Bucket List Update!

Hello there,

It has been 9 months now since I wrote my ‘bucket list’ and I thought what better way to reflect on the year so far than a nice little update!

1)    Learn to drive – I have begun this one and have been having lessons for about three months, it’s something I knew I’d always have to do and after a wobbly start I am thoroughly enjoying it. I can’t wait to pass now!

 

2)    Own a car – I have seen two cars that I quite liked the look of but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be L I do have an idea now on what kind of car I would like and have begun saving up so hopefully by the time I pass my test I will have enough to buy a car.

 

3)    Have a job - There have been two opportunities at the place I work for some more regular and guaranteed hours but unfortunately I haven’t been successful. I’m not too disheartened though as I am working loads at the minute.

 

4)    Go Abroad – In a way I am one step further I have decided that I would quite like to go to Italy or Disney land Paris but maybe not just yet!

 

5)    Meet Ameerah – This one is definitely going to happen and I have started saving for the trip to London.

 

6)    See Sam Smith Live – I am no closer with this one as of yet.

 

7)    Watch every episode of Friends – I have started watching them but have only managed the first disc of the box set.

 

8)    Do the race for life – I signed up and walked the 5k on 19/07/15 it was so much fun and everyone was so lovely, I shall keep my medal forever!

 

9)    Learn sign language – I am no further with this one and would really like to find a way of doing it as it would be really useful!

 

10) Own a Polaroid camera – I have been looking but as I am saving for a car and London have refrained from buying one.

 

Not many things can be crossed off of the list but who knows in another 8 months I might just be able to wipe at least two more off!

Leigh x

A fundraising flop!

Hello there,

Since joining my local girl guiding group I have partaken in some fundraising activities to keep our groups open and to also help those less fortunate than ourselves.  Recently I had the opportunity to plan and run a summer fayre and boy was it stressful!

I spent months planning, organising and thinking of ideas. I had the girls come up with themes, had them making bunting and posters advertising how much each stall was, I sent letters to the parents asking kindly for donations and their girls help at the fayre. Weeks scouring pound shops and Facebook selling pages looking for some cheap bargains that could be sold on or used as prizes, I made posters to stick around the village and made sure we’d got enough raffle tickets to sink a ship!

We had plenty of stalls, some run by the brownies (well the 6 that turned up) including:

·         A raffle

·         Toiletries tombola

·         Gift tombola

·         Hook a duck

·         Cakes

·         Refreshments

·         A £1 stall

·         Guess the name of the teddy

·         Guess the number of sweets in the jar

And more and still the day didn’t go as well as we planned.  The turnout was awful with hardly anyone coming during the two hours in which we were open, loads of things were left over at the end and a chunk of what we made had to go on rent.  We raised £170 which is brilliant considering how the day went and will definitely go to keeping rainbows and brownies open in the village but it was rather disheartening that hardly any parents/ brownies came and that nobody really seemed all that bothered.  I think our next one will probably be Christmas but I’m not quite sure if I want to plan another that soon!

Has anyone got any tips?

Till next time

Leigh xx

 

Another Weekend Away (26/06/15-29/06/15)

Hello There,

I have been very lucky lately in that I have had two weekends away in a row, this is an unfamiliar but welcomed occurrence.  this time I went to Saltfleet and stayed in a caravan with my mum and dad. it was a lovely holiday park and my parent even joked about buying a caravan there! There was a downfall however... no phone signal! Even though I tried my best I couldn't connect to anyone which proved to make the nights boring.

We travelled to the park on Friday after I finished work and instantly went to the chippy down the road as we were rather hungry! I didn't really enjoy the chips as we had been travelling for two hours and I felt a little bit travel sick.  we then sat for a while watching the TV (once we had it working) before unpacking some of our things and then going to bed.

On Saturday we took a day trip to Cleethorpes.  It was extremely busy here as it was armed forces day and a lot was going on.  There was a parade and displays that were really interesting and we even got to see a tank up close! As exciting as it was I didn't enjoy it too much as there was way to many people for my liking (not good in crowds oops).  I certainly felt relieved when dad said he wanted to go back to the caravan.

 

On the Sunday we spent the day in Mablethorpe, my favourite place on that coast, it has kind of become tradition that me and dad spend a day there every year.  We had a nice chilled day walking round the shops, playing crazy golf (I won!!) and going in the arcades.  I loved the arcade as we found one that gave you tickets and I kept winning lots!  Then after the arcade it was back to the caravan to pack up things we wouldn't need overnight or in the morning.

 

Monday came and it was back to reality, the car was packed up and we left making our way home for me to go to work that afternoon.  it was a bit gutting as it was a lovely day and none of us wanted to leave.

Leigh x

The Vamps (20/06/15)

Hello There,

As mentioned in my last post I recently saw the Vamps at Scarborough Open Air Theatre. It was my first ever time going to this venue and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I hadn't expected it to be the best experience as there is a lake between the stage and seats, but it was amazing, especially as it was outdoors but you still had seats, which turned out great as the sun decided to come out for the concert so it got a bit warm. The gates opened about half an hour before the gig started so we had chance to get a drink and get comfy before the first act came on.

Hometown

These were the first support act of the night and were absolutely amazing! I found them about a month ago when booking another concert and instantly fell in love with their music and well them.  I enjoyed every song and got some very funny looks for singing along to their own songs, not that I minded as I absolutely love this band.

Bit blurry but I love this band!!

The Tide

I wasn't that excited to see these as I had also looked them up and didn't think they'd be that great. They surprised me however as they were amazing. My favourite part was definitely their cover of 'shut up and dance with me' that we happened to hear as they were sound checking.

The Tide- well two of.

Union J

I absolutely love union j so they were just amazing!! There's not really much more that I can say other than I love them! I was super happy too because George was actually there for a change, he's  been ill the last two times I saw him!

Josh was there too but I haven't got a picture of all of them :(

The Vamps

The Vamps were amazing as you can imagine they sung all there amazing songs plus some brilliant covers. They covered My Chemical Romances 'teenagers' and Sum 41s .... It was brilliant. The encore was even more amazing as they came out and slowed down a song before speeding it back up again.

Encore!!

The Vamps!!

If it was up to me I would happily go and see this exact concert again as it was that amazing! Here's to the next concert!

Leigh x



 

A Weekend Away (20/06/15-21/06/15)

Hi There,

As from the title of this blog you can probably tell that I've had some time to myself and have been away for the weekend with my best friend, my sister and her boyfriend. We went to Scarborough and stayed overnight in a hotel on the north bay side. There's not loads to do on this side but I was going to Scarborough Open Air Theatre to see The Vamps as it was my birthday present (a separate blog will follow for the concert). We made the most of our time and had a wonderful weekend despite the rain that seemed to follow us wherever we went.

We made the two hour journey and checked into our hotel straight away, me instantly getting changed as I was dressed for warm summery weather, which is not at all what we were met with. And then headed off on the search for some food, this turned out to be a fair struggle however as there was only one restaurant, which was fairly expensive, and a fish and chip shop, which was packed. We carried on walking down the sea front past some very pretty looking beach huts and found ourselves at the sea life centre.

I love these beach huts!

The sea life centre was good but for what was there was very over priced, we were very looking to have two adult goes free vouchers from the side of Kellogg's cereal boxes, I've been collecting these for my London trip next year. We headed for food as soon as we got in an were very disappointed by what we had. Three of us had burgers and they were not very nice to say the least. Then we headed off walking round the centre looking and reading about all different fish. And sea life. We then entered the penguin part where you literally got to walk through the enclosure, that was pretty cool!

Then we headed to the seals where one seemed to be sunbathing even though there was not sun and another was showing off spraying water everywhere.

After that we were done and headed to Crazy Golf, which we got free entry too from our Sea Life Tickets. It certainly wasn't easy but at least I didn't come last!

The Sea Life Center.

After we'd finished at Sea Life we decided to go for a walk. This walk turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated and we ended up walking up to Scarborough castle and all around that (for anyone who doesn't know Scarborough castle is on the other side to sea life and up two massive hills). I can't say as I was too amazed when we got there as I am not a massive fan of history and quite a lot of it had been destroyed in war. Then it was time to head back down to the concert.

A panorama from the castle.

Sunday was a lot more chilled for us, my sisters boyfriend driving us to the other side where we got some waffles, which were really nice, and played in an arcade for ages. We won lots of tickets! And put them all together to get multiple prizes. We the. Did a bit of shopping buying the usual rock for everyone and some 'thanks for looking after the dog' fudge for my mum and dad. Then decided we'd head back as there wasn't much more to do and we were all very tired.

It was a lovely weekend and I'd love to go back again for the weekend as it was really fun. 

Leigh x

 

Time…

 

Hello there,

Time…

There never seems to be enough of it, some days it drags others its gone in the blink of an eye, but time doesn’t speed up or slow down it’s a constant.  The hours of a day, the minutes, the seconds they’re all the same day in day out so why does it feel like days go quicker when others are moving at a painful snail’s pace?

I’ve discovered recently that as much as it seems like there’s no time, there’s always time.  I’ve been having a lot of hours at work, whilst also planning activities for our local Brownie group and turning party planner into fundraising planner whilst learning to drive and I can honestly say I’ve never felt this tired in my whole life.  I’ve been neglecting things I love as I ‘don’t have enough time’ but is that really the case? I can still write down my thoughts and feelings on a subject, I can still watch my favourite you tubers I just have to use the time in between all the other things that take up the most time.  I have a 40 minute bus journey twice each day that I’m working, surely I could use that time more effectively… maybe I could write using that time, I have a phone that types so why not? 

There’s so many quote about time and how we should use it wisely as it’s something we can never have back.  If we all knew how much time we had left would we live our lives differently? Maybe that’s something I should think about… if this was my last day on this earth what would I want to have done in the time I did have? What do I want to see before the times gone? I should think of these things and make it happen and I suppose in a way I am, the bucket list I mentioned and posted a blog about is in a way my planning of time, its pushing me to do things I probably would have left till later.  I’ve started driving lessons, have started saving up for my trip to London and got back to something I love, writing, who knows what the future holds or how much time I have left.  All I know is that I want to use this time in the best ways I can!

 

 

Leigh x

Birthday's

Hello there,

As children we look forward to birthdays, to the cake, the presents and the partys but as you get older some of the magic is lost. We hit an age somewhere in the teens where you couldnt care less any more and then, for most, when drinking can come in partys are amazing and the best thing in the world. I've realised watching family that after 40 birthdays arent that exciting and most feel lucky to pass it.

Last week it was my grandads 80th birthday and as we dont know how many more he'll have, he has alzhiemers and seems to be ill alot at the moment, we decided to throw him a party. I turned party planner and got to work making it the best day ever.

I made invites and sent them out, decorated the house with loads of banners and old photos, i blew up 20 balloons turning my hands blue as the colour came out, ordered the cake and baked lotsof goodies. All in the weeks leading upto it. I had plans on how my week would go in the week before and had my plans drastically changed when i worked every day. It certainly made it harder!

The party startef at 4pm my grandad arriving first with family from Lincoln travelling to come and see us arriving next. It was certainly interesting to see family I've never met before! Then the hours went on with a total of we think 50 people in the house at one time. It was manic and loud but amazing at the same time. My grandad smiled and chatted the whole time as we all did the last people leaving at ten past one in the morning. It was certainly a long day!

It made me realise though whilst we were all together that there's nothing more important in life than family and friends and creating memories with these loved ones because even though you might not remember everything as you get older the memories are still there, the photos, the cards and the love! Its re enforced my love of taking photos and for that i am grateful for the party. Now if i could just catch up on sleep that would be lovely!

Leigh x