Ah, another month gone. This one was pretty good, as it involved a holiday in Pembrokeshire and lots of exploring!
Here’s what I did…
The main feature of my month was that I went on holiday – hooray! I haven’t been away for a week or more since I went to China in February, and although that was a brilliant trip, it wasn’t exactly a relaxing holiday. So I felt like I deserved some time off!
I went with my three girlfriends and along the way we picked up Eddie the cavapoo. Eddie is my friend Becky’s parents dog, and the holiday was based around us staying at their house and looking after Eddie whilst they themselves were on holiday. They live in Pembrokeshire, so we had a wonderful week and a half exploring the national park!
It was my ideal holiday in so many aspects – mostly because it involved exploring new places, lots of walking and lots of eating! We also went horse riding on the beach which has been on bucket list for a long time! We got pretty lucky the weather – it was windy and rainy but seemed to miss us whilst we are out and about and towards the end of the holiday we completely lucked out with a beautiful day.
Everywhere we visited was so beautiful, especially our walk at Stackpole on the last day before we drove home.
Also being the massive bird nerd I am, I was very happy to see a Chough for the first time, plus a Kestrel at close proximity and some kind of very large bird of prey which I think was either an Osprey or a Hobby. It was also seal pupping season and we spotted one, as well as its mum out nearby!
Everyone we met was so friendly, and we even squeezed in a Parkrun at Milford Waterfront which was in its sixth week and had 40 runners the day we were there – the smallest event I’ve ever been to!
Big love to my girlies for a wonderful holiday & to Becky for inviting us and driving us there, back and around!
Once I got back from holiday I met up with my Auntie Sandra, for what seems like what’s becoming our annual meet-up (as of last year at least.) We met up in Victoria, and went for a delicious lunch at Kazan followed by tea and a cupcake at Peggy Porschen.
I went to an old colleague’s housewarming party in Putney and had a good old catch-up with all the people I used to work with in my first job out of university. We got there about 5pm, left around 11pm and many glasses of wine were had…
My friend Jane, who I met at a festival just a few months ago, had a party for her 60th Birthday which involved going to a ceilidh which is always a lot of fun! We retired back at hers around the fire with a glass of her delicious chokecherry vodka.
And it seems I’ve made Sundays a day for dating myself. It all started totally unplanned one Sunday, when I had a craving for pancakes, so I decided to take myself out for them and a walk afterwards. My local pancake place let me down, so instead I made a trip to Canvas & Cream in Forest Hill. I spent a blissful hour eating tasty pancakes, drinking tea and reading my book, followed by walking the Sydenham to Ladywell Park section of the Waterlink Way.
And then last Sunday I took a day trip to the wonderful Sheffield Park & Garden to see it in its autumn glory. To get there I had to take a bus, a train and then a steam train which was a truly novel experience and I enjoyed every minute of it. I wandered around the gardens, taking in all the changing colours of the trees and admiring the beautiful reflective lakes, and then immersed myself in the woodland for a touch of forest bathing and a spot of lunch. I of course bought a postcard (if you didn’t know, I collect them) and got my stamp in my National Trust passport (I collect those too.)
I finally got stuck back in to volunteering with London Wildlife Trust‘s Great North Wood project again too – I haven’t been able to make a day since early July! We were in Biggin Wood this time, and felled some trees that had died and been taken over by ivy, and were at risk of falling onto the path, as well as giving room for the ancient oaks to germinate.
This month I’ve been obsessed with…
I’ve had a few short-lived ‘obsessions’ this month instead of one central one…
I’ve made the switch from tea bags to loose leaf tea at home so bought myself this beautiful set from T2 (as recommended by my housemate, who is a tea addict and has tested every loose leaf tea apparatus there is.)
I had a craving to watch Jane Eyre (2011) the other night after listening to this song I discovered a while ago on repeat from the soundtrack. I’ve seen it before, but was suddenly obsessed with English romanticism, and the next day bought the book which I’ve never read but am now desperate to dig my claws into.
I’ve been reading…
I’ve finished up Order of The Phoenix, and have resisted the temptation to continue straight on to #6, so have been reading these in between…
Destined by Aprilynne Pike – the final instalment of the Wings series which I started as a teen, and have re-read recently to get to this point. It was good, but felt a bit lacklustre after reading HP!
Finally bought my friend Tiffany’s book (she’s another one of those friend-from-the-internet-met-up-in-real-life-once-but-still-kinda-friends) ‘Dark Skies‘ which I’m currently in the midst of. It’s really beautiful nature writing about the night sky which Tiff explores through different landscapes. It’s made me want to get out into nature at night!
Want to keep up with what I’m reading? Come follow me on GoodReads.
I’ve been watching…
TV
My month keeping up with weekly TV has come to an end as The Circle and GBBO have now finished for the year. Even on holiday, I stuck to my schedule and even got my friends following them to the point where when we got home from holiday we were all watching The Circle final at home and messaging each other a play-by-play!
I also finally dipped my toe into the Killing Eve pool and I. fell. deep. I binged Season 1 in one day, and then watched Season 2 over the next few evenings. Now I’m impatiently awaiting Season 3.
Film
We surprisingly didn’t binge on many films on holiday, but we did watch the very cheesy ‘Falling Inn Love‘ on Netflix! It’s a Hallmark meets Netflix type rom-com which was on the right side of so bad it’s good.
At Screen25 I saw Woman at War – a very funny and poignant movie from Iceland, and Booksmart – a hilarious coming-of-age movie directed by Olivia Wilde. Fantastic cast.
I went to see a preview of ‘The Aeronauts‘ starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. I didn’t quite know what to expect, and I’m not quite sure what I thought of it. It was quite a plain movie in terms of the plot but also kept you on your toes.
And last night I finally got around to watching 2010’s The Social Network which was really interesting and engaging, but I got fed up of all the whiney rich men.
Want to know what else I’m watching? Come follow me on Letterboxd.
Looking ahead…
I’ve put myself on a ‘No Spend November’ challenge this month in an effort to boost my savings and to see how much I can save when I don’t spend it all on pizza, pins and people! I’ve got a separate blog drafted about this so keep your eyes peeled for the deets, but it basically involves trying not to spend money past the basics i.e. rent, bills, food. You’ll get a full run down of how this goes next month…
Some big exciting changes are happening at work which is going to keep me busy for most of November!
And I’m off to Norfolk for a weekend with my work family. We’re staying in a colleague’s friends house near the beach, with no internet and little reception…bliss. There’s an RSPB site nearby so I’ve got my fingers crossed for a Bittern sighting!
‘Til next time!
according to gaia 