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The past 3 weeks I have been on a placement in a school. As a result of this I've decided that I definitely do not want to teach. I wasn't 100% sure anyway, but this sealed my decision. Anyway, wearing boring work clothes meant that by last wednesday, I was fed up of wearing black pants and boring tops and the heat was far too much. I got changed into this pretty summer dress from Topshop that I hadn't had chance to wear yet, even though I was only popping to the shops for some food. I did feel a bit overdressed, but it felt nice at the same time. The shoes are from Primark and actually look like rather good quality for Primark.

I have also realised that I actually have quite a lot of floral dresses now. I honestly can't help it - they're so nice and feminine that I couldn't resist them!

Patience is a virtue

I remember eyeing these up around last August, thinking that they would be perfect for my holiday to Italy. Now that summer is fast approaching (or should that be slowly, in England?), I have been thinking about the perfect sandals again. I went into Office yesterday to see if they were there, but they weren't. Luckily, they were reduced on the website! £30, down from £45. I was so happy, I ordered them immediately. I love the colours too, they are my 3 favourite colours, red, blue and yellow, so they will go with most of my wardrobe. Most of the sandals I see around now are too strappy or gladiatory for my tastes, but these are perfect. I think we may have been made for each other! We will have to wait and see if we are when they arrive and if they are comfy. But good things really do come to those who wait! (sometimes...) What's the best thing you've waited for or found in the sale?

Cupcakes

I know people call cupcakes a trend and a fad but I honestly don't see them decreasing in popularity anytime soon. Who doesn't love little cakes? Marks and Spencers, that British institute, has even caught on. I think they've been doing them for a while, but today was the first time I got to try any. They had some with whipped cream as a topping, but to me that's just a cream cake and not a cupcake. Cupcakes need to have proper frosting on. Anyway, they had packs of 4 with buttercream so I chose the raspberry and white chocolate variety. At £2.99 they were pretty well priced considering ones in posh bakeries can be up to £2 each. They looked really pretty with pink frosting and little sugar ball sprinkles.

They were stuffed with a raspberry compote (pretty much just jam to be honest though). The cake was really nice, like a perfect light sponge, but the icing was way to sickly and artificially flavoured. I have a sweet tooth but these were too sweet. Also, another annoyance of mine with them was that I could not taste any white chocolate in them at all! They were supposed to have white chocolate chips in them, but I couldn't see or taste any. Maybe I just got a duff batch. I suppose they were nice for the price, but I'd rather have some of my own! I'd give them about 6/10.

These are some that I made last night. Another hit from The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook! They are chocolate cupcakes, stuffed with nutella and topped with a nutella frosting and hazelnut sprinkles. Yum. Maybe I'll sound big headed and boastful now but I think I'd rather have one of those than the m&s offering! You really can't beat homemade cakes. What do you think? Store-bought vs. homemade?

Afternoon tea

I love nothing more than sitting down in the afternoon with a pot of tea and a nice biscuit or cake, but this Sunday I had an especially nice afternoon tea. I had been to York to visit my friend Emma and we were so excited to see macaroons in the window of Betty's! Betty's is a legendary and traditional cafe in Yorkshire, that hasn't changed much since it first opened in 1919. The food is amazing and the queues for their afternoon tea get SO long! I had to try these macaroons. I was a macaroons virgin. The best one was definitely the chocolate one, because I am a bit of a chocaholic, but the lemon one was also particularly good with a lemon curd filling. They were crunchy, chewy and tasty. I have no other macaroons to compare them to, but they were rather delicious! Let's see if Laduree's offerings are any better when I go to Paris in a month!