Happiness is...

... Rounding up your friends in the park 
For a spontaneous picnic and game of rounders. One round robin text of "Grab a blanket, a bag of crisps, and a bottle of suncream*", and there we were running around the park like dogs let off their leashes. It was all fun and literal games until I full-on collided with one of them (we both dodged the same way while running at full speed. It was NOT pretty). Then it got serious for a minute because they thought I was dead. Then it went back to fun again. 

Oh, and my friend taught me how to hulahoop, at the grand old age of 28. Woop!

.... Stew in a storm
When the weather subsequently decided not to play ball, we chose not to either. Instead, we de-camped to a local pub to devour big bowls of steaming Polish stew and dumplings, curled up on Chesterfield sofas (us, not the dumplings. That would be weird). Thunderstorms don't get better than that.

... Ridiculous makeovers
I inherited a plastic bin from the previous inhabitant of my room, which was rather handy as I didn't own one at the time (ice-cream maker: yes. Bin: no. Priorities, people). After realising it was pretty much the only non-DIY-d thing on display, I decided that need to be rectified STAT...

The "before" bin. Snore.

One trip to Homesense later, and my bin was looking 18 kinds of fabulous. Ta da!

It's so ridiculous, throwing rubbish away has become instantly hilarious.

... It's pronounced "freet-za"
AKA, FREE PIZZA. Yes, that's right. FREE. PIZZA. A friend of mine somehow managed to get his jammy hands (not literally- I don't think he even likes jam that much) on 8 tickets to the opening party for Franco Manca's new Brighton restaurant. When he asked me if I wanted to go to a sourdough pizza restaurant for dinner where everything would be LITERALLY FREE, I nearly offered him my first born child. Ok, ok, I also offered to carry his. FREE. PIZZA. 

... NEON DINOSAUR THEMED CRAZY GOLF
And I thought my life had peaked at freeza.... There are no words. Thank you, thank you, Globalls (snigger) for bringing your magical presence into my life.

... Double mate dates at an ice-cream parlour
Like teenagers from the 1950's. Giggling and straw-sharing mandatory. 

So tell me - what have I missed? 

Katie xxx

*Oh, and a P.S. assuring them my phone hadn't been stolen, seeing as I was apparently texting them about sport... EURGH.

Six Things Saturday

Hello lovelies!

How've you been? 

Please excuse the under-eye bags, which I'm pretty sure are visible from space; I've had a rather full-on few weeks. Working 10+ hour days (including weekends) and waking up with the lark for no good reason has really taken its toll. In fact, I think I've actually been waking up earlier than the lark; giving him the chance to appreciate my own version of the dawn chorus: off-key, shower-based pop music mash-ups. Needless to say, I'm BEYOND excited to have a whole nine days off work stretching ahead of me like a sun-drenched summer meadow. With a several picnic blankets covered in cream tea scattered in strategic places, of course...

It's the first proper break I've had since starting my new job last September(!), so today I'm sharing six of the things I'm looking forward to doing during my time off.

1. Reading
Despite being busier than Queen Bey of late, I've still managed to find some time for reading good books. Uprooted, a recommendation from a girlfriend, is a fantastic tale of an enchanted forest (the trees eat children...), weirdly sexy wizards, and a fair bit of magic. 

I devoured it like a child-eating tree, but still not as quickly as I wolfed down The Book of a Thousand Days; a spontaneous library selection which lasted me all of 8 hours over a single afternoon. I read it in rotation between the local park, the comfy sofa in Cafe Nero (complete with a giant hot chocolate, naturally) and the sunny pub garden of my favourite (soon to be no longer) local. 

I have to admit, as I'm tending to read in public at the moment, I've been more discerning (read: snobby) about my literary choices. I'm currently reading "The Edible Woman" by Margaret Atwood (the first of her novels that I've read), and I'm planning to work my way through some of her others this week too. That said, I was sorely tempted to take out this one from the library...

I was thinking I could pair it with more chick-lit entitled something along the lines of "Cindy Lu Gets Married", the approach lone gentlemen brandishing them both and crying... What do you think? 

2. Relaxing
After finding an amazing last minute deal last week, my holiday has kicked off in the most blissful way I could imagine; I jumped straight in the car after work yesterday, picked up a girlfriend, and headed to a spa. We've swum, sauna-d, slept tangled in whiter-than-white bedding, and consumed far too much food for dinner AND breakfast - all for the bargain price of £55. We also decided to get Stress Busting Massages this afternoon; it looks like I'm going to have to pour myself into the car to get home....

How many calories does 20 minutes of sauna-ing burn off? At least this many, right? 

3. Snuggling
I don't have to dress super smart in my job (or at least, no-one's ever said anything about my Lego jewellery...) but I'm still going to make the most of being able to throw on huge, cosy jumpers and get down to the serious business of drinking tea and watching the world go by. 

Apparently, these are called "selfies", and they are all the rage with today's yoof.

4. Adventuring
I'm off on all kinds of adventures next week, including a trip to the seaside, charity shopping, brunching, a visit to the Big Smoke (and my first time at London Zoo!) and a Hen Do. Ooh - and I'm getting a (long overdue) hair cut, where I'm hoping the trainee hairdresser will be able to give me the hair AND face of Hilary Duff for the princely sum of £15.

Hell, I might see if they can give me a matching body for an extra fiver...

Haircuts can work miracles, right?

5. Recharging
Being forced to grab food on the go has resulted in some less-than-healthy meal decisions of late. I'm feeling the need for some proper home cooking, and making sure I get my 5 a day (along with plenty of rest). Although, in my defence, there's no way I could've left this little guy behind. I mean, he was marked down to 15p literally broken hearted:

Turns out broken hearts are surprisingly delicious. And taste like strawberries. 

6. Planning
Things seem to be (thankfully!) progressing well with my whole finally-having-somewhere-to-live thing, but aren't quite there yet. I'm planning to spend any free time I have left camped out in my solicitor's office, alternating between adding pretty pictures to my New House Pinterest Board and asking "Are we nearly there yet?" more often than children on their way to Disneyland. 

What have you been up to recently?

Love Katie xxx

Fish Facts and Italian Figs

Hello lovelies! 

Oops. It's been a while again, hasn't it? If it helps, I've learned a helluva lot in these past few weeks, and I'm going to share some of it with you now; so settle yo' pretty self down to learn some wisdoms... 

Discovery number 1 was that, apparently, my non-competitive approach to most boardgames (I'm one of those annoying people who genuinely thinks it's the "just taking part" that counts) does NOT apply to Jungle Speed. Essentially, Jungle Speed is a more hardcore, multi-player version of Snap. There might have been an accidental hand-gouging incident and/or a moment when I nearly wrestled a fellow Jungle Speed-er onto the pub floor whilst grappling over the Jungle Speed stick (which looks rather disconcertingly like something you'd find in Anne Summers). It was possibly not my classiest hour, but I like to think the fact that the game is French (the root of all class) gave me a marginal touch of sophistication. Ahem.

[image source]

Secondly, I discovered that (apparently!) some fish like PARSNIPS; something I heard on a recent behind-the-scenes tour of Brighton Sealife Centre, along with a myriad of other aquatic facts. Other gems included the fact that octopuseseses can squeeze their entire body through a hole the size of their beak. Yes - beak. Admittedly, I already knew the beak part, but the idea of a motorbike-sized octopod wriggling through a hole the diameter of a Smarties tube seems rather creepily surreal. 

Say whaaaat?!

I have no idea why I chose those two metaphors, by the way; clearly I have subliminal, repressed urges to join a biker gang with it's own tuck shop. Ok, they're not that repressed. 

Thirdly, thanks to this summer's genius Lego/Sealife Centre collaboration, I can confirm I (somewhat shamefully) adore Girl Lego. I want to stress very strongly here that I am NOT OK with "made for girls" Lego; the idea of girls only being able to Lego Up when it comes in a Barbie-approved colour pallet is equal parts offensive, outdated and ridiculous. But I have to admit, the pink and purple bricks did make constructing a Lego jellyfish much easier; an opinion endorsed by my male Lego playmates. Ha.

I didn't photograph my jellyfish, so here's another fun fact

Number four is a different kind of discovery, and I would be very grateful if you could please all cross, double-cross and triple-cross your fingers (like Heston's triple-cooked chips, but less crispy) for me, because I think I've finally found somewhere to live that is not my parents' futon. I am incredibly grateful to them for the on-going use of said futon, but that hasn't stopped me planning my return to mattress-based solo living (which sounds much filthier than I intended). I intend to stay in bed for AT LEAST two weeks solid. You might need to post me snacks. 

The hot chocolate I bought to celebrate finding a flat.

And the ADORABLE cream tea I had for breakfast the next day. WHAT? I was still celebrating!!

Finally, given the current state of my futon-dwelling back, my general love for all things nice-smelling, and the fact that The Body Shop's coconut perfume is my "Signature Scent", I was excited x 3,000 when I received an invite to The Body Shop's summer range launch at Brighton Marina(!) Although, come to think of it, aside from anosmics, I guess everyone loves nice-smelling things?! Please do let me know if you're the kind of person who would reject a Hot Cross Bun scented candle in favour of Eau Du Unwashed Rugby Socks. 

Baskets of chips = the perfect seaside snack

Apologies; I digress. Post RSVP'ing (accompanying by girlish shrieking), I took Skye on a mini road trip along the seafront (complete with Taylor Swift car-eoke, of course!) to meet the team and hear all about turning my bathroom into a SPATHROOM. GENIUS. The Body Shop girls gave us a whistle-stop tour of the scrummy new products and some of the classics (the Body Shop's equivalent of a little black dress and a Breton top) in their newly branded Beauty Gems range (basically the in-store equivalent of a hot tip from your best friend).

I swear to God, this moisturiser is the best thing I have ever smelled. I wanted to spread it on toast.

We were then treated to a skin consultation session, during which Skye was told that her self-selected skincare products are perfect for her skin, and I apologised profusely for my skincare "routine" of scrubbing my face in the shower and the fact that my chin was covered in flaky pastry after I'd inelegantly devouring this whilst the consultant was talking to Skye: 

After physically forcing myself to put the Kukui moisturiser down, I spritzed on a squirt of their new Indian Jasmine perfume, which was delicious. I then subsequently discovered that I preferred the even more delicious Italian Summer Fig one, and found myself suffering from Spritzer's Remorse (aka a Serious First World Problem). Thankfully, the Body Shop saved the day like a perfectly-exfoliated, animal-cruelty free superhero by putting bottles of the Fig perfume in the goody bags! 

In summary- puns, chips, bubbles and smelly things?! What is NOT to love? OOH - and tiny pots of Eton Mess (I can't believe I almost forgot those!) 

Have you discovered any fun fish facts recently? 

Wishing you all a magical weekend full of adventures; like a grown-up version of an Enid Blyton novel- sponsored by red wine and brunch.

Katie xxx

Six Things Sunday

Hey m'dears!

Happy Sunday! Hope you're having a brilliant day and spoiling all the fathers in your life. Unfortunately, my Dad refuses to acknowledge Fathers' Day; so I'm considering sending my card to the North Pole instead to try and sweeten up Santa before next Christmas. Genius, no?

Aside from penning potential missives to the Arctic, here are six other things I've been up to this week:

1. Channelling The Proclaimers
I didn't quite get to 10,000 miles, but I did manage to chalk up over TEN miles this morning across the South Downs. Which would probably have sounded more impressive if I hadn't mentioned 10,000 miles first, huh?

I left at the crack of dawn (well, 9.15; which is the crack of dawn on a Sunday) and spent three hours wandering up hill, down dale, and err... through fields of cows.

The scenery wasn't bad either...

Even washing is more picturesque in the countryside

2. Glamorous Lunch Dates
Sometimes you just can't beat a solo lunch date with a magazine and excessive amounts of carbohydrates.

My lunch date with Kate Hudson

3. Discovering my Soul Sista
I spontaneously picked up Hadley Freedman's book "Be Awesome: Modern Life for Modern Ladies" at the library last weekend and hungrily devoured it in less than two days. I had an "OMG! What if we're BRAIN TWINS?!" moment the minute I saw she'd referenced The Princess Bride in the opening paragraph. Later references to Bill and Ted and her identical hatred of Andie MacDowell (see: Four Weddings and a Funeral) confirmed my suspicions. 

I've now accepted the fact there's no point in me ever trying to write a book, because it would essentially be this one; just not as well written. Bravo, Hadley. 

4. Staring at steers
I spotted this guy early on this morning's jaunt and was very impressed by his trompe l'oile-ness:

Then I almost (literally) bumped into this guy who, you'll have to admit, is even more impressive:

Please excuse AWFUL photo quality. Just pretend it's a watercolour painting.

5. Feeling all feminist
Yesterday morning I was feeling rather blue, but this was solved the minute I found a bargain box set of Gilmore Girls Season 2 (the very reason I went into that shop, no less!) and marathoned the first 4 episodes. You can't beat a bit of linguistically-gymnastic sass.

6. Petitioning
For the management at Poundland to take their hard-working staff to Longleat (and not just because it's awesome):

What have you been up to this week?

I'm linking up to gorgeous Hannah's The Week That Was Captured #TWTWC

Katie xxx

Six Things Sunday

Hello lovelies!

It's been quite a while since I've written a list on here, which I reckon needs to be remedied - STAT*. So, here are six things currently putting a spring in my step:

1. Freebies

Tom and I went for dinner with our besties (who also happen to be a couple. Sickening, isn't it?) on Friday- and were treated to an Asian feast of huuuuge spring rolls and Malaysian noodle soup. Yum. I also handed over Fran's belated birthday presents, all of which were (thankfully!) received with glee. That or Fran's seriously improved her "Present Face". 

Fran was midway through having a good ol' clear-out, and let me have a rummage through the bags destined for the car boot sale. There is NOTHING I love more than rummaging through other peoples' stuff (especially when I'm allowed to take some of it home!). I nabbed a gorgeous cookery book by the equally gorgeous Sophie Dahl, a rather less superb "literary" offering by Mr Boulle of Made In Chelsea fame (which, having since read it, will definitely be returning to a car boot bag), an adorable bow clip, two packs of polka-dot paper-chains, and a set of Scrabble! 

Then, during today's mooch around town, I found two crates full of "Free Stuff - Take Me!" outside someone's front door, including some vinyl records. Don't mind if I do. In case you're wondering, I'm sitting-down-dancing to Sussudio whilst writing this post. 

2. Finding a good hair dye

I tried using Perfect 10 home dye for the first time yesterday, and I'm 100% converted. They have some really lovely shades of blonde, and it only took me 30 minutes from putting on the gloves (which took longer than you'd think, because I'm a moron and spent aaaages trying to tear open the packet- only to have the gloves fall out of the other end. Turns out I'd been trying to force open the bottom of an open-topped packet. Duh.) to having freshly blow-dried hair. 

Please note, "blow-dried" might possibly be a slightly misleading term here, as I don't use a hairbrush etc. like hairdressers do; I just tip my head upside down and blast it whilst scruffing up my hair with my fingers. I do this for as long as it takes for me to start to feeling dizzy from all the blood rushing to my head, and then stop. 

New colour, modelled here with my new hair bow (thanks, Fran!). To be honest, I'm just glad it's not yellow!

3. Scrabble Board

This was very much a joint effort of the Johnsons; Tom's Dad very kindly agreed/offered/was too nice to decline the use of his skills and his special metal cutting tool to fit a sheet of scrap metal into the back of a frame I picked up at the local fleamarket. Tom put in the nail to hang it on yesterday, as I can't be trusted with hammering. It's awesome having it up on the wall, as it's been on my To Craft list for ages. 

I'm really looking forward to writing lots of sweet messages to each other with the magnetic Scrabble tiles, such as "I LOVE YOU, TOPSHOP GUY" and "WE NEED MORE GRAVY (STAT)".

4. Colourful grub

Summery food is so much prettier than winter food (where everything is the colour of gravy). Things I've scoffed this weekend include: 

Leftover home-made pasta sauce with sundried tomato and pesto pimped couscous.

Strawberry, raspberry and banana smoothie (with raspberries I'd picked from the garden 30 seconds previously. Win.). 

Watermelon salad, on my new parrot tray. 

5. Pottering

After a few weekends spent flitting about the country (/running round Edinburgh like a happy loon - more on that to follow), it's been really nice having a relaxing weekend at home catching up on chores and sitting in the garden, thanks to my Magic Suncream. 

Yesterday I tackled some of the overgrown bushes in front of our house; as getting to the front door was beginning to become a Sleeping Beauty-esque battle of epic proportions. The part where the Prince has to hack his way through lots of thorns to snog her, not the bit where everyone falls asleep for ages. At least, I don't think the postie has been snoozing in our flower bed... 

6. Summery smells

We had two loads of washing drying on the line today (which I loved because I got to use my incredible bird pegs that make me feel like Snow White), despite also firing up the BBQ for an afternoon of excessive snacking/Pimms. Yes, our bedding is going to smell like smoke, but I really don't care. Cut grass, warm rain, and BBQs/campfires are some of my favourite summery smells- and I'd much rather smell of those than fancy perfume any day. 

What are you enjoying at the moment? I'd love to hear! 

Katie xxx

* By the way, using the term "STAT" is a brilliant way to convince anyone you need to impress that you're actually a brain surgeon. As is walking backwards through doors holding your arms close to your chest with your hands pointing up and saying "Oh, sorry- force of habit". 

Amaretto sours and washing line dens

Today has involved one blissful, summery activity after another; piling up into a metaphorical heap of sunshiney goodness to rival the real mountain of Eton Mess that I devoured after tonight's dinner.

After whizzing up a nutritious and delicious peach and blush pear smoothie for breakfast (accompanied by a slightly less nutritious Marlborough bun. Oops!) I slapped on some magical sun block and joined Tom in tackling our rather jungle-tastic back garden.

When we moved into our house 2.5 years ago the garden was absolutely beautiful, thanks to the retired, green-fingered previous owners spending 30 years nurturing each and every inch. Since we bought it, the garden has declined into something of a wilderness, thanks to our opposite-of-green fingers and my dislike of anything creepy/crawley- which somewhat limits my desire to stick my hands into flower beds I know are full of spiders. I'm glad we don't have any kids, because they definitely would've become lost amongst the weeds by now and turned into feral beasts raised by next door's cat.

Just some of the debris cleared from the garden today.

I spent the middle of the day writing some more blog posts for Artists Open Houses, before sprawling out on our unloved lawn with a stack of magazines. I couldn't be bothered to carry anything outside with me to play music on, but ended up being serenaded by this little guy instead, which was much nicer. And, yes, he was definitely singing just for me.

Stretching out under the washing line made me feel like I was hiding in a den; which will have to satisfy me for now, as I still haven't purchased a treehouse.

Tom and I took a late afternoon stroll along the river to Bills, our all time favourite restaurant, where we feasted on some of their new and delicious dishes. I treated myself to an an amaretto sour aperitif (fancy, eh?); a cocktail I'd never tried before, which has quickly become my new summer cocktail of choice. 

Amaretto sours combine lemon juice, pink lemonade and amaretto, and each flavour is fully identifiable in sequence- like Willy Wonka's three-course chewing gum. Refreshing lemon leading into sweet lemonade followed by a lingering taste of marzipan. Yum, yum, YUM.

I chose to combine two starters instead of ordering one main course, opting for potato and rosemary bread alongside a salad of crispy feta cheese and watermelon. Both dishes were absolutely amazing, and the bread turned out to be an entire loaf! I was very grateful Tom was on hand to help me eat it, and he certainly wasn't complaining when I handed over chunks of warm, soft bread with a super-crunchy crust; especially after I'd tore the loaf open (in a most unladylike manner) and assaulted our nostrils with the scent of roast dinner. 

Feta cheese and watermelon is my new favourite salad combination and one that I will be repeating at home for many summers to come. The batter covering the feta contained sesame seeds and smoked paprika, which brought an almost meaty dimension to the tangy feta cheese, in contrast with the sweetness of the watermelon. It was as utterly delicious as only deep-fried cheese can be.

I persuaded Tom to join me in having a pudding (more because I wanted to try two; I'm certainly not one of those people who feels compelled to force others to join them in eating "naughty" things), and he chose baked lemon tart with frozen raspberries, whilst I selected the summeriest item on the menu: Eton Mess.

We rolled home along the riverbank with full bellies and happy smiles, thanks to the combination of tasty food and no work tomorrow. Three cheers for Bank Holiday weekends! 

Katie xxx

P.S. Sorry that this post basically turned into a food diary; well done if you've read this far! I will post you some M&Ms.