I love it when the weather does what I want, we had the most amazing sunny long weekend followed by a horrible grey, rainy day today for my return to work. It definitely made it easier spending this morning inside catching up on emails. These photos aren't my best but living in Scotland means that I've not really had a lot of practice using my camera in bright sunlight. I think I suddenly understand why people in sunnier countries harp on about the 'golden hour'. It was definitely a challenge getting anything that wasn't badly pixelated, but a fun one. Hopefully the weather will keep up and I'll have more chances to practice in the next few weeks. 

This is another one of my favourite wee spots down by the river. The dogs had walked around with us in town for a couple of hours on Saturday and we could tell the heat was beginning to get to Mania. Poor wee thing hasn't fully shed her Winter coat yet so even 15 degrees was a little too warm for comfort. She was ecstatic to get down to the river and jump into the water, followed by rolling herself in something smelly on the opposite bank. They had loads of fun showing off to the people walking by the river while LF and I enjoyed the sun. 

I know I'm harping on about it but I cannot express how much I love living by the river. These are all from various dog walks throughout the week and it is just so peaceful down there. I never want to live in any other area of Edinburgh again. 

We popped up to the Grassmarket yesterday to check out the markets and see our lovely friends who run Missy's Vegan Bakery. They make the most amazing cakes and I love going to visit them when their working, especially because it's an excuse to bulk buy their products. We came home with at least 6 cupcakes plus some biscuits and brownies (and they are all gone already). 

I've been waiting for a special occasion to wear these elephant tights and I finally went for it today for Easter dinner. They're the perfect wee touch of fun for an outfit (Mania agrees).

I've been trying not to spend at much money on clothes recently, unfortunately I don't think I've managed to save any of that money because I've been spending it on home stuff and treating myself to flowers. I love the colour of these tulips, they definitely make our white flat more colourful (especially since we don't have anything on the walls yet).

My family are feeding my candle addiction - they got me two of these ones from George instead of Easter eggs this year. I love the jars and I've got this 'Spring Daisy' one on at the moment. It definitely packs a punch - so perfect for covering the smell of mucky pups, although I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like strong smells. 

I think one of my (many) favourite perks of working in an office is public holidays. After years of working in retail it still tickles me each time I am get unexpected time off. I'm particularly lucky this Easter as our opening hours mean I'm actually getting a whole five days off. Five days! I hardly know what to do with all the time. In an even happier coincidence LF also has 3 days off with me, a rare treat with his current job. We've not had a lot of time together over the last few months, which we have both found really tough. Yesterday we went out and visited some friends we've been neglecting and today we've just been hanging out enjoying each others company - a perfect day as far as I'm concerned. It's definitely been the mundane stuff; dog walks, eating together and just sitting on the couch next to one another that I've missed most recently. 

Speaking of mundane activities. We took these photos on our afternoon dog walk, this is one of my favourite spots down by our new flat and the dogs absolutely love it too. There's lots of space for them to run around and being so close to the river they've both become quite keen swimmers. Scallywag absolutely loves it when we throw sticks off the bridge for her to catch in the water underneath. 

This outfit is pretty typical of what I wear when I'm out with the pups. I've been living in high waist-ed skinny jeans for the last few months. I have a long body and have always found trousers difficult, now that I've got a pair that fit properly I just don't want to take them off. I'm on the hunt for some nice (possibly floral) blouses I can wear with them now that Spring is properly here. Isn't it wonderful to be able to leave the house without (several) coats? I feel getting dressed is so much more fun when you can stick to 2 or 3, not 7 or 8 layers. 

I've always been one of those people who finds it difficult to start things. It's not that I am a lazy person, but because starting anything always seems like such an impossible task. That first step is always the hardest is definitely true for me. It almost feels the same way at the moment with blogging. The longer I was away from this place the harder and harder it became to come back. Just the idea of writing a single post began to seem like a mammoth task that I would never have any hope of completing.

Every day for the last few weeks I have thought about blogging; about what I wish I had shared. It felt like I was brand new to this again, with no idea how to start. How would I explain my absence? Would anyone still be interested in reading whatever prattle I have to say? Could I even work out how to use my camera after all this time? Finally I began to question why on earth was I allowing a hobby I enjoy to cause me so much stress? Blogging is something I love, something that makes me happy, I knew that if I didn't begin again soon I never would and that thought horrified me. 

And so I'm back. My priorities have changed slightly and I'm still not sure how motivated I will be, I might be posting less often, I might be posting more. I want to shift my focus back to blogging though, think less about stats and how appealing my content is and more about sharing myself and the bits of my life that make me happy. I want to build up a place I feel safe sharing again. I can already feel the butterflies going in my stomach at the thought of pressing publish, though I have no idea why. I'm really hoping the adage is true the easiest way to do it, is to just do it.