Its Autumn and that means Christmas cake.

So.... We're half way through September. How did that happen? Oh yeah getting married, moving and starting back at uni does then to be a time suck like that. Who Knew? Every one but me, obviously.

I'm still getting to grips with the new house, and uni and I still have a ton of stuff to wrap up from after the wedding. But that's tottally beside the point because September means its Christmas cake time again!

If you missed it last year, I make my Christmas cake at the end of September and feed it with rum for month and months so that come December its a lovely juicy, spicy cake that's so full of alcohol people think they love it. Its cheap and easy to do and doesn't take more than two hours in the oven or contain any crazy expensive ingredients. I'll be blogging the recipe and method again this year with better pictures and more direction because of the awesome feed back I got last year. (Mostly the cake jacket, I'll hold my hands up that was super vague.)

So back on point, lets make it a proper cake a long. No need to use my recipe, or *any* recipe for that matter. Do you make a cake? Do you buy one? Who sells the best cake for those who don't want to/don't have the time? What do you hate about Christmas cake? Is the marzipan a requirement or the devil's work? Is any icing even required (we didn't get that far next year. This year I'm making multiples)? Or is Yule log where its at for you? Will you be my new best buddy?

So who's up for it? Will you blog/ bake along, or just cheer us on in the comments?

Minnie xoxo

Still Packing, Still Moving.

Things we have done:

• been to ikea and bought the little bits of furniture and rugs we need for the bigger space (twice in two days)
• taken a few loads of stuff to the new house.
• gotten the ball rolling on getting the home phone an broadband set up in the new house. (I seriously don't understand why it takes so many phone calls or so many days. Ho hum.)
• started to get the new living room into some sort of order

Things we still have to do:

• finish packing an moving
• clean up Old Flat-surfaces, walls windows and possibly the carpet?
• Put New House together. No excuses. No living half unpacked for months. 
• makes plans and budget for how to deal with New garden

If only it were so simple....

I promise all the moving grumbling will be done with soon,

Minnie xoxo

Moving Amnesia

How do I manage to forget how much I hate moving? Every single time I get stuck with the awful realisation that we own a ridiculous amount of stuff for two people. Like multiple pairs of shoes, tools, books, hobby related stuff and don't even get me started on kitchen stuff. I swear we cull all this every time we move. Ruthlessly going through our possessions until we've got the bare minimum. Alas the bare minimum is still quite a lot, especially now that white goods (fridge and freezer) have been thrown into the mix. I do understand that we don't actually own that much, but two people with hobbies in a tiny flat? Yeah not much fun.

Anyway I always forget how much I hate this process. Or at least the packing side of things.

Still, I'm slowly attacking what feels like taking down mounds of artwork and putting up the fairly horrendous Ikea prints that came with the flat back up.

Thankfully we're moving into a much bigger, brighter space. Hurrah! This flat has been great for a really easy commute to uni but the Landlord has put it up for sale and its a bit dark and dingy in any weather that isn't bright sunshine (which lets be honest is pretty rare in Scotland.) And the new place is on the other end of the scale, a bit of a ways out but big, bright and  airy and with a wood stove hopefully much, much cheaper to heat than out current place with its ancient storage heaters.


Any tips for staying sane during all this packing?

Minnie xoxox

So We Got Married

Fair warning: we're cheapskates. This is not the place to find a grand event. We had a small-ish cozy, diy, churchy wedding. We did the food ourselves, I wore a vintage dress I restored myself, the flower girl's outfit was bought on sale and was *gasp* machine washable. And horror of horrors we didn't employ a professional photographer (Lots of our friends took lots of lovely photos and gave them to us!) And made our own cake. We had so much fun!

  

  

We had a rocking time, and Bloke packing my trainers in the van was GENIUS. By about half six my feet were in agony, a change of shoes was heavenly. However getting married on a Saturday means you should really book some form of transport from the reception to wherever you're staying that night well in advance. The taxis hellish by the time we decided it was time to head so we walked through the town centre at half eleven on a Saturday night. Lots of fun but I think most of people thought we were a publicity stunt.

Anyway, I really need to get back to the mountain of packing that has to be done,

Minnie xoxo

A Quick Update

Got Married, went on holiday, moving house! Will regal you all with tales of our adventures when I've got the time to sit down and type.

Minnie xoxo

Wedding Style: Kidlets

We're in the official less than a month to the wedding run up. So I'm going to share my current trend loves available on-line and/or the British high street. Today, its Flower Girls, Page Boys and other tiny guests and members of the wedding party. And all under £50.

I am a massive fan of this hydrangea print dress from Monsoon. It's stocked in a range of baby sizes from 0 to 3 years for £30 and in child sizes from 3 to 12 years at £38.

 

Sticking with light fresh blue, how about this bright pop of colour from Boden mini? Its the Broderie party dress which comes in this blue, a navy and a lovely soft pink in sizes ranging from 1 to 10 years in the sizing. Prices range from £34 to £36.

 

Staying with Boden, and another broderie  dress. On sale to boot! It comes with three sashes in pink, blue and ivory. This time the size range is a bit wider ranging from 1 to 14 years, prices are from £44.40 to £46.80.

How about something a bit brighter for the littles with big personality? This bold floral dress from Next comes in sizes from 3 months to 6 years for £22 to £24. Bargain!

How about this dapper little outfit for the mischievous wee gentlemen in your life? The waistcoat set and trousers are two septate purchases from the same page in sizes 3 months to 6 years, the whole outfit prices range from £34 to £37.

 

For the really, really tiny ladies in attendance how about this gorgeous little floral number for £6? Sizes are from newborn to 6 months.  

 

A little something bright and comfy for very new wedding attendees?  This little fluro knit number is £14 and ranges from 3 months to 18 months from the Topshop mini range.

Or how about this teeny tiny boys outfit? £21, sizes from Newborn to 18 months from John Lewis.

Happy Friday! Minnie xoxo

FOCCUS part 2

So when you take part in the first part of the FOCCUS course you make an appointment with the counsellor to discuss your collated results, how you're partners answers compare to your own.  You are encouraged to talk about the experience together after your first session, and this follow up session is more about gently talking through those answers where you might not see eye to eye, or feel like you're evenly vaguely on the same page.

All fairly simple, all fairly straight forward. So why do it? Well it's easier to have a chat about bank accounts, hypothetical children and hypothetical ageing parents before it happens. And that's really the whole point of FOCCUS whether its a denomination specific version or not, talk about the hard stuff now with the help of a third party before it happens. Marriage is hard. Every one is different. But it helps to be really aware that none of you are mind readers and having some ground work laid down for the great unknown helps.

Would we do it again? Yes. Would I do anything any differently? I think making time for a treat afterwards would have helped. I kept on getting so wound up and agitated before had that by the end of both sessions I was exhausted. Cake and tea or a wee picnic on the way home would have really helped. And don't schedule anything important for afterwards, we went to meet with father K in the evening and I couldn't remember anything. My poor wee brain was frazzled.

I really hope that this wee mini series on FOCCUS is useful to someone, when I was doing my research there were very few positive reviews just reams of horrid experiences on various wedding boards. I assume this is because the majority of people have a similar experience to Bloke and I. Kind, warm, polite staff and a very straight forward common sense approach.

Minnie xoxo