Monthly Round Up: June {2016}

I'm currently struggling to keep my eyes open whilst munching my way through my penultimate Easter Egg. Yes, it's only 9pm and I'm only twenty-one but I had a late night last night and this girl needs her rest. And yes I still have Easter Eggs left, I'm just savoring every last piece of them. The end of June/start of July has been far too manic with work and going home three weekends in a row. Whilst it's been lovely, I'm super excited to get some routine back in my life as of next week, with a hopeful return to regular blog posts, but for now have my well over-due June round-up!

The Good
We chased the sun, when it decided to appear, and spent many a day discovering some new places. One of these was a gem of  restaurant in the heart of the city where I had a yummy soup and the tastiest bread I have ever had, no word of a lie. The best/worst part of it was that it was homemade so I couldn't even go and buy out the bakery it could have come from. 

The Bad
Prepare for this one. As we were over said part of town (see previous point), we took a stroll round the corner to what was my favourite little gift shop, only to discover it has shut down. (insert heartbreak emoji x 100) I'm still in shock'/ feel as devastated as I did when I first walked round the corner.

The Ugly
Booking a holiday the same month that your car insurance is due probably wasn't the wisest of moves. Especially when you're other half no longer get's his student loans and doesn't start his job till the end of July. Here's to winning the lottery sometime soon!

The Weird

This month I purchased some shoes with pom poms on. Personally, I think they're great (obvs otherwise I wouldn't have bought them). However, the looks I've received after showing/explaining my new additions has said otherwise- AKA. Why on earth would you want shoes with pom poms on you weirdo. 

The Wonderful

I received a £25 Zara voucher for completing my social media course a few months back and it couldn't have come at a better time. Zara + summer sales = heaven, although my bank balance doesn't always agree. But with £25 to spend, it just gives me an excuse to spend more, doesn't it?

Little Things #25

You know those weekends where you need a whole other weekend to recover, I just had one of them. We had Jays grandparents and dad up for a few days and whilst I enjoyed spending time with them, my sleepover in the spare room and all the good food that was consumed, I'm so glad to have the flat back to normal. It's been a hectic week with work, and with going home for the next three weekends I don't think my life will be slowing down anytime soon.

• I've raised £180 so far for my charity hair cut  with help from some very generous people. If you want to add to this donation click here. 
• We've booked another holiday for the end of August and I'm counting down the days!
• PLL returns tomorrow, however my feelings towards this are very mixed. 
• I attended an event with work which included lots of free ice-cream and it was great.
• My wardrobe has expanded with all these summer sales. 
• Jason's nan brought up a fresh batch of mince pies and I'm skipping past the mince pies are for Christmas rule. 
• My sunflower is storming, just waiting for those pretty yellow petals to appear now. 

Till next week

Why I Love Living In York: York Food Festival

Want to know two words that are music to my ears? Food Festival. Want to know what's even better? When it's happening 10 minutes up the road from me. York Food Festival makes an annual appearance every September, so as a warm up, they put on a taste of what's to come. This meant we spent our Saturday wandering round York, before heading to Parliament Street for all the foodie action. 

One of my favourite parts of these sort of events is all the local produce that is on show. I'm a big 'support the locals' kinda girl, so naturally we couldn't stay away from the meat and bread stalls. I'm also a big 'let's try something different' kinda girl. So after being roped into an Italian stall with the words, 'free samples', we ended up walking away with three bags of ravioli. 

Deciding what to have for lunch was the hardest part of the day. From curry to hotdogs, there was something to suit everyone. We opted for a pulled pork bun with lemon and fennel colslaw which was super yummy, and super filling. It was then topped off with a Creemio (coconut and nutella) ice-cream as I discovered my favourite gift-shop had closed down. Shortly after this I also stepped in a big pile of goose poop. What a bittersweet Saturday it was. 

Wisteria Wanderings

 Whenever I was little our Sundays would normally always include a trip to The Lodge, whether it was to try out our new roller-blades, take our bikes for spin or go on a bear hunt, metaphorically of course. This was then nearly always followed by a trip to a garden centre for a slice of cake and cup of tea, which is something that I've ingrained in my weekend outings. What a nice story aye, stick with it, I'm getting there. 

When you're younger you don't really appreciate those places that are just up the road from you, but as you grow up and move away it makes you appreciate what you had. So, whenever we go home for a visit we always try to squeeze in a walk round The Lodge,  a) for the nostalgic element, and b) it can then be accompanied with tea and cake. 

My recent trip home left my admiring all the wisteria that had blossomed in our garden, and when mum informed me that it was out in full bloom at my childhood happy place I had to go. It wasn't the most sunniest or warmest of days, but that didn't matter when your faced with purple paradise in the form of wisteria. Literally everywhere I turned there was some lilac creeping into my vision and don't get me started on the smell. When it comes to wisteria, my home-town has got it right. Home- 1 York- 0 

Little Things #24

This post comes to you from a rather rosy Beth. Don't worry kids, I did apply sun-cream, just maybe not enough. I'm also sporting a huge-arse blister on my heel from our country walk, but when you get views like this one, it's worth it.

• My trip home resulted in a gossip with my childhood BFF, a lunch with one of my girlfriends and lots of family time. 
• This trailer was released and I'm a little bit obsessed.
• We went into a travel agents to pick up some holiday brochures for our next trip and it's got us dreaming of all sorts of places. 
• I went on a successful Wisteria hunt.
• My ELLE magazine was delivered with a free Benefit brow pencil and free Benefit eyebrow wax, what a freebie. 
• To relive our Barcelona days, Jay and I had a spectacular tapas night. It included the likes of tomato bread, all the ham and lots of yummy tapas dishes. 
• I've finally set a date to get 10" of my mop chopped off for The Little Princess trust, and have started fundraising along the way. 
• I found a new calling in life with this vase of floral-perfectness.
• Our RHS magazine arrived and it's full of flowers, flowers and more flowers. 

I seem to have an obsession with flowers.