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Hello, little bit long time no speak (or read if I’m honest.)

Where I’ve been

So the last time I blogged was July 2017 which makes me feel a little bit sick. In the last 6 months I’ve broken up with my long term significant other (still friends), moved house (still in Greenwich,) moved into another room in the house (still lovely,) found a new job (still at the University of Greenwich) and reading/blogging just took a backseat. Almost to the point were I wasn’t sure I’d start up again. Although the main crux of my blogging silence was due to life bits and pieces I started to fall out of love with blogging (again.)

Every Girl Can

When I started My Little Book Blog I wanted to write and promote self-published authors. I thought they were unrepresented and wanted to help with that but quickly the floodgates opened and I was swamped. I have 500+ emails in my blogging inbox that I haven’t had a chance to read let alone respond to and instead of tackling it I walked away from it. It also felt like less people are blogging, or writing; bloggers would rather write a long Instagram caption, or create a story and I wondered whether I should do the same. However, despite being worried about stats, and readers, and comments I want back in. I want to barble on about books.

What do I think is next for this blog

I want to make the blog a little more based around books I really really love. Crime/thriller/horror are the genre’s I enjoy and I want to make them a priority. I do want to post about foods that I like making and eating while reading but I’m not going to be as strict in my ways. I’m going to bring back my Week Commencing posts on a Monday, book reviews will come on Wednesday’s and on a Friday (every couple of weeks) will be something book or food related, I think. I probably won’t stick to a schedule but I miss pouring my heart out here. I also saw a tweet last week that commented that many bloggers, like I have, just disappear off the face of the blogging world with no comment, no good-bye and instead of thinking, “glad I don’t have to write for my blog anymore” I felt sad. So I’m back and I’m excited to get stuck back in.

Vienna Book

So Lizzy, what’s her jam

I thought, since it’s been a year it was worth noting a few bits about me by answering some questions randomly generated by a computer. Enjoy.

What is your favorite season?

Autumn. This heat is killing me, and I cannot wait for gloves, giant cardigans and ankle boots.

What do you think your life will look like in 10 years?

I’ll be 25 in two days, so in ten years I’ll be 35. Hopefully I’ll have moved to the sea, have a dog or two, still working in marketing (specifically CRM) and with someone I love. Sounds fabby.

Are you a morning or a night person?

Morning, definitely.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

I went to Poland and it was really wonderful. We ate a lot of soup, drank quite a bit of vodka and did a lot of walking/exploring.

What is one weird thing about you?

Just one thing? I can’t stand to look or eat or touch (oddly) jelly.

Where do you currently live?

London, specifically Greenwich.

What was your first job?

I worked for a McDonalds and I still addicted. Filet of fish please.

What do you miss most about being a kid?

Spontaneous plans; sleep-overs, days doing nothing, bike rides, swing ball, cloud watching, that kind of stuff.

So hello again, feels good.

Memory of Water

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Hi guys and dolls.

I realised that last week, my week commencing’s have been a bit grumpy. It’s not that I’m having a shitty time, for some reason I’ve been grumbling. Really grumbling. I wanted to switch that around because, despite everything it’s been a great week. Here’s what happened.

World Book Day

It was world book day this week! It’s always a bit tough to dress up for WBD when you work in an office. But, I had too. I dressed up a pretty casual outfit of leggings and black blouse with my Harry Potter time-turner. My bestie Dani bought me this for Christmas last year and whenever I’m predicting a bad day I pop it on. It’s so beautiful and just fabby. Love it.

Harry Potter Time Turner Necklace

Peckham Salvage Yard 

T and I travelled to Peckham Salvage Yard this week. It was actually super lovely although smaller than I thought. I don’t think we were quite hipster enough, but the things being sold were wonderful. From cardigans to Penguin books to old toys it’s a brilliant place to browse. The next one is in July. Put it in your diary – you should totally go.

Vintage Penguin Books

Word of the Week

I’ve started sharing a word of the week on instagram. (You can follow me here.)  This weeks word is Ebullient which means both enthusiastic and lively.

Handwritten word Ebullient

Recipes with courgette (spiralising.)

Fell back in love with my spiraliser this week. I’ve been making a lot of courgetti recipes. Some with tomato sauces, a couple with egg and a new carbonara recipe that I’ll share soon(ish.) I want to spiralise more but it’s helping me cut evening carbs but stay super full. Plus, courgette is freaking delicious.

Courgetti Spaghetti

Dragonite

Finally evolved a Dratini. After the third from 10K eggs still without a super high IV,  I evolved a 80% Dratini. After burning through 100 candies and 100,000 star-dust, I bring you Dragonwin. He’s a beast. (Also I promise less Pokemon references.)

Pokemon Dragonite

There’s my week commencing – how was yours?

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Happy Monday everyone.

It’s been a long but brilliant week. I had a bit of a mind clearer on Saturday which I think I’ll write a post about soon. For now though, here’s what has made my week commencing Feb 20.

Coffee Eclairs

During the working week we had a coffee minute with the other teams in our building. We only moved to our new office block recently and haven’t had a chance to meet everyone. A couple of minutes to introduce ourselves and say hello was lavely. Oh, and they had the most incredible coffee cream eclairs. (Amazing to photograph too.)

Week Commencing Feb 20: Coffee Eclairs

Pokemon Go (Gen 2)

I am a biggggg Pokemon Go fan (still.) It’s been months since I deliberately went out but recently. We’ll I’m a bit re-obsessed. Favourites include Phanpy, Girafarig and Sudowoodo. Any other players in and around Greenwich hit a gal up? We could grab coffee and search for Tyranitar.

Week Commencing Feb 20: Pokemon Go Girafarig

Greenwich Open Days

Many will know I work for the University of Greenwich. I had the chance to take over the Universities Snapchat for a couple of hours during the open day and laved it. It makes me want to maybe try Instagram stories. Here’s a favourite photograph I took during the day.

Week Commencing Feb 20: Living Wall at Greenwich

Wordbrain

Favourite new app of the moment. Wordbrain is a word puzzle which asks you to find hidden words. You have a grid of letters and a number of words to find, but you have to do it in the right order. Oh, and find the correct words. It can seem impossible but it’s a fantastic mind mess. I’m currently only ranked as rat brain but I’m working through the puzzles one by one. I’ll get to the Unicorn brain eventually. One to definitely download.

Back to the gym

I’ve been slacking on the gym. It’s only been a few weeks but I’ve just not been going. But, the lighter mornings and evenings have really helped. I’ve felt stronger, more determined and mentally prepared to take on the weight-loss plateau I’ve been in.

Week Commencing Feb 20: Gym Time

 

There’s my week commencing. How was yours?

 

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It feels good to be home.

Travelling is reaaaally fun, but coming home always feels super nice. We’ve been travelling through France the last few days and this is what we got up to.

Sea Legs

On Wednesday night my parents and Char travelled to Greenwich. We settled down together for a takeaway curry and worked out the last of our plans. Early Thursday morning we bumped along to Dover and tucked into a full English breakfast on the Ferry. Unfortunately I don’t have best sea legs. I suffer from horrible sea-sickness. Gross. But T did a great job of distracting me from my wobbly tummy and took this photo of me. My left eye is squinting like hell but I love it.

Week Commencing Feb 13. Orleans Adventure.: On the ferry

Week Commencing Feb 13. Orleans Adventure.: On the ferry

Week Commencing Feb 13. Yellow nail varnish

Chic and Shock

The reason for travelling to Orleans was for a 60th birthday party. The dress-code was Chic and shock – for example an evening gown paired with wellies. T’s outfit was a gorgeous blue suit with yellow painted nails. I wore a knee-length check dress with a a pair of purple glasses double the size of my head. #Classy. The party was incredible. We started with a voting for the most Chic/Shock and rhubarb and white wine cocktails. They were divine and I want to re-create them very, (very) soon. We then attempted the mannequin challenge (which was tougher than I thought.) Dinner was delicious – slow roasted chicken, cous-cous and tender carrots. T was very happy – the food was perfect.

We drank a lot of wine/champagne/cocktails and danced the night away. Char and I taught the room the Saturday night routine and I confused the French with the ‘Foot Pump’ move. Y’know when you grab you foot and pump it forward and back – I received a lot of odd looks. We stayed up until 5am which was brutal travelling home, but it was perfect. One of the best parties I’ve had the chance to attend.

French Cuisine

I couldn’t write a Week Commencing about France without mentioned the food. We tried a lot of different things – some typical some a little less. We travelled to a grill and wok where we ate piles of sushi, spring rolls and juicy prawns. They had the option of creating your own stirfry. I chose beef and prawns, with broccoli, carrots, noodles and a thai sauce. It was really delicious.

Due to staying with a French family (my mum has been pen-pals with the person who’s birthday it was for many years.) we get to try a lot of home cooked cuisine. One of my favourite things to eat when we’re there is a tuna bread. It has a thick crust and is often paired with tomato, chili and mushroom. This time we also tried a courgette and goats cheese bread which I am determined to re-create. Recipe to come soon.

The morning after the party we ate a banquet of beautiful dishes. Crepes with nutella, a potato, herring and onion salad. Slow roasted cold chicken with garlic mayonaise and a lentil dish. I think it had egg, tomato, lentils and frankfurters but I really want to recreate this (as well as everything else.) But, with vegetarian frankfurters so T can have it.

Two final food shout-outs. French Pringle flavours were amazing. The two we tried were Emmental and Pizza. Both were delicious but smelt really strong. Final shout out is to the cake at the party – I think it was passion fruit and blackcurrant but it was fabby.

Foggy Walks

Before Chinese food we went on a little walk near Olivet. We found some swans and also spotted a man canoeing, with headphones singing operatically at the top of his lungs. Incredible. The photos I took – which I will share more of soon were stunning. It was such a beautiful, beautiful walk.

Exploring Orleans

It was T’s first adventure to France so we did go and explore Orleans. Unfortunately we were short on time (before the party,) so we only wandered through the streets. Bustling, bright and beautiful the city is full of nooks and crannys. I want to go and explore more – but for T to be able to explore a French city a little and to see a marching band (of all things) it was wonderful. We’re already planning a trip back to France. (Probably Paris!)

There is a little bit of an insight into our French adventure. I’m sure more photos and recipes will feature soon. Where was the last place you explored? And how was your week – let me know down below or tweet me @littlebookblog1 or see more of my photos here. 

 

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It’s okay to have down weeks. February definitely hasn’t been the month for me so far. Let’s hope it brightens. It’s been a funny ole week – full of ups and terrible downs. Who knew adulting would be so shitty. Some weeks I love it. Some weeks it feels like I can’t quite hold everything together. But I’m searching for the things that have helped this week.

Post from Vienna

So if you don’t know, Kat over @LifeandOtherDisasters recently hit 1000 followers and held a giveaway. Annd I won one of two prizes. Yeee. Kat’s blog is a stunner. Full of book reviews, #currentlywatching and discussion posts I’m a big fan. The package was so personal and special. A little note, bracelet, the stunning magnet. Plus a guide – one I hope I soon will be able to use. Thank you to Kat – it’s a perfect Vienna inspired present.

Carnaby St

We explored Carnaby street this weekend. I’ve written a separate post about how wonderful it was. We ate Korean food, explored Carnaby street and had some time for ourselves. Life has felt full on recently and to get a minute away was good. Really good.

La La Land

I put off going to see La La Land because I couldn’t quite decide whether it was for me. T persudaded me to go with him and I loved it. We actually went to see it at the O2 which I’ve never been to before. It’s like another world in there. Bright lights, food, drinks, and walk ways that look like roads. It’s definitely worth a visit (and I can use my Meerkat Movies codes there!) YESSSS.

 

 

Wowcher

This week I ordered a hamper of meat from Wowcher

7lbs of meat for £10.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

*Maybe I’ll make something like this ^