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Showing posts from April, 2022

Your Guide to a Day Trip to: a Series

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It's been a full 3 months (and more) since I started my travel series for 2022. I have loved sharing and writing about the UK cities that I have travelled to in the last couple of years, but I feel I have reached the end of my knowledge. I was considering expanding to other cities I've visited but they were more so from a country perspective so maybe another time. For now, here are the cities I've written about so far, so be sure to take a look and let me know what you think. Also, stay tuned for a new series soon!  Edinburgh York Carlisle Lincoln  Wakefield Nottingham Liverpool Skegness Cambridge Bath Chester  

Too Good to Go (Review)

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Every year, more than one-third of food is thrown away. Too Good To Go is trying to change that. They are a mobile app which you can download on Android or iOS phones. There is also a website, however it's much more difficult to navigate. You can use the app to purchase Magic Bags. These are filled with delicious, unsold and surplus food from businesses near you. They are always a surprise and would otherwise be wasted.  The app is simple and easy to use. Once downloaded, you can set your preferences for stores, location, pick up times and type of food as well. The surplus food is always discounted and usually a bargain. For example, Co-Op tends to do bags of groceries for £4, worth at least £12.  This time I ordered a Costa bag. I was so excited. I am quite a fussy eater and the main downside to these bags is that unfortunately, you can't set likes/dislikes or even dietary requirements. Last time I bought a Costa Magic Bag, I've had some delicious baked goods, a cheese and

Early Career Leadership Fellowship

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As most are probably aware, at university I was very keen to complete additional modules, projects and courses. The same has continued as a qualified midwife and once I finish my preceptorship programme, my plan is to apply to complete a Masters degree. I hope to apply in the next couple of weeks, probably by the time this post goes live!  In the meantime, my trust recently advertised the opportunity to complete an Early Career Leadership Fellowship. Career wise, I hope to go on to be a band 7 co-ordinating midwife in the future. Likewise, I am keen to keep pushing myself and develop both professionally and personally going forward. A key goal for me is to develop my leadership skills particularly as it applies so well to potential careers. When I came across this opportunity, I thought it would be a great fit. For a fully funded course to cover the topic through the trust is great and so of course, I jumped on the opportunity and applied.  I have had roles in leadership before, but no

Pamper Day, Anniversary Redo and Comedy Club!

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After almost 2 weeks in isolation, followed by 2 long nights at work, I finally saw friends and family.  Click here to watch the vlog or see below.  I escaped my Covid-19 quarantining isolation with thankfully two negative lateral flow tests. I started with two night shifts on the postnatal ward and then straight after the second, I headed back to Wakefield. I've never driven that far afterwards and it was a little bit of a struggle towards the end but I was actually so grateful I did it that way round. I ended up being able to say goodbye to mum before she headed off on holiday, said hello to grandma and Floki, then enjoyed a McDonald's breakfast before going to sleep for a few hours.  When I woke up, grandma was telling me how her and Floki had had a stare off at the top and bottom of the stairs. She couldn't go up and he couldn't come down, I was asleep and Jess was at work so she had to wait for 30 minutes for Uncle J to get there which made me laugh so much. I took

A Holiday Abroad

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This week, I’m going abroad for the first time in almost 3 years and I am so excited. I’ve got some annual leave booked off work and as such, I’ve decided to also take a week off the blog. I don’t think I’ve ever taken that much time off in a row, so it’s a little unusual, but with everything that’s been happening the last month or so, I’m ready to enjoy some downtime.  Later this week, I’m flying to Portugal on a very much delayed holiday. It was originally booked for April 2020, then got postponed a year, and now postponed a year later again. It was originally meant to be to celebrate my mum’a husbands 60th with about 60 people going. Of course, it’s now a little delayed and a few less people are going, but still most of my family are going so it’s exciting!  I was worried at one point I wasn’t going to be able to go, because even though I had mentioned it at my interview, I had to fight to get my annual leave approved because it’s now in the Easter holidays. It did eventually get it

Your Guide to a Day Trip to: London

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I have had a few request for a guide for London and in all honesty, the reason I haven't done one is because I go to London quite frequently...I even lived there for 3 years. I feel like I've written a number of posts throughout the years so I didn't particularly thing it warranted another, but apparently people want a bit more of a concise version of my favourite things to do in the city. London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, is a 21st-century city with a long reaching history. It meanders around the River Thames and the city is one of the busiest!  1. Visit the tourist hot spots. You can't go to London without seeing all the landmarks, especially if it's your first time. You can walk between most places, but you can also hop on and off the tube. Some of my recommendations are: Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Hyde Park, Tower Bridge, River Thames, Houses of Parliament, London Eye...the list goes on! 2. Use the London Underground. You can't beat

Simply Cook (Review)

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It's been 5 years since I last tried Simply Cook and I'm so excited I gave it another go. The London founded company is a subscription-based recipe box service. The company provides a monthly box containing four recipes and four non-perishable ingredient kits that are then added to fresh ingredients which are self-purchased.  I placed the order and the box was delivered in less than a week. It was fast, quick and efficient. One of the benefits is that they are the perfect letterbox size, so you don't need to be home to receive the delivery.  On opening the box, there were a number of items on top. There was first an envelope containing multiple advertisements for different companies. There was also a great leaflet on Simply Cook and explaining the process. This introduced me to the app which meant everything was in one place, from recipes to ingredients and more.  There was also the four meal recipe cards. I chose these myself from a list of lots of different choices when

My Covid Positive Experience (Part Two)

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Just when I thought I was free, it got worse. I'd planned for a 5 day isolation and sadly, it turned it 11 days. I ended the last post with a very optimistic positive mood, and then sadly I had my first positive lateral flow test on day 5. It was heart-breaking and I was absolutely gutted.  I took a lateral flow on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and they were all negative. I assumed they were going to remain negative so never really expected it to turn positive. I was doing it more as a precaution prior to out anniversary date. I took the test, literally turned around to start my timer and then by the time I turned back around to put my phone next to the test, it was already positive before the fluid has even reached the top of the test paper.  Thankfully, my headache had gone and the cold was actually much improving. We obviously cancelled the date, but I still did another test. The same thing happened again, although this time the test line went much darker. The same thing hap

Covid Isolation, Holiday Haul and Unboxing Reaction!

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Here's my week with Covid-19! Click here to watch the vlog or see below.  This post is a little bit of a shorter one than normal. In all honesty, I haven't done that much. I've been off work with Covid-19, and just when I thought life could get back to normality, my lateral flow tests went positive so I had to have some further time off. It was so annoying because for 4 days they were going quickly so fast! I spent my time watching television and films. I binge watched a number of series: Bridgerton, Reacher, Alex Rider and LA's Finest. There were also a lot of films on the list too! To be honest, I was quite bored of watching television but couldn't get any motivation to do anything else. I didn't have much motivation to cook to begin with either, but after an online delivery and a care package from Luke, I managed to survive. I bought some eggs and nearly all of them were double yolked!  By the end of the week I was completely fine. I ended up doing some onlin

Your Guide to a Day Trip to: Clwyd

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Just like last week's post, this is another featuring a Welsh county. Clwyd is the next county up from Powys, at the North side of Wales.  1. Admire Conwy Castle. Conwy, is a walled market town and community in the country. There is so much to do there, starting with the castle. It's truly beautiful up close, but you do need to book in advance for access inside! 2. Walk the town walls. These are lovely to walk around and it's amazing to see both the ruins and the town from the high vantage point.  3. Watch the boats from the pier. It's small but fully functional. I like you can watch the entire place as well, as you can see the land on the other side also.  4. Visit the world's smallest house. It is reputed to be smallest house in the United Kingdom and is truly tiny. It has multiple rooms and floors but the entire height is about 9ft (at a guess!).  5. Bury your feet at the beach. This was the only thing I really wanted to do on holiday and there were three (and