Sunday 19 February 2012

Valentine's Day

Well as it being the week of Valentine's day and all I thought i'd let you know what I got up to!
FACT: A very large proportion of men don's give a shite about Valentine's day! My boyfriend included! 
So it is up to us girls to let them know how much we love this day! One day in the year where romance is celebrated, all the loved up girls get roses, chocolates and nice underwear, (if we're lucky!). While a majority of the single girls go on a manhunt, or spend it with friends celebrating their singleness! 

I had to seriously pester my boyfriend to buy me flowers, after much persuasion he bought me a single rose, which is must add was beautiful :) ....well done boyfriend! We have to train them like puppy's to remember to get us something small or at least remember that it is Valentine's day in the first place! My parents have been married 23 years and my Dad STILL forgets Valentine's day! 
Come on men! Its not like the date changes every year! Not like easter, come to think about it...when is easter? Now that is an confusing holiday, it bloody changes every year, we can never keep track of it! Here's a fun fact...the date of easter changes because it has to fit in with the timing of the full moons! Now how many of you knew that?! 
Right, I digress, as I love to bake, as many of you will soon know, what better way to celebrate Valentine's day then with a disgustingly large amount of heart shaped biscuits, nothing says "I love you" like unnecessary calories! 

Here's a piccy, recipe is very easy and if you add a little more vanilla they come out lovely, I'll add the link below. 

I did these for all my housemates, because any distraction from working is a good distraction. 

I was also very naughty and went shopping with all this imaginary money I have! 
Topshop has the most gorgeous colour palette at the moment; ice cream colours, peachy pinks, baby yellows and pale mints will brighten even the most drab wardrobe! So stock up girls. 

Not a great photo I do admit, but you can see the dress. 

For all the single ladies out there, Valentine's doesn't have to depressing. While I was out stuffing my face with South American food, my housemate had their very own PINK MEAL. 
Yes I said it, completely pink meal! Aided heavily by the addition of red food colouring to almost every component! 
This culinary masterpiece was the brainchild of none other then Miss Dorothy Spencer! 
She made heart shaped tartlets with red pesto and goat's cheese, PINK mash potato with sausages and PINK gravy, ending with PINK meringues, raspberries and PINK whipped cream....hope you can't over dose on food colouring! 



Don't they look great?! 


Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's day
Charl X 

Home Sweet Home

Home sweet home...home is where the heart is. What a lovely saying, for a 21 year old student, home is also the place where I don't have to cook my own meals, the fridge is full of food that I am actually allowed to eat and Im not scared to put the heating on!
All our lives we try as hard as we can to flee home, be independent  and live our own life away from our parents. 
However, once we are actually living these fantastically independent lives, home doesn't seem so bad. The creature comforts that we al secretly crave so much, complain a little and our mums will feel bad and come feed us and give us and give us a little sympathy! 

Well I went home recently and this is exactly what happened! Got fed with an inch of my life, was allowed to watch absurdly large amount of TV and pretty much just slob out for 4 days! Heaven if you ask me! 
As I live practically in a field and as it had been snowing, I thought id share with you guys what I woke up to every morning, it was an utterly beautiful sight. 

This was taken at 6 in the morning, pretty right?

 Snowy sunset

Baaaarrrrrr!


All these photos were taking by my Dad, he is a fabulous photographer! 
Enjoy 
Charl X 

Friday 10 February 2012

Apricots, Do you dare?


I was reminded earlier by my dear friend Jossie, (above middle), of our loving relationship with apricots. O what lovely, shrivelled fruits they are, filled with all the good stuff that we are all told to eat more of. But warning you now, please eat them with caution. Not the actual process of eating but the amount!
We were all on a health kick, you know, drinking so much water that you need to pee every 10 minutes and only living on salad. 
Well kind, thoughtful Jossie thought that eating as many apricots as physically possible would be a great idea and that myself and Amelia (top left) should join in. So there we were eating an absurdly large amount of them, our boarding house must have thought we had gone mad! 

Roll on 2 hours later and the pain kicked in. Not the usual pain that a paracetamol will swiftly take away,  but the agonising pain that made us physically drop down and roll around on the floor! Thinking back to it now, it must have looked hilarious. 
So for 4 years I was tormented by these little withered things, couldn't bear to look at them, would almost go as far as saying I have been scarred for life! Cheers Joss! 

Well if any of you are brave enough to try these assumingly innocent fruits you may want to try this recipe for Apricot Cheesecake. 
Looks positively terrifying to me! 


Charl X

Thursday 9 February 2012

I Want to be a Pretty Visitor



Since June 2011, my friends Beanie and Amelia has created their own online shop, which sells clothes to appeal to the likes of me and any other 20 something year old who wants to look good on a budget, (anyone else excited?!). 
The clothes range from gorgeous dresses, to cosy jumpers and everything in between. Their first collection, AW11, was received very well considering how small the business is. They stock clothes boutique lines such as Sugarhill, Rock N' Needle and Pretty Vacant.
So I thought I would proclaim to all you lovely people how amazing I think it is. Their SS12 collection should be coming around soon, so watch this space!




Please give me your thoughts
Charl X

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Archie the kitten!

This is my kitten, (I say kitten he is in fact the size of a large dog!), 1st birthday today! We are going to treat him with chicken. I bought him when he was 7 weeks old and I could fit him in my hand.
This is him when he was all cute and small. 

This is him now! 
I do love my cat. However, my housemate Liv loves her cat more then any other person I know! She will be the crazy women at the bottom of your street with 53 cats! 

Charl X

The 1st Post

Right, well I have to start somewhere so lets begin. 
I'm Charl, i'm studying Physical Geography at Leeds University, the major subject that I have been forced to love is soil, this is the subject of my dissertation. God my life sounds dull! 
I will be blogging about the things that make me smile, laugh or what I believe you should really know, I'm warning you now I am FULL of useless but rather amusing facts! 

It will range from a beautiful photograph to a fabulous recipe, to maybe even a little bit of fashion! 

Hope you enjoy
Charl X