1. Kitties!
Our trio are on excellent form at the moment. As it's a busy month for writing and house projects, I'm around a lot, and being able to punctuate my days with kitty cuddles is always a treat!
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| Matthew gets lots of lunchtime pictures like this. |
It was also Matthew's birthday last week, when I was able to give him his wonderful, kitty-centric gift, created by our awesomely talented friend, Emily.
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| *SUCH* a talent |
2. Recipe development.
I am having the most fun devising some new recipes and cocktails to share here. As someone who loves to cook it's so fun to be able to write about it and have people feedback.
3. Windsor.
This past weekend we went to Ascot (more on that later) and we stayed on the outskirts of Windsor to make travel to and from the racecourse easier. Matthew's parents and he and I enjoyed having a little wander around the town, taking in the castle, spying a bevy of swans, and having a delicious meal at the charming Windsor Grill. It was such a lovely wee spot to explore!
4. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
The lovely Erica mentioned this show as a must-watch, so I added it to my Netflix queue. And I love it. It is so funny & quirky & perfect to watch when you're chilling out. Have you seen it?
5. Snapchat.
It took me a while to get into Snapchat, but now I love it - for me it's like a little vlog of my days and I love the immediacy and the silliness of the platform. As well as sharing on the app I also sharing my daily videos over on my blog's facebook page, so it's a fun way to have little videos of my adventures. If you're on snapchat and we are not friends yet, I'm cmclaire12 over there. I share about cats, books, events and fun, mainly. With occasional ridiculous selfies, of course.
6. Smoothies for breakfast.
I am trying to be a little healthier, in order to be a littler Claire. Part of this is smoothies for breakfast! I've found a protein powder I love for proteiny days (Sculptress - affiliate link), and the most amazing freezer packs for fruit smoothies or green smmothies from Ocado. It's going well - some mornings I go light, other mornings I go crazy, but it's a nice filling start to the day!
7. Katy's lovely Brighton vlog.
A couple of weeks back I wrote about my visit to Brighton with Katy, as part of the fab #inbedwithibis event. She posted her vlog about the event yesterday, and it's so fun. She's so great on camera, and I was cracking up at my silly dirty laugh in the background of so many shots. We had such fun!
8. Ascot.
Matthew and John, my father-in-law, both have summer birthdays, so well always try to get together with them for a little birthday treat. Last year we went to to Formula 1, and this year we had a whale of a time at Ascot for the races! It was a great day, with some people profiting on their flutters and others....not. More than anything it was fabulous to spend time together, as well as hang out with our dear friend Chalmers, who happened to be in attendance as well.
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| Love whenever we get time to spend with either side of our families. We're both so lucky to love our in-laws. |
9. Sunshine.
How brilliant is it to have the sun back again?
10. Christmas in July.
I am feeling so spoiled with the wonderful Christmas in July events I've been able to go along to. I marvelled at the beauties on display at the Marks and Spencer event (and adored catching up with the lovely Jaye and Natasha, who I bumped into there!), swanned around Somerset House to see Lakeland's offerings, and loved the Winter Wonderland created by John Lewis. I also got to see the A/W16 preview for Neptune and promptly fell in love with oh-so-many homewares. I'm looking forward to more events later this month and have spotted so many great items to write and share about as we head into autumn and towards Christmas (eek!).
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The 'make your own gin' bar at M & S was AMAZING! Can't wait to sample my creation in a fortnight.
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The Lakeland event was full of wonder and whimsy - and amazing gift ideas, like the above which I am so hoping to find in my stocking!
At Neptune I loved the big, light space and the beautiful pieces on display - so much inspiration, made me want to go straight home and get sketching!
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So that was the last lovely week - here's to another one!
