Lifestyle: 2017 Roundup

What a year it has been and it has certainly flown by like a flash!! Is it just me or is it the older you get the faster time flies?

I hope you had a great and prosperous year. We have had been through some rough times, sad times and happy times but it is the happy times that get you through and what we focus on. So I thought I would share with you a few special moments of the year (don't worry I won't bore you too much) and what I would like to accomplish in 2018.

2017 Brought us these memories:

Enjoying our lovely English garden - finally. Project house renovation is still underway and we will document this room by room as we go, and provide any tips and advice as much as possible if you are in the same boat. I cannot wait for the chaos to become organised and the boxes and brick dust to disappear. We are incredibly blessed to own our delightful pink cottage and we will continue to inject hard work and love into it.

Luckily we were able to enjoy and explore the instagrammable Santorini. Saving for a wedding and operation house, we had one cheeky weeks' holiday here in paradise. Wining, dining and endlessly wandering around beautiful cobble paved streets, with their white walls and celtic blue colours. Oh how I miss warm sun!! If you fancy reading up on Santorini feel free to check the blog on older posts.

We made wonderful memories, with my longest girlfriends and my best friend Katherine's children down in Weymouth. Binging on BBQ's, popping prosecco and endless giggles. Oh I love them and miss them dearly not seeing them everyday like we used to. They do say the heart grows fonder and no measure of physical distance will keep our hearts apart.

The wedding of Mr and Mrs Tombs (Josh and myself did not get married just to avoid any confusion). Set in the delightful and grand Pitville Pump rooms of Cheltenham, we danced the night away until my fake Manolos hurt my feet - Thanks M&S for the great copies/replicas!! Congratulations to the happy couple and what a great time we had.

The perfect way to end any year is with my family and my ultimate rocks! As you can see we rocked those hats and we were certainly embraced the Merry Christmas. Christmas is not about the presents, it is about the people you love.

So what have I learnt from 2017 and what do I hope to gain? I have learnt that things happen for a reason good or bad, houses don't transform overnight and no matter what to keep trying, even if you "fall" down. 

For 2018 I want:

• To be more patient
• Work harder within my work place and aim for a promotion.
• Keep plugging away at my blog, I love writing and hope you enjoy reading my boring life :) Please let me know if you would like any posts on anything specific?
• Keep practicing piano and try get some grades down.
• To say NO more.
• Make more effort to spend time with the people who care for me and me for them.
• Get that bride body.
• Keep designing and being creative in and around the house.
• Most of all make people happy and to inspire.
• To officially become The Mrs Mercer Smith - only four to five months to go!! We should really get planning.

I hope you all have a fantastic start to the New Year, be safe, be merry and be happy! You can do anything you set your mind to, and this is what I am going to live by. 

Here is to fresh starts, new beginnings and to becoming Mrs Smith.

Love Chlobo's Closet

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Food: Belgium & White Chocolate Brownies

They may not be the most Christmas-y of sweet treats but these have always been a favourite! Actually they are a good all year rounder, every day treat. These brownies with white chocolate chunks inspired by Daylesford Organic, will melt in your mouth and are guiltily, incredibly more-ish.

I apologise now for what you are going to whole heartedly enjoy feasting on! 

Recipe below.

Makes 16

4 eggs

150g caster sugar

150g demerara sugar

350g unsalted butter

350g good dark chocolate (at least 70 per cent cocoa solids)

180g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

380g white chocolate buttons

Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3 and line a 30cm square cake tin (or equivalent) with baking paper.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs and both sugars together until thick. 

Put the butter and dark chocolate into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure the base doesn’t touch the water) and let the chocolate melt. 

Let it cool a little, then add to the beaten eggs and sugar, and mix well. 

Gently fold in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract, then the chocolate buttons. 

Spoon into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. 

They need to stay quite soft and moist in the middle, so they should be springy to the touch, and if you insert a skewer into the centre, it should come out sticky, not clean, as you would expect with a cake.

Take out of the oven and cool in the tin before turning out and cutting into squares.

Enjoy!

Love Chlobo’s Closet

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Music: Humanz Tour, The Gorillaz

What a way to kick start December by treating my earbuds to the tantalizing, animated band; The Gorillaz.

The beginning of the evening did not quite go the way we had quite planned; having parked the car, we took a short walk to O2 arena and being British, patiently queued for at least an hour in the rain. I hear you, this is a standard procedure - well it would have been, if we were queuing at the right venue and for the right band (DOH)!!

A long twenty-minute walk/run to the other end of Birmingham city centre, through the Mailbox and along the canal to the Arena, we finally made it. Shame it was not a leisurely jaunt, the canal and the Mailbox looked so pretty all lit up and the atmosphere coming from the bars and restaurants felt so appealing.

Finally, my ears could soak up the joyous tones of the band I have been waiting to see since I was sixteen (gosh I am old now). The wait, the fraudulent tickets I got ripped off with in the summers and queuing online for more tickets, was well worth the wait!

The band are always brilliant at reinventing themselves, with hip hot tones, grime, dubstep, and rock influences and I will be sure to find the support acts on Spotify. Damon (lead singer from Blur) has still got it and hope the project continues.

Are we the last living souls?

Love Chlobo’s Closet

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Travel: London

What a fabulous time we had in the big smoke; wining (way too much champagne was drank by myself), dining and exploring.

There is something so captivating and stimulating about London, it has such a quirky, vibrant energy. I love getting away to the city, and getting a different take on life compared to the country.

For us it is really easy to get there and on a slight budget - I highly recommend using the Oxford Tube bus. We drive forty minutes into Oxford and get the Tube, which runs frequently (every ten minutes generally). It is safe to leave your car and quite cheap parking (we left it there four days when we went to Rome). Tickets are around £20 each return, and are valid for twenty-four hours, if not longer. We were definitely longer than that. I don’t know if this is sad but I really enjoy the relaxing hour ride into the centre. I have to sit on the top deck and take all the views in.

Usually we get off at Marble Arch, but as we were staying at the Columbia hotel (£120 per night!) we hopped off at Notting Hill Gate. The Columbia hotel is a short ten minute walk from the stop, which is convenient and not too much bother with cases. The hotel is incredibly reasonable for London. The building looks pleasant but the rooms are basic. This doesn’t bother us as we are out most the time and it is just a place to lay our heads.

Of course after dropping our luggage in our room, I had to do a little shopping in Zara (standard), followed by a swift drink in a nearby pub. It definitely had a look of the Queen Vic from Eastenders to it.

Shortly after this we headed to Kensington, where we spent most of our time and generally where we tend to hang out. My family were also in the city for an event at the Albert Hall, so we met at our usual spot; The Goat. The Goat is a great little spot, with good food, friendly staff and do a great bottle of prosecco or two. Having had a brief rendezvous with the family until later, my partner and I headed to Kensington Palace to have a look around and most importantly see the Diana exhibition. I am a big fan of Princess Diana’s and have been highly excited to see iconic parts of her wardrobe through the years on display. The palace of course is grand and luxurious as you would expect, plus really interesting to learn about past royals and the stories to go with them - especially the romantic love story between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The Diana exhibition was very moving, emotional and at the same time breathtaking. My eyes drank up the detailing on some of those Versace dresses. There was the famous black dress she wore whilst dancing with John Travolta, the Versace she wore on the front cover of Vogue and the dress she wore whilst on her honeymoon, to name a few.

After an educational hour or two, we took a walk around Kensington Gardens and Diana’s memorial garden, which was stunning. Filled with white flowers (her favourite and mine too).

Come evening we went for food at this amazing, trendy restaurant in Soho. It’s called the Soho society and has randomly enough and pretty cool - a tree going up through the middle of the restaurant. I already cannot wait to go back to enjoy more. I think I sank a cocktail in there so I am not going to lie when I say that I can remember the rest of the night, but I know it was fun. 

A brief trip to the Albert Hall was undergone too - my uncle played the finale for the brass band event taking place there. I must say the lighting on the mushrooms was impressive and really effective.

In the morning we spent the day enjoying a beautiful, sunny, golden autumnal afternoon around Hyde Park and Kensington park. This was followed up by a trip to Belgravia to peak into Philip Treacy’s window and gaze like a child through a candy shop window and then battling to get into Peggy Porschen’s. After a long wait, it was a fail, Josh could not stand anymore queuing bless him.

It was a magical weekend of culture, far too many unhealthy treats and making memories with my loved ones.

Apologies this has not been up sooner, there has been too much going on in the real world - like my house becoming a building site  and me being very poorly of late. 

Posts will be back up and running again hopefully this week.

Love Chlobo’s Closet

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Travel: Malappuram, India

Fringed coconuts, calming shores and Krishna’s butterball – welcome to Malappuram!

Malappuram in southern Kerala, is a relaxing place to enjoy for a couple of days. Classified as a city but I would say small town. There is not heaps to do there but beautiful none the less. I learnt a lot whilst staying there and really got in touch with my creative side. There are outstanding, colourful guesthouses, restaurants and shops for your eyes to feast upon.

You can enjoy sunny walks around the temples and relax in the park. I thought the park was breath taking – it was huge! Plus, Krishna’s butterball is there, said to be a granite boulder, that rests on a short incline. It is crazy due to the size of it and the placement and of course I had to have the generic photo trying to lift it like everyone else. Legend has it that a governor at one point tried moving it with seven elephants with no success! If that is the size of one of Krishna’s balls, I would hate to see the rest (crude, funny joke input). The park is a delight to walk around though, and can take up to a day, the monkeys will most likely join you too.

There are lots of temples and artefacts to wander around and enjoy; I loved the carvings of the stone animals (I know they probably represent someone or something).

The beach is not a sunbathing type of beach but I found it very scenic and serene. I often enjoyed relaxing, sitting in Bob Marley’s café and enjoyed looking at the fishing boats, with a cup of chai tea.

Luckily we were there for the Kollam; which I have talked about on the blog previously. Kollam is a colour art expressing and marking celebration. It is done with dye, horse dung and rice flower and some of the designs were gorgeous.

My favourite experience in Malappuram was getting to learn and create my own stone carving. One afternoon I was walking down the streets and just went up to a gentleman with his own stall selling marble and graphite carvings and asked him if he would teach me how to do one for money. He was a bit taken back, but thankfully he agreed and I spent a whole day sat on the street making my own little turtle. I started out with a block of graphite, a lot of filing later and my turtle was taking shape. I set the colour in black wax for four hours, and engraved the detailing on once dry. It took a long time but it was the best day. You certainly appreciate the time, effort and cost that goes into some of their creations.

Top 5 things to do in Malappuram

·      Enjoy the cafes/restaurants on the seafront

·      Krishna’s butterball

·      Park

·      Temples

·      Bob Marley’s café – for good tunes and tea.