A TREAT FOR TODAY. FOR YOU.

Recipe of the week... Bliss Balls!

Hi everyone,

I hope you’re having a supertastic weekend!

As I write, it’s a sunny Sunday morning in Sheffield. It’s officially October now and we’re rolling quite quickly into autumn. I’m sat with a cuppa in a comfy armchair, in a wonderfully clean living room (!!!) as CoolyColey took procrastination to the next level yesterday… and cleaned the entire ground floor of our house. I’m very thankful for this. And for the spectacular things that people can achieve, when they’re procrastinating, and failing to do something important instead.

This weekend has me thinking – a lot – about how fleeting life can be. Yesterday, me and a dozen or so other members of my family, took part in a Memory Walk event held nearby to us at Clumber Park. Over 4,000 people walked on the day, to show support for loved ones suffering with Alzheimer’s, and to raise fund to help the work of the Alzheimer’s Society.

My family at the Memory Walk yesterday

Lots of walks were held around the UK and over 100,000 people were walking in total. It was immense to be a part of such a big show of support, walking alongside all sorts of people, all uniting over our shared experiences with this one illness. It was very touching to read the messages fellow walkers had pinned to their backs about who it was they were walking for. Their loved one with Alzheimer’s.

My family were walking as my grandma is ill with Alzheimer’s at the moment. My grandma has been there for every one of us for our whole lives. For over 50 years she’s been a source of stories, advice, gossip… buffets! She’s laid on a spread SO MANY TIMES. And she’s put the kettle on and produced a loaf cake, seemingly from nowhere, for us all every time we’ve nipped over. All we’ve had to do is knock on the door. Or just walk in!

My grandma is the lady that taught me the steps for putting on lipstick. And she got my mum’s old bridesmaids dresses down from the loft so I could try them on. And she let me drape myself in all her beads and jewels. She was my audience while I sang karaoke in the living room! She always took me and my brother to the shop for sweets and magazines. She looked after us so often over the years, and she let us lick the bowl every time.

All down to my grandma

I remember my grandma being a little muddled over people’s names at our Christmas dinner last year. And now she’s in hospital really confused, and she struggles to recognise family when they come to visit her. There is no dignity to it. Hopefully, my grandma will be able to come home next week and then together we can look after her – as she’s always looked after us. But it won’t be the grandma from my memory who is coming home, really.

All this concern for my grandma, and the Memory Walk yesterday, have got me thinking about just how fleeting life can be. It could begin to fade away – or it could dramatically end – for any of us at any moment. And so we should make the most of lives! We should take care of ourselves and treat ourselves, and spend as much time as we possibly can with our friends and family.

Me and my mum at the Memory Walk

And so, today, me and CoolyColey have booked ourselves into a spa in Sheffield for 70-minute aromatherapy massages. Ultimate indulgence? YES. We’ve gone for it!! There’s no occasion and no real reason for this sudden need for a massage – but pay day came around and we fancied a treat. And so we’re going to have a verrrry luxurious afternoon. Why not?!

If you fancy a treat but don’t want to break the bank, maybe you could treat yourself to something a little luxurious from the kitchen instead? This morning I revived a classic ChefBeHere recipe… and got my hands messy in the kitchen making Bliss Balls! These are a raw, vegan, chocolatey treat that I used to make as an incentive to get me writing during the dark times of my dissertation at uni!

Bliss Balls are reeeeally rich and tasty and they’re also good for you! A treat for your taste buds and also a treat for your insides. Fancy a go? You can check out the recipe HERE.

I hope you all take a moment to think about what it is that’s important in life. And then focus your life on what it is that’s important. Because the other stuff doesn’t matter at all, really.

I hope the sun sets after a great day for you

Have a lovely rest of your weekend,

Hayley