Paris!

Macaroons from Laduree

Picnics in the parks

 Christmas market along Champs Elysée

Sunset boat ride on the Seine

Exploring Montmartre

These are some of the things I did in Paris a few weeks ago when I was there with my mom and my sister. We had a lovely weekend and I'm really looking forward to the next family trip we all go on! 

Once again, I took hundreds of photos! I could never include all of them here but I do hope you enjoy the ones I have posted below.  My favourite photos of the set are those where the famous Paris landmarks are not the main focus, but rather captured in the background against which everyone goes about their daily lives. 

Sacre Coeur and Montmartre

Arc de Triomphe

Sacre Coeur and Montmartre

Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur

Eiffel Tower

Tuileries Garden

Notre Dame

As its getting closer and closer to Christmas, I have started thinking about what presents to buy for my friends and family. Once again I think it is likely to turn into an Internet shopping spree - as I am not sure when I'm going to find the time to make my way to the shops. I will be updating my pinterest boards with any cute ideas I come across :).

I know I have mentioned the following singers quite recently, but I just wanted to share  some more of their music. I have been listening to these singers/bands on repeat for a little while now. I've also included the new single from the Black keys - I have listened to their music for a while  - but have only heard their new single in the past few days! Amazing!!

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die (Album out on 31 Jan - think it will be my birthday present myself!) 

Florence and the Machine - No Light, No Light (Fantastic Album! and stunning video)

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy (I will buy this album this week! I think this will be amazing to play really loud when I'm driving again next month!)

I hope everyone has a fantastic week and if you have any new music suggestions/gift ideas or things to do in London before I leave, drop me a note!

Southbank and Red Velvet disaster!

I'm loving the mist that has settled over London at the moment, and was quite surprised that it hadn't extended to Southbank where my sister and I spent the afternoon. We walked around the Tea and Coffee Festival and bought  some yummy treats from the Outsider Tart stall. I had a Pumpkin Brownie and Kelly had a Congo Bar.... the brownie was divine and I bought their cookbook as soon as I got home! My sister had mentioned this bakery earlier in the week so I thought I better check their website and ... cutest thing ever... they have a 'Barkery' where they sell dog biscuits as well! I might need to buy some for my pets back home!

In search for an ATM, we walked closer to the river and came across a Christmas market selling all the usual German sausages, Christmas decorations and Gluhwein! It took me back to the week I spent in Dusseldorf last December exploring the markets in my time off. While walking along the Thames I managed to get some stunning photos of a hazy Big Ben and Parliament. 

After a lovely afternoon, it was time to head home and bake some red velvet cupcakes! After a rather stressful week, I decided this would be the perfect way to relax before the week coming up..... I was wrong! 

I used too much bicarbonate of soda (recipe said 1 tsp - I read 1 Tbsp) .

Because of this, the first batch I made tripled in size and all moulded into 1 giant cupcake while cooking. (Luckily there was enough batter for a second batch)

As I don't have an electric beater, my icing has chunks of icing sugar in it.

And possibly the worst thing about them is that they are not red but brown! 

They look like normal chocolate cupcakes - I was so upset! But at least they taste good and when I take them into work tomorrow I might just tell everyone they're chocolate and the icing is meant to bits of icing sugar in them. 

I wont post any pics of them just yet - it will just depress me even more! I will though when I perfect the recipe and produce RED cupcakes as soon as I am back in SA in my mom's fully equipped kitchen!

On a final note, one of the blogs I've been reading recently, has been talking about an accessories shop called Barberry and Lace. If you click on this link you will get a 20% discount when you buy something from their store! Go check out their website - their necklaces are beautiful and ideal for Christmas presents! I can't wait for my goodies to arrive in the post!

UK Breaking Dawn Première

My sister is so lucky - this week she has won 2 competitions! I reckon she should enter the Lotto. One of the competitions she won was from Simple Beauty for tickets to the UK Breaking Dawn Première at Westfield Stratford City!

When she told me on Monday morning that we were going, I was so excited! I've been looking forward to this movie for ages and what better way to watch it than at the première attended by Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner!

I must say that this was probably the first movie of the series that I enjoyed more than the book and I'm looking forward to Part 2 next year. As usual some of the scenes were slightly ridiculous, but there were stages that you could feel the tension and awkwardness that was being portrayed on screen.

 I took a few photos, but unfortunately the quality of them is not great - they're all blurry! I did manage to "fix" some of them though. I wasn't too worried as my sister managed to get some really great pictures and has posted them on her blog if you want to check them out.

Breaking Dawn Red Carpet

Taylor Lautner 

Taylor Lautner

Kristen Stewart

Robert Pattinson

If you haven't seen it yet, check out the trailer below:

I'm really looking forward to Friday - my mom's coming over for 10 days and we are heading to Paris for a long weekend - got so much planned!

 Its also almost Christmas time which means its time to start thinking about what presents to buy for everyone and what to do for Christmas lunch! Last year we cooked a goose and it was divine! In case any one is interested in making goose this year here is the link for the recipe we used! 

London Borough Market!

Borough Market is one of my favourite places to go on a Saturday morning! Definitely worth a visit if you are in London over a weekend!

 I dream of hosting a dinner party where I have bought all the ingredients from the stalls you are able to find there.

Music of the moment!

So its been forever since I have posted - can blame it on loads of things

 broken laptop ... 

crazy working hours ...

Its not like I haven't had anything to write about - I've had my London Borough Market photos ready to be posted for weeks now, I just haven't got around to it. Never mind - As the insomnia that a stressful project brings settles in, I'm back!

I'm officially down to my last 2 months in London, by the time I leave here I would have been here for 18 months and I'm not quite ready to go! Any suggestions on things to do in my last few weeks in London town are definitely welcome! 

My highlight for the past month has to be watching Bombay Bicycle Club perform at the Brixton Academy. This show far exceeded my expectations, I was expecting a rather chilled evening, but I was really wrong - it rivals Kings of Leon for the best show I've seen this year!

Shuffle - Bombay Bicycle Club

The next band on my wishlist to see perform live is Eastern Conference Champions.... but I don't know when that will happen - I will have to keep my eyes open for information on  shows in London.

I followed a link on my twitter feed a few weeks ago and it took me to the following youtube video for the song Video Games by Lana del Rey. This is one of the most stunning songs I've heard in a while and the music video is amazing! 

Video Games - Lana Del Ray

Finally on the topic of music, I finally got my copy of the new Florence + the Machine album - Ceremonials. Such a fantastic follow up to Lungs! I can't get enough of the current single from the album - Shake it out. I must say that I was quite upset when I didn't manage to get tickets to her album launch concert a few weeks ago (it sold out in a minute!).  

Just in case you haven't seen the video/ heard the song.... I recommend you turn the volume up as high as you - and those around you - can stand!

 

Shake it Out - Florence + the Machine

Something to look forward to in the next few weeks: Paris!

Weekend in Rome

Last month, I spent a weekend in Rome. Instead of describing how amazing it was, I would rather just post loads of photos!

 I can definitely see myself living there one day. 

24 Hours in Venice

So I've had a bit of a holiday, definitely more relaxed and ready to tackle my last 100 days in London!

 I finally went to Italy and it was just what I imagined and hoped it would be!

I have since decided that (1) I want to move to Rome and (2) I might have a bit of a problem when it comes to the need to take photos - 1,000 in 5 days! 

Of our whirlwind 5 days in Italy, we spent 24 hours in Venice. The thunderstorms at night excited me! The people selling plastic helicopter things irritated me (but not as much as the umbrella/rose guys in Rome). But most of all, wandering through the tiny passageways and walking in circles amazed me! The island is unlike anything I have seen before and I definitely need to go back for a longer period of time to really get past the "touristy" façade.

On Monday morning we decided that we were going to walk around and try and see as much as we could. We thought that since we had pretty much covered Per Rialto and Piazzo San Marco the previous evening we must walk in the opposite direction to the signs. We could not escape them! No matter which direction we turned we landed up walking back towards those places or - coincidentally - our hotel!

 At this stage we decided it might be a good idea to visit Lido and the Giardini, both of which were completely different to the areas we explored the day before  (Lido had cars!!)  but so peaceful and exactly what we needed!

Before I get to the photos - my sister has started a really interesting blog - Studio Gold - which is worth a look! She also introduced me to Pinterest which I can see will provide me with many hours of procrastination in the months to come!