Marathon Training - Week 3

Some time ago a friend asked me if I would like to apply for the London Marathon with her.  Willingly I agreed, doubtful that we would get in, but very intrigued to see if I could handle running a marathon.

It turns out that we both got in... HELP!!

I don't run.  It's not like I don't exercise, I have just never done any sort of running before.

I started my training on Tuesday 21st October.  I did 3 and a half miles in 30 minutes.  I decided that I couldn't run.  The next day, determined that I needed to continue the training, I went for another run.  3.4 miles in 34 minutes.  The following day, Friday, I decided to have a rest from running on the road and went to the gym... to run on the treadmill.  Saturday was a rest day, then on Sunday I went for another run achieving 6 miles in 1 hour 2 minutes.

Week two.  Not such a good week for running.  I had a nasty cough meaning I wasn't sleeping at night, and I was choking to death during the day so decided to put a hold on the running.  I finally went for a run on the Saturday completing 7 miles in 1 hour 16 minutes.  I was so proud that I did a 7 mile run.  The time was a little lower than I was hoping, but it was a very hilly run, which is my excuse for the slower time.

I am now into my third week and have not managed to squeeze in any running yet.  This marathon training is proving to be a lot harder than I expected! In between work and life I am finding it hard to make time for running but I am going to keep at it! I am determined!

I am running for the charity Whizz Kidz and intend to raise £2000 for the charity.  I have two aims, one event.  I can do this!!

Reading Festival - The end of festival season

May be a little bit late in posting this.  But nevertheless, here we go.  It took me ages to upload the photos.  Oops.

For me Reading Festival signals the end of festival season.  It is the last festival of the summer that I usually attend, and it means that autumn is coming.  I have been to Reading Festival numerous times, and each time I come back, feeling like I cannot wait until the festival next year.

On the way to Reading Festival... the cleanest we would be all week!

This year I was super excited as I didn't get to show my presence at last years Reading Festival and I missed it!  I went with 1 friend and we had early bird tickets.  I had never bought an early bird ticket before.  But having a regular festival weekend camping ticket means waking up ridiculously early on the Thursday to get down to Reading for the morning to secure a good camping spot that isn't drowning in mud.  Having now experienced an early bird ticket, I can safely say that I would get this every time from now on.

Our home for nearly a week.

It should only take less than two hours to get to Reading from my home, so at 2.30PM we set off... and didn't arrive in the camp site with all out luggage until 9PM! Yes, that's right.  It took us 6 hours in the car due to traffic.  We couldn't believe it!! We were so frustrated by the time we got there we just wanted to crack open a can and chill out.  However we had to choose a camping area to set up the tent, we already had a camping area in mind so we headed to green camping area.  We then had the challenge of choosing a good spot and setting up the tent, however it was dark, so this involved stamping around the soggy ground to see which was the least soggy and then making good use of the head torch to set up the tent.

After this mishap, everything was fine.  We woke up the next day to sun.  Then rain. Then sun.  We were incredibly lucky with the weather for the whole weekend.  It did rain, and the place pretty much turned into a mud bath at some points, but there was a good bit of sunshine and dry weather too.  I have previously been to festivals where it has rained non stop.  During this festival I tanned... a lot!!

Gin and beans for breakfast!

Foo Fighters - Broken Leg Tour

Last Sunday I was sitting in my apartment wondering what to do with my day, then I remembered that the Foo Fighters and Royal Blood were playing locally later on that day.  I was on holiday when the tickets went on sale and I just assumed they had all sold out.  I rather dubiously looked online, not expecting there to be any tickets left... and there was!!! Without hesitating, I bought the ticket, and that was the plan for my day!!

I drove over there, normally it would only take 30 minutes but due to the concert traffic it took hours!! I started panicking that I was going to miss the first band on, Royal Blood, who I love.  Eventually I managed to park up and only ended up missing one Royal Blood song.

Walking into Milton Keynes Bowl I couldn't believe the amount of people there!! I headed straight for the crowd surrounding the stage to catch Royal Blood.  It was a lovely sunny day and the crowd was packed tightly around the stage meaning I couldn't get very close, and the sun behind the stage was blinding.  That being said, I do love a gig outside in the sun, and it was Royal Blood, I love this band!!  They put on a good show as expected, playing well known songs like Figure It Out and Little Monster with added riffs and jams.  They played some of my favourites and I was super happy to see this bands, one of my favourite bands at the moment.

Next on was Iggy Pop.  I wasn't fussed about seeing this band, I didn't know their music.  I watched their entire set anyway, I was there so I figured I might as well.  I ended up knowing one song, and they weren't as bad as I expected.  I wouldn't see them in their own concert though.  The people dancing in the crowd amused me when my mind drifted off during the set.  They did put on a good show I suppose, but I didn't know their music.

Foo Fighters 6th September 2015 @ Milton Keynes Bowl

Then, on came the amazing Foo Fighters.  I have been wanting to see this band forever.  I think I have now seen every band I have ever wanted to see live, I have waited for this moment for so long.  They were amazing, it was everything I expected and more.  Dave Grohl sat on a specially made chair, due to his broken leg, you could see he wanted to move around.  They put on such an awesome show, and had great crowd interaction.  The show seemed to last forever, but went by so quickly.  By that I mean that sometimes when bands play two plus hours set, you start wanting it to end.  But I never wanted this show to end.  It was just too good.  Seeing as it was outside, it became absolutely freezing, and I started to wish that I hadn't worn shorts.  But I didn't mind, I was seeing the Foo Fighters!!  They played well known songs, All My Life, The Pretender, Best of You, Everlong, and so much more.  I can't even describe how good it was!! I had the time of my life.  I didn't even mind that it took me two and a half hours to get home,  I had seen the Foo Fighters.

Foo Fighters 6th September 2015 @ Milton Keynes Bowl

In other news, I have been writing up a post on Reading Festival which I can't wait to share with you, and have been making new additions to my home.. I can't wait to show you the finished thing!!

Have you seen Foo Fighters before?

Home Bits and Bobs

When I was younger, my Mum used to drag me around Dunelm, and I would hate every minute of it.  It used to baffle me why on earth anybody would want to spend their time looking at material, and curtains, and bedding etc. I just couldn't get my head around it, how boring.  Now the tables have turned, I love Dunelm.  The other day a friend and I were discussing curtains, then we stopped and realised we were getting excited about curtains, and realised that's what our parents do.  Is this us growing up?!
Since moving into my new home in May, even before I moved, I had a picture in my head of what I wanted my home to look like.  Now that picture is slowly becoming a reality, my house (or flat in my case) is becoming a home.
Yesterday I was looking at the Dunelm website and they had a cracking sale on, so after work I drove over to Dunelm, to discover that the sale was only online (apart from the odd duvet set and plate).  At least I still managed to pick up a few bits.

Kettle, Dunelm

How awesome is this kettle?! I was in desperate need of a new kettle, and this duck egg green is totally my colour.  Who knew you could get kettles in such funky colours?  I absolutely love this!! You can get a matching toaster and I was so tempted, but I don't eat toast, so what's the point.  Yes, I get excited about things like kettles and stuff now, don't look at me like that.

Lamp, The Range

I was looking for a lamp for my bedroom and fell in love with this one, it's super cute.  It's perfect as it matches my curtains.

Dragonfly solar panel fairy lights

These fairy lights are actually meant for the garden, but why not put them inside too.  The metal bar that they are wrapped around came with the flat, supposedly to stop me falling out of the window, so instead of removing it I thought I would put it to good use.  I was actually looking for bog standard plug in fairy lights, but then I came across these solar panel lights and loved the look of them.  The solar panel box has been in the window all day, and as you can see the lights work fine.  This is a very deep window so I am going to add a seat at some point.


I can't wait to have my flat decorated and furnished perfectly, exactly the way I want it.  It's almost there and I can't wait to show you!

Switzerland Adventures

Guess what?! I finally have internet! Woohoo!! So I am here today to tell you about my adventures in Switzerland. I will have to do this in parts as I went to 9 towns and cities, and took 2000 photos.

On Tuesday 14th July I set off from London to Zurich.  I felt so unprepared, I had only booked it a week prior to the trip, but had spent that week doing so much research.  I was so excited and couldn't wait to land in this country I had never visited before.  I nearly cried on the flight there, I thought I had forgotten to take my bank card, but I was saved and found it in my luggage in Zurich airport.  I took the train into Zurich, then walked to the hostel.  I'll admit, I got a bit lost.  But thanks to the google maps images I had screenshotted on my phone, and the research that I had done, I was able to re-trace my steps and eventually found the place late afternoon.

Start To The Festival Season

My prolonged silence doesn't mean that I have abandoned or forgotten this blog.  I moved house at the end of May and haven't had any internet.  In fact I still don't have any internet.  I may be borrowing the neighbour's.  Ooops. But I get my own in two weeks. Yay! Then I can start this up properly again.

Anyway, this is something that I have been dying to share for ages. Back in May I went to Slam Dunk Festival in Hatfield (London).  I hadn't been to this festival in years, and it was where I used to attend university, so I was super excited.

It was a cracking line up and the official start of my festival season.

We arrived in the afternoon and the first band we caught were PVRIS.  They are not a band I would have chosen to see, we just happened to be walking past, heard the music, and stopped for the rest of the set.  I was pleasantly surprised, and it was a great start to my festival.

Lower Than Atlantis.

We then went on to see We Are The Ocean, Cartel, Goldfinger and Taking Back Sunday.  Another band I was surprised by were Lower Than Atlantis.  I had heard them on the radio before so thought I would check them out and they were brilliant, I would definitely see them again.  Goldfinger did not disappoint, as usual, either.

Taking Back Sunday

We finished the evening off by going to see You Me At Six.  I had not seen this band in years, I was a huge fan in my younger years. The band played a great set.  Unfortunately it did have to be stopped for what seemed like ages due to someone becoming ill at the front of the crowd, which caused people to walk away.  But when they started again, it was still brilliant.  They mostly played their older songs which is what I wanted, as I know all the lyrics, and my friend and I were jumping around like crazy.  Definitely the highlight of the whole festival.

You Me At Six

I was surprised to see how the festival had grown since I was last there a few years ago.  There were more, and bigger, stages.  But there were also more crowds.  Many, many crowds.  In my opinion, they had let far too many people in for such a small venue.  We also had tickets for the after party, which I was excited about.  But we never got to go in. After the festival finished was wandered about for a bit, went to the toilet, then decided to join the queue to get in to the after party.  But the queue was so long, it would have taken us hours to get in.  I think people must have started queuing before the bands finished. This was also disappointing.  Why sell so many tickets for the after party when all those people won't get in.  Anyway, we decided that we had, had a great time at the festival and couldn't be bothered queuing, so we went home.

My map fell out of my pocket.

All in all, overlooking the disappointment at the end, it was a great day.

Have you been to any good festivals recently?

Disneyland Paris March 2015

It's been a while!! Far too long in fact!!  I have been away from this blog far longer than I intended to but my life has been crazily busy recently.  I was meant to be moving house in March, along with a trip to Disneyland, I applied for a job I never thought I would get, got an interview which I only had a couple of days to prepare for, I got the job which I started a week later.  I did not end up moving house in March, it was put back to April, and then to late May (which means I have't moved yet boo).  Anyway, that's all for another blog post.  Here I am going to tell you all about my trip to Disneyland Paris.

I went to Disneyland from 16th March to 18th March.  I had been before when I was 6 years old, so going back almost 20 years later, a few things seemed familiar but I did not remember too much.  I took so many pictures, 560 to be exact, so I am going to let the pictures do the talking (don't worry I won't show you all of them, although here are a fair few)!