A Little Baking Session

Baking - something most people enjoy doing and I'm no exception. Given the chance I'd quite happily bake everyday, making the kitchen a mess, getting flour or icing sugar on myself and not really know how I managed to do it at 20. Today was no exception.

It's been a while since I've baked properly and so with the house to myself for a few hours I decided to blast some music, sing along to it loudly and get everything prepared to begin the creative mess.

I've been baking for as long as I can remember and have always loved it, especially the part where I would get to eat the remains of the mixture that the spoon couldn't quite get. Yes I still do this.

Recently I have started to think about different ways to make a fairy cake more surprising by adding jams in the middle of the cakes or mixing up the colours of the sponge. I decided that today I would experiment again with fairy cakes/cup cakes and see what the end result would be. 

I rummaged through the cupboard and found food colours, writing icing and various decorations  which was a pleasant surprise as I didn't think I'd have anything left in the house. I also found an icing pipe which I'd be given but never used so I decided to give it a try.

I divided the cake mixture equally in half so that one half could be the normal golden cream colour and that the other half could be one of the food colourings, I decided to try our green as I've never tried it before. I put the green mixture into the cases first as it would be a hidden surprise then the normal mixture went on the top. 

Decided I'd put some butter cream on top of the cakes and try out my icing pipe and well it ended with the bag bursting and me trying to rescue any spilt butter cream with already sticky hands, oops. Think I got a little eager with the amount of the butter cream I put in but I'll know for next time now. 

This was the best decorated cake I managed to do before the bag split resulting in the next few not being so great, but I'm still pretty pleased with them. I love how the butter cream started to blend and the pink began to come through. Definitely my best cake moment.

I've now got the baking bug back and am already thinking about what I could try out next!
Do you have a favourite baking moment? What's your favourite thing to bake?

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Quick Catch Up

Well it's been a while! Work has taken a large chunk of my time over the past two weeks so blogging has taken a back seat. When I have had the odd few days off they've been spent with family and friends having catch ups.

Here's what I've been up to:
Monday - trip with my brother to Birmingham where we went to the sea life centre and then proceeded to pizza hut for a buffet lunch which was well worth the money and we were stuffed afterwards, score!

Tuesday - a well needed catch up with my lovelies Nat and Laura over some drinks and a lovely  chinese! This has become a little bit of a tradition with us now which is always nice.

Wednesday - had a nice chilled day in

Thursday to Monday was spent at work running around like a headless chicken particularly the weekend though surprisingly Sunday was busier than Saturday for a change!

Tuesday - made angry phone calls to pizza hut, went out with my dad and then randomly decided to go and see Despicable Me 2 with my brother. And boy it was funny! Could just hear us laughing, everyone else clearly were boring or maybe our sense of humour is a little childish.. ah well. Would definitely go and see it again though!

Come on Barbie let's go party

This week has gone so fast, and I can't quite put my finger on where the time has gone! This week I've been busy at work doing stock takes and becoming a receptionist for a few hours for the pop in store vets we have weekly. I swear Wednesdays at work have got it in for me, going by the past two weeks aha! 

This week has been popular in regards to people asking me questions where I simply haven't had the answers prepared let alone given them any amount of thought!
 The question of the week this week has been what are you doing for your 21st and my answer has been the same I don't really know, because for the past two years my birthdays have been when I've been at uni and this year will be the same but my mother wants to do something because it's special. Getting closer to being 21 has scared me a little as that's when I'm an actual adult, like really me an adult ahaha oh god. So this morning I decided that instead of not being able to answer that question I'd sit down and have a think of what I could do. 

I've played around with a Disney theme but the character I'd like to be well their costume isn't exactly cheap which put me off a little cause I'd love to wear it more than once but I'm not one for splashing out on clothes. So I decided to get back on Pinterest and have a nose around at some boards and sure enough I was getting some ideas. Pinterest is a great way to organise ideas and can help with organising things such as parties and it's always good to browse through other peoples boards to get some inspiration which I did. 

So I went from looking at Disney themed food and decorations to suddenly thinking about a 90s theme to then going through my favourite tv programmes, bands, books etc throughout my 21 years and I'm actually quite happy with my board, but I've got three months to go so there are going to be some changes. It'd be nice to reminisce through the years about the things that I loved to what I love now, which I can't see being that different really. 

Thanks to Pinterest I have got some inspiration and am now looking forward to planning or rather giving my parents hints about what I want, after all I'm only 21 once! Now to count down the three months until my 21st and see what happens!

How has your week been? Has there been anything that has got you all excited, if so what? Would love to hear from you!

Mundane Midweek: What Happened Wednesday

So Charlotte has started a series of posts for lifestyle bloggers to share stories of their Mundane Midweek days. I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and give it a go - I like to see what people get up to, just a little nosey y'see. So here's my attempt at a Mundane Midweek: What Happened Wednesday.

Wednesday was an early start with my alarm going off at 6.30am and surprisingly I woke with a spring in my step and bright eyed and bushy tailed. I work in a pet shop which opens in the week at 9am so normally I get there 15 minutes before we open, but was needed in at 8am to do a stock count. 

The day was going fine, I algae wiped all the fish tanks, served on the till and generally it was quite quiet. Our area manager came in unannounced which threw us as she was supposed to be popping in today (Thursday) and from that moment onwards the day just went up in smoke (not literally of course, just figuratively.)

Our day was planned to get a lot of jobs done but with an unexpected visit and with only 4 of us in until 2pm we were running round like headless chickens trying to juggle jobs and at one stage I was in the juggling water changing the fish tanks, serving on the till and helping a customer! Definitely need more arms!

Dinner came and soon went and everything seemed to have calmed down a little, until there was a shout from one of my colleagues as an escaped budgie had been found high in the stock room. So there were three of us attempting to catch the little bird and I feel this would have been perfect for the time spent 'chasing' the little fellow!

Eventually though the budgie was tiring and flew into the staff room and was finally caught, after a little struggle of course. So after that excitement the day started to get a little quieter though the shop was full of dogs competing for loudest bark due to having vets in. Time to then carry on with jobs that should have been done by dinner time, so the plant tank was completely cleaned and then so were the shelves. 

Then it was 4.30 and it was time to go home but of course it was tipping it down and everyone asked 'hevv have you walked' 'yeah' 'you got an umbrella?' 'aha no' so a colleague gave me a lift home which was lovely of her considering she'd be scrambling the stack of pallets to get the budgie. So the rest of the night was spent being chilled out whilst watching some tv before crashing.

I'd like to read other Mundane Midweek posts that were inspired by Charlotte!

So how has your day been? Let me know :)

She's up all night 'til the sun

Actually I've stayed out in the sun whenever possible until the sun disappeared! Missed that yellow thing in the sky.

Well, what a first week back home! 

This time last week I was driving back from Bangor in a car packed with all of my stuff after moving out of the house, sad times. Arrived home for 3 months and unpacked the car and this wasn't even half the stuff! Yikes!

Most of this week has been spent at work and typically it has been lovely outside but sweltering in the shop, not very nice in an all black uniform! Even the customers came in and said 'ohh it's hot in here' or 'it's hotter in here than it is outside'. So it was nice when I finished work on an early shift and could get a good few hours out in the sun. Being away at uni and not having a garden made me miss this beaut of a place even more, so with the sun out I was rather content with life, though a cider or two and a bbq would have been nice.

Hope you all managed to get plenty of time out in the lovely weather we had!