Cupcakes!

Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (decorated with some crumbled Cadbury's Flake)




Laura x

Cake!

Here is the first cake that I made today :)



A vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam filling!

I have another cake in the oven now which will be the same, but it's a birthday cake... Pics to come!

I found some interesting cupcake recipes online over the weekend so I may try my hand at those too :)

Laura x

Happy Father's Day

I'd like to wish a Happy Fathers Day to my Dad.

I really wish I could be spending the day with him, but that's not possible.

My dad passed away unexpectedly on 19th May 2010, aged just 55 years old.



We may not have always had time for each other, but I loved him nonetheless. My dad taught me to read and how to ride a bike... He passed on his passion for music and his love of animals and fig rolls.



I could never thank him enough for introducing me to music. He taught me that it's okay to like stuff that isn't necessarily "popular" or even mainstream and it's okay to step outside of your normal genre. He was one of the few people I know who can go from listening to Buddy Holly to The Beatles, Vengaboys to Enya, Meatloaf to Lindisfarne or The Everley Brothers, even Jive Bunny! To you he might not have had the greatest taste in music but he was so passionate about it.



When my dad passed away, one of the things I kept was his "stack" (you'll have to google it) and his records. There is nothing more perfect than listening to your favourite album on vinyl...the first time I listened to Adele's '21' it was on my dad's record player.

I wish I'd have spent more time with my dad when he was alive.



There are times when I find myself watching a movie that I think he'd like (though falling asleep as soon as he seen the opening credits was usually the case), I can't watch 'The Boat That Rocked' without crying because everything about the movie reminds me of my dad.



There'll be times when I go out for dinner with my family and I think about how many plates of food my dad would eat, or what would be his favourite...then I get a sinking feeling in my stomach.



There will be times when I miss him so much, I won't know how i'll get through the day. Days like my wedding day when I have nobody to give me away and I don't get to have a father/daughter dance, or if I ever have children.



Then there are days like today when I just miss him...for no other reason than the fact that he was my dad and I love him and he's not here.



Happy Father's Day, Dad.
I love you x

This is the song I was named after, dad's choice, of course. My sister told me that when I was born he dedicated the song on the radio to me & my mum.



And a song that will always remind me of him;



Laura x

1 down, 1 to go!

So far I have planned Chloe's party and it's going to cost almost double the budget I have been given!

I've cut down on everything I possibly can (I even found plain coloured paper plates instead of Toy Story ones!) but I'm very over budget...

Going to see if I can book the venue tomorrow, then I can start sorting out invitations, yay!

Laura x

New Project!!!

My sister has just asked me to organise Bethany and Chloe's birthday parties this year!

Bethany will be turning 5 in November and would like a princess style ball - so much fun! She'll have lots of new friends to invite because she's starting school in September too.

Chloe will be turning 4, but she doesn't start nursery until September, so she doesn't have many friends to invite. She's going for a 'Toy Story/Buzz Lightyear' theme which is equally exciting (especially for me because I'm a huge Toy Story fan!).

I've been given a budget for each event and have to organise invitations, venue, cake, catering, entertainment and party bags. Can't wait to get started!!!

Laura x

43 Things

I rediscovered my '43 Things' account last night and after tweaking it a little, I thought I'd share my list with you all :)

1) Visit New York
2) Visit Paris, again
3) Visit Italy
4) Visit Australia
5) Visit South Africa
6) See Santa in Lapland
7) Go to Disneyland
8) Write a song
9) Learn to play guitar
10) Take singing lessons
11) Take ballet classes
12) Stop being in love with the idea of being in love
13) Fall in love, for real
14) Kiss in the rain
15) Get married
16) Start a family
17) Become a foster parent
18) Own a Labrador
19) Own a pet pig
20) Over come my anxiety
21) Get more tattoos
22) Be a better person
23) Care less about what unimportant people think of me
24) Make others feel better about themselves
25) Forget
26) Own my own coffee/cake shop
27) Move out
28) Learn to drive
29) Swim with dolphins
30) Lose weight
31) Be confident
32) Be happy
33) Send a postcard to Postsecret.com
34) Make more friends
35) Visit my friends more
36) Find penpals/Skype buddies from other countries
37) Learn sign language
38) Write a book
39) Take better photographs
40) Do something for charity
41) Change someone's life
42) Make a difference
43) Be remembered

What would be on your list?

Laura x

Projects

Today I've been researching all kinds of projects; baking, sewing and crafts.

I found a few recipes and a really cute blanket tutorial that I'd love to try!

I also came across a blog called 'The Secret Post Club'. It looks super interesting and I can't wait to join in next month :)

Laura x

June Music Recommendations

Andrew Garcia - Crazy (single)
AJ Rafael - Red Roses (album)
All Time Low - Dirty Work (album)
All Time Low - Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)
Jessie J - Who You Are
Save Your Breath - Vices (album)
Strike - U Sure Do
Lady Gaga - The Edge Of Glory
Adele - Rumour Has It
Adele - Turning Tables

If you haven't already heard them, check them out :)

Let me know what you think!
x




Laura x

You are beautiful.

I logged into twitter this morning, which is my usual routine, but today I saw something different.

One of the girls I follow had retweeted things from a pro-anorexia account, advising how to starve herself so she could lose even more weight.

I'm no stranger to weight loss strategies, I've struggled with my weight my whole life and would love to be a UK size 8-10. Of course i've been jealous of my 'skinny' friends and have down days and fat days, but who says you can't be beautiful no matter what size you are?

I sent a tweet to every person I follow, telling them they are beautiful and I'm amazed by the reactions I received.

Some people replied with a simple "thank you". Some people were a bit confused and replied "err, ok?". Others replied "omg thanks! You really made my day", that was lovely to hear! But what really surprised me was that a lot of the replies were from people that sounded disbelieving, or people that replied "I'm not, but thanks. You are though" like I'd been fishing for a compliment in return.

It upsets me that some people have such low self esteem that they feel they can't accept a simple compliment, but it upsets me further that they obviously don't get compliments like this often enough.

I'm not going to get all "preachy", but spread the love a little bit today. Tell someone you love them, tell that girl she has pretty hair or you like her dress... Compliment someone, you'll feel great, but they'll feel even better.

Laura x
P.S. You can follow me on Twitter HERE

Here are a few more pictures from my Nanna's 75th Birthday party

Thanks again to Martin Kirby, Peter Brown and Scrummy Mummy Cakes.
Laura x

Come Dine With Me

You might be familiar with the tv show 'Come Dine With Me', but if you're not, let me tell you a little bit about it.

The show has either four or five competitors who host a dinner party for the other contestants. Each competitor then rates the host's performance with the winner winning a cash prize.

Me, my sister, my brother in law and our friends had our own 'competition' a while back, just for fun. This time we're upping the steaks and we're all going to put money in so there will be a cash prize for the person with the highest rating.

Sounds fun, huh?

I'm not a bad cook, infact, I make dinner for my family every night, but I always feel the pressure when it comes to things like this because I'm really competitive! It's not just about the food, it's about the ambience, the table dressing and the entertainment.

My dessert has been planned already and I think I might be on to a winner there, but I'm really struggling to find a starter that not only 'fits' my menu, but will impress everyone.

I shall keep you updated with my progress!

Laura x

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately!

I had a lot of family events going on over the last two weeks.

Last Thursday I travelled to Wolverhampton with my little family for my auntie's wedding. My nieces were bridesmaids and they looked beautiful, even if the youngest did scream through the entire service!

It was nice to be able to buy a pretty dress (in a smaller size!) for the wedding though. We left the evening do early on Friday night for the journey home.

Saturday was my nanna's 75th birthday. My sister and I had been planning a surprise party for her at the Holiday Inn and after months of planning and keeping it a secret we were over excited & very stressed! We had a sneaky suspicion that she knew about it, but after seeing her reaction when she walked in, I genuinely believe she didn't have a clue!

We invited her family from London, all of our family from up North and a few of the people she works with. It was a really nice night with entertainment from Peter Brown, a beautiful cake from Scrummy Mummy Cakes and Martin Kirby taking photographs for us.

We also paid for our nanna and her sister to stay at the Holiday Inn after the party. Their room was huge with a double bed EACH! I surprised her by putting the room key in her birthday card but it fell out when she opened it - she didn't even realise!

This is my nanna looking very happy/surprised/excited;

And her beautiful birthday cake;

I don't think I have any other photographs from that night that can be blogged without embarrassing my family or offending your eyes, so i'll leave it at that!

Monday was spent in the kitchen cooking up a storm for my cousin's birthday party. Typical British 'bank holiday' weather meant our plans for a BBQ/garden party were dampened (quite literally!). We settled for an indoor BBQ instead and I roped my mum into helping me. My favourite bit of the day was embarrassing my cousin by singing 'Happy Birthday' to her. I didn't enjoy when her cake was cut though. I made it myself and it took 8 hours!!!!!! After messing up my first attempt (which is rather unlike me!) I then had to remake 24 cupcakes and a 7" sponge, cover with icing and decorate. Of course, she couldn't have a standard cake, she wanted it to be Zebra print. Then I over complicated it further by suggesting the use of non-toxic black glitter...

Here's how it turned out;

Laura x