lovely jubbly london

burford

We stumbled upon Burford by accident, but it was a wonderfully charming village with a busy high street. 

I love hole in the wall (literally!) places.

The gorgeous Burford church, St John the Baptist

The Tanfield Tomb of Sir Lawrence, Elizabeth I's Chancellor of the Exchequer

and look at the gorgeous vicarage:

Burford was truly picture perfect.

put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right

I'm seriously loving my new shoes, even vacuuming isn't dull when I'm wearing them. Of course, I'm not going to show you my pajamas I am also still wearing even though it is almost lunchtime. 

If the husband only knew that having new shoes would help me do the housework perhaps he would have let me buy them earlier.... 

I'm thinking I really should buy another pair, perhaps in a different colour since they are the perfect heel height/width for dealing with our walk to the station, cobblestones and stairs. 

Good shoes are so hard to find.

cotswolds

I was away for a few days in one of my favourite places in England, the Cotswolds...

It's truly a charming place and oh so English!

our beautiful hotel

The village of Lower Slaughter was our base for exploring.

the parish church of St Mary

I love the Cotswold stone and stained glass.

The village of Upper Slaughter was also nearby and while we were there we decided, why not buy a country manor?

I think this one will do...

On second thought, it may be a bit too small.

HA!

it's beginning to look a {little} like Christmas

Yes, the Selfridges Santas are back....

The Christmas halls are open at most London department stores and I could hardly believe my eyes when I went downstairs in Selfridges and saw him. One of the Santas I loved last year right in front of me. I hugged him and couldn't resist touching his face while trying to see what he was made of... he does look spookily realistic! 

But, as much as I love Christmas, isn't it just a bit early? 

boosting the economy one ruffle at a time

Now I'm going to let you in on a little secret. While I shop at the traditional stores for my age group (Banana Republic, The Limited, J Crew and Anthropologie), I also look to those stores who send our parents and grandparents catalogues. They tend to be cheaper than J Crew or Anthro and are trying to to draw in a younger audience. Here is where I confess my love for Eddie Bauer t-shirts. They are seriously great and made with a pretty decent weight cotton. I think EB tends to have tops that are cut a bit better and more fitted so I always at least look on their website. LL Bean is bringing in a new designer (who used to design for Ralph Lauren) for their spring collection which hopefully means they will have a new line without the boxy old lady country look. I will put a disclaimer here and say I can't attest to the fit of everything. Since their target audiences are a bit older, some items may be cut boxier and I have never found a pair of trousers that fit well from those stores since I'm not into high-waisted unfitted trousers or mom jeans.

Why am I telling you this you wonder? I'm having some visitors from the US soon which means one thing- online shopping. Since my work place is conservative business casual I'm looking for some things that don't make me look super boring. It seems like every shop has something ruffled right now and who doesn't love a ruffle? Fun, a little girly and it provides just that something extra I'm want.

So my finds:

 \

J Crack Clearance

LL Bean Ruffled Placket Shirt

Eddie Bauer Ruffled Tank

Limited Ruffle Neck Dress

(I actually think it was Katie who found this one)

olé!

I finally found it.

The real deal.

An unbelievably delicious burrito...

If you are in London you must go to Chilango. 

Now. I mean it.

It will change the way you view Mexican food in London.

quick and easy creamed spinach

I am a lover of creamed spinach. The creamy goodness is the perfect accompaniment to steaks, but often takes a while to make. I've bought the pre-made frozen stuff before and it is just awful and tastes fake. This is a quick easy way to get your fix when you're short on time and want something that actually takes like creamed spinach.

Quick & Easy Creamed Spinach for 2

spinach, fresh or frozen

15 g butter

cream

1.5 teaspoon chopped shallots or onion 

1/2 small clove garlic, minced 

salt & pepper

Cook spinach. In separate pot or pan, melt better and gently saute garlic and onion or shallots. Add spinach to mixture and toss well to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Remove pan from heat and slowly pour in cream (be generous!) while stirring. Return to heat to warm and taste, adding more butter or salt and pepper if necessary. Serve and enjoy!

Now here is where I will admit sometimes I will just use one pan and add the spinach to cook directly in the butter mixture. Sometimes it turns out, other times it's too watery and I end up trying to drain most of the water and adding butter back into it before adding cream. I personally would rather not have the extra washing up. Oh and to be totally honest I also buy frozen chopped shallots from Waitrose to use as an extra time saver. 

smoothies

I love a good smoothie. Lots of fruit, yogurt and a little something extra make this a super healthy treat without any guilt.

Like everyone else I add a lot of fruit and (plain boring) yogurt, but instead of juice which is high in sugar, I add in a little of this:

If I don't have any of this, I will use milk.

And my super secret ingredients:

It's best not to let those you are serving it to know about the greens.

(I prefer spinach)

I know it looks gross and you can definitely "see" the green, but it is tasteless and an excellent way to get that extra fruit/veg/nutrition into you. Try it, I promise you'll like it.

it could be terrible

Is anyone else a little guilty of sometimes picking a bottle of wine because of the pretty label? If so, you are going to love these wine tags as much as I do!

Perfect sentiments, no?

All available from Papermash 

exhausted

Our crash course in parenting went well in that both kids survived and so did we! In all honesty we were quite lucky since the girls love each other so much and play so well together. 

We are back in our own home again, completely exhausted. 

Our fridge is completely empty.

The weather has declined. This is the highest temp registered all day.

  

This weekend we plan to do nothing but sleep and it sounds like heaven to me.