It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... I'm so excited for Christmas and would consider it my favourite time of the year, despite being a summer baby. I love the decorations and lights, shopping and presents, food, music, cosy days and evenings, and spending time with loved ones. It's such a magical time! Now that it's December I can be as excited as I want and do as many festive activities as possible to get into the Christmas spirit and enjoy the build up. I hope you all enjoyed your advent calendars, we put decorated our house yesterday with it being the first weekend of December. We went on a family trip to London at the weekend to wander around the shops and see the decorations and lights. Our first stop was Westfield shopping centre which had it's own ice rink, none of us were brave enough to give it a go... Next stop was Selfridges, Oxford Street and that's when we hit the crowds.   

The Christmas displays are amazing!

It was already manic inside but we slowly made it to the Christmas Emporium which was even busier before moving to the food hall, I love this cute little macaroon tree.

We thought Oxford Street was busy until we got the tube to Covent Garden. It's clearly the place to be as the tube station was so busy that we ended up taking the stairs (the 'quick' exit) to get out, 193 steps later we regretted this decision. Covent Garden was worth the workout though with it's giant baubles, tree and reindeer.

A lovely day, but we were so glad to be resting our feet on the train home!

Last weekend, I went away with my parents and boyfriend to West Sussex and stayed in a lovely country cottage. Last year was the first time we went on a UK weekend away in October and now I hope our autumn weekend breaks become a yearly tradition. It's so nice to get away and explore new places, I know Candy (that happy fluffy dog above) loves her little holidays. Our excitable big soppy kid just couldn't wait and wanting to make sure she wasn't left behind, jumped into the car boot over 20 minutes before we even left. What a sweetie pie! 

The owners didn't realise a Golden Retriever was coming to stay...

After a more muddy and dangerous walk than we'd expected, walking down the side of a busy road dodging cars, we went out for some pub grub. We all treated ourselves to a burger and chips...

And then I treated myself again to a sticky toffee pudding with a bit of help from my boyfriend (I had that pudding on my mind before we'd even ordered the main course).

Then we went back to the cottage to snuggle up and I showed off my cosy new slipper socks from Primark. It was mild for October but I get cold easily, especially my tootsies.

The next day we went for a very windy (and wet for Candy) walk along the beach in Bognor Regis.

Of course we had to stop off at a seaside sweet shop to buy some rock to take home.

After a hot chocolate and slice of my Chocolate Olive Oil Cake, we went to explore Amberley Castle, a unique luxury hotel which I would love to stay at!

"Lord of the manor!"

A shy peacock...

Have you ever seen so many different kinds of pumpkins?

We carved our own pumpkin when we got back to the cottage, being slightly more ambitious this year. I always forget how hard it is to carve one though.

We had maple syrup flavoured pancakes with golden syrup and blueberries on top for breakfast before setting off for another walk, a safe one with no busy roads this time.

What an action shot!

I look forward to our next countryside adventure!