♥ Penguins Galore

I was woken up this morning at 7:50am by a text message. normally this would have ended with me hurling the phone off my bedside table towards the window or the wall but on this occasion i didn't mind too much. must have been a mellow morning mood or something.

anyway, i've stayed in all day today since it was the last day that Sienna, Emma and Mandy were all staying here. Sienna finally got her nails painted sparkly pink (by yours truly) this morning as well, since i was bad and spent most of last night on my computer editing illustrations! sorry Sienna x

anyway since i have no new news (no new news, try saying that quickly 5 times) to share i thought i'd post my latest illustration instead

it's the very special one i was on about the other day, 'a very special illustration requested by my super duper friend Jeni who is going off to Uni soon'

this is the finished result, it's called 'Jeni in Penguinland'

shall i explain the craziness of this picture?! ok dokes here goes...

well, her fave colour is Blue and she luuurves Penguins so somehow i came up with this

i thought blue dress for sure + penguinland...

something to do with Alice in Wonderland maybe...

so it was basically a chance to have another go at an Alice in Wonderland style girl, whilst also attempting to make her look like Jeni AND bringing the penguins into it as well.

she's seen it already and seems to like it so i'm going to print out a nice neat copy of it for her once i'm back at college since the whole point of the illustration request was so that she'd have something to put on the wall of her new room at uni.

and that's it really.

i reached 700 followers today on Twitter which was cause for a mini celebration (i put on my 6-inch heels and had a little dance around my room to Peggy Lee songs)

to be honest i spent most of the day sat on my own listening to Manx Radio (i finally sorted it so i can listen to it on my macbook), editing photos and writing stuff on my laptop.

i got some exciting news today though via email so stay tuned for something ultra suuuuper happening soon.

i hope you all had a great Bank Holiday Monday

i know it may seem like i wasted mine but since i'm off away in a few days i figured a day of doing absolutely nothing was exactly what i needed before the hustle and bustle of airports and rent-a-cars takes over on Wednesday!

enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday,

hope you all have a super duper day tomorrow

♥ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX

Super Duper Train Times

This morning i got up bright and early (well 9:30am is very early for a Sunday morning!) and had another little tidy up in my room (i swear it's addictive once you get started) i watched a bit of the Belgian Grand Prix until it was time to head off out to Groudle Glen railway.

Sienna was verrry excited about getting to go on the little train. it's the annual 'teddy bear's picnic' today at the railway and all children with a teddy get to ride the train for free.

well Sienna decided to bring my old Dumbo plush along with us instead, but he's still a cuddly teddy-esque toy so who cares right!

after a hike (quite literally) up to the Lime Kiln halt we wondered what to do. were we supposed to walk to the main station or peg it to the cafe? my mum got this snap of me while we were waiting for the train, my weirdly floating hair shows just how chuffing windy it was! my whiter than white complexion is thanks to mum having the flash on... come on mum!

i'm about one step away from turning into Casper the friendly ghost here ◕‿◕

we needn't have worried though because the train suddenly appeared around the corner blowing it's whistle all the way. Sienna's little eyes lit up at the sight of the shiny green engine and the little red carriages and we were soon on our way to the Sea Lion rocks cafe at the end of the tracks. Here's the train arriving to collect us, my mum took these snaps as well. i guess she's my guest photographer for today... but that also explains why i couldn't zoom in to edit any of the photos, never mind mum you tried your best and that's what counts! x

there was a guy dressed up as a teddy bear when we got to the cafe and Sienna got a bit freaked out, i guess she's not too partial to people in character suits, i know the feeling i was petrified of them when i was her age too! anyway, my mum and my cousin Emma abandoned us as soon as they spotted the cafe so it was just me and Sienna (and Dumbo) for the rest of the trip.

Sienna clutched Fumbo (aka Dumbo, don't ask me why she calls him Fumbo i honestly don't have a clue) as we rumbled back along the track to the picturesque little Lhen Coan station.

luckily my friend Alex was the station guard today onboard the train so i even got to deliver the little gifts i bought him during my visit to Cork last week. in case you were wondering... the presents were two tiny little toy trains (Thomas and James to be precise) from 'Thomas the Tank Engine'.

i swear as soon as i handed over those trains he turned into a little kid again making 'choo choo' noises and everything as he pushed them about in the carriage.

ah well, some people will never grow up!

myself included i'm glad to say ◕‿◕

but it really was a fun day and Sienna absolutely loved it which was the main thing after all. she literally didn't stop smiling the entire time we were on that train, it was so lovely. here she is with 'Fumbo' looking happy as can be.

i promised to take her back for the Santa trains that run in December so she's already excited about that, i am too if i'm honest. there's something so sweet about those little trains, you feel a million miles away from any worries or trifling problems you may have at home. you just sit on the train and look out at the Irish sea as you veer along the little cliff top track, it's so sublime.

i mean when we spotted the train coming round the corner it was ok for Sienna to get all excited but had to act all normal like a grown up, however, inside i was screaming 'TRAAAAAAAIN' at the top of my lungs like an excited 4-year-old would.

it's a shame i know but i really will never truly grow up!

anyway, i can definitely recommend it to anyone that lives here in the Isle of Man or is planning on visiting us in the future. even if you don't have any kids with you it's still worth a visit.

it's been open since 1896 and there also used to be a little zoo that accompanied the station. that's why two of the original trains to ever run along the tracks were called 'Sea Lion' and 'Polar Bear'.

to be honest i guess i don't know that much about it, for more information it'd be much better to check out the railways proper website, see it HERE + check out their gallery as well for some great snaps of the trains and the station - Groudle Glen Railway

right well that's it for today, my cousin Mandy has also come back to stay tonight so we're having a 'proper girly' night in.

me + my mum + Sienna + her mum Emma + Emma's sister Mandy

it's sparkly pink nail varnish a-go-go!

gooood times

byeee ♥ ◕‿◕ xX

Mademoiselle 'lucky bitch'

This is an old post that i originally posted on my alternate (all about fashion) blog back in February 2010.

i only found this old blog again today and thought i'd share this little post with you because...

A - i'm far FAR too tired to come up with anything new today

B - it has rained all day and even my bright coral pink ruffled coat and lemon dress couldn't brighten my mood sufficiently

C - my cousin Emma and her little 4-year-old daughter Sienna are staying with us (i'm using it as an excuse to be lazy with my blogging)

and D- ... i can't think of a D right now but there probably is one, somewhere. hiding.

enjoy...

February 7 2010

'So today i once again found myself in town surrounded by shops (hurrah) but sadly there was no sign of the delectable male shop assistant in Next (booo) but it was a fruitful day nonetheless.

anyway, as i was sauntering (in as nice and as normal a way as possible) through the aisles of shampoo and hair dye in Boots, i found myself face to face with a woman i may have to refer to as my new idol!

she was tall and quite skinny with gorgeous long titian red hair, a beautiful Hermès scarf tied around her little neck, a gorgeous black Louis Vuitton shoulder bag and the most heavenly black studded Christian Louboutin boots!

i (of course) recognised that the boots were Louboutins STRAIGHT away, despite only seeing them from the front, i'm not a fashion addict for nothing you know!

but the two slightly older girls that were behind me choosing platinum blonde hair dyes to add to their baskets (already filled with fake tan and lipgloss) and i realised they hadn't really 'clocked' any part of woman's super duper outfit (her jeans looked like Madewell 'matchstick' jeans and her coat was definitely designer, perhaps Moschino, i'm not totally sure) that was until she turned around.

the girls eyes widened at the flash of red on the boots soles as she wiggled over to the hair spray section and i clearly heard one of them hiss 'lucky bitch' as the realization set in of how much the boots alone must be worth etc.

how jealous was i?

insanely?!

well maybe a little bit!

ok maybe a bit more!

if she hadn't of been so effortlessly chic and stunning, and if her coat hadn't been quite so wonderfully tailored i too might have hissed 'lucky bitch' or something similar, but she was so demure and quiet and normal that i just sort of sighed and immediately wished that one day i too could be so utterly fabulous!

xXx'

so that's it. a v old post, seemed somehow relevant despite being from yonks ago.

ok time for some tea now.

i'm off to the Groudle Glen railway tomorrow for a teddy bears picnic (or something) with Sienna so that will hopefully give me some proper blog fodder

night night all

♫ ♪ ♥ ☆ ◕‿◕ xX

the not-so-Domestic Goddess

Today I stayed at home again only it wasn't all fun times because I had to spend the day cleaning and tidying my room!

As soon as I woke up I got stuck in and (with the addition of a few laptop infused breaks + a quick watch of Kiki's Delivery Service) managed to get it all pretty tidy and nice and clean.

I'm not exactly what you'd call a domestic Goddess... more of a domestic goat to be honest but still, I tried my best and got hoovering, scrubbing and mopping to tracks by Glen Miller, the Chordettes, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and so on and so forth.

You'd be surprised at just how effective music like that is to clean to, it worked a treat and I got to sing along to my hearts content.

Anyway, the music and the day of cleaning got me thinking and I remembered these awesome 50's style aprons my friend Charlotte and I found last night on a website (check them out HERE) and while my floor dried from it's mopping times I settled down for a bit of drawing.

This is what I came up with in the end, two delightfully domestic Goddesses at work in their pretty aprons baking just like I did with my friends the other day ◕‿◕

one is having a baking day while the other is having a baking night, but either way, they're both trying to entice you with their fabulous cooking skills! (and their weird hands! i guess they're not quite finished yet but it's late and i've spent hours working on them so... tough!)

ok so they're not hoovering or scrubbing like I did but they're still being good little housewives by baking up a tasty treat or two.

I've also spent this afternoon/evening sketching out a verrry special 'Girl' illustration for my friend Jeni who is going off to Uni soon. She sent me a message on Facebook this morning asking me to draw her and although there's still a few weeks before she leaves I came up with a great idea for a picture and couldn't help but get started on it right away. It's nearly done but there's still a little more I need to add to it, I hope she likes it anyway. I'll probably post it on here tomorrow so stay tuned, if you like my blog and the style of my girly illustrations then you'll LOVE what i've drawn for her!

Which reminds me, I still have to draw a picture of Charlotte as well! She asked me to draw her a Doctor Who style pin-up of her and perhaps the Tardis or something else DW related, i've got a pretty clear image in my head of what I want it to look like but we'll see if I can make it a reality... or not!

Anyway, that's all for now folks,

tonight i'm going to be very sensible (and boring) by making a list of things I need to take to Montenegro with me next week.

Ah yes, i'm flying out to Dubrovnik on Wednesday and then on into Montenegro for a wedding.

It's been one hell of a busy summer for me travel wise!

England, France, Belgium, Andorra, Ireland and now Croatia and Montenegro...

crazy times!

Right, byeeeee for now dudes and dudettes

☆♥◕‿◕♥☆ xX

♥ Baking Day ♥

This morning after talking to one of my friends in Australia via Skype (don't you just love the internet!) I popped into Douglas town to meet my friends but before I could find them I nipped into Curphey's (gorgeous handbag/shoe/jewellery/bits and bobs shop... love it) and bought something i've wanted for aaaaages!

When the Tim Burton/Disney extravaganza that was 'Alice in Wonderland' came out earlier this year, the Disney Couture jewellery line brought out some fabulous AiW themed pieces designed by Tom Binns including a supercute 'Hatter' necklace and matching earrings. Anyway, i've wanted these for yonks and today they just so happened to be in the sale so... BARGAIN BUY!

Plus I actually do love them! the Hatter is my favourite character from the film and from the books so that'll be why they appeal to me so much.

And look at the cute bags they came in as well!

Anyway after that I actually managed to meet up with Charlotte my 50's pinup style pal (check out her super duper blog HERE) and we made our way through town to be picked up by Jenny who was hosting the Baking day.

After a trip to Tesco for some supplies (eggs, butter, icing sugar, cake mix, rainbow sprinkles, blue food dye... you know just the bare essentials!) we went back to Jenny's flat and got to work on the cupcakes.

Obviously we had time for some 'posing' as well! Here's Charlotte practicing her best 50's style advert pose, me mixing away at the BLUE sponge mix + Charlotte spooning out the mixture.

At first we were just going to have blue icing but then Charlotte and Jenny got a bit carried away with the food colouring so... BLUE cakes!

we paused for some lunch after the first batch were cooling, a delicious feast of potato smileys (cooked by Jenny) and Pink Lemonade (mixed by yours truly) and watched some episodes of American Dad.

ah... Seth MacFarlane, what a genius! anyway, after that we finished the second batch and ended up with 24 beautifully iced (by Jenny and Charlotte) and vigorously sprinkled (by me) cakes that tasted divine and dyed your fingers, lips and tongue bright blue!

they were seriously yummy though! Charlotte did a cracking job on the home made buttercream icing, even if it did give you a blue mouth!!! ◕‿◕

it was a really fun day though, after the cakes were all finished we popped into Tynwald for a quick wander around the little shops, we pretty much had to drag ourselves out of 'Never Never land' the children's clothing and toy shop.

all those tiny little outfits did weird things to our girly brains, i think all three of us were send a bit loopy by the sight of so many scrumptious little baby clothes! bad times...

anyway that's all for now, i'm sat in the dark blogging and listening to Chatanooga Choo Choo by Glen Miller and the Andrews sisters... ok i'm singing along to it as well i admit it!

until i blog again...

luuurve to you all ♥ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX

Shoes for all Seasons

i love shoes, i really do!

i know most women say that but i genuinely do bloody well adore shoes, especially high heels. there's something so beautiful about them i don't know what they just look fabulous, on or off, it's weird. but then some of them are so exquisite they could literally be works of art in a gallery. (Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin and Mai Lamore i'm looking at you here...)

oh and if you don't believe me about a shoe being a work of art, just check out Mai Lamore's website, if i owned a pair of those rose shoes they would sit in a glass case under a spotlight on a plinth in my room. oh and listen out for Habanera as well, being played throughout the site. genius!

Mai Lamore site

but if someone made shoes a proper art form i'd go to a shoe gallery, hell i'd practically LIVE there!

it reminds me of last November, seeing all the shoe and clothing displays at the V&A in London was an awesome experience but i pretty much had to be dragged away in the end, i may have also begun to drool slightly.

a similar thing happens when i go to a designer shoe boutique, the worst culprits of all being Selfridges/Harrods/Harvey Nichols/Brown Thomas/Neiman Marcus/Bloomingdales/Bergdorf Goodman etc etc

take me to the shoe department of ANY of those stores and that's an easy way for me to while away an entire day, just wandering around looking at gorgeous shoes.

anyway i've digressed, despite the loveliness of shoes in general, the point of this post was, as the title suggest, Shoes for all Seasons.

this morning i was on some random home ware site (don't ask, i actually can't explain why i was on there, even i don't know how that happened) and i was looking at plastic bowls (once again... don't ask) and saw this photo of a set of ice cream bowls.

i had to screencap the image because something about the lovely pastel colours of the bowls got me thinking and then sketching and the next thing i knew i'd come up with a little series of Shoe illustrations

the individual shoe designs are by me but the red soles = homage to the Shoe God himself, Monsieur Christian Louboutin.

here's the finished piece, each pair were inspired by the colours of the bowls. it may not look that way but it's the truth, promise.

Spring Summer Autumn Winter

for a slightly bigger version of the picture, click on the link HERE

i'm not sure what i'll do with the picture, might have a go at painting some shoes seeing as it's yonks since i actually painted anything!

i'm not sure why i put them in circles either, i suppose they could be badge designs couldn't they? i'd love to get some badges made but i don't think anyone would actually buy them!

anyway, that's all i wanted to share for today.

and yes... i made it home safe and sound at last, thank gooooodness the boat sailed this time!

my cousins Mandy and Emma are coming to stay tonight so i'd better go and tidy up a bit for their arrival.

there... a nice boring ending for you!

◕‿◕ xX

ps - I ♥ shoes

Stranded in Ireland

so yes... because Karma obviously hates me i am unfortunately stranded indefinitely in a small, rather grotty (it is genuinely grotty... there's damp everywhere) hotel in Dún Laoghaire! we left Cork at 8:15am and drove for 3.5 hours to Dublin Port... where we were told the boat had been cancelled!

it must be really shocking weather because the English boat to Holyhead was cancelled as well. the problem is... the weather in the Irish Sea is so miserable at the moment, there's a strong chance the boat may be cancelled tomorrow as well!

THIS is what i look like at the moment

like a sad slice of Kawaii lemon

FML!!!!

normally i would find this sort of thing hilarious but...

1: i've been here for 11 days and i WANT to go home!

2: i'm supposed to be going out tomorrow night for my friend's birthday

3: i have run out of things to wear because i made sure to only pack enough for the trip

4: i got about 2 hours sleep last night so i'd definitely be tired for the boat this afternoon

5: i also starved myself ALL day to make sure i wouldn't throw up on the boat

6: i am insanely p***ed off because i was really looking forward to getting home!

so... i'm not a happy girly really as i'm sure you'll understand!

my friend Alex texted me to let me know the forecast is slightly better for tomorrow but let's face it... if it's like this today there's a pretty strong chance it's still gonna be as bad tomorrow.

well... Ireland obviously isn't willing to let me go just yet!

so now i'm stuck in this poky hotel room using up the free wi-fi and watching an endless stream of Johnny Depp films on my laptop (at least i came well prepared right!)

here's hoping i'll make it home eventually xX

Shopping in the Rain☆

So sadly today was my last day here in the lovely city of Cork. I've had a smashing trip here and will definitely be coming back as soon as I can, to Ireland in general in fact, I just love it here, I always do! Every time I visit I fell sort of at home here I can't explain why, maybe it's become my dad's family originally come from here, it's in my blood I guess ◕‿◕

anyway it was raining today but did that stop me! Not one bit! i popped on my new coat, grabbed my DKNY scarf (to match my red dress), donned the new boots and shoved my handbag in the crook of my arm, brolly firmly up protecting me from the elements!

Forget singing in the rain... I was totally shopping in it today, in the space of about half an hour i'd visited 6 stores and amassed a small collection of shopping bags. All in all it was a fruitful day shopping wise, a vast improvement on the crappola times of yesterday.

I had a good old mooch in Penneys (aka Primark) and got some great bits and bobs including this adorable heart shaped bag, this gorgy cameo headband and some awesome retro sunglasses for an 80's party i'm off to on Saturday. The red ones are for me and the white (practically invisible on my hotel bedspread) ones are for my friend Mike who's party it is.

The weird thing is he told me that today he popped into town (in the Isle of Man) to look for some 80's style sunnies for the party... and didn't find any! Well i'm glad to have been so super duper smart to grab a pair for him myself, even if they did cost a whopping 50 cents! ◕‿◕

I also grabbed some cute fingerless gloves for winter days at College and a couple of other bits. I'm not 100% loved up on Primark/Penneys but I must admit that I rarely leave one of their stores without a bag of stuff!

I picked up some cute hair bows and headbands in the sale at Accessorize, I bought this exact same tartan headband three years ago from the UK airport when I flew out to spend Christmas in Las Vegas, but I accidentally snapped it whilst I was away!

I couldn't believe it when I spotted this one today, and on sale as well! It's a cute thing for winter + it reminds me of my old school uniform from when I was little. We had tartan kilts and tartan school ties ◕‿◕

I also popped back to the gorgeous 'Peacock & Ruby' store in the English Market for one last wander around it's gorgeous displays and enticing sparkly bits and bobs. I was totally delighted to find the pair of earrings that i've been pining over all week were still there waiting for me!

I spotted them on my first day here in Cork when I first visited the shop but I didn't buy them for some reason. I was sure they'd be gone but I promised myself that if they were still there today then I would definitely get them... and they were ◕‿◕

here's a snap of them, I don't know why I like them so much, there's just something about them that I love! (sorry it's such a small photo, my camera really sucks!)

i had a last whizz around the handbag hall of Brown Thomas as well, sadly i couldn't afford anything but i still had a bloody good look! it's probably sad that as soon as i got in there i noticed that they'd changed the handbag displays round and added new A/W ones... yeah i visited them a lot this week, and last week, and in Dublin!

I went to a big toy store as well down one of the side streets, I love toy shops but then I guess i'll never fully grow up! I bought two tiny little things from the shop but I can't say what they are because their a present for my friend Alex who is also a big kid stuck having to try and behave all the time like a normal, sensible grown-up!

Being grown-up sucks!

Ok that's all for today, i'm chilling in the room tonight with my picnic which mostly consists of jam donuts and bread sticks (a veritable feast!) so I can watch Sherlock episodes on my laptop whilst I pack my bags for tomorrow. My boat back to the Isle of Man is in the afternoon, 2 or 3ish I can't remember... i'll worry about it when the time comes but for now I so can't be arrrsed!

before i sign off i want to share a quote with you, i heard this today in Brown Thomas and absolutely love it!

'a Handbag is not just a Handbag... it is a vessel for all your most prized possessions'

i like that, a nice way of explaining the importance of a bag i think!

Arrivederci dudes and dudettes,

lots of Irish luuurve to you all

◕‿◕ xX