So, One week ago me and my twin sister turned 30!! The big 3 – 0 as they call it.
Here is how we celebrated!
Birthday Morning
I started off the day with a lovely breakfast in bed, made by my husband.
Followed by cards & pressies ๐ฅฐ
At work I was spoiled with lovely birthday banners, balloons, presents, cards (from the childrem too) & an amazing cake!!!
Birthday Afternoon
Once I had finished work I met my twin sister for lunch at this cute little cafe.
As per restrictions, we took advantage of their lovely little courtyard, and the sunshine.
We enjoyed a delicious lunch and opened our presents to each other.
We then picked up our niece from nursery anfld met up with our husbands and my nephews for a nice little walk and a play in the park.
Birthday Evening
We spent the evening having a little afternoon tea garden party at my parents house.
We enjoyed the delicious treats from my birthday hamper, courtesy of my lovely work friends.
It was lovely to enjoy it with my mum, dad, and two sisters. We havn’t done something just us five, probably in years! It was really nice (& all of the food was delicious.
We had a really fun day!
Other celebrations included…
A tattoo!
Not something I ever thought I’d get…. so exciting!!!
Me and my twin sister talked about it last year but I wasn’t 100% sure I wouldn’t chicken out!
We both LOVE Harry Potter so we went for a simple lightening bolt design โกโก
I love it.
I also enjoyed a fun games night with my friend to celebrate turning 30 (Very 2020) on Zoom, as well as a nice family BBQ meal and board game session the following weekend.
I used to share snap shots of my life on her, things we had done to celebrate different occasions, fun days out, holidays, however, obviously this last year has been quite an unpresidented one.
I feel like I haven’t really shared much of what I have been doing because really we’ve all been doing the same haven’t we! Staying home, Locked down, on and off since Summer, working and just trying to stay safe.
But I thought to myself, why not share the celebrations we are still having, as wierd as they may seem in comparison to how it used to be, because it’s all we’ve got at the moment and we should still be grateful for what we can do during such a mad time.
Today is Mothers day and I have shared on here, for several years, our tradition of our Mothers Day, homemade afternoon tea.
This year was a very 2020/21 affair, via Skype, but it still involved Afternoon Tea so no complaints here.
We ordered the individual Afternoon Teas from a small local business (All Covid safe) and enjoyed them at our own homes via Skype.
They were delicious and it was nice to be able to continue the tradition, even if it was a little different to usual.
Most of our ‘Usuals’ seem a distant memory right now don’t they ๐ฃ but, it’s also so important to embrace what we can do, communicate and spend time together however we can, whilst staying safe, because we can still stay in touch and stay connected, and we will all be back together properly one day.
It gets to everybody at some point, this wierd time we are a part of, but I’m so very conscious that there are people in such a worse situation than me, who have experienced some of the worst times during this pandemic.
If the worst part of this whole situation, for me is that I can only speak to people through a computer then I’ll be forever grateful. I know some people have it much worse.
It’s still ok to find it hard though and I hope you’ve had a little bit of light and joy come your way today!
As I have said many times, Autumn/Winter are my favourite seasons!
I know its chilly but hey, its England, we were made for this weather.
Plus, it’s so pretty ๐
Theres nothing like a crisp autumn walk, frosty, leaves crunching under foot, trees fire bright against a pale sky, wrapped up in cosy jumpers, a hot beverage in hand.
Now tell me that isn’t a delight!?!
Here are some of the ways I’ve been enjoying the Autumn so far!
โข P U M P K I N โข P I C K I N G โข
Me, my sister and my nephews had a great time pumpkin picking, at a local patch ๐
We went early Oct to get the most out of our Pumpkins.
I’ve used them to dot around the lounge to create a cosy, autumn vibe. Some will of course be carved on Halloween.
โข A U T U M N โข W A L K S โข
I definitely have a new appreciation for walks since the lockdowns and the pandemic in general.
Theres alot of enjoyment to be had in the fresh air, amongst the trees and pretty plants. I loved our sunny summer walks but in Autumn it’s an even more beautiful experience.
โข C O S Y โข R E A D S โข
…because I could read anywhere… but, theres nothing better than in my little reading corner, in autumn and winter, because it just feels even more cosy.
โข H A L L O W E E N โข F U N โข
I am a big horror film fan so I enjoy the spookiness of Halloween.
Lockdown no 2 was announced this Halloween (Horror!) So I wanted to make it even more fun, because if you can’t enjoy the little things, (even when stuck at home) during a global pandemic, when can you!?
Over the weekend I ended up watching eight different horror films!
โขNightmare on Elm St (New) โขFriday the 13th โข Psycho (New) โขAnabelle โข Freddy Vs Jason โขNightmare Before Christmas โขIT (The Original) โขHocus Pocus
We like to carve a pumpkin each year, because its just some harmless seasonal fun, and since I had a few from our picking spree, I carved a few.
As well as the films and pumpkin carving, we also listened to some Halloween tuness (until the X-Files theme freaked me out ๐คฃ๐ฑ) we had Spooky, mummy sausages and jacket potatoes for dinner (because why should kids have all the fun) and Halloween Hot chocolates to round off the evening.
And a spot of Halloween Animal Crossing!
It was really good fun and it made us forget about the pandemic a bit, a fun weekend/evening spent together.
โข P U M P K I N โข C A R V I N G โข
Because you have to do one of these every year! Come on now.
‘Parry’ By me & Tim My slight fail, HP lightening scar and glasses attemptThis was really flippin’ hard ๐คฃ Yes, I’m that cool.
… and yes I am indeed wearing a Bat onesie in this picture, my traditional Halloween costume/pumpkin carving outfit! ๐ฆ
Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me!
โข A U T U M N โข N A T U R E โข
โข H U N T โข
As a fun little pre lockdown 2.0 activity with my nephews, we went on a Nature Hunt.
They love running about in the park and exploring and they enjoyed it even more than I thought they would (so did I!!)
โข B A K I N G โข
I spent another lovely pre lockdown day with my niece ๐
What’s more cosy (and delicious) than baking!?!
We had a lovely time together โก
Gotta love a Unicorn Cupcake ๐ฆ๐ง
& finally…
โข B O N F I R E โข N I G H T โข
Again, due to Lockdown (thanks Rona!) we won’t be seeing people for a bit, but its timing did coincide with Bonfire Night and so we resurrected a Byford tradition, and got together to celebrate.
Outside, wrapped up, enjoying other peoples fireworks, sparklers, s’mores, soup, jackets, bangers, log burners and catching up!
A great evening! We missed this tradition last year as there was alot going on, so it was great to do it again.
It’s been a little while (probably the Summer hols) since I’ve done a little ‘life’ update and I love capturing memories on here. I think I forget to use my blog this way sometimes when I get carried away sharing about my hobbies.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it!
I hope you had a nice weekend, it probably wasn’t the weekend we all planned or thought it would be.
So, we actually have a few traditions that we usually do at Easter but obviously this years a bit different (for now)
But, lets not dwell on what would have/should have been… So, what did we do to make the Easter weekend fun and what traditions did we manage to uphold in lockdown?!
Board games are a must!
We opted for LOTR Monopoly as we haven’t played it for a while and Monopoly is the Queen of board games, so it’s the perfect choice.
Plus, this one is great as you move the one ring along so you can either play a manageable length game or go the long haul.
We also got together on Good Friday night (on Skype) as we have been since this began, to do our weekly quiz night so that was good to get together that way.
Easter treats!
We also made the good old Easter tradition that is chocolate crispy cakes.
We made individual ones using shredded wheat, chocolate and Terry’s choc oranges mini eggs.
The large one was cornflakes, chocolate, cut up Creme eggs & lots of sprinkles.
Delicious!
Easter Sunday Breakfast ๐ฝ
As a family, on Easter Sunday we usually get together, exchange Easter eggs, do craft with the kids and have a chinese takeaway for dinner (I know, traditional Easter food ๐ but that’s just what we do, my Nana started it!)
Our Asda Chinese ‘Takeaway’
It was nice to play games together, just me and Tim, watch some TV and have a few treats. (Well, quite a few treats but it’s one weekend aye!)
Plus, I had a nice video/call from my niece and nephews so that was lovely as I am missing them alot and I love to spoil them on special occasions like this. But, most of all I just love to give them a big hug and have some fun with them!
Let’s hope we’ll all be together again soon!
How did you get through the isolation Easter weekend?
One of my favourite bits of Christmas is the build up and of course advent calendars are a big part of that.
I thought I would share with you guys which calendars I have this year.
This is the first time during a blogmas (& I think this is year 3 of me doing it) that I havn’t had a beauty advent calender. None of them took my fancy this year and the ones I’d had previously hadn’t changed a lot either. Plus is it just me or are they very expensive!!
So let’s take a look at the ones I did go for.
Chocolate first of course! And the king of chocolate, so it had to be, Cadburys.
I went for the ‘1994’ style edition as I thought it looked super traditional plus I’m a 90s kid so I thought it was cool.
I love having a little chunk of Cadbury chocolate every morning to look forward to.
I also got myself a colouring advent calendar too, just for a bit of fun!
You get a different picture for each day of advent and they are all Christmas themed.
It’s quite relaxing doing my colouring in the evening whilst I catch up on I’m a celeb.
Apologies for the delay! But my ‘Holiblog’ series kind of took over!
But, the summer hols are only just over so I thought I would finish the series up and update you guys on how I spent the middle weeks of the holidays.
The reason I’ve lumped a few weeks together is because I’m not going to actually explain what I did in weeks Two and Three as that is when we were in Florida…Instead I will leave the links to my holiblogs…
Tonight (Thurs) I slept over at my twin sister Sarah’s house.
We had a treat dinner before heading to bed ready for the celebrations the next day.
Friday 24th August 2018 marks two years since my beautiful youngest nephew Casey James was born.
I am so happy I am waking up there and being able to experience his birthday with him first thing. We have a fun day planned!
Our first stop was the cinema to watch
‘Luis and the aliens’
It was brilliant and we had a great time, especially with some yummy snacks and drinks included.
The film was one of the best kids films I’ve seen in ages!
Next stop! McDonald’s for a birthday treat lunch.
Stop number three, Pennikkity Pots!
Here we did something a bit different but fun and creative. The boys both chose a ceramic and they painted it. Casey chose a fish whilst Noah painted a shark.
They loved it!
Nana & Grandads in the evening for more presents opening and cake!!
It was a jammed packed but fun day to celebrate Casey turning two!
Saturday 25th August 2018
Me & my friend from work met up this evening to have a meal together.
Nandos was delicious as usual and the halloumi starter proved as difficult to avoid as always.
It was great to catch up after my holiday and have a good old chat!
Sunday 26th August 2018
Casey Jame’s second birthday party.
It’s kind of a tradition to have a little party each year, with all the family! So of course this year was no exception.
At Sarah & Dans we had party food, present opening, fun, games and of course cake!
There was a definite dino theme amongst his presents and he loved his dinosaur Jurassic World birthday cake.
We rounded off the day with a delicious impromptu (always the best kind) Chinese takeaway.
That’s the penultimate week done, its the last week next week ๐ฑ
If there is some leftovers after Easter Sunday… I’d be very surprised if I have any… I thought that these would be the perfect solution!
Don’t they just look delectable!?!
Grab those creme eggs that you couldn’t manage and make something yummy for yourself, or if you want to share (you might not, they are sooooo good) make them for family and friends too.
Gooey creme egg & mini egg brownies, absolute heaven ๐
I will leave a link to the basic brownie mix that I used and of course explain my eggcellent ๐ (sorry, not sorry) extra naughty but, nice additions.
So I made up the Brownie mix that I’ve linked above, and stirred in a pack of mini eggs, with me it’s Cadbury’s all the way people. I then halved creme eggs and pushed them into the batter so they were halfway submerged in the gooey goodness.
Perfection.
You 100% need to give these a go if you are a lover of chocolate like me, you won’t regret it.
Roseanne Byford 