My Easter weekend

I've been looking forward to the Easter weekend ever since we got back from Venice last month. Who doesn't love having four days off with no need to use annual leave?

The weather was beautiful for the whole four days which made the long weekend all the more enjoyable. Here's a summary of what we got up to, along with a photo of Jessie looking EXTREMELY excited about the whole thing.

Good Friday 

I've had a busy few weeks and have been feeling pretty exhausted and stressed out for a while, so I promised myself that I'd have a relaxing day on Good Friday. Neil was working so I had the house to myself. I had a lie in, took Jessie for a lovely walk in the sunshine, caught up on Neighbours and read an entire book. I usually use my days off to blitz all the tasks and chores I don't have time to do during the week, but I felt well-rested and much calmer at the end of the day so I definitely needed the break.

Saturday 

Neil was working again on Saturday, so I took Jessie for a walk in the morning then drove to McArthur Glen to meet Nicola for a long awaited catch up. We had lunch in Frankie and Benny's then wandered around the shops for an hour. I popped to Morrisons on my way home to pick up some (more) Easter chocolate, then we had an evening in with Jessie and Netflix.

Easter Sunday 

Neil took Jessie for an early morning walk before it got too hot for her, then we had Easter bunny crumpets for breakfast before going to the cinema to see the live-action Dumbo film. I cried sad tears and happy tears and I absolutely loved it. We stopped in Five Guys for a burger and chips, then we went home to eat some chocolate and to give Jessie her Easter treats. The three of us went for a lovely walk once the weather was a bit cooler, then we watched the first Avengers film on DVD. We're aiming to watch the first three films before we see Endgame in a couple of weeks!

Easter Monday 

We took Jessie for a morning walk then continued to eat all the stereotypical Easter food by having hot cross buns for lunch. We then went to Cardiff Bay to do our food shopping for the week and to wander around Wilko without buying anything (does anyone else do that?). We popped in to Costa for a coffee and a hot chocolate while we were there, then started on all the household chores when we got back. My house to-do list was massive as a result of my relaxing few days, but it was well worth it. Once I'd finished, I sat down to eat some well-deserved chocolate and to write this blog post!

We had a really lovely weekend where we spent lots of quality time with each other and with Jessie, and it felt like a decent break. I'm also very proud of all the Easter food we consumed, but slightly relieved that I'll be going back to the gym in a couple of days. 

Do you want to know something exciting? Only 4 days to go until next weekend! 

Coco: My (spoiler-free) ramblings

I saw Coco in the cinema on Sunday and it was AMAZING.

I've had a frantically busy week and haven't had time to plan/write a lengthy blog post, or to take any blog-worthy photographs for that matter, so I thought I'd write a short post on my main thoughts while watching Coco. Don't panic, there are no spoilers!

However, some of these thoughts are mysteriously specific and won't make the slightest sense if you haven't seen the film, so in that case perhaps you should save yourself the confusion and stop reading now. Don't say I didn't warn you.

• Wow, this film is visually spectacular and beautifully colourful.
  
• Coco (the character) is completely not what I expected and I love her.
  
• Hooray, I still remember some Spanish from my A Level days!
  
• Dante's face reminds me of the hyenas in The Lion King.
  
• The plaza reminds me of the Magic Kingdom and I really wish I was back there.
  
• I really love the way they're bringing Mexican culture to life in this film. It feels so authentic!
  
• Why can't you just let the poor boy do whatever he wants to in his spare time as long as he does his shoe-related activities when he's supposed to?
  
• The security in many of this film's prime locations is a lot more lax than I'd like.
  
• That is one excellent twist which I didn't see coming, and this is one heavy storyline for a children's film.
  
• He just admitted to WHAT in a Disney film?
  
• This is shaping up to be even sadder than the first twenty minutes of Up, and that's something I never thought I'd say.
  
• Remember him! Remember him!
  
• There's a river of tears running down my face and I can't do a thing to stop it.
  
• I LOVE THIS FILM. 

Have you seen Coco? What did you think? 

Ten days of pre-Christmas celebrations

December is my favourite month of the year. Partly because it contains Christmas Day, but also because the build-up to Christmas is just as exciting as the day itself for me.

As I've enjoyed quite a few pre-Christmas celebrations during the last ten days, I thought this would be a very appropriate topic to blog about with just four sleeps to go before the big day.

One of my favourite Christmassy traditions is the annual office Secret Santa lunch with my colleagues. We all bring in a different item of food (the food list is planned with military precision to avoid duplication), we exchange our Secret Santa gifts, and we partake in a quiz and laugh a lot. I was so happy with my thoughtful and completely perfect gift this year... 100 collectible postcards from Disney's Golden Age! I can't wait to frame some of these beauties over the Christmas holidays.

A few hours after our Secret Santa lunch, we went out as a communications team for a few cocktails at our new favourite bar - Be at One. When the menu is about 30 pages long and the cocktails seem to be 'buy one, get one free' whenever we go there, what's not to love? Although we didn't stay out late as we were working the next day, it was lovely to spend some time with the team outside of work and to indulge in some very delicious cocktails on a school night! 

A few days after our Secret Santa lunch, it was time for the annual work Christmas party. We went for a meatylicious meal in Viva Brazil, followed by drinks at Kongs/ Two brand new places for me! The Prosecco was flowing and it was a great evening with lots of laughing and catching up. I even bought new sparkly shoes and a sparkly bag for the occasion. If you can't wear sparkly shoes at Christmas, when can you? 

We were supposed to go out to Neil's work Christmas party the night after my party, but we were both exhausted so we had a Saturday night in with two massive Papa John's pizzas and Home Alone instead. I then continued the excessive eating the day after by driving to McArthur Glen to meet Sarah in Frankie and Benny's. I had a cajun chicken wrap but didn't photograph my food... I must have been REALLY tired! 

On Monday evening, we went to Tony's in Penarth with Sophie and Bryan as we hadn't caught up with them for a while. We had a lovely meal (I went for pasta rather than my usual pizza, due to the pizza overload over the weekend), then we all went back to our house to play Monopoly on the Nintendo Switch. Jessie was ridiculously excited about having visitors... there was a lot of barking, leaping and general over-excitedness on her part. 

I finished work for Christmas on Tuesday and Neil randomly had the Wednesday off work, so we took the opportunity to go in to Cardiff to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I was slightly lost for parts of the film as I'm not a Star Wars fan and haven't got a clue about the back story, but I thought it was a pretty good film overall. Also, I love love love BB-8. 

Lastly, to finish off this very Christmassy ten days, I went for afternoon tea with Jo in my favourite place - Pettigrew Tea Rooms. We've both had a rubbish couple of years in many ways so we thought we'd treat ourselves to afternoon tea just before Christmas. I had to get my slice of cake boxed up to take away because I was too full to eat it after my massively indulgent hot chocolate, sandwiches and scones! But don't panic, I ate it a couple of hours after I got home and loved every bit of it. 

I'll be blogging about our actual Christmas celebrations next week, if I'm not in a food coma by then... in the meantime, hope all my readers have a lovely Christmas! 

A lovely date day

Although we've been married for a year and a half, we still love having a 'date day' every few weeks where we spend some quality time together and, as a bonus, avoid doing the housework. A few weekends ago, we had a spontaneous date day on a sunny Saturday.

We got all wrapped up and decided to walk into Penarth for a coffee and a hot chocolate. We mostly wanted to make the most of the weather as we hadn't been able to go for a walk for weeks!

After a lovely brisk walk into the centre of Penarth, we stopped in Coffee #1 for a drink. I had the Choc Full O' Nuts hot chocolate and it's the best one I've had for months. We should really go to Coffee #1 more often, although we do also have a small (large) obsession with Caffe Nero. 

After finishing our drinks, we decided to get the train into Cardiff for some food, shopping and a cinema trip. Believe it or not, despite living in Penarth for a year and a half, I've never gone on the train to Cardiff. I frequently get the bus if I can't be bothered to drive, but the train was a much nicer experience!

I needed to pick up one of Neil's birthday presents from the Disney store while we were in town, so I bought this beautiful bag for myself while I was there. It's almost too pretty to use... almost. 

After finishing our shopping, we decided to try the new Five Guys restaurant in the Brewery Quarter as we'd heard so many good things about it. I went for the cheeseburger with lettuce, ketchup, onions and green peppers, and we shared a large cajun fries. It was most definitely the best burger I've had for a long time - probably the best one since going to America in September. As for the chips, there were gazillions of the things. Neil and I can eat like horses, and we still couldn't quite finish the large between us! I personally don't like heavily seasoned chips so I'd go for the normal variety next time, but the cajun fries were very tasty and not at all greasy. We also bought a bottomless soft drink each... be prepared for the huge range of choices. 

After finishing our food, we made our way to the cinema to see Dirty Grandpa. It was a pretty hilarious film but I didn't expect it to be THAT dirty. Zac Efron and Robert de Niro make an excellent comic duo!

To round off our day, we walked to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Penarth. The bus stops just outside our estate so we didn't have too far to walk on the other end of our journey. We were also back by 9:30pm which meant we had a relaxing few hours in front of the TV when we got back. 

A perfect date day!

An Instagram summary of the last month...

I've had a crazy few weeks which has resulted in no blog posts whatsoever. Most of my recent blog posts seem to start with a similar apologetic sentence, so I really want to get back into blogging regularly.

I thought I'd kick off my return to the blogging world by summarising the last month using my Instagram photos. It turns out that I've managed to fit in quite a lot! On that note, you'll ALWAYS know what I've been up to if you follow me on Instagram as I insist on updating it daily.

So here goes... feast your eyes on these photographs!


1. Four weekends ago, we walked to Cardiff Bay on a sunny day and had a lovely meal and cocktail in Signor Valentino. I love living so close to such pretty places!

2. I got promoted... I'm now a Communications Manager! It was a stressful few weeks leading up to the interview and official confirmation but I'm so excited about this opportunity. As you can see, Stitch was VERY excited for me.

3. I went for a work night out and had some tasty cocktails in Las Iguanas on a sunny Friday evening. Perfect end to a busy week.

4. I went to see my parents to celebrate my father's 70th birthday. I had a tour of his beautiful garden then we went to one of his all time favourite places... the Harvester!

5. We had a lovely evening at our friends' new house with lots of food and drinks. Sophie made me an amazing (and very aesthetically pleasing) glass of Pimm's!

6. We ventured into Cardiff city centre a few times during the last month. It's looking so beautiful at the moment with lots of pretty flowers and trees in full bloom.

7. We've done lots of work on the house over the last few weeks which has taken up a fair amount of time. Two of my very important contributions were buying this stunning orchid for the living room and re-arranging our bedroom.

8. I went to Southampton to celebrate my youngest nephew's first birthday. Both my nephews are so handsome!

9. I bought the most beautiful new Fiorelli bag... yes, that is important news in my world and definitely warrants an Instagram post (or two).

10. I went to the Smoke Haus and ate (most of) this beauty. Messiest burger I've ever eaten. I had to eat the entire thing with a knife and fork!

11. I enjoyed a relaxing sunny evening in the garden with a cocktail, some light refreshments and my Kindle.

12. I had my first ever personal training session at the gym! It left me ever so slightly exhausted but I'll definitely be continuing the programme over the next six weeks. Operation 'tone up for Florida' is ON.

13. We went to see Inside Out at the cinema (and bought a new Yankee Candle for the living room). Amazing film! You all just have to see it.

These photos pretty much sum up everything exciting I've been up to over the last few weeks. Posts like this make me realise how lucky I am to have so many things to enjoy and to look back on with fond memories. I might start writing a similar post every month as a reminder of what I've got up to... watch this space! 

Monthly cinema round up: July

I know I've said this about nearly every month this year, but where did July go? I only went to see two films last month which is a shockingly low tally for me and is an indication of how busy I am at the moment. I'm actually speed-writing this post in between paying wedding bills and composing wedding emails... it's fair to say that the wedding has taken over my life.

So what films did I manage to fit in last month?


How to Train your Dragon 2
Such a lovely film! I only vaguely remember the first film as I fell asleep for a large proportion of it while watching the DVD. I should add that this was due to extreme tiredness, so no reflection on the film itself. This film is a great stand alone film in its own right so you won't feel as if you've missed out if you haven't seen the first instalment. Lots of funny moments and a few tear jerking moments... you will definitely have a lump in your throat at some point during the film. You will also secretly want a pet dragon.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 
AMAZING. Fantastic visual effects, spectacular characterisation (for both the people and the apes) and a captivating plot. Although I love Caesar (the head ape) and his little family, Maurice (the orangutan) is by far my favourite character in this film. I was on the edge of my seat throughout and was genuinely afraid during some scenes as the heightened emotions and grave sense of danger are portrayed so effectively. The tension between human and ape is obviously very apparent as it was in the first film, but I didn't expect the violent injection of tension between the apes themselves. I think I like this sequel even more than the first film, and that's really saying something!


And my favourite film in July was... Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Hopefully I'll be able to fit in a few more films this month in between wedding planning/stressing. Check back next month to find out!

Monthly cinema round up: June

How did June fly by so quickly? Seriously? Although the month disappeared in a whirl of work excursions, birthday celebrations, wedding planning and house decorating, I somehow still managed to go to the cinema eight times. I'm amazed!

Here's what I saw in June...


Maleficent (twice)
Yes, I saw it twice because it was so good. It was visually stunning and Angelina Jolie was brilliant as Maleficent. I liked the twist on the original Disney tale and enjoyed hearing the story of Sleeping Beauty from a completely different angle. My only complaint? Princess Aurora was extremely irritating!

Blended
I haven't been impressed by a lot of Adam Sandler's more recent films but I really enjoyed this one. Drew Barrymore is great (as usual) and the plot is funny and interesting enough to keep you absorbed until the very end. Also visually impressive... it's mostly set in Africa!

22 Jump Street
Hilarious. I loved 21 Jump Street and I definitely wasn't disappointed by this sequel. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are a brilliant comedy duo and some scenes had me doubled over with laughter. 'IT'S IN MY MOUTH!' I urge you to see this film.

Edge of Tomorrow
This was ok... just ok. It probably just wasn't my type of film, but I couldn't quite get my head around the plot as I could see numerous plot holes. You're probably supposed to be concentrating on the epic action scenes instead of trying to get too involved with the plot! Not one for the DVD collection (unless Neil buys it...).

Godzilla
I didn't think I'd like this film but I was pleasantly surprised. Good plot, lots of suspense, and plenty of scary monsters. Again, it's not really my type of film but I did genuinely enjoy it.

Three Days to Kill
I wasn't sure what to expect from this film as I hadn't seen any trailers, so I was a little apprehensive. Luckily I thought it was great and got sucked in to the plot from the outset. The characterisation was strong throughout and the concept was very clever. Again, one to add to your list!

Chef
Ahhh, this film could have been so much better. Although the constant shots of food were mouth watering and made the film worth watching, I felt as if it was a missed opportunity. The ending was rushed and too predictable, even for me. Some of the earlier scenes seemed very laboured... it's such a shame that more time wasn't devoted to building on the storyline in the second half of the film. The token appearances from Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr just seemed pointless and out of place. Not one I'll be watching again, especially not when I'm hungry!


And my favourite film in June was... 22 Jump Street!

Celebrating our third anniversary

Neil and I celebrated our third anniversary last weekend. This anniversary was extra significant as it's the last one we'll celebrate before our wedding in August! It definitely doesn't seem as if a year has passed since our second anniversary... time is moving far too quickly these days.

I decided to try out my new Barry M Limited Edition Carousel nail varnish on our anniversary as I'd bought it with my birthday money and it went perfectly with the dress I decided to wear. I love it!

We decided not to buy each other presents this year as we're saving money for the wedding and spending a lot on our new house. Both very expensive things, I think you'll agree. However, we did buy each other a card and, if I'm honest, we do have very good taste in cards. Who doesn't love a card with fluffy teddies/dogs on it?

I usually have Weetabix and semi skimmed milk for breakfast every day, even on weekends, but Neil brought big thick rolls and bacon from the butchers with him as a surprise so I had a bit more of a hearty breakfast on our anniversary. With lashings of ketchup, of course! 

After exchanging cards and eating our rather large breakfast, we headed in to town for our usual Saturday wander. However, we had a bit more of a purpose to our trip this time... we went to choose our wedding rings! I won't be posting a photo of my ring here as I want to keep it a secret until we're married, but I'm so excited about the beautiful wedding ring I've chosen. It'll definitely feature in lots of my post wedding blog posts in September/October, so keep a look out for it. We went for our usual Caffe Nero fix while we mulled over our wedding ring options, and I ordered my customary skinny hot chocolate. 

After deciding on our wedding rings and going to the jewellers to place our order, we popped to the Sidoli's hut in the Hayes for a cheeky ice cream. I've already blogged about my love for Sidoli's ice cream. They have such a wide variety of flavours! I went for Creme Caramel Fudge and Strawberries & Cream on this occasion. 

We continued to wander around town after eating our ice cream and I successfully spent the last of my birthday money... blog post to follow next week on what I bought! Unsurprisingly, the post will involve items from New Look and the Disney Store. 

I mentioned in my last restaurant review blog post that we ate at Prezzo last Saturday for our anniversary meal so I won't elaborate on that here, but our amazing bread board deserves to be featured again!

After finishing our food, we headed to the cinema to see 3 Days to Kill. I'll write about it in more detail in my monthly cinema round up, but I thought it was a great film. I shouldn't enjoy films with lots of shooting and bombing as I'm so paranoid about crime and violence, but I really do for some reason. I'm sure a psychologist would have a field day trying to analyse that. 

There was one more surprise on Sunday... Neil had bought a beautiful lemon cake from Costco! The topping was basically a layer of lemon sugary goodness and the cake itself was lovely and light. Although I do want to bake a cake again soon, Costco is a good alternative when we don't have time to bake! 

So, to sum up, we had a lovely anniversary and ate a lot of food, as is our custom. Next time we celebrate our anniversary, we'll be married! 

Monthly cinema round up: May

It's hard to believe that this is my fifth cinema round up of the year... this year is flying by in a haze of wedding planning and general tasks which mostly involve me running around like a headless chicken. In spite of the hectic nature of the last few weeks, I still managed to fit in five trips to the cinema with my Cineworld Unlimited card.

Here's what I saw in May:


The Other Woman
The trailers for this film looked hilarious so I was a bit worried about seeing it in case they'd put all the funny bits in the trailer in order to mask a generally awful film (like they did with Bad Teacher). However, after a slightly slow and cringeworthy start, this is a genuinely funny film with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. It won't win any Oscars but it wasn't a bad way to spend two hours. Cameron Diaz is still beautiful, in case you were wondering.

Bad Neighbours (twice)
Bad Neighbours is the first film I've seen twice in the cinema this year... probably because it's the funniest film I've seen all year. Seth Rogen and Zac Efron are both excellent and this is definitely one I'll be buying on DVD. Although the topic of the film (bad neighbours!) is actually my worst nightmare, it was very funny to objectively watch other (fictional) people suffering from the mishaps caused by partying student neighbours. Zac Efron even does a bit of dancing which reminded me of his High School Musical days. Oh, and there's a cute baby in it. Everyone loves a cute baby.

Frank
Probably the weirdest film I've ever seen. Yes, I know it's supposed to be a weird film, but it wasn't my thing at all. Just plain weird. However, I did appreciate the frequent references to social media marketing as I actually understood those. I liked the general message the film was trying to portray, but it was just a bit too odd for me I'm afraid.

X-Men: Days of Future Past 
Loved this film. Star studded cast, brilliant acting and some amazing visual effects. I haven't seen the original X-Men trilogy but I didn't feel lost or confused during the film at all. This is a great stand alone film, in my humble opinion. It has made me want to watch all the X-Men films now though... that was probably their intention all along. Marvel excels again!


And in May, my favourite film was... Bad Neighbours! Why else would I have gone to see it twice?

Check back in a few weeks to find out what films I watched in June. I've already seen two films this month so I suspect it'll be a longer update!

Monthly cinema round up: April

I didn't go to the cinema much in April unfortunately,  it was a crazy busy month with lots of wedding planning and house activities! However, I did manage to squeeze in four films... two more than I need to see every month to break even on my Cineworld Unlimited card.

So here are the films I did have time to see last month:

Noah 
I wasn't too bothered about seeing Noah and I probably won't buy the DVD, but it's definitely worth seeing if you have a few hours to spare. An amazing visual spectacle and great acting... just don't expect it to be based on the biblical story or you'll be very confused after the halfway point!

Calvary
There isn't an ounce of happiness in this film, but I did enjoy it in a morbid kind of way. It was very cleverly written and the characterisation of every single character was extremely detailed and very plausible. So not a film to watch if you're already feeling low, but not one to be ruled out altogether.

Transcendence
An excellent and very thought provoking film. It was fascinating in parts and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the film. This film will really make you wonder what scientific feats we might be able to achieve in the not too distant future, and will make you question whether this scientific advancement is a positive or a negative thing for humanity. I was slightly confused by the ending, but I think I might just have been tired!

The Amazing Spiderman 2
This film is... amazing! It's probably my favourite of all the Spiderman films I've seen to date (including the Toby Maguire trilogy). I loved the characters and the storyline, and the soundtrack was a bit epic. Although some people thought the film was too long and that the writers had tried to pack too much in, I thought it was very well made. I definitely can't wait for the next instalment. Oh, and I want to be Emma Stone. Please?


And my favourite film last month was... The Amazing Spiderman 2! Check back early next month for May's round up...

Easter in photos

I had a long five day weekend over Easter and took lots of photos of what I got up to, so I thought I'd publish an 'Easter in photos' post just to summarise my weekend. I'll be blogging about some of these activities in more detail over the next week or so, but here's a little taster. 'Taster' is a good choice of wording here... I ate rather a lot!

My weekend started early with a trip to Pizza Express on Thursday

with Edwina and Sarah

Options hot chocolate in my Easter mug

My Easter nails

Bit of gardening...

Carvery at Cedar Tree Farm

A wander to Cardiff Bay

Went to the pub and had a hot chocolate!

Neil cooked dinner one night.

Stuffed peppers, salad and continental meats to start...

...and bacon, leek and asparagus cheesy tagliatelle for the main course!

Toasted hot cross buns for breakfast

We spent a lot of time in IKEA

As a consequence of our visit to IKEA, we built some furniture

Reduced Easter chocolate 

Aldi's Mini Eggs are nicer than the real thing!

Lovely walk around Cosmeston Lakes

Jack Daniel's burger in T.G.I.Friday's

Went to see The Amazing Spiderman 2... it actually was amazing!

More cooking from Neil. Spanish scrambled eggs!

Easter present from Neil

Last hot chocolate of the weekend in Caffe Nero,

with a sneaky Lindt bunny!

What did you get up to over Easter? Did you take as many photos as I did?