Pumpkin Soup Ahoy!

Pumpkin soup is something that's becoming a bit of a tradition in our house during autumn. I love starting new traditions with Liam! We will always change up little bits depending what we fancy, but here is our new favourite basic recipe :)



Serves roughly 4-6

1/4 of a medium pumpkin
2 tbsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
small sprinkling of nutmeg
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1tsp paprika
2 leeks
2 carrots
4 potatos
1 stick of celery
1.5 litre of vegetable stock
1 can of coconut milk
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F/ gas mark 6. Cut and peel pumpkin into small even sized chunks and  put in a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on your chili flakes, paprika and coriander seeds with a little salt and pepper. Place on middle shelf of oven for approx 30 minutes (until soft).

2. Peel and cut your potato's into small chunks and transfer to a pan of boiling salted water for approx 15 minutes (until soft). Time this to finish with the pumpkin.

3. Once the potato's are on, chop the celery, leeks and carrots and fry in a big pan with some olive oil. Do this gently for about 15 minutes - you don't want to brown them!

4. Add the pumpkin, potato, stock,coconut milk, cinnamon and nutmeg to the pan and bring to the boil. I like to puree half of the soup because I like some bits, use a hand blender until you have a consistency you like.

5. Season to taste and serve with fresh bread, I like poppy seed - ENJOY! :)


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Smiles

A brilliant post by Kate with some awesome handy tips on iPhone photography!

 This adorable little chipmunk! Isn't he just the cutest? On a dinosaur too! Literally cannot get any better. Can I have one please? 

Is there anything the wonderful sisters of A Beautiful Mess can't do? This telephone bookends DIY is fantastic.

 Delicious caramel apples from Kaelah and her super cute family. Check out the chocolate & bacon! Oooof.

This yellow coat I found on Pinterest. I seriously need it! If anyone can tell me where it's from I will love you for all eternity. I followed every link from it and it just kept taking me to tumblr's :( and the tag is too fuzzy to read! 

A simple, easy, adaptable cushion DIY from Elsie. I just love seeing her new home come together, she has such great style.

What a fort!  I am a massive fan of forts/tipi's etc. This one is for an Urban Outfitters shoot. Nothing better than a snuggle space, especially when it has a slight Christmassy feel. I just really don't think I have the room at home...

Possibly THE most beautiful wallpaper, ever.

I will leave you with this from Maura <3

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Autumn Playlist

Here's a little playlist I've been putting together for Autumn :) I hope you all like it! What sort of things do you listen to this time of year? I just love anything cozy and happy.

I got three new Yankee's today! Cranberry Ice, Sugared Apple and the one I'm currently burning; Kitchen Spice. They are all so yummy :) Do you have different scents throughout the year? Which are your favorites? My mum's favorite is Christmas Eve, she has a HUGE jar of it but only ever lights it on Christmas Eve! Shes a cutie.

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Stripes

Cardigan: H&M (eBay) / Dress: ASOS / Belt: New Look / Tights: H&M / Scarf: Gift

I got my bunny phone! It's not as great as I expected, the tail sheds a lot and the colour is much more neon than the picture... but I suppose it'd expected for paying £1.78. Thought I would post you a little outfit, now you probably won't see these often as I don't own many clothes at the moment! Plus I'm pretty much a dress & cardigan everyday kinda gal. I got my hair cut this morning so it's a little different now, I will show you soon :)

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Home Wishlist

1. Desk Bunny / 2. Lappljung Ruta Cushion / 3. Velvet Cushion / 4. Juice Stop By Glasses Set / 5. Joseph Joseph Vinyl Chopping Board / 6. Diana Mini Latitude / 7. Metal Coffee Table / 8. Take Your Turntable Green 

1. Reversible Leaves Quilt / 2. Lappljung Ruta Rug

I adore the patterns on these two so I couldn't bring myself to make them smaller! Don't you just love the metal table? I'd use it to sit my vinyl player on, and I reckon a plant. I still haven't found any succulents. The vinyl would look awesome underneath too. I have the perfect spot for it!

Oh and that beautiful quilt is on sale, i'm hoping it still comes down more though.

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Homies

We've lived in this flat for just over a year now. When we moved it was a bit of a rush, and although there were a (large) handful of imperfections, we moved in as it was big, cheap and in the perfect place. We rent so I decided after a month or so that maybe we shouldn't start the list until we had a better idea of what 'the plan' was.

Like I said, we've been here just over a year now, and plan to stay for up to another two years! Time to get sorting right? Due to the rushing, everything we owned was either Ikea or someone's spare. Don't get me wrong, I love both these things! But we had nothing special if you get me? Nothing we thought 'wow!' and bought. 

Until now that is! I've been ebaying and carbooting hunting for great pictures, furniture, blankets.... We are finally starting our collection of treasured items :). I got an awesome cabinet off ebay for £3! It was a bit ugly so we painted it white and added pastel ombre style colours to the doors. We are still missing the middle glass piece which will be white, and the two centre white drawers are going to have vintage paper on them. Hopefully it will look good! 

The picture isn't very good quality! My camera has broke so I'm using my iPhone for the foreseeable future. Oh and can you spot Monty the Yeti in the middle? I totally made him. Yep.

We have a few other bits and pieces too, like a retro wood drop-leaf dining table. It's only a twosie and it looks like its straight from a cafe! Too cute. And you can just see the corner of our striped chair in that picture. Something i'd really like are some wire baskets, I see bloggers with huge ones used as side tables or made into vinyl cabinets. I swear I just can't find any in England. 

I love collecting new pieces for our home, but it's going to be a long process!

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Embracing My Inner Grandma

Firstly, I'd just like to say how I LOVE the way some people over the pond call their Grandma's mee-maw. Cute or what?! Personally, I call mine Grammie. And shes awesome.

This week I've been loving the fact it's been getting dark earlier. I've been working later shifts so it's been dark when I leave, and I love it! The clocks haven't even gone back yet! I really don't understand why people get grumpy about dark evenings all Autumn/Winter. If it was hot out I'd understand - but when it's frosty out its beautiful. Where would the fun be on Bonfire Night if it was light?! Erm hellooo.

So it's almost 6pm here and the sun is falling asleep. Liam is still at work as he works pretty much none stop from September to New Years. I miss him terribly. It's much better when there's two of you under the blanket. I've got a wee glass of sherry and I've tucked into the Christmas box of Cadbury Fingers - don't judge me! I couldn't help it!! I ordered the shopping online and it came last night (we had the loveliest guy deliver it!) and when I was ordering it all they had sooo many Christmas treats half price! I bought a big box of fingers and a super cute vintage looking Jacobs tin filled with savoury crackers. Yum!

I went off on a snackery tangent there didn't I?

I started a new crochet project, I really want to make a cute little Christmas light bulb garland to hang on my dresser. I've got about 5 bulbs done so far in bright green, purple and blue. I want to add red and yellow too but I'll have to wait till payday for some more wool. On the bright side, I found a website that sells my favourite wool in loads of colours! There's only two shops by me that stock it and they're almost always out. I found a pattern for the bulbs online, but I've tweaked the 'metal' bit as I wasn't keen on theirs.

I saw the most beautiful hair on Pinterest this week. I really love this colour! I'm desperate to change something about my hair at the moment. It's longer than it's been since I was little and I love that, but it's starting to feel really BLAH. I want a full fringe again, and more layurrrrs.

(Source)

Oh! As promised, here is the AMAZING photographer we booked for the wedding :). We saw so so many posts with his awesome photos through my fave wedding blogs, and every one made us oooh and aah! In the end... it was a no brainer ;)


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Wishlist

1. Cardigan / 2. The Classic Satchel / 3. Snow Flake Wonderland / 4. Knits All Good Dress /  5. Floral Print Wellies / 6. Can't Catch Me Sweater / 7. Gold Rush Hour Flats 

The Dark Mark

So after my Harry Potter rambling yesterday, I'm now sat here watching The Prisoner Of Azkaban and thought I would share this wee Instadump with you. This is my friend and I before we went to the midnight screening of Deathly Hallows Part 2. Unsurprisingly  we weren't the only ones doing something a little extra special that night. We used a Bourjois liquid eyeliner pen to draw them.... and it stayed for days! Funnily thought, I hate using the thing on my eyes. 

We cried a lot that night. It was a night that will stay in my thoughts forever.

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Favourite: Books

I thought I would do a small series of posts containing some of my favourite things, so you can get to know me a little more ;). It seemed right to start with books as these are some of my favourite possessions  and I am rarely (if ever!) found  without one. I found it EXTREMELY hard to narrow down 5, and I'm sure if you ask me again in a few weeks this would have changed... but I did my very best to pick books I have loved for a long time.

1. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban - I would say the HP books as a whole are my absolute favourite. Like many people my age, I have grown up with them. Until this time last year every moment I can remember of my life has been spent waiting the next book or next film. I adore HP and truly believe they will be my favourite books forever. If I had to pick one, I would choose The Prisoner Of Azkaban. This is my go-to film and book if I need a little dose of HP! I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it could be because this is the first one that felt a little scary. I've never been into scary things (not even Goosebumps!) so it was a big deal I liked this when I was young ha! Plus we meet my two favourite characters of the entire series in this book, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Ohhh I might have to put the film on now ha!

2. Elsewhere - I'm not a fan of crap books where nothing happens, it's just a plain story. I need books where things happen. I want books to make me emotional. I want to completely lose myself until its over. I went through a phase of 'death books', where characters are ill or dead or someone close is. This was one of the first books I read where the main character dies. The book is about her beautiful, fantastic afterlife, and it is a version of the afterlife I had never come across before or since. I don't want to say much more, but it is a book you will not regret reading.

3. Mystery Man - Ohh I love this so much! The story is about a man who owns a mystery bookshop called No Alibis in Belfast, and when the private detective next door appears to shut shop, its clients find their way into No Alibis. I love a good murder mystery, in fact I love any sort of mystery or twist in a book! This one is unlike any other murder mystery's I have read as it is SO funny! The main character has all sorts of issues, and has such a skewed, hilarious view on all situations that I couldn't put it down. Something a little different and truly fabulous. There are also now two more books in this series, Day Of The Jack Russell and Dr Yes.

4. No Time For Goodbye - Linwood Barclay is one of my favourite authors. His books are full of mystery and as of yet I have not guessed an ending correctly! I'm pretty good at predicting the end of books and films, I put it down to doing Film Studies in college but I suppose I could before that too. So it's a pretty big deal when I find something I just can't figure out - I love it! This books is about a girl who awakes one morning and her family has disappeared, nothing has changed in the house, nobody saw anything. Completely gone. We catch up with her 25 years later with a family of her own, still no more information on the disappearance of her family - until she receives a letter one morning.... You seriously need to read this book.

5. Life On The Refrigerator Door - A beautiful, sad little book. The entire book consists of a post-it on the fridge conversation between a mother and her daughter. It is a very quick read due to this - I sat for a quick peek at the first few pages and didn't move until I finished it around 30 minutes later. For such a short book it certainly takes you for an emotional ride. One day there is a note on the fridge from her mother that is different to all the others, and life is never the same again. Do not wear mascara whilst reading this.

Oof that was a lot more rambley than I expected! So much for a quickie post :p. I've just finished reading The Hunger Games, which I really liked... but I didn't like the ending. It seemed very rushed and not thought through. As a whole I enjoyed the series though. Next on my list is The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. I'm a strong believer that the book is always better than the film, that's not to say I don't enjoy the film! I just get more from the book. My friend passed me this as it is her all time favourite book - how can I say no to that?! 

love 

Smiles

Beautiful, chubby, colourful succulents. Please someone tell me where I can get such beauties in Wirral? I can't get my hands on any anywhere. 

This tassel scarf DIY from A Beautiful Mess. Elsie & Emma's clothing collection launched also at Modcloth this week! You can view the collection here, and read about it on the blog. I also LOVE the lookbook video they created.

It seems everyone has been blogging about Kaylah's awesome new bag. Can you believe that a real bag?! I just don't understand how it looks so much like a cartoon. Mind. Blown.

Jess' super cute bunny iphone case! I just had to get one of these, they are really cheap on ebay too! It's coming from Hong Kong though so I could be waiting a while ;) 

This adorable little Autumn poochie!

Kaelah & Mike got married yesterday! If you follow her on instagram (@kaelahbee) you would have seen a few sneaky shots. Congratulations guys! Can't wait to see more photos of the big day. This photo was taken of Mike's proposal by the awesome Susannah.

These scrabble chair signs!

These solar system lollipops. Eek!

Hello Autumn

I think its pretty safe to say Autumn is here. This week the leaves were suddenly beautiful hues of red, orange and yellow and starting to pile on the pavements. It seems everybody says this, but Autumn is by far my most favorite season. I love beginning to wrap up warm and putting my boots on! I love all the beautiful colours people wear in Autumn. I love hot chocolates by the fire with Liam. I love breaking out the cozy scented Yankee Candles (yeah I lit Mulled Wine and Welcome Christmas... maybe jumping ahead of myself a little there :p). We also made our first pumpkin soup yesterday! I just love love love it! What are your favorite things about this season?

We finally had some wedding breakthrough's the last week! I was starting to think we were destined to not get married ha! We went to the Town Hall and gave our notice, I found some awesome bridesmaid dresses, saw a wedding dress I really like AND we think we have our photographer! This has definitely been the most stressful part so far. We have seen lots of photographers we like, but they were too expensive or booked up or only hung round for a few hours. Can you believe someone actually quoted me £22,000.00 for photography?! This didn't even include travel! Anyhoo, I will link up the photographer when the contract is signed as I don't want to jinx things ;). I'm glad I saw a dress I liked, i've been trying pretty hard to avoid this area and I still have no intentions to try something on any time soon - but it's a start! I change my mind far too often to start looking yet, knowing me I will find 'the one' straight away and then despise it next year! We started collecting blankets too, found the above beauties for £5 each at a vintage fair.

Hope you had a wonderful week, love