Monday 30 April 2012

Marvel Avengers nails

I've been on a bit of a Marvel kick over the last week or so - Craig & I have been trying to catch up on all of their films before going to see the Avengers (which I loved, and highly recommend!).

So this nail art seemed like a pretty normal thing to do after a super hero movie marathon!

The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow
Black Widow (meant to be her belt!), Hawkeye, Captain America, Iron Man & the Hulk's torso!

I had looked online for a bit of inspiration (as I've been in a bit of a leopard-print nail rut), and found loads of amazing designs, but the one that stood out most was this Avengers nail set by MaryMars on etsy. I copied three of her characters and added Hawkeye and Black Widow myself.

This was quite tricky to do - took me about an hour (eep!) as it was so fiddly, but I'm really pleased with it. AND if I put my hands together the heads & costumes match up!

Sorry about the messy photo !

Mini-avengers ASSEMBLE!

Friday 27 April 2012

Mix & match nails

 

I bought new nail art pens from Amazon (more on these later) and just wanted to show off a really quick manicure from this week. I had originally mixed & matched my colours so the polka dot nails were dark blue, but it looked a little too much like an American flag! (which didn't work with my vaguely nautical plans).

I love polka dot nails - they are SO simple to do, but I always get really nice comments on them.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

How to: cook thai green curry

It's been a little while since I've posted a recipe, but never fear, I am back with a belter! I really really love thai food but was a little daunted by the idea of trying to cook it myself, thinking you need a million different spices and what not. Luckily supermarkets cater for the lazy (and novice) chefs, so you can just buy thai paste in jars - no mortar required!

Here's my recipe for veggie thai green curry. This is a vegetarian version, but it's really easy to add in chicken if you're poultry-inclined.


Ingredients:
  • quarter of a butternut squash
  • 2 peppers
  • baby corn (about half a packet)
  • mushrooms
  • green beans (a handful)
  • green curry paste (look for a vegetarian friendly version that doesn't include fish sauce!)
  • tin of coconut milk
  • 1 lime
  • rice

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees. Now get your butternut squash, cut in half & de-seed, then chop a quarter of it into big chunks. I'd never cooked with butternut squash before so I hadn't realised how MASSIVE they are! & tough - you'll need a fairly sturdy knife to do your chopping.


Chop up two peppers into chunks, then put them in an oven dish with the squash. Pour a little olive oil over everything, then roast in the oven for about 25 minutes until everything is looking nice and golden.


Add some oil to a large pan or wok and let it heat up (& put the chicken in at this stage if you fancy!). Then pop the baby corn in the pan add the green curry paste to taste (I used three tablespoons). Let this cook for about a minute at a fairly high temperature, before adding the coconut milk and reducing the heat to a simmer. Chuck in the green beans at this stage too and let it bubble happily for about a couple of  minutes.


By now the squash and peppers should be nicely roasted. Add these to your pan, and chuck in some mushrooms too, and leave for a few minutes more (basically until the mushrooms cook). Add the juice of one lime and you're done!


Serve with boiled rice! This recipe makes LOADS, so feed your pals too. Yum.

Monday 23 April 2012

Shoes!

Hi! I've been a little bit out of action over the last week or so because I am now living in my new house in the country (yay)! This unfortunately means that I am also spending most of my waking minutes in Ikea or Homebase (er, yay?). It turns out that lampshade shopping is actually really fun and exciting for the first lamp or two... but a whole house? Followed by roller blind shopping? Then picking a fence? MAKE IT STOP.

So! As a wee break I have put together a wishlist of shoes that I want for summer. I know that it is definitely not summer yet, but a girl can hope! It's almost May! That means breezy barbecue weather, yeah?


All shoes from Spartoo

1. Moony Mood brogues - I have a mild fear about brogues, as I don't want to look like a ridiculous clompy-footed geography teacher, but I think these have just the right amount of girlishness to them. They look good for picnicking. £18ish

2. Anchor ballet shoes- definitely not good for picnicking, but cute! White shoes are quite daunting, but I couldn't resist the anchor because I would like to be a sailor. £47

3. Rocket Dog ballerina flats - so spring-like! I'd like to say I'd wear these to garden parties with a floral dress (with cupcakes and macaroons, yah?), but I don't think those picture-perfect things happen in real life. So I'd be more likely to wear them with rolled up jeans to work on a summery day. £31

4. Converse all stars - wear these any time, any where. There's a reason that EVERYONE ones a pair of Chucks (it's cause they are super comfy). £53

Shoes, be mine!

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Crafternoons at Cushion & Cake

Cushion & Cake is a cute wee tearoom in Glasgow's West End that sounds right up my street! They serve tea (in vintage teacups), cakes, homemade food AND crafty homewares and goods. So far, so kitsch, so good. I came across them through work, and put them on my list of places to visit when I am next in Glasgow.

All photos from Cushion & Cake's flickr

But today I was nosing about their facebook and noticed this - Crafternoon! On the last Sunday of every month they hold crafty classes on a different theme each month. It's £15 per session, which lets you learn new skills, take your crafted item home and have teatime treats.

Previous months have included...


Cross-stitch Valentine's cards...


& screen-printed tote bags.

It looks ACE - and a visit to Cushion & Cake has been moved from "would be nice in the future" to "must do! pronto!". This month's Crafternoon is themed around Clouds, and you can see how to book here.

p.s. whilst nosing around on their flickr account I noticed this little guy, and couldn't resist including a photo of him too. Hiya little pig!

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Home owners!

Well HELLO new house. 

Life has been a bit crazy over the last few weeks, and that's mostly down to this extravagant purchase.
 
Definitely a house.

We were due to get the keys mid-April, but thanks to our builders being super speedy, we actually got in three weeks early! This was exciting and wonderful, but also SUPER stressful as it meant that we had a chance to beat the return of stamp duty... which then meant a week of last-minute solicitor meetings, frantic signing of important things, and lots of nervous waiting!

So we are in - not quite living there yet, but almost. It means Craig & I have been able to work on our DIY skills... which were initially totally non-existent, but have come on leaps and bounds.

New sofa (love love love) | I have a kitchen window! | View | Downstairs bathroom - the first room that looks room-like!

Brand new houses are quite surreal - at first it was just a big empty box, and it was hard to imagine how the rooms were going to feel like when we lived there. But bit by bit we're started moving furniture in and it's starting to feel more like our house.

I feel like my life revolves around diy, Ikea, Homebase and cardboard boxes, but there is an end in sight! This time next week I should be actually LIVING there... and hopefully there will be no more shelves to put up. Phew. 

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Edinburgh International Science Festival

Last week I went to the launch of the Edinburgh International Science Festival, which was held at the beautiful National Museum of Scotland.

The Science Festival has been running for years (it was founded in 1989!), and is all about learning (!) and fun (!) and science (you guessed it). I used to go to events with school when I was very wee, but there's loads of events and fun things that are aimed at adults - including COCKTAILS THAT SMOKE. Woah!

Most photos by my trusty iphone, some from the EdSciFest flickr

At the opening night we got to have a go at various InMotion exhibits, which look at human movement through sport, technology and dance. I realised that I am not very strong, and was quite jealous of all of the dancers and gymnasts who were just twirling and balancing all round us.

We also got to drink cocktails that were topped up with dry ice - this was mildly terrifying but so impressive. It would make a really good party trick, but you'd have to be so careful as dry ice has a surface temperature of -78.5 degrees C, which means it would HURT if you touched it without gloves!

I've got tickets booked to see Derren Brown in a couple of weeks, and I'm so excited about it. It's a behind-the-scenes talk with Derren and Richard Wiseman (who runs the Edinburgh Secret Society & is very funny!). He's going to be talking about mind control, hypnosis and the paranormal, and it's in a tiny Edinburgh theatre - it'll be ace.

The festival runs until April 15th, so there's still plenty of time to buy tickets and learn things!

Monday 2 April 2012

March instagram

This is a couple of days late, but March was SO busy (hence the bigger than usual instagram post!). Here's what I've been up to.


1. I was down in London for work at the start of the month, and luckily was able to extend my trip and spend the weekend with my lovely, lovely friend Steph. I miss her LOADS so it was just brilliant getting some quality time to spend together - normally our visits are short and sweet!

2. Steph's a make up artist, which meant I was sharing my bedroom with some interesting things! A disembodied arm was an odd thing to see first thing in the morning.

3. I'm trying to get back in the habit of eating breakfast (I hate cereal, hate it!) so have been having quite tasty things. This was banana and peanut butter on toast - so good!

4. New shoes! I love them, and I want to wear them every single day. Sadly leopard print grandad shoes don't go with everything (who'd have thought, right?).

5. Beautiful flowers from the new florist that has opened up on our street. I love the shape of these flowers!

6.  Like the whole world, I have become a bit addicted to Draw Something. This is something Craig drew for me... can you guess who it's meant to be? My username is (surprise surprise) eversojuliet if you'd like to play me.

7. I've been on a hunt for the PERFECT beat up leather armchairs for my future library for AGES, but couldn't afford the ones I'd seen so far. A friend recommended that I take a trip to Foursquare in Edinburgh - a big charity warehouse. It is AMAZING - I'd highly, highly recommend a look if you live here! We snapped up two armchairs for £45 each (!!!!). So happy.

8. Edinburgh had a mini-heat wave last week and it was so gorgeous! It is a rare site to see 19 degrees in Scotland in March, and there was no rain for days! A wee spring-time miracle.

9. Both Steph and twitter recommended the Remington Pearl curling wand, so I bought it with some leftover Christmas vouchers and I love it! The day it arrived at work I couldn't resist giving it a go - so this photo is taken after I curled my hair at my desk with no mirror (which also explains the dead-behind-the-eyes expresssion - busy day!). I'll probably do a proper post about this soon, I'm so pleased with it.

10. Hanging out in the sunshine at lunchtime with my pal Muzz. We've found a wee grassy spot that's only a couple of minutes from work, so have made the most of the sunshine by having picnics everyday!

11. Portobello beach in the sunshine! I could get used to this. Sadly the good weather seems to have ended yesterday - it's raining heavily now and is due to snow tomorrow!

12. ... and the main reason life has got a little bit busy - we got the keys to our house! Look! It's a real house! We're so so so happy with it. We've started to move furniture in, but won't be living there properly until I've finished the big project I'm doing at work. It can't come soon enough though, I cannot wait to live there.

My instagram name is eversojuliet if you'd like to add me!