Spring in my Step.

Last weekend and the weather have put me a little way towards 'getting back on it'. Such a good feeling for a Monday.


For the most part I just wanted to post this to share the photo below; because who would have thought that when we were first getting hammered together at university in 2007 that we would have been sat around the breakfast table on Sunday morning, eating sausage sandwiches and discussing which vacuum cleaner is best (in value + suction, in all seriousness). It really did make my heart feel quite happy. ♥


When selfie sticks go right (y)
Despite the fact that the 6 Nations final meant we spent most of Saturday inside, the whole weekend was a great opportunity to catch up (& eat & laugh & laugh) and I'm looking forward to the plans we've made together this year already. Speaking of which, WHERE HAS THIS YEAR GONE?!





We attempted to get an earlier ferry but after discovering it was rammed pointed the car in a direction to explore for a couple of hours. That's how we found adorable baby cows - who were more than willing to slobber all over any hand that petted them (my hand).



I feel like I've been waiting around a while to take decent photos and while these were all on my phone, they've inspired me to get snapping again and to realise that I actually have quite a few more nice photos from other weekends than I realise (stay tuned). The photographer in me will always think that phone photos are a little lazy but my phone camera is pretty damn great and it's too easy to keep snapping. Still, phone photography is a habit I hope to at least break out of a little by the time we go to Hong Kong in May.

Snapper.

Moon and I have been wusses lately when it comes to 'just because' walks around.

We used to be really good at it, but now I think we're sick of bundling up and want the good weather to get here. Here are a couple of snaps from a literal five-minute walk we took up onto Greenham Common a couple of weekends ago. It was such a sunny day that it seemed a shame to waste it but it was so windy, we pretty much just turned on our heels and jumped back into the car, quite shameful!





I'm hoping the weather will brighten and warm up fairly swiftly and we can enjoy the great outdoors properly again.

Rainy Day Rhubarb Crumble.

All this rainy weather does not make for a very active, go-getting Ruth, I'm afraid. So after a pretty powerful start to this month blogging-wise that I'm quite pleased with, things have slowed down a fair amount in these parts.

I do try and take advantage of these lighter evenings but find myself getting tied up with Great British Menu and then it's cold and dark. It's safe to say, I can't wait until Summer(!)

That said, a couple of weekends ago, the miserable weather provided a great excuse to do a smidge of comfort-baking. A household favourite, rhubarb crumble cake, funnily enough, using my own recipe. I'm trying to snap as much as I can but I'm not really feeling it, I quite like these though, and a selection from the Easter weekend which I'm yet to share - stay tuned!




I love finding a recipe that just means adding to something simple, all you really need for this is a basic sponge base.




Baking has actually become a bit of a work-out since my stick-whisk decided that it couldn't handle cake-mix.



Rescuing daffs-season is over now but it was pretty cool to have some homegrowns decorating our home for a bit.



We had enough rhubarb left over to make a couple of tiny crumbles, well, it would be rude not to!


Not too shabby! ♥


I dunno, there's something about this miserable weather that makes me grateful for a lie-in on a Saturday morning and curling up on the sofa of an afternoon and catching up on new TV shows - our current favourite is Fargo, have you seen it?

Brewer Street.

I almost can't quite believe that it's over a month since Moon and I were in Brighton for his birthday, it's April already, before you know it Christmas will be here again. I don't want to wish the year away but I can't wait for this weather to stop teasing us and just warm up already!

When figuring out things to do for Moon's birthday, I knew I wanted to do something nice, I also knew I didn't want it to be crazy pricey - even staying in a hotel in Brighton at that time of year, for anywhere decent, is upwards of £100 a night. Knowing that, because we're so far away from there now, a daytrip would be exhausting rather than fun, I knew it would be better to stay overnight. Having seen a few bloggers use Airbnb - a lot of Kris Atomic's blog is Airbnb heaven - and knowing some friends who have used it, I figured that I'd just have a little search, it couldn't do any harm.

For £59 (the price has since been lowered to just £49, including Airbnb fees), we found the wonderful 13 Brewer Street and I almost immediately put in a request.

Our host, Justine, was really friendly and attentive, she was willing to recommend places for us to eat and even told us to book our meal for Saturday night - advice we definitely should have headed in hindsight. Just a few minutes walk from town, the room was wicked and came complete with a sturdy mezzanine bed - something I've wanted to sleep in since seeing The Science of Sleep a few years ago and now I've actualised it, I'm really jonesing after one for when we move into our own (unrented) place. The bed was really comfortable and the room was so light and airy, and filled will all sorts of fun, weird books and art.

Spring in the Cotswolds.

It's been a little bit cooler here in the last few days but last weekend really gave me a real vitamin D kick!
And hey, it's England and yeah, I broke out the sunglasses and sandals and yeah, it's a bit ridiculous but it's also completely fine.

After watching the Six Nations at our friend Long's house (I say watching, I didn't really, sorry, not sorry) the following morning was absolutely glorious. It was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of how close we were to the intriguing Cotswolds Water Park.



Long and his girlfriend had other plans so Moon and I headed over with our other friend, Simon. It's truly beautiful and after seeing online that there were activities such as wind-sailing and mini golf and that there was a lakeside beach, I really wasn't sure what to expect. Something a bit lame I should expect, but it totally wasn't, I'd love to head over there again.




Set on the edge of the Cotswolds amongst several lakes, with beautiful Scandinavian lake houses, this place was amazing for good dog spotting. We took a little plod around the main park's lake - there are lots of different attractions by each lake but a lot of them are private - before heading over to the, ultimately terrible but still really fun, mini golf. It was then pub lunchtime before the three of us parted ways with Moon and I riding home with roof down.























Not quite as pretty as a Cotswold lakeside but in other news we also got all the weeding done and lawn mowed when we got home. Needless to say, we were on fire last Sunday!

It was such a wonderful day, so nice to not feel chilly or worry about jackets. Getting out and enjoying the day early seems to be the key to a great weekend, it's worked pretty well for this weekend too! I love a lie-in, but when you're up before 7 on a normal weekday, getting out of bed by 9 is enough even if it's still cosy. Really realising oversleeping doesn't do as much for me as it feels like it should.

So, happy Sunday, hope you've had a nice weekend! ♥