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Movie Review: Into the Woods

January 22, 2015 by Bel 4 Comments

As I mentioned last week, during the first 2 weeks of January, I was lucky enough to see both Big Hero 6 and Into the Woods, within the space of seven days. I reviewed Big Hero 6 last week and now I want to talk about Into the Woods. However as with all reviews I make (movies, books etc.) I don’t want to spoil any plot so my review will be of what I enjoyed and what I thought, with no spoiling of plot.

From what I can gather, Into the Woods, is a musical that is usually on at the theatre. I actually hadn’t heard of it before it was made into a movie and I think that’s a shame as I’d actually like to go and see it on Broadway or the West End. However a) it was Disney and b) I’d heard good things, so when c) the trailer looked good – I was booking tickets for the opening weekend!

The movie itself was actually really good. I didn’t know what to expect at all, but basically its a mash-up of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood. It’s set largely around “the woods” and of course the storyline is musically lead. As I mentioned, I hadn’t heard of the actual show, so all I can judge is the movie and to me it was pretty good. As always, Johnny Depp was weird and wonderful in his role as the Wolf. Sadly though, he wasn’t in it for long enough – for my liking. The Baker and his wife were great (I loved both James Corden and Emily Blunt) as was Anna Kendrick as Cinderella (no surprise there). Jack and Little Red were fairly annoying, but perhaps deliberately so and also it didn’t especially matter. Meryl Streep as the Witch was AMAZING but by far my favourite was Chris Pine, but I’ll explain why in a minute. Rapunzel and her Prince were pretty much a waste of time and I was quite annoyed their storyline wasn’t properly tied up. The rest of the cast were pretty good too.

The music… well I’m not sure. A part of me loved it, while a part of me hated it. I can’t deny, majority of it was terribly catchy, though that’s not always a good thing is it? I came out with a feeling that you could sing any words to the same tune, add “into the woods” and you had majority of the songs that were sung. That said “Stay With Me” stood out especially as a song to be enjoyed – even though its a little sad.

The movie was good but the pacing was a little off at times. I enjoyed the first half and as is often the case, I lost all track of time. As such, I began to think the movie was ending, in a part that turned out to only be the middle. After that, some of the movie dragged and while the pacing was on and off, I found myself struggling to get to the end. Plot-wise there are elements that are predictable and others that weren’t. There were sad bits and there were funny bits and overall I would recommend it to see – though nothing would be lost if that was on DVD rather than the cinema.

Without a shadow of a doubt, my favourite part was the one pictures above. There is a scene, where both Princes (they are brothers) come together and discuss their love issues. They both end up singing, one trying to outdo the other and its actually hilarious. The Princes are, for the most part, pompous idiots – but because they are supposed to be, its okay. It was actually quite scary how much Chris Pine reminded me of William Shatner, in his early role as Captain Kirk. He was suave, charming and completely up his own ass. It was wonderful! It actually made me realise why they probably cast Chris Pine as Kirk in the new Star Trek movies.

Anyway, don’t be put off by my review! Sat in the comfort of my own lounge, perhaps I would enjoy the movie more. Like I said, I knew nothing of the plot and after thinking it was almost finished – only to find it was about half way – I probably caused my own decline! I’ll actually definitely be buying it on DVD and I will absolutely be watching it again. Try it out for yourself but don’t feel the need to see it at the cinema – would be my advise.

Filed Under: movie review Tagged With: anna kendrick, chris pine, Cinderella, fairytale, Into the Woods, jack and the beanstalk, johnny depp, little red riding hood, movie, Rapunzel

2014 in Review – The Cakes

January 3, 2015 by Bel 4 Comments

As part of my round up for 2014, I wanted to recap on the cakes I’ve made this year. In May I did a sort of mid-year round up, but this is for the complete year. Though I’ve actually made far more than the cakes pictured below, these are the key cakes of 2014.

Though I did make a fairly simple cake for my sister’s birthday in February, March was really the first time I got busy. What with Lily, Amy and Chris all having a birthday in March, it was pretty crazy. Lily’s was my first and also one of the most important in the whole year. She was massively into Frozen (and still is) so that was the theme of her cake. Only 9 days later, it was Amy’s birthday and as I’ve always wanted to make her a Peter Pan cake, this is what I did. The three tiers made this the biggest cake of the year. It was a pretty impressive cake. Less than a week later, it was Chris’ birthday and I was pretty much caked out. As such he got a very simple Minion cake but he was happy nonetheless.

After a very brief break, my mum’s birthday came next in April. There was really no specific theme I could think of for my mum, so instead just asked what flavour she’d like. Having requested something with cream, I put my mind to something she’d love and came up with a Tiramisu cake. This as a huge hit and I’ve had several requests to make it since – most recently a few days after Christmas. Next in April was Erika’s birthday, though her party was technically in May. All I really had to go on was the fact she liked sweets, so I made a cake that somewhat looked like a bowl with sweets in it. My birthday was next but luckily I didn’t have to make my own cake as Nat did it instead. Good job too, given the theme (NSFW), as I”m not sure I would have pulled it off as well as she did! However only a week or so after mine, came my brother’s birthday. Since he was having a superhero party, I made him a superhero themed cake!

Only a few weeks after my brother’s birthday, it was Harry’s 1st birthday. While I don’t usually make cakes for other people’s kids, it was Harry’s 1st and that made it special (he’s also going to be my Godson). I really had no idea what a one year old would like so I searched around Pinterest till I came up with the idea of building blocks. It was a bit of a rush job but I think Harry’s cake turned out okay in the end. Luckily I managed a bit of a break then, at least until the following month. Even then the cake I made for my friend Chris, was a bit of break from the norm. His wife Hollie, suggested a cake that had been circulating its way around Facebook. Always up for a challenge, I figured I’d give it a go! Though the original cake had been Maltesers and M&M’s, I opted for Maltesers and Smarties – this was largely because nowhere I went had the smaller packs of M&M’s and I didn’t give myself very long to search! It turned out pretty good and seemed to wow everyone at Chris’ birthday party. Finally, I genuinely got a break – this time from between July to November. Then, amidst a heap of sewing, I had to make Nat a birthday cake. Sadly I can’t believe I never actually got around to blogging about her murder mystery, but we had fun with a fairytale theme. As her character in the murder mystery was Red Riding Hood, I decided to theme her cake the same. Megan actually helped me with the cake, solely making the Red Riding Hood figure on the top!

That brings me to the last cake of the year, which was actually for Megan’s birthday. Still bogged down with sewing, murder mystery planning and of course Christmas, Megan’s cake was a bit of a rush. Luckily for me, she’d enjoyed helping with Nat’s cake and had wanted to help with her own. Settling on a fairly simple Harry Potter cake theme, Megan actually made all the items on top of the cake (bar the scarf which I added as a surprise once she’d gone to bed). I made and iced the cake myself and once Megan was in bed, put all the elements together so at least the finished look would be a surprise for her.

While this coming year I will definitely be cutting down on the amount of cakes I make, I also know I will have more time to fiddle so I’m looking forward to developing more skills. With Megan be interested in helping, it also makes it feel a bit more enjoyable for me. Megan definitely has artistic talent that I do not possess!

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Filed Under: cake decorating, year in review Tagged With: 2014, Amy's birthday, cake making, cakes, chris' birthday, Disney, fairytale, frozen, harry potter, Lily's birthday, Megan's birthday, Minion, Nat's birthday, Peter Pan, superheroes, Tiramisu

Planning a Disney Mystery Party

November 18, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Everything is SO Disneytastic in our house right now. I have a Disney Fashion Competition running on my blog, the girls are working on our latest craft project (connected to our upcoming holiday to Florida) and more upcoming, I’m working on a Mystery Party for Megan’s birthday. That’s on top of all the regular Disneyness that goes on here anyway!

Megan turns 10 on December 11th and for a very long time she’s known she wanted a Murder Mystery for her party. Being the daughter of someone who throws Murder Mystery parties every month, has definitely rubbed off on her. In fact, she’s actually stood in for someone at our parties once before (and soon will be doing again). So when she suggested a Disney themed Murder Mystery for her own birthday, I wasn’t at all surprised – in fact, I was determined to make it happen for her.

Instead of a murder mystery, we’ve decided just to make it a mystery. Since the themed is Disney, it seems most unlikely it should feature a murder. I gathered a group of my friends and family together, all of whom agreed to take part. Megan let them pick their parts themselves and I’ll be writing the mystery game around them.

We have:

Megan – Young Elsa
Lily – Young Anna
Mum – Evil Queen (Snow White)
Chris (my brother) – Hades
Chris (my partner) – Grumpy
Amy – Snow White
Nat – Aurora
Tom – Olaf

I will be taking the part of a Narrator or Story Teller, just to guide the story along.

Though I haven’t written it all yet, I have started and I have a rough idea what I’m going to do. I’m sure once the party is over, I’ll be updating to let you all know how it went! However on top of that, I’m also responsible for a lot of the costumes… majority of which I’m making from scratch.

Megan and Lily as a young Anna and Elsa, is definitely proving an interesting task. I think I have their costumes pretty much figured out but with lots of pinning on Pinterest and then lots of printing out for ideas. In total I think their costumes are about 3-4 different patterns, just to make the one costume!

After that I have Amy and Nat’s costumes to make – Snow White and Aurora. I’m already well on the way with Amy’s but I’m yet to start Nat’s (possibly tomorrow when she comes to visit). As well as that, my mum is being the Evil Queen and as I am being the Evil Queen the weekend before (Nat’s birthday Murder Mystery), I’m sorting out a costume that will do for both myself and then to be borrowed by my mum for Megan’s.

Though the costumes and the writing of the game are my main tasks, on top of that I will be catering for the evening. I’ve already written up a list of food ideas, all to suit a Disney themed finger food party. For Halloween, Megan and I spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen preparing food, I can only imagine that her birthday party will be the same, if not more! I am pretty excited to make Disney themed food though, so its not really worrying me.

As I mentioned above, Nat’s birthday party is the weekend before. She too is having a Fairytale themed party, though its not specifically Disney, just general Fairytale. Her party IS a murder mystery, not just a mystery, but the layout of the evening will be quite different for that I’m sure. That said, like with the Evil Queen costume that my mum and I are sharing, I’m hoping to share a lot of other aspects too. Decorations, food ideas and other things can hopefully be used for both parties. As we’ve already held one Fairytale party for my birthday last year and an Alice in Wonderland party for Chris’ party last year, fingers crossed there won’t be too much extra outlay!

Anyway, watch this space for more updates and more information. I have 18 days and counting to get ready for Megan’s party and that’s obviously not including days at work, time for sleep and Nat’s party the weekend before! It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks… in fact, I should definitely get back to my sewing!

Filed Under: about me, party planning Tagged With: costumes, Disney, disney decorations, disney ornaments, fairytale, fairytale decorations, fairytale food, friends, Megan's birthday, Megan's party, mystery party, party, party planning, sewing

Week 45 – Monday Round-up

November 10, 2014 by Bel 1 Comment

Back to work and back to being miserable! That pretty much sums up last week. Luckily that’s a bit melodramatic, but you get the idea…

Monday to Friday was work and school for all of us. It was the first week back after a few weeks off too, which is always the worst. Work is still up and down as always, except since the chef left at the end of last term, we now have an agency chef – which brings with it, several pros and cons! Anyway, work was meh some days and okay the others.

In all honesty, I don’t remember a lot of what happened this week. I remember that Monday I felt pretty miserable and that it was work related, but otherwise I have no idea what I did in the evening – other than I probably watched TV with Chris and/or wrote blog posts. The girls had Singing Stars after school, that’s pretty much all I know! Tuesday I know the kids were with their dad after school so Chris and I spent time together. Again, sadly I don’t really remember much more. I think I had a blog catch up night though! Wednesday I know Chris was working and the girls and I were at home relaxing. In the evening I had a Lush bath and it was heaven. I tried out loads of new products – all of which I’ll be reviewing on my blog soon.

Thursday Chris was working again and the girls were home so we just chilled out. In the evening, Nat came around and the evening flew by way faster than expected. Amy also sent me a box of Lush which was much appreciated, especially as it had all my favourite things in it! When Chris came home, it was his last shift of his current job. Next week he starts a new job at BT and I think he’s looking forward to it.

Saturday I’d agreed to help my brother move house so Chris and I dropped off the girls at my mum’s at 8.45am and then drove to the storage container to unload all the stuff my brother and his girlfriend wanted. It started to rain midway through and we all got soaked but really it was just the beginning of how the rest of the day would be! We drove to our house and swapped dinning tables, then my brother’s new house to drop stuff off. We went for dinner at Subway (my brother’s treat) and then back to his old house to collect more big furniture. We then headed to his new house one last time to unload everything, before Chris and I headed off. Luckily we weren’t responsible for moving everything, just the large pieces of furntiture. It didn’t take too long and I did catch a few amusing pictures while Chris hoisted my brother up so he could look in the loft!

After dropping off the van, Chris and I headed to mum’s to spend some time with the girls before they were going to their dad’s. I was incredibly tired and really just wanted to go home, but I also wanted to spend some time with Megan and Lily. It was about 6pm when their dad came for them and Chris and I headed straight home. He ordered takeaway and we sat down with a bottle of wine and Indian, to enjoy our evening. We caught up on “The Flash” and “Arrow” but midway through an episode I started to drop off so Chris suggested it was time for bed. It was only 9.30pm and it went so against the grain to go that early, but I agreed, knowing I needed it.

In the morning, we didn’t have much of a lay-in but it was no surprise given what time we went to bed. However we had a nice relaxing morning and just took it easy. I spent majority of the morning planning the next two party’s food and then went to Tesco to pick up a few essentials. In the afternoon Chris and I put up a huge mural on our bedroom wall and then I sorted out all of the Christmas presents I’d already bought and still need to. The girls got home at 3pm and I then hung out with them, caught up on the X Factor and just enjoyed time with them, all before they went to bed. Once Lily was asleep, Chris, Megan and I watched the Finale of “Next Great Baker” and we were pleased with the results. Once Megan was in bed too, Chris and I watched loads more Arrow until we tired enough to go to sleep.

This is the basic round up of my week, but what I do feel like overall is that November is not turning out to be as good as October. I wrote about my dieting issues over at Twice the Mum, but it goes deeper than that really. All the organising, all the motivation, all the blog plans I had during October have stopped now I’m into November. I feel like work, my emotions, everything is effecting my mood and how things are feeling now. I don’t quite know how to get back to the place I was in, but I know I want to.

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: Amy, Arrow, Bath, brother, Chris, Erika, fairytale, fairytale food, Lily, lush, lush products, Marvel, Marvel Superheroes, Megan, moving house, Nat, party planning, The Flash, wall mural

Comic-Con Cosplay Choices!

April 30, 2014 by Bel 4 Comments

As you will know from my post about London Film and Comic-Con, I am going to Comic Con this year!! One of the biggest reasons for this decision, was to enable Amy and I to dress up like Disney characters! I know that probably sounds a little crazy, but to be honest as an adult, you rarely get a chance to dress up. Even less so, as something like a Disney Princess.

It’s been a couple of months since we officially decided and at least a month since the tickets actually arrived. All that time I’ve been trying to think who and what I want to go dressed as, but I’m not having much luck!

The first go to, as I mentioned before, is Disney Princesses. There is one very obvious choice for me and that’s Belle.

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For as long as I can remember, Belle has been my favourite Princess. She is one of the few brunettes in existence, she has an awesome name (haha) and she basically just rocks. Numerous times I have likened myself to Belle and in my birthday murder mystery last year, I even took on the role of her (sort of…). I love Belle, but in all honesty, do I want to wear that poofy yellow monstrosity?

Following in the Disney theme, my second choice would be Megara from Hercules. She isn’t a Princess, which often makes her underrated, but I’ve always loved her sassiness and of course – another brunette.

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I would love to dress like Megara and I adore her dress. However sadly, at a size 16 and very unhappy with my current weight, I know I wouldn’t feel happy in a dress that tight (or, from what I’ve seen, silky).

One of my kids favourites, though perhaps a little childish for me, is Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph.

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She’s a fun, quirky kind of a character but more importantly her costume is incredibly simple. A hoodie, a skirt and some tights would make a very easy AND cheap costume.

My final Disney interest, would have to be Queen Elsa, from the latest Disney animation, Frozen. Again, not technically your tradition Disney Princess, she is awesome. Clearly I do not have blonde hair however, so that would require a wig. Also, as much as I love her blue flowing ice dress, I don’t really like the real life representations I’ve seen of it. Instead, I would like Coronation Elsa.

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However, from what I’ve seen, this costume would be incredibly expensive to buy. It’s not something readily available yet, so it would definitely be a custom made. Definitely a tempting option if I could splash the cash.

Moving on from Disney, but not from Fairytale, I considered playing on my fandom of Once Upon a Time. My instant thought is Regina, the Evil Queen.

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I adore Regina and always have – both as the Mayor and as the Evil Queen. However her evil queen costume would be far more interesting to wear, than her regular clothes version. I have always had a love of Disney Villains and so that’s possibly another Regina appeals. Let’s face it, who’d want to dress as Disney’s Evil Queen, or better yet, Ursula?

Still keeping in theme with Once Upon a Time, but also connected to my previous suggestion, is Belle.

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I loved Emilie De Ravin from her days in Lost and I love her even more as Belle. She has beautiful versions of the traditional Belle costumes, making me more than happy to dress up as this version of Belle.

My final consideration from Once Upon a Time, is Ruby aka Red Riding Hood. Sadly she doesn’t have a very big part but the part she does have is kick ass (apparently she’s not actually even in it from Season 3 onwards).

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She has a very simple yet beautiful costume, which I don’t think would be too hard to put together. Yet again she’s a brunette (noticing a theme here?) and I love the colour red!

Past Disney and Fairytales, I’m having a bit of a blank. Though I do have a million fandoms, a large amount of them have very nondescript dress, or are basically just average humans. I made my way through a few other things I liked, finding only these four options.

Game of Thrones: Daenerys Targaryen

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While I don’t really have the figure for a large amount of her costumes, this one pictured above is fairly simple and doesn’t require me to be super thin. Also the actress who plays Daenerys is naturally a brunette, which gives her dark eyebrows and a blonde wig which I could also do.

Game of Thrones: Margaery Tyrell

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I wouldn’t necessarily say that Margaery was one of my favourite characters but she does have some beautiful dresses. I’ve seen a few I like on Etsy, so she’s definitely a consideration. Not to mention, the actress who plays Margaery – Natalie Dormer – will be at London Film and Comic Con.

Harry Potter: Hermione Granger

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Well not technically Hermione I don’t suppose, but a Hogwarts student. I’d love an excuse to buy a proper set of robes and this could be just that excuse! Plus I could pretty much wear whatever I wanted underneath, making it a fairly simple costume.

Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen

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Katniss has a lot of pretty dresses, but even her simple outfits are nice. She’s another brunette as well and being Katniss Everdeen would be a good excuse to learn how to fishtail braid.

I’ve racked my brains and I’m really struggling for other suggestions. Velma or Daphne from Scooby Doo perhaps? Tomb Raider? Star Trek costume? What I do know is that it won’t be anime, like a lot of Cosplay is – and it won’t be Superhero, owing to the fact those costumes are usually skin tight. I’m open to suggestions if anyone has any but right now I’m hoping to pick one, if not two of these suggestions above.

Filed Under: about me Tagged With: comic con, cosplay, costume, Disney, fairytale, fandom, game of thrones, geek, harry potter, hunger games, London film and comic con, movie, once upon a time, OUAT, TV

Hi, my name is Bel!


I’m a forty something, mother of two, self-confessed geek!

Here on my blog you’ll find;
books I’ve read, clothes I’ve made, movies I’ve watched, cakes I’ve baked, products I’ve tried, places I’ve been, pictures I’ve taken… plus lots and lots of DISNEY!!

I’m a lifestyle blogger – covering a little of everything I love <3

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