Monday 28 February 2011

Home Sweet Home ♥

so I realise it's been a few days since I last posted anything on here, the reason i've been so absent is because the past few days have not been all that great for me :-(

I was really ill on Friday night and what with travelling home all day Saturday, I kind of struggled to find time to recover.

I'm happy to be home but I still don't feel very well! It's really starting to get me down so I do apologize for lack of posts, i'll try to resume normal blogging times as best I can this week, promise x

anyway, I also realised that I nevet told you about my day in Birmingham!!!

zut alors et mon dieu! How could I forget!!!

well fear not my little daffodils, i will tell you all about it now...

so last Thursday myself + my mum got up bright and early and caught the train from Coventry (train traaaaaaaaain!!! i love trains) to New Street station in Birmingham to meet my Auntie Maureen for the day 


here's my auntie + me waiting just outside Selfridges ready to begin our day of shopping


+  shot of the Selfridge's indoor Bullring entrance...


this entrance leads to the food hall so naturally we had a little mooch around the lovely cake stalls, i spotted the most darling selection of cupcakes and other yummy treats, now you're not really allowed to take photos inside Selfridges but a lovely guy working at the cake stall kindly let me take a quick snap of the cakes while he turned his back


aren't they divine!!!

we spent most of the morning in Selfridges looking at all the beautiful shoes and handbags on the top floor, I even took my lovely cream Chloé Paddington over to the Chloé section to visit all of it's pretty relatives (I told you handbags sent me loopy! That last sentence is proof enough!!!)


now I wasn't feeling particularly bright and breezy, I still had the vile sore throat but that was NOT going to stop me from the Birmingham times no way josé!!! 

I was obviously feeling worse than I thought because I didn't go on a massive shopping binge like I normally do!!!

despite being surrounded by my fave shops (like the Disney store... where i would gladly live)


In all seriousness... I didn't get that much stuff!!!

it was a beautiful sunny day, cold but bright so when my mum + my aunt wanted to stop for lunch I decided to pop up to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in Victoria Square to sneak a peek at my fave Pre-Raphaelite paintings (you can read more about the Pre-Raphaelites in an old blog post here - Super Sunday #5)


the square was packed with people just realxing in the sunshine, super duper times, i snapped this quick shot of the town hall as i made my way across the square


most of the classical galleries weren't too busy but it was packed in the contemporary Galleries, I guess half-term brings out the best in people since most of the place was filled with parents and their kids! i stuck to the classical galleries... 


however it hardly mattered, because since i'm such a massive art nerd I was in and out of the place in 25 minutes


what can I say, I just happen to know my way around their galleries pretty well!!!

the rest of the afternoon was spent mooching around shops in the Bullring

so what DID I buy I hear you cry???

well weirdly every single thing I bought that day was cupcake themed...

do NOT asky why because I honestly don't know!!!

all I do know is that when I got back to the hotel to look at my purchases, only then did I realise that they all were cupcake themed!

I have clearly gone quite insane...

so we have some rather super duper cupcake bunting from Paperchase...


cute right! i thought so too, rather super duper sweet...


i also got some cupcake stickers + a strawberry scented cupcake air freshener (don't ask, I thought it was pretty...)


to be fair it IS pretty... i'm just not sure what to do with it yet!!!


my mum bought me this lovely cupcake wrapping paper (which i have decided to wrap the giveaway prizes in, enter now if you haven't already - Giveaway )


+ another cupcake money box for my room


and last but not least, the one non-cupcake related thing I bought, a super duper prettyful (sort of) nautical themed big Hello Kitty plush


isn't she adorabubble!!!

quite the mini kawaii shopping spree i'm sure you'll agree!!!

* * *

in other news...

those of you that visit the blog regularly will have noticed the addition of some new buttons at the top right under the colourful blog header

these 'pages' are just something i'm experimenting with, not too sure if they'll remain permanent fixtures as of yet

at the moment all i've added is an 'about me' info page, a giveaway FAQ and a page giving some info about 'Where I Live' in case any of you wanted to know anything about the Isle of Man

there are some photos on there + a basic summary of Island related stuff, check it out if you have time

and for all the Manxies out there that read my blog, if i've made any mistakes on the I.O.M page or if there's anything YOU think I should add to it, drop me an email or leave a comment and let me know + i'll fix it asap :-)

* * *

that's it for now, i'm heading off to work on my HND essay (it's all about Children's Picture books so I am literally surrounded by picture books at the moment!!!)

until next time,

That's all folks...

◕‿◕  xX

i honestly haven't a clue where i'm up to on the list of countries!!! so if anyone can think of a country i haven't said a farewell to yet, let me know!

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Crazy Coventry ♥

so i didn't post this yesterday because i wanted to do the Blog Birthday post


incidentally, if you missed yesterday's post, check it out because i'm holding a little giveaway to celebrate the 2nd Birthday of my blog


you can get your hands on some cute kawaii goodies, check out the prizes + how to enter here - ♥ Blog Birthday Giveaway ♥


anyway, yesterday i got to hang out with some of my family in Coventry City Centre, namely my mum, my godmother, her daughter, her grandson and my two darling little nieces


here's a shot of the girls waiting by the fountain in the centre of town, Daisy on the left and Madison on the right



we had a fab time pottering about in the shops, one of our first stops was Paperchase (aka heaven) where the girls bought some pens + notebooks and i got some goodies for the giveaway

after that we spotted this awesome cupcake themed kitchenware display in Debenhams


just LOOK at that teapot!!! so cute!

myself + he girls collectively decided that i just HAD to have the darling little cupcake money box for my room...

after that we found some REAL cupcakes in this super sweet little bakery!


they had these gorgeous big cupcake birthday cakes + all other sorts of fabulous occasion cakes

and these adorable sparkly cupcakes!!!


they were super girly and super awesome, perfection in cupcake form...


the girls spotted this enormous shoe in the window of a shoe shop, cue window shopping poses...


so after a spot of lunch we decided to take a break outside, it was chilly but we didn't care!!!


here's my Godmother Marie, her daughter Tina and Tina's little son Dylan


this roundabout was set up in town, weirdly enough there's always been a roundabout set up here for as long as i can remember, in fact myself + my nephew Josh used to go on it when we were kids!


so naturally... little Dylan had to go on it!


what a little cutie!!!

after that we all parted ways for a bit and i was left with the girls, i decided to take them through town to see one of my fave shops, a little fairtrade + crystal store which they both loved, in fact we all left with new crystals

the shop also sells paintings by a talented local artist named John (unfortunately i don't know anything else about him but his work sure is cute)


we nipped over to the older part of town where i took the opportunity to snap a quick shot of Coventry's famous 'Lady Godiva'


then i treated the girls to a cookie from 'Ben's Cookies'


Ben's Cookies is my fave cookie cafe ever!!! there's a big Ben's Cookies cafe in Leamington which i always take the girls to and luckily they've got a small stall in Coventry as well


they're more like cakes than cookies! massive, piping hot and oozing melted chocolate... delicious!


then i thought a quick detour to Primark was in order, there was a cute girly window display full of these little tote bags, so sweet!


the girls didn't want to go to Primark but i insisted! i bought a lovely little blue dress and this gorgeous bracelet

 

and to my astonishment, the girls both bought identical bracelets!!!

bracelet triplets!!!


we spotted this Betty Boop themed window display as well! Boop-oop-a-doop


 one of our last stops was another of my fave sops in the city, 'Miss Rush' sells all manner of kawaii bits and bobs


the girls each managed to snap up a pair of gloves... just like mine


and for some inexplicable reason, they decided to by some vampire fangs as well

 
scary little kids...


after that it was time to go home, so of course we needed a family shot in the lift on the way back to the car park


superstar family!!!

* * *

and that's pretty much it!

today i stayed in again to work on a tattoo design commission but i woke up feeling SOOOO ill!

i have a killer sore throat, luckily i managed to get a doctor's appointment at my sister's doctor's surgery this afternoon so i have some tablets now! hurray!

tomorrow is the day i've been looking forward to, a day in Birmingham City Centre!!! YESSSSS

ok that's all for now

until next time,

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ xX

Tuesday 22 February 2011

♥ Blog Birthday Giveaway ♥

so today is my friend Charlotte's Birthday. it's also my nan's Birthday. and on top of all that it just so happens to be my Blog's 2nd Birthday!!!

i can't believe it's already been two whole years! the time has flown!

anyway since i didn't do anything to celebrate the 1st Birthday i have decided to commemorate this wonderful occasion by holding a little giveaway

now i know the last one was a bit of a failure but i'm determined for this one to succeed!!!

so last Friday i popped into 'Funny Love' in Douglas on the Island to choose some cute prizes for the giveaway

so here's what's up for grabs...

a super adorable pink acrylic poodle necklace


and a little Hello Kitty notebook with super cute patterned pages


but that's not all!

because today while i was shopping in Coventry i chose a few more prizes from 'Paperchase'

so here's what you can also win...

a set of yummy sugary sweet stickers, a funky greetings card with a cupcake magnet (the card is blank so could be used for anything) and this set of gorgeous kawaii food buttons/badges


lots of cute stuff right?!

ok so here's the important part

how YOU can get your hands on all this cuteness!

firstly let me stress the fact that it really doesn't matter whereabouts in the world you live, you can still enter the giveaway!

i don't care if you're the other side of the planet, if you win i will post this stuff out to you, no problem!

i know i have a lot of international followers but i don't want any of you to think you can't enter

YOU CAN (in fact, please do)

ok so to enter all you have to do is comment on THIS post right here (even if it's just a word, leave a comment and you'll automatically be entered)

alternately, if you follow me on Twitter you can retweet to enter or send me an '@' reply/mention

or you can send an email to this address telling me that you want to enter - jadeboylanblog@gmail.com

and last but not least you can leave a comment on the facebook fan page

it's THAT simple!

♥ ♥ ♥

maximum of 4 entrants per person

the giveaway is running until Midnight (UK time) on Friday the 11th of March, so there's plenty of time to enter

i will draw a winner using a random number generator

i'll post the results on Saturday the 12th of March and the winner will be notified via email, facebook or twitter accordingly

that's it, best of luck to you all! 

that's all folks...

◕‿◕  xX