The Wet, the Crowds and the burgers

We went to to Leeds on Saturday to the White Rose Shopping centre, it was pouring down and we ended up sharing an umbrella to the centre itself from the car. We ended up in Build a Bear as we tend to when we go there Sis wanted to get Rarity from My Little Pony which they are currently doing. I ended up coming home with a white bear who I have named Marc as he is an Almond Cub...

It was very busy and we had never seen it so crowded combination of Saturday and rain I guess. After being in a couple of crowded shops my brain tried to freak out so I sat down for a bit with an audiobook on my ipod and shut my eyes for a bit and concentrated on that, which helped calm me down.

After a peek in a shop or two we then went to the Handmade Burger Co who do very nice burgers and chilled out there for a while chatting and generally being silly. Managed to pick up a few bits for my Sis who like myself has a birthday shortly must be something to do with us being twins.

Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, lavender's green

Today I went to Yorkshire Lavender with my mother and Lea it is lovely around there and it was nice to be out in the countryside again. I came back with some Lavender and Bergamot bath fizzers, pencil, pencil sharper and an eraser. There was so many Lavender things! Also came back with a Lavender plant for my sister. We want to go back in summer when more of the plants are in flower but I got some lovely shots of the countryside and some of the plants that were in flower and the deer too.

The tea shop had lovely (and generous) portions but the service was a little slow, we watched them lose about three or four tables because they didn't get served for quite a while. But all in all a good day and lovely weather too.

Thoughts about Food

I love food, cooking and baking. I am also realising that my relationship to food is sometimes not healthy. Having been noting my food down on an app to help me lose a bit of weight I've been realising that sometimes I eat because I'm bored and sometimes because of emotional issues.

I realised the emotional side when this weekend I fell apart for the first time in a while and noticed that my first thoughts were to head for food, when I wasn't a crying non verbal mess. We actually ended up having a walk out instead and that did me more good as I used some mindfulness techniques and it helped calm me down and treated myself to a cheap almost chocolate dessert (which I ate mindfully :D ). At least I'm not eating from boredom so much as I am thinking about what I'm eating instead of just heading to the kitchen and seeing what's there.

I'll have to look into more recipes to do in the slow cooker, I've got the cider cooked gammon and a nice stew down I'm sure I can find other tasty tasty things to do with it.

Things

I made for dinner today the dish known in the family as Chicken Thing. Tasty and pretty easy to make but feeds us well. It also reminds me of Sundays at home if Mum didn't make a roast dinner and it was always looked forward to.

So I have my interview tomorrow, my smart clothes are ready and I am very nervous completely calm about it, I am sure my crafty little self will go down well.

Sleepy Shadow

I had a nap earlier and slept for at least two hours and will not be going to bed as late as I normally do. This week has been tiring but worthwhile in the fact it made me realise I want to do the education thing again I enjoyed being in the classroom learning (or at least sharing my knowledge). So I shall have to poke that and see what is available.

In other news I have an interview and it's for an area I have an interest in crafts. So I have some smart new interview clothes and enthusiasm. Plus I've lost two pounds in weight so all that walking I've been doing this week has definitely been good for me onward and downwards hopefully.

My beloved had his birthday today and was pleased with the gifts he got and very delighted that I brought home chocolate and muffins for him, well you should have some sort of cake on your birthday.

You shall be baked...

I baked again for the second time in three days, I haven't baked for ages and it's nice to remember why I like doing it and seeing the end results (even if they don't last long around my other half). Today I made more raisin buns and a marble cake. I haven't cut into the marble cake yet and will be interested to see how the colours came out in the different patterns. The colours are red, blue and cake but I have always liked how the swirls of colour look in the cake.

Then I was completely lazy and curled up on the sofa and played Final Fantasy X for a couple of hours (told you the PS3 would see more use ;) ) But all in all a nice relaxed day after the busyness of yesterday.

Mindfulness

Today I was at my Mindfulness support group and it was nice my sister was showing some of her crafts and getting good feedback and I was enjoying the atmosphere. Met up with a couple of people we had met on the course and one we are doing creative writing with. It reminded me that I should meditate more. I always feel so relaxed when I've done it but never quite seem to find the right time or remember to do it. We did a sound and thought meditation which I rather like, even if we were listening to ambulance sirens a far bit (the place is near the local hospital).

So this is a reminder to myself to go find meditations and try them and find the ones I like and chill out to them. Now to go and eat my dinner mindfully.