Monday 28 May 2012

Summer Pampering!!

What a beautiful weekend it has been!
Liam & I headed back to my folks house in Surrey, and spent the weekend catching up with everyone & enjoying the glorious sunshine!

I had a very naughty day Saturday, full of pampering & shopping. (Lucy Heaven) ... My lovely cousins own/work in a gorgeous nail & beauty Salon in Crawley, West Sussex... so me, my mum & my twin sister headed down there together for the afternoon!

I had a full body St Tropez Spray Tan, and a Shellac on my finger nails. Felt so nice to be pampered and prettified!
I was so nervous about having the spray tan as I've never done anything like that before, but I wanted to have a practice run before our wedding, to make sure I liked it & would be happy to have it on my wedding day. The verdict....oh yes! I love it! The treatment was so quick & easy, lovely & cooling in this heat, & the results were instant. It really perks up your confidence & you just feel healthier with a little spring in your step! Also it makes your teeth look whiter! Fab! I will definitely be returning for another spray tan for the wedding, and who knows, I might just make it a semi-regular treat. :-)

I also adore having my nails done, I tend to opt for a manicure or a Shellac rather than a set of false nails, as my own nails are long & pretty strong. I always enjoy nail pampering as I used to bite my nails terribly! So having pretty nails is still a novelty for me. I went for a pretty bright pink varnish & by the time I left the salon I was feeling extremely summery!

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping & I found two awesome bargains! A stunning floral summer dress from Laura Ashley for £35 from £70 in the sale, and the most beautiful 50's style half bodice bra & matching knickers from Debenhams for £21 from £30. :-) Bargain central!!!

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with my aunt, uncle, brother, sister, mum, stepdad & cousin-at a party on sat night & a BBQ on Sunday! The weather was perfect, the food was scrummy & the Pimms was free flowing....absolute bliss!!!

Its just such a shame that Monday comes back round again so soon! :-(

Lucy xxx

Beautiful Nails Salon, Crawley...

http://www.beautifulnailssalon.co.uk/

Ps. Mum's Jubilee inspired birthday cake went down SO well, and was pretty much demolished by Sunday night :-)

Friday 25 May 2012

Jubilee Birthday Cake

I'm off home to visit my mum this weekend, and it's sort of become tradition that when it's a birthday at home that I'll bake a cake.

So last night I made a Jubilee inspired cake for Mum, as it was her birthday this week. And I have to say I'm really pleased with how it turned out!

It's a vanilla sponge, sandwiched with blackcurrant & strawberry jams, clotted & double cream, with a 'union jack' of fruit across the top.

It is by no means slimming (clotted cream, sugar, butter etc) BUT it does have lots of lovely fresh summer fruit, :-) so not ALL bad.

At 674 calories per 8th, I think I'll be going for just half a slice! But as a lovely birthday treat I'm sure it will go down marvellously.

I got my inspiration from the GOOD TO KNOW website...

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/534321/jubilee-cake

Love Lucy xxxx

Wednesday 23 May 2012

It is my Mumma's birthday!

Today (23.5.12) is my lovely Mumma's 55th Birthday, and although I can't be there with her today as i am working in Bedford, and she's in Surrey, I will be there with her to celebrate at the weekend! I took her presents down ahead of time & will be bringing her a home baked jubilee inspired birthday cake on Friday night!

I thought today would be a nice time to share all the things that remind me of, and make me think of my mum. What if I had to sum her up in words, what would I say? If I had to describe her in pictures which ones would I show you?

After mum falling so ill this year it really has bought home to me how lucky I am to have her. I'm so glad she is recovering well. I honestly don't know what I'd do without her!

My lovely mum ...

Freesias, Oscar perfume, long nails, chunky jewellery, knitting, eternal beau crockery, Portuguese rose, pink hedgehog jumper, per una, cups of tea, chocolate brazil nuts, dancing like a mad woman, roast dinners, Facebook games, laptop, humming all the time, casualty, the soaps, birds of a feather, Richmond Theatre, dancing with Elvis, can't get back on boats, haven holidays as a kid, Rod Stewart music when I was small, Homemade scotch eggs, Trips to Tilgate Park when I was small, nans jewellery, silly birds nest hat, our yellow starlet car when I was a kid, her lovely blonde hair, Tupperware, her "Monger" smile. My Mumma! Xxxxxxx

Thursday 17 May 2012

Beautiful Lace

This is the beautiful work of Bedford-based artist Arabel Rosillo de Bias, who has created this stunning lace installation/sculpture in the windows of
Number One St Paul's Square in Bedford. It's part of the work of the Bedford Creative Arts team, who are working to continue the long-standing lace making tradition in Bedford and ensure the younger generation are able to carry on this beautiful intricate tradition.

I've been lucky enough to watch Arabel weave her magic when she was lace making at a WI 'stitch & bitch' night, and it is truly remarkable to watch, the work looks so complex and intricate!

I love walking past this building daily & admiring her beautiful work!

Lucy likes!!

Xxxx

Monday 14 May 2012

Weightloss Update

Well, I'm now 8 and a half months into my weight loss, and am pleased to say I dropped another 3lbs this week, leaving me at a total weightloss of 3 stones and 12 pounds, 2 pounds to go until I've lose 4 stones. I'm so happy with that and really proud of myself. It has by no means been easy, but it's not as complicated and hard as I had it mapped out in my head.
Here is the secret...

Eat in moderation.

Write down everything you eat (I really recommend My Fitness Pal for iPhone or on PC)

Do more.

That's it! It really is that simple!

So although I don't look like the image below, I am at least nearly 4 stones lighter than I was, and well on my way to being much happier in my own skin.

Lots of Love

Lucy xxx

Saturday 12 May 2012

ANITA KLEIN - LINOCUTS EXHIBITION

What an AMAZING day!

We set out early this morning to The Menier Chocolate Factory in London to see my very favourite artist Anita Klein's new exhibition of Linocuts, I have been looking forward to this event for ages - it was an invitation-only collectors exhibition (I can call myself a collector as I do own an original print by her, which is my most prized possession in the world!) and I was not disappointed. The exhibition was amazing - the linocuts in the flesh are just insane - so so beautiful, and full of gorgeous colours and such lovely subject matter! Her work is so 'real' and everything she does makes me smile.

It was absolutely awesome to see Anita in the flesh, and listen to her really interesting talk about her process of making lino-cut prints, I feel like I can appreciate her work even more now that I understand the process and all that goes into it.
My jaw was dropping the whole way round the exhibition, and the whole experience was topped off by some lovely bucks fizz, and delicious canapés - we really were so spoilt! The only thing that could have topped it off was being able to have enough disposable income to purchase a second original piece of her art work....one day...!
Some of my favourite pieces.....
Anita Klein Linocuts Exhibition 2012
Yay, i was SO excited waiting to go in!

Summer Light by Anita Klein
Summer Light ... stunning!

'Nige Gets In My Bath' by Anita Klein
Nige Gets in my Bath (one of my very favourites!)

'Windy Day'  'Monday Morning' 'Before I Sleep' by Anita Klein
Windy Day/ Monday Morning / Before Sleep

'Catching Stars' by Anita Klein
One of my favourite from the exhibition ... Catching Stars

Anita Klein with her printer Sanju
Anita herself, talking with her printer Sanju

After the exhibition Liam and I headed down the road to Borough Market for a wander...I just so love all the gorgeous food and produce on offer at the market - I'd love to live near a market like that and be able to wander down and buy lovely fresh food every weekend! It smelt so amazing, and we had a few little sneaky tastes of some of the delicious foods on offer. :-)

Borough Market, London

Fresh produce at Borough Market, London

Fresh veg at Borough Market, London

Meringues at Borough Market, London

After Borough Market we walked to the Embankment (another of my favourite parts of London!) and had a very yummy lunch at Wagamamma - I had a big plate of Ginger Chicken Udon and a lovely side of veggies, and it was to die for! I always eat the same thing when I go to Wagamamma...what do you order?

Once we'd eaten and wandered a bit more my back had pretty much nearly given up the ghost (blooming slipped discs!) so we headed back home...after a little shopping at St Pancras International, of course! Well..it would have been rude not to! Isn't St Pancras just the most awesome train station EVER?

Oooh and when I bought a rose hand cream and berry lip balm in The Body Shop at St Pan I had a lovely surprise of being given a special promotional goodie bag - FULL of awesome freebies - when does that ever happen in real life? :-) Liam didn't believe I'd got it all for free - I had to show him the receipt!! Hehehe!

The Body Shop goodies
Body Shop Freebies! 

What a lovely day we've had!

Do you guys have a favourite artist? 

Have you ever visited their exhibitions?

Lucy
xxx