Chinese Craving, Welsh Birthday and Botanist Roast!

After a heavy work week, I had a lovely break in Wales to celebrate my dad's birthday! 
Click here to watch the vlog or see below. 
After a busy few days of work, I actually felt really positive. I had 2 office days at work but apart from that, I had a 10 day break off clinical work, and I kind of needed it after working a solid few weeks of shifts. 

I tried curling my hair for the first time since having it cut and it made me laugh so much. It honestly looked absolutely hilarious and I had no idea how I they would turn out in the morning. 
My first office day was for my Sessional Professional Midwifery Advocate day and I actually did a Birth Reflection appointment the week before, so I spent the day writing up that and being involved in a project regarding handovers. My second office day was for Shared Governance and it was actually quite productive. It was nice not to HAVE to do work in my own time for once and to finish it all on site. 

Afterwards, I headed to my cousin's to hang out for a little and we went to the Chinese for the most delicious, yet expensive, food. I was quite honestly in heaven! I had chicken satay skewers, prawn crackers, egg fried rice and sweet and sour chicken. In the meal deal, it also included the cake and it was chocolate cheesecake which was also scrummy!
Then it was a quick rush back to the house, to pack up as well as answer a few phone calls, then drive to Wales to my dads house. He moved to Wales quite a number of years ago now, and I try to go at least a couple times a year, if not more when able. It was a bit of a difficult drive with roadworks and accidents, but I arrived just 3 minutes after the satnav's original ETA. I chatted to my dad for a few hours before his girlfriend got back for pizza. 
We spent most of our time in Wales talking, chatting and catching up. I slept terribly the first night and woke up with a terrible headache in the middle of the night. I ended up going back to sleep so we had a little bit of a later start to the day. We headed to do some admin errors, with me driving as dad had just had carpal tunnel hand surgery so wasn't allowed, plus we headed to the garden centre for a mooch and some cake. When we got back home, we cosied up inside and watched a couple of films on Netflix. In the evening we had sausages and mash. 
The next day was my dad's birthday, we had a little breakfast before heading to a different garden centre, this time Karen driving as she had the day off. We ended up getting lunch there and it was delicious with me having a fish and chip butty. 
When we got back, I watched another film whilst dad bird watched, falling asleep just as my sister arrived. We talked for a bit in the kitchen before getting dressed up fancy for a meal. It was at a nearby village pub but it was far fancier than I had anticipated. 
The food was a lot more sophisticated than I had anticipated so it wasn't my favourite as I had to pick quite a lot out of it and they made it quite difficult to order, so I personally wouldn't go there again any time soon but maybe for a bit celebration. Sadly, I just couldn't enjoy it because my chair was so uncomfortable and we later learnt it was very broken. 
When we got back, we did presents and cake. Jess and I have lots of pictures with mum but none with dad so I insisted we have some taken. My dad complained he looked short and so Jess and I pretended to be shorter and just burst out laughing. 
The next day, the wind finally settled and the sun came out. It was still icy cold, but nevertheless, we wrapped up warm and headed on a walk. We went to Powys Castle and walked through the deer park which was lovely. The big herd ran right past us as we walked up. 

In the castle grounds, the peacocks were out in full force so we saw lots of them as we ate cake. One was particularly interested in Jess' cake and she wasn't happy so the rest of us were just laughing and enjoying the entertainment. 

We then headed down to the canal through the sheep fields, before walking through the nature reserve and along the canal walks. 
Canal walks are always one of my favourites because the views are gorgeous and the paths are flat so I can actually manage them. The lighting was perfect for pictures, and despite the freeze, we still saw some swans, just no babies. 
When we headed home, we talked for a bit and ate the cakes we got the previous day, before I convinced everyone to play some games. It didn't last long but we played dominoes and some quiz cards which were fun. Then it was time for chicken fajitas before heading off back to Nottingham just after 6pm. 
The next day was a very much looked forward to meal at The Botanist. I woke up incredibly early so spent the morning cleaning and tidying the house, then got dressed up for the Sunday roast with a couple of friends, Harriet and David. 
The food was delicious, the dessert was amazing and then we came back to mine for some board games. We ended up playing Pictionary Air which was a new game I bought for Christmas after playing it at my cousins on Boxing Day. 
All in all it was a really good week. I had some lovely shifts at work, followed by a nice chunk of time off with friends and family. I was meant to have a friend come over for a few days, but it looks like that's a little up in the air, so it might just be resting, relaxing and reading for the next few days before my chunk of night shifts start again. To be honest, if that it the case, I may book to do a few extra night shifts and earn some money in the meantime. We shall see. 

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