What I've been up to...

I know it's been a long time.  I blame it on winter, and busyness.  But, here I am.  And here's a little of what I've been up to the last month and a half or so.

Work Christmas Party-

These were in the morning, probably during our Christmas quiz time.  

We had Christmas lunch at a lovely hotel called Morgans.  

And then headed down to Wind Street.  

Christmas baking/cooking/decorating:

Where we got a bit carried away and made WAY too much food...

Snow!-

From our living room window

Then, Christmas came, and my first Christmas away from home was hard, but it was not nearly as bad as  I expected.  And that's mainly because people here were so very kind and made us feel like we weren't really missing anything by being somewhere new for Christmas, and for that I am so thankful.  

The day after Christmas (Boxing Day around here), I hopped in the car with Cherie, dropped her off in Cardiff, and headed to London where I picked up Laura Cottrell from Heathrow airport.

We spent a couple of days making pumpkin bread, walking in parks, seeing Wicked, and drinking tea with Lorna and Andie.

Then, Laura, Andie, and I headed up north to the Lake District where we stayed in a cottage right in the middle of a dairy farm.  And there were sheep outside our windows.  Yep.  Needless to say, it was beautiful, and relaxing, and exactly what I needed and was hoping for.  It was good to be with friends who know me well for a few days.  To have good conversations and laugh and cry together.  To watch old movies and read books, and walk a lot, and step in cow poop, and build fires, and meet new people who welcome strangers into their house for coffee.  It was good.  

The rest of January has been pretty uneventful.  Lots of time spent working, and the time I haven't been working, I haven't been doing much of anything else.  It's tiring, this whole big kid job thing.  But, I have managed to finally finish this quilt:

And, I've been making some homemade yogurt:

I've been promising my roommates that I would make chocolate cake.  And this weekend they are in Amsterdam, so apparently I thought it would be a good time to make the cake.  And, no, it doesn't really make any sense, but hey, why not, right?

The recipe is Molly Wizenberg's from A Homemade Life.  And I found just a tiny bit of cream in the fridge which I whipped up with some sugar that I think will be quite lovely with the cake.  I think I'll freeze it and give it to my roommates when they get back.  Yummy.

I've also been listening to Mumford & Sons and The Decemberists constantly.  As in all day, everyday.  Love them.  And you should too.  

And that's all.