Sundays are for Baking

Hello!  Did you have a good Sunday?

It was a really lovely day here.  We went to some shops out of town to try to get some things for our kitchen.  I had so many things to carry home though that I wisely didn't take my camera there with me.  The morning and evening I spent baking!

I had been waiting all week to make these biscuits which I've made a couple of times before.  They feel slightly healthier than normal cookies because of the oats (though I'm sure the butter and sugar more than make up for them!).  Either way they're delicious.

You can find the recipe here at the BBC Good Food website.  Hurry as the recipe is only going to be up until September 30th!

Before baking....

...and after!  They only take 10 minutes in the oven.  Quick to make and quickly gone in to my stomach too!

In the evening I decided that I wanted to use up the ripe bananas we had in our kitchen so I found a quick and easy recipe for banana bread!

 I bought a new loaf tin specially for it.  It worked really well!  It was one of those fancy new rubber variates.  I was impressed with it, it was really easy to use.

It is another good food recipe, this one here. 

I love the good food website, there are so many recipes up there!  I cooked the banana bread a little bit longer than stated in the recipe as I read the comments below the recipe and that's what most of them said to do.  The smell whilst it was cooking was delicious!  It tasted yummy too.

So it was quite a productive Sunday.  I hope my Monday will be equally as productive though I feel like I need to recover from eating too many biscuits and cakes!  Is Sunday a good baking day for you too?

I need to pop out to the shops now, I really want to go and find a blender so I can make my own smoothies.

till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Polka Dot Socks

Hey there!

How's your week going?  I'm so excited it's nearly the weekend.  I have to work on Saturday until 1pm but I am free as a bird after that :)

I was lounging on the sofa the other day and I noticed that both my boyfriend and I were wearing dotty socks.

His are Paul Smith socks that I got him for his birthday, mine are H&M!

We both love dots, here's another example of things we own that are almost the same print!

This is my dotty dressing gown and below is his dotty shirt!

Clearly we are meant to be ;)  I also have a polka dot Cath Kidston handbag.  Polka Dots are such a cute print that makes any item seem out of the ordinary and fun.  What about you?  Are you more in to dots or stripes?  Or maybe a cute flower print!?

till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

An Early Start for a Sunday...with coffee, ducks and lipstick

Hello!

I hope you guys had a good weekend.  I took my camera out for a walk with me on Sunday.  It was a special day here, celebrating the beginning of a new school year.  It was quite busy in the cafe we went to because of this but we were so exhausted from work we had gone to bed quite early on Saturday night. This meant that we got out much earlier than usual for a Sunday, so I didn't mind sitting around waiting for our coffee to arrive.

I'm having a bit of an internal fight at the moment about whether or not I should try to stop drinking coffee.  Is caffeine really that bad for you?  At the moment though I'm only having one a day so I don't think that's so bad.  They don't really serve decaf over here as standard yet which would probably solve my problem as it's the taste and smell I love more than the effect.

I really love nice kitchen ware.  This is a cute milk jug they had at the cafe.

We went for a walk along the river which is where I caught sight of this duck dunking itself in the water, so cute!

A well worn looking bridge.

There are loads of pretty looking flower baskets out at the moment.  I think it's to compensate for the harsh and long winter we have.  I love seeing a blue sky too!

I wore a dress I've had for ages.  It was a present from my Mum.  It's by Henry Holland for Debenhams and has this really cute pattern on it.

It's a really wearable day dress.  Easy to throw on and look pretty.

I don't wear lipstick very often so I like to try to make myself wear it at the weekends.  I wore my favourite Art Deco lipstick in shade 36.  I love the matte creamy texture of this lipstick.  It's richly pigmented and fairly long lasting, although I do still have to re-apply it after eating or drinking.

It's a pretty wearable pink.  Not too bright but still pretty.

I wear these pink Accessorize earrings all the time.  I got them last summer and I seem to remember that they were a really good price!

When we got home it rained and rained so heavily.  I spent the evening sorting out the kitchen and making cupcakes.  When the weather changes and the nights get darker and longer it inspires me to bake.  I suppose because it makes home feel more cosy.  I definitely want to try and keep baking and experimenting in my new much more decent sized kitchen!

The evening is drawing in once more and it's another cloudy one.  I hope you enjoyed this peak in to my day.  I'll be ending mine drinking decaf tea in my kitchen and maybe catching up on some episodes of my favourite programmes.

I'd love you to follow me on here or click on the bloglovin' button in the sidebar to follow me on there!

Till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Today I wore... Topshop and New Look

Hello!

I hope you guys are having a nice weekend.  This is an outfit I actually wore on Friday to go to work in.  I bought this dress in the summer sales at Topshop.  It was a great buy at 20 quid and I got lots of compliments on it at work.

The photo isn't great quality so I'll try and take a better picture of it with my Canon camera at home.

I wore it with my New Look shoes which are leather and were just 10 quid in the sale!

You can see the pattern on the dress a bit clearer here.  So pretty!

Here's a closer picture of the shoes.  They are a great height for everyday wear and pretty too!

I'm hoping to make some cupcakes later today, maybe I will surprise my boyfriend with them,

till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Product Review: Body Shop Sweet Lemon Beautifying Oil

Hello!

I hope today went well for you.  My day went better than yesterday.  I even had time for a massage and a bath which almost made me too sleepy!  I got a bit moody and over-tired after that but hopefully I'll be well rested for a full on day at work tomorrow!

I thought I should do a product review as I haven't done one in a while.  I picked up this oil from the Body Shop in the sale this summer.  I've been wanting to try one of these body oils for about a year already but was put off by the price ( 18 euros over here!!).  Luckily I found one which was 4.50 in the sale, yay!  The only scent that was on offer was the Sweet Lemon one but I really liked the smell: it was fresh, slightly citrusy and not too sweet, so I was sure I wouldn't be chased by insects all summer.

I really loved it.  I get quite dry skin after washing so I used it mostly on my arms and legs straight after drying off from a shower.  I loved how it felt to use and I loved the fresh smell.  It was great to have when I went on holiday.  It's quite a good sized bottle for travelling and was great to use on my skin after a day in the sun.  I even put a little on my face when it felt really dry.

The biggest problem was that I ended up using it up so fast!  It only lasted me a couple of months.  I'd love to get another one but I can't justify paying the full price especially when I know I'll just use it up so quickly.  So to summarise, I loved the scent, I loved the feel of it and if it was 4.50 in the sale again I would totally buy another one!

Hope that's useful to someone out there!  I'd love to try one in another scent aswell sometime!

till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Today I wore...plus a walk in the sunshine

Hello!

How's your day been? Mine's been a bit up and down.  I had a nice walk in the sun to work and then an OK morning class.  Unfortunately I struggled in the rehearsals this morning which has kind of got me down all day.  I always find it hard to switch off after a difficult day at work.  I'm not very good at compartmentalising, something I've read men are supposed to be better at the women!

Anyway I've been trying to cheer myself up by thinking about some blog things for a bit.  I've also sorted out some washing and most of the kitchen.  What are your best tactics for de-stressing after a difficult day?

As I don't have room to take my DSLR to work with me you'll have to make do with some ipod snaps again!

I love this tree lined street.  I can't stop myself taking pictures of it every time it's sunny.

I think morning sunlight is just so gorgeous.

Here's my new pink blazer I wore to work today.  I took this picture whilst I was changing for class this morning.  I wore it with skinny jeans and my brogues.

Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.  I'm thinking I need to think of a treat to have after work so I can look forward to tomorrow no matter what it brings.  Chips at MacDonald's perhaps?

till next time

Twirlybirdie :)

Today I wore...leg warmers and new shoes

Hello!

Hope you're having a good Wednesday.

Today was a full on day at work for me.  We were a little late for the bus and had to run for it, then we had the first ever run-through of the first act of our new ballet, phew!  Then I managed to pop out for some lunch before it was back to work for more rehearsals.  I managed to snap a couple of pictures on my i-pod though.

Here is a picture of some of my favourite leg warmers which I wore today for the morning class.

I love the pastel colours on them.  Actually I tend to wear a lot of pale/pastel colours for class.

I managed to wear my new shoes for the first time today.  I wore them with brown tights and a patterned dress.

I snapped this whilst I was having lunch.  I love purple and green together!

Now it's time to relax before another full day of work tomorrow!

till next time

Twirlybirdie :)