squash and stuff

Yesterday, my day started like this:

"Phil, it's five to seven."

Five words no sleepy commuter wants to hear, particularly when you should have been up at 6:20 and have to be out the door at 7:15!!  Aaargh!!

How we slept through the alarm I do not know!  I suppose it was bound to happen at some point, given that I am not a morning person, as you are aware ;)

But despite that little hiccup, and the passport chucking incident the weekend we moved in (!), the move has gone well.  I don't miss Pimlico as much as I thought I would.  The train journey in to London and back out again in the evening is actually quite nice - serene, even.  I write, I read, and I listen to podcasts.  I observe my fellow commuters, they are an interesting lot.  The walk to the station as the sun rises (shudder!) is quite invigorating!  At the other end I walk from Marylebone station to my office, which takes about 25 minutes if I power walk.  I would take the tube but because I have to change lines it ends up only saving me about ten minutes, so I'd rather be getting there under my own steam rather than squeezing on to a crowded tube.  I do the same in the evening - 25 minute power walk to the station, then the train, then about the same walk home.  So it's about 2 hours door to door each way.  I can't say I don't miss being home early sometimes (!) but it's ok.  I think if it were still light in the evenings when I got home I'd not feel like I've only just got home when I go to bed ;)

the top of our (well, my!) new vintage cupboard

We've so enjoyed putting our new home together and buying new furniture that's ours and not some crappy cardboard furniture that just came with a rented place.  I remember back home when I rented that it was very rare for places to come furnished - it was only really short term lets that offered furnished.  So I was surprised when I moved to London that so many places came furnished.  At first it was a blessing because I didn't have to fork out for furniture in the beginning, but it got to the point where I was tired of having to put up with crappy uncomfortable sofas and saggy mattresses.  Tom and I really wanted our own stuff again.  So that's been something we've really loved about moving to our own place.  We've just about got everything now - on the weekend we finally found a vintage cupboard for the bedroom, which is housing most of my clothes!  Poor Tom is stuck with the built-ins :)   [I will put some more pics up soon, once we get rid of the old curtains that clash with our new decor!]

Veggie box delivery as usual last Friday, and we got some wonderful goodies:

I've made apple crumble and an ABC (apple, banana and clementine) cake with the apples, and kale pesto, which was really scrumptious (and so green!) 

I also roasted and stuffed a squash:

It's what would be called pumpkin back home, but squash is not the same thing as pumpkin over here.  If I asked for pumpkin in the local Morrison's I'd be given a jack-o-lantern! ;)  I got two squash for 50p each - I couldn't believe it, what a bargain!

Our rent-a-hen has also delivered our eggs for the week - if I get up nice and early tomorrow I might be able to have eggs for breakfast, instead of sculling a protein smoothie on the train!

Tomorrow it's also the Cosmo Blog Awards party and announcement of the winners!  Thank you for all your support with it :)  I'm starting to get rather excited, it should be a good night, especially as fellow nominee Jemma of Celery and Cupcakes is going to be my date!  I am so looking forward to meeting her.  We're going to have a champers and toast ourselves, whatever the outcome!  I'm also going to give my wedding dress another outing for the red carpet :) 

What have you got planned this week?   xx