This week's happiness

Things that have made me happy this week...

Brunch at Villandry

We had the best brunch on Sunday with my lovely friend Clare and her boyfriend, Scott. Have you been to Villandry before? There's a couple of locations but we went to the one on Great Portland Street and if you haven't been, it's definitely worth a visit. The menu is deeeeelicious, mostly serving French and Mediterranean food. As well as a cafe area, a shop and a deli, they also have a slightly more sophisticated restaurant area. We ate in the cafe which was really spacious and bright. I had the most amazing continental breakfast I've had in years... pain au chocolat, cheeses, ham, an amazing fruit salad and some toast, with a spinach smoothie and hot chocolate. Big yum. Deffo recommend.

Christmas: Yule Log baking

On Saturday night we went to my best girl Georgie's flat-warming party. She's just moved in with her man, so they threw a party to celebrate. Being in December, it was only right that the party was Christmas themed! Saturday nights in December were just made for gatherings and parties weren't they?! I love this time of year when everyone is in the festive spirit. Lots of us were wearing Christmas jumpers, the mulled wine was flowing, we munched on mince pies and the Christmas tree was looking beautiful with the cutest retro baubles and coloured, twinkly fairy lights. It was such a brilliant night!

And what better excuse to bake, than a party?! I decided to bake a Yule Log to bring with us to share with everyone... I could have bought wine but I'm trying to cut back on alcohol at the moment. Yule Log has got to be one of my favourite, favourite Christmas desserts. Okay so it's basically just a chocolate-swiss roll, but sprinkled with icing sugar to look like snow, it looks really magical served up on a plate. And for those people who aren't too keen on mince pies or Christmas cake, then Yule Log is often the perfect alternative... because who doesn't like chocolate?!

This week's happiness

Things that have made me happy this week...

A little holiday to Rome...

Do you ever find yourself with the sudden urge to book a hotel or some flights? The urge to just get away for a few days and explore some more of the world? Well, this happened this week. I think it was the idea of going back to work after having such a relaxing week off last week... It made me pine for a holiday. I wanted something on the horizon, something to really look forward to. I lay in bed browsing flights and found a good deal for some return flights to Rome, so we're all booked up! We're going in May over our anniversary. I already cannot wait. I've been a few times now as we have a family villa about 2 hours away from Rome, but Rob's never been. In my gap year I interrailed around Europe and Rome was one of my most favourite cities, I was so overwhelmed by all the old architecture and could not seem to get my head around the fact that some of the buildings are older than Jesus!! Whoa! Anyway... bring on May!!

Decking the ...flat!

So I promised I'd share a few more of the things we've done around the home to make it feel just that little bit more Christmassy! Rob's a bit of a Grinch when it comes to Christmas decorations and I've got to admit I'm not a fan of anything majorly tacky so there are definitely no large reindeers around here, nor is there any tinsel which I cannot stand! We've stuck to rather simple decorations but I have to say our flat is looking quite cute and festive! It's nice to have little decorations here and there to brighten things up...

This cute little Christmas tree fell into my shopping trolley in Waitrose... oh my goodness how cute is it?! A perfect sized tree for the hallway!