Two Day Six's...whaaaat

Personally I blame Derren Brown as he was the subject of day six part 2...whoops. Honestly, I can count.

Day Thirty - Photo a Day

The last post for this challenge! Oh it's been messy, with my rambling posts that I don't but probably should read over. My forgetful nature, and the general lack of quality of the photos. But I hope you have enjoyed reading this and maybe learnt something, if only that I'm welsh and like food as that seems to be all this blog has been about.

This last photo was taken a fair while ago but I couldn't leave it out of my blog.

This is Fred the four foot inflatable Dalek. My brother bought him for me when he went to live in Cardiff and I think he fulfilled his challenge to find me the biggest thing he could which would take up most of the room in my uni bedroom. If you don't know what a Dalek is then shame on you! Go find out and then fear them. Fred was used to scare flatmates and it never got old. EVER!!

The next challenge will be watching a new film every day. They can be classics I just haven't seen (the godfather) or ones I saw when I was little but forgotten (Star Wars) I am not the most film literate person and tend to watch the same ones over or follow actors (David Tennant, Tom Hanks). Let's hope I can keep it up and I hope you stay with me for this new challenge :)

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty Nine - Photo a Day

Two left! Are you sad about the end?

I found a ladybird in my garden, went to take a photo and it flew away. But it landed on a daisy, show off.

Pretty and summery. And it will kill the evil aphids that are upsetting some of the plants.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty Eight - Photo a Day

Three to go!

A nice shot of a willow tree, my favorite type of tree. Probably because of grandmother willow in Pocahontas which is my favorite Disney film.

And it is a sunny day!! In the summer! In Wales! Utter madness :)

Don't know what the other tree is...do you? But the willow is what this is all about.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty Seven - Photo a Day

Nearly at the end of this challenge....

Thought I would do the photo first. It is a dead daffodil plant (it is summer) but the plant has dried out and the yellow of the Daff can still be seen. I just think it's a pretty picture because I'm all girly and like dead flowers....
Hope you enjoyed this photo

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty Six - Photo a Day

Found this guy peering creepily out at me from a field. There was a child hiding behind it and when I went to take a photo he shouted at me and I was absolutely terrified as there was no one else around and I thought it was just a sensor on the ground somewhere but no it was an evil child. This is take two of the picture but it is quite cool. He reminds me a bit of the Iron Man by Ted Hughes, loved that book when I was little.

I did say a bit like the Iron Man...not loads. Just the bit where he escapes from the ground after the farmers bury him, I imagine him peeking out like this first. If you haven't read the book, go do it...it is really short and has a fairy tale edge to it. And is completely different to the film as there is a dragon! ooooh

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty Five - Photo a Day

Since it is the 25th post it only seems right to have something a bit festive!

Here is a card I made for my gran and grandad when I was about 4...

Yep...look at that. It's brilliant. I was such a skilled child but I do think I was probably older than 4 when it was made, but the grandparents insisted. I would show you the writing but its in pen and I'm left handed...so its smudge central. Why it was in pen I have no idea, but there was a handy translation from my mum in there so they knew it was Christmas love, and not a note kidnappers made me write.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty Four - Photo a Day

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you...the longest place name in Wales! Brought to you by a lovely children's wooden puzzle.

The layout for this is completely rubbish! But I can't make them all nicely line up like good children's toys. Altogether it reads...

LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH

Which translates to...

Church of Mary Pool White Hazel Besides Rapid Whirlpool Church Tysiliog Cave Red

Of course the bits in between like 'the, and, where, under, by' etc have been lost in the stupidly literal translation but there it is.

It is shortened to Llanfair for posting and yes, I can read the welsh out loud and make it sound proper. You will also notice the love of the letter 'L' and 'G', we welsh are well fit but 'LL' is a letter in our alphabet so its not that many really....

I hope you try to say it out loud!

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty Three - Photo a Day

I know you are all bereft of my Italian adventures, but we are back in glorious Wales! And since food features a lot on the blog, I thought I should include a little Welsh recipe :) Delicious Welsh Rarebit!

Yes it is a fridge magnet, and yes I know you can't really read it. Luckily for you I will write it out below so you can love it too...

Grandpa's Welsh Rarebit

4 slices hot buttered toast
200g grated Caerphilly cheese
25g butter
1 tsp dry mustard (mustard powder, but you can use normal mustard..English mustard)
3 tbsp milk
3 drops Worstershire sauce
Salt and Pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the remaining ingridients and warm gently (it will go all gooey and lovely). Pour over the toast and serve hot (I usually grill it a little bit as well). Can also be served with a poached egg on top, known as Buck Rarebit.

Hope you enjoyed it :)

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty Two - Photo a Day

Hope you are still with me!

This is the last of my Italy pics for this blog...I know you are all devastated to know you wont be able to read anymore of my ramblings about the trip, but it's OK.

I will leave off where I began in Italy, because I'm all poetic and that, at the airport! Everyone's favorite place when they are on their holidays. We had just been abandoned by the shitty rep when I saw this floating on the water feature outside (Charlie Dimmock would love it).

Eventually the rep appeared after thinking she had a group of Japanese tourists...she was an idiot. But all was forgiven when the aircon was turned on on the coach. Ahh cool comfort.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twenty One - Photo a Day

These pictures don't go together at all...but I love them both and took them on the same day so they will go together.

The first picture was taken whilst walking down the street in Verona, they were teeny but so pretty...and Chanel was just around the corner so I got to stare in and dream.

The second photo is outside the amphitheatre where you can see the sets for some of the operas happening there. It was the 89th opera festival and the sets were amazing. The Egyptian sets are for Aida..the rest I can't remember.

It's taken from across the road so you can't see the amphitheatre in all it's glory but I just wanted the moment when the festival was one :)

Thanks for reading xx

p.s don't forget to follow and comment and all that jazz

Day Twenty - Photo a Day

Ten days left everyone! (ahem)

I wasn't going to include these pictures as the quality might not be amazing, but they are fresco's on the side of buildings in Verona. 500 years old and original. And slowly decaying since the properties are privately owned and the govt has no money...hooray for the euro! A waiter told us the fresco's will only be around for another 50 years if that unless something is done. And they are amazing.

I made them x-large in the hope you can see the fresco's...and I'm no photographer as you may already know so apologies for the sun getting into shot.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Nineteen - Photo a Day

A trip to Verona would not be complete without visiting Juliette's balcony. Which was put there 80 years ago by the Italian govt to please the tourists...shh!

Still the experience of visiting the house (not really hers...shh!) was wonderful, going in the walls were being repainted to cover the messages of love tourists had written everywhere. Some were thanking the love they have found, and some were asking for love. If you took your time there you would find some really beautiful messages.

Whilst the messages outside were being painted over to make way for new ones, inside the house I found this...

I think it was specially commissioned for the house but it features real messages to Juliet about love and all things like that. So not made by an artist pretending but real messages preserved for the house, which is nice considering the ones outside are being re painted.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Eighteen - Photo a Day

A beautiful little plaque in Verona. It was underneath a scroll like metal statue with pictures telling the tale of Romeo and Juliet, found just outside the Colosseum/ Amphitheatre.

Loved this little message. Even more so when the guide told us the Italian govt made a grave for Juliet just to please the American tourists. The sentiment still stands though :)

Thanks for reading xx

Day Seventeen - Photo a Day

Hello there!

This photo is from the little island of Burano. That's right, not Murano where the glass is made, but Burano where the lace is made. Lace in itself isn't that thrilling but Burano itself was beautiful. It was described to us as 'the island where the rainbow breaks' on the boat over from Venice.

When you arrive it is easy to see why it is described in that way, the houses are all painted different bright colours and no two together are the same. It is like a Disney film in there, especially with random old women making lace on the street.

They have a leaning tower too...but it isn't on this photo...sorry.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Sixteen - Photo a Day

This photo is from a boat trip on Lake Garda and shows the ruins of a Roman villa. It was massive and half the bricks had been stolen to build the castle on the island. And that castle is a proper sized castle, no messing about there.

Obviously this picture doesn't do it justice but then it is something you will just have to go and see for yourself. And you should if you get the chance it is beautiful there.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Fifteen - Photo a Day

If you know me then you will know of my love for nutella. It is a joyous product which never fails to give me joy.

My love reached new heights when I saw this on a stand outside my hotel...

Oh yes, that dear readers is four absolutely MASSIVE tubs of nutella. Now I'm going to let that sink in a little bit.......

Love a bit of catering sized food.

I tried to get a sense of scale for this wonder, but I don't think it truly does it justice as my hand is close to the camera. The guy running the stall got a bit annoyed with my awe.

Oh, and I do have a thumb, but I'm using it to hold my phone case (the black thing).

Still, pretty big though!

Thanks for reading xx

Day Fourteen - Photo a Day

I love this photo so much, It is of the lovely gondolier we had in Venice. And yes, I was about to call him a gondola man, but then remembered the helping hand that is google.

He was extremely proud of his city and pointed out the important sights on the little tour. We went around one of the islands which had the opera house and a beautiful church  close by. The onto the grand canal to 'park up' which was so busy!

Mr Gondolier told us it wasn't usually this busy but a building had collapsed on the normal gondola routes and so that canal was closed and everyone was having to go on the grand canal. Good news though as we were close to 3 gondolas with singers in them and they synchronised which was lovely...it also lengthened the trip to an hour instead of thirty mins :)

Thanks for reading xx

Day Thirteen - Photo a Day

This little note was in the hotel toilets and I enjoyed it. So it found itself on my blog, lucky thing!

Oh and I wasn't in Westminster, I was in Italy. Another reason to enjoy.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Twelve- Photo a Day

Hello there. This little piccy is an indoor sparkler I had for my birthday cake, well my home birthday cake. I had my birthday on holiday and so no cake but ice cream...yum. This was going to be a sparkler laden cake picture, but it wasn't very good. This is slightly better..and sparkly.

Thanks for reading xx

I am a terrible person...Day Eleven

After a terrible and pointless break in this blog I will be resuming and WILL be posting daily. Or I will at least have a decent excuse as to why I haven't been posting.

I'm going to finish this little 30 day challenge today with little notes above the pictures instead of paragraphs.

I will try to be less terrible and neglectful from now on :)

This my dears is the amazing frozen yogurt me and a friend had at nando's. Oh the joy of a shared bottomless fro yo machine...yum! We went back a few times and got some looks from the staff as we shouted 'make it bigger' across the place, but it was all worth it for the frozen delights. And it was strawberry flavour in case you were wondering (I know you are)

OK...lets crack on with day 12!

Thanks for reading xx

Day Ten - Photo a Day

Less of a 'this is what I did today' post, and more of a 'here is a nice photo' post. Hope you enjoy it...

This is the beautiful view from the Llangollen bridge. Sadly I missed the canoe people (canoers doesn't seem right) but hopefully will get them soon, and then I'll probably add the photo on here.

The picture says the most here...not too much to add. Oh, except for Thomas the Tank Engine comes by here every so often :)

Thanks for reading, don't forget to follow if you enjoy so I feel loved hehe xx

Day Nine - Photo a Day

Today has been mega busy and fun! Had work, which isn't that exciting. But then went to see McFly at the Llangollen Pavilion for the closing of the Eisteddfod. Lots of welsh there I know, basically the Eisteddfod is a huge festival held in Llangollen every year where people from all over the world come and compete in singing and dancing and other cultural things. Lots of fun and the town is really busy which is always fun.

So, McFly were really good. Surprisingly so actually, I haven't listened to them in about 5 or 6 years and so only know their really old stuff and whatever I catch on the radio so I wasn't too sure about going to a concert of theirs. Luckily they played a LOT of their old stuff so I was forced by joy and memories to sing and dance along with the rest of the crowd who loved it :)

But, you just want the photo for today really. And after seeing McFly it is fairly obvious that the photo will be of them...so here you go. The best pic I had from my phone as I forgot my camera, also only took three pictures then the battery died. Not a successful photo taking opportunity but none the less here it is...

Sorry for the poor quality! Gave you three pics though so you know, they make one good one yeah?

Thanks for reading xx

Day Eight - Photo a Day

I decided to have my weekend the wrong way around. In the sense that today I was spectacularly lazy and had a massive lie in, and tomorrow I will be working and then out at night. It wasn't planned to be like this but I haven't been feeling too well and it seems I needed the sleep. Possibly also developed hay fever despite never having it before....can that happen?

Anyway, my lovely relaxing day ended with me and my mum watching Pride and Prejudice, sadly not the Colin Firth one but Keira Knightley. This was mainly due to the time it takes to get through the Firth set but I quite liked the Keira edition, mainly because Tom Hollander is brilliant as Mr Collins. If you didn't see him in the comedy Rev then get on it, brilliant!

But back to the film, it made me feel ridiculously girly and all lovey dovey which is nice, so I finished my ill and lazy, girly Saturday with a lush bath...as in the company lush, not me just being welsh and saying lush when I mean good.

I used one of the bath melts called Happy Blooming. Splits into three and smells of cherries, bliss! A rival to my favourite smell which is Cinnamon (usually found in Christmas spice mixes mmmmmmm) A nice end to a relaxing day.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Seven - Photo a Day

Hello everyone!

A bit late with this post sorry, but I have had an amazing day which ended with me falling asleep as soon as I got home. I know, hardcore!

Met up with a friend from uni, who is deserting me this year! sob sob!! And we went for a lovely afternoon tea type thing in a new place in Chester called Mad Hatters. It was adorable in there, they have the decoration like Alice in wonderland and there is bunting. You have to love a bit of well placed bunting.

We had tea and cupcakes, they make their own cupcakes which is brilliant and it means you get amazing flavours. The one in the picture is cherryade and almond, it was so good! From facebook page snooping they had strawberry and basil yesterday and a mojito one earlier this week. Mad Hatters certainly calls for more visits and it was such a nice place to meet with my friend, who also loves all things Alice.

Don't forget to follow me if you like this, so I feel loved and all that =]

Thanks for reading xx

Day Six - Photo a Day (Part Two)

Ohh the imaginative titles for these posts just keep on coming.

Here is the photo for today....

So in case you can't read it, this is a questionnaire from objective productions...who make Derren Brown's TV shows. Now, if you know me then you will know how much I bloody love Derren Brown and all he does and you may have been on the end of an argument with me about him, whilst I respect your opinion it just happens to be totally wrong if you do not like him! FACT. You can't dispute it, especially not to me (mainly because I won't listen).

The questionnaire is to apply to take part in his next show. Midnight tonight is the deadline and I left until today to even decide to email for this since I have been torn over wanting to apply and not wanting to. Curiosity and love for Derren made me email, but as yet it is unfilled (well...maybe a little bit filled in) and not sent off.

This was the most exciting thing to happen today. Other than having a hench souffle at a stupidly posh restaurant, but you only get one picture today because Derren will not share posts!

So the big question is, did I fill out the questionnaire and send it off?

But also...why is it after I post a picture my text goes all weird and in the middle.

Thanks for reading xx

Day Six - Photo a Day

Just like yesterday, today has been non stop rain. But once again I battled the elements to bring you a lovely photo. Although to be fair it was to go to the corner shop for milk and a magazine and it seemed a nice idea to have a picture on the way.

I had my lovely spotty brolly, which is a domed one for ultimate protection from the rain. With an added bonus of not going inside out in the wind...or it hasn't yet. If you look closely you can see one of the MANY speed bumps randomly placed on corners, attempting to slow down the non existent traffic in the village. (I say village, you get me though. It isn't like a village in the postman pat kind of sense, just too small to be a town)

But anyway, another rainy day post for you all to enjoy. Especially if it has been lovely and sunny where you are.

Thanks for reading xx

p.s don't forget to feed the fish! and follow me :)

Day Five - Photo a Day

For some reason I left this blog unposted from yesterday but open on a word document ready to go...sorry about that. So it was written yesterday just not posted, which isn't really the point of a blog is it. Here is the late post which will be followed by today's....

Hello everyone! Today has been lovely as it has been raining all day. I did go into town for a little shop and took a photo of a sign in the centre of town. You can't see the rain but I got drenched on your behalf :)

So it might not have the most exciting things on the signs but it was a good day/ night out with a lot of bargains and more cocktails..hehe

Thanks for reading xx

Day Four - Photo a Day

Well, what an eventful day! Found myself a job in the first place I look and then meet up with the faaaabulous Lucy for a good ol' catch up and cocktails. So sophisticated!

Found a new bar in my home town, which specialises in cocktails and they are amazing, just how proper cocktails should be....with a price to match mind, (although I am a poor student so hefty prices are something we may differ on) but they were definitely worth it!

My picture for today is a shot of one of my cocktails, I think it was called a side car, one of the 'classic' cocktails on the menu and it was beautiful. I would be upset my friend didn't like it but it meant more for me to enjoy, which is always a good thing.

Isn't she a beaut! mmmmm

Thanks for reading xx

Day Three - Photo a Day

And now we come onto day three of this 30 day challenge. Technically this should be posted on the third, but I am willing to let it slip if you all are.....good, lets continue then.




Day Three was a lovely relaxing day in my garden, and I think because of my tardiness I will post two pictures....

My first photo is basically what I was looking at all day, when I wasn't reading or having some food. Me and the family had a very relaxing day in the garden with a BBQ and some cheeky bottles of wine. In the cage is my beautiful cockatiel Bert, who is amazingly scared of everything but likes to eat daisies if he can muster up the courage.

The second photo is of lovely Bert the brave and how pretty he is...I obviously mean tough and rugged since he is a boy cockatiel, the girls are grey and not as pretty. Shortly after this photo a wasp flew into the cage to steal some water (yes steal, not catch a drink) which startled Bert the brave who almost fell off his perch. After much wing flapping order was restored and all was again well with Bert the brave who continued to eat daisies.

Hope you Enjoyed the double photo spectacular :)

Thanks for Reading xx

Day Two - Photo a Day

So for day two of this challenge, which so far is not very successful if you check the dates (woops), I am posting a picture of my nails.

They took a bit longer than expected but look so cute. Little strawberries, if you couldn't tell, with yellow dots for the pips and dark green leaves. Pretty.

A short one but I have my actual daily post to do now...woo! Time to play catch up!

Thanks for reading xx

p.s don't forget to feed the fish on your way out

Day One- Photo a Day

Ok so technically today is day one, but I like to think I started at the beginning of the month so there will be 3 posts today for me to catch up...and for you all to delight in.

So not the most thrilling of pictures for a first post but this picture is full of amazing memories of a week of volunteering in schools culminating in making this massive purple car we named Percy. The last day of the week we we given a theme in groups, a room, and a challenge to create math themed activities for about 5 different schools. So much fun!

Our theme was mechanics, hence the amazing jumpsuits, and our main feature was Percy the big purple car. Percy had jigsaw wheels with problems to work out, the answers were written on the pieces of the jigsaw so they knew which one fitted where. It was fun...honestly!!

So there is photo number one! Stay tuned for post 2 of 3 today for piccy 2

Thanks for reading xx

Hello....again

Ok, sorry for being away for almost a year...then deleting everything on here to start a new adventure :)

However, after seeing this video >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnfBXjWm7hc&feature=feedu << a TED talk by Matt Cutts, I was inspired to start this blog again and continue with it for 30 days (my first 30 day challenge!)

But don't despair just yet, this will hopefully be something I actually keep up and have fun with. So I have decided there should be some form of structure to these fledgling 30 days. I will either take a picture every day and post it and tell you all about it. Or watch a film I haven't seen before, get those classics in, and then...tell you what I thought and all that jazz.

I should start off with something then...and I think a photo will be the most exciting. Although it is midnight and I want a full day tomorrow to go snapping you can have one from my last week of being a second year at uni! I will do it in a new post so you have a lovely intro blog haha :)

Thanks for reading xx