This week's happiness

Things that have made me happy this week...

Tea in bed.

Nothing beats a cup of tea in bed on a Sunday morning. Especially when it's a cup of earl grey tea made by my mum, in my old bed at my parents' house. Heaven.

Quintessentially English baking at Bread Ahead Bakery

Did you see my recent post featuring my Italian Breadmaking lesson at Bread Ahead Bakery? If you did, then you'll know how much I enjoyed myself and how won over I was by the bakery. It truly is the most wonderful institution nestled in the heart of Borough Market. Rob bought me a couple of lessons at Bread Ahead for Christmas. It was such a brilliant, thoughtful idea for a present, as he knows how much I love baking and I always think it's much nicer to be given an experience for a gift rather than something materialistic - life's about making memories, after all! So last Friday I went for my second lesson, a lesson in Quintessentially English Baking. I had assumed this would mean baking scones, a Victoria Sponge... maybe some tea cakes? I guessed totally wrong though and was pleasantly surprised to find that we would be baking a few things I had never attempted before: a traditional cottage bread loaf, some Devonshire splits, some good old "lardy cakes" and some traditional Bath buns...

Beauty: A love affair with Molton Brown

This week I finally cracked into my Molton Brown bath set that I got for Christmas. I've been having a little love affair with Molton Brown this past year, my showers were totally transformed after I discovered the incredible Pink Pepperpod body wash so when I was given this amazing set for Christmas I literally squealed with delight...

Isn't it look amazing?! I love the cute 50ml bottles, they'll be perfect to take on holiday or to pop in my bag for weekends away and having so many of them will {hopefully!} mean they'll last ages. I'll be the first to admit that I'm the shallowest of shallow when it comes to packaging, I'll buy anything based on its appearance but seriously, shall we just take a minute or two to fully appreciate how beautifully arranged and colour-coordinated this box set really is?!...

Skiing at The Snozone, Milton Keynes

I suddenly remembered yesterday that I never blogged properly about my first skiing lesson at The Snozone in Milton Keynes, so I thought I'd do a belated post, just incase any of you are thinking about taking up skiing and want to know what to expect.

For a while now Rob has been hinting about skiing holidays but I've always been rather apprehensive, replying with excuses like "but I've never been skiing before and you'll race off without me!" {which still applies, I may add!}! Anyway, after some deliberation I decided that it was time to finally bite the bullet and have a few lessons to prepare myself for a possible future ski trip, especially seeing as 'learning to ski' happens to be number 14 on my 30 before 30 list! 

This week's happiness

Things that have made me happy this week...

Sunshine

Could it be, that Spring is finally arriving?! We've had some really lovely sunshine this past week with brilliant blue skies. It always amazes me how uplifted I feel when the sun's out. I've managed to get out for a couple of runs this week which has made me feel so much happier in myself and the sunshine kept me going each step of the way! I also spied hundreds upon hundreds of daffodils beginning to sprout in Greenwich Park... It won't be long until the park is cheerfully yellow and full of Spring!

{ The best view of London... from Greenwich <3}

House Hunting... Trials, tribulations and celebrations!

It's been a while since I updated you all on our house hunt and that's because, for a little while, there was no news to update you with. We decided to take a break from the house hunting over the Christmas period because quite frankly it was making us both a bit grumpy. It began to feel like some huge, depressing chore with no light at the end of the tunnel. "When will we finally find 'the one'?" "Why is there nothing out there for us?" "Why can't we afford the beautiful house worth £648933363839303936?". These were all reoccurring rhetorical questions we asked ourselves again and again and again. A break was most definitely needed.

Then January arrived. A New Year. A good time to start afresh, I guess. Who sells their house in December anyway?! January arrives and people get the urge to sell up and move. Surely there would be somewhere for us on the market if we looked again...?! So we scouted Rightmove and drove down to Sevenoaks, in Kent, to visit a few local estate agents. It was in and around the Sevenoaks area we had our hearts set on. Frustratingly, as we began to speak to estate agents, we began to feel just as let down as we had done in October and November and December... There was nothing on the market that seemed to fit our budget.

Shrove Tuesday... Pancakes gallore

Ever since I was little, Shrove Tuesday has been up there as one of my most favourite days of the year. I remember racing home from primary school, feeling nothing but excitement that Mum was going to let us loose in the kitchen to help her cook pancakes for supper. The kitchen would quickly become messy with various sweet and savoury {but mostly sweet} toppings and the surfaces would get covered with spilled batter. We didn't care though, we were having PANCAKES, yeaaaaaah!! My older sister and I would both take it in turns to flip the pancakes in the big pan and after topping our pancakes with everything imaginable we'd sit at the kitchen table, making the most of every bite until we felt absolutely stuffed. Pancakes didn't come often in our house, so a pancake dinner was always a real treat. Even now, that heartwarming smell of pancakes reminds me of those Shrove Tuesdays at home.

Nowadays, I'm unashamed to admit that my child-like excitement is still there when Shrove Tuesday comes around. It still remains one of the only days of the year that we cook pancakes in our house, which is crazy really because they're so easy to make and delicious!

Binge Shopping: Dune Pollie Boots

I'm not particularly proud of this but I have a little something to confess... I'm a binge shopper {ssssshhh don't tell anybody!!}. You'll probably be able to guess what this means but if not, I'll explain. Being a binge shopper basically means that for the majority of the time, I'm pretty sensible when it comes to money and actually find it rather difficult spending on myself because I find the guilt overwhelming. But, just like binge drinking, my sensible hat is thrown out of the window on rare, unpredicted occasions and I'll have a massive splurge and spend far too much money. 

On Saturday I threw my sensible hat out of the window. But, I bought these beauties....

This week's happiness

Things that have made me happy this week...

A {much needed} haircut
I'm one of those strange people who hates having their haircut... I've had long hair for years now and I feel sad when it's chopped off! The hairdresser thought I was crazy, I nearly cried! But I desperately needed a cut, so I grew some balls {not literally} and went to the salon. It feels so much shorter, even though it's still pretty long. The hairdresser curled it all for me and I felt like a princess afterwards :)

 

Beauty: Skincare favourites

I've suffered from acne from the age of thirteen. Over the years it has driven me crazy, left me feeling embarrassed beyond belief - to the point where I have avoided leaving the house - and above all, it has stolen large chunks of my self-confidence and self-worth. I truly believe that acne is one of the most destructive things. It's such a ridiculous first world problem! It's silly really, how your skin can affect your mentality. Especially when there is so much suffering going on in the world. But when you're the one suffering from it, it can feel like the biggest, ugliest thing. It is only in recent years that I have begun to learn to accept and even love (yes, love!) the skin I'm in. We're all made differently and this is just my little hiccup. A massive hiccup for a teenager I'll assure you, but in the grand scheme of things you can't let something as trivial as ugly skin ruin your life. And so, instead of getting upset over it, I try my best to just deal with it... 99% of the time anyway! Maybe one day soon I'll pluck up enough courage to share with you on here my experience of "the evil little drug" AKA Roaccutane.

Anyway, that's my acne rant over! Now for a more positive stance. Having oily, acne-prone skin means that a strict skincare routine is pivotal in ensuring that my skin remains as clean and as healthy as possible. I do my best to make sure I drink as much fluid as possible and eat a relatively healthy diet. I've found that running has also helped - all those endorphins & happy exercise vibes must help my skin to breathe (don't understand the logic here but never mind)! As soon as I'm home from work or being out, I take my makeup off and wash my face thoroughly. After all, home is a place for naked skin where I don't need to worry about how red or sore my face is looking! I thought I'd share with you my current number ones when it comes to skin care...



Neutrogena
"visibly clear pink grapefruit cream wash"

I love anything Neutrogena and my dermatologist swears by them. Their range is very affordable too and you'll be able to find them in most pharmacists/chemists. Neutrogena do various face washes, cleansers and daily scrubs but this is my favourite probably because of the smell {'pink grapefruit' as it says on the label} & I won't lie I also fell for the pink packaging. It smells yummy trust me! A little drop of this stuff goes a long way once mixed with water so a bottle can last a while. It's quite thick in consistency and feels very creamy when washing but is oil-free so it's perfect for my skin and it leaves you with the most refreshed feeling.

Valentine's Day baking: Jam tarts with hearts ♥

We don't go overboard with Valentine's Day by any means, but give me any excuse to bake and I'll jump at the chance... so, with Valentine's Day impending upon us this weekend I thought I'd bake some cute Valentine's Day inspired treats...

Jam tarts with hearts <3

I adore jam tarts! They're so simplistic {made from just pastry and jam} yet they're quintessentially English and so delicious. Do they remind you of your childhood? We always used to have them at tea parties and picnics, filled with various different flavoured jams and I'm sure they're probably one of the first things I ever baked with my Mum. They also remind me of that brilliant scene in Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'...

"The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, all on a Summer's day...
The Knave of Hearts, he stole those hearts and took them quite away"!

Blackheath & my favourite deli, Hand Made Food

I've been meaning to write a post for some time now on one of my favourite little haunts in one of my most favourite parts of London. It really felt like Spring had sprung yesterday with beautiful blue skies, and it made me want to share with you the beauty of Blackheath - one of my favourite places to be when the sun is out. If you've never visited Blackheath then you really must. It has a real village feel to it with charming, steep Victorian streets winding through it's centre, boasting far too many estate agents(!), some decent charity shops, a fine collection of upmarket furniture and kitchen shops and a few great little independent shops too. Blackheath has more than just shops though - it offers an impressive array of good eateries, chain restaurants and some commendable, traditionally English pubs. It makes for the perfect place for a weekend stroll, dinner with friends or a relaxed, evening drink with your other half. The village feel is accentuated further on Sundays, when Blackheath Farmer's Market opens in the rail station car park, selling farm produce from London's surrounding counties and further afield. We've been a few times now and picked up some great organic vegetables. It's a treat in London to be able to find a reliable, local food market.

This week's happiness

Things that have made me happy this week...

A celebratory lunch!

I love Wahaca, so after I was given a surprise university result yesterday, Rob took me out for a celebratory Wahaca lunch. I wasn't expecting a 2:1 in my recent assignment... it was a difficult module but my hard work obviously paid off. Such a relief and one step closer to earning my degree! Blood orange margaritas, tacos and enchiladas were the best way to celebrate...

Deliciously Ella Brownies

Happy February, y'all! As you've probably gathered by now from my previous posts I'm always on the lookout for healthy, alternative recipes to satisfy my super sweet tooth. It would seem that my entire instagram feed has recently become obsessed with @deliciouslyella and her wonderfully nutritious recipies {no but seriously, her book is brilliant} so I decided to jump on the band wagon and attempt to bake some of Deliciously Ella's sweet potato brownies.

Ok so first things first, let's get one thing straight. You can't be expecting these to taste exactly like a chocolate brownie, because that's not what they are. If you want a brownie, make some god damn brownies! But if you're looking to curb your sweet tooth with something much more healthy & filling, with the look and the incredibly gooey texture of a brownie, then these will do the trick. They're full of goodness too: dates, almonds, sweet potatoes... and a few drops of pure maple syrup. Full of fibre! So you can feel satisfied without the guilt. Hallelujah!