28 Feb 2020

California Adventures: A Magical Time In Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

If I could re-do our trip to California, the one thing I’d change would be to spend longer in Yosemite National Park. This place was unreal. UNREAL. Being there was like spending two days lost in a painting. 

We left San Francisco at the crack of dawn and travelled to Yosemite with the company Incredible Adventures who essentially drive you to the park and then pick you up again the next day (or the same day/day after, depending on how long you stay). They also booked our accommodation for us which was super handy as accommodation books up fast in Yosemite. 

Our first stop on our way into the park was Tunnel View. You guys. This. View. There aren’t many places where photos don’t even begin to do it justice but this is one of them. Seriously, it didn’t look real. We excitedly picked out some of the key sights; El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridalveil Falls – we were here. We had two days to soak up as much as Yosemite as possible and we were really going to try; this wasn’t a time for sitting still. 

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Once we’d driven into the heart of the park, we kicked off with Yosemite Falls as it was closest to our drop-off point. We did the Lower Yosemite Falls trail which is an easy one-mile loop and gives you spectacular views of the waterfall from the bottom; you can get right up close (and suitable sprayed). 

We then headed to a shuttle stop to get to Half Dome village and, honestly, I almost kept tripping over my own feet as I gazed open-mouthed at the beauty around us. It was stunning

We stayed in the Half Dome village in a tent cabin – camping with a real bed and door essentially. When we checked in, there was a half-hilarious, half-terrifying video of a bear breaking into a car which was essentially the park’s way of saying for heaven sake use the bear box. The bear box was a locked metal box outside the tent for all our food and toiletries (anything a bear could think was food) and, quite frankly, I was practically giddy at the thought of camping somewhere where there were real life bears. Probably not a normal reaction no? 

There was a toilet nearby and plenty of blankets for when the temperature dropped during the night. When you looked up, you could see these awe-inspiring granite cliffs towering above and you just felt tiny. I wouldn’t have wanted to stay anywhere else; I loved being in the heart of the park and feeling like we were sleeping outside.

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing the Mirror Lake Trail. This was another easy, but longer, loop to Mirror Lake which does exactly what it says on the tin. The trail starts with a warning about entering mountain lion territory – again, I was seemingly weirdly excited about this prospect – and then takes you through the woods. The lake wasn’t as ‘mirror’ as we would have hoped, thanks to a breeze, but still extremely beautiful. On our way back, we saw a chipmunk and a deer wandering around seemingly unbothered by humans. Sadly not a mountain lion or bear in sight.  

The Half Dome Village has a small food court so dinner was pizza sat outside and laughing at the cockiness of the squirrels and huge birds trying to steal food. When darkness descended, we made sure to step away from the torch lights and check out the night sky in the wilderness; the stars were incredible. 

The tent was cosy, although the blankets were a necessity in the middle of the night, and we were woken up by the sunlight streaming through the canvas the next morning. 

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Our plan for our second and final day in Yosemite was the Mist Trail; a five hour hike up into the mountains to Vernal Falls which is, quite literally, breathtaking. The hike is gorgeous but when you reach the bottom of the waterfall – oh my. We ascended up an extremely narrow and slippery path. We got absolutely drenched in the spray and there was a lot of concentration on not slipping and tumbling to certain death but all the rainbows peppered throughout the mist made the whole experience bloody glorious. The views at the top of the waterfall were stunning and the sight of a squirrel stealing an entire bag of apples from a woman’s bag almost just as entertaining.  

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

By the time we got back down the mountain, we had just enough time to grab an ice cream and take a walk through the park back to our pick-up point. 

There was something mythical and magical about Yosemite. If you’re heading to California, do not miss it off your list. 

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park


18 Feb 2020

Home | Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

In case I haven’t bored you with pictures by now and you’re unaware, Gary and I have been doing up our house since July last year. It’s been both fun and a slog at the same time but we are on the home stretch now (famous last words) so it felt like time to start documenting some of our changes so I can look back and remember how much we did. If this kind of thing interests you, stick around. 

I’m starting with the upstairs bathroom mostly because it’s the only room in the house I currently consider ‘done’. A lot of the rooms are mostly finished but still lacking a blind or one piece of furniture, but the bathroom has a metaphorical green tick next to it and isn’t occupying any of my brain space.

When we bought the house, this bathroom was rather tired looking and had cartoon fish stickers on the wall which – shocker – wasn’t really the look I was going for. We originally had plans to basically rip it out and start again but when we considered our budget and all the other more pressing work that needed doing elsewhere, this room actually ended up being our how-can-we-make-this-nice-without-ripping-out-or-spending-money room. As I am the only bath-lover in the household (there is another bathroom with a shower), it sort of became my project. Hence why the walls are pink. 

Obviously we did spend money on it but it is definitely the cheapest room in the house so to speak.

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

The thing that made the most difference was changing the bath panel. The one before was bulky, cracked and yellowing; an eyesore. Our bath isn’t a standard size so I sought out a relatively cheap bath panel that we could cut down ourselves. Gary had to remove some of the backing and saw it down but we got it in and it immediately made the room look that bit fresher, and surprisingly bigger.

I wanted a pink/black vibe so we painted the walls a pale pink – I really like the sheen to this particular colour – and then added black and white prints (both from Desenio) in black frames and a black framed mirror from Marks & Spencer. We swapped the chipped mirror above the sink for a little shelf with black hook (£8 from Urban Outfitters), the old toilet roll holder for a black one and removed the hand towel rail for this rope back-of-the-door rail from Melody Maison for more towel-hanging space. After a lot of hunting, we found a unit that would fit between the sink and wall to give us some storage space. The pink-and-black towels were a bargain from George, and the flowers and bath bomb jar were both cheap from Wilkinsons and The Range.

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

I already owned the bath tray and the blind was left over from the previous owners, hanging in one of the spare rooms. Whilst it probably wouldn’t have been something I would have picked myself, it fitted the pink theme and didn’t cost a penny. Win win. 

Whilst admittedly I would love to re-tile and get rid of those bath handles, I’m pretty chuffed that we've managed to freshen the bathroom up without having to spend too much money. Whilst I'm sure we will want to refurbish it at some point in the future, it feels fresh enough for the foreseeable, and I love having a cute bathroom for my excessive bath bomb-filled baths.

Refreshing A Bathroom On A Budget

  

14 Feb 2020

This Too Shall Pass

This Too Shall Pass

Earlier this week, I realised I’d lost my purse. I have no idea how, or even when. I am normally pretty vigilant about where my purse and phone are and the fact that I didn’t even realise it had gone missing was an unpleasant surprise. The house was searched from top to bottom, as was the car, but we eventually had to accept that my cute leopard print Oliver Bonas baby was no more. And she’d taken my debit card, credit card, driver’s license and all the other really-should-not-lose this stuff with her. Plus a tenner in cash and a train ticket I needed to claim back for. Literally money down the drain.

(FYI - we don’t think it was deliberately stolen as we had no suspicious activity on the account.)

This was, and is, a royal pain in the arse. Both for the serious amount of life admin it will cause me and because I bloody loved that leopard print purse and it looks like Oliver Bonas have stopped stocking it #firstworldproblems. Plus on the day I realised, I was about to head out to buy lunch and pick up my inhaler from the pharmacist. So I was money, food and adequate breathing down. All things that are pretty essential to day-to-day functioning. And because, lol, anxiety, the whole episode completely fucked with my day.

I guess I was already teetering towards a Bad Anxiety Day because pursegate caused a crack and all the shit that comes with a bad anxiety day came slithering out. Logic cannot be applied in these circumstances and so no amount of ‘it’s fine, we can sort this’ will help.

Anxious days are a part of my personality trait, of who I am, and I accepted that a long time ago. What I still find hard to accept, despite knowing it’s true, is that the only thing I find that truly makes it better (aside from generally trying to take care of myself) is time. Letting it pass. And I find that beyond frustrating because it feels like everything has to pause whilst that happens. And, seriously, I have better shit to be doing. I work from home a lot, which is generally something I like, but on those days, sometimes it won’t start to ease until some form of human interaction is forced upon me which might not be until half 6 in the evening when Gary walks through the door. And I loathe writing off a day to anxiety - what a waste of freakin’ time - but I suppose I don’t help myself by being so reluctant to accept that I have to allow the time, to accept the day isn’t going to be good for much until it passes.

But it will. Irrationality will slowly float out the window and the sunshine will come back in and that’s the thing to focus on. If you too are having one of those days, a reminder for you that you made it through the others, so you will make it through this too. It will pass. 



Photo by Tim Goedhart

9 Feb 2020

Five Highlights From January

Five Highlights From January

Well what do you know – we’re already a month into 2020. As I write this, I’m feeling a little rough after a really busy week (including a major signal failure which saw me spending most of Wednesday evening attempting to battle trains so I could actually get home) and blasting out Taylor Swift’s new, unexpected, song after spending the last couple of hours watching Miss Americana. It gave me feels, tis all I’m saying. I love Taylor.

I know January is long and dark and cold, but it was a pretty good one at this end, full of good people and good food.

For the love of pasta (and crepes). After six months apart, Alice and I met up for an outrageously overdue catch up one Friday afternoon; we took a wander around Borough Market, ate pasta at the v popular Padella, walked along the river and ate dreamy crepes at Crème de la Crepe in Covent Garden. A joy. 

Giggles in ballpool bars. As I wrote about here, Dan and I took a trip to ballpool bar and it was pure child-like giddiness. Would highly recommend should you be in the need for some cheering up. 

Our first Sunday roast in Ely. We had yet to try a local roast, we needed to get out the house; enter: roast dinner at Poet’s House which was a goodun. It was nice to spend time together and not be doing DIY (although admittedly the main conversation topic was coat and shoe storage – fail). 

A day trip to Norfolk. Technically this happened on 1 Feb but my blog, my creative licence. My rents were having a weekend in Norfolk and we drove over to join them for an afternoon of tea, windswept walks and a fancy dinner. Perfect for blowing away the cobwebs.

Feeling calmer. The clock striking into a new year shouldn’t have such an effect, after all nothing changes, but sometimes it forces you to reset a bit and I’ve surprisingly really enjoyed January because I’ve felt so much calmer and less frazzled. More of this please. 

2 Feb 2020

The Year Ahead


Tell you what folks, it’s quite refreshing to allow yourself January to figure out what you want from the year ahead rather than trying to sort all your shit out in that first week whilst you’re still battling the post-Christmas hangover and wondering where the hell all the pretty lights have gone. I’ve spent most weekends in January curled up under a blanket and gently trying to get myself organised and make plans for 2020. Spreadsheets were involved so I think we can agree I’ve spent too much time with Gary.

Here’s what’s in the calendar or on my agenda for the next 12 months:

Habits

One of the biggest things I would like from 2020 is to form solid habits. I’ve felt a little adrift since moving, so focused on the house that establishing habits in a new place never really got beyond the basics (i.e. what time I leave for work). Here’s some habits I’d like to become part of my day-to-day routine in 2020:

Working on my book for approximately half an hour on weekdays; because a mammoth writing session once a week no longer seems to be working for me and National Novel Writing Month did so this is my new realistic goal. I’ve created a Trello board to actually get my ideas and plot into some kind of organised state (yes it currently looks like my brain threw up on the screen) and I am DOING this. 
x Clear my backlog of photo albums still-to-be-put-together; if this doesn’t become a regular little-and-often habit, I’m going to be crushed by a lifetime’s worth of photos (the curse of always being the photographer). I’ve made a spreadsheet of all the photos that need sorting and am going to power through until they are done (which – genuinely – might not be until the end of the year; there are that many).
Exercise – this is not a new years resolution to ‘exercise more’, rather an admittance that the steady 2/3-times-a-week gym session routine collapsed dramatically the moment we moved house and, like, I miss it? I’ve been gently easing back in with a bit of yoga these last few weeks and I’m going to see where it takes me. 
Every time I go to pick up my phone without a purpose; pick up my book instead. Simple. Effective. 

Kitchen & Home

I struggle to remember a time I didn’t spend all my free time searching for decent blinds (serious amount of ugly blinds out there guys). It’s fair to say, I am starting to reach my DIY limit. I am truly grateful for our house but it does feel like a black hole sucking up time and money (we used to have savings, that was nice) and I am looking forward to getting to the point where we can actually enjoy all the work. The kitchen renovation starts tomorrow which feels like a big step, the last big hurdle and I’m hoping for one final push so that, by early spring, we’ll be able to relax and open up weekends to other things like, I dunno, having a social life or something.

Travel

Having had our 2019 travel in the diary for so long and it sucking up a huge part of the year’s annual leave, it was really rather refreshing to hit 2020 and have no travel plans. How did we want to use 2020’s annual leave? Where did we want to go? Should we just stick a pin in a map? Oh the possibility. We are in agreement to see a bit more of Europe, and more of our local area, this year. We currently have a weekend in Berlin and a few days in Lisbon on the cards, and I’d like to explore some of the cities and coastline within an hour’s drive of home. Oh and apparently I’ve agreed to go camping. Not for a festival – actual camping. This is adulting no?

Embracing London

I know you’re probably thinking ‘er don’t you work in London?’ but as any fellow commuter knows, if you work in London but don’t live there, it is incredibly easy to develop a christ get me out of here mentality. I mostly associate London with work and being tired & irritable, and it would be nice, just occasionally, to associate it with the amazing city it is – to see parts of it that are not Kings Cross station. It won’t be a regular thing but a handful of days out to the city, ticking off a few things on my neglected ‘to-see/do/eat’ list would be a nice way to appreciate the capital and do something a bit different.

Weddings

Three to be precise + a hen do. I love a wedding, love em. Spread throughout the summer, they’re going to be such joy.

Summer

I’ll admit it; summer and I have not got along well the past few years. I start out with good intentions and then a heatwave rolls in (usually when I’m on a packed commuter train) and my inner Lord Voldemort appears. I just struggle with heat. But I am determined to try and embrace it this year, particularly as we now have a garden and live within reasonable distance of the coast. It will also help not having to move house/DIY said house but I think a lot of it will be to do with my mentality (and being better prepared for the heat – I will invest in a decent fan). I want to take regular leave and do every cliché summer thing – BBQs, trips to the beach, pub gardens and do em all with bells on.
It’ll probs rain constantly now.

How’s your year looking?


Photo by Denise Karis