I did some baking...

This is being written in a total rush considering I'm running around trying to do last minute ski packing and composing a blog post, as for skiing there'll be a lot more about that following considering we're leaving in a couple of hours and heading to Southern France. That aside, I thought I'd share a rather successful recipe I used to make banana blueberry muffins:
(This is actually BBC Good foods recipe, you shall find the original link here but nonetheless I thought I'd post it up.)

Banana and Blueberry Muffins

Yields 12 Muffins

Sunday Afternoon

      Here's a Sunday afternoon picture

And here's a Sunday afternoon playlist:

- Blue Moon by Beck

Self-Criticism

Right... I'm sitting here (with a bowl full of strawberries) unsure of how to go about writing this rather personal post, I'm finding this more nerve-racking than I should - Is it too personal? Am I going to look back on this and cringe? Probably. But nonetheless I think it's something I want to say.

Nice picture of Savannah here...

            
             I know a lot of people, myself included, are overly critical of themselves - criticising yourself can be good if you know you can be better and want to achieve more, but it can also be harmful. Whilst having an emotional evening reflecting on life (as you do) and listening to Aiden Knight - Dream Team (You can put this on in the background if you want to make this post really emotional), I realised how grateful I am to have the life that I do; one with lots of caring friends, family and an extraordinary future if I'm willing to work for it. And so that brought me to friends, how much I love them and how many amazing qualities they have, then I began thinking how a lot of them are unaware of how astounding they really are, and that's sad. People should love things about themselves, they really should, and I know we all have flaws but those seem to draw attention away from our what we appreciate about ourselves.

Moments

I couldn't sleep last night. It was a whole mixture of things including the rain and the drifting dreams and the fear but it all resulted in one thing. No sleep. So it came to about 3:30 in the morning and, as I always do when I'm alone with my thoughts, I started having conversations with an imaginary being. One of the questions I asked myself was to list my best memories or perhaps in other words the moments at which I've been happiest in my life. When I woke up the next morning (I managed to fall asleep in the end) I was thinking about moments. And what they mean. And who they are. 

     I once had a conversation with my grandad about moments, it was a conversation through our writings across the journal we both shared but a conversation all the same. We spoke of 'breathtaking' moments, to look out for them. And so I have been. And so I experienced them.

    And so the other day I came across a quote which I'll find for you now " It's constant the moments, it's just, it's always right now." I agree to it on some levels but I also don't, I don't think the moments are constant, I think time is constant, time will always be passing us but a moment is when we stop and we look at that time right then right now and we feel something and we remember it. Or at least that's what a moment is to me. 

   And so last night, lying there in the dark, I thought about the times in my life where I've looked up and I've smiled and I've thought right now I am happy. I am happy in this moment and nothing else matters. And I think that as long as we each have these moments in our life, well then we're doing an alright job.

Sorry for rambling

          

Here's a moment I was completely happy.

-Savannah-

Vitamin String Quartet

In an attempt of discovering new music, I was listening to purely instrumental versions of songs before stumbling across a group called the 'Vitamin String Quartet', they've produced some absolutely brilliant covers of modern day pop and rock songs using only their two violins, a viola and a cello.
Here are a few of my favourite covers, yes I suppose the whole concepts a bit weird but I find they make an interesting listen.

Kids - MGMT

Fireflies - Owl City

Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Starlight - Muse

Do I Wanna Know - Arctic Monkeys

Sail - AWOLNATION 

Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Dog Days Are Over - Florence and The Machine

Take A Walk - Passion Pit

Gold on The Ceiling - The Black Keys

Looking through a youtube playlist of theirs, you'll realise they've done almost every song you could ask for. It all makes me really want to learn the violin or cello but I'm not sure if I would have the time or commitment...

- Jess -

Midnight Playlist

Not because this suits the time of night, just because it is Midnight and I felt like sharing my current playlist.

Oceans - Coasts

Strong - London Grammar

December Favourites

 How many days until Christmas? As I'm currently typing this there is 7 days, 3 hours and 57 minutes, but who's counting? 
It's time for couple December favourites; they're odds and sods, some make up, some books and few bits of food...

Left: Charlotte Tilbury Matte revolution in Love Liberty

Middle: Topshop Lipstick in Trigger

Right: Fresh Sugar balm in Cherry

Lyric of the Week: Cold is the night - The Oh Hellos

"Cold is the night without you here 

Just your absence ringing in my ears 

Hard is the heart that feels no fear 

Without the bad, the good disappears 

Long is the road that leads me home 

And longer still when I walk alone 

Bitter is the thought of all that time 

Spent searching for something I'll never find" 

                         Quite sad lyrics but it's such a pretty song...
The lyrics remind me of the songs Savannah and I used to write when we'd often find ourselves improvising on the piano or singing songs about home to chords on the guitar. Mind you, those songs weren't half bad. 

                            - Jess-

ALBUMS

Due increase of workload this year, I have have found myself listening to a lot new music whilst spending hour after hour completing homework. These are some really good albums.

Milky Chance - Sadnecessary

Alt J - This is all yours

Faded Paper figures - Relics

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers

                                                                   - Jess - 

Kitchen Table

Went out for brunch today at a small local cafe/restaurant whilst doing loads of 'techy' stuff for our blog (it's a work in progress, bear with us) and it was really quite nice :)

                  Dairy Free Mixed Berry Smoothie

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."

- J. R. R Tolkien  

Free People

I love their videos, free people have a very particular, sweet, sentimental style of video which combined with great editing and music creates amazing videos.

These are just a few of my favourites:

I find they always make you want to be the people in their videos.

- Jess - 

What makes you happy?

  After seeing a sign similar to this outside Johnny Cupcakes(yum!) I gave some thought into how simple yet somehow effective this saying is. Personally, I think it is important to do what makes you happy, as long as it is legal and both physically and mentally healthy, despite what other peoples opinions and judgements may be. If you like baking, running, blogging, whatever it is, if it makes you happy, continue doing it.

Untranslatable words

So I was on Buzzfeed, procrastinating as usual and I came across this post called "Lost In Translation". It was about words that can't be translated into English but are often the exact words you need to describe a feeling, So I thought I'd share a few of my favourites here:

Komorebi (Japanese):

The scattered, dappled light effect that happens when sunlight shines through trees.

Karelu:

The mark left on the skin by wearing something tight.

Commuovere( Italian):

To be moved, sometimes to affectionate tears often by a book or story.

Kabelsalat (German):

A mess of tangled cables.

Mamihlapinatapai:

A silent shared understanding and acknowledgement between two people (normally through a meaningful look) who are wishing and thinking the same think but are both reluctant to initiate.

Razliubit:

To fall out of love.

Mangata:

The road like reflection of the moon in water.

Akihi:

Going Akihi means to listen to directions and then walk off completely forgetting them.

Pisan Zapra:

The time it takes to eat a banana.

Kilig:

Sudden feeling of joy, normally when something romantic occurs, feeling of butterflies in the stomach.

Fernweh:

Being homesick for somewhere you've never been.

Tingo:

To gradually steal all the possessions from a neighbours house by"borrowing " them and not returning.

So there you go.

Polaroid

Okay so I did get my polaroid quite a while ago but I wanted to wait until I'd gotten some good shots off of it before I did a post. Here are a few shots of my polaroid and some of the pictures I took this summer (this is my attempt at being artsy).

Red velvet cake

I have been eating way too much of this recently, it tastes amazing. Thank you Humming Bird Bakery recipe book! 

In addition to sharing my cake with you this post is also just a friendly way to inform you guys that Savannah and I ARE still alive even though we aren't posting as much as we'd like to be. 

- Jess -

Summer Reading list

The Perks of being a Wallflower

No,
 I have 
yet to 
read this 
book but
 I've 
heard 
great 
things.

















Nick and Noras Infinite Playlist

Just something

I know these will all be stories someday.

And our pictures will become

Old photographs.

we'll all become somebody's mum or dad.

But right now these moments

Are not stories

This is happening...I can see it.

That one moment when you know

You're not a sad story.

You are alive, and you stand up and see 

The lights on the buildings

And everything that makes you wonder. 

And you're listening to that song

and that drive with the people you love 

most in this world.

And in this moment I swear, we are infinite



- Perks of being a Wallflower -

A Post

Not that too many of you are interested but I figured I'd make post considering it had been a while.
The lack of activity on this blog is due to lack of things to write about and those pesky exams we are compelled to do at the end of every year, anyways I realised since we (Savannah, Francesca, Alissa and I and of course anyone else who wants to come) were going to go all out on our gap year that is was kinda necessary to able to fund such an adventure. Job ideas? Not a clue, there aren't too many jobs available for unqualified students around my age so earning money is a small problem. Any suggestions? We'd also love to hear any ideas for things to do or interesting places to see.
(By the way Francesca and Alissa are our best friends who will probably feature in many of our posts)

Just thought it would be nice to make a catch up post!

Jess

SoulPancake

So on YouTube there is a channel called SoulPancake which is made up of a bunch of different shows where different people talk about different things. There is "My last days" which documents the life and stories of terminally ill patients, "Kid President" who will make you get up and go do something (I'm sure you will have all heard of him before), "Man on The Street" which is my personal favourite, they will go around asking people on the streets simple questions on life and perform street stunts to get people to appreciate life and others a little bit more. They do many other shows and I will leave a link below which you can go check out.

       I think SoulPancke is a youtube channel which actually does (If that makes any sense). It goes about trying to make the world a happier and friendlier place, teaching everyone else to do the same as it goes.

https://www.youtube.com/user/soulpancake


Savannah