Life lately- May

The last couple weeks have been a bit stressful and very full! I was working a lot and was doing things that make me nervous such as workshops and presentations. Work was extra busy because I'm going away today! I was also doing shifts at my second job to make some extra cash for the trip. Amongst all the work craziness I managed to get to spend a three day weekend with my cousin and friends! 

My cousin, Joelle, has been working in Ireland for the past year and we finally got to meet up! It was the start of the Brighton festival so there was a lot of free and interesting things going on in town! 

Our friends, Siga and Kazimieras, also came down from London so we had a group of us. We wandered the city lots and checked out the antique shops. We went to a street party and got to introduce Joelle to some of our Brighton friends. 

There were a many free interactive art exhibitions such as the ribbon art below :)  

Lina thought the plate spinning would be easy.... But needed some help!

We found some dancing pandas...

And I got to show Joelle our Brighton home! 

We had the first BBQ of the year on the beach.

It was a bit smoky to start with but we figured it out, had lots of nice food, amd plenty if chatting. 

Here's another exhibition of hundreds of pendulums which you walk through without touching. 

On the last day we visited Lewes, a nearby small old English town. We explored the ruins, sat in the sun, and had a pub lunch. (The last two pictures are stolen from Joelle!)

It was really nice to have family here! Joelle's a really lovely positive person and she was just what I needed amongst all the crazy stress of work! 

I definitely missed some bits such as good chats with Brighton friends, sad goodbyes with a close colleague, sunny days in Brighton, scrabble, and the cinema as well! 

Amongst the craziness we've also been preparing for our vacation to New York. My sister, Katie, is getting married! We are going in a cruise to Bermuda, a road trip to niagra falls, and get to spend a bit of time in NYC. We're on the train to the airport now! I won't have much internet but will definitely have plenty of pictures to come! 

I also got to do some drawings to sell to my sister and someone back home. It pushed me to be creative and think of new ideas which was also well needed! 

I'll post a couple pics of those later as well. Have a great couple weeks!!

XBecky 

Arty Cardiff

The Monday night and Tuesday after Easter we were able to spend some time seeing a more arty side of Cardiff. After dinner we headed to a bar in a hostel called the bunkhouse. They serve drinks along with a huge selections of teas. I loved the decorations and the fact that you got to cuddle up on old fashioned beds! 

Huw and Vaida live near the canals so we had a late night wander.

On Tuesday we explored a huge antique shop.

 Then headed to Chapter arts centre to have a look around. It reminded us of a smaller southbank centre in London. They have art films, exhibitions, and an area to have some food or hang out. 

After Chapter, we headed to a vegetarian cafe, Milgi, and had a really delicious meals as well as interesting smoothies and drinks. We wanted everything on the menu! It also has a yurt outside with couches and cozy seating. 

Before we left we got to see where Vaida makes bread for her business and we got to eat plenty of the tasty sourdough throughout the trip! :) 

It was great to get to explore a new side to Cardiff and get to see Huw and Vaida's life there! 

XBecky 

A Pembrokeshire Easter- part 3

On our last day in Pembrokeshire, the sun reappeared and we were beyond excited to visit Skomer Island and see some puffins on the nature reserve. The drive took longer than expected and in the end we were speeding towards our destination to make it on time! We made it in the nick of time to find out that the boats weren't going to the island that day because of an impending 12 foot swell. The weather looked great so we were gutted to not be able to go, I was really looking forward to seeing puffins! But we had a beautiful day nonetheless. 

After we found out there were no boats we headed to a beach called Marloes sands for lunch. It was a beautiful beach with interesting rock formations that Lina reckons looked like sideways lasagne :) the sun came out to greet us and we hand a mini hike back along the top of the cliffs back to the car. 

After we left the beach we had t make a pit stop so Lina could take pictures in one of the many bright yellow rapeseed fields.

We then headed to Stackpole gardens, a historic gardens managed by a local disability charity, Mencap. They grow their vegetables and sell them in the shop on site. There was also a beautiful wooded area which was the site of the historical gardens. 

After the gardens we said our goodbyes to the beautiful Pembrokeshire and headed back to Cardiff. We were pretty lucky with the weather and had two sunny days of a bank holiday weekend, highly unusual! :) and are blessed with good friends who will drive us around to see all of this beauty! Hope to return soon and get to see some puffins as well! :)

XBecky