Summer 2015

Summer, the few months where university doesn't exist and the few months where I should have plenty of free time to get stuck into my summer plans. This Summer has definitely been the busiest yet, so much so that I completely missed my July roundup so I'm combining the past two months into one Summer related catch up.

Not long after I returned from Barcelona we received the keys to our new home, as it was a renovation project we spent a lot of time helping Lee's dad out with the work. Pulling carpets up, ripping the kitchen and bathroom out, knocking down walls, building walls, opening new doorways, closing off doorways and much more, the house was stripped back to a shell ready for us to put it back together. After only 5 weeks of work we're almost set to move in, just a few finishing touches and the sorting of the bills, it's all very real now. The transformation has been incredible and I will definitely be posting some photos in future posts, I just can't wait to make it our own. 

In the middle of all that my 20th birthday happened. For the first time, my mam couldn't be there as she was sunning it up in Greece but we did have a family meal before they left. Lee started the day off with a delivery of flowers and present opening in bed. The weather was pretty dull but we did make a stop for ice cream by the coast before hitting the shops, finishing the day off with a pub meal. Fast forwarding a few days, I met my friends for birthday celebrations with a meal at Frankie and Benny's and they did the dreaded 'lets tell them it's Rachael's birthday' thing, so out came the cake and on came the happy birthday song. Of course I totally appreciate it but it's fair to say I was very embarrassed, at least the girls got a good laugh out of it!

I've mentioned the Lake District a few times on here as it's one of our favourite places so we ventured there on a day off. The weather was beautiful and there were families setting up camp by the lake for the day with their BBQs and there were plenty of people taking a swim. We got ice cream and found a walk which took us alongside the lake and up to some pretty amazing caves, one with stepping stones taking us into the darkness, lots of fish darting back and forth in the water beneath us, it was pretty cool. Typical Lee decided to take us off route, leading the way on top of one of the caves and we walked, and walked, stopping every so often to take in the amazing views. Before we knew it we were on top of a mountain, out of breath and in desperate need of water so we made our way back to the car, ending the day as we always do, with a takeaway.

Other than that, I've spent time with friends, usually just chilling with a takeaway but we also had a meal out at the local Indians and I hosted a Mexican night for two of the girls, although they ended up doing most all of the cooking, I took charge of cocktail making. I attended my friend's dads 40th which consisted of an 'adult' bouncy castle, sumo suits, cocktails and then we wandered over to our local village for more drinks. I had a night out with work which was well overdue, I got to catch up with one of the girls who left a few months back which was really nice. More recent things; I went to an actual Next home shop for the first time and fell in love with so much, their copper kitchenware is so dreamy! We watched The Best of Me on Netflix the other night and I would 100% urge everyone to watch it, it's a chick flick but so much happens in the movie and I guarantee you will be in floods of tears by the end. I also went to see Paper Towns after a lunch date with the girls and I was actually pretty disappointed, it wasn't that bad but it wasn't great, I'm guessing it's aimed at a younger audience despite the sexual references as when the lights came on we realised we were surrounded by girls way younger than us! I've also been working, trying to find a placement for next year which is proving more difficult than I imagined and nursing a broken iPhone, it's fixed now but I did loose everything from October last year due to my iCloud being full, never again will I not transfer my photos to my laptop! 

I have definitely rambled on for long enough but there we have it, a roundup of my Summer 2015, now there's only 3 small weeks between me and the start of third year and dissertation stress. 

Rachael x

Exploring Barcelona

Back at the end of June, me and the girls jetted off to sunny Barcelona for 5 days to do some relaxing, sight seeing and cocktail drinking as an end of second year getaway. Barcelona itself can get pretty pricey for accommodation so because of the good deal, we ended up staying in a town called Mataro, a 40 minute metro ride from the bustling city of Barcelona. Mataro is a beach town and our hotel overlooked the pretty port, I was slightly hesitant on our arrival as it isn't a very touristy place at all but as the day went on I realised how nice it was to actually be in with the locals. This made for the perfect mix between a relaxing poolside/beach holiday and a city break. So, as well as soaking up the sun by the pool we ventured into Barcelona to do some touristy things on one (and a half) days as travelling meant we only had three full days there. The metro system is thankfully really good with clean and air conditioned metros, I would definitely recommend it as your main mode of transport if you're visiting. Our journey from Mataro to Barcelona passed many beach towns which made for a journey more pleasing to the eye than the darkness of the underground. 

We chose a bus tour to transport us around the city which was a great way to see everything with multiple stops. We chose to spend our time in the city seeing all of Gaudi's beautiful work, including the incredible unfinished cathedral, La Sagrada Familia which is just as gorgeous inside, his park, Park Guell and two of his buildings, Casa Batllo and La Pedrera. We took an audio tour around Casa Batllo which definitely highlighted the amount of detail and thought that had gone into his work. Barcelona is definitely the city of amazing architecture, no matter where you look no two buildings are the same, the quaint little streets were my favourite with their picturesque balconies. Our second visit into the city was the evening before we left and we spent a while wandering the streets in the search for the Arc de Triomf which was unfortunately rather unsuccessful, so we headed along the beach finally reaching the Hard Rock cafe to fill our tummy's with a tasty burger and a cocktail. We took in the sights one last time when the sky was darkening and the fountains in the main square were lit with the prettiest colours before heading back on the metro. I loved our time in Barcelona, it was the most relaxing break and I would definitely like to return to do some more exploring one day.

Rachael x