le tour

movie night

Represented my home province, Canterbury, on our movie night last night...

Any-who we saw 'Il n'est jamais trop tard' (unsure of what the english title is) with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts and I laughed the entire way through. The shocker of the night was finding out that Ryan has never seen 'Castaway'! So Castaway it is tonight!

sweet cannes

It actually worked out perfectly that Ryan raced on my birthday as it meant we travelled to the French Riviera a week later than originally planned. And according to our hotel manager in Cannes, the three days we were in town had the weather of the haute season (aka the middle of summer and an even costlier than usual time to be in the French Riviera)! Hooray! I never wanted to leave this slice of paradiso!


Our days in Cannes were my definition of the perfect holiday, early morning swims in the Mediterranean, long breakfast's, private beaches, fresh pizza, endless sunbathing... Ah the list goes on... In short - I highly recommend a trip to the French Riviera, whether it be Cannes, Nice or Saint-Tropez it is well worth the dent in the wallet.

18

Our neighbors had a roof party one night!

Some iphone snaps (pardon the blurriness) from my belated birthday weekend in Girona. We had planned to spend a few days in Cannes for my 18th, but Ryan ended up having to race a tour right smack on June 18. So, after a lonely official birthday day it was nice to head out for a drink and dinner in Girona with my boy!

run the world

Another video that made me smile the whole way through, so inspirational and definitely worth the watch. I love Beyonce.

so good

singapore shufflin' from orangefoamfinger on Vimeo.

Every time I watch this video from Issac Likes I can't stop laughing!

blondies

Last night I thought I'd whip up some blondies (brownie's healthier sister), It was the first time I had made them and they were a success! Although I would be worried if they weren't, they're probably the easiest/quickest goody possible to bake and they only require one bowl! Nothing like less dishes and a swift clean up ;). Nevertheless Ryan managed to clear the plate in record time (ok I helped a little...) so I'll no doubt be making these now again sometime very soon.

In other news, yesterday was the first time in a long time the sun decided to show its face and boy was I happy about it! It's amazing how much the weather can influence your mood and your outlook on life. I had been feeling pretty homesick the last few weeks and just generally down. However, as soon as I woke up to sunshine yesterday morning I was back to loving Europe and being so grateful of what I am able to do! We took full advantage of the 28degree day and checked out the local pool, which was great until Ryan got us kicked out we thought we were burning and better leave before we have Tossa De Mar sunburn 2.0.

And I thank Mother Nature once again for giving me another beautiful day today, It's already 25 degrees and its only 10.30am. Maybe I'll head down to the pool again, but I think I'll remember the sunscreen and forget the boyfriend this time ;)

Blondie Recipe, adapted from Smitten Kitchen

80 grams of butter
2/3 brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 mashed banana*

1/2 cup chocolate chips*

Butter an 8×8 pan

Mix melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth.

Beat in the egg and then vanilla essence.

Add salt and sift in flour. Mix in chocolate and banana.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes. 

Let them cool on rack before cutting them into squares

*Feel free to mix up the recipe, instead of chocolate and banana, add nuts, dried fruit, peanut butter or whatever you fancy really - the possibilities are endless!

My cute kitchen