Friends <3

Christmas 2O12 & a Happy New Year...

Well Christmas 2O12 for me was marvellous ~ here I am going to show you a few of my favourite decorations, my Christmas pressies and a few things I bought myself in the sales...

Tree & Decorations!!!

~ our lovely Christmas tree...

Christmas Pressies!!!

(I was such a spoilt girly!!!)

(the best wrapping paper in the world!!!)

(Penguin themed presents too!!!

Sale Bargains!!!

...snuggly jumper from Quiz (not the best picture sorry!!!)

...tartan slipper booties from Edinburgh Woollen Mill :0)

...beautiful lacy sparkly shoes from Quiz

...spiral bracelet from Edinburgh Woollen Mill

...500GB external hard drive from Argos (in red!)

...The Borgias Season 2 from Sainsbury's

I just got some of the bits that I asked my Mum & Dad to get me for Christmas and didn't get in the end! However I was so lucky for Christmas and got far more than I ever thought I would!!! :0) I enjoyed treating myself a bit in the sales, but there wasn't anything I particularly "needed" this year...was there anything that you bought in the sales and thought you got a proper bargain??? (feel free to comment below and let me know!) 

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year if I don't post again before the New Year :0)

Thanks for reading my blog this year (if you have done so!) I shall hopefully be blogging more about different things in 2O13!!! Please stick with me and continue to read my blog posts...

Best wishes to you all and I hope 2O13 is everything you want it to be...

xXx

Patchwork Santa Finished 23rd December 2O12...

YAY!!! He's finally done...woopwoop!!!

Now to either make him into a bell pull or cushion...

What next??? I think I might do a penguin for me...

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and fabulous New Year!!!

xXx

...and it continues...

...the penguin obsession that is!!!
Look at this little fella!!!
<3 xXx

Penguin Gloves and an Avon Argan Oil Review...

Well here's a picture to make you smile first of all...

Don't you just adore my penguin mittens ;0)...they are just a small part of my penguin obsession *note the penguin iPhone case too*

Now I am going to review something (which I don't usually do...but I have found a mixture of things which help my hair to not look so 'fluffy' and I'm so impressed that I must share this fact with you all!!!)

I use the Argan Oil Shampoo and Argan Oil Conditioner (both also from Avon) too religiously every time I wash my hair...

I have quite thick and 'fluffy' hair, which is very prone to reacting to humidity/dampness...I started using this stuff after coming back from the hairdressers one time and wondering how they managed to get my hair so silky and soft (something that I could not replicate)...I saw Argan Oil products advertised while flicking through the Avon catalogue and thought "oh I'll give that a go"...

I've never looked back!!! I order more Shampoo and Conditioner each time the Avon catalogue pops through my door. I am stock piling in case Avon decide to stop making this product (they have a tendency to withdraw products sometimes just as you're used to them/love them!)...my hair looks beautiful, silky soft and doesn't ever go frizzy due to the rain/humidity now :0) I feel that because I am using 3 compatible products that they work extra well because they are working together...even when my hair is needing a wash (I can go about a week between washes as my hair is not greasy at all) it still feels soft and silky!!! 

If you have an Avon rep near you then give these products a try if you suffer from fly away, dry, frizzy hair :0) I can almost guarantee you'll love them and never use anything else!!! They smell great too ~ my Mum always says that upstairs in my room after I've washed my hair it smells like a hairdressers ;0) 

So yes...that's my blog for this weekend...no soup has been made as I forgot to put my broth mix in to soak so I shall make soup tomorrow night...plus I am craving a sandwich tomorrow I think so I shall give into my bread craving just this once!!!

I hope that you've had a lovely weekend ~ they go way too quick don't they??? I need someone to give me a kick up the bum to get going with my Patchwork Santa again as I am working on the final little bit but it is a part of his coat that is almost the same colour as my fabric so I'm not motivated in the slightest...I think now that my Christmas cards are written, majority of Christmas presents wrapped and I am quite organised in regards to Christmas that I can relax of an evening now and crack on with Patchwork...wish me luck!!!

xXx

Souper Saturday &&& Sunday...

I've been making some of my chunky vegetable soup this afternoon ~ Sunday's definitely seem to be a soup day :0) even made some soup with my best friend yesterday which turned out better than she thought it would. In Genie's soup we used:
*carrots x 3 small ones
*mushroom x 3
*red onion x 1
*garlic x 2 (1 clove chopped up & 1 left whole)
*leek x 1
*vegetable stock cubes x2 + about 2.5pints of water
We put it all in two medium sized saucepans and let it come to the boil. Then once it had simmered long enough for the vegetables to be soft enough Genie whipped out her hand blender & blended up one of the saucepans leaving the other one as chunky vegetables to add to the blended up pan! It tasted really good (& I don't like mushrooms!!!)

In my soup I pretty much put the same veggies each weekend but this weekend I'm going to add some soup & broth mix for a little bit of variety (however it has to be soaked for 8-12 hours which I didn't realise so I shall prepare it tonight, cook it tomorrow and add it to my soup as I go throughout the week)...
:0) in my soup there is:
*leek x1
*potato x1 (quite a large one)
*carrot x1 (quite a large one)
*swede x1/2 (one of those pre-packaged up half swedes)
*shallot onions x2
*garlic cloves x3

I chop them up quite chunky and pop them in a pot with x2 vegetable stock cubes which have been dissolved in approximately a pint & a half of boiling water. I then pop an extra little bit of plain water in and make sure the veggies are covered fully. Bring to the boil and then let simmer for approx 25-30mins (depending on how quickly the veggies go soft)...once the veggies are at my desired softness I remove half of them with a slotted spoon and mash the remaining veggies in the stock up with a potato masher :0)

I then pop the chunky unmashed veggies back into the mashed mixture & leave simmering gently. While it is simmering gently I cook some pasta and when that is at the softness I like I then pop the pasta into the soup. I let it simmer all together for a little while longer then leave to cool :0) I dish it out into various pots/boxes so I can either freeze it or keep it in the fridge for lunch each day of the week. I left each portion in the fridge last week & by Friday it was still as yummy as it was on Monday!

I suggest you try making some soup. My big pot lasts all week & my Mum even had some for her dinner one night this week with some crusty bread :0) yumyumyum!!! It fills me up every day at lunch time and is so healthy because I do not add any extra salt/seasoning other than what comes in the stock cubes...
Well there's my soup recipe again & I shall pop some pictures below!!!

I hope you've all had a glorious weekend (they go too quick don't they?!) and are looking forward to being another weekend closer to Christmas...
Thanks for reading my blog...
xXx

Coca-Cola Truck & Finished Chicken Cross Stitch...

Just a few photographs of the Coca-Cola truck which visited our local Asda store today :0) my bestest friend Genie and I went down and took some photos!!!

I finished my Chickens cross stitch today as well...here it is:

I need to frame it somehow & present it to my friends (that I dog sit for) for Christmas :0) I hope it will warm their hearts as they recently lost one of the dogs to some unknown illness. They went to the Vets and Kali (the dog) baffled them, so my friend made the brave decision to let her babygirl go to sleep (as she didn't want Kali to be in pain)...Kali was my favourite dog out my friends 6 dogs so I miss her greatly! My friends do have 4 chickens so that's why I chose to stitch some chickens...

I hope you like my pictures if you have looked at my blog today! I hope your weekend has been great...mine was quite festive as I went to watch the Christmas lights be turned on in our local town followed by watching a Christmas movie with my best friend on Saturday...then today we saw the Coca-Cola truck :0)

I hope the coming week is good for you all...

xXx