Very cool wedding...

One of my best friends told me recently that she was a little bummed because due to money and time she couldn't get to her friend's wedding in New York. After the wedding she sent me an email with a link to her friends photo's, because she knows about the kinds of things I get excited about and I couldn't believe it. I was clicking through them at work with my jaw on my desk.  They were gorgeous. Ive met her before and asked if i could blog the photos and she said yes, but alas! I was too slow! Cup of Jo and once wed beat me too it! Darn my slow blogging ways! Anyway here they are. Totally beautiful. See more here.

photos by Heather Waraska

Dad craft

I confess that I baulked a little when my dad said he's giving me a present that he has made. My dad is lots of things, but crafty? No. Too Many fiddly bits, he'd say impatiently. That's not to say he doesn't appreciate hand made things. There are 10 years worth of my experiments with paint, fabric, foam, paper and in one misguided case, plastic bags, adorning the walls of my family home. And he truly appreciates each and every one too. So to thank me, he gave me a hand made present in return; a little woven purse.



It made slightly more sense when he said he made it when he was 8 years old. Bang went my heart. How cute is that? So no, he hadn't turned in to a male martha Stewart over night but I love it all the same.

Do you have a crafty dad?

X

My weekend

Home cooked fish pie, Audrey Hepburn films, Aga apple cake, the smell of freshly baked bread, log fires, dog, and my baby brother. This was the sum of my weekend. Pretty blissful by all accounts. I was visiting my folks, which meant 2 days of baby brother adoration with the dude. He is crazy gorgeous. Just about to walk. 2 teeth poking out of a gummy grin. Soft and podgy,gargling and babbling.




He has been given some lovely hand made gifts. Here he is looking gorgeous in his Apple and banana knitwear, home made by Grandma! There were gorgeous matching baby mittens too!








How was your weekend lovelies?

Colour crave...

Photo by Jenny Mitchell, via Marvelous kiddo

My January look has been mostly black. Sometimes brown. With a hint of grey. And if im feeling particularly salacious, you might even catch me in navy. Perhaps this was an external expression of my inner January blues; a grey cardy for a grey day. It seems appropriate really, when you consider January’s frigid wind and smudgy skies and sleaty rain.

Photo by Le Petit Oiseau

But spring is nearly here. I can feel it in the air. The light is gently stretching its reach, transforming my previous black walks home in to a chalky grey. Green shoots are pushing up through the grass, and soon there will be bright yellow daffodils. And then there will be bright reds and lush greens and vivid fuchsia’s and deep blues. And I am longing for it.

Photo by Jenny Mitchell

I love the hibernation that winter necessitates. At this time of year I want only to revel in the warmth of my home with blankets and slippers. But When Spring awakens so do I. My green fingers start itching. Perhaps it is the changing of the seasons that I love most, I’m not sure. But whatever it is I am yearning for some colour. Very seriously indeed.

Photo by Joetta Maue

I went to the shop over the weekend for some supplies and chose products only because of the colour of their packaging. This resulted in a less than practical shop but delightfully filled cupboards. I then purchased a brightly coloured coat over the weekend. What do you think? It is from one of my favourite labels, Annie Greenabelle. It is made from Fairtrade and reclaimed fabrics. And it was in the sale too. I love the toggles and the hood and the check fabric too. Party.

Image via Magnifeco

Oh- and the images? Just lushious colour fixes. Images I have salivated over during the last month or two.

Image Marc Dion

I also found my heart palpitating when watching the music video for 'WTF' by Ok Go. One of my faves. If you havent seen it before, do click and watch. Such a simple idea, so brilliantly executed in rainbow colours.

How about you? Do you like the muted tones and subtle shades of this time of year? Are you happy with your slippers and your blankets? Or are you craving colour too? Im considering making beetroot soup. And ordering my bookshelves in colour order. And wearing my bright yellow skirt with my bright red coat in a brilliant primary colour catastrophe. And wearing bright pink knickers.What do you do satisfy your colour cravings?

x

P.s I am THAT exciting that I am beginning to wonder if I need a whole new category for the weather. Hmmmm.

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!

(Two posts in quick succession is bad blog practice I know, but I cant help myself, im too excited)

Today, in Hannah world, is almost more exciting than Christmas.

Today is pancake day.


The only thing stopping me from flinging back the duvet this morning and running around in excited circles, was the fact that we had an old school friend staying with us, and I wanted to preserve my dignity (although it’s arguable that I should just stop trying.)


So simple! So tasty! Savoury and sweet! So sociable! I am planning on eating nothing else for the rest of February.

Image via

It’s time to gorge and its also time for our annual pancake party. Which will also include a very special new born baby (my god daughter- yes its true!How lucky am I?) Pancakes and babies. Oh for the love of all that is good, Just kill me dead now, why don’t you. This might be the best pancake party in the world ever. In order to prevent a stampede of pancake gorged broody women, and an overwhelmed baby, we are also hoping to spread out the parties with slightly fewer people, so this year Im hoping we’ll have at least 2 other pancake dinner parties! Yessssssss.

Image via

Image via

So here’s wishing you a flipping good time! (see what I did there?)

Urg. I cant beleive there are still so. many. HOURS left in the day. I want to be up to my elbows in batter and banana right now.

Are you celebrating tonight or at some point this month? Any great recipes you wana share?

x

Treehugger Tuesdays- a farewell of sorts.

Dear tree huggers. I have decided to stop my tree hugger Tuesday feature. It's not because I have lost my tree hugger ways. I have not turned into a Hummer driving, tree felling, big mac gorging Climate change denier. No.  Its just that tree hugger Tuesdays has slowly but surely broken from its Tuesday shackles. Writing about my experiments with green living has really spurred me on. And reading about other tree huggers from around the blogosphere has provided me so much inspiration.  As it turns out I really love tree hugging. It feels right. And as a result of this blog and this community tree hugging has ended up seeping in to most of the things I do. It was also inducing a Monday night blog panic, and panic about blogging is not why I do this. So I have let it go. The tree hugger label will remain, as will my experiments with green cleaning supplies, Reg the veg patch, ethical shopping and decent deodorants. But I am saying goodbye to the pressure.

(Urg, I got got a flash to Maggie Gyllenhall in Away We Go with her flicky wrists, saying 'I reject your negativity... ')

Awesome images; Leanne Eissen

Dry your eyes my dears. Ttreehugger Tuesdays lives on in a different form. Plus ITS PANCAKE DAY!  Oh wow! (More on that later)

Happy tree hugging lovelies

x

A letter for the W.A.G's...

To the gods of sport,  (aka The Football Association (FA) and the Six nations)


Uh oh. Scheduling a rugby game and a big football match on VALENTINES DAY is a new low, Mr God of sport.  I think I speak on behalf of wives and girlfriends everywhere when I say that you have made many an eye roll, many arms fold. And that isnt even on Valentines. Huffing and puffing, meek excuses, promises of redemption. You have tugged and torn at our mens hearts. 


And THIS?!Good effort. But no chance.









SUPERB!


(Message to my mister: yes this is superb. But I mean it, it wont work.)

Valentines...

Some of my oldest readers may remember my disdain for Valentines from last year.  It's not that I don't like the idea of celebrating love (which should be done on more than one day a year. Puke, sorry), its the other stuff that depresses me. The tacky cards, the overcrowded restaurants and... you know. And I also feel for my single friends for whom Valentines looms like the grim reaper. My mister and I traditionally have fish and chips and if I’m lucky I might even get a cuppa in bed. But rather then whinge on about Valentines Shmalentines, I decided that this year I’d think about it a bit differently. And by differently I mean loving women. And no I have not made 'the turn'.

Boy, do I have some marvellous women in my life. My mum died when I was wee, so I’ve been brought up by my dad and approximately 4 pseudo mums in the form of my doting, hilarious  (and admittedly bonkers) aunties. I also have some lovely cousins who are more like sisters, a wicked actual sister, a pretty ace sister in law and a lovely step mother too. It would be easy to take these ladies for granted, I know I’ll never be able to fully express that what has made me me, is them.  But I thought I'd have a wee go.   So this year, rather than boycott valentines I decided to use it as a nice excuse to ‘love on my ladies’! I've sent a hand written home made card to each of the ladies in my family, just sayin that they’re champion, and some other mushy girls stuff which I'll spare you.

I also made each of them some silly love heart bunting to string over a window or a door frame of table or whatever, just so they know when they open their curtains and walk through their doors or sit at their tables, or wherever it ends up, that I love my girlies.

So, three cheers to the girlies in your life! And for the boylies too, whatever works for you. Hurrah! And whether you pass Valentines in your jimjams on the sofa, or romping like loons under the duvet, I hope that its truly marvelous and that you feel loved all the way to the rafters.

sigh...... 

P.s . But if its all going tits up or your a bit bored of valentines- remember THE PANCAKES! Pancake day is Tuesdays! oh HURRAH!

P.p.s I just read my valentines post from this time last year and when I read that I was listening to 'I Hate hate' by Razzy Bailey, I pissed myself and totally wanted to be friends with me! Lame.  Isn't it weird reading old blog posts?  

Treehugger Tuesdays: Cosmetics.

(Sorry this is late!)

My green intentions for this year have provided me with the perfect opportunity to indulge in some guilt free organic beautifying. This is wildly exciting for me as this of course means an excuse to buy new toiletries and cosmetics which is surely one of lifes greatest pleasures, non? (I’m buying new only when old stuff runs out mind) It’s been ace and its been not so ace and i thought id share my thoughts so far.




1) Bare Minerals make up. Discovered via The Book of Thrift. 100% pure minerals. No chemicals . You can sleep in it (eeeuw, but wow). Good 'feel- like-im-famous' coverage. Light. Very good value. Ace.

(Image)

2) John masters sea mist with lavender. For hair. 100% organic. Smells resplendent. Sexes up your hair, makes it ‘thingy’. Doesnt dry it. Ace.

Image

3) Faith in Nature Lavender and Geranium shampoo and conditioner. Organic. Smells heavenly. Makes hair shiny but not greasy. Doesn’t dry. Ace.

Image

4) Kingfisher toothpaste. Weird at first (compared with normal). You get used to it quickly. Minty. Fresh. Abolishes stinking morning breath. No nasties. Ace.

Image

Things I use but I am not sure are ace yet


5) Jason Shower gel. Can buy in bulk. Soaps up. A bit harsh.


6) Korres fig body lotion. Smells sexual. But a bit thin. I think they do a body butter though which would be perfecto.


7) Dr Mist deodorant....Boy is there a back story to this....

Image

I am on a mission for the Nirvana of the deodorant world. I have tried sparys, roll ons, chemical- full and chemical- free.  I haven’t had much luck with natural deodorants so far. Apart from being less than sociable in the office after my brisk morning walk through the park, I ended up having to wash my clothes much more than I normally do, mitigating against any environmental benefits.


I had a poke around the Ethical Consumer website and Googled around a bit, and discovered some pretty freaky shit. Normal deodorant is full of  parabens and aluminum. Parabens are a chemical compound that has been linked (although not conclusively) to breast cancer.  The mining of both parabens and aluminium (amngst other stuff) is also bad for mama planet.

Make Up Alley  recommends Dr Mist. The way the reviews talk about it you'd think it really was pure Heaven in a bottle. Its the best ive tried so far but im not 100% convinced yet. 

Dr mist deoderaises and keeps pits free of bacteria, but it doesnt stop the wetness as it isnt an antiperspirant. |I think thats the bit thats bothering me. What do you reckon? Does this sort of thing bother you? Maybe we have come to rely too heavily on anti persprant, and its just time we dealt with a little wetness? Or not?  The upshot of this ramble is this; Have you found a decent deodorant, one that is preferably free from nasties?

So; these are the triumphs and the failures and the not-so-ace's so far. If you've gone gaga over a new organic product, let me know! Im super excited to try new (chemical free, yada yada) cosmetics and toiletries at the moment.

Happy treehugging lovelies!

P.s my naturel cleaning experiments are progressing well- i shall do another blog update soon (you must be so excited my dears!)

Just because its monday...

A bit of Otis for your Monday morning? I was bopping along to this in the park and it did a good job of brightening this very cold and blustery Monday morning. I am taking a wild guess here, but perhaps your Monday morning is in need of some brightening too? Hmm? Thought so.




For the more alert amongst you, you may have noticed that I did not post about my valentines craft project over the weekend. This is because other things happened instead, like visiting new born babies and long pub lunches and dancing till the wee hours on Saturday night, then nursing the hangover from hell the next day which was so bad I set fire to my dressing gown from the hob and didn’t notice for quite a while (no harm done, don’t worry!) So you’ll forgive me then, if it arrives slightly later than scheduled?




So, how was your weekend dude?

My cookie delivery...

When I got into work this morning, this was patiently waiting for me on my desk....



And in it was this....



Hurrah! Cookies and 3 cards, including my favourite one! (the wild thing one-think I'm gona frame it in our lounge)



The cookies were Delish, a naughty but nice treat with my morning tea...



For those of you not sure what I'm on about , I won a give away from Huma of herlittleplace.com. This is tres exciting, no? The last time I won a prize was when I was 7, and it was for the best drawing of a local church. Still one of my proudest moments.

Thanks again Huma!

Have a lovely weekend, I have a sweet little valentines craft project which I'm posting about this weekend!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Newspaper yarn= super ace

My mister sent me this today (reason number 67 of why I love my mister. Puke. Sorry) 


Just look at what you could do with your old newspaper....

You do something a bit like this...

which makes something that looks a bit like this:

Which you can then use to make stuff like this...

Cool, huh?

This also stops newspaper from being thrown away. Which means you'll be in mama planets good books. Mmm Hmm. 

For full tutorial see GreenUpgrader.

Treehugger Tuesdays: Ode to jam jars....

Jam jars, you are a rock in my life. Often taken for granted, un- noticed and regularly discarded, but no more! I know you have so much love to give, so much potential! You adorned our wedding so perfectly, filling the garden with twinkly light. Many more of your family fill our cupboards, providing an endless, reproducing, supply of water glasses, and a regular conversation point. You are the stuff of dreams for my mister, who fantasises about you in his future one day wood workshop, nails and screws organised neatly In Jam jars with lids glued to the undersides of shelves. And your purposes for naturel cleaning, according to cabbages and roses is mind blowing!



I have always used you as photo frames, plain and lidless on my shelves. But over the weekend I decided to give you a revamp and I was so pleased with you I wanted to shout about you to the world!


I hereby present my jam jar photoframes!
These are as easy as pie.


You save some jars and steam the labels off. You then paint the lids. You'll need to use an oil based paint. I've had this little tester pot for about 4 years and it has served many purposes!

You then choose some pretty things to put in the jars. I chose tiny fabric scraps (a perfect use for them!), strips of paper, pink trim, and buttons.

You then arrange your photos in there and add whatever the hell you fancy,  I chucked in a few pressed flowers and extra buttons.

They can be stacked together to great affect or lined up on a mantle, its up to you really. The lids keep the dust out, and stacking them is invaluable if you don’t have much space to play with.

If you'd like to join in and make some too, id love to see them! You could make them into little memory jars, for a holiday, for example, including a photo along with a theatre or train ticket, and pressed flowers or a few coins or some pebbles... All sorts of potential, don’t you think?


Happy tree hugging lovelies!


Hannah x

Hello February!

I have a good feeling about February. In fact, Its already pretty rad. I found out over the weekend that I am the proud winner of my first ever blog give away! Hurrah! I shall soon be receiving a surprise selection of cards and a box of cookies from Huma of her Little Place. Thank you Huma! I also went crazy this morning and bought a coffee on the way to work AND ITS NOT EVEN FRIDAY. Steady your beating hearts, my cherries.

Image via the Her Little Place boutique

These cookie and card packages would make a really sweet valentines gift, for your love, or a friend or an aunt or someone you want to make smile, dont yout think?  If so, maybe you should pop over to the Her Little Place boutique to browse the selection available. Say hi from me!

So, here’s to a brilliant month!

Come on February, blow my socks off!