Birthday Raspberry Picking

I visited Corby for my birthday this year. I met my cousin's new daughter Aurelia. She is tiny! I picked raspberries with my Mum and Dad and we ate scones at a local buttery. It was a low key, family affair.

An awkward looking experiment in self-timer photography.

 

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Shamphree - week 2

HEY! This blog has moved.

Loads more Shamphree info at CAREFUL KIM.

I've made it through another week of Shamphree. This week was interesting and a small variable threw a spanner in the works. It was my birthday and I travelled home to stay with my parents for a few days, from Manchester to Northamptonshire. A mere 3 hours on the train but enough to seriously mess with my experiment. I'm putting it down to the water.

After a bit of research (just now, I just googled 'hard and soft water', ha!) it seems that Manchester (where I live) has 'very soft' water. In Northamptonshire the water is 'hard', meaning it is rich in minerals. That will explain why the tap water at my parents' house tastes really good and the water in Manchester tastes like chemicals. I found that the 'hard' water at my parents was RUBBISH at washing the bicarbonate of soda from my hair. Useless. 

I Shamphreed my hair twice in the second week, compared to 4 times in the first week. This was because I had so much hard work, and just couldn't be bothered. Also because the bicarb didn't really come out, so my hair was kind of bulky with it. In a way, it was alright, I had thick hair that had a lot of body and it would kind of 'stay' when I tried to body it up with my hands. But I couldn't run my fingers through it. It looked good, but it didn't feel good. It also didn't feel greasy as quickly as in the first week, probably because it had the bicarbonate just sat it in for days. 

Both times I washed it at my parents' house, I had to re-rinse afterwards. This didn't help much. It was frustrating, I felt like I had ocean hair for days, without the lovely ocean. On the plus side, I found peppermint oil at my parents' so I tried this with my 'conditioner', and it smelled incredible! My head felt so fresh and tingly. The only other change was instead of cider vinegar, I used lemon juice. That could possible be the reason that it was so hard to get the bicarb out, but I don't think so. Of course, I'm no expert. There could be complicated reasoning for my Shamphree headache in Northamptonshire, it could be down to the composition of the water and way that reacts with the alkali bicarbonate.... but I don't know for sure.

Also, I've lost my camera cable, so no lovely pictures of my trip, my caked in bicarb hair or my birthday. 

I've now just done my 7th wash, the first of week 3. I'm sat here with wet hair waiting to see what this wash will bring! It's always an adventure. It's hard to tell, because of the bicarby hair I've had for almost a week, but it seems like the greasiest hair I've ever had (wash 3?) is behind me. I'll keep you up to date.

Oh, I have this picture already, a delicious whisky and lemon cheesecake I made last week. The recipe is a James Martin one... from here. It was very.... indulgent, calorific and delicious. 

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Mother's Birthday

I've been a while posting some pictures of my Mum's birthday because I got all pissed off with the last post I did. My 48 blogging apps and blogspot through a web browser via an iPad couldn't make sense of the size of my pictures. I ended up with page breaks and unwanted captions all over the place and I rather childishly thought 'oh fuck it' and tossed my iPad aside. Today I collected myself and fixed it with a good old laptop.

So here are some of the pictures I took over my Mum's birthday weekend. The first one is so special. I think it'll be a picture I come back to again and again. Yes, my Dad's back is turned, but Joseph and my Mum are grinning at each other, clearly excited about that strawberry tart (birthday candle included). This picture says a lot about my Mum. She adores Joe. And she's the happiest woman I know.

See, who wouldn't be excited about that tart?

These were the only clouds I saw all weekend.

Oliver made pulled pork, which went down a treat.

This just about sums up my Dad's free time when I come home to visit. 

My Mother and I have found a shared love of Prosecco.

Birthday Beautiful!

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A Trip Home

Last weekend Oliver and I went to Corby for the weekend, for Christenings and Birthdays. I stayed a little longer to hang out with my Ma and Pa. The weather was beautiful, I ate and drank lots and managed to see a big chunk of my family, which is always lovely for me since I live a while away.

Here are a few highlights from Georgia's Christening...

I like this one because this is really my face most of the time. 

Posted with Blogsy

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