I have too many shoes

Christmas is only a cupcake away I am so sorry but I heard on the radio that it is only 14 weeks until Christmas!  While I am planning to go into a total meltdown the day before Christmas Eve, my colleague Gavin is already testing out cupcake designs for his Christmas orders.  This was one moment when I was quite happy to see a Christmas Tree in August.

I have been a lazy blogger, I have a week's leave and I'm at home catching up on errands and stuff I've not been able to do until now. I've also managed to retrieve some images that I've taken over the past few months but haven't been able to load onto my laptop, due to reasons unknown to my un-technical mind. So this post is really a little bit about a bit of that . . . Summer shoes have staying power Do you have summer sandals in your closet that you dig out year after year and they never date and are perfect for those sunny days?  I've got a few sandals that I've had for years that still are perfect to use. My friend Karen has these great sandals - a new purchase and a pair from last year, that will be her Summer heroes, perfect for her current holiday in Istanbul. Zara, Istanbul, 2010 Debenhams sale, 2011 One person's trash is another person's treasure A few years ago and you wouldn't have seen me shoppi...

I do like a good challenge and I've been chosen by Just Johnny...   to share 10 things I love. To meet the challenge, you have to use pictures to as well. I also have to choose 10 other bloggers to do the same. The ones that are chosen, are asked to choose some other bloggers to do it as well... so its a challenge that keeps on sharing. I thought this would be easy, that I'd just be able to knock up a list quickly and post but no! It's taken me a while to really think about what would be in my top ten and there has been a few revisions before I fine-tuned my list.  For some reason it took me AGES to sort my links and images, but finally I got it sorted. So let me share with you, my personal top ten. 10. Cocktails There is nothing like a well-made cocktail and its not just for the ladies of Sex and the City.  Finding a cool cocktail bar in a new city should be on anyone's Things to Do list.  We found a great bar in Krakow that claime...

It's official, I am only six months away from my fortieth birthday milestone.  To take comfort during this upsetting time I bought some cupcakes from my local shop Cupcake . Deciding whether or not to celebrate this milestone is an easy decision, you can't beat Father Time, you just have to join him and party.  So I'm busy planning a couple of events to mark the occasion and embrace my fourth decade! God, that sounds horrid.  I think the ageing process is relative, no one really looks their age or needs to act their age these days.  People leave their childhood homes later, marriage is no longer something to be achieved before you're thirty and with the fabulous facial serums, you can keep ageing at bay.  To be honest I think forty is the new thirty! I'm no longer setting myself timescales to achieve things by a certain time.  In the past few years I've realised that life just sometimes throws you a curve ball and you never follow a truly straight pat...

  Here's some cupcakes I made earlier So this morning wasn't a great start to my week, this weather is just awful and my car (or the Valentine Limo as I like to call it, due to the fact only I and my husband can drive in my immediate family, therefore the 'limo' is called upon to perform various duties - moving house, transporting children or pets, shopping trips . . .) is knackered.  Its booked in at the mechanics on Wednesday but its not looking promising.  Sadly the older the car is, the more it costs to run.  I sometimes feel like I'm driving the Toyota equivalent of a Hummer with the amount of petrol the car seems to guzzle! So what has brightened up my day?  Well to start with, I have won my first giveaway from fellow Blogger Primp and Preen . I can't wait for my parcel to arrive! I'm going to have to think long and hard about doing my own giveaway - maybe something shoe inspired or possibly a Blackpool-themed giveaway with some Blackpool rock p...

Great things come in small packages or so the saying goes . . . So I've applying this mantra to my week! In the spirit of being a recessionista and domestic goddess, I baked some cupcakes to provide as gifts.  With the amount of cupcakes I can produce from the batch of ingredients bought, I'm definitely making savings against shop-bought cakes, they also taste better too! I  tested out another recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, this time vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate crispy bits.  I packaged them in a great cupcake gift box (available from Sainsbury's) so they really looked the business.  While everyone testing the cupcakes liked them, I honestly preferred the vanilla frosting and sprinkles. I like receiving presents and parcels in the post too. I've just received the latest copies of Easy Living , Glamour and InStyle to read.  I just don't know which to start reading first!  Perhaps it should be InStyle wh...

This weekend, I've been concentrating on my plan to become a domestic goddess.  I thought I would get a bit of practice in baking cupcakes, before baking a batch to raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Action Cupcake Break campaign .  The campaign is encouraging people to bake cupcakes and arrange social events to raise money.  As I have an obsession with cupcakes, I thought this would be an ideal way to raise money, while enjoying one of my favourite food groups!  I'm planning to bake some cupcakes and sell them to people at work to eat during their coffee break. I made two batches of cupcakes using the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook which I can highly recommend for easy to follow and scrumptious recipes.  I think its about £4 in the shops so a bargain buy to help trainee domestic goddesses!  I think that the UK Hummingbird Bakery is in Soho, perhaps one day I'll be lucky enough to visit for a cupcake or two - has anyone visited it? I made two batches o...

A night with the girls with cocktails and cupcakes, I can't think of a better way to spend time with great friends and raise money for charity.   If you read my blog then you definitely know I love cupcakes, so the Ovarian Cancer Action's Cupcake Break sounds right up my street. They're encouraging people to bake cupcakes, arrange events and share their stories on raising funds for this important cause. As well as ideas on how to host an event, there are also posters and invitations that you can download and send out to your chosen guests.  I really like the suggestion to have a chick-flick night, with cupcakes and cosmos it might be a fab way to raise funds and great fun too! To get involved visit their site .

I'm enjoying the beautiful weekend we are having, I've done some chores, my dining has be restored to a place to eat rather than storage for radiators, and the dogs have enjoyed numerous walks on the beach.  Now I'm just relaxing with a cup of tea and a cupcake from the batch I made earlier for my nephew's birthday. My mission is to achieve my New Year's resolution To Be a Domestic Goddess is being realised! I wasn't totally happy with the recipe that I followed but the results were okay.  I know practice makes perfect so I'll consult my cookery books for better recipes and keep you posted on results.

Today, I escaped the house renovations for a couple of hours for a catch-up with one of my best friends Jo. After a week of living in dust, dealing with bored two Jack Russells and being absolutely freezing due to cold weather, I was definitely in need of a a coffee and a cupcake! Whilst we don't have the luxury of living in a city where you can pop to either the Hummingbird or Magnolia Bakeries (though just sometimes being a city girl would be fabulous), Blackpool does have a good cupcake cafe - cupcake -that fully satisfies our Carrie Bradshaw or Victory Ford cupcake cravings. I have to admit that I've got a slight addiction to cupcakes but try to limit myself to just an occasional visit to Cupcake. Freshly baked cupcakes are in a class of their own and shop-bought, over-produced cakes don't really cut the mustard, if you know what I mean! As per usual, Vikki (owner and baker of Cupcake) did us proud with a variety of cupcakes to choose from. Today I went for a coo...