Lost in the Pages Take Two.

A while back now I wrote about the bookclub I'm in.  Recently the books chosen by the other members I haven't been so into... Luckily it's a pick and choose type of club, so I'm opting out for the next few months, and have put the word out to my friends and work colleagues for some new novels to become lost in.

And boy have they delivered!

At the moment I am 42pages into Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson, and I'm completely hooked.  I can't wait to fall into this story.. That type of love for a book where you want to read it at every moment and think about it all the time.. It helps that the authoress is totally adept at describing the characters English countryside surroundings.. I feel like I'm back there!  

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The next book in line is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  To be honest, I have no idea what it's about yet.  I have this very strange habit of not liking to read any blurbs or reviews before I read the book, as they might give away too much information.  Silly I know, but it's a theory that has worked for me so far!

If you have any recommendations let me know! Just don't give me too much information about the story line! :)

Xx

Friday!

It's FRIDAY! Finally!! To celebrate this excruciating week finally being over, I thought this little tune was appropriate. A fun take on the not so fantastic original version...!! It sure sums up how I feel right now!


I hope you have a wonderful weekend!




Xx

Pop Tarts

Who doesn't LOVE pop tarts. Like, seriously.

Over the weekend I invented some without following a recipe (not highly recommended...) and they turned out quite interesting... Overly flaky pastry and leaky sides.. Yet the filling was amazing! Yay! My old favourite of peanut butter and dark chocolate pieces! droooollll....

Really though, I figured, I probably shouldn't be eating chunks of dark chocolate for breakfast. And seeing as they got quite a positive reaction from my boyfriend and house mates. I decided to give them another crack. Properly..

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Using this recipe, I enjoyed inventing with all the different flavours and mixtures.  I used my Mums homemade apple and peach jam for one set of pop tarts (adding a teeny smidge of cornflour to thicken the jam), a plain nutella batch, and a mix of peanut butter and nutella. Just because we all know how I feel about that combination of flavours..


Shall I just say, Homemade Pop Tarts = LOVE.

I'm going to teach my house mates how to make them next, because they are so tasty and simple they're disappearing fast! There's a big chance we'll fake the pastry with some defrosted short crust though. But hey, big time saver when there's couch time to be had. And to be honest, they taste similar enough and are just as impressive!

I hope you give them a go! They are amazing...

Xx

You Can't Always Get What You Want.

Rolling Stones

Speaks for itself really.


Xx

Trundle Stamp

Exciting things are happening.. A small Elephant is making his way in the world.. Trundling through the pages, stamping his little voice onto the page.


I can't wait for you to meet him..

Philly Elephant

Xx

Water for Elephants

I have an obsession with Elephants at the moment.


Seeing Water for Elephants did not help this cause.  


Our book club read Water for Elephants a few months back, and I absolutely fell in love with the story.  Not just the romance, but the character development and the story of Rosie.


I won't lie, I was a little nervous seeing it.  I had such high expectations that I was a little worried...But I needn't have been, I loved this movie! I adored everything about it.  Every character was as I imagined, and seeing the big top rise up into the sky made me tingle with joy. It's billowing white fabric towering above almost made me feel like I was there..

Water for Elephants

I really felt how much love there was between Jacob and Marlena.. It was just so romantic! How much they wanted to be together but weren't allowed to be. Sigh.. I really do love love.

Water for Elephants

But in spite of all that love, the star of the show for me was Rosie.  She was so beautiful and intelligent. Her clever tricks and big cheeky open mouthed grins just stole the show..


I loved it so much I'd see it twice....... Now I just need to find a friend who hasn't seen it yet.... Hmm.. Any takers?? :)


Xx

Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies

There is something about rainy days that just make me want to bake.


I spent the entire day yesterday gazing out the window at work, watching the rain pelt down, whilst willing the hours to pass so that I could come home and bake to my little hearts content!


The rain also reminds me of living in U.K.  The chilly winds made me pull my coat tighter - and decide we had to find an English-y pub for dinner! We wanted to find a small pub with counter meals (preferably a roast!) and be able to sit back, with a pint and watch the rain... Unfortunately to my knowledge no such place is available in Perth! As far as my google research went! So we settled for a noisy Irish pub with counter meals served in a booth.. Close enough!


Still wanting to bake but being pressed for time, I decided to only bake one treat.. Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies.  To be honest they were so simple it didn't really feel like baking! The mixture was super light and fluffy. Not allot of it made it onto the baking tray due to it's yumminess! Once baked they were also perfect and high - not like the usual flat subway-esk type cookies I usually bake!
A cute little recipe that filled the house with a yummy baking smell whilst the rain fell.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• 125gm Softened Butter
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• Dash of Vanilla Essence
• 2 Eggs
• 2 cups of Plain Flour
• 1 tsp of Bi Carb Soda
• As many Chocolate Chips as takes your fancy
• 1 giant tablespoon of Peanut Butter Crunchy

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together.  Add the eggs and continue to mix. Fold in flour and bi carb gently, then add and mix in the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Roll teaspoons of dough onto a baking tray, and bake in a preheated oven of 200degrees for 10minutes.

Xx

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl

How can you not just love this? No wonder he wrote the most amazing, inventive stories..

Xx

Home.

Home. 

Home is wherever I'm with you.

I just adore this song.  The video makes me feel like taking long walks and road trips with my lover and besties. Skipping through fields and basking in the glorious sunshine..

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Home.  I love my home, all of it's comforts and scents. It's crowded and full of favourite sentimental treasures.. Like books and old letters, snugly blankets and oversized wine glasses.. With mismatched vases and a cat who think she is queen. Spice scented candles and garden flowers.. Ahh home.

But really, home is wherever I'm with you.

Anna Karenina

Last night one of my very special girlfriends, took me along to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (waapa) performance of Anna Karenina. I have been to quite a few WAAPA performances.. But this was by far my absolute favourite. The love story of Anna was so enthralling, that I honestly found my heart aching along with her pain.  How torn she was deciding between the two lives she had presented before her. How desperately she just wanted to be loved.  I may have even, shed a small tear... Pretty sure I covered it with a casual dabbing of the eye though..

Anna Karenina

Also, I found it a little hard to believe these performers were only third year students! They performed above and beyond all of my expectations. 

Once I picked this book up, having such a love for Russian history, yet I was never captivated by it.  I think after so thoroughly enjoying this play last night, it's time I gave Anna another go..

Xx

Dandelions

Perhaps it has to do with the change in weather, how our morning and nights are becoming so much cooler.. But happily, I seem to be regularly spotting floating dandelion seeds. Everyday this week I have seen just one seed flying gently past me.  I have watched them until they drift off, out of sight.. Seeing them gives me a little smile. Dandelions always remind me of my childhood, of attempting to blow every seedling off the stalk in one breath, before I could make a wish, and wildly chase them through the breeze and up into the sky.

Floating Dandelions

Xx

Philly Elephriend

I dreamt last night about a baby Elephant.  He waltzed right into my dream, plopped down beside a tree and smiled at me.  The tree was tall and limber, it's dark leaves reaching high in the sky, softly waving back and forth. Almost as if my little dream was greeting me.  This little Elephant was a mass of gentle grey lines and soft plump folds.. It was almost like a small childrens novel unfolding in my mind. He had such a little adventure, roaming grassy fields and making other animal friends.  Trundling awkwardly through forests, he would stop to stamp in giant muddy puddles.  Spraying short bursts of water from his ever swaying trunk. His wide happy mouth open in a cheeky lopsided smile. Can't you just imagine him too? He makes me smile. He was so much fun that I think I might just make him a reality..

Elephant 

I found this little Elephant at eastwitching, he matches the elephant in my mind perfectly.

Xx

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

I love the colours of this picture.  The fading orange and how she is ever so slightly tinted to match..


Only boring people are bored. Life is what you make of it.

Xx

Will Loves Kate.

Ahh, the royal wedding.. I didn't realise how much of a Royalist I was until Friday.  I was so excited to see the Royals.  All their waving and bad fascinators.. There is such a romantic notion about a monachary really.. I think it's the tradition that gets me.. So I decided to go with said tradition and celebrate by having a High Tea (with a slight twist on drinking champagne instead of tea...) for my lovely girlfriends. I baked all day (and possibly Thursday too) then sprinted around to five different bakeries for scones, yes, FIVE bakeries! Until I gave up on the scones idea.  I felt a little guilty having a high tea on a Royal Wedding Day without scones.. But! My beautiful friends came to the rescue, turning up with delicious home made jams and scones! What gorgeous friends I have!

We four sat down to an afternoon celebration in my little garden with a four tiered pink cake, mini quiches, cucumber sandwiches and other treats.  I enjoyed the preparation just as much as I enjoyed my darling girlfriends reactions when they sat down to eat.  

As the sun started to fade we settled down inside on the couch with our champagnes and eventually tea cups full, waiting for the balcony kiss..

 

The Kiss

Initially I was more excited to do all the baking and decorating than the wedding itself.. But by the end of the afternoon, we were enthralled, glued to the t.v, feeling a little bit like we were apart of history.


As a young girl I wanted to marry Prince William, purely so I could be a Princess.  I did feel a teeny twinge of envy when I saw the Duchess of Cambridge climb ever so gracefully into that amazing carriage with Prince William there to take her hand.. Sigh.. But I guess, at the end of the day.....

for a giggle

Hope lives on...

Xx