Taking a pause

It is rare for us to have a weekend with no plans what with weddings to attend, hen dos to arrange family and friends across the country to see, Christmas, birthdays etc etc. I love doing these things but every now and then it is nice to take a pause to appreciate Cardiff and relax at home. 

Books to read ready for our Paris holiday

The last three weekends Hywel and I have been able to chill out, wander around Cardiff, eat, read, devour Netflix, go to the market, go to yoga, spend time with each other and get little house jobs done and it has been wonderful.

Beautiful tulips

I also sometime feel like a little pause in life is a good idea. I am currently in a job which has its busier periods in summer over the exam session so it is a little quiet at the moment giving me time to focus on other things such as improving my Spanish and French skills (come April- June I wont have time to think so don't feel too jealous!). This is different to my previous job where I was traveling a lot and not necessarily able to spend as much time with friends and family as much as I would have liked. Maybe one day I will take a job that involves me flying off to various exotic places but for now I am happy taking a pause. 

Namaste y'all

Cheers

5 things

Reading other blogs I have learnt that a common blogging feature seems to be "5 things" so, while never one for trying to fit in with the "cool girls",  in the spirit of playing along here are some 5 things of my own.

5 things I liked about the past week:

• Walking along the Cardiff Bay barrage to Penarth and having a lovely lunch at Washington tea rooms with Hywel.   
• Going to Bath for the day with my mum and discovering Mac makeup
• Babysitting my super beautiful 18 month old godson and us both surviving
• Meeting old friends (Ellen I'm looking at you here) and picking up where we left off
• Learning that Hywel will be joining me at End of the Road festival (have you seen the line up? It is fantastic.) Along with Green Man, it is shaping up to be a good festival year.

Green Man seems a long way away

5 things I am looking forward to in the coming week:

• Going to Chapter for drinks and food tomorrow night. Sweet potato fries! 
• Going to see the Wave Pictures at the moon club on Thursday. Saw them there a while back and they are just so so good
• Watching the most recent Walking Dead and Broadchurch episodes.
• Gettin' my yoga on
• Reading and re- reading my Paris books if they ever arrive, ahead of our trip in less the 4 weeks, parfait. I have been practicing my French on Duolingo by the way. It's jolly good

How I imagine myself looking in Paris

That's some good reflecting right there.

How is it still January??

The other day the wonderful Hywel went into town and came back with some lovely wool from Tiger (my new favourite shop) for me. Seeing as my every other waking thought seems to be "how is it still January??" I decided to crochet a snoody type thing to keep me warm.

I browsed the internet for some patterns but then sort of made it up as I went along.

First I made a chain of 100 (it was quite thin wool) and slip-stitched it into a circle.

Then I did 20 rows of treble stitch. easy peasy

I'm going to go ahead and pretend that I added the twist on purpose.

Wonderful!

Women I want to be when I grow up

Jessica Hynes (always Daisy Steiner to me)

Victoria Coren- poker champion and all round clever woman

Lauren Laverne- Stylish, witty, music laydee DJ

Tamsin Greig- superbly funny

They come across as witty, intelligent, funny, confident, unique, stylish, perfectly imperfect, all the things I long to be.

The weekend that was

It all started with cocktails in Wahaca, then, via a day trip to Swansea, dinner in Chapter, a run in Roath park, custard doughnuts from the Portuguese bakery, and a walk along the Taff trail, it ended with the vigil outside the Senedd for the Paris victims. Well done Cardiff (and Swansea), another amazing weekend.

the view of beautiful Swansea from the tower

This week I will be start to attempt to improve my French by watch the videos by Comme une Francaise. She has some great tips. Today I started with swearing because that's how I roll.

running needs CARBS

Any other suggestions for videos to watch to improve my French?

love this weir along the Taff trail

I am sick of....

I am sick of:

• Reading blog posts on what a twenty something English student from wherever bought from Primark/ Lush
• Feeling low when someone is better than me at yoga
• Feeling happy when I am better than someone at yoga
• Thinking I should be more accomplished/ further along in my career/ doing something more interesting when I am quite happy thank you very much
• Worrying my hobbies aren't cool enough when all I want to do is read, swim, go to yoga, go running (at my own pace), go to gigs and festivals, watch box sets, sew sometimes, go to new places, spend time in Dorset and hang out with Hywel
• Beating myself up for not practicing my French more often
• Telling myself I'm fat
• Comparing myself to others

I think you'll agree that there's a of of negativity for one brain there so I'm going to stop in 2015 and chill the Hell out.

Happy New Year all

November wrap up- Eating, drinking and gigging

Once again I have neglected my blogger duties because I was just having too much fun.

So November, where do I start. It's been a busy one exploring and enjoying the best that Cardiff has to offer.

Eating and drinking

If you didn't already know, the amazing Wahaca opening in Cardiff earlier this month. This warranted a day off work to head on down there. I first tried their Mexican street food style food in Covent Garden and absolutely loved it. The Cardiff restaurant is amazing, very cool decor and exceptionally yummy food. To make things even better, we got free tequila cocktails (slightly lethal).  As Wahaca say, if you need lemon and salt with your tequila, you're drinking the wrong tequila. Go. Try. Eat. Drink. You'll love it. Seriously, our friends who have not yet been are sick of us going on about how good it is.

Free cocktails

Last week, late to the party as usual, a few of us went down to the Depot's Street Food Cardiff event. Wow. The atmosphere they created in an urban warehouse was pretty incredible. And the food, oh the food. There was so much choice but eventually I decided to have a hot dog from Haut dogs (with popping candy on it because I'm such a darn hipster). 

hipster hotdog

Then, being surrounded by so much choice, I wanted more food.  I very rarely get to go to Bangkok Cafe so I went for the Thai Green Curry. Amaze. By this point my stomacch was too full for anything else but I tried a bite of Hywel's crème brulée and can attest to it's deliciousness. All this while drinking Prosecco. Oh yes. One piece of advice, be prepared to queue.

Me being a hotdog

Gigs

Wave Pictures at the Moon Club, Boy and Bear at Clwb Ifor Bach and the Welsh Music Prize nominees also at Clwb. I saw both the Wave Pictures and Boy and Bear at festivals over the summer but it is always nice to see a band in a smaller venue (and you can't get much smaller than the Moon Club). These bands are fantastic and I loved them. I wish that Cate le Bon had played the Welsh Music Prize gig, and Gruff, and the Manics, and future of the Left, but getting to see The Gentle Good is always lovely.

I also went to my best friend's wedding this month and pratted around in the dressing up box.

That's How for Now folks.