Chocolate Houses

Just a quick one from me tonight.

My mother in law makes the most amazing chocolate houses and as its coming up to Christmas, is taking orders. She can personalise and custom make them or just build a standard one. Delivery local to our native Northampton but we can ship out to anywhere in the UK (delivery costs will be added).

She makes them all year round but are super popular at Christmas as people have them as centrepieces which can be completely devoured after the relatives have gone home :)

Check out and 'like' her Facebook page and see for yourself.

 

I'm Losing Sense of Time

Wow. It's been a while since Ive been on here. The past 6 or so months have been mammoth for me and my family and friends so my minds not really been into blogging, or much else for that matter. But, I am back (how many times have I said that...) and am going to try to make more of an effort to keep on top of this.

My crafting etc has taken a complete back seat as has my blogging as we are  packing our house up. In a previous post (here) I mention that our landlord has decided to sell the house and that we had 6 months. Well, shortly after that, we received an official letter confirming the date, which was January. After our initial panic, we formulated a plan. We had decided we would buy our own house eventually and wanted a few years to save but the time was now! But, unfortunately for us, we aren't rich, so we had a provisional loan from a family member to cover some of the deposit. We set about house hunting and I lined up lots of houses for us to look at. I had one in particular that I adored but Pete wasn't keen so I had that as the first house to view. We went to see it and both of us totally fell in love with it :) we saw a few other houses, but ended up cancelling a load because we wanted the dream house. 

Before we did anything, we went to our bank, Lloyds TSB and they refused us for a mortgage. Flat out. They didn't even bother to check alternative suggestions or options for us and the horrible woman looked at me like a piece of shit when I explained my colourful credit history. So we went to Nationwide who were only too happy to help us. That went through and the lovely family member decided to loan us ALL of the deposit so we put an offer in on the house. Its all going through and we move in at the end of this month. 

Its going to be tight for a while as all of my wages are being poured into paying our saviour off (so don't expect any new items on here for a while!) but we are almost homeowners! We've signed everything and are just waiting...

I wont share too much until we move in but here is my new kitchen - the thing that drew me into the house in the first place.

The lovely lady that currently owns it did the kitchen herself and has never used it. Shes also leaving us furniture because we have none. She has been the most lovely, accommodating and friendly person and we are very lucky, not to mention incredibly grateful.

In other news, I mentioned in another previous blog (here) that my best friend was pregnant.... well, she had her 20weeker and have announced that they are having a little girl. They're elated and so am I. I finally get to buy girly things!

Lastly, for now, its been a full year since me and the Mr were married! We celebrated two weeks ago by going to see Tenacious D in Wolverhampton. Our first dance was to their song FHG and they are Pete's favourite band. I actually got him the tickets for his 30th Birthday, but the date fell on our anniversary - how perfect! They played our song last and it was brilliant!

So that's it for now. I have lots of random bits to post throughout the weekend but if you follow me on twitter (changed my handle so I'm now @LauraDarby27) then you may have seen some of them already.

I can honestly say Ive missed this :)

Thanks for reading x

Laura.x
 

Lifes Big Canvas

Good evening everyone. 

Just a quick one from me tonight. I've been working really hard on my jewellery and I'm nearly at the stage where I want to pick a few people to road test my creations. Once I've finished doing a few bits and the timing is right, all shall be revealed.

Works been pretty slow so I can't blame that for being busy but I still had to actually GO to work so that does take up most of my time!

I have spent a lot of time reading recently instead of watching TV and have re-discovered my passion for it. I have gone through about 20 books in the last month or so and I am still banging them out. Ive read a few in just one night! It's been lovely to reconnect with something I love so much. I just wish It didnt distract me from all the other work (and sleep) that I should be doing.

Enough of the catch up. Here are a few sneaky pics of an outfit I wore last week. All seen on here before but I'm getting stuck in a rut at the moment of having to recycle outfits :(

So the dress and cardigans you've seen before (Cardys - Very, Dress - Crazy Clearance) but the main focus of this outfit was the necklace. This was one of the fabulous creations I picked up from Chloe's stall at Plus North. I love it. Its so creative and anything handmade is a winner in my books. I'm a fan of anything made with buttons and I love the bow cameo type pendant. I have worn it a few times now, once I matched it with my hair clip with the giant button on it, just to accessorise.

Its delicate enough not to dominate the outfit yet its a great statement item. I get a lot of comments when I wear it and do adore it.

Chloe's website is www.lifesbigcanvas.co.uk. I strongly recommend you have a look and grab some awesome handmade pieces. 

I have also got a another item from Chloe's range but I have yet to wear it so I will blog about that on a different day.

So I'm done for tonight. I need to go and chase the damn mosquito around my room before it gets me. 

Laters :)

Laura

Drum Roll Please....

So a couple of posts ago I mentioned that I had some news that was big but couldn't share yet. I also made a point of saying that it wasn't me being pregnant! Which is true. Its not me...

The time has come for me to be able to share this with you. 

I am to be a (semi) aunt again as my best friend is pregnant. 

She's had her first scan and is due in Feb 2013. I know this isn't mega news for anyone else but she's wanted a baby for a while now and this is definitely wanted and exciting news.

I'm super excited and plan to be with her every step of the way. 

I just wanted to share this with y'all - I know the whole "someones having a baby!" news with me recently isn't exactly rare.


Positive thoughts. A good example of how good things come to those who wait and deserve it.

Love Loz

This House Is Not A Home

Afternoon everyone!

It has been an eventful few days. More so today. 

Our landlord (who is also a family friend) told us a few weeks back that he was coming down to check on the house and to have a look round. Now, last time he did this, it was purely to find something in the attic and left without so much as glancing in the rooms. We were sure he would do it again this time but A) not wanting to take any chances and B) using it as an excuse to have a thorough clean and clear out we set about 'spring cleaning'. By 2am this morning, we had finished after many an argument, several family problems rearing their heads and a Ben n Jerry's binge after a dash to Tescos - where there was a worker, styled like Elvis, singing Elvis on a karaoke machine in the restaurant (true story).

I got the heads up that they were on their way (he was visiting my husbands mother across the road) I legged it round for a final check and found the dogs had shit in 3 separate locations... just to make things super fun.

He had a nose around and said we were keeping it nice and decided on the kitchen for the place to drop the bombshell. We had 6 months and he was selling. Which is a lot shorter than the 2-3 years we thought we'd have to save for our mortgage. So now were in full panic mode! But I'm not mad. He said last year and the year before he wanted to sell - and I've always said I'm not mega attached to this house. Fresh start! We were also anticipating a reason for him to come down so I wasn't shocked.

Anyway, enough of the boring shite. Here's a summery outfit I graced work with the other day.

Dress - Bon Marche (Circa 2007ish)
Cardigan - New Look (Circa 2009ish)
Necklace - Forever 21
Hair Bow - My long lost yellow bow! Primark.
Shoes - Tesco but were a present.
Jeggings - some Vegas outlet store.

Oh - which totally reminds me..... my lovely Twitter friends have already see this but I gots my hair cut! No more uncontrollable bush!

 

 From this

To this.

Basically the same style I normally have!

I also enjoyed a lovely day with my grand-parents, husband and two dogs in Dorset. Apart from the token dog accident (he threw up on my coat and shit on my foot - no joke. Also not funny when your wearing flip flops), it was a nice day. We just went down to the coast and mooched around. Here are some pics of my favourite place (bar Vegas) in the world.

So here comes some massive changes. I'm still building up my little jewellery empire so once I've done enough of that I'll share some of that with you. Also, a large sum of money needs raising! Watch this space I guess.

Love 

Loz

Summer So Far

So I'm starting to feel a bit more 'summery'. The weathers warm, I am literally being eaten alive by insects, I'm stuck in the office and on my days off it literally caks it down. 

I've not had a lot of time on my hands recently with family and work so my social (and social networking) life is non existent.

To conclude my previous post, my little nephew Preston was born on Saturday morning (approx 12.30am). He was two weeks early so no one saw it coming. What I hadn't know is that after my brief post, we settled down to watch the opening ceremony, neglected our phones and by the time it was over we had 2 texts from my husbands mum. One said his sister was being rushed in for an emergency c-section. As we were replying we got another saying she was out, baby boy was healthy and screaming. 

Bit gutted I wasn't there but grateful I missed out on the waiting room floor snoozing this time. Plus, perfect timing as it was the weekend!

I am, for the most part, not going to post pictures of my nephews on here that often, but here is the token Aunt Laura shot.

I will ask (not that any one will - hence why I've whacked myself in the shot) that no one use my pictures without my permission.

I adore him :)

So, not much else has happened really. My step sister is currently in hospital on medication as she is due for a c-section (the first baby girl I got to buy for!). Work tested my nerves yesterday but I survived and I have overtime with another department tomorrow to help them out. 

As my life in clothes is so dull, here are some random tit-bits of the last few weeks I thought I would share.

We went to see Batman

And this is the geeky outfit I wore.

Cardy - Very
Mighty Morphon Power Rangers tee - Hot Topic (Vegas)
Bow - Me made :)
Jeans - (not seen) Very
Trainers - (not seen) Generic white converse

Hubs bought me a new keyboard

For all my blogging needs. I spend an eternity typing each day and can touch type (from my Legal Secretary days) and found it so hard on my cheap, curved one. Not helped by me removing the keys to empty it of junk and then the keys decided to stiffen. So I have this new beauty. Its a dream to type on.

I made Olympic cakes

We had a cake sale at work today. Cakes were donated and all money raised from the purchases went towards the Paralympic charity.

Summer Happened

And by that I mean it rained.

View from Living room

That's all for now. We have a sports themed fancy dress at work on Friday so I suspect that will result in some hilarious pictures!


Until then :)


Mucho Lovin'

So Proud!

I hope everyone's getting patriotic and getting into the spirit of things with the Olympic opening ceremony in full swing. I, myself, am not a massive fan of sports other than rugby but this is an important event and am trying to be enthusiastic. 

However, a few other things have happened tonight.

First off, our trip to Dorset has been cancelled as our windscreen got smacked and we cant go anywhere until Autoglass pop over tomorrow, so my planned post has been sabotaged by road debris...

However, in more exciting news, 2 weeks earlier, Pete's sister has gone into labour and my nephew is due in the next 24 hours!! What an exciting time for it to happen and a memory that will stay for a long time.

I will keep updating on twitter but I am a very excited Auntie!

Stay tuned!!

Loz

x

Update:

We are with baby!!! 

More info to follow :) :)

The Liebster Blog Award

Hi ya'll. Ive been drafting a few blog entry ideas all week and have many things and photos to show, in the meantime however, I have been lucky enough to have been voted the Liebster Blog Award by both Cheryl of makeupandfashion25.blogspot.co.uk and Stefi of sheiselec.blogspot.co.uk.

I would like to thank these two great girlies for their gift, I truly do appreciate it! Please check out their blogs if you hadn't already done so. 

So as I was nominated by both, I will answer both Cheryl's and Stefi's questions.  Rules are below.

Its an award for up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers


The rules for receiving the award are as follows :

1) Each person must post 11 things about themselves

2) Answer the questions the tagger has set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer.

3) Choose 11 people and link them in the post

4)Go to their page and tell them

5) No tag backs!

11 Things about me!

1) I have begun a small obsession of wearing dresses.
2) I love reading. Much prefer it over TV anyday.
3) I find it really hard to let go of pretty much anything. I still cant watch the ending of Glee!

4) Which ties me into number 4 - I'm a huge Gleek.
5) I am a total nerd and love the comic book heros

6) Sometimes I hate who I am. I annoy myself then spiral about what others think.
7) I will always go out of my way for others no matter how much it puts me out
8) Part of my little finger is missing where I lost it in a kitchen vs blade incident 10 years ago.
9) I'm a qualified Legal Secretary.

10) I have a genetic back condition
11) I'm a make up and accessories whore bag!

Cheryl's  Questions
What made you start blogging? I read an article in the Daily Fail which featured Lorna of The Ginger Peardrop. Naomi from Diamonds 'n' Pearls was featured which got me reading. I started reading more and one day I was house sitting my Nan's house and started writing! Girls got me inspired!
Heels or Flats? Flats but I try heels at least once a week.
Eyeshadows or Mascara? Mascara as I have to chose but use both daily.
Clothes or Make up? Arrgh no fair!! Erm, Clothes - gun to my head.
What is your most item you use? My cocoa butter moisturising cream. Could not live without it.
Whats your most brand that you use that often? Probably Avon

Evans or Yours? I love both but the girls in Yours are on first name terms with me! Yours is more accessible and more affordable.
What make up item would you not leave the house with out on? Eyeliner!
Whats the most item you couldnt live without? Probably my phone and/or iPad. Cant chose!
What high street stores you shop at? Yours, Evans, sometimes Tesco.
Make up or Clothing If you had to choose you would take away with you? Clothes. I forgot make up on our honeymoon and had to go out and buy some!

 

Stefi's Questions
What's your most worn item of clothing? My Yours floral dress. I wear it once a week and wore it to two weddings in one month!
Do you prefer to shop alone or with friends? Alone, my style is smack bang in the middle of my friends. Plus I get embarrassed about sizes etc so would rather get in and out on my own.
Whoes style would you steal if you could? Famous - it would be Tess Munster. Love all the stuff she wears and how she has her hair etc. Non-Famous it would be Rachel from adressisforlife.blogspot.co.uk. 

I love her cute hair styles and dresses :) Awesome shoe collection too.
Beach Holiday or City Break? Both. I cant chose. I love the sea, being near the sea, by it, on it, in it - but Vegas is my all time fave place to be. Nothing compares!
One Peice or Bikini on the Beach? One piece. With sarong. Hidden under a huge pair of sunglasses.
Dresses or Pants (Trousers)? Dresses by a long shot
How do you feel about Belts? Love em, but just dont really have the boobs or hips to pull them off AND be comfortable.
Best Sale Bargain EVER? My floral New Look dress, it was something like £6 from the sale and I wear it every week.
Chick flick or action movie? Either or really, If I had to chose, chick flick.
A feel good song is? Something I can relate to AND belt out, up loud on my own. At the moment, rock stuff aside, I'm digging Pink.
Tea or Coffee? I love tea more than most things in life. I'm sure its 80% tea nad 20% blood that runs through my veins.

Right, now my 11 questions:

1. If you could own ANY retail chain and mould it how you wanted and have infinite free clothes - who would it be?

2. If you had no ties and could move any where in the world, where would you go?

3. Favourite colour to wear?

4. Item of clothing you know doesn't suit you but you LOVE anyway?

5. Fave nail colour/brand?

6. Body part you love and why?

7. One thing you want to do by your next birthday?

8. Do you have any tattoos, or ideas for one?

9. Pen or pencil?

10. Do you prefer texting or talking?

11. Who inspired you to be the person you are today?

And the nominees are;

Becky at theramblingsofmrsbebe.blogspot.co.uk

Toni at http://theonlywayistoni.blogspot.co.uk/

Betty at http://bigfatbetty.blogspot.co.uk/

Lisa at http://www.lisaphilbin.co.uk/

Beth at http://tinkerbellandthelostgirls.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Miss MaMaMoon at http://gorgeouswithcurves.blogspot.co.uk/

Kathryn at http://misskathrynsmisstakes.blogspot.co.uk/

Lorna at http://gingerpeardrop.blogspot.co.uk/

Mhairi at http://www.lilybobombslovelylumps.com/

And I know youve been nominated a gazillion times for this but I couldn't miss a nod at these two girls.

Lolly at http://lollylikesfatshion.blogspot.co.uk

Rachel at http://adressisforlife.blogspot.co.uk/

 Thats enough for tonight. To the girls that voted for me, thank you so much. For the girls Ive nominated, thanks for inspiring me

Mucho Love

Plus North

So the much anticipated plus size event finally came around last weekend and myself, plus my friend Alison, hot footed it to Leeds to join in.

A combination of excitement and my schedule left me going to bed late and then not sleeping so after an hours sleep, I pulled my fat arse out of bed to pick Alison up for the coach. Pete kindly drove us to MK to avoid the first leg of the trip and an hour and a half wait at MK's coach station so even though we had left the house at 6.30am, the road trip didn't officially start until 9am-ish.

We got to the hotel an hour before the event and thought we had enough time to get changed and out. Except for my map reading skills being shit and taking us 10mins in the wrong direction! Trusty Alison got out her GPS and eventually we arrived. We gate crashed the catwalk show and stood watching.

Toni (theonlywayistoni.blogspot.com) must have recognised me as she knew just which badge to give me (thank you for that, hun!). 

Becky (theramblingsofmrsbebe.blogspot.com) did a bloody amazing job of the mic work and was simply mind blowing. I'm not sure I could have done all that. Together, her and Toni really pulled it off and it was brilliant fun and all round a successful event! 

Simplybe were sponsors which made me fell hella guilty for wearing a Very dress! The clothes that the lovely ladies showcased were amazing and I'm sure will be costing me a fortune once the shopping ban is lifted!

For me It was like meeting celebrities as I pointed out people whose blogs I read and whose Twitters I watch so It was a tad intimidating. I did get crazy shy and in hindsight would have loved to have spoken to more of you. Luckily for me, Lolly of lollylikesfatshion and Rachel of adressisforlife came over to me with Lisa of www.lisaphilbin.co.uk These ladies were amazingly nice and not only did I enjoy their company, I felt so at ease with them and would like to spend more time with them. Maybe not so tired and shy though next time! 

We spent some time with Curvissa, styling their dummy's and filling a few things out for them. We also spent an unknown amount of time crooning over Chloes amazing Jewellery! Its a shame It wasn't pay day, thats for sure.

We ended up leaving with our amazing goody bag, headed out for dinner after a quick freshen up and then back to the hotel for sleeps.

Enough of the drivel, here are some crap photo's I took. Some of them sneakily done (Sorry Rachel!!).

Ready for the photos?!

Alison

Crafty mirror shot as I forgot to take proper outfit pics

Go blurry Lolly!

Fabulous lady

Alison again :)

Photo ninja- Lisa and Lolly

Tried to get a crafty one of Rachel and Alison photobombed it lol

Alison, styling

Lovely Curvissa peeps

Alisons part creation

My mess

Alisons finished piece

Cool taps

Think we dragged the weather with us!

Homeward bound

I wore the dress again today just so I had a chance to take some more photo's of it. I'm still unsure as I don't do high necks and having no boobs and being all bum and belly, I think it didn't suit my shape. But I like it so I'll wear it! I added a belt this time (forever21) and a vintage brooch.

Dress today

So if you made it this far, thank you! I haven't posted pics of Chloe's amazing Jewellery that I managed to swipe as I want to showcase it in a post of its own. 

I had an amazing time and wish It wasn't over. I still wish I had pulled myself and met more of you lovely ladies. Until the next time :)