Life Lately #147

Hello lovelies,

I know you're probably all incredibly bored of me talking about my new house by now (especially if you read last week's post!) but I'm still absolutely loving it! I can't believe we've been moved in over a month now & the weather has been so beautiful, we've been out in the garden eating breakfast & dinners most evenings. We've also had family & the doggies over for BBQ's, which has been lovely! Honey & Harvey adore the garden & spent the first day exploring every nook & cranny they could stick their noses in. Once our grass seed has improved the lawn, I can see them sitting out there for hours! 

We have also been doing some work on the actual garden. Like I say, we've laid some weed killer & grass seed, as well as planted some flowers & seeds for onions & lettuces. I've started weeding the patio as well, but had to stop as I got so hot last weekend! I'm currently writing up another post all about falling in love with our garden, which I can't wait to share with you.

At the end of April, it was Gem's birthday. We celebrated by having the most delicious roast at a local pub. Baby Alice also said my name & made me cry, much to Boop's amusement!

At the beginning of May, James & a few of the girls & I went to watch Bo, Chris, Cathy & Ben perform in a play at our local theatre. It was such a good production! They performed Night Must Fall, a play I have to admit I hadn't heard of, which actually made it alot more interesting to watch the story unfold. 

The Sunday after, James & I went to Hever Castle. It was the most stunning day & we explored the castle & gardens before heading home to a BBQ with Allan & Maria. I've written a full post about our day here if you'd like to see what we got up to.

James & I went to Prezzo for a date night on last Wednesday. I know we live together but with our work schedules being so different, there's nothing quite like getting dressed up & spending quality time together. I have to mention my dish, it was absolutely delicious. I had the penne gorgonzola, which I'd highly recommend!

Last Saturday, the girls came round to mine for a housewarming / Eurovision night as James was in London on a stag do. We all dressed up in connection with our countries, either colours from the flag or something related to the country. We also had a prize for the highest placed country, which Char won! Congrats again Israel!

Last Sunday I went to Ikea with Cathy. We had such a good time! I managed to pick up a few extra bits for the house, including some more tea lights, which I buy on every single trip! But I did manage to resist bringing another plant home.. amazing for me as I seem to pick up a new baby every time we go..

Oh & I've been feeling like complete death this past week. I've been off sick from work & am just starting to feel human again. It always feels so wrong to me being ill at this time of year, it's Summer! I should be out in the garden with my plant babies, not wrapped up in 10 blankets sweating my face off! Nice image for you there.. haha!

Oh & I can't not mention the Royal Wedding in this post. What an amazing day, Meghan looked absolutely stunning & I honestly couldn't have been more proud of our country. I actually wish I'd booked the day off work & had the girls round because it would have been so much fun as I heard there were so many wonderful events in our area!

& finally yesterday James & I went to Brighton as we had some vouchers to use at Café Rouge. Never, ever again will be go to Brighton on the same day as the "mini marathon". The journey was supposed to take us 45 minutes max, but we ended up on the road for 2 hours. The traffic was at a complete standstill in some places & we had to call the restaurant twice to say we were going to be late! They were very understanding & weren't fully booked thankfully, so we managed to get a table & sit down to eat at 2.15pm, instead of our initial reservation at 12.45pm. We had planned to go shopping for last minute holiday bits as well, but we couldn't face the shops after the ordeal of getting there, so we headed home! We had a lovely lunch regardless, it was just so frustrating!

How has your week been lovelies? Did you watch the Royal Wedding?

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Life Lately #133

There are so many birthdays in August. This has been a month of celebrations & food! We went for an all-you-can-eat breakfast at The Beefeater to celebrate Cathy turning 26 at the beginning of August. She has now caught up with me. Not long till we're in our 30's girl..

Ah, our holiday to Lanzarote! There is a full post coming soon, now I've finally managed to sort through all the photos! I seriously can't thank the girls enough for our time away, it was exactly what I needed.

Oh look at my little one. I missed her so much when I was away, but I got to see her last Monday when my parents invited us round for a BBQ & a catchup. She looks so adorable with her teddy.

Tuesday morning, Elisa & Lily took me to Fun Splash. There were so many cute babies there!

On Thursday, it was Elisa's birthday. Now as you guys know, I'm big on birthdays, so when someone decides to work on their birthday & doesn't have any plans, what do I do? I make plans! I bought her a massive balloon, (no joke, it seriously was massive) & we had a 'present per hour' rule at work. I also got all the girlies together on Friday night for a meal at a lovely Italian restaurant in our local town, followed by a chocolate cake of dreams. It was so lovely spoiling her : )

& finally, bank holiday weekend is finally here! For once, I have Monday off! The plan is to go watch banger racing with my family & friends. I've just got to get through work today & then a day off is exactly what I need!

What are your plans for this weekend?

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Life Lately #132

Wow, this seems like ages ago now, but we had our annual Summer BBQ at my grandparent's house back at the beginning of July. We've done it for the past four years & we have a day of playing games & eating lots of food. It's so much fun & we were so lucky with the weather. There were two short showers, but otherwise, it was dry & sunny.

July was also the month I got my new car! This is Connie the convertible. Isn't she cute? We've already had some exciting drives with the roof down. (Not as much as I'd like, we are in England after all..)

James also got a job promotion! He is now assistant manager at the kennels he works at. I'm so proud of him as he's only been in the job since March, so he's really thriving in his new role. We went out for dinner to celebrate with his family, which was lovely.

At the end of July, James & I finally got to go to The Harry Potter Studios! It was such a fun day, I've written a full post on it if you'd like to have a read. 

Oh & did any of you watch Love Island?! The girls & I all got together to watch the final round Elisa's. Did you agree with the winners? We were all seriously obsessed.

Last Sunday we had brunch at Bills as Cathy had two of her friends from uni visiting. It was so nice to see them & get all the girls together.

& finally, Thursday I met up for lunch with Cathy, Gem & Alice to do some last minute shopping. We have so many birthdays in August, it's been a bit manic organising all the presents in time! Luckily I managed to get the last few bits in town today.

Oh & I go on holiday on Tuesday! I'm so excited. Cathy, Boop & I are jetting off to Lanzarote & we actually can't wait. I will hopefully vlog while we're away, so keep an eye out for that!

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Life Lately #131

Hello lovelies!

It seems like ages ago now, but did you all have a lovely Father's Day? I stayed over at my parent's house the night before (I mean, just look at that sunset I was driving into, just perfection) & woke early the next morning to give my Dad & Grandad their gifts. Honey was so excited to see my Grandad appear, she ran the length of the garden & got seriously puffed out!

Our best friend Sheryl celebrated her 30th birthday last month & we organised a surprise evening out. She thought it would just be the two of us, but after I rocked up with Elisa, her little face was already beaming before she even knew where we were going! We drove her to a local pub called The Greets Inn, which she'd never been to before. We sat outside, next to the ducks & chickens & waited for Cathy & Mils to arrive (again more exitment!) We bought her a personlized book & some tiaras for us all to wear! It was so much fun.

We also managed to have a catch up with Allan & Maria now their back from their honeymoon. We had a family BBQ & got to see all their beautiful photos from their adventures last month! So jealous of the safari.

I met up with my tea ladies last week & we had lunch at Pretty Things. I've mentioned them before I'm sure, they just have the prettiest cafe in town. Everything is pink & girly, it's just so me! We had a slice of cake & a catch-up before heading to the park to sit in the sunshine.

Alex celebrated his 21st birthday this month! How scary is that?! Alex is James' little brother, so we met up with the family at Allan & Maria's for another BBQ in the evening, then headed to Valerie & Barrie's for dinner on the Friday night. A night or two of extremely naughty food.. but so worth it!

& finally, last Sunday I organised a brunch with the ladies I work with. As we didn't do Race For Life this year, I decided it would be nice to arrange a brunch to get us all together like we would have done for the race. We went to Sumners Ponds & sat in the safari tent, next to the pond. It was such a beautiful day & the food was delicious. I'd highly reccomend going if you're local.

How has your month been so far lovelies?

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Life Lately #112

Hello lovelies!

I never realised how much I say to the girls "Lets have brunch". A friend said to me the other day "I'd love to have your life & go out for brunch in the mornings!" Haha! I think because I love breakfast but I'm not a massive fan of eating first thing in the morning, plus most of my shifts are 12-8.30, it just makes sense that's what we all love to do! Anyway, I met up with the girls a few weeks back & saw this lovely little one again. Can you believe she is now 8 months old?! Crazy.

My mum & I went for afternoon tea at The Hickstead Hotel on Bank Holiday Monday. It was a birthday gift from James & we'd been saving up to do it for the longest time. It was lovely to spend the afternoon with mum. I'm going to write up a full post on our day so I won't say too much about it now, but make sure you check it out as it features lots of delicious food!

Oh & here we are again.. another brunch, haha! This time with my girl Ricka. We realised we hadn't seen each other since May, so we had a lovely catch up over pancakes!

Last Sunday, our friend Faye took part in Alice In Wonderland & she was Alice! It was such a lovely afternoon out. We got given balloons on arrival & were told to wait in the little café area (outside) & we would be taken into Wonderland. So much effort had been put into the show, it was such a good day.

I came home that evening to our first family BBQ of the year (bit late I know!) but it was so lovely. Even Honey was helping with the cooking!

& finally yesterday I had a day off in the sunshine & spent the morning with my girl Lorna. We went for tea in town, followed by a natter in the park. I'm sitting here writing this while the rain is pouring down outside, it's hard to believe it was boiling hot sunshine in the UK yesterday, but I guess that's just British weather for you!

How has your week been lovelies? I'm working a 3 hour shift today, followed by a 10 hour one tomorrow, but I'm actually off on Sunday which is exciting! Do you have any plans?

Oh & a massive thankyou to everyone who left a comment on my latest blog post. I mentioned on my Instagram I'm not massively comfortable with my appearance at the moment & you were all so kind. The blogging community really is a special one to be apart of.

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Life Lately #108

Hello lovelies,

Long time no speak! I've been away in Corfu then as soon as I returned & went to download all my photos onto my laptop, the bloody thing wouldn't turn on. I've spent the last week or so on the phone to the help line, resetting everything & getting it back to a healthy state, so I apologise for the lack of updates.

Just before I went on holiday, we had 4 ducklings hatch! They are just the cutest little things & have been regularly coming in & enjoying a bath in the house. Ducklings are so messy compared to chicks, so they need to come in to clean themselves every few days & have a splash around. Love this time of year for animals being born!

Ok, so my main update this month is our holiday to Corfu. I want to do a full post & vlog on our adventures, so I won't write much about it here except how amazing it was! We did so much in a week & had non-stop sunshine. (Bit different to our holiday to Lefkas 2 years ago when it rained for half the holiday!) Keep an eye out for that post coming soon & if you'd like to see what I took with me to Corfu, I wrote a full post about packing just before I left.

Last Sunday I held my annual Summer BBQ. I'd bought a marquee for this year as I wasn't sure how the weather would behave, but despite a few short showers in the morning, we had brilliant sunshine all afternoon & evening! Lily arrived in the cutest little dress, can you believe she is now 6 months old?! Crazy. She has just started sitting up on her own so won't be long before she's crawling around. Try & spot her in our pyramid!

I also stole a few ideas off Pinterest (anyone else obsessed with it as much as me!?) for some buffet food ideas. I made these pepper dips, which just involved cutting the bottom of the pepper & taking out the middle, before pouring the dips inside. I also made a watermelon jelly which I didn't manage to photograph unfortunately, but that turned out ok until we had to cut it into slices & it fell apart!

On Monday James & I went to see The Secret Life Of Pets & although it was good, I was a bit disappointed with the storyline, it just wasn't what I was expecting. The characters were good & it was funny, but I wouldn't rush to see it again. Have you seen it?

This week, I also got to meet this gorgeous puppy called Phantom. He belongs to a lady I work with & he came in to visit us on Monday. Isn't he cute?

Yesterday, Alex celebrated his birthday & we had a family meal at a local pub. Too much food was consumed! We also managed to get a group of 'older men' (they must have all been at least 70!) to sing to him! Was so adorable.

& finally I just wanted to include this image I took of our garden last week. Every time I look at it, it reminds me that even during the darkest times, there is light at the end of the rainbow. I've drafted a few more lifestyle posts recently that I can't wait to share with you over the next few weeks, as I'm hoping to change up my content on here to make it more 'me'. I think that's why I had gone off blogging at the beginning of June, it was just so impersonal for me to keep writing reviews of products etc, I want to make this blog about me again.

Hope you're having a lovely week so far guys : )

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