An Outing to Harrods

I am sure you have heard of Harrods, but if not it is a huge department store in London. I think they sell everything you could ever need in life. I find I visit the store not to spend my money on some of their rather  extravagant prices but to explore and decide on all the things I would buy when I win the lottery (it is always best to be prepared). 

My favourite bit is the pet department. Where you can...

a) Visit the Pet Spa- I saw a rather angry looking cat with his hair blowing in all directions sat in a glass box. I would imagine from looking at their Spa treatments he was having a "wash and fluff". There was also a dog with the waggliest tail ever enjoying a haircut. 

b) Look at the puppies and cry because they are SO adorable and expensive. They just so happened to have.... Miniature Daschund Puppies. Which if you read this post you can imagine how excited I was. Sorry for the picture quality, it was through glass but the cuteness makes up for it. Sadly I walked away puppyless because they were £1700 each!!!!! Although I was willing to never eat or wear clothes again. 

c) Browse the adorable dog outfits.

My second favourite bit of Harrods is the food court. Where I could not resist these Macaroons. They were absolutely delicious, and there were so many flavours to choose from!

This was a beautiful secret staircase we found, there was no one else using it despite Harrods being rammed with people! 

A quick story for you. Once upon a time in Harrods I found myself trying on a pair of beautiful Vivienne Westwood heels that were in the sale. Luckily for my battered debit card they did not fit properly. Whilst walking around doing an awkward test drive in one heel and one flat boot hoping the shoe would magically fit like Cinderella... I saw a very well dressed woman pick up my boot and start looking at it! These boots were only about £12 in the sale from New Look, this really made me chuckle however it was slightly awkward when she saw the other boot on my foot. The End. 

lotsoflove

xxxx

A present game???

Now I know Christmas posts should be well and truely over. BUTTTT...

I had a late Christmas with my Boyfriend, so I missed out on the "appropriate christmas blogging time" Sorry! But I thought his idea for my presents was very exciting, and I thought some of you may like to try it in the future. I definitely will. 

The instructions

In a muddle

Solved :-)

I have to admit it was fun trying to find the message, and made me very excited indeed. It was much more exciting than just ripping them open in any order. I promise not to post anything Christmas related till at least October :-P

lotsoflove

xxxx

I am in love with Sausage Dogs.

I am sure I have mentioned this before but I am madly deeply crazily in love with sausage dogs. Now I am not a huge dog fan. I am definitely a cat person. But there is something about those stumpy little legs, and the funny bounce when they run that makes me go weak at the knees. 

Since my dreams of owning my very own Sausage dog who shall be named Waddleton Boots are far off in the future. I am instead lusting over alternatives. 

ASOS- £30.00 Woof

River Island- £15.00 Woof

I am not sure many dogs approve of their human wearing this!

ASOS- £5.00 (On Sale) Woof

Yumi- £35.00 Woof

This is such a cute shirt, and can also be purchased from New Look! 

Kate Garey- £24.99 (On Sale) Woof

Possibly the cutest bag ever! 

Kate Garey- £8.00 (On Sale)  

All of Kate Garey's items are beautiful, I can barely contain my excitement on the website. 

Dorothy Perkins- £17.00 (On Sale) Woof

Who can resist a bargain like this one?

New Look- £1.99 Woof  

I absolutely love these little sausage dogs wearing their Wheres Wally outfits! We have a bit of a family joke about Wheres Wally- my sister's boyfriend is an excellent lookalike (Hopefully he shall never see me admit this). 

JOY- £45.00 Woof 

This dog goes alllllllll the way round the back. 

If you would like to have a better look at these items- which of course you should. Please click the Woof's :-) Also if you find any of these items in lost property bins or anything, feel free to forward them my way!

lotsoflove

xxxx

December Carmine VS Glossybox

Obviously this post is rather late. And due to being absolutely manic over Christmas and getting so many lovely goodies. I have hardly had a chance to play with these, but I thought I would give you a quick overview!

Carmine

1. Weleda- Pomegranate Creamy Body Wash (Full Size) £8.95
2. Institut Eshederm- Time Technology Cream £13.80
3. Japonesque- Smudger Brush £14.75
4. Myface Cosmetics- Blingtone (Silver Screen) (Full Size) £9.99
5. KMS California- Freeshape Quick Blow Dry £1.95
6. Benito Brow Bar- Eyebrow Threading Voucher 


Total- £49.44

This picture really does not sum up how sparkly this eyeshadow actually is. I love it, and I am gutted I did not get the opportunity to wear it to a glitzy New Years Eve party!!!

I do not actually own a smudger brush, so I found this very exciting. It is so soft and I like that it is the perfect size for travelling! 

I have the Weleda Pomegranate body oil from a previous Glossybox, that I love the smell of. But have a slight  issue with having a greasy oily body until it dries. So I am looking forward to appreciating the smell in another form! Plus it will look cute in my shower basket :-P

Glossybox

1. Mememe- Seventh Heaven £5.00
2. Blink + Go- Hi- Definition Mascara (Full size) £12.95
3. Cargo Cosmetics- Classic Lip Gloss (Morocco) £????
4. Deborah Lippmann- Mini Nail Varnish (Razzle Dazzle) and Stripped to Go remover sachet. £???? 
5. Rituals- Foaming Shower Gel (Indian rose & sweet almond oil) (Full Size) £6.50


Total- £????


Sadly I could not work out the value of some of the products in my Glossybox as they do not have how many mls of product are in some of the samples, I would guess they are mini's- but do not know the value. 

This mini pot of cream is sooooo adorable, it smells really nice and has a soft light texture to it. Deborah Lippmann is a favourite of mine, as you probably know if you saw my Happy Birthday nail vanish rambles. I really like this colour- it is a dark pinky purple colour and sparkles in the light although it is really difficult to remove!!!!!! You can also see the tiny blob of lipgloss on my thumb, it is not sticky which is a major thing I look for in a lipgloss and it has just the right amount of shimmer! :-D

I tried this mascara with my fingers majorly crossed that it would sort out my flat eyelashes but no such luck! It did make them look long and seperated them well, but it did not give them any kind of oomffpp. :-( Pretty standard mascara in my eyes (I was going to photograph this for you- but I have bags the size of elephants).

Overall I think I will get more use out of my Glossybox products this month, despite having a few favourites from Carmine. I love that Glossybox gave things a Christmassy touch by changing their normal pink box to a red one. I equally love that Carmine has done something new- giving a voucher for a beauty treatment is such a good idea! I still cannot pick a favourite. I simple neeeeeeed them both in my life. 

lotsoflove

xxxx

Lip Scrubs for Hamsters?

I was very lucky to get not one but two Lush Lip Scrubs for Christmas!!

Now I know every man and his dog girl and her hamster has one of these. But there is a reason for this- they are just so yummy and make your lips so soft! I like to use mine before applying Vaseline (if I manage to choose which one as I was also given every possible Vaseline flavour that exists for Christmas).

Bubblegum is obviously the best colour in the whole world and smells and tastes absolutely delicious. Pow Wow despite looking slightly snot-like smells like chocolate limes, it also contains popping candy which has a strange sensation on your lips. 

Although I must admit I am having a bit of a problem getting my hands on the Pow Wow scrub.... 

Zebedeee has decided it is her favourite beauty product ever and is willing to fight for it! This is why in the photo you can see a considerable difference in the lid condition. And yes..... this does mean she has MOVED TO LONDON with me :-D. If this makes no sense to you- you obviously did not read Zebedeee's very own post, she will be very upset if you do not click this. But shhhhhhhhh, its a secret. 

Lotsoflove

xxxx

Mmmmmm Earl Grey

Christmas Scales.... Check

Christmas Mixing bowls.... Check

Christmas Adorable teacup cases.... Check

Hummingbird Bakery Book.... Check

Ingredients.... Check (after 2 trips to Tesco for 3 ingredients-what type of moron forgets eggs for a cake?)

Electric whisk.... Will be improvised with a spoon and an arm.

As you can see Santa is pretty much forcing me into shoving my face with cake this year. I wondered if you would like to join me on my first baking expedition of the year?

Earl Grey Cupcakes 

1. Place 3 Earl Grey teabags into a bowl with 3 tablespoons of hot boiled water and leave for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven (definitely do not put the grill on) to 190 degrees celsius.

3. Mix 80g unsalted butter, 280g caster sugar, 240g plain flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder together until fine breadcrumbs with the electric whisk... or arm.

4. Add 200ml whole milk and 2 eggs to a jug and mix by hand. Add brewed tea, and set teabags to one side.

5. Pour 3/4 of the milk mixture into dry ingredients and use electric whisk until thick and smooth, then add the rest of the milk mixture and mix.

6. Fill cases with mixture and cook for 18-20 minutes until springy to touch. Then stand to cool.

7. Whilst cakes are cooking and cooling put your feet up and cross your fingers and do not forget to put teabags back in the bowl with 50ml whole milk for the icing, after 30 minutes remove teabags and give them a good squeeze!

I wrote up until this point whilst my little cakes were having a great time in the oven and I was feeling very optimistic... However I would now like to add the work DISASTER in the title of this post.

I would love to say this recipe is rubbish, but sadly it was probably to do with the following facts...

a) I have no electric whisk

b) I tried to halve the ingredients and maybe failed?

c) I used self raising flour instead of plain because I was lazy and did not want to go to Tesco for the third time in half an hour!

I debated whether or not to admit to these little hard deflated mounds. Especially after talking to my best friend on the phone and sending her a picture. I quote "What the hell are those Hannah? It is lucky you halved the mixture or you could have had a lot of pooey cakes. Mmm they look nice."  I removed the rude abusive words, as this blog is rated PG :-P Can you sense the support and love in this?

I had a sneaky taste whilst deciding whether to scrap this project, but it tasted okay- so onto the icing!!!

8. Electric whisk 500g icing sugar and 160g unsalted butter until there are no lumps of butter, then add the infused milk and whisk until fluffy, then spread onto your cakes.

9. Sit and cry if they look awful and at the amount of washing up you have managed to create.

If after reading this you somehow feel brave enough to attempt these, and put me to shame. I would love to see a picture of how they should look :-D

lotsoflove

xxxx

P.S. I am obviously not a cake expert. I sometimes make things up as I go along, I make a mess, I have been known to accidently grill instead of bake cakes and I am an expert at setting off the fire alarm.

Happy New Year.

2012

I want to.... 

• Spend as much time with my friends and family as possible and keep friendships alive.

• Continue to enjoy blogging, reading blogs, and to make good friends with fellow bloggers.

• Enjoy more cocktails. 

• Go on holiday!

• Appreciate my beautiful sparkly christmas present from my sister and master walking in them. 

• Avoid a broken ankle during the process.

• Teach Zebedeee how to talk, or learn hamster so we can go on adventures.

• Start making jewellery again.

• Explore London (and not just M&M World).

• Use my Kindle more. 

• Bake beautiful things and master Macaroons. 

• Have lots of fun and laugh till my sides hurt- preferably everyday. 

I hope you all had a wonderful new year. I was actually working nights over new year so no celebrating for me :-(  However I was thankful to avoid the awkward mumbling whilst pretended I know the words to Auld Lang Syne! Does anyone? What did you do to celebrate in the new year and I would love to hear what you want to do this year?

lotsoflove

xxxx