1. Stollen Bites from Aldi. Christmassy and delicious.
2. Choosing a new lipstick. I don't much like wearing lipstick or lip gloss, preferring plain old lip balm, but I am going to an 80's themed party tomorrow night and thought a neon pink lipstick would be just the thing. I buy the same old boring make up all the time now, and I'd forgotten how much frivolous fun there is to be had in trying out different testers on the back of my hand. Do you remember doing that? Took me right back to my teenage years, that did.
3. When the shops start selling boxes of clementines.
4. This painting, bought on eBay for a mere £4. It makes me happy every time I look at it. John hates it, I can tell, although he is too nice to say. I'll have to think carefully about where I hang it...
5. Hot chocolate with squirty cream and marshmallows after another soaking wet school run.
It's been a full week, a cosy, domestic, pottering sort of week. Lots of stuff going on either in the house or in school; busy but not manic, not yet. This weekend is the last quiet one we have until Christmas. I'm not complaining, I love the social side of this time of year, the way people get together and catch up, but I am mentally holding my breath, steeling myself for the coming month.
Have a fantastic weekend, lovelies.
Stollen bites (I read that as stolen initially, which was daft given that I love them too), clementines and hot chocolate, put it altogether and you have the perfect winter afternoon tea!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your party x
I've seen Stollen bites in ALDI over here too, but never tried them. Yes I remember trying lipstick on the back of my hand, but that was "oooooooh" so long ago and I only wear lipstick now on very rare occasions. Anyway lovely happies, have a good weekend and take. BTW, enjoy the party.
ReplyDeleteAw! It looks as if you are ready for the glory of December! I love lipstick. It's the only make-up item I wear (mascara three or so times a month, too!)
ReplyDeleteI like your purchased picture!
I love the painting, it reminds me of Heidi's grandfather's house from the story, especially with the pine trees behind. Sounds like you have had a really nice week. X
ReplyDeleteI love your Friday Happies, especially these ones with tinges of Christmas xo
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to pics of you in that flashy lipstick!
ReplyDeleteIt is rather a good time to catch one's breath before all the December merry making is upon us, isn't it, but I do love the season, too :) xx
ReplyDeleteHot chocolate, clementines and stollen - it's definitely the season to be jolly! I don't wear lipstick but I do get through Burt's Bees lip balm like nobody's business, especially at this time of year. I think your picture is lovely too. Enjoy the weekend. x
ReplyDeleteLots of pre Christmas goodies, to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteJacqui x
Like all of your happies and the sound of your calm weekend xo
ReplyDeleteI have an Aldi at 5 minutes walking distance from my house, and it is where I do all my food shopping (and some other stuff, too). The stollen bites and all their other Christmas things have been around since September, but I've not bought much yet; the only ones I've been buying already are the cocoa almonds.
ReplyDeleteThe painting... hmm... I guess if it had been painted by someone I know, and the scene meant something to me, I'd like it :-) (was that polite enough?)
All my weekends and many week nights are "fully booked" until Christmas; last night, for instance, we had a gathering of old school mates at the Christmas market. Much fun was had by all!
Please show us the 80s outfit - I'd love to dress up for such a theme party!!
We love stollen bites from Aldi too. I've just made gift tags using Aldi paper/washi tapes. We'll try their pannetone this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI like your neon pink lipstick - enjoy the party! x
You can't beat a good 80's party, have funs! Love Aldi, we shop there all the time Sarah xo
ReplyDeleteSuch a cosy post. Are we going to see your sixties outfit? Xx
ReplyDeleteLovely happies. I keep saying I'm going to start wearing lippy again but I always forget.
ReplyDeleteOh lots of yummy things in this post! Clementines and stollen bites are two of my favourite treats at this time of year. The party sounds fab and I like your pink lipstick although I am more of a tinted lip balm girl myself. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteMarianne x
I was in charge of the squirty cream at Beavers last night, it was hot chocolate and a story night. We like those Stollen bites too, I shall look out for them next time I'm in Aldi. I can feel it busying up here as well, the calendar is filling up as it does every December with nativity plays and a carol service and more Christmas fairs than you can shake a stick at. And I can just feel that little hint of excitement in the air. Have a good weekend Gillian. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteHi Gillian - I love a gradual, no stress lead up to Christmas - brilliant. All those little seasonal reminders start to stoke my excitement. I reckon Aldi and Lidl festive stuff is great. Enjoy (but not TOO much stollen!!). Hugs, Chris
ReplyDeleteI saw the Stollen bites in Aldi here in France yesterday...I ummed and ahed a little, as Mr FD does make good stollen (though he hasn't done so for a couple of years now) and they were a little expensive (€3, 99 - what are they in the UK?) and finally didn't buy them. Maybe I will next week. I did buy a luxury nut-and-cranberries mix, some florentines and some chocolate pralines from Lidl though. They all look very yummy. No nibbling before Christmas allowed!
ReplyDeleteYour painting is lovely, it will be a great part of one of your monthly mantel displays I am sure. I love that it is hot chocolate time too, just the right sort of thing for a cold grey day. The sun is out here just now, so I hope that it is a good day for you too. xx
ReplyDeleteLove this week's Happies, especially the clementines ... There are boxes of those in Lidl's this week (it seems appropriate almost to buy Christmassy things from this discount store because it's German, and Christmas as we know it started with Prince Albert and his Christmas tree, did it not?) but a bit early to stock up on those just yet.
ReplyDeleteThe jury's out on that picture, though. It's a teeny bit too kitsch for my liking but the colours are appealing. There is such a vogue right now, especially among younger women - I'm over the hill and rolling down the other side - for those now-faded prints and pictures from the 1950s and 1960s of flowers, alpine scenes, little children with tear drops on their faces, and they do have a certain appeal but, sadly, not for me - I wasn't particularly keen on them the first time around, har, har! But they are fun, and there's nowt wrong wi' a bit o' fun!
Now Lipstick, that I LOVE! I'd not go out without it. Along with my grey eye brow pencil (I need to pencil my brows as chemo did for them, and what aren't grey are simply missind!) lipstick is my essential piece of kit. Recently I had my facial colour analysed by the beautician of the Boots No 7 range in our local store. Thus I was given a little card with lipstick colours that would suit me and there and then she did my lips with one, and then another colour, and my whole face brightened up as a result! The red shades look lovely with the colours I prefer to wear - navy, aubergine/plum, black, grey (not all together, you understand!) and my teal-coloured coat.
I hope you enjoy the party. We once had an '80s housewarming and three of us went as Bananarama. I ended up very drunk, in rollerboots, unable to get all the backcombed and heavily sprayed knots out of my hair. I may have cried...
ReplyDeleteHot chocolate is a wonderful thing - and thanks for the Aldi tip too. Stollen is lovely. Those bites could be the perfect offering for the grown-ups at the playgroup Christmas parties...
S x
I'm in love with your hopelessly kitsch 4£ ebay painting :-) !!! I hope Aldi will also stock the stollen bites in Belgium this year - they're so yummy !
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a blast at the 80's party tonight! We are eating our share of clemintines this time of year as well... they are so good. And that is one dreamy cup of hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows... my favorite! Have a wonderful weekend, Gillian!
ReplyDeleteI saw that the pic of your new painting on Instagram and, sorry John, I looove it! x
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little I used to love it when little oranges arrived in the green grocers, especially those ones wrapped in tissue paper. A sign that Christmas was imminent.
ReplyDeleteHot chocolate, a pick me up on a cold, dull, day
Taste wise Aldi stuff often far excels that of more expensive shops. The stolen bites from there were lovely last year, yet I couldn't finish the ones I had previously from M&S and the Tesco ones were just horrid. I got some chocolate seashells from Lidl just yesterday as they had a higher cocoa content in their chocolate than other places. I like their Florentines too, but didn't see them yesterday, we also love their chocolate covered marzipan logs. Aldi is nearer and we use regularly. Good prices but also good quality. Even better is to make our own, and with many things I will be. I don't eat any of them yet as I would rather have Christmas in full over the 12 days, rather than fed up by Boxing Day (all those poor sad trees on the pavement on the 26th, wondering where they went wrong, being kicked out over Christmas). I will have my first mince pie on Christmas Eve.
ReplyDeleteThe painting is rather nice I think, albeit stylised so I can imagine some people may not like it. I do though.
Another round up of happy things to set me off on another week, Jo x
ReplyDeleteAldi must be very different there than it is in the US. They're mostly in the east and midwest here. I love them but they haven't come to the west yet. They didn't sell such nice food when I did shop there, though. The stollen is beautiful! I've been eating so many clementines and mandarins lately. I love them, but I think I've been overdoing it. Park put one at my place for lunch today and I didn't eat it. I snuck it back in the box when nobody was looking. I'll eat two tomorrow instead. :)
ReplyDeleteMmmm, stollen and hot chocolate. Yum. I haven't chosen a lipstick in years. Love your new picture too. Bee xx
ReplyDeleteAs always, I loved your Friday Happies! I love your new painting...and for so cheap?!?! Makes me want to go browse the artwork on eBay now. ;) The hot chocolate looks so inviting, and I too just experienced the frivolous fun of browsing the make-up counter as I was searching for a few items for my teenage daughters' Christmas stockings.
ReplyDeletePerfect shade of pink, hope the party went well.
ReplyDeleteLove the look of your hot chocolate.
Let the festive merriment and chaos commence!
Lisa x
I can see the charm of your picture, even if it is kitsch! In fact, look out for a post on my blog about what it's really like there… ;) Our weekend was "in" that picture but equally cosy, luminous, sociable and quiet!
ReplyDeleteThe downside of moving to an island in the pacific...the only really disturbing one so far...is no Stollen for Christmas...because no ALDI. :( Please enjoy every bite.
ReplyDeleteI do love a hot chocolate! Hope you enjoyed the party! Lovely happies xxx
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