HELLO AUTUMN & WELCOME

With the temperatures cooling down I think it's fair to say that summer is over and to be honest I think we had an OK one this year weather wise. I mean, we didn't see any caravans floating in rivers that were once campsites now did we. But even though I think it's great that we've had some sun over the summer months I'm more of an Autumn person myself. Autumn is a time when the leaves turn brown, gold and yellow, a time when you wear big coats and go on long walks. It's also a time when you can hear the rain lashing outside but you're all comfy inside watching a film under massive blankets in front of the fire. There are downsides like I can't go out on the bike as often because it gets so windy, rainy and dark and . . . well, I can't really think of anything else at the moment. Also, even though I hate scary things - I seriously can't even watch a scary advert, Autumn makes me look forward to Halloween. Oh, and who could forget bonfire night - sparklers, fireworks, mulled wine and toffee apples. Scrumdidlyumptious. This is also the season when rugby comes back in to our lives and a time when you discover a whole load of new things such as music, books and food on the days when you are forced to stay inside because of bad weather. Hello Autumn & welcome. 

These photos are from a little walk that Alaw, Hendrix and I went on at the beginning of the week. 

W E E K E N D // Chillin' & Monsters University

My parents went to Cardiff for the weekend so Owen, Eve and myself were left to hold down the fort. Saturday I woke up early, wrote a blog post on my sports blog (here) and then headed out for a walk with Hendrix. It was incredibly warm on Saturday. I think it might have been the hottest day of the year so far and boy, it felt like it to! We even had to make two river stops on our walk just so Henz could have a little cool down and a drink! When we eventually came back home, Hendrix slumped in a cool corner of the house and I rushed in to the shower, got dressed and jumped in the car to make our way down to Carmarthen. We were off to watch Monsters University. Monsters inc. has to be my all time favourite Pixar/Disney film. I even have quite a sizable Sulley teddy sitting on my bed right as I type. The film was awesome and to see Mike as a little primary school child was worth the Cinema money alone! After the film we ran in to Tesco, grabbed a few things and made our way home. We finished the evening with some good ol' Fish & Chips for dinner.

Sunday morning we got up early and went for a swim. It was fitness lanes so it was a good way to wake myself up. I'm quite proud of the amount of lengths I did when considering everything that's been going on with the old back of mine. We were back home by just gone half 10 and I had my Sunday papers with me ready to have a good read. Before that however, I cleaned most of the house, blogged a bit, watched some of the Tour de France and skated. Since I was home with Hendrix for most of the day, I decided to spend it outside with him and with no cars on the drive I was free to Skateboard with minimal obstacles. Well . . . that was until Hendrix began to pick fights with my wheels and thus preventing me from boarding at all. I decided that the only thing to do was lie on my board and also sit on it and roll across the drive. Sounds odd but it was so much fun! When the parents came back they brought back some goodies from the capital. I received an awesome pair of glossy pink Doc. Martens and an even more awesome tie-dye Doc.Martens shirt :)

WALKING ON A SUNNY AFTERNOON // Welsh coastal path exploring

On Monday I took Hendrix (my dog) to have his hair cut in Aberaeron. I thought that it might take an hour or so but when I went in their, at one o'clock, the woman told be that he'd be ready at 4! Instead of going home and coming back again I drove in to town, parked by the sea front and went for a walk on one of the many coastal paths in the area. I walked the four miles to Aberarth and back. The path was really empty and I only passed a few old couples and their dogs as they enjoyed their holiday by the sea. I arrived in Aberarth before I had even realised as I was just thinking about things the whole way there but on the way back I was so relaxed and just enjoyed the walk. The air smelt of seaweed and salt, the only sounds I could hear were the waves in the sea and the wind blowing the grass - peace!

I do like going to London for weekends or just a couple of days but there is no place that makes me more happy and comfortable than just open spaces such as fields & the sea. I do like people and love to be around friends and socialising but I'm one of those people, and I'm certain that many people are like this, that just needs to be on my own from time to time. Even if it's just a few hours, I need to just chill by myself, I might not do anything constructive, I might just sit on my bed and think or read but I can just reassemble and then I'm OK for a couple of days. Walks are my main thing. I love them. Especially around where I live, you can go on a 2, 3 or even 4 mile walk without seeing a soul except for a few nosey cows and some scared sheep. I am so happy that I'm now able to go back and do some speed walking and potentially some cycling after a year and a half. You have no idea how happy I am about this!

Oh, and also, If you ever get a chance to visit Wales come to the West. There are soooo many utterly awesome coastal paths around the area that have some of the best views you could probably find anywhere in the world. Also you don't have to be an experienced walker, the paths range in difficulty. The one I did on Monday is very easy and is mostly flat the whole way. However, if you go to the path that starts on the other side of Aberaeron that takes you in the direction of New Quay then that one is more difficult with steep hills to climb and rougher terrain but the views are just magnificent.

HENDRIX & ODETTE'S

Last Sunday Mam and I headed to London on the train, in first class! Yes, first class. Because we were travelling at a super off peak time it was super duper cheap :) It was nice, except for the seats. Now, I do like a leather seat but on a train you just slipped off the chair. Other than that the experience was pretty cool. Once we arrived we walked the short distance to Marble Arch from Paddington as we were staying in the Cumberland hotel. The hotel was probably one of the coolest hotels I have ever stayed in (except for when i stayed in The Luxor in Las Vegas). The reception was like a contemporary art gallery with sculptures, water falls, cool chairs and the most awesome thing of all - a wall dedicated to THE Jimmy Hendrix. :) They also had a Hendrix suite which looked awesome with the whole 70's thing going on. Apparently the Cumberland hotel was the last known location of the musician and also it's the 40th anniversary of the guitar hero's death so that's why they had so much Hendrix going on.

The first day we were there we arrived quite late and just threw all our stuff in to our hotel room and went to grab a bite to eat and a drink in the hotel bar 'Carbon' before tucking ourselves in to bed :)

The next morning we didn't rush and we had a nice long sleep :) We were going to have a super nice lunch so decided on a fruit bowl and latte for breakfast. We were dinning in Primrose Hill so we made our way to the tube . . . however I did get quite distracted by the Topshop that was right next door and ended up spending waaaaaay too much money on a new top, trousers and later on in the day I headed in to the mahoosive Topshop on Oxford street and spent even more money on their make-up (this, this & this)! Anywho, we (eventually) made it to Primrose Hill and to Odette's. We decided to have lunch in this particular restaurant because we had heard that the food is awesome and also because the chef - Bryn Williams - is Welsh and we had watched some of his Cegin Bryn programmes on S4C. Oh my word - the food was aaaaamazing. Seriously. To begin with I had a glass of Prossecco and mam had some wine and then we had our food. wow. Please go there and try the food because it is just an explosion of taste in your mouth. After our meal we walked down through Primrose Hill and Regents Park.

 

It was a beautiful day - freezing - but sunny :) We then headed to Regent St. 'cause mam needed to pop in to Tommy Hilfiger. So while we were there we had some tea and cake to get some energy and then we made our way to Harrods and to the Dior exhibition which I blogged about here. While we were in the mahoosive shop we came across a £61,000 watch. I mean, who would spent so much on a blinkin' watch?! - Crazy people that's who!

 

 

After Harrods it was quite late so we grabbed some food from M&S, a cocktail in one of the bars in the hotel and then went to to our rooms, ate our food and watched The Campaign (Will Farrel) on the ipad.

 

The next morning I got up quite early as I was meeting Hollie aka Hollie McHollieHollie for a bit of breakfast. We went to Starbucks behind Selfridges and had some frapaccinos and natural yogurt and had a catch up on what's been going over the holidays :) The reason we had to meet early was because I was going to the doctors just before lunch to have a check up on my back (I had an operation on my back about 3 weeks ago) - this was actually the reason for the trip to London. He said everything was great and I can now start to get back to doing exercises like swimming and eventually a bit of bike riding and then slowly but surely I'll be back doing daily proper exercise.

 

 

Wwwww . . . we also bought these Marc Jacobs coke bottles from Selfridges' food hall, along with many other very yuuuuumie foods that we ate on the train (normal class) back to West Wales :) I'll be back in London (well, Egham) in about two and a half weeks and I'll be reunited with Hollie and the rest of the Block J crew - yaaaay :) Oh yeah, and there are those other little things that I also need to do - exams! 

 

A quick picture of what I wore :)

 

 



SNOW IS FALLING . . .

I apologize for being MIA over the last couple of days but university work was thrust upon me and it felt like it was never going to end. However, today I presented my presentation so I can forget about that for a while! Anywho - back to what's been going on in my life other than work.

On Friday I woke up quite early becaus (yet again) I had to go in to London for a CT scan (for my back). I oppened the curtains and everywhere was white! Snow had hit Egham! I was wondering if I'd be able to get in to London because the trains might not be running (I know it's not far to London but still, trains are very tempermental!). I eventually got in to London, all the tubes were fine and I eventually reached Chelsea and the hospital. I had around 45mins to spare so I headed over Chelsea bridge to Battersea Park. The park looked absolutely awesome as it was blanketed with a layer of undisrupted snow. I only passed a handful of people as I walked on through the park - nice and relaxing!

After my scan I went to catch the tube from Sloane Sq. to Westminster, but oh no, there were no tubes running on this line. I eventually had to walk a mile to Knightsbridge, through a really posh resedential area (where I swear I saw Louise Redknapp in her massive Mercedes!) and get the tube from just outside Harvey Nichols to Waterloo and back home! I'm actually proud of myself for navigating myself through London (on my own) as I'm a newby to all of this 'hustlin' & Bustlin' city stuff, growing up in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields!

When I got home I got in to warm clothes and cwtched up in a friends room to watch a film and some episodes of Friends & later that night we were all starving so we had a couple slices of pizza :)

 My mam and dad also sent some pictures of Hendrix in the snow back home in Wales :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY.

On the 30th of December Hendrix celebrated his 6th birthday. That's over 40 in dog years.
We bought him a birthday card and he slept on the seat in the living room for about 4 hours! I think he enjoyed his birthday of relaxing, sleeping and watching films with us.

Pen blwydd hapus Hendrix :)