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 :) 

Bed and Breakfast review: Bron Rhiw

Welcome to the last of my Cricieth blog posts! I just had to finish with a review of the lovely B&B we stayed in during our trip.

Bron Rhiw is situated a 2 minute walk away from Cricieth town centre, and we chose to stay there based on its excellent reviews on Trip Advisor. It was also one of the more reasonable options we found in the Snowdonia region at £77 per room per night for bed and breakfast.

Bron Rhiw was easy to find and we were able to park easily in the building's little car park which was tucked away from the main road. We were greeted by one of the friendly owners straight away who made us feel very welcome. When I mentioned that I was pleased that they provided hot chocolate sachets in the rooms as I don't drink tea or coffee, she promptly brought me another four! I was correct in thinking that this personalised service was a good indication as to how the rest of the weekend would pan out.

The rooms at Bron Rhiw are lovely and homely and contain everything you could possibly need for a little holiday. They even supply a hairdryer in each room which can be rare in bed and breakfast establishments, and certainly very rare in a budget hotel. Everything was absolutely pristine, and my bathroom was gleaming. Just how I like it! I was also very impressed with how soft and fluffy the towels were... I know I know, I'm easily pleased.

I was very excited about trying the breakfast at Bron Rhiw as we'd read such good reviews on Trip Advisor. Breakfast was served between 8 and 9am, and we could choose whatever we fancied from their breakfast menu. They also had a selection of cereals, fruit and juices available for guests. I loved their little dining room and all the unique touches that made it so welcoming. Again, everything about the room and its set up was immaculate!

I'm a bit awkward when it comes to a full English breakfast as I don't like mushrooms, tomatoes or black pudding. I therefore chose to have various combinations of bacon, eggs, beans and sausage on the three days. All the food was sourced from local suppliers and you could really taste the superior quality... I especially loved the bacon. We had the choice to have our eggs fried, scrambled or poached and could also choose white or wholemeal toast. I had Weetabix as well as my cooked breakfast on the second and third mornings... I just love food (and Weetabix) too much. Neil tried their smoked salmon and scrambled eggs combination twice and loved it. It did look amazing in terms of its presentation, but unfortunately I can't stand salmon!

Bron Rhiw didn't just look impressive inside... the exterior was also very pretty and welcoming, and the owners clearly put a lot of effort into the upkeep of the building. I loved the flower boxes and I always think white buildings look extra sparkly and accommodating if they're taken good care of. The view from the road outside the B&B was also beautiful and made me feel really peaceful and a million miles away from city life whenever I saw it!

We spoke to the owners, Claire and Sian, quite a few times during our stay. They were so friendly and knowledgeable about the area, as well as being able to cook an amazing breakfast! I actually prefer to stay in a B&B / guesthouse rather than a hotel as it's quite rare to experience this attentive and homely service in a hotel.

I would definitely recommend this B&B to everyone and would certainly consider staying there again if we go back to North West Wales in the future. Has anyone stayed at Bron Rhiw? What did you think?

Outfit of the Day: Little Black Dress, Cricieth style!

Everyone loves a little black dress, yes?

I've been a bit obsessed with New Look lately and have treated myself to a few things from there ready for my honeymoon. I decided to take one of my new New Look outfits away with me to Cricieth as I wanted to wear something new and the weather forecast was promising. I also wanted to practice wearing my rather lovely new heels!

Dress - New Look

Bag - New Look (out of stock)

Shoes - New Look 

I'd be grateful if you could ignore my pasty white legs!

The dress is very simple and is in my beloved skater style. I genuinely don't think skater dresses look bad on anyone. It has a delicate daisy trim around the neckline and is just the right length for my extremely short legs. The accompanying floral bag is just beautiful and is the perfect size for going out in the evening. I could comfortably fit my phone, camera, keys and evening purse into the little bag. As for the shoes... I love these shoes! The heel is around 2.5 inches tall so they're not too high (even for me), and the slingback design means they can't fall off my feet. This is a problem I frequently experience while wearing heels, so the little strap at the back helps a lot and makes me feel a lot more confident that I won't fall over and break my ankle in an embarrassing manner. 

I teamed the dress with a black short sleeved bolero cardigan for our walk into town as it was a bit chilly. The cardigan is from Amazon and was only £4... I've also bought it in stone, white and cerise ready for our honeymoon! I couldn't resist getting some other colours at that bargain price. The crochet detail is really pretty and the 8/10 size is a perfect fit. 

What's your favourite little black dress?

Cricieth... the food edition!

Yes that's right, I'm still raving about my weekend in Cricieth! You won't be surprised to hear that we ate a lot of food so I thought I should dedicate a whole blog post to the various snacks and meals we had during the holiday.

I should probably start with confessing how many times we went to Cadwaladers during our holiday... we went for an ice cream on the Friday evening after we arrived, went for another ice cream on the Saturday afternoon and went again for lunch and dessert on the Sunday afternoon. Obviously I just can't resist their amazing ice cream! The Cadwaladers restaurant in Cricieth is lovely and has a beautiful view of the seaside at the back of the restaurant. We were lucky enough to find a table overlooking the sea on all three occasions!

First ice cream - sticky toffee pudding and caramel pecan

Second ice cream - strawberry and honeycomb

Neil's lunch... chilli con carne in a bread bowl! I had food envy as my 

barbecue chicken panin didn't look this good. 

Food envy disappeared when my amazing dessert
turned up... strawberry meringue tower. A tidy Eton Mess!

Don't panic, we did eat in other places apart from Cadwaladers. On our first evening, after having our ice cream, we went to the Prince of Wales pub for some food and a few drinks as we'd read lots of positive reviews on Trip Advisor and we didn't fancy eating in an upmarket restaurant on our first night. I ordered the chilli con carne with half rice and half chips, expecting something similar to the chilli I've experienced in Wetherspoons... nice, but nothing spectacular. However, independent pubs in North Wales obviously put a lot more effort into their food and presentation! The chilli was lovely and clearly wasn't a microwaveable meal, the chips were chunky and tasty, and even the 'wild rice' was extra nice! 

We had breakfast every day in our little guesthouse... I'll be writing a separate blog post about Bron Rhiw but here's a preview of the breakfast I decided to have on our first morning!

We went to an Indian restaurant called the Spice Bank on the Saturday evening. We originally wanted to go to the Poachers restaurant on the High Street but they were fully booked, and Indian is always a good alternative. I went for the keema byriani as I've never tried it before and wanted to try something different as we were in a new place. It was served with half a boiled egg which I've never experienced with a byriani before... the whole thing was delicious! We had the usual poppadoms and chutneys which weren't too impressive and probably came out of a jar (the chutneys, not the poppadoms!, but my main meal more than made up for that. 

I've already blogged about our visit to Caffi Cwrt so I won't expand on that here, but here's a picture that pretty much sums up how amazing it was! 

No trip to the seaside is complete without fish and chips so, on our last evening in Cricieth, we visited the local fish and chip shop and ate our dinner on the sea front surrounded by fellow tourists, pet dogs and seagulls. Thankfully the seagulls aren't as aggressive in Cricieth as they are in Cardiff... they left us well alone. I'm not a big fan of fish so I had a battered sausage and chips instead. I haven't had a battered sausage in years! It was a lovely simple meal and a great way to finish off the weekend. 

Are you concerned about my eating habits yet? Don't worry, I do go to the gym a lot,  honestly! 

Have you eaten in any of the restaurants featured above? Let me know!