Princesses and Ukuleles

Today so I've played a bit of ukulele, thanks to my amazing friend who lent me hers for the week, dressed up as a "princess" and watched about half of Cinderella, with a bit of Caillou thrown in for good measure with my little sisters.  Jane and Maggie asked me to be a princess with them.  I was Cinderella since I conveniently had a blue dress sitting in my wardrobe.  They were Belle and Snow White.  They're some of my favourite people to hang out with.  We put on Cinderella because when you're a princess, you've got to watch princess movies, right?  Unfortunately they got a little bored fairly early on and we never even got to see Cinderella go to the ball.  They opted for Caillou which they both love.  I've got to be honest I've never been a big Caillou fan but my hate for it has grown ever since a couple weeks back when the two of them discovered 'Caillou's Holliday Movie' which has been played in our house a countless number of times since their discovery of it, alongside all the regular Caillou shows which they watch frequently.  I can ryhme off his theme tune to you.  "I'm just a kid who's four, each day I grow some more.  I'm Caillou..." 

It's kind of sad really.  Caillou rant over.

Playing ukulele, is going great (only been playing a couple days though, of course) and I'm in love already, as expected.  I've been strumming away to Train's 'Hey Soul Sister' since Sunday.  So far, I know about 5 chords? I love just being able to teach myself chords as I need to know them, they're mostly all really simple.  MY ukulele is coming my way in less than two weeks! Whooo!  My Grandparents used to live in Hawaii and while they were there my Grandpa bought a ukulele and learned to play.  I can't wait to play mine for him someday!   

Mondays...

This is my attitude for today.  Happy Monday.  School is BUSY but it's still O.K. I suppose.

I just got finished watching the third blind audition of The Voice (since I missed both episodes this weekend, again!) It was great seeing two people from Belfast on the show!  Love it!  

I've been thinking about the paint colour for my new room... I was originally thinking a duck egg blue but now I'm thinking maybe a pool or a mint?  Not sure.  At one point I was even thinking of a bright yellow feature wall but I think it might be a bit much.

I've found some great little frames from Ikea.

I like the bright colours.  I'll have to make an Ikea trip sometime in the near future.  They sell AMAZING biscuits.  I know, weird right.  I discovered this on my last Ikea trip.  I'm officially a big fan of Ikea now.  I think I'll make some of my own wall art and I'm planning to hang my ukulele  (when I get it) on the wall.  Ooooh!  So that's a very brief update on the room situation.  

Frames picked, paint colour still in progress.  Much decorating ahead in the future, which I'm very excited for!

My Little Uke

Ok, so I think I forgot to tell you guys but this little guy is coming my way soonish!  It's a Fender Soprano ukulele! I'm very excited! (Just in case all the exclamation marks didn't make it obvious)  

In my opinion, ukuleles make everything sound happier and happy is good.

Just in case any of you are cooler than me and allready have a ukulele, here is one of my favourite ukulele websites.  http://ukulelehunt.com  It's full of tips, chords, tabs, reviews and just about everything ukulele!

I should be getting my little ukulele next month.  So in a short while I'll be strumming away.  

The next instrument I have my eye on is a cajon.  Just in case you're not sure what that is, it's a type of drum.  It's like a box you sit on and you play.  It is also referred to as a "drum kit in a box".  Lots of buskers use them.

I love drums.  Is it just me or does it always look like the drummer in the band is having the most fun?  Since learning real drums seems a lot more difficult and a LOT more money, this seems the next best option.

This is what one looks like...

 So there you go.  Aren't they cool!  

I have a feeling I won't actually get round to buying one, well at least I need to teach myself ukulele first!  

School and Shows

Hello.  Unfortunately I probably will blog a lot less now that I'm back at this weird thing called school where they give you a ton of homework.   

My new goal for this week is to watch the first episode of The Voice on BBC iplayer because I didn't catch it on time last Saturday and I LOVE that junk.  I always watch it and daydream about having to choose one of the four coaches.  I have a feeling I might go for Will.  Although I could easily see myself choosing any of them.  (The voice is a talent show based on singing and if you're chosen to stay after you're audition by one of the judges, that judge mentors you.  Sometimes all four judges choose one person so the singer picks one. The four judges are Jessie J., Tom Jones, Will I. Am and Danny O'Donoghue)  One thing I like about the show is that unlike the X Factor it's meant to be purely based around talent and not looks or personality, well that's what it claims at least but once it's past the audition stage things like personality, looks and style all do have their own influence.

Look at those posers!  They're all so talented!  

Anyway, that's me right now.  I'm taking a break from homework at the minute.  Studying "Of Mice and Men" is proving to be less than fun.  I better get on to my Maths homework and music revision.  

Baking Away

Today I managed to get some baking done.  I made some chocolate wafers from my new cookie book by Alice Medrich.

I got it yesterday at T.J. Maxx for just £3!  Which is quite a bargain considering on the inside the price $29.95 is written. 

It's a large 384 page book full of cookie recipes.  Lots of them are a bit to intricate and time consuming for my liking but there are still tons of inventive cookie ideas and flavour combos.  It's got everything from biscotti to meringues to snickerdoodles. 

I would really like to try her low fat chocolate chip biscotti.

Anyway here is the first recipe I've tried from her book.  They taste a bit like the cookie part of oreos that as a kid you left till last, after you'd licked off the frosting.

I put some in my mum's little Marks and Spencer biscuit tin.  There's plenty of them still on cooling racks!

Optionally there is a white chocolate and mint spread in the book to go sandwiched between two of the cookies, which I TRIED and the white chocolate burnt in the microwave on me and turned black on top.

We're just going to pretend I intentionally left the cookies plain. 

Wall Art and Laura Amiss

Hey guys, I thought I'd introduce you guys to one of my favourite etsy artists, Laura Amiss.  She works as a freelance designer and textiles artist and happens to currently live in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.  My family took a holliday several years back to Liden (nearby Amsterdam) and LOVED it!  Such a beautiful place.  A good bit of her art is inspired by Amsterdam and the Netherlands as well as other major cities in the world.  Two of her city canvases are featured below.  London and San Fran.

I'd favourited her stuff before on Etsy but was reminded of her amazing art while searching for prints to possibly decorate my room with.

So far I've settled on painting the walls a duck egg blue, something a little like this and I would love to have a bunch of bright, quirky and eclectic art prints in different sizes on the walls.

Maybe even a little art wall like this?

I'm still not sure yet though.  All I have so far is a LOT of ideas.

Anyways here are some of my favourite finds from Laura Amiss...

This one is listed as, Hill houses - San Francisco inspired, Textiles Canvas print

 Although she doesn't just do city prints those are mostly my favourites of hers.  This fun textured piece is a incorporation of both hand embroidery using felt and appliqué as well as print on canvas.  I'm not sure I've seen anything quite like it. 

Here is another textile canvas print, this time of London...

And now I have two of her prints for you...

The first one being called Scattered Showers and the second being called simply Teapots, which I think would look great in a kitchen against a brightly coloured wall.

Anyway all her prints and canvases are beautiful!  Have a nosy at her shop! Laura Amiss