Perfect Sunday

I've been meaning to blog for a few weeks now about what I consider to be perfect Sundays. I don't get all that many Sundays off work but when I do this is how I like to spend them: sleep in till we wake up which isn't usually that late, maybe 8.30ish, then I go to the papershop and Ben makes breakfast. Usually croissants and tea for breakfast but every now and again we go the whole hog and have a cooked breakfast. We eat breakfast in bed and read the paper - Ben reads the serious bits and I read the magazines ;) Around 11ish we get showered and ready and then, if its good weather, head out for a walk or a little trip somewhere. Then its home for some food in the evening and Sunday night TV (which is great at the moment: Dancing on Ice then Lost, Desperate Housewives and Dirty Sexy Money). Bliss! Maybe I'm getting old because reading the paper in bed and going for walks doesn't sound like what I would have said a few years ago but its true.

Domestic goddess?

Anyone who knows me well will say that I'm not really into all that domestic goddess business of cooking and cleaning. Especially Ben who cooks about 99.9% of nights, maybe even more. This year I'm trying to be a bit better and pull my weight in the kitchen more (although to be fair its March now and this is my only effort so far!). With that in mind I thought I'd make Ben a yummy birthday treat back in January. I wanted to do his favourite cake which I found out after some subtle probing ('what's your favourite type of cake Ben?') was black forest gateau!! Black forest gateau!! That sounded hard to me so I called in the big guns - my friend Sian and Mrs Beeton.

After an assault on Tesco's for ingredients we set to work. For good measure we also did a batch of chocolate muffins to take to the pub with us later that evening. Although I'm not all that comfortable in the kitchen we had a really fun day and the results were, if I do say so myself, really tasty. Ben seemed chuffed with his cake aswell which made it all worthwhile :) Here is photographic evidence of me and Sian elbow deep in cake mix.

and here is the finished product. Not bad hey?

More Christmas updates

Last Christmas was the first one I've spent in Wales and the first proper Christmas for me and Ben spent just the two of us. Although we both missed being with family it was a really lovely day. We had good food (which as ever was nothing to do with me - Ben is the chef in this house) and both got some nice pressies. Here are a few choice photies from the day.

This was the yummy Christmas dinner Ben prepared. Yes those are veggie sausages wrapped in veggie bacon - anyone who's ever eaten veggie bacon will appreciate how difficult Ben found making those fake pigs in blankets.

Since Christmas things here have been quite chilled out. I got the approval on my thesis corrections and my friend Kim back in Leicester sorted out the printing and binding (thank you thank you thank you!!) so the thesis is now officially properly over!!! Hurrah!

Just wanted to mention that my sister has started an Etsy shop and wanted to point you in its direction. She makes chintzy stuff like aprons and bag tidys and is trying to make a bit of spare cash by selling a few pieces. You can check out her stuff at www.ProjectChintzy.etsy.com. She also writes a blog about her makes: www.projectchintzy.blogspot.com. I know I'm biased but I think the stuff she does is really cute!

Resolution time

Happy New Year readers!

Its been a while (as ever!) but one of my new year resolutions is to keep my blog updated more regularly. Other resolutions are to stop whinging so much and to get my ass in gear and find a way to earn a bit more money.

So what have I been up to since November 6th? Well I had my viva on November 11th and passed!!!! It was a terrifying but fabulous day and the feeling when they told me I'd passed and that they actually thought it was good work and I should be proud of myself was amazing. It made all the misery worthwhile. Since then I've handed in the corrections they gave me and I'm just waiting to find out if they're happy for me to print out the final copy and hand it in.

In December we went to Plas Newydd on Anglesey for a Christmas fair and a lovely wander around the grounds. Wish I'd taken my camera for that one because the view was fantastic but we're planning a return journey when the weather picks up so I'll get some photies then.

On my birthday we had a nice lunch at Blue Sky cafe in Bangor and a wander round the second hand bookshops. In the evening we went to Sian and Laurie's house for a Mulled Wine and Mince Pies evening. There was even a birthday cake for me which was fantastic and very yummy :) The boys got way too competitive over a game of beach cricket on the Wii and a good time was had by all.

I'll continue my rundown of festive activities in the next post (when I have my camera to hand and can put piccies on).

Normal service will resume shortly

Or perhaps even better than normal service which, lets face it, has tended to be fairly sporadic. This month's excuse is that I have my viva (big scary final exam thing for those not in the PhD business) next Tuesday and am therefore spending all my spare time at the moment cramming little facts into my cluttered brain. I'll let you know how it goes next week - keep anything you can spare crossed for me people!!

Carving out a life

So now the thesis is finished I've been able to actually start living properly again. I'm not saying I worked solidly for the last 9 months and had no fun at all (because, lets face it, if that was the case it wouldn't have taken me 9 months!) but whenever I have been enjoying myself I've always felt that guilt in the back of my mind - 'you should be working!'. Now that's gone I'm starting to carve a proper life for myself here. I've started playing badminton with Ben and some friends one evening a week and I've also started taking Welsh lessons. I'm hoping that it'll be useful for work, interesting and also a way to make some new friends as well. I've only had 3 lessons so far but its going quite well I think and I'm enjoying it. I'm also planning to get a knitting group started soon as well (if anyone from the area reads this and would be interested then get in touch). I'm really starting to enjoy life again and loving being here in Wales with my man :)

Man make fire, fire good

Here's a selection of photos from the first barbecue of the year round at Sian's house. Despite the fact that all the meat had already been cooked, Ben and Hank decided that they needed to show off their manliness and make fire:



I'm loving Ben's pose on this one!

Another successful day of being a man:

Sian's garden remained more or less in tact after this display of 'machoness'. Sarah's garden at a barbecue later in the year was not so lucky after an episode involving her chimnea, a bottle of citronella oil and very nearly the loss of my eyebrows ;)