Breathe in a little life...

With my big move growing ever closer (only 2 days to go!) I keep thinking about all of the ways to make my new little space as perfect as possible. I always find that no matter how small your space is it's great to have flowers and plants to brighten things up a little bit. Even in my room in my current flat I have countless vases of flowers and cacti. 

I can't wait to have a little more space to be able to add some plants to. Although having said that, I think it's safe to say I won't be able to afford to be being fresh flowers every week, and with the amazing quality of fake flowers nowadays I think buying fresh can sometimes be an unnecessary expenditure. For this reason, I'm super excited for the IKEA trip that's planned for Saturday so I can pick up some fake flowers and plants to put, well everywhere really! 

However, one thing is for sure I will be having fresh herbs growing on my kitchen windowsill! I love the idea with the mason jars on a plank on the wall! My current plan is to have mint, basil and a chilli plant and I can't wait! 

Here are some of my favourite ideas from Pinterest for breathing that little bit of life and colour into your space - they're the perfect way to brighten up a gloomy English day! 

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Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

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BAKING | The Healthy(ish) Muffins!

I had my usual weekend craving to do some baking last weekend (and this weekend but more on that soon!) but I wanted to try and make some at least relatively healthy. So whilst trawling through Pinterest for inspiration I found some lemon and chia seed muffins and thought I'd put my own spin on them. I prefer lime to lemons and I had some blueberries that needed eating up so thought why not throw them in too!

The addition of ricotta in these muffins made them super light and fluffy and stopped them from going dry within a couple of days of being made. The blueberries, well you can't go wrong with blueberries, they added a lovely tartness which was delicious especially with the sweet honey on top. 

My flatmate who is usually thoroughly opposed to anything healthy has raved about these for the past week and needless to say they all disappeared in a matter of days - I only got my hands on one! 

So if you're looking for something super easy and (a little bit) guilt free then definitely try these. You could put whatever fruit you want in them, I think strawberries would be lovely at this time of year, or to make it slightly less guilt free you could add chocolate chips! 

I hope you like this recipe, baking is one of my all time favourite things to do - it's so therapeutic, so I love being able to share it with you all!

Make sure to follow me on Bloglovin' for more recipes!

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I'm Moving!!

I've always been a firm believer in not moving in with someone too quickly and have preached this and my reasoning behind it to numerous people over the years but it's official, in two weeks time I'll be taking the plunge and moving in with my boyfriend. Will this live up to everything I hope it will, who knows! But one thing I do know is that I am very excited about the big move!

For the last 9 months we've been living between two homes which quite frankly sucks so I can't wait to just go to work each day with just my handbag and not some great heavy tote bag containing the immense amount of things I need to stay a night away from home. Whether in a few weeks time I'll be wishing back to the days when all I had to worry about was carrying an overnight bag with me each day instead of cleaning up after the boy all the time...well, only time will tell. No, I jest, as it stands at the moment I don't have any pre-move doubts, I'm not sure there's any room in my head for doubt with all the excitement.

I've spent hours trawling through Pinterest to get inspiration of how I want my first 'home' to look, will it all be a bit too girly? With the amount of cushions mum is currently making for me - quite possibly (I'm pretty sure I have enough cushions as it is but can you ever really have enough?). But I've always been very house proud and so I'm determined to make the new flat perfect and I promise Matthew will have some say in how it all looks!

Anyway I've pretty much been bursting with excitement about this for weeks now so I felt it was about time I shared it with you all and gave a little life update! I have a feeling there are going to be numerous Pinterest inspiration posts going up in the near future so make sure to follow me on Bloglovin' so you don't miss any!

I'll be sure to do an update post in a few weeks to let you know how it's all going!

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PAMPER | Afternoon Tea

As you know from my last post (click here if you haven't read it yet!) my mum came down to London a couple of weeks ago for a girly day and I had a little surprise up my sleeve for her to celebrate her birthday. After a morning of mooching along Kings Road, ending up in our favourite shop, Anthropologie, we headed up to Mayfair for the surprise, afternoon tea at Browns Hotel. She was so excited when we stopped outside and I told her what her surprise was, it even got me a little emotional... 

 

It wouldn't have been a birthday celebration without a little tipple so we both chose the Rosé Champagne Afternoon Tea which included a glass of Ruinart Rosé Champagne each as a little added luxury. 

They keep things simple with delicious crust-less finger sandwiches to start with your typical English fillings; from cucumber with celery salt to roast beef and beetroot horseradish. Luckily the waiter gave us a heads up when he brought us our little tower of heaven and reminded us that there are fresh tarts and cakes for afterwards, and so although we could have unlimited food we restrained ourselves early on so we could appreciate every last morsel! 

Next up we moved on to the sweet offerings which included Pimms jelly, battenberg cake and mini pavlova, is it just me who thinks that anything in miniature form tastes SO much better?? I managed to save room for some freshly baked strawberry tart afterwards and I am so glad I did! Oh and of course we can't forget the most important part of a traditional English afternoon tea...the scones. We were given a selection of both plain and fruit scones...still warm from the oven - can anything beat that? 

At this point our eyes got a little too big for our stomachs and when offered a refill of our tower we couldn't resist and yet the second it was placed on the table I think we both instantly regretted it as all the tea and cake was starting to catch up with us! 

 

Right as we were reaching the point of needing a little power nap in our comfy armchairs the pianist starting playing happy birthday and they bring this adorable mini pavlova, complete with candle, as a little added touch to celebrate mum's birthday. I'd completely forgotten mentioning this when I booked our table so it was a surprise for both of us! 

They kindly let us box up our leftovers (which Matthew was very happy about when we saw him a little later at Madison Tapas and Cocktail Bar) hence the cheeky little take away box! 

This was such a fantastic way to spend the day with my mum, although she and my dad come to London fairly regularly I don't often get to have a girly day! We've officially decided to make it an annual event and work our way around the London hotels sampling each of their afternoon teas! At least that way we might be able to have our say as to whether Browns Hotel really does do the best afternoon tea in London! 

I highly recommend afternoon tea as a birthday present or even just as a little treat for you and some girlfriends. Have you been for afternoon tea anywhere? I'd love some recommendations to add to my 'Afternoon Tea Bucket List'. 

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Cocktails With A View

As a little birthday treat I invited my mum down to London last weekend for a bit of a girly day with a surprise bit of luxury for the afternoon (more on that soon!). It's not often that we get to have a girly day to ourselves to mooch around the shops without the boys loitering outside wishing we'd stop swooning over handbags we can't afford to it was lovely to get a day to do just that. 

To finish off our day, we met up with Matthew (breaking the rules of  a girls day I know but it was mum's idea) and we headed up to Madison Tapas and Cocktail Bar  opposite St Paul's Cathedral. Matthew and I had popped up here before we went for dinner at Coq D'Argent (more on that here) but we didn't have time for a drink so I was keen to go back and try out something from their infamous cocktail list. 

You really couldn't be closer to St Paul's if you tried (or not with a cocktail in hand anyway!) and the view is truly amazing so we spent quite a bit of time gazing out over the London skyline and taking some pictures. 

Then we moved onto the bar.... and after much deliberation I decided to go with a Madison Passion which consisted of champagne, rose vodka and passion fruit. I know the rose vodka bit might sound a little strange but in all honesty you can't really taste it anyway, it just adds a little extra kick. 

Having seen mine being made mum couldn't resist having the same!

Matthew broke the trend though and went with a Winter Mojito which had sloe gin, fresh basil, lime and soda water in it. I was secretly glad we chose this one as I'd been eyeing up too so I was looking forward to having a sneaky little try. I was actually a little jealous after I'd tried his....it was delicious, the basil was a lovely change from the usual mint in a mojito - might have to try and make it at home! 

That view is just something else! You really can't beat a rooftop bar in London in the summer months! 

Madison Tapas and Cocktail Bar really is a wonderful place to go to either just for the great view of St Paul's or to try out one of their many cocktails. They even have a giant screen and deck chairs to sit back and enjoy the last few days of Wimbledon! 

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