TRAVEL DIARIES : LONDON

This week I travelled down to London with a colleague for some training and naturally I had to take in the sights a little bit. I haven't visited London in so long, I had almost forgotten how busy and bustling it is!

I think because I'm used to my tiny hometown it always seems crazy to me. We stayed in Hammersmith which is an area of London I'd never been to but I enjoyed the area, there was plenty of shops, bars, restaurants and the likes.

Naturally we wandered the shops on oxford street and then headed down to Carnaby Street for some dinner in the diner there. OMG...it's so good. I chose to have the corn dogs and cheese fries washed down with some homemade still lemonade and after the humidity London has going on at the moment I was so glad of it!

After Dinner we headed towards Liberty London, mainly to admire the prettiness. They have the most gorgeous displays of flowers just outside! Now I know how all those London instagrammers get such bloody lovely pictures.

Of course while we were there we decided to take in a show one night. We decided on Aladdin as we are both huge Disney fans.

The show was absolutely incredible. There were extra songs, dynamic dance routines and the Genie was a fantastic mix of Rue Paul and Will Smith all rolled into one. He certainly knew how to work the room and the crowd loved him.

I adored the costumes and set. The only thing I could complain about is the other theatre goers! (I had a girl next to me who kept elbowing me and putting her feet on other peoples chairs...bleugh!)

As I write this I am sat in Kings Cross station waiting for my train home. I've had a blast and enjoyed my training but I think I'm ready to get back to the quiet life.

SETTING MYSELF SOME GOALS

New Years Resolutions are stupid.

There I said it. You make em, break em and then resort to your bad habits for the rest of the year. I myself have fallen into that trap so many times only to shame spiral when I inevitably can't deliver on the huge pressure I put on myself to change. Well no more! I have a new way of doing things.

It's nearly the end of April now which means we are nearly a third of the way through the year. I'm going to take the first third as my "who am I" section of the year. It gives me time to figure out whats going on this year, my goals, whats changed since last year and why.

Then I'm setting myself a list of small achievable goals for me to try and incorporate into my life in the final two thirds of the year. My thinking is thus...if those goals become habit in the rest of the year it's something I know I can continue with. If not, I'll reassess in the start of next year.

So...having had a think about what I would like to get out of this year here we are:

1. Learn to make Macarons. Because...well...they're so blimmin tasty and so bloomin expensive.
   
2. Enjoy my wedding day. Don't get bogged down in drama.
   
3. Make more time for friends.
   
4. Enjoy being young. Go out more, drink a few too many, have some fun. Sometimes I take myself so seriously.
   
5. Drink less fizzy pop and try to drink more water.
   
6. Have vegetables every day.
   
7. Learn to say no. Sometimes I'm such a pushover.
   
8. Take plenty of photos.
   
9. Get a dog!
   
10. Gym more.
    
11. Get that daring hairstyle. Why not?

So, that is my mini list of goals! Lets see in a year how I get on. Wish me luck!

WEDDING DIARIES : STATIONARY AND INVITES

"Why are you stressing out so much over the invites?" Tom asks

For a moment I consider the question. Why does the prospect of sending out a little care stress me out so much?

For me, the invite is the first touch point between you and your guests. It's the thing that gives the briefest of glimpses into the style and concept of the day and what your guests can expect from your wedding. To me that's a lot of pressure!

I've known friends that have had a rustic teepee wedding and had some beautiful handmade invites. I've been to weddings where the invites have been very traditional and simple. They all seem to invoke a sense of what's to come.

Four our invites, I wanted something classy and elegant but also with a nod to the botanical feel of the venue and the earthy feel of the day. I originally did the whole shebang of tootling off to various wedding fairs and pouring over the lovely invites on offer from sellers. However at £2-3 a pop with over 100 guests that seemed like a huge waste of money. Money better spent in other areas.

I've always been artistic and so I waited for a voucher code to come up on Vistaprint (keep an eye out they always have offers on!) and designed them up myself. I found it extremely easy as there is a whole section for invites, RSVP's and save the dates.

I went with a botanical design with rounded corners and added some geometric lines in rose gold as a nod to our cake. I then chose a lovely scripted font.

Our venue offers our guests a choice of food for the day so we had to include the menu. Instead of increasing cost and wasting paper we added the menu onto the back of the invite for a small fee.

I think in total the stationary cost £100 for the invites, menus, save the dates, evening invites, monogrammed stickers and I even designed a small business card sized insert asking people to not give us wedding gifts (after all we've lived together five years, we really don't need any more plates!). They even came with free envelopes.

I was thrilled when they arrived. The only issue now is getting them back in from people!

RECIPE: HAM AND COUNTRY VEGETABLE SOUP

In my humble opinion, there's nothing more comforting than a hearty bowl of homemade soup. This recipe is also known as "leftover" soup in my house because it utilizes half a left over roast gammon which we have usually eaten with salad or veg earlier in the week. 

Of course you can buy a small gammon and roast it specifically for this recipe but it's much more cost effective to use leftovers. 

All the ingredients were purchased from Aldi and I've estimated the cost for making this great big pot of soup is around £4. It will serve roughly 6 people (although it is super filling) which makes it about 70p a portion! 

Ingredients:

Roughly 250g of left over roasted gammon (I use the Aldi smoked variety!) 

1 Butternut Squash diced 

2 Potatoes peeled and diced 

2 large leeks diced 

3 Carrots chopped

1 white onion chopped

3 cloves Garlic 

2 Chicken Stock Cubes

Salt and Pepper 

The method is really super easy. Add all your ingredients except the seasoning into the pan, fill with water so the veg is just covered and bring to the boil making sure to stir to break down the stock cubes. 

Once boiling bring to a simmer and cook for around 10-15 minutes until all the veg is soft. Meanwhile I heated the oven and popped in some of this gorgeous part baked seeded bread which takes around 6-8 minutes. 

Blend away with a hand blender until smooth and season to taste. Tom loves pepper so I always have to add extra to his! make sure to taste though as the Gammon does naturally add it's own saltiness to the flavour. If the soup is too thick just add a little water and blend again. 

Then it is just a case of serving up and enjoying!

WEDDING DIARIES : CHOOSING YOUR VENUE

"I hope my Wedding is as good as the one I've planned on Pinterest."

Ok so...I'm not going to lie and say that when Tom popped the question, the millions of photos I have pinned to my Dream wedding Pinterest Board didn't go hurdling it's way into my little elated brain. My wedding is something I have always dreamed of and being such a hopeless romantic it's something I feel is an extension of us as a couple. 

So when Tom asked me where I wanted to get married, after initially fantasizing about Sleeping Beauties Castle in Disneyland I finally decided to look for a barn type location. Something chilled and natural and above all PRETTY. 

I have been to plenty of hotel weddings and whilst they were all lovely I never really felt the "wow" factor with any of the decor. Being a photographer in my spare time I knew I wanted something that I would look at in years to come on photos and think....yep....that was my venue. 

I initially looked at the Wedding Barn in Gilling West which was I have to say STU-NNING however way way out of our price range. I don't believe in taking out extra loans to pay for the wedding so I reluctantly walked away from that one and scoured local blogs and wedding mags to find something new. 

That's where I came upon the South Causey Inn at Stanley, County Durham. I remember seeing an article on a wedding website and I just thought....yep...that's the one. So I booked an appointment. 

It's a hotel however they have built a whole separate wedding venue at the back, including the most delightful pagan looking chapel. With the beams, the stone floor and the quirky floral touches I was instantly sold. 

Price wise, it fitted. The venue takes care of centerpieces, food, canapes, drinks, table dressing, the DJ, cake table and so much more. All we had to get was an outfit, cake, flowers and our table plan! 

I literally can't wait to get married here. I feel like every time I visit I get more and more excited about the big day. It may have a little something to do with the fact that every time we go up we have tea in the restaurant and the food is divine. Proper home cooked comfort food! 

If anyone is engaged, I strongly recommend checking out this place.