Happy Pancake Day!

Well, Happy Pancake Day everyone!
Me and Phil have been creating in the kitchen for what eventually totalled just under two hours, and the results were rather tasty... (i'd like to mention that we had two different types of pancakes, chickeny savoury ones and your usual lemony and sugary ones, and that we seemed to be the only people in the kitchen who were able to cook pancakes..) Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to bring my camera down to document this momentous occasion, but, take it from me, they were quite impressive :D

So anyway, I'm aware I haven't updated in a while.. this is because the last week has been rather busy, what with my birthday (thank you to everyone who sent me pressies and/or cards), visiting relatives and boyfriend and general business. So...

My Mum and Tor came to visit on Friday and were up here until Sunday afternoon.
We went exploring Castleford on Friday night in an attempt to find the Cineworld there because it was showing a film we wanted to watch at a better time than the one in Wakefield. However, I have never been to Castleford before, Tor can't read maps (and I am a bit shaky) and it was rather dark, so it took several wrong turns and multiple rides round roundabouts until we found the complex the cinema was situated on. It took a bit longer to find the actual cinema, but we got there just in time for the beginning of the film (we even missed most of the trailers - bonus!). The film (Music and Lyrics) was good, by the way :)
On Saturday we went shopping in Leeds, since I couldn't think of anything other than clothes that I wanted/needed for my birthday. Tor seemed rather impressed with the large range of shops that Leeds has to offer, and was also horrified at the cost of the contents of Vivienne Westwood (but at least she got to see the clothes!). My mum seemed impressed with the size of the Marks and Spencers, and managed to take a good 25 minutes to find the toilets (although she DID confess to browsing the lingerie selection, but still denies taking 25 minutes..). I came home with some lovely clothes to fill my wardrobe, but we left Leeds without a pair of jeans for me (which I'm in desperate need for, since one pair is so baggy even a belt struggles to keep them up, and the other is almost crotchless due to over-wearage). Luckily however, ASDA came in handy as, even though a multitude of designer shops were unable to provide me with a well-fitting pair, our favourite local supermarket was. For £12, nevertheless.
On Sunday, I took them for a stroll around the grounds of Bretton...

A rather nicely composed photo of the mansion

(You don't want to know how many tries it took to get this one...)

Tor and the mansion :D
and
My sister, the poser

And then just under two hours after they left for the drive home, Phil arrived!
My birthday was a mix of boring and fun. I had to get up at 7am so I could get ready to catch the bus for my 9am lecture (*groans*), which, actually, wasn't that bad. I decided to come home a bit after my seminar since I was hungry and only had a small smoothie (an Innocent kiddies one, I'd like to add) in my bag, and picked up my birthday post (ha Mags, I DO get mail!!). I went back to Bretton in the afternoon for a self-directed session, but I was the only one in the whole class who'd actually done the work properly, and it looked like no-one was planning to do anything other than sit around and gossip. Thinking of the birthday and boyfriend waiting at home situation, I decided, after asking people whether we were ACTUALLY going to do something, to go and get the next bus home. I had been at Bretton for just under an hour, and had completely wasted my time going to campus... but at least I had a Phil waiting back at the Lodge.
In the evening, we went out for a meal at The Walnut Tree, which actually turned out to be a lot nicer than we had originally thought after going there with my Mum after we travelled up here after Christmas. Photos...