Unique Gifts- things I like.......

I recently had this portrait done for my 2 Aunts for their birthdays in September and October.
Based on my mum and her 3 sisters in the garden of our then family home.
I hope it went down well!!

I was really pleased with our Wedding portrait that the artist had done from our wedding piccies, so I thought I would share this find with you.

Watch this space for a couple more gems Blanka is brilliant!

Here is Blanka and her shop on Etsy! 

Paleo, Caveman, Eating Clean, Primitive diet, call it what you will!

For the last month I have cut out processed food and followed a healthy natural eating
method which was recommended by Stars Dell, my Facebook friend! 

I eat fresh veg, fresh fruit, fish, very little meat, because if I am really honest I don't really like meat that much.

I enjoy nuts, rich oils and the occasional flirt with posh butter from Sark, the like of which I have never tasted before, nor ever seen anything so yellow!

Photo by Danielle Jenson Can't show you mine because it is chopped into individual pieces in an ice cube tray so that I can use it for cooking my veggies!

Guernsey butter is also as pure and contains no additives, so I eat that too!

The only thing I haven't given up is a cup of decent tea with decent milk.
The Guernsey herd is grass fed in the Summer!

 

It is a really lovely way of eating, I have had the odd sneaky drink of champers, but to be honest it made me feel like merde, my other cheats were a cheese butty with tomato, just because it was my wedding anniversary. But again, I can live without this stuff.

I do feel healthier and as much as I thought I didn't eat much pre-prepared food I obviously did, chocolate, crisps, the odd pizza. BREAD.... so now at my age, I want to know what goes into my food, to the best of my ability.

We are lucky in the Channel Islands as we have Hedge Veg stalls.

The supermarkets also stock locally produced veggies, so if my veg doesn't come from Guernsey
it comes from Jersey. Again I have to be realistic, certain veg will come from further afield, but I try not to cross continents for things.

Fruits are somewhat different as I have yet to find a locally produced banana! 



This is a lovely little video!

You can read more here at Visit Guernsey.com

Oh! and one thing I have noticed over here, some of the Elders of the population eat tomato everyday as a fruit snack and they are healthy and wise.......

Food for thought!

The shrinking 52! Celebrating with Kale chips!!

 The results are in - it's a 14 pound loss in 1 month, am no longer the big 66, but the shrinking 52!
I can now fasten the buttons on the nightie in my first picture!

We both had a bit of a let down first Wedding Anniversary as we were and are, full of cold!
So I really had to go out today to the pet store and to the human food store shopping, as all our stocks were getting lower!

I spied a bag of Kale from Jersey for £1, haven't enjoyed Kale since I was a child, so thought I'd give it a go!

 I followed this great recipe:

http://nomnompaleo.com/post/2648091289/baked-kale-chips

I made a few changes:

I dried my Kale by hand, lovingly with a clean tea towel.

I salted beforehand.

I used the excess Avocado oil on my hands as a beauty product after massaging into the Kale leaves. I just took off the excess only from my hands with a damp cloth! Lovely!

Didn't use parchment paper, just my trusty old tins!

When it was ready it came out like this!

Verdict:
Crispy, delish a real winner, but sadly I over salted, we haven't been using salt for a month and I ruined the taste.
Lesson learned.

The most important dress of your life!

At the age of six I was parading around in the most magnificent wedding dress ever, a 1950s white lace full skirted full length concoction, with silver threads running through the floral design.

Presented to my dressing up box from a friend of my mother.

I asked my mother if we could keep it so I could get married in it, she said I wouldn't want it and

would want a new one of my own. How wrong she was!!!

To this day I have never seen anything quite so beautiful!

Not the actual dress you understand, but the above is from Millcrest Vintage, who have a wonderful online range of wedding gowns. I haven't shopped at Millcrest, but there selection is to die for!

The next time I wore a white gown and veil was a couple of years later, this was a 60s number, again lace. A Confirmation hand me down dress from my mother's cousin.

Looked just like this from Cupids Arrow Etsy!

Then when in 6th form, I played Esmeralda in the Upper VIth leaving concert.

I was already a 17 year old charity shop freak, we didn't call it Vintage then.

I went down to Oxfam in Petergate, York and asked the ladies for a Wedding dress for my school

play, they brought out about 10 from the room upstairs and charged me the princely sum of £1.

Very similar to this from Raleigh Vintage Etsy I wore mine with a thick red ribbon as a belt!

So when it came to 2012 I toyed with the idea of vintage, but sadly I was too fat. I made my own gown and hated it, I had something vile made from China (don't do it, total waste of money) I just wasn't sure where to go next. It certainly wasn't down the Bridal Salon to be squished into something unsuitable!

I decided I wanted a delish Maggie Sottero gown, I began to look on ebay.

I won and received a wonderful frock, but I looked like a sausage in it, I sold it on immediately! 

The shape and style was similar to below.

I had to then think about which shape would suit me the best ? The train or no train debate? The overall look for my body shape. All this whilst watching auctions on a daily basis!!

When I saw MY dress on screen, I knew it was the right one for me, it was a 2009 design and no longer for sale anywhere. Previously owned and worn to an overseas wedding!  There it was in all it's glory!

Total purchase cost for my dress, which included postage, professional dry cleaning and taking up by a professional seamstress was well under budget ! I finished it off with a Lace bolero and a Jenny Packham feather shrug all for £550. I was also guaranteed that no-one would have the same frock!

Click for bigger - to see dress detail.

   

One place I did get a 2nd choice gown from was Precious Collections, by the Outlet on ebay.

I picked up a brand new Sophia Tolli gown for £90, now in the hands of someone I know personally and going to be a hit next summer for sure.  This seller is a gem to deal with and I'd shop there again if I could!

Anniversary!

This is my absolute fave wedding piccy from 5th October 2012.

The Wedding Photographer can make or break your big day. Nicholas Gray certainly made ours!

Nick was really wonderful, he has a smashing personality and I hardly knew he was there taking smashing shots of the wedding party.

I suppose it depends what you want for your day, I really wanted everyone who attended the ceremony to have a piccy with both of us, if they wished to, so I was the bossy one....everyone lined up in the gardens of the York Register office ready to pose!!

Also, quite selfishly I wanted a couple of decent pictures of the Groom & I.
Nick certainly did all this and more!

Highly recommended and a true gem for our big day. He sent the finished pictures back SO quickly, amazing, they were coming through the next day!!

The thing to remember is this, if you cut corners with your choices and try to save cash, you WILL get what you pay for, a friend with a posh camera is not a photographer.

XX Annie

 http://nicholasgray.net/wedding.html

Pointy Witch feet

 

They are all at it, Louboutin, Barretts, Hobbs and Gina.

The new collections are full of pointy horrendousness.

I doubt I'll be wearing anything this shape, they don't suit my feet.

I remember the last time this style hit the shops and it just isn't me.