The bleak midwinter

Like everyone else in the UK, I've been both loving and resenting the snow that's appeared this week!

I love it when I'm off work and can romp about in the park when it's looking so pretty, and like something out of a movie with all the kids playing on their sleds at the top of the hill whilst I sip on my hot chocolate and watch from the cosy warmth of the local cafe..

I love the frosty glow of the trees, the weird silence that seems to fall alongside the snow, the crunch of it underfoot and of course digging out my treasured Panda hat and mittens to keep me warm..


Working in travel however is a little more tricky in this kind of weather! Queue lots of disruption and seriously narked passengers, and lots of hanging about  in airport terminals waiting to see where you're going next..somewhere warm I hope!

Hope everyone is making the most of the snow!

Maddie

Write it on your heart: Every day is the best day of the year.

 Burgundy Lace dress: Next

Nighthawk boots: Office

Frankie 2013 diary: Notemaker

Jar of happiness: see Gemma's youtube vlog

I never usually make New Year's resolutions, as I know only too well that life sort of gets in the way and they inevitably fall by the wayside sometime around January 10th (If you're me!)

However instead of calling them resolutions, I'm going to go with aims for the year. little things that make life a bit happier, a bit better.

First of all, I decided I really want to start making more of an effort to comment on blogs that I read. Thanks to Ceri this has become more of a focused thing, as she very handily set up the "Follow for follow" bloggers community via Twitter on New Year's eve. it's nice to know there are like- minded people around who want to make more of an effort to make blogging more of a community, and support and encourage each other. You can see the full list of all the participants and their blogs here.

Second of all, I want to start to appreciate the little things in life rather than letting them pass me by in the rush to catch my next flight, race up the motorway, etc etc etc. I saw Gemma's video and thought the Jar of Happiness was a fantastic idea- basically take a jar (or other vestibule of your choice) and every time something happens that makes you smile, write it down and pop it in. 

Next New Year's eve, the idea is to open the jar and whilst reading through all the lovely things that have happened that year, appreciate your life and be more positive.

As you can see I've taken things a step further by creating a jar of whinge. The idea here being every time I'm upset by something I'll write that down and I'm hoping that when I go over them, I will see how mundane and trivial the things I worry about day to day are. That's the theory anyway!

I bought the Frankie diary on a bit of a whim on Christmas Eve as a pressie to myself (naughty). I really, really wanted one last year too but they had sold out long before Christmas so I was surprised to see this still in stock. They've sold out now but if you want one, keep going back to the Notemaker site as I think they are expecting more stock soon.

I'm going to write in this each night to remember what I've done and where I've been each day (sometimes I need reminding as I travel so much it's hard to remember where  am when I first wake up!)

Has anyone else got any New Year's aims? I'm always curious to hear them!

Trip in photos: Chicago

I'm lucky enough to get to travel far and wide with my job, and to experience some amazing cities and places along the way. As I go to certain places more often than others, I get to find new and exciting venues and shopping haunts along the way.
I thought I'd start up a new blog series on some of the wonderful places I go to, and share with you along the way some of the must see and must do things for each destination!
First up is one of my favourite cities in the whole world: Chicago. It often gets overlooked as a holiday destination in favour of New York, LA or Boston, but Chicago has a charm all of its own, and has really grown on me in the year or so I've been visiting it on a regular basis.

 Even the street signs and fire trucks are photo- ready!

 Cloud Gate aka the Bean

 POPS for Champagne, beautiful Forth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Ave

 Bloomy's at Christmas, amazing cupcake from Crumbs

 Lou Malnati's  "Lou"deep dish. Cannot be beaten.

Christmas crew, amazing decorations at the airport

Chicago Tips:

1. One thing Chicago is certainly famous for, is deep dish pizza. The famous pizza joint that everyone has heard of is Gino's East just off Michigan Ave, but although good, it's always packed with tourists. The locals prefer to head a few blocks away to Lou Malnati's, on North State st next to Barnes and Noble. Just the though of their pizza makes my stomach rumble..

2. It's a cliche, but you HAVE to visit Cloud Gate, more commonly known as the Bean. And yes, you have to take a photo looking up into it. Some touristy things are famous for a reason, and this is one of them!

3. For drinks, head to POPS champagne bar on the corner of E Ohio st and North state street. So many different types of bubbly, so little time! They serve snacks too, so you don't have to leave to line your tummy!

4. The shopping in Chicago is amazing. Everything is within walking distance of downtown and I can't think of a shop they don't have! Also, the shops are open really late so if your flight gets in late at night , you can still stock up in the likes of Victoria's Secret (the flagship store, no less) Bloomingdale's, Abercrombie, People Tree and so, so many more. On a side note, it has always baffled me why shops in the UK shut at 5.30pm, just when people are leaving work. Logical.

5. If you possibly can, you must go in March, for st Patrick's day. Chicagoans celebrate by dying the river green!

6. Even if you don't go in March, in the summer you can head to the man made beach by lake Michigan, stepping distance from the main shopping drag on North Michigan avenue. Sunbathe, hire a boat for a tour of the lake or join in with a beach volleyball game if you're feeling brave!

so there we have it, just a few hints I've picked up over a year's travel. The photos are mainly from one trip in December as you can tell by the Christmassy theme but to be honest whatever time of year, Chicago is amazing.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has any must do tips too?

Christmas recipes: Eggnog latté cupcakes

I don't know about you, but every year by around the tenth of December I've had enough of mince pies. I'm not a great fan of them in general, and since we're going to spend Christmas with family, I thought it would be nice to try and find a recipe for an alternative treat to take along with me for the celebrations.
After spending a blissfully happy afternoon browsing recipes online, I came across the following one on the Good Food website.
Anything that claims to taste like my favourite winter drink from Starbucks has to be worth a shot!

 These are incredibly simple to bake, make the entire house smell absolutely delicious (No need for any Yankee Christmas candles!), and if you've been doing any festive baking at all I'm sure you will have the majority of the ingredients already lurking in your kitchen cupboard.

I made two batches (we will not speak of the first, suffice to say I immediately left the house to buy a new baking tray) and after making the frosting, put them in the fridge for an hour to set before adding the finishing touch- a sprinkling of Dairy Milk with Oreo!

They do indeed taste just like eggnog lattés (and probably have just as many calories but who's counting eh?) and if you're looking for a last minute treat to bake that's a bit different to the norm, definitely give them a go!
Here's the recipe:


For the cupcakes

100 g unsalted butter, softened
240 g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 medium eggs
100 ml milk
220 g plain flour, sifted, plus extra
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
60 g white chocolate, grated

For the frosting

100 g white chocolate
125 g unsalted butter
250 g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp double cream
1 tsp ground cinnamon



1. Preheat oven to 180C/160C Fan/gas 4. Prepare a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake cases.

2. Cream the softened butter and caster sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract, then beat in the eggs one by one, adding a little flour at any sign of curdling. Pour in the milk and mix well.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix until thoroughly combined.

4. Finally, add the chocolate to the batter and fold it through to distribute evenly. Fill prepared cupcake cases 2/3rds full with the batter.

5. Bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes until well risen and golden brown on top. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

6.Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of hot water.

7. Cream together the butter, icing sugar and double cream.  Add the melted chocolate and mix well to combine.

8. Once completely cool, frost the top of the cupcakes using a small angled spatula or pipe if you prefer. Sprinkle the tops with whatever you have chosen for decoration!

Home for the Holidays

Jacket- Topshop

Martha jumper- Joules

Tartan mini Kilt- eBay

Boots- Topshop (old season)

Finally landed from my last flight of 2012 yesterday afternoon, and now I can start to really relax and get into the spirit of things. I don't own a Christmas jumper as such, so when I spotted the beautiful Martha jumper from Joules on a few blogs recently, I thought it was the ideal excuse to treat myself! The only trouble came when trying to decide which of the massively cute designs to pick- stag, fox, Daschund or Dalmatian?

As you can see I plumped for the dalmatian in the end, although I love this one so much I may well buy another in the sales..

I paired it with my new mini kilt which I picked up for a song on eBay (link above)- I think the two together have a festive spirit about them without being too cliched!

I spent a lovely afternoon with my husband and our flatmate going for our Christmas meal at our fabulous local, The Roe Deer pub.

 We're so lucky to have such a great place just down the road from us, the space has been so beautifully designed, the staff are amazingly friendly and the food they serve is simply delicious...

 We ordered one of their specialities- the Mega Platter, and gorged ourselves on wine, cheese, meats and bread until we could eat no more!

 They also have what any great pub does- a pub dog, Hendricks! (I think his official title should be Head of Customer Relations, as you can see he spent a good amount of time "checking everything was OK" with our meal..)

If you're ever in the Surrey area, I absolutely insist you pop in to sample a platter and give Hendricks the dog a chooch!

The Joules Hummingbird Dress

Dress, Joules
Scarf, Zara
Jacket, Primark

Every now and then, I see a dress I just HAVE to have. Normally this ends in tears when said dress is featured on one of the blogs I read, and is several seasons old (cue frantic eBay stalking for weeks on end) but on very rare occasions, such as this, the dress I covet is easily within my grasp.

I first saw it whilst perusing the Joules site after having seen a very cute animal intarsia jumper featured on a few blogs recently.
I'd never really heard of Joules before and didn't know much about the brand at all, so my eyes were on stalks when I saw this lovely dress.

Only thing is, it turns out you need to size down when ordering. This dress pretty much swamps me in my normal size, but as I couldn't wait to wear it and so gleefully ripped the tags off as soon as it arrived, I'm going to add some ribbon to the sides in a contrasting colour to cinch it in at he waist- I quite like things a bit baggy anyway.

I wore my new find on a date day to London at the weekend with my Husband, and felt nicely dressed up but still casual enough to not feel daft going for dinner at Byron!

Has anyone else recently discovered Joules?

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Christmas recipes: Rice Crispy Wreaths

There's something about Christmas that makes me want to drag out all my recipe books and get creating, yet sometimes you just want to make something really simple, that requires absolutely no cooking and minimal effort.
I found the recipe for these festive wreaths over at Baking Mad and immediately knew they fit the bill.
They look so pretty, and you can basically bung whatever decorations you have lying around both in your kitchen cupboards and even left over in your Christmas decorations box to top them off with!
I must admit, I did buy the gold glitter spray especially for them though, I couldn't resist!

Ingredients:

25 grams butter
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
150 grams chocolate of your choice, chopped
100 grams Rice Crispies

To make:

• Place butter and syrup in a pan on a low heat and melt
• Add the chocolate and stir together
• Add the crispies and stir until completely coated
• On a sheet of baking paper, arrange the mixture into circles
• Leave to cool in the fridge for half an hour until hardened
• Decorate as you fancy!

Have you been baking up a storm in preparation for Christmas? hat are some of your tried and tested recipes?