Hello London

I hope you had a good christmas and enjoyed spending quality time with your family. Sadly I'm already back at work but had a great day with most of the family; those who weren't heading off on holiday that is! 

Luckily for me I got to spend the time with them in London a couple of weeks ago, so that kind of made up for missing them on Friday.

Something I've wanted to do ever since I saw the movie was take a trip to Nottinghill, so we made that stop number one on our rapid race around London.

Aren't the colourful houses just the cutest? I've always said I would never actually like to live in London but these houses may just change my mind!

Mike and Ellie didn't mind the stroll through portobello market with Starbucks in hand too much, in fact I think they may have even found some spots for future trips, you're welcome guys :)

Next on our list of places to visit was of course The Natural History Museum, I just had to see the dinosaurs.

I mean who doesn't love a robotic dinosaur, it definitely brings out my inner child. Unfortunately it was super busy so we cut our losses and went to grab some lunch.

We'd left it pretty late so headed just a few streets over to Franco Manca; a sourdough pizza place.

Oh My! when are you guys coming to Edinburgh?

By the time we polished off our pizzas it was starting to get dark, which meant only one thing...thing, time to hunt down the pretty christmas lights.

 Whats a trip to London without visiting Harrods...

Winter Wonderland was next on our list

We played a couple of the silly games, when I say we I really mean Mike, but we weren't all that great. These things are definitely fixed, but still a lot of fun.

We finished up the night with Mulled wine and Hot Chocolate.


I guess it's almost time to put those christmassy things behind us and get excited for new year.

Its Christmas tomorrow!!

Can you believe its Christmas eve already? Usually today is spent really getting into the christmas spirit but I'm currently curled up on the sofa with a blanket and box of tissues, hopefully I'll be feeling better later so I can join in on our usual traditions.

While I'm feeling sorry for myself I thought I'd look back at my recent trip to Bath and the Christmas market to help me feel more christmassy!

We headed to Bath on a very wet and grey Friday; although I've been before I've never been to the royal crescent so we had a good wander around there and the various other cute streets in the area before heading back for the main event.

The Christmas market was spread out quite a bit but I feel this was a good thing as it meant it wasn't too much of a tight squeeze. There were so many different stalls selling everything from bath salts to gorgeous hand made glass bowls.

I wish I'd taken more photos but we spent most of the time trying to stay warm and dry! It was nothing a mulled wine couldn't help to cure though, in fact I could probably do with one right now!

Merry Christmas to you, hope you have a wonderful time. x

How much of Oxford can you see in one day?

The answer: quite a lot apparently!

If you follow me on instagram you'll notice I've done a little more travelling lately; I had some holidays left to take at work this year so decided to make the most of it and head down south. With only 4 days off I wanted to fit in as much as possible and I couldn't think if anyone better to do some exploring with than Frances. We met late morning and quickly mapped out or trail for the day.

We started with Alice's shop, full of cute trinkets, journals and various other mementos from the books. I was a little annoyed at myself for only booking hand luggage on the plane, however that may have been a blessing in disguise as I couldn't take the whole shop home with me.

We headed across the road and through the grounds at Christ Church; it wasn't the nicest of days but it was still beautiful. I was particularly impressed by the trees growing up the side of the building, hugging the windows and climbing as high as they could.

Out the grounds we walked down a cute little street and I may have found my future home...however during this trip I found about 3 so clearly I have to stick in at work if I want them all.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat before continuing our tour at the university church where we caught a choir in rehearsal. They were so good, too bad we wouldn't be around later to hear the real thing.

Next we headed over to the Bodleian Library and the divinity school.

You may recognise these from Harry Potter: it was used as the infirmary and for the dance rehearsal.

With the drizzle refusing to let up we decided to stick to indoor activities and headed over to the museum of Natural History. it was pretty quiet but thats exactly how I like my museums, you don't feel any need to hurry around exhibits, instead you can take all the time you need to admire the displays and the grand building.


With the fading light we took a walk through Jericho and down to one of Frans hidden treasures; this adorable little independent shop, if you didn't know Oxford you'd probably never find it.

They sell various fresh fruit and veg and also have some baked goods for sale: we picked up a couple of salted caramel brownies for a snack later on with a good cup of tea.

It's definitely worth a trip to oxford just for those brownies, they're amazing. I'm already looking forward to my next visit!

It's almost Christmas!

Anyone else feel like this year had just passed too quickly?! It's been a whole year since I moved back to Edinburgh and my its been quite a year, more on that another time I think.

For now its time to start getting excited for christmas, and this weekend was the beginning of the festive season for me. We had our christmas night out on Saturday at Gusto in George Street; I've been before but last night was just fantastic.

Nothing makes you sleep better than some good food and a few drinks and it was just as well as today was set aside for a bit of a winter clean and various christmas activities.
I found my gingerbread people and added a few other christmas touches to my bedroom. Unfortunately I can't take any credit for the tree decoration, I'm convinced I would smash the baubles, so I just sat back and let mum work her magic.

I also seem to be super organised this year as I have almost completely finished my christmas shopping, just a couple of little extras I need to get so I took advantage of my quite day and wrote out all my cards and started wrapping presents.

I am so excited for christmas, its my favourite time of the year!

After a 7 year break...

I can't believe its been almost 2 weeks since I last wrote, especially since I was doing so well with regular updates, I guess you could say life got in the way. The little free time I have has recently been spent dating or training, but the next few weeks in the run up to Christmas should just be good fun; I have so many exciting things to look forward to and I'm sure I'll share them with you.

A while ago I decided to take the plunge, quite literally, and enter my first swimming competition in 7 years.

OUCH!

Seriously I don't remember how I used to do that, after a whole day of swimming on Saturday my whole body was sore but it was totally worth it!

I had challenged myself to compete in 5 individual events including butterfly and then in 2 relay teams. I managed a bronze in my 100m breaststroke but really thats cause there were only 3 of us who chose to swim it (but lets not tell anyone that). However our freestyle relay team finished first! go team!

I'm so glad I did it, there were 12 of us on the team and hopefully our numbers will increase for next year, its great fun and it helps keep fit at the same time. Even if its not to compete I highly recommend swimming for exercise due to the low impact and full body workout!

Girls Weekend

We figured out it had been almost a whole year since we were last together so as you can imagine there was a lot to catch up on! Last weekend was definitely some much needed girl time.

On Saturday night I finished work, rushed home to get changed them headed into Edinburgh to meet Jill and Holly. Rather than go out for a meal we decided to grab a dominos, a couple of bottles of wine and stay in so we could have a proper catch up. Before we knew it, Holly and I had to head to the hotel for a good nights rest before our early start on Sunday Morning.


We stayed at Malmaison in Leith, and I really can't wait to go back! It was really only a bed for the night, but I will be heading back there ASAP to really make the most of what they have to offer.

We had to get up super early for a Sunday so that we could meet Ayoola off the bus at 8am! But the excitement of our day together combined with a coffee made it bearable; this view also helped.

Our plan was to grab breakfast but, thats really hard to do at 8.30 on a Sunday morning so we headed for The Standing Order which is always a good back-up plan, plus we knew there were more exciting things to come. We were out and hit the shops for them opening at 10am.

By the time it got to 12 we decided we needed to stop to re-fuel before making a few more purchases. Hotel Chocolat just happened to be round the corner, we figured it would be rude not to stop in. 

We continued on our tour of the shops, although much to my surprise we managed to resist temptation and pick up some ideas for christmas gifts.

Really We were just passing time and catching up until the main event of the day; afternoon tea at The Dome.

This is how you know its almost Christmas in Edinburgh, the tree and twinkling lights just make you feel so festive.


Of course we opted for afternoon tea with champagne. If its worth doing, then its worth doing properly right?

We were in the Georgian tea room for a couple of hours and it was just the perfect way to end the day and start planning our next trip together.

I can imagine the afternoon tea is great any time of year however, this time of year it really does help you to get in the festive mood so I highly recommend it to all!

Grab your wellies...

I think we can all agree that winter has pretty much arrived and I feel a little guilty for barely seeing autumn; its the best time of year for walks along the beach. 

Luckily I managed to find some time to get out and enjoy the peace that seems to be all around at this time of year. The sky looked slightly overcast so I popped on my wellies and headed out into what was possibly the last nice day of autumn.

I was planning on taking a walk through the woods just near my house, its so quiet and colourful but I got a little distracted and decided to walk through the burn that runs down the side of the path.

This is why wellies are the best! Lets you make the most of the photo opportunities.

After a little splashing about and a few questionable looks from some dog walkers I continued on my way towards the beach.

Its so peaceful at this time of year, hardly anyone goes to the beach when it starts getting colder, I had it all to myself for the most part.

I grabbed a seat on a bench for a few minutes; theres nothing quite like relaxing in the peace and quiet.