Sorrento Diaries

This year I was lucky enough to go on holiday to Sorrento.
It's a tiny place in Italy, overlooked by Mount Vesuvius and one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to. Cobbled streets, delicious gelato on every corner, full of history and the ideal getaway.

Mini wild strawberries served with vanilla gelato. Deliciously sweet with a candy floss flavour



We took a yacht over to the Isle of Capri
 It is so beautiful and surrounded by clear seas full of little fish!



Pompeii was so interesting and full of beautiful architecture

We may have tried a few cocktails on holiday

Aperol Spritzer 

How cute are these ice cubes?!


There are so many designer shops and really fashionable pieces around like this coral reef inspired clutch bag <3



It was absolutely perfect, beautiful, serene and an ideal holiday destination.
  
 

Kojo and PHP

Meet Kojo and PHP!

This post is a long time coming to be honest, we have had our hamsters for a while now, but as with most things, I never really get around to blogging as much as I would like - hence the massive gaps between blogs. Anyway, here is yet another promise to blog more!

Kojo and PHP were moving in pets really.
After moving in, there was just something missing. For me, a house isn't really a home without a pet, whether that's a great dane or just a snail - heck even a cactus!
Now I know that hamsters aren't the biggest pets that I could have and not really a big commitment, not compared to a cat or a dog anyway, but I absolutely love hamsters and look how cute they are! Plus we are renting at the moment and we can't have pets that can get fleas...
Anyway, here they are, Kojo and PHP - as for the names, Rich is a PHP developer and Kojo is something to do with coding too (very geeky I know, but pretty good names if you ask me).

This is Kojo, she is a little plump of a hamster and loves peanuts more than I love watching reruns of Americas Next Top Model - and I LOVE that show. Every time I change the food, she charges up to it and grabs the peanuts before PHP can get her nose in and then rummages and picks out all the good bits - Our cute little fat ball of fluff! 


This is PHP aka Pushpa. She is so cute and tiny and small and aww just look at her! PHP gets bullied by Kojo to be honest, but she can hold her own (and out run Kogo easily). She loves strawberries, but she does look like a character in one of those zombie films with strawberry 'blood' all around her mouth. I love her little jelly bean feet and whiskers. Her nose twitches so much and all in all she is just adorable!

Food Frenzie

Today I threw away so much food! I felt terrible. It was all out of date and not like a couple of days out of date, but about a week or so. Now usually, if it is a mushroom or something like that, fair enough, they go a bit wrinkly and still taste good, but unfortunately this was meat. That made me feel worse than terrible. In fact, I felt so bad that I sat down and planned out my meals for the week so that by next Friday, there will be no waste (cross fingers). If this all goes well and to plan, I may even make a habit of writing out my meals as a bit of a reminder for myself and to provide a bit of inspiration to those who may be a little lost for weekly meal ideas, but for now, here is an outline of the meals I have planned from today to next Friday. Now, I don't know how fussy you are about food, but I am quite picky. Because of this, you are not going to find any falafel or quinoa here, but instead good, old fashioned, quick and easy family meals. So, let's get started.


Friday: Fish and Chips, with peas and a spicy twist.
I love fish and chips. They remind me of long walks along the beach, the smell of the sea and swimming. For some reason we always had fish and chips after we went swimming, it was just a thing. However, as we all know, this isn't the healthiest of meals. So, to combat that, the fish is breaded, the chips are hand made and oven baked and of course there are plenty of peas to boot. The spicy twist comes from the chips. Covering these in a little oil, paprika, mild chilli powder and a few dried chilli flakes gives these chips a bronze glow and an adult twist.

Saturday: Chicken Fajitas
Fajitas are so easy to do and taste so good! Full of vegetables they are also pretty healthy and a quick weekend meal. I'm afraid there is nothing more I can say about this. Fajitas = good.

Sunday: Party Food and Cake!
Today Rich turned 24 which of course means cake! We had a few nibbles at his Nan's and enjoyed a few treats too. Cheese and onion rolls, jam tarts, chocolates and some pizza too.

Monday: Meal Out
As there has been a few birthdays and celebrations this week, we went out for a big group meal. I enjoyed a classic Chicken New Yorker.

Tuesday: Creamy Mushroom Pasta
This was a bit of a throw together and includes loads of mushrooms, bacon and onions. It's delicious and tasty and perfect for a midweek meal. Throw in a pre-made sauce for ease or a bit of cream/creme fresh to make your own sauce. Super easy, super tasty.

Wednesday: Pizza
Simple and a firm favourite. We couldn't really be bothered to cook today so grabbed a couple of pizzas and chucked them in the oven.

Thursday: Beef Stir-fry
Peppers, spring onions, some beef and boiled rice with a bit of oyster sauce. Beef stir-fry makes a delicious quick and easy meal. Unfortunately, this meal was a little bit of a flop as I used a packet black bean sauce mix and it wasn't great, but usually this is delicious and one of my favourite meals!

Friday: We went out again...

Anyway, this week was ok in terms of food. We ate out a little more than we usually would, but next week I'm planning on using the food we have in our cupboards and hopefully save a little bit of money on the weekly shop along the way too!

My Ideal Home: Living Room

My Ideal Home: Living RoomQuirky, fun touches and pops of copper bring in the old trends of 2015 and put them smack bang into a funky fresh 2016!

What I love most about this is how the touches of bright yellow and teal just seem to work. Yellow and blue is a common combination, especially around summer time, but including darker pieces and copper is a little bit of a challenge. To combat this, I have added these pieces throughout the room and not clustered too many dark pieces together. My favourite piece here, is by far the orange bookcase. It compliments the copper bronze pieces and although this particular one is pretty expensive, you'd easily be able to copy it with a painted IKEA bookcase.

I hope you like my living room and maybe take some inspiration from it for your own space!

Speak soon,