Wednesday 25 December 2013

Happy Christmas!

I'm blogging from my very own brand new laptop! I've been asking for one for a while, but I never thought I'd actually get it. I also got a cat onesie yesterday (we always get new pajamas on Christmas Eve) and now I can't wait for food. 
Merry Christmas!
Love, Shay. xo

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Merry Christmas Eve!




I can’t believe it’s Christmas eve already! All of our decorations are up (and have been for a week or two) and it finally feels like Christmas. 

I’m really sorry for not posting earlier. I feel so bad, but I've been really busy recently what with exams and illness and Christmas shopping (aka stressing- Christma
s presents are hard work!) I’ve really not had the chance, and I've not really been doing anything ‘blog worthy’ anyway. I have a couple of ideas for future posts, which is pretty exciting considering my lack of creativity/motivation/time.
But that’s okay now, because I’m here and I bring Christmas goodies! Well, Christmas goody, but its gingerbread so you aren’t allowed to complain. It’s perfect for a last minute present, or a Christmas party you might be attending. Or maybe you just want to stuff you're face with gingerbread. Don’t worry, I won’t judge. 

I found this recipe on the BBC website. You can never go wrong with BBC food. I made it a few days ago for my mum to take with her to work, and now I’ve made it again today, just for fun.
Sorry for the crazy collage, I'm still working on my photo skills

Ingredients
·         350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
·         1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
·         2 tsp ground ginger
·         1 tsp ground cinnamon
·         125g/4½oz butter
·         175g/6oz light soft brown sugar
·         1 free-range egg
·         4 tbsp. golden syrup

Method
1.       Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into a bowl. Add the butter and blend in a food processor until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
2.       Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together, add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead briefly until smooth, wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
3.       Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
4.       Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters cut out the gingerbread men shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a space between them so they don’t morph into one.
5.       Bake for 8-12 minutes (my biscuits were only small, so they didn’t need as much time) or until lightly golden-brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
                                                                                                                                             
These are some of the best gingerbread biscuits that I’ve ever made, and they're really easy to make. 

Happy holidays!
Love, Shay. xo

Monday 2 December 2013

December is here!

I can't believe it's December already! I love the end of the year, because it's great to be able to look back and feel happy about what you've done or accomplished. It's also a great time to plan for the future- you have a whole year ahead of you!

I've decided that 2014 is going to be a productive year for me. I've really just been coasting along and scraping by, but I feel like now's the time to get my head down in school and really work hard. I'm going to try and build up a collection of notebooks to help me plan and focus. I'm also going to start saving up my money instead of wasting it.

I really want to start a scrapbook for 2014. I love having visuals to look back over my year, and gathering them all in one place would be the best! Later on this month I'm going to set myself goals for 2014 and I really hope I can achieve them.

What do you hope to do in 2014?

Love, Shay. xo