Birthday Goodies

Yankee Candle - Miss Daisy Gifts

Daisy Illustrated Card - Winnie Shek

Floral Bird Trinket Dish - Pebble Aberdeen

Tea Cups and Saucers - Asda

Macarons - Almondine Aberdeen

Afternoon Tea - Miss Daisy Gifts / Red Velvet Cake - Cake Aberdeen

Last month I celebrated my 23rd Birthday and so, because it seems to be the only regular blog feature I can stick to (3rd year running!), here is a peek at some of my lovely presents. I spent my Birthday morning in Falkland with David and Daisy where I was treated to breakfast in bed and a quick afternoon tea at Miss Daisy Gifts before heading up to Aberdeen to spend the weekend with family. I was spoilt with beautiful flowers and cards, red velvet cake from Cake, yummy Almondine macarons (new flavours including salted butter popcorn!) and presents. My main present is train tickets to York which we're going to visit again in April, I can't wait! As well as that I was so lucky to be given:

1. A pink Breville hand blender (perfect for smoothies). 2. A polkadot satchel from LYDC. 3. My favourite ever strawberry Lindt chocolates. 4. Black Plum Blossom Yankee Candle. 5. An amazing illustrated card of Daisy which will be getting framed in the studio by my friend Winnie Shek. 6. Adorable knitted cakes - calorie free! 7. Cute little birdy trinket dish from Pebble. 8. Pink & mint teacups and saucers from Asda. 9. A magical looking vintage pink glass jug which changes colour in the light. 10. Some vouchers and money which I can't wait to treat myself with.

I had such a nice relaxing birthday weekend and it was so nice to catch up and see family properly. Thank you so much for all the birthday gifts, cards and wishes! 

Cupcakes by Jo Aberdeen

Cupcakes by Jo is another place I managed to visit when we were in Aberdeen before Christmas. Owned by the lovely Jo Gale, (who has been running the business for a while but only more recently opened her new shop) this cute wee cupcake shop is the perfect place to pop in for a treat! When you walk in it smells amazing and you'll be spoilt for choice with the cakes in the counter - if you're early enough! If you are planning a visit you should check out Jo's Facebook page where she shares the flavours of the day (and also sold out notices!). Jo's wee shop is so purple, sparkly and yummy, it's a good thing I'm not in Aberdeen now or I'd never stop eating cake. You'll find Cupcakes by Jo at 7a Crown Street... and if you need some legal advice you'll find my Dad next door at Jonathan Tait & Co!

I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

gingerbread house ornament - Asda

making decorations - sprinkle baubles, fimo candy canes and button garlands

finished with sparkles and ribbon!

handmade sprinkle bauble on the tree

ice cream bauble - Maisons du Monde

Gingerbread decoration - Miss Daisy Gifts

cupcake bauble - Maisons du Monde

snowman decoration - Fayre Earth Gift Shop

sweetie decoration - Maisons du Monde

pastel button book tree - Macbelles

candle - Pebble / vintage plate - Rural Reads & Threads

We have our first proper Christmas tree up! I'm so excited because I've been collecting things for months and had decided a while back that I wanted to go for a 'winter wonderland/sugarplum fairy' theme with lots of snow, pink, pastels and cute sweetie decorations. We got our snowy tree from Asda and a selection of cheap tinsels, bead strings and simple baubles from there too as well as B&M. We didn't have a big budget for Christmas decorations so doing that for the basics meant we could buy more special decorations from local shops and on holiday. We got lots in Maisons du Monde in Nice which go so perfectly and of course we finished the tree off with some handmade bits and pieces! I have to admit that I didn't stop at the living room and there is lots more in the house including our homemade advent calendars in the hall along with a mini tree, snowy lights in the windows and some other cute things but I've decided to split this post in two as I took way too many photos! Here is the end result...

Edinburgh: Favourite Foodie Places

This blog is a bit different from the usual - I was sitting on the train home on Friday trying to figure out how to fit all these photos and places into one post! We had a great week in Edinburgh and found so many new favourite places, I mostly photographed the foodie ones so thought it made sense to put these into a nice little run down of which we'll be missing most. I think I might just do a separate one for shopping once the presents I bought have been opened by their recipients though...

Mary's Milk Bar

19 Grassmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2HS 

This adorable milk bar serves the best milkshakes in the perfect vintage setting and was just around the corner from where we stayed. The ice cream and chocolates are made by the lovely Mary who went to Carpigiani Gelato University. Mary's Milk Bar also offers gelato tasting evenings and truffle making workshops - yum! Unfortunately we couldn't make either of these but we did manage to squeeze a second visit before catching our train home - yay! 

Hula

103-105 West Bow, Edinburgh, EH1 2JP

The perfect place for a tasty (and healthy) breakfast! I'd imagine lunches would be great too but we got into the habit of grabbing a smoothie on our way past Hula in the mornings. A bright and cheery atmosphere to start the day, art on the walls and friendly staff. David tried a chicken pesto bagel too which looked tasty but I liked the 'Special H' breakfast shake best which was a mix of granola, frozen yogurt and berries. 

Eteaket

41 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1EP

This was a bit of a rushed visit because I'd seen Eteaket online and thought it looked nice and we only just managed to squeeze it in. I really love the branding, from the bold doilies outside and the more subtle ones inside to the tea packaging and gift bags. We chose a pot of tea each; tutti fruitti for me and gunpowder green for David. They are quite big pots of tea! They sell lots of tea related accessories there too so I couldn't resist a polka dot tea infuser pot to add to my collection. 

Miro's Cantina Mexicana 

184 Rose Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4BA 

I'm so glad one of you lovely Facebook likers recommended this place - thanks Emma Robb! It is such a cosy and colourful little Mexican restaurant and they honestly do the best nachos. A few years ago I didn't actually like nachos (I'm a fussy eater but getting better) and this was the kind that would have intimidated me with it's abundance of toppings; chunky guacamole, sour cream, cheese, refried beans, salsa, parsley, jalepenos, all layered generously with seasoned tortilla chips. David had a large with added beef chilli and faced a man vs. food moment, I had a small with a sweet potato, honey and chilli soup although I still didn't manage to eat it all as there was so much! 

Mimi's Bakehouse - Picnic Parlour

250 Canongate, Edinburgh, EH8 8AA

We came across this place by accident, after lunch when completely stuffed but still had to go in and see what they had to offer because it was too pretty to resist. This is another place where I love the branding; quirky details with a classy mint, pink and black palette. We managed a sticky toffee cupcake between us, but only because it was so good! The birds in the lamps and sprinlkes jars in the windows were really sweet touches. 

Dragonfly Cocktail Bar

52 West Port, Edinburgh, EH1 2LD

This place was literally across the road from our apartment. It was really busy the when we arrived since it was the weekend so we waited until a quieter evening for a more chilled out drink. As soon as I read the menu and saw the word sprinkles I knew I was having a raspberry ripple cocktail! It tasted like raspberry milkshake and is probably the cutest cocktail I've had. David's drink was really yummy too, it tasted a bit like a spiced apple pie. The bar itself is really dark so it's hard to tell what it actually looked like in there - this statue behind our table gave us a bit of a scare!

So there you go, I hope this might be useful to anyone visiting Edinburgh. There were lots of other places we would have loved to visit but simply not enough time (or money) in one week. There's always next time though! 

February: Gift List

It was my 22nd birthday on Thursday and I thought it would be nice to share some of the presents I was lucky enough to receive. I had a nice quiet day off which is a proper treat these days! Me and David went out for lunch and some shopping then had a family evening in with takeaway pizza and red velvet cupcakes - they were amazing, from Cake in Aberdeen. David got us tickets for Singin' in the Rain which is in Edinburgh in March (exciting!!) and I've got birthday money from my parents to pay for some driving lessons with. I also got a cake pop machine from David's parents (which I'll blog about once I've used it) and some other nice things which I've not photographed.

1. Lots of pretty cards. 2. The great thing about having a birthday near Valentine's day is I get lots of cute heart things like this pink heart version of connect 4, heart globe frame and heart cutting board from my sister Amy and her boyfriend Sam. 3. I got some lovely kitcheny things for my future cottage from my Uncle, Auntie and cousins - I chose these from Dotcomgiftshop. 4. Gorgeous vintage style pocket mirror and slate heart chalk board from David's sister Emma and family. 5. David also got me this adorable set of Rob Ryan mugs which have a wee poem and illustration that is completed when the two are together - aww! 6. I bought some Teapigs Tea with my birthday money from my Nanny and Grandad (also bought a dress but I'm saving that for another post) I can't decide if I prefer the chocolate flake or creme caramel, they're both so yummy. 7. My Mum and Dad got me a couple of little things so I'd have something to open (since driving lessons aren't that exciting) and these little hanging birdies from Cloudy Blue are so sweet. I hung one from my floral globe light shade and it goes perfect... apart from Daisy dog thinks it's a toy and keeps jumping up at it. Oops! 8. Finally, these are the delicious red velvet cupcakes from Cake

Thanks everyone! I'd also like to say thank you for all the kind birthday messages, it was such a nice surprise to have so many from Bottled Treasures customers too.