Abersoch Weekend Away

I've had a failure with my Blog Every Day in May challenge this weekend #BEDM which you can follow on Twitter. This was because I've had such a busy couple of days with not a moment to spare. Friday in particular was just silly for me time wise. I was up at 5am and only sat down to rest at 9pm and that was only while I was waiting for our evening meal to cook. Boy was that glass of white wine good when I did sit down to finally chill and wait for our evening meal to be ready.

What made me so busy was packing and a 2 1/2 hour journey to Abersoch in North Wales. David and I have been coming here together for the 29 years we have been together. Our first weekend away together was to Abersoch where we stayed in a lovely small hotel in the centre of the village. We return at least once a year and often with family. This time we were on our own and loving it as we love the peace and quiet and on Saturday morning it was deafening.

We had a restful nights sleep in a sweet little bedroom with a cute seaside themed cover on our bed. There was another bedroom with two single beds with the same covers in blue. We used the spare room as our dressing room and had our travel bags and clothes in there. The apartment had a bijou kitchen diner area and a lounge with two settees. We were on the first floor with views towards the sea but sadly this was obscured by trees. Not a problem so much as I could hear the birds singing in them and some noisy geese who were honking non-stop every morning.

The weather has been so hot that when we arrived on Friday night people were out having barbecues and the apartment was so hot we had to open every window to let in some fresh air. It was cooler first thing Saturday morning but the sun was shining through some wispy clouds and it promised to be a lovely day.

It was a hearty English breakfast in the morning for David with the full works although I just plumped for an elegant bacon buttie! We were then off for a day on the beach at Abersoch. We packed two beach chairs, a cool bag and all the newspapers that we had not had chance to read last  week. So a day of relaxation. We called into a Pwllheli to visit the charity shops (read about this in another post) and then popped into Zinc bar for a coffee (or in David's case a beer) and then it was down to the beach for a few hours.

We whiled away our time watching the yachts racing, children playing (and bickering) and we chatted about nothing in particular. The binoculars that I had bought for my nephew last week had somehow been purloined by David who spent time watching the yachts in the far distance. I doubt that my nephew will ever see these now. I had packed a light picnic so we drank bottles of fizzy cola and ate unhealthy pork pies, crisps and lemon & white chocolate muffins (I need to get back on healthy eating now).   The weather was glorious and after a few hours we ambled back to the car and off back to our apartment.

A quick shower and change and we were back in Abersoch for a meal at Manana for a night of Mexican food. David said he would drive so that I could have something alcoholic with my meal. We usually take it turns as to who will drive and remain dry and on Saturday night it was his turn. I chose a fresh strawberry frozen magharita which was just so delicious with a kick of 2.5 shots of tequila in it. Wow!! The food was great too and I chose a mixed chilli combo whereas David went for chicken fajitas.

We were back to our apartment for 9pm and in bed by 10pm as we were so tired. A combination of fresh sea air, sunshine and good food and drink.

I'll tell you about our Sunday in another posting.

Easy Daily Makeup

If I can get away with it I will go makeup free if I am spending a day at home with no visitors. I think it is good for my skin to have a day that it makeup free and I will just have serum and moisturiser on my face.

For the days that I am in the office (which is every day at the moment) I like to wear makeup. It is part of my work "uniform" and as I want to feel confident at work I feel the need to wear makeup. I change out of my work clothes when I get home and always take off my makeup at the same time. It really is like taking off my uniform.

I don't want to spend hours getting ready in the mornings so I have a quick and easy makeup routine which changes with the seasons. As it is spring at the moment and I still have some colour from my April holiday I am wearing a tinted moisturiser. This is L'Oreal Skin Perfection BB cream 5 in 1, Instant Blemish Balm in Medium. I bought a few of these on sale in Morrisons the other week and wrote about it in my blog. This is a great product as it is not too greasy or shiny and sits beautifully on my skin. 

I am a lover of Boots No.7 makeup for price and variety. I also love the free gifts that they offer every so often with multiple purchases. I am using this blusher in the shade Honey at the moment as it still picks out some my leftover tan.

I always use their eye shadow primer as I am at that age where eyeshadow can end up being creased on my eye lid. Using this primer really helps with keeping my eye shadow in place, particularly as I prefer to wear a powder rather than cream eye shadow. It is called Stay Perfect Smoothing & Brightening Eye Base.

 I always wear eyeshadow and I change the colour I wear depending on what I am wearing or how I feel that day. My all time favourite is a discontinued shade called Antique Rose. When I realised it had been discontinued I made a search on eBay and bought a couple of full sized compacts. I have also managed to find some sample sizes on carboot sales. I will only ever buy these when they are new and unused and at a reasonable price. I managed to also find a second choice colour that I will start to use when Antique Rose runs out and this is called Sorbet Shine.

I also love two other neutral shades called Wheatsheef and Mink as these are go to shades when I can't decide what colour to wear. They always brighten up my eyes.

I have a couple more that I wear less often and depending on the clothes I am wearing and these are are a khaki green imaginatively named Khaki and a chocolate brown one called Truffle.

A favourite eyeliner at the moment is one by Smashbox and this is called "Always Sharp Wterproof Kohl Liner". It has a sharpener in the lid so as you screw the lid back on it sharpens the eyeliner. I have to have waterproof so that it does not end up half way down my face. I have gone for a slightly different shade than I would normally wear and this is a dark violet colour called Violetta. I love it as a change from my usual dark brown.

I am using up lots of sample sized mascaras at the moment and my current one is a Clinique one called high impact mascara in black. This is good but I would not rave about it.

For lips I use Boots No.7 Deeply Moisturising Lipcare which gives 24 hour moisturising. Personally I think this is an exaggeration and it last for around half that time. I then use one of two Boots No.7 lipsticks which is either Plum Beautiful which is a great everyday colour or I go for Glacé which matches the Antique Rose eyeshadow perfectly. It is a deep mid pink colour with a hint of gold shimmer. I know this sounds a bit risky but it looks lovely on.

Well that's another daily blog for the Blog Every Day in May challenge and I hope you are enjoying reading my blog as much I enjoy writing it. Follow all the BEDM blogger on Twitter #BEDM.

More eBay sales

I know that I have recently written a post about my eBay sales but I am not sure what is happening with eBay at the moment but I have been having lots of sales and just wanted to update you. Last week in total I sold 12 items. I went to the post office three times. The first time I took just two parcels and the second and third time I took 5 parcels each time.

I am incredibly lucky in that the post office is just further up the road from where I live in a parade of shops. It is open from 7am until 10pm each day because the post office counter has been moved from a separate counter in the shop to the main shop counter. I can take my parcels any time during the day although there are strict times relating to the last post collection which are normally around 5pm.

I have sold a strange mixture of items that have been hanging around the house. I love getting rid of the clutter around my home and hoping that it is going to a better use in another home. 

So what did I sell?

A Lancome Juicy Tube lip gloss that was part of a set and in a colour I would never use.

A pair of leather loafers from the M&S Autograph range that are in my size but which come up small and are a little pinchy on my big toes.

A Star Wars spoon that came free with a box of Kelloggs cereal. I bought four of these boxes of cereal as they were on offer at £1 a box. They all came with the free spoon which I can hardly see myself and David using. Although thinking about it, a fun spoon at breakfast may bring a smile to our faces. It seemed a shame to throw them away so I thought I might sell them on eBay and I have sold two with two left to list.

A pair of white linen jeans that came from the Per Una range of Marks & Spencer. I bought these a couple of years ago but then put on weight (I am a terrible yo yo dieter) and I have never worn these as they are too small. It was time to let these go and I listed them on a Friday evening and they were sold by Saturday morning.

A lovely printed and embroidered cushion that David and I bought as a pair for our bed. They are both lovely but I have so many cushions already and have had a change of mind about our colour schemes that I decided to sell them. I have sold one and now have one left. It went for around the same price as we paid so with costs it is a minor loss or a break even.

I need to list some more items of clothing so that I can reduce my clothes mountain and it does not take long to list them but I don't seem to have a spare moment or the inclination at present. I am working every day in the office because I have had so many staff resign and I am trying to manage one large unit as well as do my usual job. This is due to a recent review of my department and I served redundancy notice on quite a few staff last week. I am coming home from work mentally exhausted and listing my clutter is starting to feel like work rather than a hobby. Time to give it another rest for a week and then pick it up again when I am enthused.

End of the Rainbow

Saturday afternoon we left home at 4pm for the one hour journey into Manchester City Centre to see End of the Rainbow.

At the end of our road is a canal and the tram line (Metrolink) runs alongside the canal. Walking along the canal is the quickest and most pleasant way of getting to the tram station and it is around a 15 minute walk. Luckily the weather was warm and sunny and the towpath was busy with people walking their dogs, cyclists and joggers. Two canal boats/barges floated past us and the captain of the first barge said hello and gave us a cheery wave. The second barge was bigger and was festooned with ribbons and bows. As it sailed past us it was full of people eating and drinking at beautifully laid tables and generally having a good time.

I looked up the details on the side of the boat when we got home and found it was a company called Bridgewater Cruises. What a great idea for a celebration to have your party on the barge with ever changing scenery. One for us to bear in mind for the future.

Once we got to Manchester we went for a meal in the Spinningfield district which was buzzing. The good weather had brought everybody out and at one bar it was so busy outside it was unbelievable. Standing room only. After looking at a few restaurants we decided to go cheap and cheerful at Nando's and we plumped for a sharing platter of spatchcock chicken with mango and lime marinade. We had a bottle of white wine between the two of us and sat outside to enjoy the warmth of the evening and people watch.

We wandered around to the Opera House theatre which is just on the edge of the Spinningfield district and had two ridiculously priced drinks. £12.50 for a glass of wine and a bottle of Carlsberg lager which were both served in plastic glasses - outrageous. There were also no seats or tables in the bar so we had to stand up to drink them.  We will not be doing that again in a hurry.

The show was funny in places but overall terribly sad and poignant. It was set in 1969 and documented the six week stint that Judy Garland had at the Talk of the Town in London. It covered the relationship she had with her pianist (played by Gary Wilmot) and her fiancé who later became her 5th husband. She died 3 months after marrying him at age 47 from a drug overdose.

There were some great songs sung by the lead Lisa Maxwell and her acting was simply brilliant but we came away feeling sad rather than uplifted. Gary Wilmot was absolutely brilliant in the show and it was good to see him again as he is missing from the small screen these days.

We do not have any more shows booked for now but are away to Abersoch for next weekend so that is something for us to look forward to.

Another day of my blogging challenge of "Blog Every Day in May". Follow it on Twitter #BEDM.

My Garden is a Mess

I have really neglected my garden this year. I have not mown the lawn for 5 or 6 weeks and have not done any weeding. Plants are overgrown and bursting out of their pots because they are root bound.

I bought some bedding plants two weeks ago at the Cheshire carboot sale for £1 a pack of 6. They are violas and are lovely blues, white, yellow and mauve. They have been in the kitchen for the last two weeks getting in the way. In the meantime the raised beds in the rear garden are looking tatty as the bedding plants I bought for over winter are a leggy and overblown. The front garden is even worse and it was time to make a start on getting things spick and span.

I started with the four pots at the back of the garden and replanted them with the violas. Even though it looks like there are loads of plants in their packs and that there will be some left over, I know from past experience that the three smaller pots take one pack of bedding plants each and the larger pot needs two packs.

I planted up the pots on Friday evening even though I was shattered from a long day at work. I forced myself to do it but was soon uplifted when I looked at the little smiling faces of the violas.

On Saturday morning I took David into work for 9am and as soon as I got back I mowed the back lawn and the front lawn. It took some effort to mow the back lawn in particular because the grass was so long. I edged it and pulled up some weeds.

I bought 3 packs of 10 petunia bedding plants at the Cheshire carboot sale yesterday and although I know the colours of one pack because it was in flower I will be taking pot luck with the other packs. The label just said mixed so it will be a suprise when they start to flower. I like that...

I planted them up in the afternoon in the blazing heat of the day. It was roasting hot yesterday which is lovely but hot to work in. I started off working in a t shirt and jogging pants and had to change the pants to shorts after a while. Even PG who loves the heat was seeking shelter under one of the hedges to cool down. She is just such a contented cat for a feral stray who chose us as her people (slaves, servants)

By early evening the back garden was looking better but I know I am going to have to adopt my dad's rule of "little and often" in the garden to get it to start looking more like it's usual self.

I've not shown any photos of the front garden as it is still messy despite the lawn having been mowed. I need to prune, weed and generally titivate it before I show any photos. Best left for another blog.

This blog is my daily "blog every day in May" challenge. You can see all the bloggers participating in this on Twitter #BEDM.