a start date, otherwise I'll never get round to doing it.. hmmmm... 

Monday 14 February 2011

Fill in the blank...

I was looking into the aforementioned #30daysofme challenge via Solange's blog and came across the 30 day challengees which led me to find this blog.. and whilst browsing, I came across this post... and I realise it's not Friday... but it's quiet at work, and I could do filing, but I just don't feel like it... and I'm sure if I took the time to google it, I would find a set little "fill in"s each week, so I could do it every week which would be quite cool.. but for now.. I am going to fill in the one that I found.. because... well... why not!?!

[ok, so I just googled it and found out that it is hosted by Lauren @ the little things we do so now I have yet another blog added to my google reader... *sigh* how will I keep up!!?? and hopefully, maybe, I will make a wee habit of filling in the blanks on Fridays... but for now... filling in the blanks on a Monday!]



  1. I am at work, catching up on blog reading...
  2. I wish the sun would come back for my walk home this evening...
  3. I like that I sit next to a big window at work, although when it's sunny I have to close the blinds so I can see.. :(
  4. I can see out the window that it's started raining again... so much for my sunny walk home...
  5. I hope the funny smell comes out of the new couch covers after I wash them...
  6. I think it will be fun to get away this weekend...
  7. I was contemplating starting the #30daysofme challenge soon...

Friday 4 February 2011

Good intentions

Just today I've picked up 2 pull outs from the newspapers at the office this week, with the intention that I'll take it home and read it... no doubt, chances are, I'll take it home and it will be added to the pile of other things "to read" currently sitting on my bedroom floor and I'll never get round to actually reading them.

As a new initiative, I have also scanned 4 or 5 articles and recipes, in the hopes that if I have a digital copy of it, it won't be cluttering up any physical space at home and I will be more inclined to read it as I tend to spend my entire life on a computer anyways.. whether or not these things will just end up sitting in my email cluttering up my cyber space is yet to be determined!! I shall endeavour to report back.. If I remember and get round to it...


[Edit @15.03] Does anyone else fall victim to this? Collect newspapers/magazines with the intention of becoming better informed, only for their space to become better cluttered?? Or do I just fall victim to this because I am a massive hoarder??? But is it my hoarding that propels me to collect these things?? I don't take these things home with the intention of having them or wanting to keep them.. merely to take them home to read them, because I don't have the time at work/on the plane etc...

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Why blog? Why now?

So, I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while. Mostly due to my friend Kelly's blog about her food adventures and also Solange's blog about her travel adventures/life in general, though what really sparked my interest was the #30daysofme challenge Solange embarked on at the end of last year. What interesting things I learnt about this friend of mine! Whom I've known since high school, but never been very close friends with. Maybe an "acquanti-friend", more than a mere acquaintance but not someone you've ever spent too much time with socially. (That shall be another post entirely!)

Anyway, why blog? Well, a few factors really...
1. I like to think I lead a fairly interesting life, so why not document it?!?
2. I have been away from New Zealand (home) now for just over 5 years and with more and more friends in ever increasing parts of the world, I think a blog would be a great way to share my life with everyone.
3. Inspired by many beautiful foodie blogs, such as Smitten Kitchen & What Katie Ate, I wanted to share my many food adventures also.
4. The reasoning to most of the things I do in life... Why not!!??

Why now??
Well, why not now??
I've never been one to make New Year's Resolutions, mostly because a) I have a hard time remembering them, and b) I have no intention of keeping them, so why bother!?
Although, armed with a friend's "I resolve to be more resolute about my resolutions", managed to stave of the inevitable post new year questioning about resolutions. I decided, maybe I would set myself a "resolution" to start my blog.. and considering I only came to this decision about 2 weeks ago, I decided to set myself the target of having started a blog by the end of February. But with starting a new job and moving flats coming up, I thought today, that if I don't start now, I'll probably never get around to it. So here is me, on my lunch break, starting my blog!