My last top five article was well received, so here’s a shorter and sweeter list of ideas you can implement this weekend!
Just keep brambling…
The time is now to enjoy the last few blackberries (their name is still up for debate: my mum and I refer to the fruit as brambles). Keep your eye out for them when you are out and about, but maybe avoid popping the following into your mouth: berries growing along busy roads, dog-height berries and obviously berries with bird poo on them (easy to miss at first glimpse…).
Make pumpkin soup / curry
Whether you enjoy celebrating everything and anything (like me!) and decided to carve pumpkins or you’re a thrifty thing and decided to purchase some pumpkins post-Halloween frenzy, in either case the cold weather is a good excuse to whip up something warm and yummy from their flesh (sounds a bit creepy…). We made soup out of ours (an adaptation of this recipe) and served it directly from one of the pumpkins at our Halloween party; we then turned that soup into a curry with the addition of spices and veggies, but the possibilities are endless! Feel free to share your recipes in the comments section below as we still have quite a bit of it left!
Appreciate autumnal colours
It’s already dark as I write this, but the last few days have seen sunshine and an explosion of colours. The changing landscapes help to distract me from the brisk cold of my cycle to work and I had a lovely little shuffle through fallen leaves on my way to the doctor’s on Tuesday. As the days get shorter it is important to go outside and appreciate the show mother nature is putting on for us! While you’re out getting your vitamin D boost, you can also learn more about trees and nature through tools such as Treezilla and iSpot.
Cuddle up and read something offline
I had a bit of a low point earlier this week; I think it was a combination of the darker afternoons and the pressure (I put on myself) linked to all the things I am juggling: getting my PhD on track, doing my day job properly, delivering on freelancing work, continuing my creative pursuits; and the guilt of slipping up on my exercise routine (my number wasn’t drawn in the London Marathon lottery and my wrist hurts, etc etc). What it made me realise is that I need to chill the fudge out! I particularly like the idea of treating yourself, as happiness guru Gretchen Rubin discusses in her podcast. So this weekend put your phone down, grab a blanket, a hot drink and a good book and just enjoy a guilt-free moment of coziness and relaxation, you deserve it!
Tell me what you would like to see
It is a bit cheeky to include this in the list, but I would love to have your input into what you enjoy on this blog and what you would like to see more of. It would greatly help me to create new content and also to provide you with interesting guest posts (do contact me if you want to write one!). Please share your thoughts in the comments box below or by filling out this one page questionnaire, thank you!
Make it a lovely weekend!
