Pumpkins Galore

No Halloween is complete without a pumpkin or two. Since my boyfriend had never carved a pumpkin before, we each got one. After we carved them (during which I almost cut off my fingers with his Swiss army knife on more than one occasion) we made pumpkin soup and ate it by the candlelight from our pumpkins.

 

Also, scroll down for more pumpkin madness: me with my face painted like a pumpkin for work at the weekend!

Don't the pumpkin scrapings look an awful lot like ice cream?!

Mine's the goofy looking one...

Homemade Toffee Apples

I'd never made toffee apples before, and this was our attempt: I think it turned out pretty well. Without a sugar thermometer, boiling the toffee to the right temperature was tricky but we managed, although my boyfriend did panic a little bit ("Oh no, it's going to burn through the pan!"). Covering them in chocolate was the best part: because there was a bit too much melted chocolate. I didn't want any to go to waste so I forced myself to eat it! We used Pink Lady Apples as they are perfectly crunchy, and a recipe from BBC Good Food: such a great website for all sorts of food ideas.

Spicy Mulled Cider

We had an early Halloween celebration today, and to start with we cooked up a batch of delicious Mulled Cider. We used a basic Mulled Cider Recipe from BBC's Good Food website (minus the dark rum), and it was truly delicious: full of spices and fruit. We also made pumpkin soup, carved a pumpkin each (mine turned out silly rather than scary!) and made some toffee apples: photos to come soon. Hope you are all having a wonderful week. I'm doing my second shift at a rock bar tonight (Thursday): wish me luck!

A Little Bit Of Halloween

Last night around midnight I decided to decorate our bedroom a little bit, with some cute seasonal decorations. I didn't actually have many materials to hand, but I was pretty happy with my creations. I started off with a few autumn leaves, but then I got very Halloween inspired... and now I've got lots of pumpkins, black cats, bats and ghosts all over my walls!

 

Now I really can't wait for Wednesday, when we plan to carve our pumpkins, make pumpkin soup, drink hot apple cider and attempt to make toffee apples.

Lately

Walking in the Royal Botanic Gardens with my friend Rebecca

Bunches of bright berries everywhere

My new favourite drink

Toffee popcorn chocolate? Yes please!

Kicking through autumn leaves

A Few Days By The Sea

A few photos of our trip to Hampshire to visit my family. We stayed with my parents in a house they rented: it was in a perfect location right next the water and we were lucky enough to get some sunshine while we were there, as well as quite a bit of wind and rain! It was lovely to see everyone.

You can just see my mum out on the balcony of the house in this shot!

One Hundred

I very cheekily borrowed the idea for this post, to write one hundred things about me for my hundreth post, from the wonderful Krysten from Why Girls Are Weird: you can (and should!) read hers here.

So here it is: one hundred things about me to celebrate my one hundreth post:

 

I was born in England
But I moved to Ireland with my parents when I was four
I grew up in the best county, Cork
In a pink and white house in the countryside
I spent most of my childhood running around outside, reading and drawing
I also did quite a lot of mowing and washing up
I never lost my English accent
Which means that people often don’t believe how long I lived in Ireland
I’m very close to my parents, something that makes me feel very lucky
I have four half-sisters, all older than me
I’ve also got two nieces and one nephew
I went to four primary schools, and secondary schools
In general, I didn’t really like school
I am terrible at maths
Maybe it’s because I’m not very logical
I went to a mixed boarding school for four years
Sometimes I liked it there, sometimes I didn’t: it was definitely a good experience
My first year there I slept in a dorm with ten other girls
It made me very tolerant of other people
When I was 17 I attended the Future World Leaders Summit
It meant that I got to spent ten amazing days in Washington DC
My sister once took me to Venice, Italy for a birthday treat
I also spent my 18^th birthday in Venice
Gilmore Girls is my favourite TV show
And my favourite singer is Joshua Radin
I can’t choose a favourite author: I’ve read far too many books
But I do love books by Alice Hoffman, John Updike and Haruki Murakami
A few years ago I cut my hair very short
Then I went blonde
Sometimes I miss my short blonde hair
Although I love to write, I don’t really know how to use grammar correctly
I use exclamation marks far too much
I love art
Some of my favourite artists include Degas, Whistler and Frieda Kahlo
I really like Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
Buy me a Starbucks chai tea latté and you’ll be my friend for life
Ditto red velvet cake
Cheese (especially cheddar) is one of my biggest weaknesses
Crisps are another
I’m still scared of the dark
When my boyfriend’s not at home, I sleep with a nightlight on
I can’t watch horror movies
I love Long Island Iced Teas
I still sleep with my teddy bear, Fred, on my pillow
I have six piercings, all on my ears, and I used to have my nose pierced
In college, I studied International Development for four years
But I still don’t really know what my ideal job would be
I do know that I love to write and to organise
I’ve been to New York twice and loved it there
I’ve been a bridesmaid twice
I wear glasses, but only when I absolutely have to
Mugs of tea are one of my biggest weaknesses
I love London, and lived there for a few months last year with my sister and her dad
I’ve never really been into sports, but I love to swim
I also love long walks
I’m a very fast walker
When I was young, I learned to do Irish dancing
I used to bite my nails
I love MAC lipsticks: luckily my sister keeps me well supplied
I always take really long showers
I am a big list maker
Maybe in part because I don’t have a great memory
I always have lip balm and chewing gum with me
I’m not very good at throwing things away: I may be part hoarder
I’m scared of Ferris wheels, but not of rollercoasters
I have bunions, inherited from my mum
This year I’ve finally started feeling comfortable in my own skin
I’ve always walked a little bit pigeon toed
I used to walk on my tiptoes when I was young
Sometimes I still do
I rarely leave the house without mascara
One of my favourite foods is cheese on toast
Another is one of my mums dishes: lentils, mince and fried rice
I drink a lot of water
I’m usually early for everything
But I’m not very good at getting up early
I love to sleep
I dream a lot, and I have quite a few nightmares too
My boyfriend keeps telling me to write them down and turn them into stories
I’ve been living with him since February and I’ve couldn’t be happier
For my birthday he made me Christmas, the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me
We met four years ago when we worked in the same shop
I was a shop assistant; he worked in security
It took us a long time to figure out that we should be together
We got there eventually
But not until we’d both moved to opposite ends of the British Isle
I was miserable without him
The tiny Dalek he gave me which means so much always sits beside my bed
Yes, I am a Doctor Who fan
I love cooking
My fried rice is finally working out
And at last I’ve stopped overcooking chicken
I also like baking
I have a huge folder of recipes I want to try
I want to make some toffee apples for Halloween
I love holidays, especially Christmas
My favourite Christmas film is It’s A Wonderful Life
I love all of the Coen Brothers films too
I also love cats, and want to get a kitten as soon as we can
Almost there. What else? Oh yes: I always, always wear perfume

A Short Break

I'm off to the south of England with my boyfriend tomorrow morning to visit my family, so I'm going to be on a blogging break until Friday as I'm not bringing my laptop. It's going to be an exciting few days, and I really can't wait.

 

I've almost finished packing...

 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Astonishing Splashes of Colour

 

I love wearing bright colours when the weather is dull, so I decided to break out some turquoise and pink today. We almost bought a pumpkin while we were walking around the shops earlier, but decided that it was still a bit too soon. It's just so exciting to see them available! I plan on making pumpkin soup, and then we'll carve an interesting face on it of course.

 

I'm off to work in a couple of hours: I work on the front door on Friday nights, so I'll be wrapping up very warm! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

 

The name of this post comes from the description of Neverland by Peter Pan: 'Neverland is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of colour here and there.'

What I'm wearing: top from Zara, skirt, bag and shoes from Topshop, scarf from Warehouse 

Autumn Leaves

It's really starting to feel like autumn is here. Not that we had much of a summer, but I still can't quite believe that it's October already. This month we have some lovely things to look forward to: a trip down to the south coast to visit my family, our first halloween together (we want to carve a big pumpkin and make caramel apples, among other things) and an anniversary to celebrate. And it's nice having all my favourite programmes starting up again, and trying my very first pumpkin spice latté (utterly delicious of course). Hope you are all enjoying these first few days of October!

 

What I'm wearing: skirt from French Connection, boots from Schuh and top from United Colours of Benetton.