Life Lately

Hey All

Long time no post from me,  life really has been a bit crazy lately. The dude got back from a trip, I've had two weeks off work and just lots going on. I've got lots I want to share on here but thought today I'd do a little life update on some things I'll probably go into more detail on soon.

Pretty soon after he got back we had a black tie dinner to attend to celebrate our kickboxing club. It was so nice to get all dolled up and I got to wear my bridesmaid dress from a few years ago too! I had so much fun we ended up staying out till about 1ish but by then my ankle was really sore as it was only a few weeks after I'd sprained it!

By the time he got back we'd planned stuff for all our weekends. The following one we headed up to London to see some of his friends from uni. We ended up travelling all over :London using the boats, cable car and tubes to have an explore and ended up at the Greenwich observatory. It was such a cool day and I was glad I finally got myself an oyster card as it made it all so much easier. After catching a super late bus back from London I had a spa day with my mum. I love going for treatments but was left a bit disappointed by the afternoon tea! Me and the dude also decided to let the parents meet each for the first time. Definitely scary but they all got on really well thankfully.

L and I also got to catch up properly. I swear I have no time at the moment. We went for a sushi date as it's been ages and who can resist Yo Sushi! during September blues. We also headed to techniquest which you can read about here. Having never been I was so excited and definitely want to go to an afterdark session again!

Then the start of two weeks off work happened and some exciting developments. Me and the Dude, (I guess I should update him to C now to go along with the theme of things here!) have decided to move in together. We've been looking at places for a while but decided to finally go for it after finding a cute little house. I'm so excited to make it our home for the next year while we save to buy somewhere or travel. I'm already planning what I can make and he's even said I can scratch off where I've been to his scratch map! That's commitment right there ha!

For our two weeks off as loads of stuff was going on we decided to stay in the UK and go glamping after some friends had stayed in a Geo dome in Scotland. We decided to stay nearer to home and went to Hay-On-Wye. We had the best time there and I'll share more on it as it was amazing!

We've also spent a few day's in York visiting Cs grandma. I'd never been and loved all the buildings and little shops. We stayed in a really cute hotel. We also headed down to West Wales for a few days with my family for a break. It's been a busy two weeks but great one's too!

With it being the Rugby World Cup we've had busy weekends to fit in watching it all. I've loved seeing it but was definitely rather grumpy when England got knocked out! I finally managed to watch my first match in the Stadium too. What a match getting to see the Haka!! It was such a great atmosphere and I really need to go more now.

So there is my busy few weeks! It's not going to get any easier either with now a house move in two weeks and busy weekends but it'll all be worth it!

Love M

xxx

Techniquest After Hours

Hi all!

Me and M have been indulging in our sciency sides recently, were super geeks st heart and love learning new things.

We recently went to Techniquest After Hours and had such a great evening! For those of you that don't know, Techniquest is a science museum in Cardiff mainly for children. I say mainly, because even at the old age of 27 I still love it, and my parents used to love taking me too. 

If you haven't been and you have children I fully recommend it as its a great trip, the place is full of fun science experiments that make learning fun!

One of my favourites has always been the one above, being able to ALMOST tough lightning is super cool, it follows your hand around too.

They also had lots of liquid nitrogen to play around with that swirled everywhere!

There really are so many different things to see and do, so I won't explain any more I'll just show you the pictures!

This time there was also a theme of 'The Quest', much like the Cube on TV. It involved taking part in  a number of challenges around the building and we had so much fun doing them. There was a maze with crazy glasses to distort your vision, guessing how many squares flashed up on a screen, and throwing a cube into a box without being able to see. It was lots of fun and we didn't even manage to finish them all!

It's a great evening and you can even buy alcoholic drinks on site for the evening! We indulged in  a cider or two and there was also snacks and vodka slushes available too.

The next one is on the 29th of October....I assume the theme will be Halloween related but you never know!

One thing we would recommend is to turn up early around 6, the tickets are first come first served and the queue was HUGE by the time the doors opened at 6.30 - I don't fancy hanging around outside in the cold through a queue that big ever!

What do you think of Techniquest? Have you been before, now or when you were younger?

We would definitely recommend it for £3, and anyone who has even the slightest interest in science!

L xxx

Gardens of Versailles

Good morning!

Today's post is to show you my photos from the Gardens of the Palace of Versailles, I have honestly never been anywhere more beautiful and the weather was so out of this world it's not hard to see why so many people go there.

I will be writing a separate post on the Palace itself as I took so many photos I couldn't put them all in one!
The gardens start behind the palace, and begin with a a huge courtyard with fountains, statues and hedgerows as far as the eye can see. It's impressive enough to stand here and take in all of the surroundings and no picture would be able to do it justice.

The first main fountain that you come across is the one below, it's absolutely huge!

Unfortunately I had missed the main season and so none of the fountains were on at the time, I can imagine this one is hugely impressive as there were so many spouts and statues to look at.

The amount of gold in the entire gardens and Palace was almost sickening, it's not hard to see why so many people rebelled against them and dragged Marie Antoinette and the King out and beheaded them when they were so poor!

They often have a number of extra exhibitions on at various times of the year, Anish Kapoor is the current artist with a number on show. Sadly this one has been vandalised with graffiti and whilst I was there it was a very big deal on the news.

I've no idea what it says but the Palace is clearly horrified, I don't know if it can be cleaned up so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I wandered for literally hours in the sun to take in the sights and the fountains, gardens and small niches were just so pretty I could have lost days!

I think my favourite area would have to be the gardens inside Marie Antoinette's estate, not only were they generally beautiful but the addition of so many little extra structures and hideaway places were gorgeous. My favourite part was the Queen's Hamlet, and on my way to discovering it I came across so many of these and this one in particular is called the Temple of Love.

The Queen's Hamlet is an area that Marie Antoinette had created to experience the charms of country life. There are many little buildings all surrounding a lake filled to the brim with fish - I can't imagine how they live there as there were so many!

The building below was my absolute favourite, I have no idea what it's purpose is but the spiral staircase up to the tower where you would have some beautiful views would be just like something out of a fairytale.
I could spend days up there reading or painting, in fact I could just move straight in and not ever leave!

Each of the buildings were totally different and unique so I couldn't take my eyes or my camera off them.
Even coming across little hideaways like this one at the end still surprised me, the rocks arranged perfectly over a little river to another tiny building hidden away from view. I could spend such a long time getting lost in these gardens and enjoying the simple pleasures in life.

I can't imagine the amount of work that the gardeners perform on a daily basis, the colours and smells were amazing let alone the overall maintenance of gardens this size.

The absolute best part of the Gardens? They are totally free!

You have to pay to get into any of the buildings, but the gardens themselves are free, Not only can you wander around and enjoy looking at how the Kings and Queens lived back in the day, but you can also enjoy some rowing and other water sports on the lakes as well as cycling, walking your dog....even sunbathing!
I can't imagine how it would be having this on your door step, I would absolutely love it.

Have you ever been to the Palace of Versailles? Have you got lost in the Gardens like I have?

Aren't they beautiful!

L xxx

Paris - A Whirlwind Trip!

Goooooooood morning!

It's been another crazy few weeks, things just down seem to be slowing down. I've not long got back from a trip to Paris for work - it was the perfect time for me to add on some of my annual leave from work and take advantage of the free flights.

After giving the training course I moved to a different hotel closer to the centre of Paris and made the most of my evening!

I caught the metro to the Louvre and it was a lovely sunny evening so I just decided to wander - I walked all the way from the Louvre through the park and along the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe which if you have been you will know is a good couple of miles!

It was so nice to not have a schedule to work to and have the time to wander around. I've been to Paris a few times before so didn't actually need to visit any of the obvious tourist attractions. But I had the evening to do what I liked and a walk around one of the most romantic capitals in the world.

The Arc de Triomphe is a great sight in itself, but one of the things I really like about it is the crazy roundabout that surrounds it. 8 lanes or pure chaos and mayhem - no actual road markings for the lanes means that the traffic is pretty hilarious to watch. I have been on a tour bus myself that decided to take a different direct and cut across all 8 lanes of the traffic at once, and it was definitely an experience!

Along the Champs Elysee i did visit a few shops and the obvious choice was the massive Sephora - I accidentally found this of course!

I was really excited to get there and have a good rummage and spend - however I was really disappointed with what they had on offer.

I've always thought that Sephora contained a whole load of magic products that we couldn't get our hands on in the UK, but actually everything was seemingly the same as everything I can purchase in Debenhams etc back in the UK. I did buy a few things but it came to a total of 12 euros so I really didn't spend much!

I was interested in the Make Up Forever range but at 40 euros for the foundation I wasn't convinced.

Needless to say I was disappointed but it's probably for the best as I shouldn't be spending anyway!

I then found my way from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower and it was the perfect end to my evening. It was just getting to sunset so i took some photos and then the whole thing began to light up!

It was beautiful so I sat across the road at the Trocadero and people watched, there were many brides and grooms there having photos taken as newlyweds. It's such a lovely thing to have a memento of!





This was pretty much the end of my evening in Paris itself. I had a whole day to spend there without any agenda so I'd planned to go to the Palace of Versailles on the full day I had there. It was absolutely beautiful so I will be writing a separate post on that - far too many beautiful photos for one post!

I did of course manage to eat a macaroon when I was there, the shop windows of L'Aduree are just so beautiful and the colours are so sweet!

The macaroon I tried was a giant chocolate one - and it was a good thing i was at the airport when I tried it so I couldn't go back and eat anymore!
I'd never tried them before as I absolutely hate meringue and thought they were similar, but actually to my surprise they aren't and now I'm in love. I'd love to try the pistachio and raspberry ones, though I'll wait until my next trip abroad as they can be stupidly expensive!

Have you been to Paris? What are your favourite sights?

The only thing I feel I missed was the Pont des Arts bridge, which used to have the locks attached to it. They were removed in June due to the sheer weight of the locks and have now been replaced by clear panels, so I wanted to see the difference.

I love visiting cities like this just to soak up the atmosphere of being somewhere different!

L xxx