Spring Must Haves

I love spring.  I love the idea of opening up the windows and doors and letting the light shine in.  I love the fact that it always feels like a time for cleaning away the cobwebs and getting rid of everything you have hoarded over the winder months.

I love a house and wardrobe clear out, but then it's also nice to bring some new goodies in.  Here are some bits that I'm loving and that I'm hoping will take me nicely into the summer months;

Fab spring/summer crockery for when the weather gets slightly nicer and we can start eating outside (above).

I've had a bit of a thing about Globes for a while, and still lusting over getting me own.  I'm loving the spring colours of this Globe.

I was travelling through London last week and popped in to Oliver Bonas in Victoria station.  I got my hands on this gorgeous Oliver Bonas Ring for only £10.

Since knowing that we were off to France for our anniversary I've falled in love with these Boden Breton tops, and now have a yellow and navy one in the wardrobe.  Perfect with jeans, but also nice tucked into a high wasted skirt for work.

So so chuffed with this Meringue Girls Cookbook for my birthday and really nice to get some lovely summery recipes to move through the seasons....out with crumble and custard, in with meringue and fruit!

I've been lusting over a classic pair of Converse for a while, just saving up my pennies.

Countryside Antics

There aren't many things that I love more than spending time outdoors in the countryside.

I am lucky that my parents live on an old apple farm so we have loads of space surrounding us when we head back there.

Last weekend we spend the majority of the weekend outside; clearing it the barn, burning a bonfire, lazing in the sun.

Now that the evenings are longer and the days are warmer being able to get back to the country for the weekend is a real treat.

Are you a country or city person?  What's your favourite thing about the country?

Getting Excited For Paris

G and I will be celebrating our 1 year Wedding Anniversary on the 4th May.  As a surprise G has booked for us to go to Disneyland Paris for the weekend.  I am so super excited, because not only will it bring back memories of our honeymoon in Disney World Florida, but we will hopefully get to pop in to the romance capital for a few hours.

I'm getting super excited about our weekend away and have been planning my wardrobe and having a look through the exiting things we could see when we pop into the city.  

I found this brill blog, Hip Paris, that has given me some inspiration.  After finding the brill markets in London the other weekend I like the idea of finding places that aren't too commercial when I visit a new city.  It's nice to find things that showcase the city for what it really is, not about the touristy attractions that everyone sees.

I love the idea of visiting the Love Lock Bridge, especially as it is a romantic anniversary trip.  The idea of adding our little padlock is exciting.

I'm also super excited by the fashion and am trying to pack cool looking outfits for the trip...you can't go to Paris and not think about your fashion for the weekend!  I found this fab boho bag on Boden that would be perfect for carrying bits around, and also am definitely needing to invest in some breton stripe tops before we head off!

Paris seems all about the stripes, scarves and big bags.  Eeeek I'm so excited.

Boho Bag, Boden

Stripes and scarves are a must for Paris

Fab outfit idea - not sure I'm quite trendy enough to pull this off

London Sunday - The Markets

On Sunday I headed up to London for my Maid of Honor's birthday.  Mum, Bean and I decided to head to London early so that we could spend a few hours together, wandering, and looking at the sites.

On Saturday I had a look online on Time Out London to see what sort of things we could do for a few hours before we had to meet Lydia and her mum at 3pm for Afternoon Tea at the Haymarket Hotel.

The first place we headed was Columbia Road in Shoreditch for the flower market.  There were loads of fantastic shops and the street had been transformed into an oasis full of flowers and plants; everything from gorgeous, freshly cut flowers to fruit trees and cacti.

We wandered through Columbia Road, popped into a gorgeous perfume shop, some cool antique shops and found a cute little square where a guy was playing his guitar and people were sitting about drinking coffee and eating bagels, all with their flowers and plants in tow.

From here we wandered around to Brick Lane where, of course, another fabulous Sunday market was happening.

These are really the bits of London that are real that show the diversity of the city.

Cake Hole - wikid antique crockery shop and tea room

Cake Hole - with its Easter inspired decorations

Cake Hole - the whole place is colour coordinated

Mum and Bean checking out the flowers

Gorgeous tulips at Columbia Road

Such an array of colours and scents

Cool Guitar Man

Funky Square off Columbia Road with cool shop fronts

COS Scarf, Zara Blazer, Aubin and Wills Top, Dorothy Perkins Jeans, Next Boots

Grabbing a lunch wrap at Brick Lane

Fresh Produce

I am so super excited that the Garden Centre up the road from us has just opened a fantastic new farm shop.  There is a huge section of fresh fruit and veg, a deli counter, and a gorgeous array of freshly baked bread.

On Saturday G and I popped up there to pick up some lunch.  We picked yummy flat field mushrooms, a tasty multi grain loaf and a goose egg each!  It was such a yummy lunch.  Goose eggs equal about 3 hens eggs so it was very filling but they were so yellow and rich!

I think this will definitely be a weekly weekend visit place to nab some tasty fresh produce.

What's the time Mr Wolfe?

When Bean and I took a lovely trip into Brighton last weekend on Sunday we treated outselves to a coffee and biscuit in Mr Wolfe.

Before we left on Sunday morning we had a skim through The Simple Things and read through the article all about Brighton.  Mr Wolfe was featured in the article so we decided to give it a go.

It's just up the back, off Western Road, so nice and handy to get to.  It's very s but so nicely turned out.  The walls are all black chalk board and the menus are all written up on the wall, which is a nice touch.

The coffee was tasty and the gold teapots are fabulous! Wish I'd had tea rather than coffee. The tasty little cloud shortbread biscuit was not only extremely cute, but also very yummy.

Will definitely be visiting Mr Wolfe again!

When Bean Came to Stay

Outside florian florist on western road - gorgeous Mother's Day selections

What a lovely weekend I had.  I didn't really get to see much of G but I feel like I achieved loads.  It was such glorious weather I spent the day outside on Saturday in the garden tidying, fixing the shed roof, planting some bulbs and taking a load of junk to the dump.

It feels so good to get rid of loads of rubbish and make everything a bit tidier.  I then came inside, made a cake, tidied up and hoovered the whole house.  A real spring clean!

On Saturday evening Bean came to stay....so lovely to have her over.  We didn't do anything on Saturday night apart from chat and eat a tasty thai dinner that I made, but it was just nice to have her here.

On Sunday morning we tucked into a yummy breakfast that I had prepared of yogurt, oats, rhubarb and blueberries! Very healthy and tasty.

After checking out the fab article in this months Simple Things and doing some quick Google searches we went armed with a number of different new places we could try. 

The fantastic places we found were Mr Wolfe for a tasty coffee,  Dowse for some greetings cards, Sushi Garden for some lunch and Present (only opened this week) for a look at some gifts.

Cute sign that drew us in to have a look in Dowse Gallery and Shop

Fab interior of Mr Wolfe, Montpelier Place

Bean in Mr Wolfe reading the most recent Stylist Magazine

My gorgeous new scarf and jumper from COS

Tasty Sunday special - all this for only £6.50!

Sushi garden on Preston street, Brighton 

Recipe: Lemon Layer Cake

I haven't baked for ages and although I've made jams and chutneys recently and made some very tasty meals, I don't remember the last time that I spent the afternoon baking.

I feel like I've managed to master my pastry but I haven't ever quite mastered the sponge.  Cupcakes never really work out so I thought maybe I would try a layer cake.  I went for something plain and simple so as not to get carried away with frills and whistles, rather than concentrating on the texture and flavour of the cake.

I keep seeing fantastic layer cakes, and although I attempted one a year back, it never really lived up to Emily's or these tasty looking treats on Pinterest.

When searching through for recipes it's tricky to find fab ones that are in English measurements, but after a quick bit of looking good old Delia came up a treat!

This lemon layer cake was the perfect choice!  I doubled the recipe to make it a super tall 4 layer cake and added some lemon juice and icing sugar to the icing to make it a bit less creamy.  Admittedly also I used shop bought lemon curd as that was a bit much to do as well!

I cannot believe how super quick and easy this cake was and the result was flipping amazing! 

What layer cakes have you tried?

Leopard Accessories

We had a busy Saturday last weekend catching up with friends.  On Saturday during the day G and I went to celebrate our friends 30th Birthday.  We had a tea party, drank some wine and then headed out for a lovely Italian dinner at Aldo's in Brighton.

We love Aldo's and have been there a few times now.  It's really proper home cooked italian food, not that expensive, and the best bit is that you bring your own booze!  Love a bit of that!

I had to rush away from dinner and head up to my friends leaving party.  She is headed off to a new exciting start with her boyfriend in New Zealand.

I had to get ready for the whole day at about 12 so wanted an outfit that could take me from day to night.  I thought a minimal outfit would work best and opted to jazz it up a bit with a big hair style and some leopard print accessories; scarf and shoes (if only I could get leopard print nails to match!)

I often find that keeping things simple with an outfit is the most flattering.  Being bigger I think that sometimes patterns, extra accessories and lots of fuss can make me look bigger, so I kept to simple lines with the sharp white blazer, some dark coloured skinny jeans and a plain black silk top.

(Excuse the background! I still haven't managed to get too arty with the fashion pics!)

What Made Me Smile This Week

This week was a bit of a funny one for me.  How was yours?

Monday felt like a long, long way away from the weekend and on Tuesday I travelled up to Manchester for work.  I really enjoy travelling and seeing new places but it does always mean an early start and a late night.  On Wednesday and Thursday I came down with a bit of a tummy bug and had Thursday off sick from work.

Its horrid being poorly but I had a day on the sofa wrapped up in my quilt and a day at home meant that I was there to see a little visitor in my garden.  We've seen urban foxes around and about our house before by never in broad day light before.  This little fox was happily sunning himself on the decking and was in no hurry to leave.  I wonder if maybe he comes to visit quite often and we just aren't here to see him.

I decided to try something a bit different with my hair this week and go for a sweeping side fringe and a side plait.  It's always nice to try something new - especially when so many people commented on how nice it looked.  I think I'll try this again!

I've been wanting a pair of diamond stud earrings for a while and these ones from Accessorize are really classic and were only £10 for 2 pairs.

I am also really pleased that I've finally got round to clearing our dining table and setting it up with our Emma Bridgewater Wedding crockery.  It's funny how setting the table with cups and crockery really helps finish off a room.  I was also really pleased with these gingham place mats which I got super cheap from Butlers in the close down sale of their Brighton Store.