If happiness is being sandwiched between a cracking cup of tea at optimum drinking temperature and a flatulent spaniel, I’ve got it. In spades. And honestly, if that isn’t happiness then I don’t know what is.

The husband and I have this week off. A bit to enjoy summer at home and a bit for the annual pilgrimage to IKEA to stock up on mini Daims and those vanilla candles that cost, like, 90p? So far the week has given us a whole lot of sunshine, enough to bring my red nose back with a bang, and just enough cloud for us to be able to hole up inside and snooze guilt free. A break at home is the absolute best.

Other things that have made this week awesome:

Dog Friendly Beaches

I know not everyone likes the furry ones (never trust a dog hater though, life advice right there) but dog free beach season starts WAY too early around here. I’m forever grateful for the few dog friendly beaches there still are from May onwards. Yesterday the husband and I went on a hunt for one. Sure, when the spaniels spot a bird strolling jauntily too close to them and go batshit crazy it’s not all that relaxing but all summer long I’ve wanted to swim in the sea with the hound dogs and I got to do that. And by ‘swim’ I mean hovered freezingly around the waters’ edge and by ‘with the hounds’ I mean they stood on the shore and whinged at me for a bit whilst the husband threw balls far too close to my face.  The sun shone and it was a good day to splash about in the sea.

Cheese Tea

Hang on to your hats folks, we’re about to get real controversial: cheese tea. Not brewed tea you heathen, no, a variation on the cream tea. We’re talking savoury scones with a side of chutney, a hunk of good strong cheddar and a token bit of lettuce on the side. Do it, come back and tell me how much you loved it.

Dry Land Yoga

After the great paddleboard adventure I decided to get back into a regular yoga class. The Strala Yoga session I went to last Thursday was awesome, full of good vibes and all kinds of impossible stretching. I came out feeling about 6 inches taller and smushily relaxed. I then went home and ate half a crumble.

Crumbling Marriages

On an early morning dog walk last week I foraged some blackberries from a secret stash I found (thank you poop bags/emergency blackberry receptacle). Apparently there’s a shortage of blackberries this year, did you hear? If you find a patch get in there quick. I got back from the yoga ^^ to find that the husband had baked them into a crumble with apples and honey. How awesome is he? Very.

Nashville

We’ve become a bit obsessed with Nashville. No regrets. It’s cheesy and over dramatic and makes me think of rubbish old American dramas like Knot’s Landing and All Our Children but it’s completely addictive and we’ve been bingeing it when the sun goes in. We haven’t binged like this since early Grey’s Anatomy. The music is pretty good too, apparently I might be a country music fan, who knew? Hand me my stetson at once.

Breakfast of Champions

One of the best bits of having a week off is having the time to cook something really tasty to start the day. Lingering over breakfast is a luxury we don’t often get. We’ve scoffed an unholy amount of pastries so far this week but topped it all yesterday with a feast of grilled mushrooms covered in halloumi, mushed up avo and bacon. All the delicious and with time to digest it properly. Living the dream.

Adventuring

With a few hours to myself on Saturday morning I took the spaniels on an adventure; we found some woods we haven’t discovered every single inch of before and went nuts. Better yet they were woods with sea peeps.

Thanks Devon, you’ve completely nailed this week.

How’s your week been? Give me your best bits?

Super Sally is responsible for all this joy sharing so head on over to Sally Tangle for more jolliness than you can handle. And don’t forget the WW posse Kate, Helen, Jo, Cat, Emma, Sam and Kerri. They’re full of the good stuff. 

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The great kitchen sort out 2016 is well underway: I ballsed up my nose moving some dusty old shelves and had all of the catharsis clearing out my cupboards ready for the new kitchen. A lot of that sentence sounds euphemistic, it is not, we’re just having a ruddy good sort out before our shiny new shelves and wall mounted oven arrive in a week or so and it’s incredibly satisfying. It’s also pleasing that the summertime seems to have bogged right off, making staying in to make decisions about muffin tins not as painful as it might otherwise have been.

Whilst this week has been sadly devoid of wild river swimming, it’s not been without some brilliant bits:

Hostess with the Mostest

On Saturday we bid a final farewell to the old kitchen by holding a little dinner party in it. There were burgers and Pimms and Cards Against Humanity. As the queen of the introverts it makes me fairly uncomfortable to have a house full of bodies. The discomfort may or may not have manifested in a little G&T quaffing beforehand, I still mostly nailed the hosting though. And I made the mother of all baked cheesecakes – recipe coming soon, just as soon as we’ve polished off the leftovers and I have an excuse to make another.

Nesting

Not baby related nesting, calm the eff down. For one reason and another it took me a VERY long time to feel at home in our used-to-be-new home, a long time to become invested in curtain choices and carpet colours and other alliterative accoutrements. Just lately though I’m enjoying all kinds of soft furnishing and wall print fun, spending some time finding the little things that make a house a home. I rather like it.

Simple Salads

I rustled up a cheeky caprese salad at the weekend, utterly convinced at the outset that it wouldn’t be as tasty as the one I fed my face in Rome. I was wrong, the tomatoes were peak ripe, the mozzarella rich and creamy, the whole thing drizzled with a bit of balsamic and scattered with artfully torn basil leaves. I could have eaten it four times over. Caprese salad. Make one now.

Screen on the Green

On Friday night I conned the husband, gathered up the teens, spaniels and some blanket action and headed off to the open air cinema right on the sea front. There’s never a bad time for Dirty Dancing and watching the sun set, turning the sky from bright blue to candy floss pink and beyond, with a cider in hand and the heady anticipation of Baby being liberated from her corner, made for a cracking Devonish night. Helped along by the scent of pasties and the steady hum of an ice cream van lurking in the corner obvs.

Thai Food and Girl Chat and Babies (Oh My!)

Leaving the old fella at home to watch twenty-two men he doesn’t know, on behalf of countries he’s never been to, kick a ball about, I hung out with some of my favourite women over a Thai feast. Thai food is never a bad call. Good thai food in the company of awesome ladies and a gorgeous four month old made for a ruddy brilliant Thursday. Never underestimate the power of a pad thai and a good natter.

Nice News

A few of the loveliest people I know have had some well deserved niceness this week, we’re talking weddings and awards and babies and all kinds of good. When great things happen to great people it makes every week a good one.

And you? How’s your week been?

*If you’re reading this before the referendum, or even on the day, please please please go and vote. In or out, whichever side of the fence you fall on, go find out all you can about the implications and make your voice heard.*  

Gorgeous Sally is responsible for all this joy sharing so head on over to Sally Tangle for more jolliness than you can handle. And don’t forget the WW posse Kate, Helen, Jo, Cat and Emma – that lovely little bunch of chaffinches are full of the merriment. 

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