Usually I make a point of having tasty, great food every Friday. But I have had the toughest day at work today, and do not have any motivation left. Like i've mentioned before, I work for an investment bank and next week is the tax year end, our business time, whenever one is taking advantage of their lifetime allowance, or getting last minute ISA money in. I did not stop today, stressed a lot and worst of all, the two bookcases I ordered didn't get delivered.  I am trying to be positive though, I curled my hair, that was a good point of today.


Tomorrow I'm going chair hunting in a few charity shops, to start my first renovation projects. Exciting. Im watching about a hundred on eBay, along with an amazing display cabinet I am desperate for.

Oh oh and we finally ordered a new bed, king size, with a memory foam mattress. I did not want to spend anywhere near as much as we have (almost £500!!), but it's a cute bed, and it's worth having a desent nights sleep without the awful back ache from the wood we sleep on at the minute. It should hopefully arrive next week which means we can finally move into our bedroom, and we can make the spare room into whatever we like. Big move!

Now, we're going to drink a lot of rum, and play some question games. What are your weekend plans?

I am usually a very monotone person, black black black. I'm trying to use this 'Top 5 in' to get some more colour in my life and home. In ode to the clear blue skies we've been having recently here in England, I have put together my top 5 bluies...






1. CHING HE HUANG SOY SAUCE POT for Heals. I think this whole collection is amazing, the patterns and shapes. This is definitely going to go on my newly planned display unit in the kitchen, it isn't something that should be hidden in a cupboard.





2. BILBAO PRESSED GLASS TUMBLER from Habitat. Ready for your evening cocktails, beautiful turquoise glasses with amazing detail. I've seen this style popping up in more and more stores, great for building up a collection.




3.WILD ROSE DAILY MOISTURE by Neals Yard. I've never had a moisturiser that smells so amazing, the added SPF and UV protection is coming in handy in the bizarre March sun. Suitable for vegans and BUAV approved which is always a plus.



3. ORIENTAL GARDEN WALLPAPER by Laura Ashley. Amazing subtly detail, that would look great in any bedroom, if it was a fabric, I would wear it. Sadly, this is one thing from this list I wont be buying/don't already own, solely because putting £25 per roll wallpaper up in a rented apartment seems a bit silly.



5. STRIPED FABRIC HOLDALL by ASOS. Perfect for weekend trips away. I'm a nervous flier at the best of times, so worrying about getting to my destination, the airline losing my luggage is the stuff of nightmares, so I always always take hand luggage with the essentials in and this will do that perfectly and securely.  AND it looks great too.



What would you add to the list?

Peruvian Purple

 Just a quick garden update, as the shoots are looking great. The tomatoes are out growing everyone else, coriander and basil are also making a showing, but are still quite tiny, and the leeks have started to poke through. The avocado looks as though its shell is ready to crack which must mean the roots are going to show soon. The carrots and beetroot haven’t made an appearance yet but they're the most recently planted, and all the chills are looking good. The gooseberry and blueberry bushes are in bigger pots now and hopefully they will start growing leaves soon, they look a bit bare and lifeless at the minute. I'm most excited about the Peruvian Purple chilli’s, the shoot is a really bright purple already.

More seeds arrived! We also got our first sprouters too, cress, tomatoes and jalapenos. Most excited for the purple carrots.

Hi.

I'm just writing a quick post from the office whilst i'm on my dinner break. I'm thinking about chairs a lot at the minute, I really love chairs. And I really want to find a nice one to revamp myself, repaint, maybe even a nice cushion print.
We have a dining table with 4 chairs, my Mum bought it for us when we first moved in, and for a while it was the only piece of furniture we actually had. I feel bad in saying this, but it is really boring, its not us at all. So i'm thinking of putting the current chairs into our storage room, and revamping a couple for it. i love the idea of having mismatched chairs, so I may buy a couple new, and do up some old ones.

I'm also planning on doing one all white for the hallway, and one all black for the bedroom.

This is my inspiration from Grins and Sighs, a beautifully shaped chair made even better with a thoughtful revamp. Just what i will be aiming for, hopefully I can land on some wonderful shapes too.

We had avocado in our salad tonight, and seeing as I'm in the spirit of planting things, I looked up how to grow an Avocado tree from its stone. Turns out it takes a while, and the method seems strange, but we're giving it a go! It seems dumb buying all these seeds ,when I throw some away every day after cooking.

My dad has a beautiful lemon tree he grew from pips he salvaged from the bottom of the punch bowl after a party, so it can't be too hard?

This is the article I used to guide me on the avocado front, seems strange huh? It'll take years to actually get fruit, but it'll be a nice little house plant.

Me, Dixon and a couple of friends are planning a holiday to Porto, in Portugal this June, so I've been looking for some summer time clothes. Every time we go away I never have anything comfortable, beach compatible (i hate my stomach) or not black, so this year i'm trying to plan early. Here are a few of my favourite (and cheap) holiday wear;

Now, back to the office.

As mentioned in yesterdays post, we built up the tv stand and it looks great. Today we are tackling the desk, which seems overly complicated for something seemingly so simple (it has ONE draw) after putting together a draw, Dixon and me made a deal, if I made tea, he would build the desk. So the chili is cooking, the rice is on, and he is having a rant about how much he hates flat head screw drivers...


Heres a pretty rubbish quality photo of the tv stand (sorry). Updated to a better, day light, photo. The dvd/games wont be there for long we'll be hiding them away shortly. You'll eventually see how much i love stuffing candles into bottles, that one is Bombay Sapphire gin, Dixon got me it for Christmas, super tasty!  Steve the reindeer is in this photo too, i've had him for years and he's always around the flat, and the one-tusked elephant is from Thailand, by brother brought it home for me.

Our Ikea delivery came today, earlier than anticipated by a whole hour too. Who'd have thought?

Before I started building I made lemonade! I loovvve home made lemonade, its the ultimate summer drink and it's so easy to make. I normally use the juice of around 6 lemons topped up with water to a litre with sugar to taste, top up with ice, lemon slices and whatever else you have. It really is about getting the balance right for your taste, whether sweet or sour? Today I added raspberries!

Its a great drink for garden parties, bbqs and just to have in the fridge. Today I had a shitty hard day at work, so I put in a little gin, it's perfect for that too.

I got on to the building of the tv stand, it looks good and finally the wires are hidden.

ps. I'm using the blogger app to post this. Wonder how it looks?

Hi! Today has been an amazing day. For March, it has been ridiculously hot, according to my phone around 16-17 Celsius (around 62F). I got up early to go into town, and bought everything to make a huge salad and scrambled tofu, and... new sunglasses! I spend the rest of the time out on the balcony, reading, drinking gin and enjoying the amazing sunshine. My friend came around for a bit after an argument with her boyfriend, the sun and gin quickly cheered her up! An amazing relaxing day ahead of work tomorrow, and the start of studying for my exam.

 
I'm currently reading 'Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead', which I discovered via Ryan Kinsella's blog. I'm only a few chapters in and I really can't put it down. I've never read an autobiography before, but I thought this would be interesting, and I'm promised its heart wrenching, I don't usually get stirred by books, but we'll see. I have a Lush bath planned for later too, so i'll probably plow through a bit more.

What have you done today?

This Tuesday we will be getting a furniture delivery that should finish off our living room, well, we'll need a few other bits; rug, maybe another bookcase, but it'll definitely mean it'll be the most finished room. Then, I'm going to try my hardest to get our room finished.

When we moved into this apartment, we had a couple of very uncomfortable months sitting on the floor, the only furniture we actually owned was at my parents, a bed and a bookcase. The bed is ugly and uncomfortable, but there was no way we could afford to move and buy a new bed at the same time (the deposit for this place killed us). So, my parents brought over the bed (which was uncharacteristically helpful of them) and I insisted we built it up in, what will eventually be, the guest bedroom.

We have been in the guest room for 6 months now and I'm desperate to get our own lovely big airy room finished. It will probably be a month or two until we have the money to get everything but this is the fun part, deciding what to buy! The colours, the furniture and where everything will sit. We have a white carpet, so its a complete blank canvas.

Dixon is away this weekend, so I've been passing time by having a look for a nice 'centre' piece to set the style and tone for everything else, here are a few things I love, what do you think?


1. Wilson Chair in Merlot - £99 - Made.com

    I love chairs, and I adore this colour. I think this would look amazing by a window, to use as a reading chair with a thick fluffy rug underneath. I'd just be worried I couldn't find anything to match the colour! ...but would that matter?



2. Rochelle Chest in Teal - £450 - Next.com

    This could be a bit too bright, but I love the details of the handles and legs. It would look really nice in a country kitchen, but I'd love to put it in our bedroom, however, I have a feeling Dixon wouldn't go for it. It's  little out of our budget too, but I can hope.

    Okay, I know, I know, Ikea isn't the best quality. But, truth be told, we have a lot of stuff from there, it's affordable, its local and i think if you work your own things around them, they can look great! I love the legs on this dresser, and I already have my eyes on a antique three way mirror in a second hand store down the road that would look amazing on this. (I'd definitely change the draw handles on this though).

4. Grey and Mother of Pearl Chest of Draws - £995 - Grahamandgreen.co.uk

     This is by far the best thing I have found today, I am in love. The picture below doesn't really do it justice, so check it out on the actual site. It reminds me of Spain, don't ask why. I'm not sure I could spend so much on a tiny piece, even though I know it'd last forever. Sigh. The little owl vase is available via the same site, at a bit more of an affordable price, which I will definitely be getting.

 

so, what do you think?

Hi.

This is us.

We're both 23, working full time and having an amazing time together. We've been together just over two years, and have lived together for a year and a half. We've moved from rented flat to rented flat 4 times over that time. That is definitely my fault but believe me, i hate packing, i the the stress of finding a new place and the actual move is always hell, but I was just never happy where we were. Especially renting something already furnished. Finally, last August we found a lovely unfurnished 2 bedded in the center of  Leeds, England and now I feel as though we're actually on our way to building a home together.

I have tried blogging before but fallen out with it, gotten bored or had nothing to say. I love my life at the moment, and hopefully you'll enjoy reading about it. Expect a lot of vegan food (he is the most amazing cook), a lot of furniture finds (we still only have the basics), decorating, rearranging and and everything else in between.

Now, i'm going to work out how to use this thing and make my page look lovely.