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.
Train journeys are the perfect time to pick up your book.Coffees, walks & catch ups.Sunshine & sea.Takeaway Nandos 🙌🏼Lil ice cream at the cinema treat.My fave reading spot.Shorts in April? Who dis?Cinema with hubby 💗Breakfast with my nephews.Mediterranean brekky, delish.Colour hunt – I spy purple. Colour hunt – I spy yellow.Spring floral nails by moi.Colour hunt – I Spy orange.AC birthday tradition photo. Book one of the hols.Work ✌🏼 at least it’s sunny.The Sims ⭐️ Brunchin’ with a friend. Book 2 of the hols. 20° – whattttt!?
Week Two
Out for lunch with Mum.Breakfast crossaint 🤤Fun playing The Sims.With my favourite 3.Easter craft session with the kids. Easter Egg hunt time.& finally, chocolate Easter Nest making.Enjoying Good Friday on the Waterfront.Our yummy brunch sandwiches.Playing Catan at Geek Retreat.My Easter Egg.Yummy Easter desserts for a family lunch.Out for a lovely Easter Sunday afternoon walk.Me & Tim 💗Our traditional family Easter Chinese in the evening 😀
I hope you’ve enjoyed the long Easter weekend, if you celebrate it 🐇
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.
So, something super fun happened last weekend! March 4th.
Me and my Husband went to our very first comic con. Now, don’t get me wrong, it was at times as stressful as I thought it would be… but also, not as stressful as I thought at the same time…
Let me explain – so I don’t think the where’s and when’s of your photo experiences were massively well explained. I was never explicitly told a time but thankfully someone I know worked it out for me and we arrived with plenty of time, without prior con knowledge I have no idea how you’d ever work it out… but,
Once we were there the staff were super helpful and it was relatively easy to find/ask where you needed to be and when for any experiences and photos you may have booked, so that made it alot less stressful! Everyone else who was also visiting were helpful too which was lovely.
So, anyway – our first comic con was really fun and it was exactly how I imagined it to be. There were so many people in so many costumes, epic costumes. Seriously impressive stuff. It was just a vast room filled with people geeking out, having fun and being unapologetically themselves and maybe slightly irrationally excited about celebrities 🤣 (my self included) I walked past Sylvester McCoy for christ sake!!
And best of all… I MET JOSEPH QUINN.
It was actually surprisingly nervewracking just before the photo slot but it all went well, mostly… I had to have my photo done twice as the camera flash left a glare on the photo because of my glasses… so I had to go again… I had to stand and have everyone look at me as I had a photo taken, again… which I hate… but, it meant I got to say ‘hi’ and put my arm around Joseph Quinn twice so… 🤷🏼♀️🤣 I’d take that as a win tbh
Plus – I thought it was really nice that they let me go again and made sure everyone got a nice photo.
I mean, I literally said ‘hi’ x2 and ‘bye’ and ‘thanks’ to him but in those 10 seconds he seemed very lovely (as I had heard he would be) his very enthusiastic ‘HI’ and smile as you walked over was very sweet. I kind of wish I had plucked up the courage to say a bit more to him but you don’t really have much time anyway… I would probably buy a autograph next time if he goes to any nearby cons again.
The two things that struck me the most were how totally normal he looks (and I mean like in a non celebrity way, he looked great but I think it’s very easy to forget that celebs are just people and they don’t like float around on clouds, with gold sparkles around them or whatever ) and how friggin tall he is in real life- jesus.
I enjoyed having a walk around and looking at the stalls and costumes. A highlight being when I rounded a corner and saw Ghostface casually browsing a t shirt stand 🤣🤣
I got me and my sister a cool Stranger Things Poster each and then we headed over to the mainstage and queued for Joseph’s talk. It was the final event of the day and it was so packed, I’m glad we started queueing when we did.
It was so surreal seeing the set up that I have watched so many times on tik tok of his previous con ‘talks’ but it was really cool to listen to one and see him chatting in real life. To be honest, if you’ve seen one you’ve probably seen most as he gets asked alot of the same questions… but there were some really funny moments that made it worth it… and some adorable moments from a few little kids too.
All in all I really enjoyed my first comic con experience and I would definitely go to one again and be more confident and less panicked now that I know how it all works.
I Love Autumn & Halloween… here’s what we got up to !
Spooky fun at the farm.
We went out for the day, to a nearby farm!
It was brilliant.
There was SO much to do.. we made wands, got sorted into our Hogwarts house, had a spooky trailer ride, explored the spooky maze, picked and decorated pumpkins, pettee guinea pigs & rabbits, looked at loads of other animals and had a bug trailer ride.
With our Nephews 💙
A great family day out, themed really well and with lots of fun to be had.
A fanily Halloween party for the kiddies.
We had a fun little family Halloween party at my sisters house.s
She set up some fun activities for them, we also had a buffet of party food, spooky tunes and Halloween pass the parcel.
Halloween at ours
Me & Tim always do a few Halloween traditions at home – these include carving a pumpkin (we’ve done one every year that we’ve been together) and I make us ‘Spooky Sausages’ which are meant to look like mummies.
I also like to watch horror films but Tim isn’t too keen on those so thats usually just me haha
Some of my favourites are Scream, Halloween, Hocus Pocus, Nightmare before Christmas and Nightmare on Elm St.
Our local cinema was showing some Halloween classics on Halloween.
Me and my Twin sister Sarah always watch horror films together so we went along and watched the original Scream! I can’t believe its the 25th Anniversay 😱
Scream is my favourite ‘Scary Movie’ and it was cool to watch it on the big screen.
I thought I would start up the holiblog series again, for this summer.
Here is how I have spent the later part of July, since the summer holidays began.
It’s been a fun start.
H a pp y • H o li da ys •
Saturday 17th July 2021
Out for a sunny walk, near our flat. We discovered a new part of the park.
Sunday 18th July 2021
Big Kids
💙
Moooooo
Fun at Alton Water enjoying the sunshine, mini golf, walking and ice cream.
Monday 19th July 2021
Breakfast with my friend Gemma & her boys.
Tues 20th July 2021
💙
Snacks!
The cinema really started to fill up
The boys first visit to our flat in over a year and a half 😍
Wed 21st July 2021
Summer Reading Challenge
Sharing stories
Reading
💙
The start of my Summer Reading Challenge Volunteering. Signing up these guys and meeting for lunch at the bakery.
Hot Dog Party 🎉🌭
Sat 25th July 2021
Coffee and a book
Sushi 😍
A chilled out Saturday. A bit of me time.
Mon 26th July 2021
Walking on the Heath
Lunch 🍽
Meeting up with Dan, a long walk followed by lunch.
Tues 27th July 2021
Wolves Wood
Walkinga
I made a friend 🐸
A walk in the woods together, followed by Arts & Crafts with Evie and lunch at Sainsburys with Charlotte.Painting at Pennikity Pots with my friend Steph and her boys.
Wed 28th July 2021
Summer Reading challenge week 2
The Waterfront
Dinner at the Bistro with Louise, Kerry & Rach.
Sat 31st July 2021
The boys first sleepover in over a year and a half . Dinner and lots of games.
I thought I would do a little post to comemorate our anniversay.
I usually post a little something each year because, after all, our wedding is the reason I started this blog. I wanted to document the planning and experience of our wedding.
I can’t believe its been 5 years. It was a wonderful day.
Hubby ♡
Mum
Bridesmaids
Dad
The ceremony
The best man
The in laws
Auntie, Uncle & Nephew
1st dance
NEVER FORGET
Confetti
Our Cake
‘I do’
The date is the same as our original anniversary as I really wanted to get married on our anniversary.
So, today also marks 10 years together and that is absolutely mad. How time flies.
Especially when you are having fun 💗
To my husband…
I wish I could put into words how wonderful you are, but my words would never do you justice.
From our 2011 trips to the Heathlands, Nights out, Uni Visits & Cinema dates to now, 2021 … having just come out of a year of doing none of those things because we are in the midst of a Pandemic (who’d have thought it aye)
Thanks for always making me laugh, for always taking care of me and for always dancing like a fool around the lounge with me.
Marrying you is one of the best choices I’ve ever made. You are my bestfriend. 10 years later and I still find myself thinking, Wow, soulmates really do exist.
Roseanne Byford 