Making the most of life

I am someone with a tendency to over think things.  Recent gin and tonic fueled chatting about life with some of the closest people in my life in a hot tub in the Forest of Dean last week, along with sucky things happening to people close to us, has put me in a reflective mood.  I am determined to  to..., to what? Live life I suppose and not stress the small things. So...eat that bit of cake, go to that gig, do nothing, do something, phone your friend, don't phone that friend who always makes you feel bad about yourself, walk, laugh about it, say yes, say no, completely ignore me and make your own list, don't inspect badly taken work lanyard photos to closely (this one might just be me), and realise that there ain't nothing wrong with turning 30 (or any age) this year.

Here are some awesome things I have been doing over the last week

Extremely sweet and delicious cake from Jolly's tea room in Bath

Seeing Caitlin Moran speak in Cardiff last week

Beautiful Tintern Abbey

Cardiff Bay on a Spring evening (we had fish and chips from Top Gun)

Not quite the back row at the Radio 2 Folk Awards

Springtime in Cardiff

Woah it's been ages since my last post. I have been taking my own advice and have taken a pause because, to be truthful, the whole blogging thing wasn't really inspiring me lately. Stupidly, I have allowed myself to be intimidated by the thousands of adverts blogs telling me which foundation to wear and what Spring must-haves to buy. Not my thing it turns out. "Shake off the negativity, Laura", I hear you cry. Alright then... here are some awesome things that have happened in my life since my last blog:

PARIS

I spent a week with Hywel in one of my favourite places. We ate, walked, saw, slept, talked and generally had a wonderful time. If someone could tell me a place in Cardiff that sells religieuses I would be eternally grateful.

Preparing for festivals

Ok, so it's only April but we have been buying CDs ready for Green Man and End of The Road. Favourite new discoveries so far include Public Broadcasting Service, Courtney Barnet and Emmy the Great (also looking forward to War on Drugs, Django Django and Super Furries, obvs).

Springtime in Cardiff

Even the less than salubrious Splott looks lovely now that Winter is safely behind us. Also putting washing on the line makes me happier than it perhaps should do.

Enjoy the springtime everyone.

 

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