christmas preparation - part 3

with the big freeze upon us, i'm taking no chances as i drive across the country from bristol to southampton tomorrow and then on to brighton on friday (and then back again before new year). it looks like the worst of the snow is further north at the moment but all it takes is one lorry to jack-knife and i'll be stuck on the A34 all night.

so, i'm driving prepared. taking a torch, water, loo roll, high-energy snacks, blankets, sleeping bag, a hat, a super warm winter coat and these snowboarding boots. i was going to sell them on eBay since i no longer live in switzerland and have no desire to go boarding again. but, on the off chance i have to treck through the snow, i'd rather be wearing these than my wellies.

to anyone driving over the next few days, take care! and i really hope everyone gets to where they're supposed to be this christmas.

supplies

possibly one of my favourite photos of 2010. taken yesterday when we were snowed in at my parents'

christmas preparation - part 2

i'm hardly doing any baking this year because i'm spending a lot of time knitting instead. for the past two years i've made 200 mince pies a year (pictured below) but this year i went for cinnamon biscuits and sprayed the stars so that they looked pearlescent - even if they did smell of spray paint initially...

hope you're all having fun getting ready for christmas. i'm certainly enjoying other blogs and people's pictures on twitter. feeling oh so festive!

christmas preparation - part 1

today, i am mostly applying this

in preparation for this

bristol snow

living just off whiteladies road means that, on the last saturday before christmas, any snow we had has turned to slush. so, this morning i headed up to the downs to find a patch of untouched snow. it was gorgeous up there. the sun made the snow really sparkle but i couldn't quite capture it with my iPhone

december friday afternoon

yesterday i had such a lovely afternoon. i met lucy (aka @knitterdown) and A at the lido for a pre-christmas drink. there was a flurry of snow that morning but none at the lido although it was lovely watching the steam rise off the pool.

the christmas trees were lit (although you can't really see that in the picture)



i had the most delicious amaretto and sea salt hot chocolate

and lucy gave me these fabulous wooden knitting needles :)

on my way home i popped to the fairly new deli / food shop on whiteladies road 'better food' to get some final christmas presents and couldn't resist these mini pasta shapes for myself

silver lining

the snow has scuppered lots of christmas plans for people and i feel so sorry for those who will be alone at this time of year or who are scared, hungry or cold because they're snowed in. i've had to cancel my weekend plans for the second time this season but i still have a thoroughly festive time planned.

my cousin, phoebe, didn't get to go to rome as her flight was cancelled but that means i get to see her in bath on tuesday when i'll be having my hair cut (getting myself some bangs for christmas from mel who owns this amazing salon!).

it's the very first christmas i won't be spending with phoebe so, even though i'm sad for her she doesn't get to go to italy this weekend, i'm thrilled i'll get to see her instead.

i love you phillis,

nanise xxxxx

my sweet, sweet tree

my christmas tree is tiny but oh so sweet. it's a norwegian blue spruce and smells *amazing*. it's in a pot so i plan to try and keep it alive and re-use it next year. it's a tree full of birds :)

this is your life

My Pummelvision from nancy west on Vimeo.

this wasn't the post i had planned for today but when i saw a compilation video someone had done on vimeo last night using pummel vision, i set it to do mine using all my facebook photos (which i haven't updated for months). the video was ready this morning and i just watched it. it makes me so happy. if you know me, see if you can see yourself in it. there are some lovely shots which are animated as they're in the right order - like phoebe swinging maia round on christmas day or faye and rowan having play fights. i love it! (ps - track not chosen by me, it's a default option but i think it works just fine).

stocking

just a very quick post of a christmassy picture to keep me in the mood while i'm busy busy conducting research interviews.

i bought this danish stocking for P last year and we're continuing the tradition of buying each other stocking presents this year. still a few bits to get for it but it's so exciting.

unexpected bristol weekend

last weekend, although there was no snow in bristol, it affected my plans to go elsewhere so i ended up at a loose end. i had some work to do but really wanted to visit both food markets that i knew were happening that weekend.

i had mulled apple juice at whiteladies road christmas market. lush.

there was a bicycle-powered christmas tree

the next day i visited the slow food market on corn street. on our way, we spotted the matthew done up to advertise the new narnia film

at the market we had spicy hot chocolate. delicious.

and popped to trethowan's dairy shop after a coffee at source.

we spotted some filming of a second-world war drama (night watch) on corn street

and the coca cola truck. holidays are coming, holidays are coming...

then we had mulled cider at the arnolfini. not nearly as nice as the one i'd had the previous week at the cori tap.

then we watched a man ice a chair

 

then we went home.

the end.

toilet roll silhouettes

spotted here

dores

click here for more of this gorgeous jewellery

peabody and the sausage dogs

PhD work is really starting to feel stressful at the moment. not that there's more of it but it requires careful juggling and i'm finding it hard to concentrate on writing when i have the fourth and final round of research interviews to plan and conduct. not to mention the distractions of christmas planning and shopping.

the other week i was feeling overwhelmed with work but was in clifton village hunting down some decorations for my dad's birthday party. and i stumbled across these sweet, sweet little dachshunds. my worries instantly disappeared and i just felt really calmed by these funny little dogs. the wire one was called otto and the smooth one jack. i was as impressed by their knitwear as them and then bumped into them (and their owner) in a shop later so got to have a proper stroke.

i would really love a dog and generally prefer them to cats but then i saw this photo posted on twitter of peabody the cat and...

how could i not want one of these too? very sweet indeed.
via

christmas bird

 
i'm really busy with PhD stuff this week but want to try and make time to get a small tree. i'll hardly be in bristol over the holiday period so the sooner i get it the better. plus doing christmas knitting by a tree will be even nicer.

i posted on my blog last year about my sweet, sweet tree with all its birds but, of course, that's another post which didn't transfer smoothly from posterous.

so, i've reposted this image of my favourite decoration to remind me to definitely get the tree this week!

japanese chocolate guinness cupcakes

i made these chocolate guinness cupcakes back in august. once again, i can't link to the post as it failed to import properly from posterous. i'll get around to posting the recipe at some point...

i defrosted them as an extra pudding option for dad's 70th birthday and, instead of adding cream cheese icing, we ate them with single cream - a much tastier option i think.

i added these lovely paper decorations brought back for me by my brother and sister-in-law from japan.

via

 
here are some pictures from my current favourite blog. liivia is a finnish artist and, though i have no idea what she's saying, the photos are gorgeous and show glimpses of her daily life. there are simply too many lovely ones to show all my favourites here but visit her blog to see many, many more.

she recently visited berlin and took so many beautiful shots of my favourite parts - kreuzberg (where my brother recently lived) and prenzlauerberg (where i would live if i lived in berlin). she reminded me of all the wonderful cafes there and i really must go back and visit.

liivia is a knitter which makes her blog all the more wonderful