The Friday Feeling - the last of September

If ever there was a time when I longed for a time travelling machine, it is now. This time last week I was dropping my friends off at the airport, after several days relaxing in this pool. What a difference a week makes. On the plus side, the first week back at work, renowned for its obstacles and emotional upheaval, has flown by. Work, post holiday cleaning and the excitement of picking up my bridesmaid dress from the tailor, have all contributed to the fact I know find myself tapping away on a Friday night. 

And with a public holiday on Monday, I am welcoming the weekend with open arms!

men & style

With the impending nuptials of our closets friends in Cyprus, I have been thinking of outfits for months and months. And now mine is coming together, it is time to turn our efforts towards the boyfriend.

When it comes to style, my boyfriend has oodles. Well, its kind of a prerequisite when your a visual merchandiser for Adidas. Even before that, when we were living in London, he would always bring home these obscure and cool underground street style brands; it is just one of his passions. 

However when it comes to formal attire it's a bit more of a minefield. I mean, he has worn the same Zara suit to every wedding, christening and semi formal occasion for the past 4 years. So its about time to invest in an update. 

And where better to seek inspiration than the internet. 

source

source

source

source

The 2 sides of holiday depression

Its fair to say I have been consumed with post holiday depression since about Friday night when we dropped our friends at the airport and uttered a bye through tears and a scratchy throat. And while you may not feel sorry for me for what I am about to write, it is nevertheless, painful. 

Living in Cyprus means we are lucky enough to spend the majority of weekends, all summer long, at the beach, soaking up the sun and enjoying the sea. Even so, after a spending a week relaxing, it still takes time to get back into the swing of real life and brush off the holiday blues. 

The other side of  the depression stems from the goodbyes. One of the sacrifices we make for living in Cyprus is not having our friends around. So come holiday time, its an opportunity to get guests over from England and catch up. But having that "its like nothing ever changed feeling" makes it even harder to say goodbye.

But either you have to get on with it and seek out the positives (we are still on the sunshine island) or pack up and go back to England.

finding comfort in carbs

Last week I was eating fresh fish, this week its Shepherds Pie. That post holiday feeling has been hitting home today and eating is my therapy. Cue a nice home-made English dish like Shepherds Pie. Packed with pork mince, onions, carrots and peas and topped with mashed potato and sprinkle of good old cathedral city mature cheddar cheese, it's the perfect comfort food for a cold and rainy day, or a Monday back at work. 

I don't really follow a recipe because I used to watch my mum make this all the time, so I just throw a load of ingredients together until it tastes like my brain remembers. 

First step is to fry the onions until they have the shiny almost see through thing happening and then throw in the pork mince. Once the its a light brown colour add tomatos (the easiest thing to do is grate them), boiled carrots parsely. I also add a bit of marmite, something my mum always did. Then add the peas.

Once its all mixed together and has a golden brown creamy texture, pour into a baking dish and top with a nice thick layer of mash potato. 

Finally add cheddar cheese on top of the potato and put in a preheated oven for around 30 minutes of until the cheese is golden brown. Great on its own or I love with broccoli. 

Carbs and comfort food make everything better don't they!

the obligatory post holiday photo post.

Over the past week, I have been more relaxed than I ever thought possible. Spending 4 days at a luxury hill top villa in Latchi (the quietest place in Cyprus) really did the job. And spending much needed time with friends from England did my mental health a world of good. We ate fresh fish and bbq'd pork, we drank ice cold corona's and home made mojitos and we read, swam, sunbathed and played cards.

The friends left on Friday night and tomorrow, the dreaded Monday back to work after holidays, rears it's ugly head! 

Hello reality, I guess we can resume our friendship now.