Today was amazing, we went to Monkey Park (which my Dad has named monkey farm), which turned out to be the best zoo I’ve ever been too.

We went early, so we had the whole park to ourselves and you were free to walk through the enclosures with all the animals running around you.

We were given mixed bags of food to feed them with, but you had to work out which animals liked which food.

The squirrel monkeys were the friendliest animals in the park.

They liked crawling all over us and standing on our heads.

This one loved my Dad’s iPhone and managed to take a photo.

The lemurs were my favourite, with their super fluffy tails.

There were turtles too and lots of lizards.

There were hundreds of little guinea pigs running around, you had to be careful that you didn’t step on any of the animals when you walked.

Zoos are always so much better in foreign countries because of the lack of health & safety laws.

The park also had chimpanzees, panthers and a lot of parrots. We got to cradle this one like a baby, it was so soft and light.

Today we went to Santa Cruz, which is the main city of the island (Tom sang The Thrills song at me).

It’s crazy seeing the old buildings mixed in with the new.

There was lots of awesome graffiti. We didn’t stay too long, just enough time to grab some lunch and go to a bookshop – I’d finished reading the first Twilight book and needed to get the second.

Afterwards we headed to Icod de los Vinos to see Dracaena draco, the Dragon Tree.

It’s the the largest and oldest tree of it’s kind and it has crazy looking roots and branches.

The locals believe that it bleeds blood because it’s sap is so red and that it’s made up of human bodies (as the poster shows).

There was also a volcanic cave, which was kind of creepy.

There was a mummy inside – very creepy.

Icod de los Vinos is also the main wine town on the island (the name gives it away), so we went to a little shop where we tried lots of different liqueurs.

Dad got us cute cookies.

I befriended a couple of parrots.

This one tried to speak to me but it only knew Spanish.

We then went for churros and hot chocolate, one of my favorite Spanish snacks (I posted a recipe for these ages ago) before heading home.

Tonight someone was singing Duffy’s Warwick Avenue song at the karaoke bar over from our hotel, which made me miss home. Also, worst news ever – Mr Warwick Avenue’s Service Information board has been replaced by an electronic one. How’s he going to write his witty signs now?!

Today we decided to escape the tourism of the resort by driving up the mountain to Masca, a lovely little hilltown that was once overrun by pirates.

I don’t think the pirates would have stopped for tea and cake like we did though.

There was the most amazing sink made from driftwood in the cafe’s bar, I really want someone to make me one.

We walked around the town for a bit, it can get a lot colder up the mountain.

And then we had Canarian potatoes, one of the traditional dishes. There are hundreds of different dips that they serve them with and it depends on which part of the island you’re on as to which one you get.

The roads are so windy and scary up in the mountains, they’re even worse when it’s dark.

We spotted this odd couple sitting on stones by the side of the road. They were doing exactly the same pose as each other and had the same movements. We thought they looked like gnomes and Tom said they thought they were on a train, tee hee!

There was a nice little piece on Cut Out + Keep in the Daily Mirror newspaper on Monday. They called me on Friday asking for photos to use. Tom said, you were in the newspaper yesterday, will be on fish and chip wrappers today and will be in the recycling tomorrow.

I’d been wanting a Vivienne Westwood horn tiara ever since I first saw one in Paris, but at £250 it wasn’t very realistic. Tom found a blogger in America, who was clearing out and selling hers off, so he got them as my Christmas present.

They arrived this morning and they are so sparkly and pretty. They’re replicas of the ones Vivienne wore to meet the queen.

Tom let me have a peak at them. All I need to do now is save up for “the dream dress“.

My Mum and Nana have come down to visit, so we picked them up from the train station at midnight last night. Beforehand, Tom and I went on an impromptu very late night dinner date at Carluccios in St. Pancras station – delicious pasta followed up by Tiramisu.

While Tom was at work today (playing on the 3-floor office helter-skelter slide and ping pong table), we all went for pancakes at Plan 9 followed up with a wander around Spittalfields. I took Nana for a drink in the Ten Bells, because she’s a fan of Jack The Ripper.

This door always makes me smile when I walk past.

We got tasty cakes from the Indian bakery on Brick Lane.

I went for a florescent green pistachio cube. I’d love to know what these are called.

This Twilight movie poster in the tube made me giggle on the way home.

My Mum has come to visit for a few days and yesterday we went Halloween shopping and for a walk around Holland Park.

The squirrels were out in full force.

They’re getting bigger and bigger every time we go and they were very hungry this time.

The peacocks were very hungry too. Mum saw a peacock standing in a shop doorway the other day and when she looked up, the shop was ironically Peacocks.

This squirrel was our favourite, it sat on a bench with us for 20 minutes while we fed it peanuts.

We spent today in Camden, had drinks and cake at the organic cafe, and went costume shopping in the market. I got Tom an awesome sailor top for £8.

We took my Dad to Brighton today for his birthday. It was so hot and sunny, so we relaxed on the beach for most of the day. I managed to bag Clare a 50p penpal gift and a set of Pirate cupcake cases.

There was an old fashioned Penny Arcade on the beach, where I had my fortune told.

“Be wary of… women with facial hair”? That sounds ominous, I’ll keep an eye out.

There was a beauty parade slideshow which was a bit pervy, I was rather embarrassed after spending my penny on it.

There was a cool old label press and you could make a label for 20 pence.

It took a bit of practice but we got the hang after spending about 80 pence.

My Mum saved my Dad from drowning.

Tom went on a roller coaster on the pier to make up for the rides at Legoland.

In the evening I treated my Dad to dinner at Jamie’s Italian. They had webcams in the kitchen so you could watch the chefs as they cooked your meal.

I had a really nice day in Perth with my family today.

We went for dinner at the amazing Cafe Tabou and I managed to buy a pair of red mary jane shoes in the sale. We were maybe going to go to Dundee but it got late and I really wanted to meet my cousins new pets.

I feel really good about being vegetarian now. I went to visit my cousin Lisa, who lives in a gigantic old house in Kirkcaldy. She has three lovely chickens which live in her garden. They were really tame and friendly, cooing and purring as we stroked them. If you ever get a chance to pet a chicken, touch it’s feet because they are surprisingly warm.

They lay about one egg each a day and are really easy to take care of. We made scrambled eggs for breakfast the next day. If I had a garden, I would definitely get some.

I found this cartoon portrait in my room. It was drawn while I was on holiday in Canada back in 1996. I was in love with dolphins back then.

Today was the highlight of my trip when we went to Cafe des 2 Moulins, the Two Towers cafe from the movie Amélie.

It was amazing inside, just like it was in the movie, and they had all the polaroids of Amélie’s Dad’s gnome around the world.

Of course I ordered myself the famous Amélie Poulain crème brûlée and a hazelnut hot frappe. I think it may well have been the most perfect crème brûlée. Mission accomplished.

My dad went off to the British library, so my mum and I decided to have lunch at Little Venice, where we bumped in to these two cute little ducks. They were so tame.

Little Venice is so picturesque at this time of year. We went for lunch on the cafe barge.

Afterwards, we headed to Sloane Square to do some shopping and we went to the Sachet gallery, where they had this huge sculpture made out of dog treats.

I got some candy corn from Partridges, an awesome though pricey supermarket that sells lots of importer brands. I want to make jewelry out of them.

Also, amazing news, 10000 members on CO+K!

My parents are down visiting now. Yesterday we went to Borough Market, where it was Apple Day. The place was crowded and there were stalls selling apple juice, cider, apple pies and a play about apples being performed. We spent the rest of the day / evening on the South Bank, nipping in to the Globe and the Tate and finished off with a dinner of sushi.

Today we went for lunch at one of Gordon Ramsay’s pubs, the Warrington, which is a few streets away from our mew. It was really delicious and “research” for the cook-a-long I’m about to do tonight. Afterwards we went to the British museum, where they had a very weird gold Kate Moss statue.

My dad got an umbrella from James Smith & Son’s umbrella shop. I asked the shop seller if it was bad luck for him to show off the umbrellas open inside the shop and he said it was okay, pointing to a horse shoe on the wall. I love how London has specialist shops for everything you could need. My dad also got a chess set from the Chess Shop.