Train Journeys

I'm dreaming of train journeys. Train journeys full of sweeping landscapes and long lazy hours spent with my forehead squished to the cold train window. I dream of feasting my eyes on space and nature and sky. I'm dreaming of coffee, of London stations bustling with people and stunning architecture, of porters and passengers and luggage and tickets. I'm dreaming of time to read newspapers, novels, magazines and journal entries. Time to think, ponder and dream. Time to catch up on new ipod playlists and indulge in sumptuous symphonies. I'm dreaming of getting up and leaving the tangled mess of work, rehearsals and bills to step on to a new platform somewhere totally different, somewhere completely separate from the daily grind. I want to feel, taste, touch, smell, sense new things, new places, new ideas, new people. I am fit to burst with Wanderlust.

Cox & Baloney's Tea Room

The other day I had a darling little spot of morning tea with the lovely Becky. I've walked past this Cox & Baloney's tea room SO many times, I've even been to the little vintage clothes shop and the awesome second hand bookshop attached to the cafe, but I've never sipped a sip of their tea or had a crumb of their cake...until NOW. I would try and describe it, but I feel pictures would do a far greater job.

I think we were pretty well-dressed for the occasion. I love Becky's vintage-looking cardigan and these tesco tights are like possibly the best item of clothing I have EVER owned. LOVE THEM.

Then Louis appeared and proved to the world that even strapping lads enjoy a spot of tea from dainty cups and a quick browse in the vintage boutique. I really wish we'd bought him that tailcoat.

YAY. We love tea. Fingers up ladies! I'll be returning to Cox & Baloney's very soon. Very good value, massive tea pot, great atmosphere, great gluten-free cake, perfect window seat - what more could you want!? They also do some really awesome party ideas, like a 'make your own knickers' workshop and a workshop on 50's clothes and make-up, plus they'll throw you a tea party at a tip of a hat (and maybe a couple of pence...make that a lot of pence)

Why Country Music Keeps It Real

I'm British and I like country music. So what? And no, I'm not talking about Taylor Swift, much as I love her. Maybe we could stretch her into the tween-country category, but in my eyes, Taylor is pop through and through. Not that I think pop music is bad, there is NOTHING wrong with pop music. Pop music makes people happy, you can hear the lyrics of pop songs, you don't have to have smoked weed to relate to pop songs, pop songs either make your bop or cry and bopping and crying are two activities I would recommend for a healthy existence. ANYWAY, this blog is not about pop, so bye bye pop HELLO country. You may be wondering how I, a middle-class, musical-theatre dork, discovered country music and I can tell you that it's all my Dad's fault. He's the one who turned up 'That's Right You're Not From Texas' by Lyle Lovett and made us dance, who stuck on The Dixie Chicks on family holidays to Cornwall, who made me a CD of Lee Ann Womack's tune 'I Hope You Dance' for my 16th birthday and who continues to play Lady Antebellum on repeat and I LOVE HIM FOR IT. I remember one night driving home from basketball practice (yes I know you're all laughing at the thought of me playing basketball, but focus) and we both decided to listen to the country music hour on Radio 2 and it was SO awesome. Recently I've been trying to work out why my itunes is bursting with Carrie Underwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dolly Parton and Faith Hill and I've come to this conclusion: it's cos' country music keeps it real. Here are my reasons:

1. They talk about everyday things like coffee. Everyone drinks coffee or knows people that drink coffee. So pretty much everyone can relate to lyrics in country music. (I also really, really like coffee)

2. They use cool instruments. If anyone can see a banjo and not get excited, then you've got a serious problem.

3. They use a lot of road imagery. This makes it great music for either a) running away from home or b) dreaming about running away from home. Listen to country music and you instantly envisage a beat up American car pacing through the deserts and prairies. Think the sweet smell of freedom, think all your possessions in one rucksack, think a lot of random gas stations filled with Vitamin water and fast food.

4. On every album there's a ho-down number. Now who doesn't like a good old fashioned barn dance? Think cheaper version of prom, think better food, think cheaper dress code, think straw hats and cowboy boots. AWESOME.

5. It's so easy to sing- a- long to. It's like they purposely create harmonies that beckon you into the song. YAY!

6. It's great toe-tapping music. I have a lot of great shoes, with great toe bits for tapping that hardly ever get a moment to shine. Country music creates opportunities for them to show the world what they're made of.

7. There's a variety of ballads. It's not always about the man that got away. Sometimes it's about life being like a Bargain Store, sometimes it's about the daughter that ran away and yes, sometimes it is about falling in love. Either way, country music moves away from the ear-splitting connotations of regular ballads and puts some real husky-voiced emotion into their tunes.

8. They tell great stories. Country music is pure escapism, now I know escapism is kind of the opposite of 'keeping it real' but surely everyone likes to add a dose of daydream to their reality. I know I do.

That's all I can think of for now. It's past eleven and I've just finished off yet another packet of midget-gems. I'm not at all proud of this, as far as confectionary goes they're a pretty weak choice. I think what I really wanted was a bag of minstrels, yes, I think that as I was eating midget gems I was trying to convince myself that they were minstrels, but they're not. Okay, I'm starting to sound like a nutter, but please take my thoughts on Country Music seriously, it deserves a chance, surely!?

OVER AND OUT.

p.s Hurrah for heart-shaped handwarmers!

Latte Art

I have recently added a new activity to project procrastination. I still dance around my room to spotify tunes and mime musical theatre showstoppers into windows and mirrors, but when I'm feeling a little less energetic and inspired I google latte art. It's awesome. I've been a massive fan of pretty lattes ever since my first flat white. I believe that good latte art is a sign of a carefully crafted beverage. My absolute favourite latte artists are the baristas at Boston Tea Party, their lattes always look like a dream and when you order one caff and one decaff latte they will do a different artwork for each so you know which is which. WHAT GREAT SERVICE!?

Anyway, since googling this shiz I've been introduced to some pretty crazy designs. I'll be honest, I find the faces a little creepy, I'm much more of a pattern, stars and moon sorta gal. However, check out this video of someone drawing a face in a latte - it's INSANE.

And what about the Latte-Dragon!? Pretty sure you never thought of that, ey!?

The more I google latte art the more fascinating it becomes. I was a little concerned by the occasional green latte that appeared, but I have since discovered that these are green-tea lattes (doesn't make them sound any less gross!). Still it's all very impressive and I can't wait to start up my coffee shop so I can get creative with the coffee froth!

Biscotti, Biscotti, Biscotti!

The Italian student within me has been craving biscotti ever since my coeliac disease diagnosis in September 2009 and I have FINALLY found a gluten-free recipe. YAY. I made these on Saturday night after a very indulgent day of sitting on the sofa watching ' A Room With a View' and playing piano for two hours straight. I love our home kitchen because there's so much space, so many interesting expensive ingredients and you can actually tell when the oven is ready. Bonus.

I used this recipe here, substituting the flour for Dove's Gluten Free Plain Flour and adding a teaspoon of Xantham Gum along with the baking powder. Note to fellow Brits: make sure you translate the temperature into metric. I didn't and nearly incinerated my almonds!

I'm planning to make these again and sit and watch all three Godfather's back to back. Whoever said doing an Italian degree was hard!? NOM NOM NOM.

The Truth About Kindles

Way back in November I commenced the journey towards Kindlehood and succeeded when, under the Christmas tree, sat a lovely little Amazon package containing the tiniest little Kindle I ever saw. Despite its overall cuteness, I still regarded it with the utmost suspicion.

'Will you take me away from second-hand bookstores? Will I forget how to turn pages? Will I even use you?' I asked it.

Here's the thing, I have a Kindle and yet I still buy books. I browse bookshops with my Kindle sitting snug in my handbag. Some days you'll find me sat with a paperback drinking coffee in Boston's and on other days it'll be my Kindle. Rather than limiting my reading experience, it has actually expanded it. Though Books maketh a home and I will continue to buy them to furnish my walls, but one cannot lug one's home through the streets in a satchel.

It is the perfect purchase for travel, but also the perfect purchase for students. I can now download reports, PDFs, set texts and dictionaries onto my Kindle, significantly reducing how much I have to carry into uni on a daily basis. This is good for my back and for the environment - no more unnecessary printing! The screen isn't backlit and it isn't touch screen, so it still feels like a book, I still have to turn the light on if I want to read in bed. I can even enlarge the font to make it easier to read when I'm tired. It is going to be BEYOND perfect for my year abroad next year, I can truly live out of only a suitcase if I can have all my books on a Kindle. Again, this won't stop me buying books, I'll just make sure they're only in German or Italian so I HAVE to read them. Overall, I'm very happy with my Kindle and encourage all you readers to rethink your prejudices and see the practicality in this little device.

My friend Jessie and I LOVE our Kindles

Thank you to everyone who commented on my post. Your views were very helpful and insightful!

Oh Comely

A couple of weeks back I went to visit my lovely friend Jessie and she introduced me to this wonderful new publication called Oh Comely. It's incredible. It's so quirky and interesting and, unlike most £4 magazines, is not full of adverts and the same old same old articles about how to dress to impress, bag the guy, have great sex and lose weight. I am SO bored of reading those things, but one needs something to waste away a good long train journey. I love how beautiful the layout is and how sumptuous and nostalgic the photos are. I love the random articles on the history of biscuits and rubbers, new artists, DIY make your own shoes and REAL people stories that don't make you gag or cringe. I felt like I'd actually learnt something new, albeit somewhat useless, but useless information makes for great conversation, non?! After flicking through Jessie's Summer 2011 issue, we both bagged ourselves the latest Oh Comely on the way to the station and I read it all the way home. Tee hee. Here's the website if you're not yet yet convinced of its greatness.

What The Season Brings: Snow

I'm sitting here, wrapped up in blankets, eating my homemade gluten-free biscotti (recipe and photos to come) and staring out my window at the beautiful beautiful snow. Even though snow is rather a nuisance in Britain seeing as we're not that used to it, I can never complain when all the white powdery goodness starts to fall from the sky. I love it. I always think of snow as something that happens once in a blue moon, in fact, I'm pretty sure I can count the number of times it snowed throughout the whole of my English childhood (about 5). Part of me loves how it brings the world to halt with it's stillness and its beauty. I love the cool silence it brings and how it makes every indoor activity that little bit more cosy. I did take some photos of my window view, but I'm afraid my camera cable is back in Brizzle so tumblr pics and old photos will have to do. SNOW YAY. I only hope the trains are running tomorrow, I do need to get back to Bristol quite promptly (pray pray pray!)

Got Green Milk?

Okay, so I'm officially terrible at this outfit posting thing. I am clearly not cut out to be a fashion blogger. Thank goodness this project has some sort of focus and costs me zilcho otherwise I'd be in such a crazy crazy clothes shopping mess.

These photos were taken almost two Sundays ago after church. I wasn't intending to take any outfit shots, but I really liked how much green I was wearing - I even had a green top underneath my green coat. CRAZY. It was also one of those days when you finally straighten your hair and realise how long its got - YES I FINALLY HAVE LONG HAIR! (but it needs a cut - look how split the ends are!) Finally, it was my first photograph with my new glasses. I've been getting a lot of comments about how I wanna be a hipster Zooey Deschanel look-a-like. Now, I love Zooey, I loved Zooey before most of my friends knew who Zooey was, I got my flatmates into Zooey, I could not be a bigger Zooey fan, but the hipster glasses were a completely practical choice. I have big eye lids and big eyelashes, my old glasses had small lenses and my lashes used to get stuck and it used to bug me how I could see over the rim etc. etc. Big frames eliminate all of these issues and make it easier for me to see and read, which is why I have glasses in the first place.

The milk is completely random and there to emphasise how completely spontaneous this is. I'm usually more of an orange milk drinker anyway (1% fat milk) perhaps its a metaphor for how I like to live my life, sat on the fence in between skimmed and semi. I would also like to thank Louis who risked his life (he nearly got run over by a car) to take this photos and also re-edited them (the first batch were so artsy you couldn't see that my coat was green, and the whole reason I like this outfit is because of HOW MUCH GREEN THERE IS!) He is great and so is milk, so drink it, cos it's full of calcium.

BLAH BIKE

For those of you who follow my twitter account, you'll know that, now my foot is all healed, I've been back on my bike (or Cassie as I like to call her) I had a bit of trouble with the gears, I was convinced there were three, took it to the bike shop and turns out it only has two. GREAT. Bristol is full of hills, cycling is fun. I bought some lights, a helmet and a fancy German lock (all credit to Louis) and I've been riding pretty regularly. However, the gears are still shoddy and the poor little thing squeaks and squarks its way around Clifton. On Wednesday night, the little silly cycle decided to break whilst I cycled up Whiteladies, meaning I only had one gear with which to cycle up a MASSIVE hill and it wasn't the easiest one. LOVE LIFE. So, I've finally come to the conclusion that this bike is not right for Bristol - it would be perfect for Amsterdam, or Oxford or Bracknell ANYWHERE flat. I'm really sad, because it's really beautiful and I really wish I lived somewhere flat so I could ride it. However, I need to be reasonable and realise that for once in my life practical must come before pretty (NOOOOO!) So I'm going to have to sell Cassie *sob* it's very distressing because now I have to look for an ugly bike with horribly low handle bars and lots of gears. Anyone who knows of a pretty looking bike that would be decent for Bristol SEND ME DETAILS. Much love, Ellie x

The Lahloo Pantry

My perfect finish found me sitting in a new cafe in Clifton. After seeing their stall at the Clifton Christmas Market, I made a note to visit the Lahloo Pantry once my exams were over. I was not disappointed. Unlike most Clifton cafés this little hideout is a table service sorta place, which usually intimidates me, but the staff are SO SO super friendly so I wasn't really phased. There is a significant lack of armchair, but the snazzy decor and blankets on chairs deffo made up for it and I soon found a comfy spot to perch and read my book.

The tea list might seem quite daunting for the indecisive tea drinkers out there, but fear not the staff are always happy to recommend something for you and I enjoyed a lovely cup of Grandpa's Anytime Tea. YUM-MY. It came in this adorable tea pot and look how PERFECT the cup is for an afternoon of reading! I also treated myself to a macaroon, because who knew that they were gluten free!? It was so so yummy.

So, although not a place for the skint student, I will definitely be returning when I fancy treating myself. NOM NOM.

My Need for Faith

I've noticed how easy it is to spiral. To look at our tangled, stressful lives and try to analyse and unpick the mess that we find ourselves in. We try to be mediators in our relationships, perfectionists in our work, Buddha in our rest and effective users of time. Why are we so surprised at the relentlessness of life? Why do we put ourselves under so much pressure? Why do we give in to this exhausting circle of life? I swear the clock ticks faster everyday, I'm certain my to-do list increases and that bright, heavenly light on which I thumb tack my hopes and aspirations grows dimmer and dimmer.

I think that perhaps I'm just a hopeless case, that I am unqualified for this job of life and that I should just plunk myself in the corner of a well-cushioned room with a novel and just shut everything else out. We all marvel at how fast the seasons pass, how old we are getting, how big the kids are growing,. New generations are taking to the community stages and filling up the school halls with their fancy iphones that we could only have dreamed about when we were their age. The metaphorical umbilical cord that used to pull us back to the next is growing longer and longer and we suddenly wonder how we drifted so far from home, from that safety net of routine and regular meals.

And yet, this is all on ground level and I am forgetting that I am merely a pawn in a much greater and better plan. I am not called or created to be my own master, for I will surely fail. My life is too much for me: too beautiful, too busy, too manic, too gorgeous, too blessed.

This is why I MUST have faith in something greater than myself.