Monthly Archives: October 2013

Weekend Photo Challenge: OOTD and Unsuspecting Subject

Posted in Family Life, Fashion by

Tartan skirt

I dug deep into the back of my wardrobe for today’s outfit. Or, to be more specific, my husband was dispatched into the loft to locate a tartan skirt that I bought 17 years ago from a high street chain called Morgan (It was French I think. Does anyone remember it or know what happened to it? I used to buy a lot of things from there in my teens and early 20s). I’m not a big hoarder but there are some things I’ve held on to, including this skirt which I bought when I was doing an internship at a fashion magazine. There are also a handful of pieces which I got rid of that I now regret such as a pair of black knee high lace-up boots that I wore all the time at university. The black top with ruched sleeves is from Zara’s kids section and the necklace was a birthday present from a friend.

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Today’s unsuspecting subject is none other than Casper who turned seven today! Here he is (a few days ago) in his school uniform checking out his new Ben Ten watch. It was an early morning for us today as we got up at 7.15am to sing happy birthday to Casper, eat cake and watch him open his presents which included a new scooter, Lego and a Wii game.

Despite rain being forecast, the sun is shining and it’s shaping up to be a beautiful Autumn day. Happy Sunday to you all! X

T.G.I.F

Posted in Family Life by

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Friday again – my favourite day of the week and the start of the weekend. If I’m completely honest, with three children of varying ages I sometimes find weekends exhausting as we’re constantly ferrying them around to various activities and parties. This weekend there are no less than three parties plus Casper’s birthday on Sunday – his party is not until next weekend, thankfully.

By contrast, Friday afternoons are normally a quiet affair. There’s no homework or after school activities, I usually make something nice for dinner and we all just potter around doing our own thing. Sometimes the boys have play dates but today the whole gang is home – the boys are upstairs listening to music and building Lego, Clemmie is playing with the train set and I’m catching up on emails and writing my blog. I have so many blog posts in my head and written out in the note section of my phone, but I just haven’t had the time this week to actually put them together, find pictures and edit them etc. Oh well, there’s always next week…

Friday night is movie night in our house so after dinner there will be popcorn and sweets in front of a film. The boys have a strict system (that they’ve come up with themselves) in place for choosing the film – one of them will pick their top five movies and then the other one will choose which one to watch that night. Then, once they’re in bed, unless we’re going out my husband and I will also watch a movie although tonight I think we will probably plough through another two or three episodes of House of Cards which we’ve just discovered.

Which is your favourite day of the week?

XXX

Recipe – Lasagne without the Pasta

Posted in Food & Recipes by

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I hardly ever eat pasta at home as my husband suffers from coeliac disease and has to avoid all wheat and gluten. The kids will often have spaghetti bolognese or other pasta dishes for their tea and occasionally my husband will make us all a carbonara with gluten free spaghetti on a weekend (although he is not mad about the taste or texture). Over time I have got used to cooking rice, potatoes or just vegetables to go with whatever meat/chicken/fish we’re having. Sometimes though, on a chilly autumn night, I long for a bowl of lasagne with a nice glass of red wine. So I was delighted to come across a recipe which uses thin courgette slices instead of the traditional pasta sheets. As well as being great for anyone with a gluten allergy, it also works for those trying to cut down on the carbs.

I make my own version of bolognese (slightly spicy with a splash of double cream) but you can use whatever recipe you like for the meat sauce.

1 onion – chopped

garlic oil or 1-2 garlic cloves and olive oil

500 g beef mince

1 can chopped tomatoes

2-3 teaspoons Sambal Oelek (or Thai red chilli paste)

1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

a splash of red wine

2-3 tablespoons double cream

1-2 courgettes – finely sliced lengthways, I use a cheese slicer (bought from Ikea) to make the slices really thin

Cheese sauce: 400-500 ml creme fraiche mixed with 300 ml grated cheese

Turn the oven to 175c. Fry the onion and garlic until softened. Add the mince, breaking it up with a fork or spatula. Let it brown then add the other ingredients and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Alternate the courgette slices, bolognese and cheese sauce in an oven proof rectangular dish, topping it with a sprinkle of grated cheese. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes and serve with vegetables or a green salad (and a glass or two of Vino Rosso for that authentic Italian taste)

We Are (WordPress) Family

Posted in Uncategorized by

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The lovely and totally brilliant Life Confusions very kindly nominated me for the WordPress Family Award last week. Thank you so much, I am very honoured.

It took me quite a long time to pluck up the courage to start my own blog. Some of the questions going through my mind were: Will anyone want to read it? What if they think I’m rubbish? And how will I deal with any nasty comments?

Well, my blog is still tiny but a few people seem to enjoy reading it which makes me very happy. What has really floored me though (in a good way) is the warmth and friendship that flow through this whole blogosphere. Most of my blog friends I will probably never meet in real life (mainly due to the distance between us) but it’s comforting to know that there are so many lovely souls out there. And if I do ever travel to any of the places where you live, rest assured that I will let you know.

So without further ado, here are some of the wonderful people I consider part of my WordPress family:

Kukolina

Read, Sugar

Chic Avenue Daily

Long and Luxe

Design Mischief

Mason Bentley Style

The London Mum

Beth Byrne

58 Day Dreams

DonzWebb

Shiny Green Life

Fashion Sky Fall

Here are rules:
1. Ping back to the person who gave you the Award (Me)
2. Display the Award
3. Nominate 10 people you look to as almost Family here on Word Press”

Thank you so much for your friendship and support and for taking the time to stop by A Spoonful of Style. It means a lot to me to know you’re out there, just a click away. XXX

This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by

This week's faves 13:10

I suppose the title of this post should really be ‘last week’s favourites’…I’m a day late but with all the party preparations last week and then the clearing up yesterday I have a feeling I’ll be playing catch-up all week. Anyway here’s a quick round-up of the last seven days:

1. My thermos mug from Ikea comes in handy on busy mornings when I end up having breakfast on the run.

2. I made another batch of low carb muesli this week (find the recipe here) – my favourite breakfast.

3. Banana bread is great to put in the children’s lunch boxes and as an afternoon treat with a cup of tea. (Recipe here)

4. The week started off very warm and we made the most of the sunny weather with a trip to the playground after preschool. As the week went on it got progressively colder and I think it’s definitely time to dig out the hats and gloves (although I think the chances of finding a matching pair are very slim, given how many gloves were lost at school last winter).

5. Beautiful autumn colours on a crisp, sunny morning.

6. I had been looking for a new ‘smart’ winter coat for a while but not found anything that was quite right. I have a padded coat from Zara which is great when it gets really cold but I wanted a slightly dressier one to wear for nights out. Usually buying coats is a nightmare as I’m small and unless I find one in a petite fit (which means much less choice), the sleeves are too long and it swamps me. But I went into town mid-week to take a few things back and there it was – the perfect coat. As luck would have it there was one left in my size and, being H&M, it was a total bargain at only £39.99! I tried to find it online to link back to for a better picture but for some reason it’s not up on the H&M website, so you’ll have to make do with the picture I snapped in the changing room. The main body of the coat is a black and white tweed type of pattern, with black sleeves and a detachable fur collar which you can of course wear with other coats and jackets as well.

7. It was only a quick trip into town but I did manage to have a wander through our local department store where they were setting up the Christmas display. I know a lot of people complain that the stores bring out the Christmas decorations too early but I kind of like it. The boys’ birthdays are at the end of October and beginning of November but after that I like to start planning for the festive season – I can’t stand stressing about it in mid December when the shops are full of people and things are starting to run out, or worrying about Internet deliveries arriving in time. Only ten weeks to go until Christmas Day folks!

8. Every Friday Clemmie and I go to Gym Tots with my friend and her daughter. The girls love running around, climbing on all the gym equipment and bouncing on the trampolines.

9. As you probably know by now the week culminated with a birthday party for my husband which went on into the early hours of Sunday morning. We all had a great time and he got some fantastic presents – almost all of them golf related!

Hope you’ve all had a fantastic start to the week! X

Weekend Photo Challenge (even later than usual!)- OOTD and ‘sleeping’ children

Posted in Family Life by

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{My lovely children having a cuddle in our bed. Not sleeping strictly speaking but close enough I think!}

I haven’t had a chance to sit down at the computer all day, but better late than never! We didn’t get to bed until 3.30 this morning (I can’t even remembered the last time that happened!) so I’ve not exactly been full of energy…

It’s my husband’s actual birthday today so we had a lovely lunch at the in-laws when we collected the children (sooo nice not to have to cook – dinner will be takeaway pizza). Apart from that, the day has been spent clearing up the house after last night’s festivities, opening presents and all the usual things like overseeing homework and music practice. There is still some cleaning to be done but, you know what, I’m going to leave it until tomorrow and curl up on the sofa with my husband, eat my pizza and watch Homeland.

Have a great evening. X

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{Me, in last night’s outfit, a black dress bought from Asos last year and jewellery from a local boutique}

Let’s Get This Party Started!

Posted in Family Life by

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Children dropped off at grandparents √

Disco lights and sound system all set up √

Champagne (OK then, Prosecco) chilling on ice √

Canapes ready to go in the oven √

Hair and make-up done √

New dress and shoes on √

Now just waiting for the guests to arrive…

It’s my husband’s birthday and we’re ready to party the night away!

That Friday Feeling

Posted in Family Life by

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Yet another weekend rolls around and this week I’ve had to work harder than normal to stay positive. Sometimes bad things happen that we can’t control or fix, but we do have power over our own minds and I really believe that negative thinking creates a downward spiral which is hard to climb out of.

So I’m trying to concentrate on all the good things I have to look forward to and be grateful for my wonderful family and friends. It’s my husband’s birthday party tomorrow, so tonight we will be preparing food, putting up the disco lights and moving furniture to make room for the dancing. But right now, Clemmie and I are cuddling up on the sofa with a cup of hot chocolate and CBeebies on the TV. A lovely, lazy morning.

Hope you have a fantastic Friday wherever you are, and remember:

You-are-amazing-and-dont-you-forget-that.-cute-inspirational-quotes

More Instagram tips

Posted in Family Life by
{Some of my favourite Instagram pictures}

{Some of my favourite Instagram pictures}

I don’t know about you but I love Instagram – it’s such a fantastic way of capturing the moment and, let’s face it, even the most mundane picture will look pretty with an added filter. If we’re talking Social Media, I much prefer it to Facebook and Twitter (which I really don’t get on with but that’s a different story..)

Having already ordered two sheets of fridge magnets from Stickygram (they should arrive any day now), I’ve found some other great ways of preserving your best Instagram snaps:

1. Design your own mobile phone (or iPad) case using your Instagram photos at Casetagram.

2. Log onto Postagram and make postcards out of your Instagram pictures to send to friends and family.

3. Turn your images into cool stickers to put on letters, cards, notebooks etc at Instagoodies.

4. Printstagram lets you develop and print your Instagram photos. Create a poster sized collage of your favourite images or turn them into greeting cards, a mini book or a calendar.

What do you think of Instagram – love it, loathe it? I would also love to hear if you have any other tips on what to do with your Instagram pics.

 

50 Shades of White

Posted in Interior by

Maybe it’s because I’m Swedish, but I have a real soft spot for the Scandinavian design aesthetic when it comes to interiors. Pale wooden floorboards, white walls and furniture mixed with grey and other neutrals and perhaps a few accents of stronger colours such as red or blue. Mixing old and modern pieces also makes for a unique home and I love the contrast it creates.

Here are some inspirational images from my Pinterest board ‘My Dream Abode’:

vardagsrum

{I love the positioning of the sofas in this room. Having them facing each other adds a cosy vibe which is offset by the grandeur of the stunning chandelier.}

Vitt-vardagsrum

{White doesn’t have to mean stark. Layering different shades of whites and other neutrals creates a warm, inviting space.}

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{I love the tiles in this kitchen and the open shelves.}

badda_sangen

{This bedroom looks so calm and inviting.}

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{Using books as bedside tables is a great feature that doubles up as storage if you don’t have enough space for another bookcase. I also love the picture shelf above the bed.}

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{A practical and beautiful centerpiece filled with lovely cashmere. This picture makes me want to paint our floorboards white.}

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{The tiles, the lights, the bathtub – I love it all.}

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{If my boys shared a bedroom, this is the bunkbed I would get.}

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{This room is all about the details: the bunting, the Maileg bunnies with their own little matching bed, the practical blackboard…}

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{I wish our ceilings were high enough to carry off a chandelier on this scale. Oh and that my husband wasn’t allergic to cats!}

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{This room really makes the most of the natural light and I love the white letters on the wall.}

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{Another view of room number 9 which shows how effective a pop of colour can be in an otherwise all-white space. Mixing new and old furniture, such as this cupboard, in the same colour creates an original but cohesive look.}