'Happiness can be found in the darkest of places if one remembers to turn on the light'
Autumn, or fall as some as you may know it, is one of my favourite seasons!
& heres why…
A chance to cosy up with a good book.
U unlimited crunchy, colourful leaves.
T ime to warm up with a hot choc/Coffee or two.
U umbrellas & cosy coats.
M assive jumpers.
N ights in!
I love this breezy, crisp lead up to Christmas. Cosy, contented & colourful.
🐿🦔🦡🍂🍃🍁☕🎃🌾🍂🍃🍁
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
I love clothes & shopping, its definatly one of my favourite past times.
I also absolutely love the Autumn. The crisp mornings, crunchy leaves and cosy evenings.
Its my favourite fashion season too, I’m so into comfy jumpers, jeans, cardigans, woolly hats & cosy coats!
I havn’t done an outfit of the day blog post in ages and I loved this autumnal outfit so, I thought I’d share it.
🍂 Autumnal OOTD 🍁
Cream Pom Pom jumper, Asda £12.50
Black high waisted skinny jeans Primark £10
Leopard print Comverse style trainers, Primark £8
I love a pom pom knitted jumper, skinny Jean’s & converse
Literally my go to outfit 😊
Any Autumn faves?
🍁🍂☕
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
We are fully into Autumn now and this is definatly the perfect season for snuggling up, all cosy, with a good book.
What did I read in September…
If you have followed my blog previously, you will know that my reading challenge consists of reading at least two books each month.
Unfortunately, due to an Eye Op in September I wasn’t able to read as much as I would have liked.
However, I did listen to an Audio book instead, in order to complete my two book quota!
Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
&
Harry Potter and the Philosphers Stone (Audio book)
I enjoyed this Jodi Picoult book, I havnt read one of hers in a while, although I would say it isnt one of my faves compared to some of her others.
I wasnt 100% sure how it was going to end unil I read it which was good for keeping you going and it was a subject matter that made you think.
Harry potter of course was a winner in my eyes and is an absolute classic. That was my first time listening to the audio book in full and it really helped curb the boredom when I was recovering from my op.
This month I will be reading…
The big little festival by Kellie Hailes
(See previous post for synopsis – September reading challenge) this is the other book that I was supposed to read last month.
The Husbands secret by Liane Moriarty
‘Mother of three and wife of John-Paul, Cecilia discovers an old envelope in the attic. Written in her husband’s hand, it says: to be opened only in the event of my death.
Curious, she opens it – and time stops.
John-Paul’s letter confesses to a terrible mistake which, if revealed, would wreck their family as well as the lives of others.
Cecilia wants to do the right thing, but right for who?
If she protects her family by staying silent, the truth will worm through her heart. But if she reveals her husband’s secret, she will hurt those she loves most . . .’
As always recommendations are welcome!
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
I’m a bit late with my update this month, we can blame ‘back to school’ fever. It’s a busy time when you work in a school!!
What did I read in August:
All that she can see by Carrie Hope Fletcher
The Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
Give me the child by Mel McGrath
&
Two short reads…
The beach wedding by Dorothy Koomson
Full house by Maeve Binchy
I loved Carrie’s book, I wasnt sure to begin with, I dont know why but it took m a while to pick this up off my shelf, one I had though, I couldnt put it down!
It was a very interesting concept and a very different story to one I’ve read befoe. It really made you think about you own emotions and how much control you have over them and they hav over you. I loved the making element to the story, it was very easy reading.
The Unwanted Guest was brilliant, it had a real Agatha Christie feel to it and I was gripped, trying to work out who it could be, what would happen next, how it was all linked. Very good, very well written and definatly a great book for murder mystery fans.
I enjoyed ‘Give me the Child’ and it you wanted to find out what was going to happen, however I do think that it went on for a little bit, then right near the end it all of a sudden got very dramatic and then it just ended. It was a bit too much right at the end when it had dragged on a lot before that.
I really enjoyed the short reads, especially the one by Dorothy Koomson, it may have been shorter but it was just as good as her others and it had great twists and turns.
This months books are…
Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
‘A compelling emotional drama of love and guilt that grips from the very first moments.’
‘Luke Warren would sleep in the dirt if it meant he could be under the stars.
He lived by the laws of nature. And would surely want to die that way.
But Luke is in a coma and his family mus make an unbearable decision
As tensions and secrets rise to the surface, the tragic accident which brougt them back together against the odds could well tear Luke’s family apart forever.
They know Luke would not want to live like this . But how can they choose to let him die?’
The big little festival by Kellie Hailes
‘Love happens when you least expect it…
Jody is panicking. Its only weeks until her little village in Devon hosts its first ever festival and everything is falling apart.
Desperate to avoid disaster, she brings in notorious party planner Christian to save the day. Although she wasn’t prepared for just how gorgeous he would be!
Men are off the cards for Jody and surely Christian is the last man she would wlever date? But with tensions risng- along with the bunting and homemade scones- shes about to find out… ‘
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
5 years ago I was working in my first ever reception class, eagerly awaiting your arrival, proud as punch when you finally arrived and I knew from then onwards that my life was going to be brighter, more fun and full of even more love.
Now you are ready to start your own reception journey and Im just as proud today, if not more, of the little boy you’ve become! Go show them what you’re made of Noahy, be the superstar that you are. Auntie Ro Ro cant wait to hear all about it XXXX
First day at School, Tuesday 3rd September 2019
💙
So, last weekend me and my Uni friends met up, but this time it wasn’t any old meet up, it was our 10 year friendaversary meet up!
Let’s take it back to the start
…
In 2009 I did my first year of university at the University of East London (UEL).
Whilst studying for my degree in Early Chiodhood studies (ECS) at the Stratford Campus I was introduced, at the beginning of a morning lecture, to Kirsty & Tarana and as they say, the rest is history!
And we’ve been friends ever since!
I only studied at UEL for a year before returning to my hometown to complete my studies, but we always stayed in contact and have met up at least every few of months, in London.
So, that’s the background, let’s see how we celebrate 10 years of friendship.
As I said, I went down to London last weekend to meet the girls and we had a fun day planned.
Meeting at Stratford, we headed to Leciester Square for lunch.
We always had a tradition of getting the pizza hut buffet after some of our lectures during the Uni year and so we thought this was the perfect tradition to start the day with.
It was really good!!
I havn’t had the buffet in ages 🍕
Once we had eaten and had a catch up we headed to the main event, Matilda The Musical!!!
We wanted to do something we had done together before, as it’s a special occasion, and we all love musicals so we chose this one as it’s a brilliant story (A children’s one, very apt for ECS graduates) and none of us have seen it before either.
The musical is AMAZING!! The actors were fantastic, really talented and very funny. How those children get up on that stage and perform like that is beyond me but it is aweosme to watch.
The music ans songs by Tim Minchin are brilliant too. You’ll be singing them for days, trust me!
If you are a fan of the book or the classic film (as I am) then I would 100% recommend this to you!! It won’t disappoint.
It was getting late once we had made it out of the theatre so we said our goodbyes and headed home.
It was a really fun day out and a great way to celebrate two of the loveliest people I know.
Even though I only went to UEL for a year I will always be glad that I did. It was a great experience in halls and I met some lovely people, including these two, so I will always be grateful for that.
I hope you are enjoying the last few weeks of the Summer holidays!
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
Greenery & plants
Flowers, Aldi
Plants, Tesco
Faux Succulents pot, The Range £10.99
Book Nook
Bookcase, IKEA
Chair, Wayfair £54.99
Throw, Wilko
Cushion, Selfridges
Rug, Wayfair £10.99
The Kitchen
Kitchen coffee menu sign, The Range £3.95
The Lounge
Pink Pom Pom cushions, Next £12
‘Love’ bird/leaf metal sign, The Range £8.09
Our Bedroom
Harry Potter Sign, Primark £3
Set of 5 Botanical prints (See the ‘Middle Room’ section for the other 3) The Range, £9.99
Bathroom
Bathroom Lino, fit to measure & installed by Carpet Right.
The Middle Room
Set of 5 Botanical prints (See the ‘Our Bedroom’ section for the last 2) The Range £9.99
I hope you enjoyed this little look at some of the pieces I’ve been collecting for our home.
The next part of the home decor is to finish lots of painting, including a fresh coat of paint on the blue bathroom wall, finish up the red tile painting in the kitchen and re glossing the lounge double doors onto the Juliette balcony.
I’d better stock up on the paintbrushes!
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
For my husband Tim’s 28th birthday I bought us a trip to Rome. As you may know from previous blogs, Italy is our favourite country and Tim’s favourite Italian city that we’ve visited is Rome, it’s been 7 years since our first visit.
Read on to see what we got up to!
Day One
It was a early start for us to begin our Rome adventure, from Gatwick!
This meant we had a whole day to start exploring.
But, first lunch! And an ice cream stop at the highest rated ice cream place in Rome, it didn’t disappoint!
Trip Advisor: Best Gelato in Rome
We stumbled upon the National Museum of Rome and this was a great find. The architecture was amazing and we had a audio guide which was really interesting.
After all our exploring and walking around we had a chilled evening back at our room. We grabbed some take away pizza slices and a couple of ice cold cans of coke zero and enjoyed a them in our cosy room.
Day Two
Today we headed out early to have a look at the Colosseum. We went inside it on our last trip to Rome so this time we just went to have a look at it again from the outside, as well as the area around it.
We enjoyed a nice lunch and some ice cream before heading back for a siesta and our evening activity.
That evening we enjoyed our Italian cooking class, the first of our three planned activities for the trip.
It was originally going to be a pizza class (my husband is obsessed with pizza and this trip was planned by me for his birthday) but they changed the menu to pasta, as a summer alternative. Even so we had a great time!
We made pasta, a similar one to tagliatelle, Gnocci and then for dessert we made an amazing summer berries and white chocolate tiramisu. It was so good and it was so fun to cook proper pasta. You can really tell the difference.
Day Three
I think this was my favourite day of the holiday.
We had a nice early start to have a look round Palentine hill and the Roman Forum. We missed out on seeing these last time as we didn’t get there early enough and it is horrendous in the heat!
So, we made our way there nice and early and spent the morning having a look at the amazing Roman Ruins.
For lunch we headed over to the highest rated pizza place in Rome and it was delicious. This was my favourite meal and the man who owned the shop was so helpful and friendly. It’s a small little shop but so worth it.
Trip Advisor: Best Pizza in Rome
In the evening we headed to Piazza Campo de’ Fiori to have our second planned activity, a ‘By night walking tour of Rome’ Our guide was absolutely brilliant, born and raised in Rome so very knowledgable.
We saw so many different sights that we hadn’t seen before, such as the Pantheon and my favourite, the Trevi fountain (Which is SO beautiful) and much bigger than I expected. I’m so glad we got to see it this time.
Day Four
On day four our planned activity was an evening walking food tour, unfortunately it was cancelled so we had another think about what to do.
In the end we booked a morning trip, including a guided tour of the Vatican city. The tour included access to the Vatican museum, the Cistine Chapel & St Peter’s Basillca.
These places were all amazing and the artwork, tapestrys and architecture were amazing, as well as the history.
After a delicious lunch of Caprese salad, Pizza and the most amazing tiramisu we headed home for another afternoon siesta!
In the evening we took a stroll down to the Colosseum, after dinner, to have a look at it all lit up at night. It looked beautiful!
Day Five
On our final day we didnt fly out until the evening so, we wanted to make the most of our last day.
At breakfast we had a look on Viator to see what we could do.
As we didn’t make pizza at the previous cooking class we booked onto a pizza class for midday.
We stumbled across the Spanish Steps whilst we were looking for the cooking class location which was cool! Another landmark to tick off.
The cooking class was brilliant, with a lovely group of Americans & a Canadian lady. I really enjoyed making an authentic pizza in Rome and I loved seeing Tim make his favourite cuisine too.
They were really tasty!! A great lunch for our last day.
One of the other members of the cooking class mentioned a 5D experience that they were visiting later that day and as we had no other plans we thought we would check it out too!
We went for the full package 5D experience watching the history of Rome, the evolution of life and we looked around Roman landmarks with a VR headset on.
Once we had done all this it was a good time to slowly amble back to Termini to grab our bags and get the coach to the airport.
A great end to the holiday.
We had a brilliant time in Rome and I would 100% recommend it to anyone thinking of visiting Italy, especially if you are a first timer as there is so much to see and do.
& of course the food is amazing.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little post about our trip!
I wonder what next years Holiblogs will be about!? Time to start thinking for 2020.
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
This second edition of holiblog is all things Disney parks.
There are two parks at Disneyland Paris, accessed via Disney village.
Disney village is so magical in itself, with it’s fun and tasty treats and happy Disney tunes on loop. It is lined with Disney shops and lots of cool eateries too.
It even has a cinema.
The two parks are Disneyland & Disney Studios.
Disneyland is akin to Magic Kingdom in Florida, it houses Main Street USA and the Disney castle, although this Disney castle is Auroras, in stead of Cinderellas. I actually love this, it’s so cool that they are different ones.
Disney Studios is much like Hollywood Studios in Florida. It has all the Studio style buildings and American streets.
🌟 Disneyland 🏰
This park is the bigger of the two and is home to classic rides such as The Pirates of the Carribean, Phantom Manor, Thunder Mountain, Hyperspace Mountain, The Carousel and much more!
The Disney illuminations take place at the Disneyland park. The lights show, fireworks ans music were amazing.
🌟 Disney Studios 🎬
Disney Studios is home to classic rides such as Rocking Rollercoaster Ft Aerosmith, Tower of terror and Toy Story land. Toy Story land was awesome and had some cool and different rides to the one in Florida.
We met loads of Characters here that we needed to tick off our list, the rest of the crew, Donald Duck & Pluto.
I also got to meet Goofy again 😁 My fave!
& just look at that Disney Castle!! 🏰🥿
So pretty 💖 So magical 🌟
It really is one of the most magical places on earth!
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
August edition
So, what did I read in July…
As I was on holiday and I’ve started my volunteering for the library Summer reading challenge, I actually ended up reading three books in July.
& for August I am going to try and read more too as I also have some time off, lots of reading time!!
In July I read:
The Prison Doctor by Dr Amanda Brown
Every breath by Nicholas Sparks
&
The guilty party by Mel McGrath
The prison doctor was a really interesting read, and tbf as horrendous as you’d imagine.
I have to say that I didmt enjoy this as much as ‘This is going to hurt’ by Adam Lay, which is a similar format but from the perspective of a Junior Doctor.
As always the Nicholas Sparkes book was one that I couldnt put down, a heart warming story, definitely one for all you Sparks fans.
The guilty party was a really interesting read, not only was it a gripping story but it was also quite thought provoking too. Do you really know how you would react in a certain situation? Can we ever know until we are in that position? And how profound are the decisions we make on our own lives and on the lives of others?!?
This months books are…
Give me the child by Mel McGrath
‘Imagine your doorbell rings in the middle of the night.
You open the door to the police
With them is your husbands eleven-year-old love child. A daughter you never knew he had.
Her mother has been found dead in their South London flat.
She has nowhere else to go.
Would you take her in?
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
As the guests arrive at beautiful, remote Mitchells Inn, they’re all looking forward to a relaxing weekend deep in the forest, miles from anywhere. They watch their fellow guests with interest, from a polite distance.
With a violent storm raging, the group finds itself completely cut off from thr outside world. Nobody can get in – or out.
And then the first body is found…
And and horrifying truth comes to light. There is a killer among them – and nowhere to run.
All that she can see by Carrie Hope Fletcher
Cherry has a hidden talent. She can see things other people cant, and she decided a long time ago to use this skill to help others.
As far as the rest of the town is concerned, she’s simply the kind-hearted young women who runs thr local bakery, but in private she uses her gift to add something special to her cakes so that after just one mouthful the townspeople start to feel better about their lives. They dont know why they’re drawn to Cherrys bakery – they just know that they’re safe there and that’s how Cherry likes it.
She can help them in secret and no one will ever need to know the truth behind the gift.
And then Chase turns up and threatens to undo all the good Cherry has done. Because it turns out she’s not the only one who can see what she sees…
I can’t wait to get stuck into these 🙌🏻
As always, any recommendations are welcome 😁📚
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
Roseanne Byford 