Mermaid Drops

Last weekend, we went to the opening of a new boutique in town and I came away with this little package.  They say that good things come in small packages and that was certainly true on this occasion.

Inside I found this pretty blue muslin bag and a hint of the pleasure to come. Even though I knew what was inside, I loved the care taken with the packaging.

These pretty earrings were beautifully displayed in a little beach setting complete with sand and as you can see, each pair was displayed inside a shell.  There was a tag attached which explained that the jewellery is inspired by the timeless beauty of the sea....and the whispers of the mermaids.

As far as I'm concerned, I like to think that they were made by mermaids.

In The Kitchen

There hasn't been much time for blogging lately, or for anything else now that I come to think about it.  Life seems so busy these days and I do miss visiting all of my blogging friends and reading about your adventures.  I've thought about closing my blog on a number of occasions, but I feel that I still need a place to share my thoughts and creativity (when I have the time to be creative).  For inspiration, I have been watching Kirstie's Handmade Britain, which I heard about months ago, but was unable to access at the time.  In more creative moments, I made Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake for my husband's birthday, which was a hit, although I must admit that I didn't like it.  I found the cake a bit too dense for my liking and it reminded me of the sort of chocolate cake they used to serve at school with custard!  Still, he enjoyed it and got to eat it all.....

A couple of weeks ago, we entertained some friends one Saturday evening and I made a trifle.  I didn't manage to get any close-up pictures of this due to a combination of factors, but mainly because the light was too poor once I actually served it.  It was delicious, though I've had to put in some extra effort with my walking to fitness after too many calories!

As for news, we are moving house again (!)  I know, we must be mad, but after a winter of freezing in a cold house, I started looking for somewhere more modern and found a cosy place which I'm really looking forward to calling home.  We move on 1st May and so I'm starting the mammoth job of packing again this week.  I hope to find the time to visit you all in the coming week, but my visits and posts may continue to be sporadic as I disappear into a pile of packing boxes.  I just hope that I can find my way out....

Armchair Cookery

I've recently been enjoying Lorraine Pascale's series Baking Made Easy.  I hadn't seen any of her programmes before, but I was impressed by how easy she makes it all look.  I've always enjoyed baking and own a lot of cookery books, but I am always willing to add a few new recipes to my repertoire. 

At the time that I placed my order with the Book Depository, I also bought the Cath Kidston preserve labelling kit.  I made some preserves at Christmas, but failed to find any pretty labels or covers for my jars, so I have every intention of being better prepared next time.  For the present, I am content to sit and indulge in a little armchair cookery.

In The Pink

This is a recent knitting project; the pattern for which came from Debbie Bliss' book The Knitter's Year.  It has been fun to knit because it is on chunky needles and knitted with chunky wool, so it grew at an incredible rate.  I knitted one side in the course of an evening. 

I would have liked to show you a photo of the finished bag, but sadly, I'm running out of yarn and don't have sufficient to finish the bag.  I'm on the look-out for some more, but I purchased it online and the seller has none left.  If any knitters out there see Debbie Bliss Como yarn in shade 19021, I'm looking for some.

Thoughts Of Spring

Although the snow continues to blow outdoors, my thoughts are turning to spring.  This is our first winter in Nova Scotia, so I have absolutely no idea what to expect in terms of the change of season.  For now, I have Country Living to enjoy, which dropped in on Thursday afternoon like a breath of fresh air.

Another recent arrival was Woman & Home magazine, which is full of spring fashions and ideas.  I downloaded their suggestions of music to inspire a walking fitness plan and it has certainly pepped up my walking routine. 

Then there was a package awaiting my return from New Brunswick from my friend Tracy over at Prana Light.  She sent me this delightful felt flower to brighten up these last dark days of winter.  Thank you Tracy!

Winter Continues...

It started snowing again yesterday morning and I thought that I would show you a short film of the sight that greeted me outside our door.  This was in addition to the 20 cm of fresh snowfall that we found upon our return from New Brunswick at the weekend.

Not feeling particularly like venturing outside in the cold, I shot this from the doorway.  There is only so much Winter that a girl can handle and I think that I may have reached my limit.  The good news is that the course went very well and I am so glad that I had an opportunity to take it.  Although I've been off work this week, it hasn't felt like much of a break, as I've been busy trying to catch up on all the jobs that don't get done when I'm working.  Speaking of which, I believe that there is a rather large pile of ironing awaiting my attention...

This is my first attempt at posting a video to my blog.  Apologies for the sound quality/commentry in the background.  The microphone is a lot more sensitive than I thought it was!

Trials & Tribulations

It has been far too long since I found time to sit down and write a post, but it has been a challenging time as far as technology is concerned.  In the past six months, I managed to delete the entire content of our laptop whilst doing an upgrade (no back-up!); which cost us our entire digital photo collection of the last five years. 

Just before Christmas, I wiped almost 800 songs from my iPod when it synchronised with my iPhone, which didn't have any music stored on it!  Then two weeks ago, there was an accident with our laptop when it flew through the air, but didn't bounce very well.  Before I could tell my husband that we might be able to salvage some of the content of the hard drive, he had taken a hammer to it to ensure that no-one else was able to access our files.....

Now that we have got a replacement for our laptop, I have diligently backed up all our files and will try to do better in the future.

In the meantime, I am still trying to study for my course, which is at the end of this week.  Getting there could be a challenge too, as the forecast is for 20 cm of snow on the day that we travel,  I'm hoping that they are wrong, or that the snow may be delayed long enough for us to get there.

Upon our return, I have a week off work.  I'm really looking forward to having some time to myself and hopefully catching up with you all.