Sorry about my absence as of late! The last six weeks have been a fab but crazy mix of social events, from hen nights to music festival and gigs. So much so that I have barely had a time to draw a breath! It does however mean that it has taken me a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things!
So I will start where I left off back in mid May when I, my mum, and sister travelled down to Chichester over the weekend to visit my Nan for the day. We spent a lovely but rare day altogether in the city having breakfast and shopping, before we headed back to my Nan's where we dug out old photos and reminisced of times gone by. My Nan also gave me my Great-Nan's wedding ring whilst we were there which was a perfect fit and I am honoured to wear, and she gave my sister our Great-Nan's engagement ring.
Below you can see the lovely view down Chichester high street looking towards the cathedral with its bustling market stalls. It was also one of the first nicer days we had had weather wise in a while at that point, even though there was still a chill in the air.
Sunday was then spent chilling as we knew that we had quite a few busy weekends coming up!
The following week my hubby had a few days off of work so on one of them we popped into town to try out a new Italian that we have been meaning to check out for a while now, and I am so glad that we did as it was lovely! It was just a shame that it was chucking it down when we left, and proceeded to for the rest of the day after that!
Thankfully it had stopped by the following day though and we had a couple of lovely sunny days over the next weekend, which was lucky as I had the Hen Day/Night of one of the girls from my uni Illustration course.
For the first part of the hen we went to Brighton, where we partook in a mosaic making course that was run from a lovely ladies house. I wasn't sure how it would go as apart from the bathroom tiling (which I hated) I didn't really have any experience when it came to mosaic making, and time does have a habit of running away with me during things like that. However I need have not worried as it was a rather therapeutic and relaxing experience, I finished my piece in the given time, and it turned out well!
We started with a little practice square and Gill our tutor gave us a few pointers, but she was very hands off and let us experiment with colours etc before we went in and chose the template for our main piece. I chose a bunny/hare obviously!
We all had a lovely time and it was great to reunite with the Illustration girls as it had been a good 5 years since we had last all been together, yet once we were together it seemed like only yesterday since we had seen one another.
Below you can see my finished piece, the gorgeous organic lunch that Gill and her daughter laid on for us, and their cute little dog Lulu who I think that we all fell in love with!
After the mosaic making five of us including the bride made our way to a glamping experience which the Maid of Honour drove us to, and again like the mosaic making she had organised as a surprise for the bride.
The 40 min journey from Brighton to finding the place was in itself hilarious and involved lots of girly chat and giggles, as well as listening to 90's pop hits from our youth!
We managed to find the place after not too much searching, even though it was in the middle of nowhere on a private family farm. Once there there were two yurts one of which was ours, and then there were a few other groups and families of general campers within the field too. The weather was also lovely when we arrived, and despite the rain of the previous few days the ground was still pretty hard.
Once we had settled in and had a few glasses of bubbly we headed out to check out the local pub for some dinner. It was a pretty little pub and quite busy considering it was in a small village, and we even bumped into another hen night there! Their party was much rowdier in comparison to our quiet affair though!
The food there was also lovely and in the evening there was a band that played which sounded quite good but that we didn't stay for, as we headed back to the yurt for a chilled evening of hen night games instead. The journey back once again was filled with girly giggles!
On our return there was what sounded like a rave going on the field next to us, but we couldn't work out where it was coming from as we couldn't see anything, but it sounded like it was right next to us. It went on throughout the evening which was quite puzzling at the time. We didn't mind as we were on a hen do but we did wonder what others around us may think, especially the families as it went on until 12:30am at which point it suddenly came to an abrupt stop. It made for an amusing night though, along with trying to light the log burner in our yurt, and trying to put up the camp beds in semi-darkness!
I don't think that any of us really got much sleep, and I woke up to the dawn chorus. But it was another glorious day so I didn't really mind! Once up we enjoyed a cuppa in the sunshine before making our way over to meet the land owner's animals before we left.
Whilst up there we met the owner's who apologized for the music the night before. It turned out that even though it sounded like it was right next to us that it was actually a mile and a half away, and that it had been an illegal rave on the land of an elderly lady who had let it out for the weekend! Thankfully the police had intervened after the owners reported it, but I do hope that they didn't cause too much damage for the poor lady! But I still can't believe how much the sound travelled over the fields!
All in all we had a lovely time and the bride thoroughly enjoyed her surprises!
Below you can see pics of our yurt, the beautiful weather, our flower crowns and badges, my yummy dessert from the pub, and us making friends with the animals!
The weekend after consisted of another Hen Day/Night, and this time it was that of my hubby's sister.
For her hen we went around her house and had an afternoon of hen night games, bubbles, nibbles, and more girly chat and giggles! One of the games we played involved us being in three different teams and making a wedding dress out of toilet paper! We ended up in a draw with the other teams for our creation, for which my hubby's 84 year old Nan loved being the model! We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and once again the Maid of Honour did a fab job of organising everything, and we were once again lucky enough with the weather than we could spend the afternoon/evening outside.
It was also especially lovely to be there to enjoy it with her as we were unable to attend the wedding, as they only decided within the last few months that they wanted to get married whilst on holiday in Las Vegas.
Below you can see my party bag from the hen, and all of the pegs that my hubby's Aunty and Nan managed to collect from other people in one of the games. Within the game we all started off with four pegs each when we got there, but lost one every time we mentioned the word wedding or the groom's name, and as you can see they took it very seriously!
After Saturday's hen night antics Sunday was a quietish one, which involved having a BBQ and a catch up with some of my hubby's friends around their new house. Unfortunately the weather even though rather warm and sticky didn't hold out on this occasion and we had a fair downpour mid BBQ, but we still had a lovely time catching up with everyone!
Monday marked the last of the May Bank Holiday's, but being how busy we had been and how busy we were still going to be we had a quiet one and I spent the day in my pj's playing with our little Flo!
That Friday my hubby had the day off as we had the gig of David Ford at Islington Assembly Hall. He is one of my hubby's favourite artists, even though I am not so keen. I did however enjoy seeing him and his support acts, Michele Stodart of the Magic Numbers, and JP Ruggieri. The small grade II listed building was also beautiful even though it did have an extremely sticky floor! We also successfully managed to dodge some rather heavy showers along the way!
Below you can see a few pics from the night.
So after having David Ford on the Friday, getting back from London at 1:30am and trying to live stream my hubby's sisters wedding in Vegas on the train on the way home which was pretty surreal, Sat and Sun were relatively quiet one's with me trying to get organised for the next events that I had coming week.
Firstly on the Mon I had the wedding of my uni Illustration friend whose hen night was the first that I mentioned in this post. For this I had to be up bright and early and wedding ready in order to catch a train for the 3 and a half hour train journey up to Leammington Spa where the wedding was being held, and where she now lives. Unfortunately my hubby couldn't get the time off of work to attend, but I managed to meet another of my uni friend's en-route. Thankfully we managed to arrive in a pretty wet Leammington Spa plenty of time, despite a half hour delay along the way and quickly checked into our Travelodge before getting a taxi to the venue.
The venue was set in the 250 acre grounds of a 16th century manor house, with the ceremony being held in a modern barn and the reception in a static marquee. Thankfully it had stopped raining by the time that we arrived at the venue and for the arrival of the bride who looked gorgeous in her 50's style lace dress, and for the bridesmaids who looked beautiful in their blue floral halterneck tea dresses complete with porcelain chameleon necklaces. The weather then continued to hold off long enough to get photos outside, but it did bucket it down once the reception was in full swing! Still it didn't dampen the party atmosphere and we all enjoyed partying the night away!
Below you can see a few pics from the lovely day including the cute little terrariums that we were given as wedding favours, the BBQ style main meal and wedding cake dessert, the origami butterfly's made out of maps signifying the couples love for travel, and the albatrosses which signify the couples love of nature and the fact that they are birds that mate for life.
Most of Tuesday was then spent travelling back home, just for me to get back and pack ready to go off to the midlands again early the following morning for my annual trip to Download Festival!
I have blogged about Download Festival (which is the UK's biggest rock festival) and my love for it many times before, and this year was just as amazing as always! We were also the luckiest that we have been with the weather for years, only getting a bit of rain overnight on the Weds and a little on the wind on the Thursday morning. Besides that it was sunshine and cloud on and off for the five days that we were there, with a bit of a wind which blew any bad weather away. So pretty much perfect festival conditions! We even got to sit on the grass in the arena for the whole time this year, which again is something that just hasn't been possible with the weather over the last few years. We enjoy it every year, but good weather makes it so much better! It was so good to get away, chill with friends, meet up with our Download family again, and party hard!
As usual the five days of partying and going to bed in the early hours has meant that it has taken me a good week to recover and get back into the flow of things, but it was worth it as always! Thankfully this year I didn't end up with the mouth ulcer and blister issues that I had last year, just the usual bruises!
Below you can see a selection of pics from our time at Download Festival this year!
The queue to get in this year that went across the road and around the car park!
Our first ever Download rainbow late on Thursday afternoon! If look closely you can see a faint double rainbow!
More rainbow pictures because it was just so pretty, and the gorgeous sunset on Thursday night
More pics of the sunset on Thursday night, again because it was just gorgeous!
View of Main Stage on Friday our first day in the main arena
Always wellies even if the weather is good, and spot the man up the speaker!
Fireworks after Biffy Clyro and fun in the "Dog House" rock club!
The beautiful bright moon over the campsite in the early hours of Sunday morning, and dawn breaking on Sunday morning
The stunning blue skies over Main Stage on Sunday
The beggining of Aerosmith's headlining set on Sunday night to end the festival
The stunning sunset over the arena on Sunday night! The perfect way to end the festival!
So that finally nearly brings you up to date with everything, apart from this Saturday just gone when the hubby and I went to the Olympic Stadium to see Guns "N" Roses!
We had both been so looking forward to since we were lucky enough to get the tickets last year, and I have to say they didn't disappoint! I was a little apprehensive as to whether Axl Rose would actually turn up on time or at all as he doesn't have the best reputation these days, but he did and his voice was still amazing! We met friends there that had also been lucky enough to get tickets, and we all had the best time! The Olympic Stadium was also amazing and so huge, I think that we were all pretty overwhelmed by it! It was also one of the hottest days of the year at 30 degrees in the shade, so we were all melting especially on the tube but it was all worth it!
I was so glad that it was worth it too as we had all so been looking forward to it! Plus we also missed my hubby's sister UK wedding reception after her Vegas wedding to be there, as we already had the tickets when she announced it and they were like gold dust to get! We were hoping to pop in on the way back though, but our journey back was such a nightmare that we didn't get in until 3:30am! Thankfully she understood that the wedding was planned last minute though and that people probably would have plans, but it was still a shame to miss it as we understandably would have loved to have been there.
Below you can see a few pics from the evening!
The amazing Olympic Stadium!
The Orbit sculpture at the Olympic Park, and the London skyline with the building work going on in the vicinity of the stadium
The view from inside the stadium was just stunning!
Waiting for Guns "N" Roses to come on!
Guns "N" Roses doing their thing! Slash was amazing on guitar as always
Sunday was then spent chilling at my parents for Father's Day which it was another scorcher of a day! So much so that my sister and I got out our childhood paddling pool for the first time in over 5 years, and it was still in one piece! We also had a lovely BBQ.
So that rounds up a pretty amazing but crazy six weeks, and if you are still reading for this thank you for bearing with a very long post!
I hope that you are all well too, and that if you are here in the UK and particularly in the South of England like me that you haven't been too fried by the heatwave over the last few days! It hit over 34 degrees here on Weds which was also the longest day of the year! For those of you that aren't in the UK that probably doesn't sound very hot, but for us it's unheard of and was record breaking!
Thankfully there was a bit more of a breeze here yesterday the and we had the odd rumble of thunder so it was a little fresher and more comfortable in the mid 20's, and again today we are in the mid 20's and its bright but still breezy. Florrie however was not at all impressed with Weds temperatures! I will update more on Flo and my progress with Bobby Bunny and Friends over the next few days, but for now I will end this post before it gets any longer! Thanks for visiting as always! x
Then the second time was the other week which was so funny to watch because as she gradually began to nod of her head would drop like a baby which would wake her up again, until she eventually fell fast asleep as you can see below.
Then the second time was the other week which was so funny to watch because as she gradually began to nod of her head would drop like a baby which would wake her up again, until she eventually fell fast asleep as you can see below.
