Post holidays...

We've been back from our epic holiday adventure for over two weeks now and in finally getting over the post-holiday funk. There will be details of NYC, Bermuda, Niagara Falls, and Toronto soon! 

Back here on Brighton I've been working a lot to catch up at work and make a bit of extra money. In the off time we've been catching up with friends and watching loads of Netflix. 

We also saw a bit of summer here by the sea! It definitely made it easier to be able to keep wearing my shorts and toms after the beautiful beaches of Bermuda :) Brighton is really great in the sunshine and it reminds me how lucky we are to live here by the beach. 

The big screen has returned for a month free movies and sports games on the beach. Summer is great for lots of free stuff to do outside. I'm excited for what the rest if summer has to bring, a trip to Lithuania, 4th of July weekend with a full house of friends, a cycling and camping weekend, a canoeing and camping weekend, pride, and I'm sure plenty of other adventures along the way. 

So look out for pictures and stories from our recent travels... And ongoing summer time fun :) will write more soon, promise!

XBecky 

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 

A Pembrokeshire Easter- part 2

Easter Sunday was a very windy and rainy one! We started the morning with breakfast and colouring eggs in the kitchen area of the campground. 

We then went off to explore the nearby small towns. This is the cathedral at St. David's- the smallest city in the UK! It was an interesting small town with non-commercial shops. The cathedral was beautiful even on this gray day! 

We then drove around trying to find a hostel to stay at as the weather was not too condusive to camping. As it was a bank holiday weekend we didn't have any luck but did get to see some beautiful sights! We then visited the village of Portgain and had a pub lunch at the Sloop Inn. It was a tiny little village on the coast and you could walk from one end to the other in just a couple of minutes. Since it started raining harder we sheltered in a little cave to take some selfies :) 

And of course Lina wanted to prove she could fit in the smelly fish box...

After our wandering we returned to the campsite, we asked the owner of the site if he had any indoors accommodation and we were in luck! He let us stay in the bunkhouse for no extra charge, it was a big relief after a difficult, cold night's sleep the night before. Then Lina and Huw created an Easter treasure hunt and we got on with decorating the eggs. 

The rest of the evening I stayed in the bunkhouse reading and listening to music and had a really cozy nights sleep! :) 

XBecky 

A Pembrokeshire Easter- part 1

For the Easter bank holiday weekend Lina And I headed to Wales to see our friends, Huw and Vaida. We took a little road trip to Pembrokeshire to see the beautiful coasts. We got to be part of the first road trip in their new car! :)

We camped at Celtic camping and bunkhouse near St David's and we were camped with a beautiful view! The owner was super nice and kept checking in with  us whenever we ran into him. 

Once we got the tents put up we went for a hike along the coast and went to see a blue lagoon. We had a snack on the beach when to sun peeked out. 

Then we came back and made dinner over the fire. (The best view from a tent yet!) 

Lina fell in love with the farmer's dog :)

Lina did her usual fire dance and we had a nice campfire. Unfortunately I was really tired after the journey and waking up at 6am so retired to the tent early. The others were star gazing for awhile longer, I'm jealous! 

More to come! It was pretty great to get away from normal life and catch up friends. 

XBecky 

The run up to Easter

Last week was another busy one but shorter due to the bank holiday weekend! (I'm the uk Good Friday and Easter Monday are paid days off!)

Last weekend I had a bit of time to work on some doodle postcards for a doodle fest in Brighton they are asking everyone to help out with. There will be a doodle-a-thon in early May that I hope to be able to stop by at some point as well. 

On Thursday I went out for a couple of drinks with my work colleagues, which was sorely needed and is not done often enough. We went to a newly opened bar on London road, the Lounge which I quickly fell in love with. It is a wide open space with loads of quirky pictures and paintings. 

After I met up with Lina, Asta, and Tautvydas to see a dance show, Boxe Boxe. It was a contemporary dance show with a boxing theme. It was an hour long and we liked it very much. It was set to classical orchestra music with musicians part of the show as well. I would definitely recommend! 

We then went to a pub to hear some live music by a football friend of Lina's. Not all if they musicians were our cup of tea but we did really like Lisha, who we came to see. 

Lastly, I finally put up a few new drawings on etsy! Check out my berry and bee site www.berryandbee.blogspot.com for more info! 

We're currently in Wales and will have loads of pics for you soon! 

Hope you has a great Easter weekend!! 

XBecky 

Springtime is here!

The rain has mostly held off around here lately and it's lovely to see flowers in bloom! The week has been another one full of work but it included some interesting challenges and other bright moments as well. 

Last Sunday spent a bit of time watching the Brighton marathon. The pictures below are pretty low quality but gives you a bit of the feel of the day. Marathons and other races tend to make me quite emotional so I have to admit I was  bit tearful. I'm sure there are some deep-seated psychological reasoning behind this... but mostly it's the atmosphere of cheering and so many different people taking on this huge challenge. 

Work-wise, it was a pretty interesting week as I had a meeting to further expand the young person's project that I'm working on and I helped to facilitate a workshop on Health and Wellbeing. Both things made me nervous but I felt they went well and it's definitely helping me to grow! I've been out of the office doing outreach in the community and I have to admit I'm liking it a lot, but am also pretty behind on the paperwork side of things. 

Other perks of the week were having a movie night with some friends to watch Blue in the Warmest Color
It's a film we've been looking forward to seeing for ages and it didn't disappoint. It was full of a complicated and many-layered relationship that still has me thinking. It was a perhaps a bit too long and not as happy as I'd like but I did enjoy it. I'd definitely recommend!

Lina and I also went to a boxing class that pretty much killed me, but I'm glad we went. We've also been doing a lot of dreaming and planning around our upcoming trips! We're going to Wales for Easter weekend to do some camping and hiking, and to see some puffins! Hopefully my cousin, Joelle, will be visiting at the start of May. And next month we're off to the US to go to Katie's wedding, the Bermuda cruise, and a bit of a road trip in NY state. 

Today, I'm working a few hours then we're heading to the park to celebrate our friend, Sarah's birthday.. and the rest of the weekend is going to be a bit of playing catch up, resting, and hopefully finally finishing some art pieces I've been working on! 

I'll leave you with some more great Brighton street art :) 

xBecky