Christmas: For your Mum who always seems to have the right advice and makes the tastiest mince pies

- luxury PJs for cold winter nights and new sheepskin slippers to go with them

- a gorgeous log stand to go next to the new log fire she's always wanted

- high quality brushes for her chalk paint obsession

- a sweet calendar for her desk

- a statement necklace to wear on Christmas day

- new Yoga wear for her weekly session

Christmas: For your sister who has the same daft sense of humour and taste in festive films

- A gorgeous cake stand and bell jar for displaying her cupcakes {for as long as they last}
- Flowers delivered in the post to cheer her up
- Glitter hair ties so when she's at work she still feels nice
- Simple gold jewellery for when she wants to mix it up
- Leather gloves because we live in Scotland
- an initial catch all tray and pretty earrings to drop in it
- a blarf {blanket scarf} because who doesn't need a giant blanket that you can wear outside
- art for her house

Eat: Peal Barley and Chorizo Risotto

This is an easy, delicious and fairly budget friendly midweek supper. Delicious enough to serve up to friends and comforting enough to curl up with on the sofa in front of your favourite box set. The recipe uses pearl barley instead of your usual risotto rice and it gives the risotto a little bit more bite and a nuttier flavour too. Even better, at less than 60p a bag {from Morrisons at least!} it brings the cost of making a midweek risotto right down into my budget suppers corner. If that wasn't enough to make you give it a try, Pearl Barley is full of the good stuff. It contains plenty of fibre, potassium and other vitamins and it's low GI keeping you fuller for longer.  Give it a try and you won't miss your usual risotto rice, I promise! Winner winner {risotto} dinner.

Stockbridge Market

This weekend has been back to back glorious Autumn days that have reminded me why Autumn is maybe my favourite season. Enough chill in the air to pull on thick jumper but crisp and dry so need to brace yourself for the weather! The clear blue skies were just too tempting and it seemed the perfect day to visit the lovely Stockbridge market on the other side of town. 

This little farmer's market is lovely and on down in Stockbridge every week. It's a bustling mix of hot food stands, vintage nicknacks, coffees, cheeses, butchers...you get the idea! It's one of my favourite ways to spend an hour or so on a Sunday.

This week they were participating in the Edinburgh Restaurant Festival too which meant we had plenty of options to choose from for lunch! 3 courses for £8 was just too tempting and we tucked in with gusto!

Eat: Pesto baked cod

This post might be a little bit like teaching your granny to suck eggs. This recipe is that simple. That said, it is delicious and worth sharing. You're going to need:

sweet potato

kale

tomatoes on the vine

cod

pesto

Upholstery class

Also known as making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Earlier this year I went through a bit of a rough patch. Things weren't quite as I had imagined they would be, to say the least. One of the wisest snippets of advice I got was to focus on making myself happy and to do something I had always wanted to do but never found the time for. The indulgence of doing something solely for me, putting aside concerns that I should work later or worrying about someone else, was pretty novel. I think it's an easy trap to fall into thinking that doing things for yourself can just wait while you finish off a myriad of other jobs.

Eat: Chilli non Carne

This is a lovely and horribly easy recipe that fills the mid-September evening trifecta: comfort food {without the expanding waistline}, purse friendly {still 10 days from payday? Use whatever is in the fridge!} and utterly scrummy.