Photo Diary | June and July 2017

It's been a couple of months since I last shared a photo diary, so this month's post is going to be packed full of photos, including plenty of snippets from June as well as July. 

The last two months have been filled with fun experiences and happy times; I spent a week in Cornwall with my family, and visited plenty of beautiful places, including St. Ives, Newquay Zoo, Padstow, Perranporth and St. Michael's Mount. I was taken out for afternoon tea at Jane's Enchanted Tea Garden, spent my birthday at the Cotswold Wildlife Park,  pottered around Oxford a couple of times, and tagged along to Bicester Village once or twice. I've welcomed every chance to get out and about to have some fun for a couple of hours, and for a short time, I've almost felt like I've been living my life again- even if after an hour or two of life I've been back in bed again dealing with the repercussions. It's just been nice to put a little life back in to my years for a change, instead of spending another Summer behind the same four walls.

Of course, I've also made my own fun at home, painting, cross stitching, reading, and hanging out with my dog, and celebrated turning another year older last month, so I've been a busy bee for a spoonie! I've snapped so many photos over the last couple of months to document it all; some I've already shared on Instagram or on the blog, and some I haven't. Today I've brought some of the best bits together to share with you, and here they are to sum up my Summer so far.

1. St. Ives harbour. // 2. Boats on St. Ives harbour. // 3. Waves crashing over Seal Island. // 4. Dog mermaid. // 5. It's a razzle dazzle day. // 6. Eating a Kelly's Salted caramel ice cream in St. Ives.

1. Truro Cathedral. // 2. Beautiful ornate detail on Truro Cathedral. // 3. A pillar on the front of the cathedral. // 4. Goat at Newquay Zoo. // 5. Macaque to food: 'I'm going to destroy you.' // 6. Pretty peacock.

1. Capybara at Newquay Zoo. // 2. Peacock displaying his feathers. // 3. Adorable tapirs. // 4. Pick up a penguin. // 5. Lioness having a nap. // 6. A meditating ringtailed lemur.

1. Flamingo ornaments in a beach shop in Perranporth. // 2. Colourful pineapples. // 3. Amazing Snickers ice cream from Perran Dairy Ice Cream Parlour. // 4 & 5. Perranporth Beach. // 6. Please do not feed the seagulls.

1. Essential holiday breakfast. // 2. Delicious strawberries at Berryfields Farm. // 3. My New Look ice cream clutch in Padstow. // 4 & 5. Padstow Harbour. // 6. My new Havianas have sushi on them!

1. Tasty macarons from Rick Stein's Patisserie. // 2. Amazing fish and chips and battered scallop from Rick Stein's fish and chip shop in Padstow. // 3. Visited a teddy bear shop in Padstow. // 4. Pretty colourful street art in Cornwall. // 5. Found The Animals of Farthing Wood on DVD in Sainsbury's- I was obsessed with the series when I was little. // 6. Playing Pacman Bingo in Perran Sands arcades.

1. Perranporth Beach. // 2. Having a paddle in the sea. // 3. Walking up to St. Michael's Mount. // 4. Walking the causeway to St Michael's Mount. // 5. Pretty as a picture. // 6. Follow the cobblestone road.

1. Boats in St. Michael's Mount harbour. // 2. A map of the area around St. Michael's Mount painted on to a building on the island. 3 & 4. Cornish postcards I bought in St. Michael's Mount. // 5. Giant deckchair. // 6. Cute pastel-coloured beach hut at Perran Sands.

1. Rosie back from the kennels. // 2. Happy pup. // 3. Love this ball of fluff. // 4. Currently reading. // 5. My new South Beach watermelon beach bag. // 6. Spring cleaning my dressing table seemed like a good idea until I had to dust all of this.

1. Sewn a 1/4 of my spectral mandala. // 2. Feline thread organisers. // 3. Over halfway through my mandala. // 4. Started painting a new seahorse canvas. // 5. Love painting with such pretty colours. // 6. Making progress on my seahorse canvas.

1. Time for Tea. // 2 & 3. Birthday afternoon tea at Jane's Enchanted Tea Garden. // 4 & 5. Bunting and tea cups in the tea garden. // 6. A vintage pram and knitted clown doll.

1. Cotton top tamarin at The Cotswold Wildlife Park. // 2. Adorable wolf cub. // 3. Someone's enjoying his food. // 4. Taking a break from Hogwarts. // 5. Birthday ice cream at the wildlife park. // 6. Rhino grazing in front of the Gothic manor house.

1. Birthday present wrapped in fox print paper. // 2. Kate Spade seahorse print wallet from Marie. // 3. The sis bought me this cute fox notebook at the zoo. // 4. Cath Kidston sewing cottage from my parents. // 5. New Canon bridge camera from the parents. // 6. Awesome presents from my little sis.

1. Brown paper packages tied up with string (and ribbon). // 2 & 3. Birthday cards. // 4 & 5. Birthday cake of chocolately goodness. // 6. Birthday tea.

1. The sis gave me the new Philosopher's Stone Gryffindor edition. // 2. Bought the amazing NYX Ultimate Brights shadow palette with some birthday money. So dreamy! // 3. Street art in Oxford's covered market. // 4. Stopped for a cheeky Patisserie Valerie. // 5. Beautiful books in a stationery shop in Oxford. // 6. Creepy vintage marionette puppets in same Oxford stationery shop.

1 & 2. Snippets of a giant piece of street art at Bicester Village. // 3. I gots a sore paw. // 4. Amazing Stecco Natura chocolate hazelnut gelato lolly. // 5. Tasty Feast Sandwich. // 6. Dog sitting Mia, Marie's beautiful German Shepherd.

1. Rosie chillin' in the garden. // 2. Taking a break from playing with her squeaker. // 3. Pretty girl. // 4. Happy pup. // 5. Relaxing on the lawn. // 6. Cute fur ball curled up on my legs.

And that is June and July in pictures! 

If you'd like to see any previous Photo Diaries, you can find them all here. You can also follow me on Instagram here to keep up with all my latest snapshots. As you can see, I like to post colourful photos, cute snapshots of Rosie, crafts I'm working on, nature photos, travel, a bit of fashion and beauty, and things I buy, love, and like. 

What did you get up to in July?

Photo Diary | May 2017

I can't believe we're already a few days in to June! I don't know where May went, but it certainly flew by, which is weird because I didn't even get up to anything exciting (mostly because I was struggling with the back pain and tachycardia all month). 

I visited a bluebells woods, popped in to Oxford with my sister a couple of times, and had a hospital visit, but apart from that I mainly spent the month cross stitching, painting, blogging, hanging out with the dog, reading and watching movies. It wasn't the worst way to spend a month, but it wasn't particularly exciting. Still, I thought I'd share some of the photos I took during the month to look back on, so that's what I'm here to do...

1. Made a rainbow geometric squares cross stitch. // 2 and 3. Also made this geometric rainbow heart. // 4. Started work on a spectral mandala cross stitch. // 5. Currently stitching. // 6. Easter hoop art I made.

1. New Winsor & Newton paints still wrapped. // 2. Had to swatch all the colours. // 3. Shiny new watercolour paints. // 4. Painting on a lazy Sunday afternoon. // 5. Been painting a canvas. // 6. New Winsor & Newton paint brushes.

1. The new Linkin Park album 'One More Light' is amazing. // 2. Enjoyed watching Room for the first time. // 3. Infinity On High will always be one of the best albums. // 4. Cath Kidston Mickey and Minnie Mouse notebook. // 5. Essential viewing. // 6. Recently finished reading Room, currently reading This Must Be The Place.

1. Curious pup. // 2. Poser. // 3. You have treat for me, yes? // 4. Just chillin' in the garden. // 5. Is this my best side? // 6. Rosie mid-run.

1. Happy pup. // 2. The Magical Flying Rosie. // 3. Relaxin'. // 4. Belly rubs please, human. // 5. She sat staring at me through the French door window for ten minutes. The door right beside it was open... // 6. Pretty girl.

1-6. Pretty bluebells at the Badbury Clump bluebell woods near Faringdon in Oxfordshire.

1. A wigwam in the woods. // 2. Tree stump. // 3. Busy bee. // 4. Full moon. // 5. The moon and Jupiter (tiny dot at bottom right). // 6. A red kite flying over the garden.

1-6. Beautiful architecture in Broad Street, Oxford. These two buildings- The Claredon Building and The Sheldonian Theatre- have always been two of my favourites in Oxford; I love the statues, and stone heads.

1-3. Statues on top of The Clarendon Building, Oxford. // 4. Elephant weather vane on top of The Claredon Building. // 5-6. The top of The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. 

1-2. Pretty pink tulips from a farmer's market in Stroud. // 3. Cheerful yellow daffodils. // 4. The most amazing salted caramel brownie from a farmer's market. // 5. Delicious 99 ice cream on a hot day. // 6. Marie treated me to the new Cath Kidston summer brooch set!

1. Cheshire Cat Tsum Tsum. // 2. The sister bought me this Kate Spade turtle keyring. // 3. The White Rabbit Tsum Tsum. // 4. New Boohoo smock dress. // 5. Before hair cut. // 6. After hair cut! I got at least 18 inches chopped off on Thursday, and now have a lovely long layered bob! I finally feel like me again. :)

Technically the last two photos were taken on the 1st of June, but I didn't want to wait a whole month before sharing a snap of my new hair do, so you get them a month early.

I'm going to be away for the next week as I'm heading off on my first holiday in six years for a little break, but I've scheduled some posts to keep you entertained while I'm gone, so it'll be like I'm still here. I've no idea how I'm physically going to get through the next week, but fingers crossed the pain doesn't get so bad I can't get out and about and enjoy myself at least some of the time. I'm hopeful my pain levels will be manageable, and I can find a way to power on through. I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see! I'm sure I'll be sharing some snippets on Instagram on Twitter while I'm away, but I'll be sure to fill you in on any adventures when I get home next weekend.

Have a great week!

What did you get up to in May?

Photo Diary | March 2017

It's been a couple of months since my last Photo Diary, so I thought it was about time I shared a few of the snapshots I've taken over the last month- some you may have seen if you follow me on Instagram, some you won't have because I've not shared them anywhere until now. 

I can't say they're very exciting. March was another uneventful month. I spent the whole month still dealing with a racing heart, palpitations, and weird chest pains, so I spent most of it resting up, and at the doctors, but I felt a lot better than I did in February, and managed to venture out of the house a few times. I popped over to Cirencester and Stroud with Marie for the first time, visited a local garden centre, popped to Hobbycraft for new craft supplies (yay!), and went on a random drive in the country. I got outside in to the garden with Rosie a couple of times, she got spayed last week, I did a whole bunch of cross stitching,.. and, well, apart from blogging, that's about it. Pretty boring, but hey, that's my life!

1. Started a new flamingo cross stitch. // 2. Switched up the bags on the back of my bedroom door- so summery! // 3. Made a flamingo cross stitch.// 4. Spring is here! // 5. Marie bought me the new Cath Kidston duck brooch. // 6. Treated myself to some Real Techniques make up brushes.

1. Bought some amazing colourful cross stitch kits from The World In Stitches. // 2. Pretty purple pansy. // 3. Cath Kidston notebooks are my fave. // 4. Blossom in the garden. // 5. Found Milka Oreo eggs and mini eggs and they are amazing! // 6. Spring is in the air. Display at a garden centre.

1. Poster for a market in Stroud. // 2. Vintage suitcases. // 3. Another poster for Stroud's indoor market. // 4. Giant hare sculpture in the window display of a gift shop in Stroud. // 5. Interesting looking Greyhound pub. // 6. The Silent Busker silently busking in Stroud.

1. Pretty rugged rural countryside in Stroud. // 2. Cute door to a village primary school. // 3. Blossom, horses, and a little house that looks like a dollshouse in Stroud. // 4. A vintage bus we passed in a Cotswolds car park. // 5. Countryside close to home. // 6. A vintage steam engine on Burford high street.

1-3. The shell of an old barn or cottage on some rich person's farm we passed when we took a wrong turn last weekend on a random drive. // 4-6. A cute but dilapidated cottage we spotted on the same stretch of road.

1-3. A red kite circling around my home a few weeks ago when I was in the garden with Rosie. We have a pair of them nearby that circle over head most days. // 4-5. Bright yellow fields of rape seed are already popping up. So cheerful. // 6. Lechlade river in the sunshine last week.

1. Rosie enjoying the sunshine. // 2. Just chillin'. // 3. Rosie eats tennis balls for breakfast, while plotting evil things. // 4. Cheese! // 5. My pretty pup. // 6. Happy puplet after a game of fetch.

1. Helping Rosie play with her new dinosaur toy in her Cone of Shame. // 2. Rosie sitting in her favourite spot on top of the sofa. // 3. Poser. // 4. Happy pup. // 5. Suspicious pup. // 6. Rosie does not like her Cone of Shame. (She got spayed last Thursday, came home in a giant Cone of Shame probably best suited to a Great Dane, and kept getting stuck face down on the floor, and between the furniture. We got her a smaller cone the next day, and she's doing much better coping with it on now).

1. Last week's Hobbycraft Haul. // 2. Bought a couple of canvases with pre-printed words and a flamingo motif to paint. // 3. Treated myself to some Easter fat quarters to turn in to Easter hoop art. // 4. Making progress on my flamingo cross stitch. // 5-6. Been sewing colourful geometric squares in a rainbow of colours.

If you enjoyed this, you can find me on Instagram here, and all previous photo diary posts here.

What did you get up to in March?

Photo Diary | January 2017

I can't believe we're already three days in to February! January passed by so fast, which is baffling because it always drags on and on like a road trip through purgatory, and I didn't even get up to anything exciting to help the time pass faster.

The majority of my January was spent stuck in bed because chronic pain has been kicking my ass lately, so I mostly read, cross-stitched, wrote, blogged, spent time with my dog, got back in to Swagbucks, watched movies, and wasted time pinning the shit out of Pinterest. I did manage a brief trip in to Oxford city centre (my local city) with the sis, though, and finally got myself down to Specsavers for an eye test and new glasses (which I'll be blogging about properly soon), but sadly, it was a very boring, uneventful month, and I've nothing exciting to report. I do have some snapshots to share from the month, though, and even if you follow me on Instagram, you won't have seen most of them because the app on my phone hasn't been working properly lately. So, here's January in pictures...

1. Playing Monopoly on NYE. // 2. I finished a Christmas cross stitch ornament. // 3. Cute Lindt bear. // 4. I bought the Cath Kidston Mickey Mouse brooch. // 5. Snagged a bunch of Christmas chocolate for just £1.60 in Superdrug last week! // 6. The Urban Decay Full Spectrum palette is the eye make up palette of my dreams.

1. My Mum's cheese scones FTW! // 2. Made a bunch of Xmas cross stitch cards. // 3. Thornton's chocolate Santa shortly before being murdered. // 4. Started another Christmas cross stitch sampler. // 5. Ninja bear fighting against being eaten. He lost. // 6/ Began sewing a flamingo cross stitch.

1-3. Architecture in Broad Street, Oxford. // 4. A bank on Oxford High Street. // 5-6. Broad Street Architecture.

1. Broad Street with Christmas tree still up a week in to January! // 2. Oxford Saint Mary Magdalen church and graveyard in the city centre. // 3. Christmas tree in Broad Street. // 4. Pitt Rivers museum (from the car). // 5. Oxford architecture. // 6. Boats on the river near Faringdon.

1. Lovely presents. // 2. Making progress on my flamingo cross stitch. // 3. A peacock that appeared in the road in the middle of the Cotswolds' countryside and stared us down! // 4. Rosie looking pretty. // 5. New beauty products to play with. // 6. My dog is so lady-like!

1. Amazing chocolate cake at Patisserie Valerie. // 2. Won a pin from Punky Pins. // 3. Bought some new glasses. // 4. Making progress on a festive sampler. // 5. Rosie looking all photogenic. // 6. Flamingo coming together.

And a few photos from December I never shared, as I skipped last month's photo diary post...

1. Bourton-on-the-Water's Christmas tree in the river. // 2. Swans with Santa hats. // 3. Pretty Christmas lights. // 4. Lovely Charlie Bears in a Bourton gift shop. // 5. Giant inflatable polar bear. // 6. Swans getting festive in Santa hats.

Hopefully February will be much more exciting!

What did you get up to in January?

Photo Diary | October 2016

October was a really great month for me. I managed to get out and about a handful of times, and did and saw more those few days than I've done over the last year or two combined. So, that's basically, not a lot by normal standards, but a huge amount for a decrepit, house-bound spoonie like myself who has barely left the house all year.

I went on a two-day mini road trip to Bournemouth and Brighton to see Ronan Keating on stage, saw the seaside, went to an aquarium, drove past the New Forest, popped in to Portsmouth, passed by the historic village of Arundel and its castle, saw parts of Brighton from the car, and before we headed home, had my first Five Guys at the gorgeous Brighton marina. I hung out with my puppy in the garden, paid a quick visit to Bourton-on-the-Water one Saturday afternoon, and drove around some of the beautiful Cotswolds villages and countryside close to home with my sister. I made a lot of fun memories along the way, and I'm glad I made them. Here are the best bits in photos.

1.  Seagulls. // 2. Tasty ice cream at the seaside. // 3. Bournemouth Beach. // 4. The sea; my happy place. // 5. Zip line tower on Bournemouth Pier. // 6. Bournemouth Pier.

1.  Pretty fish at Bournemouth Oceanarium. // 2. Just keep swimming. // 3. You have serious thrill issues, dude. // 4. Cute Inca tern. // 5. Grooming on the go. // 6. Bitch, please.

1.  Nautillus are so bizarre, // 2. Grumpy fish. // 3. Another pretty sea turtle. // 4-6. Ronan Keating live in Bournemouth; still got it.

1.  Gasometer in Poole. // 2. Driving through the New Forest. // 3. I wonder if Fort Nelson might be over compensating for something... // 4. A glimpse of the sea in Portsmouth. // 5. Sails on the motorway. // 6. Random figurehead at Gunwharf Quays.

1.  Stunning Arundel. // 2. That is a Post Office!! // 3. Arundel Castle. // 4. Driving past Brighton Pier. // 5 and 6. Brighton Pavilion is so beautiful.

1.  Another glance at Brighton Pier. // 2. Gorgeous ornamental street lamps on Brighton sea front. // 3. Brighton Marina. // 4. I need my own boat! // 5. Cormorant having a nap on the dock. // 6. Serene view of Brighton marina.

1.  Five Guys for the win. // 2. Amazing double cheeseburger. // 3. Delicious fries. // 4 and 5. Giant colourful patterned Snow Dog statue in Brighton Marina. // 6. Cool graffiti.

Rosie hanging out in the garden, getting up to mischief as always; chasing after apples, and gnawing on branches she cut down from bushes herself.

1-3. Pretty succulents in the garden. // 4. Bold red rose hips. // 5. Four leaves and a feather. // 6. Autumn in The Cotswolds.

1.  Burford high street. // 2. Rooftops of Burford. // 3. Pretty view at Bourton-on-the-Water. // 4. Enjoying the view beside the river. // 5. Nice signage. // 6. Beautiful, tranquil Bourton.

1 and 2. Seagulls standing on rooftops in Bourton-on-the-Water. // 3. A ladybird that landed on my arm. // 4. Gorgeous Charlie Bears reindeer and koala toys. // 5. A Gollywog toy.  Seriously, Bourton? // 6. Enjoying an ice cream with a view of the river.

1.  Autumn in The Cotswolds. // 2. Autumn has begun. // 3. Gorgeous little village. // 4. Three partridges off to find their pear trees. // 5. Lechlade church. // 6. Cute little Cotswold cottages.

1.  Working on my Christmas cross stitch. // 2. My Mum's amazing cheese scones. // 3. Nutella Krispy Kreme doughnuts are seriously delicious. // 4. Santa Claus is coming to town. // 5. A Christmas display at a local Christmas shop. // 6. Giant faceless Santa.

If you want to keep up to date with my latest snap shots, you can follow me on Instagram here.

What did you get up to in October?