Totes Amaze Tuesday

Welcome to my first Totes Amaze Tuesday post. Today I'm sharing my latest handbag love. My friends are probably thinking that I will start with a Mulberry, but I'm not!.... another bag has captured my heart this month. The beautiful, gorgeous Liberty by Victoria Beckham. This bag was a gift from Santa and Mr Selfridge ..... and I love it.
This bag can slip from a slummy saturday with jeans and a jumper to heels and an uber stylish dress in moments. Having coveted VB's handbag collection lots over the past couple of months since its arrival at work, I can say there isn't one in the S/S collection that I wouldn't mind hanging off my arm, the lady does know her handbags!
The Liberty comes in a range of colours, including a gorgeous orange, however I opted for the classic black. The bag can be an open tote and a closed tote dependent on how you style. It has a rigid base and comes completely lined, with inside pockets big enough to secure valuables, including space for an ipad.

As you can see it's big enough to hold a multitude of my bits & pieces..... umbrella & scarf are 2 essentials I cant leave home without during January, along with my moleskin diaries.
I am sure that this style bag will soon be copied up and down the highstreet, it is one of the most versatile bags that I have.... here's one look that I've been sporting with it at the weekend.

Skinny jeans, boots, jumper & wool coat.... effortlessly styled with a trilby & VB tote... perfect!
What arm candy has stolen your heart this month, and how have you been wearing it?

blogging menu for 2014.....

As posted earlier this month I have set myself some goals for my blog this year. I love writing my blog, it really is random brain blurts from me and captures bubbles of my life at random times. My blog has been a journey; starting primarily as a crafting and cupcake blog an opportunity to share my makes & bakes, evolving into a much bigger cake with various slices. Thats my vision of my blog, like a great big cake, each slice a different flavour and temptation!

So my menu each month for 2014 looks like this:

• Totes Amaze Tuesday - on the 3rd Tuesday of each month I will share my piece of arm candy I have been favouriting that month and how I've been styling it.
• Feeling Fabulous Friday - on the final Friday of the month, its all about beauty & body treats that have made me feel fabulous this month.
• Wednesday Words - on the 2nd/3rd Wednesday I will share the books that I've eaten that month.
• Social Media Sunday - on the 1st Sunday of the month I'm aiming to share 7 social media sites that have sprinkled smiles across my ipad that month.
• Menu Monday - on the last Monday of the month, a recipe that has tempted T's taste buds for the month ( it may not always be from scratch, but I promise it will be cooked with love)

Inbetween this I will update with life and loves from the weeks/months.
I am hoping that with a little structure I may achieve more blogging, less stress and some fun! What I dont want to do is loose the ethos of what my blog is about.... here's to a fabulous 14.

Normal service to resume soon ..

I can not believe that we are half way through January 2014! Every year on New Year's Eve my resolution is just to get through January. For those that work in finance will know that with year end looming January is full on!.
This year is not much different for me, in fact its probably one of the worst that I have worked and we still have 2 weeks to go! Normally I get a bit of breathing space over the holiday fortnight, before January hits to catch up on admin, but this year I didn't even manage that.

Yesterday I worked and spent the whole day at my desk wishing that the "Roast Dinner" fairy had been at my house whilst I was at work.... alas no; cheese on toast for T last night!
I have a washing pile that a mountaineer would find a fabulous challenge, a microwave that has exceeded its usage over the past few weeks.. and two little kitties that when I woke them this morning at 5am they burrowed back down into their duvet in disgust.
There has however been little things that have brightened my days. I am loving getting a seat on the tube on my very early train and working my way through my January reads list. Yesterday I drove into London and was completely distracted by the amazing skyline across the river. I was astounded on how high the river was, I have never seen the Thames so high. It was lovely to see a glimmer of a blue sky.

Twitter and Instagram have kept me amused during spare moments; especially my reply from the lovely James Haskell in response to my January calendar tweet!.

I hope to catch-up with you all soon either virtually, via blog land or in person......
happy january xx

Twelfth Night...

The decorations are down, the tree is packed away and suddenly we are a week into January.... As you can imagine I had some help with packing away, as much as I had putting the tree up and throughout the duration of Christmas!

January is a gloomy month, the weather has been awful and my heart goes out to all those that have been flooded and damaged during this awful weather, here and across the pond.
I do have one Christmas present that each year I receive it makes me smile and brightens my year!. My GBF buys me each year the French rugby calendar .. Des Dieux Du Stade 2014. It makes the coldest day warm!
I have also been doodling ideas for different features on the blog this year. I would like to do some different things, but don't want it to become a blog full of promotions and freebies.  Some of the features you will see over the next month are:

• Arm Candy - what bag am I wearing, and whats in it!
• Beauty sprinkles - what beauty bits I'm loving this month
• Books to eat - what books I've devoured; did i love it or did it give me indigestion!
• Slices of London - what I've loved in London this month
• Seasonal supper - one recipe of what I've cooked this month.

What are you doing new this year?

Christmas in the Garden

Covent Garden has become over the last couple of years one of the most popular places to go over the holiday period. From its glorious tree festooned with red baubles and multi coloured lights, to its giant reindeer with a bright red bauble nose.

With the opening of Shake Shack in the heart of the apple market, it was always going to be on mt Things to Do in London list at Christmas, especially when they released their December custard menu and Eggnog featured on a Tuesday.
Coincidentaly New Year's Eve fell on a Tuesday, so an Eggnog custard was consumed prior to my late afternoon trip to the Royal Opera House for the ballet.

This year another pop-up appeared for a short period over the festive period, a Pierre Koffman craperie sponsered by Krug.... fabulous little red boxes, complete with fur throws and fabulous food & drink.... gorgeous.

Covent Garden was one of my favourite places to amble around over the holiday season, soaking up the atmosphere people watching, eating and drinking great food, entertained by chiors and street artists.... much fun! All this and a Lego London snowglobe!..