I got back from a work trip in Ravenna on Friday night utterly exhausted, to a weekend of DIY lined up.
The first job was going to B&Q to purchase the dado rails necessary to finish off our dining room walls - we've painted them grey 3/4 of the way up, then white above the rail as the impression I get from my Ideal Homes magazine is that this makes rooms appear bigger and taller.
Gerberas are an endangered species
The trick is remembering which piece of rail is for where once they've all been cut to specific sizes.
Then we finally fixed our apple crates onto the living room wall to provide the room with knick-knack storage. We were inspired by some our friends had in their flat from The Apple Crate Company, although we bought ours on the cheap from Achica.
We got our fab industrial spot light from Next for a bargain £75, and they have a tripod version for £90. I've seen so many awesome industrial or cinema style lights I love for hundreds of pounds so this seemed like a reasonably priced alternate and I absolutely love it!
Oh dear, it seems I'm in a ranty mood this evening.
But don't blame me, blame Bertolli. They decided to reinstate one of their previously ran tv ads and it really got my goat. No I don't have any gripe with olive spread, in fact I prefer it to the products that are clearly not butter and no one ever said they were...
But seriously, on what planet are we when we don't recognise blatant sexual harassment just because it is being directed at a male?
Let's view this commercial from the other side of the looking glass:
Three older gentleman are sat having a picnic overlooking a beautiful beach setting. Cue lovely young, slim, attractive girl emerging (alone) from the ocean in a bikini. Scratch that, put her her a frumpy neck-to-toe bathing suit, makes no difference. The men gawk, elbow each other and participate in leering at the poor woman who notices the uninvited attention and tries her best to ignore it. She looks away and wraps herself in a towel as she attempts to extract herself from her costume, a perfectly acceptable practise given her recently concluded swim. The men are shamelessly leering as she struggles to manoeuvre her nudity with concealment. The men now give their dog a little kick and send it on its way to wrestle with her towel. Just as the poor young women is against her will ripped from her towel, and thus her dignity, one of the men produce a camera. They snap a souvenir picture of the woman's violation of privacy and humiliation to savour and drool over later. They even have the audacity to laugh amounst themselves, oh what fun they're having at the young woman's expense.
Can you imagine if this advert got aired? Can you imagine the sheer volume of complaints, voicing outrage at the terrible treatment of a vulnerable lone woman at the mercy of these lecherous, disgraceful and perverted men? They would say how inferior and primitive this kind of attitude is, that women are not objects to be leered at or gawped over. It would be widely agreed that such behaviour cannot be tolerated, promoted or participated in especially in this day and age where we are supposed to be all equal regardless of reproductive organs (ignoring the fact that women are still sometimes paid less than their male counterparts, but that's a whole other rant for another day).
So why on earth is it ok the other way around? The answer it is isn't ok. It isn't acceptable and it isn't flattering. As long as we are still treating each other in this manner on the basis of gender, we will never improve as a species. I don't even know what this vile harrasment and sexism has to do with an olive spread?! Will a healthy, olive-spread rich diet now turn me into a pervert later in life?
Please advertising standards agency, tell me I'm wrong to be so outraged. Tell me I don't at least have a valid point...
Swap the 'warm grey' paint that we bought at Homebase the other week which turned out to be purple for a paint that is actually a warm grey. I like purple, but not on my dining room walls.
Book the band for the wedding.
Actually do some Uni work rather than saying I must do it and instead watching The Walking Dead a million times just to see Norman Reedus running around in a sleeveless shirt. Phoar.
Try to sleep in past seven o'clock am.
Order the wedding invitations.
Ordering the wedding invitations is really throwing me off, because it would mean actually setting down the timings, the plans and the guest list in stone. We have been back and fourth on these so many times it makes me dizzy, and it is now just over six months until the big day.
Formal Fruit
How to make Tuxedo Strawberries
Get some nice big strawberries
Carefully and slowely melt some white chocolate (be patient or it'll burn) and dip the strawberries fully in by the stalk, shaking off the excess and tipping them upside down before placing on parchment paper to minimise the trickles.
Pop in the fridge to fully set.
Melt some dark chocolate and dip the strawberries to one side then the other to create the 'V' shape, again shaking off the excess and tipping upside down for a moment.
I used a wooden skewer, but a piping bag with a fine nozzle would be neater, to create some dots for buttons and a bow tie design.
Place back on parchment paper and allow to set, at cool room temperature this timeso the don't get condensation.
I've just gotten back from a few days in Amsterdam for a work trip, and this time Chris came out with me to enjoy the sights and keep me company.
Bikes and water
Many bikes and much water...
Amsterdam is beautiful, although there's lots to get run over by; trams, cars, bikes, boats...
Amsterdam gets its name from the River Amstel that it was originally developed upon - Amsterdam means 'the dam on the Amstel'.
Self explanatory
We enjoyed some great food during our time there, Chris and I had pancakes for brunch on the first day before I got stuck into work. Dutch pancakes are a little different to what I expected, I suppose I had crepes in mind for some reason. The filling of the pancakes, in my case chopped nuts and banana, are cooked in with the batter rather than folded in so the bananas were nice and mushy and the nuts toasted. Yum.
I also organised dinner at a restaurant called Moeders (aka Mothers) on the first night with my colleagues.
Wall of Mothers
When Moeders first opened in 1990 the owner had everyone bring their own plate, cutlery and glasses from their homes to make up the eclectic table settings. And they still to this day accept photos of mums to adorn their walls.
The food was excellent - I recommend the lamb skewers and the chocolate party for dessert: chocolate mousse, white chocolate ganache in a milk chocolate shell, and chocolate truffle ice cream. Chris had a traditional Dutch beef stew called Suddervlees, of which there was not a trace left at the end. The food was wholesome and filling, just what you'd expect of an establishment that sets itself pretty high stakes from its name alone. The location is a little off the beaten track and makes you wonder where on earth you're going, but so do all the best places. Sometimes.
The trick is remembering which piece of rail is for where once they've all been cut to specific sizes. 
