england : day five

Okay guys, lots of pictures with this one... On Saturday we camped! I'm always the last one ready for things so I got up extra early since we were getting picked up... but then the one time I was ready early, our ride was late! Six of us went: Tom, myself, Gez, Afzol, Jess, and Sarah.

The place we were camping at was a little place in Scotland called Knockbrex. Well, maybe it's not that little, I'm not sure. It just seemed like tons of countryside and farms to me. It was gorgeous though! Oh, also, there was a tiny castle close to our campsite. It's called Knockbrex Castle and it is absolutely adorable. I found through their website that they rent it out. Definitely plan to do that one day.

Cute, right?? Check out the link I embedded above for more pictures.

Obviously we needed lots of stuff... This was about 1/3 of what we had. Better safe than sorry, right??

It was a little bit of a struggle putting up that massive tent. Strong winds didn't help.

 It really was a perfect spot for the sunset.

I wish these photos were better quality. I got scared about bringing my Nikon so these are all iPhone pictures!

Basically all we did all day was eat and drink and eat some more. I taught them how to make s'mores and I'm pretty sure they fell in love. Also, I discovered haloumi, a Greek cheese, and now sometimes that's all I can think about it. Someone please let me know if you can find it in America!!

I'll put more photos from camping in the day six post. Enjoy!

-teddy x

5 top 5's

I am a huge fan of lists. I make at least one a day. Usually to-do lists, but I'm a bigger fan of fun lists. So tonight I've put together 5 lists with 5 top things* on each of them. They've been posted in no specific order. They all win top place.

*Top 5's are subject to change, as I am extremely indecisive. These only reflect my thoughts as of this moment.

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Top 5 Places I Want to Travel

Saint Tropez, France (or just all of Southern France)

Santorini, Greece

Antigua, Guatemala

Jaisalmer, India

Oslo, Norway (or wherever I can see the Northern Lights)

India. The colors. The architecture.

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Top 5 Hobbies I'd Like to Learn

Piano

Ukulele

Pottery

Painting

Sewing (I want to make clothes)

I feel like I could do this for hours if I learned how.
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Top 5 Coolest Animals

Wrinkly dogs

Anything pygmy (goat, owl, marmoset, etc.)
Red pandas

Wolves

Painted Indian elephants

All the cute.

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Top 5 Reading List

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Harry Potter (because this will never not be on my reading list)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I will always live vicariously through The Secret Garden.

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Top 5 Yummiest Food Places

The Real Food Cafe

Wolfgang's

Any English or Scottish pub

Chicken Shack

Maru Sushi & Grill

I could eat this every day.

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thanks for checking out my top 5 "top 5" lists!

cheers!

-ted x

melting snowmen cookies

Alright, so yet another Pinterest project that I tried... and I think I did pretty ok here! I thought these cookies were adorable and looked fun to make for the holidays so I thought I'd share how it's done. They're super easy (and I can barely cook)!

First, you'll need sugar cookies. Feel free to make your own but I didn't have time so I decided the easy-bake Pillsbury kind were perfect. 

Bake these and then let them cool. If you're unfamiliar with baking, this part is pretty important, as the frosting won't spread well if they're too warm. 

Next up, gather all the supplies you'll need for the decorating! I bought the following items:

Whipped vanilla frosting (doesn't have to be whipped)

Jet-puffed marshmallows (not minis)

Cookie icing in black and orange (I couldn't find black so I got chocolate)

More cookie icing in your choice of colors (I went with red, blue, green, and purple)

White sparkle sprinkles (powdered sugar is a good alternative!)

Now that the cookies are cooled, frost them!

After frosting, we get to the fun part. 

Take the marshmallows on stick one on each cookie, a bit off-center.

Now my favorite part -- putting the faces on! (My chocolate icing was a bit runny, so when it started creating droopy Frosty faces I'd pop it in the freezer for a few minutes.)

Once you have all the faces done, you get to create the scarves! 

Last but not least, sprinkle on some snow!!

Cookies complete! 

Thanks for reading! 

Enjoy! 

-ted x