a Bowie birthday

At the weekend I headed down south for Eve's 30th - a birthday picnic and sports day style games in the park dressed as her idol Bowie (thank god she didn't choose her other idol Alice Cooper).

I wasn't sure how much effort I'd make, but getting ready at Eve's meant I got carried away and went full on with red hair and pale, bold make up. Eve looked ace and her boyfriend almost (but not quite) stole the show from her with his efforts in drag!

It was fun walking the streets of London in fancy dress, but the feeling of being coated in all sorts of crap got to me after a while so I removed it for the evening in a pub. (That and the fact that all bar one of my fellow Brooke folk dressed up and I'd sweated the majority off anyway).

I rarely catch buses in London but it was the easiest way to Eve's. I'm not too familiar with east London so I loved driving through Stoke Newington. I discovered so much more than I had before, with loads of cute cafés and vintage stores. Clissold Park, which we made home for the day, was lovely too with ponds, deer, a pretty house (complete with pretty bride) and lots more that I'm yet to explore. I just love London parks and feel like sometimes greenery is even more accessible in London than when actually living in the country. They're just the best at parks - and by they I mean the Victorian's!

So, in summary:

• I really, really miss having London on my doorstep
• The Brooke was perhaps the best decision I ever made, they employ the greatest people 
• I wish I could have been teleported into my bed with my baby in the morning
• I realise I'm leaving the London part of me behind - I forgot my oyster (again)
• I'm turning into one of those mums, you know, the ones that show pictures and videos of their babies and talk about poo. A lot. To people that came to an East London girls birthday. Enough said.
• I will consider spending more to buy an open return next time, or just come to terms with my body clock running three hours earlier than it used to
• I miss sitting next to Eve everyday and singing the Friday song
• I'm pondering opening my own re-fillable wine store up north

life lately - a silent month

I didn't mean for the last month to be such a quiet one. I put the blog on hiatus while I was concentrating on a job application and three interviews to follow. After that Hugo's been poorly and I haven't had much time or brain capacity!

Blogging is a funny thing. I'm generally an all or nothing kind of person, doing things half arsed doesn't work for me. But to blog properly takes time, and a real investment. Not just time when you think about it, but time while you're thinking about other things, in order to be able to document it.

It's a fine balance between living life and writing about it or capturing it in film or photo. 

I'm struggling to find that balance. I see and read other beautifully crafted blogs (notably my friend Freya's who inspired me to start blogging) and I really dream of having an online space like that. But it's such a commitment! 

So for now, this will have to do! Here's a dozen highlights from the last month (and I'll try not to leave it so long next time):

1. Vegan baking! I made a second attempt at vegan choc-chip banana bread and it was definitely better than my first. I considerably reduced the quantity of cinnamon, but it was still a little powerful. I then made my mums recipe chocolate chip cookies and managed to adapt them for a vegan batch. To me the vegan ones tasted awful, but they were eaten, so can't have been too bad to someone only able to eat vegan!

2. Hugo's first girly sleepover down in St Albans with the Brooke girls. It was also his first stay somewhere other than our house or his second home at my parents. Considering he was in a house full of (not the quietest) girls he was so good! Although he was amazing, I could tell he wasn't his normal self and I think the car journey was a bit too long with not enough breaks. I've realised that while I can continue to enjoy the things I enjoyed before, I do need to consider Hugo a little more and adapt for him. If only I lived closer to the girls...

3. Typically while down south I wanted to fit in as much as possible, so I headed to a friends on the Saturday to see her new house. In hindsight, turning up slightly hungover with a baby in tow wasn't the kindest to my friend, but it was great to stop by and laze about all the same!

4. Film nights with Adi. My favourites have been In Time and Wolf of Wall Street. One of Adi's favourite things to do is plan our future lottery win. I usually refrain, but I'd make damn sure I was more wise than Jordan Belfort.

5. A walk to our friends local and a leisurely Sunday lunch by the river. I think this is pretty much my ideal Sunday - light exercise, chat, good food and drink in a pretty setting. Next Sunday anyone?

6. Late night chats with Adi. We always talk the most in bed, but quite often we'll leave it too late to go to bed to have a proper chat. While he enjoyed a few days off there was less pressure for me to get a good nights sleep, so we've enjoyed chatting about all sorts. 

7. Mid-week BBQ with some of our friends, apparently a very middle class thing to do. Our farm shop does a family BBQ deal so I ended up cooking things I wouldn't have normally. I definitely need to try some fish next time.

8. Job application and interviews. Okay, this wouldn't have fit in to the good bits of the last month if it was for securing the role and getting a really good vibe from my soon to be colleagues, more of that in another post.

9. Catching up with a friend from college, although sadly not seeing her little man as it was his nap time!

10. Introducing Hugo to my friends mum and sister. Living in different countries means it isn't very often I see her, so I thought I'd at least introduce Hugo to her family. He was on good behaviour right up until we were leaving when he peed everywhere, which made us all squeal, in turn making him cry! It sort of put an abrupt end to the afternoon!

11. Hugo having naked time on his great-grandfather. I'd so have loved for it to end up the way we feared, but miraculously he was naked for about an hour and didn't pee!

12. Hugo taking a handful of my chilli while having Sunday lunch with mum, Joe and Sophie. I decided to save my white top rather than capture the moment, but it was impressive all the same.

This takes us up to the day before Hugo got ill, which should really lead to another post.

Freya's fantabulous glamping hen party

Sometimes pictures are so much better than words. But to accompany the below, think cute huts in the forest, a candlelit Game of Thrones-esque feast, cooking by campfire, bunkbed bunking, scavenger hunting, human 'periods', goblet painting, boat tripping, pub grub, mini festival, dares, slimey bottoms, late night chats and more. It was one of those weekends you just want to re-live again as it was magical in the forest and such good company. So much so that it made me even more determined to get to the wedding in question!