CHINESE NEW YEAR 2015

This Thursday is Chinese New Year and the start of the year of the Goat/Sheep (if you were born in 1979, 1991 or 2003, you're a Goat!) My mum is Chinese Malaysian so we always mark the occasion at home in London. I thought it might be fun to share a couple of the traditions we follow.

Reunion Dinner – this special dinner takes place on the eve of Chinese New Year (tonight!), with traditional dishes including dumplings for prosperity, whole fish to symbolise abundance and long noodles for a long life. We usually go out for lobster noodles at the New Mayflower in Chinatown, but this year we're celebrating at home.

Red Packets – you might have seen little rectangular red envelopes decorated with gold if you've ever been around Chinatown at this time of year. It's traditional to gift money to younger relatives in these envelopes. I did a little research and found out that it's lucky to give even amounts of money, but interestingly if you are giving money to a couple on their wedding day, it's favourable to give an odd number as it can't be easily divided, symbolising a strong union! To 'earn' our red packets, we brew and present tea to my mum and dad. You have to take the envelope with both hands and it's very rude to open it in front of the giver!

Spring Cleaning - my mum cleans the house from top to bottom, making sure to do all those annoying jobs that sometimes get overlooked. Apart from the fact it's common sense to start the new year with a fresh, clean house (something I never think to do on December 31st!), it also symbolises getting rid of any lingering bad luck from the previous year.

STYLING THE SEASONS FEBRUARY: girls' girl

February is the month of love, after all, so I thought I'd join in with Apartment Apothecary's #stylingtheseasons challenge with a little post about girlfriends.

Are you a girls' girl? I kind of feel like if you're reading this blog (and most female lifestyle blogs) then you are probably the definition of a girls' girl. I try to keep the girly stuff to a minimum in our house - I do share it with a boy after all! - but it does still creep in via my bookshelf...and our spare room is painted pink, so I suppose there's that.

I went to an all girls' boarding school (just one big sleepover, if you're wondering), so having lots of girlfriends has always been a big part of my life.

Here are a couple ways you can celebrate girl power this week:

Make a care package - snail mail is the best and I love sending little notes and trinkets just because. Scramble together a few bits and pieces - it shouldn't have to be expensive - and send them off in the post. Who knows, you might get one back! Here are some things I would include. 

Throw a brunch party - set up a breakfast burrito station or ask everyone to make/bring something to keep costs down.

Call someone and tell them you love them - sometimes something small reminds me that I have to call my mum and tell her I think she's the best, or send a whatsapp to my friend to say the daffodils they gave me are opening up. It's the little things that count and sharing special details of your life must be proven to strengthen friendships, even if you don't see each other that often.

Get strong together - I'm always motivated to workout with a friend so I meet my colleague every Sunday to get our butts kicked at Nike Training Club. It's something free to do together and definitely a bonding experience to be complaining about the fact we can't walk up the stairs at work the next day.

Take a class - learning something new together is a perfect way to spend time with friends new and old. You can establish common interests and get together to practice and give feedback.

A PHOTO FOR FRIDAY | 24

RASPBERRY BANANA ICE CREAM BON BONS

Have you heard of one-ingredient banana ice cream? It's basically just frozen bananas blended into the creamy consistency of ice cream. I wasn't really interested in making it until I watched this video and it really does look like ice cream!

To make it, finely slice a few ripe bananas and freeze them on a plate covered with cling film. When they are frozen, just blend them in a food processor until they are completely smooth and then add any other ingredients you would like.

I found the consistency to be too soft, but if you pop it back in the freezer for a few hours, stirring every so often, you get a little bit of crystallisation which makes it more like real ice cream.

To me, it just tasted like frozen bananas. I guess I was expecting it to taste like ice cream! But adding a handful of raspberries gives it a really nice sharpness and a prettier look too.

To make these little bon bons, I actually used an egg cup to get the shape, but a melon baller would be the obvious choice. Then I popped them back in the freezer to really harden.

To finish them off, melt a bar of dark chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water. Once you drizzle the chocolate over the balls, it will quickly harden for a nice thin and crispy coating.

Perfect timing for a healthy Valentine's Day dessert!

A SPECIAL VALENTINE FOR MY GIRLFRIENDS

How do you celebrate Valentine's Day? A romantic dinner? Date night on the sofa with Ben and Jerry? My boyfriend and I tend to just exchange cards and a kiss as our anniversary is a few days later, but I know some people go all out!

When I lived in America as a child, Valentine's Day was huuuge! Some say it's just a hugely commercialised holiday, but it was really fun to celebrate. Everyone makes/sends Valentine's not just for their partners, but for friends, children and so on. It's a really big deal at school, and we used to spend a few hours making our own shoebox letterboxes and on the day itself everyone would bring in cards to pop into each others' boxes. It wasn't just for the boy you had a crush on, it was an inclusive day where everyone got to feel a little bit special!

With that in mind, this year I put together 'Galentines' Day packages for a couple of my friends who I never got around to sending Christmas cards to (whoops). Nothing fancy, just a sweet card, a packet of Love Hearts and one of the little clay ornaments I made at Christmas inside a little matchbox gift box.

Will you be doing anything special? I think we're just going to get a takeaway and stay in our pjs all day. 

Who said romance is dead!

WORDS TO LIVE BY: create calm

January has been filled with a lot lf uncertainties. It certainly wasn't the quiet start to the year I was hoping for! In the second half of the month we had a nasty surprise with a bill from the council for a huge amount of money we didn't owe. To cut a long story short, there were days of waiting to find out if we had to call a solicitor or even be faced with having to pay, but in the end it turned out to be a system error (wtf!?). Thankfully the situation resolved itself, and despite a few other things hanging in the air, I'm surprised how calm I've been able to maintain!

After a thought provoking brunch with some of my favourite blog girls (Lulu, Ché, Siobhan and Jo), I was reminded how the energy you put out has so much to do with the way life treats you so, with that in mind, here are a few ways to create calm to help you make rational, levelheaded decisions when life throws a curveball at you.

1.  Lose the tension - take a few slow, deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Relax your jaw, drop your shoulders and repeat.

2.  Set the scene - dim the lights and light a scented candle. Masculine scents like Amber, sandalwood or Diptyque's mysterious Baies really help to clear the atmosphere.

3. Think before you act - this might sound obvious, but sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the moment. I could have easily kicked up a fuss on the phone to the council, but instead I took a calm, but firm approach to the situation to work out the facts before I jumped to conclusions. I really think this helped me get a clear and concise response from them (and an apology). Effing and blinding doesn't endear you to anyone and might get you pushed to the bottom of the list.

4. Prepare - if you have to make a difficult phone call, jot down some notes beforehand so you don't lose your point in the heat of the moment. And while you're own the phone, don't forget to write down what the other person says. It's easy to feel like you've resolved something by the time you put down the phone, but when you think back on the conversation it's hard to pinpoint exactly what.

5. Create distraction - easier said than done, but it really helps to get out and do something to set your mind at ease, if only for an hour. Take a gym class, visit a museum you haven't been to before or grab coffee with someone you don't know very well - you'll be busy trying to find out more about them to think about the problem and you're less likely to unload on them than a friend or partner.

6. Schedule time to do nothing - this might seem like a contradiction to the point above, but it's also important to take a moment to yourself. After scheduling dinners and drinks to try and forget the situation, there was nothing I needed more than a night to myself to have a bath, read a magazine and get an early night.

DUVET DAY

Let's go back to bed. Who's with me?

{1,2,3,4,5}

SHELFIE UPDATE

It's been six months since we put these shelves up in our bedroom and I didn't realise until this week how full they've gotten compared to when I first got them! I'm such a hoarder by nature, but I did a big tidy up at the weekend so I thought I'd take a few photos. I think I'm going to have top put another shelf in the to part soon.

The sweet print is from Stephanie Cole and the bunny trinket bowl is by Clay Opera. If you like teddy bears, I think you'll enjoy Much Loved as much as I did.

I'm a big fan of baskets for organisation - this one (either from H&M or Zara, I can't remember) holds my collection of cards, envelopes and whatnot. I know Christmas has passed...but I loved the card too much to throw it away! I've since used the back of it for a craft project.

And finally, this wreath light. It was taking up too much space on my desk, but I think I prefer it here now!