To make an Easter, you have to eat a few eggs

I'm not going to dwell on the fact that I was meant to be in Cologne with my family this bank holiday. Or on the fact that failing that, I would normally be spending Easter with them all, having an epic Easter egg hunt. Instead, I'm simply going to focus on the fact that this weekend has been really really lovely. Good Friday started pretty well as the weather was beautiful so my daily government approved walk was even nicer than normal. It also felt like the right time to start cracking the summer wardrobe items out so I wore this ruffled white bodysuit (shein), floral skirt (dorothy perkins) and white converse. And after doing our weekly shop, it was time to relax with a few drinks (these cans were really good) and a chippy tea (did someone say fish and chip friday?).

I was so excited on Saturday to have a free day to just sit outside and enjoy the glorious sunshine! It feels like it's been so long since I've read anything, as work, getting a boyfriend and life in general have left me with less free time. The Kiss Quotient was one that's been on my to-read list on goodreads for ages and omg I'm already hooked and about a quarter of the way through it. I'll have to let you know my thoughts when I (eventually) write my next Jenni from the book post. Another thing I was excited to finally do again was get some colour on my skin! I've felt so pale and unhealthy lately but a few hours chasing the sun round the garden (I had to move my chair every hour on the hour), I've already got a satisfying watch tan line that tells me I had a productive afternoon. A productive afternoon finished off with a can in the sunshine with bae.

And then I kind of felt like I was on holiday as I headed upstairs to shower and get ready for the evening! Me and Ollie have said we'll still do weekly date nights while we're in lockdown but obviously instead of going out, this means getting dressed up, doing a nice dinner and having a TV-free, phone-free night of chatting and laughing at home. After a successful deliveroo Italian night last weekend, we decided to do a DIY tapas night this week. In fact, we made it an all-out Spanish night and I kind of themed my look accordingly. I was back to using my trusty Soph x Revolution palette (a holiday favourite) and ran vitamin C in a wide semi-circle through my crease and then darkened it in a feline shape with lakes (blending well as I went). I also ran lakes halfway along my bottom lashline, careful not to make it too thick or dark as I wanted the look to be more about the lid and the eyeliner. Then I pressed LA sun into the outer half of my lid and then pressed infinity into the inner half (I used my fingers for the pressing to create a more intense colour and then just blended the two a little with a brush). I then added a mix of the two to my tear duct and the inner half of my lower lash line, before adding a healthy sized eyeliner flick and big fluttery lashes (kiss so wispy 02). I finished with a red lip and then went all out on the accessories front, adding pearl hair grips, multi-layered necklace, and floral ear cuff. Because I'd made the look all about the makeup and the jewellery, I kept my outfit fairly simple in white strappy t-shirt and printed wrap skirt, finished with nude heels... for the photo (I kicked them off 0.2 seconds afterwards).

When my family were buying me bits and pieces for my house (before I'd actually even bought one), these lovely tapas dishes were part of that collection and I've been waiting for a chance to use them. So after much deliberating over which dishes to make, I had a full tapas menu ready to tackle. To be honest, I was very very impressed that I managed to time everything perfectly and all 7 dishes were ready at the same time and everything was amazing! The more impressive foods got the bigger dishes so it was pesto steak, patatas bravas and smokey chicken and chorizo in the 3 bigger dishes, and then breaded prawns, halloumi fries, ricotta stuffed peppers and cheddar croquettes in the 4 smaller dishes. I also did a little charcuterie plate that fit perfectly on this wooden board that I mistakenly bought from eBay thinking it was a full sized chopping board (I knew I'd find a use for it eventually). Of course, you can't have tapas without sangria so we mixed up a jug using half a bottle of pinot noir (little tip, Ollie had read that this kind of red wine works best for sangria), about 5 shots of vodka, some lemonade and then plenty of ice and frozen strawberries. It was really good but definitely needed time in the fridge to chill. It's weird how cooling it down actually changed the flavour of it! And of course, you can't have an authentic Spanish-themed date night without a bit of cheesy salsa music, so that was what we got drunk to while polishing off a bottle of prosecco and a second batch of sangria (to toast to our successful food, naturally).

And then Easter Sunday arrived! I was feeling a little worse for wear but nothing that a bacon sandwich couldn't fix. And it was a good job I bounced back pretty quickly as we had some baking to do! Well, what a disaster that was. I'm normally a baking queen and have been famous for my cakes in multiple different jobs, but something went disastrously wrong with these white chocolate blondies. I don't know if it was the size of the tin, the fact I accidentally used double the chocolate or some kind of malfunction with the baking powder quantity but after 35 minutes in the oven (the time it should've taken to be done), the recipe was burning on the top, liquid under the surface and spilling out of the tin to create a gigantic mess in the bottom of my oven. I won't write it off as a complete failure though. A few scoops in a bowl, microwaved and topped with ice cream still made for a pretty amazing pudding. The oven cleaning job I now have to do? Not so amazing.