Olympic cycling comes to Barnes

The Olympics have officially begun!! How British was the opening ceremony? 


The mister and I journeyed 1 block on both Saturday and Sunday to watch the men's and women's cycling. Considering it will take us close to 2 hours to get to the Olympic park next Saturday (to see the basketball), I welcomed the short journey.


The buzz was amazing and even though all the cyclists passed very quickly it was still so fun to see and be a part of. I can't wait for our other events this week!

Men's cycling

Men's cycling

Women's cycling - Brazil with the early lead

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The Olympics are finally here

Tomorrow is the Olympic opening ceremony! The mister and I plan to order in pizza and watch the celebrations on TV. We had toyed with the idea of going out to watch it, either in a park (where it's being televised) or a pub but have decided that since it starts so late, we'll stay in. I can't wait!!

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Picnic in Barnes

Summer has come to London! And to celebrate the mister and I had a picnic in one of Barnes' many parks. The Vine Road Recreation Ground to be exact, which was formerly an orchard (many many years ago).

Just around the corner from our flat

BBQ chicken sandwich made by the mister

A bowling lawn

{One of the things (out of many!) that I absolutely love about Barnes is all the hidden alleyways and pathways. It almost feels like no street is a dead-end. I'll endeavor to take more pictures of the cut-throughs so you can see how absolutely adorable they are, but here are a few pics.}

garden allotments 

the most adorable pub - the idle hour

Guess that baby

On Saturday I hosted my second baby shower for the lovely Vale. While it was tempting to make more onesies, I wanted to do something different so I decided to print out pictures of celebrities when they were kids and have the girls guess who they were. It was a really fun game! The girls got about 50% of the pictures in 5 minutes and really got stuck on a final set of 3 pictures.

The rest of the day was spent eating, chatting and opening presents. I got Vale the handprint kit. Such a good keepsake. 

I just love girly days like these.

A summer affair

I'm attending two weddings this summer. The first a really relaxed backyard vibe wedding on Whidbey Island (near Seattle, WA) and the second (although travel plans still to be confirmed) a fancier affair in Rome. I always try and consider my wedding outfits, but what usually ends up happening is I run out of time to shop and end up throwing a few usual suspects into my suitcase (in a usually panicked state of night-before-packing).


This year I'm trying to be more organised. For the first wedding I've ordered these two dresses. I love the first but I'm not sure if it's too loud?

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I'm really not sure what to wear for the wedding in Rome? It's an afternoon wedding with semi-formal attire. I'll keep hunting around and hopefully the perfect dress will find its way into my suitcase this time!

Barnes Fair

Last Saturday the mister and I ventured out to go to the Barnes Fair. The weather was pretty terrible and the common was incredibly muddy but we managed to see all the booths (there must have been over 100 of them!), check out some retro police cars (and meet our local bobbies) and have a lovely hamburger before the rain starting pouring down again. 


The more I get to know our neighborhood, the more I love it!

Olympic cycle road race

I just realised the other day that the Olympic cycle road race goes right by our flat! So in addition to the other events we have tickets for, the mister and I are planning on lining the street to see a bit of the Men's cycling. 


I really can't wait for the Olympics to start and even though I'm dreading the commute, I'm secretly hoping that I'll be able to work at home for the duration (which in reality is probably really unlikely).  


Just a few more days to the opening ceremonies...

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Summer hols

The summer in London has been abysmal; raining nearly every single day. Because we took the majority of our holiday in January to go to a wedding in New Zealand, the mister and I haven't really taken a proper summer holiday. We're off to Boston and Seattle in August and maybe (fingers crossed) Rome and Sicily in September but won't have a true beachy summery holiday where all you do is lie around and get tan this year.

So for now I'll just have to day dream about past holidays, like this one to Croatia we took a few years back.

Decorate a onesie

A few months back I threw my first baby shower. After doing some research on Pinterest and the Googles, I decided to decorate onesies as the activity. The girls who attended the shower are the same ones I do the Woman's Institute/crafting nights with, so it seemed fitting to try and doing something creative. 


I got an array of onesies from Matalan, bought some iron-on shapes from Etsy and even found puff paint in my local craft store to use. They turned out adorable, but isn't everything that's oh so tiny just adorable?

Call me maybe..reprised

Of all the versions floating out there, I absolutely love this version of call me maybe with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots. (Love the kazoo!)

The Newsroom

Did you watch The Newsroom on Tuesday night? The mister and I just caught up on it last night and I'm loving it. The show, set in 2010, covers actual events from the news anchor and news teams' perspective (the first episode covered the BP oil spill with mentions of the now famous ash cloud). I'm glad to add a show to my rotation that actually makes me think. Check out the trailer and tune in next week!

Chameleon Band-Aids

First makeup that blends with your skin tone and now...Band-Aids! I wonder how they do it?  It appears this was just a design project but I wouldn't be surprised if we see something similar on the shelves soon.

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Prêt-à-Portea at The Berekley

A few months ago one of my best friends came over to London for a visit. Since she's been to London previously I wanted to pack this visit with fun, off the (tourist) beaten path activities. I had heard rave reviews about Prêt-à-Portea (fashion themed tea) at The Berekley and I managed to secure a booking (somewhat of a miracle) and escape work early (also a bit of a miracle) to enjoy a lovely afternoon of delicious sandwiches, tea, cakes and most importantly, girly time.

adorable Paul Smith china

The Burberry trench (in cookie format!)

Back with chocolate chip cookies

(I have finally invested in a new laptop so I can get back to blogging!)


For 4th of July this year I made my favorite chocolate chip cookies and downloaded these adorable 4th of July printables which I will most certainly use next year in a proper cake.