Hello! It's been a long time since I've last blogged, but that's because...I WENT TO ENGLAND!!!! (and had the best time of my life ever!)
I have a host of posts lined up for you all, as I said in my last post, but for today I thought I'd share probably one of the best bonding-time walks I've ever had with my dog, Cloe.
We began with a routine walk to the park, where instead of going along our usually track like we usually do (to get our walk over and done with - tick! - for the day) I sat down on the grass and called her over. She was utterly confused, probably thinking 'I thought this was a walk!'
She didn't seem to mind too much, though - this yawn shows that she was rather happy to sit down for a minute after our efforts to get to the park itself.
But then....this look started to happen. The 'alright now, let's not be lazy, please let's keep walking!' look. (This is actually my favourite photo of the lot!)
And to my complete surprise, Cloe began to run, tearing across the grass until...
...she found something to rub herself against. I always find this an amusing thing that dog's do, and the fact that she did it while I had my camera made me very happy indeed :)
Eventually, after one of the best and most refreshing walks we've ever shared, we made it to the bay area just off the park, where Cloe enjoyed some good ol' digging and I found a jelly blubber or two to throw back into the water.
1. Got sent a video of my friend and I dancing like crazy in the middle of our school Common Room during a free period! Gotta love procrastination... :P
2. In love with Yankee Candles! My fav by far (haul was the previous post) is Vanilla and Lime
3. Spent some time with some little people this week and made tic-toc biscuit tea cups - blog post soon!
4. Missed Pancake Day last Tuesday, but made up for it on Sunday. Made plain everyday pancakes and jazzed some up with caramelised banana slices YUM
So I've been away to the land of my dreams - England! And absolutely loved every tea-drinking, teeth-chattering, sight-seeing moment!
I have a whole host of posts lined up for this little blog, but until I get those organised, here is my very first Yankee Candle Haul!
Until very recently, Yankee Candles have been unavailable (or else extremely unaccessible) in Australia, but wandering through my local Spotlight yesterday, I found an entire shelf of these delicious smelling candles.
My eyes were drawn to them - I knew exactly what they were from YouTube, Instagram and, more importantly, my trip to England when in Liverpool I bought my very first Yankee Candle, and so began my love for them.
Relishing in the wonderful rain that England had (which turned into not-so-wonderful once the floods set in) I purchased the votive of 'November Rain', which I have yet to try, and didn't photograph because I accidentally (or intentionally but no knowing why) ripped the label and plastic covering off. (whoops!)
But now, onto the haul! For some reason, Spotlight only had the very Summer-y scents and so they were the ones that found their way to the till.
The candle I had my eye on was 'Vanilla Lime', since I had smelt it before and absolutely loved the sweet vanilla tinted with a hint of refreshing citrus. I love love love this scent, and purchased the votive instead of the tart since it's almost double the size and by chopping the candle in half I can easily use it as a tart if I want to.
Next I went for Lake Sunset, which has a subtle musk scent, and a gorgeous pale pink colour! I'm usually not drawn to musk (the scent of the lolly) but this is so sweet and soft that it's a delicious candle!
The last votive I bought this time around is a lovely, comforting scent of spices - Home Sweet Home. I bought this rather strong scented candle for my mum, who can handle the lingering spice much better than me. I believe she's used it today when she had friends over for lunch in this stormy Sydney weather.
The last two candles I purchased were Yankee Candle tarts, which you burn in an oil burner. These candles, for those of you who haven't used them before, do not come with a wick, but rather you sit them in the upper dish of an oil burner (usually I used mine for burning lavender essential oils during stressful times!) and light a tea light (I get mine from IKEA) which sits underneath in a little ceramic cave. The tea light gently melts the tart, and you can pop the melted wax in and out of the oil burner as many times as you like once the melted wax has settled and solidified again.
The first of the two tarts is this Clean Cotton scent, which, quite literally smells of clean linen. I found this scent to be almost soapy, but not overwhelmingly so. I'm interested to know whether the soft scent will hold when burnt.
And finally I have Mango Peach Salsa. I was tossing up between this and Waikiki Melon, but found that Mango Peach Salsa was a lot more fresh and fruity. Literally like one of those fruity drinks you get at resorts. Besides, I don't really like the smell of artificial watermelon, which I got in the latter candle. I think this particular tart will have to be burnt sometime soon as the Sydney hot weather seems to be fading (to my delight, I assure you!)
My ritual lately is to wake up early when no one in the house has yet stirred, and sit with a freshly brewed tea, a favourite book, and a candle burning next to me. It's lovely, and I'd encourage it for a bit of me-time, but when do you burn your candles?
*I have not been sponsored by Yankee Candle
