Tortilla Chips...literally

Super quick post today as I was super excited by these wikid tortilla chips! They were so super simple.

I had a packet of slightly stale tortilla wraps in the fridge and was about to throw them away when I came across a sweet version on Rachel Schultz blog.  

Slice up the wraps, rub a tiny bit of oil in and sprinkle with salt, place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 mins until crispy...et voila!

Spring has so nearly sprung

Everything in the garden is just starting to look lovely again.  The light in the garden on Saturday was glorious, it was such a nice, fresh spring day.

I am so excited about planting some flowers this weekend in my terracotta pots to add a bit more colour to the garden.  I have decided that bulbs are the way forwards and I'm excited about choosing some more daffodils and tulips to fill these pots.

Spring Blooms

I was so pleased with this gorgeous Essie Gel colour that I bought from Amazon.  It's similar to my favourite colour Fiji but this is a gel.  I bought the lamp and equipment for doing gel nails at home and it works so well with these gorgeous flower nail transfers as well (also shown here)

I Feel So Fat

I don't know if many of you know this, but I studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Uni.  I loooove getting creative and drawing but I rarely have time now. I think that's maybe why I love the blog so much, it gives me a way to release my creativity without taking up loads of time and getting the place all messy.

One of the projects I did as part of my degree was an illustrated book on how I felt about myself.  I have ups and downs about being bigger and at the moment I can certainly say I'm on a big fat down.  I've put on loads of weight since the wedding and don't feel very cool or sexy.  

I had done so well to loose so much weight before the wedding, I was even feeling like a normal size person for the first time ever.

I found this book yesterday hidden on the book shelf and it made me realise that although I think I am fat and blobby, there are still some beautiful things that can come out of it!

Hope you enjoy the illustrations x

However, note to self: stop being so lazy and eat less cake and pastry!

Recipe: Lemon Layer Cake

I haven't baked for ages and although I've made jams and chutneys recently and made some very tasty meals, I don't remember the last time that I spent the afternoon baking.

I feel like I've managed to master my pastry but I haven't ever quite mastered the sponge.  Cupcakes never really work out so I thought maybe I would try a layer cake.  I went for something plain and simple so as not to get carried away with frills and whistles, rather than concentrating on the texture and flavour of the cake.

I keep seeing fantastic layer cakes, and although I attempted one a year back, it never really lived up to Emily's or these tasty looking treats on Pinterest.

When searching through for recipes it's tricky to find fab ones that are in English measurements, but after a quick bit of looking good old Delia came up a treat!

This lemon layer cake was the perfect choice!  I doubled the recipe to make it a super tall 4 layer cake and added some lemon juice and icing sugar to the icing to make it a bit less creamy.  Admittedly also I used shop bought lemon curd as that was a bit much to do as well!

I cannot believe how super quick and easy this cake was and the result was flipping amazing! 

What layer cakes have you tried?

Colour Chart Nails

For some reason when I was a kid I really loved the dulux colour charts. I would go to somewhere like B&Q or Homebase with my parents and would always head to the colour chart section and collect them up.

I'm not really sure what my fascination with them was. Maybe my arty brain just liked the spectrums and the way they just flowed. Maybe it was my inner creativity and love for interior design coming through.

Whatever it was though, when I think back to my love of colour charts, it's no surprise that I'm loving this nail style that I did over the weekend!

I tried a similar effect in the summer with corals (here) and think this grey one works perfectly for winter.

Essie: Smokin Hot

Essie: Chinchilly

Essie: Neo Whimsical

Essie: Fiji

Rimmel:  430 Porcelain

Rimmel: Ultra Shine Top Coat

Wedding Days - How Quickly The Time Passes

I still can't believe that nearly a year later, I actually got married. I have been waiting for that day all of my life and it was all over so quickly that it seems crazy to think it has happened.

It was Truely the happiest day of my life so far but I worry that I'm going to forget it all too quickly.

I do sometimes feel a bit sad that I'll never be a bride again and that is won't get to wear my beautiful dress, but who says you can't have an anniversary 3 or 4 years down the line where you wear it for the day! Or gather up all your friends and declare your love for each other again 10 years down the line.

Looking back I really wish I had been blogging before I got married.  When I look at Jo's lovely blog posts about her wedding it reminds me how excited I was and how I wish I had captured this more. It was such a wonderful wonderful time in the run up to the wedding and I really didn't embrace it enough.

About 6 months before the wedding I read in one of the magazines that keeping a diary for the Month running up to the wedding is a good Idea. It's all such a blur and everything is so hectic that it's very easy to forget all the azmaing times you had. After the hen do 6 weeks before the wedding, everything just whizzed by. 

Obviously when it got to a week before the wedding I suddenly remembered about this good idea for the diary and then I was a bit late!

I have spent nearly a whole year being a wife and it does make you feel different.  I have read a lot of blogs and articles about relationships and marriage over the last year to see what people think about making marriages work and working as a team with this partner that you now have committed yourself to.

I expect the next few months will be full of relationship contemplations, life as a wife, marriage and reminiscing about our wonderul wedding.

I can't wait to share x