October Round Up

The end of October is here and so is my monthly round up.
Overall I've had a productive month.
Top 10 events :

1. Celebrating my anniversary with my fiance

2. Learning to knit & making cute little hats for charity

3. Gimli's photo shoot with Laura

4. It's less than 1 year until I get married!

5. Visiting Donnington Grove to see the leaves turning for Autumn

6. Halloween! (though I didn't do anything!) but my next door neighbor's little girl dressed up as a monster high doll!

7. My new Kurt Geiger boots - anniversary present

8 . Deciding to give Finn a permanent home here!

9. Losing half a stone!

10. Winning some free drinks from Malibu UK for myself & my best friend Steph... For being best friends!

Top Auntie!

I have literally been working my socks off on my newest hobby of knitting. As a result I've been really neglecting my blog lately! But I'll have plenty to write about over the next few days so please stay tuned!

Okay!

My niece turns 4 near the end of November & she is baby dolly mad.

So me & my fiance have got her yet another dolly pram set, her mum is getting her a baby Annabell & my Mother in law is getting her the cot to match. (can't go wrong with more babies!)

I've been knitting her some outfits to dress her babies up in & having quite a lot of fun really!

I plan on doing a complete set for her birthday & even more for Christmas!

Her older sister isn't into babies, but has lots of teddy bears so I'll knit some clothes for her to dress those up in for Christmas too.

My mum even got on board with a crochet cape & a knitted blanket which is just gorgeous!

I'm a top Auntie!

What have you done for your niece's or nephew's birthday?

Here is what I've got so far:

Fall in Love...

...With Autumn

au·tumn  (ôtm)

n.

 The season of the year between summer and winter, lasting from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice and from September to December in the Northern Hemisphere; fall

This is literally the best time of year. It's my utmost favourite and if I could have it my way it would be Summer for 6 months and Autumn for the rest of the year! I've always been a huge fan but over the last couple of years I finally narrowed down why. Here they are: 

1. This time of year is the perfect excuse just to chuck on a comfy slouchy jumper, some leg warmers, snuggle up, and watch some TV.  If you have a fire place...Even better.

2. Hot Drinks! To me it just doesn't feel the same drinking that much tea in the summer even though I am a Teapot by nature. Autumn welcomes back hot drinks with open arms...This year it also brings Fruit teas and Hot chocolates with whipped cream, marshmellows and a flake. Need I say more? No.
3. Or what about lovely walks in the woods? You'd see a beautiful array of Autumnal colours such as rich reds, oranges, yellows, golds and browns.


4. Halloween. What would autumn be without Halloween?! That special time of year you can dress up, eat a ton of sweets and act stupid ...and being allowed!
   
   
   
5. The weather - It's so much better than other seasons. Sometimes it's still sunny and warm but not scorching hot. Sometimes it's cool and breezy without being too cold. Sometimes it snows. Sometimes its a heat wave. Sometimes there are thunderstorms. Sometimes it's mild and dry. 
   
   
   
6. It's the beginning of new life. Now I know that may be contradictory to what most of you will think - 'Trees and flowers die off, animals hibernate...'. Although true... the fact is leaves fall off and flowers finish their spring and summer cycles to start adding nutrients back into the surrounding soil to help next year's plants grow. In turn the plant litter provides food and shelter to a lot of smaller animals and insects. Nature really at it's best.
   
   
   
7. It gets dark early so you can get into your pyjamas at like 3pm and no one questions you. It's also perfectly acceptable to be in bed by 7. Hey by that point it's already been dark for several hours any way!
   
   
8. No silly body hang ups!
   In the summer: 'My legs are wobbly in shorts and blotchy from shaving' or 'my Tummy is flabby...'
   In the Autumn: 'My legs are wobbly and hairy but hidden in baggy jeans and my tummy is flabby from all the yummy cake I've eaten but you can't see that because it's hidden under my slouchy  jumper.'
   
   
9. Bonfire Night! The pretty colours, the fantastic shows, candy floss, fairground rides, laughs with friends... The smell! Fireworks and burning wood have THE greatest smell. 
   Mmmmmm.
   
10. The Clothes! Scarves, snoods, hats, gloves, mittens, leg warmers, boots, coats, jumpers, slipper socks, cardigans... Anything that is warm, fuzzy and knitted is a winner for Autumn!

Do you have a favourite time of year?

Hailie

xo

The Big Knit

For my 21st birthday my sister knitted me the most amazing merino wool snood. 

I love it and still wear it often.

Since then I've been totally jealous of her ability to knit, and my mum's ability to crochet. 

So this week I decided to learn once and for all how to knit, and to start with I thought 'Oh God this is so difficult...'

Then it got a little better as I mastered the basic knit stitch, a bit more confusing when I was learning how to purl stitch until I mastered that as well. 

So after one evening of teaching myself via YouTube and a little help from my mum when I needed it I had knitted a few squares and was so proud of myself.

I stayed up the next night knitting some more squares, mixing the stitches to achieve different looks and this advert came on the TV which instantly caught my attention...

The Innocent Big Knit!

They want people of all abilities and ages to knit those cute little woolly hats that sit on the smoothie bottles in November, to help raise money for Age UK.

So can you guess what I did...Yep I knitted a little pink hat.

Then a pink and teal striped one.

Then a pink and teal ribbed one.

Then a teal ribbed one.

Then a plain teal one.

 I obviously couldn't resist putting one on Gimli! She looked adorable!

I plan on knitting as many tiny hats as I possibly can before next weekend so I can post them off so that they too might sit on a bottle in November.

As well as that I will be knitting little hats to sell to people for 25p each, donating that money to Age UK...So those who don't like smoothies...or those who just want a tiny woolly hat can have one too!

Remember to wrap up warm this winter...Keep loved ones safe from the cold too!And Jokes aside that goes for your pets too!

Do you have a piece of knitwear you just love? Ever tried knitting yourself? What's your favourite woolly hat look like?!

Hailie

xo

No More Silly Sundays

Unfortunately I wont be doing my Silly Sundays idea any more as it wasn't as popular after the first one.

But just so all the entries can be appreciated I have decided to feature them anyway as a thank you for taking part...

I may decide to start it up again if it gets some more interest but for now I'll put it down to a 1 time thing!

So, in no particular order, here are all the photos tagged for 

#bestdressedbeardie

 

I'll let everyone know if I start it up again, but please feel free to keep adding your photos!

Thank you for participating!

Hailie

xo

About Time...

So after yesterday's not so successful date (the mother in law and her husband joining us for dinner and the fact we never made it to the cinema) we were quite looking forward to our wedding fair in Reading's Madejeski Stadium... 

However just after we got onto the motorway I was informed that I had previously been mis-informed and thus it wasn't actually on there at all! A friend, who shall not be named, had told me about an amazing wedding fair and said she might attend herself and when I messaged her this morning she said 'nah its not on there'...

When i checked the internet -It was this weekend...but last year! DOH!
Being too far along the motorway to turn around, we decided instead to go to Basingstoke and have the date we intended to have yesterday!

So we went to the Spruce Goose for lunch... it was delicious!

We had a sharing combo to start with which included Calamari Rings, Buffalo Wings, Battered Herb Mushrooms, Peri-peri Chicken Skewers and some celery sticks...

I tried a piece of calamari for the first time and it wasn't that bad! But I can't say about the buffalo wings which I promptly spat out into my napkin, making the Mr. laugh his head off!

So, we split the plate...I had the mushrooms and the skewers, and he had the wings and rings!

For our mains, I had a chicken & Mushroom risotto, and the fella had a double western burger...

His burger was literally massive! each individual burger patty was at least an inch thick, as well as onion rings and a tomato whacked in there!

 What I wore: Lace sleeve top - H&M, Sleeveless a-symmetric cardigan - Topshop, Bracelet & Earrings - Warehouse (What you can't see: Peach bandage Skirt - New look, Leopard print and gold chain bow ballerina shoes - Primark)

After Lunch we went to the cinema and watched 'About Time'.
It's a wicked film! I highly recommend watching it, so light hearted and funny with a great original story line. My fiancé also enjoyed it so it's definitely not a 'Chick-flick'.

What movies have you watched lately? Have you seen 'About Time'?

Hailie 

xo

OOTD: The Hogget

Yesterday afternoon the fiancé and I decided to go on a date. 

We originally planned to go to the cinema, but once we got there at 3pm, we couldn't find a film we liked that was going to be showing any time before 7pm.

So instead we drove to my future mother in law's work to see what time she was finishing and if we could pop round to her's for a cup of tea and kill some time.

But while we were there we started trying to decide where to go for dinner, and decided to look at 'The Hogget'.We'd driven past it so many times and have never been in there so instead we thought we'd purposely drive out to it for meal, and invited the future mother in law and her husband to join us.

It's a really nice little pub style restaurant, with little staircases and small individual rooms with a few tables in each. It had the most amazing wall paper too!
 

We happened to go on 'Steak Night'. So while I ordered myself a delicious steak burger with extra bacon and cheese added, the other 3 helped themselves to 16oz T-Bone steaks! 1 each all cooked to their preferences perfectly. All 4 meals came with triple cooked chips, which were to die for!

After we'd all finished there was no way we could eat another bite so unfortunately I couldn't tell you what the desserts were like! Shame... looks like I'll need another visit!

 What I Wore: Long-line light knit grey cardigan - H&M, Floral dress & Chain cross body quilted & studded bag- Both Warehouse, Knee high grey boots - London Rebel, Light grey spotty tights - Primark, YSL Earrings - (Like Samantha Jones' Out of SATC2!)

Any of you ever tried The Hogget?

Hailie 

xo