I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas? Mine was spent with family, eating plenty, sharing jokes and playing games.

I still didn't get round to doing the Beatles jigsaw puzzle with my nan so we'll just have to save that for another time!

On Christmas day, I decided to wear as close to pyjamas as I could without looking like a layabout, so this pyjama blouse from Topshop (worn under my navy cashmere cos jumper) worked quite well!

Blouse, was £40, now £20, Topshop

I am at the age when practicality often prevails over "want". So I asked for an Ikea wardrobe and a shredder for Christmas! Other (more fun) presents included:

Kate Moss Book

The White Company dressing gown

Don't forget to visit Paperchase in the sale! All the cards and wrapping paper are 50% off...

Also now is a great time to stock up on personalised stationery (great for thank you cards), I love Honeytree Publishing. Very chic and nowhere near the expense of Smythson...

£37 for 25 cards with envelopes

And finally....HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mine will be spent having dinner in our local BYOB curry house, followed by some Bloody Mary cocktails and a film. So rock and roll...hope you all have a good one!

Entries From My Scrapbook...

Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup

This is a great one for winter (via BBC Good Food, serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, about 1kg, peeled and deseeded
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tpsp butter
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 2 mild red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 850ml hot vegetable stock
• 4 tbsp creme fraiche, plus extra to serve

Recipe:

1. Heat oven to 200c, 180c fan. Cut the squash into large cubes, then toss into a large roasting tin with half the olive oil. Roast for 30 mins until golden and soft (turning once).
2. While the squash cooks, melt the butter with the remaining oil in a large saucepan, add the onions, garlic and 3/4 of the chilli. Cover and cook on a very low heat for 15-20 mins until the onions are completely soft.
3. Tip the squash into the pan, add the stock and creme fraiche, blend until smooth.  
4. Serve the soup with swirls of creme fraiche.

What's In My Handbag?

A couple of months ago I was asked to do a shoot for beauty website www.whatsinmyhandbag.com. And now I am addicted. It's such a clever concept and I love getting a sneak peek into other people's lives...

Here's what's in mine...

Click through to see the original interview

The photo was taken on top of my many Fashion Books, as the photographer felt this summed me up (which it does!).

Clockwise from top left hand corner:

Shopper, £59.99, Zara

'Marcie' wallet (a gift from my Editor), £290, Chloe at Net A Porter

Lucas Paw paw lipbalm, £4.95 for 25g tube, Paw Paw Shop

Nylon washbag, £95, Anya Hindmarch at GiftLab

YSL radiant touch brush foundation, £34, Selfridges

Passport holder, £55, Liberty

Extra soothing balm, £40, Bobbi Brown

Concealer in 'sand', £18, Bobbi Brown

Chanel 'Illusion D'Ombre', £23, Boots

Instant Liner, £20, Clarins

Necklace, £260, Lulu Frost

A5 Week To View Diary, £69, Aspinal

Panama Notebook, £45, Smythson at Net A Porter

Balenciaga glasses, £139.95, SmartBuyGlasses

Eve Lom moisturiser, £45, John Lewis

'Vegas Volt' lipstick, £14, MAC

I was also interviewed about my favourite London spots, clockwise from left: Pizza East, Tim Walker exhibition at Somerset House and The French House pub, Dean Street

To see the original article, and my reasons behind all my favourite items and cosmetics, click here.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with loved ones and eat lots of cheese, drink lots of mulled cider and be merry! Thank you for all your support this year and see you in a few days!

My favourite mulled cider recipe (via Jamie Oliver)

Ikea Love...

I know its a huge superstore chain and we don't all want our houses to look the same but...I LOVE IKEA.

I don't have a car in London so whenever my sister or mum is going I try and tag along. For Christmas, in fact, all I have asked for is an Ikea wardrobe....

I am also planning a wedding. And I would love it to be low-key, Scandi cool with a LOT of DIY touches...so I will be planning quite a few revisits to the Swedish superstore between now and July.

Cool notebooks

Obviously I love  bit of neon and monochrome - but they're stationery is fantastic. I went to the Croydon Ikea, with an entire stationery section - it was heaven!

Kraft paper with spots -very Kusama

 

The giant pom-poms are £10 each - I've been looking for grey ones for a while, hoping to recreate the below image for the wedding (wish me luck!):

I bought lots of carafes for the wine...and grey blankets for the chill

What I bought...

Napkins, £2 for 30

Carafe, £1.50

Throw, £10

Vases, 65p each

Bowl (useful for mayo, salt etc - but also chic ashtrays!), £1

Water jug, £2.50

DIY: Headboard

The dream is, obviously, to have a headboard from The White Company:

Dulwich headboard, from £550, The White Company

Until then, however, there is always a bit of DIY. Here, my sister Nicky has made her own headboard from an offcut of MDF, foam and some fabric from John Lewis:

The entire headboard cost £100 - for a Kingsize bead (and Nicky bought too much foam)

The MDF was bought from a Timber yard, staplegun from Homebase, Foam from E-Foam , fabric from John Lewis. If you stand the board against the wall, you only need fabric to cover one side. 

DIY time spent: 10 minutes!

Love these lamps, from Ikea, to give the total White Company feel

Knitted bedroom accessories make a room feel warm as well as looking chic. I love these from Next:

Wool cushion, £20, Next

Knitted throw, £45, Next