My homemade #Shelfie!

The "Selfie" has become ubiquitous in life these days, but what about the "Shelfie" - taking a pic of your favourite shelf in your home that displays something about YOU?

Tots100 are running a fabulous competition in conjunction with Victoria Plumb asking just that, and I knew straight away which shelf in my home I would be blogging about!

My #Shelfie

I actually made this shelf unit myself at school (over 30 years ago!!) and it languished in a storage box for a number of years.  I started to bring back "little treasures" from our worldwide travels as memories and had nowhere to display them effectively until I remembered my lovely handcrafted small shelf unit.  Out it came from that storage box and I've been adding to my collection ever since.  I love finding just the right treasure to bring home to display.  I see them every day and they evoke wonderful memories!  My absolute favourites are on the top middle (a beautiful bronze elephant from my trip to India when I was lucky enough to spend a day working with elephants in Rajhasthan) and bottom left (a stunning handmade tango couple which reminds me of tango lessons we had in Buenos Aires)

Victoria Plumb are also running a fun Great British Home quiz where you can find out what you home style is - apparently I am Glamorous!! I'm not 100% convinced of that when I look around at all the kids stuff lying around but clearly it must be what I aspire to be!!  ;) 

My very own Epic Adventures

When my favourite outdoor store Blacks announced that they were running a competition in conjunction with the travel company Explore.co.uk to find the best WILD, FAST, PANORAMIC or EPIC travel adventure photos, I knew that I had to have a go so I spent a wet Sunday afternoon going through all my travel pics to choose the ones to enter in this blog post.

Let's start with EPIC

Jumping for Joy at Macchu Picchu

I'd been wanting to visit Macchu Picchu for over 20 years and finally made the trip there in 2012, spending 3 days up in this magical place.

What's more epic than the Great Wall of China?  the only man made structure visible from space, we were able to visit "far from the madding crowds" and enjoy trekking for miles along the wall without seeing another soul, incredible.

Far from the Madding Crowds

Four "watery" epic shots now, each completely different but linked by H2O which seems to be a prominent feature in many of my trips!

First, an epic trip to the great white wilderness of Antartica, next swimming to the very edge of Victoria Falls in Zambia; diving amongst a huge shoal of fish in the Red Sea and finally, watching lava flow into the sea in Hawaii.

FAST

Penguins are SO ungainly on land, but incredibly fast and agile in the water.  Capturing this shot of one flying through the air involved alot of luck and many attempts!

Out on safari early one morning, we came across a group of impala refreshing themselves at a watering hole (there's that H2O again!) when they were spooked by a passing elephant and made a hurried exit.

Finally, I was amazed in Vietnam by how many of one family could fit onto a moped, unusually, most of these had some sort of helmet!  as for the traffic in Vietnam, it's fast and furious!

PANORAMIC

I love being "on top of the world" - here on top of Table Mountain in Cape Town

...and here, Halong Bay in Vietnam

Finally for panoramic pics, I had to include another one from my trip of a lifetime to Antarctica as we crept through the iceberg laden Lemair Channel.

WILD

More watery photos.......

the first 2 were taken whilst scuba diving and could probably also be classified as epic - we were surrounded by a school of sharks in the South Pacific and wild dolphins in the Red Sea

and we were stunned when this whale surfaced right beside our boat near Cabo in Baja.

Two naughty "teenage" elephants were having a play fight in Chobe, oblivious to the rest of the herd

Walking along a deserted beach, we were amazed to see this seal capture an octopus, play with it for ten minutes before enjoying it's meal.

Looking back at the categories, it seems that there's alot of crossover when photos could have appeared in epic and wild, or fast and wild etc.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing my favourite photos from my travels.

p.s.  I couldn't resist including this one, what an "epic" souvenir this would be!  ;)

#WishIWasThere !

Alfresco Holidays are running a fabulous competition to cheer us up during this grim stormy weather we are currently having.  They want us to look through our summer holiday snaps and choose one to enter into their competition on the theme of #WishIWasThere.

We simply LOVE Brittany and visit every year.  The food is awesome, we adore the super fresh seafood that's available in nearly every market and supermarket :)

We spend long days walking along the stunning coastline, discovering often completely deserted huge sandy beaches  

 and then home to a seafood feast!   what's not love!!

Valentine's Day menu

The week when Valentine's Day falls is always a special one in our family as my husband's birthday falls on 11th February so we try to go away for the week to celebrate both occasions, usually to a cottage in the West Country where we enjoy long coastal walks with our dogs followed by cosy nights in front of an open fire with home cooked meals using local produce and delicacies.

This year will be no different as we head off tomorrow to the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall (home to the wind damage from last week's storms).  I already have some ideas for what we'll be enjoying on Valentine's Day.

For starters, I will be making these super simple beetroot, ginger and cream cheese timbales, but making them extra special by serving them from heart shaped moulds.  Simply whizz together cooked beetroot (the vac-packed sort, not pickled beetroot from a jar!), a knob of fresh grated ginger and cream cheese.  Serve with black pepper oatcakes for some crunch.

Beetroot & Ginger starter

As we will have been out all day enjoying Mother Nature at her best and will undoubtedly be super hungry, I will buy some local lamb from the village butcher the day before and cook it long and slow in the oven throughout the day to make a wonderful, heart-warming traditional Irish Stew.  I like to serve it with a twist and top it with a Thyme Cobbler to soak up all the delicious juicy gravy. I'll be making the cobbler in heart shapes (instead of my usual Shamrocks) to celebrate St Valentine!

Heart warming Irish stew

I'm not a great lover of desserts, but my husband has a sweet tooth, so I like to make the effort for him and I'll cook these quick chocolate pancakes stuffed with blackcurrants and Greek yoghurt.  Even I have to admit they are pretty moreish!

So there you have it, you know what we'll be enjoying in just a few days time.  I hope you have a great day as I feel sure that we will have!

Maybe one day we'll ring the changes and spoil ourselves with one of Superbreak's Valentine breaks - they look fab!  :)

The moments that mattered - 2013

2013 was a BIG year for me - I turned half a century and decided to celebrate in style all year long in one way or another!  So there were many Moments that Mattered, but here are a few highlights.

Firstly, one of my lifelong dreams had been to go on a horse riding safari, so I took the plunge in April and booked a trip to South Africa.  The week was awesome, being on horseback meant that we could get REALLY close to the animals without them being spooked (as the horses lived out with the wild animals overnight) - A-MAY-ZING!

Zebra watching

May saw my actual birthday. I decided to treat my family and our best friends to a short cruise to celebrate (I had thought about hiring a large house to party for a weekend, but then the idea of catering/cleaning etc put me off, this was the perfect solution!).  We had a wonderful time, memories that will stay with me forever.

Dinner on board

I was then treated to a fabulous weekend at our best friends' house where we took a steam train for dinner one evening, I had a go at indoor sky diving (masses of fun) and they had a wonderful celebratory cake made for me.  Long walks on the beach and there was much champagne consumed!  :)

Happy Birthday!

Another horse riding adventure in June saw me being a cowgirl in Montana, USA, another long held dream. Days in the saddle were followed by nights around the camp fire telling tall tales and toasting marshmallows.

Me and my steed in Montana

Autumn brought yet more travel opportunites, again to Victoria Falls and South Africa, this time with my best friend and her 77 year old mother who had always wanted to visit.  We had a hard time keeping up with her Mum and I only wish that I will have as much stamina and verve in 27 years time!

Betty leads the way

Sometimes, things that make you smile might seem trivial to others, but discovering THE best chocolate icecream this side of Italy was one thing that brightened my life no end on a steamy hot weekend in London in July!  And that they had a loyalty card, buy 4, get one free!

Delicious icecream

Watching my godson get married brought a happy tear to my eye - where have all those years gone to?

One last thing, my dogs.  Every day they give me moments that matter and make me smile - this one particularly sticks out in my memory.  We rarely get snow in Cornwall so had to travel up to Dartmoor to find some and had a fab afternoon throwing snowballs and having fun.

So there you are, a wonderful celebratory year full of Moments that Mattered to me.

This is my entry for the Lloyds Bank Moments That Matter blog competition.

#ShopStyleParty Time!

I love using Shopstyle so when I read that they were running a competition where you had to put together a Christmas or New Year party outfit, I knew that it would be a wonderful way to spend an evening, putting together my dream outfit!

#Shopstyle party time!

I chose this fab silver Moschino Cheap & Chic metallic silver lace dress as my party dress - easy to wear but incredibly stylish - £470 at Harrods.

As it's Christmas, I wanted to inject some colour and it just had to be red!  Cue these cute shoes perfect for dancing the night away - Grazia studded court shoe from Simply Be at just £31.50, bargain!  For the chilly trip to and from my party, I'll need the Dorothy Perkins Red Silouette floral scarf (£12).  I just ADORE the packaging on the Christian Dior Addict Extreme lippy, so that's a must, and I chose Paparazzi as my colour, in the hope that my outfit will bring them out in force!  :)

My statement jewellery comes from All Saints and consists of the Biserka bracelet (£128) and Memphis earrings (£58).  Finally, a stylish clutch Palace bag from Hobbs to keep my lippy and Oyster card safe (whilst I'd love to be whisked to the ball in a coach like Cinderella, I certainly don't want to lose my lovely outfit at the stroke of midnight, so I'll take my chances on the tube!)

A very APPy Christmas!

Let's face it, life BI (Before Ipads!) used to be so difficult, trying to keep track of what Christmas presents you'd bought for who.  This was especially true for me, as I love to buy my Christmas gifts all year around as I see them, or at least note down the idea ready for when I have some spare cash!  I hate the "last minute" dash in December to get everyone's gifts when the shops are packed and prices seem sky high.

Over the years, I've tried pieces of paper (always getting lost), a pretty notebook (it got left behind too many times or I couldn't find a pen) and my brain (too much like a sieve!).  So when I found the app "Manage Christmas - Christmas Gift List Manager", I knew I had struck gold.  What's more, it's free, my favourite price!

The best thing about this app is that it's so simple.  You set your total budget to spend and the app keeps track of what you've spent in total for everyone.

Then you add people that you want to buy for, with a total budget for each person.

Christmas List by person

As and when you find the perfect present for each person, you can note it down (whether you have bought it or not), where you saw it and what the price is (useful to keep track on when there's a sale to see if it's really gone down in price!)

This app has saved me tearing my hair out AND has saved me money by ensuring that I don't overspend by buying more presents as I'd forgotten what I'd already bought back in April!  To me, it's PRICELESS!

HAVE A VERY MERRY (and organised!) CHRISTMAS!