I really can't believe it's 2015 and that I'll be handing in my thesis this year - the past three and a bit years have absolutely flown by (cliche I know). It's also somewhat amazing to realise that we've been in London for over five years now. That time really has disappeared! So I'm making an effort to try and capture more of the little things that we've been doing, to remember what daily life was actually about. So here's a few shots of life round here, circa February and March 2015.
I organised a celebration of Waitangi Day at university, mainly so I could have an excuse to try these delicious NZ-themed doughnuts (the kiwifruit jam one was particularly good).
To continue the baking theme, Adrian's been baking up a storm with all sorts of innovative and delicious bread. These are two of the best: a braided white loaf and then a swirled wholemeal cinnamon and raisin loaf. Now you know why I married this man!
At the amazing skip-fit classes I go to at uni, Adrian managed to come to one and get a special one-on-one boxing lesson. He got beat up! (Not literally)
Also at uni, we got our brand new red cedar hive delivered which everyone's very excited about. The wood is extremely soft but smells really lovely. Can't wait for the bees to arrive and make it their new home!
We went up to Cambridge for the weekend to see a friend (I got the train and Adrian cycled - Ironman training has already started!) and visited the Fitzwilliam Museum. While we were there a recital was on - it was lovely hearing the music echoing through the rooms. My eye was also caught by these beautiful tiles from ancient Egypt. Incredible how the colour has lasted so well for so long.
We've also been thinking about some of the differences between the UK and NZ, like the price of food. This is our weekly shop (barring a few other bits bought at another supermarket) from Lidl - £25, or about $50. I definitely won't miss all the unnecessary packaging on the fruit and vegetables, but the cost is hard to beat!
Suffice to say, we definitely eat well around here. Here's dinner from Friday night - a delicious red pesto and goats cheese pizza, with baby corn, mange tout, red capsicum and rocket. Yum! We're using every occasion to use our brand new (to us) KitchenAid mixer. It's pretty amazing what it can do!
And finally, the piece de resistance - my new chair! Because we live in a cul-de-sac, our road is a magnet for fly-tippers, and there are always all sorts of things out by the rubbish bins. One thing that arrived one day was this chair. It's missing a bottom stabilising piece of wood, but I think it looks pretty good in its brand new shade! The paint was left over from a university project and after five coats and a few more coats of varnish, I think it's pretty nice. Definitely brightens up the living room and not bad for a total outlay on varnish of £4.99!
So there you have it, five weeks worth of photos and stuff going on. Pretty homebody stuff, but given I'm now completely unemployed and focusing on the PhD and triathlon training has started, it suits us fine! Stay tuned for more updates - the weather's just starting to warm up so I'm sure there'll be all sorts of things to report on.
I organised a celebration of Waitangi Day at university, mainly so I could have an excuse to try these delicious NZ-themed doughnuts (the kiwifruit jam one was particularly good).
To continue the baking theme, Adrian's been baking up a storm with all sorts of innovative and delicious bread. These are two of the best: a braided white loaf and then a swirled wholemeal cinnamon and raisin loaf. Now you know why I married this man!
At the amazing skip-fit classes I go to at uni, Adrian managed to come to one and get a special one-on-one boxing lesson. He got beat up! (Not literally)
Also at uni, we got our brand new red cedar hive delivered which everyone's very excited about. The wood is extremely soft but smells really lovely. Can't wait for the bees to arrive and make it their new home!
We went up to Cambridge for the weekend to see a friend (I got the train and Adrian cycled - Ironman training has already started!) and visited the Fitzwilliam Museum. While we were there a recital was on - it was lovely hearing the music echoing through the rooms. My eye was also caught by these beautiful tiles from ancient Egypt. Incredible how the colour has lasted so well for so long.
We've also been thinking about some of the differences between the UK and NZ, like the price of food. This is our weekly shop (barring a few other bits bought at another supermarket) from Lidl - £25, or about $50. I definitely won't miss all the unnecessary packaging on the fruit and vegetables, but the cost is hard to beat!
Suffice to say, we definitely eat well around here. Here's dinner from Friday night - a delicious red pesto and goats cheese pizza, with baby corn, mange tout, red capsicum and rocket. Yum! We're using every occasion to use our brand new (to us) KitchenAid mixer. It's pretty amazing what it can do!
And finally, the piece de resistance - my new chair! Because we live in a cul-de-sac, our road is a magnet for fly-tippers, and there are always all sorts of things out by the rubbish bins. One thing that arrived one day was this chair. It's missing a bottom stabilising piece of wood, but I think it looks pretty good in its brand new shade! The paint was left over from a university project and after five coats and a few more coats of varnish, I think it's pretty nice. Definitely brightens up the living room and not bad for a total outlay on varnish of £4.99!
So there you have it, five weeks worth of photos and stuff going on. Pretty homebody stuff, but given I'm now completely unemployed and focusing on the PhD and triathlon training has started, it suits us fine! Stay tuned for more updates - the weather's just starting to warm up so I'm sure there'll be all sorts of things to report on.
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