LOTS

Cake in a mug

2012-01-27T12:53:00.000-05:00

I've seen this idea for making cakes in mugs kicking around for a fair while, and I finally got around to trying one when my craving for chocolate cake overpowered me. There are some really simple [this being one] and some more "developed" recipes for cakes in mugs on the internet it's all up to personal choice. I just wanted something super quick and fun plus with currently having really bad tonsils at the moment, I needed something easy to eat.

What you will need;

One microwaveable mug

Said microwave

One egg

Four tablespoons of icing/confecioners sugar

One and a half tablespoons of cocoa powder

Just measure out and mix all the ingredients together into your chosen mug and stick into the microwave for about one to one and a half minutes depending on the power of your microwave - just make sure to keep an eye on it.

Mine developed a slight lean after taking it out of the mug, I guess you can eat it without a topping but I choose some cream. It's never going to beat a top notch cake and or desert but if you want something quick and very easy to make then its definitely worth giving a go. I think this might starve off many a chocolate and cake hungry pang in the near future.

Have you ever made a cake in a mug? Have any good mug cake recipes to share?

My Shutterfly Photobook

2012-01-26T12:54:00.000-05:00

One of the most addictive projects I've ever done is making our Chicago photo book. While I'd love to have the skills to make a scrapbook an online version was much more workable for me. Yet I wasn't sure which company to try, but after a play around I decided to use Shutterfly. Shutterfly aim to provide the user with a range of templates, cover styles, embellishments and designs to create a personalised book for you and your memories. It was these extra touches of embellishments - for example being able to add pins, stickers, tape, banners and love hearts, that set Shutterfly aside from the other photo book websites which merely provide a printed photo album with the added line of text.

Online design board - your uploaded photos and pages line the bottom with design options for layouts, backgrounds, embellishments and a library of idea pages are on the left. You can edit, arrange and preview your photo book pages at anytime.

How long you spend and how detailed you make your photo book is entirely up to you, you have the ability to save and store your photos online and return to your project as and when you need. Because it's up to you how creative you want to be, you don't have to be an entire genius at either computers or graphic design, the templates really do help you on your way. From designing to ordering my book took me three weeks - Christmas and New Year happened mid way and I was determined to do a good job on our honeymoon photographs, verging on somewhat obsessive.

I opted to make a 8 x 11" photo book with a hard cover, you're provided with twenty pages with any extra charged at 75 cents each of which I added ten extra pages. Shutterfly seem to run a lot of promotions so we got our book at a discount with addition savings on the extra pages, another offer provided at the time, free shipping on orders over $30 so we saved again. In all, our book cost just under $34/£22.

It took just over a week for our photo book to arrive and they provide you the ability to track your package. All their parcels are bright orange and are safety wrapped. Inside of which was my first ever photo book. I love how shinny the front cover is, for which you can add your own photos and words - I opted to cover ours with a photograph of the bean. The quality of the paper and the printing is of a very high standard, when you upload your photographs a warning appears if they are of a high enough resolution. Even the one photograph which was of a low resolution came out as good as the rest.

The printed page of the computer screen [first photograph], the spine, and the spine and back of the cover the later of which you can design and embellish as much or as little as you require.

Would I make a photo book again and use Shutterfly? The answer to both is yes. I love the personalization you can create and their offering of inspiration. To be able to have my photographs properly printed out is an extra bonus especially to the quality to which they are printed. Whether I would create a photo book for normal everyday occasions is a different matter, but for important events such as our honeymoon, children, big holidays, etc I could really imagine making one. Shutterfly also allow you to order your photographs as prints and make other photo gifts so it's a very useable website with something for everyone.

Have you ever tried making a photobook?

The Coty Envelope Compact

2012-01-24T12:53:00.000-05:00

This compact happened to be one of my Christmas presents [I'm suffering from a bit of a serious compact backlog when it comes to posting them so beware of the forthcoming compact over load] and its additionally one of the compacts most collectors will come to own, it's sinuous with powder compacts and one of the most important powder compact manufactures.

As a brand, Coty was one of the leading French perfume houses [later additionally producing from New York] and became known for introducing unusual styled compacts particularly during the 1940 and 1950s. One that they most famous for is their envelope shaped compact around 1954. Yet it wasn't their original design - they merely added extra presentation boxes in a post war era. In fact the envelope as a style for vintage powder compacts was first introduced in 1923 by the French jewellers Van Cleef and Arpels.

Its gold tone engine turned metal exterior has a smoothed edge with its Coty trademark engraved upon the lid of the powder well. Additionally attached to the powder well lid is a small clip, designed to hook over your puff, additionally featuring the brand of Coty to keep it in place - a tiny detail I've never seen before. Unlike some of it's American counterparts the mirror is held in place with an overlapping rim of metal - something more often associated with British compacts.

Snow, toy trains and being a geek.

2012-01-23T12:12:00.001-05:00

The blog title alone would basically sum up our weekend. Friday night started with more snow, making home made chicken curry for the first time and fighting for the new crochet ripple blankie i'm making off our kitty who adores my blankets. We finally posted off my residency forms [the next step in the immigration lark] on Saturday after eating some posh, huge muffins [I opted for the cream cheese carrot cake muffin]. Then we drove over to the hobby store and brought a new toy train starter set. We've been talking about getting a new set for a while after the 1976 set that we do have engine's won't run.

When it comes to trains, I am a geek and will openily admitt it. Even to the point of getting excited when seeing former railway tracks and buildings especially like the 1900 Detroit United Railway Powerhouse building in Farmington that I photographed on the way back home. Even though the basic sets only come with curving track to make a huge circle, I could spend hours literately watching the toy train going around, and around - now we just need a bigger apartment so we have the space to add more tracks and things to it. Didn't I tell you I was a geek?!

This weekend was also spent wasting hours on Pinterest and Joe found me this blog all about Penguins - my second obsession - seriously I could loose more hours watching all the uploaded penguin webcams. We're also sorting out a lot of Joe's old things to put and sell on Ebay, working our way through DVDS, spare transformers [the toys] and now old Pokermon and other similar like cards [I particularly don't understand them]. Seeing I can't work in the states yet my job is being in charge of running our Ebay lines so that is how I'll be spending this week. I might even make another memory board to see if that might sell on the old auction site.

Drop me your link if you have a Pinterest!

Amalfi Hotel - Chicago

2012-01-22T11:17:00.000-05:00

I find it hard to keep up with blogs on the weekend with getting out and about with the boy so here's one of my old draft posts from our honeymoon - yes another one from Chicago. One of the best things about your honeymoon is that you can afford yourself the excuse of having a nicer hotel then you normal would for any other holiday. Because Chicago is so huge there's so many different hotels you could pick for a magnitude of different price ranges. We just wanted somewhere that was a little special, within walking distance of public transport [Chicago is a haven for public transport] and near enough to restaurants and shops. Out of our tourist guide book, The Amalfi came out on top. Unlike British hotels wifi seem to come as standard in most hotels but what really grabbed us was the free breakfast and free cocktails - yum! Not only that but the bed was huge, the shower had multiple heads, there was free Aveda products and a huge window (shame about the lack of a view) but the lit up buildings around us at night were stunning.

The Detroit Zoo

2012-01-20T12:36:00.000-05:00

Another weekend, another zoo, this one being the one that's only a ten or so minute drive from our apartment - the Detroit Zoo. Visiting on Martin Luther King day [Monday] we spent a couple of hours wander around with groups of families amongst a covering of snow and iced up ponds, upon which many animals seemed to be at home - especially the geese. While some of the animals had been taken off exhibit because of winter/snowy weather there was still plenty to see. I particularly loved the conservatory filled with tropical butterflies which are always great to try and photograph and the underwater tunnel within which seals and the polar bears can swim above your head. Saying that, I think we've run out of zoo's till we figure out where to venture to for a holiday/road trip.

Finishing the winter blanket in time for the snow

2012-01-19T12:25:00.001-05:00

Today I'm sat safely, and warmly watching the snow attempting to settle from the comfort of the apartments windows and having tomato soup for lunch. While today isn't the first time we've had some attempt at snow in metropolitan Detroit it's definitely one of the coldest. We're barely been breaking the freezing point, if at all in the past week or so. Today's high is only a magnificent -2ºC, yet it feels much, much colder. Saying that, and from what I've seen of UK weather, there's seems to be lacking the great snow falls that we would normally have had by now. How I remember fondly my vain attempts of busing to York in great snow falls in East Yorkshire with the buses running up to an hour late or just not running at all.

With great timing however, I did finally manage to finish the first crochet blanket I've made in a long while. There's nothing better then snuggling under a home made blankie and keeping your toes warm - especially when you know what the weather is doing outside. I managed to get the wool at half price back in November and with the remnants and the other spare wool ends I'm off to start another blanket, this time to use for our road trips and picnics - in the hope of ensuring the coming of nicer weather!

Vintage sewing box

2012-01-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

Every girl needs a sewing box right, but when I was back in the UK I never seemed to have one. We found this fabric covered sewing box in Frankenmuth way back in November for a total steal of a price and I just love the colour of the green inlay. It's now full of crafty doodles, patterns, crocheting stuff, cottons and sewing notions and sits delightfully on top of my sewing table.

Feeling British in the food aisle

2012-01-16T14:00:00.000-05:00

As good as living in America is, sometimes you get the total joy of finding the imported British food section in stores. Normally wherever you go they sell the same stock - including hobnobs, Yorkshire tea, Jaffa cakes, salad cream and mushy peas. But nothing finishes off your baked beans or bacon like HP and American custard is nothing compared to Birds. Sometimes you have to go back to your roots.

We stumbled across Irn Bru in the "posh" local food store for $1.99 a can, which is like £1.30, shockingly pricey when you compare the price marked upon the can itself for it's British RRP of 49p. But Irn Bru reminds me of childhood holidays in Scotland and buying it from my local fish n chip shop in Newcastle's Heaton area when I was a student. On the other hand the equivalent of 90p is always worth a Yorkie bar, especially when the relabelled information declares it has made in York upon it, that makes a Yorkshire girl happy.

If you moved countries what food would you crave and miss?

Ed and the attacking camera lens cover

2012-01-15T11:04:00.000-05:00

First there was the camera strap

and then appeared the plastic camera lens cover

paw paw

Ed actually seems to hate anything plastic, from the TV remote, carrier bags, transformers [the toys], phones to milk top rings and now my camera.

Make your own canvas memory board

2012-01-13T11:50:00.000-05:00

We often seem to acquire lots of random pieces and slips of paper that seem to litter either the computer desk or the coffee table. Most of these bits are coupons or tickets that would be better being kept somewhere separate so I've been meaning to create a memory board to keep them together. I wanted to create something visually pleasing and decorative rather then buying a cork pin board and have it for organisation as well as providing a space for the odd photograph of us or ticket from an outing and so on. As you can see from my list of items below this can be a really cheap project, I brought all my items from Jo Ann [they seem to be the best for price and offers], it could be an even cheaper project if you wanted to use old buttons or fabric remnants and the choice of canvas is entirely up to you. If your under 16 make sure your under adult supervision as well as using your common sense because some of the equipment we're using gets very hot.

What I used -

Ribbon $2.99
Fat quarter of fabric $1.29
Mixture of black and white buttons $1 per strip
12 x 16" art canvas $5.99
Glue gun [you could use a staple gun if you have one]
Scissors
Iron

Total cost: $12.27 before tax [£7.96]

Firstly if you need to, give your fabric a quick iron, merely to ease out any ceases and to make sure what your working with is nice and flat.

Cut your fabric to size by measuring at least a two inch allowance around all sides of the canvas so you have plenty of material to work with on the reverse.

Working with your fabric underneath your canvas and with one edge at a time, work carefully with the glue gun *remember glue guns get really warm* or if you have one, use a staple gun. Then glue [or staple] along the edge but leave the corners unglued for now. Stretch and hold the fabric in place until it's firmly glued. Then do the same on the other sides working from one side then it's opposite.

After leaving the corners of your fabric till last carefully fold the material until you get a nice smooth and tidy edge as if you were wrapping a present. Glue the material in place then flip your canvas over.

Next it's time to attach your ribbons which work to keep what your adding onto your board in place, so they need to be fairy tight when your gluing them. Firstly work diagonally from corner to corner, gluing firmly at each edge on the reverse of the canvas. Then add more ribbons from the middle of the canvas diagonally across so you create diamonds.

Using the glue gun again, glue the two ribbons where they cross, first to the fabric directly underneath, then to each other. Finish off by gluing the reverse of a complimentary coloured button and sticking it over the top of the adjoining ribbons.

Then your finished - you can make and attach ribbons from the reverse of the canvas to make a hanger for hanging your board if you want, then add whatever you fancy to your board.

One mystery vintage compact

2012-01-12T11:22:00.000-05:00

The second item that Joe spotted at our poke in the Antiques Mall was one mysterious vintage compact. After pouring our eyes over the compacts there [none of which really grabbed me] we found one compact bagged up, the bag being stapled shut and a price of $6.50 labelled upon it. It looked a bit of a state and another label covered what remained of it's original powder label on it's bottom so no assumptions over it's manufacture could be really made, but for the price it was going it was a bit of a thrill taking the risk. Then on a closer inspection I could see a J and an R initial design upon the top - matching mine and Joe's that alone compelled me [well for Joe] tobuy it.

Getting back to the car and a quick pulling and grabbed it out of it's bag opening it up revealed a complete tray of powder, an intact and fairly clear mirror and a clean unused Coty puff. As a manufacturer Coty went between marking and not marking their compacts, if they didn't have a powder well lid often their brand name could be found on the powder label on the bottom, but as I've previously mentioned this was covered by a sticky label and my careful attempts to take it off just parted what remained of the label - this is why stickers should never be used upon vintage or antique items, ever. The top of the compact itself has a fabric metal appearance, with parts of the top being marked [can't complain with the price paid however]. The initialed design could even have been added later as there seems to be glue marks surrounding the metal which should never have been there if it was originally produced with the compact.

This compact is a bit of a mystery and one I'll keep looking into. But I guess that's part of the fun, right?

Vintage picking on the way back from Ohio

2012-01-10T14:46:00.001-05:00

On our way to Pittsburgh at Christmas we drove past a huge billboard advertising an Antiques Mall by the with Ohio, passing again on the way to Toledo called for a visit on the way home. I'm glad we did because the building was huge, across two floors, three wings and all kinds of vintage and antique things at a fairly reasonable price and for $19 (£12) we found some really good bargain.

Now we have a proper bookcase that's rather empty, I love poking the old hardbacks in such places, and managed to find this first edition 1943 "Complete Guide to Sewing" by Constance Talbot. Constance apparently was considered one of the leading ladies when it came to lecturing and teaching sewing to the masses. With it's release during WWII this sewing book became a key guide for the thrifty American lady, advising her on how to sew her own utilitarian work uniform, on how to make her families clothes last and on recycling garments. It's an absolute bible for everything from making collars, bedding, how to embroider and even how to make your own underwear.

Joe managed to stumble across two great finds - the first being a Coca Cola pin up girl tray covered in reproduced advertisements, and the second a mystery compact which i'll blog about separately. One of the same Cola trays is currently on sale on Ebay advertised as being from the 1980s I'm not sure if it is actually that old however. Either way I love the old advertising and it's colours and it makes a good focal point above the TV.

Toledo Zoo, Ohio

2012-01-09T14:15:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we braved colds and man flu to drive an hour to Toledo Zoo in Ohio. Despite it being January we're currently having rather unseasonal "good" weather and it was nice to get out into the sunshine after being subjected to the sneezes and sniffles of the past week. Plus during the winter months Toledo offers half price entrance - what more reason could we ever need?!

Toledo Zoo isn't one of the biggest zoo's I've been to, but they do have some of the key animals to see and a lot of them were coming out to play. One of the most amazing things we got to see were the two three and a half month old Amur tiger clubs playing with their mum, a seven month old baby elephant following and copying his mother and a polar bear having a play in his pool splashing and playing with a barrel.

The Bean - Chicago

2012-01-08T13:46:00.000-05:00

You can tell just how much I love Chicago and how many photographs I took on our honeymoon by all these posts [apologies if your saturated with honeymoon or Chicago talk]. One of the things Chicago is famous for is it's Cloud Gate or what it's more often known as - The Bean. Looking upon it's surface you see some amazing skylines and views up to the clouds from it's position in Millennium Park. If you have a free hour to kill in Chicago it's worth a view - even for just the distorted pictures of yourself you can take in the reflections.

Michigan Central Station

2012-01-06T12:32:00.000-05:00

Modelled from a Roman Bath this was the central waiting room.

The main concourse featured an image of the Detroit skyline donated by the local newspaper

I'll admit since before I knew officially about moving to Detroit, there was one place I wanted to visit, perhaps its my love of trains and old buildings but the Michigan Central Railway Station is the perfect place for photographs. Formally this train station was the hub for Detroit and south-eastern Michigan's rail network, now unfortunately the building is a shell, it's windows are broken or missing, entrances are boarded.

It was designed after the original station was burnt down in 1913 and completed with 18 floor office space above with a huge luggage basement below all complete with a shopping arcade. The station itself isn't within walking distance of Downtown so passengers arrived using the street car. However the Depression and the introduction of the car [remember Detroit is Motor City] the street cars vanished and so the station was cut off. While it managed to serve it's use during WWII it somewhat survived the declining use of public transport if only just. Nevertheless in 1988 the station closed.

Standing in the right place you can peek through the boarded entrances, you can only imagine how gorgeous this building once was. While landscaping has occurred and construction vehicles are parked before the main doors whether any work is being undertaken, or being planned remains unknown. In the UK you could imagine such a building having a preservation order and restored into some transportation museum, it's a shame its not happening to this place. It is a magnificent building.

Trying to fix a vintage Kenmore at 10pm

2012-01-05T11:50:00.000-05:00

Sometimes me and the husband get random urges, I know most couples might get other urges at 10pm but on Monday we decided we wanted to finally see how we could mend the broken hinge to the Kenmore sewing machine. Ever since it was moved into our apartment it's had to be supported because one of the two hinges broke - the machine was therefore always up and we couldn't lower it back into it's table. After being like this for a number of months it was time to try and get it back into shape which was easier said then done with Joe crawling under the table to remove the motor, the wiring, staples, screws to release the machine and me holding it with all my strength so it didn't fall on his face. But at least now we know what kind of hinge to ask for in hardware stores seeing google searches didn't reveal anything.

The removed machine now resting awaiting it's fixing - you can see it's original model and serial number plate upon it's side.

The one remaining very odd shaped hinge that connects the machine to it's Sears table.

When I originally blogged about this Kenmore machine I posted the sneaky peak I got from Joe of all the goodies hidden within the tables accompanying chair's drawer. What is actually inside is a vintage crafters heaven of unopened and unused buttons, bias tape, tape measures and sewing machine needles and oil. But that just barely covers it;

One of the items I love the most in fact isn't sewing related, hidden under everything else was a little cardboard packet of Wrigleys matches [above]. While some of the matches have been used I love their blue colour and the detailing upon the packet - it definately homes in our sewing machine has coming from a south Michigan home at least due to all the places named for repurchasing more matches.

I doubt I'll ever use any of these goodies, especially none of the unopened packets because they really do seem too good to ruin by opening them. I love all the detailing and information each of the packets provide - they just seem more lively and useable then the bland items available today. Now the hunt continues for a working hinge and returning the machine to what it once was.

1933 Century of Progress Chicago Compact

2012-01-03T13:33:00.000-05:00

As anyone knows I have a secret love for the city of Chicago - I get the same great feeling I had about moving to and living in Newcastle [and it's the city I hint most about moving to]. Chicago was also where we had our honeymoon, so a compact that was designed to commemorate the 1933 World Fair that the city hosted was always going to be a winner.

The World Fair 1933-34

The first World Fair was held in Crystal Palace and hosted by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. This fair, also known as the Century of Progress was held between 1933 to 1934 to celebrate Chicago's centenary with technological innovation as it's main theme, held around where the main museum campus of Chicago is today.

The compact itself is a double compact - holding what remains of the rogue in the top compartment and pressed powder in the bottom, with a double hinged mirror separating the two. It is in fact a very small compact being 2.1" x 1.7" wide - a scale representative of it's era. The famous Century of Progress logo appears upon it's blue enameled top. Overall it's in a brilliant condition for being so old - with only slight marking on the bottom - the hinges and the clasps work perfectly and comes complete with both puffs. While these commemorative compacts aren't rare [there's always a few in varying conditions on Ebay for various prices ranging from $30-100] they still command a strong selling price even though they are actually unmarked as to whom manufactured them. Nevertheless I love being able to own something from one of my favorite places especially now that the compact has entered it's 79th year.

On a related note the blog might get a bit compact heavy shortly, in addition to the two other Christmas compacts from the husband i'm currently bidding my way through Ebay. I jokingly laughed that the boy could buy the transformers lot he had his eye on if I could spend the same amount on compacts - deal done! So with $60 on my side i'm trying to get my hands on a wide range of compacts. Compacts and transformers [as in the toy not train transformers] are the only things I ever bid for on ebay - what do you lovelies end up buying there?

103 floors up on Chicago's Skydeck

2012-01-02T11:19:00.000-05:00

Once your traveling up inside the elevator heading up you're provided with a broadcast demonstrating how high up you are in comparison to other buildings in the world. 

The views are incredible once you get over how high up you are, being able to see all the trails of light from Chicago's commuters was really impressive. 

View from one of the glass boxes towards the northwest of Chicago.

The view southeast over Lake Michigan. 

Over 400 meters above Wacker Drive. 

Our official skydeck photograph.

A sightseeing visit to Chicago wouldn't be complete without a trip up to the Skydeck. 103 floors up America's tallest building and the world's seventh tallest building, the Willis Tower which is also known under it's former name - the Sears Tower. After a self guided tour and a video documentary you're whisked in an elevator up 103 floors in a little over 60 seconds - fast enough to make your ears pop. Once up onto the floor and visiting on a clear day you can see up to four states [Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin] as well as being able to look out over Chicago itself.

The key draw to the Skydeck is the opportunity of being able to stand upon the infamous glass balconies, over 400 meters above Wacker Drive - that is when you realise just how high up you and how tiny humans appear in the wider cityscape. While you know it's safe and the glass is strong enough to support you it was a daunting experience and it took me a while to summon enough guts to step right out upon the balcony especially when you see the tiny figures on street level of people and cars literally beneath you. They suggest doing "fun" things like doing hand stands and sitting on the glass but standing on the ledge was enough for me. It won't take up a lot of time but it is well worth visiting if your ever in Chicago.

Hello new year

2012-01-01T09:15:00.000-05:00

Image

So that's another year down and a new start for many of us and I'm bringing in this new year full of cold - oh the joy! Me and the boy welcomed in the year after watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory of TBS, watching the ball drop on ABC live from Times Square drunk up on Vicks and surrounded by tissues. It was weird watching all the comments from my friends in the UK on facebook welcoming in the new year at 7pm our time, sometimes you totally forget about the time difference.

2011 was a bit of a crazy year - being in a job I didn't particularly like, working with people who didn't understand my relationship, my visa adventure, London trips, moving to Michigan, getting married and visiting Chicago and Pittsburgh all in the space of a month. And I've been lucky enough to have this space to share it with anyone that cares to read [so thank you - I've often questioned myself I still blog; but knowing people read what I type does help]. Safe to say there's been a lot of changes and experiences going on, and 2012 probably won't be different. We're on the verge of posting off my forms to apply for residency then I can hopefully in a few more months look for a job, maybe we'll move, at least into a new apartment; maybe a different state, and hopefully get to go on lots more travels. I'm just glad I start 2012 by my husbands side.

Happy new year!

A Pittsburgh Drive

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000-05:00

Pittsburgh on Christmas Eve.

Heinz Field - home to the Steeler from across the river. 

Looking across from the side of PNC park to downtown Pittsburgh over the Allegheny River.

This is where I wish I knew something really informative about Pittsburgh to make this post at least half interesting, but I don't so I'm relying on one of my trusty tourist guides. Historically Pittsburgh was secured by George Washington in 1753 - the result of the strategic importance of the Allegheny and Monongahela joining to become the Ohio River and as the base for continued western expansion by the British. With a history of settlers and industry, Pittsburgh today with its somewhat depleted backbone of steel its often considered to be on the verge of vast prosperity. It is also the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers [NFL team], Andy Warhol museum and a museum all about Heinz.

The view we got of Pittsburgh was via a very quick drive around on Christmas Eve and again as a cut through to our hotel on the same evening. Our trip coincided with an NFL game so a lot of the drive was spent in long queues around Heinz Field. From the short trip drive we had, there seems to be plenty of places to visit and act as tourists and downtown looked gorgeous all lit up at night - definitely will be going back for a long weekend there hopefully in a nice hotel overlooking the river.

Christmas Gifts

2011-12-28T12:20:00.000-05:00

Yeap FIVE books about vintage powder compacts - I'm determined to know everything I can about my little addiction! There probably aren't that many books left to get hold of now and Joe wanted to replace the one I had to leave back in the UK because it was just too heavy to do anything with - now I have so many! I've started reading Compacts; Powder and Paint [book on the top] which is full of details and photographs - so good.

Three vintage powder compacts which are actually rather rare and interesting ones and all appear in the above reference books. The Chicago one is from 1933 and marks the World Fair held in the city - Joe actually gave me this compact as an early Christmas present just after we got back from our honeymoon. The red gazelle compact is huge and made from leather [brand escapes me currently] and the envelope style is a famous Coty compact. I'll post more detailed individually about them all soon once I've cleaned them up a little.

The kitty PJS I picked out from Soma [a posh La Senza like shop] when we were in Chicago and they are so so comfy and soft to wear, additionally there is a copy of the original manufacturers guide to using my vintage 1942 Kenmore sewing machine that Joe brought me for my birthday, and just missing out on the top of the photograph is a collection book of some of Daphne du Maurier's work.

Both mine and Joe's presents piled up in the motel we were staying at in Pittsburgh.

Me and Joe where just buying for each other this year and as you can see I'm easily pleased - that and my boy knows me well enough to know what I love. When I left the UK I had to leave a lot of my books behind so my boy's being helping me to replace the ones I had to leave and I've reached the geeky point when I want to know everything about vintage compacts - hence all the books. I also got the Vivian Maier photograph book which I blogged about its one of the most gorgeous books I've ever owned but it missed out on being photographed somehow. Compared to some we didn't have a huge Christmas gift giving, it was just lovely for us to have our first proper Christmas physically together - that was enough for me.

Driving to Pennsylvania

2011-12-27T13:11:00.001-05:00

Mr Ted get's comfy for his adventure to yet another American state - he comes with us on all our trips.

Christmas chocolate supplies for the eight hour drive.

Driving through Detroit.

At the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Us.

On Friday we drove a seven hour drive down from Michigan, across Ohio to Pennsylvania for Joe to see his family at Christmas. If you don't know, Michigan itself is a rather flat state or at least in the south eastern corner where we live is, and to a point is Ohio. But as a Yorkshire girl I'm use to hills and moors and the closer you got to the Pennsylvanian border, the hills started to appear and the larger they got! Driving around the suburbs of Pittsburgh and it's countryside it felt very much like Scotland at times - curvy roads bordered by rolling steep slopes covered in trees and streams running alongside. It was really picturesque and I'd love to explore the state more. The trip itself was good - Joe has a HUGE family and we only saw a 1/3 of them all but that was intense enough - as an only child with a family that is far from close it got a little much for me but we still had fun [ignoring certain comments about how the husband failed to go home to see family members yet had enough money to come to the UK to visit me as if I was at fault which made me rather upset]. Ignoring that, it was fun and takes nothing away from the state itself.

Christmas Times

2011-12-23T09:40:00.002-05:00

Our very first Christmas tree [without it's lights plugged in] we went for the purple, silver and red look - then started adding random decorations we found in Chicago.

Ed trying to assist in wrapping Joe's Christmas presents - well I'm sure she thought she was helping.

Presents and PJS

This morning's been spent packing up our suitcase for another adventure - this time to see Joe's family in Pennsylvania - although I feel like I'm being thrown into the deep end having to meet everyone at once. We're looking at a 7/8 hour drive on a day when most people will be starting to make their journeys for Christmas so we've been buying plenty of supplies for the trip. We're spending our nights in a motel so it will be odd waking up on Christmas morning and not having a tree to open presents by. As it's our first physical Christmas together we've probably gone a little over the top with the presents we've both brought each other. I do love spoiling Joe though - he really is worth it and for once we're not limited by weight or the hideous shipping costs dictated by the Post Office. I had a lazy day on Tuesday wrapping all his presents in my pj's watching Miracle on 34th Street and as I write this post White Christmas is playing on the TV - it's taken a while [possibly because I'm not at "home"] to get into that Christmas mood but I'm getting there. And we got our first Mr and Mrs Christmas card - that made me unbelievably happy.

All that is left to say is I wish every reader a very

Merry Christmas

Lincoln Zoo

2011-12-21T12:11:00.000-05:00

Chicago's Lincoln Zoo is an easy 5-10 minute bus ride from downtown, its open everyday of the year and best of all - it's free [although we gave a donation]. Not only do you get to see some gorgeous panoramas of the city but they have a great and varied collection of animals even though it's not the biggest of zoo's overall. We went down early Saturday morning, it was a little chilly but running between the buildings kept us warm.

I'm currently lost at the moment in making a photobook of our Chicago honeymoon - let me tell you if you ever use Shutterfly be prepared for just how addictive it is once you get really into it!

Have you ever made any photobooks? Any tips?

Nighttime in Chicago

2011-12-20T13:38:00.000-05:00

Looking north on the Magnificent Mile.

The Magnificent Mile looking north

Random yet gorgeous building on Erie.

Museum on the corner of Wabash and Erie

Looking Downtown from the Navy Pier

The Navy Pier's rides.

Chicago is as breathtaking at night as it is during the day, especially at the moment with all the Christmas lights along the Magnificent Mile upon which I read had around six million lights are being used. We'd often have a lazy hour in the hotel then go for a stroll along the streets and see where we'd end up and on Saturday we caught the bus down to the Navy Pier - credited as being Chicago's number one tourist destination. It's the home of a huge Ferris wheel, shops, restaurants, bars and a cinema and even in the winter months there's plenty to keep you entertained. One thing I love about America is all the lit up neon signs you see along the road and upon shops - they really catch your eye [although I know the counter argument about light pollution].

The way to Chicago

2011-12-19T12:12:00.000-05:00

Waiting for the Amtrak in Michigan on a cold wintery Friday in December.

Supplies and entertainment - Captain America and Lays - the American term for Walkers, the yellow packet of which replaces the British red colour for the ready salted.

Wintery lakes in Michigan.

Near Michigan City [I think]

So here starts the tale of our honeymoon...

It took just over six hours to get from our stop in Michigan to Chicago on the Amtrak, in consideration that's like traveling all the way from London to say Inverness and all we did was cross three states. Yet I really wanted to experience train rides in America - I'm bit of a train geek so it was great fun to board these huge trains! The first picture alone explains how cold and wintery it was on the Friday we departed, it was horridly chilly especially when all you have to wait inside was something similar to a bus stop. Compared to the British train system the Amtrak seems very well organized and calm, you board using only the door the conductor indicates and you sit in various carriages depending on your destination. Once more you get to travel past some of the most loveliest landscapes of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois - from forests, marshes and lakes. If your not in a rush and you want a less stressful way to traveling rather then flying, taking the Amtrak is well worth using, just be prepared for how slow you feel like you are traveling.

Something in the middle

2011-12-18T12:53:00.000-05:00

Waiting for the concert to behind - all the crazy staging!

Lights!!

Ikea goodies

Christmas

I thought I would try and sandwich in one of my slightly normal Sunday photograph posts between the wedding and the huge wave of Chicago Honeymoon posts that I'll start posting next. After having five amazing nights in Chicago it was back to reality in Detroit yet we've still managed to pack in some fun before the boy heads back to work tomorrow. Yesterday we went to see one of the boy's favourite musical acts - the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I will admit to knowing only a couple of their pieces but the whole act was mind blowing with huge pyrotechnics, strobe lighting, moving stages and a lot of head banging. The rest of the weekend has been spent constructing our goodies from Ikea [yes even America as Ikea]. We spent some of our wedding money getting our flat more homely - we brought a new TV stand come storage piece, a huge new bookcase and three chairs to go with our new kitchen/dining table [saved from our friends basement]. I have a love for putting together Ikea goodies anyway, but its rather fun doing it together. I guess it would be wrong not to mention Christmas seeing it's practically here - we booked our trip down to Pittsburgh to see some of Joe's family which is somewhat daunting for me seeing i've only met his Gran so far. This week I still have to finish off my Christmas shopping, wrap all of the husbands pressies and probably finish off the Ikea jigsaw of goodies!

US

2011-12-17T08:34:00.002-05:00

"When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident".

Our wedding day and one of our readings from Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Invites to a venue

2011-12-16T08:29:00.000-05:00

When you start making your wedding a little crafty and homemade that is when the fun really starts. We wanted to make our wedding personal to us, rather then having the same old invites you can print out and in fact doing it ourselves worked out a cheaper and I think the outcome is more lovely overall. We brought our personalised stamp from Etsy and made our postcard size and style invites on a cold early spring evening in Edinburgh on our holiday last March. It's a stamp we hope to use over and over for thank yous and so on.

Our wedding venue we stumbled across on the internet. When we originally started hunting for a venue it was one of the first we found, we loved it for a while, then dismissed it, then fell back in love with it. It's a simple white ranch house in a little quiet area of Ann Arbor here in Michigan called the Tea Cup Wedding house. When it came to our actual wedding day I was parted from my beloved camera so I couldn't get the chance to take all the photographs that I would have [all the little details of the room and such] so i'm relaying on internet images for those of the house and inside just to give you, the readers a bigger picture of what we had for our special day. We had a really simple contemporary ceremony and our vows reflected us and our relationship amazingly well.

Afterwards we all headed down to downtown Ann Arbor for our wedding meal in a gorgeous Italian restaurant called Grazti. There we had the most yummist of meals, drank a lot of posh expensive wine and generally had a really good time. In reflection it was the most amazing day we could have ever asked for.

All the little wedding things

2011-12-15T08:22:00.000-05:00

Until you get married you forget all the added extras that come into call for your outfit. The back history is that I'm on my third dress for the wedding, after falling out with the first and the second not fitting. With the second result I went into panic overdrive and with only a week left before the wedding the hunt was really on. Then I stumbled over this little sheer knee length, sleeved dress from Forever 21. Its a gorgeous rich peachy colour and from the moment I tried it on, I knew it was the one. While it's not a traditional wedding dress as such, colour or design wise it's totally me. Our wedding venue was a little different, our vows were contemporary [they made me cry every time I read them and the selected reading before the day] but this all reflects us, and our wishes for our day. I guess when you pay for it all and organise it yourselves rather then having families involved you get that added extra freedom.

I have been very silent on blogger and twitter for the past week but now we're back from our honeymoon [five nights in Chicago] i'll find the time to bombard you with tales and loads of photographs of our adventures [will be hard narrowing down from the 450+ photos that I took].

Flowers

2011-12-07T12:14:00.000-05:00

I feel we're being extravagant getting flowers for the wedding, we're having a tiny wedding with around 6-8 guests [depending on who actually shows] and with not having a conventional wedding dress, having flowers seems to me a little odd. But I kind of wanted some. It's also one of the elements we left a little late, having only getting around to getting out to places on Tuesday. But luckily the first place we went too was the place that had the bouquet I had to have. We had old photographs of great aunts upon the Palace Green in Durham after getting married holding huge bouquets with trailing ivy and seeing this one with just that made it feel like they were meant to be mine. Plus ivy itself makes it a bit more seasonal.

The truth is these flowers are fake.

I'm not sure how I feel admitting that, but I guess having fake flowers do have some benefits, with going on the honeymoon on Friday we would never get to enjoy having real flowers in the apartment, plus any flowery fragrance may be tempted to add to our sneezes. Plus this way, I at least get to keep them for as long as I ever want too and like they are sitting now, they make a gorgeous center piece for our new kitchen table.

Thursday and a wedding ...

2011-12-06T12:23:00.000-05:00

One element that possibly has been lacking on the blog post front is mentions of our wedding. This in part is through Joe having my blog as has home page [so mentioning of clothes and outfits go out the window because it doesn't want to see or know anything about what i'm wearing before Thursday]. Perhaps it reflects us as people - we're rather laid back about our wedding and we've never felt the need to go on and on about our day or us, we've never been ott about your relationship. But its come to the point where it's only days away and most of the details and plans are in order, well most of them so I thought I should start sharing the details with you all.

I thought I would start with our wedding rings. Joe's ring is made from tungsten which we managed to hunt down in JCPennys [American department store] I love it for it's simplicity, it's thickness and it's little edging design. My ring is platinum and is a gift from Joe's gran to myself. In fact it's a ring Joe's grandad brought for her and it fits perfectly - which is amazing when i have such tiny fingers. Additionally it matches well with my white gold engagement ring. I love knowing my ring has a history and one that is filled with love. I know both Joe's gran and his grandads memory are really important in his life and i'm glad they have an important part in our wedding even if his grandad can't be there in person to share in our special day.

Ultrabalm

2011-12-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

I get ridiculously dry hands, more so if they have been within splashing distance of water or cold weather. I've also been known to try a lot of products to find something that solves this problem or at least offers a little assistance. For the past couple of years I've been using Lush products to try and help me. After moving to America with just a minimal supply of Smitten we needed to call in and check out the American version of one Britain's high street names. In addition Lush so far as been the only place where people have noticed, or at least mentioned my British accent, in and "omg your from where Lush is from" moment. Err Yeah.

Anyway, back to the point. The assistant recommended the Ultrabalm product in particular. Lush themselves credit Ultrabalm as being "an instant classic. Restoring, soothing, protecting, relieving, moisturising. There's nothing this petroleum-free balm can't do" [it is actually a body balm for super dry areas or even works as a lip balm apparently]. But for the sake of this post this is just a review regarding using it as a hand cream seeing I haven't tested it out on other bodily areas.

Coming in a tin [rather then the traditional black pots] it's a handy size to pop into your bag. It's selling point is that it's the natural version of Vaseline, that in itself should have sounded warning in my head - Vaseline [natural or otherwise] dries my skin out badly, saying that I thought it would be worth a go. While it doesn't have the greasy Vaseline consistency, it's not as creamy nor is fragrant, [it has a slightly odd, mildly off putting smell]. What I've found with all hand creams Lush produce is how well they last on application, this is additionally true with Ultrabalm but I've found that it does require two applications to get to the feeling that they have been moisturised enough.

Overall it works for what it's meant to but I'm not overall impressed with it like their previous offerings. Maybe because it is lacking that lovely smell you associate with Lush or because it doesn't have that creamy consistency I've come to like. As a multipurpose dry skin healer perhaps is has a use but just for dry hands I think I'll go back to using more creamy offerings particularly designed for that area.

Ultrabalm retails for $12.95 in the USA, £8.25 in the UK, this product was purchased with my own money and not endorsed by Lush.

The Redford Theatre

2011-12-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

The Redford Theatre with it's Japanese design.

The original and still working, 1927 pipe organ.

On Friday night we went to the Redford Threatre to see the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street. Detroit's Redford Theatre originally opened in 1927 as a neighbourhood cinema and now remains as Detroit's only theatre with its orginal pipe organ. Along with the organ, the three storey theatre is fully decorated in an ornate Japanese style, although during WWII this was removed. The national downward trend of declining cinema goers which hit during the mid 1960s and 1970s led to many of Redford's contemporaries being demolished, yet the Redford somehow managed to survive. Today the theatre is a haven to those of us who adore old films with their biweekly showings of films from the 1930s to the 1960s.

I was expecting the theatre to be half full if that - I was wildly surprised when it was at least three quarters full [Redford has 1,571 seats] but it was good to see that many people of all ages were interested in watching such an old film on a Friday night. The night started off with a half hour slot of live organ music - mostly film scores [Sound of Music, Hello Dolly] and the odd Christmas song, even the American national anthem. Yet to be able to see an original black and white film as it was intended to be seen was incredible, and for $4 (about £2.50) you really can't go wrong and to have a couple of hours without having to think, slot out or plan wedding things was very much welcome. Saying that it's four sleeps till the big day!

CHRISTmas wonderland

2011-12-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

All around the store huge over sized decorations were hanging from the ceiling.

Pick a colour, any colour and you'd find a huge collection of decorations of all shapes and sizes. This was just one tiny selection of the blue baubles.

All sorts of decorations were hanging right above your head.

Christmas scenes where running around the outside of the shop's ceiling.

To visit Bronners CHRISTmas Wonderland just outside Frankenmuth, you really need to be a fan of all things festive. It is one HUGE store dedicated to Christmas all year round, with apparently over 6,00 kinds of glass ornaments, hundreds of decorated Christmas trees, figurines, tinsel, Bibles and toys. Everything you could ever need to celebrate the big day. Yet it was one of those places could be totally overwhelming, you could easily get lost within a place that big and the products on offer were not that cheap [$9 before tax which is about £5.75ish], although they do offer free personalisation upon a lot of the baubles and stockings. You could get decorations with your job, your age, your name adorned upon them.

The grounds is apparently home to the chapel where the carol Silent Night was first sung in 1818 [thank you to my trusty facts in my Michigan tourist guide]. It was worth a visit, but I don't think i'd be returning quickly within three months of Christmas, perhaps March when its quiet would be a better. But like everything, American's as far as i'm seeing tend to do Christmas bigger and more brasher then the UK. We put our Christmas tree up on Thanks Giving but I've been seeing them up since the day I landed - you'd never get away with that in the UK.

Are you getting into the Christmas spirit?

The Henry Ford

2011-12-01T10:28:00.000-05:00

The Henry Ford Museum had a very English feel and architecture, I especially loved the huge chandeliers hanging from the ceilings.

The Lincoln car J.F.Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated in 1963 - part of the large exhibition of presidential cars.

Inside the museum is an ongoing exhibition about the Wizard of Oz. While the majority of the exhibition is merely a play area for children at the start was these replica Dorothy shoes. I'm not sure what happened to the originals that Judy Garland wore but these looked aged enough to be of a similar age. I just love how glittery they are.

On December 1st 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama and refused to move seats to let a white person be seated. This action not only led to a bus boycott in the city, but the nationwide civil rights moments of the 1950s and 1960s. The actual bus is now preserved within the museum, an audio guide plays within the bus, a light shinning above the seat where history was made.

Designed in the mid 1940's the Dymaxion Aluminum House was meant to be the home of the future - the strongest, lightest and most cost efficient way of living, not only this but it was completely round. The prototype only survives to this day at the museum where you can walk through the bedroom and kitchen.

This 26 foot tall neon sign was used at the second McDonald's to be opened [apparently near where we live] in Michigan in 1950. The sign remained in place even after modern signs where being installed nationally.

Henry Ford [that guy behind the auto industrial] not only had a desire to build and develop the car with his Model T, he also dealt his hand in preserving objects of American history. Now a large sample of Ford's collection is on view in the museum bearing his name located in Dearborn, just outside Detroit. Significant pieces include presidential limousines, aircraft, the Rosa Parks bus and through the objects on show goes some way in depicting America's history, predominately within agriculture and inventions, especially within the home. The museum also makes us remember our own place in history, of our objects and technologies that will perhaps be found within museums of the future. Apparently we're the now generation, so we ate hot dogs, imagined ourselves in the Dyamaxion house, played in a photo-booth and played with the toys in the shop.

Mother of Pearl Marhill Compact

2011-11-29T13:10:00.001-05:00

It's original selling box - complete with reference number.

The flower engraving upon the mother of pearl, to the right can be seen the gem upon the flower head.

It's orginal manufacturing label, Marhill was based upon New York's 5th Avenue. I love these little labels.

The thickness of the slab of mother of pearl can be seen against the metal lid. Unused this compact came complete with it's original sifter and powder puff.

Marhill have to be one of my favorite vintage powder compact manufactures - not only did they produce gorgeous compacts fitted with plates of mother of pearl, but they are compacts that often appear in a better condition - often spotless and unused. I often give my compacts a little clean up with a duster after purchase - this one however hasn't required anything. I already have one Marhill compact and when we spotted this flowered addition we knew we had to add it to our collection - moving to America's giving me a spurt back into collecting them seeing I couldn't bring them all over with me. Like my other Marhill this one is unused, free of powder with it's original shifter and puff, additionally it still has it's branded label upon the mirror and unlike my other, had it's original box. The box itself is nothing remarkable but its nice to have it.

Manufacturing during the 1950's, Marhill used slabs of mother of pearl upon their products [alongside compacts they made cigarette holders, cases and lipsticks] upon which a decoration is sometimes engraved or stuck upon. With regards to this compact two flowers cross, the flower head of one finished off with a little stuck on gem stone. Mother of pearl itself is delicious - the colours and the waves of the toning upon the stone is pure beauty. One element which has always impressed me about Marhill is how sturdy their compacts are but not to the extent that they are heavy. They really are gorgeous additions if you can find them in such good condition.

There's still the compact blog poll running to the left to the screen if you have time just to quickly share your view - thank you!

Doughnuts and pie

2011-11-28T13:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday [Sunday] was the day we didn't really eat any proper food, save the burger we had at home for lunch. Seeing The Muppet's film at the cinema led to us eating a bag of buttery popcorn [where you actually dribble butter into your bag - I mean how good?!]. After the movie we drove out to the Grand Traverse Pie Shop - it's basically a shop selling gorgeous, home made pies. We brought the Mountain Berry pie - so so good. I loved the detailing on the box with the vintage lady, it came in a proper tough and rigid pie base with the pie themselves topped off with a love heart. Then the Krispy Kreme light just happened to be on the first time ever in passing the local shop. We brought a box of a dozen mixed including a snowman, chocolates one, blueberry and even a red velvet one and were even handed a hot freshly made one. I'm feeling very fat today but being in a new country means you have to sample all these foods, right?

You know your in America when ...

2011-11-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

You see the yellow school buses everywhere - even on non school days ...

You hunt out the "English" section of the international food aisle ...

... your lucky you can't see the prices of some of these - whoever knew you'd want to pay nearly £4 for one tiny box of Jaffa cakes?! That's alongside some of the items they claim to be "English" like most of the section of the left of the image, I've never heard of most of that stuff. Also please excuse lame blurry phone picture.

You see flags - from tiny ones to HUGE ones everywhere, from homes to car garages to drive ins, [why do we never have this sense of nationalism in the UK apart from the occasional sporting occasion?!] ...

It becomes just as easy to dine out then it does to eat in - and sometimes even cheaper ...

And one of the best parts - sticking your Christmas tree up before December and get away with it, the fact that we put ours up on Thanks Giving felt somewhat rebellious to my English background - was a good thrill and looking around at all the homes around us - we are far from the first.

Let's not forget the debate over English verses American baked beans ... that set off a debate on my facebook - but the American version comes with bacon - and that has to be better right?

While i'm at it - you know you have an amazing amazing boy when he brings you home three bracelets he made at work for you.

Well there's two of them - the ladybug one is just beyond cute - has little rose beads between each one. I heart my boy big time.

Anyways i'm not really looking forward to the next couple of weeks - I probably should because we're getting married in a week and a half, but I still don't have a dress, or shoes, Joe doesn't have a suit and we don't have rings or guests confirmed. I'm having to meet some of Joe's work colleagues and I HATE meeting new people and to top it off he has his stag/bachelor do at the end of the week and I'm dreading it. Its not that I don't trust him - it's the people he's doing it with - i don't know them so it's hard to trust them. I wish we were just eloping and then running off to Chicago.

The day that was thanks giving.

2011-11-25T11:06:00.000-05:00

I vaguely remember wondering last year if me and Joe would be lucky enough to be spending this thanks giving together - at that point we hadn't filed my application and we didn't know how long the papers would take. But here we are, a year on and I'm popping my thanks giving cherry - and the one thing i'm super thankful for - is having a guy as amazing as Joe. He's my sweetheart, my rock and my best friend.

Our celebrations started the on Wednesday when we went for a drive. The day after Thanks Giving is known as Black Friday when shops do sales - big enough for people to tent out from the Wednesday. We drove past Best Buy and the queue was already five or six tents deep, perhaps it's lucky for them that store was opening for their sales on Thanks Giving evening. The British equivalent is the Boxing Day sales - but times it by ten and you get the picture. On the way back we got milkshakes [I opted for cookies and cream] from Steak 'n' Shake - totally delicious [first photograph] and then played with my camera to try and create car trails from the freeway on my camera [second photograph].

Thanks Giving itself we stayed home, save for a walk around the park [fourth photograph], came back to the apartment and decided we'd stick up the Christmas stuff - then remembered we don't have any decorations. So our 7ft tree is standing - it just has four decorations so that led us to poking decorations in the store that evening - only in America! My mam would never let anything Christmasy go up before 12th night, I guess the rule over here is any time after Thanks Giving, if not before - in the past week and increasing number of local homes have being putting up their decorations and I think it brings cheer and warmth into the home in the winter. Plus even though we've been together two years, it's our first without an ocean between us so its extra special. Saying that i've done zero Christmas shopping - ooops!

Have you ever grabbed any good Black Friday deals? How was your Thanks Giving? Are you all set for Christmas?!

The Adventures of the Canned Cheese

2011-11-23T13:27:00.000-05:00

The recent exploits with the food post made me finally undertake the ordeal of trying the canned cheese. Declaring itself "made with real cheese" [as opposed to that fake stuff] it also doesn't need to be refrigerated - a can and no fridge - this sounds wrong to an English person. The Kraft brand calls it's product "easy cheese" which is a semi solid cheese-food first introduced in the 1970s. We brought the cheddar, but you can also purchase it in "Cheddar 'n Bacon", "American Flavour" and "Sharp Cheese Flavour" with the company suggesting the product can be used as a dip, within nachos and even inside an omelet [crime!] - but I'm playing it safe and trying it with cheese crackers.

The best way to think of it, is like it's squirty cream - it's in the same kind of aerosol container. To "release" said cheese you push against the actual nozzle and it squirts it's way out. It's thick and it's rubbery and it takes a bit to detach itself from the can. It's like glue.

Excuse scabby camera phone photograph.

It really is like those cheese strings that were famous for being in your pack up for a while and then vanished with the really vivid colouring. It has a very sharp, sticky somewhat powerful kind of a taste. A taste that very much isn't cheese like. Would I try it again - possibly on crackers because they are as dry as sawdust anyway and it does give them a bit of taste but never ever as a sandwich filler. That would be a crime to the taste buds. Never, ever, ever.

If you could also poke the poll on the top left of this page that would be excellent - I'm debating starting a separate blog purely for vintage compacts, guides and history. There seems to be a lack of information about them even though there seems to be an audience. Just click the poll and let me know!

Chained Vintage Powder Compact

2011-11-22T12:54:00.000-05:00

One section of vintage powder compacts that were never easy to come across in the UK were chained compacts. Typically American these compacts came with a chain attached to the bulk of the compact. First advertised in the late 1920s and they often have more then one compartment. Sometimes they hold rogue, space for cigarettes, lighters or lipstick, yet they never seemed to catch on over the waters in the UK [and if they are ever found, they really are rare] saying that there is very limited information around regarding chained compacts.

Somewhat reminiscent of a vanity case in its sizing and style, we managed to pick up this unused combination wrist chained compact with attached lipstick in an "antiques" shop on our drive back from Frankenmuth, I typed antiques like I did merely because it smelt and felt more like a charity shop with rows of cookie jars and random assortments of video tapes. This compact was locked up with some cigarette cases [as they often are] but after pulling it out and seeing the chain, I knew it was something special, sadly it is unmarked but i'd assume it was from the 1950sish [give or take a decade].

Clasped together the chain fastens from the center with enough length to fit over your wrist - thus allowing the lady easy access in times of need rather then having to rumble through, or even carry a bag. On the side is an attachment to hold a lipstick case and like the compact this too hasn't been used. The compact design itself is patterned with raised alternating styles of blocks and while it hasn't been used shows a little wear and tear around the edges. Opening up the compact from one side reveals a mirror, shifter and puff, and the other empty space which perhaps was used for cigarettes or in some cases stamps and small note paper. It's in a gorgeous unused condition.

Frankenmuth

2011-11-21T14:52:00.000-05:00

Some people would be tempted to claim that Frankenmuth is merely a commercial kitsch destination - being one of the states top visitor attractions this former farming community was settled first by 15 German immigrants in 1845 yet I doubt they would recognise their former homes today. Described as "Little Bavaria" in an Americanised German manner its home to a main street of little "German" shops selling sausages, clocks and cheese, a working mill and brewery, plus it's home to the world's largest Christmas shop and its infamous chicken dinners. We slightly forgot how much of a tourist destination Frankenmuth actually was especially seeing we were visiting on a Saturday - plus with the holiday season approaching it was super busy. We had a good poke around some of the shops - like the cheese shop, the pet store which practically sold everything [and then some] for your cats and dogs and watched some taffy [a sweet which is pretty much all sugar] and fudge being made. We treated ourselves in getting a 1lb bag of Jelly Belly's in the huge candy store - so yummy!

Food Sunday

2011-11-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

Home baked cookies

A crime against cheese?!

Strawberry shortcake treat from Astoria

IHOP [international house of pancakes] strawberry pancakes

Astoria cupcake

One of the more obvious differences between the UK and the US is food. Potions are generally bigger [to the point where they are too big to finish], yet food is often cheaper here, some of it can be hit and miss but its generally eat-able. I did my first batch of home baking with cookies - recipes in the states are measured out by cup size, it seems a little less exact but the cookies came out fine so it can't be that odd. The Astoria Pastry shop in the next city is where we shared the huge strawberry shortcake - which was delicious - the store was crammed full of freshly made pastries, cakes and treats of which we took away something for afters, of which I tried my first American cupcake [last image]. The icing was utterly yummy and overall they make a good rival for their British counterparts, again they tower them in size. One food item I still haven't had the guts to try is canned cheese; you don't even need to keep it in your fridge. The fact that they need to state that it's "real" cheese on the labelling is somewhat disturbing. I think cheese is one of the things i'm missing food wise, proper cheese that's not sliced or out of a plastic wrapper. Cheese out of a tin to a girl that loves her cheese sarnies doesn't fit well.

Crocheting

2011-11-18T14:36:00.000-05:00

We'd been looking for some coasters for the new coffee table yet it was harder then you could imagine; they were either non existent or costing the Earth - even the Sally Army was wanting $4 a coaster [how?! They weren't even anything special]. Then I had the sudden and somewhat random brainwave to make some out of the wool scraps of wool we have. A quick Raverly search and twenty four hours later i've made four coasters and two larger sized ones. I'm geekily pleased with them, I haven't crocheted for ages after getting bored of making doilies, but having a purpose for making things for the apartment has helped immensely.

Wandering to Jo Ann fabrics which to a crafter [even an on off one like myself] I found as a total heaven. For some reason the UK doesn't do big craft stores as such but here, oh my! I have never seen so much crocheting or craft products and patterns under one roof. There's scrap booking, wool, fabrics, glitter, fake flowers, photo frames. One of the things I could never find in the UK was crochet patterns; to walk in and see rows of crochet patterns was amazing. I ended up getting a small booklet on crocheting blankets and four huge balls of the softest wool to make one of which I've already started [see the bottom photograph] - for less then the equivalent of £15 its cheap indeed. I'm even tempted to make another and some scarfs. The crocheting bug has been re-caught - this and baking.

Are you making anything crafty at the moment?

You can find the free coaster pattern which I used here.

Brushes and a button lady

2011-11-17T12:30:00.000-05:00

On Friday we drove to Ann Arbor, a big university city an hour west of Detroit to poke where we're getting married which in fact is in three weeks today, its in a sweet little district which had a very stereotypical feel of how you'd imagine America to be - with flags on the porch/front garden and a general store, among which was a little antiques store which we just had to pop into. It was filled with old advertisements, cookware, old lipstick containers, and while there was no compacts there was a gorgeous paddle silver brush. They were asking $10.60 [£6.62] for it so it would have been a crime, and a regret to have walked away without it.

The tale behind the brush is that it came from a house which was hit in a storm by a falling tree with the matching mirror splashing to pieces. Age has altered its once shiny appearance and i'm lost in a debate about attempting to return it back to that condition or to shine up the embellishments or leave it as it is. The lady who runs the shop calls herself the Button Lady of at least Michigan if not America [she can command up to $200 hourly in talks just about buttons], she was a lovely lady but she knew how to talk and to escape from the shop took at least an hour after we'd paid. She did suggest that I went full scale into compact collecting, it is something I've considered before but I wonder if its something too many people have converted already because of the ease and the cheapness they can be purchased. It's something to think about at least.

Downtown Detroit

2011-11-16T12:15:00.000-05:00

Built in 1928 the Fisher Building was constructed to house office and shopping space. The towers spire was originally covered in gold gilded tiles, however due to the threat of attacking enemy attention during WWII, they were removed.

Woodward Avenue is home to the Fox Theatre which when it was built in 1928, was the worlds first theatre to provide a sounds system for films.

The renaissance centre is comprised of seven connecting skyscrapers. As the world headquarters for General Motors it is also home to the worlds tallest all hotel skyscraper in the western hemisphere. Sometimes known as the RenCen building it is seen as one of the core elements of Detroit's international riverfront redevelopment.

The Spirit of Detroit statue sits at the end of Woodward Avenue within one hand he holds a family unit the other a sphere to represent God.

On Campus Martius is the Soldiers and Sailors statue which is dedicated to those that lost their lives fighting the confederacy in the American Civil War.

On Saturday me and Joe with his friend [also called Joe just to confuse matters] drove down into what you'd either call metropolitan and/or downtown Detroit which is about a 20 minute drive from where we live. American cities are pretty much a sprawling mass of suburbia - loads of cities within one huge city [if that makes sense]. I really wanted to try and see proper Detroit for myself, it has a certain image and I wanted to see how try this image was. While you do drive past [predominately once your under 8 miles] shells of former old, gorgeous buildings stand alongside buildings with a purpose, with beautiful facades. There is something about the city though, it has something that makes you want to poke under its skin, the decay is part of what makes it.

Johnny Rockets

2011-11-15T19:41:00.000-05:00

A girl with a slight vintage heart couldn't turn down a trip to Johnny Rockets. It drives on providing the theme and feel of true Americana within the atmosphere and look of a 1950s diner with burgers, milkshakes, juke boxes and vintage posters. Our local one is in the Great Lakes Mall and we went up for the trip on Thursday, the mall itself is home to 200 odd shops from factory outlets to smaller independent names, including British recognisable places like The Body Shop, Forever 21, H&M and GAP. I get a bit of a thrill and an "o I know them" moment when I see brands and places I already know. At Johnny Rockets I went for the tuna melt and Joe had a burger, both were utterly delicious, eating out in America can, and is getting rather addictive. Today's note me and Joe filed our petition for the wedding licence - we totally aren't organised and it's like three weeks away but ya know, we've always just wanted an easy, relaxed wedding at least this way we'll get what we want.

American style Monday

2011-11-13T12:24:00.001-05:00

After sorting my first lot of photographs, I thought I would show stuff from the first few days. Settling into America has been like a duck taking to water, my body fixed itself into the correct time and it's never gone back [saying that i've developed the inability of not being able to sleep past 7am]. To try and win Ed [the kitty] over was the first battle, saying that she's a gorgeous kitty with the biggest eyes but she does like to partake in staring contests. I'm trying to win her over by feeding her, its working if only slowly.

Those who follow me on twitter will know how much i'm rating the "blue" mountain dew - I know in the UK we get the green version, but my word the blue is good! My first food experience was the huge pizza from Green Lantern, apparently they're rated very highly in the area. American's know how to make their pizzas! I've developed a thing for taking photographs while Joe's driving. The roads are crazy however, coming from a rural background i've been use to two to four lanes of traffic in both directions, here it's like two or eight! Freeway driving is a bit of an experience too. In comparison British people seem very remote, keeping in the same lane, here its every car for itself with weaving and tail gating and flying off changes. Road rage is an everyday occurrence for all involved it seems. I never thought I could be this happy, life is good.

Quick question ...

2011-11-13T07:58:00.001-05:00

... merely because i'm not sure of the way to go and seeing your the people that read this blog more then me, it's best to provide a format that's easiest for my readers. Question is, i'm taking my normal loads of photographs since moving and trying to fit them into posts gets tricky when you could do loads of posts on the different places you go to in a day for example going into town yesterday could actually result in four or five different posts but trying to sum it all into one post would be huge.

So I guess I'm asking, would you rather see lots of little posts telling the tale of different places or have one big photo dump detailed by day with rough overviews?!

Part eighteen - the tale of getting through the border

2011-11-10T19:59:00.001-05:00

I thought it would be fitting to finalise this part of the visa tale with explaining the process of getting to America. A lot of what you read explains how applicants got their visa but little gets said about how they got through border control; so here's my little version for all it's worth. You buy your plane tickets as if you were a holiday maker, just at check in you declare yourself being on a visa - this is merely because airlines have to transmit passenger information and because with a visa, you don't need the visa wavier document.

As most people who have been to America know, in flight you complete the customs declaration of checking your not bringing food, gifts or leaving anything of worth in the USA when you leave. When the airhotess pass these sheets around you may also be aware they have the a-94 form, which is merely known as the "white" form. It's basically the form visa passengers complete with address details and plane information. This form is stapled into your passport, stamped and dated with the date you need to leave the country by [unless you adjust your status]. A lot of people in the immigration queue saw me with my form and were stressing that they didn't have one - but it's only for those who don't need the visa wavier and have other paperwork.

You might have heard some of the ongoing debates about the UK's border control with suggestions that the UK needs to adapt an American approach when it comes to people entering the country. I've heard people declaring how they were grilled about their holiday plans and why they wanted to enter America so I was fearing being dragged off for hours with all my paperwork being questioned. However in reality it was a lot more simple. I handed that delightfully huge envelope over to the immigration lady who basically went through all the papers - that was up to the point were she declared part of it was wrong - the embassy hadn't done something with one of the parts so it needed to be re validated, for which she needed an official to help - said official couldn't find my details on the database until they tried all the numbers on my forms. Finally there uncovered me, stamped my visa, stapled my form and wished me the best. In all it took forty five minutes but most of that was spent queuing and the people you deal with are friendly. You then run for your bags, get questioned again about your goods coming into America and then it was a quick dash to find the boy.

After the stress of the forms and the ten months from filing my application in consideration perhaps going through border control was realistically "easy", I think it's the nerves that push it into the scary territory. On a side note, more regular posting will occur soon, i'm not going to apologise for not being my regular posting self, i'm just catching up on eight months without my boy and befriending his cat.

Image taken from The Telegraph.

Hello!!

2011-11-10T10:38:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone I wanted to say and huge and massive THANK YOU for all the comments on my last post, I quickly popped on last night and I totally was not expecting that many! While the boy's had to pop into work for the morning I have full rein over the computer [and being eagerly stared out by his cat]. I thought my body would be dealing with the change of time zones less well then it actually is - it felt really normal doing the time change even though I was up for the bus back from the hotel at 4am yesterday morning. I'll probably end up doing a full and proper post about the immigration process but lets us say the USA embassy in London forgot to re-validate one of my forms which meant a heart stopping moment at the immigration desk with two immigration offers not being able to find me on the immigration system either. Safe to say I finally appeared when they tried pretty much all my details. I was totally expecting to be fully grilled and getting dragged off into a corner to be questioned about my whole life, but they just politely asked when we was getting married.

I haven't really had chance yet to see much of the world that's now around me, we drove up to the mall last night [as a mere way of trying to keep me awake] and poked some shops - totally can't wait to go properly shopping, oh that and developing an addiction already to the blue Mountain Dew.

See you on the other side

2011-11-07T14:38:00.000-05:00

A few people have asked if i'll still be blogging in America. The answer is a huge yes. Moving to America in honesty, will finally give my blog a bit of a backbone, for the past few months it's bugged me that my blog doesn't have a predominant theme, it was a bit of visa talk, bit of beauty or a bit photographic. Hopefully now this blog will come to capture what it's like to be an English girl living in America [in particular the suburbs of Detroit]. This will be far from becoming Americanised [chips will never be fries and colour won't become color!], or be an ode to the US of A or that i'll forget my English roots. But I want this blog to be my place to reveal the mysteries, the little random things only outsiders might notice and overall, feature the novelty of moving to such a huge country especially to a Yorkshire gal.

This next week might be quiet on the blogging front while I get settled in, coping with the body clock change and enjoy being with my boy, plus until we get an American plug for my netbook I'll be relying on grabbing control of Joe's computer. If you do want to catch up or keep in touch i'll be on twitter possibly more until the boy goes back to work. Nevertheless until I get the official American say so to work, I'll be blogging and tweeting frequently. What's more the name and look of this blog will be slightly changing, if you already follow me on twitter its linked to what i'm known as there.

So that is it for now, eleven months after sending my application I never thought I would actually be leaving the UK. A huge thank you to everyone that's ever wished me and Joe well in getting my visa; getting engaged and getting this far! It really has meant a lot to us and i hope you'll all continue to follow our next amazing chapter.

See you all on the other side!! xx

Suitcase Sunday

2011-11-06T11:58:00.000-05:00

One of the hardest things to juggle with moving is packing. It can become a challenge and i've sat countless times on my bed looking at my stuff wondering where to start in deciding what moves with me. I've managed to parcel a lot over already - Joe has to open them up and remind me what i've actually sent however.

A popular question is about baggage and weight allowance. People assume with a visa you get a bigger weight allowance - if only! You book your ticket like every other passenger, no one knows your on a visa until you declare yourself. So like everyone else my weight allowance is 23kg - realistically I kept thinking that was loads, I mean i'm only packing a few cosmetic bits, some converse, couple of books and clothes. Yeah right, I've packed and repacked my suitcase three times in order to get more in and be more organised with the assistance of the bathroom scales, but i'm also working with how much I can physically lug around on public transport to and around Heathrow.

But what do you pack? Michigan gets a bit cold so woolies are a must, I've thrown out socks to try and get other things in, my childhood teddy is packed, as to is Joe's [pictured] the remainder of my compact collection and some nail varnishes. You have to pack your visa paperwork into your hand luggage but whoever invented the size of the packet really didn't take into consideration the average backpack size [its huge]. I've managed to get my Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and my Road Trip USA book into my backpack along with my notebook, I've been eyeing up the 1Q84 book which looks an interesting read and I'll top myself up with some magazines before hand.

Yet I'm a person with the attention span of a goldfish so nearly a nine hour flight is somewhat daunting for my head sanity, so I'm asking;

What tips do you have for self entertainment on flights or general flying tips?

The week of the to do list. Part two.

2011-11-05T12:59:00.000-04:00

You feel a bit of a spare part those days before leaving, your sorting stuff so you feel like you can't get involved with anything new. You end up window shopping and buying things you don't really need - like Superdrug's 3 for 2 on cosmetics [as if America doesn't do make up] buying Glamour merely for the Nails Inc [picture 3], walked my way around the walls of York [picture 1] and poked the National Railway museum [picture 2].

On Friday I went to Hull for a change of scene. Hull a bit of a weird city and it's one few people go out of their way to visit. It always felt a city that's lacking that extra vibe to push itself [probably merely lacking government funding]. What Hull is good for is lots of free museums of which there are eight. Mostly they are based around the Old Town in the Museum Quarter where you'll find the slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce's house, the Street life Museum [picture 4] and the Hull and East Yorkshire museum. If you ever need to pass an afternoon in Hull i'd really recommend them.

When I try to picture Detroit I always imagine it to be something similar to Hull - both were previous industrial hubs that have seemed to have lost their spark when their manufacturing lifeblood drained away. Nevertheless I don't know what to expect, I tend to ignore the looks and misunderstanding about why you'd want to move to Detroit but I tend to try and see over people's generalisations, people often become too believing of them without experiencing the place themselves. Here's to giving it a go.

The week of the to do list part one.

2011-11-03T15:39:00.000-04:00

Betty's little Halloween cupcakes

Autumn in the Museum Gardens

Getting winter woolies for Michigan in H&M

Why has it taken me so long to find these crisps?! Super super yum.

I brought a notebook with the intention of having somewhere to write all those half posts you get in your head at the most un-blogging moments. Yet when you find the time to blog, they've have vanished. This week while I haven't been at work i've been bored enough to plan out a lot of posts in my head, especially while sitting in coffee shops, all this extra time makes you realise how slow time can really go when your not busy - or when your waiting for something.

This week has been spent tackling what was left of the to do list, predominately it was filled with boring money things, buying last minute bits, getting some clothes, being interrogated in M&S [of all places] when buying dollars through to living in Starbucks and Costa and wishing the week away. I even popped into work - even though my uniform was literately falling apart you have to take it back [yeah it's fit for the bin] and being the nice person I am I took them some chocolates as a thank you for the leaving pressies - if you remember anything about the moaning I did about work - well the lady that did most of it, who gave me most of the talk how you can't trust men etc etc just blanked me the whole ten minutes I was there. Yeah friendly place. Yet I know she'll be eating most of the chocolates. But when I wasn't sorting things out I was poking the museum gardens with my old point and shoot camera, nosing in shops and even popped into the cinema to see The Help.

Mentally i've been getting my head into gear - saying that I don't think the scale of emigrating will sink in until Joe has returned to work, even so it might feel like a holiday for a couple of months especially with no working allowed just yet. I know I'm ready in myself to do this and that's the biggest and I guess one of the most important things to have achieved at all this week.

Fashionista Custom Design Palatte

2011-11-02T15:46:00.001-04:00

Double Take and Sultry

Night Sky and Silver Lining

Left to right - Double Take, Night Sky, Silver Lining and Sultry

I've been eying up the FashionistA products for a while, since my local Superdrug had a bit of a revamp there was a brand new cashing with it all in, coming in in small bits. They store had had the eye-shadow pans in for weeks yet they never had any of the palattes left to make up one of their key lines - the Custom Design Palatte. I wanted to go down a bit of the smoky dark eye look so I opted for the cosmetic shade double take, silver lining, sultry and night sky.

Fashionista brand themselves as bringing the catwalk to the high-street for pretty affordable prices since mid September. Their Custom Design Palatte can be filled with a huge colour range of pans, from forty-nine eye shadows and twelve blushers so there really is a colour for everyone. The palatte itself comes in either red (as featured here) or black with container fittings for four eye-shadow/blusher pans and comes with a huge mirror - the mirror which is the same size as the box is a massive plus as with a few palattes your not supplied with them and this is nice and clear which makes it really handy for carrying your palatte around.

The packaging is lovely and clear and totally not over pushy or branded which I prefer. Additionally the pans are really easy to push up from the bottom to detach them from their outter casing. They with a snuggle fit they pop into the pan wells within the palatte itself. What's even better is when flipping the casing over, your still able to see the name of the eye shadow. Using the palatte is really easy, it's solid and the pans themselves are large so you get a good amount. The colours are well pigmented and apply and blend really well, you don't need a lot of any of the shades because they do really go far. I've noticed when using some brands the shadows sometimes "flake" when your using your applicator within the pan but so far that hasn't occurred with this one.

I would highly recommend using and making your own palatte selection, while you might be paying a little more compared to MUA I love having that freedom in picking colours you're more likely to use and with the huge array of colours then there really is a colour to suit you.

Have you tried any of the fashionista products?

Take me out

2011-11-01T15:29:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when you just hear one song it brings back so many memories. With my MP3 player on shuffle the other day Franz Ferdinand came through the speakers - they aren't now a band I play very often do I do have a liking for their songs. They last time I properly listened to them was when me and Joe were dinning at the American bar come grill Henry J Beans in York in August 2011. Because I never really posted about that holiday at the time [it was the start of my on/off blogging relationship] I thought it would bring something new for today - away from my on going steam of visa and migration talk. On the day we visited they had a thing for playing at least three of the same bands songs in a row and as we were sitting down Franz were playing and everytime I know hear take me out it takes me right back to that meal.

As far as i'm aware Henry J Beans is part of a larger chain around the UK offering us UK folks a culinary taste of Americana from huge burgers, milk shakes pizzas and steaks. I opted for the Philly Steak - my boy's originally from Pennsylvania so it was kind of fitting, recipes and versions alternate but they are normally made up of sliced steak, peppers, onions upon a crusty baguette topped off with lots of yummy melted cheese, now every time I've ventured near an American grill [like The Diner in London's Soho] I always favour trying their Philly steaks.

One of the exciting things about moving is getting to try a huge new range of foods, i've never even had a taco before so that's the first thing on the list, after that i'm all up for the new food adventure! Saying that i'll nice proper English fish and chips [i've been googling chippies already and have found a couple to try out].

Have you ever had been to America and tried anything tasty you'd recommend?

Dial M for Manual

2011-10-30T12:46:00.000-04:00

A Sunday wouldn't be a Sunday without some photographs but due to increasingly gloomy weather and general coldness outside I'm reverting to some photographs I took the other week. All these photographs were taken on the manual setting - it's my setting of choice already. I love having that control over the camera and it makes you totally proud of the results. Today was merely spent sorting out old cds, whacking some onto the MP3 player, getting confused with money and actually not being able to tackle anything else on the to do list till I can get back into town tomorrow. That is this week's mission - tackling the to do list, poking some places of interest [like the Railway Museum because I adore that place]; drinking too much coffee in Costa and not stressing about having to work. Here's to enjoying and making the most of my last week in the UK, for now at least!

Last day of work and the start of the nerves

2011-10-29T11:38:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was my last day at work - was odd leaving and knowing that's it for working for a couple of months - if not longer. I'm not sure many people would opt to make themselves unemployed in this crazy economic world and in honesty it does scare me. It's the not knowing how long it'll take to get the go ahead to work but what I do know is that I want to put my four years of university into use and get out of retail. But I guess it's time to be fearless. If we forget the random often generalist conversation i've sometimes blogged or mentioned on twitter some of my work mates have become good friends and it sucked saying goodbye. One made me some fingerless gloves with cute butterfly detailing and they all chipped in to get me a card, some cupcakes from Valerie Patisserie and $125 worth of spending money. I'm not sure what I'll use the money for, but I'm tempted just to spend it on days out or some trips to a nice restaurant.

Truth is I starting to get nervy. Not about me and Joe - everyday I get more certain about us and were we are heading and how this is going to be amazing new chapter for us. It's the being the little girl moving from Yorkshire to America and being the odd one out. I'm naturally shy and the thought of knowing as soon as I talk i'll be different scares me, not really having any friends there won't help matters. I know of some of Joe's friends from facebook but they aren't my "friends" and I don't know how to go about making new ones when I'm not working or doing things.

Anyway hotel and train tickets to the airport are now booked so i'm battling my way slowly through my to do list. I stumbled upon a load of samples and travel sized products in my drawers from Sanctuary, Clairns and Ecerin which i'm wondering over throwing them away or doing a quick give away. Not sure if sample size products are what people would be interested in winning?

Pack pack packing stress

2011-10-27T14:30:00.000-04:00

When it comes to any kind of moving one of the hardest things to do is to go through your stuff and sort. It also makes me realise how much junk i've kept from even before my university days. I still have countless files of my A Level work yet alone from my degrees.When it comes to immigrating everything gets sorted by memories and the potential of being able to replace it in America, so all the vintage crochet patterns get to migrate with me as do English branded nail varnishes. The latter of which is currently standing at 16 bottles - yeah there really is a problem there! I've been sending parcels over to America for the past two weeks - it isn't cheap [averaging about £8 a parcel] but it's worth it knowing i'll have some of my things there already.

To help my head to remain focus I keep writing to do lists - they are huge from sorting out all my banking [yeah still not done that] to my ISA, how to pay off my student loan whilst aboard, getting some dollars, buying some woolie clothes and dying my hair to just start you off. I keep just wanting to sort out the wedding and the honeymoon - that's much more fun. As you can see I do often get the case of head in the sand when it comes to the important things! Hopefully i'll get most of it sorted next week - well I need to really.

Tomorrow is my last day at work, it's been an odd week - slightly like the week you have before the summer holidays when your at school. I haven't been able to get my head into focusing onto things so I guess I feel a bit of a spare part. Plus it's been a quiet week so I've spent most of it filing and listening to some of their random lines they draw up in conversation - like moving to America will mean me putting on weight, wondering if i'm crying about it yet and why aren't I, constantly asking what my parents think about it and how I don't know what Joe's really like because we've never properly lived together. #sigh.

If you had to move countries what would you find hard to leave behind? Material or emotionally?

Our Winter Wedding

2011-10-26T15:12:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we recieved our confirmation for booking our wedding venue one of the lines made me totally think of Don't Tell the Bride; "Good communication is key to a successful event. We have found that is the bridge or groom is not included/participating in the planning, he/she may have expectations outside of the understood agreements - which may not be accommodated upon arrival". Kinda hard organising a wedding with a massive ocean in between so I've let Joe sort a lot of our plans, he has my dress [hidden I will add] sorted the date and booked the venue. With the stress of moving and visas I'm glad I've been able to take a back seat and let my boy ironing out the details.

I'd always imagined having an autumnal wedding and that's what we'd set out to have, then things got pushed back to hoping to be married in November [even posting a blog with the date we wanted to marry] only to have it pushed back again. Now with my visa in my passport we booked our date for the start of December; in just over six weeks. It feels so much more real and secure knowing we've paid and booked our date. I've spent the last couple of days on weheartit.com and pin interest searching for winter wedding inspiration - loving the idea of white simple flowers, with a flicker of greens, browns and pale pinks showing through. I'm not really sure what's next to sort, we still need a licence but we can't get that till I move, then rings, flowers and a suit for my boy! Exciting times!!

At what point do you let old friendships fall?

2011-10-24T14:56:00.000-04:00

Recently i've been having a bit of a facebook cull when it comes to "friends". I've only ever had 177 "friends" [which is minor compared to some] many of whom were in the same school/university year as myself, yet we wouldn't talk to each other in the street. And if that was the case - they were off to be blacklisted, perhaps that's harsh but with the whole visa lark I don't need to feel like everyone needs to know my business.

Yet there is one person, well "friend" that i'm having a dilemma with. Let's call this friend C. Myself and C were really close at university when we where thrown together by the university people into living in the same freshers flat. While we're from different backgrounds socially [C being privately educated] we got on amazingly well, spending evenings and weekends talking the world away, we were clubbing buddies and cocktail girlies. This was all before boys. During the summer between first and second year C met her first proper boyfriend, couple this with moving into student housing nights in town decreased month by month, instead of going clubbing she'd rather shut herself in her room. Everything became about her boy. This continued into third year, and although we'd still have our natters, it wasn't the same.

On leaving university [C went south and I returned to do a Masters] we were still good, not great or as close, but still friends. We'd text, email, facebook; sending the normal cards at birthdays and Christmas. Until it all stopped on her part. While cards from C were always belated, they went from being two weeks late to non existent. I've tried texting, ringing, emailing but never got any reply. It didn't help when my phone died and I lost all my numbers. Yet I know C still used the same email because months later she sent a group email regarding someone spamming it days before. C's facebook on the other hand hasn't been touched by herself or her friends for a good year and a half.

I shouldn't let it bug me and I maybe it is time to move on and leave it as a lost friendship. But it's the memory of how close we were and the fun we had and in all honesty I do miss C. Maybe we were only a student friendship, thrown together under the circumstances and because those gone, the friendship too vanishes. With my time in the UK running out I'd love to be able to have that catch up chat but i'm not sure emailing C will get me anywhere, and emailing is the only form of communication I have left. Is cutting and deleting her on facebook the final end to that friendship?

What would you do bloggers? Would you risk sending another email and risk a wall of silence? Or would you let it go? Do you miss any lost friendships or have your tried to get them back?

I'd love to hear your stories because i'm really really not sure what to do.

Image taken from weheartit.com

Crackles and wedding dates

2011-10-23T11:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we went to the arboretum at Castle Howard which is part of the Kew Garden network, for £5 you get to wander around a vast section of international and British trees set in a gorgeous location of rolling North Yorkshire fields. Visiting became a perfect chance of capturing the oranges, reds and yellows of the autumnal leaves and another excuse to test drive the new camera. What I love most about autumn is the colours and the crackles of walking over fallen leaves and the colours they turn. The more I play and learn about this camera the more I come to love it, there's some things I don't fully understand - especially how it changes the f scale [it does it randomly] but I'm fully at home with using the manual setting; which coming from a point and shoot camera to going fully manual is, in my eyes a big jump.

Tomorrow begins my last week at work, five days and then it's bye bye Boots. I began there as a Christmas temp in 2009 after giving up on a job offer to be a university researcher [why?! - long story] then got pulled into the dispensary. Don't get me wrong it has its really good moments and I've learn loads about medicines but it's not what I went to university [twice] for. I might miss the people but I won't miss the conversation. So our plans are starting to slowly fall into place. Joe booked our wedding venue yesterday while I was out wandering around so that's all nicely sorted - never pictured having a winter wedding and I hope it's dry and not too cold!

And today I finally booked my plane ticket so there's only 16 days left in the UK. Its starting to get very real and nervy lately and there's still lots to do. Next up is a hotel for the evening seeing it's an early morning flight. So my question to you, for your last night in the UK would you splash out for a cosy nicer bed or slum it to save money? Baring in mind I'll be checking out at like 5.30am.

B&W in the country

2011-10-20T14:59:00.000-04:00

Finding the black and white setting on the camera was a bit of an experiment especially when it comes to exposure but the way of learning about fancy camera settings and how to use them to your advantage is to get out there and play. Plus yourself and your camera and you'll find out and learn amazing things. Less then a five minute walk from the parents house is a country lane which throws you right back into the rural world. Off the lane is the allotments where the first and last photograph were taken, the parents grow some flowers there and the b&w tones down the flowers vividness. The dandelion was blowing in the autumn wind which made it catch my eye, I love how the light and the focus makes it look so airy and light, almost fuzzy. At the end of the lane is an old farmhouse, it's slightly lost amongst the back gardens of new homes and opposite is a huge field full of old farm equipment graveyard, old combines, rusty old parts and creaky old out buildings. Moving from this to the outer suburbs of Detroit will be a huge move methinks!

Part seventeen - papers!

2011-10-18T13:18:00.000-04:00

It always seems you have to take what the embassy say with a pinch of salt, from not having to pay before your visa until the day, to in reality having to have your payment receipt to actual be allowed to get in and everything else that occurred last week that nearly sidetracked our plans. When the courier lady declared it would take at least seven to ten working days before i'd receive my papers and passport I was resigned to not getting anything till next week. Then yesterday I got a text from the couriers declaring my visa papers would be delivered tomorrow [as in today]. I was nicely shocked to say the slightest! No doubt I probably annoyed people having to have another day off work but I needed someone to be home to take the parcel, with my ID and sign for it, it's my problem so I couldn't ask my parents to do it really plus with nine working days left at work [well eight now] they'll have to get use to being a man down.

One thing I always hate about waiting in for parcels or delivery people no matter what it might be, is their lax timing for arriving, anywhere between 8am and 6pm - well that's helpful! I was expecting it to be more at the latter end of the scale but surprisingly it was here by 9.30am! Good times. They lady I had part of my interview with at the embassy told me what to do with it once i received it, you have to open it in a certain way so you don't damage or tear the inner envelope. So inside is this hugely A3 paper envelope with huge declarations how I'm not allowed to open it or pack it into my suitcase and how only immigration in Detroit airport can open it when I go through the grueling immigration questioning. Luckily they returned my passport within which they've stuck in a fancy new colourful pages (very much like the design of the American passport) with a new photograph of me, my visa details on it and when I have to get my arse into America by (April 2012). So that's it, I have my papers, I can fly and (hopefully) enter and be with my boy! I should probably be looking at flights but I keep feeling I'm running out of time for when we originally wanted me to fly (November 4th) I still need to sort my banking out and parcel up stuff to send over. Ahhhhh!

They also resent the photocopy of the guidance regarding k-1 visas and how we have to marry within 90 days of me landing - just in case you forgot while doing your application. Luckily the boy's sorting out a lot of the wedding organisation. We have an eye on a date (December 8th); venue; a place for the meal and my dress is hiding in Joe's closet. Exciting!!

A date with China Glaze

2011-10-17T14:43:00.001-04:00

You might think I believe America doesn't have nail varnishes [or lacquer as they call it] with the amounts I'm buying and emigrating with. Nail varnish has become a bit of an addiction lately, after going months without wearing any I now can't go without wearing it, but I will admit to being a bit behind the crowd when it comes to brands and having the top fashionable shades. Going to London was always the perfect excuse to top up, last time it was in buying three Models Own this time I thought I'd expand into China Glaze after working out where Sally's was along Shaftsbury Avenue. From the swatches I did in my hotel room into my note book you can see the three colours [avalanche, fifth avenue and black diamond] which are all China Glaze and the [mushroom] Model's Own. With both these brands I love the huge size bottle your getting [14ml] and the application for both is easy and buys well and fairly quick.

First I've tried China Glaze's Avalanche varnish which is a highly metallic purple silver shade. At Sally's they had China Glaze on 3 for 2 so it was the perfect excuse to test out a range of their products, additionally it comes in huge 14ml bottles so your getting a lot for your money. It applies easily and thickly [I was thinking it was like liquid gold when I was painting my nails] although a second coat finishes it off nicely the thick handle for the brush helps a lot due to it fitting nicely into the hand. Additionally I was nicely surprised how well and quickly it dried, you can see the brush strokes a little - perhaps because of the metallic edge but that might be done to my application rather then the product [who knows?!]. Nevertheless it's really shiny even before applying the top coat. I'm already eyeing up the fifth avenue colour as a potential colour for the wedding day - I think it matches some of the flowers on the dress!

I did really want to buy some OPI varnishes but I couldn't justify one at their price on top of having these four sadly.

What varnishes are you currently craving and adoring? What are peoples experiences with magnetic varnishes - really want to have a go with them but i've heard mixed reviews.

Sunday snaps the London edition

2011-10-16T11:59:00.000-04:00

A Sunday wouldn't be a Sunday without my photographs really so I thought i'd take the opportunity to put up some of my London photographs from my trip there last week. Compared to my normal snap happy attitude I really didn't take that many photographs (I even took my old camera!) I guess I was too busy with hitting Oxford Street and my date with the Embassy. I did treat myself to lots of yummy food; Yo Sushi for tea, a trip to The Diner in Soho for some Philly Steak [would highly recommend] and popping into The Primrose Bakery in Convent Garden. The latter was to get a super yummy lemon cupcake, I loved how it came with it's own paper doily it's those little added extras that impress me. When I went to London in August I popped into Lola's in Selfridge's, yet I think Primrose have the edge on yumminess!

One of the fun parts was getting to go shopping, working in York I get bored of seeing the same old and small shops so it was nice having that proper feeling of shopping in a city especially having a wander around Primark no matter how crazy that place always is. I totally splashed out on nail varnish getting some Models Own - spending the last bit of my money on my boots card and getting 3 for 2 on China Glaze in Sallys. I had to grab the American vibe by popping into Forever 21, I do really like that shop, some of the clothes are hit and miss but they are top on jewellery, luckily there's one near Joe so I can't wait to properly check it out.

This week sees the organisation and move getting into full swing, at least that is the plan. First stop getting some things posted out to the boy - things like books and little bits and pieces and then into the more boring but practical stuff like sorting my banking out - where to start with that i'm not really sure. But more excitedly - only two weeks left at work and a date for the wedding!

Part sixteen - the interview

2011-10-14T15:10:00.000-04:00

So after all the excitement, perhaps it's time to explain the how's about getting through my visa interview. I guess until your actually there you could read a million web pages and experiences and non of them will be like your own and in reality unless your immigrating you might never ever get to step inside that building. Getting into the Embassy at Grosvenor Square was like going through airport security, you line up with your passport and your interview date ready to hand over, your given a see through bag to empty your coins, belts and keys into [your not allowed to take anything electronic into the building, so phones, mp3 players, key fobs, laptops, batteries are all banned - I left mine in the left luggage in Kings Cross].

After getting through the first line, you queue up for security checks, bags and paperwork go into a box to be X rayed while you walk through the security checking device. Then you walk towards the entrance pass lots of armed guards with very scary guns, but you can understand why. Once your in embassy I was given my identification letter and number, this number is the one I waited to hear being called out to go to my interviews. Until then you sit in what resembles an airport departure lounge, rows and rows of seating all facing screens. After getting into the embassy and sitting down at 8:25am it took an hour before I was called for my first of the interviews.

The first part involves handing over my original documents - the police forms, birth certificate and my passport, the lady asked me a few questions about how I met Joe, took my fingerprints and went through the immigration process once I land at my "point of entry" [Detroit airport]. Oddly she knew Detroit so she passed on some really useful information about how to sort and where in down town we need to go to do the next steps to adjust my status. After that she told me to sit back down until my number was called again and to fill out the courier form.

Waiting seems to be what going to the embassy is all about, the second hour wait seemed however to go a lot quicker, and to be honest i did enjoy all the people watching. There was so many types of visas yet along people there, from families, posh city workers, young people, older people, all there to immigrate, and the amount of different passports i saw was amazing. You forget that you're just one person in a sea of millions trying to get to America, I guess it still is a country with a massive draw for people.

An hour later and I was called to see the second person for my more formal interview, checking my fingerprints he got me to swear my details where true, asked about what Joe does for a job, why I was working for Boots with two degrees [I ask myself that a lot] and how we met. He went through my whole file of papers, signing and ticking things - my file is literally one or two inches thick! Than after passing me my documents back and telling me he was keeping my passport he informally just told me go "take your courier sheet to the payment desk because your approved". I walked to the desk with the biggest smile ever on my face.

It will take another 7-10 days to get my passport with all my visa paperwork back then I'm free to enter America and my new life begins. Even two days on from finding out it really hasn't sunk in, next week will be crammed with trying to start sorting everything out. Altogether this part of the "journey" took nine month, we have a couple of months out, we get married and the next steps start all over again.

Thank you to everyone that's ever supported us or wished us well and said well done, it really does mean a lot.

Part fifteen ... approval

2011-10-12T15:38:00.000-04:00

This will only be a super short post, I would apologise as I've only just got in from London and i've been up since 6.30. It's been a very emotional and tiring day but i'll save you all those minor details for another post. But the big big big news is that this girl got her visa approved to be with her boy :D [well it still has to be posted to me and things but again minor issue]. Just want to thank everyone who's supported this whole process and "journey" for the past god knows how many months, we know it's not the end but it's a big hurdle out of the way.

Part fourteen - America calling

2011-10-10T15:10:00.001-04:00

Today I woke up with that achy feeling you get after crying too much and from not having enough sleep. Two sleepless nights and feeling pushes to the limit with the visa finally took its toll. What didn't help matters was a comment on the visa forum that the embassy wouldn't be open today because it's and American bank holiday so i wouldn't be able to sort my payment out. Something however made me go later into work, something made me give them a call just to see if they were open. And thankfully, they were! So now i'm all paid up, receipt in hand and I can wander off to London knowing that pretty much everything is as sorted as it ever could be.

The next post here won't be till after its all sorted, whatever the outcome. If anyone has any spare luck going, feel free to send it my way! But if you fancy knowing the outcome sooner then it'll probably be getting posted upon my twitter.

Wish me luck!

Tears, bombs and some pogs

2011-10-09T13:41:00.000-04:00

This weekend has been fairly pants to say the slightest as anyone that follows me on Twitter might have gathered through my random ahhh moments. Work was rubbish all week and it took me to Wednesday to realise that not one of them had asked either how my birthday had been or even what my boy had got me. Charming. The week dragged so bad and to top it all last night I spent most of it crying because I realised I didn't have an "affidavit of support" for my visa application - the world literally went from under me. That is the instance of not being able to understand the [rubbish] information your provided with upon the embassy website. The affidavit is basically a statement from your visa sponsor, in my case Joe that he can fiancally support me until I work, so 24 pages printed out later of tax returns and pay slips we're somewhere closer. Well I say that even though I messed up another element of my interview - one letter said the k-1 visa is paid for prior to the interview, second letter directs you to a PDF declaring you pay on the day, brilliant I thought - i'll just pay on the day. Well no actually you can only pay before, looks like i'll be late to work because I have to pay up tomorrow morning and get an email payment confirmation. I think any luck regarding this visa is actually running out, i'm not confident anymore, i'm so unbelievably stressed and upset about this whole lark. No one can ever tell me immigration is easy, ever.

I slightly stuck my head in the sand, well into a bowl and did some baking this morning, i've been baking a lot more lately and I think i'm improving! Today I baked my first two recipes from the Mary Berry cook book I received for my birthday - making some St Clementine muffins and some vanilla cupcakes, both taste utterly yum! The rest of the day was spent rather much gutting my bedroom for which three huge black bin liners went into the bin find of the day being some of the old pogs I use to play with at school when I was about nine or ten then followed off with a bath - which felt rather posh having one in the middle of the afternoon. It felt good in an odd way getting rid of a load of junk, yet I still think i've tempted fate too much, i'm not sure how I break it to Joe if I fail to get my visa.

Yesterday, when things were still more rosy looking I brought myself a brand new camera. I've been thinking about getting a brand new one to improve on the former 6MP camera that normally is the instrument behind my blog photographs. I ended up buying a Fuji S3300 bridge camera [basically a camera that looks like a DSLR but without the change of lens], I wanted a DSLR but i'm a very lucky girl and i'm being treated to one for a birthday present from the boy, plus we needed a more "everyday" camera that wouldn't take up space needing a load of lenses, I sometimes don't fancy being in the middle of downtime Detroit or going around everyday with a hugely expensive camera. So far so good though, i'm trying to get my head around all the fancy features and trying to opt for the more manual options the first of which is the dying flower head photographed above.

Does anyone else remember playing with pogs? Got any exciting plans for the week ahead?

Part thirteen .. questions, questions, questions

2011-10-06T13:14:00.001-04:00

One of the things I panic a lot about when it comes to the visa is all the protential quesitons they might ask about our relationship - the visa i'm on [the k-1] is basically a non immigrant visa which lets me into the USA for 90 days within which we have to marry. Then we attempt to adjust my status and that's another battle in itself. First we need to prove we have a proper relationship, and it's more then just showing you have the odd photograph together. I know I shouldn't worry - because what we have is proper and i'm not mail order bride, but its the not knowing what they want to hear. The questions [well sample ones you can find on the internet] are pretty straight forward but drive you in circles dusting over the "how did you meet", birthday dates, addresses, places of work then needing to know things like;

When is your birthday - your in trouble if you don't know this one me thinks ...

What is your fiancées designation at work ... i'll tell you after i've worked out what designation means ... job er social worker?

Did you have an engagement party ... are you for real? It's hard enough trying to get to see each other yet along get a party organised for an engagement. To be honest I know few couples who ever have had an engagement party.

What do your parents think of your engagement and did you make a formal announcement ... no comment - swiftly moving along ....

Why are you getting married in the U.S and not your home country ... cuz we just are, i can't really explain why apart from me hating my job, hating living at home and Joe having a career, a job, a car, a cat ...

Do you understand your finances language ... well he does use funny words like sidewalk, freeway, trunks, pants for trousers but I can improve it ...

Can you show proof of your arrangements to marry - to be honest this is rich. Countless countless times your reminded NOT to book any plans or flights or weddings because you might just not get your visa, so why would you go booking venues and send out dated invites when your wedding might not happen?! All we have is some stamped out invites and a wedding dress hung up in my boy's cupboard.

The easiest of the questions though; what do you love about your ficance ... he's my best friend, my rock, my guy that I giggle with, he's caring, affectionate, passionate, sweet, caring, and funny. I love how he makes me feel inside, and i love the tingles I get with him. Why wouldn't I want to be with a guy like that?!

The adjustment of status questions are even worse - requesting details of your housing arrangement and where you keep your rubbish in the kitchen apparently sometimes I wonder how many "normal" relationships could answer those questions. But I think i'll worry about these questions first.

So please Mr Visa don't think what we don't have isn't real, it made be based over a huge distance and we may not physically have spent loads of time together, but I know damn sure what we have is amazing special ... how else have we managed to do this for over two years?!

Head down and back to swotting!

Day to night

2011-10-05T14:23:00.001-04:00

Times Square

Central Park

Washington Square Park

I somehow stumbled over Stephen Wilkes works on a wander around the internet, images of different New York landmarks from Times Square to Central Park. The images are taken across 24 hours and then merged together, often producing one image featuring between 30 to 50 images. The end results offers a glimpse into the city that really doesn't sleep, yet a somewhat eerie element of time never stopping, playing with light and darkness.

I'm a bit sort on blog inspiration at the moment, i'm not really buying anything because of moving because i'm trying to save suitcase space and my head's having a constant panic about my interview next Wednesday. I try not to ramble on about it because it makes me panic more, I don't want to tempt fate and i'm not sure how repetitive I sound by posting it a lot. Plus I just feel like i'm having a rubbish week.

So bare with me, it'll be back to normal soon catch me on twitter until then.

Article from which the above images where taken from can be found at the Daily Mail website.

Give away winner ....

2011-10-04T14:24:00.001-04:00

After what seems an age since I started the MUA heaven and earth palatte give away I'm pleased to announce the winner as .... Nadin who blogs over at Happiness Blvd. While her laptop is currently fried at the moment [how I know that tale too well myself] her blog is a fabulous showcase of make-up, beauty and life. I'm more then happy that the palatte will be going to a good home and definitely go check her blog out!

Thank you for everyone that entered - it was real fun running it and i've definitely caught the bug to post some more, it was rather exciting working all your enteries out and using random.org to pick the winner. I've managed to gather together some samples [Clarins and Dove among others] which might just be the next give away in forthcoming weeks so stay tuned if you fancy being up for that!

Nadin - i'll email you and we'll sort the details about posting you your goodie!

October calls

2011-10-02T12:09:00.000-04:00

So that is September down and now we roll into a rather hot October. October is going to be the make or break month regarding my visa, i'm very very excited yet nervy at the same time. In ten days I have my visa interview which will be the conclusion of nine months of the visa adventure, i'm actually having to swot up on my relationship, learn all those facts about the family of your OH and knowing point down to where he works, lives, where he was born. Its odd having to dissect your relationship into such detail. I even handed in my notice last week even though that's a massive thing to do in the tempting fate lines. I just couldn't face having my interview and having to work the four weeks notice on top of that. They seem to be messing me over on holiday pay and days i'm owned and making me change all my days off to help other people and la la la. I really can't wait to leave. I'd rant about the company but I won't go along those lines.

But being a planner and organiser, I had all my days off sorted into gutting my room but everything has been thrown into the air and I have this huge panic about running out of time to properly sort through my things. Today I managed to [re]find three lush bath bombs and one lush soap, they look like they might have been there a few years [the date on one labels is 2009 I will admit] but I'm sure it'll be fine - I'm rather looking forward to having three baths to use them up!

When I wasn't sorting [or eating those yummy cupcakes from the boy] today was spent having a BBQ - who'd have thought that would be possible in the UK in October and I've had my head in Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge - about the history and life of the man behind that London shop - it's very interesting! Now it's time to work out who won the MUA giveaway - exciting stuff!

Have you ever re-found anything exciting? What you all looking forward to this October?

Now i'm 25 ...

2011-10-01T13:51:00.000-04:00

It's odd saying i'm now 25 [as of yesterday] feel like I should be growing up and not living at home, nevertheless it was rather nice actually having a birthday with some sunshine, that's a rarity! I came home to find a HUGE interflora box with these gorgeous flowers from my boy - i'd love to tell you what all the flowers are but my knowledge is limited to merely the pink roses, lilies and orchids. Then there was a second red box filled with the most yummy personalised chocolate cupcakes. All from my boy - i'm a very lucky girl. The rest of the presents are from my folks - including luggage tags, travel adaptors, a Mary Berry cookbook [since I love seeing her in the Great British Bake Off] chocolate and hair stuff. I got some money too, just need to work out which camera I want to put it towards - it's a hard decision!

I thought it was about time to mention that I finally jumped into the bandwagon and got a Twitter. Half of it's due to forthcoming changes with this blog and half starting to hate all the changes on facebook and how suddenly hard it is to navigate around. There's something more fun about twitter when it comes to posting my random rambles. If you fancy following along then please do!

Kenmore vintage sewing machine

2011-09-30T15:35:00.000-04:00

Joe went to the Salvo's looking for a bedside cabinet for my side of the bed and came back with this American Kenmore vintage sewing machine. I'm a very lucky girl but what's even better is that it's electric and it still works. It's model no. [117-59 - the only model made during this period and was also named the Kenmore Imperial Rotary sewing machine] was manufactured in 1942 - its a total beast of it's time, it's sleek, smooth design is much more rounded and modernised in comparison to my 1936 Singer built only 8 years before.

Kenmore [a brand name used by the Sear's company] first appeared and only stayed for one year in 1913. It was later to reappear in 1934 manufacturing until the onset of America's involvement in WWII in 1942 - the result of the shortage of materials necessary to make the machines. The closer of the war however didn't brighten the future of Kenmore who began to suffer from the withdrawal of import tariffs, as a result it was becoming increasingly more economic for the public to buy imported goods. Kenmore ended it's sewing machine history of American models in 1958, with it's name only appearing on Japanese made machines after this date.

It comes complete with it's original sewing table, i'm debating how to clean it up, maybe a good go with some furniture polish will get rid of the dents in the wood and make it shine once again. I really can't wait to get my hands upon the machine and give it a good rub down! I bet with a bit of loving it can really shine again, saying that for it's age and for being found where it was, I think it's in rather good condition. But what can I make with it first?!

But the secret about what is the best thing about this sewing is what is in the drawer to the underside of the accompanying chair ...

After I've moved i'll do some of my geeky snap happy photographs and show this girl off some more - i totally can't wait to have a full nosey in that drawer, it looks crammed full of goodies! Made my 25th birthday today a little more memorable.

MUA starry night palatte

2011-09-28T15:14:00.000-04:00

I thought it would be fitting to review the MUA palette I brought myself while i'm still holding my give away. After realising I was on the verge of turning 25 with hardly any eye shadows at all, I thought something had to be done about it. Following all the blogs that I do, I've noticed a marked liking for palettes, particularly ones by MUA, which seeing they are at my end of the market I thought it would be worthy of checking - not many pennies would be lost if I went back to my non eye shadow ways.

From the Pro range I was most attracted to this the Starry Night palatte which features pans of colours from palest of greys through to denim blues, purples, pinks and some verging on black - colours merely reflecting the tones of clothes I tend to wear outside of work. As with most of the MUA range they are all highly pigmented, they blend effortlessly together and while the shimmery my be a bit youthful and "cheap" to some, I find it slightly refreshing.

Retailing at superdrug for only £4 its well worth trying, not being an expert I can't rate it against its higher end counterparts but i'd definitely consider purchasing another similar palatte.

Have you tried any MUA palettes? Which other brands do you rate?

Remember you can still enter the MUA heaven and earth palatte give away

Tell me about yourself award ...

2011-09-27T05:35:00.001-04:00

I've been happy nominated by two of my favourite bloggers [Charr and Sophie] in the last couple of weeks which means a lot - it's nice to have some recognition for your writing even if what you do is for a hobby. The rules of acceptance are simple - linking back to who awarded you, revealing some secrets about yourself and passing the award on.

So some facts;

1) I've never driven a car, ever [and i'm nearly 25].

2) Chip butties have to be one of my favourite all time meals.

3) I still listen to The Backstreet Boys.

4) I don't believe in much belief wise, but anything that tempts fate scares me.

5) Joe is the only person I know irl who reads my blog [that's probably for the best]
6) I'd rather be too cold then too warm.
7) I totally swear by tripadvisor when it comes to sorting trips - it's a godsend that website!

Passing it on;

Geek marries chic

The woollen mitten

With love Jen

The blog of worldly delights

Tales of a little hazzlenut

I could link tens of other blogs and bloggers who's words and blogs totally inspire me so that list is far from definitive. Right better get back to having a productive day off and book some train tickets and a hotel for the visa date with the USA. Ooo it's getting rather real and exciting now!

Blog giveaway: MUA heaven and earth give away open till midnight Saturday 1st October 2011. Click here to enter!

The crows are coming for us

2011-09-25T11:51:00.000-04:00

It was my weekend off, finally after two very long weeks at work especially with the bitchy hicup mid week but we're over that for now at least. I love weekends off, or just having two consecutive days off together, which is often rare makes the thought of having months off after I move, very, very appealing. Yesterday I spent baking - attempted some marbled chocolate cupcakes and some cappuccino squares with a white chocolate topping. Both turned out a lot better then I expected, i'm slowly getting into the baking lark, especially with watching the Great British Bake Off [anyone else totally addicted to this BBC show?!], although i'm a very messy baker in comparison.

With all the photography magazines I end up buying lately I started a scrapbook of inspiring images that catch my eye or techniques or equipment to keep up with. Just cutting and gluing takes me back to my childhood and kept me entertained for much of Saturday afternoon, i'm still unsure what extent of photographic talent i have but photography definitely is becoming one of my favourite pastimes. And Sunday wouldn't be a Sunday without some flower photos and I was lucky enough again to catch some shots of the bees, one of the reasons why I want to upgrade camera wise is to home in on macro shots such as this.

We have the strange hope of me moving the first week in November, that means I probably should really sorting things out and handing in my notice at work. It's starting to feel very very real lately, just knowing there's that one [expensive] step left. But that's this weeks task - to book trains tickets and hotels for my interview and sort out when i'm leaving my job. Maybe it's too presumptuous to leave my job before getting my visa, I hope it's not tempting fate too much. Either way it's my last week of being 24, 25 is starting to sound very grown up.

Don't forget to enter my MUA Heaven and Earth giveaway - you have until midnight [UK time] on Saturday 1st of October to be in for a chance of winning! [just enter on the linked post]

MUA give away

2011-09-24T13:35:00.000-04:00

As a part of a huge thank you for everyone that's helped keep up the positivity with the visa lark I thought it was about time I did a blog give away. Not to mention surpassing 350 followers and it being my 25th birthday at the end of the month, I may have been blogging for over two years but i've yet to do a give away - it's time to correct that. Being the first little experiment I thought i'd give away something small but hopefully it's something people would like enough to partake!

If you've been around blogs lately you'll notice the success of the MUA's Heaven and Earth palatte, with it being hard to come across in some Superdrug stores once I saw it I new this would be the perfect thing to give away. So for one lucky follower here's your chance to get your hands on one!

Rules and small print

To enter;
1. You must be following this blog on google friends connect.

2. Please comment below and leave your contact email address so I can contact you if your the winner.

3. For an extra chance mention and link to this page on your own blog - just post the link in the comments below.

4. The giveaway is open to international entries.

5. It will remain open until midnight Saturday 1st October 2011 BST with the winner announced within a few days.
6. The chosen winner will be generated through using random.org.

Good luck to everyone!

** this competition is now closed, thank you to everyone that participated **

Part twelve; letter letter

2011-09-22T14:23:00.002-04:00

Total sods law that the day after ranting and somewhat raving about not having my visa interview letter and therefore date, the next day it appears in the post. For such an important, international thing they always come in such unremarkable envelopes and the most plain looking text - when I got my first letter I actually wondered if it was real they are that plain. After all the hassle and the upset, of suddenley fearing it had all been lost in the post, i'd failed my medical but they couldn't get through to tell me, of them trying to break me and Joe up, i've been summon for interview in London on October 12th.

And you pretty much do get summoned, i've heard it's more then hard to get your interview date and time alletered, luckily it seems a good enough day to me just have to shell out yet another £200 odd pounds for the pleasure. Its also come in one day under the average processing time for this section, a massive 78 days over the average of 79.

So in just under three weeks we'll hopefully know the final outcome. My papers started being processed on January 18th 2011 so it will be just over nine months till we got to the interview date. It's been a long hard, unhappy and challenging process at times but i'm glad we have a date sorted. It helps just knowing you have something to focus towards.

If anyone knows anywhere locker, eurocar or hotels in central London, say around Marylebone across to Kings Cross south towards and around Grosvenor Square where you can leave left luggage that would be an amazing help.

Part eleven; stress.

2011-09-20T14:20:00.000-04:00

You might have noticed I haven't blogged anything about my visa lark for about a month, well it's time to admit I'd stressed and not coping too well with it all. What topped it off today was the same woman laughing in my face for not having my interview date, it took huge effort to just not burst into tears on the shop floor.

I had a somewhat stupid idea that after having my medical everything would fal into place really quick, that I'd be having my interview around about now and moving in a month or so. Yeah right. It's this utter wall of silence from the embassy that i really can't deal with, you hear nothing, not one little word and you hear of people going through the whole process four times the speed your going through, it's just like how?! What are the secrets? Apart from angry phone calls to the embassy which while i'm tempted apparently is a very costly business [something over a pound a minute]. And everyone moans about how immigration is meant to be easy?

This somewhat delays most probably ruling out the wedding till December if not till next year. So much for the November the 10th and Chicago as the honeymoon. Everything seems to be failing. To say I'm not stressed may be somewhat of an understatement and over coming the urge for tears isn't fun. Especially at work. But that's what you get for trying to sort out a wedding before you have a visa. Now it just feels like they are trying to push us apart, i'm scared i'll never see my boy again.

What makes everything so much harder is how much I miss Joe, i'm sick of pretending to people outside of me and Joe that i'm strong and that not seeing him doesn't bother me, because in reality I hate it. I don't rant and i don't rave about our relationship because i'm not that kind of person. I actually hate it when people go on and on about their private lives, so to to other people i'm very quiet about what's occurring. But this silence is associated with a strength and a toughness that being apart doesn't bother me. I utterly hate being apart. Hate, hate, hate. It's all so incredibly hard not being with him at the moment, I know there's people in far harder and greater, and more distant relationships out there and I sound like i'm whining and moaning. I am grateful and thankful for having such an amazing guy, a guy that actually wants to make this work. It's just hard being without him physically and being able to touch him and see him when I wake up.

Guess need to pull myself together and plaster on a smile yet I know tomorrow at work I'll get the same daily question from the woman who laughed, and I just know she'll laugh at me all over again.

Picture taken from weheartit.com

Another unsuspecting Sunday afternoon

2011-09-18T13:06:00.003-04:00

I was starting to think because the days are drawing closer, the colours of the flowers are changing and plants start dying off there wouldn't be too much to keep photographing. I guess my luck was in today. We have a mass of tiny [well in comparison to their proper counterparts] sunflowers - all grown from all the fallen sunflower seeds under the bird feeder. There was about twenty or so of the stalks growing at one point, but there's only two flowering. I love the loud in your face rowdiness and colour sunflowers have.Yet the photographs of the bee where just pure, pure luck.

Most of today was spent listen to random music, starting some sewing - [it's been so long] and watching all the rain showers that the afternoon brought in, so I hope you've all had better weather then it's been here in East Yorkshire. As for the week ahead it's the same old same old. looking forward to doing some baking at the weekend and possibly might have to start looking into the whereabouts of this visa interview letter seeing after four weeks we're had no word. Whoever claimed immigration was easy?!

25th Birthday Wishlist

2011-09-17T14:04:00.000-04:00

I don't often post wishlists on here, if ever, but i'm using my forthcoming 25th birthday at the end of the month as an excuse. There's a bit of a photography theme methinks.

Wants; Power: Portraits of World Leaders book by Platon, Vivian Maier - Street Photographer book, La Sardina Lomography Camera [with our without a flash and with out of date films would be nice], Samsung NX11 Compact Systems Camera, Models Own Nail Varnishes [any colour], H and M flower hair clips, SNOG recipe book.

Oh and a birthday cake - a really big birthday cake.

What you all coveting lately?

Vivian Maier

2011-09-15T14:24:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you just stumble upon images, or people; or both and you totally associate and fall for their work. This happened to me with the photographic work of Vivian Maier through a showcase of her work within this months issue of Photography Magazine. Born in the United States, Maier was raised in France only to return to her home country at the age of 25 with a camera. Becoming a nanny, her spare time was spent photographing the everyday occurences upon the streets around her; showcasing the people; events, society and the life of middle 20th century America mostly Chicago and New York mainly in black and white and shooting "at the hip". Yet the majority of her work remained unprinted yet along acknowledged, it was only till they were found among an auction lot. I'm more then glad they are finally having their chance of seeing the light of day and I thought with my love of photography I just had to share some of her work upon my blog.

Seeing her work has really inspired me to try and focus on taking some real "streetlife" photographs, I know people possibly don't like being in random strangers photographs so it won't be an easy mission, but I think it would be fun to at least try. Watch this space.

If you want to see more of Vivian Maier's work [which is where all the above images are taken from] I urge you to check out the website in her honour.

Nail whitening - denture tablets verses lemon juice

2011-09-13T12:59:00.001-04:00

So this is the case of the denture tablet verses lemon juice. When I posted last Sunday about having somewhat stained nails due to my constant nail varnish abuse I was stuck by the two ideas people were giving. That of plain old lemon freshly squeezed juice and denture tablet. Two simple things both of which are cheap and easy to get hold of. I couldn't escape a little experiment to see which was the most effective at restoring my finger nails to their former glory.

My finger nails before hand - the left hand was typical of the staining on both right and left which you can see starts midway into the whites of my nails, not sure if the picture demonstrates it but my nails were very dry.

So what you need is pretty simple most of which you might have around your house or you can get hold of really cheaply at your local supermarket or market. The fresh lemon can be replace with enough tablespoons of bottled lemon juice whereas the denture tablets are Tesco's own brand.

I used one hand for each of the products, the left for the freshly squeezed lemon juice and the right for the denture tablets. Squeezing the lemon juice into one bowl and filling it up with tepid water [reading up on the Internet some websites recommend water, some don't, some say hot, some say cold], the denture tablet was left to fully dissolve in tepid water. I filled the bowls up so there was enough to cover all my nails before placing each hand [although separately to be able to take some photographs] into the mixtures for ten minutes each. After using either of the products make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after and use plenty of hand cream afterwards.

The results;

With regards to the lemon juice, there was little improvement. One word of warning I wouldn't recommend using this is you have some cuts [however small on your fingers] because they get a little sore! There was some improvement with the colouring, however it was only slight with considerable yellowing still on the upper part of my nails. This is especially so in comparison to the results via the denture tablets. Although they aren't super white and there is a presence of some markings left, there was a greater whitening compared to the lemon juice.

You shouldn't expect miracles with either product but if your fancying something that's easy and cheap then I wouldn't recommend giving it a go, especially the denture tablets, I could see them being very effective if perhaps leaving your fingers in the bowl for an extra five or so minutes.

Refilling vintage powder compacts

2011-09-12T14:17:00.000-04:00

It all started with the pure need for some more powdered foundation and I never thought it would end up in refilling one of my vintage compacts. In York there's a discount beauty shop called Zest [you'll find it mid way between Superdrug and Boots] where they tend to sell lesser known products or discounted lines. I'd eyed up the Max Factor Creme Puff foundation for a mere £3.99 and thought bargain!

This Max Factor Creme Puff works out to the the perfect size for refilling and replacing powder in your vintage compacts. It even helps that the foundation pan, with a little digging out [with a little help with something sharp and pointy - mind your fingers!] is very easy to part from the plastic casing. Now you just need to find a vintage powder compact ...

Your best working with a post 1950 circular vintage powder compact - they are not only more regular in size in comparison to foundations that are available on the market today, but it means you can reuse compacts that are more readily available and are therefore cheaper to get hold of and you won't be risking using an older more rarer compact. The compact I chose to use is one i've apparently never mentioned on my blog before. I found it with a Melissa compact in a local compact shop priced at £5. Branded wise it's unmarked with only a "made in England" stamped around the mirrored rim, but the cover emalling was in perfect condition. I only had one other compact that this Max Factor powder would have fitted - one of my first that I rescued from my gran, it would have been a sweet idea to have brought new life and re used it, but I didn't want to risk the foundation damaging the already old Stratton compact.

After removing the foundation pan from your new foundation just pop it into your compact, there's no need to stick or glue it in place especially if your compact as a circular holder in place, any adhesive may even ruin the bottom of the compact.

Finally just click the holder back into place and your all ready to reuse your compact! A really helpful website/blog is The Powder Compact Dairies which has headed up a guide of other suitable modern foundations which you can use if your tempted. Aside from the Creme Puff by Max Factor, your looking for pans with a 67mm diameter, this includes Rimmel Stay Matte and Estee Lauder Lucidity. If you have a smaller pan (say the 59mm diameter) then have a look into using foundations by Boots 17, MAC, Benefit, Lancome and Bourjois.

What do you think? Have you ever given new life to a vintage beauty piece? Would you be tempted too?