A busy weekend!

Last weekend was a bit hectic, so obviously I had to blog about it. I love using my blog to document various events and photos, even if they might seem mundane to other people. Isn't that what a lifestyle blog should be all about?

It all started with an awards ceremony at the Vale Resort on Friday night. A campaign led by my organisation had been shortlisted for a Welsh Housing Award... we won! It was a lovely evening (with amazing chocolates) and it gave me a chance to wear my beautiful new dress. I love the lacy detail... this might be my new favourite dress.

This dress is from Tesco, believe it or not!

Neil and I went to McArthur Glen in Bridgend on Saturday afternoon to do some Christmas shopping. I was absolutely determined to finish my Christmas shopping this weekend, and I always get some great bargains in McArthur Glen. It didn't disappoint, and I even managed to spend some money on myself... two pairs of jeans for £37 in Gap. Gap jeans are the only jeans which fit me properly as they actually cater for short people, so I was very happy with this bargain. They were originally supposed to be £39.99 each! I really wanted to post a few photographs of the presents I bought for other people, but I'm not risking it in case they happen to stumble upon my blog. That would be highly unfortunate.

Beautiful Christmas tree in McArthur Glen

We obviously had to pop in to Sidoli's for a break...

After finishing our shopping, we drove to pick Liz up from the bus station then went back to my flat to watch the rugby. I'm not going to comment on the result! We then went to Tenkaichi and ate a LOT of food, then went back to the flat to watch Black Books and play Scrabble. I won... I never win anything two nights in a row. Another lovely evening was had by all. 

On Sunday morning, I drove to Cribbs Causeway with Liz to meet Amy, another university friend. Our Christmas shopping trip to Cribbs has become an annual tradition and it's always a good chance to catch up on all the news and to blitz the last few bits of Christmas shopping. I loved the Christmas decorations in the shopping centre... 22 days to go!

Very similar to the decorations in Cardiff's St David's 2 shopping centre

Palm trees and Christmas trees... why not?

Pretty decorations in John Lewis

No visit to Cribbs is complete without a visit to Pizza Hut

After a very successful two days of shopping, I've actually finished my Christmas shopping! However, after such a busy weekend of catching up, eating and shopping, I feel as if I need another two days off just to recover. I'm definitely not complaining though, I love productive and sociable weekends. 

What did you get up to last weekend?

Climbing Pen y Fan

My boyfriend and I decided to climb Pen y Fan on Saturday, which is apparently the highest peak in South Wales. It's situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park and is surrounded by beautiful scenic views. We've been meaning to climb it for months, but have never had the time or the weather to do it. We thought the bank holiday weekend would be a great opportunity, so we armed ourselves with water and sun cream and went for it.

Firstly, of course, we had to make sure we had enough energy to actually complete the climb...

Neil's home made jambalaya!

After filling ourselves with jambalaya, we drove to Brecon in the sunshine and parked in a very full car park. Obviously a lot of people had the same idea as we did. The climb presented lots of opportunities for me to use my new phone camera, as there were amazing views every step of the way. I go to the gym three or four times a week, but still found the climb pretty strenuous as I've never climbed any kind of peak before. However, I was spurred on by the fact that numerous children and dogs were bounding up and down without a care in the world. We kept going at a steady pace and completed the climb in about 40 minutes. The view at the top was very rewarding!

I took loads of photos during the climb and at the top, but here are the best of the bunch... 

Climbing back down was possibly harder than climbing up, due to the uneven cobbled path. Luckily, I didn't fall and only had one minor skid. An impressive amount of exercise for a Saturday!

We obviously worked up an appetite, so went to Pizza Hut a few hours later then went to see The Great Gatsby. Blog post to follow on that!

Hawaiian pizza with a bit of red onion thrown in... old school. 

Has anyone else climbed Pen y Fan? I would like to tackle Snowdon next... I'll keep you posted. 

Restaurant Review: Pizza Hut

This is a very delayed restaurant review, but I've been super busy for the last few weeks. We went to Pizza Hut in Cardiff Bay Retail Park a few weeks ago based on a spur-of-the-moment decision. Although I love the pizza there, it never springs to mind as the first choice when we're deciding where to eat. We tend to eat in Pizza Express rather than in Pizza Hut, but the former is a bit more pretentious at times. The Pizza Hut restaurant in Cardiff Bay is always far less crowded than the one in the centre of town, and I find that the atmosphere is more relaxed. The one in the centre of town is always full of noisy teenagers, whereas the one in the Bay is generally full of families. Families will always be preferable to noisy teenagers in my book.

Seeing as the salad bowl now comes free with every main meal, I started with that. I'm always disappointed with the salad in Pizza Hut, mainly because I compare it with the salad bar at the Harvester. No contest. Unfortunately, on this occasion there was even less than usual to shout about when it came to the salad bar.

Slim pickings!

There's never anything wrong with the salad itself and it always tastes nice, but there's just not enough choice. However, I did capitalise on the opportunity to eat lots of bacon bits with thousand island dressing. Salad of kings.

Our pizzas came just as we finished our salad bowls. I ordered the Veggie Supreme with a thin Italian base and, as usual, it was very tasty. To be fair to Pizza Hut, their salad might be rubbish but their pizza has never disappointed me. I also liked the black slate it was served on... I'm easily pleased, I know. 

So many vegetables... I could almost convince myself that it's healthy. Almost. 

Another satisfying experience at Pizza Hut! I'm not sure why I don't choose it as my first choice more often, but it's definitely a good back-up plan. What do other people think of Pizza Hut? Salad bar aside...