Cocktail Night!

 



On Wednesday 29th October, myself, my bestie Heather and Becky headed over to our friend's house, Sam for a cocktail party! During every school holiday we always make sure we do something together, even when we only have one week off. We all love cocktails so decided to have a cocktail party and create our very own!

I was first to make a cocktail. I got my idea from TGI Friday's and I had a little research on Google! My cocktail is pictured above and it was called 'Kirsty's Strawberry Kiss'. I put a bit too much lime in the one I made so in the ingredients I have put a smaller amount. However, if you like lime then you might want to add a bit more! My friends said I used too much...oops!!

Ingredients
Makes 4 cocktails
50ml Vodka - this was just right!
12.5ml Lime juice
25ml Tropical Juice
I used one tub of fresh strawberries plus you need fresh strawberries to garnish
A large handful of ice
Popping candy
Golden syrup

Start by preparing your glasses. I used golden syrup for around the edge of the glassses becuase it was the only thing we had that would stick to the popping candy. Carefully, put a thin layer of golden syrup around the rim of the glass and then dip the rim of the glass on the popping candy.
Once you have prepared your glasses it's time to make the cocktail! My friend Sam has got a Breville Blend Active so we used that to make the cocktails. It is brilliant! I will be putting it on my Christmas list this year! All the ingredients can go straight into the blender (including the ice) and after about 10 seconds you have your cocktail! Pour straight into the glasses and enjoy!!

My friend Becky made the best cocktail of the night! She called it Mango Madness!! Ingredients are listed below and again this can all go straight into the blender for about 10 seconds. For her cocktail she used sugar around the rim of the glass. To get the sugar to stick to the glass you can use water or lemon juice!

Ingredients
25ml Vodka
25ml Peach Schnapps
12.5ml Cointreau
12.5ml Orange Juice
12.5ml Tropical Juice
A handful of fresh mango
Two handfuls of ice cubes

We had many cocktails that night. Heather and Sam also made some great ones! If you would like anymore ideas let me know and we will be happy to share them with you! We are now professional cocktail makers! HEHE :)

We LOVE cocktails!! Have a go at these delicious recipes and let me know what you think!

Making a pallet plant stand!

 I really wanted a plant stand in our garden to fill a corner of the top part of our garden. After doing a bit of research I found that they were really over priced!
My dad can get pallets from his work and they are always in good condition and really strong! I decided on the design ( kept it simple) and asked my dad to saw it for me and nail it together.



You can see how we cut the pallets when you look at the pictures. We put 3 strips of wood at the bottom and 2 on the top. We used spare parts from the same pallet to make the side bits.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to like the finished product but I continued to make it as it didn't cost that much!
I went to Wilkinson to buy Cuprinol garden shades paint in Pale Jasmine colour and gave it 3 coats. The only downside about using pallets is that the paint really soaks into the wood. I hadn't discovered Annie Sloan when I made this otherwise I would have used that!



This is a picture of when it was first put out in our garden. I purchased all of the galvanised planters from Homebase and planted lavender in the jug and then seasonal colour in the other planters.

 

Every time I look at it I smile because it is so pretty and I only had to buy the paint which was £10 and I have a lot left over to use on something else. I am planning on making some other things for the garden using pallets in the spring time, with the help of my dad of course!

 Picture below is later on in the summer on a glorious day!

 

Hoar Cross Hall... a special birthday treat!

I am starting with this blog as it is to do with my sister. I am very close to her and she is always so supportive of everything I do. She really encouraged me to start this blog so I wanted to start with one that was to do with her.
For my birthday in September last month, she treated me to a spa day at the very beautiful Hoar Cross Hall. September was a really tough month for a variety of reasons so she thought this would be the perfect place to relax and unwind! Hoar Cross Hall is in Staffordshire and it is an amazing stately home spa retreat! It is a very special place for me as this is where Angelo proposed!
My sister booked the Indulgent spa day which is £125pp on a weekend but £115pp Monday-Friday!

We arrived about 10am but we could have got there at 8:30am (we were a little hungover from the night before.)
We checked in and were given our robes and towels. You can get fresh ones as many times as you like throughout the day. My sister went to the gift shop there to buy us some slippers! We started off by going in all the different pools, sauna room, steam room, jet showers, plunge pool etc. We then headed to have our treatments which were amazing! The deep cleanse facial was my favourite. It was so relaxing!!



After our treatments we went to the restaurant to have our 3 course meal. WOW! It was delicious. The menu was full of things to pick and they also had a salad bar and hot vegetable bar. We both picked the same food :) Chicken caesar salad to start, grilled chicken with ratatouille for main and summer jelly for pudding. The food was amazing and the service was pretty good! The waiter was in his own little world which meant he forgot to bring us some things and I had to remind him a couple of times!

In the afternoon we went to the gym (I know we are mad) then we went on a lovely bike ride around the grounds. Before we headed back to the changing rooms to change, we had a cup of tea on the sunbeds outside and admired the beautiful grounds!

We headed back to the sauna and steam rooms to finish off a perfect day!
Hoar Cross is a stunning place, so relaxing and the staff are very helpful! It is quite pricey but it is so heavenly it's worth every penny!

Can't wait to go back :)

Kirsty xx

The start...

I really enjoy reading blogs and every night before I go to sleep I catch up on my favourite blogs! You can learn a lot through reading them and see lots of lovely photos!
So... I decided to have a go at it and begin to share some things that make me happy in life. I am currently planning our wedding and hope to be doing many things myself so I hope to blog about that. I also enjoy making things, baking, home improvements and anything to do with flowers! This is going to be more of a hobby than anything else, sharing things along the way! I hope you enjoy! Kirsty xox