Markets galore!

It's getting pretty chilly now, I still refuse to put my heating on but I don't think that will last for much longer. Last weekend, James and I had a wonder around London's Borough market sampling all the freebies. It was amazing. The fresh fruit and veg was so eye catching that I just wanted it all. I need to find some tantalising recipes to utilise all that goodness! The peppers were so BIG and there was types of tomatoes to chose from I hadn't even know existed. It all looked so appetising and made supermarket selections look tired and shrivelled.

A rather rude looking squash!

So many delicious temptations. Check out this mountain of meringues. Mmmmm. Fluffy egg white goodness!

I got some awesome little succulents and an owl candle holder from this beautiful flower shop within the market. Even at the till my eyes kept getting drawn to more little lovelies. I'm hoping since you don't have to water my new plants too often I may have a chance to keep them alive more than a few weeks.

Here's some more pretty flowers from a shop near the market. I just love plants but I have a tendency to kill them. 

I heard that Joanna Lumley has submitted a proposal for a bridge to be built across the Thames that is essentially a massive park crossing to provide a more tranquil, safe route across the river for pedestrians. This sounds fantastic! It would be amazing if they actually went ahead with it. All cities can always benefit from more green space. A similar idea is also brewing in New York. In an article from Messy Nessy Chic, it discusses the idea of using an abandoned underground one acre space that used to serve Tram passengers from 1908-1945. It sounds like an even bigger project than the garden bridge as the logistics to keep plants alive down there is something the planners need to consider. You can find out more by clicking the link above to the amazing  Nessy Chic Blog.

Garden Bride Conception. Picture from http://www.express.co.uk/news/property/442221/Thames-garden-bridge-will-be-absolutely-fabulous-says-Joanna-Lumley

Renegade Craft Fair

Yesterday James and I went off to Shoreditch for the Renegade Craft Fair and a wonder around the variety of markets - Shoreditch is just bursting with markets! And the food - So much choice! It all looked delish! I reckon James and I have to go back to the markets next week to sample something new.

I bought myself a new hat on a complete impulse buy at the markets, the colour just called to me. May be a teeny tiny bit too small for my big head but I still love it.

And here is another treat I bought myself, a lovely little fox broach:

We also got this lovely framed print for James' mum's Christmas pressie, I love it, kind of want it for me. I am using her picture from her etsy shop as the glare from the glass wasn't doing the print justice:

The craft fair was definitely one of the best ones I have been too so far. All the displays looked fantastic. At least that is one Christmas present done!

Changing times

The past month has been a whirlwind of changes in our lives. We had to re-home our awesome wee kitties which was heartbreaking - but we are happy they will be well looked after. I still feel that they are around sometimes and get disappointed when I remember. It makes all the noises a flat makes more sinister, it can no longer be attributed to them. They will eventually get to be outside cats pretty much in the countryside so they are gonna have a ball, especially since they are all still so young.

We have now been living in London for nearly five weeks. The move here was an ordeal to say the least! Arrived about 10pm at night and we were still unloading the van until about midnight. When I settled down that night to go to sleep the room was spinning as if I had been on a massive bevy - I was just that tired. By that point I had almost been up for twenty four hours as I had got up super early to do the finishing cleaning to our flat in Scotland. The bums of a letting agent still took money off of our deposit after we gave the flat a massive deep clean (it honestly had never been that clean as
it was when we left it). To make matters worse our new flat was in a right state when we first moved in. Pretty dirty and with a shoddy paint job so took us (James was mostly on painting duty) a good amount of time before we actually felt we lived here. It now feels pretty cosy (it has it's bad points but we are pretty happy with our wee flat). James has done a great job putting it together.

We have managed, in amongst all the stress, to get out and have a good time. We visited a vintage car car-boot sale! It was really cool, we didn't buy anything but was nice to have a wonder and take some pictures.

I went to a knitting group in this awesome little deli. I must admit the location impressed me the most. It was like a little green oasis in a sea of concrete. Was pretty cool.

The picture doesn't do the fairy lights justice. I love plants and fairy lights! Shame I always manage to kill plants. At least the fairy lights are hard to kill! I also went to one of the events of wool week at John Lewis. I saw Erika Knight doing a scarf tutorial. It was so much fun. She seemed so happy to share her craft. She had been doing sessions all day yet was so taken with teaching that she went well over her time. I was late for meeting James because I was so caught up with what she was teaching. I shall have to keep my eyes open for more things like that.

We wandered round Brick lane and the surrounding areas. Had the most AMAZING pulled pork burger with spicy chips mmm hmm! I am still drooling over it weeks later!

Came across this cool little gallery as well and had to take a picture of this little guy:

James went to a fancy beard trimming place. Whilst he was getting man-pampered I sat in this cool little coffee shop trying to like coffee - failed! Look at the cool décor.

The coffee shops balloon lights were magical. I want some for my flat!

There's still so much to explore. I think we will have a great time living here but I just need to get used to work. It's always hard being new. Everyone is lovely but it's so frustrating not knowing what you are doing when you just wanna do your best. I'm a bit stressed about it all but just need to get through it until I get settled! Exciting weekend to come though - I have a free cycle safety lesson on sat haha! On Sunday we are going to the Renegade Craft Fair so excited. It looks like a collection of amazing stuff. Thank goodness I get paid on Friday. 

Bring on the weekend and escape from employment woes!

I have injured my back so was forced to stay at home today instead of work. On the upside, I have spent my day watching films and looking up crochet ideas. There are so many interesting projects out there I just don't know where to start. I'm taking tomorrow off too to rest my back and visit the doc's for some better painkillers. I intend to use the rest of the time to work on something exciting.

Here's a few snapshots of what I was up to during the weekend:

I got the pretty Singer machine out my friend Alanna gave me to hem some work trousers - sexy I know haha. I have been looking up sewing projects intending to use the machine for something a little more exciting when I have the time and the money to get the supplies.

My friend Lyanne and I went to the Merchant City Festival on Saturday. There was loads of amazing free stuff to see. We got so caught up we lost track of the time and missed the free Roller Disco which was a bummer - it sounded fun. What we did get to see and do was great though. Yummy food, awesome dancers, strange theatre stuff and good musicians.

One of whom was this girl here, she had a hauntingly beautiful voice. We came into the pub just to hear her start her set - great timing!