Photojojo Lens Mug

Erm, a cup, that looks like a lens?

Erm, yes please.

Future Maps

{Future Maps - via stephmodo}

Staying on the whole map theme.

How gorgeous are these maps from Future Maps.

That top turquoise and pink one has well and truly stolen my heart.

I wish I had an excuse to purchase just one.

london

Paris

Vancouver

I have no idea how I came to stumble across these amazing ‘photo maps’ by Eric Fischer, but they appeared in my flickr favs some time ago and I thought it was about time I shared some map love.

These maps were all created by overlaying the places that tourists and locals had taken photo’s in major {and not so major?} cities across the world.

Don’t you think they are just so beautiful?

Blues and Whites

I came home this evening from a weekend at the boys' to the best piece of post.

What more do you need in life other than friends who fuel your love obsession of blue and white interiors.

Thank you lizzie. xo

August Break

I will be taking part in Susannah’s August Break next month.

The plan is to post an image every day. Removing the need for words. For chatter that maybe isn't needed, but you write because you think you should post.

I doubt I will be able to keep quiet for a whole month, and since there are no real rules, just to post an image a day, I thought it might just be a nice kick in the bum for my shuttercal 365.

You can get more details on how to take part and see all the other people involved in the project here.

This weekend I shall be splitting my time between raving it up at the evening events at Tramlines Festival in Sheffield, and selling brochures at Opera in the Park in Leeds.

If you are in Sheffield this weekend you should definitely check out the line up - the whole weekend of events is totally free. {Opera in the Park was also free, but the tickets went AGES ago......}

In fact, if you are in Sheffield tonight, you should, without a doubt, pop along to the superb Pseudo 54 that is happening at Penelopes. It will be amazing. I pinky promise you. {Tomorrow morning however might not be. They sell Jaeger!}

Dressy-dressington.

This summer I have so many weddings to go to - my friends haven't, in the past, been in the habit of getting married, Katie's last year was the first.

But this year I have 4. The biggest of which is the boy's sisters weddings in September.

And I need help.

I want to look lovely. Gorgeous in fact {but obviously, not more gorgeous than the bride} and it's in Portugal, set above the beach, so I need something appropriate for that!

I have started putting together a pinterest board - but so far Anthro seems to have hi-jacked it. I can not get enough of their dresses {I just worry that they REALLY wont suit me and I am silly getting my heart set on them}........But here is my wishlist so far;

If you have seen any nice dresses. If you know of any nice online stores. If you can point me in the direction of any Etsy stores. Please do. I need help. Lots of it.

Travels round South America

{Images all by George Read from Flickr}

On our snow trip to La Rosiere, France in March we were lucky enough to be sharing a chalet with some really lovely people.

One of them, George, {who was there with his lovely mum and dad and his gorgeous girlfriend, Helen} is a super talented, 19 year old {19, yes, I know}, photographer, who has just spent his summer travelling across South America.

These are just a few of his shots, but I suggest, no demand, that you go over to his flickr pages and look through, not only his shots of South America, but his stunning shots of both his time in the UK and his other travels.

Honestly. I am in awe of his images.

Plantlings.

A couple of weeks ago Sarah and I got out our green fingers and planted some herbs.

Being the biggest bunch of plant killers there are, we thought the compost might just languish in the pots for a month or two until we threw it out, but it seems that even we can’t kill herb seedlings.

Check out our little plant-lings that are peeking through;

{Betty, our sunflower gift, however hasn’t fared so well. Sarah thinks it might have been when she snapped the roots to get it in the too small plant. I think it might have something to do with it…….}

Around the world

This weekend my brothers girlfriend threw a birthday party at their house.

The theme was around the world.

Each invite told you your 'host nation' and you were required to go dressed as that country, with a drink that represented your country.

My brother asked me to help with the invites.

I am certainly no designer {please don't zoom in on the white box the text is in, those corner arcs are the crudest thing ever as I had to do it free hand - I am very much teaching myself photoshop through trial and error} but I just loved playing with fonts. I am a full on font geek. I think, Mouse Deco, used for the main body of the invite, is one of my favs these days.

We got Russia.

We went as American's. {Please don't ask me to explain. I had to explain it to my mum. She still didn't get it. I left it to my dad to explain afterwards!}

They were excellent hosts with a massive bbq, and a bouncy castle and a beach bar in the garden, with marquees to hide us all from the inevitable July rain. The pool table in the front room got well used too - there was, at one stage an international nations pool tournament going on with 'arab sheiks' putting up the funds for our million pound bets.

I wish I had some pics of everyone's costumes, because everyone made a huge effort, and people who couldn't get alcohol from their country even made labels to stick on the drink they bought to customise it. There were also a LOT of people walking round in head gear that related to a whole other continent.

I also wish I could remember the walk home but I can't, although we did end up taking one of their dogs home with us. I think she liked the day out.

Picture postcard perfect

Welcome to Postcard Inn from Postcard Inn on Vimeo.

When the post from BeachBungalow8 popped up in my reader feed, I actually stopped the boy in his cooking dinner tracks and made him look at these images of the Postcard Inn.

It was almost like I had found my perfect hotel.

Check out those wall to wall surf scenes behind the beds, the bookcases, the blues, the surfboard casually {but no-doubt secured} placed in the corners. And the video evokes such a holiday feel.

And the fact it reminds me so much of the Banana Bungalow, Miami, {The Miami branch has sadly now shut down} that housed my friend Rob and I during our summer in Miami is no bad thing – I have some tremendous memories from that place……The Postcard Inn looks like it might allow you to party just as hard, but maybe with a little more class.........

The jingle of jewellery.

A while ago I stumbled across this blog, and this post.

Besides having great style, the model has the greatest jewellery collection. I fell in love right away with those bangles.

I have to admit I am kind of jealous of them.

What a beautiful idea. A bangle, with a peace of advice, or a caring note, for each birthday. Her mum makes all the bangles for her daughters, but if you wanted to get something like this, then Etsy seems like the obvious place to turn doesn't it. I managed to find a number of sellers who have the same sort of ideas;

I love both these bangles from Magic in the Grass.

Nikki is having a baby so she is away from her store right now,

but she is Leeds based etsy-er, so that kind of makes this seller even better, I think.

You can see her work in her sold items.

I like the way this bangle from PolyesterStella fastens at the back.

Super cute and a little different.

And this bangle from FireweedImpressions would mean those little words of wisdom could stay secret. Hidden from the outside world.

This is definitely something I have popped in my brain for a time I can put it to use.

A weekend of two halves.

Saturday i spent the day whining that i was super bored whilst the boy did super geeky things on the computer.

I am not used to having no plans. Weekends are booked up months in advance {my next free one is September now} and I am no good at just sitting about. So in an attempt to entertain myself;

I gained a pet {for a while} in the ladybird pictured above.

And made this Cherry and Almond loaf. Its not a new recipe - i made it earlier in the year for the boy, but it tastes just like marzipan with all the ground almonds {and marzipan is one of my main weakness's in life} and has cherries in it, so it is pretty much perfect and should be made often - especially when ground almonds are just laying about.

And since I had a whole host of going bad {not forgotten!} bananas, I threw those in a banana bread to pop in the freezer for a time when we need cake. My housemate loves banana bread so this will come in handy.

Then later the boy appeased me for his geeking with some delicious Tapas - squid in lemon and herbs, chorizo in tomato's and chilli, Patatas Bravas and some feta. Delicious.

And on Sunday we headed out or a bit of a day trip to Scarborough.

Now, I used to go to Scarborough with my grandparents until I was about 10 {so, yes, I haven't been in a LONG time} I had memories of the swimming park and the boat battles in the Peasholm park, and the beach and seasides. But i was met with a sea of chavs in their escorts and fiesta's, and tacky shops, and a lot of changes!

But we played crazy pirate golf. And rode the little railway. And walked on the beach and ate some seaside fish and played on the arcades and took some pics and had a nice time out of Leeds and in the sun. It was lovely to spend sometime with the boy, just the two of us, before he leaves me in August for his India trip.........

Oh, and then we watched the Dutch beat up the Spanish in the football. I could have done with Holland winning for the work sweepstakes, but I still won £10 so can't complain........

Hope you had a good weekend too.

Home

A few glimpses of our new home;

Our amazing blue door.

The worlds comfiest sofa

Framed

Just a few of my books

Recipes

Jems & Jewels

A world of scarves

Windowsills

We have been in the flat just over a week now.We have spent the last week learning to live with one another, our routines and habits and figuring out how to work this and that and where all the glasses we own should go, and how we should make the place pretty.

We still have some way to go, but it's getting there