52 Lists - The Dreams/Goals You Had As A Child

 

 

 

 

When I was young...

 

First I wanted to be a nurse

 

Then a special needs teacher

 

Then a nursery nurse

 

 

I also wanted a garden

 

And a house by the seaside

 

 

I wanted to run a shop

 

And a library

 

And a hotel

 

 

And I wanted to run away and marry a fisherman in Scotland!

 

 

(my dad very kindly decided to mention that little pipe dream in his 'father of the bride' speech...)

 

 

 

What were your dreams and goals as a child?

 

This post is part of Ema's (Made in Hunters) 52 Lists Project

For a full list of all the other lovely bloggy people taking part, visit Scarlett's site (WorkRestPlayLove) for a nosy!

The Summer Tag

Last month the lovely Gemma and her equally fabulous companion Dudley from over at Not So Simples tagged me in The Summer Tag.

I'm sure you've all seen it doing the rounds; in fact I'm probably the last person to complete it but as it's a bank holiday this weekend (and that means it's the last week of the summer) then nope, it's not too late to answer the questions!
 

1. What's your favourite thing about summer?
Festivals!
Glastonbury, Edinburgh Fringe, Great Dorset Steam Fair and all the other shows and fetes we end up going to.


2. Do you have a favourite summer drink?
Orange juice and lemonade, preferably with a sea view.


3. Is there a location you prefer to go to in summer?
Outdoor swimming pools and lidos - places like Greenbank Pool in Street and Portishead Open Air Pool. Closely followed by Weymouth Beach for gorgeous lazy sea swimming.


4. Favourite make up look for summer?
I wouldn't say I'm any kind of make up expert but I have been trying to wear brighter lipstick this year so my favourite look would be anything with brightly coloured lips!


5. Dresses or skirts?
Dresses, obvs.


6. Sandals or ballet pumps?
Sandals most of the time (although I live in ballet pumps during our Edinburgh week - they're so much easier to dash round the city in!)


7. Do you prefer to wear your hair up or down for summer?
Down, but only because it's not usually long enough to wear up.


8. Deep smoky eyes or bold lips?
Bold lips.


9. Favourite perfume for summer?
Something a bit fruity (but it's usually just whatever I'm using at the moment).


10. Last but not least, favourite music for summer?
Whoever my favourite band is at Glastonbury each year! I always end up listening to the same band over and over again from the end of June through to the end of August. This year I've got Arcade Fire on repeat.



If there's anyone out there who hasn't completed the Summer Tag yet, then consider yourself tagged!
 

 

An Excellent Week in Edinburgh

Ahh, Edinburgh, my favourite city and my favourite holiday of the year - the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Aside from a minor hiccup with our first train being cancelled from Bristol, everything else went spectacularly to plan. I do love it when a spreadsheet and itemised plan actually works! :-)

 

 

 

We always stay at a little holiday park just outside the city centre on the eastern side of Musselburgh. It's a 45 minute bus ride to the city centre along the coastline of Joppa and Portobello with beautiful views and sandy beaches.

 

 

 

The site has a variety of places to stay and this year we traded up for a slightly bigger lodge than our usual (one with a double bed and it's own toilet!) and ended up in the Almond Bothy which was so lovely I think we'll be booking it again next year.

 

 

 

The other amazing thing about this site is that they sell wood-fired pizza a couple of times a week. We arrived on a Tuesday night around 6pm and while I got on doing the unpacking Andrew nipped over and picked up a Hawaiian - perfect fodder after an 8 hour train and bus ride! 

 

  

Then we headed into Edinburgh city to see our first shows, soak up the atmosphere and (obviously) eat a lot more food...

 

 

 

 

Somewhere we've been meaning to visit every year and never get round to it is Mamma's Pizza Restaurant. This year we had a gap of a couple of hours and despite there being a bit of a queue to get in, as there was only 2 of us, they showed us to a table straightaway - bonus :-)

 

Andrew had the Matador pizza and I had a BB King pizza topped off with a shared bowl of cheesy chips - and it was definitely well worth the 4-year wait.


Next year I'll have to plan a pizza stop into my GANTT chart!

 

Here Is The News #7

Blogland Brilliance

 Elizabeth has just released a fab little eBook over at her Blognix site - 100 Blog Post Prompts and Ideas - full of tips for when you're a bit stuck!

Lauren passed her A Levels with flying colours and managed to get into Cardiff, yay!

Michelle looks like one darn sexy lady wearing her new lipstick - Jessica Rabbit would definitely be jealolus!

How about some Golden Snitch truffles at your next dinner party?


This week I've bought...

 Tickets to see David Mitchell (the comedian, not the novelist) in Bath in November.

Tickets to see a show by Living Spit Theatre Company based on the life of Elizabeth I. They're a fab company, although 'company' is a rather ambitious word for what is essentially two very funny men in drag!

(plus I've bought two lots of Travelodge rooms - one night in Taunton and three nights in Clapham - but that's not quite so interesting)


Find me at...

 Sturminster Newton Carnival in Dorset on Saturday night. It's the first in the season of South West England's illuminated carnivals and I'm judging the entries!

From the bank holiday weekend, I'll be at Great Dorset Steam Fair with Andrew's lorry, where I'll either be caked in mud or covered in dust, depending on the weather...

And if I wasn't there, I'd quite like to be in Bournemouth for the Air Festival. We see some of the planes flying over the steam fair site on their way to and from the festival and I bet the whole display would be fab to watch.


Interesting Info

You might have all seen this map by now but (even though it's juvenile), it's still funny!

The nominees for the Edinburgh Fringe Foster's Comedy Awards were announced today. I'm quite pleased to see several comedians we like on the list - Alex Horne, James Acaster, Romesh Ranganathan and Sara Pascoe.


Life Lessons

Andrea wrote this simply brilliant post all about the vital difference between introverts and shyness. I don't think I'm shy but I'm definitely not an extrovert so I think she's spot on!



What's new with you?
 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 16th August

This month Jane (from Is That You Darling) set the photo an hour challenge on Saturday 16th August. There were several of us taking part on Instagram and Twitter; I'm not sure how everyone else's day panned out but mine involved rather a large amount of food!



9am - I woke up about 8.30am and by 9am we had sausage patties and tomatoes sizzling on the hotplate ready to make Sausage and Egg Muffins (very similar to the ones made by the firm with the golden arches).

10am - We headed out to do a couple of jobs in town; visiting the delivery office and the waste recycling depot on the way.

11am - I got stuck into some baking, ready for a picnic the next day.

12pm - First batch of things cooked - Sausage and Tomato Chutney Rolls :-)

1pm - The main bit of the picnic was a Sausage, Bacon and Egg pie which I made a start on next.

2pm - Whilst I was in the kitchen cooking, Andrew made the most of the sunny weather and finished off our homemade gate.

3pm - Voila! The pie didn't look half bad!

4pm - Next up, I started on the cakes. I made Apple and Blackberry Traybake and Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies with fruit foraged last autumn and frozen for about 10 months.

5pm - The apple and blackberry traybake started to look quite colourful!

6pm - After numerous hours slaving over the oven, I hung up my apron to have a quick wash before heading out for the evening.

7pm - Where we were off to was a pre-show BBQ in the vintage vehicle field at the Mid Somerset Show.

8pm - Dinner was served and my first course was a delicious hog roll.

9pm - A couple of our friends had a fire going so we all crowded round to keep warm and talk about nonsense.

10pm - Back at home and just chopping up the cakes ready to take out the next morning.

11pm - And just before bed, one book finished (Ghostwritten) and another one started!

Pop over to Jane's blog to see when September's photo an hour challenge will be!

 

 

This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...

 

 

Cooking - lots and lots of food ready for a picnic on Sunday at the Mid Somerset Show. We usually do baked potatoes cooked in a steam engine but this year we thought we'd have a change and go for pie, tortilla, savoury nibbles and (of course) lots of cake.

 

 

 

 

Using - up some blackberries and raspberries from the freezer that were actually picked from last September.

 

 

 

 

Erecting - a gate and then painting the fence that's mounted to the gate structure. Obviously Andrew did all that, I just supplied the tea and bits of food that went wrong during the cooking process!

 

 

 

 

Participating - in Jane's (from Is That You Darling) photo an hour challenge on Saturday. Round up to follow tomorrow!

 

 

 

Eating - more food than I really needed at a BBQ on Saturday night. The people who run the vintage vehicle field at the Mid Somerset Show hold a little party the night before and we ended up having hog rolls, sweet and sour chicken, hot dogs and lots of cheese. Andrew had all that plus faggots, a burger and a Danish pastry to finish!

 

 

 

 

Warming - ourselves up with a fire in a log. I'm sure they must have a fancy name or something but for the moment, it's just 'fire in a log'.

 

 

 

 

Meeting - several friends at the show on Sunday. Plus lots of friends of the human variety as well.

 

 

 

 

Enjoying - the sunshine when it finally appeared at the show along with all the fabulous exhibits. If you like cheese, you would've definitely been in some kind of cheesy heaven in one of the tents!

 

 

 

 

What did you get up to at the weekend?

An A-Z of Me - F

 

 

 

 

Family History - Researching family history is one of my favourite hobbies, I bought this book (from Trago Mills in Liskeard, no less) when I was 9 and that was what got me started. Obviously it's a heck of a lot easier nowadays with the internet and sites like Ancestry and GenesReunited but the thrill of receiving a historical birth, death or marriage certificate through the post is still there!

The furthest we've got back is to about 1770 on one of my mother's lines but there's been many a dead end and wild goose chase along the way. The huge bonus with researching your ancestors is that it's something you can do for a while, forget about for a few years and then pick it up again whenever you like!

 

 

Fairgrounds - The colours, the lights, the showman's engines, the vintage lorries, the living vans, the lettering, the artwork, the travelling life, the screams and the thrill of it all - what's not to love?

 

 

Fringe Festival - My favourite holiday of the year, Edinburgh during festival season is complete madness but I love it!

 

 

Fifties - I reckon this has to be my favourite decade - very much tied in with fairgrounds and the type of dresses which suit me perfectly! One of the prompts during Blog Every Day in May was all about your favourite decade so you can read more about why I like the fifties here if you fancy.  

 

 

Fringe (of the hair variety) - I had a fringe (a very 80s straight across cut) til I was about 9. I hated it. Consequently I haven't had a fringe since.

 

 

What 'F' things sum you up?

For the rest of the alphabet click here!