I’m back from my travels and this time I bought with me the usual; a tan that won’t last long, a beach basket I’ll never use, way too much stationary oh and, a husband to be! That’s right, after 8 years together Miles and I are engaged to be married. It was all a big surprise, I had no idea and I have to say it was pretty bloody perfect. After a lovely day in Sonoma, visiting vineyards we stopped to admire the view and take some photos around by Point Bontia lighthouse (San Francisco), we slipped down to the beach to catch the evening sun and it was here that  Miles hopped onto one knee and whipped out the ring! As you probably guessed, I accepted and the next day we headed off to Mexico as two giddy lovebirds to soak up the sun!

I just wanted to share our good news with you… we are both pretty stoked. Miles is the best person in the whole world and I can’t believe I was lucky enough to find him, and now we get to spend the rest of our lives together. Here’s to one big adventure together!

I’m a bit conscious that my blog has become a bit of a cake fest lately, so for all of those who are not so keen on cupcake chat and sugar gazing, here a few snaps of the other things I got up to this weekend. I usually spend half my weekend having a wonder somewhere and the other half in the kitchen cooking and baking. I know, this sounds all very 1950′s housewife, but to be honest I enjoy being creative and cooking/baking it allows me to get it out of my system before Monday come round again. My week’s are usually pretty busy, meaning there’s not a lot of time to cook longer or more involved meals, so I do all the big cooking over the break.

These pictures are a few shots from Clissold Park, Stoke Newington (London). It’s a great family park that’s currently undergoing renovation. The park it’s self leads down to Church Street (where I seem to end up every Saturday morning) as it’s filled with independent shops, lovely cafes and generally a creative feel. The weather was lovely on Saturday, making it the perfect opportunity to grab the camera, my new Charlotte Farmer tote and head out with Miles to soak up the February sun. Other things that have been inspiring me this week have been the Tartine cookbook (I can’t wait to head back to San Francisco in a few weeks to sample their delights), watching Never Let Me Go, heart shaped pancakes and spring fashion (I can’t stop wearing bretons, pale denim and florals. Off to secret cinema tonight, lets hope it a good one! Have a great week!

So, it’s Valentine’s Day in the morning. I have to say the shine of all things heart shaped, pink and love related is wearing a little thin with me now. After years of making a big deal of Valentine’s, I’m starting to see it for what it is – a money spinning drain. That said, I do think that it provides me with a good excise to make something for the one I love and this year I’m only making things, not buying them. My gift this year is cakes, chocolate ones with pink vanilla icing and pink wafer roses. Oh, not forgetting the glitter – you got to have glitter. There were a few other love related items laying around the house so I thought I’d capture them too. I really hope everyone has a happy romantic Valentine’s, I look forward to seeing lots of pretty pictures.

So, last weekend was my birthday. I turned 26 in style, thanks to Miles, friends and family. I had a lovely night out in a great 1920′s style bar (reminiscent of Bugsy Malone), Night Jar. I then headed home to hang out with the family and relax a little away from London. I had a lovely time and was throughly spoilt by my sisters and parents. I took a little trip out and about in Whitstable and  took a few snaps on my new camera. When I was looking through the shots I realised that my weekend was a little dominated by the colour orange, unlike the other weekend that seemed to be all about yellow. My mum and dad treated me to a lovely new Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag and it just happened to be tangerine, the ball my parents dog was gnawing on was orange and out and about I was attracted to….orange. Thanks everyone for making my birthday ace.

Just a quick little message to wish everyone who reads Littledollface a very, very merry Christmas and an even happier New Year! Whatever you are up to this Yule, I hope everyone manages to get home safe, travel without delay, stay healthy, enjoy time with loved ones and eat some delicious food.  I’m signing off until after the big day now, so to everyone out there, have a great one! Much love. xxxx

Picture by Camilla Engman

Hello all! Anyone who follows me on Twitter will be aware that I have been house-bound and bedridden with terrible flu for the last week, meaning all Christmas activities, photos and plans have had to be put on hold. Today is the first day that the fog seems to be clearing, after days of feverish temperatures, endless sleeping and total-body aching it seems to be on the way out. Phew is all I can say! Though, I did get diagnosed with a bit of a chest infection today and as such I am rasping like a dog, around the flat that I have been penned into for the last 5 days straight. Enough of me feeling sorry for my flu-suffering self, Christmas is but a day or so away and it’s time to get a excited! No grand plans for me this year other than visiting the family and hoping for a full recovery in time for January.

I don’t have much to share sadly. However, I wanted to say ‘hello’ to everyone, as other bloggers are sharing such lovely gift guides I felt inspired, unfortunately (due to illness) all I have is a few sad shots of my weekend in Hampstead from a some weekend’s a go. I had such great plans to try and dream up some stunning present selections but every-time I dragged myself to the laptop to start I fall asleep or got distracted by other people’s attempts (ha,ha!)I’m a terrible blogger!

So here they are, a few snaps of my trip to Hampstead village and heath. There was snow, frozen ponds, wildlife, lots of dogs, hundreds of craft fairs, real hot chocolate and plenty of cold fresh air – bliss! Blew the cobwebs away a treat and you can always count on this part of London to make you feel like you’re not in London at all!

Today was a good day. What day filled with friends, cake, fizz, Elf and craft couldn’t be good? That’s just what we did, today was a Christmas crafty day will with cakes, roast dinners and lovely ladies. Now it’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas, all I need is Miles Tinsley to come come from America and all will be complete.

Christmas is always such a busy time for me, work is bonkers and my social calendar goes from nothing to all – I’m not moaning, oh no, I love Christmas but it does leave much room to take a breath. I am so looking forward to heading home in a few weeks, having time off and getting festive.

The tree is up in my flat, I went for icy blue, white and silver ornaments this year – with a very funny white feather owl topping the tree this year. The owl was Miles’ idea, he really took a shine the the bird in Liberty this year?!

With the cold weather here to stay I’ve been mostly reading the new copy of Lula, painting my nails hundreds of times with Models Own glitter polishes (I’ve got glitter fever this Christmas), watching the trash-factor and wearing a puffa jacket (something I always said I would never own). How’s everyone else Christmas preparations going, are the decorations up?

Miles returned from yet another trip to American and bought with him a bag of  pressies. Although it’s a pretty lonely with him not around (well really lonely) it’s always nice to receive a present or two. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Plover Organics, a lovely US company that produce beautiful bed linen and cushion covers. Well, Miles knew that I love the confetti pattern and managed to pick me up 4 stunning napkins in a shop in Hayes Valley, San Francisco! To say I’m in love with them is un understatement – they are lovely.

He also treated me to my favourite stationary – Rifle Paper Co recipe cards! Rifle Paper produce some of nicest stationary around, it’s so unique, detailed and whimsical – everyone should check out some of their lovely wares. I know Paper Mash is a stockist in the UK and there are lots of places stateside that stock them. He also picked me up a copy of Martha Stewart  Living as it seems very hard to get hold of in my area lately (sob). Overall I was very spoilt and I’m very grateful, although my biggest gift was having Miles home (cheesy but true). I hope everyone else has had a great week?

This week I seem to have pumpkin fever! All I want to do is buy lots of the little, twisted and unusual ones, not the orange ones that occupy every supermarket shelf here in the UK. It’s a real treat for me to find the green pumpkin that I did (above), and now it’s pride of place in the living room. It’s funny because at no other time of year do I display a vegetable next to my fave milk glass.

So, this week was also the one that we finally decided to give up on failing tomato crop. After months of feeding, watering, tending and not really being able to get in our front door, this is all the tomatoes it decided o give us (sob). I don’t think they liked the lack of sunlight they had, oh well there’s always next year. Needless to say we haven’t sampled these very green and very hard tomatoes, even with sunlight they are not ripening at all – a tomato disaster! I don’t think I have very green fingers, either that, or I should just wait until I finally get that garden (one day).

In, other news I’ve been to my second crochet class at Loop and learnt all sorts of new stitches, then fell apart when it came time to try a granny square. Pattern and diagram reading is not my strong point, that and grown tomatoes. I’ve been practicing all day so hopefully next week I’ll have made progress.  Also, I am off to the Belle Epoque Party, Green Fairy Halloween party next Saturday, so I’ve been busy preparing a costume (my goodness, I’m not sure).

Have a great week…x

I thought I’d share a little collection of pictures from my weekend. I was inspired to take and post slightly more mundane pictures, ones that captured my real life by a recent article that I read over on Jezbel. It was a great post talking about the phenomenon described as ‘decornographers‘, a modern wave of fashion and interior bloggers that take picture perfect snaps of their home or outfits. Their blogs are free of any rubbishy pictures and the life they depict is rather flawless, or as I describe it ‘edited reality’. I think the article struck a chord with me as I am (though not named in the article) guilty as hell of doing this. I always want everything to look just so even though sometimes things really aren’t.  So, I thought it was time I start cutting the crap and not be afraid to post a little bit of the reality (still the pretty bits).

Instead of waiting for the right inspiration and the perfect light to take the a photo for my blog I thought I would share my weekend warts and all. Most pictures here are taken from my sofa, where I spent a considerable part of the day. So here’s me break away from being a ‘Marthette’ I hope you enjoy. I’m off to discover Pintrest, just got my lovely beta invite – woo!