Some of you may know, some of you may not, but I started this blog when we were planning our wedding! I started it to document the lead up and planning to the big day.
So, it seems only right each year to do a little post to honour the day that inspired this blog in the first place.
The blog has evolved over the years and has more of a book focus, but this is how it all began 😊
Let’s take a look back at our special day!
11.06.16
I loved our pink & green theme. These are still my two favourite colours.
My bouquet still has pride of place on our dining room table, and I loved all the personal touches like our ‘Honeydukes’ sweet shop!!
We had a brilliant day with our family and friends.
And the party was pretty good too 🥳
We spent our 9th wedding anniversary enjoying a cooked brekky together before work, and exchanged our cards and pressies. Tim got me some lovely flowers 💐 😍
We had a lovely dinner at one of our favourite Italian restaurants this evening.
This Feb Half Term, we embarked on our latest Italian adventure, this time in Northern Italy. This trip was sort of inspired by our 2020 Italy trip that never was (thanks, Covid!)
We changed the plans a little from the original idea, as we only had a week half term instead of the Summer Hols, but we knew we wanted to travel around more of Northern Italy. I found some cheap flights to and from Verona, and we went from there.
Let’s see what we got up to!
Day 1 – Travelling to Italy
Sat 17th – Today was mainly spent travelling to Italy. It was pretty uneventful (and actually an ok flight, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t very fond of flying)
We arrived in Verona at 7 pm and after a short bus ride and a check-in at our hotel we went in search of food.
The little Pizzeria (Rio’s) that we found nearest to our hotel did not disappoint. It was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had in Italy.
Day 2 – Verona
Sun 18th – Today, we spent the day in Verona, exploring the town.
We did lots of walking.
We had a short tour of the Verona Arena, which was really cool!
It’s the best preserved Arena in Italy!
The Arena was probably my favourite ‘sight’ of the trip.
In the early evening, we travelled to Lake Garda, the next destination of our trip.
Day 3 – Lake Garda
Mon 19th – Today, was we visited Salo in Lake Garda.
It is home to the longest promenade in Italy.
& it is very beautiful.
They also do a bangin’ sandwich. This was an insanely good lunch. That bread 🤤
We had a lovely time walking up and down the promenade as well as looking through the city streets.
We rounded off the day with a delicious dinner, Caprese, Rosemary Foccacia, Risotto, and Tiramsu – so good.
Day 4 – Lake Garda
Tues 20th – We started off Day 4 with another yummy breakfast at our lovely B&B before we headed off to get our bus tickets for the day.
We didn’t realise a market was on, and it was quite extensive. There were some amazing food stalls, including fruit, veg, soooo much cheese and meats.
We decided to pick up some bits and create our own lunch. We chose a delicious fresh tomato, a fresh ball of Mozzarella, a fresh Foccacia, and some amazing strawberries. Delicious.
These made a yummy picnic.
In the afternoon, we headed off to explore another part of Lake Garda – Sirmione.
They are known for their delicious gelato, so we had some in the sunshine when we arrived!
We then had a walk through the castle and town on our way to the ruins of a Roman villa. There was a museum and the ruins itself so that was really interesting to see.
The ruins were so vast.
Once again, the weather was amazing.
We went back to freshen up before having a delicious dinner and a chilled evening in our room.
Day 5 – Milan
Wed 21st – Today we travelled to Milan! We were sad to leave our lovely accommodation in Garda.
Milan Centrale Station is massive! It gives Grand Central Station NYC Vibes for sure.
We spent the day doing LOTS of walking around Milan, seeing the city on foot, there is some cool architecture and graffiti. We picked up some more delicious ice cream, and we went to the Leonardo Di Vinic museum to round off the day.
We had these incredible crepes for dessert from those amazing Gelatoria that we discovered first in Verona.
Day 6 – Milan/Verona
Thurs 22nd – Today, we travelled back to our starting point, Verona, for our final leg of the trip!
Once we made it back Verona (after a 40 min delay at Milan) we freshened up and spent some time just chilling/reading in our hotel room.
It rained in the evening, so we just ventured out nearby to get some food. We didn’t stay out for long before heading back and watching a film in bed.
Day 7 – Verona
Fri 23rd – Today was the only day it rained pretty much all day. We had been so lucky with the weather so far. Typically, we had our Verona Walking Tour.
We didn’t let the rain dampen our spirits and we both thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the city. It was so interesting and Verona is such a beautiful place.
Booking a tour is well worth it!
We grabbed a spot of lunch from a place near the end of the tour, as recommended by our tour guide. The fresh pasta was delicious, and the tiramisu was insannnne.
We were very glad to have such a lovely shower in our hotel room because we were freeeeeezing 🥶 after walking back in the rain.
And of course, we had another delicious dinner to round off the day!
Day 8 – Verona
Sat 24th – Today was our last full day 🥲
The weather was beautiful, which was great for our final day. We headed over to a cafe that we heard was really nice. We had yet another delicious coffee and pastry.
We spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon looking around the castles museum – it was really interesting with our audio guide, and at the top, you get soke beautiful views of Verona.
After all that exploring and walking around, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon in the hotel.
In the evening…
WE WENT TO VENICE!!! My favourite 😍
It was beautiful as always ❤️
We had a delicious pasta dinner when we arrived…
… before heading to our favourite gelatoria!! 🍨 Su So is incredible. We had to squeeze some in for dessert.
It was buzzing in Venice as it was the Venice Carnival that weekend.
Venice is truly unique.
I love sitting by the Grand Canal. It’s so peaceful.
💗
Day 9 – Home time
Sun 25th – Today, it was time to go home!
We enjoyed a nice walk into the city centre of Verona to find a nice cafe for breakfast again. We really enjoyed doing this the day before.
We had a final delicious coffee, pastry (and Lasagne for Tim 🤣)
We then had a walk around a bit more, including the arena before heading back to make our way to the airport.
We had such a brilliant trip and it was great to see so many new parts of our favourite country.
Me & my friends from work (past & present) when on a little walk and coffee catch up this morning.
It was super foggy – it looked so pretty, it was just a shame that it was so damp! My feet were a little chilly.
We did a short walk before heading in for a coffee, a snack and a much needed catch up.
When my husband Tim came to get me we decided to embark on the longer walking route before heading home.
We have enjoyed this walk many times and with a Candy Cane Hot Chocolate in hand (very festive!) we made our way round the route. Its roughly a 40/45 minute walk. It was lovely.
I took some photos whilst we were there and here they are…
Walks are one of my favourite things to do these days.
I hope everyone is doing ok here, in the UK, after the Corona announcements yesterday.
But, let’s try and enjoy what festivity we can, safely.
& one of the things we’ve still been able to enjoy is one of mine and my husbands favourite traditions…
The Christmas Panto!
This years panto, which we would usually watch at our local theatre, was offered as a live stream.
As you can see, this year it was their adaptation of ‘The Snow Queen’.
There were still a few people in the theatre (Covid regs in place) but we watched it on the live stream, from the comfort of our own home.
It was a blended panto, so that it worked for both the in house people and those watching at home, and honestly it was really impressive.
The way they incorporated the videos and video montages into the show as well as special effects onto the screen during certain moments was really impressive.
Considering you weren’t actually there it really was a lovely, intimate and immersive experience.
They also added interactivity to the show which was fun.
The troupe was made up of only 5 people, which is alot smaller than usual, but they did a fantastic job (as always) and they still played their instruments live, (always a favourite part of ours) They are all so talented.
It was great to see some of the familiar faces from pantos past.
And, it was as hilarious, fun and silly as always!
We thoroughly enjoyed the show! With snacks & drinks in hand.
I’m so glad we could still enjoy this tradition. Theatre is one of our absolute favourite pastimes, we love watching a show whether it be in a small theatre or in the West End.
It’s such a valuable and important part both of the entertainment branch and of our lives, and I for one hate to see it struggle.
We added a donation to our ticket cost to help support our local theatre.
I also donated to the Theatre Support fund. I’ve left a link below for you to check out how you can help, and the cool ‘The Show Must Go On’ merch that they have available.
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 😍
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!
• P U M P K I N • P I C K I N G •
Me, my sister and my nephews had a great time pumpkin picking, at a local patch 🎃
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.
• A U T U M N • W A L K S •
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.
• C O S Y • R E A D S •
…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.
• H A L L O W E E N • F U N •
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!
•Nightmare on Elm St (New) •Friday the 13th • Psycho (New) •Anabelle • Freddy Vs Jason •Nightmare Before Christmas •IT (The Original) •Hocus 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 🤣😱) 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.
• P U M P K I N • C A R V I N G •
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 🤣 Yes, I’m that cool.
… and yes I am indeed wearing a Bat onesie in this picture, my traditional Halloween costume/pumpkin carving outfit! 🦇
Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me!
• A U T U M N • N A T U R E •
• H U N T •
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!!)
• B A K I N G •
I spent another lovely pre lockdown day with my niece 😊
What’s more cosy (and delicious) than baking!?!
We had a lovely time together ♡
Gotta love a Unicorn Cupcake 🦄🧁
& finally…
• B O N F I R E • N I G H T •
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!
Every year me and my husband Tim go to our local theatres Rock N Roll panto.
It’s one of our Christmas traditions and we always look forward to it. We have been going for a few years now.
This year the panto was Aladdin.
It was an absolutely brilliant show, as always!
The set was my favourite so far. As you can see from the above picture, it was really well done. The panto was set in Shanghai and the set was so colourful with lanterns decorating the rest of the theatre.
The show was hilarious, one of the funniest yet! We were seriously laughing out loud alot during the first half.
We usually go earlier in December but it was really cool to go so close to Chrsitmas as it always makes me feel so festive and it was perfect for getting into a Christmassy mood.
It was a great evening together and one of my favourite traditions that we do together 😊
Recently me and my husband Tim made an impromptu visit to the theatre. I saw a local Christmassy show advertised on Facebook and thought, why not!?
Every year we see the Rock N roll Christmas panto at the same theatre so we hoped this would be to the same standard! And it didn’t disappoint.
‘A New Musical by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan
It’s Christmas Eve and Dougal has travelled from Ipswich to New York for his father’s wedding. At JFK Airport he’s greeted by Robyn. Tomorrow her sister becomes his stepmother and Robyn’s dreading it. Dougal can’t wait. But then Dougal loves Christmas and Robyn’s the original Grinch.
Thrown together for a wild weekend in the city that never sleeps, their adventure becomes a musical whirlwind of confession, frustration and maxing-out credit cards in Macy’s. Will these two endearing misfits provide the ultimate test for the theory that opposites always attract? ‘
It had a lovely Christmassy feel to it and it was a very cute story.
The songs and acting were great and it was really funny, a feel good story.
It was set in NYC at Christmas which is famously magical and festive at Christmas so that was really cool.
I always think it’s so amazing how they do such an awesome job of portraying a story with few actors (there were only 2 in this show) and a simple stage layout that they adapt for different scenes. It’s very clever.
We felt so festive afterwards and it was the perfect pre Christmas activity!
I’m really glad we went as we don’t often go to these kinds of shows, favouring the cinema. It was a very welcome change and a lovely evening spent together.
If you’ve followed my blog for any sort of time you’ll know that it all began when I was planning our wedding and wanted to document the journey… if not, hey 👋🏻 & that’s how this little blog began!
Fast forward two years and here we are on our second wedding anniversary… yep, two whole years!! Where did that time even go.
So, what can I say about two years of marriage...
○Remember that you’re in it together, part of a team 💑
○You’ve always got someone to make cool plans with ✈
○Best friends for life, Husband & Wife.
○He’s still as annoying 🤪 but he’s my annoying, forever ♡ (& I’m sure I’m just as annoying too tbf)
○There’s support, whenever you need it & when you don’t even realise you need it yourself.
○I still find it weird that I’m a Mrs! 💐
○& it still feels a bit strange to say ‘My husband’… far too adult haha 🤵🎩👞
○It’s not easy but it’s always worth it.
○It was the best day of my life.
How did we celebrate?
We stayed over for a night at Waveny River Centre in Norfolk, in a Yurt! It’s like a fancy and super cosy tent, very cool.
As you can see from the pictures it’s really lovely and a fun change from a hotel.
We had a nice meal out at the local pub and just spent some time together playing games and such in the evening which was nice and chilled.
This morning we opened up our lovely cards, Tim got me some beautiful flowers & I got him some of his favourite sweets.
We only got each other a little something as we like saving money to do things, like staying in the Yurt, instead.
What’s better on a Saturday night than a cosy movie night!?! especially at Christmas!!
Me & the hubby put on our comfys, got a blanket and I made us some hot choccies whilst Tim scrolled through Netflix.
He settled on ‘Deck the hall’s’ starring Danny Devito.
With hot choccies in hand and sweet & salty Popcorn packets we snuggled down to watch the film.
I actually really enjoyed the film, it was one I had heard of many a time but had never watched. It’s super festive and I love all the Christmas, lights and snowy scenes, perfect for making you feel christmassy.
Roseanne Byford 