Six down

 I can’t believe that we’re in July already. How quickly is this year passing by? And, more importantly, how is little Miss approaching the end of another academic year?

This time of year always gets a little chaotic with school events, and the excitement of the impending holidays. Last week, it seemed the chaos had started. I wasn’t feeling 100% anyway, despite the relaxing weekend prior. I developed some problem with my left eye, it kept pumping water out and felt like there was pressure in it. It was annoying, so I visited the pharmacist who recommended some treatment for dry eyes. As a daily computer user, glasses wearer and allergy sufferer you can guarantee I’ll always have some issue with my eyes.

Tuesday was Little Miss’ school sports day. She’s inherited my sporting ability and, like me, makes up for it with humour, although she’s much more of a character than bookish little me was! 

Thursday evening she was invited to her friends birthday party at a local Italian restaurant, Florios. I decided that, rather than taxiing all evening and trying to grab snacks in the middle, I’d book a table for me and Mum. Even for a Thursday night it was bustling! The tables were constantly full.

As always, I overindulged. In my defence, I didn’t realise that the Calzone or the puddings would each be so large. It was all delicious but I did feel uncomfortably full afterwards. I consistently find myself promising not to over indulge again after each experience but, it seems when faced with a menu all willpower disintegrates. 

It was a long day for little Miss but she loved it.

Saturday afternoon we were off to York to meet up with some very good friends of ours. The chap met us at the train station and we walked up into town to meet them at Thor’s tipi. It was surprisingly breezy, and the game of cards that the children were trying to play was abruptly ended by a gust of wind that launched the cards across the tipi.

We grabbed some snacks, and then wandered off to the Minster. York Minster is always a joy, whether you’re religious or not there’s so much to appreciate here. 

After perusing and wandering we set off to get a drink. York is an odd place on a Saturday because you have Saturday shoppers and tourists thrown in with hen parties, stag parties and all day drinkers. By the time 5 o’clock comes it’s absolute chaos, and trying to find somewhere to enjoy a beer as a family group can be quite a challenge. That’s why I didn’t hesitate to jump into Blue Heaven as we passed by, it looked delightfully calm and chilled, and they serve cocktails.

So, I finished my day out with an espresso Martini of course. I had fancied a classic martini but it wasn’t on the menu. The little people enjoyed bowls of ice cream and we spent the last hour of the day mostly laughing. It was amazing fun. 

Thankfully the train journey home was far less crowded than the one to York, given many of party goers heading from Scarborough earlier in the day were likely still out. 

Sunday morning I met the chap for breakfast in Thornton-le-Dale. We brought both Thelma and Bruno with us and had a lovely walk around the village after our hearty full English breakfasts.

There was even a craft fair for us to check out too. The rest of the day was spent catching up on household chores ready for the week ahead, but what a fabulous weekend it was.

Adventures in York and Leeds

It’s most definitely starting to feel Christmassy. Most of my Christmas shopping is done now, well aside from the food shopping of course, the tree is up and the Elf on the shelf has arrived. 

Last week, I was down in the office for the day and the York Christmas market is in full flow. After last year’s hellish visit on a Saturday, I vowed never to do that again, but this was midweek so, after work, I was happy to meet up with the chap and have a wander around.

It was even busy then, but not as bad as the weekend would be. The chap treated me to a Baileys hot chocolate and a lovely Scandi sausage and chips. 

Baileys Hot Chocolate and sausage and chips from the Scandi sausage stall

We had a look around the stalls, and even if you aren’t intending to buy, it’s still nice to have a wander. Especially while it’s a bit quieter.

Saturday, me, little miss, Mum and Thelma caught a train down to Leeds. The last time we went, during the summer, it was for the museum so we didn’t get much shopping time. This time around Thelma was in her pushchair so that we could take her in all of the shops, and it was full on Christmas shopping.

To be fair, everywhere we went people came over to give love to Thelma and to talk to us all. Leeds is such a friendly city and the thing I really like about it is the amount of space. It was crazy busy, but because it’s big and there’s plenty of space it didn’t feel oppressive. I also love the Victorian arcades juxtaposed with much more modern shopping centres.

How beautiful is the Victoria Arcade?

I fell in love with so many things in River Island, although I was restrained and didn’t buy any. We did all the big shops and little Miss made lots of friends in Lush while I was buying bath bombs. 

Outside my favourite choclate shop, Charbonnel et Walker

We grabbed a snack in Popeye chicken, which I’ve never visited before but was delicious, as well as many coffees and all in all it was a lovely and rather exhausting day.

Krispy Kreme's for the train journey

Sunday was mostly spent getting over Saturday. I did take Thelma for a good long walk, and finished wrapping my Christmas presents. We ate a hearty sausage casserole and had a fairly chilled day.

Despite some pretty sketchy weather it's been an altogether lovely week. It feels like the start of lots of lovely things. 

Towns beginning with ‘M’

 At long last, half term descended on us on Friday, and I must admit, it’s been rather busy ever since. Despite taking lots of photos of our various trips over the past few days, not a single one has me in it! I could simply be making it all up, but you shall have to trust that I’m not.

Saturday morning I mostly spent doing laundry and packing overnight bags for me and little miss for our trip to the Yorkshire Dales. During the afternoon though, I took Mum across to Malton for a wander.

Bistro 46

Luckily, I had let Mum out of the car in the square while I went to find parking because, when I caught up with her again, she’d found a delightful cafe serving the most delicious brunches.

After a feast of pancakes (mum) and eggs Benedict (me) we went for a wander around some shops. I managed to bag this lovely Staffordshire plant pot for a bargain £4 in the charity shop, now home to a plant which the chap’s aunty sent for me. We found some lovely boutiques that we hadn’t passed before, and a massive health shop with the best selection of herbal tea I’ve ever seen.

The afternoon flew by. We finished up with a drink in Pizza on the Square before heading home. I like Malton and last year I was planning to move there, since it’s a little closer to work too. Eventually I changed my mind though since I love my house, and didn’t fancy doubling my mortgage. Scarborough has its faults, like anywhere else, but it also has a lot going for it and I do love it as my home now.

Pizza on the square

Everything has been so busy lately that me and the chap have struggled to see each other, so he popped along on Sunday afternoon and we all went out for a lovely Sunday lunch. The pub we visited is one we used to frequent for Sunday lunches when we used to go out for them more often, and it was absolutely packed. Everyone must have decided they needed someone else to cook the Sunday dinner! 

Monday, we packed up the car and headed West to the Yorkshire Dales. When I first moved to Yorkshire 12 years ago (I can’t believe it’s that long) I lived in the Dales, near Masham. We made some good friends there, who later became little misses God-Parents. We were off to visit them, but unable to check into our cottage until 4, we stopped off in Ripon first.

Ripon is the 5th smallest city in England, but despite that it has a beautiful cathedral. I could only take photographs from outside because they don’t allow dogs inside. 

Before we got to the cathedral though, we stopped at Wilfred’s for a delicious dinner. I had a spiced cauliflower, spinach and lentil pie with chips. It was absolutely delicious, and very good value for money too. That’s something that’s becoming increasingly important to me, the amount of times I’m truly surprised by a bill in a cafe or eatery these days is shocking. 

Then I stumbled on an amazing shop filled with jewellery, incense, crystals, and recycled sari clothing called Karma. I bought a lovely silver Tigers eye ring. I seem quite drawn to Tigers eye at the moment.

As evening started to draw in we headed off to Masham, and once we found our cosy little cottage, settled in with a cuppa. Later in the evening we ventured out again to meet up with our friends in the pub for a very long overdue catch up. It’s been a while.

The cottage was cosy and warm, although a wild wind battered it all night long. We were up and checked out early on Tuesday, maybe a tad too early as many of the cafes in Masham didn’t appear to be open. Even the brewery was closed, so we drove off to Leyburn for a wander.

It was lovely and sunny in Leyburn, and after enjoying breakfast and, most importantly, coffee, in one of the cafes there we had a wander around the shops. I didn’t find anything in the charity shops at all, mostly it was all bric-a-brac. It’s a nice town just to potter around though, and there are some good little viewpoints out onto the Dales too.

View over the Dales 

At lunch time we headed back to Masham, and after a quick stop at the Black Sheep brewery to get a few beers for the chap, it was off to the town hall for a very brief catch up with our friends before settling down to a performance of ‘The Tale of the Loneliest Whale’, which little miss thoroughly enjoyed.

Then it was time to say our good byes, and head back to Scarborough. It was a flying visit but it was lovely to spend some time back in the Dales and seeing little Misses God-Parents. 

Images of Masham

Birthday Bonanza- Part Two

 I did warn you that I like to drag it out! This weekend was the second part of birthday celebrations, and it definitely came with some challenges. The chap and I had arranged to meet our friends S and S for a curry in York. I’d booked a city centre hotel for me and the chap, weeks ago. Then, en route to the hotel I get a call telling me a system error meant they didn’t have a room for us. Instead they’d moved us out to a hotel 2 miles out of town, The Pavilion.

As you can imagine, I was not impressed with the Double Tree by Hilton. All of our plans had centred around being in that hotel! I had a right good moan, which was a good thing because it meant that even though we had no option other than being out of town, we did get a posh four poster room and our taxi’s paid for. It was a stressful start to the night though.

View from our balcony

We arrived and got ready at what was, admittedly, a posher hotel, and I was glad to finally wear the dress I’d bought about a year ago, for the first time. Along with a pair of my Irregular Choice shoes and a lacy bolero I bought on Vinted a few weeks back.

The chap pulling a funny face

We made our way into town and met up with our friends in a pub, before heading off for our curry. I chose something different to what I usually have, and it was delicious. We had a long over due catch up, and then headed back to the pub.

This time there was music too. Afterwards we wandered onto a more hip bar that was full of students drinking cocktails, although I stuck to my half a lager, before heading off to get our taxi back out to the hotel. The night had turned cold and wet and I was just grateful for the warmth of the room.

Then, in the middle of the night I was so ill. I hadn’t drunk much so it couldn’t be that. Initially I thought it was food poisoning, but I checked with our friend who had had the same curry as me to find out, he was fine. It wasn’t that, but I couldn’t even keep water down. Needless to say, the chap was very worried. I made it home, and spent the rest of the day lying on the (new) sofa, unable to keep so much as a sip of water down for the whole day and well into the evening.

Monday morning I was still incredibly ill. I just slept until lunchtime, before I started being able to get some liquids down me and try to remediate the pounding dehydration headache I had. I still don’t know what it was. I’ve ruled out a few things, I wonder if I picked up a bug, or had an allergy to something in the curry. I guess I’ll never know but I definitely don’t want a repeat of that.

It didn’t ruin my weekend, the good bits were still really very good. It’s just a shame about the bad bits. I’m almost back to normal now apart from tiredness and the odd bout of nausea, just in time for my actual birthday tomorrow.

Another year older, not sure I’m any wiser though!

Goodlife

 Here’s a rare treat for you, a blog post that’s more photos than words.

On Saturday, the chap and I made our way over to Harewood House in Leeds. We checked into our hotel, and then set off to the Boutique, Goodlife Festival in the grounds of the stately home.

Promising a 90s lineup that included Soul 2 Soul, The Happy Monday’s and Todd Terry, and with the sun blazing down, we were very excited.

It was a bit of a trek from our hotel, I wished they’d had a camping package, but inside the vibe was all good.

Of course, when we ran into our good friends R & R, and their relatives too, two became six and it was party time. Hours and hours of dancing, laughter and drinking beer. It was amazing.

I can’t wait for next year!