Was so keen to eat this that I almost completely forgot to take a pic! Lovely chicken and fries at an impromptu trip to Blue Collar after some shopping. Lush!

Yet another leftover from the ill-fated murder mystery party; I had brought all the ingredients for a very 80s cocktail - Pina Coladas! I can't recall ever having had one, and have certainly never made one, so served them up at a games night with John and the boys. Very yummy, would make again!

If I was to ever go on Mastermind, Jack the Ripper would, for my sins, be my specialist subject. So, I dragged the only other person I know who shares such weird interests - my work wife - to Whitechapel, to the Jack the Ripper Museum, where we had booked onto a walking tour. We had an incredible guide, Elegant Sam, who really knew his stuff. I did go on a tour about ten years ago and it was strange to see how many of the sites have changed or gone since then. Sam had different ideas and research to many other historians and Ripperologists and it was really refreshing to hear another viewpoint, one that loosely aligns with mine. We also saw some pretty awesome graffiti on the way round. Great walk, shattered by the end of it (17000 steps by the time I got home), what fab day out!

Lovely day out with my work wife, Sarah, today. We decided a while back we would visit all of The Magnificent Seven Victorian cemeteries in London. Today was number three, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. This was exactly the sort of old cemetery I love; densely packed graves, left to go wild and full of nature. A really tranquil piece of calm, with a high rise backdrop, and very modern London beyond that. The 'bonus' was learning of two graves that were linked to our afternoon adventure (a Jack the Ripper walking tour) - that of Dr Rees Ralph Llewelyn, the surgeon who carried out the autopsy of JtR's first poor victim, and then the grave of George Lusk, the head of the vigilante committee who patrolled the streets trying to catch Jack. The former was an impressive family tomb right near the entrance to the park; the latter we were unable to find exactly as - from what info we could find - it is a flat stone, covered by undergrowth and very worn. We got as close as we could to pay our respects though, and spent a really nice hour exploring the area.

Not much to say here - first day of the Easter Hols is always Big Clean day, and always has been! Didn't need to do a huge amount, but did give kitchen and bathroom a good once over.

After my Murder Mystery Birthday Party fell through (for the second time), we were left with quite a bit of posh food to cook, and no one to cook it for. So I decided to start doing trial runs for Murder Mystery meals in future. I started with some rather delicious goats cheese and caramelised onion tarts - something I've never attempted before. Next time, need to make them a little prettier!

We explored a new area nearby today, quite close to our house, albeit across the Thames (and we could see our street from there, very cool!) I was really keen to see the statue of 'Old Palm' at Mapledurham and he did not disappoint; he's set in Chazey Woods, a short distance away from Mapledurham House, very randomly placed. We stopped here to have our picnic (goats cheese, ritz crackers, tomato chutney, strawberries, coffee - very Famous Five!)  and it would have been posher had we not gotten caught in a hailstorm whilst we were eating! Though, timed it well, finished the picnic just as the sun came out, and continued on our way through a lovely Bluebell Woods. A great two hour wooded walk!

Illness forced my hand a little with this one, but I have to admit it was really lovely to rest and not feel obliged to actually do anything. Im really struggling with work at the moment and am not and think the stress is affecting me physically, so spent much of the day in bed contemplating the future and applying for jobs!

Alice got these bookends free from a chazzer a while back and I've been meaning to upcycle them since. Was feeling particularly creative today so cracked out the paints and gave these a spruce up. Loved the OG colours, so stuck with those, but added the faces. Quite pleased with how they turned out!

What could be more unusual than hand feeding a herd of deer? OK, there is quite a lot more unusual than that, but it's certainly not something you do every day. Visited Buckleberry Farm today and did just this; alongside seeing pigs, goats, alpacas and donkeys. Was a really nice day out with friends, glorious weather, and a good opportunity to get out into nature (which I really need to do a lot more of).

The sun was out today, for the first proper time this year, and I really wanted to spend some time in my lovely new garden. It needs a fair amount of work doing on it, which I'm not in a great place to facilitate by myself right now, so instead I took a bit of time to sit an feel the sun on my face, and listen to a midday pause meditation. Lovely! Our garden is South facing, and has the sun all day, and I really can't wait to make use of it over the summer.

I've been looking around for a creative evening class I might enjoy doing but they all seem to be not to my interests, or way too much money. But then, whilst searching the internet for a new job, I stumbled across these free vocational courses funded by the government. I have elected to tweak this list item a little and go for a counselling course instead - something I'm interested in and something that may help develop my career. This feels more useful and productive to me, especially as I am trying to get out of the gross work rut I seem to have become stuck in. I think using my Wednesdays off to work on this is a really good use of my spare time. I'm just hoping it won't be too dull!