Feeling festive at last

Well, a bit belated, but I am prolonging Christmas as long as possible, while at my parents' house with the tree and cats and log fires....

It took a while to get into the swing of things this year, but do you know what did it? Returning home to my bookshelves of childhood favourites and remembering the joy of Christmas books...



I even found the animation of this on you tube... which really took me back to my favourite family Christmas rituals...




What a joy. I even got a brilliant new camera from my boy. Which means I must now get up to scratch on my presentation - all being well it shan't take long...

Merry Christmas all, and Happy New Year.
xxx

Joyful

My favourite friends and I gathered in Paris last weekend for the best re-connection ever - a day of cycling around the boulevards, stopping to sip a chocolat chaud and watch the passers by, while catching up and indulging in a bit of mutual adoration.

These girls are my sisters and our friendships have evolved over the years into solid, reliable and bankable certainties. As a result, the weekends when we take stock together are always meaningful and restorative. Joyous indeed.

Another little distraction

I arrived home from college with great intentions of sitting at my desk and just 'cracking on' with my dissertation proposal... after all, it is early afternoon, I have the house to myself and a lovely cup of tea by my side. But look! What about the magical glow of the autumn leaves warming me through the window? And what about that lovely smell of bonfire from the garden next door? Why immerse myself in critical literature when there is so much to just. soak. up?

It has been a busy week, and instead of soldiering on I want to sit, take stock and procrastinate. What is so bad about that?

Birdwatching

A week or so ago while wading through the crowds at the Freshers Fair I was given a flyer from a group called Things with Wings. I had immediately been drawn to the stand because of a spindly display of little bird cut-outs hanging from some twigs in a jar. The group itself professes to like birds, and people who like birds. Not immediately convinced that I was quite what they were after, I took the flyer and scurried off past the hoards of sports teams trying (unsuccessfully) to rope me into their gangs.

Now the frenzy has passed however, this flyer is still around and it has got me thinking about why I was so drawn to that display. I like pretty things, I know that, and I love anything drawn from nature that is visually creative, but this combination of delicate twigs, jewel-like colours and good humour just seemed to chime somewhere and I want to use this inspiration for someting.

Anyhow, in the past few days I have been blog-browsing, and have come across Bridbird - an Irish girl relocated to Melbourne specialising in BEAUTIFUL bird-based prints and textiles. She has inspired me some more, and so I have begun to draw some bits and bobs. I should really be working. This is more fun.

Ticking along

October isn't disappointing me yet... Saturday morning was spent breathing in the chilled autumnal air, feeling the dew on my skin and soaking up the warm sun breaking through the mist. It was one of those mornings that is so beautiful that it makes you want to be a part of the landscape.

We were cat sitting for my parents and the task involves tending to chickens and plants as well as our beloved pusscats first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I think that there is something so wonderful about that sort of routine. My love of routine is sometimes extreme but in my mind totally rational - I feel at peace when my life moves to a steady rhythm, preferably with the seasons and so a life in the country which requires getting up and carrying out daily chores makes perfect sense. Besides, who would want to miss a morning like that?

Autumn days are upon us

No, this is it. Forget lazy summer evenings, forget the first daffs of spring - AUTUMN is where it's at. By far my favourite time of year, and this week, in the shire, it is beautiful! I would like to be out of doors for the whole of October - wearing my hat and scarf, digging the garden and listening to the birds...perhaps stopping once in a while for a hot chocolate around a camp fire.... bliss!

Another crazy few weeks have passed, and it is scary how infrequently I am finding the time to step outside to notice the changing seasons. My hasty cycle rides up and down the road to college are not enough to really soak up every last drop of autumn. What I really want to do is to go foraging for conkers and golden leaves to make a little autumn display in my living room.... watch this space...

Magical

We spent an afternoon punting on the Isis in Oxford on Sunday, passing by the botanical gardens, Christchurch Meadow and the fields beyond, strewn with picnic rugs and literary types enjoying the late summer sun. This view, was so totally magical that I can almost imagine the wings attached to this dainty figure in the tree! It is the stuff of J M Barrie or the Flower Fairies! So, for a brief moment, a blissful summer arrived in Oxford....I won't dwell on the fact that it left as swiftly as it arrived....Instead, here is further proof of the weather that was...

Pretty things make my world go round

Oh how I long for a such serene place to study!

I am about to start my teacher training course, in fact, today has been my last day of the seemingly endless summer that I have allowed myself, and as it has been raining and raining and raining, I have spent most of it reading Living Etc and sorting lever-arch files on a shelf in our living room. It is at times like these that I weaken, and wish that I had followed the more lucrative path of a lawyer or doctor - submitted myself to the trials of training in order to be rewarded with the financial gain. Perhaps then I would have been able to have made it to a beautiful little cottage by now, with room for a separate study and living space?! Alas, I chose to drift, for my sanity's sake I suppose, through a few creative and charitable jobs before settling on a (hopefully-to-be) rewarding teaching career, minus a mortgage!

I am extremely excited about this next move, and know that it is the right step, but while I train I must be satisfied with our lovely house in Oxford which we share with an old friend, who puts up with us wonderfully, and console myself with dreams of our future home. Despite spacial limitations however, I am enjoying creating a space to work, and have managed to sort a couple of spaces to shuffle around when the boys in my life are out doing other things. God bless interiors magazines for inspiring my dreams in the process!

A xx

Just a blog for blogging's sake

I have had a wondefully floaty summer, hanging out with my love, playing endless games of tennis and basketball, cooking many delicious meals to enjoy in our garden during the brief sunny spells, cycling in France and camping in Cornwall - what an absolutely indulgent time! But now the summer is drawing to a close and I have that wonderful sense of a new term coming. I begin my teacher training in a couple of weeks, and having had the luxury of all this time off, am completely refreshed and ready to go - I can't wait!

I had my first morning in the library yesterday, and then treated myself to a brand new lever-arch file and some narrow-ruled A4 paper - oh it is lovely! There is nothing better than passing the time sorting out nice stationary, labelling books and collecting together my favourite pens - all this gives me the secure feeling that the work load will be manageable and ordered..... I don't think I want to consider an alternative right now-I am enjoying this moment too much!

Our last treat before this next adventure begins, on our way back from camping near the boy's childhood home in Cornwall, was a DELICIOUS lunch at the field kitchen at Riverford Organics. As J is a chef, and I am surrounded by foodies in my family life, we both have great interest in production and preparation of food. Riverford had been recommended by my ma, who works for a similar company in Oxfordshire, and the occasion fully lived up to our expectations. The format is simple, turn up and be fed whatever they have in season at large refectory tables in the architecturally impressive kitchen, which sits in the hllls just north of Totnes in Devon. We ate an absolute feast of wild salmon with puy lentils, roasted fennel gratin, baked carrots with beetroot, spinach and sweetcorn with chilli, new potatoes which tasted as though they had been dug from the ground that morning (which they probably had).....the list went on and on and on... all was washed down with Luscombe's Hot Ginger Beer - and followed by the stickiest sticky toffee pudding that I have ever had! AMAZING! Happy Days!

A xx

Oh, before I forget...

I am back from France, and am hoping to settle into a bit of blogging tomorrow, but in the meantime, I wanted to show you these cakes.... Yes, they have Cliff Richard on, and yes, I know that they are a little odd - but there was reason behind the madness! I have a wonderful housemate and longtime friend, Mr B, who is currently performing at the Edinburgh Festival. We dearly hope that he is not too exhausted and is thriving amongst all the creativity and craziness...

Well, to send him off at the beginning of the month, we threw a little barbecue, while the sun was shining and the sky was clear of clouds (do you remember that little window of summer that we had?!) - and I found this fantastic website which puts photos onto icing for cakes. Why Cliff? simply because the play is called Why we ate Cliff Richard.... for more explanation check out the website www.weatecliff.com. Or go and see the play at the Pleasance Theatre.

The cakes went down a storm, and I am about to make some more for my granpa's 80th, with a beaming photo of the man himself on each one - hopefully my extended family won't think I have lost the plot!

A xx

Brittany on a Bicycle

Ok, so I have finished the skirt that I started about a month ago, and really do mean to post a picture and talk through what I did but I am currently obsessed with my upcoming trip to France and all I can do is plan! I am heading off on my new bike for a few weeks of cycling around and about, heading down towards Ile de Re to meet a lovely friend for some lying in the sunshine and lots of reading and relaxing. I am trying to figure out a way of planning my route with very little idea of what the lines on the map look like in real life, but figure that as long as I have a roof over my head each night, I can make up most of it as I go along.... at least I hope so!! This photo is on my current moodboard - it is from the farm we stayed on in Italy and is acting as inspiration for all my daydreaming!

Of course, me being me, the thing that is occupying my thoughts more than anything is what to take! There is something so pleasurable about paring down to the absolute necessities and travelling light (although my boyfriend wouldn't believe me if I said it out loud) that I am, as usual, making endless lists of clothes, cosmetics, books etc etc... oh, and puncture repair kits, lights, helmets, padded cycling shorts.... eek!

I have been looking at various travel blogs, and is bringing back that wonderful feeling of freedom that comes with just heading off to (not-so) distant shores... I am sure to share more of this in the coming weeks... and I promise the skirt too...

xx

Happy Days

It is fact universally acknowledged, that a party is a good party when it involves dancing in a pair of wellies. There is nothing I like more than to dance in a field, clasping a glass of elderflower champagne, wearing a floaty dress, (or in this case a pair of brand new delicious shorts) along with my favourite navy wellies. Last night we partied under the shade of a giant stripey tent into the early hours, and I loved every minute of it! We drank home-brew, we danced to reggae beats and 60s classics, and feasted on lamb cooked on a spit over an open fire. Absolute bliss - the stuff my dreams are made of.

It seems worth noting that after my first, enthusiastic post, I haven't written in a while. It turns out that after 4 years of sitting in an office I had developed computeritis, and have been barely able to check my email, let alone surf the internet or blog because it involved going near my laptop, but I am relieved to announce that I am out of the woods, and there are some blogs in the pipeline. This really is a project I am excited about - so I hope to contribute something creative and inspiring to the world of blogspot.

xx

New Beginnings

So finally, after months of dreaming and procrastinating, I am beginning. The layout isn't right and I can't see much free time for the next few weeks, but after a long, lazy lunch with some beautiful friends and a glass of wine or two I am feeling creative, and I guess now is as good a time as any to get going on my new project. So here, I begin my blog.

I am aiming to focus on posting something once or twice a week - anything from the pretty things that inspire me to my current projects which are crowding my living room - and all being well my little creative empire will unfold...! But for now - some flowers. A gift from my love to me, and me to you - picked on the cliff tops of Liguria and immortalised on my desktop.... what a perfect way to start.