A long weekend in Llangennith

We went to the Gower last weekend with Jessie for a well-earned break. We had a lovely relaxing time and it was very difficult to go back to reality last week!

We arrived on the Friday afternoon and were greeted by blue skies and abundant sunshine. The Gower is a beautiful part of the world, and Llangennith is definitely a jewel in its crown.

We took Jessie for a quick walk after we'd checked in, then we stopped for a drink in the beer garden at the pub we were staying in. After we'd finished our drinks, we went inside to the pub's dog-friendly area to have our dinner. I'd been craving a burger all day, so that's exactly what I ordered and it didn't disappoint. 

On Saturday morning, we got up bright and early and went for breakfast. We ate in the dog-friendly area again so that Jessie could join us, and she very much enjoyed all the attention from our fellow diners and their dogs. 

After we'd finished our poached eggs on toast, we set off for the beach. The beach is a half hour walk from the pub so we had a nice warm-up before we got to the main attraction. Seeing Jessie bounding around in the soft sand at the entrance to the beach was one of my highlights of the whole weekend. 

The entrance and surrounding area were fairly busy, but as we walked along the beach it became more and more secluded. Jessie loved every second of it, and I loved seeing her so happy. We stopped for a few breaks to give her little legs a rest (and for me to take a hundred photos of her), then we turned around and walked back towards the entrance. 

After our long walk along the beach, we stopped for a drink and some cake at the diner nearby before walking back to the pub. It wouldn't have felt like a Saturday if we didn't partake in our traditional coffee and hot chocolate ritual! 

We spent a sunny afternoon in the beer garden when we got back to the pub. There were loads of dogs there with their humans, and they all looked as zonked as Jessie did after their long walks. 

After a couple of drinks, we headed back inside to our beloved dog-friendly area. I'd seen a few people eating pizza in the beer garden, so that's what I decided to order because I'm far too impressionable for my own good. 

Jessie was well and truly exhausted after our long walk, so she passed out into a deep slumber as soon as we got back to our room. She's the cutest dog in the world, particularly when she's sleepy. 

We went for our final breakfast on Sunday, then we took Jessie for another little walk before we packed up our things. Her little legs must still have been tired from the day before as she refused to walk very far! 

Once we'd checked out, we drove to my parents' house in Carmarthenshire. We spent a nice relaxing day with them which included eating my mother's Sunday dinner and watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and we stayed over on Sunday night to maximise our time with them. Their garden is amazing, particularly during the summer months, so I absolutely had to feature a photo of it on my blog. 

After a trip to Costa with my parents on Monday morning for another hot chocolate fix, we drove back to Penarth to blitz all our chores before going back to work on Tuesday. 

And, just like that, the weekend was over. Although it seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, we had such a great time and loved spending some quality time with Jessie and with each other. It's always lovely to catch up with my parents too, and it felt as if we fitted lots of nice things in to our long weekend. 

Hopefully we'll be back in the Gower with Jessie very soon... watch this space! 

My August in Instagram squares

August was a super busy month, as you can tell from my lack of blog posts (again). How is it September already?! However, all is not lost. As my Instagram feed has been kept faithfully up to date, I thought I'd write another monthly update using my Instagram photos as it's such a good way of summarising in squares. It turns out that I did (and ate) quite a lot in August... 

1. We went to Bar 44 in Penarth for the first time. As we went on a Sunday, we decided to go for the Sunday roast sharing platter. It was spectacular, as was my Nutty Brazilian cocktail and my cheesecake. It most definitely needs to become one of our regular haunts.  

2. I went away to North Wales to work at the Eisteddfod for six days. I was surrounded by beautiful views! It unfortunately rained nearly every afternoon while I was there, but the evenings were gloriously sunny. 

3. We did lots of painting in our house... we now have four freshly painted rooms. I love my pink living room wall the most!

4. I went for a lovely walk on one of my days off when we had a rare day of sunshine. I took about 40 photos but I think this one is my favourite...

5. I finished off my holiday shopping in trusty New Look and Primark. So many bargains in this photograph!

6. We visited Clarks Village for the first time and I loved it. I saved £54 on the goodies below which was actually more than I spent, so I definitely can't argue with that.

7. We went for a meal at my favourite curry house... Balti Cuisine! They love us there because we just keep coming back... and back... and back.

8. We went for a long walk to a very cloudy Cardiff Bay Beach... it was pretty cold and my short dress and flip flops certainly weren't appropriate for the occasion. 

9. We spent a less cloudy day in Cardiff city centre and I bought myself a new Pandora charm! It's becoming an expensive obsession and probably deserves its very own blog post at some point.

10. I went home to my parents' house for a few days. I spent hours chatting and laughing with my parents,  spent time in their beautiful garden, and met up with my best friend from school and her handsome little boy.

11. I went out for my friend from work's leaving do... I was driving so had lots of fruity (and sugary) mocktails! I used the occasion to wear one of my favourite dresses.

12. Neil and I had a little treat in Costa... sometimes I just can't say no to their tiffin.

13. I had a lovely date night with Sarah which consisted of food, an epic catch up, and Trainwreck at the cinema. We go to Bellini's every time!

14. Neil and I went to Nando's for the first time since our wedding. It's more expensive there than we remembered, or perhaps we're just more tight these days. A mortgage will do that to you.

15. I went to London for the day to visit Ice Bar and to see the Alice's Adventures Underground show. I absolutely loved every minute of it (apart from the tedious bus journey there and back), and I won a £40 gift voucher from Ice Bar as a result of my photos and enthusiastic captions! 

16. We hosted our first ever dinner party at our house which meant I got to use my beautiful heart shaped dipping bowls. They're possibly the most Instagrammable pieces of crockery I own.

17. We finished off our freshly painted bathroom with this pretty set of canvases. Very calming and bathroom-y!

18. Lastly, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary at the end of August... that deserves a post all to itself so I'll blog about it when we get back from holiday at the end of September (if I ever have some free time!). 

What did everyone else get up to in August? Did you also write a blog post which summarised your month into Instagram squares? Send me your links if so :) 

My new favourite drink... Limoncello Fever!

I discovered a new drink on our recent visit to Amalfi... the amazing Limoncello Fever.

I've been a big fan of Limoncello since our honeymoon last year, so I was intrigued when I spotted the Limoncello Fever on the bar menu of our favourite drinking haunt in Piazza Duomo. It was made up of Limoncello, Prosecco and papaya syrup which sounded pretty tasty. I was torn between ordering something new and ordering something I knew I loved such as a Bellini, but I decided to go for the new option just to try it out. I was hooked at once and drank several more before our holiday came to an end.

The lovely staff at our hotel kindly gave us a bottle of Limoncello when we left Amalfi which meant I had a third of the ingredients I needed to recreate my new favourite drink.

Possibly as a result of my enthusiastic raving about my new favourite drink, I had a bottle of Prosecco and another bottle of Limoncello for my birthday as I mentioned in my last blog post. I also eventually managed to track down some papaya juice in Asda's foreign food aisle so I was all set. I was determined to have a few Limoncello Fevers to celebrate my birthday weekend as it seemed like the perfect occasion to indulge in a few homemade cocktails.

We set up our new garden chairs on the Sunday afternoon of my birthday weekend and I eagerly made myself a Limoncello Fever in one of our fancy cocktail glasses. It might not have been quite the same as the ones I had in Amalfi (probably because I had to use papaya juice instead of syrup), but it was still pretty good.

I sat in the garden for an hour or two on that Sunday afternoon, reading my Kindle and drinking two Limoncello Fevers. Our cocktail glasses are huge, but it's a drink that goes down very nicely and is dangerously easy to drink. It was a perfect afternoon and I haven't felt that relaxed for a very long time. I think it was probably the combination of being outside, reading a good book and being considerably mellowed by my potent cocktails! 

Do you like Limoncello? Or Prosecco? Or papaya juice? Or possibly all three? If so, I urge you to try a Limoncello Fever one day. I promise you won't regret it!

Idyllic Images #31

Beautiful flowers from my parents' garden