The weekend - picture heavy!

I've had a lovely weekend this weekend. On Friday night I went out for some drinks and dancing with friends, and then on Saturday Tom and I went into the New Forest for a pub lunch and a walk around the lake near Lymington. Tom fed a swan some blackberries....

And it wasn't the only time this weekend that he made friends with a member of the animal kingdom, as, on Friday night, my friend Becki's leopard gecko took a liking to him - even licking his ear and climbing up his beard!

Dave the leopard gecko

With Tom here it has been a good excuse to practice some cooking this week as I normally don't make much of an effort when it's just myself to cook for. I took some snaps of some of my favourite meals....

Garlic bread naan pizza

Recipe from Kaelah Bee's blog here

Prawn linguine

Recipe from Special K here

Baked gnocchi with tomato and mozzarella

I have been feeling a lot more inspired and motivated this weekend, which is a good feeling. I have dug out all of my old film cameras (or, the ones that still work at least!) and am intending to get out and about and run some rolls of film through them all. Here are my four favourites sitting on my bookshelf;

L-R - Action Tracker, 120 Holga, Fisheye, Olympus XA Rangefinder

I adore my Holga but it is such a pain getting 120 film developed. It is also a pain that all the film I have seems to go out of date so quickly - I have about four rolls of film that run out in September and I'm not sure how long after their use-by date they can still be used. Does anyone have any ideas? I've only run one roll of film through it so far and I adored the results, my favourite being this little snap I took on Daytona Beach in January.

Unfortunately my inspiration and motivation has not only been manifesting itself in creative forms, but also in a deep lust for making some additions to my wardrobe, and sorting out the things I already have. I am in deep need of another big EBay sortout, and I'm intending to, on payday, buy a load of those cool vacuum packing clothes bags and to tidy away all of my summer wardrobe since it is now quite clearly winter! To celebrate the arrival of the chillier season I have invested in a lovely vintage cable knit aran cardigan and as soon as my EBay blitz has been completed I will treat myself with some more additions. I have also been lusting after a military blazer, some jersey harem pants and anything with peaked shoulders so I'm sure I will find a way to justify these purchases - naughty!

Home life

This week has been lovely so far, mainly due to (as in the previous post) my new co-habitee - my other half, who normally lives an hour and a half away in Weymouth. It makes such a difference to living on your own; having someone to do the food shop with, go for a post-dinner walk with, or even just talk over the day with. It is such a nice feeling to wander into the living room from reading my book and have someone falling asleep on my sofa watching Bruce Lee movies!

Enter the Dragon

Aside from our busy Bruce Lee movie watching routine, Tom and I have also been doing lots of cooking experimentation (mainly me, actually) - the crux of which has been the competition to make the perfect poached egg. I won this competition on Sunday morning with the below entry. I took a photo for evidence as it was wolfed down in about five seconds!

The winning poached egg

I have no other exciting news to report, except for the fact that everything just feels really good at the moment. The few days of sunshine we have had over the last few days has really lifted my spirits, work is going well at the moment and I have a lot to look forward to.

Coming home to a cute t-shirt I bought from Ayden's Little Shop of Horrors, complete with cupcake stickered envelope hasn't hurt either :]

Saturday for two weeks

Today is an exciting day for me because my other half, who normally lives an hour and a half away, is coming to stay for two weeks as he's on a training course up here. Normally we only get to spend two or three days in a row together due to both of our working patterns, so we are both looking forward to living together for a little while like a proper couple. In fact, I am looking forward to it so that I have prepared a list of fun things to do whilst he is up here, and even a shopping list so we can make sure we have yummy meals to eat.

Luckily, prior to him coming to stay this time we have spent a week on a yacht and two weeks in a camper van in France together so I know that we won't kill each other by the end of it!

As well as (one of the things on the list!) a visit to Marwell Zoo tomorrow I have had a lovely chilled Friday night and Saturday morning in the flat, which was just what I needed after the last few weekends of festivals, weddings, and a week of being on call. Last night my friend Becki came round for a girly night and we had a bottle of rosé wine and she painted my nails. We decided to go for a nautical theme and this was the result;

And Becki tried a lighthouse on her thumbnail:

What do you think?

This morning I am just going to potter around and watch some trashy TV and read my book - I cannot wait! It is a lovely day in Southampton today so the balcony door is open and I am enjoying the sunshine.

That is the view from my balcony, through my carrots, that are still growing away, and probably need repotting!

Blurker

Well, after all my promises I still haven't blogged - ha. I am the worst! I have been lurking around other's blogs however (being a 'blurker') and feeling all creative and inspired. I really do have lots to write about - I don't have a wildly exciting life but I make sure I take lots of pictures and I have a list of things pinned up on my cupboard that I want to do over the next few weeks, so I could at least blog about things I've seen or done. I am always twittering and taking snaps on my phone, so I certainly have the material and the motivation. I just don't always find the time. But I really would like to make the time. I also want to start scrapbooking again and using my notebook.

To make a start, I had a great weekend this weekend at End of the Road festival. It really was just perfect - all fairy lights strung through woods, vintage typewriters lying around, peacocks wandering around and yummy fair trade food and cider. Oh, yes, there were bands too! I was very, very excited to get to see one of my absolute favourite bands, the Mountain Goats and they were just, brilliant! I took the below two pictures too, what do you think?