This week has had two date nights. On Tuesday we went to see The Lovely Bones at The Coronet, which is an awesome cinema in Notting Hill which does £3.50 movies on a Tuesday. The movie was weird but it did have lots of crafting at the start. On Wednesday we went to see Youth In Revolt, an awesome film with Nick from Nick & Norah and Juno in it, at the Trocadero.

After the movie we went to Ben & Dave’s new house for a pre-housewarming / goodbye party for Mel. As always, the food and cocktails were amazing and I was taught how to make a blackforest cocktail, which tastes like cake in a glass.

I had an amazing fabric shop on Goldhawk Road this week. I found the perfect waterproof fabric for my Burberry mac for £6.50 a meter (quite a saving for a £1000 jacket) and some awesome black check silk for the lining (it’s the same design that I made my dress with). I also got lots of silk for making two other dresses, but they’ll have to wait until I’m finished with my coat.

After one day of sewing, this is how my mac is shaping up. The forecast for the weekend is rain, so I shall fill mine with sewing, movies, brunching with friends, button buying and hiding out indoors.

CO+K is in the latest issue of Sew Magazine and Clare posted a lovely little post about us on her amazing new blog, Pass The Pattern.

This week I’ve been super crafty. My first project was a couple of Union Jack pillows for the bed. “Someone” brought me a heap of Chanel ribbons to use and they worked really well.

I made a mermaid tail as my costume for Mardis Gras. It has a zipper up the back at the bottom, so I can unzip my feet and walk. My favourite movie when I was a kid was The Little Mermaid, so I’ve always wanted a tail and now I have one

The secret cafe at Westfield has closed down but we discovered a new little place called Ca’puccino which serves yummy Italian food.

There were floating shelves of books everywhere, which made me feel at home.

The mugs and napkins had a lined paper pattern and now I really want a set.

CO+K has been getting lots of press this week and has been in a bunch of magazines. This article was in Craft Business – they call me a well-known journalist, hehe.

There was also a little mention in MakeJewellery magazine. We’re also in the new issue of Sew Magazine, so if anyone has a copy, could you please send me a scan with the bit about us? I’d love to know what it says.

Finally, someone else has made a version of my kitty hood scarf, I’m going to have a little army soon.

Time to start packing, we leave for New York in less than 48 hours and I’m so excited. If anyone has any NY tips, please send them this way!

I’m back in London now. Tom met us at the airport which was such a nice surprise. I’m going to miss the sunshine.

I forgot to post photos of the hotel before. It was really nice and right next to the pool, which was the best bit. We would sit out on the balcony at night and watch movies on my laptop.

Someone on CO+K has already made a version of my Kitty Hood Scarf. It took me over a year to finish and they did it in just 1 week! It looks fantastic too.

Today we brunched with Lynz, Claire & Emma at Plan 9, had the cheapest round ever at the Warrington and then went for cupcakes at Hummingbird.

On the way home I spotted this shop covered in bows. I want to do the same to the Mews!

I’ve been working super hard this week because I’m not really going to be around for the next two. The bad weather has stopped us from doing too much, though it has encouraged me to finish knitting my scarf, which now has pockets as well as a hood with cat ears. I really can’t wait until the end of the week, when I’ll be relaxing in the sun of Santa Cruz, Taco & La Laguana – frozen margaritas ahoy!

We did a best projects of 2009 list for CO+K. There were so many amazing projects last year, the site is growing so fast.

My Lady Dragon shoes arrived last week and I love them so much but I’ll have to wait until the weather improves before I can wear them out.

This weekend we hung out with Lynz & friends and met up with our old high school friend John, who’s living in London now, and catch up on the past 6 to 7 years. Also, the ladies at Plan 9 wrote us a big checklist of places to visit while we’re in New York, I can’t wait!

There’s an interview with me in the latest issue of Sew Hip magazine. There’s also my how-to for making Louis Vuitton style rabbit ears and the pattern. Check them out on the front cover too!

There’s an interview with me in the latest issue of Sew Hip magazine. It’s also got my how-to and the pattern for making Louis Vuitton style rabbit ears. You can pick a copy up in WH Smith and you’ll know it’s the right issue because it’s got the ears on the cover!

On the subject of crafting, I’ve almost finished my kitty ear hooded scarf, which I started knitting in Paris well over a year ago. I’m just making pockets for it now. It’s sooooo cosy! I’ll post the pattern on CO+K when it’s finished.

In an attempt to eat super healthy in 2010, I signed up to Graze, who deliver healthy snack boxes filled with nuts, fruits and seeds every week. Let me know if you fancy a free box and I’ll give you a code!

Tom got me a couple of late Christmas presents from the Vivienne Westwood sale including an awesome rosette and wrap scoop top, I love them both so much.

The snow has been preventing us from going out as much, so we’ve been raiding the DVD store and having movie nights in with Emma. We did have a trip to Ikea, where we got a new TV bench, magnetic knife rack and rails so that we could hang the bus blind up. This photo reminds me that I need to work on my costume for Mardis Gras – I’m thinking of making a mermaid tail.

If you’ve ever wondered where I come from, here’s an awful video showing Fife at it’s “best” – you can see why I left.

Last night, the few of us who were left in London went for a Christmas dinner at The Diner in Camden. I brought the remaining crackers from our tree so that we could tell jokes and wear crowns while we tucked in to our dinner of breakfast foods including pancakes, hash browns and waffles.

Tom’s boss gave us a copy of the London Nude Tech Calendar to hang up in the Mews, which has him naked on the inside cover.

After dinner we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. It was huge and filled with hundreds of stalls.

There was a chatting and singing moose, which Lynsey informed us we had to see.

We had cherry mulled wine and roasted chestnuts, which I had for the first time and thought tasted like nutty potatoes.

In other news, it’s looking quite snowy in the Mews.

I also made Tom a couple of RSS cushions to match the social-networking ones I had made on Sunday.

On Saturday we had a Christmas party at the Mews for our friends. We had mulled wine, mince pies, homemade eggnog and gingerbeer (which tasted better than the shop bought bottle that Lynz bought) and presents for everyone wrapped under the tree. I even made some presents…

including a hama bead 3D glasses necklace for Lynsey. I can now post the how-to and it’s here.

Before the party, Tom surprised me with a bag from Vivienne Westwood. My party outfit consisted of a black H&M dress, necklace from Forever 21, sparkly silver eyeshadow, my Vivienne Westwood horns…

and a new pair of Vivienne Westwood skull and crossbone earrings. They’re so sparkly and come in an indestructible box. Tom also got me an hour at Lucky Voice karaoke with up to 15 friends, which will be so much fun.

I gave Tom a whole bunch of geeky presents, including this Come In / Go Away ambigram doormat.

Twitter and Facebook mousepads.

iPhone application coasters.

… and yesterday I sewed him a set of social-networkig cushions. I’m making a pair of matching RSS ones for him today.

Emma gave Tom the best present though, which will be two pet goldfish when we get back from Scotland. We need to start thinking up names… any suggestions?

I also made a couple of squirrel brooches yesterday for the family – I hope they don’t look on here before xmas. Check out the how-to here.

We launched the Christmas mini issue of Snippets this week with the adorable Twinkie Chan on the cover. She also shared a how-to for crocheting a super cute lollipop brooch.

It’s been another busy week, mostly filled with xmas shopping, movies, eating in diners and pub quizzes. We’ve been going to a pub quiz at Gordon Ramsay’s pub in Chiswick with Ben and Dave. It costs £2 to enter but they give you lots of little snacks from the kitchen – we had pumpkin soup, scrambled egg with truffle on toast, pork pies (not me) and really tasty mince pies. Our name this week was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Fire Hydrant, which we felt was nice and topical. We’ve been spending a lot of time over West recently, on the previous Sunday, we were at a mini Christmas for Mel at Ben & Dave’s with mulled wine, yummy food and generic presents to open.

I’ve fallen in love with Forever 21 - they make such nice clothes and our first order arrived this week. I got a couple of dresses, skirts, belts, a pair of boots and Tom got lots of cool t-shirts. I can’t wait to go on a spending spree in the shop when I get to New York.

On Wednesday we went for a feast at The Diner, complete with hard shakes and Tennessee Toffee Pie for dessert. Afterwards we went to see a midnight movie and Tom lost his wallet but I found it again, after a steward let me back in and we hunted for it in the dark. Speaking of diners, we have our American rail trip all booked for February. We start off in New York for a week, take the train down the east coast (we get beds and our meals on the train) to New Orleans, where we meet up with Emma and Raven for Mardis Gras. It’s going to be so much fun!

At the start of the year, Tom set himself the mission of going to the end of every tube line on the underground map and he only has a couple left to do, so I’ve been keeping him company. Lynz has lent me her Twilight book, so I’ve been reading that.

I’ve also spent a lot of the week wrapping presents, writing cards and doing some Christmas crafting. I can’t post most of the things I’ve made until after xmas, but I did make some geeky Gameboy keyrings, which I think are safe to show off now.

On Friday, we signed up to the DVD store at Maida Vale (the same one Kate Moss goes to, I’ll have you know) and had a girly movie night in with Emma. We watched St. Trinian’s, which is an odd film, and Josie & The Pussycats – I’d forgotten how awesome that film is!

When we got Tom’s pick of film home, we noticed someone had scribbled “worst film ever” on the DVD. We’ve still to watch it to find out.

On Saturday, we ran in to a Santa convention at Trafalgar Square, where there must have been a thousand people in Santa Claus outfits – apparently they were trying to raise awareness of Christmas. They all seemed quite drunk and were handing out chocolates and sweets to everyone.

Tiffany are sponsoring the ice skating at Somerset House, so they have a huge Christmas tree covered in Tiffany charms.

They also had a tuck shop inside a Tiffany box, where you could buy sweets and jewellery.

Tom bought me a cupcake, though I would have settled for a key necklace or this ring.

We had dinner at the Eagle Bar Diner and then went to see Law Abiding Citizen at the big Odeon in Leicester Square. We had went to see a movie a month ago, which had really bad sound, so we were given complementary tickets. Our seats would normally have cost £20 each, because we were in the Royal Circle, which is where all the stars sit during premiers and they had awesome leopard skin seats. That reminds me, Tom’s boss Malcolm had his moustache shaved off by Hugh Grant last week.

This morning we had breakfast at Fifteen. I highly recommend scrambled eggs & mushroom on toast with a side of baked beans and a tasty smoothie.

Afterwards I had a haircut at Taylor Taylor. This time I was at their Commercial Street shop, which is so pretty. Upstairs is all fairytale with chandeliers and stuffed animals for Christmas and downstairs is like a dungeon. They give you special Christmas cocktails, tasty coffee and a head massage before your chop.

I’m going to have to get use to having much shorter hair, but I think I’ll treat myself to some ear muffs to keep warm.

That was a super long post, I’ll update more regularly from now on.

Tom’s got a new job as Head Of Technology at Leap Anywhere, a site that features events you can go to to benefit charity, so last night we celebrated with pink champagne and dinner from the Bombay Bicycle Club.

This is Tom’s new boss and his new office – he’s naked for a charity calendar. It’s sad for him to be leaving Drowned In Sound but he’s still going to be their tech-guy and do bits and pieces when the site needs it.

On Tuesday night we went to see Conor Oberst’s new band Monsters Of Folk at the Troxy. It was a very long gig (3 hours) and he only played six Bright Eyes songs. Luckily, we had a nice little press table to ourselves, so we played games and drank the time away.

Also, our first ever press release (written by publicist Sally) was sent out on Tuesday morning, when CO+K had reached 30,000 members. It’s quite exciting waiting so see what the response is. Yesterday morning, we had a call from the Daily Mirror asking for photos to use in a story about CO+K, so keep an eye out for us in the paper on Monday.

On Wednesday, we went to see An Education at the cinema, which was really good.

On Thursday night, Bond Street were having another late shopping night with champagne and nibbles in all the fancy stores. There were carol singers on ever corner, reindeer and fake foamy snow being blown through the streets (which I later think I had an allergic reaction to).

When Emma finished work, we headed to The Diner for some yummy American food – mac n cheese, onion rings and spicy fat fries. Tom had a beer from New Orleans, which made him miss Raven, and I had two alcoholic hazelnut milkshakes, which made me miss BK.

I’ve been working on article for SewHip magazine with Clare, and as part of that I had to put together a tutorial for making Louis Vuitton style rabbit ears. Here’s how they turned out…