Happiness is...

a leisurely lie in on a Saturday but still getting up at a reasonable hour...

getting my passport back after 6 months & having visa SORTED!

a restorative yoga class to lengthen and stretch out all the tired aching muscles from gymming and trampolining...

followed by an aerial yoga class which really worked out all the kinks, and getting to hang upside down!

delicious coffee from a local independent coffee shop..

a great photo viewing session from a fun photoshoot..

fab pub dinner with a delectable craft brewed wheat beer..

finished off with apple and blackberry crumble with custard in pjs on the couch!

I wouldn't complain if Saturdays for the rest of the year went something like today!

Today was absolute BLISS!!

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

Blasda, Scotland's Local Food Festival @ Drill Hall, Edinburgh

A few weeks ago The Mister and I headed along to Blasda at the Out of the Blue, Drill Hall.

I didn't really know what to expect as it wasn't overly well advertised, but the Drill Hall is a great venue, very close to home so we decided to head along and check it out.

{Not sure what the scary face is from up in the loft!}

There weren't very many stalls there.. but one of them was the fabulous people from Breadshare, a community supported bakery based outside of Edinburgh in the Scottish Borders. They are totally not for profit and striving to create a viable, sustainable business supported by the community. We had bought bread from them previously at St Mary's Market and loved it. I was sad they didn't have their fruit & nut loaf (with FIGS!) at the event, but settled for another nut loaf which was equally delicious.

{photo taken from Breadshare Bakery's Facebook page}

Right next door was a pedal powered flour mill! From the people at Greener Leith.

There was a stall from Changeworks talking about food waste which had very interesting information. Apparently the average UK family throws out £430 worth of food a year!!

By far the highlight of the day was the pedal powered smoothie maker!! The fruit all came from local community gardens, which made it doubly special. They were even making blackberry jam from all the berries they'd brought along. It was delicious and we even got to bring some home!!

The smoothie maker even had an adorable multicoloured umbrella top!

There was a fabulous table from Leith World Kitchens (you see them in the yellow aprons!) showcasing three different dishes made with potatoes, from Spain, Africa and India. They were all delicious and the unanimous favourite was the Spanish dish with chorizo. I was obviously too busy feeding my face to take any photos!

There was even some live music...

All in all it was quite informative and it's always great to find out about things that happen in the local communities!

Reminiscing Summer : Adventures with Red Baron

Hey lovelies!

If today was anything to go by... Summer is well and truly over! In order to try and hold onto Summer just that teeny tiny bit longer.. here is a look back at a sunny weekend afternoon spent out biking with the mister and our friend Loz...

Our intention was to cycle around the Waters of Leith into Dean Village, but as there had been severe flooding, a lot of the walking/cycle path had roadworks and diversions which got us all a bit turned around and a little bit lost!

We found ourselves close to Cuckoo Bakery, so decided to stop in for some lunch..

My yummy croissant

So.Many.Cupcakes!

Loz had to dash off, so the mister and I decided to take some cupcakes to go... 

Looking up Dundas Steet to  Scott Monument

...and enjoy them in the glorious sunshine in Inverleith Park!

Olympic & Fringe Cupcakes! :)

Although I'd often been to the Botanic Gardens just across the road from this park, I'd never actually been inside the gates of Inverleith Park...

The park is much bigger than I anticipated... and offers FANtastic views of Edinburgh Castle!

Is Summer still around where you are??

Do you feel you made the most of the good weather??

Were there any fun adventures??

Or are you just heading into Summer??

What are you looking forward to??

Saturday Steak Day & Sunday Funday!!

This weekend I :

❤ Laughed at this picture my friend posted on fb..

Geocaching!

Howdie Loverlies!!

So at the end of October Mr N & Ms B came to visit us from Bristol and they brought with them a "Geocoin"... we were told that this coin was on a mission to visit as many Police Stations as possible.. ummm.. ok!?! We managed to get its photo taken with an old Police Box that looks a bit like a tardis, then we took it up to Pitlochry and took its photo with the local police station... Mr N then wanted to drop off this coin at a Geocache by Edinburgh Castle...  so one night after dinner, we went a searching for this "cache"... bear in mind, the mister and I really had no idea what these crazy people were on about!!

After a quick review of the map on the website I got us in the general vicinity... then we used the GPS to get us in the right area and using the clues to get us in the right spot Mr N and Ms B went a foraging... After some rummaging around behind some 'big rocks' Mr N declared he'd found it! He produced a click top container with a log book and various little tokens inside.. they dutifully dropped off the Geocoin, signed the log book and replaced the cache to where it was found.. Mr N was rather disappointed that the other "trackables" logged on the website weren't actually in the cache.

So this was Geocaching?!?! The next day while the mister was at work, Mr N, Ms B and I went for a walk up Arthur's Seat to check out the view and take the opportunity to find another cache... this time I tried to play along on my own phone.. tho to be honest I still left most of the heavy lifting to them and just followed along!

A note about Google Reader...

Now for those of you not aware of my love of Google Reader... I wrote an ode to him a while ago...

But while I have been on my Summer Vacay/Blogging Hiatus... I have noticed a small flaw... well I consider it a flaw... some might consider it a blessing...

I was surprised after almost 2 months off, that I only had about (700) unread posts... Then I thought I was doing really well with my catch up reading as the number seemed to quickly dwindle.... but thennnn I realised something.... a blog that previously had (5) next to it... dropped down to (4).. and I hadn't read any entries...

After some investigation, I realised the particular blog had probably over 10 posts I hadn't read... but they were no longer marked as unread and I could also not manually mark then as unread... I can only assume that after a certain amount of time (I think a month), Google Reader automatically kicks it off the list and marks it off as "read".... which could be a small blessing in disguise, as I'm sure if I opened my gReader and saw (1000+) unread, I'd probably just get overwhelmed and shut it down again... but on the other hand... I'm a bit annoyed as I didn't know that was its default, and therefore I don't know if I can turn this option on and off or not??

Also, now I feel like I don't know if I've missed some of your fantastic posts while I've been gone! If yours was a blog I "caught up on" before I realised, I hope I haven't missed out on any major announcements.. I'm now reading all blogs on the "all posts" option rather than the "new posts" option... which is probably a slow and gruesome process.. but I'm back from vacay and jobless, so I will have lots of time to fill in the coming weeks!!

So, I guess... if someone knows how I can change the settings in gReader, I would be interested to find out! What do you use to keep up with the blogs you read?? Any recommendations??

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

We just got back from a 2.30am run to the supermarket because I was craving Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch (Curiously Cinnamon)... hehehehe...  all I can say is you see some strange people at the supermarket at 2.30am!! There was a very well dressed couple (ie. black tie) and some very scruffy looking boys and another few in trackies... the staff were rather entertaining with one guy singing loudly to Valerie... and just general disarray as they restocked the shelves!  Gotta love midnight supermarket runs!!

Thoughts and Thinking...

The Thinker - Auguste Rodin

During the course of conversation lately, I have noticed there are different types of verbal thought...
I am very much a person who has sort of "stream of consciousness" verbal thoughts, in the sense that I talk as I think things over... so sometimes what I say seems to lack coherence and make no sense... (this probably happens more than I'd like to admit! - apparently my mind is a jumbled mess!) and I will often jump from one thought/idea to another as they occur to me...
Some people only verbalise thoughts after they have internally debated and come to a conclusion... and they are just seeking confirmation that they have come to the "right" decision... or they want a "sounding board"... often things only seem "real" after we have verbalised them to someone else...
Other times people verbalise a finalised thought in the hopes that the other person will "talk them out of it", to argue the other side, to "make them see sense"...
And whether we like to admit it or not, we probably have a set friend we go to for each scenario... there are friends who will agree with you no matter what... and there are friends who will tell you not to be so bloody stupid and what the hell were you thinking!?!?  Maybe it's not even a conscious decision who we instinctively go to when we want to hear the things we want to hear... does that even make sense?

Many times I've been told, I definitely fall into the second category... I am the kind of person you go to when you want to hear it like it is... this is not to say that I will always tell you what I think (although more often than not, I do!)... but if you approach me with a thought or idea or ask my opinion.. there will be no sugar coating involved...  mostly because of the aforementioned "stream of consciousness", though due to this, I can and will often talk in circles until I either convince myself of something or convince myself otherwise!

A bit like this post! Are you still with me? Or did I lose you somewhere amongst my jumbled mind??!!

What kind of thinker are you?
What kind of friend are you? Are you one to tell them what they want to hear?
Or are you like me and tell them what you truly think, even if it's not something they want to hear?
Are you one to always put in your two cents worth? Or do you only share your opinion if you're asked for it?
More often than not I can't help but put my two cents in.. and sometimes it gets me in trouble.. but in the words of Dr Seuss "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Hope you had a great weekend!!

I have been wing eating, beaching, brunching, pitch & putting, dragon boat watching & enjoying the company of great friends! Life doesn't get much better!!

Wedding Fun & Vacay Note

Hi friends!!
I am feeling a bit of blog neglect at the mo.. Both in the lack of posting and also lack of blog reading that has been happening since I finished up at work.. but I was busy packing and faffing before I left and now I'm in vacay mode!

The weather has been beautiful here in Victoria, which has been a great motivator for me to get off my behind and get out into the sunshine... even if it takes me a few hours to get my a into g most days...  helps that I've had minor jetlag and been waking up around 6/7am every day!

I was lucky enough to be invited to the beautiful wedding of my friends L&JB yesterday, it was on the fishing pier in Sidney, the day was perfect, the ceremony was small and intimate and I felt so honoured to be there to share their day with them. They are just the cutest ever!! The speeches had everyone in stitches of laughter which I think is such a great indication of not only the couple but also the people they have chosen to surround themselves with. It was a day of love, laughter and happiness and I wish them so much joy for their life together as husband and wife!!

In addition to the fabulous wedding for the gorgeous couple, it was also a chance to catch up with some fantastic friends from my life in Canada.. I really am so fortunate to have these wonderful people in my life.. I may not get to see them a lot and we may not always be the best at keeping in touch.. but we always have so much fun when we get together and for that I am so grateful!

Aren't we a good looking bunch?? ; )

Well, I'm off to enjoy some of this sunshine! And pick up a few things for the BBQ we're heading to tonight..

Thanks again to the new Mr & Mrs B!! Along with all the other lovely ladies and gents who made the day so truly memorable!!

Hope you're having a fantabulous weekend!!


ps. there is the potential that I will be AWOL for periods of time! (Vacay Time!!)

London Weekend - the aWkwaRd phOtO shOOt eDitiOn ~

After our Saturday out and about, I realised I hadn't taken any photos with my loverly Sok!!

So when we got back to her apartment, we decided to have a photo shoot.. muaahaha

She insisted on having photos taken with her tomato plants! O_o 

 I then decided lunging for her and pretending to throttle her would be funny... hehehe... (awkward much?!)

 We then decided to have a "nice" photo... Seated all prim and proper... Like "the Royals" - says Sok...

Of course, I couldn't resist doing something ridiculous... hehehehe

Then Sok got in on it too!! There's a reason we've been friends almost 20 years!! Muaahahaha

Love you Sok!!!!

Thanks for being a super duper friend for 19 years, I hope we have many many more years of friendship to come!! (I wouldn't let you stop being friends with me anyways.. just sayin' - you know it's true!)

How do I know we will be friends forever? We have gone on lots of trips together and travelled extensively together and managed to not kill each other or even have any fights or arguments.. she knows to keep me well fed and rested so I don't get grumpy.. and if I do, she just let's me get on with it.. :D

                       You're AWESOME!!

London Weekend

Morning lovelies!! The office is super quiet and I came to work in jeans on a Thursday, the sun is shining brightly in the sky and I am feeling light and airy!! (A vast improvement from yesterday when I left work feeling like I was a) going to cry and b) going to hit someone) Anywhos! I had such a lovely weekend in London last weekend that I just want to share it with you all! 

@Edinburgh Waverley Station, Waiting for the train:

Saturday morning, we walked through Kensington Park to Harrods:
(in case you missed out on why I needed to frequent Harrods... click here - it's the last convo if you're low on patience!)

 We wondered what this fruit was... Sok says hazelnut.. anyone know??!!

After lunch we came across this gallery in SoHo, they had amazingly fun things inside:
(I wasn't daring enough to take photos of them tho...)

Saturday night I ate at Yodita, an Eritrean Restaurant in Cricklewood... (yea I hadn't heard of it either until Saturday!..)
The food was good and unlike anything I'd really eaten before.. kind of like Indian meets Middle Eastern??
Lots of meat and sauces and you eat it with your hands.. as you can see in the photo! You get a crepe roll (middle plate) unroll it, tear pieces off and use it to grab the food on the big platters...

All in celebration of this guy's 30th..
(oops.. excuse the slightly bleary eyes.. I totally forgot to take photos until I was leaving to go home!)

Sunday after brunch & markets in Marylebone (post to come soon).. We went to Selfridges and the ever so loverly Sok treated us to macaroons from Pierre Herme! Thank you Sok!! (I figured out, it's not our 20th anniversary until NEXT year! - We will have to plan travels properly!! - We did a fairly poor job this year..)

Pink with glitter dust = Rose; Green = Asparagus & Pistachio??; Yellow = Lemon; Brown = Hazelnut & ??; Yellow with brown spots = Passionfruit! Wow, I could never be a food critic/writer eh?? Can't even remember 5 flavours!.. shoulda taken notes & written it down!! (Sok - HELP!!)

Regardless of the fact that I have a terrible memory and don't remember the exact flavours we ate.. they were ALL delicious!! Our favourites were the Lemon & Passionfruit (which was saved until last!)

If you are in London and passing by Selfridges, stop in and get yourself some macaroons.. they're not the cheapest treats you'll find, but they're definitely worth it!! Our 5 macaroons were just over £8.. not exactly budget breaking either! ; )


Stay tuned for posts about our lunch at PingPong & brunch at Providores as well as Marylebone Farmer's Market!! And maybe our hilarious impromptu photo shoot on Sok's balcony! HAHA

Weekend in Bristol

Hello!! Have you missed me?? Probably not.. well I've missed you!! I have had an internet free weekend.. the mister came to meet me at work on Friday and we went down the road for some dinner.. (that's another post!) then we made our way to the airport to catch a flight to Bristol for the weekend.. It was the mister's mum's 60th b'day party on Saturday night you see...  We got in late on Friday night and the mister's lil brother came and picked us up, we had a bit of a chat but were all pretty tired so it was early to bed!

Saturday Mr N came to pick us up to go to lunch.. he had brought Ms S with him, whom I hadn't met before.. we couldn't really decide where to go, and it was a super sunny day, so we decided to have a BBQ at Mr N's house as none of us had seen his new pad yet... off we went to the super market... there was much monkeying around on Mr N's part.. but we managed to fill up the trolley and off we went!! I am a doofus for not taking lots of photos.. but I was too busy enjoying the sun!!

 FOOD! & Brother's Tutti Fruitti Pear Cider.. YUMMY!! Perfection on a sunny day!!

 A JUG of Pimm's... coz that's how I roll~ Pimm's is best drunk from a jug.. trust me on that one.. 

It's only fitting to have giant tools to cut up a giant steak!!

Saturday night was the mister's mum's party, which was held at a Skittles Alley.. I'd never played skittles before! It's kinda like 10 pin bowling without the mechanical stuff!! kinda... I have never been to 5 pin bowling, but would imagine it's fairly similar to that...  there are 9 pins down a wooden lane and you get 3 balls/bowls a "turn" if you manage to knock all 9 down before your 3 bowls, they get set up again for your remaining tries... my highest was 8.. though the highest of the evening was 12!!

 See those gaps?? Yea.. they're bigger than you think!! So easy to get a ball through the gaps and not hit anything!!!

 The mister in action!

That's his dad's cousins and his brudder in law standing behind him..

And the mister's liddle brother at the side there... see?? *points*

He says the "pap" put him off but he's totally playing to the camera.. LOVES it I tell you! ; )

 Here is Mr N with his LOOOVERLY fiance Ms B!! They are awesome.. we like them!! We also hung out with them on Sunday afternoon and partook in the fastest meal EVER at Pizza Hut.. haha.. they took us to the airport and we stopped to eat on the way but we only had about 30mins.. - Good Job Team!! and to Pizza Hut for getting us fed in record time... I think the guy serving us was more worried than we were about getting us there on time!! HAHAHA :D

 Mr N, sporting the latest headwear trend... puts Princess B to shame!! 

He also let us cover him with glitter... :D :D He's a good sport Mr N!!

And you didn't think there wouldn't be a picture of yours truly now did you??

Sunday we spent some more time with the mister's family at his parent's house... mostly being entertained by his nephew.. he's super cute... then we hung out with Mr N & Ms B before aforementioned fastest meal at Pizza Hut then on the plane home again!! All in all a fabulous weekend...

Might even have gotten a little bit sunburnt!! The mister definitely got a burnt.. he of the fair skinned.. muaahahaha.. mine has just settled into a slight tan.. a few more days like that and my skin might just be ready for a Canadian Summer!!

Hope you had a good weekend too!

Happy Monday!!