Tasty Bakes, Getting Holiday Ready and Being Present

I am well and truly relaxed! I had the best week away on holiday 😊 A week out from everything was needed.
I completely forgot to post a recap before our trip to Florida so I’ll do that recap now and then do a catch up on my vacay later this week.

How insane that’s its already April? These past few months have gone by in a flash. I swear as you get older the time just goes by quicker. I guess being an auditor doesn’t help as you’re constantly planning out months in advance and then onto the next client with the next deadline to meet. Is it bad that I wish my year away by just looking forward to the next holiday? In less than a month and I’ll be in Copenhagen for the May bank holiday weekend – can’t wait!
So you ready for a recap? Time to jump into it!
During March I had a few tasty treats! (If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know I love seeking out new places to try.) Someone at work suggested checking out Medicine Bakery and I am now addicted to their cronuts. I’d previously had them at Dominique Ansel Bakery in London who invented them. (See here for an old post with that cronut) They’re a mix between a donut and croissant and are oh soooo tasty. Yum!
Entrance at Medicine just gets your taste buds going… 
I’ve now had the rhubarb and orange blossom as well as the blackberry meringue. The blackberry one was definitely my fav!
If you’re in Birmingham this is definitely one to check out!
The hubby also baked a delish tray bake for work. It’s a tasty cake and really easy to bake. See here for the Sainsbury’s recipe. The recipe made loads so there was enough for me to try too! I mean, I did help… if you count cutting up a bunch of twix!
We also baked up some cinnamon swirls… love  them! All that cinnamon sugary goodness…YUM! We got that make at home pack where you just cut up the big roll and put them in the oven. You’ve always got to make up some icing sugar to go on top…
A friend at work is leaving the auditing world for a different path so we had to go out for lunch to celebrate before she left. We tried out a Lebanese restaurant in Grand Central called Comptoir Libanais (see here). We shared the mezze platter and also got some extra halloumi and tomato. It was the perfect amount for lunch and we polished it off! If you’re looking for something different to try, give it a go.
Look at all that tastiness! 
Apart from this I’ve been fairly busy at work so have just been trying to force myself to go to the gym. I started week 3 on the running plan I’ve been doing and have been managed 5km a couple times a week. It makes me so happy to run this amount again even if some of it is walking!
As per usual I also left it until the last minute to do my packing. I always end up overpacking but think I did fairly well this time. Luckily we’re staying at my nanny’s in Florida so she has a washing machine we can use. I also made sure that I had room for the outlet shopping we’d do. We can’t go to the US without a trip to the outlets! Definitely a chance to stock up on Loft, J. Crew, Gap jeans and Nike. What do you always stock up on when you go State side?
Finally, I’m also trying to be more present at home and also at work. A few weeks ago we had a department day at work and one of the sessions was called ‘Be Here Now’. Not your usual accountancy training! The whole point was are you actually listening?
This made me think about how many times I say ‘You didn’t tell me’ to my husband and whether I hadn’t been properly listening to him. The latest was a couple weeks ago one morning when I asked how we were getting to the rugby in Leicester and he said ‘We’ve spoken about this at least twice this week Catherine… you’re going to get the train’. I literally cannot remember this to save my life!
So what am I going to take away from it? At work when someone comes over I’m going to lock my screen so I don’t get distracted by my emails. At home I’m going to take a couple minutes before I open the door to try and switch off my work thoughts and take the time to listen to Tim when we’re cooking and eating dinner and not just talk at him.
Is anyone else a little guilty of this? Are you there in the moment when you’re talking to your other half all the time? 
Also… what’s your favourite tasty treat?
Until next time,
Cathers xx
Follow: