No one at my office even noticed when I cut off half of my hair! (Granted, my hair is pretty short, so half of it isn't as much as some people's half, but it's a reasonable change)

(This is the point where I was going to add some pictures, but blogger is not playing ball. I will try later on...)

I suppose that if no one noticed when I went from chin length bob to pixie cut, I can't expect them to notice this change. But it still gets me a little.

It's like everyone thinks that it's okay to comment that my coat is SO BRIGHT, or that my tights are RIDICULOUS. But not that my hair looks different and nice.

I know I shouldn't care.

And I don't care a LOT.

But I do care...

Since we got back from Europe, D and I (mostly me, I guess) have been nesting. Totally nesting. We got a new kitten, we got a new lounge suite, we created a new noticeboard, we're looking into buying a house, we re-organised our lounge and study, we've planted herbs. And we've had SO much fun. Unfortunately, it has totally disctracted us from organising our Europe photos (which we really need to get on to...

But this weekend, the real nesting focus for me has been food. I've always loved food, and spending time focussing on it is never a chore.

Last night was the start of 'Vegetarian Week' for me and D. We decided to do eat vegetarian solidly for a week, in the hopes that we will start to eat it a little bit more often. We have quite a meat habit, and while we enjoy it enough, it's not cheap these days, and there's a lot of evidence that it's not very environmentally friendly.

So last night we made a paneer, pumpkin and chickpea curry. It was so simple (just from a Tikka Masala paste we had in the fridge), and with rice and poppadoms it was a fantastic meal.

Tonight we have vegetarian burgers cooling in the fridge at the moment, ready for cooking soon. They're based on red kidney beans, cashew nuts, and brown rice. Interesting, and definitely a little hippy-esque, but they smell delicious, and we've got high hopes.

So far so good!

And for the rest of the week we're looking forward to:

• Satay Tofu and Vegetables
• Ricotta and Spinach Cannelloni
• Gnocchi with Roasted Vegetables
• Baked Falafel
• Lentil and Vegetable Soup
• Panzanella

YUM!

But the best thing about it? ...We never have to get anything out of the freezer in advance. We've been getting a little slack about that lately, but when your diet is based on canned beans - not an issue. Sweet.

The other thing we're doing eating-wise at the mo, is a little thing me and my sister like to call HoBOO. Which stands for Home Baked Only October. It's been happening for a wee while, but so far I haven't really gotten into the spirit (I've been avoiding junk altogether, rather than baking it myself). But today I started with Ginger Slice (requested by D) and went on to make Banana Oaty Muesli Bar Biscuits (adapted from a few different recipes), since I was in the baking mood. It was so much fun.

I can't wait to get into it even more in the next half of the month!!

So tell me - What's your favourite "nesting" activity? What food "challenges" do you set for yourself?

Our internet is so very unbelievably slow. We are trying to upload our 3000 holiday pictures, and it means we can't really do anything else.

In the past hour, I have:
- checked Facebook briefly
- written one short post on my wedding blog
- read 3 threads on a forum I visit occasionally

Next on the list was introducing you all to the newest addition to our family, George the ginger kitten (aka Curious George or furry marmalade). But the internet just isn't playing ball, so that (along with everything else) will just have to wait.

How frustrating!

Okay, so, times are exciting in my neck of the woods right now.

Because MR BUTTON ARRIVES TOMORROW.

(And if there was a way to make that bigger/bolder/more exciting looking, I totally would.)

Which means that our holiday begins on Saturday.

Which is pretty much the greatest news ever!