This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

Another week had zoomed by and we are now officially only 8 weeks and 5 days until Christmas - seriously scary stuff! HK Mouse is making us feel super guilty with her new regime of strict Bikini Fit bootcamp... crack of dawn wake ups and high-protein diet! We London Mice on the other hand have been in a world of launch parties, scrummy canapes and zero excercise. We really must unearth those boxing gloves and get cracking with the pre-Christmas party diet!

For now though, a whistle stop tour of the week just gone, this week the Mice have mostly been...

Devouring Panda sushi and cocktails at Jimmy Choo's latest collaboration launch with contemporary artist, Rob Pruitt. This particular capsule collection is super wacky and colourful, not at all what we expected from Jimmy Choo. On paper the range is all wrong with way too much going on, we're talking colour clashes, fabric combo mash-ups and superimposed graphics. Sounds ghastly doesn't it? Well, prepare to be amazed, in the light of day it's randomly hot!

Aside from getting a sneak peak of the bonkers collection, we also got the chance to learn more about the partnership with Rob Pruitt ... he emerged on the NYC art scene back in the 80s drawing attention to himself by producing fun and thought-provoking art pieces. He has a particular penchant for pandas, colour and out-there prints which is evident from the Jimmy Choo designs ... every shoe is lined with a cute panda loving print, rainbow bright hand-finished soles and there are even some show stopping angel and devil Swarovski encrusted panda clutch bags. Apparently the angel and devil duo symbolise the split personality of the Choo woman!

Bright colours and pandas were a running theme throughout the night. Check out the cute sushi and colour-popping cocktails below...

In celebration of the collaboration, Jimmy Choo has created a fabulously fun video that takes you on an eye opening journey inside Rob Pruitt's subconscious...

The collection is available to buy now and ranges from £195 to a whopping £9,500!

Last but not least, check out our Jimmy Choo Rob Pruitt photo booth snaps below. Look at middle mouse loving the wind machine effect in the fourth picture, sadly mini mouse had her locks swept up in a high-top bun so she spoilt the outcome somewhat...!

Chomping on POP Cakes - the fabulous Pruitt for Jimmy Choo launch party also introduced us to these little beauties from Cake Pop Princess! Tray upon tray appeared chocka block full of the fabulous customised cakes on a stick. Not just boring dry sponge with sickly sweet piped icing, but cute little lollypop-esque balls of heaven! When you bite into them you are met with truffle brownie-like consistency encased in a crisp chocolate shell - we had to stop ourselves from grabbing the whole lot from the passing plates!

The perfect solution to send as a unique birthday treat, bring as a dinner party gift, offer as an apology or accompany congratulations... what we're saying here is any excuse...just make sure you're there when they arrive so that you can get a piece of the action too! What's even better is that they come in an array of flavours - chocolate, choc-mint, choc-orange, choc-coconut, carrot, lemon & white chocolate, and rich chocolate with fruit cake and brandy... YUM! Custom orders are Cake Pop Princess' speciality, all you need to do is drop Bianca an email and let her know your requirements - check out the gallery section on the website and our Jimmy Choo pics below!!

Ripping open our first ever JolieBox which, if you haven't heard already, we won as part of our Highly Commended prize at the Cosmo Blog Awards! I still get ridiculously excited at the prospect of post, especially parcels and even better when it's a smart black box embossed with JolieBox knowing full well that it's jam-packed full of beauty products just for us!

JolieBox is a members only beauty club founded in Paris back in 2011 which soon expanded to Spain and the UK. You subscribe to the website for a fee and in return every month you receive a little black box full of surprise products! A sort of beauty lucky dip! Each package includes a mixture of well known brands such as OPI, L'Occatine and Korres and unknown names just waiting to be discovered.

This months we unwrapped eight little gifts - dont worry HK Mouse we're saving you your fair share!

In detail we got....

* Jason Bee Healthier lip balm stick

* Ritessens velvet cleansing milk

* LOV organic herbal tea

* Moa The Green Balm

* Iroisie Soin Parfait ulitmate BB cream

* Wen cleaning conditioner 

* Nail Girls nail polish in gold

* Twistband hair tie 

And on that note, we're off to go and relax, pamper and trial all our new beauty potions! Catch ya later gater!

The Mice xxx

Gastro Gem: The Elk in the Woods...

So I thought I might mix it up a little this weekend and spent my Saturday sheltered from the horrid rain in a warm, cosy haze of everything exciting and happy, surrounded by yard upon yard of frothy white fabric and coo'ing like a true girl....any guesses where I was? Wedding dress shopping of course! 

Don't get too excited not for a mini mouse wedding....not quite there yet but for my uni bestie Fran instead! It was a brand new experience for me which weirdly made me feel quite nervous as I didn't know what to expect....however after five minutes of flicking through meringues, fishtails, slinky numbers and lots of lace - I felt right at home! That was even before the dress trying began....we were like little princesses with the best dressing up box ever!

I never realised quite how tricky picking a dress could be, usually my routine goes....pick about twenty things to try, love nearly all of them, narrow them down with my sensible head and then buy five things more than I really should! BUT wedding dress shopping is totally different...you find yourself being very critical, sensible and tough to impress! Typically we didn't find anything 'WOW enough' as we kept saying, so the search continues...sadly we weren't offered a glass of champagne or the process may have turned out very differently...however having said that for the final appointment after our pit stop the bride, mother of the bride and I were perhaps slightly softened by a bottle of wine!

Even though I was only observing and commenting, it really was seriously thirst / hunger inducing work! Appointment one down, we decided to make a much needed refuel at The Elk in the Woods. Located conveniently 10 minutes from Angel tube on Camden Passage amidst vintage shopping heaven and right across from our next appointment...we settled in for a couple of hours rest!

Firstly the interior is my absolute heaven....wood panelled walls, battered scratched chunky wooden tables, deer antlers adorning the walls, mismatched vintage mirror features and the most scrumptious aroma of burgers and roast dinners that it could convert any vegetarian! 

Image via www.the-elk-in-the-woods.co.uk

I literally felt as if I had stumbled across a cosy log cabin in a deserted woods as soon as I walked in - that may have been hangover induced but I was certainly sold upon arrival!

So on to the food, this was my total nightmare of a menu - it was as if the chefs had read my mind and concocted a list of all my favourite foods! Result...immense pressure to avoid food envy! Take note - definitely somewhere to go back to for dinner and cocktails, the small plates to share sounded divine with the likes of sweetcorn and smoked paprika cream with grilled halloumi and toasted ciabatta or Hungarian chorizo and pancetta stew with paprika and roasted pepper; and to wash that down I would love to try practically all of the cocktails especially Watermelon Tears - Gin, Watermelon and Fresh Cherry finished with Prosecco - YUMBO! And not only right up there on my dinner to-do list, this is now number one on my brunch list too...who could resist duck egg with asparagus, sausage and toast dippers or pancakes with baked cinnamon pears, goats cheese yogurt and maple syrup....see what I mean! 

Image via www.the-elk-in-the-woods.co.uk

However we were there at 3pm so bridey and I opted for the rare breed lamb burger in tortano roll with grilled courgette and mint jelly and chips...super flavoursome (top points for the mint jelly), cooked to perfection (pink in the middle) and crispy, fluffy chips...delicious! 

Mother of the bride went for char-grilled chicken and bacon, mayonnaise, baby gherkin, greens and tomato in ciabatta - it was safe to report from the food induced momentary silence amongst us that we were all very happy campers indeed! 

The only downside would be the staff, they left us standing at the bar when we arrived (literally like we were invisible) and generally weren't overly friendly - more like busy and preoccupied, even sometimes on the verge of being a little rude, but maybe it was an off day! A slight shame as they were doing so well but with food and atmosphere this spot on who needs friendly...take your own friends instead! Fear not I'll be popping back for brunch very soon and I'll give them another go...!

39 Camden Passage

N1 8EA

020 7226 3535

www.the-elk-in-the-woods.co.uk