Corner of my Home

A week ago, I looked after a friend's son for the morning when she couldn't get out of work commitments. As a thank you (which she need not have done!) she gave me this beautiful bouquet of spring tulips. I love them, especially how they bow so gracefully, and how their beautiful colours complement the bright green of their foliage.

I'm thinking my mantelpiece looks so nice with a vase of flowers on it, I'm going to have to keep putting flowers up once these ones have dropped their petals.

Happy Valentine's Week ;-)

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day week. Hope you got spoiled rotten by your loves, hope you found new love, and hope you spread the love!!

Grade One Ballet Exam

In January, I moved Holly to a new ballet school. The main reason was that her last school was in an area than meant navigating peak hour traffic to get there, and we'd had too many days of being late getting there, and one too many days being late in picking up afterwards, that we looked around for a school closer to us.

It turned out to be the best move we could have made, her new teacher is brilliant and the difference was remarkable in Holly's dancing. They had their exam scheduled for this past Thursday, and have been having extra lessons for the past half-term. It was quite an exciting day - after it started snowing on Tuesday, we had an extra 10 cm during the night on Wednesday, and were very worried that the exam would be called off. But, luckily the examiner could get through from London, our roads were clear enough and we all made it to the exam venue with plenty of time.

Holly and her friend arriving at the hall.

Her ballet teacher doing her hair in a very pretty, very neat style!

The last of their group having her hair done.

They thought it was hilarious standing this close for a picture, lol!

Can you see the nervous excitement in their faces?




Here they are just about to go in, making last minute adjustments.


A quick smile, and they were in.

Everyone was very impressed when I brought out my thermos of hot chocolate when the girls came out, complete with a tub of mini marshmallows! I think they deserved the treat, having worked so long and so hard towards doing their exam.

And what better way to unwind than tobogganing down the hill when we got home?


We ended the day by decorating our tree, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of Holly as she hung the decorations. Something about her stance, the way she's dressed, with her hair still done in the neat bun, reminds me of Julia Stiles in Save the last Dance. I love that she enjoys ballet so much. Having done ballet myself until the end of high school, I always wanted her to do ballet. It's a lovely activity for young girls, and I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.

Cake, Cake and More Cake!

Oh my gosh, I cannot believe how long it's been since I last posted. I don't know what happened, or why I stopped posting so much. I've become more regular on my Facebook page, lazy, I know - it's quick and easy to post a quick message, my friends who don't blog see my entries, and it is easier to upload pictures. But, I like blogging. I like how I've made so many good friends over the years through my blog, and I don't like how bad I've become at keeping in touch with them.

So, here's a quick post from me and we'll see how long it lasts. This one is all about cakes - I've been eating and making loads of cakes lately, and I can feel it in my favourite jeans so I'd better stop now! It was my birthday a month ago, and my friend Becky made me some British cupcakes, to go with my Union Jack cushion that she and my other friend Karen gave me. I love it, and as they both laughed - I can stop looking at Union Jack cushions at every store we go to!


Then it was Holly's birthday on Remembrance Day, and she chose to take a few friends to dinner to celebrate. I made her a very pretty, girly cake with a clothespin doll for each friend to take home.
I took her to the fabric store to choose the dress fabric, and I don't think I would have chosen any differently. I love her colour choice, and how her doll contrasts with her friends'.

There's Holly...
... and Katie-Anne...
...and William, in a shirt and shorts!

Then I had an order for a Barbie cake, and when the mum gave me the doll, I just knew it was going to be a beautiful cake - look how pretty this Barbie is!


It was fun making this cake for a sweet little girl's fifth birthday, considering Holly had a very similar cake for her fifth birthday!

And then last weekend I was invited to join Holly on a birthday party weekend-away to Eastbourne, with my lovely friend Karen, her daughter and her two best friends. I decided it was a perfect opportunity to use my cupcake chocolates that my sister gave me for my birthday, and used the pretty cupcake stand she'd given me to display them on. They traveled safely down, but didn't survive til morning to take naturally-lit pictures, so these flash-lit ones are all I have! They tasted divine, and I am now on a mission to find more cupcake chocolates!

Strawberry parfait...oh heaven!

Scrapbook Page

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to join a scrapbooking evening happening at the church of two friends. The theme was to scrap a quote; whether a Bible quote or some other quote that had meaning was up to us. And it's funny how the penny dropped - as soon as Janine told me the theme, my all time favourite boy quote popped into my head. And then I thought of this photo that I'd had printed months and months ago, but never thought of putting with the quote. And yet, how perfectly they go together...
Simple. Sweet. So so true. And something I needed to remind myself of tonight, when we had a bit of a clash.