London

Now unlike a lot of bloggers, I don't go live in London or go there every other week. In fact, this was only the 3rd time in my life that I've been to the capital of our United Kingdom. The first time was a school trip so I couldn't really do any exploring as we were ferried on and off the coach and had a set itinary. The second time was last year when I went with my family to see Les Mis, with a stop off at the science museum. This time the aim of the trip was to see the Poppies at the Tower of London before they were taken away, and see the newly refurbished Imperial War Museum. The poppies and the IWM I will cover in seperate posts, this is just a round up of the sights!

- Picture-heavy post! - 

We got arrived at Euston station at 10:15, and were trying to decide which tube stop to go to to get to the Tower. As it was such a nice day we kept walking towards the river, using the handily placed tourist maps every now and again, and trusty old Google maps. Once we got to Temple station, on the bank of the Thames, we decided we'd just walk along the riverbank until we got to the tower. This was a good decision as we got to see quite a few sights along the way that we'd have missed if we were underground.

We were so lucky with the weather! We'd dressed for the cold and we were both roasting by the time we got to the Tower!

After the poppies we walked to Monument station. I'd seen this on the tube map and the signposts and I was wondering which monument the station was named after... turns out its the monument for the Great Fire of London in 1666. The monument took 7 years to build!

We went from Monument to Elephant and Castle to walk to the Imperial War Museum. I think this wins my favourite tube station name award!

Fun fact: I've travelled on the subway in New York more than I have the London Underground!

Outside the IWM there was a really tame squirrel that came right up to Mark! It was too quick to get a photo though. Whilst we were in the museum the weather had turned typically British grey. We walked to Lambeth Road tube station and got the train to Charing Cross. I always thought it was pronounced chair-ing but it is in fact char-ing! Learn something new everyday. We came out of the station to the sights of Trafalgar Square - I actually gasped out loud! Its the sort of thing you see on tv or films (St Trinians!) all the time but actually being there is very impressive.

From Trafalgar Square we walked all the way down The Mall which is something I've wanted to do for years and years! I'd love to be there on a Royal occasion and wave as the carriages and horses go by! At the end of the Mall is of course.... Buckingham Palace! Cue lots of tourist shots...

 It promptly started raining just as we were leaving the palace.. we got caught in a downpour as we walked to Victoria station to get the tube back to Euston!

This was such a good (but long!) day out. I'd love to visit London more often but its such a trek to get there... its probably easier to get there from Europe than it is from rural Wales! We've seen the "big" sights, I'd like to see all the smaller sights and the musems.. there's so many museums to see! Let alone all the shows on the West End! We won't be staying away for long that's for sure.

Life lately...

This post is to tell you what to expect on this little old blog in the next few days :)

Last week was such a busy week! On Monday evening we made a last minute decision to catch the 05:47 (!!) train the next day to London to see the poppies at the Tower of London and the Imperial War Museum. Wednesday I had to take my Dad to Aberyswyth (and did a bit of shopping while I was there... of course!) and we watched the local fireworks. And on Thursday Mark and I went to Manchester to see Paolo Nutini (I gave Mark tickets for his birthday) and came back on Friday. Madness.

Other life updates include... I'VE APPLIED TO UNI. Again. I can't believe I'm actually doing this, but I dutifully wrote my personal statement, filled in the UCAS application and sent it off on Tuesday! I've finally (six years after first thinking about it) applied to study Speech and Language Therapy. I'm looking forward to seeing if anywhere will offer me and interview and/or a place! Exciting times are ahead.

Yesterday I started volunteering at the local Riding for the Disabled Association group. I've always loved horses and riding and this is a great way to get experience ready for my next degree and give something back to the community. I really enjoyed myself yesterday and I'm excited to go again next week.

Here's a couple of pictures from bonfire night to keep you going :)

Beauty haul

At the weekend I went to Cardiff, and I specifically wanted to go to Boots because they have a large store that stocks Bleach London and Essie, both brands I was after! A couple of days later I went to Superdrug in Aberystwyth becuae they had a triple points offer. This post has been a bit of a long time coming because I've been waiting for a nice(ish) day for decent photos! Here are the spoils...

 I've been wanting an Essie nail polish for a while now, and I'm really loving the Oxblood/Wine shade that's big this season. This particular shade is bordeaux. As you can see I got the Rimmel lipstick in a similar shade and Lush's Hot Toddy shower gel. I also got Sweetie Pie shower jelly from Lush and their Comforter Bubble Bar which all  smell amazing as you'd expect. Other Rimmel products I got were the BB cream (I need to see what all the hype is about BB cream) and the Wonderfull mascara.

I've been reading review's for Bleach's Silver Shampoo for a while now and decided to go for it. I've got blonde ombre hair and its nearly 6 months since I got it coloured so I've been needing a toning shampoo to get rid of the yellow tones to it. This one seemed the one that works best according to the blogosphere - I'm excited to try it!

I'll let you know how I get on with these products over the next few weeks. Let me know ifyou've tried any of them! :)

Hannah xo

Going senile...

I seem to be forgetting quite important things these past few days! Yesterday I forgot I was babysitting until half an hour before which meant a lot of rushing a bringing a packed dinner with me (cuppa soup and sandwich with stale bread!). Today was a disaster... but its amused my family so I thought I'd share with you lovely people.

I was supposed to work 12-4, but finished at half 3 because every Monday I do a Maths evening class at 4.30 and I needed to get there. I left home a bit late, and there was a lot of traffic on the road and slow vehicles meaning I was running quite late. I thought I'd take the quick route to the college but it turned out I couldn't turn right off the dual carriage way, so I had to go along the bypass and cut back through the town, doubling the distance as I was going back on myself. Argh. And I'm fairly sure I went the wrong way down a one way street. Oops.

Anyway, I got the college about 10 minutes late, parked up and realised I hadn't actually bought my maths papers and notepad with me, which wasn't essential for the lesson but I was still annoyed.

I noticed there weren't many people around but I figured that was because I was later than usual and everyone must have gone home. It wasn't until I walked into the college and up to the normal classroom and saw it all in darkness that I realised IT'S HALF TERM. I'd travelled half an hour stressing because I was late and forgotten things and IT WASN'T EVEN ON! What a bloomin' fool!

Daisy (my car) benefited because I topped her tank up where the petrol was cheap, and I got some snacks because I hadn't actually had any lunch! I stopped on the way home to eat these at a more scenic spot.. what do you think? Apologies for the poor photo quality.

Please tell me I'm not alone in these slightly geriatric moments...

Winter is coming...

I'm currently sat in the living room at the house where I'm babysitting, and I'm rather chilly! I have no idea where or what heating is on... there's a real fire in front of me but I don't want to light it. So I'm chilly. I've got a jumper and a hoody on but my nose and fingertips are definitely c o l d.

Next to me is a cat curled up on the sofa and a dog curled up on the floor, both are asleep and don't seem bothered by the cold at all.

I've just read a blog post on the wonderful delights of Autumn and my pinterest is full of golden leaves, toffee apples, blankets and pumpkin pie. I'm trying to remind myself Autumn really is great... especially after playing hockey last night in the remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo, hail and all!

The other day I had my first ever Pumpkin Spiced Latte. I would have had one last year but I didn't like coffee then (as my brother said - #firstworldproblems). Starbucks has just opened in Aberystwyth, my nearest civilisation. This is a big deal. They've not long had an escalator (Chris Moyles went on it) so this is huge.

The weather has been amazing. I love it when it gets a bit wild. Mark and I parked up and watched an amazing lightening storm over cardigan bay the other night. The showery weather has produced some awesome billowy clouds which makes sunsets all the more dramatic. I was so excited to dig out my warm tartan scarf that I got last year! It is most definitely winter woolies weather now.

Talking of winter woolies - its fluffy socks season! Here's my pinterest Cosy board for all things warm, fluffy and toasty! I have a seperate board for woolly jumpers.

source- pinterest

What do you love or hate about autumn? Hopefully the positives outweigh the negatives!

Looking up! #EducatingHannah

Since I was about 15 I've considered Speech & Language Therapy as a career. I did my degree in Linguistics to get a taster for what's involved (academically) and to give me more time to decide if it is really what I want to do. Now having looked at various courses - I'm applying! There are masters courses available but they are a lot more competitive and intense so I will apply for one on the off chance, but I'm also applying for 3-4 year undergraduate courses.

For some of these courses I'll need a B in GCSE Maths. I currently have a C so (after putting it off for 6 years) I am finally taking a course to re-sit and hopefully up my grade! This is all good in theory but now looking at the material I have no idea what I'm doing or how to do it... but we'll see how it goes! Bring on BBC Bitesize!

I've registered for a few open days which I'm quite excited about! I went to loads when I originally applied after leaving school.. its a great way to explore the cities aswell as the universities..

Today I started filling in my UCAS application... I can't believe I'm doing it all over again! And there's no guarentee I'll even get any offers and I'll be back to square one. I've got to get references and write the dreaded personal statement..argh! I keep thinking is it all really worth it, but IF YOU NEVER TRY YOU'LL NEVER KNOW.

Friday Five

Here's a little round up of what I've been loving this week :) The picture is sunset in my boyfriend's village - not bad! 

1. Jess's post on why 16 & 17 year olds should vote is really powerful and she offers up some good debates! It's a bit different from your average #ootd blog post- well worth a read! 

2. Kirsty's post on moving out of her flat - I've read Kirsty's blog for a long time now and I love her writing style, definitely check out her blog if you haven't already.

3. I've just started my new job which I'm really excited about - it's not exactly a graduate job but it's in retail which is a sector I've wanted to work in for a few years now so I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes :)

4. Tomorrow I'm off to Manchester to see my friend Ruth, there'll be lots of catching up and shopping to do aaaand we're off to Chester Zoo on Monday - I can't wait! 

5. On Tuesday I walked nearly 5 miles - I wanted to see if I'll be capable of completing Cardiff Half Marathon in a couple of weeks. I entered months ago but didn't really train properly even though I was running regularly in July. I worked in a pub for 2 weeks in August which made me too busy and tired to train and it aggravated an old knee injury so I'm just seeing how my body copes with exercise. The 5 miles I walked was mainly along the beach which was quite hard going on uneven sand but I wasn't in too much pain, so it's an achievement!

What have you been up to?