Super Lovely Easter-ness



Lovely Lyme

 So here in the UK is has been Easter weekend, a lovely long weekend where we get Friday and Monday off work and it usually rains. A lot. However something very strange happened this year - it has been (and still is) SUNNY. And warm. Glorious in fact.

And while this lovely weather is happening Mr P and I have been quite the active pair (for a change!)

To celebrate the start of the long weekend on Thursday night the fabulous Hybrid (of which Mr P is the bass player) played in a local Battle of the Bands final. They won this competition last year so this time it was more for fun. They didn't win but the band that did were fab and it was a great start to the weekend as lots of friends were there for gossip, dancing and drinkies.

Friday Finds

On Friday to get out and enjoy the sunshine we did a Treasure Trail in Dorchester which we have had in the cupboard for nearly a year. If you've not done one of these I highly recommend them. Ours was a Murder Mystery so you have a list of suspects and murder weapons and the Trail pack guides you around your chosen town to find clues (imagine Cluedo crossed with Treasure Hunt). These could be dates on fountains, plaques on buildings etc etc. But the genius part is you get to see lots of parts of the area you would never normally see and explore the history. It is a great family thing to do I imagine although Mr P and I enjoy the clue solving (admittedly it can be frustrating when you can't seem to find the answers and we get a tad competitive over who has solved the most but that's healthy right?) Trails last around 2 to 3 hours usually from what I can see, although our first attempt last year in Weymouth took about 5 hours desperately trying to find one clue to realise that someone had painted over the sign!!!

That evening Mr P had another gig, this time a private party, which means smoked salmon pasta in creme fraiche (how lush is that, a first time effort thanks to the wonderful blog The Goddess's Kitchen. I love this blog, all the recipes are yummy and simple to follow and I find lots of new and gorgeous things to think about baking/cooking.

Spectacular Saturday

Saturday was a lovely lazy morning and then we hopped in the motor and drive over to Lyme Regis. A little seaside town about 45 minutes away from Weymouth (yep it is sunny therefore Weymouth is crazy busy so we leave and go to someone else's town!!!) We enjoyed a lovely walk along the front, a saunter through the town and a nose in some of the shops and then stopped for a late lunch at the Cobb Inn for mussels and curly fries sat in the sunshine. Super lush. I also spent the day trying in vain to shift some strap marks I'd caught in the briefest of moments sat outside a coffee shop the weekend before. Why is it that when you want to catch the sun you can spend all day in it and not a whiff of colour appears but other times you can dash out and in milliseconds have singed certain areas? V bizarre.



Mmmmmmussles

 Saturday was another gig (can you tell Mr P is making up for lost time?) This time at the Sailors Return in Weymouth. A small but perfectly formed pub right on the harbourside. My evening started off with drinkies at lovely Laura's and then a quick cab ride into town to the pub and a couple (far too many) vodkas later dancing like a loon to the band. Laura did at one point of the evening try to teach us all how to take self portrait photos from above which makes you look younger (I'm all for this especially after a voddy or 6 but I'm not sure I can quite get the hang of it?



The "what were you attempting to do" photo

 Thankfully I was the only one taking photos so as you can imagine if this is the best shot (!) some of the others were hilarious but not for viewing without a safety warning!!

Super Sunday

While out on Thursday at the Battle of the Bands our friends Chris and Carmen suggested having a BBQ on Sunday. Fabulous ideas we thought. I have been known after a white wine spritzer or two to plan an impromptu BBQ and invite everyone from the pub before actually mentioning it to Mr P. This is not a good plan as I get told off, we then have to clean the entire house, weed the garden etc etc. Once we hopefully sort out our garden this year (bye bye shed that sits in our sun spot and hello patio - I am dreaming of al fresco coffee drinking and blogging at weekends while sat on my super cute patio set like this one from John Lewis

But alas our garden is more wasteland than paradise land - fingers crossed we can get it sorted soon!!) Anyhoo I digress, Chris and Carmen thankfully still felt like having us over for a BBQ (they have a very lovely garden: patios, fruit trees, greenhouses and yards and yards of neat lawn - when we are growed up I hope I have something as lovely) so I spent the morning baking (flapjacks from Goddess again, cupcakes and chocolate muffins from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook) to take over with us.

And a lovely afternoon/evening it was too. Yummy food especially the kebabs - even if Lucy the puppy (not moi) did manage to steal one before they hit the BBQ bless her. You really can't beat sunshine, good food, chilled rose and chatting away with good friends. A really lovely Sunday. We even walked home from theirs which is only about 30 minutes walk (for Mr P probably only 15 hehe) which I'm sure burnt off the cupcakes/flapjacks etc....

Most Lovely Monday

And so here we are on the morning of Easter Monday. Once again the sun is shining, and once again I'm drinking my coffee in the kitchen with the patio doors open wishing I had a patio but instead of gardening today I will be hot footing it up to Kent in preparation for a strategy day tomorrow. Thankfully I am visiting our super lovely consultant and family so this evening should be vino'o'clock before lots of coffee and deep thinking tomorrow!

How have you all spent your weekends? Lots of fun in the sun I hope?

Lx



Mr P and I in Lyme - look at his hair it's a returning!!