Back in Boston...

Lovely hotel, great city, cocktails and dinner... perfect :)

Frank and Jeans

My abode for the past 3 nights :)

Xmas fair

This morning I went to the Gardener Xmas tree fair! You pay $5 and get 21 raffle tickets which you put into pots by the trees you'd like to win! If I win the big baking tree, they're going to send me a cookie cutter!

Justine and Amys place

Jeremys brothers family live high up in the mountains in the forest so it was no surprise to see snow up there. It's not as remote as it seems but a far cry from Boston city! Its an amazing place for the kids to grow up in but a pain for shopping!! Amy is a fabulous cook and we had delicious homemade blueberry pancakes, lasagne with ricotta cheese, tiny potatoes seasoned with onions and garlic and spiral ham. What's spiral ham?! It's a sugar coated yummy ham which tasted delicious :)

A quick bucket of balls... For 3!

Guess what we did before going to dinner? Frank, Liz & Jeremy decided they'd like a half hour to whack some golf balls on the driving range. Hitting them seems tough enough so getting one to drop into a tiny hole somewhere on the green seems impossible!

Dive in... Me thinks not?!

Tonight I was invited to sample the dreaded scorpion bowl! A mix of fruit & alcohol with a sting of 75% proof alcohol in the centre! Dangerous stuff...!

The museum of fine arts, Boston

I love visiting galleries because there are always paintings there that surprise me! Best painting by far at the MFA was the Renoir! It took my breath away! I love Impressionist paintings so to see originals by Monet, Manet, Renoir, Pissaro, Degas and more just blew me away! I don't know what it is that draws me to certain paintings. All I know is that it's magical and I never want to lose that feeling.
The Degas 'Naked' exhibition by contrast was below par. I skipped round it wanting to find a gem but nothing struck me as much as the magnificent Renoir. It alone was worth the trip!

Things to be thankful for...

Fran & Jean have warned us that we'll be invited to say something at Thanksgiving dinner about what we're thankful for.
Jean says I should be thankful for that fact that I have the super-doopa down duvet and Liz & Jeremy unfortunately for them, don't!
I'm thankful for my new extended family here in Fitchburg, for health, happiness and wifi!

Thanksgiving dinner

I've spent my whole life wanting but never expecting to experience a Thanksgiving dinner. I'm so delighted to be here in Fitchburg and even happier that I'm spending Thanksgiving with my new, larger, extended family! Our turkey dinner was delicious with plenty of cooked turkey, greens, potato mash, butternut squash mash and gravy. Cranberry jelly was out of a can and shaped like a big sausage which we ate by the slice! It was tasty and although I missed the sprouts, I still have my UK Xmas dinner to look forward to when I get home.

Best bits of Boston...!

Beautiful brown stone houses, a walk in the park, children skating in the park, Sam lagrasse's sandwiches (though I gave the bread a miss!) shopping malls (pronounced maul!), beautiful hotels like ours, friendly service, open spaces, cocktails on 52nd floor of Provincial Tower, Post restaurant, squash bisque, glasses of prosecco, free wifi, the museum of fine arts and Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Boston is a beautiful city filled with great sights, wonderful restaurants & hotels, open spaces, friendly people and I love it!

I'm not for recycling... get me out of here!

Today I had my first experience with the very clever, talking recycling machine at Tescos! I seem to have accumulated quite a few bottles over recent months so decided it was time to take them to a recycling bank. I spent the morning tidying the spare bedroom and trying on every item of clothing I could find. I do have quite a few clothes and it's great fun to try ones on that I haven't worn for a while and find that some of the skinnier ones fit, yeah! Anyway, back to my recycling story :) One of our local Tescos has one of these new fangled automated recycling centres. I've noticed it when I get petrol but have never used it. Oh, my goodness, it certainly amused the hell out of me! It actually talks to you as you put items into the shute and everything was going swimmingly until it asked me to remove the little bottles which I'd put inside.

Do you find you talk back to machines that talk to you? I do! There I was talking to the machine and saying "No... !!" when a guy and his son came to use the other recycling machine. They both laughed at me! I smiled and said "It's like something out of the jungle. The door keeps closing on the shute and it's telling me to put my hand in and retrieve the two little bottles!" They were clearly amused by my dilemma! Whilst I deliberated about what to do, I could see the little bottles at the bottom of the shute and every so often, the door would close. All I could think was that if I put my hand in, the door would close and trap my hand inside!! By now, other cars were rolling up and as Mary Anne (as I've decided to call her!) was still telling me to "Remove the items and try again!" I thought, get on with it so I stuck a large bottle inside to stop the door closing and quickly pulled out the two little bottles. Apparently, as I discovered, the machine only likes one item at a time. Doh, I should have listened to Mary Anne's wise words! Despite my tricky moment, I was very impressed by this enormous machine! It's like a massive washing machine and food disposal system all rolled into one and I'm definitely returning when I've emptied a few more bottles! Mmm, time for another glass :)

What were you doing 5 years ago today?

I was writing the first post of my butterscotchartgirl blog! Congratulations, I'm 5 years old and loving the history.

So what do I love most about my blog?

The memories, of course. Life is like a massive box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. Sometimes you get your favourite and if you've chosen well then most days will be filled with lovely surprises and delicious treats. Occasionally though, I end up with the equivalent of the coffee one, ha ha! I love having somewhere to record my thoughts even if they're sometimes a bit crazy and off the wall. I love taking photographs and having somewhere that I can share them with good friends and family. I love being able to have a rant occasionally too. I love looking back to anytime during the past 5 years and knowing exactly where I was, who I was with and what I was doing. Can you say that? Most of all, I just enjoy every moment I spend writing. Aren't you glad I did :) XX XX

Luscious Lisa's birthday weekend!

Why have a one-day birthday when you can have a whole, delicious weekend of fun and laughter?! Starting with Lisa's birthday party on Friday, we began by opening a bottle of fizz at her flat and then moved onto Brasserie Blanc for dinner. It was great to see Lisa's mum and dad and sit with them for dinner. We all had loads of fun with a bar filled with inebriated Irish men so much so that we didn't leave until 2am in the morning! That's the beauty of Cheltenham, we can drink, eat, dance, drink some more and still stagger home to Lisa's in the early hours with not a care in the world :)
Saturday was a slightly later start of smoked salmon and scrambled egg before myself, Lisa and her friend Jenny walked into town to do some shopping. I couldn't pass by the Swallow Bakery without popping in for a cup of tea and a raspberry and white chocolate cupcake - yum :)
There's no better thing to do on a Saturday night than relax with my wannabesister, watch Strictly and X-factor and eat stirfry!

Sunday was the piece-de-resistance, we went to the races! It's actually rather nice to go when it's quiet. Me and Lisa had a fabulous afternoon sitting in the window with our bottle of bubbly, 2 glasses, a race card, some readies and a fish platter. It really doesn't take much to amuse us :)

I'm in love with Chloe!

I have spent the whole week indulging myself with a few little luxuries to cheer myself up. I have a brilliant new suit for business meetings and the jacket also looks fabulous and deliciously casual with my jeans, which btw are my 2010-fit jeans, yeah! I searched for Valentino when I was in London but it wasn't until I was in Harvey Nics in Bristol that I spotted this gorgeous gift set.

You know when you go to buy something, find it then before you buy it you try a few other options, just to make sure you're buying the right one? Oh yes, that's exactly what I did and that's the reason why I have fallen in love with Chloe! When it came to choosing one or the other I did what any sensible girl should do and bought them both!

Paper roses

Name that tune! These beautiful roses remind me of that infamous song released by Marie Osmond in the 70's. Ha ha, I was a David Cassidy fan and I had the poster to prove it! But I admit that like 99% of teenage girls my age, I was also quite partial to the gorgeously, handsome Donny.

...oh how real those roses seem to be.. but they're only imitation...? No, they're definitely real to me :)

Some things are worth waiting for...

For someone who is very impulsive, I'm can be extremely restrained when I go out 'home' shopping. I always think "I could be living with that for a very long time" which is why just 'liking' something won't do. I need to love, in fact really love something before I buy it and bring it into my home. The same reasoning also applies to men!

So today I went shopping for lampshades yet again and hurrah, I'm over the moon because I've found exactly what I was looking and more. My amazingly beautiful shades have that extra something that I never even imagined I'd find. I got such a buzz of excitement when I saw them. Then, fell crestfallen when I realised they were for pendant lights, not table lights. The bit in the middle was at the top, not the bottom and as they have guzillions of glass droplets hanging off them, it's impossible to turn them upside down. Mmm, not one to give up I scouted round for something, perhaps a gadget and wey hey, I found a handy, young male assistant! He told me to add an extender (woo hoo!) and hey presto, my feeling of great excitement returned :) I came home with two beautiful lampshades and two extenders and don't they look fabulous - thank Sunday for JLewis!

I can be so unlike me!

I'm so used to being me and don't get me wrong, I quite like 'me'; but at the moment, I've noticed that I'm doing things that are 'unlike me!' and you know what, I love it! The glasses are still sitting on the side from Wednesday night's book club - what's all that about?! I'm doing some improptu swearing when certain calendar invites appear on my phone. Grrr, numpty! And I'm enjoying having the opportunity to set myself some new goals. I deserve the best and being second, third or just somewhere on the list isn't good enough for me. I think last night's black pudding has given me a shot of iron - ha ha ha ha - that's just hit my backbone!

:)))

Today I've been having great fun at  Cake International. Talk about 'Bake to Impress' these beauties take that phrase to a brand new level!

 Just look at these amazing baby shoes made from sugarpaste - WOW!

 These delicious cakes are wrapped in chocolate which has been decorated with transfer sheets. They look and most likely taste truly scrumptious :)

 These 25 amazingly, beautiful cupcakes have been decorated with lace transfer sheets, though I think they're topped with sugarpaste rather than chocolate. The flowers and butterflies are so delicate and they really do look too good to eat. Sugarcrafting like this isn't cheap - but it's pretty, darned impressive!!

Argh, what can I say... this cheerful nativity scene is made entirely from sugarpaste!!! I felt I wanted to burst into song "Away in a Manger" when I saw it :)

A spooky start to the weekend.. !

Not usually a shy wallflower I was seated right in the middle of the dining room this morning for breakfast - table for one! I sat eating my fruit salad feeling a little uncomfortable, then very uneasy and at first I couldn't put my finger on what the problem was. Then I realised that I was sitting in the bottom of a swimming pool! Well, that's how it started to feel. Either that or some other subterranean structure like a vault, no less! The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became until I couldn't stand it any longer! It really did start to feel spooky so I got my cooked breakfast and promptly moved tables to sit on the ringside and I very soon felt calmer again. Don't ask me why... it just happened and it was very, very odd. I consider myself to be very intuitive and can sense things around me. I can tell when someone in the room is tuned in, or tuned out. So this feeling was very odd - but now it's gone and I'm off to eat cupcakes :)
Also btw, I've just come to log on to blogger and my entire account is now in german!! What is happening today and before you ask, it's not a full moon tonight, I've already checked! I'm dashing off to Cake International - woo hoo! Love to everyone who loves me XX XX

Just sat sitting...

Before I had to dash up to the NEC for a couple of days. I'm now installed in the Belfry hotel, having been out to the Cock Inn at Wishaw for dinner, yummy. I dined on scallops with belly pork, black pudding, rocket and balsamic glaze and that was only for starters! The meal was delicious and definitely worth going back for more. Highlight of the day has to be my little book, given to me with little homemade tags inside to remind me that I have lovely friends :) lowlight has to be my broken toe - ouch! I banged it into the footstool and four of my toes went one way round the footstool leaving my little toe behind. Though it's not my little toe that's broken it's the one next to it. And how can I tell that it's broken? It hurts like hell and is black and blue! As with all things broken, you just have to wait for them to mend themselves then they won't hurt any more... xx

Forgot the cupcakes... dippy bird!

Mmm... mmm... mmm... mmm...

A handbaked cupcake... a glass of prosecco...

Madeleine Peyroux with her careless love (track 11) and little me :) I've been baking cupcakes this evening ready for book club tomorrow. I've bought bottles of wine which are gleefully chilling in the fridge the only thing I haven't done is read the book!! I have tried but I just can't seem to concentrate for long enough to get stuck into the story. I know I'm shirking but I'll just read the notes online and I'm sure my lemon cupcakes with dreamy cheesecake topping will shmooze them enough to forgive me. After all, I've had a dilemma dropped on top of me from a high tree and I'm just trying to put the pieces of my broken heart back together - ha ha.. you thought I was for real. Anger does funny things to people who aren't usually angry. I'm not broken, just bruised. I'm doing a Marilyn and saying 'What the hell!'. I'm growing a slightly wonky coathanger backbone so I'm not pining, just dusting myself off and looking on the bright side - there is always one if you look hard enough.

Tonight I'm resigned to staying in with Madeleine for company and you know what... that's perfectly fine :) xx xx