Lovely Things || June 2017

You may have noticed that in June 2017, I was a very slow blogger. In fact, possibly the slowest month since the beginning of Wooden Window Sills!

However, as much as I can beat myself up about barely managing one post a week, there is very good reason! In fact, I’ve had one of the busiest months I can remember. The month in numbers looks something like this…10 birthdays to celebrate, 9 appearances on the BBC at Glasto, 8 nights sleeping in a tent, 7 of us catching up during June’s #plymouthbloggers brunch, 6 for dinner at the Cafe on the Exe,  5 cakes decorated, 4 train journeys, celebrating 3 years in my job, 2 festivals and one VERY busy June!

So without further ado…

The Great Estate Festival

Blimey, the beginning of June feels like an entire age away now (sorry that it’s already over a month ago!) but thanks to my kick-ass Cornish blogger friend Anna, the first weekend in June we got to lounge in the sun drinking G&Ts outside our tent, dance around to the likes of the Electric Swing Circus, and still have a bit of beach time on Saturday morning with Pepper the Frenchie! Despite us BOTH getting a little bit too tiddled on Saturday night and waking up fully clothed covered in glitter and freezing as we had collapsed onto our airbed sharing one sleeping bag (ohhh, to be that drunk…blahhh), we had such a fun weekend and as the festival was the first one they’ve hosted at Scourier it was very well organised. I mean, where else can you be 5 mins from the beach, in a beautiful house and gardens with loads of music options, a secret gin garden AND camel racing with real-life massive humpy camels?!?!

Cakeadoodledoo

Another brilliant thing I’ve been getting into during 2017 is workshops. As a 25 year old *sob* you get far fewer chances to learn how to do fun things, and boy do I love a craft.

Baking + new skills = a fun evening with Exeter uni alumni learning how to decorate cupcakes!

With my uni friend Charlotte, we moulded sugar roses, working with sugar paste, royal icing and buttercream, throwing in some pipework too for good measure! It was hosted by Cakadoodledoo at Quickes near Exeter and I genuinely loved it. Those few hours whizzed by and I was so pleased with my creations!

Meeting Rosie Alba

This little bundle of deliciousness makes me so happy! She has the loveliest parents in the world and getting to cuddle her when she was a week old was amazing! Such a gorgeous little thing and I can’t wait to see her grow!

 

Day Dates

You might have seen my post on our day date in the new Pizza Express in Newquay! We had such a lovely time just enjoying a day out together, being by the sea, and of course drinking and eating some pretty tasty treats!

 

All the June birthdays…

By ALL the birthdays I really mean so many of them…as in ten during June! It was our nieces, and brother-in-laws, some of my great friends, my Mum’s, and two of the grannies, just to name a few! We had fun celebrating Adam’s Granny’s with a cheese and wine night, involving blind taste testing, multiple bottles of wine, and some quizzes – what more do you want?! Plus we had a brilliant family meal at The River Exe Cafe near Exmouth, Devon. Being with my fam and Adam makes for a fun and hilarious evening. Plus, when you can only arrive at your restaurant by boat, it’s a big bit of entertainment value. The cafe is quite literally “on the Exe” as it’s a floating barge, so you have to book your table as well as your ferry passage to get there. With delicious seafood on offer, Mum and Dad treated themselves to this incredible platter, Adam and I had some super tasty mussels and Harry and Ned both had great vegetarian and vegan food! Definitely a recommendation if you’re in the South West!

 

Sally turned 30!

In June 2017, one of my best friends Sally turned 30! As a family tradition they do a big celebration with friends and family, and hers was fantastic. She booked out a huge old farmhouse come youth hostel and nearly 40 of us piled in to party on the south Cornish coast. I’ve met her family before, so it was great to see them (especially hanging out with her niece and nephews) and she’s got friends from everywhere! The pressure was on though as I’d been asked if I could bake the cake, specifically a chilli cinnamon chocolate cake, to feed forty people…

Luckily, with the decorating help of a 5 and 3 year old (involving a LOT of sprinkles) it turned out brilliantly and I was chuffed that everyone enjoyed it. On the Saturday night, we all ate nachos, and a huge five bean chilli as cooked by Adam and myself (to relieve the pressure on her Mum cooking it, and handily to stay out of the midday sun as it was baking that weekend!) and filled the garden with fairy lights and candles. With Prosecco flowing and a brilliantly hilarious slideshow of Sally’s ginger perm growing up, I loved spending the weekend celebrating one of my favourite people, swimming in the incredibly clear sea and trying our hand at mass catering with Adam.

 

Glastonbury

What can I say, one of the biggest things that happened in June was finally getting to go to Glastonbury! What. A Treat. not only did the weather hold out for us pretty much entirely, but it was a festival to remember! I had the best time with some of my closest friends (and, not to ruin a surprise, a very wonderful Friday there) and I’m intending on writing up a full post as this little summary will never do it justice!

Work Perks

One of the great things about working where I do is the perks, and one of those is the bi-annual away days at Christmas and during the summer. Each trip, we take the afternoon off for some fun activity, then head out for drinks and food (and often more drinks…). At the end of June, we had a really great trip out down the canal at Exeter Quay with Canadian canoes hired from Saddles and Paddles. Ladened with alcohol packages, we paddled off, occasionally getting pretty soaked from our boss splashing us, stopping at two pubs along the way before cooking up a BBQ. We played some fun drinking games, got the intern pretty pissed and then feeling full and jolly, jumped in taxis to come home, ready to nurse our heads at our desks over a bacon sandwich the next day.

 

As you can see, June 2017 actually turned out to be a ridiculously busy month. I loved it, and had so many fun weekends and nights out and about. Right at the end of June, we were also excited by the news that Adam’s sister has had her second child, a healthy little boy called Thomas! Sometimes you can’t help but run from one thing to the next like a headless chicken. Don’t get me wrong, they were brilliant fun, but I’m hoping that July brings the ground back under my feet. A chance to crack on with some jobs in the house that we’ve had to ignore for a month. A chance to focus again on getting enough sleep, exercising, eating healthily and drinking less (after June’s antics I feel like I’ve been pickled!). So many fun things means that June 2017 will be one I won’t forget, so here’s to grabbing all the lovely things, saying yes to everything, and collapsing in a happy heap once it’s slowed down again!