Things I Say & Pictures I Take

Conwy Castle

2010-08-30T22:44:00.000+01:00

Lastnight, Dave & I went for some food & drinks - that ended up being a few too many wines for me. I hardly ever drink, so when I do, I kinda forget my tolerance levels.. & end up with a horrible hangover in the morning. This morning was the first major hangover I have had this year & will be the last. In the last bar we went to lastnight, the lady behind the bar gave us all a shot (some blue/red or green liquid) to celebrate a girl's 18th. I was fine, until after that shot. A few moments after, I just felt really ill & ended up being sick in the ladies toilet (classy I know) I came out & just told Dave I wanted to go home, then went straight to bed.

Then it was morning... urgh. I must have slept funny & my neck was killing me (it still hurts a little now). I also had a killer headache & couldn't even get out of bed/stand up straight. It was really annoying because it was such a nice morning outside (after a dull bank holiday weekend). In the end, I managed to drag myself downstairs, make a cup of tea, take some paractamol & eat some toast. Not as easy as it sounds, lol. We decided to go out somewhere & that somewhere was Conwy (again) but this time to the main town & its Castle! Here are some photos - which aren't the best, because they're from my phone (because I have no idea where my camera is, which is reallllly starting to annoy me).

Above: You can see the city wall that we walked around :)

Dave insisted we climbed up 6 towers, it was worth it though for the views from the top. We were at least a 100ft up at some points. The narrow spiralling staircases were pretty scary to walk up, especially with lots of foreign tourists everywhere. Dave made me laugh today, he said you can spot the American tourists, because of the bum bags/oversized cameras & they are always hugely fascinated by the castles... seriously though, why the bum bags, lol.

Above: One of the views from the top - sometimes you don't realise how beautiful some places on your doorstep really are.

After the castle, we went for a walk along the promanade, we have lived in North Wales all our lives & didn't even know there was a promenade, lol.

Then when we walked back towards the harbour, we stumbled across the smallest house in Britain, which is in the Guiness Book of Records apparantly & yeah, it was pretty tiny.

We had some fish & chips from a chippy before going home. Overall, I'm glad I didn't stay in all day like I thought I was going to, the way I was feeling this morning, lol.

I do have a few other things to blog about, like Birthday plans (since it's my birthday on Thursday)! I've also got some news about my accommodation when I move to Manchester. So I'll save those entries for tomorrow, since Dave is telling me it's time for bed... I'm not going to argue with that.

Last Weekend - Part 2

2010-08-28T13:31:00.000+01:00

On the Sunday last weekend, we decided to head out for a long drive. Nothing beats driving with the top down on a warm sunny day! We ended up going to Conwy Water Gardens, where they sell Reptiles, fish & have a few ponds & animals etc... here are the photos from there:

These were just some display waterfalls, which I think were really pretty. We're thinking of getting one for our garden (in the rockery).

This lizard kept nodding his head really fast, lol. I think he was going insane in there...

Above & below, a young Redwood Tree, largest kind of tree in the world. I say young, but when we got up close to it's trunk, it was huge.

Haha, I had NO idea what the hell these things were - & I usually can name every kind of animal/breeds out there.... They were Capybaras, the largest living rodents in the world & they were cute! I'd heard of the Chupacabra before, but never these things.

To finish off we went here, The Dutch Pancake House, where I had a sweet Hawaiian pancake (pineapple, coconut & banana with Ice cream) & Dave had a savoury Indian pancake (chicken, onions, peppers). I think the next stop if we go to Conwy again will be Bodnant Gardens...

Last Weekend - Part 1

2010-08-28T12:43:00.000+01:00

So on Dave's first weekend off last week we decided to purchase a 'Red Rover' bus ticket. A return ticket from our house to the next big town Bangor, is £4.50 - which is ridiculous, since it's only a 10 mile journey. The Red Rover ticket costs £5.20 & allows you to travel anywhere around North Wales for 24 hours.

I'm not a big fan of the bus, at all, but since it was Dave's first weekend off work, it was up to him where we went & what we did. As you can probably tell from these pictures below, we had a really nice day :)

All of these pictures above where taken in Caernarfon - home of one of the most famous Castles in Wales/Uk. We went for some chinese food at Fu's (in one of the photos above) - which was also really good.

Dave's New Job

2010-08-15T23:00:00.000+01:00

begins tomorrow!

My laptop has been playing up since last time I blogged, hence my absence from here. I didn't fancy blogging from my phone either - I can just picture myself writing a whole entry then accidently deleting it or something!

So yeah, Dave begind his new job tomorrow :) He's going to be working as a web developer for a guy who owns quite a few businesses on the island. He wants Dave to design him some websites, completely overhaul them (set up online shops etc). He'll still be running his own business too (BespokeBioinformatics) but while I'm at Manchester for the next year, it makes sense for Dave to hang around here - staying at our house with Tats & learning more in his new job about web designing for his future plans.

My move to Manchester isn't far now... I've applied for my room at Matthias Court & I'm just waiting for a response from their side. I have to say I am super excited, but at the same time I don't want to leave my two boys.. Saying that, Dave IS going to be visiting almost every other weekend he can & we've made a promise to make time at the weekends or any time off we have to DO something. Most student accommodation has rules stating that if you have a guest, they need to sign in & out & can only stay over twice a month.. but at Matthias, Dave can stay over two nights a week (Friday & Saturdays) - perfect :)

Apart from the above not much has happened since I last blogged. We went for an Indian meal with Dave's parents & brother on Friday night then on Saturday we decided to go see Toy Story 3D, which was awesome! Today, Dave decided he wanted to have a big sort out of the house (cleaning & organising, before I go away) & we ended up only cleaning two rooms, the kitchen & utility room, lol. Dave insisted on being 'thorough' & we ended up pulling EVERY appliance out & scrubbing every inch behind it. I am never, ever cleaning the house with him again!

Salford & Yorkshire

2010-08-10T23:51:00.000+01:00

I'm back again!

So last week, on Wednesday, we took the trip down to Salford University for my interview. To cut a long story I had a long chat with a woman called Beth who teaches on the course & she was pretty impressed with what I'd done & what I had to offer. She told me at the end that she'd be seeing me again in September & I had a letter today congratulating me on getting on the course! The trip down was great... our Sat Nav was telling us to go the wrong way though (a long way round) so we ended up switching it off & using an 'old fashioned map' (on my new HTC phone, lol - which arrived that morning).
After the meeting, we went for a quick drive around the area. There wasn't a whole lot to see where the media building/the place I'll be staying is - it's a quieter area, which I suppose is a good thing, right? Manchester city centre isn't far at all though... We went to that carvery place for dinner, which was nice and then we headed off to Ikea! We ended up getting a lot more than my lamp, lol.

The next day, we had an early start again - we had to up at 6.30am to get ready for our train at 8am. I was so tired before we even got there. We got to Leeds & killed a few hours there while we waited for Gav & Sean to finish work. The first night, we just stayed out in Leeds before getting the train back to their house in Silsden (about half an hour away). Leeds itself was nice, but I didn't like it as much as I love Manchester Liverpool. It didn't seem to have a 'centre' like Manchester/Liverpool do - it was great for shopping though!

On Friday, Gav & Sean had taken the day off so we went to a town called Skipton, which was a very 'oldy-worldy' market town, the kind of place I love. We spent all day there & enjoyed some really nice food (& drink) before heading home. The next day, Saturday - we spent in York. What a beautiful place. I fell in love with it completely. I think it's one of the few places I'd comsider moving to in the UK for sure. It wasn't only picturesque, but I loved the whole 'oldy-worldlyness' of it. There was a bustling market when we visited with lots of local produce as well as other things I could have easily spent all my money on. The shops/pubs there were great too - lots of old fashioned sweet shops & Deli's & the pubs were very old too. We ate our lunch underground (inside the Lord Mayor's old wine cellar) that dated back to the 13th century.

On the last day, we took a long walk along the Canal from Silsden to Kildwick - to a pub called The White Lion where we had one of THE best Sunday dinners, with authentic Yorkshire Puddings!! Dave & I then said goodby to Gav & Sean then spent the rest of our day in Leeds until we had to go home. We caught the 9pm train that got us home past midnight. Monday & today I have spent trying to rest my feet, we must have walked around 15 miles overall (Gav & Sean have no car - so it was a half hour walk to the station every day) - I wasn't a fan of that. Anyway here are some photos of our trip!

Above: Leeds, I didn't take many photos because we were always walking, plus we didn't have the best weather while we were there - it was constantly drizzling. The next bunch of photos are from York...

The above photo on the left, is the oldest (medieval) street in York, called Shambles St - because it looks all shambled together. The black & white building below was a Tudor building = very old. I guess you can tell by the way it's bending in the photo!

The last few pictures are from the last day - the canal walk... Yorkshire is just beautiful.

Above: A Heron.

Miscellany Monday #3

2010-08-02T23:57:00.001+01:00

Im writing this at 23:39 so I hope I actually finish it before it's Tuesday, lol.

{one} Dave's parents bought us a digital photo frame the other day. I love it! You basically put an SD Card inside it, with all the photos you want on there & you can choose how often the pictures change (we have it on one hour) & the transition etc. I'll add a photo tomorrow - when I can find my camera - it looks great on my coffee table :)

{two} Tomorrow, Dave has a job interview. The position is a Web Developer for a local company. He also has a possible other job interview (web design again). So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him! He has his website for his own business BespokeBioinformatics.com finally all set up now too, after spending 6 months making it - from scratch, no templates! Putting my blog design to shame, lol.

{three} It's my Interview for Salford University this Wednesday! The plan is to set off from here around 9am, the interview itself is at midday. I'm going to try & arrange to see the accommadation too (I don't know for sure if they'll tell me on the day if I'm succesful, but I want to check out the rooms anyway). We're going to try & visit a 'Crown Carvery' on the way home, along with IKEA to get a lamp that I saw last time & regretted not getting! Crown Carvery is where Dave & his family ate at last time, when I was being super strict with my diet - time to reward myself :)

{four} I ordered a new phone today :) Well, upgraded actually. I had the HTC G1 (Google Phone). Recently though it's been shutting down for no reason. Usually when I'm in the middle of doing something important, which after a while gets annoying... so I went on my provider's website to see what other HTC phones they had & I checked out the latest one 'Wildfire'. It's a smaller version of the Desire (the only main differences is the screen size & the Wildfire doesn't have 'live/animated' backgrounds. I got a really good deal too for £20 a month. It's being delivered on the day we're going to Manchester though, so I'll need to ask someone to sit in & wait for the postman for me!

Ohhh it's a hard life...

2010-07-28T22:22:00.000+01:00

... being a Chihuahua.

Dave & I say this out loud every time we see him sunbathing, stretching while yawning & lying in his bed at night like this.

Steaming & Shopping

2010-07-27T23:32:00.000+01:00

So this morning, I decided to steam the whole carpets in the livingroom. That steam mop is definitely one of the best things Dave has ever bought for the house! I'd reccommend it anyone with carpets or even tiled/wooden floors.

After that, I decided to go see my mum & she took me shopping. I say shopping, I mean just to T.K Maxx, lol. I finally found my interview outfit. I bought some light grey trousers & a pastel pink top. I think that'll be fine, casual yet smart ;)
We went to see Melanie (my ex sister in law) later, have I mentioned she has been in hospital 3 weeks now? She's had a tube going down her throat to do her breathing for her while she was in the induced coma, so now she's awake, she's coughing all the spit up. It was horrible, she sounded like an old man when she coughed (the only way I can describe it) & she could hardly speak. Hopefully she'll be getting better & not worse from this point on... it's not nice seeing anyone suffer like that.

When I got back, Dave & I went for our night time walk across the beach with Tats (who has had something in one of his ears the last few hours & is still lying in his bed with one ear lower than the other).

Dave always laughs when I start taking pictures of the beach & says ''You've already got a zillion photos of it, why do you need more...?'' I just tell him, the sky is never exactly the same, or the patterns in the sand. I never get bored of this place... (click to see my pictures larger & yes that's Dave in the pic below)! He's the one that got me to take this panoramic photo of the pastel sky :)

I'm also back on the Dukan Diet after taking a little time off to eat whatever I wanted... I haven't put on any weight or anything, but just want to start eating healthily again & tone up!

Miscellany Monday #2

2010-07-26T18:49:00.000+01:00

Not much going on, so nothing too interesting to blog about today... so let's participate in Miscellany Monday.

{one} I'm feeling a little sad that we are in the last week of July already. Why did it pass so quickly? I remember when I was a kid, the summer holidays would go by sooo slowly, but the six week summer vacation just flies past nowadays. I hope August goes a little slower - I know it'll be better because we have more things going on & then come September - it's my birthdayyy! =)

{two} We are finally going back home tonight. As you know, we've been looking after Dave's brother for the weekend at his parents' house. I don't mind being here at all - it's just... I miss my own home, my own livingroom, my own TV with my recorded (crappy but I love em) shows and most of all my own bed.

{three} What do I wear for a meet & greet (university) interview? The other day Dave asked me what I was planning to wear & I pointed to what I was wearing - which was a pair of jeans, my cowboy boots & tweety bird t-shirt. This is a no-no apparantly. So, what shall I wear? I'm going to have to buythis outfit, because I don't have any long skirts or black trousers... or any shirts for that matter. Help!

{four} My mum called me earlier & after I had ranted on about my experience the other night... she told me that one of her four kittens (the only boy & only tabby) was found dead by her poly tunnel. She says the only thing that could have killed it is that damn fox. I hate cruelty to animals & I like foxes - but this one has caused my mother SO much bother. Not only does it always try & kill her chickens, but when she has buried them, the fox has dug them up again. Did I mention, our house cat we had for 15yrs or so was buried up at my mum's & she found it uncovered a month or so later. Then, a few weeks back I found it uncovered. A whole 6 months later. It was disgusting... the fox hadn't taken it, just dug it up & left it. I feel so sad for my mum... she has enough on her plate looking after my dad & she loves her animals... she especially loved these kittens.

The kitten that was killed is the one nearest the camera.

{five} Today I was at the top of Dave's parents' garden & suddenly I could see the floor moving. I looked closely & I could see lots & lots of little frogs. I had to be so careful walking away incase I stood on any! Here's one little guy I caught...

& that is it for today. Hope everyone is having a great start to the week & thanks for dropping by =)

Miscellany Monday #1

2010-07-19T19:34:00.001+01:00

This is my first time linking up to Miscellany Monday - I've chosen to do it because today there hasn't been much going on here! I like the idea of linking up on different days - I have come across so many great new blogs already! You might have noticed that I've changed my layout on the left - I've added a button for my blog, smaller twitter/facebook/e-mail links & also a follow button (finally).

{One} Rain, rain go away... It's been raining again today - all day. I don't mind a little rain at all, sometimes I love nothing more than wrapping up warm & watching it fall outside. Unfortunately I've run out of things to do around the house so it is driving me crazy just sitting inside! I also bought a new bodyboard the other week, which I haven't even had a chance to use because of the wind & rain, grrrrr.

{Two} As you know I heard back from Salford University saying that I've been chosen for an interview for THIS course - but I still haven't had a date yet. However I have started looking at accommodation already, right now I'm looking at Postgraduate only accommodation at Matthias Court (which is literally two minutes away from the media building). The down side is that I'll have my own room - but you have to share a bathroom & kitchen. If I have a clean apartment-mate I'll be happy, if not... then I guess it's tough =/

{Three} I definitely have a Roxy obsession - as in the clothing/accessory brand. I just realised that my wardrobe is 50% Roxy t-shirts, plus a Roxy Jacket & laptop bag. I blame my TKMaxx obsession for the Roxy obsession.

{Five} I'm going through that phase again where I want to colour my hair a random colour. I go through this phase around 3 times a year but never go through with it! Mainly because of my fear of hairdressers, secondly because if I do it myself, I'll prrrobably mess it up. Meh, I'll just wait for the phase to pass, as usual! Whilst on the topic, I just realised, I haven't had my hair cut for over a year... yep, I wasn't joking about the hairdresser phobia.

{Six} We'll be going down to Leeds at the start of August to visit our friends Gav & Sean, who moved there around a year ago. I've never been there before, it'll be another British city to cross off my list!

{Seven} My birthday is also not too far away, seeing as time goes fast these days! (September 2nd). So I should really have a think about what to do for it. Then again, if I get on this University course, I'm sure M.A course start in September, so I might be spending it in Manchester!

Sweet Sunday Blog Hop #2

2010-07-25T19:35:00.001+01:00

I've decided to take part in Jaded Vixen's Sweet Sunday Blog hop again this Sunday. To join in, Click Here to visit her blog :)

The Questions:

What was your favourite childhood toy or comfort object? Where is it now?
What was your weirdest dating experience?
Which television or movie character would you love to play house with?
What was the most exciting thing that happened to you this week?
Can you remember the strangest dream you've ever had?
What's the signature drink that you order on a night out?

My Answers:

1. Piggy Pink. He's a stuffed pig teddy that was put into my hospital crib the day I was born, along with a pink blanket (that I also still have). I still have him upstairs in the spare room & will probably end up handing him down to my first child one day...

2. My weirdest dating experience, hmmmm. I really don't have any bad stories to tell! I remember when I first ever started to date Dave & he had no idea about girls. The first drink he bought me was a large Rum & Coke - I guess he was trying to be nice, but I hate the majority of mix drinks. Then we would end up just tagging along with his friends because he would be too embarassed to be with me on his own, lol. That soon changed though ♥

3. I'm pretty happy with my man right now, but for the fun of this quiz - I'd choose to play house with Jason Lewis, David Beckham, Colin Firth, David Boreanaz orrrr Mathew Macfadyen =P

4. The most exciting thing that's happened this week is probably the news about my interview at Salford University! I can't wait to go there on the 4th of August!

5. I have had lots of strange dreams. I was telling Hannah lastnight about how I have had the exact same dream around once every two years since I was 8. It involves me (as a child) seeing this big, scary, wild wolf jumping up to my second storey window & desparately trying to get in to kill me. Then I go into my mum & dad's room & the wolf starts jumping up at their window. My dad goes outside, puts it inside his old white van & drives away with it.

6. Drink, on a night out? I'm usually the one driving, which I don't mind at all because I'm not a big drinker at all. It's funny because most of my facebook photos are of me looking pretty drunk - but the truth is - I was either sober & just goofing around or I was drunk & we just took a hell of a lot of photos! If I was to order a drink right now, I'd probably have a chilled glass of rosé wine.

I hope your all having a nice, relaxing Sunday :)

I Hate Nightmares :(

2010-07-24T20:11:00.001+01:00

Last night, I had THE worst night's sleep. I went over to Hannah's house (where I was only meant to stay an hour & ended up chatting till past midnight)! When I came home, I felt a little queasy... then I found out why - we were sleeping in Dave's parents' bed & his mother had put some Lavender spray on the pillows & sheet. Lavender & spearmint are the two scents, for some weird reason make me ill (either a headache or physically sick).

Anyway, after finally falling asleep around 2am. Dave had one of his usual night time attacks - which by the way usually involve shaking me to see if I'm still alive/getting up/shouting/thinking there's something in the room. Lastnight, Dave must have gotten up & said there was something in the room - but when I looked, I actually imagined/saw 8 dark shadowy figures walking towards the bed with some sort of shields in front of them - or just a certain shape that resembled a cloak?

It scared me to death. I just sat up & started to pray that they were just going to kill us quickly, lol. I have never, EVER experienced anything like this in my life. After that I couldn't get back to sleep for another hour or so. It really shook me up. Of course it was all in my head - but I had imagined it so vividly. I'm putting it down to that stupid lavender!!

The plan for tonight is having friends over again & watching some old home videos which should be fun. I am going to spray alllll the pillows tonight with my own perfume, so that I don't have any weird dreams or feel sick again! Have any of you reading this ever had such realistic nightmares & are there any scents that make you physically ill or give you headaches? =/

***FREAKY UPDATE***

Hannah came over tonight - we had a great night btw, watching the funniest home movies from 10yrs ago of our boyfriends acting like idiots! Anyway, when Hannah got here, I told her 'Ohhh I need to tell you about my hallucinations lastnight...' then she cut across me & said she had the weirdest thing happen to her too.

She went on to desccribe how she woke up, feeling hot then cold & saw dark shadowy figures surrounding her & walking towards her while she was in bed. I just started shaking - I told her that is EXACTLY what I had seen & described it more in detail, how I had woken up & they had been dark sillhouettes (no features) & how they had just come closer & I felt they were surrounding me. We both just stood outside, totally freaked out that we had experienced EXACTLY the same thing. We also both happened to see them at around the same time too...

Hannah told me she had put it down to the bleach she had used to clean her bathroom that day (like I had blamed the lavender). This has to be the weirdest thing that has happened to me, ever. Like I said, nothing like this has ever, ever happened to me before. I rarely even have nightmares. I did some research on the internet & I found some information on 'Shadow Beings' which is the closest I can find to both of our descriptions. Spooky huh?

I seriously don't want to go to bed tonight... it's nearly 2am & I have no choice. I am taking the camera & putting it next to my bed tonight, if something happens again, I am catching it on camera & I'll prove to you all I'm not crazy, honest!

5 Question Friday

2010-07-23T20:09:00.000+01:00

Nothing too exciting has happened since I last blogged so I decided to hop on board for 5 Question Friday, join in (& see the rules) head over to: FiveCrookedHalos :)

Here are this week's questions & answers :)

1. What were your school colours?

I'm thinking that this refers to our uniform colours - over here in the UK, schools are super strict on uniform (& pretty much every other part of your body while your in school). Our uniform colours were navy, a darker blue & gold. I remember getting dirty looks from alll my teachers when I used to turn up in my 'skirt', which, looking back now, was definitely more of a belt...

Another time, I remember colouring the tips of my hair blue - don't ask why, I think it was my mum's idea (& it did look pretty funky, haha). This teacher I detested, called Jean Jones would come after me every day checking if it had washed out yet. When she realised it was permanent, she told me to go get a haircut! I remember my mum calling the headmaster & telling him that lots of girls coloured their hair brown, blonde & red & they never had to cut theirs off. She also said that this Jean Jones probably covered her grey roots with hair colour too...haha. She didn't bother me again.

3. What's the best compliment you've ever received?

Hmmm, I don't know. I think everyone gets those 'oh you look great' comments every now & again, don't they? The latest compliments I've received are regarding my weight... since my diet, I have lost 2 & a half stones (or 35 pounds), so a lot of people tell me now 'ohhh you don't need to lose any more! You look great!' etc. I had a compliment about my hair when we had Dave's graduation pictures taken, which made me happy - because I'm so fussy with my hair - but haven't been to the hairdressers for two years - no joke. The funniest compliment I had was from a drunken irish man on the ferry to Ireland, telling me I had Cat's eyes. I have NO idea what that means, if it's good or bad, but it was so funny because he kept repeating it.

3. Do you buy cheap or expensive toilet paper?

Okaaay, this is random! For a while, Dave went through a phase of buying THE cheapest toilet paper, insisting it 'only wipes your ass', lol. But I HATED that paper!! It was sooo cheap & whenever people came around to the house I'd just feel like some cheapskate, lol. Now, I insist on buying the more expensive stuff, the one we're using now is an Andrex one with Shea butter - Dave totally doesn't get why they bother putting Aloe Vera/Shea Butter etc in something that is just wiping your butt - but hey, your bum needs some luxury too, right?!

4. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? Or have you had one for someone else?

I'm just trying to think if I've ever thrown one for someone else & I haven't... something I'll have to do soon! Hmmm, who's birthday is next?! I have had one thrown for me - it was my 18th & I honestly had NO idea it was happening. At the time I worked for the family business (St. Davids Caravan Park) at the tavern, as a waitress/behind the bar. I was told a month before that ON my birthday, they were going to need me to work, which I wasn't happy about.

When I got there, the manager of the Tavern told me to come into the back room & basically gave me a list of all the crappy jobs that needed doing. After half an hour, she said she wanted me to bring some glasses down from the upstairs bar - so upstairs I went - SURPRISE!! Everyone was there. My mum must have gone through my phone, called all of my friends, there were old family friends - which was awesome because it meant more cards & presents!! I had an awesome night, I actually think it was the first time I got a little drunk too. I remember posing with a cigarette in front of my mother... oh dear.

5. What is the one material possesion you ''can't live without''?

I had to think about this one a while. But it has to be my HTC G1 phone :) It has access to the internet, which sadly I can't live without. It can call my friends/family at any time. I can take pictures with it as well as find my way round with it (Google Maps/Sat Nav).

In other news... we went to see Inception lastnight, which was amazing but very, very confusing. I would highly reccommend it everyone though! I loved the music in it too - Hans Zimmer, one of my favourite composers/music producer scored the movie. My (ex) sister in law, Melanie has also finally shown some signs of movement. She was put into an induced coma last weekend & they were starting to bring her back on Tuesday - it was only supposed to take a couple of days - but it is only today that she is moving her eyelids & squeezing her dad's hand. So, it looks like she'll be waking up this weekend sometime...

Hope everyone has a nice weekend! :)

Ikea! (& Interview Update)

2010-07-21T23:05:00.000+01:00

Today I went with Hannah to Ikea, which was nice - I love going out just us girls once in a while! I bought a few things like:

2 new lightshades (this picture doesn't do them justice)!

Two new frames for Dave's pictures. There were some smaller ones but they were £11.99 each. These larger ones were only £3.99. I think they look alright - I had to cut them a little bit to make them smaller & we still have one photo we need a frame for - so I'll probably order it online.

New plates & glasses!

In black... again this picture doesn't do them justice. The lady who lived in this house before had left some old fashioned plates - so it was about time we got some new ones.

As for the rest of the day, it was nice like I said, we had some tasty famous Ikea meatballs & Daim cake for dinner & Hannah was great at driving - even through the monsoon that was going on outside, lol. The weather has been funny these last two days, the sun comes out then it rains, sun then rain etc. Tonight, when the sun was out we went for a quick walk on the beach...

Oh & also got an Interview date for Salford Uni!! 4th of August, which is the day before we go to Leeds to see Gav & Sean, so I'm going to email them asking if there's any way I could come the next day which would make more sense... instead of driving all the way there, then back & then there again!

The interview sounds like it's going to be more of a 'meet & greet'. They want me to take some previous work I've done, so I'll be taking the three documentaries I've made. They're also going to be asking me for some of my ideas for a short documentary I'd be interested in making. Time to get my thinking cap on - any suggestions!? Finally, they'll just be showing me around the building & introducing me to the tutors & so on, so it sounds like it's going to be a fun day. I am a little nervous - especially since Dave turned to me tonight & said that I can't just turn up in my jeans & a tee - I apparantly need a blouse... so that's what I'll be doing later this week, finding an interview outfit...

I hope everyone reading this is having a good week so far :)

Tonight...

2010-07-20T23:13:00.000+01:00

Tuesday night is the night Dave & I agree to do something together no matter what, our date night. One of the things I'll miss if I move to study at Manchester =(

Tonight we decided to go for some chinese food, which was realllly nice (have I mentioned that since losing weight I can't eat half as much as I used to). I ordered the same as always but had to bring half of it home... dinner tomorrow I guess. We also took a little trip to Tesco because I wanted to get some make up (foundation). Last time I went they were all out of the usual one I buy (Max Factor) so I bought a cheaper one & payed the price - it was labelled as 'natural beige' - what it should have said was 'orange'.

Tomorrow I'll be going with Hannah to Warrington for the day. We're going to IKEA - I'm going to try & find some photo frames for the pictures I bought Dave for Christmas. I haven't been able to find any big enough yet! Then, I think tomorrow night we're going to watch Inception (Leonardo DiCaprio). Everybody so far are saying it's amazing - have any of you reading this seen it yet?

Anyway back to watching Pride & Prejudice (the original series with Colin Firth) =P

Sweet Sunday Blog Hop

2010-07-18T14:32:00.000+01:00

Like I've mentioned before, I've been away from the blogging world for a while - so what better way to spend a rainy Sunday then to catch up on some of my favourite (and new) blogs!

Click Here to visit Jaded Vixen's blog!

The Rules - copied from her blog.

1 - Sweet Sunday is all about meeting exciting new bloggers, not flogging your wares. So please No Spam.
2 - Grab the button and put it somewhere on your blog!
3 - Add a link to your blog.
4 - Visit the blogs of the three bloggers before you on the list.
5 - Don't just click follow... read their post and leave a comment they will appreciate.
6 - Avoid asking people to simply 'Follow Back' it's kinda rude. They will if they enjoy reading your post!
7 - Visit as many blogs as you can and leave comments telling them you are visiting from Sweet Sunday @ Confessions of a Jaded Gym Junkie!

My Sunday So Far

It's raining again. This happens every year - the kids finish school for the summer vacation & the weather takes a turn for he worst. The temparatures have really dropped too. We were having really warm weather a few weeks back - up to 30°C. For the last week or so, we've been having highs of 17°C. What is going on? It said in the news were going to be having the hottest weather ever on Tuesday up to 93°F... I do not see that happening, at all.

I'm spent most of the day here. Watching TV & drinking coffee whilst catching up on some blogs I've missed! Oh & yes, that is Baseball in the background, lol. Today, we phoned up Sky Tv & took the movies package off & added the sports on (we now have ESPN & Extreme Sports too). Dave can now watch wrestling without having to steal my laptop to download it & I can watch all the sports I've missed! I used to love watching the American baseball & football when I was younger - & Dave will have to put up with my screaming when the Rugby league is on...

Tatty is not impressed with the rain outside & is also spending his day on the couch with me :)

We deserve a relaxing day today after yesterday... We had a huge problem with an outside drain overflowing. I woke up to my patio being covered in dirty toilet water. Lovely. Dave & my brother luckily managed to unblock it in the end (which took a few hours). We also found out that Melanie (my brother's ex-wife, who still lives in a chalet on my mum & dad's land until she finds her own place back in Manchester) has been put on a ventilator in hospital. She has epilepsy and for the last 9 days has been in hospital - but the fits have gotten worse & moved from her tummy to her face, we've been told if it gets worse she'll be going to Walton Hospital in Liverpool. So we're all hoping she gets better soon too!

Six Word Saturday

2010-07-17T21:26:00.000+01:00

I have randomly found something fun to participate in every Saturday (feel free to tag along)! It's called Six Word Saturday & all's you have to do is describe your life (or something) in a phrase of 6 words. For more information & to take part visit HERE.

I Wish I Could Go Back...

To a time where he was alive.

& her too.

Where he wasn't ill...

...& we spent most days doing this.

Lastnight...

2010-07-16T13:45:00.000+01:00

I didn't get to sleep until 2am - then I woke up again at 4am, went downstairs to play my Xbox for an hour before going back to bed. The reason? We were having Gail Force 10 winds which were around 87mph. This is what I woke up to:

A broken slate or two, you can't really tell the size of this here - but this slate is around 2ft. I wouldn't have liked to be standing outside when this fell from the roof. We're going to have to check later to see where it came from!

Ignore my weeds, lol. One of my plant pots fell from the top step on the right (my hanging baskets managed to survive). Oh & that's a random bottle of sun screen from somewhere...

One of my chairs from the patio area had blown right into the garden, lol.

& there's my green bin (In the UK we have green bins for grass/hedge cuttings & weeds etc). It had blown all the way there from the front of the house! Those blue chairs were also everywhere before I picked them up. It was funny because I was lying in bed, hearing loud noises & asking Dave, what do you think that is!? To which he'd just reply 'It's probably the lids of the black & green bins flapping up & down'.

Tats was also completely terrified. He has his bed on the floor on my side of the bed & since chihuahuas like to 'burrow' I'll throw his blanket over him. Lastnight, he was just sitting up in bed looking towards the window then trying to get up on the bed. We finally let him up & then he just kept sitting up on the bed shaking & trying to squeeze himself between me & Dave, which you can imagine got annoying after half an hour, lol. He is completely fiiiine this morning though - sunbathing by the french doors - I'm the one walking round half asleep trying to tidy everywhere up, grrrrrrr.

The plan for tonight I think is that Dave's parents & brother are coming around for dinner, which should be nice =)

Good news at last!

2010-07-15T21:14:00.000+01:00

As you might have read in the below posts, my week hasn't been going too great. Well today I finally received some good news!

Having finished my degree at Bangor a few weeks back, the first thing I thought was, what next? You have as much chance finding a media related job in North Wales as you have finding ANY decent job in North Wales, lol. Dave & I have spoken about the future & we do plan on moving away someday, after we have completed all forms of education/establishing ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I feel so lucky to live where we do & we have a great ~~house~~ home, that I wish I could just zap to any part of the world! However, in the meantime, until we're ready to move, we'll be staying in Benllech, Anglesey.

So anyway, I've looked around at different M.A courses, anywhere but Bangor University. Don't get me wrong, there are some great people that teach in the media department, however if I was to write a good/bad point list - the bad list would be slightly longer. Saying that, if Bangor did offer a decent M.A course, specialising in documentary/film making I would probably go back (because it is so close to home) - but they just don't have the equipment, plus in my third & final year when I was doing my dissertation documentary, first year students had more prority over me using the computers (editing suites) & camera equipment - which I thought was just ridiculous.

I finally narrowed my search down to two or three courses at two different Universities. One was a Wildlife documentary production course, which I would have loved (when I was little I would tell my mum that I wanted to 'be a David Attenborough', lol). I'm still a massive fan of nature documentaries. However, that course was very popular & full up this year & I don't like the idea of sitting around for a year, so I had a look at another course - Television Documentary Production that a friend of mine also reccommended. I've seen where it has taken him so I figured it must be a pretty decent course!

A few weeks back I applied for this course & yesterday I received an email saying that I had been selected for an interview! I am so stoked, if I get onto this course, it means I'll be moving to Salford, Manchester for a year! I alwayyys wanted to go further away to do my Bachelors degree - but I met Dave while he was at Bangor, so I went to Bangor too, so we could spend all our time together, plus it was just convenient at the time. So, I'll finally get the chance to be a 'real' student, lol.

Like I said, my fingers are still crossed & I'll post more information as soon as I get it :)

My Graduation Day.

2010-07-14T18:27:00.000+01:00

Since I last blogged in... May, I have succesfully passed my degree in Media Studies & I am now ABBA (Anella Bennett, B.A), sorry I had to put that in. I was so happy the day I got my results. When the letter came, I got that feeling, where your heart sinks somewhere into your stomach & I really didn't want to open it, even though I knew I'd done well.

My Graduation day was the day before yesterday. I had an image in my head of how it should have been, but it turned out to be very different.

It started out badly the night before. I'd hired out my gown a full month or so ago (which was expensive, £39 just to hire your cap & gown). It also stated on the Bangor University website that we were 'guarenteed' two tickets. I figured that I could probably buy Dave's ticket ON the day - but then I re-checked the website the night before & realised that apparantly we had to purchase the 'guarenteed' two tickets for £12 each as well as any others we wanted. I did try & call the university but all the staff were apparantly away or pregnant, lol.

So anyway, the day came & I woke up early, dreading the whole thing. I never, ever get nervous - but today I was totally freaking out. I think it was the fact that I was so unprepared for it - usually I like to be well prepared for occasions like this. For Dave's Cranfield graduation, I'd arranged my outfit weeks before etc. I got ready & drove to put some diesel in my car, at the station I managed to spill some diesel on my shoes (which are now slighly stained) & also got some all over my hands, which wasn't great. Then as I was driving up a hill, my phone was vibrating & I never normally answer calls in the car but being Graduation day & in a panic I picked it up to read the text. I am guilty of sometimes texting in my car whilst driving - but I put my phone ON the wheel so I am still looking at the road (I don't look at the keyboard to type). But, this time my phone dropped onto my lap, so as I look down to get it, the car in front braked last minute deciding to turn down a road people never usually turn off at. So, I slammed my brakes & because I was wearing heels, they slammed harder than usual & my hazard lights came on automatically - I scared myself to death, lol.

*Above - The dress I wore for my graduation.

Oh it gets worse. When I finally got to Bangor. I figured that the usual car parks would probably be busy & I had read online that we'd probably have to pay to park there & I didn't have any loose change on me. So I decided to park around half a mile away at Paddy's Bar. I got out the car, my heart still somewhere in my stomach & began walking towards the University. As I'm walking down the street, an oldish woman (around 60) is walking towards me, but then stops dead. She was carrying a shopping bag, so I kinda thought she was just stopping to catch her breath. I didn't stare & kept on walking towards her. I looked again & she was still staring at me with her mouth half open. As I walked past, I clearly heard her saying 'Jesus Christ...' along with some muttering straight after. I won't write down what I thought she'd said afterwards because I'm not a 100% sure if that's in fact what she said.

This really bugged me. Part of me felt like running back into the car & going home because I wasn't feeling too confident about graduation anyway, part of me felt like just screaming. I turned around to the woman & told her ''I'm f*cking graduating'' - then I got some dirty looks from two other old people across the street, lol. They no doubt saw me as a young troublemaker who goes around abusing old women. This is so unlike me, I never, ever, ever shout back at anyone, especially older people - but this woman really touched a nerve. I thought afterwards well she must have thought I was walking home from a guys house the morning after or something, but then I thought even then, she shouldn't have opened her mouth. The dress I was wearing (above) wasn't exactly a clubbing dress & I wasn't flashing my underwear or anything! My legs are quite long, so most dresses 'look' shorter on me, but aren't... if you get me. Judge for yourselves, but my mother, Dave & I didn't think this dress was in anyway inappropriate for Graduating. I've realised since losing weight & wearing more dresses/shorts - people in North Wales seem to act like they have never seen a girl wearing such clothes & you either get the perverts whistling/commenting at you or the old women throwing you disgusted looks. One of the reasons I'll be moving away from here one day.

I was so nervous when I got there, everyone else seemed to be with their families & I was all alone, which didn't help me at all, considering the way I was feeling by now. Oh, there was another incident where a girl on my course asked me if I would take a photo of her & her family, which I agreed to do. Then, when her father handed me his camera, he looked at me & just said ''Just push this button here...'' - I noticed he had the exact SLR as me so I told him "You have the exact same camera as me!" he just looked at me expressionless & replied ''Just push that button'' pointing at it again, I told him I knew which one it was because it was the same one as mine (I wasn't sure if he'd heard me) to which he said ''Just push the button'' again, ignoring me. Maybe he was just being paranoid that I was going to break his camera, but I got the impression I was being treated like some dumb blonde that had never used one before.

The actual ceremony itself went great. I didn't fall or anything in my heels, which for me was a success. The camera man who was filming the whole thing for the webcast & DVD seemed to be picking me out of the crowd, so I had to put on a big fake smile - which I should win an Academy Award for. Afterwards when I came out the hall, my heart came back up to its normal place when I spotted Dave! I asked him where my mum & dad were - but then he told me it was just my mum who had made it. My dad had been in hospital the previous week getting another 7ltrs of fluid taken out of him & the people at the hospital had 'run out' of the protein supplement/fluid they were supposed to put back inside him & because of this, he was too weak to come. That was the worst thing about that day, because I was looking forward to having him there to see it. Afterwards, we had some pictures taken (Professional ones) - it was a little weird just Dave, my mother & I but I guess it was better than nothing... Here are a few pictures I got outside.

My mum had to leave to go home, but she insisted that Dave & I should stay there... but when I looked around & saw all my friends with their own families, I just wanted to go home. We went for a meal, just me and Dave at Table Table which was nice then we came home. I bought my dad a DVD of the ceremony (for a stupid price of £22) so that he can at least watch it sometime.

If you have read all of this you deserve a medal for listening to me whine - but it really wasn't the day I had pictured in my head, the family photos, the smiles, the hat throwing and so on. I couldn't wait to get out of my stupid overpriced hat. I promise the next post will be on a more happy note!

Congratulations David Smith BSc MSc ♥

2010-07-13T17:21:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday (*edit - Wednesday 9th June), we went down to Bedford for a few days, because Dave was graduating from Cranfield University the next day! He passed his Masters course in Applied Bioinformatics (don't ask)! So on Wednesday, we drove to Bedford, which took around 5 hours (with stops). We stopped off at a place called Crown Carvery, Dave & his parents all had the all you can eat carvery for only £3.59. Dave said it was very delicious too - it tasted like it had actually been cooked slowly, not frozen vegetables etc... so yeah, I recommend this place!

On Wednesday night, we just got into the hotel, unpacked then Dave, his dad & I went to a few local pubs. There had been a darts night in one of the pubs & the landlady had lots of leftover sandwiches & chips, so we had those for dinner before going home, rather than paying for take out food! I came off the diet for these three days - luckily no weight was put on, even after a lot of kit kats, white chocolate cadbury buttons & Pizza (well, one big slice, lol). Then the next day, it was graduation day!!

On the way down, Dave is pulling THE weirdest face here, lol. Below - Our room.

Dave before graduating :) - Below with his brother, dad & mum.

Why is no one smiling, lol. Dave & me =)

The main ceremony hall.

They had his name down as David Smith Solo, lol - obviously a typo because of the guy underneath. But thank god they didn't say it out loud!

Awww, Dave waiting to go up!

Can you tell it was windy, lol - so proud of you Dave ♥

The last few photos are from Bedford. We had such a nice time overall & again, I am so proud of you!

Back Again!

2010-07-13T16:20:00.001+01:00

Nope, I haven't died. I'm still here. I can't really give one ultimate reason why I haven't been blogging since... May. Oops, I didn't realise it was that long. I guess it's been a number of things including:

Blogger Troubles - After I blogged last time, I tried logging in a few times but Blogger wasn't loading up properly for some reason (I don't know if this was an issue with Blogger, or just an issue with my laptop). I just gave up trying to log in - I was considering moving over to wordpress around this time, but there is no way I'm paying to customise my page etc.

Dave's Laptop - Also around the time I last blogged, Dave's laptop broke. Instead of buying a new one, he's determined to fix his. We have two desktop computers in the house & Dave has been using one of them for his website/work. The other one is just not used that often (it's more of a back up PC). Since Dave broke his laptop, he's been using mine to download his wrestling to watch at night (around the time I usually blog) & I have no patience to use the back up PC to blog, since it's pretty slow.

Time - I usually blog at the end of the day - but with Dave using my laptop almost every night (hooking it up to the TV to watch the wrestling he's downloaded) I've just left it until 'the next day' but then been busy all day, then Dave has my laptop again at night etc etc.

Lazyness - Yup, I guess a big part of it is I've just been plain lazy!

I have a few drafts which I'll finish & put up here ASAP then hopefully I'm going to try & get back to normal, since I do have so much to write about :)

**Edit - Oh & you may have realised I have a new header - I've just stuck this one up for now until I decide whether I like it or to change it!

Our Last Day In Edinburgh...

2010-05-30T18:55:00.000+01:00

So on the last day in Edinburgh, we just took a walk round & took the actual Edinburgh city tour. Here are the pictures:

Above - The steepest hill EVER. You can't see in this picture, but just down this steep path there were a gazillllion steps, lol. No wonder I lost 3lbs while I was there...

Tiny Dave, lol - & Dave & me :)

Some of the best pictures I took of the castle, taken in a moving bus -which was cold, lol.

Above - The oldest pub in Edinburgh - the green one.

Above - where the Royal Family stay when they're up at Edinburgh... I think.

The journey back was good apart from one little thing. On the Virgin trains in the UK, there is always a carriage called The Quiet Zone - where all the business people usually are, or people that want to sleep. Basically, even if you play music through your headphones, you get dirty looks. Now, Dave & I had some work to do, I needed to just polish off my documentary - then when we were only like, an hour into the journey - the most annoying family in the world came in. There was a grandmother, mother and daughter (arounf 2-3yrs of age). The grandma sat across to Dave - and she had no teeth and one of her eyes was closed (I don't think she had one, lol) and her other one wasn't straight... At this point, I wasn't sitting next to Dave... I was across to him because I wanted more room with mys stuff.

Anyway, Dave text me telling me about the horrible 'chav granny' and said he wanted me to sit across to him. When she got up to move near her daughter and grandaughter, I quickly went to sit next to Dave. So now, they were behind me. It was okay until the little girl began to sing at the top of her voice. Okay, so it wasn't the little girl's fault - but the mother was useless. She would just say 'Shhhh' & smack the little girl, then two minutes later the same would happen again. Then she climbed up behind my chair and started to sing again and shout. The mother again, would smack her and just be there going 'Enough now, enough'. By now, everyone on the carriage were beginning to be annoyed - but they were looking at me! Since I was the closest it was as if everyone expected ME to do something about it.

The women next to me & Dave looked pretty annoyed too. They had been trying to sleep and the girl was just kicking one of the chairs and the mother was not keeping her under control at all - I mean, smacking her and not sitting her down properly. They KNEW it was the quiet zone too, because I caught the mother pointing at the sign as she got in. Eventually they got off, along with their 20 poundland bags, lol. The rest of the journey was fine.. thank god.

Edinburgh - Day Two & Three

2010-05-27T22:10:00.000+01:00

On the second day in Edinburgh, we decided to take a trip over to Glasgow. We literally got there & hopped onto one of those 'City Sightseeing' tours. It had been nice & sunny on the first day, but this day felt a lot colder, especially on the top deck of the open-top double decker bus! Dave & I have now been on this specific company's city sightseeing bus in six cities (London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Rome & Florence). Anyway, here are some pictures from that...

I always take photos of the architecture... Dave & I are always saying, they don't make em like they used to. We both can't stand these 'modern' block buildings. Designs like this are so much more interesting & beautiful to look at! Below - the oldest church in Glasgow, I think...

The People's Palace & the fountain in front of it.

Above - The Italian Centre, with the Italian designer stores inside...

Above - At first we thought some kids had put a traffic cone on that statue... then we got up to it & it was like 20ft off the ground... then we realised there was a certain exhibition at the gallery.

That night, we went to a few bars in Glasgow before walking back home for an earlyish night... The next day, we went for breakfast at WannaBurger - Dave said it was the best fry-up (Full English Breakfast) he ever had - & since I was off the diet for a few days, I had the american pancakes with maple suryp - well, I did need the energy for climbing up towards the castle later! Here are the pictures from the castle!

Above - walking up towards it. Dave & I kept saying, it must have been a bitch to try and invade this castle, lol. Imagine trying to climb up here & have all the people up at the top pouring boiling oil & shooting their arrows at you...

The sleeping chinese guy (above) lol.

This (above) was 'Mons Meg' a famous 15th century cannon. Below, the oldest building on the Edinburgh castle site, St Margarets Chapel dating back to the 12th century.

Haha - my orb picture (above).

We then went to St Giles Cathedral & into a room called The Thistle Chapel, which was all amazingly carved and even though it was sooo old, it smelt of just carved oak wood.

That afternoon was just perfect, we had reserved a table over at The Witchery - which is a very well known restaurant in Edinburgh, where lots of celebrities have eaten (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Pierce Brosnan, Matt Groening & Ewan McGregor to name a few)! It was a small, but very beautiful restaurant inside, with THE best food and very posh service, lol - I'll never forget that day :) Later that night we just explored the Old Town and then went back to the hotel to catch some well earned Zzzzzz's!

Edinburgh - Day One

2010-05-24T21:53:00.000+01:00

So here's the first post on Edinburgh... we went on the 3rd of May & our train was at the bright & early time of 5am, so we got up at 4am. Let's just say it was a looong day, but we managed to do quite a lot!

This was me trying to get a photo of the beautiful sunrise we had, over the sea while we were still travelling from North Wales. We had a good train journey the whole way there, but as you can see we both were working hard. I had some last minute editing to do on my documentary (my dissertation, which was due in on the 7th) & Dave was getting on with his programming.

Our Travelodge, we had one of those huge front windows & this is the bridge we had to cross everyday to get to and from there. Dave alwayys stopped to look over everyday, lol.

Walking around Edinburgh city centre & our first view of the castle!

Later that day we decided to hop on a train & go to a place called Dunbar. Dave lived here when he was 1, he's always wanted to go back there because believe it or not he actually had memories of the place & just wanted to see if they were like he remembered. Before anyone says, ''you can't remember that far back'' my mother actually has memories of being rocked in a krib in front of a fire... & Dave's memories actually turned out to be 100% accurate, it was pretty scary!

Dave's old house, Number 4 :)

We went to this Hotel (above for some food) - & I came off the Dukan diet for the three days by the way, but still managed to lose 3lbs - even after ridiculous amounts of Mini Eggs & Minstrels! We had an hour wait or so until the train back to Edinburgh, so we just goofed around at the play area - on THE most dangerous thing ever - some kind of 'Rodeo' contraption! We both fell off, lol.

The above photo was me discovering a setting on my camera called 'Beauty Shot' that apparantly makes you look airbrushed, so I was just testing that out, lol & some more photos of Dunbar...

It was such a strange place. I kept saying this like a 10000 times, but it was. It was a pretty large town but there was NO-ONE on the streets & when we walked past houses, they were like, perfect little houses with perfect, pretty gardens but no-one was inside or outisde them - even though it was a nice sunny day. The sea looked so rough too, the waves were crashing everywhere but there was no wind...

That night we just went to The Halfway House, 'The Best Pub In Edinburgh 2009' & then back to the Hotel & to sleep, ready for the next day! ~ sorry if some of the photos look squished, Dave is downloading on this laptop atm & it is being slow, plus the photo uploader on here is being annoying!!