I've been tagged!

Thanks to the lovely Hanna from Craftykin who tagged me, so here goes...

What is your current obsession?
mmm I think that would be wanting to try and shoot some film instead of digital just to have a play around really...

What are you wearing today?
Um a pair of black linen trousers a blue top and my converse.

What's for dinner?
Ha! Well, it's supposed to be fresh pasta,with pesto,(both homemade)but this will be my first time making fresh pasta so let's just wait and see. On the plus side I've just made the pesto, so worse case scenorio we're having it with dried pasta!



What would you eat for your last meal?
Wow, this is difficult, I think if it really was my last meal then I'd want to be somewhere lovely like the beach, eating hot salty fish and chips.



What's the last thing you bought?
A banjo case for M's birthday

What are you listening to right now?
Right now? As in this second? Nothing actually but I'm totally loving the sound of Keren Ann at the moment

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
If I've only got an hour then probably to see the Grand canyon - it looks so amazing when I've seen it in films - I can't get over how amazing and huge it looks!

What do you love most about where you currently live?
I live in a rural area, so just the fact that I'm surrounded by hills and greenery and it's so lovely to get out and about in nature - very relaxing.



What is your favorite colour?
Mmmm I think I would have to say blue, though this changes all the time I do have a soft spot for blues.



What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
Probably the little black dress that I got married in, it was a pretty laid back affair!

Describe your personal style?
Pretty relaxed, usually with converse or flip flops! Oh and I love vintage clothing as well.

What were you doing ten years ago?
Living at the seaside and training to be a homeopath. I did work as a self employed homeopath for a while but couldn't get enough business as I live out in the sticks. I still use it though for friends and family.

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
As I've just recently got into running, I think the Garmin Forerunner looks pretty neat. It measures your pace, distance and heart rate and you upload it to your computer to see pretty graphs on what's going on when you're running!


What are you going to do after this?
Maybe potter around the garden if the rain holds off.



What are your favourite films?
I love films that are a little quirky or inspiring, I loved Juno, Son of Rambow, Marie Antoinette for the look, oh and I've recently watched Man on Wire which was totally 100% amazing.

What inspires you?
Wow, so many things - nature, patterns, creativity in all forms, the little things that other people don't always notice.



Your favourite books?
So many I'm not sure how to choose. I loved Audrey Niffeneggers - The Time Traveler's Wife, I love Miranda July's collection of short stories - No One Belongs Here More Than You for their quirky charm. I have a soft spot for Benedicta Leigh - Unlock, And Remind Me Of The Sea - for the lovely title and the fact that it was the book I was reading when I met M. So many others, I could go on all day...



Do you collect anything?
Um no!

What makes you follow a blog?
Lovely photography and a sense of somethng inspiring or creative.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Well it's only just after lunch so there's plenty of the day left! Maybe chilling out this morning reading the Sunday papers.

What is your favourite smell?
I love the smell of fresh oranges, sweet peas, new books, cut grass, oh and I love the smell of fresh laundry...



What is on the top of your to do list?
So many things! Sort out my photographs is pretty much at the top, as I need to get some printed.


Tell me a random fact about yourself.
I don't own a TV and haven't had one for the last 8 years, ever since we moved to a rural area. Firstly because we were decorating and the reception around here is rubbish and then we realised we'd gone nearly 4 months without a tv and hadn't missed it. We always said we'd go out and buy one as soon as we missed it and here we are 8 years later!

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people.

So anyone who would like to play...consider yourself tagged!

weeds and wonders...

Since my last blog offering things have been pretty busy... The weather has been crazy, one minute lovely and hot, the next thundery showers and so everything in the garden has been growing like crazy including the weeds! Actually I have a bit of a soft spot for weeding as I find it quite therapeutic, (a bit like vacuuming which is my favourite household chore lol!) and some weeds just look really lovely!



I also did my 5k run on Sunday for Cancer Research and amazingly it didn't rain, though it would have been quite welcome at one point! The funny thing is I've discovered that I really enjoy running, (not that I'm super fast)- just being outdoors and running is a great way to just be in the moment, without a thousand things filling your head.

I also watched this incredible documentary called man on wire. Really - you need to go check out the trailer, it was amazing, breath taking, poignant and awe inspiring and is about a young frenchman who in 1974 planned to do a high wire walk between the Twin Towers. Wow...

simple things that make the heart sing...

Yay! Once again the lovely christina of Soul Aperture is hosting a simple things day today, go and take a peek! Here are mine...



* Walking in the garden after the rain when everything is still
* Ordinary love - you know the day to day stuff rather than grand gestures
* Sitting somewhere comfy with my embroidery and just going with the flow...
* Baking - especially making cupcakes at the moment! (coconut ones - yum!)
* The fairy lights around my bed which shine like stars in the night
* Dreams of flying when you can float and swoop to your hearts content!
* The view at dusk from my sitting room window with my clematis silhouette
* Bubbles! Hands up who doesn't smile when they see them!
* The moment you go through the sand dunes and finally see the sea - yipeee!

what are yours?...

a little bit of madness and baking...

For the past week here in the UK we've been lucky enough to have some really nice weather, the flipside of this has meant I haven't spent much time in front of the computer and so haven't been blogging - ooops! It couldn't last though and now we have humid and showery weather - so I'm back again!

One thing which has been driving me mad this week, is trying to get to grips with colour profiles - (* insert loud scream here*) as I've been doing some tester photo prints, (from a lab) to put in my Etsy shop and they're not turning out the same as what I can see on my screen, so I'm having to keep tweaking. I know the answer is to have my monitor profiled but the idea of spending money on software to do this when I keep reading conflicting reports about how good this is, is driving me nuts! Truthfully my brain is fried with all this knowledge - who knew that I would become so geeky as to want to try and understand this stuff!



Never mind, I'm sure it will all become clear, (at some point!) and I guess I'll just have to keep tweaking! After filling my brain with monitor profiles etc etc... I managed to soothe my frazzled brain with some baking - cupcakes to be precise. It's just as well I'm doing more running these days, as I have a thing for cupcakes at the moment!



Oh and bread also. Delicious bread that smells so comforting...



For those who asked about a recipe - here it is in a nutshell - it really is so easy.
Firstly, let me say I have no problem with doing things the easy way if it tastes good, which is why I use dried yeast as it's so quick, (as only one kneading and proving is required). Makes one large loaf.

500g / 1lb 2oz strong bread flour (I use half white, half wholemeal)
25g/1 oz butter (I never weigh this, I just guess and scoop some with a teaspoon)
1 and 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 and a half teaspoons fast action yeast or 7 g sachet (check on the yeast you are using, you may have to adjust the flour amount a little)
300ml/ 10 fl oz warm water

I use a food processor with a dough hook and put the flour, sugar, salt and butter in and whiz for a few seconds, (if you are doing this by hand you rub in butter to the flour then add salt and sugar) then add the yeast (and whiz) then add *** the water until it comes together into a dough, ( about 4 mins in the machine) and voila!

***Usually at this point I add extras such as pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds - whatever I have really, in whatever quantity - usually a handful of each but this means you need to increase the water so you can mix it into a dough.

I then take it out and knead it by hand for a couple of minutes and then pop it into a greased tin, shake a little flour over the top, cover it with a tea towel and leave it to double in size.

Once this is ready I pop it into a pre heated oven, (removing the tea towel!) at 230c (450 F, gas mark 8) for roughly 30-35 mins. The loaf should sound hollow when tapped underneath. Remove from tin, (resisting urge to gobble up) and leave to cool.

As I said, so super easy - it usually takes me about 15 mins from the start point, (ie weighing out) to the point when it is in the tin ready to be doubled in size. Sometimes I ring the changes with herbs, sundried tomatoes, seeds etc - just remember that if you add anything to the basic recipe you may need more water.
Result yum! - fresh baked bread and it smells so delicious when it's baking. Eat and enjoy :)

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...

change of plans...

Mmmm so... the idea was to have my little Etsy shop up and running from tomorrow...but I'm still waiting for labels to go inside my pouches and some photo prints! No matter, instead of opening tomorrow I'll now open the following Monday on June the 8th! Some things are worth waiting for (lol!).



The good news, is that there's still time to leave a comment on this post to be entered into a giveaway for some handmade goodies, as instead of drawing a name tomorrow I'll do it the next Monday.

Hope you're all enjoying the sun, wherever you are! (I can't believe it's still hot here - hooray!!)

secret gardens and boats shaped like swans...

We had a lovely few days away visiting relatives down South. The sun shone, which made a nice change! My sister in law has a gorgeous garden which is really large but my favourite part reminds me of a secret garden, as you have to go through a lovely iron gate with an old fashioned bell at the side to get in.


The garden itself is so lovely, (my photo doesn't do it justice) with trees and flowers, all surrounded by an old brick wall. (My photo only shows the path down the middle of the garden but there is a path each side also.) At the very bottom it opens up into an arboretum. It's such a lovely place to wander around especially in the sun, almost like being in a story book, miles away from the real world!



Yesterday I was back home again and so went to see my sister and my lovely nieces who are 13rs and nearly 15years. Our day involved a walk in the park, a trip on a boating lake, (in a boat that was shaped like a swan!) followed by an ice cream. Then back home to theirs to play on this . Ok I confess I must be the only person in the world who hadn't played on this until yesterday - but seriously how much fun?!! Obviously helped by the fact that I managed to increase my fitness age by twenty years in the space of an hour, so I felt like i'd achieved something,(not to mention the indignity of starting with a fitness level 8 years older than I am!!) and I managed to top the leader board in a couple of things!!


I had such a lovely day full of laughter and fun and the best bit, is that I came away with these books, (thanks to my lovely niece, who has promised to give me the 4th one also!). I hear they are a little bit addictive...

this week...

There's been lots going on. Sparky went back to the vet and all is well. The vet thinks the problem with his knee joint must have come from trauma, rather than an infection. It's possible that when he was romping through the heather he ran into a rock and as he is so hardy he probably wouldn't have yelped much. So good news. He still has to go easy for the next couple of weeks when walking but he's a happy dog!



The other thing that happened this week, is that we had a viewer come to look at our house on Thursday evening, so cue lots of tidying up! It's not that we're super untidy just that we have lots of things - books, notebooks, pens, sewing stuff etc just all the things I'm using at any one time which all needed putting away!



We still haven't heard the outcome yet(and as it's a bank holiday weekend we'll probably not hear anything until next week)but on the plus side, everything is nice and tidy!

It's also rained a lot this week and one day we even had hailstones but the good side is that all the rain is good for the garden! I got some lovely lilacs from a place not far from where I live which at one time would have been a little house with a tiny garden but is now just a wild patch with no sign anyone even had a dwelling there. Funny how the reminders of the past are there in the planting...


Hope you're all having a lovely weekend, we're off to see relatives for a couple of days tomorrow. No internet access sadly but I'm taking my embroidery and my camera and apparently it's 25 celcius down there, (only 15 C here!)so I'm looking forward to some sun!!

a greeny, rainy weekend...

Hello there! This weekend was a greeny, rainy type of weekend. I really love the greeness that's around at this time of year, so new and raw in it's loveliness. No matter how many times it happens, I still can't get over the excitement when the seedlings start to shoot. ( I mean really, all this from a seed - how fantastic!). So, even though it was raining part of the time, there was planting and sowing and weeding and clearing in our little garden, (and sadly, no the peach was not from the garden but was lovely all the same!).



Somewhere along the line, I also managed to fit in... making more of this granola, seeing friends, attending a birthday party, making a vegetable curry, finishing this wonderful book, cutting material for my Etsy goodies,(shop opening 1st June!) and just generally catching up with all the things that you end up doing on a weekend...

so this is what I've been making and an announcement...

So back from being away with work and I promised I'd show you what I'd been up to on the crafty front... I'm pleased to say that everyone I sent a pay it forward gift to, has now received it - yay! and so I can show you what I sent out.


the little butterflies are from my packaging

I've been making little pouches to use for money, ipod, lipstick or whatever, (Martina says her camera fits in perfectly the one I sent her).



I then did freehand embroidery on each of them, (remember these) and all I can say is how much fun I had! Each person got a little pouch and a small photo print from me.



So... because I've enjoying making these so much, (and also because I have become obsessed with pouch making,and embroidery in particular and you can only use so many pouches or give them as gifts!) I have decide that as of the 1st June there will be an Etsy shop!


I am super excited, as it means I can carry on playing - hooray! I'm thinking of making two sizes, the small ones and a bigger size to use as a make up bag. If anyone has any thoughts on this, regarding useful sizes or just a comment in general, leave a comment in this post and I'll pick one at random by the 1st June and do a giveaway of some handmade lovliness! (oh and did I say I'm also thinking of doing photo prints as well!).

packing...

Just a quick hello tonight as I'm busy packing to go away on a conference with work tomorrow. Unfortunately it's held on the other side of the country, so I have to fly as it only takes an hour, instead of about 7 hours. My flight leaves at 7.30am, which means I have to be at the airport at 6.30am, which means I have to leave the house at 5.40am at the very latest, which means I have to get up at...no I'm gonna stop there as it's too depressing especially as my conference doesn't start until 12.30pm, yep and I'm gonna be there at about 9am because there isn't a later flight, grrrrrrr!



The other bad thing is that I'm only away for a night so am just taking cabin luggage, so there's no space for my beloved camera to fit - double ggggrrrrr!



Check out my crazy wash bag though, I was searching like mad for a new one, (as my old one is just about dead and falling apart)and couldn't find anything that was just a plain washbag shape big enough to fit in everything. Later after coming up with zilch I went to Borders Books where they have a Paperchase and I came across this crazy bag! I guess I won't manage to leave it behind in some hotel room! Quite why they were selling wash bags is anyone's business but the size is right!

Hope you've all had a nice Monday, I'm off to bed soon lol - see you all when I get back!

so we didn't go away...

We were meant to be going to stay with relatives this weekend but Sparky (our dog) has had a sore knee joint and ended up having to go for an x-ray on Friday.



By the time we got him back from the vet it was late afternoon and so wasn't worth doing a 4 and a half hour drive to get there, especially as Sparky is on short rations, as far as walks are concerned. Try telling that to a Collie - especially as he isn't bothered in the least by his leg! He also has to take medication for the next 10 days to try and settle things, as the vet doesn't know the cause of the problem. It happened after he had been on a 4 hour walk in the woods, so hopefully it's down to injury or an infection in the joint, though the vet said there is a slim possibility it could be some kind of tumour, although this is the least likely cause.

So, no long walks this weekend which was a shame as there were blue skies amongst the clouds.



Instead it was a catching up kind of weekend. Making bread, doing washing, (getting the benefit of those blue skies!) and getting nice mail. Some fat quarters arrived which I've been waiting for from Etsy and also some skincare from Korres. The smell of their stuff is gorgeous and also good for your skin as they use a lot of organic and natural ingredients. I try mostly to buy skincare that is natural and I also needed a new cleanser so thought I would try a brand called 'Yes To Carrots' which has organic carrot juice and pumpkin, sweet potato and Dead Sea Minerals in it. M was rather confused as he thought it was a brand especially for redheads and that's why I had bought it!



I hope you've all had a lovely weekend whatever you've been up to...

nerdy thursday...

Ok, call me a nerd but I have big style love for my new Ram. Who knew that 2 little chips could be so life changing. In fact I feel as if I should be on one of those commercials...ladies want to change your life? Then look no further...



Basically my laptop which I've had for about a year and a half had got sooooooooo slow. Now I confess this could be something to do with a. having Vista and b. the fact that I have about a zillion photos on there and don't back them up onto my external drive often enough but hey... So I finally upgraded my Ram from a 1GB to 4GB. It arrived today and I installed it and whoa! my laptop is like a new machine; everything works so quickly, my photos pop up onto the screen super fast and ladies I confess I have laptop love again. I want to trawl through the photos I've taken this year, (there are about 8 thousand of them lol!) and play again...

Apart from this I'm just enjoying May. M came back from dogwalking the other night and brought me a little posy of wildflowers from the bottom of our lane. So pretty and I love forget-me-nots, especially the way they glow in the evening.





I'm off to stay with some relatives tomorrow for the weekend, so I'm taking my camera and my (super fast lol!) laptop and going to have play. I also had a nice email from Rachel today to say she received her 'pay it forward' gift so I'll update the photos of what I've been up to on the crafty front next week sometime. Have a lovely weekend everyone whatever you're up to...

may day...

Seriously, I really don't know how this happened, one minute it was Christmas and the next we're in May! Yikes!



It was a bank holiday this weekend which was lovely, (no work yesterday) but typically, although the sun put in a small appearance it was still cold. Still, we visited a garden centre, cleaned our car, (only for it to promptly rain), ate some chard from the garden and some spinach. Ate strawberries and cream and pretended it was summer, watched this film, made some scones, read some books and I did a little making...and here we are and it's already the 5th...

p.s. I got a lovely email from Martina today to say her 'pay it forward' gift had arrived. I'll reveal what I sent later in the week, when I know everyone has received their gifts...

a bit of friday happiness...

Yay! It's Friday again and here in the UK it's the beginning of a bank holiday weekend which means no work Monday. Typically though it's raining here which is usual for a bank holiday but still, I'm sending out positive vibes so the sun might at least make an appearance, even if it doesn't stay long...

I've also managed to 'finally' get to the post office today and so all you lovely ladies who joined in with me for my 'pay it forward' give away - your gifts are in the post! Hopefully good mail might bring a little sunshine your way soon...