Photo An Hour September

I took part in Photo An Hour again on 26th September, which was a busy day for me as I went to Yarndale in Skipton with my friend Sarah!

8am and I did NOT want to wake up

9am and I looked a bit better, in the car ready to go to Leeds to catch the train

10am - Leeds train station waiting for Sarah

11am and we were on one of the double decker busses Yarndale lays on. Can you see the crochet flowers behind me?

Noon and this was my view - lots and lots of gorgeous yarn and fibre arts!

1pm - Sarah and I fortified ourselves with an ice cream

Just after 2pm and we were in the bar opposite Skipton station drinking wine! We had delicious burgers, too

3pm was dessert time. This was a Cointreau creme brulee and it was delicious!

4pm saw us back on the train. This is Sarah's train face

5pm and this is Lee who nicely came to pick me up

6pm and I was melting butter into condensed milk for a dessert that Lee wanted us to make

7pm and we were watching I <3 1989. This is Axl Rose, I promise

8pm and we were playing Yoshi's Woolly World on the Wii. I didn't mention yet that Lee and I got matching Yoshi tattoos recently!

9pm and this is the dessert. It's very sweet but yummy!

10pm and I was on my computer, on Tumblr.

11pm and it was bedtime, so here I am laid on the bed!

Books of the Month - August 2015

I read some cracking books in August, most of which I've reviewed on my other blog. Here's some brief rundowns, though.



Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli - I loved this. It was a perfect example of a YA book. Simon is incredibly likeable and the storyline - of him being forced out of the closet - is fantastic. Definitely read this.



Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel - this is a fantastic post-apocalyptic novel. 90% of the population dies from a flu epidemic, and those who are left struggle to survive. Again, I definitely recommend this.



Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - this is about the village of Eyam, in the Derbyshire Peaks, which got the Plague in 1665 and willingly cut itself off so that the disease didn't spread. This is a fictional account of the true story, and it's good, albeit very dense in prose. It was my book club book, otherwise I don't think I'd have ever picked it up.



Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell - this is a YA novel set in Australia, which is a rarity for me. I liked it, the main character is unapologetically plus size (even though the cover illustration wouldn't let you know this...) and the love interest is disabled.



The Third Coin by J A Howard - I was so-so on this. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. It's a middle grade novel set in New York but with Arthurian legends twisted in. It is a bit clumsily done, but I enjoyed it well enough I guess.

Films of the Month - August 2015

Again I didn't watch too many films in August as I was busy, but here's what I did watch:



1) Walk the Line and 2) Velvet Goldmine - these are two of my favourite films and I often watch them for comfort. I hadn't seen Walk the Line in aaaages. I love the music in both films - I'm a big Johnny Cash fan and I like glam rock, especially David Bowie. I also love Placebo's cameo in Velvet Goldmine!



3) What We Did On Our Holiday - I loved this. It was recommended on Netflix and I thought I'd read the book, so I put it on. On researching, I don't think there was a book, so I don't know what I was thinking about, but I really enjoyed the film. David Tennant, Rosamund Pike, Billy Connolly, and the other adult cast members were all excellent, but the kids were amazing. I thoroughly recommend this if you haven't seen it.



4) Wayne's World and 5) Wayne's World 2 - some films that I've seen a million times. Lee and I watched them both just while relaxing. Yes they're stupid, but they're funny too. I can't say which is my favourite, but it's probably the second one for Del Preston and his stories.

Camping in Cleethorpes August Bank Holiday - Sunday

There were a few too many photos to fit in one post, so this is what we did on the Sunday in Cleethorpes. We again had cooked breakfast out in the open, which is one of the absolute pleasures of camping. Then we went back into the town and played mini golf and went back in the arcades.

Lee is far to good at mini golf!

I'm wearing a dress from Asos that I have previously worn here. 

Here's me and my mum looking at the pier and the donkeys. What do donkeys get for their lunch on Cleethorpes beach? Half an hour. Ba dum tish.

Camping in Cleethorpes August Bank Holiday - Saturday

We went camping yet again over the August Bank Holiday weekend. I scheduled in these three camping trips back in January and it's worked really well; it's meant we didn't waver from going, and each time we had a very different but really relaxing time. This time, we went to Cleethorpes on the East coast near Hull, and stayed here.

Lee and I went to Cleethorpes a couple of years ago with some friends, and had a good day in the arcades, eating ice cream, on the beach, and all of that. Some of the beachfront is very run down, but they have also put a lot of money into some of it and it looks a lot better. Plus, I'm a big believer that when you're with good people you'll have a good time wherever, so with my mum and Norman there too, we were set.

Lee and I arrived about 7.30pm on the Friday and managed to get the tent up before it got dark. We ate chilli and played a game in my mum's tent before going to bed.

On Saturday I'd arranged to meet up with Becky, so we got the steam train from near the campsite to the leisure centre. Then it turned out that there was a Comic-con happening at the leisure centre, so we decided to go in!

It was absolutely packed inside and it was SO HOT, but it was fun to look at all the stalls and cosplayers. I bought a few gifts and Lee bought himself a Futurama wallet. Then we met Hattie Hayridge! Being massive Red Dwarf geeks we were very excited.

Lee had a long conversation with Hattie about the colour of his hair, and she also liked my shoes!

This girl Captain America looked amazing!

Here's me and Becky, enjoying the sunshine. 

And here is the tiny steam train that took us up to the leisure centre!

All photos taken by my stepdad.

In the evening on Saturday we went back into the town and had fish and chips at the Beach Cafe, then played in the arcades for a while - I beat everyone at air hockey but lost to Lee on Mario Kart! We went back to the tent at about 9, just as it was getting dark. 

What I Wore 2nd September

I used to search eBay for the Beth Ditto collections quite regularly, but then in 2013 I got the heart cardigan for Christmas, which was the piece I really wanted, and so I hadn't looked in ages. But I was browsing and this spotty dress came up. I nearly didn't win it, but I figured it was worth spending a bit extra on, and now it's mine!

I like the Peter Pan collar and I love the buttons on the sleeves, little details but they help it be very cute!

Birthday Barbecue

Lee's birthday was the 21st of August so on the Saturday we had a barbecue, 22 people came which was great! We were lucky in that it stayed dry while we were barbecuing in the afternoon, and then it started to rain, and it chucked it down and thundered and lightened for about two hours! It was a bit of a squash to have all those people in my house, but it was still a really good day.

Here was my face! I matched my eyeshadow to my dress and kept my lipstick pale

Lee's birthday cake was this fabulous ice cream sundae cake from Tesco

Lee about to blow out his candles, I bought him the Waynestock t-shirt

My lovely friends Amy and Mike

Lee's dad standing outside in the rain

My lovely friends Jen and Bettie

My lovely friend Paul

All these photos are my mum's!

What I Wore 27th August

I don't always look on everything5pounds, but I like their handbags - I usually buy about 4, use them for a few months each, then bin them when they inevitably break. I looked at the clothes while I was there. The plus size section can be really hit and miss, but I ordered a few bits. I ordered this top in the peach and in a mint green. I wore this for work.

Fifty Shades of... Pink?

On 11th August I had to go into town to run a few errands, and I met Lee for lunch. I got him to take this photo of me.

Top is Marks & Spencer, cardigan is Peacocks, watch is from eBay