Gorgeous homeware giveaway with Red Candy

Last week, the kind folks at Red Candy who supplied our red goblets for our Canada Day celebrations last summer, asked me whether I'd like to review some more of their brilliant homeware products.

Ever conscious of the fact we are about to pack up our possessions and have our house overrun by builders, I decided to use their generous offer to host a giveaway...

From their range I selected their lovely ceramic Russian doll measuring cups which split into four parts and measure different cup quantities and their Joseph and Joseph Apple A Day worktop saver, both in their signature bright red.

I have to say that choosing to give these away was not easy, but I had to be practical and go to a new home they must!

The small print... The giveaway is open till midnight on Saturday 15th February, one prize winner will receive the measuring cups and the worktop saver, there is no cash alternative, UK postal addresses only please, entry is via the rafflecopter below. Winners will be contacted by email and announced on this blog post and via my facebook page and Twitter account on Tuesday 18th February. If the winner does not claim their prize within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Living Arrows 6/52 - The one with a mullet

Oh dear, look at that mullet. Theo needs another haircut!

My sister is the only one he trusts with the scissors, particularly when it comes to the tricky bits around the ears and it's the tricky bits around the ears that always need doing. I tried doing it myself the other week. It did not turn out well.

We're seeing the trusted auntie on Wednesday, I hope she'll be able to make him look respectable again. The good news is I have discovered that he will do almost anything if bribed with chocolate buttons, possibly even sitting still to have his hair cut.

Little Adventures... On The Beach

This weather we've had since Christmas has been driving me a bit stir crazy, I don't do sitting still indoors very well at the best of times, so I can't tell you how relieved I was when we had a dry afternoon yesterday. There was a long list of things to do in garden this week, none of which I'd achieved, but instead of tackling them, Theo and I took a little drive.

We headed to Bosham, a little village I know very well as I used to live there and Jim and I married in the 1000 year-old church. It's a pretty amazing place with tons of history. It features in the Bayeux Tapestry, it's where King Canute tried to hold back the tide and it's the only British location mentioned in the X Files.

We spent nearly two hours on a tiny stretch of beach searching for washed up treasures. There weren't many (I think Bracklesham Bay is still best for this) but enough to keep a small boy entertained.

We amassed a collection of shells which I traded for compliance in front of the camera and we tossed pebbles in the sea. I even brought snacks thanks to a goodie bag from Britmums & Barny. I had forgotten though that seagulls can hear the tearing wrapper of a bear-shaped sponge cake from several miles away. No wonder Theo looks so pensive...

This post is an entry for Britmums 'Winter Little Adventures Challenge' sponsored by Barny, individually wrapped bear-shaped sponges with a hidden filling. Find out more about Barny here

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky is moving....

First of all folks, thank you for supporting this linky over the last six months or so, I have loved seeing your creations every Thursday and being a part of the online sewing/quilting community. However the time has come for me to bow out. There is so much going on this year (not least of all the massive renovation project we have looming) that I need to prioritise a bit and take away the (self-imposed!) pressure to sew something new every week.

Sue one of my FQR Bumbling Honeys Bee buddies has offered to take over the linky, so from next week you will be able to find it here.  I hope to find the time to dip in and out and share my sewing and thanks again for all the times you shared your blog posts...

4 weeks to go - And I'm dreaming of a slate roof!

This week we have had some really exciting news. The one area of our build that I really felt we were compromising on was our roof. The plan all along has been to reuse the reddy/brown concrete roof tiles from the existing bungalow on the new house. You have to make compromises somewhere and we had grudgingly accepted that this was ours. However after discussions with our builder it has emerged that a slate composite tile would actually cost the same as our concrete tiles. We'd need more of them because we wouldn't have the existing tiles to reuse, BUT the extra cost is surmountable, so I think we are going for it...
This week we have also had approval recommended by the Harbour Conservancy for our choice of weatherboard colour and white window frames. The downside is that we have been told our request to have a metal Juliet balcony will not be allowed, we will have to have wood instead. At the moment I can't even find a wooden one online to price... Maybe we'll just have to build one out of whatever wood we have left lying around. Perhaps that would offset the cost of a more expensive roof?

The skip that arrived on Friday has been filled by the remains of our old concrete garage and our back garden is transformed. I cannot wait to do the reveal of the changes when the outside room arrives next month.

Our build starts in less than a month... Crikey!

Living Arrows 5/52 - The one with the birthday tea

 

It was Theo's 12 year-old cousin's birthday on Friday and we drove north to have birthday tea. Even after a year back in the south of England, it's still a novelty that we can do this and return home within the day.

He had spent the days leading up to Millie's birthday decorating a card and practicing saying Happy Birthday. I passed his room one night long after he'd gone to bed and heard him saying the words over and over, determined to get them right, but on the day they still came out as a jumble. It's the joy of being two.

With the cake came the singing, he was looking between us in amazement, this unusual erruption of singing from his family. It's another six months till his third birthday, but unlike the last two I sense this will be the one where he gets it, where he understands the build up and basks in the birthday spotlight. What fun that will be.

South-coast breakfasts : Boat House Cafe, Chichester Marina

A couple of weeks ago we had lunch at the newly opened Boat House Cafe in Chichester Marina and after seeing us mention it here, they asked us back to try out their breakfast. Whilst I was happy to embrace a free meal, it threw my husband into a moral quandary...

"Should we do a Michael Winner?" he said
"What pose for a photo with the manager?"
"No, offer to pay, because otherwise if we say it's good in the review then no one will believe us..."
"Err, but we've already said it was good and that was when we did pay.."
"Oh, ok"

So we went along today. After seemingly endless days of rain, the sun finally shone and the sailor's launching their dinghies into the cold waters of the harbour looked visibly cheered by the springlike conditions. Once again the cafe was busy, we arrived at 10:30am and within an hour the place was nearly full and that was before lunch.

This is definitely not somewhere you show up at for weekend lunch in a group and just hope they can fit you in. Thank heavens they will have the deck area too in the summer.

So, first off, their breakfast menu is not as extensive as lunch and they don't have a children's menu during the morning, but lets face it, we are probably among the very few who take our child out for breakfast. No pancakes on the menu sadly, but they did have a really great granola which came in a huge portion, though it could have done with a little more yoghurt.

Jim had trouble deciding between Eggs Benedict & The Full English (he always does!) He opted for full English in the end, which came with lovely crunchy bacon and a solitary sausage... Uh-oh, I did warn him he should have asked for two!

Theo made short work of the sour dough toast and had a bit of a fight on his hands keeping his parents paws off it too. It was wonderfully chewy and just right with the jam. We had a hot chocolate, babyccino, coffee and orange juice between us. All promptly served and just the right temperature.

But food aside the real joy of this place is the atmosphere. It's all come together in a wonderful way, the bustling location, the happy helpful staff and the rustic cosy interior and personally, if I was picking a place to eat, I'd say one that scours Twitter looking feedback from their customers probably isn't a bad one to start with. If you're not from round this neck of the woods, there is a Boat House Cafe in Swanwick marina too and they are also part of a bigger chain which includes several restaurants in Hampshire.

Thank you Boat House Cafe for our lovely breakfast. We'll be seeing you again soon...