What I Wore 19th May

On the 19th of May we had our friends Leanne and Adi and their baby April over for lunch. We hadn't seen them in ages except at the vow renewal when we didn't get much chance to speak to them. We decided we would make brunch for all of us, which turned out really nicely! We had smashed avocado, toast, beans, mushrooms, fried eggs, hash browns, veggie sausages and orange juice. Leanne and I shared some wine which was really nice too. April enjoyed it too, which was my aim - to provide something she would eat too.

In the afternoon we chatted and played Mario Kart. Lee likes having someone else to play against except me. As you can see from the photo April was helping her dad to play too!

I wore this purple Yours dress which is really comfortable but still looks nice and chic! I paired it with leggings and slippers - I'm so glamorous I think you'll agree! I also put on this belt which I got at a clothes swap absolutely ages ago.

April and her dad playing Mario Kart

Yours purple dress

Sheffield Zine Fest 2019

Sheffield Zine Fest absolutely snuck up on me this year because I had a lot of other stuff going on and because Bettie and Chella didn't announce it until not too long ago. We of course wanted a table and I was really excited about it! Bettie asked me to do my mail art workshop again which is always fun, and my friend Sarah wanted to come and see too.

It was Photo An Hour so there's some odd photos in here because I was doing that! Let's go!

Just post shower. We didn't have to set off hugely early so we had a nice relaxed time

On the motorway from our house to Sheffield

Our stall all set up! We were near Janet and Lou which was nice

My mail art workshop. I had just brought a bunch of things from my personal stash and taught everyone how to make flip books. They're really easy and cute!

When the fest was in full swing late in the afternoon

Me and Sarah 

Sarah went and it was around 4pm and I was beginning to flag

Afterwards Lee and I were going to go to Saigon 68, the Vietnamese cafe in Sheffield, but I really wanted curry so I looked on Trip Advisor and discovered Maveli. It's the top rated curry place in Sheffield so I was excited! We parked on the street and looked at the menu and I was really excited because there's an extensiv vegan menu

I got these spiced fried cauliflower florets off the vegan menu to start with, they were delicious

Lee got fried potato bhajis to start with

For mains I got spinach paneer off the vegetarian menu, it was really yum but there was loads so I brought half of it home and ate it the next day. Lee had chicken korma and said it was the best korma he's ever had! He said it tasted baked. 

We shared these puree breads too - they were SO good. They deflated!

And they came with this little potato masala alongside :) It was really good curry and I'll definitely go back there

On our way home eventually through Hillsborough and that way

Here's the pile of zines I brought home!

And here they are in total! It was a good fest. 

What I Wore 14th May

The weather at the beginning of May was really nice, nice and sunny in our part of the world. Plus my office is really hot and I can't work out how to turn the radiator off, so I need thinner clothes to wear to work. So this skirt was perfect! I bought it last year in a Simply Be sale, but hadn't worn it before - it's just been sitting in the wardrobe waiting for me!

It's quite thin, so I put my short underskirt on underneath for work. If I was on holiday I would wear some kind of chafe shorts maybe, and I would also use this as a beach cover up. I love the colour (it's kind of a beige pink that I'm not sure is obvious in the photo). I paired it with just a plain white top also from Simply Be.

Swansea Zine Fest 2019

So it was time for Swansea Zine Fest again! We went last year when it was in its first year and I wanted to go again to support it and my friends who were organising it. It fitted in nicely at the end of our holiday.

Cath and Daf had to set off early to set up the venue so Lee and I headed into the city centre for some breakfast. We went to Zinco Lounge which is in the same chain of restaurants as I went to at Fox Valley a few weeks ago with my friend. Lee hadn't been though and I knew he'd like it. I had the big breakfast again and Lee had poached eggs on toast I think.

After breakfast we headed to Volcano Theatre to set up for the zine fest. We ended up with no tablemate which meant there was enough room for both of us to sit which was nice. I was so tired and didn't really interact with many people, I hope no one minded! We did well selling zines and I had a lovely day.

We set off back home just after 5pm. We had to take a bit of a detour around the valleys but it was quite scenic so it was okay. We stopped for something to eat and got home around 10.30pm. Ivy was very cross, she'd been fed by a catsitter every day but she was cross with us for leaving her!

It was a lovely end to the week.

Breakfast!

Sitting behind my stall

The wall in the loo!

My outfit - my flamingo skirt, white top, and grey cardigan

Sunset on the way home

And here are all the zines I picked up!

Trip to Wales - Day 5

Day 5 of our holiday was the last day in Fishguard. We didn't have to leave the Airbnb until noon so we had a nice leisurely brunch and then packed all the stuff up in the car and headed to Blue Lagoon near Haverford West.

I had been googling a few weeks previous to the holiday about waterparks in the UK. Lee and I really like swimming but don't often visit a leisure centre. We do like to go to a pool on holiday so when I saw this one nearby I thought it was perfect. We had made sure to pack our swimming stuff!

Blue Lagoon is just about a fiver per person and you can stay for three hours, although I have to say when we went no one seemed to be policing that. There's a big family changing village so Lee and I got changed in the same cubicle and put everything into a locker.

There's a big pool which has a wave machine and goes from very shallow to very deep. There's a tiny baby pool. There's a lazy river that goes outside! Outside there's an adults only spa and inside there's one too! The weather was quite warm, definitely warm enough to be in the warm water and laze about outside.

There's three slides, two enclosed ones and one bigger, wider one. I'm not really one for slides but Lee really likes them. He encouraged me to go on the wider slide, which had several stopping points along the way and seems to have been a slide used with rubber rings, although it no longer is. We had to leave our glasses at the top but then we went down.

In the first stopping point I breathed in a load of water and floundered a bit, so by the time we got to the bottom of the slide my heart was beating wildly and I thought I might throw up. Slides are definitely out of my comfort zone! But then I realised I had really enjoyed it so I went on again! I'm proud of myself for doing it!

We stayed three hours - we had some ice cream in the little cafe but apart from that we were just in the water, usually outside, lolling about and swimming. It was lush!

We left about 4.30pm and headed towards Swansea. As I said we were off to the zine fest the next day, and my friend Cath who is one of the organisers said we could stay with her and Daf overnight. We got to Swansea in good time and then set off out for something to eat. We went to a pub near their house and it was very nice!

I didn't take many photos on Friday but here's a few anyway

The converted stables where we stayed

How cute is this little window?

Bye bye Fishguard!

This is the entrance to the swimming pool

And here's my really yummy pizza later that evening!

Trip to Wales - Day 4

We went to Pembroke on the Thursday of our holiday. We drove all the way down and then decided to go in the castle. It wasn't very expensive and I think it was worth it, it's a really complete castle and it's also where Henry VII was born! I thought that was pretty cool.

We walked round loads of it. I was coping without my walking stick on holiday (I think the bed helped my chronic pain, even though I didn't find it very comfortable actually sleep, if that makes sense) so we went all over. I really dislike spiral staircases so I had to take them really slowly like a nana. Lee helped!

We had lunch in the castle - their veggie choice wasn't fantastic but it was nice enough. Then we drove to Pembroke Dock, which I was expecting to be more seaside like? If there was a pleasure beach we couldn't find it. We drove to a couple more places but couldn't really find anything so just ended up going back to the cottage.

In the evening we went out in Fishguard for curry. I wish we'd gone back to Fishguard actually to look round of the shops earlier in the day, because we passed some interesting looking ones! Oh well, we'll have to go back there again one day! The curry house was empty, but really yummy food. I had some kind of paneer curry I think.

You can see I was wearing my Scarlett & Jo purple dotted dress and grey cardigan - perfect for the day!

I was also wearing my gorgeous Tara brooch that my mum bought me for Christmas in 2016 I think

Looking through the gatehouse to the castle

Towards the keep

Along one wall - we felt really high up!

Lee right on top

Me in a doorway proving how short it was (I'm 5'5")

One of the tower rooms - this might have been where Henry VII was born actually

Lee in a fireplace

View from the top 

Me in a slightly bigger fireplace

This is a gun tower on Pembroke Dock

A different ferry that we ended up following all the way out of the estuary

At a place called Dale

And then in Goodwick later that night just as it was getting dark

What I Wore 8th May

I never know what to pack on holiday when I'm not sure if it'll be warm. If we're doing a lot I can end up really hot, but if it's cool, especially at night, I can end up cold. I usually end up packing skirts and tops because they seem to be warmer than just dresses, and then pack cardigans too. I wore this on the Wednesday of our holiday. This skirt is quite thin but it was fine with my leggings on. It's really old Scarlett & Jo, I wear it quite a lot. My black top is from Simply Be, it's just a basic black t-shirt. My cardigan is new, though, I had got it just a few days before our holiday. It's long sleeved and not too thick, so I really like it. I like the grey colour too, it makes a change for me! Oh my necklace says "feminist", I bought it in Afflecks in Manchester in March!

Trip to Wales - Day 3

On the third day of our holiday we set off up the coast towards Cardigan. It was more overcast and rained a bit on us, but we saw the sea and had a picnic in the car. We didn't actually do much!

The cat came again in the morning. It seemed hungry

Gorgeous grey sea

Panorama

The ferry to Rosslare

I love lobster pots, I think they're amazing

I thought this looked like Ballamory

Car picnic!

And then when we got back in the afternoon I had another bath. This bath bomb was called Melusine and it was lovely and fresh smelling. It also left LOTS of glitter in the bath, whoops!