Ruby's Second Chance Christmas Fair.

Tis the season for Christmas markets, and aside from my recent trip to Bath decent pickings are seem to be slim, especially in Newbury.


Despite picking up a couple of pretty decent things when we went last year, Moon and I were overall pretty disappointed with Ruby's Vintage Fair and hadn't returned since. It was an easy way to fill part of the afternoon when our friends Dan and Kirstin came to stay though so we took a drive (in Moon's flash new car) up to their new location and were actually pretty impressed.



They definitely made the most of the space, if we hadn't been looking for a more substantial lunch it would have been nice to stop for tea at the tearooms they'd set up.



I'm not sure if it was because of Christmas, but there was a pretty wide collection of stalls and all with such varied selection at reasonable prices. I failed massively on the Christmas shopping front again but I made a great fuchsia cardigan and cute cat & mouse brooch mine so that's alright.

Even though we used Kirstin and Dan's visit as an excuse, I'm glad we went and the £1 entry fee didn't seem like a rip-off this time around. I'd definitely be interested in going again and have already recommended it to Catherine from Isobelle's Pantry (you should look at her crochet holly garlands, they're so cute(!)) as a great place in Berkshire to have a stall.

It certainly made a nice change from the regular traditonal Christmas markets we've been to and I haven't been to a decent vintage fair in ages. Thinking back about this now I can't wait to get back over to 'basically London' and have a proper mooch.

Have you been making the most of Christmas markets near you?

Let's Go Here, and Here, and Here...

From a couple of weekends ago; Taking in my favourite place in East London, Old Spitalfields. ♥
It was all about: sweet dogs on the tube, new street art, alfresco dining at Patisserie Valerie, checking out InSpitalfields, performers singing Elbow, Judy's Vintage Fair and clever cupcakes.


This dog was so well-behaved, and loved being petted, what a sweetheart. ♥





Flat White.



Valerie Club.



Go meet your anchor.


Inspitalfields.








'Pimm's My Ride' from Flavourtown Bakery – a fancy cupcake with mint & orange icing, lime sponge and Pimm's jelly in the middle, so clever!



Crazy-ridiculous hipster specs.



Beef stew is one of my all time faves, but they need to get serious.



A lovely first half to an afternoon hanging out with my sister, part two coming up real soon.

Visiting The Big Smoke.

We're booked up right up until 21st July with things to do, maybe I should change the name of this blog to 'things I did at the weekend'. It is great to have the opportunities to go and enjoy our free time in different places after spending all week cooped up at work or in our little flat, but it sure will be nice to have the time to ourselves in a couple of weeks. Last weekend we went to visit our friend Tom, who lives in Dulwich; he was kind enough to show us around his 'endz' before letting us be tourists in Soho and China Town on Sunday.

I was really silly and forgot to bring my camera, which I only realised just as we were coming into London so all the snaps I've taken here were taken on my phone. I think I did get some neat ones though so I thought they were worth sharing, especially since we visited the cool Soho Flea Market (where I touched a pug), ate some pretty good food and generally had a good time.

Visiting Tom did make me miss the ease of getting around in London and getting to London from New Malden when I lived with my mum, being in a city is just really easy. I volunteered myself as driver, and I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon, I mean, London is great, but driving around it isn't. The main thing I took away from last weekend was a real distrust in all Sat-Navs, I'm sure Central London is never the fastest route.


We got lunch at a (pretty hipster) little pub called The Actress, they did really nice stonebaked pizzas.


We had a nose around North Cross Vintage, it really did have some neat things, unfortunately it was all a little unnecessarily pricey.








L: I'm very much not down with Coke's name thing, not one Ruth but we managed to find Sandeep...
Sorry we stole your Coca Cola, Sandeep, but you should write to them and tell them to make some Ruths.
R: A friendly semi-stray that hangs around Tom's house, his name is Elvis and he's so old his meow is croaky.


Fancy 3D Specs.


'Make sure you take it from a higher angle.'


This has far too many 'likes' on Facebook :(


No bed is long enough for Mr. Moon.

---

Pretty doors.


Breakfast at Mon Petit Chou
I think the next time I think it's a good idea to have halloumi, which was delicious, it won't be when I decide to have a Full English breakfast.



Mr Moon's Mexican Scrambled Eggs.


Soho Flea Market | So many lovely independent stalls.


I'm so excited to try these but they really do warrant a special occasion [x]


Meow! ♥



The stall with the best marketing ploy; a cute little girl walking around with an equally cute pug called Mutley [x]


#1 Pug Botherer – I say this because it's about the third pug I've gone up to pet in the last month...





The worst best dim sum in China Town courtesy of London Chinatown.





The last stop of our touristy tour of wonder – M&Ms World, right next to the World War Z premiere, which people were going crazy for, for no reason...



I do wonder whether we spread ourselves a little thin sometimes, but then I think about what a fun time we've had and it makes up for going to bed more sleepy on a Sunday night than you were after a full week of work on Friday. This weekend we are having visitors again, but the following weekend we're taking comedy, live music and maybe going for a walk, just the two of us, maybe our feet will actually touch the floor and we'll finally feel refreshed.