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!

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