TRAVEL DREAMS.

Every now and then I get restless and want to go out into the world and explore. There are so many incredible places to see and I've often been surprised at how much I love somewhere new and the unexpected things I've seen. I thought I'd share a few pictures of places I've been to in the past and places I hope to visit in the future....

 Prague, Edinburgh, Paris

 New Zealand

 Bangladesh

Italy 

If you missed them, I posted about my travels round Italy this summer.

Not too distant future dreams and almost plans include....

 - Bath

 - Amsterdam

 - America!

TODAY.

Today involved an impromptu walk followed by coffee and cake.

It was a really beautiful day,  perfect for being outdoors and spending some quality time with an ace friend (and avid reader!). I also got to practice using my new camera which was so fun!

SUNSHINE!

THE BEAUTIFUL KATE, SO HAPPY TO KNOW HER.

STILL DREAMING OF PICNICS AND SUMMERTIME.

CLIMBING THIS WAS WAY HARDER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!

HILLSIDE CAFE TO SPLIT THE LAST PIECE OF CARROT CAKE... ALSO JUST ANOTHER EXCUSE TO TAKE A PICTURE OF A PRETTY BUILDING.

Thanks for a fun afternoon Kate and for snapping a few pictures of me!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend

x

BLUEBERRY POLENTA BUTTER CAKE.

When I first moved into my current house the oven was pretty bad. With no way of knowing what temperature it was set at, anything I attempted to cook ended up slightly burnt on the outside and not quite done on the inside. This meant that baking took a back seat. Thankfully, I hit the landlord jackpot and within two hours of visit to check how we were settling in, a brand new shiny spotless oven was fitted in the kitchen....so I made a cake to celebrate.

This recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook which I've been working my way through recently. This particular cake was perfect because I already had almost all the ingredients in my cupboard and it made a nice change from my usual vanilla or chocolate sponge. New recipes don't always work perfectly first time and yes all my blueberries sank to the bottom, yes I underestimated how much it would rise and had more cake than space in the tin (and half-cooked batter on the bottom of my new oven) but it turned out deliciously in the end, even if it wasn't half as pretty as in the book. 

Fruit, not-too-sweet cake and a crunchy top layer worked so well together and have made snack time (and breakfasts) a lot brighter this past week!

 THIS WOULD BE THE OVERFLOWING CAKE BATTER..

LOOK AROUND.

I love exploring new places and taking time to appreciate the elements that make it up. These a photos are from a very familiar place but the same principle still applies. I took my camera out and about with me the other day to help capture a few parts of the city, taking time to look at the attention to detail and talent that has been put into creating this place that can be missed.  It makes me feel quite grounded that some of these have stood for over 200 years while so many changes have happened around them.  It's amazing what you can see when you take the time to look around.

THANKFUL THURSDAY/ FEBRUARY.

Oops! Still thankful even if it's Friday.

A few things I've been feeling grateful for this month..

one. The sun, the days are getting longer slowly but surely

two. Peanut butter, I've been missing out all these years!

three. Birthdays and sleepovers

four. Cooking new recipes

five. My house

six. Time off to pay some visits that were much overdue

seven. Prayer 

eight. Community

nine. Trains, great time for reading 

xx

MY LEEDS/ ROUNDHAY PARK

This morning we took a little trip to Roundhay Park. Getting out into the fresh air and seeing some green and open space has been seriously lacking recently, especially with the cold and grim weather we haven't been able to shake for the past few weeks. It has been way too long since I visited which is crazy as there is loads to do and see. I love that there are spaces like this in Leeds, where you can forget that you're even in a city. Despite most of the trees looking a bit bare and brown, the sunshine breaking through the clouds made it a beautiful day and reminded me that the spring isn't too far away. An hour of exploring and walking around the lake followed by fish-finger sandwiches back home was the perfect way to spend a day off. Looking forward to heading back for a picnic later on this year!

TAYLOR.

Happy Friday and Happy Valentines!
Posts these days are a bit few and far between and this is not a post about Valentines at all but whatever you do today, love a little bit more because there is no reason at all not to.

Anyway...at the start of this month I popped down to London again to see Taylor Swift on her RED tour! I had talked with two of my younger sisters and my (nearly) brother in law about going for a long time. We went back and forth about whether it was worth it but we bit the bullet and got tickets last minute! I'm really glad we did because it was so much fun, just like a 2hour sing-a-long and dance party with 15, 000 people. Also sister time is some of the best time. I took a lot of photos but here are a few of my favourites.

THAT'S RIGHT, WE WENT FOR IT. TSHIRTS AND ALL. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN RUDE NOT TO.

 WAITING PATIENTLY FROM VERY HIGH UP...

SO MANY PEOPLE AND SO MANY LIGHTS!!

 THE LADY HERSELF

 SINGING WITH ED

 SUPER HAPPY AND EXCITED!

 LOVING THE LIGHTS SO MUCH...

 ...AND THE SETS AND COSTUMES

 THANKS FOR SUCH A FUN TIME TAYLOR!

COULDN'T RESIST INCLUDING THE CUTEST CAT EARS.

Managed to tick another one off my list with this trip, bonus! Have a great weekend again, seriously these weeks seem to be flying by.

x