It was my Dad's birthday at the beginning of the week, so I made him a chocolate fudge birthday cake, I didn't manage to get a good photo of it before it was cut, which is probably a good thing because it looked like a 4 year old decorated it. It was delicious and very rich, and I ended up having it for breakfast 2 days in a row because he gave me some to bring home. I think I may need to stick to salad for a couple of weeks to counteract all of the junk food I've eaten over the holidays.
Bought: Stationery
As you may have read in my New Year's Blog Resolutions, in 2015 I plan on getting myself more organised, particularly with blog posts, and in order to do that I felt the need to buy as much stationery as I could get my hands on. I bought 3 diaries, which seems excessive but has already helped me stay on top of things and plan things better. I'm using the largest one as a blog planner, the medium sized for every day things and appointments and the mini one to keep in my bag so I can add anything to it as I'm out and about. I also bought lots of notebooks which all have their own function and even though we're only a few days into 2015, my head is already clearer as I can see what I have to do and can plan things much better.
Loved: Going to the ballet
As I told you in my December Favourites, I was lucky enough to get excellent seats for the Russian State Ballet of Siberia's performance of Swan Lake in Cardiff this week, and it was superb! Both my Mum and I have wanted to see Swan Lake for years so I bought us tickets for Christmas. I thought we would be in the 6th row back because we were in row F, but the first 4 rows of seats were removed to make way for the orchestra so we ended up in the second row, right in the middle. It's easily the best thing I've ever seen in a theatre and can't wait to see them again when they come back to Wales.
New Year's Eve was a total bust this year, I didn't plan anything because I didn't think I really cared that it was New Year's, but as the night went on I found myself wishing I had made some plans or made an effort to see friends. It didn't help that I wasn't feeling too great after a very hectic couple of weeks, so I brought in the new year in a rather half hearted way making notes, planning blog posts and watching Netflix. I'll definitely make more of an effort this year!
Candle of the week: Village Candle Happy Holidays
For Christmas my mother was given a wax melt in this scent, and as soon as I smelled it's spicy beauty I got online and ordered a large jar candle. If you like Hot Toddy shower gel from Lush I can guarantee you'll like this candle, they smell identical. The throw is excellent, just like every other Village Candle I've tried, and the scent lingers in the air for hours. I blew this out at around 4am and by 5pm the following day my bedroom still smelled of it!
I've never been much of a fan of hot drinks, the only one I drink is the very occasional hot chocolate, but this week I've been really enjoying a cup or two of Camomile and Spiced Apple tea in the evenings. I can't drink anything with caffeine (it makes me feel ill), and at the moment am really enjoying anything spiced, so this tea is just perfect. It's naturally quite sweet so I don't even need sugar in it. I'm not sure if it's the tea or if it's just in my head, but about 10 minutes after finishing a cup I'm really drowsy, which is a welcome relief after months of having trouble sleeping. It may not look very appealing (urine sample anyone?) but it really is delicious.
Iron & Wine is another artist that I found thanks to the Twilight soundtrack, and this week I've been listening to him, pretty much, non stop. He has such a beautiful, calming voice that it's music I can listen to in the background or just relax to.
