back to the nest...

It has been a loong time since I last blogged.

Here's what's being going on in the life of yours truly since July(Which is the latest blog entry I did.)

I moved out - From my personal slice of heaven to return back to the nest with my parents.

Nick and I were sick of spending money on rent. And gas. And electricity. And water. And groceries.
My mum has always said if we ever wanted to come home, we'd be more than welcome.
I was all for it, we could save double time for a house and the wedding but Nick wasn't too keen.
I think he was worried that it would make it look like he couldn't provide for me which is just silly, but I think I understand how he felt.
Then one day he came home from work and said 'Let's do it'.
So we gave our notice to our landlord and started packing away.
I don't remember the exact date but we were all moved in to my parents house by early August.
My parents have a separate bedroom outside, I believe it's called a bungalow?
It was my bedroom before I left home the first time.
There's no kitchen or bathroom in it,(If there was, I never would have left in the first place!) but it's nice to have that extra bit of privacy.

It's so good to have a home cooked meal every night. My mother is an amazing cook, sadly the same cannot be said for me.

I won't lie though, it's been hard.
There have been days where all I want to do is rewind time and stay put in my unit with Nick.
He works long hours so I was very used to being alone a lot of the time, which suited me fine. I actually enjoy being by myself.
At my parents house, there is usually always someone home and I think that has been one of the biggest adjustments.

On the plus side, I have a beautiful pool at my doorstep and my mums two gorgeous dogs.

Here's a few things I'm that I'm missing;

Snuggles on the couch with my cats.

Having a whole room dedicated to my clothes, shoes and accessories. 

Sitting on my veranda with a coffee & a book

 My open, airy lounge room. Emphasis on the word 'my'.

 Late night hang outs with Louise


I must admit, it does sort of feel like a step backward.
I know it will get me ahead in the long run, and it will be helpful not having all those bills while I'm at uni but for the present I feel a little...pathetic.

Have you ever returned home?
Was it hard or am I just being a drama queen?
I'd love to hear some stories.

My next blog post will be a little more uplifting, I promise!
:)

x

banana bread

A few days ago I noticed my stash of bananas were starting to get beyond the point of eating. So I decided to make some banana bread. I'd never made any before so I hti up google in search of a good recipe.

I stumbled upon a blog (I cannot remember the name of it for the life of me!) that had this recipe and a little side note saying the person who wrote the blog post had been nagging her friends mother for years for the recipe.

If it's a mummy recipe, you know it's going to be good!

I am not too great in the kitchen, so the fact that even I am saying this recipe is foolproof and delicious, says a lot.

If I can do this, anyone can.

So I thought I would share this recipe with you all.

Here goes; 

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees celcius

Ingredients 

You will need;
cooling rack
loaf pan; greased.
4-5 bananas; smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg; beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon bi-carb baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups plain flour

Add the melted butter first.
Mix

Add sugar, egg & vanilla essence.
Mix.

It should look something like this so far.

Sprinkle bi-carb and salt on top.
Mix.

Add flour last.
Mix.

The mixture will go in to a batter & look something like this.

Pour mixture in to greased loaf pan & bake for roughly an hour.

 Mine usually only takes about 45-50 mins.
I just keep an eye on how brown the outside is and do the clean knife test.

And Voila! You have your banana bread.

I was so proud of myself for taking photos throughout the whole process and then once I had eaten a big piece, I realised I forgot to take a photo of the finished product in one piece, oops.

I also didn't realise that I don't actually own a cooling rack so I had to use a rack from my oven.

Everyone who has tried this has loved it, it's usually accompanied by 'I haven't had banana bread in years!'
It's a really good feeling when people enjoy you're cooking/baking.
I must do this more!

Let me know if you make banana bread using this recipe, I'd love to hear how it turns out.
I've already given it to 5 separate people who tried it and wanted it.

For those who want to just cut & paste the recipe, I'll re-write it here with no pictures.

Ingredients;
4-5 bananas; smashed
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg; beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon bi-carb baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups plain flour
greased oven loaf pan
cooling rack

Method;
Add butter to bananas first - mix
Add sugar, egg, vanilla essence - mix
Sprinkle salt & bi-carb on top - mix
Add flour last - Mix
Pour in to loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour

Do you have any simple but delicious recipes for me?
I would love them!
x

clothes, kittens & knitting

I think I'm going to start doing a weekly 'phone snaps' blog post with some pictures I've taken that aren't worth dedicating a whole post to.

Here goes...

I have taken up knitting (again).
When I was younger, I would occassionally knit something.
I can't start off or finish though, so I have to get my Mum to do it for me.
I drive my Mum nuts when I decide to knit because I always manage to mess it up.
My best trick is making stitches appear out of nowhere.
I started with 35 stitches and have somehow ended up with 47.
I've only done about 5 lines lol.
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!

This is my horrible attempt at a selfy.
I was trying to capture the pleat detail of the top

The top looks so different with the flash on my camera turned on.
It's actually a very, very dark blue

Not sure what's going on with the weird angle of my face here, but this is the top with no flash.
Well, technically it's a dress. The tag actually said 'dress' on it.
I'm extremely short and this dress is a long top on me, so I have no idea who the hell this could be a dress on!

Top/dress; Target
Leggings: OneZach
Shoes: No idea
Belt: Was a gift

This was my baby boy this morning, snoozing on my bra

And this is my baby girl giving my boy a kiss.
Too cute.
 

 This is Louise's cat, Gertrude.
She is just a baby and so beautiful.
She loves to snuggle up on my lap and make herself at home while I'm having coffee dates with Louise.


Does your cat have any weird/cute habits?
x

bonjour

Hello & welcome to The Awkward Emporium, a place for my every day ramblings.

The intent of this blog is to post a mixture of my every day life, my awkward social encounters, my awkward everything actually, my wedding planning & everything in between.

I used to have a blog but I accidentally ruined it lol
I'm going to be doing a giveaway to celebrate my new blog very soon so keep an eye out
x