all caught up

(The Maccabees - Seventeen Hands)

Time flies when you're having fun. It flies even quicker when your new job involves staying away from home at least once a week, which has been the case for me since August. I can't quite believe we are already in October but I suddenly find myself digging out gloves and wearing boots and finishing work when it is dark.

There has been much going on, asides from the frequent trips south. Needless to say, as with many of the other blog projects I embarked on, I didn't keep up with the GBBO bake-along. I did manage to keep up with the series, but when I had very few hours at home, spending them buying ingredients and baking recipes that needed half a day seemed like an unimportant way to spend my time!  We managed to sneak in a mini holiday, hence the glut of photos in this post! The Husband came to meet me on one of my trips to London, we tagged some annual leave on to the end of a visit and had a tourist filled few days. We had a great time visiting The Shard and timed it so we saw saw the view at sunset, watching the lights come on across the city.

We headed out into the country to visit a beautiful stately home, and happened upon a courtyard of craft shops including this array of beautiful ribbons.

There was the incredible display at the Tower of London. We tried to volunteer to plant some poppies but all of the slots were filled when we were available. It was no less amazing to see it from a distance and I may well wander back again on another of my visits to London to see how it has changed.

As well as visiting lovely family and spending a brilliant evening catching up, we also squeezed in some art and theatre too. We had our first ever visit to the National Gallery and hadn't realised until we walked in quite how many famous paintings we would see. Completely on a whim we managed to get matinee tickets to see Martin Freeman in Richard III and thoroughly enjoyed it (although it wasn't us that complained about the fish).

There were beautiful displays of colour coded treats. We wandered indoor markets, outdoor markets, and the delights of the many food halls in Harrods.

Culminating in an impromptu, and delicious Harrods takeaway which we enjoyed in Hyde Park whilst listening in to the Proms. It was a lovely hour spent sat on a bench with our fancy picnic as the sun went down. (The pictures below are not, as you might have guessed, the sun setting in Hyde Park.)

In more recent weeks there has been my final ever exam which I have since found out that I passed - hurrah. At the age of 28 I can finally say that I have officially finished my homework! Bliss! Lots of great time with family, including a relative unexpectedly visiting from Australia to stay for a few days and my parents returning from South Africa. There have been birthdays (The Husband, my cousin and my grandad), friends over for dinner, friends over for coffee, and brunch with one of my bridesmaids (and those last three were all this weekend!). It has been very sociable and very busy. We have achieved a lot, and while there has been much to enjoy these last few weeks there have been some long days and a few too many nights spent alone in hotel rooms.

I'm hoping it will settle a little now. I am sitting on the sofa at home, The Husband  next to me, the dog snoring in between us. It is sinking in that the exam is done, much of the plans that were filling the diary are now past and some gentler days are ahead. There are still plentiful trips away but the days in between should be slightly slower paced. It is lovely to be back here in this little space and realise nothing has changed since I left.