Lots and Lots of fabulous things!!

Life recently has been so chaotic!! It's crazy to think that there are only 40 days until Christmas, and only 47 until we are in 2013. It only seemed like yesterday that we saw in 2012. Where oh where does time go??

It's been forever since I last managed to blog, so here are my top however many things, that have happened since July.


Alicante was AMAZING. 30 odd degrees, sun, sea, sand and lots of relaxation. I was only away for 4 days and I totally could of done with a lot longer. It was so nice just to be able to get away from the rain, lay on the beach or by the pool with my kindle, read, sunbathe, and relax. On the first day we went up to these waterfalls and walked up the river to pretty much the source. Clambering over rocks and swimming upstream. It was so beautiful!! The next 2 days we hit the beach and soaked up the sunshine, and day 4 was a pool day before I had to pack up and get back on a plane.

Olympics. What an amazing opportunity I had to go to the Olympics. It's not every time they are held in your country. I had purchased Volleyball tickets for the men's semi-final. Me and Ali saw Russia v. Bulgaria. Since Bulgaria were winning half way through the first set by quite a margin, i decided to cheer on Russia, who not only won the set, but also won the game 3 sets to 1. The atmosphere and experience of being at the Olympics was fantastic, and I came away wishing I was able to go to more events.

Thorpe Park. At the end of August me and Ali decided that we would go to Thorpe Park for the day. It is one of the theme parks near London and I haven't been for probably 8 years or so. It was a fantastic hot day and we got there in perfect time. By the time we bought our tickets they were just opening the gates and we managed to get on a couple of big rides without having to queue. Because it was so hot it meant going on the water rides was really refreshing, which is good when you get drenched head to toe (Bringing my rain coat was the bet thing I did that day), but we dried off pretty quick. I love Alton Towers because it has so many great rides, but the good thing about Thorpe Park was that it's a lot smaller and everything is close together meaning that you can walk round the whole park pretty easy. I love theme parks and it was great to be able to go a few times this year.

London and the Paralympics. At the beginning of September my parents were planning a weekend trip to London as they had tickets to the paralympics for the Friday and Saturday. They were planning on spending all day in the Olympic park on the Friday, and then spending time in London on Saturday before going to the swimming. I decided to go and join them for the weekend and spend some time with them on Saturday. Because I didn't have tickets to the paralympics, I thought I'd treat myself to a show. I used to love going to the theatre but haven't been able to see a show in soo long. I booked tickets to see 39 steps, which was really good.

Criterion Theatre.

Saturday we went to the Natural History Museum which is HUGE. Lucas Loved all the dinosaur section and then we went round the Human body section. He is obsessed with how babies are made and was so fascinated by it all. He then went to start looking round the reptile section and was really disappointed when we had to go.

Messing around in the funky mirrors.

Me and Lucas by the Dinosaurs. 

Tower of London

Olympic Stadium. 

When I had planned this trip on the Wednesday, I thought it would be really fun to take myself shopping on the Saturday while the family were at the Paralympics, but since even I can't shop all night, I thought about seeing if my friend wanted to hang out in the evening since he lives in London. We always seem to miss eachother whenever I'm down there. Just as I was about to text him, he messaged me asking if I was working Saturday since he had a spare ticket to the Paralympics ... The last session of the Athletics no less. Of course I jumped at the opportunity and so Saturday night I spent in the Olympic park. It was so amazing to see how these athletes overcome physical impalements to still  compete to such a high standard. It's so inspiring to watch. It's really made me think about how grateful I am to be well and able.

By the Olympic torch.

One of the Vietnamese dishes. 

New food Friday on a Monday. Every Monday me, Grace, Rachel, and Kevin had a tradition that we called "New food Friday on a Monday" because it sounded better than "New food Monday". Every Monday we would find a recipe that we hadn't tried before (usually from a different culture), cook eat and eat it. We've tried food from Spain, America, Peru, Vietnam, Greek, a few others I think I've forgotten about, and then there was tripe. Which needless to say didn't make it onto the 'best of' night. Tripe is cow's stomach. It smells foul, it tastes nasty, and is certainly something I will never subject my tummy to again. It was a great tradition though, one I miss, and one that I think I want to carry on in the future. It's was good to experiment and try new things instead of eating the same old. Some we loved, some we had to tweak, and the tripe we will never eat again, and now I  have a few new recipes to add to my collection.


Moving not once. . . But twice. In October we moved out of our house and parted ways. It was quite sad leaving the girls after living with Grace for 2 years, and Rachel for 18 months. It was also really hard to separate all of our stuff. I'm sure I accumulated some stuff that wasn't mine, but that I seemed to get since no one knew who it belonged to. I have moved back home for a whole 7 weeks before I move back up to Bristol at the end of the month. Hopefully after that I won't have to move again for a while.

Fireworks and Carnival. Every year Burnham-on-Sea do a firework show. 20 minutes of fantastic big fireworks timed to music on the beach. I love this show every year. We also went to Burnham carnival this year. For all you Americans our Carnivals are slightly different to yours. Our carnivals consist of lots of floats parading down the street, each one with a theme, some with dancers, others just with people posed still for the whole time, and all with music. It's fantastic to watch every year. There's something about standing out in the cold, all wrapped up, watching carnival.

Jury Duty. I got summoned for Jury Duty!! Which meant that for the last 2 weeks I've had to appear at the court and sit on a trial. It was definitely an interesting experience. I didn't get picked for the first trial and had to wait until day 2 before I sat on a trail. The trail lasted 3 days, and was a) A bit boring (We do a lot of sitting around), b) Uncomfortable (Think old pews that are straight backed and not really any support - My poor neck and back) and c) Laughable. It's amazing the case went to court. The prosecutions witnesses stories didn't add up at all and it was fun to count all the lies that were told on the stand. I met some great people on the jury though and we had a great laugh for the week. It also made me realise how much the decision of 12 random people can affect people's lives. We passed a 'Not guilty' verdict (which took a whole 2 seconds for us to decide) and the relief on the defendants face made me really happy. Some of the other jurors spoke to the man after who said that he was just worried and stressed that we would believe the victim and that we wouldn't be able to see the truth. It was a pretty good experience. After a few days off we then had to go back in for another jury selection, this time the case was expected to go on for a whole week, and because that would run over into week 3, and I have to be back in work on Saturday, I didn't get picked for another trial, giving me a few days off before I am back in the skies.

Germany. I am really excited to be able to go to Germany. I received some very unexpected money from a Uni grant and decided to use it to go visit my old roommate who lives in Germany. I am really excited to go. 4 days at the beginning of December, and right in time for St Nick to arrive. It's such a great way to kick off the Christmas Spirit and start celebrating. I can't wait to have a really good catch up with Ronja, and to not only see and visit a country I haven't been to before, but also go to some real German Christmas markets.