First Love - Adele

i've had the most magical week ever, it's been wonderful. full to the very brim with laughter, cuddles and so much dancing that feet were almost falling off! i have too much to share, so here are just some photos of some of my favourite things around my home!

feather mask & jewellery/miniature bear/my chandelier/having super-curly hair/my mother's immense owl collection

if were are maintaining the focus on all things superficial, check out my polka-dot nails!

barry m's pink 172 was licked onto my nails, followed by rimmel's french manicure to turn it from a hot-pink, into a more muted, pastel-ish version. clever, no? and these polka dots were created by folding out an ordinary kirby grip, dipping the end into barry m's black and dabbing onto the nail.

sadly, i can't take credit for this ingenious idea polka dot idea; i read it on a blog somewhere and can't remember for the life of me where, but whoever you are, THANK YOU.
(the muted colour by means of french manicure varnish, however, is entirely my own!)

i love polka dots, so to have them on my nails is a fantasy COME TRUE. i've tried numerous colour combinations and although this pink is my favourite, emulating ladybirds on my fingernails with red and black is a close second.

so go forth, and change your bare nails FOR spots.

The Call - Regina Spektor

these past few days have been filled with puppies and muffins - surely a winning combination in anyone's books?

my puppy Lily has grown so much in three short months - our black lab came to us weighing a tiny 3.5kg and 7 weeks, and now is a HUMONGOUS 15kg and 20 weeks old. she's gorgeous, clever and the most loving pet we could have ever wished for. even though taking care of her can sometimes work your fingers to the bone (limitless supplies of puppy energy can wear out even the most determined of owners), she's worth it. she's the heart & soul of our family and we feel so lucky to have her!

i also ventured into the sphere of muffin-baking, having previously just exercised in the arena of cupcake-making. and they turned out BRILLIANTLY for the first try - possibly even better than my cupcakes as they were mouthwateringly moist and yummy. they were also stupidly easy to make. i made plain choc-chip and chocolate choc-chip.

if you want to make these gorgeous muffins, this is all you need to do!

ingredients
- 175g self-raising flour
- 50g cocoa powder if you're making chocolate ones!
- 50g butter
- 50g caster sugar
- 125ml milk
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- as many g of choc-chips as you like!

tools
- a muffin tray
- cupcake/muffin cases
- bowl
- sieve
- wooden spoon

method
1. pre-heat the oven to 180 degree celsius.
2. mix all the dry ingredients together - flour, suagr, baking powder & cocoa powder if you're making chocolate cupcakes - in the big mixing bowl.
3. mix up the wet ingredients - eggs, milk, vanilla essence and butter (i find it helpful to melt the butter in the microwave for ease of mixing) - in a separate bowl.
4. add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix a few times - it doesn't matter if it's lumpy. chuck in the choc-chips and mix a bit more.
5. put the cupcake/muffin cases in the muffin tray and then spoon in the mixture, almost to the top - you want almost full muffin cases!.
6. bake for 10-14 minutes or until cooked through, leave to cool then ENJOY.

tip!
- put a oven-proof baking dish full of water at the bottom of the oven while you're baking for extra moist muffins ;)

Heart-Shaped Box, Nirvana

so i've very much been M.I.A, and i do apologise. things are changing so quickly and rapidly, that everything and everyone are merging into technicoloured swirls and spirals that it's leaving me rather confused and simaltaneously wanting to go backwards AND forwards.

as spring begins to flirt with summer and the days are longer and SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNER - heads hurt and hearts hurt. no fun at all!

so instead (because superficiality cures all), i'm going to focus my energies on building up stacks of silver and turquoise jewellery, starting with this pretty little piece from new look, which was only £9.99. i also bought a summery pink dress from new look, only, shamefully, it was an age 12 dress from the kiddie section as i am vertically challenged and generally rather small.

i suspect my collection could be given a quick boost with Alice's giveway, where you can win two pieces of jewellery from Regal Rose! I've already picked out this AMAZING skull ring, which if i don't win, i'm going get anyway cause it's so freakin' cool.

ps. sorry for the crappy webcam pictures, my brother has taken my usual camera to south africa where is busy playing with BABY LIONS AND THE LIKE. here are some pictures for you to squee over, all taken by him!