A Failed Sunday Adventure....

Sunday started off great. I had a boiled egg in this little guy. That made me happy.

We've got so much going on at the moment that I knew we wouldn't have time for a proper Sunday adventure but there was a little woodland nearby that we haven't been to in over a year so we decided to go there. We hopped in the car for the short drive and once there we paid our entry, received our guide and headed off on a woodland walk. We hadn't been walking very long when we realised the guide was different to the one we had received last time we visited and was in fact missing some of the destinations. After some investigation we realised they had sold a chunk of the woodland and that it was no private property and therefore off limits! Such a disappointment. This meant our adventure only lasted about 45 minutes and that was with stopping for photos. I didn't even end up with very many nice photos. Here's what I did take...

It was nice to get out of the house and into the countryside even if it was only for a little while. I just need to research our Sunday adventures a little better in the future. Here's hoping this weeks adventure is better!

For those of you interested this post was from the last time we visited these woods and we also took one of my favourite photos of the two of us there.

bloglovin'

I've finally got around to adding my blog over on bloglovin'. I've been using it to read and follow other blogs for a couple of weeks now but just hadn't added my own. Well now I have so...


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Normal.

I did already post this for my 366 but I love it too much not to include it here as well

When I started a 366 of documenting delight I really wanted to focus on the little things. The normal, everyday occurrences that would usually get overlooked. I don't really feel like I've achieved this consistently throughout the year but every now and then I manage a photo like this. One that strikes like a lightening bolt to the heart. That is a perfectly ordinary snapshot of our routine but reminds me, just by looking at it, how lucky I am. I can't believe that this is a normal, everyday sight. That I wake up day after day with my husband beside me. When did normal get so perfect?

Wednesday Challenge Update (a day late) 28.06.12

Just one book this week although I very almost finished a second one. Oh well, that one will have to wait for next weeks update.

Image from Goodreads

Caught - Harlan Coben

From Goodreads:

Wendy is a reporter on a mission: She's chasing down the lowest of the low-sexual predators-and exposing them on national television. Her big break comes when she nails a child advocate who works with abused and undeserved children. Three months later, the perp is off the grid, missing and presumed dead after the father of a victim claims to have killed him. Then is all comes unhinged: Wendy gets a phone call that changes everything. Secrets long-buried rise to the surface and Wendy begins to wonder if her assumptions that fateful night three months ago were based on solid investigative journalism-or if she has unwittingly been part of a grand manipulation aiming to destroy an innocent man. 

Matt enjoys reading Harlan Coben so he has been trying to get me into reading them. I didn't want to get into another series so he suggested this one to me. I did enjoy it but I didn't think it was anything spectacular. I'd read more of Harlan Coben at one point but I'm not rushing to read it now. Maybe Matt didn't choose the best one for me to start with or maybe I just prefer other crime/thrillers.

So now I'm on 28/50 and I'm still feeling pretty good about it. If you like you can follow me over on Goodreads to see what I'm currently reading.

Time for a change...

I’ve been thinking that it’s beyond time that I changed my hair up a bit. I’m getting fed up of bleaching it all of the time and since I’m doing it less and less often my roots are getting really long. I’m thinking I might dye it a more natural blonde and then let my natural hair colour come through for a while. I also think I might let it grow and have longer hair for a while again. Just to see. I don’t feel like I’ve found the right haircut for me so it’s time to mix it up a bit.
Anyway, I’m pretty scared about this. I dyed my hair when I was going through a big period of change in my life and have stuck with it for the last three years. Going back to my natural hair colour for some reason makes me feel like going back to that person three years ago. Is that weird? I feel like if I change my hair I’m instantly going to look like this person again….

or even worse, like this...

or this...

  When I’m thinking rationally I know that I’m not going to instantly put on about half of my body weight again or stop wearing make up or start wearing really bad clothing again but I don’t often think rationally. I know that so much about me has changed in the past three years but I’m still worried. I know I’m crazy but I’m posting this so that once I’ve done it I’ll be able to look back and laugh at myself. Or, you know, curse past Amy for listening to her irrational self. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll pluck up the courage to do it in the next day of so.

I like....

taking photos of flowers.
I don't know why. I'm not one of those people who has to have flowers in the house or loves their partner buying them as gifts but when we're out and I have my camera I'm always drawn to them. I think it's the colours. Yeah, that might be it, the colours....

Wednesday Challenge Update 20.06.12

Once again I've left it a few weeks without doing an update so now I have 5 books for you.

Image from Goodreads

Gods of Riverworld - Philip Jose Farmer

From Goodreads:  

Now Riverworld's omnipotent leaders have been confronted, & the renegades of Riverworld--led by the intrepid Sir Richard Francis Burton--control the fantastic mechanism that once ruled them. But the most awesome challenge lies ahead. For in the vast corridors & secret rooms of the tower stronghold, an unknown enemy watches & waits to usurp the usurpers.

I've been putting off reading this one as I found the last two pretty tough to get through but I was presently surprised. I think this one turned out being my one of my favourites from the whole series.

Image from Goodreads

Before I go to Sleep - S.J. Watson

From Goodreads:

Memories define us.

So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep?

Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love--all forgotten overnight.

And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story.

Welcome to Christine's life.

This wasn't really a book that appealed to me but since I've recently joined a book club and this was the book for the month I had little choice but to read it. It was ok. It's described as a thriller but it's really not, I managed to read it in one day but not because I desperately wanted to know what happened next or anything. I'm glad I read something different but this really wasn't for me.

Image from Goodreads

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

 

From Goodreads:

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed

 

 I loved, loved, loved this book! I read the entire thing on my birthday, I could not put it down. As soon as I'd finished I forced Matt to read it as well and he loved it just as much. It's full of 80s movie and game references as well as general nerd goodness. Love it.

Image from Goodreads

John Dies at the End - David Wong

 

From Goodreads:

STOP.
You should not have touched this book with your bare hands.
NO, don’t put it down. It’s too late.
They’re watching you.
My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours.
You may not want to know about the things you’ll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it’s too late. You touched the book. You’re in the game. You’re under the eye.

 This is another book that I got for my birthday that I really enjoyed. This is a weird book, it scared me, disgusted me, made me laugh out loud (a lot). And I just found out they've made it into a film which I'm pretty damn excited to see now.

Image from Goodreads

Crooked Little Vein - Warren Ellis

From Goodreads:

A burned-out private detective is enlisted by an army of presidential goons to retrieve the U.S. Constitution...the real one. Following in the steps of Neil Gaiman, Crooked Little Vein is packed with action, adventure, and a wild cast of characters that are sure to appease not only hardcore comic fans, but a whole new slew of mystery readers waiting for a surprisingly surreal treat that infuses the madness of the graphic-novel world.

Yet another birthday book, I managed to read this during a weekend trip to London. It's a typical detective book except it's totally different. I really enjoyed it. I've wanted to read it since we saw Warren Ellis at Kapow last month. The only slight problem with this book was I was pretty embarrassed reading it on the train as it explores some fetishes and perversions that are downright bizarre. It was a really good read.




So there we have it. Those are the five books I've read in the past few weeks and that brings my total to 27/50. I passed half way!

My last day as a 24 year old

Matt had to work on my actual birthday so we decided to treat Sunday as my unofficial birthday instead. I was treated to breakfast in bed which were home made pop tarts inspired by these. They were delicious, I think I could have eaten them all day long. Yum.

please excuse my just woken up, fresh faced look.

 When we’d finally eaten our fill of pop tarts and got ourselves ready we headed out on a little adventure. The weather was pretty bad though so after a little county drive we decided to stop for lunch and see it cleared up. I had a roast beef dinner and a pint of cider and it was delightful.

We wandered along the canal to walk off our lunch before heading back to the car and on to the Courts which is a National Trust property that I hadn’t actually been to before. Unfortunately the weather didn’t really clear up so we didn’t stay nearly as long as I would have liked. We’ll definitely go back in nicer weather though.

Matt making a sad face because I took so many photos of him. It kind of backfired though because I like this shot

 Once we were home and dried off we spent the evening hanging out together, drinking beer and playing board games. It was truly awesome. I know to a lot of people that day doesn’t sound too exciting but to me it is. It has a little of everything I like to do and a whole lot of my husband…what more could I ask for?

A Walk in the Woods

Whilst down in Dorset visiting family we decided to run off on our own for a little while to go exploring in nearby woods. We had fun running around amongst the trees and taking lots of stupid photos which I'm now going to spam you with. Sorry in advance.

 

Bath and West Show

 When Matt and I got married last year we decided that we wanted our first year of marriage to be filled with lots of random little adventures. Things that we hadn't done before or wanted to experience together. This idea has seen us going to the New Forest and the Kapow Comic Convention amongst others already this year. Our most recent trip was to the Bath and West show this week. I'd never been to that sort of thing before and although the weather wasn't great we ended up having a really good time.

I really do not look good here but hey any photo of my Grandma and I is a good photo, right?

We spent ages wandering around taking everything in. We had hog roast for lunch whilst watching some horse boarding in the main ring. I had never even heard of horse boarding but it turns out it's pretty fun to watch.

I didn't really take too many photos of the rest of the day because I was too busy soaking it all up. We wandered around all of the stalls, visited the animals, drank local cider whilst watching show jumping and enjoyed the art exhibit and florist competitions. It was so much fun and I really enjoyed the day spent with my Grandma and my husband. Here's the rest of my photos from the day....

I never realised how big some cattle got!