★ Jade's Wish List - 2011 ★

It's getting to be that time of year again, the time when you can't leave the house without a scarf, hat and gloves, when winter boots and multiple pairs of socks are the only thing that will keep your toes warm, the time when shops begin to fill with fancy gifts and sparkly lights and festive tunes start to fill the air, in my opinion it's THE best time of year, i'm talking, of course about the Wintery weather and the thought of Christmas, just around the corner!

Winter has always been my favourite season and when people ask me why i'm never really able to give them much of a proper reason! 

There's just something about it that I love. I look forward to it in fact + the chance to wear winter coats, boots, gloves and hats, and getting to mooch around town shopping for fabulous presents for my friends and family. 

Pretty wrapping paper, ribbons and tags, boxes stacked up waiting to be opened, it's all so much fun + it's amazing waking up and opening the curtains to see fresh snow covering everything like a layer of pristine icing, glittering ever so slightly. 

I love the darker nights and the cold weather when all you want to do is curl up in a big blanket and sip sweet tea while reading a really good book or watching old Xmas movies. It's all heaven to me!

right i've rambled on for long enough I think, maybe...

anyway, since Christmas is coming I thought now might be the time to draw up a little Xmas Wish List just in case Father Christmas is reading this! I mean, i'm sure he reads my blog anyway... right?!

So here it is, my Dream Wish List for 2011 + reasons as to why i want/need each item 

and yes, I am serious and no, I don't expect to wake up on Christmas morning to find all of these goodies waiting underneath the tree but hey, a girl can dream...

Jade's Dream Christmas Wish List 2011 - the TOP 10 (aka 'things Santa will never bring her, not in a million years no matter how nice and well behaved she is')

1. my name spelt out in these very cute tote shoppers from the fabulous Alphabet Bags (because, well look at them... do i really need to give a proper reason! they're brilliant)

2. a red papercut of 'I Miss Being a Small Girl' by the very awesome Rob Ryan (because i am a HUGE fan of his work and this is probably my favourite piece he's ever done!)

3. a gorgeous little Origami Crane necklace from Botica (because i like to fold paper cranes when i'm thinking and this necklace is just too lovely) 

4. a 'Miss Lanvin' doll figurine from Lanvin (because i am a sucker for anything 'Lanvin' and i just adore these fabulous little Lanvin dolls!) 

5. the full set of 'Clothbound Classics' Hardback Books from Penguin Books (because they are all so darn beautiful i can't pick just one + imagine how great it would be to have them all to pick from and read whenever/wherever!) 

6. a 'lipstick red' Lips clutch bag by Lulu Guinness (because i LOVE to wear red lipstick and this bag would always match my lipstick to perfection!)

7. a Guccioli 'Oliver' Pug keyring from Gucci (because i think it would look perfect on my black Gucci Indy bag + I just luuuurve Pugs!)

8. a truly brilliant Pashley 'Britannia' bicycle (in red of course!) from Adeline Adeline (because i sold my bike a few years ago and i really miss it! and because i've always wanted a bike JUST like this one)

9. a super duper pretty 'Floating Flock' dress from BHLDN (because let's face it, that is one cute dress!)

10. a pair of truly divine 'Big Stack' pumps with 120mm/5” high heels by Christian Louboutin (aka the God of shoes) i want these because... well other than the fact that they are AMAZING, they would totally match that BHLDN dress AND the Lulu Guinness lips clutch would match the red of the soles... perfect outfit sorted!!!

and there you have it, top 10 wish list for Xmas 2011... DONE!

a dream list of items that i will probably never own... or at least, will never get for Xmas, amassing a collective price tag of just under £3,150 

i think i did rather well with it actually, i could have gone a bit more down the hedonism route but i tried to keep it quite reasonable and realistic, what do you think? will Santa finally pull through this year and leave all of this under my tree?!

probably not...

but it was fun nonetheless! 

Either way I urge you ALL to have a go at one of these dream wish list type things, they are ridiculously fun to draw up even if I did get a bit carried away with mine, it seems to get a little more decadent as the list goes on but oh well! 

like i said, i could have gone a bit crazier with it, i mean i could have asked Santa for a yacht, an Aston Martin V12 Vantage, an apartment in Monaco and a shopping spree around Harrods... but i didn't because i'm sensible... obviously

anyway that's all for now, i'm off to post my list to Santa just to make double sure that he gets it in time for Christmas! i'd hate for him to miss it and send me something else, after all, we wouldn't want that to happen would we...

* * *

i've got a new Creative Café post to pop up tomorrow evening so be sure to look out for that faithful readers!

so until next time, that's all folks... ◕‿◕ ★ xX

Brilliant Birmingham ♥

So today was the day i'd been looking forward to since oh I don't know... about sometime in August?!

We left the hotel at 9:20am and got into Birmingham for about 10:15 ish

we parked up at Brindley Place next to the canal and after my dad popped off to mooch around some DIY shops myself + my mum marched STRAIGHT to the massive H&M store in the Bullring

because of course today was THE day, the day that the Lanvin and H&M collaboration went on sale

ok so bear in mind that the shop opened at 9am and I got there just over an hour later... 

I swear to god by the time i made it to the Lanvin floor practically EVERYTHING had already been sold!

I knew how popular this was going to be but the shop assistants were telling me that some people had been queuing outside the door since 6am!!!

now THAT is dedication to fashion

of course... if Birmingham was my home town I daresay i'd have been there queuing at 6am as well!

There was a wristband system to get in and out of the pop-up Lanvin shop in H&M, coloured wrist bands represented a different hour of the day

believe it or not but... I got the LAST wristband!!! (I know... crazy)

however my 'hour' wasn't until 2pm so I had lots of time to kill!

I found my mum again (lurking in the shoe dept) and we walked to Selfridges and had a divine little mooch all around the handbag and shoe floor

once again I had to drag her away from the Louboutins (to cries of “but Jade... I NEED THEM!”) but to be fair I was pretty much drooling over the Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs bags while waltzing around the stands pointing out the bags I wanted (there were quite a few...)

i had a little skeet in the food court downstairs as well since it's always worth a visit, Krispy Kremes and Yo Sushi EVERYWHERE!

plus... lots of Hershey's, Reeses and various other super Candy from the USA (nerds, sweetarts, babyruth bars, butterfingers... need i go on?!) i love American candy but i had to leave Selfridges to go and meet my auntie so sadly i left candy-less

we headed up through the German Christmas Market stalls that fill Victoria Square and the surrounding area. 

to be honest the Christmas Markets are one of my favourite things about visiting Birmingham near Christmas time, they are so fabulously festive and fun!  

so much colour and sparkly stuff everywhere! i'm a sucker for anything glittery so the markets appeal to me a lot!

plus there are delicious smelling food stalls everywhere selling things like waffles, crepes, stollen, chesnuts, noodles, donuts, pretzels, chocolates, gluvine and just about every other deliciously tasty food you can think of!

after a spot of lunch (pizza if you must know) i realised it was nearly 2pm...

cue a MASSIVE dash (quite literally) back down New Street to the Bullring to get back to H&M in time

i needn't have bothered though...

by the time i got there everything had long since sold out!!!!!!!

(oh nooooes)

it was a sad moment, all i could do was gaze at the window displays and silently curse myself for not getting there at 6am like all the other die-hard fans!

so i started to wonder... what about the stuff in the windows??? i rushed back into the shop only to be disappointed again!

despite offering double the money (yes THAT is how desperate i was for a piece of the collection) i still didn't get my hands on any of the lovely Lanvin goodies!

sadly all of the window items had already been reserved by people (NOOOOO)

but then my dear mother had a rather delightful little brainwave...

yes ALL of the women's collection was gone... but what about the mens?!

we legged it upstairs and what do you know... LOADS of men's stuff was still available!!!

now i'm a fan of fashion in general so i admire both womens fashion as well as menswear and i have to say, i thought the women's collection was totally fab but wow, the men's stuff was super gorgeous as well! 

well cut coats and suit jackets, lovely dress shirts, amazing metallic colourful brogues, stripey scarves and... boxes of pretty silk bow ties

i was chatting to a guy that had just bought himself bags of stuff from the Lanvin section and he suggested i buy one of the men's shirts, belt it and wear it as a tunic or something (he was really helpful actually, so thanks for that m'dear) or that i get a jacket and have it tailored to be more fitted or something

however... my attention was suddenly caught by a rich red silky bow tie and i'm pretty sure i had one of those proverbial 'lightbulb' moments

i grabbed the boxed bow tie, legged it to the counter and... voila! me and my Lanvin for H&M bag

so let me explain why i bought it...

well 

A: bow ties are cool (thank you Doctor Who for that gem of a quote)

B: i love bows in general anyways

C: this is no ordinary bow tie...

look at it! it's so red and silky and big and red and lovely

no no no... i'm afraid there was only one thing in my mind when i got this!

HAIR BOW!!!

yes folks that's right... my lovely Lanvin Bow Tie from the MEN'S section of the store is now... my new favourite hair accessory!

amazingly it actually fits PERFECTLY as a hairband whether i tilt it to one side or leave it smack bang in the middle

in fact, it's turning out to be rather a good little accessory

so far i've discovered that it can in fact also be... a bracelet, a belt (well... clipped onto a belt), a brooch/corsage, a necklace (if you lengthen the strap) and even a bag charm

what can i say... i LOVE my big red bow tie!

sadly i can't pull off the look quite as well as the lovely Mr Alber Elbaz himself...

he's so darn lovely, i'd just love to give him a big hug and say thanks for designing such gorgeous things

yes it's a shame that i didn't manage to get a pair of pretty pumps or a divine dress or a heavenly handbag but... look at me! do i care... no because i have a shiny, beautiful bow tie instead

and oh look, someone else that happens to be partial to a lovely Lanvin bow tie as well...

the lovely Mr Mika Penniman, how super duper! Bow Ties = AWESOMENESS

back to the Lanvin times though, look at the bag i got wi!th it!!!

wow wow and WOW!

look at those illustrations! oh Mr Elbaz... you've done it again!

i've always loved his design sketches and little Lanvin related illustrations but... wow!

this will definitely take pride of place in my shopping bag collection, sorry Selfridges, farewell Neiman Marcus and so long Brown Thomas... i think you and your cute grosgrain ribbon bag ties have just been beaten by Lanvin's prettyful double silk ribbon handles.

you can't see them properly on here because i tucked them away for the photo but they are so super cute!

this was on the other side of the bag for maximum fabulousness

did i mention that i love it... because i totally do!

i also LOVE the box the bow tie itself came in...

yes i know the heart is BLUE instead of PINK (it was pink for the women's collection obviously) but come on... it's still SOOOOOO cute and luuuurvely!

i know, it looks a lot redder in the press shot further above but it's kind of a dark red/burgundy colour, it's a really nice red actually, definitely appropriate for the winter

and this was also in the bag, a lovely copy of the H&M magazine (with an exclusive interview with Alber Elbaz inside + a fab winter party shoot) 

* * *

so in other news...

i also bought some other stuff today, a little Birthday present from Topshop for my niece Madison (she was 12 today so Happy Birthday to her xX) 

a cute tokidoki purse/wallet thing + a little ugly doll charm

and a BIIIIIIIIG ugly doll charm (love love love it's rainbow polka dot pattern!)

and a cute little striped metal business card case from paperchase to store my little business cards in...

but the shopping wasn't just done by me today, my mum also got a beautiful black leather Michael Kors bag (it's for Christmas off my dad but she wanted to model if for the blog)

and my lovely Auntie Maureen kindly treated me to this truly divine set of fairy lights

aren't the adorable! little red roses (they look pink in the photo but trust me... they are bright red) i cannot begin to tell you how much i adore them + it was lovely seeing her today, so thank you Auntie M, lots of love xX

* * *

and that's it for today!

what  a day it's been, lots and LOTS of shopping, lovely Lanvin times (bow ties rule) just a generally super duper day!

thank you Birmingham, as always... today you were brilliant!

◕‿◕ ★ xX

Go raibh míle maith agat slán

(i think... that's thank you and goodbye in Irish Gaelic, i'm sorry if i got it wrong but thank you anyway Ireland, you know how much i love you! thanks for a great summer x)

Feeling Festive ♥

so it's that time of year again, the time when shops suddenly fill with shiny new things, the time when fairy lights appear to be strung from everywhere and the weather turns freeeezing (depending on where you live, if you live here... it's bloody cold!) it's time to pull on your hats, gloves and scarves and wrap up warm...

winter is here and that means... CHRISTMAS!!!!!

it's no secret that Winter is my favourite season (not just because of Christmas... honest) i love the snow and the frost and the freezing cold wind (not so much the rain but living on the Isle of Man you learn to live with it) i love any excuse to wear my big winter coat and my winter boots

winter, winter, winter... i LOVE it!

and obviously it's late November now which means Christmas isn't too far off!

so because i'm off to Coventry and Birmingham tomorrow for a few days to see my family for, i had lots and LOTS of presents to wrap and loads of cards to write

and i mean LOTS! i have a massive family and it literally took me about 6 hours (with breaks, lots of them) to wrap all the gifts!

my wrapping skills aren't that great but i try my best! 

i make a hell of a lot of mess as well when i wrap stuff... as you can see!

but my macbook kept me company the whole time playing a constant stream of lovely Christmas songs for me to sing along VERRRY loudly to as i wrapped

i didn't have half as much stuff to wrap as my mum did though! i popped into the Dining Room (aka Present HQ) to ask for some ribbon and the entire room was filled with presents!

the table was full and the rest were all bagged up, ready to go to Coventry tomorrow...

i'm so excited to be going away though! i haven't left the island since early September for the wedding in Montenegro (read about that here - Montenegro Times) so it'll be nice to get away for a few days

i packed my case earlier this evening, thought i'd share this snap with you...

good to see i'm getting my priorities right?! 

only joking... yes the Zombieland DVD is for me to watch at the hotel but the Mika DVD's are for my sister to lend 

contrary to popular belief i don't take them everywhere with me... honest!

my big sister is a Mika fan as well and she's never seen him live so i thought she'd like to see these

i can't WAIT to go away!!!!!

i'm hoping to do a few posts while i'm away as well, my macbook is coming with me and i'm pretty sure the hotel we're going to has wi-fi available = good times!

plus... on Tuesday i'm spending the day in Birmingham City Centre with my mum and my Auntie and i CANNOT WAIT!!!!

several reasons why i'm so excited about the day trip and the places i plan to visit...

1: i LOVE Birmingham

2: the Bullring Shopping centre... complete with Selfridges

3: Harvey Nichols in 'the Mailbox' building

4: the Christmas Markets in Victoria Square

5: the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

6: Birmingham = awesomeness

that's about it i guess, oh AND 

i go on the 23rd and that just so happens to be the day that the latest H&M collection is launched!

that's right... the Lanvin collaboration (fangirl squeal) 

yay yay yay

i'll probably come back 'Lanvin-less' due to the hordes of people cramming into H&M but a girl can dream right?!

i'm already in love with most of the pieces in the collection but i have my eye on this dress in particular... 

although after spending £90 on my plane ticket home the chances of me getting this dress are now very slim indeed! 

saying that, i'd quite like one of these handbags as well... or both of them!

and maybe some of the shoes as well...

OH MY GOD it's going to be a nightmare!

i want it ALL but i can probably only afford one or two pieces tops!

i may have to BEG for some Lanvin-esque thing for Christmas but i doubt i'll even be able to get near the shop let alone get my hands on some stuff!

i've just looked it up on the H&M website (HERE) and apparently the Bullring branch of H&M will be open from 9:00am til 8:00pm so... maybe i can sneak back in in the evening and fight off some other Lanvin lovers to claim a piece!

sharpen your elbows girls...

to be honest though i'd rather come home penniless and laden with Lanvin loveliness that to get home empty handed!

why WHY Lanvin... why must you create such beautiful dresses!

Alber Elbaz you have a LOT to answer for do you hear me! i don't care if you're best friends with Mika, your designs are so pretty it's almost criminal!!!

end of rant

* * *

in other news...

look what arrived today all the way from Austin, Texas!!!

that's right folks... it's the ORIGINAL copy of my 'free crappy portrait'

the lovely and utterly super duper and fabulous Anne Genung who created the masterpiece 'Bluebird Cupcakes' based on a photo of me having a baking day 

(for more info check out the Baking Times post) 

anyway she got in touch with me after i posted all about the genius of the FCP site (read the 'my free crappy portrait' post and all shall be explained) and kindly offered to send me the original copy of the drawing!!!

how could i refuse!

i couldn't...

anyway it arrived today in a tube with a little note off Anne 

how awesome is that!

i can't believe she sent it to me! i am so soooo grateful i really am!

in light of that, here is an utterly shameless plug for Anne's gorgeous website

Anne Genung

seriously... check it out, her artwork is amazing! her paintings are so beautiful, really stunning work!

also Anne has a super blog full of arty fun times and she even did a post all about MY blog post about the FCP... how fabulous!

she said this about my post

"Isn't that just the loveliest response ever? I should draw more crappy portraits. And I do hope that she appreciates having the original."

well Anne i can tell you that i DO appreciate it

i LOVE it!

you can check out her blog here and scroll down to see the post about my FCP - Anjanung

so thank you Anne, you are officially AWESOME!!!

* * *

and that's it for today i think, sorry for the rantings and the ravings, can't be helped...

so tomorrow morning i get the boat to Liverpool then it's off to Coventry

i'll be posting tomorrow evening probably, i'm so SO excited about the hotel we're staying at so i will DEFINITELY want to share this one with you all!

see you then

that's all folks...

◕‿◕ ★ xX

'vielen dank und auf wiedersehen'

(that's thank you and goodbye in German, big thanks to all those German people out there checking out my blog, danke ♥)