Hannah Elizabeth

I did promise this post a long time ago, after attending a beautiful wedding of my god-family last summer. It's been a busy 6 months and I am only now getting around to writing the review up!  The venue showcases a sequence of tipis for the main event, surrounded by a small lake and countryside fields. There's half set up for dinner tables and these were long and thin ones. My only complaint is that I was sat on a bench and my back doesn't do well in those long term so I was getting very sore. Afterwards, the other half which had been set up for the ceremony, was then turned into a dance floor, which also hosted a singer too.  The benefit of the venue is that it provide exclusive access with both the grounds and the accommodations. The accommodation is split between a small cottage above the tipis and a wedding village at the bottom. The village is made up of double sided glamming pods which are luxurious but without their own bathroom attached. There is a honeymoon suite, ...

I can't believe I'm writing this post and I am so sad that I have to. My car was sadly written off.  I finished my fourth consecutive night shift on Christmas Eve, only to be greeted by my car making loud noises, vibrating and releasing exhaust fumes. I started and stopped it multiple times, getting out of the vehicle to walk around, looking for any damage but I couldn't see any. I was so embarrassed to be making so much noise but no one else seemed to be looking, despite the car sounding like a teenage boy had put an amplifier on the exhaust.  I was parked in a gated, NHS car park, whilst working overnight, so decided to drive it out of the car park and pull into the side of the road outside because my RAC breakdown cover wouldn't be able to get to me inside the car park anyway, let alone work on the car itself. As I was driving out, the engine warning light came up. Of course, I called the RAC the second I pulled up.  I had to wait an agonising 2 hours for the breakdo...

I touched on this briefly earlier this week, but I wanted to share details of my big trip to America booked for later this year! I actually started booking things back in September, just after I returned back from my last holiday in the Dominican Republic.  So, I'm a planner and as hard as I try to be spontaneous, I can't help but think ahead and think to the future. I would love to have children when I'm 30 or in my early 30s. That's always been the plan and as much as I would love to do it with someone I love, if that's not the case, it's not going to stop me from becoming a mum...a hope. Having said that, I want to tick of two long-haul bucket list destinations before I do have children: 1. America and 2. Australia. I had planned for both of these to my now ex-partner who I thought would be my forever partner. We spoke a lot about both of them. America was going to be a road trip with him driving and Australia was going to be really special as he had lived th...

This year, I don't know where to start in terms of resolutions. I feel like instead of focussing on individual goals, I really want to focus on my word. I've thought about this for a while and as much as I still need to heal, I've chosen the word  embrace  for this year. I want to learn to accept the things I cannot change. I want to live my life being true to myself, not living by someone else's rules or expectations. I want to choose my own authenticity over others' acceptance. I want to make peace with the fact that the roadmap to life is unplanned, but an adventure waiting to be written. I want to embrace what life has to through at me...the good, the bad, the happy, the sad, the love, the hate, the new, the old.  For actual goals, I'm keeping it simple this year but I still wanted 10. There's some usual ones, some traditional ones and some ones of specific focus.  Read 12 books. I really liked this goal last year. I think it was quite realistic to be ab...

2023's word of the year was " heal " and I did anything but. It was the hardest year of my life and I never want to live a single moment again. It started off low, got worse and just as I thought I really was healing and learning to love myself, everything took a nose dive all over again. Regardless, in terms of the resolution success, I still tried high to stay motivated and keep going.  Let's start with the goals I did achieve. Number one of the list was to travel somewhat new as always. This year, I even surprised myself with 3 new countries visited: Poland, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.  In terms of sorting out the house, I have ticked off all those things I wanted to do, which feels amazing because the house is finally finished! I've brought the majority of my belongings back from the farm, I've organised my storage boxes and where they go in the garage and storage cupboards, finished the utility room and donated and sold a bunch of items. I still h...

Life is always full of highs and lows, but I can't say how truly shit this year has been. It's been full of the lowest low points of my life and at points, I honestly didn't think I would survive. I can't think of anything better than leaving 2023 behind and forgetting about everything I've been through. It might not seem as bad on paper, but when your mental health is already rock bottom, it's hard to keep fighting, especially when there's nothing left worth fighting for. January  The year started with working either side of New Year's. I actually slept straight through the night and of course, woke up alone. My best friend, Hannah, came over for a little trip and we had a lovely couple of days together. I then went on a very last minute city break to Krakow, which was a very busy but rewarding trip experiencing some historical world sites. All of that seems like a complete lifetime ago. When I got back, I surrounded myself with family and lots of plann...

Once again, I'm sharing my "Best of Year" pictures. I think this year may be the last time I share the ones created for me, because I feel like social media has taken a nosedive this year. My favourite memories are by no means the ones that are seen as popular. I think next year, I'll pick 9 instead, but we will see.  Grandma goodbye  Mental health day  Flying to the Dominican Republic  My beautiful nephew  Christmas decorations  Homemade wreath  Visiting grandma in hospital  Christmas Day  Getting shutters  Do you create these "Best of" pictures or is it a pass from you?