Life lately: Coffee, Tea and Candles

Hello!

I hope you are having a good week.  I can't believe it's already going to be Friday tomorrow!  I'm really looking forward to the weekend.  I have to work on Sunday next weekend so I'm going to enjoy having two days off as much as possible.
Life lately has been busy thanks to work.  Taking photographs in daylight has been tricky as since the clocks changed it's getting dark before I get home.  My fiancé has just bought a new device called an LED ring flash which might help with photo taking in dark light so watch this space!  For now I've been continuing on my obsession with candles to banish away the gloom.

I love putting tea lights in these pretty glass star shaped candle holders which I got from a friend who was getting rid of some things.

The awesome four tea light holder came with the flat we are living in!  The white large candles are vanilla scented ones from my previous candle shopping trip I wrote about last week and the smaller ones on their own are sugar and spice scented.  Yummy!  Scented candles are such a good way to keep the flat smelling nice.

My new grey throw found it's way on to our sofa whilst the other sofa throws were in the wash.  It matched up well with this grey cushion I bought a few months ago.  I've been noticing how well grey goes with pretty much anything!

We went out for sushi and I drank tea seeing as I'm not allowed to drink coffee any more!  Of course I had to make do with taking pictures of my fiance's instead!

Despite missing drinking coffee I have found that not only is my skin less irritated but I've been feeling less anxious as well.

I had been fancying wearing some new hoop earrings so I made these with some green beads I've had lying around for a while.  I quite fancy making a few more in different colours!  I always seem to get in to hooped earrings more in winter.

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

Little Things: Coffee and Shopping

Hello there.  I hope you're having a nice Friday evening.  I feel like I've had quite a productive and tiring week which makes me appreciate the cosy evenings at home more.  I splurged on some candles this evening to cheer myself up after a slightly stressful afternoon rehearsal.  After tidying up the living room a bit and lighting them they are having the desired effect.  It's amazing how soothing having some lit candles can be.  There must be some scientific reason for it.
Here are some little things that I've taken photos of recently but not found a blog post for.

I bought this awesome notebook recently as I've been inspired to try to write more.  This notebook was the perfect size, not too small that you feel like you'll reach the end of the page in five sentences and not so large that it wont fit in my handbag.  The print on it is awesome too.  The inside of it is the inverse of the pattern on the front.  So cool.

My fiancé bought this book to read.  I asked him how it was going and he said it was easy reading, but he's only read the first two chapters so far so I'll have to get a better review from him later on.

We went out at the weekend for pizza.  My fiancé got to have a coffee and I didn't as I'm trying to cut down on caffeine so I took a photo of it instead.

I bought these gorgeous earrings from Accessorize.  They're the colour scheme for the wedding and my fiancé liked them so I had to buy them!  I think they have an Art Deco look to them which I like.

I've been enjoying using my Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh perfume as the last of the warmer temperatures edge away.  I know that soon I'll be fully in to my winter scent, Prada's Candy but I've been trying to wear this for a few more days as I'm not ready to give up on summer just yet (clearly I'm in denial).

Little things from my week

Hi there!  I've been away this week on tour with the company which is why there's been a lack of posts.  We had a nice trip to Germany which involved lots of travelling.  It was quite exhausting but a good experience nonetheless.  I wasn't able to take my camera with me so I have lots of photographs to take for future posts, however I do have some pictures ready that I took the week before I left.

I love going out for coffee.  This wasn't mine though, seeing as I'm avoiding caffeine, so I had to make do with taking pictures of my fiancé's (sad face).  I was experimenting with using the manual focus setting and liked that I managed to capture the froth on this coffee so well

 The sun was shining and I couldn't resist taking some pictures of these leaves in the sunlight.

I love it when the sky is clear and this perfect shade of blue.

 I bought this super snuggly oversized cardigan.  It's soooo warm and comfy.  I wore it during the whole of the tour to keep warm and had lots of people saying to me that they wanted to buy something similar.

 I got this yellow rose from a friend who was watching one of our recent performances.

 Candle weather is sneaking up on us.  This was the only one I had left over from last year and I suddenly felt the need to light it.

 I'm still really enjoying making my morning smoothies.  I bought some frozen berries and they make the drink turn this gorgeous shade of purple.

I drew my first 'Will you be my bridesmaid?' card.

Looking back at these pictures I realise how sunny that week must have been!  Since I got back from the tour the weather has been mostly grey and cloudy.  More candles and bath products have been purchased to counter the gloom!  In fact, it's time to go and light one of those candles right now!

Till next time :)

Weekend activities: coffee date

Hello!

How are you?  I had a day off from blogging yesterday and then what do I see but Joik has shared my Joik post on their facebook page and my views have shot up way higher than usual!  So that was a nice surprise.  Did you get up to anything nice last weekend?  A common treat for us is to pop out for coffee.  Last weekend we went to an English style pub as it is one of the only places round here you can also order a plate of chips to go with it.  It's also one of the last places where prices haven't shot through the roof since we joined the euro so that's a nice bonus.

My boyfriend treated himself to a latte which I can't have because I can't tolerate a lot of milk.  They look so delicious though.

I love the foam.

Salty food goes so well with sweet coffee.  Thank god for the one last place that serves a cheap plate of chips!  Everywhere else is going up market cosmopolitan but sometimes you just want something cheap and unhealthy!

I'm already looking forward to our next coffee date.  I was proud of myself for actually taking my SLR camera out with me for once.  It fits nicely in my hand bag but it makes my hand bag so heavy for my weak little arms!

Good morning!

Hello!

How are you?  I'm feeling a little sleepy.  I was restless last night, thinking about old mistakes I've made and how I can move forward in my life.  I've made myself some toast and coffee and got up early to sit down and start writing a blog post.  Like many people I am Not. A. Morning. Person.  Since the weather got really dark and I started to feel like a real life vampire I've been following a ritual of getting up in the mornings and lighting candles.  The candle light hurts my eyes much less than a bulb!

This little pink one is my first ever Yankee Candle!  It's called Pink Sands and I bought it because it was on offer.  Normally I wouldn't buy such an expensive candle but I really do love that the scent is so strong and powerful.  This has quite a strong floral scent.  One day I'd love to test some more of these out!
I also have brought out some fairy lights that I found recently.  They are red hearts and make me feel cozy.

 

Then I drink my coffee and lose myself in the internet reading blogs and pretending that I don't have to go to work for as long as possible!  After that it's time to try to lure my boyfriend out of bed with the promise of coffee and try and get ready for work as quickly as possible!  I also make sure I drink a glass of water and take some vitamins with my breakfast.
Do you have any rituals that make it easier to wake up in the morning?  I could really do with some ideas!

Till next time :)

Twirlybirdie

An Early Start for a Sunday...with coffee, ducks and lipstick

Hello!

I hope you guys had a good weekend.  I took my camera out for a walk with me on Sunday.  It was a special day here, celebrating the beginning of a new school year.  It was quite busy in the cafe we went to because of this but we were so exhausted from work we had gone to bed quite early on Saturday night. This meant that we got out much earlier than usual for a Sunday, so I didn't mind sitting around waiting for our coffee to arrive.

I'm having a bit of an internal fight at the moment about whether or not I should try to stop drinking coffee.  Is caffeine really that bad for you?  At the moment though I'm only having one a day so I don't think that's so bad.  They don't really serve decaf over here as standard yet which would probably solve my problem as it's the taste and smell I love more than the effect.

I really love nice kitchen ware.  This is a cute milk jug they had at the cafe.

We went for a walk along the river which is where I caught sight of this duck dunking itself in the water, so cute!

A well worn looking bridge.

There are loads of pretty looking flower baskets out at the moment.  I think it's to compensate for the harsh and long winter we have.  I love seeing a blue sky too!

I wore a dress I've had for ages.  It was a present from my Mum.  It's by Henry Holland for Debenhams and has this really cute pattern on it.

It's a really wearable day dress.  Easy to throw on and look pretty.

I don't wear lipstick very often so I like to try to make myself wear it at the weekends.  I wore my favourite Art Deco lipstick in shade 36.  I love the matte creamy texture of this lipstick.  It's richly pigmented and fairly long lasting, although I do still have to re-apply it after eating or drinking.

It's a pretty wearable pink.  Not too bright but still pretty.

I wear these pink Accessorize earrings all the time.  I got them last summer and I seem to remember that they were a really good price!

When we got home it rained and rained so heavily.  I spent the evening sorting out the kitchen and making cupcakes.  When the weather changes and the nights get darker and longer it inspires me to bake.  I suppose because it makes home feel more cosy.  I definitely want to try and keep baking and experimenting in my new much more decent sized kitchen!

The evening is drawing in once more and it's another cloudy one.  I hope you enjoyed this peak in to my day.  I'll be ending mine drinking decaf tea in my kitchen and maybe catching up on some episodes of my favourite programmes.

I'd love you to follow me on here or click on the bloglovin' button in the sidebar to follow me on there!

Till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Wishing for the weekend

Hi there!  I am in the middle of a pretty busy working week.  In a brief moment of calm it's made me think of my weekends and the things I enjoyed during my last one.

Lazily making a coffee late in the morning!

Using our his and hers Herdy mugs!

Bargain hunting at the shops in the sale...and finding something you actually need!

These jeans were reduced to 12 euros in the sale!

Going to a favourite cafe and spending time trying to capture the steam coming off from my posh tea: black with cherry

becoming obsessed with plaiting my hair!

What simple things did you enjoy this weekend?  I'm glad I took some photos to remember my lazy Sunday with.  Hanging on until the next one :)
xxxxx