River Cruise.

 

 

I recently took a little guided cruise down a river local to me and had such an amazing time! The sights were so beautiful and I learnt so much about the local area that I never knew before. Random buildings that I thought were just 'old' hold so much history to them and once were such iconic places for local people. I got some great pictures and wanted to share them, so here are some of my favourites! I would definitely recommend for you to try it if you have the opportunity, even if you don't like history or you're not into the background of the local area it is so much fun to get out on the water and relax!

I also had a sweet treat on the boat with a double chocolate chip brownie which was a-ma-zing!! That made it all the better for me as I could sit back with a drink, my brownie and listen to the guides on the boat talking about the surrounding area, plus a huge bonus to the day was the sunshine and the cool breeze which was lovely! The boat ride was so much fun and I cant wait to do things like this again! It was such a cute place and such a great experience.

Who Knew Birds Like Cameras?

Yesterday I visited a bird sanctuary not far from my house and found the most beautiful birds who, strangely, loved my camera! I found that when I would hold up my camera they instantly looked at it and posed the only way birds can: spreading their wings, staring into the lens and tilting their heads etc. and I was lucky enough to get some amazing shots!

 These are just a few of my favourites out of all the ones I took. The enclosures were all so open and clean it was a great experience to get close to the birds I such a great environment! The man showing us around the enclosures was so helpful and told us a lot about the birds, the bird below was a female and had only just arrived at the sanctuary but had settled in nicely. He also told us how parrots live on average to 100 years old! The parrot in my photo above is called 'Woody' and was only 1 so very much a baby!

 Funnily enough, the last and one of my favourite birds at the sanctuary was not a fan of my camera but I have included the picture anyway. I had such an amazing time coming close to hundreds of amazing birds and had the chance to hold and stroke them too!

Air Balloon Show.

 

The annual 'Bristol Air Balloon Fiesta' is always said to be amazing and the shows are always supposedly great. This year me and some family made our way to Bristol especially for the show and we were not disappointed. Although the weather was a bit of a let down with it raining every so often, meaning the evening lift was cancelled and we didn't get to see any balloons take off, but we got to see what I was most excited for - the night glow show!

 

The show sees the balloons lined up and as music is played different balloons light up in time to the music creating a lighting and sound show. There were over 30,000 people at the show on the day I went but the whole fiesta is 3 days long and so roughly 3 times that amount see the event every year!

 

The whole event is based around the balloon shows but there are also hundreds of food and drink tents, vans and huts and also other entertainment such as band stands, bouncy castles, entertainment tents, plane fly overs and a huge fun fair with some really great rides and game stalls. The event is incredibly busy but so much fun! It was such a great day and night and I cant wait to go again next year!

 

Feeding Giraffes On Safari.

 

This was such an amazing experience! Not many people can say they can fed and stroked a giraffe but thank fully I am one of them. I recently had the fantastic opportunity to visit my local safari route and got the chance to feed giraffe. When we went into their enclosure/ field, I didn't think any of them would come over as the car was quite loud but to my absolute shock we were surrounded with about 4 giraffe looking for food.

We were told we would be allowed to feed them if they go close and were given some food they may like and some fruit for them also. When they came close to the car I immediately held out my hand  with some of the food and they came to it straight away, ever so gently taking the food from me and eating it in front of my eyes. When I had given them everything we had, they stayed surrounding the car and let me pat and stroke them which was honestly one of the best experiences I've ever had. If you ever get an amazing opportunity like this don't let it pass because it could turn into something you will remember forever. 

WWA Tour 2014 Experience.

The day of our concert me and my friend got up incredibly early in the morning! We love concerts and gigs so of course we were naturally very excited and raring to go. We had seen one direction live 3 times previous to this concert so knew that it was destined to be an outstanding show. However, we had never seen them in front of this many people; we had been to the UAN and TMH tour and even saw them perform live in Wembley Arena at the 'BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards', but never in a venue as large as a stadium!

 

As I had been to a stadium for a concert before, I knew we would have to get there early and line up all day as we had standing tickets so didn't have a reserved seat and of course, we wanted the best view we could get and thank goodness we went early because it was chaos!!

 

The security and stewards around the stadium were all very informative and happy to help us get to where we needed to be and when we did (finally) we were faced with at least 50 metres of weaved fencing to line up in; and that was just for our section! We waited to get into the stadium for roughly 10 hours, thankfully it was a lovely day and we were able to sit in the sun chatting to other people who had the same plan as us. 

 

 When we were being let into the stadium the security were very calm and the whole time very organised, making sure groups of friends didn't get split up and the flow of fans being let through the ticket checking gates was steady to ensure everyone was safe. When we got into the stadium we showed our wrist bands and were allowed into the section where we would stand for a further 2 hours to wait for 5 Seconds of Summer to come on stage as the support act. We got ourselves a very good place with a few fans we had met earlier, which was a couple of people back from the barriers at the side of the middle stage. As you can see from the pictures we had a perfect view of the show.

 

We had an absolutely amazing night and of course both 5 Seconds of Summer and One Direction performed perfectly. The entertainment before, in between and after acts was also great: with music playing along with relevant videos and adverts, the whole stadium joining in with dancing (including the light and sound men who got the audience very excited) and the spectacular fireworks show at the end of the night.

 

It was such a crazy night filled with lots of love, laughing and loud music! 

Strawberry Picking.

 

If you have never gone strawberry picking, I highly recommend it! Not only is it so much fun and it feels so satisfying to pick your own fruit, but it is also a great thing to do with family and friends. I took my younger sister and she had so much fun exploring all the fruit and veg they had at the farm that we ended up picking baskets of plums, apples, blueberries and raspberries too! I got the chance to spend some quality time with my younger sister whilst teaching her about fresh and healthy food at the same time!

 

After we picked our fruit we went home to make smoothies with it all and we even gave some to our family who all had different ideas with what to do with it, for example: strawberries and cream dessert, jam, fruit salad, trifle etc. Everyone loved what they were able to do with the fruit and I know that we will be taking a big family trip to the farm soon to pick fruit and veg and even cook together as a family. We had a lot of fun and we will definitely go again, if you like fruit and veg and cooking with fresh ingredients and have not yet tried picking your own ingredients, go for it!  



Holidays With Friends.

 

Earlier this year I travelled to Devon, England with one of  my closest friends. We decided to go on holiday together in the time we had off from work and school to have some fun, explore and hopefully try something new; we successfully did all of those things!

 

On one of the days we spent there we walked down to the near by beach where we found beach huts-one of my all time favourite things about the seaside- we also sat on the sea front on the pebble beach and walked along the sand near the water. It wasn't exactly warm which, obviously in the UK wasn't a shock so thankfully we were prepared (coats, hats, gloves, the works!) I found that the beach huts were all different and the way they were decorated all very unique with bright and vibrant colours which made the beach front look beautiful. If ever you're in Devon make sure to look out for them as they are certainly something to look at!

 

 

Another one of my favourite things we did there was go on the big wheel by the yacht docks, my friend however wasn't exactly what you would call 'excited' about the prospect of being in a little box swinging in the breeze, high in the sky, she was petrified and I literally had to drag her onto it. When we were in the air she relaxed slightly but still had to hold my hand the whole way round! That was her 'trying something new' experience; mine doesn't seem so big compared to her conquering her fear, but I tried coffee and I can positively say I definitely won't be drinking it again.  

 

Whilst exploring the Devonshire sea fronts, docks, shops, streets and markets we came across some places that I pretty much fell in love with! One was a café bar in the centre of a dock market made from an old camping van, the whole van was the kitchen and to be served you had to go to the window and ring a bell then sit on the deck chairs along the front of the docks where they would bring you your order, it was so original and retro and gave you the ultimate unique experience.

 

The other was a small handmade crafts shop in a lane behind where all the high street shops were. We actually found this shop when we got lost when trying to find our way back to the car, which proves that something great can come from a not so great situation. The owner of the shop told us that he makes most of the things himself such as the candles, all of the things made of wood and his wife and friends help with everything else such as ornaments, soaps etc. It was such a lovely shop and I made some purchases for things back home in my room and a couple of handmade bath bombs.

 

BOOK REVIEW: 'how to love' - Katie Cotugno

I have recently read 'how to love' by Katie Cotugno and I rediscovered my love for reading. I picked up the book down at my local library when it caught my eye with it's bright pink cover and bold writing on the front cover. Now the classic saying 'do not judge a book by it's cover' is not applicable here as of course, I turned over to read the blurb. Having read the general over view of the book and looked up a few reviews online I decided to take it out to read, and I am so incredibly happy that I did!

The story is based around a girl (Reena) who secretly admires a boy (Sawyer), things become complicated when Reena's best friend (Allie) becomes Sawyer's girlfriend meaning the two girls fall out. But when Reena is working and Sawyer comes and asks her out she of course agrees; as Reena and Sawyer sit together admitting their feelings for one another, Reena gets a call to say Allie has been in a car accident and is hospital. After Allie's death, Reena and Sawyer become closer in their relationship and Reena ends up pregnant whilst Sawyer has problems with drugs. A pregnant Reena is left alone as a clueless Sawyer goes off to explore America. The structure of the book sees the chapters switch between 'before' and 'after' sawyer's departure and return from Reena's point of view.

Such an amazing, beautiful and captivating story line with great characters. The complicated and realistic romance kept me hooked throughout and it is a novel that touches upon every subject simply bringing out every emotion possible; it is one of the very few books I have cried at. I loved the ending as it concluded the story so well bringing small details from throughout the book together to form a beautiful ending. Katie Cotugno is an amazing author and I cannot wait to read more of her material in the future.