Holiday At Home. Part 2: Bath!

After we had spent a few lovely days in London it was time for Dennis and I to continue our journey and make a quick stop off at my parents house in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.
Mum and Dad were working during the day so we would spend the evening with them and occupy ourselves throughout the morning . It was a perfect balance of our time versus parent time.

Dennis (who is originally from The Netherlands) had already visited my parents home before and had seen the delights my little town had to offer. So we decided to take a day trip to one of the close by cities that Dennis had not yet visited. We ended up visiting the rather charming city of Bath.

As you can see from the pictures it's a pretty magical looking place. It is very picturesque indeed with its beautiful Abbey, Roman baths and historical streets. 

Dennis enjoyed it very much!

Whilst we were there Dennis wanted to try something typically English to eat. We found a bench in the city and sat and ate piping hot Cornish pasties that we had bought from one of the many bakeries. I thought they were DELICIOUS, but they were clearly not Dennis' cup of tea. Oh well....all the more for me :-)

I showed Dennis around the shops and took him to this little street that was hidden just off of the main High Street. It held two lovely little shops that were right up our alley.

Wool was the very appropriately named yarn store, it was cute and held a really good selections of yarn. The shop was bright and comfortable with a sofa very conveniently placed in the middle of the room. As soon as we walked in we were greeted with a very pleasant smile from the lady working there and she kindly asked if we needed any help. She really was super friendly and made browsing the yarn so much more enjoyable.

Country Threads was situated just across the road from Wool and was also a little treasure of a shop. If you're looking for fabric, threads and buttons this is really your place. We were browsing around in the shop front area only to be pointed out by the owner that there was also a massive back room stocked full of fabrics. it was really quite amazing just how much fabric they had!

Naturally after a spot of craft shop browsing it was time for another yummy treat. We thought we'd go and sample the delights of the fudge shop. As we walked up to the fudge shop we noticed that they were making fudge, so it was nice to be able to watch part of the making process. It smelt so delicious!

After sampling the home made treats that Bath had to offer we got back to our craft shopping.

I was excited to take Dennis to the cute little shop ´The Makery Emporium`. I had told him about this lovely little shop after my last trip to Bath (and blogged about it here), so he was keen to take a look at the lovely crafting products they stocked.

Of course we didn't leave empty handed! We decided to by some rather cool fabric with the intention of making some fun new cushions for our sofa in our new apartment.

I'm rather smitten with the glasses fabric and can't wait to make something with it!

That was our day out in Bath.
Denis and I both enjoyed it very much and loved walking around and talking about one day owning a shop like the Makery Emporium in a city just like Bath. We can dream for now but one day wouldn't it be lovely if that could become a reality! Of course we would also have a cafe in our craft shop and invite you all in for coffee, tea and a big slice of cake :-)

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Holiday At Home. Part 1: London!

I told you I'd be back very soon!!! 

As mentioned on Tuesday, after my long seven week break from blogging I'm back with lots to tell and so much to share with you all. 

As you already know I'd been fighting against being ill for a good few weeks, so at the end of September the 10 day holiday I had scheduled earlier in the year could not have come at a better time.

Dennis was back from his cruise ship so we had 10 days together. 10 days free from work to do whatever we wanted. 

We thought about going somewhere sunny? Or visiting somewhere brand new to the two of us? But after some careful thought we decided that the best way to spend our time was to visit our home countries. To go back to familiar places, to make new memories where we both already had so many old and to also catch up with friends and family members that we hadn't seen in a little while. 

Our first part of our trip started with travelling back to London. We flew from Hamburg to London Heathrow and made our way directly to our hotel. We were staying at the Easyjet hotel, so as you can imagine it was pretty budget. We'd decided that there was no point in staying at a fancy hotel as it was SOOOOO expensive in London and we were going to be spending most of our time out and about anyways. The hotel room was tiny but served its purpose as a central location (near to Victoria station) where we could sleep comfortably. 

Our London trip was all about visiting familiar surroundings, getting away from Hamburg and eating! We got straight down to the eating part by going for a lovely meal at an Italian restaurant near to Covent Garden. The weather was mild so were able to sit outside at a table on the street and enjoy each others company over some yummy food.

After eating we took an evening stroll around the city and stopped off for some yoghurt at SNOG (a trendy frozen yoghurt store). I loved the deco at SNOG it's so vibrant. Lots of cool lighting and graffiti style art on the walls.

I went for plain yoghurt with Oreo cookies and Dennis chose the "healthier" option of fresh raspberries.

The following day we woke up nice and early to make that most of our days in the city.

We were starting our day by meeting up with our amazing friend Bridget. 

I hadn't seen Bridget in two years and due to busy schedules we also hadn't spoken so often over the past months. When we saw each other it was like old times and the chit chat and banter was still there. 

Bridget is the most amazingly driven person you are likely to meet. She always has some new and exciting project on the go. Bridget owns a chain of lovely ice cream shops around London where she makes the most amazing ice cream you are ever likely to taste. Not only does Bridget have her ice cream shops to keep her busy, she is also a trained nutritionist and wrote a nutrition book last year called Six Pack Chick. As you can see she is pretty fabulous! 

On top of that Bridget has a new venture: We Can Be Kind where she blogs about her 'Random acts of kindness'. I urge you to go take a look at her website, you will definately be inspired!

After catching up with Bridget we made our way into the city centre and did a spot of wandering around along with some shopping. 

I had to go to Hamleys toy shop as I always like to look at the magic trick section. I very rarely buy anything there, but love to watch the magician perform and demonstrate the magic tricks on offer. It brings me back to the love of my magic trick set I had as a child. 

We also spent a good amount of time wandering around Liberty. It's such a beautiful department store. Very expensive but lovely to go for a browse. 

Liberty had a pretty great haberdashery, a large selection of Rowan Yarn......

and a huge selection of GORGEOUS printed fabric. Liberty is definitely worth a visit for the sewers and quilters among you. 

After a day of shopping we headed to the West End as we wanted to see a couple of shows whilst we were in the city. 

We tried to get tickets for The Book of Mormon but it was totally sold out and we were not successful in the lottery they hold each day.  

Instead we got ourselves are pair of tickets for the new musical The Commitments, based on the movie of the same name. It was a really great show, a lot of very talented performers and some fantastic music. 

It was still in the early days of previews so we got extremely great value tickets for £30 each. A bargain and a lovely night out!!!

The following day, and our final day in London started off with the most yummy breakfast I think I have ever had. We ended up eating at The Breakfast Club on Islington's Camden Passage. 

It was a rather cool little cafe decorated with all sorts of pictures, postcards and old vinyl records. 

On the tables stood traditional English condiments. OH HP SAUCE HOW I'VE MISSED YOU!!

We drank perfectly made coffee and then tucked into a gorgeous feast creamy of Eggs Benedict. 

If that wasn't enough for the two of us, we topped the breakfast off with a fresh fruit juice each! They were sooooo scrummy!

Of course we had eaten WAY too much and so I long day of walking around the city was the perfect solution to ease our bloated stomachs.
We walked around enjoying the familiar sights and I remembered just how much I enjoy the city. I would definitely love to move back to London again someday in the future.
London was the first place I lived when I left home and so I have a very special place for it in my heart. It was my first taste of a big city and my first taste of not being totally dependant on my parents. Its a place where I discovered to be me and I realised just how much I miss and love it.

For our final evening in the city we grabbed (yet another) bite to eat at the rather splendid Carluccio's in Covent Garden. We shared a yummy antipasti plate before eating our main meals.

We had to eat pretty fast as were were going to theatre once again. This time to see The Body Guard, again based on the movie of the same name.
I was very excited about seeing this show as it featured the amazing songs of Whitney Houston and was staring my favourite British singer, Beverley Knight.

It was a FABULOUS show. I really did enjoy it and Beverley Knight was as amazing. So good in fact I had to go meet her at the stage door and get a little picture with her.
Not only was Beverley Knight awesome on stage but she also seemed like a very sweet lady. I felt a little embarrassed waiting at the door like a big fan, especially also being in the theatre business. But the truth of it was, I am a huge fan and getting a to meet somebody I greatly admire pleased me endlessly.

It was the perfect end to a lovely stay in London. This trip to London was really special and was a perfect city break for the two of us.

Now time to jump on the train and head to my parents home in Malmesbury.........

To be continued :-)

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Stress Free

Hey there!!
How have you all been?
Seven whole weeks have past since my last post! On one hand I can't believe just how fast time has gone, but on the other, I look back at the past seven weeks and realise just how crazy full and busy they have been.

Rather like the post (the catch up) I wrote back in July, I find myself coming back to my blog after a long break with a strong desire to fill you in on EVERYTHING.
It's almost hard knowing where to start, so much has happened yet the time has passed in a heart beat.
I guess the easiest thing would be to travel back to when I wrote my last post and over the next few days catch you up to todays date.
That sounds like a good idea! There is far too much to squeeze into one post, not to mention I would hate to overload you with pictures and blabber on way too much!! :-)

Way back in August I told you about the guest blog post I wrote for Somerset place. Around that time I was also asked to guest post on a couple of other blog and to share my work with the readers of Inside Crochet magazine. Naturally I was very flattered and very happy to oblige! I love sharing my work and to do so in a magazine was a dream come true.

My article for Inside crochet magazine was published in this months edition!

I'm very happy with it and feel extremely proud to have my work spread across two full pages.

It was around the time I committed to writing these guest posts that my work load at the theatre (where I work) suddenly hit a rather epic high. I was working full speed ahead trying to rehearse people ready for the show and barely had any spare time to work on my blog. When I did have some spare time, I was either too tired or had to spend my time to meet the deadline of the guest post I had committed to writing.

As well as trying to balance my work schedule and my other commitments,  Dennis and I had to start thinking about organising our apartment for a big move of cities.
Tarzan (the show I work on) was due to close in Hamburg and move to Stuttgart, about 650 kilometres south of Hamburg. This meant that we had a lot of organising, arranging and preparing to do.

On top of working hard with rehearsals, stressing about the move and still dancing in the show each night, I ended up getting ill. A sinus infection that I kept working through ended up spreading to my lungs resulting in a rather nasty sounding cough. Stupidly I continued to work. Dancing in the the show and coughing resulted in my ribs became dislocated and a lot of pain! Silly me!!

If anybody had asked me seven weeks ago how I was doing? I would have smiled and said great! That would have been a BIG fib! It's clear now I'm looking back that I was struggling trying to balance work, commitments and my health.  It was my health that ended up giving way. It really is a lesson learnt and next time I will slow down a little sooner than I did.

I'm back to good health now and am fighting fit again!!! Dennis and I have had a little holiday visiting family, We've moved from Hamburg to Stuttgart and I now feel stress free and rather happy in our new apartment.

So that's a quick explanation as to why I haven't been posting, I hope it doesn't sound depressing or like I'm having too much of a moan. I'll be back in a few days with some pictures and tales of our big change of cities along with some lovely holiday snaps!

Speak really REALLY soon!

Lots of love from (a now stress free) me! :-)

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Somerset Place - Guest Blogger.

Hello Lovely people!

The picture above makes me very happy indeed! It's playful, bright and cheery and is a photo of a little flowery project I was rather occupied with last week.

I don't know if you remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had written an article for the lovely magazine, Artful Blogging.

I was totally thrilled to have been part of this magazine and to get involved with the amazing people at Stampington and company, the people behind the wonderful publication. 

It was a few weeks after I had finished my Artful Blogging post that I was approached to write a guest blog post on the 'Stampington and company' website. I jumped at the chance!

Along with many other publications, a shop, website and studio, Stampington also has a terrific blog called 'Somerset Place'.

It was for Somerset place that I worked on this fun, flowery project and created a little 'how to' blog post for them.

I made my usual step by step picture post that I am ever so fond of. Showing my method to faux flower fabulousness!

Here are a few of the pictures from my tutorial/ guest blog post:

It was a fun project to make. Nothing too complicated and an ideal evening project for a night in front of the television.
Here's another little glimpse at my finished creation:

Felt, woollen and pom pom flowers!!! In bright and bold colours!

A very happy project! the flowers now sit on my chest of drawers looking rather perky and pleased with themselves :-)
Here's a link for those of you that want to check out the blog and the full post over at Somerset Place and maybe give making some fun fake flowers a whirl!!

Until next time, keep crafty!

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