Advice Needed & A Winner.......

I need some advice from you lovely bloggers.

I am going to turn the big 30 in April, Eeeeeeek.........

And to celebrate this momentous occasion I have asked all my friends & family for Money or John Lewis vouchers so I can buy one of these.

Now I know I told you I have wanted a decent mixer for a really long time & although I know Kenwood is a really good brand, I just love the KitchenAid style soooo much I have to have one.

 My dilemma is which one is the best to get?

Artisan ???

&

What colour to choose?

My heart says get the RED one, cool, statement, fun 

 but my head says White,  safer, neutral, clean!!! 

I have decided to get it from JL as they come with a 5 year warranty and I don't want anything going wrong with such an expensive mixer.

So if you have an opinion on my dilemma, please leave a comment, it would be much appreciated.

Not long now and I will have left my 20's behind and be a real grown up....

Now on a lighter note I need to announce the winner of the Earth Lovers Shower Gel Giveaway.

I asked Gav to pick a number between 1 & 13 and he said 8 which was LissyLou's comment.

LissyLou - A Pear & LemonGrass will be on it's way to you this week.

Thanks to all who entered.

So tomorrow I have the day off and thank goodness the glass man is coming to glaze the new front door so it can be fitted as I can't stand getting locked out again and having to wait for Gav to come home!

Sitting on the door step with my front door key stuck in the lock in the cold is not my idea of fun!

Have a great week.

Luv

Long Weekend...........

I'm soo glad it's the weekend, and a long weekend for me too.

We have Monday & Tuesday off work as it is Gav's birthday on Tuesday.

Today I am going to be mostly in my sewing room making lovelies to sell at my first craft fair of the year, in 2 weeks time.... Eeeek

Someone pulled out of having a stall at my friends Alison's Hidden Treasures Event so I am filling it for her.

I have been making Flower Brooches, Lavender Hearts, mini hot Water Bottle Covers & Mothers Day Cards. I hope I have enough stock to fill my stall!!!!

Gav and I have wanted to go to the Ardingly Antiques Fair since seeing it on Kristy's Home Made Home and with it being only 40 minutes away from us we thought we would see what dates it is on. 

It only happens to be on Tuesday & Wednesday next week so depending on the weather we will be going on Tuesday, hopefully to find some lovely stuff for the house. If anyone is going to be there displaying there wares let me know and we will pop along to see you.

So I better get back to the sewing, Have a lovely weekend.

Luv    

My Favourite

Red Velvet......................

Feeding the Fishies..............

Yesterday Gem & I got up really early for a Saturday (well early for me! 7am) and zoomed over to Brighton.

We had booked ourselves in for a Fish Pedicure.......

(Please excuse my horrid feet)

We got a voucher for it to be half price from the website Wahanda which is a beauty voucher site great for bargain spa treatments.

Anyho, it was a complete EXPERIENCE!

I was a little apprehensive about it but, it sounded like fun and it was.

The therapist first washed our feet and put special slippers on us.

We sat on raised benches with large fish tanks infront of us filled with fish called Garra Fish.

These little fish nibble the dead skin off your feet!

The nice thing is that they obviously understand that people will want to go with a friend so most of the tanks are in pairs.

We were then told to lower our feet at the same time into the tanks.

Well I was not as brave as Gem, and it took a little bit longer for me to go in.

It feels odd, it doesn't hurt its more of a tingle a bit like when your in a jacuzzi, and you sit by a jet.

We had a nice cuppa whilst we had the treatment

So 30 minutes later we took our feet out of the tank.

Dried them off, rubbed sweet almond oil into them, shoes & socks back on and off we went.

 We had decided to go to the wonderful Bills for breakfast first which was lovely.

I had eggs Benedict & an americano coffee, yummy.

My feet feel lovely & soft now.

Hope your having a lovely weekend.

Luv

PS. Don't forget to enter my giveaway below xxx

Are you an Earth Lover? + A Giveaway

Tuesday saw me hopping on a train to London as

I was invited to a Press event with work.

 The Body Shop are launching a NEW range of Eco Conscious shower gels called
"Earth Lovers"

I have been working on this range for a while and I think they smell divine.

The event was at the Century Club Roof Terrace on Shaftsbury Avenue, & I must just tell you I got the bus from Victoria there on my own! The first time to get a bus in London on my own!

When I lived in London I always go the tube or walked, so I was feeling really proud of myself when I arrived.

The Shower Gels come in 6 beautiful fragrances that link back to nature through herbs.
Hence the herb wall display.

Lemongrass, Rosemary, Mint, Basil, Eucalyptus & Thyme as well as some lovely fruit smells like apricot &  fig.
They remind me of standing by my herb garden & brushing my hands over the leaves on a balmy summer evening.

The lovely Sophie Grigson was there to talk about herbs with the visitors, and we had a great chat about my garden and veg patch & of course cooking!
I had to have a picture of the 2 of us together.

There was also a wonderful chap called Donnachadh McCarthy who is an eco expert there to talk to about reducing the carbon footprint of your bathroom, with the aid of this fab eco display.

I never realised that you could reduce the carbon footprint of your bathroom by just painting it with eco paint, timing yourself in the shower & using LED lighting instead of halogen.
The Showergels are Eco Concious because they are 100% biodegadeable, contain NO Colourants, NO Parabens, NO Sulphates & each  flavour contains Community Fair Traded Aloe Vera from Guatemala

All in all it was a fab event, beautiful products & wonderfully useful information.

So I want to share the Eco Love with you by offering you the chance to win an Earth Lovers Shower Gel.
Just tell me what you do to be more eco conscious and what flavour you fancy trying and I will put all the names in a hat and pick one out and send you a yummy shower gel to try.

The flavours are 
Pear & Lemongrass - Warms & Stimulates
Fig & Rosemary - Warms & Invigorates
Cucumber & Mint - Refreshes & Uplifts
Apricot & Basil - Stimulates & Enlivens
Watermelon & Eucalyptus - Eases Stress & Boosts Energy
Lemon & Thyme - Energises & Revitalises

For a double chance of wining share the love and tell a blogger friend about this giveaway & let me know.

I will draw the giveaway on Sunday 27th Feb.

Soo glad it is Friday tomorrow, I have a busy weekend planned.
Have a great Friday
Luv

The Boy Did Good..............

I'm never too sure what to expect on Valentines Day, Gav's not a great believer in Valentines so I never like to get my hopes up.

But the boy did good and when I got home from work there were three bunches of flowers waiting for me.

2 big bunches of tulips, my favourite flowers and a bunch of roses.

After a bit of titivation they looked like this.

I was soo pleased that he had made the effort.

I cooked a yummy steak dinner & apple pie & ice cream for desert, Mmmmmmmmm.

Hope you all had a lovely Valentines Day

Luv

Happy Valentines Day

The Quote............

On Wednesday evening the lady came to quote for the reupholster of our wing back chair and the little chesterfield sofa I got last week. She was very nice and discussed all the options, told us that both pieces were in good sound condition and would not need any structural work, good.

I asked if she did the upholstery herself, to which she replied that she had people who did that for her!

I could see the pound signs going up as really she was just the middle man and would be taking a cut!

Considering I have the fabric for the chair a beautiful vintage linen, the chairs quote came in at over £500! & the sofa, well I'm sure you can imagine! £900+..........

So we will be getting a few more quotes from people who actually do the upholstery themselves.

We have also decided to try and re upholster the chair ourselves, we got a book for Christmas from Gav's Mum & Dad called "Mend It" In it there is a whole section about recovering & upholstering.

The chair was given to us so cost us nothing so why not give it a go I say.

Yesterday was manic, I was desperate to visit Gun Wharf Quays Outlet park in Portsmouth as CK has opened a shop there!!!

Yippeeeeeeeee, I was not disappointed. With at least 30% off everything it was a dream, I limited myself to a few little bits and I got Mothers day presents. I also go a fab coat in French connection, by Great Planes for £10 reduced from £100. That was my bargain of the day.

Then it was home to eat a quick bacon & egg brunch to then rush to the CS for my shift.

We were absolutely inundated with goods, the back room was soo full when I arrived I could barely see Linda sorting though it all. I got some more vintage fabric, a vintage handbag & 2 books one on lampshade making and one on curtain making. (sorry no pic's yet)

When I got home I was shattered, but the evening was not yet over.

We were baby sitting for a friend, the cutest little boy, nearly 2 years old.

It was great fun but I feel like I have done a days gardening, we were wiped out when his Mummy came to get him at 10pm.

Hats off to all those Mummy's & Daddy's out there, how do you do it!

Today we had a well deserved lie in, Food shopped & I will admit I had a nap on the sofa during the football this afternoon.

So the week starts again, and it's another busy one. Hopefully at some point I will get some crafting done.

Have a good one everyone, see you soon.

Luv