What is happiness?

Hope you're enjoyed something a little different this weekend. 

I'm feeling very reflective and grateful so wanted

 to create something a little more special.

(youcannowlaughatmyeditingskills)

xo

Letters to My Friends

There's something very magical in the moment that the post arrives and there is a letter addressed and waiting for you. Not a phone bill or a magazine subscription but a hand written letter all for you. 

I don't know if it's just me but I really enjoy receiving letters. Perhaps it's the thought that someone has spent so much time writing, going to the trouble of buying a stamp and making the effort to pop the letter in the post box, that really makes me appreciate them. 

One of my new year resolutions was to continue writing to my friends and to write to as many new people as possible. Some of my friends who I have started writing to live a few hours away from me, which means I don't get to see them as often as I would like. But there is a plus side to them being away, it means I can write them really long letters about what I've been up to & I enjoy hearing all about them too. Of course, I could send them a text message or give them a ring, which don't get me wrong, I do. But where is the fun in that? I'd much rather prefer to see my friend's handwriting on a letter, knowing that they've poured their heart and soul into it, rather than sending a text. 

So, let me know, do you like receiving letters? Do you write to anyone now? If you aren't, I encourage you to do it! It's a lot of fun, and you'll always look forward to the post arriving. 

 ♥

Life Plans

Last week marked the first day back at work, the first time in 2 weeks that routine was restored into my life and I could no longer nap in the middle of the day or watch Netflix until 2am. It meant less time to think, to dwell and to consider what would be happening over the next couple of months in my life and it got me thinking, does everyone have a life plan?

I was talking to a couple of friends about this and we told each other our hopes and goals for the future. Some wanted to go travelling, some wanted to work and others just had no idea yet. I figured that I'm jealous of those who say they don't worry about that kind of stuff, they don't know what's happening tomorrow let alone next year or the rest of their life. 

All I know is that I'm aiming to go travelling at some point this year, to get onto a good PhD programme and live my life to the absolutely fullest, being able to look back and go, yeah 2015 was a great year for me. In an ideal world I would love to just wing it and see where I end up. But at the end of the day, that's not me. I thrive off structure and organisation and I find it fun to plan for the long term. I don't have my future mapped out, I don't really have a life plan. But I know what I want to achieve in the next year or three and that's what I'm going to base it off. As long as I do those things then I'm pretty happy for life to take me wherever. Because, as John Lennon always said, life happens when you're busy making other plans.

I thought the philosophical nature of this post deserved a really 

arty picture I took of the sunrise last week, oooh how lovely... 

Relaxing Weekend || My Favourite Things to Do

Hello & happy weekend! 

Hope you've all had a relaxing & fun filled weekend. Mine was spent working on a few of my assignments, catching up with friends and having a bit of down time (i.e. the best things to do at the weekend). 

I wanted to write this post, as I'm feeling ultimately relaxed after my bath I wanted to share some of my favourite things to do to beat the January blues & what I often enjoy doing at the weekends. 

enjoy ❤

1) Take a bath 

Complete with candles, my favourite scrub & bubblebath 

Soap & Glory 'Scrub of Your Life' & 'Clean on Me' 

2) Escape into a fictional world...

At the moment I'm reading Dan Brown's Inferno & I've been reading this on and off for about 2 years now (and I am determined to finish it this month). I love Dan Brown's style of writing and the Da Vinci Code will forever be my favourite book

That's not a bottle of OLMECA tequila you see there, its a candle

3) Listen to my Spotify playlist(s)

At the moment I'm really enjoying listening to the Arctic Monkeys & their playlist is on every morning before I go to work. I also have a relax & chill playlist when I really want to de-stress. My favourite song on there at the moment is Riverside by Agnes Obel. 

So tell me, what are you favourite things to do at the weekend?

 side note: 

its January 11th and i've had this blog for one whole week *round of applause*, so far so good, I've kept up with writing posts & I'm very determined about this project so I hope you're enjoying it so far! 

Cooking & Baking || Mini Lemon Drizzle Cakes

I cannot stress enough how much of a big fan I am of the lemon drizzle cake. They are definitely one of my favourite things to eat (and they are really super easy to make as well!). After we had our 'Cake Thursday' at work before Christmas, these went down a storm and as it was our first day back last Monday, I thought why not surprise the team and start the new year with a cake (or two...)

The following recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS  

• 110g/4oz butter or margarine
• 110g/4oz caster sugar
• 2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
  
  
  110g/4oz self-raising flour 
• Icing sugar 
• 1 lemon 

UTENSILS

• 1 large mixing bowl
• 1 electric whisk (... or wooden spoon)
• Weighing scales 

• 12 cake cases
• Cake case tin
• 1 fork
• 1 teaspoon
  
  

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases
2. Whisk the butter, caster sugar, flour and eggs in a bowl together (or mix the butter and sugar with the wooden spoon, add the eggs gradually & then fold in the flour)
   
   
   Watch technique0:49 mins
3. Spoon the mixture into the cake cases (while trying not to eat all the mixture)
   
   
   Watch technique0:35 mins
4. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes
5. While the cakes a cooling, squeeze the lemon to extract the juice and remove pips 
6. Gradually mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice, adding 1 teaspoon of water if needed, to create a watery, lemony icing sugar mix (I couldn't describe this in any other way!)
7. Once the cakes are cooled get your fork and push holes into the cakes & carefully drip the lemon icing sugar mix on the cake and leave for 5 minutes
8. If you would like, make a new mix of icing sugar (with water or left over lemon juice) but make it slightly thicker than before and drip over the cake for decoration 

BIG thank you to BBC Food, 

I based this recipe off their 'Vanilla Cupcakes'. 

You can check that out here.

Happy baking!

• 
  

Arts & Crafts || Magazine Collages

There's nothing I love doing more on a rainy & wintery Sunday morning then digging out my wonderful box of arts and crafts and working a little bit of magic. Something I always seem to make are collages, just because they are so simple. You only need a few magazines, colourful paper or card, glue and something to stick your collages on. 

 Magazine(s) used: Glamour (Sept. 2014), ASOS (Aug. 2014)

 Above: bottle covered in magazine collage, iconic white photo frame (painted) and a close up

What I love most about creating collages is that they don't have to be perfect. You can also experiment with a range of surfaces, as you can see above I decorated an old glass bottle (even though it was a little tricky with the glue!). If I ever feel like revamping my room, I always turn to photos and collages first, because they can add a little something that reflects what you love. 

No matter what your style is, you can have fun creating your own magazine (or newspaper) collages to have in your home (and they also make really nice gifts for friends and family).

Happy creating!

NEW YEAR, NEW BLOG?

So, I begin this saying that I've made two (very much failed) attempts at blog writing in the past two years. I started with fashion because 'hey everyone is doing that and it just looks so easy', but I just couldn't commit to blogging and ultimately failed. 

  

I then began to think what could I do next? I love writing, I expressing my emotions and being able to have a creative outlet. So here I am, 3rd January of a brand new year thinking 'I want to start a blog'. I don't know where this will take me, for all I know it could another failed attempt but I'll try my best with it none the less. 

I can't promise how often I will write (life happens) but one of my New Years resolutions is to do more blogging. Sometimes I find myself craving to do something creative, I grab my camera and realise that I have no where to upload my work and it just sits on my computer until it gets deleted. I don't know who will read this or even like this but I want to be able to have an output so ta da. 

And as my mum always says, when something is done with love, it can become great & that is my excuse for starting this (3rd time lucky...)