Recipe Courgette and Potato Soup

Another tasty, tasty soup for you today- also made with produce from my MIL's allotment.

We've been over to visit this weekend, as my brother-in-law was up for a visit.  It's half term for both he and Dave, so it was a great way to start the week off.

Speeking of produce, while gathered, we shared out the giant pumpkin that my MIL has grown- I love pumpkin!  I think its the fact that it's only in the shops for the two weeks leading up to Halloween that makes it so appealing- hard to get hold of.  Anyway, I'll be sharing some pumpkin based recipes with you all shortly.

To the Soup- Serves 6

Ingredients
1kg Courgette, chopped
600g potoatos, chopped
2 onions
Glug of oil
1 pint of stock
(anyone seeing a pattern in this yet?)

1. Fry the onions until soft then add the potatoes and stock and boil for 10 min.
2. Add the courgette and boil for a further 5 min.
3. Blend.  Add extra water to get it to the consistency you want, and season.

Easy as pie, this will freeze for a couple of months.  I've made bags of this and all the soups I've mentioned for the freezer- ready for those chilly winter days (as if they're not here yet).

Hope you've enjoyed reading my soup recipes.  As you must see, soup is soo easy, I hope you have a go.

Freya May

The Race for Life

Last Sunday Emma, my Mother in Law, Debra and I ran the 5km Race for Life to support Cancer Research UK!

Here we are after we did it- super gross and sweaty!

So far we've raised around £190 pounds in sponsorship!  Isn't that amazing?  But, if you want to contribute and make that even more, please click on the button below and donate now.  This is life saving research, and, for me, it's personal. 

I've lost two grandparents to cancer, and I have a brave aunt who is a survivor.  One of my greatest fears is that one day I'll get that life changing news, so I want to be ready to fight if it ever happens to me.  And the research we're helping to fund is all part of that.

Donate below, or, as we all said we're up for running again next year- join us! Every little does count.

Freya May

 

Charity Shop Challenge Day 13!

Top (Primark/Sue Rider Care)- £2.75, Cardi (Vintage)- £12, Jeans (GStar/Cancer Research UK)- £4

Total- £18.75

Back from Paris and right on up to Manchester to visit Emma!  It's non-stop for me this week.

After a super busy train ride, where someone stole my reserved seat, its been a lovely afternoon of charity shopping and hot chocolate, we're now sitting down to watch 'Dear John' with a bottle of wine- perfect!

Freya May 

Paris in the Spring Time

Source: Uploaded by user via Freya on Pinterest

3 Days in Paris, the definition of perfect?  I don't know, but I sure comes close.  We're three days of art, arcitecture, food and walking ahead of us.  Naturally, it is super important to look the part in this increadably stylish city, so I took great care planning my wardrobe.  This is a polyvore version (i.e. I have never paid £500 for a cardigan, but have a topshop version).  And it's almost exactly what I have packed.  Except I've taken comfortable boots instead of the shoes pictured.

Freya May

Source: polyvore.com via Freya on Pinterest

Side Table DIY

Hey, I picked up this table at the amazing second hand furniture shop just up the road from us for a bargain price of £5 because it was pretty badly scratched on the top.

I had been exploring inspiring blogs like this one and this one, full of projects taking unwanted, unloved furniture and giving it a second chance with just a lick of paint and some tlc.  So I decided I wanted a go!

This is the table, just as we started to sand it down, you can see the dark colour it was stained and the scratched on the top.

Totally needed a make over, right?

So, we sanded it down

Gave it a undercoat

And painted it the first coat of green, this is what it looked like now-

It still needs another coat of green, and then it's 'done', but I really want to work out a way to recreate this look-

Source: beforemeetsafterblog.com via Freya on Pinterest

But the 'glaze' that is used is only available in the USA, and I can't find the UK equivalent.  I just love how the glaze brings out the details of the piece, stops it looking 2D and flat. I plan on trying for a similar look using tinted varnish, working in small areas, very quickly.  And I'll let you know how that works out!

(I didn't intend on this being a 'how to' post, so if you want more information on repainting furniture please click on the links above)

Freya May

Charity Shop Challenge Day 8!

Cardigan (Primark/Hand me down)- Free, Blouse (Dorothy Perkins/Loros)- £3, Necklace and Belt (Hand me down)- Free, Skirt (Vintage/Loros)-£3.50, Shoes (Loros)- £3. Bag (Vintage)- £18

Total- £27.50

Happy Easter, y'all! Christ has risen, praise the Lord!

Hope you've had a wonderful day.  We've been to church, eaten lunch with David's family, been for a walk with my mum and David's family and been totally relaxed and happy.  

A perfect Easter Sunday.

Freya May 

Charity Shop Challenge Day 5!

Cardigan (Topshop/Hand me down)- Free, Top (H&M/Hand me down)- Free, Bag (Loros)- £2, Jeans (GStar/Cancer Research UK)- £4, Shoes (George/Hand me down)- Free

Total- £6

Another super cheap outfit! Yay!

Been hanging out with my mum today, redoing a table I picked up second hand, transforming it from a beaten up old thing, to a lovely side table, anyone would be pleased with!  Check back for a post about that soon!

Then we went for dinner and a film with Dad and Gracie- 'Mirror Mirror' was great fun!!!

I'm super tired, so that's all for now, settling in to watch the 100th episode of The Big Bang Theory!!!

Freya May

Mothering Sunday

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!  I hope you've all remembered to, at least, send your mother a card.

We've had a lovely day!  Been to the Baptist Church in town this morning which was really great.  We made prayer cards to hang on a tree, and card decorating and planted a flower, all in the name of worship and prayer.  It was dead fun! People were really friendly and they've loads of weekly activites and student type socials to get stuck in with.  We're away next Sunday, but we'll be back again soon!

Anyway- We invited both our mother's, David's dad and my little sis over for sunday lunch to treat our mums to a relaxed and, hopefully, stress free day. 

Roast chicken dinner, dessert, cupcakes made by little sis, and a very happy day! 

Freya May

Christmas is never quiet

Source: google.com via Sherri on Pinterest

Hey y'all!  How was your Christmas's???

I am still in the middle of a very busy week but I wanted to take the time and write about our Christmas. 

This was our first Christmas in our own home, having spent our first married christmas on holiday from university with David's parents.  I was so lovely to just relax and hang out together, starting traditions such as opening stockings and having pancakes for breakfast. 

After church my Dad and little sister, Grace, came over for dinner, which Dave and I cooked together.

It was so much fun, and it was one of my goals from 25 before 25! Yay!  But I feel like a fool, because I forgot to take any photos from the whole day!

I've heard that it takes women until the age of 38 to feel confident about cooking Christmas dinner, and a further 5 years before they think of it as 'easy'. 

I don't know if that's true for everyone, but I think our start this year at lest set me off on the right foot! :-D

Merry Christmas!!!

Freya May

Christmas Count Down

Christmas Eve is upon us, people!

Source: alwaysinwonder.com via Freya on Pinterest

 I don't know about you, but Christmas eve is just as exciting and busy for me as Christmas day.

Because we have to see my mum, my dad and David's parents over Christmas, the fesivites start today. 

We're having lunch with David's parents and Grandpa then heading to my mum's our own Christmas day.  We pretend that we're not 24hrs early and have Christmas dinner, and presents and head on to the Midnight service at church. 

This makes Christmas Eve just as exciting and wonderful, so I wish you all a Merry Christmas eve!  And Looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow with my Dad and lil' sister!

Blessings,

Freya May

Christmas Times at the Pantomime

I love the Pantomime!!!

Source: en.wikipedia.org via Freya on Pinterest

It's totally one of the best traditions of Christmas.  It's sill and fun, you get to hang out with the family, eat sweets and just feel Christmassy!

We went to the Town Hall to watch the local pantomime with our families and some friends to see 'Mother Goose'.

What was particularly brilliant was that the guest star was a colleague of my mum's partner from the local radio, so he was called up on stage to embarrass himself :-D

Are you going to see your local pantomime this year? 
What other traditions are you loving this Christmas time?
Do you enjoy the sillyness of it all as much as me??

Freya May

My First Craft Fair

Hey,

Today Pete, my father-in-law, and I went to my first craft fair at a school in Leicester.

It really wasn't a busy fair, lots of parents came to see the children's choir, but then it got really quiet.  Probably because of this, we didn't sell much, people came by and had a look, but I only sold one necklace.

I was selling the necklaces and the tea cup candles I blogged about here, and some mini bunting I made.  Pete makes awesome homemade cards using photographs he's taken.

I found one other stall that sold 'vintage'-y, cute homemade stuff which was my 'compatition', from whom I was inspired for more makes and stuff.

My dad surprised me and popped by though!  It was very cool, and we had a wander round, bought a couple of little gifts for Christmas and just hung out with us for a while.

Although there wasn't much action today, I still had fun, and am totally up for doing another one.  It feels like we need to go around a few fairs to find our niche and learn which ones are more 'crafty'.

Freya May

Living for the Weekends

Totally feeling this way at the moment, we're super busy each and every weekend from now till Christmas day. 

This weekend involved going to the fair on Tuesday night, going to a switchfoot gig on Friday night, birthday party on Saturday night and SLEEEEEP on Sunday.

Here are some photos of the fair. 

I'm still learning how to use my camera, it's just a pocket Olympus VG-120, but I know its capable of doing decent photos once I learn about the settings- Any hints???

But, even more exciting than everything we did this weekend- I'm going to a Hen Party next weekend!!!  It's going to be AMAZING :-)

And only three more working days to get there!

Have you had a good weekend?  What have you been up to? 

And check back tomorrow, I have been busy making crafts for the stall in two weeks (about time really!) and would love to show them to you!

Frey May

Birthday Fun

Yesterday, I turned 22 :-) Woooo!

Photo taken by my mummy

It was such a busy day! At 10am, we were on the University sports fields, ready for the Rugby7's tournament to start.  Our church had entered a team in witch Husband was playing with some of our friends.  Five games were played, two won, two lost and one drawn.  As we lost against the universities rugby team and then the hockey team, so I don't think there was any shame in that. 

We also had to run at oneish, to get to Grandpa Gilbert's 90th Birthday.  I think that is amazing.  Such a grand old age.  He is especially impressive, he continues to keep an immaculate garden, and make trellis and fences on his power tools.  Ninety, but still strong.  If I get to that age, I hope to God I am that able. 

Finally, my family came up in the evening to go out for dinner.  It was really good to see them, haven't had the chance since before exams started. 

And, I must not forget, check out the cake Husband iced for me.  What do you think?

All in all, a really busy and wonderful day!  Thank you to everyone who helped make it lovely,

Freya May