Hummingbird Noms....

Have you heard of Hummingbird Bakery?

From top left - Lemon Meringue cupcake, Carrot Cupcake, Red Velvet Whoopie Pie, Giant cupcake cake.

Based in London, they make amazing cupcakes and pies and other yummy treats, and they also have a couple of books out. My boyfriend bought me their new book Cake Days when we were out last weekend. It's RRP £20, but WH Smith had it on offer for £10, bargain! 

I really like the way the recipes are arranged, into different holidays and celebrations, such as Mother's day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas etc, as well as other "anytime" sections such as "Rainy Day Treats". Though thats not to say you couldnt make a Christmas cupcake in April if you so wished! ;o)

The book has a mixure of cakes, cupcakes, whoopie pies, cheesecakes, pies and muffins, and even has a few savoury recipes in there.

I only took a couple of pics from inside..

Mini Mojito Cupcakes - I think these would be so cute for a (adult) birthday party! They also have recipe for strawberry daquiri and pina colada cupcakes! yummmmeeee!

Cola Cupcakes! Because the boy bought me the book, I let him choose what I'll make first. He chose these! Its a cupcake combination I'd NEVER have thought of, so i'm interested to see how these turn out!

Thats all in the way of pictures but some other yummy recipes I hope to try soon are....

Pea, Ham and Feta Cheese Muffins

Lemonade Cupcakes

Lemon and Poppy Seed Loaf

Custard and Cinnamon Tart

Butterscotch Marshmallow Bars

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

Chilli, Cheese and Sweetcorn Muffins.

These are my favourties, but to be honest, EVERY recipe looks amazing!

And yes, I am supposed to be on a diet. Whoops!

Jilly xox

Hidden Glastonbury...

Decided I would like to share with you the first few pages of my Twisto Circle Journal, which is (of course) based on Glastonbury. For those who might not know what i'm on about...

Glastonbury - Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. A massive music festival that takes place at the end of June every year.

Twisto -  a group of Twitter people who attend Glastonbury. We chat about the line up, Glasto news, and lots of other nonsensical ramblings in the run up to Glasto, and then have a meet up while at the festival.

Circle Journal - A journal based round a certain theme, which gets passed round a group of people, and each person completes an entry, before passing onto the next participant, then finally makes it way back to the owner.

Hidden Glastonbury - I decided on this theme, basically, because Glastonbury is SO SO huge, and theres SO many things to see that may get missed. The main stages where all the big acts such as Bruce Sprinsteen, U2, Muse etc play are the bits that get the most coverage from the TV cameras, and obviously really draw the crowds in. BUT, away from the main stages, there's lots of little hidden delights, in the form of bars, random activities going on, as well as just nice placess to relax and take in your surroundings! I've only been to Glastonbury twice, so I'm a bit of a newbie, and I wanted the other girls in the circle to share with me their favourite things to see or do (or eat!) at Glastonbury, away from the main stages.

Here's a few pics to illustrate just how big Glastonbury is. Crazy big! Can you spot your tent? no really, I can see mine!

I love this last picture! I love this time of night at Glastonbury when the suns just gone down, and theres an excited atmosphere about the headliners, or all night dancing, or chilling at the Stone Circle watching the stars and listening to people strumming guitars or drumming around campfires. Oh i'm so excited!

Anyway, enough of my blethering, onto the journal.

My cover -

My intro pages .... sorry about the big shadow of my head on the picture!

My main page. I dont like the title on this, I'm going to redo it when it gets back to in me in 5 months or whenever it will be!

I just HAD to feature food somewhere, as the food at Glasto is just amazing!

There's also a sign in page at the back, that I forgot to take pictures of before it left, but its not too exciting anyway! I cant wait to get it back to see the contributions from the other girls!

Have you been to Glastonbury? Please comment and tell me of any hidden Glastonbury must-sees that you know of! This year might be my last for a while (i'm going to be at uni/teaching, and it falls in term time sadly), so I want to see as much as I can this year!!

Thanks for popping by!

Jilly xox

a weekend just for me!

This weekend was a bit different from usual, because my boyfriend was away for the weekend on a Stag do in Newcastle. I work long shifts and late nights at work, so I dont see him very much during the week, so normally we spend all weekend together. Even though I missed having him around, I do quite enjoy my own company, and took advantage of having lots of "Me time"

So here's what I got up to -

* I totally BLITZED Google Reader, and got my unread posts from 800+, down to ZERO! GO ME! (This took pretty much all of Friday night and Saturday afternoon!!)

* I went to catch up with 2 of my friends Philippa and Nicola. We talked a lot about babies and weddings. This makes me feel so old!! (but i kinda liked it :D )

* I bought some super cute owl earrings from Polly's Etsy Shop. I volunteer at a Brownie group and my Owl leaders name is Red Owl, so I HAD to have these!

* I painted my nails in my favourite summery colour, and put on a pretty dress that I got last Autumn in the sale, and ive been looking forward to wearing this summer!

* I dyed a dress and a top, using a navy blue fabric dye. I loved them both,and although both were in good condition, their colours had gotten a bit washed out looking. They are currently on the line drying, looking forward to seeing how theyve turned out!

* I planted some seeds to grow peppers, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce! I'm gonna do my bestest not to kill them! They grow in these funny little pods until they have leaves, and then I have to transfer into a bigger tray - I think they look so cute!

* My boy got home from his trip about 7pm tonight, and came over to mine, so I made us a SUPER YUMMY blue cheese and brocolli pasta bake for dinner. It was a Weight Watchers recipe, but you'd never know it, it was so delicious! I have some left over to take to work tomorrow, and I have to be honest, I cant wait to have it again!!

* Then we snuggled, chatted, laughed and wished some more that we were already living together.

* He went home, and I consoled myself with some Reese's Pieces.

*Then I came on here to tell you all what I got up to.

The End. Boooo, that means it's Monday tomorrow.

Hope you all had a fun weekend!

Night night! xox

Snapshot Saturday!

So ummm yeh, its been a while! But hello, I am still here! Things have been so busy recently, but I decided to get back into this by taking part in Yellow Songbirds Snapshot Saturday. I have so many recent pictures, and I will eventually (hopefully) get around to sharing some of those with you, but the one i've decided to share with you is one that I took on a recent trip to Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.

This museum is the most visited in the UK outside of London, and its just simply stunning. It's set in the "hip" West End of Glasgow, and the beautiful Victorian building is just amazing. The high ceilings and the ornate detailing on both the exterior and interior is a photographers paradise! I hadn't been in years, and so a few weeks ago when I had a random Thursday off work, the boy decided to take the day off too, and we took a trip down there. It was so much fun, and because it was a weekday it was fairly quiet so I could snap away to my hearts content, without getting in too many peoples way! Or them getting in my way more to the point! ;o) 

I'll hopefully share some more photo's of our day out soon, but thats all for now!

If you have any fun pictures you want to share, or just wanna have a nosey at other peoples, head on over to Snapshot Saturday on Kim's blog!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Jilly xo

ps, do you have Pinterest? I've just started playing with it, I feel an addiction coming on! Follow me!