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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