Why I Love Saturday Mornings

Tea, warm croissants, decor magazines and Saturday Kitchen Live. The ultimate relaxing way to start the weekend and put you in a perfectly good mood for the rest of the day.

It's the simple things that make life good.

My Pretty Boots and Why You Should Never Buy Cheap Ones

Pretty boots. Pretty, pretty boots. Oh how I love boots in the winter, for they keep my feet nice and dry and allow me to wear really nice skirts with opaque tights or leggings. These particular boots have been in my list of things I need for a while. And I’ll tell you why.

Do you sometimes ignore your own advice? I do – and I regret it. Maybe not at first – in fact, definitely not at first. At first I am rather pleased at myself and then a few months down the line I feel silly. Why did I not think about this in the long-run?

I often do this when I get faced with the dilemma “save pennies now, or save pennies in the long run?”

Always, always choose long run whenever you can. Or you end up with a problem that rears it’s head umpteen times.

You see, last year I bought some boots. Cheap boots from New Look, but they were nice boots. Comfortable boots. And they cost me approximately £20. Excellent.

But these cheap boots began to break and less than a year after I bought them, the insides began to crease giving me that niggling feeling of a constantly creased sock and no way to correct it. Then he inside heel began to wear out and the plastic of the shoe rubbed against me. The fake leather got torn and the soles were cracked.

I could wear these boots no longer and it couldn’t have happened at a worse time… summer has officially ended and the rain is pouring.

So I went out in search of some good boots. I was willing to spend up to £85 on a pair so long as they were exactly what I wanted. But they weren’t – so I settled on a pair for £40. Which is good as I paid less than half what I was willing to pay, but I am hoping that £40 is enough to last me more than a year or I will be faced with this problem yet again.

False economy is one of my most hated things in the world. Seriously, it’s right up at the top there. If you can, do. Or you will regret it. I really should listen to myself more often.

Hiding a Monstrosity

There is one thing wrong with my flat. The kitchen is too small to fit a tumble dryer so the tumble dryer is in my bedroom. I have an oddly shaped bedroom. It has a sort of entrance hall of it's own and luckily it was big enough to fit both the dryer and my chest of drawers/dressing table. The dryer is generally hidden behind the door when it is open, but it doesn't stop me being able to see it when I leave the room, or put on my make-up.

It's also been home to a cardboard box. It is the only box which has been left unpacked because I have nowhere to put the contents. Material and cushion pads and other bits of things that have to go in storage - the one thing I really don't have right now.

Look at it. Just look at it. Awful.

Tonight I decided enough was enough. I was tired of seeing the ugly thing and sick to death of the cardboard box stuck on top of it because it was the only area in the flat that was hideous enough to put up with it. It suddenly hit me that there was something I could do. And I had the materials in that very box. I dug out the curtains that hung in my living room in my previous flat and one was big enough to cover the two visible sides of the machine. With just a few pins, I created a cover pretty enough to keep me happy when I see that area of my bedroom.

At last, the one thing I hated about this flat has been fixed. It's not perfect, but a damn sight better than it looked before. I promise myself it won't take me 5 months to fix a problem ever again.

Spinach and Goats Cheese Muffins

I do love a good roast chicken, but what do you do with a roast chicken in summer? You do what I did and head on over to sidewalk shoes for some inspiration and whip up a fabulous roast chicken, potato and spinach salad, perfect for a summer Sunday afternoon.

But what do you do with all the left-over spinach? Well that's easy, of course! You go to the delicious magazine website and search 'spinach' and see what lovelies pop up.

Matt has been working all weekend (again) so I've had a lot of free time to get my apron on and dance around in my kitchen whilst cooking up some treats. This gave me plenty of time to make the recipe that caught my eye the most - Spinach and Goats Cheese Muffins. And the even better thing was that I only needed to buy the goats cheese as everything else I had in!

Now, I'm not going to lie here. Goats cheese is one of those cheeses that I keep telling myself I like. And then I eat it, and I don't. So I ask myself why I keep getting goats cheese when I know I don't like it?? The answer to that question is that one day, I will tell myself I like it, and I will!!

This is precisely what happened this time and my god, was it worth it. These muffins ooze cheese when they're hot, and hold deliciously soft stringy cheese when cold. I had 2 straight out of the oven for my lunch and have brought another into work today! For the cost of some cheese... definitely worth it, as it only cost around £2 and will do me for another week of lunches (they can be frozen, too, so no need for anything to go to waste!).

When doing a shopping list, make sure you look out for ingredients that will give you leftovers. It's so much better to spend an extra £1 and use them all up properly than let things go to waste. Plus, you'll get a lot more food for your money and show off the domestic goddess inside of you!

Time to Start Walking!

The weather in Brighton has been playing up a lot recently and confusing me in the mornings. It starts out quite miserable and then perks up in the afternoon when the sun comes out. This means that I usually ignore what the weather is like in the morning and dress for the afternoon which can sometimes make me look a bit ridiculous.

This happened yesterday when I woke up and it was raining. Not wanting to be wearing my wellies outside later in the afternoon in the glorious sunshine, I decided to wear summer clothes and get out of the rain by doing something I never do – getting the bus to work.

I walk to work every single day. Come rain or shine (apart from in this instance) I take the 30 minute walk through Hove and Brighton to get to work by 8.15am. I like walking, and whenever I am asked why I walk I say it’s because I enjoy it, but the reason is much more economical – the bus and train are shockingly expensive. £3.60 a day. That’s just less than £20 a week, and just over £70 a month. And there is no way I am spending £70 a month on a bus. Not when I can walk for free – no way.

I have worked out a route that changes scenery a few times to keep it less mundane.

I start off walking along the main road.

Then through the park. Where I get to perv at my favourite house and play out fantasies in my head of what it would be like to live there (picture at top of post).

Then up through the backstreets of Hove and past the old houses.

With a handy little Post Box on the way in case I need to send out anything.

Until I arrive the in the centre of town where I work! (I don’t have a picture of that because there were bin lorries ruining the view!)

I find that by varying the walk a bit it breaks down into easier chunks and I don’t feel as though I’m walking a long way. But it’s a mile there and a mile back and I get my little bit of exercise by just going to work. It saves me a hell of a lot of money and I enjoy it. I enjoy it even more when I put the radio on on my phone and giggle along with it.

I now walk everywhere. Which is massive for me as I never went anywhere without my car, but now I don’t see the need!

If it’s less than a half hour walk – try to walk it. Don’t just pop to the corner shop in your car – walk there! It saves petrol and it gives you a bit of exercise. It’s one of my number one money savers and it really does help. I know not everyone lives close by to local amenities but if you do, and you can, do it. Don’t get the bus, don’t get a cab – walk it. And spend those pennies on something a little more worthwhile.

I’d rather buy myself something pretty than pay for petrol.. wouldn’t you?