Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!
We had lots of fun again this weekend! 🙂 Here are a few of the highlights…
On Saturday, Lil’ L and I went to Glastonbury for the day with our lovely friend Joni. Glastonbury is one of my favourite UK market towns. It’s full of magic and mysticism, druids and pagans.
Glastonbury has some beautiful old buildings. The George and Dragon Pilgrim’s Hotel dates back to circa 1492. Can you spot St George at the hotel entrance?
I love all the little independent shops in Glastonbury. Their window displays are so beautiful! The Green Man is one of my favourites.
The book in the centre of the window display caught my eye. It might just have to make its way onto my Christmas list 😉
Another favourite shop of mine is the Speaking Tree book shop. It has such a wonderful array of books, that I literally end up losing myself for hours in that shop! They have some great bargains and I never come out empty handed. This time round, Lil’ L and I bought 5 books for a total of £11!
We stopped for lunch at a wonderful little cafe (opposite 100 Monkeys). We also munched some of the crackers that Rachel sent us from the USA. They were so nice, and I’d never tried anything like them before, so thank you Rachel!
While all the browsing, shopping, coffee drinking and lunching was wonderful, the main reason that we came to Glastonbury was to see the Tashi Lhunpo Monks who were visiting from India. Unfortunately, I’d missed their visit to Bath this year as I was helping out at the Macmillan fund raising event, so I was delighted to be able to see them on the final leg of their European tour at Glastonbury.
Check out the sand mandala that they were creating…
Isn’t it stunning?
It was such a privilege to see the Tashi Lhunpo monks again. I must say a huge thank you to Joni for taking me there to see them. I so appreciate it! 🙂
Another highlight of the weekend was the purchase and decorating of the Christmas tree. I set M and Lil’ L the challenge of finding a tree that fulfilled three criteria. Basically, I wanted a tree that was:
a) locally grown
b) beautiful, lush and ‘bushy’ (as opposed to tall, skinny & twiggy)
c) cheap
I never dreamed that they would actually find such a tree, but they did! Only 10 minutes from where we live, they managed to purchase a tree that was grown in Dorset, is beautiful, lush, green, elegant… and only cost 20 quid! I was totally impressed!
Lil’ L also got his Christmas books out this weekend, and we’ve enjoyed snuggling up and reading them together. The current ‘chapter book’ that he’s reading is ‘Secret Santa, Agent of X.M.A.S’ by Guy Bass (US version here). He’s absolutely loving this book. It’s a great one for boys as it’s got secret agents, baddies and battles in it, as well as lots of humour! At under £4, it’s also a great bargain.
Lil’ L also wrote his letter to Father Christmas to tell him how good he’d been and a few ideas of what he’d like for Christmas. I think Father Christmas will be pleased to find that he’ll be able to buy most of the presents at Amazon (should he need to 😉 )
Top of his list are:
- Star Wars Battle of Naboo lego set
- Wolverine animated DVD
- A board game
- Smurfs DVD
- Smurfs Trumps
I also did a spot of Christmas present buying and making this weekend. When I asked my mum what she would like for Christmas, she said she’d like some of my home-made raw chocolates. I was very happy to oblige 🙂
I find chocolate making so relaxing. I might even describe it as ‘therapeutic’. When I’m melting and stirring the chocolate, I often slip into this daydream where I’m Vianne Rocher in my little French chocolate shop in France. All I need now is for Johnny Depp to walk into my kitchen and take a bite of my chocolate hee hee 😉
This weekend, I made some heart shape chocolates…
and some orange segments….
They both have a mix of almonds, brazils and goji in them, and the orange segments have a drop of orange oil, while the hearts have vanilla extract.
If any of your friends or family are dark chocolate lovers, Elements for Life sell these fantastic raw chocolate making kits for £14.99. The kits are suitable for vegans and diabetics. Here’s a list of local stockists. They can also be bought online. Details of the last postal dates for Christmas deliveries can be found here.
I think this would be make a great Christmas gift for chocolate lovers. It could also be paired with a raw chocolate recipe book, like Jessica Fenton’s Raw Chocolate Recipes (this is on my Christmas list 😉 )
And a MUST for all chocolate lovers out there… a copy of Joanne Harris’s Chocolat (US version here). This is one of my all-time favourite novels. You can literally smell and taste the chocolate as you’re reading this book. It’s truly delicious!
And finally….
GIVEAEAY ALERT!!!!
I would like to give all my lovely readers the opportunity to win ten of my home-made raw chocolates. To have a chance of winning, leave me a comment below stating one thing that you’re hoping Santa will bring you this Christmas 😉
The giveaway is international. Closing date Friday 16th December, 9am GMT.
Good luck everybody!