sending you a cupcake!

Happy friday! As you can see cupcakes were finally made! I used this recipe from Dan Lepard which worked out pretty easy. (I think I may have a cupcake obsession - so it's just as well I'm doing more exercise these days! ;)



I am sending a virtual cupcake to you all, but especially to those who asked about the bread recipe I use - as it sounded so delicious. Well, a confession - I think I may have accidently 'bigged up' the sound of my bread by not explaining it was just a straightforward pumpkin SEED and sunflower SEED bread. I think not putting the word seed in, meant people thought there was actual pumpkin in there, (sadly not the case!). If anyone does want my, (not very interesting but easy ;) ) recipe, let me know and I'll post it! Enjoy the weekend!

sadly no cupcakes...

I had planned on making cupcakes this weekend after being smitten looking at all the gorgeous cupcake photos there are, floating around the net, but what can I say? It just didn't happen! Instead there was bread...



Pumpkin and sunflower to be precise, and no sooner was it made than it became part of a scratch lunch with cheese and olives and tomatoes, (there was also avocado but it turned out not to be ripe enough - grrr - I hate that when it happens!)



There was also gardening, well weeding really, as the garden has started to have a mind of it's own with all the damp and warm weather. The garden also gave me the first swet peas of the summer. I wish you could smell how fragrant they are.



As you can see my approach to flower arranging is a little informal, with a few heads of grasses and even a seed head from my parsley plants to add a little something. I love, love, adding random bits of the garden to my flowers and making something unexpected pretty.
(Also I think it's nice for the rest of my garden to have a chance to take centre stage and not just the flowers lol!)



Hope your weekend was lovely whatever you got up to!

starting to enjoy...

So far this week I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself as since we last spoke, I've been out running two more times and my legs are getting, (slightly) more used to it, even if my lungs are not! It's a little strange but I'm starting to enjoy myself and think maybe I could grow to like this running lark!



I took this on the drive back home after my run, (I was the passenger!) it reminded me of a picture you would find in a story book...

This weekend I have nothing organised but plan to include bread baking, some crafty fun, another run, some decluttering and making cupcakes in there somewhere...I guess we'll see what happens! Have a lovely weekend!

running, walking and standing still...

It was one of those funny weekends where you feel as if you've been busy but haven't actually done anything!

Some things from this weekend...
A nearly, (I was about 300m short but didn't know it!) 5 k run in these lovely surroundings, (which are about 20mins drive from where I live)


{these were taken last year, even I'm not crazy enough to take my camera on a run!}



I'm doing the Race for Life in 4 weeks time for Cancer Research so am needing to do a little training. I have to say I am not a natural runner by any stretch of the imagination but it wasn't too bad on Saturday. (When I say not bad, I mean I was still able to speak afterwards even if I did look in need of medical attention - the problem with being a redhead is that I tend to go very red in the face when I exercise!)

On Sunday the weather couldn't make up its mind, one moment sunny, the next full on rain but still Sparky needed to be walked...(it got a whole lot wetter after I took this...)





I also managed to catch a little time to make granola,
listen to this - (how I love her voice, so mellow and relaxing) and I'm
still reading this book...Hope you had a good one!

more simply happy...

I had so much fun participating in the 'simple things' post over at Soul Aperture that I can't stop!



Funnily enough, today Christina also has a photo of a peony on show. Today I am simply happy that the peonies that I bought yesterday are just beginning to open - such simple beauty that I could just spend so long looking at their intricate petals



I could have sat playing with the camera all evening looking at their loveliness, if it wasn't for the small matter of needing to get other things done this evening - like eating! ;)

The other bit of news, is that I'm finally getting my Etsy shop on track - (look I even managed to add a widget to my sidebar - woo hoo!) maybe you'll pop over there and take a peek, even if it's just to give me a little feedback... :)

simple happiness...

Today the lovely Christina from Soul Aperture is hosting a 'simple things that make you happy day' today June the 10th, for no other reason than, well, just because... :) Here are my thoughts...




I had to reign myself in, as there as so many simple things which make me happy!

* things that are handmade, especially made with care and love
* fresh flowers, (especially in jam jars)
* books in any form but especially library books because they're free! (yippeee!)
* fresh bed linen and lie ins! (something so nice about a bed freshly made)
* home made granola, so tasty and just the thing to start the day
* string - because it's lovely to look at, (who doesn't love string?!)
* lovely, lovely light, (oh how I love the light!)
* the scent of washing drying outside
* seedheads - as much as I love the fresh flowers, there's something so beautiful about what comes next...

other things...*fairy lights*the magic of seedlings*fireworks*being brought tea in bed*nature in all forms*sunlight through leaves*the scent of oranges*daisy chains*eating outside*fresh bread*sunshine*blackbird song*taking photos*tattoos*wooden floors*art galleries*the seaside*plain paper journals...and the list goes on and on...what makes you happy?

a little bit of happiness and a winner!

Hello and happy Monday! It's been a busy week and sadly the sun has stopped shining but still things could be worse!


If you're interested in a little happiness at the beginning of the week, why not head over to Soul Aperture a lovely blog that I've come across recently, belonging to the lovely Christina. Tomorrow for no reason at all, (10th June) she wants us to celebrate the things that make us happy and post them on our blogs. I know I'm in, are you?
Talking of being happy remember this post when I promised i would do a giveaway if you left me a comment. In the interest of fairness if you left more than one comment, you still only went into the draw once, (lol! but I admire your trying!) also, even though I myself left a comment, I didn't enter my own name, (though I was tempted ;)


I was going to get Sparky to draw out a name but A. as you can see, he wasn't that interested and B. his paws are a bit too furry so in the end I got M to do it. I was going to do the whole random number generator thing but I prefer the low key version myself! Drumroll please...and the winner is Hanna - yay!


So Hanna if you email me your address, I'll send you a little gift in the next week!
Oh...and an update on my Etsy shop, I've only got one thing in there at the moment, (lol!) as it has taken me so long to sort the pics of the pouches as Etsy keeps desaturating my photos when I upload -grrr so I'm trying to get a handle on that. I should finish uploading the rest of my pouches tomorrow! Here's a little sneak peek of my first item! In there as we speak!

one down...

The weather was so fantastic and sunny this past weekend that all I wanted to do was lie on the grass and read and pretend that I was on my holidays. Sadly I was super busy on Saturday helping relatives move house so I had to wait until Sunday.


On Sunday the sky was sooo blue and the sun so hot that I could have been somewhere exotic, instead of in my back garden. All I did was read and laze and read and laze...and eat strawberries and cream and read a bit more.



...while explaining to Sparky that really, it was too hot to go on another dog walk and if he could read, he would understand why it wasn't wrong to be reading the same books as my 13year old niece.

So that's the first book finished and I'm already onto the second...