Okay, so I have decided to partake in blogmas. I really love Christmas and blogging, so combining the two seems like a great idea. I would love to participate in vlogmas too, but unfortunately I don’t feel as though I can give it the full attention that vlogmas deserves. I’ve had a think about what I would like to blog about in the run up to the big day, and I have decided to have a reflection on the year as well as cover a few festive topics. I’m a bit worried about committing to a post every day, but I am more than willing to give it a go! 
Here’s to the next twenty five days! 
L x
   

 

A few years ago I was recommended a book entitled ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time’. It was written by Mark Haddon and follows the life of fifteen year old Christopher Boone who happens to be autistic. I am a huge fan of books generally and was really looking forward to reading it. We were going on holiday to Italy and I popped it straight into my hand luggage.

My brother is on the autism spectrum, so I was intrigued to read how Mark had created Christopher, was he like my younger brother? Did he portray autism in the right light?

Well, I absolutely loved reading Christopher’s story (and not just because I was reading it whilst sprawled across a bed in the Southern Italian sunshine!). Mark had composed the book beautifully. 

Mark has created a wonderful character in Christopher. He is so lovable and relatable, yet also incredibly intriguing. I adore the way he thinks and his complete innocence with regards to the world. He is also very matter-of-fact and literal. His character is complex and enchanting. It’s not just Christopher who has had great thought put into his character development. All of the characters are wonderfully conjured up in a matter of such realism that they could actually be your neighbours.

The storyline is brilliantly gripping. Taking you in one direction before firing off in the next. It’s a slightly bumpy journey – the right kind of bumpy. Enough to keep you reassured that you are going somewhere without completely throwing you around like a cricket ball in the summer. 

Needless to say I fell in love with this book. It wasn’t because of the relatability or the storyline, but simply in the writing. The voice that is given through the thin paper pages. The creation of Christopher’s life. The writing is simply awesome.

For me, I treat each book individually and even if I am head over heels with a book by an author, it doesn’t mean that I am automatically sold on their other work. Each book has been crafted a certain way and I’ll know almost immediately if it will make it onto my favourites list. 

Obviously, I am not the only fan of Curious, and it has won many awards. Not to mention been transformed into an award winning play on Broadway and the West End. As a huge theatre fan, I know how hard it can be for a new play on the market. Many gems have closed early because of public reception. It’s a hard and fast business with huge overheads and sadly if it’s not a massive profit maker, it has to go. Thankfully, Curious has not fallen victim to a terrible fate of closure and is still going strong. We recently went to watch it at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End. My husband and I went with two friends. My husband and my bestie’s love both hadn’t read the book, so the play was a complete surprise to them. I was actually a bit worried because whilst I love the story and it is quite popular, I think that ultimately you will either get it or despise it. Fortunately, we all loved it!

  
Obviously, there are many differences between the book and the play, but the play works flawlessly as it’s own entity. The set is mind blowing with such articulation and creativity. It’s simple, yet full of surprises. The stylistic approach to choreography is exceptional and of course the actors are wonderful. I was fortunate enough to be sat in a ‘prime number’ seat and my name translated into a ‘prime number’, so I won a free badge. Cheers Chris! The way the play is constructed brings the audience into Christopher’s mind and allows you to really be present.

With regards to how Mark Haddon has portrayed autism, he’s done a fabulous job. The way in which he draws attention to how Christopher is treated and how he thinks is brilliant and I am glad that he managed to highlight how people aren’t always so understanding. Although this is terribly sad, it reminds us that we are all human and allows us to be reflective.

In case you hadn’t gathered, I would highly recommend Curious for both an evening out or an evening in!

L x

A couple of weeks ago I hit up our local cinema to watch the movie ‘Suffragette’. I’m such a sucker for anything to do with history, so was quite looking forward to it. The movie follows the story of the suffragettes’ fight for equality and their campaign. I can remember studying their plight at school, but couldn’t remember all of the details, so it was nice to have a watch and appreciate what they did for the future of Great Britain. 

There are so many things that we take for granted, for example the right to vote, and it’s easy to forget that not too long ago the equality that we embrace so much now wasn’t always the case. 

I am a firm believer in equality. I believe that we are all completely equal no matter where we are from, what car we drive and who you love. I find it absolutely bonkers that people would think any different. I think it’s insane that when my grandparents were growing up women had such a small say in how things were ran. When my Mother was growing up, there was a lot of racism around, which again is just ludicrous! I’m so proud of the campaigners who are slowly changing the world and making us more and more united. Hopefully by the time I have children, the world will be an even more friendly place. 

There is a distinct chill in the air this morning (Who am I kidding – it’s literally freezing and I woke up to a lightly dusted snow garden) and it has become quite apparent that the festive season is rapidly approaching. The shops are beginning to be all but completely taken over with vibrant red Christmas delights and the adverts are plastered all over our television screens and billboards. I’m not going to lie I simply adore Christmas. I am such a summer girl, but Christmas makes winter just that bit more bearable. The dark evenings are alive with sparkling light displays and almost everyone is in a good mood. I love planning activities such as ice skating, indulgent dinners (this one is not limited to Christmas!) and choosing little gifts I think people will love. I embrace decorating our home and blasting out the Christmas tunes.

There are some things that appear to have become a tradition in the Hargest-Kemp household:

•  We always put our tree up on December 1st and take it down on January 1st.
•  We always design our own Christmas cards and I start dishing them out on the first of December.
•  I always have a Hotel Chocolat advent calendar 
• I always dress poor Holly in some festive attire. 

Somewhere inside this materialistic, self indulgent festive period is a tradition that crept in four years ago. 

Volunteering at Crisis for Christmas.
Crisis is a charity that focuses on helping the homeless get back on their feet and at Christmas they open shelters for guests to stay in for a whole week. A whole week of hot dinners, safe sleeping and showers. Things that most of us completely take for granted. However, Crisis is actually much more than that. They are just the basics. Crisis also helps people reignite their lives. They have hairdressers, dentists, doctors, performers and IT helpers all coming together to make the Christmas week at Crisis life changing. They help people find a home, a job and a fresh start and it really is something special.

I first decided to get involved with Crisis when we purchased our first home. I had a funny couple of months where I had been unwell in hospital and I just felt so grateful to be alive, surrounded by such loving and supporting family and able to own our home at such a young age. My gratitude highlighted the fact that a lot of people aren’t that lucky and I wanted to do something to help. Christmas was approaching and I wanted to help the people who really needed it. I donate to charity regularly and I used to volunteer at a charity shop for Cancer Research, but I wanted to do something hands on and that something presented itself as Crisis. I had a look online and found out about the charity and what they do, how volunteering works and what I would need to do. I then signed myself up for a couple of shifts in South London and before I knew it I was chatting to guests and handing out bedding. I was very nervous about going because I didn’t know what to expect and I was going on my own. I needn’t have worried though as everyone is super friendly and high spirited (not too high spirited though – that would be annoying!). I really enjoyed my first shifts. It was so lovely meeting the guests and hearing their stories, not to mention how Crisis was helping them. What some of these people are going through is absolutely horrendous and just having somewhere warm and safe to stay means so, so much. Banish all thoughts of soup kitchens –  the centres are alive with people taking part in craft activities, karaoke, football tournaments and just having a good time. 

From the moment I left my last shift, which was the day the centre closed, I knew I would be back the next year. When the shifts became available for the following Christmas I quickly signed up and so did a friend of mine, Sarah. I was so excited that she would be joining me and helping out. The centres need a huge amount of volunteers to keep them up and running, so every body really counts. 

The following year, Sarah and I returned only this time my Mum and brother also volunteered. I started to recognise volunteers from previous years and it just felt so natural to be there. 

This year, we are all planning on volunteering again (already signed up!), and my friends Alex and Nick are coming along to provide entertainment for the guests. They are both talented musicians and I know that everybody will enjoy listening to their festive cheer. I’m so excited for them to be involved.

I always volunteer on Christmas Eve and I honestly can’t imagine a Christmas Eve at home now. For many people Christmas is about spending time with people that they love, this is true for me too, but I also like to spend Christmas with people spreading love. We can become so terribly absorbed with modern day life, the latest trends, the largest homes and incredible experiences, but it’s important to sit back and just be. Just take a moment to appreciate what you have got rather than lusting after what you think you need. Appreciate that you are in a position where you don’t need to worry about where you will sleep tonight or if you will spend your birthday alone. Just enjoy the here and now. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy volunteering and whilst the centres are transformed from donated offices, colleges and youth centres, it has to be made to happen. It’s hard work and exhausting, but worth every second. So on Christmas Eve this year, I will be continuing my own tradition of slipping on my volunteering badge and traipsing to a location in London to provide a little bit of festive cheer to someone who needs it. I can’t wait! 

L x 

 

I’ve been writing recently about our wonderful honeymoon to the West Coast of America. We started off in Las Vegas, before hitting up Hawaii and Anaheim for some Disney fun.

We spent a couple of days in Anaheim as I wanted to be within walking distance to Disneyland. We’ve been to three different Disney parks and I know exactly how full on Disney days can be. Trust me, the last thing you need after prancing around after Mickey all day is a long old journey back to the hotel. You just need to get in and flop. Plus I’m pushing thirty these days and I need my bed!

So once we had exhausted Disney, we travelled to Long Beach. This was our base for the rest of our time in Los Angeles. I chose Long Beach so we could get away from the hubble and enjoy our honeymoon together. It worked out perfectly, Long Beach has a lot to offer, without the crowds and expense. They have a beautiful Marina with a few shops and restaurants. It’s perfect for an evening stroll.

    

  

  

  

  

Not to mention the little chocolate factory where you can buy chocolate covered brownies. Totes delish!

We had a few things planned for our time in Los Angeles and were lucky enough to be gifted a Warner Brothers Studio Tour. Whilst it only took a couple of hours to look around everything, our guide was very knowledgable and we had a lot of fun.  

    
The Harry Potter museum aspect of the tour is a cute addition and a gentle nod to the mammoth Harry Potter tour that we have in Leavesden. Naturally, I was sorted into Gryffindor and Phil into Slytherin. This amused me way more than it should have.

    
    
Phil was pretty excited to hit up the Batman exhibition and we learnt lots of facts about the vehicles used in the movies. It was pretty cool!

    
    
I was super psyched to investigate the set of Friends and sit on the couch in Central Perk. I’ve always adored Friends and enjoyed channelling my inner Rachel having a coffee break!

 
They have a few green screen areas where you can pretend that you are in the movie. Here’s Phil starring in Gravity!

   
 
Another highlight was being able to hold an actual Oscar! They are quite weighty and pretty awesome.

As we were quite close to the Griffith Observatory, we decided to visit after our tour. 

It’s such a special place with incredible views. We had a great time in the planetarium, although the person next to Phil fell asleep early on, so the soundtrack had a gentle simmer of snoring to it!

   
    
    
   
We also decided to hit up Universal Studios whilst we were in town. I was really looking forward to the studio tour and Jurassic Park ride and I can honestly say that they didn’t disappoint. The tour was absolutely brilliant, we got to see so many amazing sets (including Wisteria Lane!!!) and there are a couple of 3D experiences thrown in which were pretty rad. My advice would be to go on the Jurassic Park ride early on so that you have time to dry off. You will get wet. Very wet.

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
 
Whilst we had a fun day at Universal, I can’t help but feel that the Hollywood park is not quite up to scratch with the Florida park. We actually had tickets for two days but felt that we had seen enough after one. They currently only have eight rides although they are adding a Harry Potter part that will open soon.

On our last full day in Long Beach we just soaked in it’s beauty. The marina, beach and southern Californian lifestyle. We ate lunch at an AMAZING Asian fusion restaurant. Honestly it was so could that I think I could eat all of my meals there for eternity. It’s called Wokano. Check it out!

We also borrowed bicycles and cycled along the beach. It was my favourite bike ride of all time and I adored the carelessness and freedom that came with that vintage bicycle. We rode for miles, stopping for ice cream and a paddle. It was heavenly.

   
    
    
    
    
    
   
So there you have it. The moment I fell in love with Los Angeles. I would live our time in LA over and over again because they were so special, loving and ultimately magical.

L x

If you have visited my little blog before, you may have read that my husband and I got married in July and two days later embarked on our honeymoon adventure to the West Coast of the United States. 

We started our adventure in Las Vegas and then flew to Hawaii. After our Hawaiian adventure, it was time to fly to Los Angeles.

Neither of us had visited the West Coast before, but a few of our friends had and they have always commented that we would fall in love with Lala Land, so I was quite excited about going.

I must admit that I had a lot of preconceptions about sunny Los Angeles including that everyone would be stunning at all times and I would resemble a garden worm. Thankfully the reality was that everybody was pretty much the same as people are anywhere. All different shapes and sizes, perfectly imperfect and wonderful as they are. Although I was fortunate enough to clap eyes on an absolutely stunning life guard whilst strolling along Long Beach. Remembering that I am a newlywed, I managed to refrain from throwing myself into the sea, arms flailing and looking like I was in trouble. Instead, I stuck with my wonderful new husband and drew the conclusion that a paradigm of a hunky life guard does exist and can be found flexing his tanned muscles in Long Beach. 

My other preconceptions were that it would be beautifully sunny and warm (which it was) and littered with palm trees (there’s quite a few about), so I definitely wasn’t disappointed.

The first stop during our stay in Los Angeles was a couple of days at the most magical place on Earth – Disneyland.

  
I bought our tickets before we left and from the moment I held that tiny piece of cardboard in between my fingers I was positively bursting with excitement. I mean, who doesn’t love Disneyland?!

Over in California, Disneyland is celebrating being open for sixty years. Sixty whole years of having Disney becoming a reality. What a time to be alive!

They have two parks – just like in Disneyland Paris. One is of course the iconic Disneyland and the other is the California Adventure park. We were slightly concerned when we were greeted with this sign upon arrival to the Disneyland vicinity:

  
Although the signs were a bit freaky, they certainly didn’t stop us from risking death and happily we skipped into Disneyland. We later discovered that these signs are quite common in California and apparently it’s due to lead being present in the area.

Our first stop was the California Adventure Park. I was pretty psyched to see the iconic Mickey Mouse wheel and this park closed earlier than Disneyland, so we decided to explore it first. 

   
 
It certainly didn’t disappoint and we loved all of the different rides that they have. Phil really enjoyed the California Screaming coaster. I wasn’t brave enough for that one, so readily shoved him down the single riders queue and watched him whizz around the track, doing a loop the loop.

The lovely folk at Disney had asked us if we were celebrating and when we told them that we were on honeymoon, they presented us with badges. Which we proudly wore both days we were at Disney! 

   
 
My favourite thing about the Disneyland Adventure Park is their Cars ride. The queues were over two hours long all day, so we almost didn’t bother. We waited until just before closing time (10pm) and jumped in the queue as it was a bit quieter. I’m so glad that we did because we only waited about twenty minutes and it was awesome!

  
 It combines the magical Disney aspect of animation with a fast paced thrilling race. It’s just brilliant! I adore this photograph so much because I feel like it really sums up our Disney experience – fast paced and full of fun.

We also enjoyed watching the water show in this park. It was a really moving tribute to Walt and was called ‘World of Colour’ or something like that! It was full of beautiful projections of Walt’s life and achievements. What a remarkable gentleman.  

    
 
We were lucky to be blessed with beautiful sunshine for pretty much the entirety of our honeymoon and it was wonderfully warm. Which was great for exploring the parks.

The main Disneyland park was pretty rad too, although I found their castle very disappointing. Maybe I’ve become a Disney snob, but in Florida and Paris both castles are spectacular and really iconic. In California its… Well it’s more like a house. A reasonably sized house. Certainly not a castle fit for Disney. I think they need to rectify that. Even the bobsled mountain is bigger than the castle and that’s certainly not what I would refer to as a Disney landmark. 

  
On our second day at Disneyland, we mostly explored the main park as we pretty much covered the Adventure park the day before. There is so much to do and look at that you could probably spend a week there and not get bored. I do feel like we saw everything though. We went on every ride except for Space Mountain. There are quite a few rides that are different to Paris and that was really refreshing. The rides that are the same are actually all slightly different too which was cool. I also enjoyed the fact that everything was in English because in Paris I either have to concentrate hard or not bother listening to the information! 

   
    
    
 We really enjoyed the shows in the main park. They put on the most tremendous firework display that was absolutely remarkable and full of magic. We loved it. You haven’t seen a firework display until you’ve seen a Disney one!

  
Disney parades are reknowned for being truly amazing with even the grumpiest of souls being warmed by a wave from Micky on his majestic float. Well they have a parade that is the Mother of all parades going on at night. An amazing array of colour and design with all of your favourite characters and songs. Honestly it’s pretty special!

   
    
    
    
 
My top tips for visiting Disneyland are:

1. Go to the rides with the shortest queues first

2. Work out which parades and shows you want to see and what you are happy to miss

3. Stay late. And when I say late I mean closing time late. All of the rides have shorter queue times in the evening

4. It’s often quieter when a major parade is on

5. Be prepared to be a single rider if you don’t want to wait long

6. Go on the water rides early in the day so that you have time to dry off

7. Make good use of the Fast Pass system, even for shows!

8. Get the park that closes earliest out of the way first

9. Be prepared to be on your feet all day and pretty much ache all over by the end of it!

10. Have fun! Enjoy it, release your inner child!!!

So there you have it – a tiny snippet of our time at Disney California. We had so much fun and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

L x

 

 
 

My husband and I got married at the end of July this year and two days later headed off on our honeymoon to the West Coast of the big old USA. Neither of us had visited the West Coast before, although we have travelled to the East Coast a few times, so it was all very new and exciting. I spent a couple of months meticulously planning our honeymoon adventure. We had decided on the destinations that we wanted to visit – Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. I had quite a few ideas regarding how we would get from one place to the other and spent a considerable amount of my existence in 2015 researching each place in grave detail in order to maximise our stay. The first thing that I needed to do was book our flights from London. As we were travelling in the height of summer and in the school holidays, we were looking at around £2500 for a return flight in economy. I looked in to each destination that we would like to visit and found that Vegas was coming in cheapest, so we decided to start and end our wonderful honeymoon there. The fact that my friend’s Mum worked for BA and managed to get us a couple hundred of squid off sealed the deal and before we knew it we were booked onto our flight before you could say ‘Viva Las Vegas’. We were both a bit apprehensive about travelling to Vegas. We both wanted to go, but as we weren’t really going to party or gamble, would it really be exciting enough for our post wedding adventure?! Yes, there’s the glitz and the glamour, but would spending our first few weeks as newlyweds in the middle of a desert with a few hotels cut it?! With this in mind, I began researching activities to do in Vegas. I decided that we needed to experience it all, so I planned where we needed to go and on which days, beginning to discover more to Vegas than heat and concrete until I was super excited about heading to Nevada. 

Our flight from London resembled nothing less than the constitutions of the depths of hell. Okay, I might be exaggerating slightly, but it was remarkably unpleasant. With British Airways you can check in online twenty four hours before your flight. Unfortunately I was at the hospital with my Uncle at this time with NO INTERNET SIGNAL (also resembling the depths of hell), so by the time we left (we were there for hours), all of the window seats were taken and there were only two seats left, two rows from the back of the plane (tailies). I resided myself to the fact that this was probably going to be okay because I’ve flown with BA a few times and always had a delightful experience. Flash forward twenty four hours and I’m on (probably) the worlds’ oldest plane with a screen the size of my phone, crammed in like cattle with no leg room and sat next to a guy who I felt I vaguely recognised who was knocking back gin like we were flying into oblivion. He also had a freakish inhuman ability to remain in the exact same position for the entire flight. Not even a pee break. Oh and the darkest moment of that flight? When they ran out of food. And drink. Yep, five hours into our eleven hour flight all of the alcohol and most of the soft drinks had been consumed. I hate to sound melodramatic, but I honestly despised my time on that flight more than I could ever have imagined. Anyway, once we landed, equilibrium was restored and we could continue our jolly honeymoon. We picked up our hire car from Dollar rental (longest queues EVER) and off we went to find our hotel. 

   
   
Phil really enjoyed this car and after selling my convertible two years ago in favour of a more practical car (sob), it felt great to be cruising along with the wind in my hair. Aah, how I love a spin with the roof down.

We were staying in The Stratosphere for the first part of our trip, it was quite handy as it was in the middle of both the old and new strip. I hadn’t realised that this meant it was mostly in the middle of nothing, but we have legs and a car, so it was all good.

    

  

I quite enjoyed our time at The Stratosphere. A perk of staying there is free entry to the top, where you can enjoy amazing views of Vegas. It’s also always alive, which is incredibly convenient when you have jet lag. They have a gorgeous, authentic Italian restaurant too, which I would highly recommend. I also very much enjoyed getting a Pain au Chocolat (or chocolate croissant if you’re American!) from Starbucks and rolling around the bed whilst stuffing my face. This lead to us being in an awkward situation when I left chocolate crumbs… Oops!

  
On our first day in the party town we woke up ridiculously early (I think it was 4am!), watched a movie and went out for breakfast.

  
I’m always a fan of pancakes and there is an IHOP conveniently located next to The Stratosphere, so it was the perfect place to start our day.

We then decided to hit up the strip and for some completely insane reason we thought it would be a great idea to walk from The Stratosphere to Mandalay Bay in forty three degree heat. This resulted in us walking over twenty miles on our first day because we also walked around all of the hotels and around the shopping mall. We then walked back to The Stratosphere after we were satisfied that we had seen the whole strip and collapsed on our king sized bed in a heap. We were out for the whole day and it was great. I simply adored cooling off and noseying around each unique hotel. I recognised a few from the movies (particularly The Hangover series!).  

    
    
 
Each hotel is completely unique and it’s brilliant how they have embraced having a theme. 

As we walked around the heat was incredible, really thick warm air kissing my skin. It felt like I was constantly under a fan heater. Although it may sound odd, I loved it. I can take heat quite well and it was nice to prance around in a sun dress and flip flops.

   
  
The people of Vegas are zesty and remarkably friendly, everybody is simply there to have a good time and forget about the mundane routine of ordinary life.

We were very lucky to be gifted an incredible helicopter experience as a wedding gift. So on our second day in Vegas we were greeted by a limo that took us to the airport for our incredible tour of the Grand Canyon.

   
   
I really love flying around by helicopter, so was really excited for our trip. They choose where to sit you based on weight distribution and luckily for us we were placed next to the pilot. It was forty seven degrees that day which felt crazy hot to us English folk. There wasn’t any air con in the helicopter, so it was super mega hot. I think I was the hottest I’ve ever been on that flight. It really was incredible though, flying across Nevada into Arizona. We flew past the Hoover Dam before being consumed by the desert and almighty Grand Canyon. We were lucky enough to land inside the Grand Canyon for a champagne lunch. It was blissful and blisteringly hot! My foot touched a rock and scalded me. We saw tiny birds and chipmunks scampering around searching for food and relief from the scorching sun and I couldn’t help but feel compassion towards them – desert life is visibly tough on the little creatures.

   
    
 
The pilot offered to take photographs of us and right in the middle of my camera roll, I found this beauty!

   

Soon enough it was time to leave the glorious Grand Canyon behind us and head back to the glittering Las Vegas strip. By limousine of course!

   
Whilst researching things to do in Sin City, I stumbled across the idea of firing a gun at a shooting range. I have never even held a real gun and thought that this would be a unique experience, so I booked us in to Machine Guns Vegas before you could say ‘aim and fire’. This I thought was a great idea until we were actually at the range. After signing the disclaimer, my heart was pounding and I could hear the fiercest of guns being fired. Soon we were escorted in and my gosh I was terrified. I quickly decided that it wasn’t for me and readily shoved poor Phil towards the raging war weapons whilst backing out of the room. After a couple of minutes I mustered up the courage to watch Phil fire a hand gun. He’s got quite a good shot!

    

We also visited Ethel M’s chocolate factory and cactus garden, which was a welcome change to the lights of the strip and hit up an outlet mall. There’s actually so much to do in Vegas, we wet never bored.
    
  

No trip to Vegas is complete without a photograph with the iconic sign. It’s such a popular spot with constant queues, but so worth it.

  
  

Channelling his inner Iron Man!

  

We also took a trip to the old strip which was retro tastic! It was so cute and felt like we had stepped into the 1950’s! You can zip line along Freemont Street. I think I might try it next time!
    
    
 

We adored our first stay in Vegas, falling head over heels in love with this dessert city. Everything about it was wonderful and I would jump back in a heartbeat. If you haven’t already been, you simply have to go. Embrace it, feel it and fall in love.

L x

Modern day life is littered with responsibility. We juggle work, family life, maintaining a perfect home, keeping up with endless errands (I still need to take my car to be cleaned!!) all whilst trying to salvage some sort of social life. We have so much going on with many of us working long hours. If you have children, then any sort of spare time that you have is eaten up with homework, bath time and organising their little lives. Even if you don’t have children, family is still important and making time to fit in visits and general helping out are all in all quite time consuming. Don’t even get me started on keeping up with things at home. After all of the cleaning (which appears to dominate my daily existence!), there’s gardening and keeping up with paperwork all whilst simultaneously trying to keep everything organised and clutter free so that you don’t become a reality star on Hoarders next door. The second that you leave the warm and comforting nest of your family home, you are thrusted with bills, cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing. My husband and I are three years in and are completely used to juggling such tasks (who am I kidding with ‘we’ – I think I’ve seen him iron twice!), but some of our friends are new to the game and it’s reminded me of how much of a culture shock being a real life independent adult is. Your underwear really isn’t going to wash itself. Nor will a plate of food just appear in front of you at supper time. Oh no. These are all things that need to be done by yours truly. When I lived at home, my evenings really felt like mine. I used to swan off out for dinner with friends or wallow on the couch watching movies. No housework/general chores. It was all about me. Flash forward a couple of years and my evenings are mostly keeping the home tidy, cooking dinner (which can take quite a while depending on the dish!), cleaning up from dinner, preparing for the next day and trying to salvage some me time (this normally happens around 21:30 and results in me falling asleep on the couch whilst trying to catch up on Game of Thrones). Yes, being an independent adult sure does keep me busy! 

I think that we also put a lot of pressure on ourselves, which is ridiculous as the pressure is piled on enough already from other aspects of life. As young women (and probably men too), we have aspirations and targets to meet deadlines that we have set ourselves. To be married and own a home by the age of thirty, to have a small figure and be fashion savvy, to have a kickass career… The list is endless. These days we are so heavily influenced by various forms of media that it’s so easy to get swept up in what we should be doing and what stage we should be at in our lives. It’s great in some ways as it helps us set our dreams and provides a focus, but it also is a lot of pressure. Many women haven’t met Mr Right by the age of thirty. Even if you have met ‘The One’, marriage might not be something that you really want. We need to think more about ourselves and what is right for us. If you want to reach the peak of your career, by all means go for it, but make sure you don’t kill your soul with it. Take time out to just enjoy being you. You might own your own home by the age of thirty-two, but if you don’t, that’s okay too. You can still have your dreams and ambitions, but just go easy on yourself. Life is mad enough as it is!

I try to take time out regularly to just be me. Think about what I like to do (writing, reading, singing, slobbing out on the couch whilst stuffing copious amounts of junk food) and just embrace it. Try not to worry about all of the crazy goings on and expectations that are both placed on us by others and ourselves. I try to sit down and be ‘me’ once a day. Even if I just manage to read a few pages of the book I’m reading, I find it makes me a better person. When I’m encapsulated with the storyline I’m not worrying about anything else, I’m just having pure, organic, selfish me time and it feels great. 

Last Sunday my hubby was off to an event at Wembley (having some ‘me time’ of his own!) with his friend who happens to be my friends boyfriend. My wonderful friend suggested that we had a spa day whilst the boys were busying themselves with computer game goodness. Naturally I jumped at the chance as I am a huge fan of spa days. Lounging around, hopping between the sauna, jacuzzi and steam room before being pampered for an hour or two. Pure bliss. We had a great time catching up properly and stuffing our faces. We had a full body massage and a facial. It was most divine and the perfect way to spend a Sunday. Whilst I was wrapped up in spa heaven having all sorts of lotions and potions applied to my face, nothing else mattered. It’s these pockets of self indulgence that help keep me sane. I came home stress free and ready life. Of course it doesn’t have to be an elaborate spa day that can allow you to refocus and chill out. Go for a walk, watch a movie, read a book. Have a think about what you enjoy and embrace it. You are a person too and you deserve it! Leave the wash load until the morning, contrary to popular belief it won’t grow legs and take over your home. Put yourself first and take some time out. You never know, not worrying about things and just enjoying the here and now might be the dream you’ve been searching for.

L x

This weekend was such a busy one. One of the highlights was completing a twelve hour first aid course. Now, I’ve got to admit, a first aid course doesn’t exactly sound like it would be the epitome of one’s social events on a weekend and I wasn’t looking forward to the long day. Especially as the cooler weather and longer nights draw me in to hibernation. I was also thinking that I’ve completed the course before and wasn’t entirely sure that I needed to do it again. I am so glad that I did though, as I had shamefully forgotten so much. They also have changed some of the rules/regulations/recommendations, so it’s good to stay up to date. For my job, it’s really important that I am a competent first aider, but I believe that everybody should know first aid. A lot of the time it’s not going to even be in work when you will need to whip out those first aid skills. How many times have you scorched yourself on the oven? Accidents can happen at any time, anywhere, so it’s good to be clued up. They say that the most common time to go into cardiac arrest is during the hours of four AM and six AM. Where are you normally during these hours? At home! It’s really great to have an idea (even if it’s just a rough one!) of what to do should you find yourself in such a situation. We practiced CPR before lunchtime on two dummies. One child/adult sized and one a small baby. I’m not going to lie, I was a little worried about giving the rescue breaths to a dummy that probably a gazillion other people had slobbered over, but after a thorough wipe with anti bac, I decided it was safe! It was definitely worth practicing as actually you have to push quite hard and in the right place, so I’m glad we had a practice.

We covered so much during the course from high temperatures, grazes, embedded objects, right through to the recovery position. I found it so interesting and a complete eye opener. I think it’s really important to know what to do if you see a baby choking or a child unconscious, because these situations need to be treated differently to adults. You can actually make things a whole lot worse if you try abdominal thrusts on a baby. There is a great website for the Child Accident Prevention Trust that can keep you up to date on things that you may not have realised are potentially dangerous. Their aim is to lower the amount of serious accidents and deaths in children by educating of the risks. I think it’s a great idea and well worth a nosey.

Another pearl of wisdom that I picked up from the course is registering your phone to text 999. It’s such a great idea because as much as I hope it would never happen, you could find yourself in a situation where you need to be incognito or have low phone signal. It’s easier for a text to go through if signal is low and you can send a clearer message.

We also talked about having a fire escape plan in place for the home, as well as the workplace. Having an escape route at home isn’t something that I had really thought about before, but I think it’s worth thinking about and having a chat with your family because you never know if you will ever need one!

I had a great day polishing up my first aid skills and luckily one of my friends was doing it too, so we snuck in a tasty lunch and huge dinner afterwards. It was great to have a catch up and stuff my face, which lets be honest is one of my most favourite things to do!

If you haven’t guessed already, I would highly recommend completing a first aid course because I really feel that it’s something that could come in handy one day and are far more detailed than watching Vinnie Jones do thirty compressions to Staying Alive!
L x

A few years ago I was watching a documentary that was filmed at Blist Hill Victorian Village in Shropshire. I have always been fascinated by the Victorian times as I feel that it was during this era that us Brits really showed how hard working we are. Industrial work took over with many working in mines and various factories across the country. Of course working conditions displayed constitutions of hell back then to the modern day man, but at the time it really changed people’s lives. We couldn’t imagine a child scurrying through clay mines these days, but it was due to the hard work and determination of the Victorian era that has enabled us to provide for our children now. Our country is strong and well respected. We are able to provide all children with education and a childhood. It was during this era that so many of the things we take for granted such as electricity and running water in our homes really took off. 

We needed to check out of our room in Blackpool by ten AM on the Sunday of our weekend away, so we thought that we could drive the two hours straight from Blackpool to Shropshire and stop off at Blist Hill on our way home. It’s only two hours from Blist Hill to London, so it seemed to work out well.

I was quite excited to see what it was really like in Victorian Times. What the streets were like, how people lived. They say that you can even smell what it was like in Blist Hill Village. Which is, mostly, smokey! 
When we arrived the sun was shining and it was beautifully warm. Especially for Autumn. We had enjoyed gorgeous views of rolling countryside being kissed by the sunlight on our way there and couldn’t have chosen a better day to go.

It’s around £16 per adult for entry and the site is around fifty-two acres. It’s the kind of place that you could spend as little or as long as you like. We stayed for around three hours, but you could easily stay for longer. Make sure you take change for the car park (£2), because there aren’t any cash machines on site. You can pay by card in the pavilion cafe and gift shop, but all of the shops in the village only accept cash (chip and pin devices unavailable in 1900!).

  
The site itself has been reconstructed brick by brick from a nearby village that was being demolished for building new homes. There are a couple of original buildings, mostly to do with the mines.

  
There is a gorgeous little canal with ginormous fish living in the clear water. The canal is also a nice spot to sit with your authentic chips from the fish and chip shop and take five minutes to chill. You can also go for a nice walk along the canal to the other end of the village. It was very cute with all of the colours of Autumn littering the floor.

   
   
We loved wandering around, peeking in and out of the little shops. The staff are all dressed in period costume and living as though they would have over one hundred years ago. You will find people talking to guests about how most people couldn’t afford shoes and kept the front room only for best. You will also see staff working their jobs as they would have back then, carpenters, coal mine train drivers, plasterers.  

    
 
We visited the Toll House and church. The Toll House was a bit larger than the other houses we had been in. The residents said they would be able to keep the house as long as they worked hard collecting the tolls. They had tiny rooms with a roaring fire and a vegetable patch in the garden. They also had chickens and there was a real sense of living off of the land.

The little church was wonderful. Religion was extremely popular during the Victorian era and we were asked upon arrival what our favourite hymn is. I couldn’t think of one at the time, but have since remembered that I quite enjoy ‘Seek Ye First’! Another visitor chose ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ and before we knew it lyrics had been shoved into our hands and we were belting it out whilst a Victorian played the piano. It was very fun spirited!

We had a nice lunch in the Pavilion Cafe and continued our snoop around the village, visiting everywhere from the Doctors surgery to Carpenters. The Doctors’ house was a little more upmarket with running water in the scullery and electric lights. Apparently the Doctor would have actually had a larger house in a wealthier part of town, a short commute to his posh patients!

We had such a lovely day mooching around and enjoying the beautiful autumnal day. I would definitely recommend a visit to Blist Hill Village if you are in the area. Phil and I have already said that we would like to return one day soon!

L x