31.10

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Today I’m so excited to introduce you to the wonderful Tabitha, from Scared Toast! Tabitha was one of the first bloggers I ever met in real life, and can confirm that she’s as delightful in 3D as she is on screen! Her blog’s a happy mixture of beauty, personal style, and lifestyle posts, all topped off with a few appearances by her oh so hilarious (and ginormous) dog Dudley. You could probably head over to Scared Toast just for the sheer joy of being introduced to Dudley, to be honest ;) Tabitha’s on half term right now (oh half term, how I miss you!) and took some time out of her time out to answer a few of my questions…so let’s get started!

What made you want to start a blog? Did it take you a while to pluck up the courage, or did you just jump in feet first? And what was your first ever post about (if you remember!)?
I’d just started getting into high-end make up and was looking for swatches when I fell into this world of online reviews. I got hooked by the wealth of inspiration available at the click of a button, as well as the up to date opinions. The honesty was a revelation when compared with the magazines that I’d previously found my information in and I found myself trusting these bloggers. The nosy side of me also become invested in their comings and goings, and I found myself checking back daily for updates. Watching my passion develop, my boyfriend Ed encouraged me to have a go myself, so I stayed up one night setting up a blogger account and customising my blog. It’s only recently that I’ve started showing my face on my blog, and my first (cringeworthy) post was one in which I introduced myself, albeit by explaining that Tabitha isn’t actually my name!

What three words would you use to best describe Scared Toast?
Three words to sum up Scared Toast….this is a tricky one! I could quote my tagline “fashion, beauty, life”, but that seems a bit of a cop-out. Maybe “part of me”? I love blogging and everything it entails, and Scared Toast is a massive part of my life!

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You post about such a wide variety of subjects on your blog! What are your favourite types of posts to put together, and why? (I personally LOVE your ’9 little things’ series!)
I enjoy the 9 Little Things series too! It can be fun and nostalgic to have a think back to days gone by and condense them into 9 snapshots of my life. Outfit posts can be a bit of a pain to photograph, but I really enjoy looking back at them and it really brings back a memory of where I was in my life at that point in time. Not to mention that I’m forgetful, and sometimes I surprise myself with outfits I’ve put together and long forgotten about!

What’s been the best thing you’ve learnt of discovered about yourself since starting your blog? Has it taught you anything new about yourself?
My blog has given me so much confidence. I touched upon this in the last question, but I really enjoy combining clothes in different ways to create different looks, and I love the fact that blogging has shown me that I don’t need to stick to a certain formula or look. Besides that, it’s also reignited a passion for writing that I’d put to one side for a long time. I always wanted to be a journalist, but for some reason decided to pursue law as a career. Blogging lets me keep writing in my life as a hobby, and the opportunities it’s created for me have given me a broader view of my future, and the fact that I haven’t backed myself into a corner (career-wise) as much as I thought I had!

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As a fellow Surrey girl, can you recommend to my readers any fun places to go eat, drink, and be merry in this beautiful home county of ours?
Oh wow, places to be merry in Surrey?! Well I’m right on the border, and one of my favourite places is the nearby Ambarrow Woods. It’s such a beautiful woodland area, with a gorgeous wooden bridge in the middle. I love going there with Dudley for picnics in the Autumn. Another beautiful place would be Virginia Water. I’m really lucky actually to be away from the hustle and bustle of big towns such as Reading and Guildford, but still close enough to visit them for a shopping trip. And not to mention the picturesque town of Windsor being so close by! Anywhere with cobbled streets is a winner for me!

You always look so chic and put together in your blog photos! Will you share with us your favourite places to shop, please? :)
Oh thank you Rosie! I like the usual places….Topshop, asos, River Island, H&M….and you can’t beat the odd Primark spree to get cheap basics! I love Zara as well (make sure you check out Sheinside for cheaper, almost identical versions to Zara clothes!), and think you can get some great clothes at really good prices from other European brands like Mango and Vero Moda.

What’s made you happiest in the past week? :)
This past week has been half term, so that in itself has made me happy! But the chances to catch up with family that it brings is the best. I work with my mum, so see her daily, but I’ve been able to spend lots of time with my sisters and niece which has been lovely. Our trip to Westfields was a particular highlight!

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And lastly, let’s do some quick fire questions! Are you a Starbucks, or Costa girl? Out of the two….Costa. But Caffe Nero over both of them! // Favourite makeup brand? MAC is my gut reaction, but I adore Lancome lipsticks! // If you could only wear one nail varnish colour for the rest of your life, what would it be? I thought long and hard over this and couldn’t choose one colour for the rest of my life! I’m going with OPI Nail Envy; it’s a base coat that works miracles at strengthening my shoddy nails // All-time favourite film? Anyone who knows me will know the answer’s The Little Mermaid….Love, Actually and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days are my guilty pleasures too though! // Dream holiday destination? Thailand //  Best ever, all-time favourite daytime lipstick? Rosie, I can’t choose just one!!! Anything from the Lancome Rouge in Love range….you can get some really bold colours, but the formula is so smooth and easy to wear that I think you can pull them off day or night. If I had to play it safe and go nude I’d pick MAC’s Shy Girl though // Favourite season? Well I think we can tell from my answers to this quick fire round that I’m pretty fickle, and nowhere is it more obvious than in my “favourite” season choice! I enjoy them all as they roll past….probably easiest to say my least favourite – spring!

Click here to over to Scared Toast right away, and say hey!

** This ‘Sponsor spotlight’ post is part of the Ultimate Advertising package. If you’d like to see your blog or business featured here on Cider with Rosie, click here or in the Sponsor tab at the top of the page! The next available Ultimate Advertising package will begin on the 7th January (they’re being snapped up super fast!) so there’s no time to waste in reserving a slot! **

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30.10

Brogues

I officially need a pair of tan brogues. Also, I can’t get enough of cuffed jeans right now. I’m cuff-obsessed.

Figs on everything is all I can think about right now. These grilled fig, goats cheese and prosciutto tartines in particular had me at hello.

A beautifully collated gallery wall.

current favourite song.

I’d like a pair of these jeans in grey, and also black.

Also grey: this long, floaty skirt.

A Blog Named Scout is my new favourite read. All of Jenn’s photos are just gorgeous, and oh so pinnable!

White chocolate and coconut-covered apples, as an alternative to traditional toffee apples.

London’s most creative couples.

I made this stew the other night for dinner, with a few tweaks to the recipe. It was totally delicious. Jason proclaimed it was ‘The best dinner ever cooked!’ ;)

Gold above knuckle rings.

39 ways to cook and eat sweet potato.

p.s. Three posts you might have missed from around these parts! // Baked sweet potato & tabbouleh // Scenes from Borough Market // The Blogosphere magazine launch.

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Posted in INSPIRATION, PINTEREST

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29.10

 

This past weekend can be summed up like this: London. Goosebumps (of the skin variety, not the classic 90s book/tv series). Laundry. Cheese. Baking. Sprinkles. Filming. *That* storm. Homeland. Post-Homeland hyperactivity. Wearing tights as trousers. Percy Pigs.

Now, let’s elaborate. I went up to London on Friday for Tania’s leaving drinks in Chelsea, and whilst I was walking down the King’s Road I happened to glance over into the Duke of York square, just in time to see a man bend down on one knee and ask his girlfriend to marry him. And since those stories about photographers stumbling upon couples getting engaged & then hunting them down via the internet to give them their photo have always captured my imagination, I took a quick photo on my phone of the exact moment the guy proposed. Then when they were finished and about to walk away, I ran over, congratulated them, apologised for intruding, and offered them the photo. They said yes to my proposal (Proposal, hah. See what I did there?) and gave me their email address so I could send them over the photo. Kind of the most magic moment I’ve had in a while :)

Saturday was all about laundry (three loads, because I like to stretch myself, you know?) and then the tumble dryer broke because this is the year in which Everything In Our House Breaks. Laptops, hard drives, phones (with a little help from me, but whatever) cars, and now the tumble dryer. Maybe we’ve got a poltergeist? I don’t know, but basically it’s goodbye tumble dryer and hello crunchy, line-dried towels. What joy, for the winter months! Actually, scratch that, I’m totally going to commandeer my Mum’s tumble dryer from now on. Life’s too short for crunchy towels.

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^^ London Retro sent over these beautiful glasses for me to try out, and I’m pretty much in love. Giveaway comin’atcha pretty soon too, so watch this space…^^

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^^ I’m equal parts fascinated and repulsed by the funghi growing on these stacked logs. Remember I told you months ago about my phobia of repeating textured patterns? Well, this weekend I was chopping up a butternut squash, and when I sliced through the top part of it (normally solid inside, in case you’ve never chopped up a squash) I found it was all horribly honeycombed inside. I almost threw up right there on my kitchen counter, and hyperventilated over the sink for about 10 minutes afterwards. Uggghhhh. Who needs Halloween, funky squash is terrifying enough! ^^

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Like I said yesterday, we spent Sunday at my Mum’s baking, filming, then baking some more. It was quite the mission, let me tell you. Mum only looked *mildly* horrified at the amount of mess that we made in her kitchen. And mess there was. Turns out that one baker, one cameraman (Jase, naturally) one spaniel, two soft box lights, one tripod, two lenses, eight cupcakes, and approximately five thousand ingredients adds up a whole lot of chaos. We did do all the washing up though (daughter points in the bag) whilst reminiscing about how untidy I was when I lived at home. When I first moved out and realised how much work it is to keep a house clean and tidy, I actually said in all seriousness to my Mum ‘I mean, I swear mine and Jason’s house needs more regular cleaning than yours does. Your house pretty much cleans itself, doesn’t it?’ Didn’t go down all that well, if I’m honest. True story.

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Sunday evening was spent in the pursuit of cosiness. I wore tights-as-trousers all evening (try it before you judge it, that’s all I’m saying) ‘cooked’ Marks and Spencer’s finest four cheese ravioli for dinner (which stunk the house out but tasted of ‘niente’. Weird.) and then watched Homeland. Oh my gawd, that episode. We’ve felt about ‘blah’ about this series so far, but it just got INTERESTING! Seriously though, that moment at the end? I’m not lying when I say it actually gave me chest pain, it was that good.

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^^ Oh, and there are the Percy Pigs. Just like I said.^^

The end!

How was your weekend? Talk to me about Homeland, please. Didn’t it achieve series-rescuing levels of greatness? I’m glad Saul’s not a baddie. It just about broke my heart thinking he was.

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Posted in BAKING, FAMILY, LIFE LATELY, WEEKEND

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28.10

I’m being deadly serious. I’ve been trying to learn the words to Royals for ages, ever since Jason started singing it non-stop and teasing me for my inability to learn the words to songs.

And yep, I know what you’re thinking. I’m shooting for the stars these days, and that’s a fact.

** After last week’s resolution, we spent about six hours (six!) yesterday shooting a little film over at my Mum’s. And just as soon as I find a way to recover iMovie from my broken hard drive, I’ll be editing that sucker and attempting to make it look half as swish as the imagined version currently running in my head does. So maybe that’s my more…productive…resolution for the week? **

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Posted in MONDAY RESOLUTION

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