Decorating begins!!! Room 1 'Amelia's'

Now the plasterer has been and skimmed several ceilings we can begin decorating! Even though he was very clean and tidy plaster still get everywhere so after a mammoth clean decorating has begun in the 'Amelia' room. To be honest we need to get rid of her face! All holes have been filled (believe me they were quite a few) and all woodwork has now been sanded - skirting boards, door frame and windows. We are now ready to whitewash the ceiling and undercoat. It is going to take a few layers of paint to cover her face, mainly because it has been painted on in black and is massive!

Here is my photo log of the room transformation - doesn't look like much at the minute but it takes a while to prep the room ready for painting!

Say goodbye to that mural!!!

Wedding 3 - The Crossland's

Wedding 3 was The Crosslands - Tom and Claire. This was the wedding where Daniel was best man and of course he did a fab job. Everyone commented on how good his speech was, clean but funny. Needless to say it was another lovely wedding. The meal this time was a nice change of soup, sausage and mash and cheese cake and the theme was cartoon couples. I was sitting on Fred and Wilma with Zara and the ushers and the little table treat was a very nice looking cupcake - I've not eaten it yet though.

Just like any wedding where you are there for the whole day, it is a very long day! Too much wine was flowing and as probably guessed I had a very sore head the following day...and the following day after that!

Here's the happy couple and our table treat!

The Bake Off is Back!!!!

As you can probably tell I am very excited about the new series of The Great British Bake Off! We didn't even know it was coming back on and luckily noticed it just before it began!  I'm looking forward to seeing what they will make this series.

Over the summer hols I have been baking, first a cream tea for guests, then tweaked the cakes from the cream tea to take back to London when I visited. They are lemon and elderflower and are lovely. Then I thought I'd make some quiches, this was really to use up the goats cheese as it was towards the end of its life. Turn into a delicious goats cheese and onion quiche. Have since made some small individual vegetable and cheese quiches too for packed lunches.

Oh we got given a bread maker as Daniel's parents no longer use it so have been trying that out too. It's OK, makes nice bread though the loaves are quite small so only do for a couple of days. That's OK I guess for now but might need to supplement the home made loaves with bought ones when I go back to work as we'd be baking them every day!

Not sure what to bake next - maybe coffee and walnut cakes. Or I might wait for inspiration from the next GBBO episode!

Wedding 2 - The McNaughton's

Wedding 2 saw us driving down to Essex for the marriage of Vicki my flatmate from Uni and her hubby to be James. The weather was not looking good for their special day as we drove through rain shower after rain shower and torrential down pours! When we arrived at the venue, which seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, it began to rain...again. In went all the guests as quickly as possible but poor Vicki was sat in the car waiting for it to ease before getting out so the bride was fashionably late!

The venue was stunning, a converted barn whose only purpose is weddings. The outside was set up for the ceremony as well as inside but unfortunately the rain was so heavy it had to be inside. We sat down thinking well we don't really know anyone here, except the ladies I've met before or on the hen do then a little voice from behind started calling me. I turned around not sure who it was then the penny dropped and I realised it was our other flat mate from uni's brother! Long time no see!!

Luckily the weather broke and the sun came out for the photo's outside and only started raining again when we went in for the meal. Our table was guessing at what the meal was, Daniel hit the nail on the head with chicken in bacon, which was the same as Lesley's wedding. Standard wedding meal I guess. It was lovely though, and the pate for starter's and trio of desserts were yum. As were the canapes we got during the drinks reception prior to the meal. Very good wedding venue but I guess if that is all you do you do it very well indeed!

This time the theme was snowboarding! Tables were named after ski resorts they had been to, the top table was where they were going on thier honeymoon and the cake was a mountain with them at the top! Very cool! Our little table treat this time was a little different as they were flower pots with seeds and a little poem to remember thier day, very cute, we need to plant ours now.

So here is the happy couple and the mountain cake!