Christmas Day Outfit Ideas!

Christmas is now only 27 days away which, for festive old me is incredibly exciting to say the least. I thought I would combine my love of Christmas and obsession with clothes today into creating one post where I come up with several potential outfit ideas to wear on Christmas day so, get ready to see plenty of sparkle, glitter, sequins and gold. Afterall, it is Christmas! (:

Outfit Idea One

This is actually the outfit I am in the process of purchasing ready to wear on Christmas day myself.

I love this bronze metallic, pleat skirt from boohoo and it is only £18 which, I think is a bargain. It is fun, cute, girly, shiny and BRONZE. Perfect for christmas. I actually ordered it the other day so, hopefully it will be here soon and hopefully I will like it as much as I did on the website in person. I love it paired with the black blouse aswell as it has the rock vibe I love and I was originally going to order a studded collar blouse like the one in the picture but, I now think I am going to go with this crucifix printed one from Missguided at £23.99, again not too expensive. It is also very on trend and fits with the Gothic trend that is very in fashion and popular at the moment which, is a bonus. I would love to pair it again with a bullet/spike necklace like that in the picture and a pork pie or bowler hat like this one from Topshop, or if you are on more of a budget like myself this christmas, this cute bowler hat from ebay. At around £7 you really can't go wrong. Finally, finish this outfit off with some black or glittery gold nail varnish and some studded platform heels.

 

 

Outfit Idea Two

I really love velvet dresses at the moment and I have fallen in love with both of these. There is this gorgeous, maroon one from Goldie London  but, it is rather expensive at £65, and then there is this lovely green, velvet dress from Missguided which, is much more pleasing to the bank balance at just £18.99. Missguided have some lovely pieces at the moment. I think both of these dresses would look perfect with a pork pie or bowler hat again and a pair of Jeffrey Campbell style Litas like these on ebay. Also pair it with some studded and spiky jewellery and these amazing Spiked earrings from Missguided.

 

 

 

Outfit Idea Three

 

Now to be very girly and festive. The perfect little red dress for Christmas day. I love both of these dresses by Jones and Jones, especially the second one. There is this lovely Tamara Red Sequin dress with cute peter pan collar for £75 which, is perfect and sparkly for Christmas and then there is this gorgeous Audrey Poppy Dress for £60 which, is very elegant and feminine with the lovely lace detailing and fun skater skirt. I really want a Jones and Jones dress and I think they are well worth their price tag. They are beautiful and unique dresses and I would really like the Jones and Jones Black Lace Poppy Dress. I think both of these cute little dresses would look lovely with some pretty, gold glitter platform heels like these on ebay.

Outfit Idea Four

This is a more simple outfit idea for Christmas day (if sequin hotpants can be classed as simple. :/) However, it is still very fun, festive and pretty. I love these hotpants from Missguided for £19.99 and I think they would look great with a cute festive jumper tucked in. I love this santa print one from boohoo and have just ordered it for myself however, I have just noticed it is now sold out. Hopefully it will come back in stock as it is an absoloute bargain at just £15 however, you can grab a lovely christmas jumper from anywhere at the minute as they are very on trend and primark are doing some really nice ones for only around £8-£9.

Outfit Idea Five

Then if you do have some more pennies to spare and really want to dress up for Christmas then why not splash out on a gorgeous Motel Gabby Sequin Dress. There are so many gorgeous colours to choose from including; black, green, gold and silver/charcoal and they are really popular with celebrities too at the moment. Zoe Ball wore the green version on Strictly It Takes Two the other week. They are beautiful, elegant and festive and I think they would look great with these stunning Lily Wing Court Heels fromTopshop.

So to finish off, who doesn't love a bit of Festive Buble?



 

Thankyou for reading!

 

Love Courts x

Tuesday Tunes.

 

Song Of The Week : The Blackout - You're Not Alone.

 

I absoloutely adore this song. It is so mellow and sweet and has really lovely lyrics. It is also just such a different song for The Blackout to sing which, I think is really nice. I'm used to them being quite heavy so, I think it is really nice to hear them sing such a lovely, soft, meaningful song like this. I also love their cover version of Save Tonight by Eagle Eye Cherry, it is brilliant so have a listen if you haven't already and enjoy this incredible song too!

 

Thankyou for listening!

 

Love Courts x

Veggie Sausage and Leek Pie.

 

Good afternoon! Who doesn't like pie right? Surely there's no one in this entire world that doesn't like pie. I do hope that's the case anyway. Pastry is so delicious. Last week I made a very yummy Veggie Sausage and Leek pie which, turned out really well so, I was very pleased as I had never made a pie before.

As Dad is at work currently, I thought I would just quickly pinch his laptop... again (he must find me very annoying at the moment), to do a quick recipe post of my Pie recipe as I haven't done one in what seems like forever. I just thought last week that with this horrible chilly, rainy weather we are having at the moment, there would be nothing better to have for tea than a nice, warming, hearty meal so, I made this lovely pie which I found the recipe for on the BBC Good Food website and I served it with some cauliflower cheese, roast vegetables, asparagus and chantenay carrots. I know how posh of me. I absoloutely adore asparagus at the moment.

The pie is normally not vegetarian but, as I am a vegetarian I made it using the Red onion and Rosemary Vegetarian Sausages by Linda McCartney which, worked perfectly in the dish but, ofcourse if you are not a veggie, feel free to use whatever sausages you wish.

There is another winter warmer on the menu tonight as I am making Vegetable Goulash and Chive Dumplings, nom. But, for now here is the lovely, and surprisingly cheap and easy to make, pie recipe.

Recipe

For The Pastry

                                        85g cold butter , chopped                                           

                175g plain flour           

                                                                                                         

For The Filling

450g good pork sausages (I used 

                                            10 veggie sausages)                                                  

2 large leeks , sliced and washed

25g butter

25g plain flour

300ml milk

2 tsp grainy mustard

handful of chopped parsley

1. Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/ gas 6. Whizz butter and flour in a food processor. Add 2 tbsp. water and pulse to a ball. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill.
2. Heat the grill to high, brown the sausages for 5 minutes. Fry the leeks in the butter for 2- 3 minutes. Sprinkle in flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the milk. Season, add the mustard and bring to the boil, stirring.
3. Cut each sausage into five at an angle and pile into a 1.2 litre dish. Stir the parsley into the leek sauce and pour over.
4. Roll out the pastry and cut out a shape 2.5cm larger than the dish.Re-roll trimmings to make a 2.5cm strip. Brush the rim of the dish with water and lay the strip on top. Lift the rest on top, press to seal and crimp edges. Bake for 25 minutes. (I added 3 simple pastry leaves for decoration instead.)

 

Serve with whatever accompaniments you like whether, it be chips, peas and gravy or fresh vegetables. I served mine with some roast red and yellow peppers, red onion and courgette, as well as some cauliflower cheese, steamed chantenay carrots and a few asparagus spears. Yum.

Thankyou for reading!

Love Courts x

Listography: Six Songs Of Me.

Hello hello. I saw this post the other day on my friend Issy's blog; Life and Times of a Student and I was very excited to have a go at doing it myself as I love music. I hope she doesn't mind. I just thought it would be something I could do a quick post about without thieving my Dad's laptop for too long. Hurry up pay day! I need a new laptop! Dad is trying to convince me to wait until the January sales which sounds like a good idea but, realistically I don't know if I can wait that long. Anywayyy... on to some rather varied tastes in music I have had over the years.

1. What was the first song you ever bought?

Five - If Ya Gettin Down.

'Wiggy Wiggy I'm Gettin Jiggy'. Classic Five with their incredible lyrics. This was the first song I ever bought and I loved it. They were my favourite band when I was little along with S Club 7 ofcourse and Scott was also my first crush... what was I thinking? Abs was clearly the best. I still remember going to my friend Penny's birthday party when we were little and playing musical statues and musical chairs whilst listening to this amazing song. They were just brilliant. Keep On Moving. Don't Wanna Let You Go. Just Dance. Incredible. I can't believe how rude the lyrics are though, that's what my innocent five year old ears used to listen to. It's just like Spice Girls Two Become One all over again. 'Be a little bit wiser baby, put it on, put it on.' Seriously? You really think that advice is neccessary for your fanbase of 8 year olds.

2. What Song Always Gets You Dancing?

Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight.

I loveee this song. I have always wanted to Jive to it, as unusual as that may sound :/ I'm just a little perculiar. I guess most people wouldn't listen to a song normally and think, my god this song would be good to salsa to, or this song would be good to waltz to but there we go, me and my love of strictly ^_^. I just think it would be so fun to Jive to. I'd love to learn how to do some amazing dances; especially the Jive, Cha Cha and Charleston. Dani Harmer actually got to live out my dream by Jive-ing to this song on strictly the other week so I was very jealous. She did an amazing job and even got to wear an incredible outfit and it was all 50's themed which was completely me too. Damn. Maybe one day.

What song takes you back to your childhood?

S Club 7 - Bring It All Back

S Club 7 ofcourse! Could it really be anything else? I was absoloutely obssessed with S Club 7 when I was little and to be honest I still am a little bit. I even watched my LA7 videos the other day and loved every minute of it. Should I be ashamed of that at 18 years of age? Maybe I should but, I'm not. They're brilliant! I also listened to all 4 of their albums the other night on my ipod at work and they helped me through my long night shift and I still remember every lyric. I love Hannah. She is incredible. When I was little while my friends would say they wanted to be police men and doctors when they grew up, my dream was to be Hannah from S Club 7. 'Imagination is the key, cos you are your own destiny. You never should be lonely when time is on your side.'


4. What is your perfect love song?

You Me At Six - Crash.

This song is gorgeous and Josh's voice is beautiful singing it. It is actually one of my favourite songs ever and deffinately my favourite You Me At Six song. I would love Josh to serenade me with it. He is just beautiful. The lyrics are lovely and it just makes me feel really happy to listen to. It is just stunning and you will honestly fall in love with it when you hear it. I was lucky enough to hear Josh sing it live in April when I went to see You Me At Six in concert and they were incredible. I loved it! I can't believe I was originally only going as I was obsessed with Kids In Glass Houses who were one of the support acts and I wanted to see them sing their 5 or so songs. How silly I was. I adore You Me At Six now and they are one of my favourite bands. They just write such incredible songs and Sinners Never Sleep is one of the best albums I have ever heard.


5. What song would you want at your funeral?

Jimmy Eat World - Hear You Me.

This song is so sad, and so sweet and so gorgeous and it just makes me want to cry as soon as I hear it... in the best possible way. The lyrics are just so sad, beautiful and incredible. I first heard it a couple of years ago when I was watching a River Phoenix tribute video on youtube which, was sad in itself for me as my favourite film is Stand By Me and I love Rio but, then this song is also really emotional itself. I am a big fan of Jimmy Eat World and they have some amazing songs and I love the way they sing this one, it gives me chills. I have always said I would love this song to be played at my funeral ever since I first heard it, as morbid as that may sound :/. It's a tearjerker.


6. Time for the encore. One song that makes you you.

Jimmy Eat World - The Middle.

This is one of my favourite songs ever! I just feel that it completely represents me and how I feel alot of the time. I hope that doesn't sound cheesy. The lyrics are just amazing and inspirational and the song is so meaningful but it is also really upbeat and everyone loves it and knows it and knows the lyrics which is great. I love it. It's just really sweet and I love when you can relate to a song and when a song really means alot to you. It basically just tells you to be yourself, be happy with who you are and not let anyone else get you down or tell you your not good enough which I think is one of the best messages you could ever give someone as everyone feels like crap or feels down about themselves at some point and this song really cheers you up and makes you feel alot better about yourself. 'Live right now. Yeah, just be yourself. It doesn't matter if it's good enough for someone else.' - Best lyrics to a song ever!

Thankyou for reading and listening!

Love Courts x

Tuesday Tunes and See You Soons.

Song of The Week : Feeder- Borders.

 

I love this Feeder song and just Feeder in general. They have so many well known, fun, iconic songs and I was lucky enough to get to see them at Reading in August. They were amazing and were actually one of my favourite performances of the whole festival. They were just so fun to watch and absoloutely everybody sang and danced along and enjoyed it considering we were all soaking wet and freezing cold which, was lovely. I could barely see them either and mostly watched via the big screen but, it was still incredible hearing everyone sing along to Buck Rodgers, Just The Way I'm Feeling and Just A Day. I also surprised myself in how many songs of theirs I actually knew. I think Feeder are just one of those underated bands which you eventually realise 'Damn they are actually really good and I like loads of their songs.' This one included. I am currently rushing to write this all down as Dad has just got home from work and I am borrowing his laptop as I just found out mine is completely and utterly broken :/. Fantastic. Apparently it is completely ruined and everything inside is broken and it looks like I have dropped it down the stairs which I haven't, so god knows what has happened, all I know is that I now need to get saving up those pennies to buy me a new one. Not something I was planning on doing after only having my other one for just over a year. Still, as such I will not be able to really blog until I get my new one but, hopefully that won't be too long and I will blog lots and lots when I get back :)! I have fallen in love with this pretty pink laptop and in terms of actual laptops and technology I think it is quite good too really :P. Mainly though... IT'S PINK. (:

 

 

At £480. (Gosh it hurts to write that :/) It is very expensive but, it is actually not unreachable... just very painful. Still, it will pretty much take a whole months paypacket to pay for so we will have to see. Never one to find anything cheap, me.

 

See you all soon :)!

 

Thankyou for reading!

 

Love Courts x

 

Tuesday Tunes.

 

Song Of The Week : Deaf Havana- Hunstanton Pier

 

I adore this song. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. The lyrics are so beautiful and personal and the tune is really sweet. James' voice is also gorgeous and he's actually one of my favourite singers along with Gerard Way and Bert McCracken. I'm also a bit in love with him at the moment; tattoos, piercings, beautiful voice, cute, great band, plays guitar... what more could you ask for? I got to see Deaf Havana at Reading in August and they were amazing and I would love to be able to go and see them again as I'm an even bigger fan of their music now than I was then. Yes I'm looking at you Jamie Pascoe, god sake I'm jealous! I love the new Deaf Havana style aswell, their old music was amazing too but James' voice is incredible and their new songs have such good, meaningful lyrics. I love their new album so much in fact, that I am just about to order it on amazon. It is honestly brilliant. There is not one bad song on the whole album so, if you have not bought or listened to it yet you must! It is called Fools and Worthless Liars but, if you cannot be bothered to download or listen to the whole thing at least listen to this one song, and then Little White Lies... and then I Will Try... and then The Past Six Years... and then at that point you might aswell purchase the whole album ^_^.

 

Thankyou for listening!

Love Courts x

Gnocchi Bake.

 

Gnocchi Bake is delicious. It is not the most glamorous looking meal; very hearty, rustic and homemade but, it tastes amazing. I made it for the first time a couple of months ago and now I make it all the time. The flavour is gorgeous; it's rich and creamy and I adore the crispy hazlenut topping. This is now one of my favourite dishes and it goes lovely with some yummy garlic bread. The other day I purchased some garlic and mozzarella pizza express garlic breads as a little treat as they are gorgeous but, they are quite expensive. Still, I'd say they are very much worth it though. If you have never tried gnocchi I would deffinately recommend giving it a go, it is lovely and you can just use it in any dish where you would normally use pasta. I love pasta bake so, I thought why not make a gnocchi bake and I am very glad I did. As a vegetarian there is literally nothing better than roast vegetables; there is always so much colour and flavour and my meat eating family love them too which is great and they make a gorgeous, perfect filling for this dish. 

 

Recipe

 

Roast Vegetables

2 Red onions

1 Sweet Potato

1 Red Pepper

1 Yellow Pepper

1 Courgette

1 Carrot

1 Parsnip

8 Asparagus Spears

2 tbsp. olive oil

Tomato Sauce

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Tin of tomato soup

Handful of basil leaves

Cheese Sauce

25g Butter

25g Plain Flour

300ml Semi-skimmed milk

100g Blue Cheese

100g Cheddar, grated

Topping

1 Slice of wholemeal bread (breadcrumbs)

20g Hazlenuts, chopped finely

10g-20g Grated Cheddar

 

400g Gnocchi

 



Method

First of all peel and chop all of the vegetables and keep them quite chunky. Roast them in a casserole dish, coated with about 2 tbsp. worth of olive oil at 200C for about 40 minutes until the vegetables are soft and bronzed. 

Whilst, the vegetables are roasting prepare the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add in the flour. Mix over the heat for about a minute. Slowly pour in the warm milk a tiny bit at a time until smooth. Return to the heat, bringing to the boil, stirring constantly to avoid lumps until the sauce is thick, smooth and glossy and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Add the grated cheddar and crumbled blue cheese and stir until melted and combined.

Next prepare the tomato sauce. Heat the tin of chopped tomatoes and tin of tomato soup in a saucepan and add in some torn up fresh basil leaves. Pour the tomato sauce over the roast vegetables in the casserole dish but, remember to drain off any oil from the vegetables first if there is lots of excess. If there isn't too much I would just leave it as I personally think it adds a nice flavour.

Tip the gnocchi into the casserole dish and ensure that it is covered by the tomato sauce. Pour over the blue cheese sauce. Finally, blitz 1 round of wholemeal bread in a food processor to prepare fresh breadcrumbs and then scatter them over the top of the gnocchi along with the finely chopped hazlenuts and then sprinkle with the grated cheddar. Bake in the oven at 200C for at least 30-35 minutes and then serve with some delicious garlic bread. Gorgeous! (if the cheese starts to brown, cover with some tin foil to ensure the topping doesn't burn.)

Waalaaa!

Thankyou for reading!

Love Courts x

Shabby Chic Wish-List

I'd really like to redecorate my room soon. At the moment it's quite kiddy with pastel pink and yellow walls so I'd like to make it a bit more grown up and simpler. I think I'd like to paint my room all white or cream and then get lots of gorgeous girly shabby chic furniture to fill it with. Ofcourse that will be very expensive though so we'll have to see, plus I will hopefully be going to Uni next summer so I don't really know if it's worth spending lots of money on redecorating my room but, it will always be nice to come home to and ofcourse I can have the furniture in my own home in the future.

I adore shabby chic furniture. Anything pretty and vintage is perfect. I would love to get a beautiful shabby chic bed like the one above and then put some pretty wicker fairy lights along the headboard and pop a cath kidston duvet on top.

 

 

I'd also love to get a shabby chic wardrobe like this one. I love the mirrors on the door and the pretty, intricate detailing to the top which matches the headboard on the bed.

 More than anything though I would love to have a gorgeous dressing table like this. I love them. It would be so girly and elegant and I could pop lots of pretty perfumes and make-up on top. 

I'd also love a cute little bedside table like this one. I love the style of this one in particular. I like the pretty detailing and distressed white paint work.

I saw this lamp in Next the other day and it is absoloutely gorgeous. It is very pretty and girly and the picture here doesn't actually do it justice. It is really lovely in real-life and I'd love to be able to pop this on top of my bedside table. Maybe I could get two bedside tables and put a retro 60s radio on top of the other one too. I say this all now and am getting excited about my shabby chic room but it will probably never happen.

 

I saw this clock in Trago and again it looks much nicer in real life. It is lovely and again looks very vintage and classy and I also really like how unique it is. I've never seen a clock like it before.

 A set of drawers to match the rest of the shabby chic furniture would also be lovely and practical to pop all my ridiculous amounts of clutter and clothes I never wear in.

I also adore New York and I love this vintage clock. My dream is to move to New York and open a vintage cupcake bakery and tea room one day. Woudn't it be lovely? I've never been before and me and my Dad would love to go at christmas time, it would be amazing.

 I have fallen in love with this chair. I love the gorgeous, vintage print and I think it looks really elegant and classy but, it is ridiculously expensive. £125 on a chair. I'm not so sure :/.










Thankyou for reading!

Love Courts x