The 2 best pizza toppings, guaranteed. (Spinach, asparagus & ricotta/ Parma ham & fig)

So the World Cup has kicked off (literally) with full force, and like my pal at work says, you certainly cannot beat them, so you may as well join em.

Personally, I quite like the World Cup. I never watch football and support no team really (I am one of the few lucky ladies in England who is not a football widow, Will has no favourite team) but every 4 years I like to make an exception. I think a lot of my love - well maybe that is too strong a word, let's say "contented tolerance" - of the World Cup bonanza comes from my Dad, and his clever scheme to get a house full of women not interested in sport into the world cup.

9 nice (and 3 slightly bad) things | January and February.

Normally I begin these 9 nice things list with a whole expansive waffeling on the state of the world (ie. my musings on Trump and Brexit) or mental health (mine, mainly) and arguably now, 2 months since I last posted, is as good a time as any to give everyone (well my 40 subscribers and my mum and dad, hi guys!) a thorough update on my life, but I have stumbled across a playlist I made in 2013 for Will when he was in Australia, and my need to "jamm" (if you will) along is taking up 99% of my attention. So without further adieu 9 nice things (and 3 bad things) January which is all I have brain capacity for currently:

Pumpkin spiced waffles

Hi. I hope you are all feeling more sprightly today than I do. Apparently, now I am 29, drinking 3/4 of a bottle of wine and 1 cocktail when out for dinner is enough alcohol to make the next day feel like there is a goblin in my head scratching his nails on a blackboard before taking a break to bulldoze into my grey matter.

Yesterday morning, when I was living my best life hangover free making pumpkin pie waffles in my pjs whilst listening to my favourite spotify playlist (which is a wonderful mix of Frank Sinatra and Justin Bieber), feels like a far away dream. But it did happen. These waffles did happen, as these blog friendly photos of me pouring maple syrup over bacon and them prove. Hmm bacon. Do you know what goes well with bacon. Pumpkin. Whether that pumpkin is stuffed with bacon and cheese and roasted (YUM) or pureed and popped in waffles, pumpkin and bacon is a dream team, so you should make these waffles y'all.

TV-less Tuesdays

Guys, I have almost formed a new good habit, and so thought I would boast about it around the internet.

For the past 3 months, most weeks on one day (normally a Tuesday) I stay home in the evening but...don't watch TV!

Maybe for some people, this is not that impressive, as they don't love TV like I do. Note however, the reason TV-less days normally occurs on Tuesdays is I am choosing a day I would normally be in. The goal is not to avoid TV one night a week, I mean I know how to spend a weeknight drinking with friends; the goal is to head home from work on time, get home at 6:30 and be in my flat and avoid the TV until bedtime some 4 hours later. See trickier than you first figured. Also add to this that I really love TV, and just fyi not the cool kind. I have never even seen Narcos or the Wire or Entourage. I like shows like Gilmore Girls, Ally McBeal, Pretty Little Liars (guiltily) and when I am feeling really nostalgic, Charmed. I still have the TV taste of an adolscent teenage girl in my 28 year old body.

As much as I love TV however, I worry that it is my procastination monkey's best friend, and whole evenings go by when all I had to do was water the gosh damn plants and call the bank and now it is past my bedtime and I have done neither of those things but I have somehow rewatched for the 3rd time,  40% of season 2 of Parks and Recreation.

Padella inspired spicy sausage, mascarpone and parsley pasta

Lols that the week following my PS where I promised I was back on the "I'll start posting every Sunday again" wagon, I only went and didn't post on a Sunday. My excuse was going to be that I am horrifically jet lagged following my trip to New Orleans, Miami and central America and I am still on Eastern standard time, but if I am on Eastern standard time it would just mean I am posting this only 43 hours late, rather than 48 so, yeah...

Anyhoo here is a "recipe" (I use that word loosely, as this thing is so damn easy to make you can do it even when you have just basically stumbled off a plane and into your kitchen, and are mainly only looking for a vehicle to transport parmesan cheese into your mouth). It was inspired by a bangin' (yes I said that) meal I devoured in Padella in Borough. The queues are long, but the fettucine is all the a-ok hand emoticons. Top tip, go on a rainy Monday at 5 to get a table and it will be the only time you don't have to wait in line.

All alone in Sydney - 9 excellent things to do by yourself there

Gang, when you read this I WILL BE ON HOLIDAY.

Yessssssss, wooop, wahey. Will get me a cat. (Just trying to get some subliminal messaging in for my boyfriend in case he reads my blog. If you are not my boyfriend you can ignore the last 3 sentences).

Anyway, all this excitement for holidays has made me reminisce for some lovely holidays of the past, and I thought now might be a good time to post about my trip to Sydney as you know, it is hot in Australia right now and it is not hot here in England, so we should all go there.

Christmas morning waffles

(or Boxing Day morning, or New Year's day morning, or one of those weird mornings between Christmas and New Year, as it is sort of ok to be late for work because you were having waffles for breakfast when it is the twenty something-th of December)

These waffles are a twist on one of my go to waffle recipes - A Beautiful Mess' Sour cream and caramelized banana waffles.

But I've added a teeny bit of booze to the sour cream, the left over cranberries you didn't need for your sauces and some Christmassy spices and huzzah. Christmas Waffles, perfect with a glass of bucks fizz to start off your big day.

5 ways to pimp your rice pudding in less than 5 minutes

Clockwise from top right: pumpkin spice rice pudding, chilli chocolate rice pudding, peanut caramel rice pudding, rocky road rice pudding.

Happy Sunday y'all! This week I started following Reese Witherspoon on instagram, and I think I am just gonna start addressing people as y'all now too. I find it very becoming with my Buckinghamshire accent. This week it was also World Kick Butt Day (on Thursday  according to my ban-do planner who is the authority on these sorts of things...you'll be glad to know the 29th is National Cat Day). In an attempt to kick my own butt, since Thursday I've been doing all sorts of fabulous things like meditating, exercising, dusting and experimenting with different additions to shop bought tinned rice pudding.

Peach melba salted caramel ice cream sliders

Catchy name ey?

Hope you are all having lovely weekends (and this is posted on the weekend as I don't know how much I trust my old computer's ability to schedule posts). I am off at Glastonbury festival daaaaarling, so I hope for all our sakes it is ice cream sandwich weather in the UK.

Cos yes, despite the lengthy title and pretentious use of the word "slider" this is less of a recipe and more of instructions about how to assemble a good ice cream sandwich. A really good one.

What to pack for a festival when you are OLD

I call the look on the right, "sexy farmers wife"

After my brief foray in to beauty blogging (here) I am now making a strange sashay into fashion blogging, and it has been weeks since I talked about anything nice to do with a friend, or your boy, or even by yourself, the official subject of this blog. Sorry about that. And to make things worse I can't even promise next week I will be back and the straight and narrow, as I'll be at Glastonbury so I've lined up a recipe, though that is sort of something to make by yourself or enjoy with lovers and friends?!

Rhubarb and strawberry granita

British summertime is up to its usual tricks and toying with us at the moment - sweaty sunshine days on a Monday, and then slightly nippy rain all weekend. Thanks a bunch June, I am hoping you pull your act together pre- Glastonbury.

Anyway, on those days when the sun does finally show its face, I have been munching on this. And to be honest even on the days it doesn't, under a blanket whilst watching Once upon a Time on Netflix (my most recent Netflix addiction, don't judge me).

How do you rejuvenate?

Recently a lot of my posts have revolved around other people’s posts I’ve read and liked. Now this “post within a post” you could see as very postmodern and cool of me, or alternatively, you may see it as unimaginative plagiarism. Hopefully the former? Or just neither?

Either way this post will be no different, because it is one thousand percent inspired by Anna from In Honor of Design’s post “how do you rejuvenate?”. Because you can't have too many posts which revolve around lighting expensive candles and cracking open a beer, and other rejuvenation techniques.

On red lipstick, and finally buying brown mascara

Good morning.

This is a short and sweet post today, as I need to leave bright and early to cheer on my uncle and cousins as they arrive for my uncle's 60th birthday at the pub on a bike. Well bikes. As you do.

Anyhoo, I've decided to make a weird foray into beauty blogging despite the fact that I only ever do my make up on public transport with my phone as a "mirror" (/mediocre reflective surface).

Be a calorie counter. Be a gym bunny.

The sort-of-but-not-really-a-diet diet diary, entry 1:

I have pondered a while over whether I should write a post like this. One about bodies and dress sizes and diets, as a) I don’t think I am really qualified to talk about any of that stuff (having no professional qualifications or experience, or indeed having never even dieted successfully), and also b) cos I don’t know if I want to write a blog about diets. This was meant to be a fun place for pictures of expensive candles, reviews of cool restaurants who specialised in mac and cheese, my life milestones reimagined in Beyonce GIFs. Nonetheless here I am and I have decided to write this post, and commit to a couple more in this series, for three reasons:

9 nice things: April and May

So I've tweaked the format of 9 nice things slightly, as

a) doing it once a month when I am only publishing weekly meant this blog was sort of just becoming a list of nick nacks under £20 I bought at anthropologie and

b) I thought as the whole point of 9 nice things was to take a moment and appreciate the little things in life, it would be perhaps even more mentally healthy if I was get all excited about the lovely month to come, as well as reminiscing about the lovely month I just had. Feel like this will be especially important and necessary in say January. But May, May, beautiful May probably doesn't need me to sit down and put something on the internet for me to get all riled up about its arrival. It is the beginning of summer, and after such a not only rainy but hail-y April I am super ready to greet its lovely sunshine face. Please do have a sunshine face, yes May.

So basically, from now on 9 nice things will be happening every other month, and cover nice things coming up, as well as nice things that have happened.

9 nice things in April

3 materialistic but lovely things:

The red off the shoulder tassle dress pictured above (£14.99 H&M, only available in store now) which I cannot wait for it to be warm enough to wear, so I can float around South London carrying as many food babies as I like, still looking cute and classy thanks to its volumous floaty fabric.

You may have noticed me waffleing on about waffles multiple times in the last few posts, that is thanks to this waffle maker (£27.95 amazon) which means Sunday mornings no longer mean filling the house with smoke as I attempt to cook a pancake, but standing back and drinking jasmine tea, as the waffle maker does its work. Plus, you can make waffles relatively healthy - swap wholemeal flour, add seeds, add fruit, I am practically Deliciously Ella right?

Despite the fact that I spend approx. 25 minutes standing on the tube commuting, I am still feeling calm and getting through loads of big books thanks to a subscription to audible (£7.99 per month, audible). Has revolutionised my rush hour!

3 wonderful blog posts

I've recently discovered Hello I'm Flawed a hilarious anti yet pro blog, blog. Yep, I don't know what that sentence means either. Just read it, ok? Caroline hasn't been active on it since March 2015 but I am hoping now she's moved on from editor for Cup of Jo, she'll be back, as I am running out of reading all her old stuff.

Lemon curd and chia seed pudding. *insert drooling, whilst still feeling dignified and healthy emoticon here*

This DIY chevron bench looks impossibly professional and I am desperate to give it a go. One step up from my Beautiful Mess adapted copper pipe console table though no?

3 things money can't buy

Ok, so actually it takes quite a lot of money to buy an expensive gym membership but the point is exercise can be free, so I am not too much of a fraud harking on about gym memberships under the "money can't buy section". This month every working day bar 2, I've hit the new gym I joined, and I feel so good for it. I've done a couple of more challenging workouts, but really it has just been so nice to start my weeks with a Monday morning yoga class, and use my lunch hour going for a swim (and a 3 minute steam)! Has got me totally addicted to exercise again - I think you always think exercise will be horrible (and tbh I don't find it super easy at the time, my yoga teacher had to ask me to try to look serene last week) but you get such a good feeling afterwards. I reckon as long as I ride that good feeling all the way to my next workout, I'll never stop!

Getting up early - I am fully on a 6:15am - 10:15pm day in the week now, and even though I feel like a grandma when I slip out of drinks at 9:30, or make a bed time tea at 8 some days, it is making me feel like I have so much more time in the day!

So I looked all over the internet to try and find that bird, sounds almost like an owl but also like a pigeon who makes that sound on summer evenings? I have no idea who they are, but oh my they are out and about and chirping away and it is just making me so excited for long summer evenings lounging about in the garden. (Plus another excellent thing is in my search attempts I found this website. What a relaxing playlist for a party and/or doing some yoga no? Right now, I am typing this to the harmonious chirp of a "Rustic Bunting" )

And 9 great things to look forward to in May:

Bare legs - hello that entire section of my wardrobe

Not one but two long bank holiday weekends

Longer evenings, maybe even going to bed when it is still light!! (I know, I am so cool).

Al fresco eating and drinking - bbqs! Also, does anyone know where I can get a copy of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal's bbq recipe book, Grillenhaal? Sure I didn't dream it, I am not that witty asleep or awake

The smell of cut grass (cutting the grass, less fun)

International museum day - museums across the UK are open late with lots of special events on to celebrate International Museum Day on 18th May. Last year, Will and I went to an excellent and creepy free talk at the Old Operating Theatre. Check out Culture24 for what is going on where.

I am saving up to buy this dream dress from & other stories as my May present to me

I'm also looking forward to a day trip to Manchester to visit my pal Sally, I plan to hit those Northern Quarter vintage shops hard.

It is my one of my uncle's 60th birthdays the end of May, and I am so looking forward to a massive family get together, and party-ing with some peeps who observe my 10pm bedtime...

I don't think you're ready for this waffle.

PS. Why 9?

Bottom left photo of Chia seed and lemon curd, from Port and Fin. Bottom right of chevron bench from the Jungalow.

3 ways to brunch with baked ricotta

Raspberry meringue baked ricotta (recipe 3 below) with wholemeal seeded waffles and maple syrup

Happy Sunday!

I hope you've had a lovely weekend so far, and are in for a lovely lazy day today. I am gearing up for a day of pottering, after having spent some of yesterday at Quaglino's near Green Park enjoying a bottomless prosecco brunch with some of my old school friends. I am really into the bottomless prosecco brunch thing (I have one next weekend too!) and am sort of tempted to put together a post on my favourites, but it would just be all the ones I've ever been to, as I don't think anywhere has given me limitless prosecco and I've decided I don't like it!

5 books to breathe life into forgotten new year's resolutions (or to help start some spring ones)

 Hello again. 

Woops I fell out of bloggersphere for the third time, but now I am (hopefully) back for the foreseeable future with some photographs I took of some recommended books (and flowers and designer scented candles, obvs, this is a blog post) in case your new year's resolutions have fallen off the back end of a lorry with mine. Because it is the beginning of spring y'all, and (apart from Jan 1st, and maybe your birthday) when is a better time to turn over a new leaf than when lambs and daffodils and blossom is springing up everywhere cos mother nature is turning over a new leaf too!

I ummed and arred and toyed with what to put as my new year's resolutions - narrowing it down to a short list for me is tricky, as my brain naturally constantly whirs with ways I could be better and do more. My nature is to make every day (Jan 1st or not) a pretty much a constant battle to live more purposefully, time manage myself better, be less anxious, well just live and be and do more really. It isn't a stressful way to be at. all.

Here are some scrawlings I made on a plane to the Phillippines on Dec 28th (fyi if you clicked on this post to for some pleasant book recommendations, please scroll past this waffle to the next picture, if you enjoy some reflective waffeling, please continue. Oh gosh now I want a waffle. Anyway, resolutions:)

1. Learn to drive
2. Go to the dentist!!!
3. Start giving blood again
4. Get up earlier and do some productive tasks before work. Be a lark, not an owl.
5. Exercise more per week
6. Find more balance, and give myself more time to reflect and not rush
7. Manage my finances better, stop flittering it away on cocktails and pret lunches and save it for special memories and things from Anthropologie and classy and cool independent “boutiques”. Which yes, is technically comes under the umbrella on flittering, but if I am going to spend my money on stuff, I want it to be really beautiful stuff which gives me a wave of “gees louise I own that material good!” every time I see it.
8. Say yes to my friends more, see my friends more (slightly at odds with 6 and 7 - attempts at which have sometimes got in the way of 8)
9. Be thinner. Or at least a lower percentage of body fat.
10. Read more
11. Take up squash or some sort of healthy game I can play with Will. That sounded like an innuendo, but I read in the Happiness Project (see below for more on that) to have 1 indoor game and 1 outdoor game as a tip for happy couples and I am really struggling to find a good game to play with a man 1 whole foot taller than me, where I can actually win. Again, sounded like another innuendo, sorry.
12. Be mindful.
13. Eat less processed sugar.

Etc etc yaddy yaddy yadda.


Eurk just writing that list is exhausting, and so far apart from an attempt at 4 and 7, the list is not doing so well. (Last minute edit, I have now accomplished number 2, wahoo!)

So I've tried to narrow all of those down to one I can stick to, and I've decided it is this space. A bit like my about page, where I proliferate that this blog will solve all my life problems, now I am saying it will support all my new year's resolutions. A lot to expect from one little blogspot I have a history of abandoning for months a time, and do nothing to promote... but positive thinking people!! Also, lets just disregard the fact it is mid April and this is the first time my presence has graced this corner of the internet in 2016. Ssssh.

Because actually, when I do bother to use this space to reflect on my lifestyle and the world it really does make me a bit happier, and feel like I am getting more out of my life. This space helps me live more on purpose - to be more active in the choices I make in my life, take time to reflect, seek out new experiences and opportunities. So more of that in (the rest of) 2016 please.

If you need a little inspiration here are some lovely books that might help boost a forgotten new year's resolution of yours, or if you are more of a spring time resolution person, some handy books below, which aren't too self helpish to read openly on the tube.

1. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo
Oh what you've heard of this one already? Ok, so this is hardly a well kept secret, but if you haven't read it yet, it is worth the hype. I haven't even finished it, but a few chapters in I was so inspired I spent a Saturday reducing my wardrobe by a 1/3, something I haven't done since I wore size age 7-8 and got rid of all the age 5-6. And really that was mainly my mum attempting to clothe my sister.

2. The Happiness Project by Gretchin Ruber
I read this last year, and it really makes you want to go out there and big up yo bad self. Yeah I have no idea what I mean by that sentence either. The pursuit of happiness has possibly never been as well documented as it is today, I devour blog posts on how to be happier whether that is a list of favourites or grateful things, or a way to squeeze an extra hour in your day to live a more mindful life. This book is like all the best blog posts you've ever read on being happy rolled into one.

3. What I talk about when I talk about running by Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami, the Japanese author better know for his acclaimed novels like Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore, is also an ultra marathon runner. An ultra marathon, in case you didn’t know is any race longer than a marathon, but many ultra marathons are like 50 + miles. Ran all at once. But for an ultra marathon runner, Haruki Murakami makes long distance running very accessible and also very inspiring, and points out all the great things for the mind as well as the body. As he says, he doesn’t think he would be a writer if he wasn’t a runner as it allows him the time to have a good think. (Think he puts it way more eloquently than that).

4. How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie
Ok, so this one is a little less conspicious on the tube than the others, but that is what kindles were made for. Self help books, and the 50 shades of grey trilogies. Dale Carnegie was the first real self help book writer, and his case study supported tips for worrying and just living a happier life makes this one of the easiest to read and most useful self help books I’ve ever come across.

5. Poem for a day edited by Nicholas Albery and Peter Ratcliffe
I have the e-book version of Poem for a day 2 on my phone, and like to read it when I am waiting for my packed tube to draw in, it chills me out, puts things in perspective and makes me feel like I have already done something super smart and intellectual that day, and hey it is not even 8:30. Last year, I kept the paperback version of poem for the day 1 on my kitchen shelf with my cookbooks and would read it whilst the kettle was boiling, or the bread was toasting to the same affect.

Happy Sunday everyone! My resolution is to post something around this time (may become more precise but I am setting a low bar for now) every Sunday, because it is the perfect day for lazy blog reading. Hope you have a wonderful day full of waffles and naps (sorry got waffles on my mind, my mind on my waffles), and an exciting week.

Vicky x

PS. Running. 50 shades of Grey. About.

Nine nice things - September

So it is that time of the month again, or more accurately, it was over 2 weeks ago, when September actually ended, to do my monthly 9 nice things post. Also not sure I can refer to this as "the time of the month for my monthly post" when it has happened only once before, but it will become an established monthly series goshdammit.

I hope everyone has had lovely Septembers, and indeed lovely weekends. As I sit down writing this it is Sunday morning, and I am hangover - albeit not cold- free, on my second hot chocolate ready for a day of pottering before heading out to Sticks n' Sushi in Wimbledon tonight. I've had such a lovely weekend full of brunching, and vinyl shopping, and failed cinnamon roll making, with a little dancing and prosecco thrown in for good measure. Plus yesterday evening, I had double pie for dinner (steak for main with mash, apple with custard for dessert) so that was just the cherry on top of the cake (/pie). Feeling in such a tiptop mood makes this happy list even easier to write, but whatever mood you find it in, I hope it has something in it to perk you up!

3 Lovely things you can buy for under £20

1. A purse (/pencil case) with a little Je Ne Sais Quoi -£20 Anthropologie

See what I did there - the purse has both a "little je ne sais quoi" in the colloquial sense, and also in the literal sense. I spotted this baby at Anthropologie a while ago, but was like hmm can I spend £20 on what seems to be a pencil case? And then in a wave of wrecklesness I bloomin did. And I love it, I use it in my handbag to ensure I can easily get to all the little important things (like eyeliner, pens, keys) rather than having them get lost in the sea of receipts and scraps of paper. And everytime I do, it makes me feel like a sophisticated, cool and yet humourous young woman. Excellent.

2. This little cactus - £4 B&Q

I feel like I am betraying a lover here, as I am on the internet advising people to buy cactai from other places than my homeware kindred spirit, Ikea.

Ikea has always been my cactai shop of choice, my boyfriend and I have had many an argument at the plants system where he has insisted I don't look after my existing house plants enough and they are attracting flies, and I have insisted I can never have too many cactai.

But this time, sauntering through B&Q this little chap caught my eye, and I cheated. I bought a cactus from B&Q and I am not even sorry. Not that I am a cactai conneseur, hell, I can barely keep them alive, but this one seems like a pretty good one. And it comes in quite a good quality and boho chic terracotta pot, which I think looks pretty nice on my table. Hell, I am now thinking of buying one of their massive £20 0nes, just yet to win that argument with Will.

3. This dining room light - £18.99 Ebay

Since Will and I moved into our little South London flat, we've been awkwardly eating dinner, and entertaining people in our dining room under a lampshade made of the previous owners wedding photos. Bit awkward. Our dining room ceilings are over 3m high, and the lampshade wasn't just a lampshade but fully attached to the wire and the ceiling so everything would have to come down at once. So, because of this debaucle they didn't take it down for when they left, and we didn't take it down for over. four. months.

I kept looking for the perfect light, and then I broke and just didn't want to be under other people's wedding photos anymore and ordered this one from ebay on a whim. And dya know what I am pleased as punch with it. You can pick one up here.

3 Lovely blog posts I loved

1. Lean Living Girl's Fig and Honey cake

One of my favourite things about Autumn (in a humongous list of favourite Autumn things because I love it so much) is Tesco's seasonal fruit pot. Figs, plums, blackberries, yum. Figs figs figs. Cannot get enough of them. So any suggestions of how to get more of them, by eating them in meals and puddings and not just as a snack are welcomely received.

If there is another thing I love perhaps more than the Tesco's seasonal Autumn fruit pot, it is the "healthy cake". Inspired by all those hip health food bloggers, I have started making all my favourite cakes and replacing sugar with maple and date syrup and honey, and all the flour with buckwheat (with varying degrees of success). This cake on Lean Living Girl sounds like a dream - cheese, figs, cake and apparently healthy. Come to mumma.

2. Take Courage - Our Bedroom

Cat has long been one of my biggest blog crushes, and I love her home interiors. Her new home in Rochester seems absolutely beautiful. I love her bedroom, shared here, which made me immediately regret all the interior decisions I made on my own. The unfortunate thing about Kat's blog is that she bought a place a couple of months after me, which means I can't quite copy her in time, but hey inspiration for my next place!

3. Jenny Purr - What would you do with an extra hour in your day?

A inspiring post about cutting the crap and having more quality time in your day. For me personally, although I do like sleeping, I reckon I am more of a lark than an owl - if I stay up an hour later than intended I spend the time (at best) clicking through facebook and buzzfeed lists and (at worst) feeling worried and anxious. If I get up an hour earlier, it puts me in a great mood for the day, I do something productive and good for me. Which brings me on to the next thing on my list...

3 things money can't buy that I loved this month

1. Blogging breakfasts

Partly inspired by Jenny Purr's article, I've started getting up and going to bed a good 45 minutes to an hour earlier, and it is so nice!

Gone are my days of running down the road eating nutella on a piece of toast! Nowadays, I get up, do a little bit of yoga, have a shower and get dressed, and then make myself a yummy breakfast and sit down and write Loner. Lover. Friend.

It has helped me carve out the time in my day to write this blog that I've been struggling to find for the last few months, and it puts me in such a better mood on the way to work.

Breakfast is also the meal of the day when I am most inclined to be healthy, so I figure I should take advantage of it! My favourite breakfasts on rotation at the moment: overnight bircher (oats with apple juice and coconut milk popped in the fridge overnight, and then I stir yoghurt and fruit in in the morning); porridge with my Dad's homemade blackberry jam and cinnamon stirred in, smushed avocado on bagels with chilli and chia seeds and good old peanut butter on toast (sometimes with some pomegranates sprinkled across too for good measure). All washed down with a hot water and lemon. Laaarvely. Also, cheaper than Pret!

2. Cooking dinner

To go down the theme of meals, September really was the month I started cooking dinner more - nothing fancy, but more effort than a vegetable stir fry with a salmon fillet in the oven, or pesto and pasta which were my previous go-tos. Having a bigger kitchen (and indeed a dishwasher) in my new flat has made putting a little more effort into teatime so much easier. I sort of love that it gives me a little routine as well, a plan for the week. I leave one day out of the planning so I can spontaneously take up a drinks offer, but if I have to come home one day as I have pulled pork cooking deliciously away in the slow cooker, well it just isn't that bad.

Even nicer is that our proper dining table arrived in September and sitting in our now (I think) lovely dining room, chatting away with Will every night is such a great way to forget all the work stress. It is so strange, it has sort of made me realise we didn't have as good quality chats before as we do now, with a bottle of red wine and a plate of homemade dinner, chatting about everything from childhood tales of breaking out of primary school to buy sweets (Will not me, I was too good) to who will win Strictly...

3. Autumn

How could I do a favourite things in September post without mentioning the season which is my favourite : Autumn. I say this, as the season changes from Summer to Autumn, I am getting properly excited with the first morning chill in the air, the turning of the leaves into such glorious colours, the fires and the candles and the fabulous outerwear and cinnamon in everything... however, I am not sure whether I don't just get excited with every change of season. In my head right now, I feel like I never anticipate a change of season like I do Autumn, but I can vaguely recollect that feeling when things get a bit summery, the evenings draw longer and you start having enough time to come home and eat dinner outside before it gets dark, do I feel just as excited then? Or with that first wash of blossoms and daffodils? I can't remember, all I know is I feel so tremendously ready for Autumn now. Bring on the hot chocolate, bring on the velvet everything, bring on the snuggly nights watching all the good lead-up-to-Christmas TV, bring on the wooly jumpers. Oh Autumn, it is good to see you.

PS. Why 9.

Copyrights (middle row only, the rest are mine) - from left - Lean Living Girl, Take Courage, Jenny Purr

Nine nice things: August

Long time, no blog. Again. Sorry, anyone who is still out there!

And this time I don't even have Pretty Little Liars as an excuse, because series 6 has finished and OMGweknowwhoAis.

Even though I have been tres absent from this blog, I have however been thinking about a new series of post I would like to do, which although doesn't easily fit under my "loner", "lover" and "friend" categories I am going to nonchalantly file under "loner".

We all know the benefits of being grateful, the internet is crammed with advice to keep gratitude diaries, to change your passwords to words or mnemoics which make you feel happy every time you logon your emails, to count to ten and think of 10 things you're grateful for next time you feel like you have to go cry in the work loos; basically we know it is a very powerful thing for our minds, practising gratitude...

So I want to start my own little gratitude list or grateful flow, each month, I call it "9 nice things", cos I really don't think there is anything else like this out there in blogosphere.

Ok, I am being a sarcastic. I know there are zillions of "Happy Mondays" and "Five things" and "Ten things" and "Friday Favourites", but those are some of my favourite posts. I love seeing those little snippets of other people's life, especially the good bits that make them cheery, and all the nice stationery and mugs on show.

So I am throwing my own monthly post in to the "favourite things" mix.

Why 9 you say? Well mainly because 9 pictures look best in a grid and I enjoy the alliteration, but also because "9 nice things" will be made up of 3 groups of 3, as follows:

My 3 favourite blog posts from other people's blogs from the month.

3 nice things under £20 that I've bought because I have a penchant for capitalist materialism.

3 things which money can't buy to show there is more to me, and indeed more to life than capitalist materialism, however much fun it is to own a whole dresser top full of expensive scented candles.

So without much adieu I give you "9 nice things August". Wahoo.

Nb. normally these will be lovely short little bite sized posts, sorry for all the introductory waffling this time.

3 Lovely Things you can buy for £20 or under

• Isle of Skye Candle Company Bog Myrtle and Mint candle - £20

So one of the things I was off doing when I was not blog writing, was galavanting around Edinburgh at the annual fringe festival. It was the nicest of nice times, and as a little souvenir for my flat, I picked up this little wonder from the Isle of Skye Candle Company Edinburgh store on Victoria Street (just off Grassmarket). It smells like a dream and my grown up homeowner side is satisfied I have another good quality scented candle in my life, whilst my immature side sort of loves that is has the word bog in it.

• The New Bohemians: Cool and Collected Homes by Justina Blakeney - RRP £21.99 (but on sale in plenty of places like here and here)

LA interior designer Justina Blakeney has long time been a gal crash of mine, I bloomin love her instgram feeds: @thejungalow and @justinablakeney, and all her fabulous hashtags #plantsonpink, #facethefoiliage, #jungalowbytheriver. Her book does not disappoint, lots of big glossy pictures of fabulous homes filled with amazing plants and textiles, and clutter-less bohemian style. There also some pretty nifty how tos in there, all in all it has been plentiful inspiration for decorating my new flat this August.

• Ban.do August 15 - December 16 planner - err $20 (+infinite postage, package and customs charges)

So I came across this planner on Liverpudlian blogger Jemma's Dorkface blog back at the beginning of August and realised I needed it in my life. It is an organiser (and I have loved those ever since I was 8 and bought a purple filofax), it has little notes already written on telling you you are pretty and encouraging you in your daily pursuits, it has stickers which are cartoons of girls taking selfies in kitten ears, it is just an all around a dream planner.

Mine is the "Florabunda", which is now sold out in this size (though they do a bigger one too) but I enjoy the other two designs too, and they are still available (and the insides are the same, which is the best bit).

The less dreamy bit is that even though it basically only costs a tenner in pounds sterling, actually to ship it to the UK is $25 and the fun doesn't stop there as if you read the small print HM Revenue and Customs wack on a lovely customs charge (£17) which ban.do tell you they are not responsible for. So basically, it shouldn't really be in my under £20 list, as it cost me ridonculous amounts to actually get my hands on it. I justified it to myself by purchasing a couple more bits from ban.do at the same time, but to be honest (and even though anyone reading this, particularly my mother might point out that this contently paying more than something is worth just because I want one is the root of my money problems...) I don't regret it. It really does make me feel more organised, it is the perfect size to make lists and plan your days but still fit cosily in your handbag, it just makes me so happy and like a super organised yet cool chick every time I look at it. And if that lasts til December 16 then £10 + £12.50 postage + £17 customs charges isn't that much to pay for that much happiness- is it (mum)?

3 Lovely blog posts I've loved this August

• Madeline Shaw's Halloumi and Strawberry salad

August has really been a month that I have overwhelmed my instagram feed with health bloggers and nutrionists and I am really loving it. I think it is giving me a welcome brainwashing into wanting to eat just lots of fresh vegetables and healthy breakfasts and the occasional raw cacao chocolate brownie.

Although I love them all, quite a few of them are vegan, which is a problem for me because I love cheese and meat. Which is why Madeline Shaw is probably my favourite, as she eats both cheese and meat and is just so inspirational and lovely that when I am at work and it all is so stressful and overwhelming I've started taking 2 minutes to go to the disabled loos just to look at her instagram feed and I think it immediately calms me and makes me thing damn it I can be as together as her, I can. Please don't tell my manager.

This recipe, which is also in her book "Get the Glow" (which again, I love so much, because I really do love her to an extent it is bordering on creepy) is cheese and strawberries. Basically my two favourite things combined in one delicious dish. There are not enough fruit and cheese dishes out there I think, props to Madeline for I hope starting a wonderful fruit and cheese revolution.

• A Beautiful Mess' Copper Table DIY

So this is a little belated, as this post initially went up at the end of June but I have been taking an accidental blogcation haven't I. Plus, I actually did this DIY in August so it sorta counts. I am over the moon about it. I actually used some Maths and changed the dimensions so it was more of a console table and fit in this pesky alcove behind part of my sofa. I also used pine and stained it walnut to go with the rest of my furniture a bit more nicely, and I just love it. I cannot believe I made it with my own fair hands, nor can my guests who come round when I point it out to them (and I do point it out to all of them because I am so damn proud).

A little picture of mine, below!

• Your Inspired Action's "57 reasons to love being alive"

Again, a slightly older post (sorry, I'll get better) but it was the main inspiration behind the next section of this little August gratitude list, and actually I just found it a generally quite inspirational and cheerying post. Go have a read and feel lovely.

3 Lovely Things money can't buy

• Weddings (ok so in some ways you could argue this is something a lot of money can buy but just go with it please)

I went to my third and final wedding of the summer at the beginning of August, and I just love them. And not just because of all the pretty dresses and free booze and humongous cheese platters that seem to be all the rage at weddings at the moment and appear around 10pm when your dancing feet are getting tired and your cheese loving belly is getting hungry. Though I do love all those things. But more to the point they are just wonderful days filled with so much happiness, such a feeling that your part of something important - I love that wave of emotion when you turn round and see your friend in her wedding dress walking down the aisle to greet the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with, who looks as pleased as punch. I am so glad I am coming up to the "wedding age", and I am super grateful that friends want to include me in their special day.

• Birthdays

It was my birthday in August and I loved it! Never regret turning a year older I say, it is better than the alternative. (And when I say "I say" I mean, I say that copying the clever person who said that in the first place, I obvs didn't coin that phrase.) I just love birthdays, and as I've got older (and the ratio of the value of my presents to the amount in my bank account is no longer as favourable as it was when I was 9 and got £2 pocket money per week) although I still love presents and being spoilt, I gotta say actually my favourite thing about birthdays is just getting to celebrate with my favourite people. And demand they watch musicals and romantic comedies with me, and they don't get to argue back. (Looking at you William).

• Dr. Oliver Sacks

I feel like if I am starting a series of post about gratitude, then it is all too fitting to mention Dr. Oliver Sacks, the famous English neurologist who passed away aged 82 at the end of August. Revealing he had terminal cancer in the New York Times in February, he said something that has whirred around in my head ever since first reading it "I cannot pretend I am without fear" he said, "but my predominant feeling has been one of gratitude. Above all I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that is in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure." So there you go, a whole list of things money can't buy to remember to be grateful for today, articulated so beautifully by a man who left the world better for him being there.


Here is to a lovely rest of September!

PS. About me.

Copyrights:
top row - me (though the top left is a picture of the new bohemians, I didn't take the original picture obvs)
middle row (left to right) - Carolyn Hope, abeautifulmess.com, madeleineshaw.com
bottom row - geniusquotes.org, me, Jurgen Frank/Corbis via theguardian.com

12 rules to abide by in July for a happier and fitter August

So I was actually going to call this post "11 rules to abide by in July for a skinnier and fitter August" but in the aftermath of that "get your beach body" ad, and all the focus on "fit not thin", I re-thought it and skinny isn't the right word to use.

Because I don't want to be skinny in a "skinny is just an abbreviation of skin and bones" way. But, having said that, I wouldn't mind losing a few pounds in a few places... Obviously on the list of happy, fit, slim I would prioritise them in that order - I'd prefer to be happy or fit than slim - but if I could have all 3? Hmm.

I know slim isn't the most important thing, and despite that wave of dread when I go to try on embellished cigarette pants in my size and realise I can't get them past my upper thigh, I don't spend too much time worrying about my body, and I certainly don't hate it. It moves me from a to b without discomfort, fights off bugs, would let me dance all night in a hip hop club in Dalston if I wanted to (I rarely want to, I really like sleeping).

But the truth is, my BMI is a little bit over where it should be, and that can't be good can it? (nb I am not a bodybuilder with all the muscle and that is why I weigh too much, I just have a little too much wobble). And I do have a double chin if you catch me at the wrong angle in a photo - an unkind shot of me in a strapless dress and my upper arm smushed against my side looks like it may be big enough to feed a family of 6 for a week. I don't fit into all my summer clothes I bought last year, and I probably should start buying a dress size up, and I just don't want to do that, so although I know it isn't the be all and end all I sorta do want to be a bit skinnier.

So here is my little list - I am by no means a nutritionist or a personal trainer, or really have any idea about losing weight and getting fitter. If anything I am quite bad at these things, I mean I somehow managed to train for and eventually run a marathon without losing any weight, and I definitely exercise more regularly and eat more greens than many of my thinner friends, so I am definitely doing something wrong. (Probably binge eating baked goods and chocolate and going out for dinner too much). Really selling my plan here! But this is a mix of what has worked for me before, and what the internet says is good, and I figure by announcing to the world wide web I am going to do this, I am more likely to stick to it. So here it goes:

1. Weigh myself - oh my I am so bad at this. In my head, I think I'll just get myself to a body size I am completely comfortable with and feel is really healthy and then I'll weigh myself...a bit counter productive. Rule number 1 is to get on the scales every week of July starting with tomorrow morning (Obvs not going to start weighing myself in the evening, I am not completely cray).

2. Start using My Fitness Pal. Again - I lost 10 pounds last year in about 3 months without really trying but I guess just thinking more about what I ate. I sort of hoped I'd picked up the life calorie counting skills and that when I stopped using it, and therefore keep the weight off, but I am worried tomorrow morning's weigh in might tell me differently...

3. 4 minute fat burning HIIT 6 mornings out of 7. Sundays off, but only Sundays because if I start writing off the whole weekend and starting it on a Friday, well I am basically doing only half the week. I've heard good things about Lucy Wyndham-Read so I'll be doing this after a quick sun salute (for a little warm up) before work each day. The only days - apart from Sundays- I am allowed off, are days when I am doing a more hardcore work out as part of...

4. 3 times per week proper exercise - I got into a really good habit at the start of 2015 at making sure I exercised 3 times per week every week, and Will and I would mark it on a calendar. That is somewhere in my boxes left to be unpacked, and it seems without it I won't exercise! That is getting unpacked or replaced - either way - hung back up again.

5. 20 squats each morning whilst brushing my teeth - easy win!

6. Planning breakfasts - I definitely agree that having a good breakfast does seem to make me less likely to snack on sweet things throughout the day, but too often I skip it or just have a piece of fruit. No more! Gonna start that metabolism kicking first thing with hot water and lemon and a more thought out breakfast: soy milk and chia seed pudding, avocado on toast, peanut butter and banana bagels. Mmmm.

7. Take a green juice to work - I've got a £20 blender which does the trick and a green juice stops me snacking in the mornings (as I have that to slurp at my desk instead instead of needing biscuits to nibble on) and makes me choose better lunches (as I am not so hungry all I can think about is all the carbs and all the cheese). I juice my veg and eat my fruit as the man of the juice diet recommended, as juiced fruits can become a bit sugary and lose all their good fruity fibre, but it is amazing how much good for you spinach you can easily eat when you blend it and mix it with a glug of apple juice. My go to juice recipe is just a couple of handfuls of spinach and/or kale, a big chunk of cucumber, a few slices of root ginger and a small glass of apple juice.

8. No snacking! I gave up unhealthy snacking for lent -no visiting the table full of biscuits and cakes at work, no 3pm frappucinos on Saturdays or sweets on car journeys - and it was surprisingly easy. I definitely think snacking can be a place where I eat a lot of calories and find it easier to binge compared to having a small pudding after a balanced dinner. So I am not saying no chocolate, no sweets, no cakes for the whole time, just err only as pudding!

9. Dinner as soon as I get in - it is better for your metabolism if you eat at least 2-3 hours before bed, but also, lessens the chance of what happened yesterday repeating itself. I stuffed my face with the better half of a packet of Rolo cookies, because I got too hungry waiting for Will to finish work so we could drive to Sainsbos and get dinner. So that was my tea yesterday. Woops.

10. No carbs after 7 -for the point above, tough to metabolise so close to bed means carbs after 7 find their way as fat more easily. So if I am eating late it will be courgetti not spaghetti.

11. Packed lunch 2 days per week - ok so this is hardly a game changer, taking a packed lunch 2 out of 5 days but it is a lot better than I am at the moment. I tend to use my o2 priority moments to get a cheap deal for 2 of the week days, and I don't want to be the girl that says she can't come to your leaving lunch as you only brings packed lunches so I guess 2 out of 5 days is the best I can do realistically. But a little kinder on my purse strings and my waistline!

12. Reward myself - so many of the big slimming companies use naughty food as rewards, but I don't know if that will work for me. I mean if the question is you could stick to your diet, eat that plate of salad and then you will be allowed half a biscuit as a reward or throw your diet out the window (you can always go back on it tomorrow riiiiight?) and eat that whole packet of biscuits, well I am worried I would choose the latter all too often. So instead of rewarding myself with food, I am going to reward myself with clothes. Imaginative... I am going to pick out some bits, put the money for them in Will's bank account, then if he is happy I've done everything on this list, then hello new clothes! Or new shoes! I think starting with these turquoise snakeskin sandals as my first reward and ending with this bright yellow embroidered kaftan. 

I am going to use Sunday as a break day from a lot of the everyday rules, but still try to avoid carbs after 7 and use my fitness pal and all of it on Fridays and Saturdays too. Although this is a plan for one month, all the rules are quite moderate, and ones I hope will just become habit after a month and will pave the way for a happier, fitter and err thinner me long term!

PS. Exercise inspiration.

Photo credit: Hannah Gale