Last month we went to Berlin for the week of my Birthday. I thought I'd write a quick blog post and share a few of my favourite photos as I took a break from social media while we were away for a change!
When we were planning our trip we were mostly excited about food as Berlin is known for being super vegan friendly. We had found loads of places that we hoped to go including Veganz (the vegan supermarkets) and Brammibals doughnuts. We were very lucky with the weather as it was mild and dry the whole week, which was perfect for exploring the city. It's definitely somewhere you need to make the most of public transport as Berlin is giant! We managed to find a few flea markets, lots of vintage shops and so many lovely cafe/bars with vegan cake. There are so many different areas which are great to wander around as there's such a mix of things to see that you never know what will be around the next corner.
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We've been spending a lovely relaxing week off on the Isle of Lewis. It's been an interesting mix of weather, to say the least, but with a wood burning stove in a wonderful cottage with panoramic views, it's certainly been cosy! Lots of beaches, amazing (rainy, windswept) walks and hygge time for books. I picked up a cute wee book about Sheds in Ullapool before we caught the ferry which has gorgeous photos of cabins and studios and reminds me of a project I did back at art school.
I've also taken a little of the time off to think about Christmas plans for JillyJilly, do a bit of work on our upcoming Etsy Made Local market and get a couple of odd jobs ticked off the list. We have new eco-packaging starting next month so have had to adjust our prices a little to reflect this but it's been something that's bugged me for a while and I know it's worth fixing so hope you'll all understand. After setting up the Dundee Etsy Team I was delighted to be able to attend my first Etsy Team Captains' Summit last weekend! I know I've been to Etsy HQ in London before, but this time it was a completely different atmosphere as the team put so much work in to make it an inspirational weekend for all of the guests.
We were all booked into the same hotel near HQ so it made it feel a bit like a school trip or something! On the Friday evening, some of us got together for dinner then bright and early on Monday the weekend itinerary began. We had so much amazing food, including breakfasts each day at 'Eatsy' and everyone was well catered for. We all had lovely goody bags and a summit notebook to help process all of the talks and panels, there were lots of opportunities for discussion and idea sharing so those who have been running their teams for a while could share their experiences for us newbies to learn from. The Saturday night was a fab Captains' dinner at the postal museum with a ride on the underground 'Mail Rail' and cocktails. Wow! I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the of the information and activities and people I met but I'm also so excited to get started on working out how to make things happen with the Dundee team to build a lovely community here. This time last week we were in the middle of a family holiday down in the Lake District. We stayed in a cottage which my parents rented for the week in Bowness-on-Windermere, a place we've stayed before although last time I had just finished school and was waiting on my exam results! We had a really relaxing week mostly enjoying time wandering around Bowness, Windermere and Ambleside, feeding the ducks and feeding ourselves. We found some lovely wee shops including Agnes + Cat and Daisy Chain Studio, and our favourite foodie place, Homeground Cafe which we ended up visiting 3 times! If you're in the Lake District you should definitely make time to grab some delicious brunch at Homeground, not forgetting to take away some freshly baked doughnuts for after. On the Wednesday my Dad hired a little boat, which David took a turn driving, and we had a picnic out on the Lake! We ended our week away with an evening at Windermere Rocks where Them Beatles played, a fab night!
Now it's just over 8 weeks until Scotland's Trade Fair so we're back to business as usual and trying to finalise some festive designs. So glad we had that break to recharge us! It's been a while since we last visited York, over two years in fact. You can read about our last trip here, it was a lot different since it was icy January then and the city had a sleepy feel to it. This time we had some sunshine and lots of fellow tourists since it's April! I'd like to say a big thank you to my Mum and Dad who let us tag along on their holiday and treated us to yummy food and a night at the Theatre (12 Angry Men was brilliant!).
At the start of the week I went with my Mum to the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate where we were looking for new designers for Pebble. There was such a huge selection of businesses there, really quite overwhelming but a great insight for JillyJilly as we'll be attending our first trade fair in September (more on that later!). We spent most of the rest of the week wandering around, including another walk around the Snickelways, a walk around the walls and we also visited the Castle Museum which had a really interesting World War 1 exhibition on. It was so nice just to get some proper time off for a week! Look out for a post about the super cute ice cream shop we came across in York on the blog in the next few weeks. |
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