Garden Art.

A couple of months ago, on a quick trip over the Marlborough, curiosity finally got the better of me.

Every time we drive that way we pass the incredibly intriguing, Garden Art, and after saying we'll pop in and never actually doing it, I span the car right round the roundabout and back into their carpark.





Furnishing and decorating is very much at the forefront of my mind at the moment and I must say that the garden in our soon-to-be new home is probably one of the areas I like the least. It's just so uninspiring, with no flowerbeds or trees and just a washing line and very poorly looked after shed, it will take a little while before it's going to be somewhere I'm going to like spending time in - with that said, I wouldn't call our current garden perfect either.

So, Garden Art looked like a good place to get a few ideas for sprucing up the future garden - it turned out that their collection mainly consists of forlorn stone dogs, huge water features and anything and everything you'd expect in the grounds of a stately home — not quite what I was looking for for our small suburban space. It did make for a neat place to take photographs though, the first photos I'd taken with my SLR since Christmas.




Why yes, that is a train carriage, it had been transformed into a cute office, complete with border terriers and wood-burning stove.

Newbury Home.

Hello! I'd like to begin by stating how freaked out I am that in my absence, Blogger appears to have had a complete personality overhaul, we'll see how it goes shall we?

I've spent a lot of this week sat in our new flat watching The Real Housewives of Orange County. What is a girl to do when it's pouring outside and there's no Internet? It took way less time to unpack than I thought it would and we were all done by Sunday evening - in time for The Voice, yes! - and celebrated with a post-unpacking-how-great-we're-moved-in Bucks Fizz toast.

I'll apologise immediately for doing such a 'everything'-heavy post, but it's been a while and I have so much to tell you. My job hunt, despite lack of Internet has been mildly successful and I'm officially signed up with two of the recruitment agencies in Newbury - I'd like to big up Newbury's Reed btw, their staff are fab - and I even have an interview with Crew Clothing on Monday. Don't get me wrong, retail has never been my first choice, but believe it or not this is actually the first shot I've even had at a retail role, as they seem to be just as good at ignoring me as other positions. A photography role I went for in Reading last week sadly wasn't to be, as I'm without a full driving license, but the new home and start have me in a positive mood so I'm not too downtrodden.

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Anyway, I'm sure that what I have to say really isn't thatfantastic, as as I said, I've been vegging out on the sofa all week. So here is our home, and it's becoming more so by the day, I can't wait to have our friends come and stay, we're in dire need of at least one comfortable chair though, which is what Sunday's planned monster carboot voyage is for.
This is from when things were a bit overwhelming. Easily the most boring and annoying thing to unpack was clothes, so repetitive and there's just so much of them.


This is Moon unpacking our bargain-tastic TV table.


This is from the first night, things look a bit different now, but similar. We concentrated on making up our bed and then doing the kitchen/lounge, we needed somewhere to sit once we were bored of unpacking, right?


Snug mug.


Long came to visit us on Sunday, he didn't pick a great day to do it, he's not too far away though so I'm sure we'll see him again soon. I just hope the next visitors we have don't coincide with more bad weather.


We're going to try and grow a few things, fingers crossed.


I promise to take an updated photo once the weather is better, I really love how light the whole flat is. When Long came, he brought us a bottle of Chambord and the cute Rex cushion shown here. ♥


The bluebells and the vase they're in are from my Gran :)


That breadbin is one of the main reasons I'm having a semi-love affair with Wilkinsons right now, and it matches my amazing toaster!


Tea-making station/Kitchen/Dining/Lounge.


Weird thing to move in somewhere and not have a bin, so we had to pick one up. I hated this at first but it is only a bin and Moon was so insistant that we needed something purple for our home.


Garden photo, to be continued...


Bedroom.


That black thing, opens up, I haven't filled my side yet, it did have our bed linen in it until I discovered that even our bed had drawers.


Amazing shelving unit, but thanks to less-amazing previous tenants we can't get a TV signal in the bedroom, I'm sure we'll work something out.


Office/spare room.


Hallway gallery, ho ho ho. ♥


Funny how even though I've moved the same things are still around me, it's pretty good though.


Moon's brother brought these back for him from Hong Kong, so cute!

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It's so amazing to have so much storage, and still have heaps left over. I was genuinely beginning to believe my mum when she was nagging me about how I have too much stuff. I think she'll find that I don't, I can barely fill a two bedroom flat. We have empty cupboards, and shelves and it's great. Although I'm maybe slightly annoying that I'm unable to stay and enjoy our new home's broadband offerings, another reason we're heading back to Surrey (as soon as I finish this) is to pick up little Dolly cat. After planning all week how to approach the issue, I just came out and said it, right after getting down to the business of why the previous tenants had cut off the phone line and how some people just came round and cut down all the trees in the garden - one reason why I've not shown you the garden, but another being because it's currently cold and wet. So yeah, we were looking like pretty favourable so we can keep her, and I'm so pleased.

I hope to keep a finger more firmly on the pulse of things from now on, I hope I've not bored you too much. How has everyone been?

Tuesday Tabs. #13

I was in a pretty good mood, until I had to refund a silly woman on eBay because the Post Office hadn't delivered her item and I'd lost proof of postage. That issue was ruining my Paypal which I needed to use to fork out a further £59 on the referencing fee for our flat in Newbury. So I'm nearly £80 with literally nothing to show for it, and I was actually doing amazingly well with money up until about five minutes ago. I suppose a long-winded complaint to Royal Mail should mean I at least get some of my missing money back.

Otherwise, everything is going okay, much better than last week. I'm still majorly bummed-out about the job situation but that isn't going to change until I actually have a job so there's nothing much I can really do. I'm hoping it might be easier to get a job near Newbury when I'm actually in Newbury, it sound ridiculous that a recruiter would be instantly put off by my postcode because if I get in on time I don't see it as much of an issue, but I've had responses to the contrary so I suppose I'm wrong.

If everything goes according to plan, Moon and I will be moved out two weekends from now, which is very exciting, and weird. We're going to Ikea on Saturday and I'm quite excited. I've been scouting out nice textiles and thinking about things like mirrors, bins and towel racks.

Yesterday's Easter family gathering was lovely, but I have more to share about that later, I don't want to post too much all at once, like I did on Sunday.
I haven't set that many personal goals for this week, I inadvertently managed to stay up until gone 3AM last night sewing, so I think it's time I get back to some list-making as I'm sure there are plenty of things that need to be done.

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Anorak Kissing Rabbits Bath Linen, £4-£35, Heal's
I spied these in Heal's this afternoon and I was very tempted by the hand-towel although honestly I'd want the whole set. I just think the pattern may be a bit girly for Moon and we need to make decisions like that together. I'm sure the novelty would wear off too, however cute the colours and print are, I would really like them though.

(via Interior Porn/House of Turquoise)

Red or Dead Mountain Boots, £78, Schuh
I'm putting myself on a shoe and clothes ban for the foreseeable future, as it's a slight waste of money when I have to think about rent, bills and nice things for my home. I'd also like to afford to be able to have days out too. I have so many clothes anyway that I must have an infinite amount of outfit combinations, keeping up posts like this and posting for inspiration rather than 'must buy' might help out a bit. I have been thinking about cowboy boots for a while, these are nice but I'm a bit mistrusting of Red or Dead, having spent £75 on a pair of boots a few years ago, only for the them to break in just two months.


Pearl Lace Midi Skirt, £25, ASOS
This isn't that different from other skirts I have, but the colour is lovely.
The ASOS sale started today, maybe not the best day to begin a shop-fast but if I can resist ASOS, everything else should be a breeze.


Elephant-print Playsuit, £17.50, ASOS
I'm not really a playsuit person but the cut of the back and print of this one are adorable


This looks good.


'The Lorax Dinner Makeover'
I don't know much about Dr Seuss' 'The Lorax' but I know this pasta looks nice. Not sure about the blue Alfredo sauce though. A link to the recipe can be found here.

(via Tiny Tangerines)

In preparation for my upcoming Ikea trip, I stumbled across the Ikea iPad app, and it's amazing. It's basically everything an app should be, and it's so nice. I'll be sad when I have to settle for a regular catalogue once I no longer have access to the iPad.

(via Recovering Lazyholic)

Thanks to that silly EDF 'dancing poo' advert, I've had this song stuck in my head all week!

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Link Love: ♥

I'm on Pinterest — I finally caved, and I suppose it is a pretty great idea. I'm going to use it for what it was intended for, but I'm hoping it doesn't make posts like these redundant, this is still my blog after all. If you have any neat recipes or craft pins, that's what I'm there for and I'd love to see them! Interiors are also, naturally, appreciated.

House of Turquoise — A blog that showcases some of the best of turquoise interiors? What could be better, such a good pitstop for dreaming about my future home. It's not just about things being turquoise though (aqua and mint are also prominent), separate from the colours, the homes themselves also provide a great deal of inspiration.

Screenshots of Despair — A pretty bleak Tumblr looking at how lonely technology can be.

The Dainty Squid: Weekly Nail #8 — Very pretty nail art from Kaylah at The Dainty Squid, they're like eggs or rocks. There's also an interesting quip about whether people who paint their nails different colours are indecisive or even unemployable, I'm undecided.

Noble Pig: Pepperoni Pizza Puffs — These look incredible and will be the first recipe in my new, more permanent recipe notebook, I can't wait to try them out.

Fossil Cookies — A really cool decorating technique for cookies using plastic toy dinosaurs. Where was this recipe when I was growing up, I would have had a field day.

DIY Daisy Nail Art — Simple tutorial from Gem Fatale to make cute daisy nail art. I've been thinking about this for a while but couldn't get my head around a layout.

101 Most Useful Websites — Definitely a few here worth a bookmark.

The Second Hand Home Challenge — After only a little bit of creeping on Jen from 'A Little Bird Told Me's blog I came across the second-hand home challenge she gave herself last year. This was a pretty great find for me as I know we won't be able to buy brand new everything. Although there are some great tips for finding second-hand items, generally in terms of how to make a home I thought it was a great post. So many good storage ideas and storage is my favourite.

Great Logos with Hidden Meanings

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I'm off to structure my life. Have a good rest-of Tuesday. ♥