Falling...for Fall

I really thought that this post might be a little premature, but I was delighted to find that there are loads of you in the blogosphere who are as excited about this as I am...Autumn!!

Now I know that being British I should refer to it as Autumn but I just like the word Fall. I think that it perfectly describes this gorgeous season. It is a time when the temperature starts to fall. The nights fall upon us quicker & become longer. The leaves on the trees turn & fill the world with beautiful shades of burnt orange, red & yellow before falling to the ground to feed the earth through the winter. It's the perfect word!

I love that this season contains some of my favourite holidays & celebrations: Halloween & Guy Fawkes. On Halloween we get to embrace our inner child: dress up, be silly & eat way too many sweets! Guy Fawkes (or Bonfire Night) means dressing up warm, usually in a faithful winter coat with a nice new scarf, getting together with friends, family & neighbours outside, around a roaring fire & filling the black night sky with colour - and there's sparklers, what's not to love?!

Then there is the food. Warm apple crumble or pumpkin pie with cream. Toffee apples; yummy vegetable soups (winter veg or potato & leek), we go back to having proper Sunday roasts with all the trimmings, in place of the Sunday barbecue.

What's not to love about breaking into your winter clothes? Freeing those jeans, scarves, gloves & hats & dusting them off - it's better than buying something new! Greeting that favourite, comfortable, old jumper with a smile, putting it on & realising: wearing it is like a hug from an old friend.

 

Mostly though Fall means lots of tea & crafting. All those projects I've been hoarding; put on hold because the weather was just too nice! They finally get their chance to become something, to be created. Fall is inspiration!

So I've had a good summer, I hope you have too? But I'm ready to pull on my boots & winter woolies, whip up a pot of soup & get busy making, baking & just creating! ;) Join me?

Jxx

...and it all started with a Big Bang...

I recently finished this cross-stitch, in honour of one of my favourite TV shows: The Big Bang Theory. I love this show for many reasons but most of all: it is filling, perfectly, the hole that FRIENDS left in my life & I'm a huge geek! So they comic book/star wars/star trek references are by no means lost on me - I love it!

So many months ago I purchased the pattern for the aforementioned cross stitch from weelittlestitches on Etsy - a fabulous & very popular store, only to have the pattern laze around on my computer & do nothing. It was about a week ago that it popped right back into my head & that was it, I had the sewing box out & I was off. It took me around two hours to complete each character, so it was the perfect after work pick me up from what had been a stressful few weeks. By the end of the week I had a virus :( but I also had a finished design - you win some, you lose some.

Sadly my virus has kept me hauled up in bed doing not much more than sleeping & watching The Big Bang Theory box set, but I did get a chance to try out this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess before being bed-ridden. A quick & simple way to enhance a plain mug; from which to drink your tea. So I thought I'd give it a go. I stuck to my Big Bang theme & decorated my mugs with some classic Sheldon quotes, in bright colours.

All it takes is a plain coloured mug or cup (I picked up mine at the local supermarket for less than 50p!) & a Sharpie of your choice.

Draw your desgin/ write your quote onto the mug. Mistakes are easily removed with a damp cloth - be sure to dry the mug off before you re-attempt your design.

Then bake in the oven for 30 minutes & allow to cool.

Voila! A personalised mug.

Sadly once decorated these mugs can only be hand washed so no lazy-boneses here please!

*Note: I found that my designs had better staying power by baking them at 180C for fifteen minutes, then after cooling I went over the design again & baked for a further 30 minutes at 180C. This may vary depending on your oven or the material of your mugs.

I think they look really cute & would make a great gift, in fact some of mine are to be gifts...

I hope you all had a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend!

Jxx

What's in my bag?

I have a confession to make: I love handbags! I really do. It's first thing I notice about another girl when I meet her is her bag: some people look at shoes, I prefer a bag. Today I indulged & bought a bag I have been lusting after for, quite literally, a year!

Isn't it pretty? I love it!

Now I have been carrying around a much larger bag for about six months (which I also love by the way.) but I decided it was time to down-grade; firstly because if I have a big bag I fill it with stuff I don't need & secondly because I decided to bite the bullet & get the one I have lusted after for a long time. Plus it gave me an opportunity to share one of my favourite types of posts with you. I did fear that this might be a little boring but was assured by my new blogging buddy Claire that it would not be, so here goes:

Bag: Cath Kidston

Contents:

Purse - Now with no money in it since I bought this bag, haha!

iPhone - Essential! I use this for everything; texts, calls, photos, music, tweeting (it has a Cath Kidston case).

Umbrella - Because I live in Scotland & it rains...a lot.

Moleskin notebook & Parker pen - For reminder notes to myself & in case inspiration strikes - I have a terrible short-term memory.

Mini pot of Green Balm - a little miracle pot I use for lip balm & dry skin emergencies.

Keys - Self explanatory (I hope!).

Specs - To see & prevent migraines...ouch!

Gum - For after meals to keep my breath minty fresh :)

Other things that can be found in my bag are: receipts, foldaway hairbrush, nail file, head phones, mini deodorant & on occasion a book.

In case you haven't noticed I have a major minor Cath Kidston obsession.

What do you guys carry around everyday?

Thanks for reading!

Jxx

Reading...

"Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I've accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter. Reading gives me something to talk about later on. Reading is the unbelievably healthy way my attention deficit disorder medicates itself. Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real. Reading is grist. Reading is bliss." 

- Nora Ephron

To-Do List

So the other day whilst having a moment of pondering I made a to-do list of things that I'd like to do between now and the end of the year so I thought I'd share it with you guys! Enjoy!

And check it out: I can cross number two off my list. My brand new stork embroidery scissors *CUTE*

The Hunger Games

So I might be a little late on the bandwagon with this but I have just finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I read it for work, since I work in a library. I've been asked to hold a discussion about the book towards the end of the summer holidays with a group of high school students and I jumped at the chance - read a book for work? YEAH!

I had cheated a little and saw the film at the cinema when it was out earlier in the year so I knew what to expect but I didn't think that the film would be exactly like the book! Now when I say this, I don't mean it as a compliment (sorry Hunger Gamers!); maybe I've read too much Harry Potter in my life (is there such a thing??!!), but I expected the book to have more detail about this future world and about the characters. Now I hate comparing books to movies but it is inevitable, and the one thing I will say for the film is that, I felt, it was much more gracious to the character of Katniss than the book. In the film I found her character had the balance as a protective older sister, survivor and confused teenager. However in the book she comes across as whiny, moaning, paranoid and unforgiving; it is not often that I read a book and I really dislike the main character but in this case I did.

I have to say though there were times in the middle when I started to warm to Katniss as she seemed to be growing up a little but it was lost by the end - how can she not see that Peeta is completely besotted with her??? And that Gale loves her??? What is wrong with her?! She also doesn't appear to feel much guilt about breaking Peeta's heart, but then maybe that will come later in Catching Fire and Mockingjay (which I am now going to have to read purely because I know that it is a trilogy.).

I have spoken to lots of people about this book, before and after I read it and the reaction seems to have been the same: adults think that it is a fantastic concept for a book, but they agree that Katniss is a bit paranoid and self absorbed (but then aren't most sixteen year-olds?). Kids: love it! They can't gush about it enough but I worry; because they don't seem to be understanding the themes or seeing flaws in the characters, and is that not what reading is about? Escapism, yes; but also about finding truth and seeing yourself reflected in the characters? Like I said what sixteen year old isn't a bit selfish, but is it possible that they're not seeing this as a flaw? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, or maybe I'm secretly ninety-three years old: "Back in my day..." Ha ha!

Like I said though I will have to read the next two books, and I hope that Katniss grows up a bit and stops the moaning; and that Peeta realises that she's not all that great and moves on; but maybe that's just me. In the mean time I am moving on to something I know I am going to enjoy - A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones anyone?? :)

Jxx

A Place For Everything

Well it's been a week and I am officially caught up with my to-do list. All of the little (and big) jobs that I have been putting off for far too long have all been caught up! Here's how it went:

Now I have to admit that most of my little jobs were pretty dull, an email here, a phone call there but once they were done I felt relief. Why I had been putting off making a five minute phone call I will never know! If you have been putting off anything small like a call or email - DO IT! You will feel a whole lot lighter once it's done.

My big to-dos were a bit more fun in that I could see the difference they made almost instantly, this is because they mostly revolved around tidying and organising. It took me almost two whole days to get my bedroom organised. I feel I should say here that I am a neat-freak. I freely admit that, I like when things have there own place and I can find them easily. My problem was that the things had there place but the things I used together were in opposite parts of the room (shoes in one place, socks in another at the other end of the room) - no wonder it takes me forever to get ready!! So I set about changing that, and in my bid to change my life (and believe me it is life changing- I am late for EVERYTHING!) I turned to my new organisation guru: Mrs Thrify! Wow! This woman is amazing! Her blog is brimmed full of ideas of things you can make, do and reuse to help your life run a little more smoothly and to give you back time to do the things that you really want to do. Her are some pictures of my new and organised life thanks to Mrs Thrify!!

If you are looking to get your space more organised to make life a little easier I heartily recommend a trip over to A Thrifty Mrs' blog, all of her posts on organising, cleaning tips, things to make and a whole host of others can be found on her how-to page here. I also recommend following her on twitter - she has a fabulous sense of humour; and her Daily Housewifery Prompts are helping me to keep on top of things in the Bubbly Burrow.

Here is the truly miraculous thing, by Thursday I had nothing left to do. I had done everything on my anti-procrastination list: put things to ebay, tidy, organise, make calls, send emails, it was all done! My free time was my own again and I was free to enjoy, my favourite little nook...

My own little corner, where I can get back to doing the crafts I love and get a bit creative again, so when you're reading my blog - this is where I wrote it. I've got brightly coloured pencils for doodling and designing my own cross-stitch patterns; a cheerful little plant, books and magazines for inspiration, and as you can see I have already been making use of my extra free time! :) 

Jxx