A weekend with my muffins

Last weekend my muffins came to stay. I don’t get to see my muffins as much as I’d like, the last time was just before Christmas, but we always have such good fun together!

The girls arrived Friday night and after a delicious dinner thanks to Rachel Khoo we stayed up chatting and catching up, chatting work, life, friends, and boys.

Saturday morning we woke up late and after taking our time to get ready we headed to Guildford for some girly retail therapy. First stop was Bills, which despite tasty food, was actually really disappointing. We had to wait about 20 mins for our table (not their fault), we waited about the same time to have our drinks and food order taken, even longer to have our drinks served, which they only did when prompted, and even longer again to have our food served. We had to prompt them again to order dessert, which when the waiter did turn up, was holding a frozen loaf from the table next to us from people who complained. We told the waiter to go and sort the complaint before taking our order, and then he just seemed to forget about us. By the time he did come back to take our order we decided against it, and paid the bill (without the tip). I know it was a busy Saturday, but that was seriously bad service! Anyway, I had the chicken skewers, when they arrived they were tasty.

We wondered up and down the high street and I walked away with two new pairs of boots ready for my trip to NYC next month.

We headed home late for a quick change and then back out for dinner and drinks. Prudes was convinced we couldn’t get into any Thai restaurants because they would all be celebrating Chinese new year, Mingers and I weren’t quite so sure!

We had a lovely meal at a local Thai place, complete with Christmas decs and wood panelled walls.

We then headed out to a bar for drinks, and were almost certainly the youngest there thanks to someone celebrating a 50th birthday. Ooopps!

Sunday morning we had another lazy morning and then decided to walk along the heath to a pub that serves probably the best roast around. Oh my, it was so good!

Pudding was sticky toffee pudding, probably my all time favourite. It’s on my to make list, for sure!

By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, and we had rolled back to mine, I was sad to see the girls leave. I love spending time with my muffins, but we’ve already planned some great things for the next few months, including a weekend in Essex, a trip to see the Dreamboys, and a holiday in the South of France. Roll on 2014!

A rainy walk on box hill

Back at the beginning of January Megan and I wanted to do a cheap day out, so we decided on a ‘welly walk’ and some much needed fresh air. Neither of us had been to box hill before, but as it’s practically on our doorstep we thought it would be a nice place for a walk, plus there’s a cafe at the top!

In our infinite wisdom after all the flooding we decided to try the ‘stepping stone’ trail, which we didn’t get to see because of all the water, oops! I think we got lost a few times too, so we’re already planning to go back and attempt it again. Plus, Megan has told me all about this really cool thing called geocaching, and there’s quite a few around box hill!

I’ll let the remainder of the photos do the story telling…

If you looked at all the photos I’m impressed! Sorry it’s so photo heavy, sometimes I see my blog as an online diary of all my best bits, so I can look back and remember things I’ve done, instead of photos staying buried in a folder somewhere!

I can’t wait to go back to box hill again when it’s a bit drier, and maybe try some other walks!

Sunday pamper night

One of my new year’s resolutions was to pamper myself more, but I’ve been so busy with work that I’ve barely had chance to do anything but work or complete my #janathon challenge, that pampering has fallen by the wayside! This past Sunday I finished work early and made time to really pamper myself and relax.

I started the night with my favourite candle (thanks Mum) and a cheeky elderflower g&t. Yes, I’m a classy lady drinking from a can, mmm!

Next up I ran a bath with one of my favourite bubble baths. I was feeling really achy after a long drive back home from work!

I stayed in the bath for what felt like hours catching up on a couple of my magazine subscriptions and really relaxing.

Once out of the bath I took some time to pamper my tootsies, all this running with #janathon and jantastic has taken it out of them! It felt so good!

Next up for my pamper evening I used a facemask I bought ages ago on holiday in Cyprus. It’s quite a nice one and really makes my skin feel super soft!

The evening was so relaxing it really made me think I should definitely take time out to just unplug and relax more often.

Do you often take time out to relax? How do you like to relax?

Southwold, Suffolk

At the moment I’m currently splitting my work life between Norfolk and Surrey, meaning I’m working for at least 26 days on the trot in January. Whomp whomp. By day seven I felt myself flagging a little, and with a morning off my colleague and I decided to head to the highly recommended Southwold for a morning of fresh air.

Southwold is such a picture perfect place, with a pier teaming with coffee shops and places to buy knick knacks that then leads you a long beach promenade right up to the lighthouse at the top for Adnam’s brewery and the high street.

I’ll let the photos do the talking, and you can read all about my purchases here!

All the photos were taken on my phone, and I’m always impressed by the quality of the photo they take. I’d love to go back to Southwold again, or find more seaside towns nearby me in Surrey where I can take a step back in time. Do you know of any? Ever been to Southwold?

#janathon day four

Just a quick one today to check in and let you know I completed day four of #janathon. Not a run, but instead a lovely, muddy walking around Box Hill, up and down steep muddy steps and grassy hills, with plenty of puddles. I think we covered over two miles, although we got a bit lost and didn’t see the stepping stones that were the whole point of the route we were on! But, we were out for over an hour and I got a sweat on, so I’m pretty sure that counts, right?

Tomorrow I’m planning a quick run in the morning, and I’m planning to share more of my Box Hill photos with you in the week, stay tuned!

Annual birthday trip to Birmingham

Every year since we’ve left Uni my muffins and I have congregated to celebrate my birthday and my wifey’s birthday Fi. For the past two years we’ve celebrated in Birmingham, so I think it’s ok to call it annual now, right?!

I travelled up Friday evening after my work Christmas do, and was so excited to be greeted at Fi’s house with the rest of the girls. Friday night we tucked into lots of pizza and caught up on all the goss, which made me realise how much I miss these muffins when I don’t get to see them.

Saturday morning was a lazy one, watching back-to-back cooking shows, gotta love a bit of James Martin on Saturday Kitchen. By the time we were all ready it was probably nearer 2pm, and we bundled ourselves into taxis to head into town, sample the delights of the market, and have dinner at our favourite restaurant.

Town was busy as predicted, but I just love the Birmingham Christmas markets, way better than the winter wonderland in my opinion. Once we got into the market we headed straight for the mulled cider stall, a firm favourite!

Of course I sampled all the different mulled ciders they had to offer, including apple (which tasted like curry), raspberry, and strawberry and lime. My favourite was the raspberry. Yum!

Lots of yummy cider was consumed, and lots of giggles were head reminiscing about funny stories!

The very best friends a girl could ask for!

After plenty of cider we headed off to Bodega for a late lunch. The girls and I stumbled across Bodega a couple of years ago, and ended up having an incredibly boozy lunch. Since then it’s been a firm favourite of ours and we head back every time we all meet in Birmingham. The food was delicious as always, and was of course consumed with plenty of cocktails, and more cider!

Mojito for me

Starters of chorizo, halloumi, and cheesy potatoes.

Fi and I shared nachos and chilli. Sorry for the blurred chilli photo, I think I’d had too many mojitos by this point!

After dinner we made our way through the market back to Fi’s place for X Factor and the promise of a nap. Post nap we decided that rather than go to the pub we’d prefer to just stay in and chat, which was probably a good idea in hindsight as we were all asleep pretty early. That’s what early drinking and getting old will do for you I suppose .

I had a lovely weekend celebrating mine and the wife’s birthday up in my old Uni stomping ground, and I can’t wait for us to all meet up again in February! I’ll be counting down the days!

Sloe picking

A couple of weeks ago, just after the first frost, my friend P and I went sloe picking. She’d been promising to take me for ages, so I made sure to have a bottle of gin ready and waiting for when the first frost would come, which is apparently when you know sloes are ready to pick.

P’s mum told us about a woodland near her house which had loads of sloes, so one Saturday morning we wrapped up warm, took the dogs with us, and went picking.

At first we weren’t exactly sure what a sloe looked like, and were frightened of picking something poisonous, but thanks to Google, we found the right berry and filled our boots.

And how cute are her dogs? They were pretty worn out after the long walk!

We ended up picking way more sloes that expected, which meant I didn’t have enough alcohol. Not a problem though, I went straight to Sainsbury’s and bought some vodka, to have something a bit different. I followed Nigel Slater’s recipe for the sloe gin and vodka, but I’m pretty sure I messed it up. I don’t know for sure as the whole thing takes about 10-12 weeks to do its thing. At first they looked terrible, but now, about three weeks later, they’re looking pretty good. And it made absolutely loads, hence all the jam jars I ended up using! One thing I would say though, sloes are an absolute bugger to prick. Eurgh, it took me hours! The end result better be worth it!

I can’t wait to try some, only 6 more weeks to wait!! Have you ever gone foraging before? Ever made or tried sloe gin?

Come on, let your colours burst

So yes, it was three weeks ago, but it’s my blog and I can write whatever I want, whenever I want! I had a really great time at Brockham fireworks this year! I went with Megan and a couple of other friends, and it was such a great night. We smuggled in some mulled wine in lots of flasks, which was great as it’s always so busy down there. Megan and I went to watch the procession with the guy, which I missed last year. It was really ceremonial and interesting to watch, it actually reminded me a lot of Palio in Siena with the medieval costumes and procession and torches. The fireworks were spectacular too, a really great night! Plus, on the way home we had lots of hot chips. Hot chips are the best.

Girls night in

A couple of weeks ago my friend Megan, who blogs here (check it out!), came over and we had a super girly night in. It was awesome and we had loads of fun!

Stir fry for dinner, teaching Megan to cook

Ready for a pamper

Popcorn and snacks

Chocolate self heating masks

Snapchat to friends!

Lazy Sundays

Snapchatting my brother whilst having a facepack on. I’m too cool!

Yesterday I went on a super duper long run. 11.1 miles to be exact. And then I had a shower, tidied my room, went out for lunch, did a spot of shopping, and hung out with my friend Megan (read her blog here, it’s great!). We stayed up until 1am watching The Magaluff weekender, oh what trash TV but I loved it. I also taught her some yoga moves and we got busy with facepacks.

Today I got up too early considering the day I had yesterday. My legs ache from my run, and I haven’t moved from the sofa. I’ve caught up on my bloglovin and watched back to back cooking shows. And I’ve drunk far too many cups of coffee. It has been bliss.

How’s your weekend been?