This year Craig & I have been looking into the (terrifying) world of mortgages and trying to actually buy a house (eee), and it's been quite easy to get carried away about the things I'd love in a future house: a garden, a separate kitchen (with loads of room to bake!), space to store our ridiculous collection of things, & a quiet enough area that Riley could be allowed outside.
But sometimes it's nice to sit in the flat when it's clean and cosy and nice and appreciate the wee nook we have in a very busy part of Edinburgh. It somehow manages to fit all of our possessions, even though it is tiny. My kitchen has one surface space, but I've made a three tier wedding cake there, plus thousands of cupcakes from the wee old oven. It fits a piano and a surfboard and my bike. It is Riley's entire world. And it has my things.
Ahh. Things. Like my old book collection...
I've had that Black Beauty book (the one on the left!) my entire life!
Art from across the world... from family, friends and strangers.
Craig's box wars head, decorated cake box (one of my favourite things in the whole house), etsy print, drawings from my nieces (aww), etsy print, cake box, etsy print, kozyndan print.
I've seen space nails kicking around on other blogs for a while, but was a bit nervous about giving it a go as it looked tricky! I then stumbled across this tutorialwhich convinced me to give it a go. It is actually really easy, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. I quite liked it, then a pal told me I looked like I had mould on my fingers (haha thanks).
I think it needs a little practice, and an attempt to actually "shape" the galaxies on each nail would help a lot. Make it look a little more put together, rather than just looking like spongy glittered nails. Still, fun!
Okay, so it's October now. Which means it is perfectly acceptable to discuss Halloween costumes.
I really love dressing up! I tend to get a bit addicted to the Craftster Halloween forums at this time of year (which you should all read if you are at all crafty) because they are filled with tutorials and projects, all of which you can do at home.
Last year I went as a zombie nurse, and it was such an easy costume!
I got a real nurse's dress from ebay (for £8! Bargain), along with some surgical masks. I bought flesh coloured putty from a joke shop to make my bullet wound (so simple to use - just put it on, use the end of a pencil to shape your bullet hole, put black make up within that and add loads of fake blood). I had white tights and white heels (from primark, amazingly cheap) which were covered in blood too and I made my nurse hat thing out of glossy paper.
For make up I covered my face in pale foundation, and then just added loads of different shades of black, grey and blue to my eyes and cheeks. I also had a "wound" in my hairline, with blood trickling down my face. It was really good fun! (although bless, I showed my mum the photos of me "pretending to be dead" and she was a bit freaked out. Sorry mum!).
In previous years I have been a leopard...
& a ragdoll!
Fun fun fun. I need to get planning for this year.
It feels like the holiday has rolled around so quickly! Because it was booked early in the summer and July and August were so crazy it's almost like I forgot we were going away, so it just seemed to hit me last week that the holiday was so soon! (I think my colleagues were happy about this too. I've been the least-excitable I ever have been in the run up to a holiday, and got a "well done" for this at work. Ha ha).
So we're off to Florida for 14 days, staying in a lovely apartment near Celebration. It's going to be a chilled and (shamelessly) child-like two weeks! We're going to go to the theme parks, the Kennedy Space Center (so so excited), gigs, beaches (so Craig can go surfing), malls, and more! I'm going to eat so much tasty American food!
It feels really nice that we're going back to Orlando - it was the first holiday that Craig & I went on when we'd only been together for a year. I've been looking at our photos from the first holiday, and it's obvious that we are a good match.. we are as idiotic as each other. Aww.
In 2007. We will probably take the same photo this year.
I've set up some scheduled posts while I'm away so the blog won't be too quiet, but I'll obviously not be able to reply to any comments until I'm back. Thanks for reading though... see you on the other side!
Yesterday I went to the cinema with my pals to see the new version of Jane Eyre. I don't mean to be a moan, but it's the same old film-from-book rant, isn't it?
I really loved Jane Eyre at uni. At the time I was starting to read more gothic fiction (which in the end, became half of my dissertation) and really liked that side to it. If you haven't read it, give it a go! There is mystery and intrigue and genuinely scary goings on. & then under all that you've got a massively confusing relationship with a man who is horrible and not bonnie (but somehow still quite appealing and gruff and interesting). Your protagonist is a girl who doesn't care that she's plain or people think she's plain, she's still going to tell it as she sees it, thank you very much. It's good!
So when I saw this trailer.. well, I was quite intrigued.
It's creepy! It's Jane Eyre, but given more of a gothic horror edge! It's not just a sappy take on the relationship! It's going to be great!
Oh. Well. Sorry. It clearly wasn't meant to be. It is getting pretty good reviews, so if you like period dramas and aren't a MASSIVE GOTHIC FICTION FAN with (clearly ridiculous) DREAMS OF A HORROR REMAKE then you'll probably like it. Even just for the scene where she nestles her face across his jodhpur-clad thigh (this happens). Or the part where he wears the most ridiculous hat (this happens).
I tried to find a photo of one of his Jane Eyre hats, but failed. This is pretty much on the same level though. Good god.
On the plus side, both my friends and the older ladies behind us all laughed inappropriately at some of the ridiculous scenes (particularly the hat-wearing ones). & Michael Fassbender pranced around for two hours on a massive screen. There are worst ways to spend a Thursday!
& onto something completely different... I did my first guest blog post today! It's over on French for Cupcakeand is me professing my love for roller derby. Claire's a fellow derby girl who has a lovely blog, so go and check it out! Ta!
Have a lovely weekend. I have only THREE sleeps to go until we go on holiday, so excitement is building!
