Heaton Park

Today was gloriously hot, so me and Katy trekked to Heaton for a bask in the park. I'd never been before, but it's utterly gorgeous and at this time of year packed with oodles of crocuses and daffodils. There was a nifty little building in front of the bowling green that I would quite like to live in; what a garden!

farewell to winter

It is time to say goodbye to something that made my winter so much more pleasant - the paper snowflakes on my window. My thirst for spring is making them seem gloomy, instead of whimsical and wintry, so it's time for them to go. I am tempted to keep them for next year, but next year I'll be somewhere completely different, and the cosy ritual of cutting out paper snowflakes for Christmas (and the rest of winter, it turns out) is not something I want to lose. However, I couldn't resist a final photograph.

Perhaps I can replace them with a bunch of daffodils, or a jar of twigs. Something to herald the arrival of spring.

eat a rainbow

Well, why not. Whenever a baker makes something pretty they blog about it, so I feel entitled to show off what I just had for dinner. We have reached the zero protein stage of the week and I used my egg wisely - don't you love hard-boiled eggs? I made the hummus, which was fun and surprisingly easy, but not as yummy as I'd hoped. Next time I'll taste at every step; I think I made it too sweet. I like my hummus chunky and savoury!

Nectarines are the most summery fruit. I pounced on these in Morrisons and they're perfect (unlike the ones I was still optimistically buying in November) and this one was perfectly ripe. Just the smell makes my mouth water and brings back the urge to throw all my tights in the bin and run around bare-legged.

spring cleaning

Waiting for Spring is painfully horrible. Every day leaving the flat in an optimistic cardigan, and scurrying home again huddled against the wind. Spending money I most certainly do not have on bright clothes to stare wistfully at and try on again and again in the warmth of my room. The urge to spring-clean has come upon me and I have organised my wardrobe and cleaned the sink (a big feat), and put unwanted, dark, wintry clothes on eBay (sneaky selling). This pre-spring misery has made me extremely unproductive; not writing or doing much at all. I don't even want to cook, which must be serious.

For now, occasional bunches of daffodils shoved in pint mugs to brighten the room, and the wonderful, sunshine taste of nectarines will have to do.

Do The Deadline Dance

Dear Blogosphere

This is what my life will look like for the next week. These four books and handful of photocopied articles will be consuming me quite thoroughly until 4.30 next Friday.

That'll teach me to start my assignments earlier.

Lake District

So, I've finally recovered from the weekend and my wonderful Wednesday hangover enough to write a blog post. The Lake District was awesome, as it always is. We did a lot of walking, since the house we were renting was right next to Ennerdale Water, so we could walk around the lake. On Monday we walked right around the lake and up Robin Hood's Seat - about 10 miles! We also visited some local attractions in Keswick, a nearby town. I can now saw I have stroked 19 different breeds of sheep and have visited an optical illusion museum.

Last night cooking I burnt my hand, and subsequently spent the rest of the evening with my fingers under the cold tap wondering how I was going to manage to sleep*. Luckily, I've woken up with a few blisters and no pain. I hope you had a good weekend too!
* The answer is with my hand stuffed in a pint glass of cold water, which at some point in the night I knocked over and awoke to think I had wet the bed. Awesome.

lunches and lakes

This was my lunch today. One of my favourite things about university is how close to everything I am, and that I can take the time to have a delicious, leisurely lunch with real coffee while I write postcards for PostCrossers and friends studying at Cambridge.

I will be wandering lonely as a cloud in the beautiful Lake District with my Dad and his old university friends this weekend, so I won't be blogging until Monday or Tuesday. However, I will come bearing lots of pictures of beautiful country landscapes!

celebrate with cake

This is a celebratory cupcake! Today my future housemates and I signed the contract that secures our lovely new home for next year. I can't wait to move in! It's a really lovely house, very bright and modern with lots of old fireplaces.

Rainbow Pride

I'm sure I've mentioned it a zillion times, because I'm so pleased about it, but I have an amazing view from my bedroom window in Newcastle. The Gateshead Millenium Bridge is usually a pretty steady blurple at night, but recently it's been all the colours of the rainbow!

taking pictures of your own feet

I was watching Lost In Translation recently (amazing film) and Scarlett Johansson's character talked about a photography phase all girls go through: "Horses... Taking pictures of your own feet."

And the shoes they live in.