It was Ben's birthday last week and he always says that he doesn't want a fuss but I feel that you simply cannot have a Birthday without some kind of celebration {he said he wasn't even bothered by a cake!! But when people want to bring presents round you can't not offer them some cake}. So we kept it low key, I baked a cake and we had some family round on the Monday followed by an evening in London on his actual Birthday for just the two of us. I feel that the Sky Garden deserves a post of it's own accord so that will be to follow.

Yay for Bank Holidays. And Mr Sunshine is back today, although there was definitely a change in the air early this morning with the first mist and dew on the ground. September next week, where is this year going to? Have you had a good few days? This little blog is now 1! A whole year of blogging. I'll be writing a little round-up post on that soon. And next week will share some photos from Ben's Birthday with our evening in London and a trip up to the Sky Garden. What have you got planned for this long weekend? I'm off to a friend's this evening, she's hosting a dinner party for all us girls and cooking up a storm! And then tomorrow Ben's Mum is hosting a BBQ, a kind of bon-voyage party as she's off to France for the next five weeks. So I've baked some beetroot brownies for it this afternoon. Sunday looks rather rainy again so I'm aiming to start packing, sort out my camera and kindle etc as we're off to Corfu next weekend {I really can't wait now although feel like I can't even think about Autumn until we're back home from that} then my Mumma is cooking us a roast. And Monday will be a day for garden and allotment jobs I think, need to cut all of our lavender back and the hedge in the back garden, fun fun! Almost time to start thinking about bulb planting ready for next Spring, I'll write some new garden update posts soon. And as always, any requests just let me know. I've had one for drying hydrangeas which I'll get round to soon. 

Enjoy the sunshine and three day weekend! 

R <3 xx

I wanted to get this post up earlier in the week but I've been distracted with my Husband's birthday {more on that next week}, a trip to London, pilates {I'm now obsessed with a brilliant studio in my village and it's finally sorting my back and running injury out yay!}, shopping and making the most of the sunshine when it finally makes an appearance {not very often this week, so so much rain}. But anyway, better late than never. A little travelogue of our trip to Rye and Camber Sands last weekend. There's more on The Gallivant where I was staying and reviewing for So You're Getting Married online today too. It's a place I've always wanted to visit but we've never got around to it, that's part of why I love my job so much is all the new places we get to explore.

Hello to the weekend, although it doesn't really feel like a Friday. I think it was the long weekend that threw us, it's been a short week after our trip to Rye last weekend {which was so so heavenly, will try and blog it for next week}. What have you got planned for the next few days? It's meant to be a scorcher, kind of feels weird now it's the end of August almost and the nights are drawing in. I'm not complaining though, always love the sunshine. We're trying to think of somewhere nice to go for the day tomorrow to enjoy the weather, and I've just been out to buy BBQ food! It's Ben's Birthday next week so I need to finish sorting his presents out this weekend. We're also going to hopefully finalize decisions on a new car, which I'm so excited for! But who knew how many choices there are, petrol v diesel, automatic v manual and don't even get me started on the colours! Enjoy the sunshine, R <3 xx

Last Sunday, the weather was meant to be a scorcher so we decided to make the most of the end of summer and head to the beach for the day. We live in Hertfordshire, almost the furthest point from the coast so it's always a treat when we decide to go. We decided on Mersea Island, off the coast of Essex near Colchester which was about an hour and a half from us. I'd seen photos of their famous beach huts and heard amazing things about a couple of restaurants there. It was one of those impromptu days that turned out to be rather magical. And like we'd gone away for a whole weekend in just a day!

Been a while since one of these makeover posts! I've been lusting after a chalkboard for a while now after seeing lots on Pinterest and various Instagram accounts. I'm such a list making person, my phone is littered with notes on various things to remember so I figured it would be both decorative and functional to remind me what we've run out of or anything of importance. I actually bought a board online, not wanting to ruin the walls, but it was too small and then too much effort to send back and reorder, plus we'd bought a tin of chalkboard paint last year that was just waiting for a project to come about! A DIY guide and some tips that we found if you're thinking of making your own... 

Ben's Birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks and I realised that I haven't shared many Birthday's on the blog so far. I love planning a party, love love love it so when Ben turned 30 I threw him a British summer kind of garden party for family and friends in my parent's garden.  So while I had ideas for deck chairs on the grass, a kind of picnic festival afternoon being an August baby, it nearly always rains! So we moved the deck-chairs indoors but still had a lovely time filled with bunting, pimms and lots of cake. 

A few weekends back, Ben and I drove to Maida Vale ogling the flat we used to live in {three years ago already} to try and see what the new owners have done differently. They still have the window boxes outside and we could see the big white wardrobe through the big arched sliding sash window. We had come for a walk to Notting Hill, one of our old favourites in London. 

Have a good one!

R <3 xx 

Oops I've been rubbish on the blog front this week, it's Wednesday already and this is my first post. Time flies when you're having fun. Apologies, anyway here's a recipe for a cake I made last week to try and use some of our courgette glut up from our allotment.  Don't turn your nose up at courgettes associated with a cake, it's like carrot cake - you can't taste it at all, it just melts down and makes the cake extra moist without having to use a load of butter or oil. Technically it's not that healthy, it just feels it having a whole vegetable in haha. It was actually one of the best chocolate cakes I've made and I then added some icing which made it even better. Best of all it took about ten minutes to get it into the oven, some cakes seem to take so long to prepare that I start losing the will! Oh and also good timing for the Bake Off starting again tonight, who will be watching?!!