Various things including a brownie

Don't worry, I haven't disappeared under a blanket of yorkshire snow! Not yet, at least. I have been busy translating, and looking for new customers, and having a visit from my Mummy, and making my new sofa feel welcome in our house. 

How about I tell you about it as it happened? A little foodie newsflash to start with: a new Italian deli and/restaurant has opened in Hebden Bridge. We haven't had the chance to try the restaurant yet, but the fresh gnocchi from the deli are definitely something.

My Mummy wanted to go and visit a sculpture near Burnley. It's called the singing ringing tree and it's supposed to make noise when the wind blows through it, but on the day we went it was pretty silent in spite of the (icy!) wind. Strange.

Anyway, we decided to make the most of a beautiful sunny day and to drive there on the way to the coast. We didn't realise this until we were over in Lancashire, but it had been SNOWING. yes, real snow. I thought it was frost at first. The car didn't seem to want to believe it either because it kept skidding about. Snow tyres are pretty high up on our "to-get-done" list at the moment.

Anyway, it made for some very pretty scenery and I managed to snap a few before my fingers fell off.

So this is the famous "tree". You can read all about it here

After a quick round of pics we ran back to the nice warm car and made our way to Southport for fish & chips and a looooong walk along the pier. When we got to the end we realised the tide was out. So much for seing the sea!

We did see the inside of a nice cosy cafe that served hot drinks with whipped cream on top (and a fancy straw for my Mummy, which she clearly wasn't a fan of). Hot chocolate with Baileys, anyone?

And this was Boyfriend's attempt at taking a picture of the full moon over Hebden Bridge. Nice?

A few days later it was time to cosy it up with some lovely neighbours (can I still call your neighbours Claire & Graeme? I have a feeling you'll be back in Hebden soon so I'm keeping the adjective just in case) to celebrate the purchase of our sofa: the legendary vintage green chesterfield! Don't worry, it's getting its very own post soon, this is just a fake spoiler that doesn't even feature a photo of it.

The sofa inspired me to go for a sort of old school chocolate vibe. I even moved an extra lamp into the room. Yipee!

And I'm pleased to report that the Baileys brownie (recipe here) which I originally found on Pinterest, unlike most other Pinterest recipe experiences, was GOOD. Really really good, in fact. Yes, that is a layer of Baileys cheesecake you can see in the middle. And yes, it gave me a perfect excuse to purchase a bottle of Baileys to help me through the winter. Any more questions? Feel free to ask.

Pining for...anticipation

This weekly (ahem...bi-monthly? monthly?) Pinterest wrap-up is all about getting ready and being excited for what's coming up: Christmas (= presents for others and for myself)

 

Chesterfield sofas (ok, turns out it arrived today and I'm sitting on its polished goodness as we speak, but that's a post for another day)

  
Finishing touches for our lounge

and just general excitement at the thought of decorating my little house for the holidays. Yes I know it's still 6 weeks until Christmas but all the shops here have gone Christmas crazy and it's got me in the mood.

What are you in the mood for these days? And don't say snowstorms because it looks like we're having the worst winter ever in the UK and I'm a little bit scared. Although the thought of not having to commute to and from work everyday is enough to cheer me right up again! What can go wrong with your winter when you've got a warm house, a cosy sofa and an internet connection?

When you wish upon a scar...

Well it's been a while since I told you about a ramble, so we decided to make the most of the glorious weather on sunday and venture out to Gordale Scar, which is only an hour from us and definitely worth the drive.

It's like another place and time altogether. I'd be really tempted to move there if I didn't already live in the coolest town in Yorkshire whose s̶h̶o̶p̶s̶ people I would just miss too much if I moved.

Janets Foss is a beautiful waterfall that I didn't manage to take a single decent picture of. Apologies. I really need to study that Canon handbook.

Look! A tree with coins in it! I've seen these before on the interwebs but I don't really know what the meaning of them is. Does sticking a coin in a tree bring good luck?

If you look closely at this pic you will see the moon starting to rise. The combination of the setting, the glorious weather and the time of year made for a rather magical day. Also the fact that we stumbled upon a food van just as I was nearing hypoglycemia. Go flapjacks!

Boyfriend had been going on about this place for months and I didn't really know what it was. Well now I know, and we'll be going back! Specially now we know where the good pubs and the free car park is (although as usual a nice lady came up to us and gave us her day-ticket, so we parked for free anyway. Ah, Yorkshire how I heart you and your friendly people).

Just to give you an idea of how big the actual 'scar' is...

We didn't stay long because it was freezing cold in the shade and we wanted to catch the last rays of sun before it set (at 4:30 PM...) 

I found our dream house. You always have to choose a dream house when you visit somewhere special, right?

I like how realistic the pub owners are around here (this is also a special little wink to one of my fellow bloggers, hey lady!! Hope you're feeling better)

So what do you think? Magical, yes? We couldn't stop saying to each other "this place is only an hour's drive from us! And it's so cool! And we can go whenever we like!" I think we really are on a permanent holiday (seeing as the workload has dried up and died these last few days)...

The Big Bedroom Reveal

Right, I just realised you've seen almost nothing of my Yorkshire bedroom and have decided it's time for a proper bedroom reveal post.

Remember what it looked like after the move? No? That's because I didn't dare show you. But now I've got an improved version I can show you the "before".

Nice, yes? Ok, well not much has changed. Haha. Thank goodness that's a lie. 

First of all, we bought beds that are actually nice and fit up the stairs. The white Malm bed has been relocated to the spare room where it will stay until it is replaced with something more fitting. Now I feel like such an o̶l̶d̶i̶e̶ adult when I climb into my single bed at night. Then I remember that my bedside lamp is a bunny and probably used and loved by 3 year olds across the world.

The only remaining update on my to-do list is to make or buy a cosy light fixture and throw this one away (and by throw away I mean store in the cellar until we move and have to hang it back up for the next lucky tenant).

Next, we bought a wardrobe. Guess where from. Hint: it took us 3 hours to put together, including having to take it all apart again when the doors wouldn't go on properly. Turns out those cute little pictures aren't always super accurate... I don't love it but it's the best we could find in terms of price/size/storage room. It will have to stay here when we move because, well, it's from Ikea, i.e. the back panel is nailed on with a hundred nails.


If only the beams didn't slope (or if I had taken this fact into account when I measured before setting out to buy it) the wardrobe would have fit snugly underneath it and I would've had room for my dressing table to the right of it, just as you come up the stairs. Instead the dressing table is stuck in the darkest bit of the house and being pretty much ignored except when I dust it once a month. Any ideas on how to make this spot more useful and pretty?

Yes, I tried pushing the wardrobe into the beam just to make sure it wouldn't fit snugly underneath. Yes, it looks as if it might just fit. No, it doesn't.

My last step towards achieving a tidy looking bedroom (and this is where the word "looking" takes on full meaning) was hanging turkish towels behind the first beam on the far side to hide the big mess of boxes that have nowhere else to go.

So classy.

Naturally, because the ceiling and beams slope, the length isn't quite right all along... I've come to terms with this but I can understand how it might take you a month or two to accept the fact that it's staying like this. Ah, the joys of renting! Definitely an improvement though as I no longer feel as if I'm sleeping in a garage.

What I love about the bedroom is the ceiling. It makes it feel so nice and airy, kind of like a little tree nest at the top of the house.

I also love the window. The view isn't much to look at but you can see the hill round to the left, and you can hear the water running through the lock, and you can do a bit of stargazing before bed. That might work even better if I actually cleaned the window. 

This picture also proves that it doesn't alway rain in Yorkshire. In fact today it's gloriously sunny and I might have to slip out to take some pictures. Have you been keeping an eye on my Flickr page? If not, here it is!