ShangriLyla's Profile

CitySocializer is a really great site to meet new people. (I am in now way affiliated with them, by the way!)

When I followed my husband to a new city I signed up and met lots of new people who were in basically the same situation I was - they were new to the city, or they found all of their old friends had moved away and/or got married and weren't out as often. Some people just wanted to expand their circle of friends. I'm still friends with some of the people I met there, and I stopped going to the meet-ups a few years ago. Thinking about it now, I might sign up again!

Joining groups is another great way, and you'll probably meet like-minded people. I joined a writers group and became really close with some of the people in it quickly because we were interested in the same things. Writer's groups, book clubs, volunteering organizations... they're all great places to meet people who have the same interests as you.

I don't understand the big deal with painting trim either. If the style of the room is clean and contemporary, unpainted trim just looks unfinished. It stands out. And when it's plain ol' boring baseboard that's not a good thing. That's just my opinion though.

The room looks fantastic. Covering the window wasn't a huge deal because there's a wall of windows right beside it letting in more than enough light. Putting the bookcase in front of it works.

The blue is beautiful - and I love the light fixture.

I'm an ex-pat as well! Welcome to the rainy side of the pond.

Like others have said, Nigel Slater, Hugh Fernley Whittenstall... I would recommend the Hairy Biker's cookbooks as well, though. It's very down-to-earth British comfort food. Jamie Oliver is good, but he's not Italian and needs to figure that out.

You'll start to notice things aren't quite as different as they seem. Plain flour is exactly what it says - plain flour. Self-rising flour is what it says as well - it already has rising agents mixed in (baking powder/soda). Bread flour (or strong flour) doesn't have rising agents and is milled a little finer for smoother bread dough, it also has a higher protein level. Tipo 00 flour is even more finely milled for making pasta (and really good for pizza dough as well.)

Paul Hollywood's 'How to Bake' is a good book - we only got it for Christmas so I haven't tried everything in it, but it does look good.

Richard Bertinet's 'Dough' is excellent as well.

Molasses is called black treacle. I almost cried with excitement when I figured this one out.

Waitrose is a good place for American-ish things (and everything else). They do an imported maple syrup that's decent - Canadian, but still decent. They also have cornflour. Some ethnic markets will have cornflour as well.

American sweet shops seem to be a trend lately over here. In Manchester city centre alone there are 3 or 4. They're a little expensive, but good if you're missing home and just want an Uncle Henry bar or some pop-tarts. They have root beer too (which my British husband thinks is the best thing to ever come out of America... ever.)

Hope you get settled in okay. The hardest part for me was switching to the metric system while cooking... it starts to make sense after a while though. (I still use the good ol' Imperial system when I bake cakes and cookies though.)

Good luck!

The Portland Harbor one is nice.... I'm from Maine and I'd love it, but not for $65.... I can do the same thing with a short search on Google for vintage maps and a quick upload to Spoonflower for about $15 and 5 minutes at the sewing machine.

I swear some of the people on this blog are going to stop crossing the street because they "have just discovered how unbelievably dangerous moving vehicles are!".

If a pallet smells like chemicals, don't use it. But if you're reasonably sure it was just used for normal ol' cardboard boxes, it's probably fine. Also, if it's out in the weather (like they usually are) most everything has probably been washes out of them already.

Great project. I love pallet coffee tables. Can't wait to move into a bigger place so I can have a coffee table!

Marriage is more than legally binding one person to another. In fact, that part of marriage is probably the least important in our society. If you want to get all legally anal about a marriage, there are plenty of options out there that keep men and women on the same footing if it ever came to a divorce.

And the household burden doesn't have much to do with being married... if your boyfriend is a slob chances are if you marry him, he'll still be a slob. And vice versa.

Marriage is about celebrating your love and commitment for someone and declaring that love in front of your family, friends and God - if you believe in that.

And there is nothing "sad" about wearing a wedding ring. It's disrespectful to say something like that. Some people cherish their rings.

My mother's wedding ring was a ring my father wore on his pinky finger for years before they were married. When I was young my mother burned her hand and because of the swelling they had to cut the ring off her finger. She cried harder about the ring being cut than the pain in her hand. It's a symbolic representation of love, and that means quite a lot to some people.

My teaspoons are the most commonly used item in my drawer... but I live in England, and we drink a lot of tea.

If you have time to make snarky comments on a design blog, you probably have time to make a peg bag.

I hate ironing clothes as well. (Freshly purchased yards of quilting fabric are another story though!)

I iron my sheets every so often, but not regularly. There always seems to be something more demanding for me to take care of.

If my husband and I ever take the plunge to move back to my parent's farm in Maine to be self sufficient, I may have the time to iron sheets... but until that day....

If you involve an animal shelter please make sure it's a "no kill" shelter. Some of them still kill cats if they haven't been adopted out after so much time.