I'm always, always on the lookout for unique gifts. I love the high-street of course {and you can see my Christmas gift guide here} but I always think it's nicer and more thoughtful if you've found something more handmade or a bit different. I've long scoured the internet looking for small businesses and quirky brands where you know that your sale will make a difference to the individual sellers who have often set up a small business from their home. It does make a huge difference to shop small and to shop locally from artisans with homemade or vintage wares.

Because of this, I've long been a fan of Etsy and have used their platform to buy from sellers all across the world {especially for our wedding and Christmas decorations!}. Etsy is really fab but what's even better are their Etsy Made Local marketplaces which will be popping up around the country between the 1st-3rd December this year bringing sellers offline and into their local communities. You can find your nearest one here. My Mum & I always earmark local Christmas markets to visit together so this year we're excited to go and find some new sellers. I love the fact that so much can be made bespoke for you too if you've got something specific in mind or something you'd want personalised.

Hola, Ciao, Hellooo. Happy Friday! Does time seem to be moving really strangely for you right now? I'm well aware that Christmas is upon us the minute that December rolls around but this stage of November seems to be lasting forever yet zooming by at the same time. It's been two weeks already since I checked in for one of these week edit kinds of posts {and thank you by the way for your kind feedback on the last post}. An update and my general life ramblings of late below if you're in a blog reading mood this weekend including my favourite risotto recipe and sparkly partywear picks for the coming weeks ahead;

Large plain walls make me antsy, they're just crying out with something to fill the space. I'm not one for filling every single corner of a room with artwork but I feel like it's the simplest thing to transform a room and give your home some personality. It can take a while to decide what you feel is right for a particular area of your house but one of the things I get asked most about are tips for gallery walls. Where do you buy the frames? How do you decide on a layout? We've put up a few in our time, so I thought I'd share some tips we've learned over the years.

It's been a while since I logged on and wrote a Friday blog post! Can I blame summer and busy trips away? But now the clocks have gone back and we're home until Christmas, it feels like we're back in a proper routine again and I won't jinx myself but I feel like I finally have some more time again for spontaneous blogging, not just trying to play catch up all the time. Here's hoping anyway!

So how are you? It's November! That gorgeous transitional month full of autumn leaves and cosy evenings before the Christmas madness. I didn't know whether to start these Friday round-up posts again now that I seem to share most things on Instagram and Insta stories but many of you wrote to me saying that stories disappear after 24 hours and that you like being able to refer back to these posts. So I think I'll definitely try for one a month, maybe more frequently but let's see how we go. I hope you like this slightly new format!

We definitely saw a million Dunkin Donut shops! If you go there expecting it to be like New York or better than New York then I don't think it will be. New York is just so unique, but if you visit and enjoy the wide Charles river with all the sailing boats, Harvard university, the Back Bay area, seafood and smaller scale shops then you will indeed love it. It's more relaxed too, not as crazy as the city that never sleeps. We had one full weekend and here's how we spent it;