A few things...

This week has been both boring and eventful but in small ways, we have made some progress with small things around the house, J has officially got a garage he can work in and I finally have shelves in my kitchen.

My jars of ingredients have a nice home that isn't our worktop, but I now have a dilemma with labelling (for J's benefit rather than mine) as you can't see the ones I stuck on the top. I may have to get creative.

My tomato plants sprouted mid week and I did a little dance of happiness, no sign of my strawberries yet though.

I have got into a groove with using my cookbooks to plan meals. I have been collecting cookbooks for more years than I can count and it feels good to be finally using them properly, the pork chops with apples in Rachel Allen's book pictured was delicious for friday night tea.

Our canine friends haven't visited for a whole week because it has been so wet out, I miss the magic that the lid lifting on this jar can create. Bums on floors pronto!

This book has been a bit of a god send lately, helping me to suss out my new-ish camera, I highly recommend it and may do a full review at some point.

How has your week been? I hope you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend :)

Where have I been?

I did mention a couple of posts back that I was about to move house, and I have!


It has been a pretty manic couple of months that I have had away from this internet space, so much has happened I don't know where to begin really so a few pictures and a couple of bullet points seems like a good idea.

• I turned 26 last week, though it didn't really bother me it was very nice to receive some pretty flowers and a very cool cushion for our sofa.
• We lost a beloved canine friend suddenly in March, and I am even more grateful than ever that I took the photos on this walk because of that sad day as we all miss him so much. 
• We had the first anniversary of the loss of my Dad, and it wasn't great though not as bad as I thought it would be, hitting that milestone doesn't mean that it feels any different from the days and weeks previous. 
• I got fully on board with my new job and stuck in with making a difference and in the past week have finally had the rest of my team join me which is exciting and scary in equal measures. 
• I have spent a lot of stressful time dealing with the dreaded 'S' word (solicitors) fielding endless phone calls, but it was all made better when we got our hands on the keys. 
• I packed a mountain of boxes, and worried the whole journey from my Mum's to our new home about birds poo-ing on my mattress while it was on the back of a trailer. And the first thing we did once we were in was scrub until our hands were raw and slap a whole load of neutral paint on the walls, bye bye big blue wall!
• There have been multiple trips to Ikea, meatballs consumed, and visits to the Krispy Kreme nearby.
• My first VW show of the season has passed, a glorious day in the sunshine spent sipping cider and storing up on Vit D.
• I have gained green tips to my fingers growing plants to brighten our abode up a little bit, this weekend I will be giving tomatoes and strawberries a go.
• I have amassed a large number of food storage jars while I have been waiting for somewhere to store them, which arrived today in the form of the nice solid wood shelves for my kitchen walls that I pinned waaaaay back. Pin's do come true!

We are pretty much all moved in now, though there are a few lingering items at my mums and J hasn't even started on the garage (it is getting a make-over). We are experiencing life in our own space, and it really is beginning to feel like our space now. We are making changes, decorating and adding in furniture and I am sure I will be showing you projects we are working on along the way.

Currently I am oiling the shelving, and I can't wait to get creative in the kitchen trying a few more complex recipes and getting used to using both an electric and a fan oven! I have already been cracking on with trying a few recipes for meal times and yesterday whipped up home-made Naan to go with our curry, I was very proud. I may just have to turn that into a blog post in future.

I hope you are all keeping well and that you will enjoy this little home evolution journey we are going on :)