A walk in the woods

It's always been a tradition for me to go on a nice long new years day walk, usually either at the beach or on the moors. This year was no different. Despite waking up to heavy rain, Willow, Lewis and I were determined to go out for a walk and keep tradition. We headed to Stoke Woods on the outskirts of Exeter, with the hope of staying relatively dry under the trees. We totally lucked out as it stopped raining when we arrived and only started again once we got back to the car.

A lot of our walk was spent taking really stupid selfies, at this point I'd just been moaning about my double chin so Willow's response was to pull my hat over my face. Turns out this is one of my favourite photos, ha!

These photos pretty much sum up our entire walk in the woods, there was a lot of laughing, jumping in puddles, and Willow shouting NO every time she thought she was going to get splashed. It was a great way to start the year. 

Sarah

xx

2015 in Review

Hello there,

How the heck are we in 2016 already? After a year of really slacking on the old blog front, I'm really hoping to get focused and back into it, I miss you guys. 2015 was a year of change for me and all for the better, heres what happened:

• I left a relationship that was making me unhappy and really focused on putting myself first;
• I moved home and into my lovely flat (there will be a tour coming soon);
• With a new home came some wonderful new people, some of whom have become my best friends and I am incredibly lucky to have met them;
• Old friendships were rekindled, best friends got married and had babies;
• The summer was full of adventures, beach bbq's and making so many memories;
• Anna and I spent a lot, and also not enough, time at the gym, but more importantly together, I love this lady so, so much;
• Dismaland blew my mind so much I went twice, I do love the weird and wonderful;
• There were some interesting Tinder dates, ah Tinder, and some not so interesting, but mostly I've enjoyed having me time and being able to be totally selfish. 

I'm sure plenty more has happened than that, but these are definitely some of the highlights. I'm really excited to see what this year has to offer. I hope it's a wonderful one for all of you.

Lots of love

We Will Remember Them

At the going down of the sun,

and in the morning, 

we will remember them.

Autumn | On the Moor

I love Autumn, it is hands down my favourite season, and there is no where better to live than the south west at this time of year. I'm fortunate enough to be surrounded by the seaside and countryside, and I've been enjoying it as much as possible lately. My Dad and I recently went up to Castle Drogo, a National Trust property on the edge of Dartmoor. Typically the castle itself was closed while they were doing some maintenance work, but we headed off into the grounds to admire the autumnal landscape. 

These may seem like boring old landscape photos, but the different green tones were pretty amazing to look at, as is always the way the photos don't do it justice. 

I really love it when you stumble across fungi, the red & white speckles are by far my favourite.

Hope you're all having a great week.

xx

Monthly Review | October

So I'm almost a week late posting my October review, but it was a pretty great month for so many reasons...

I attended a wonderful wreath making workshop, hosted by my lovely friends, Willow and Hay.

Anna & I enjoyed a day of fun to celebrate her birthday.

I started a new Saturday job in NGNG, an amazing indie shop in Exeter.

Lots more yoga fun was had with Anna.

Many walks in the woods were had, foraging for goodies and admiring toadstools. 

And of course to end it in style, Halloween. An evening of great company, costumes, gore themed food, and not too scary films (Hocus Pocus), it was ace!

Here's to a fun November, I'm already feeling so festive!!

Lots of love

Let's get Nakd

You may remember that a little while ago Anna and I started our own attempt at a DIY slimming world type thing, calling it #fudgeitfatclub. Well we've (sort of) been keeping at it, and after a long chat, and kick up the bum, have decided to really have a proper go at it from now. The days of slacking at the gym and going to the beach for a bbq are over and I'm actually pretty excited about it. 

I'd been looking at healthy snack options, as one of my main downfalls with diets is getting bored of the same thing, especially if it's a bit dull or bland, so it was perfect timing when an email dropped in my inbox from Natural Balance Foods, with the opportunity to try out some of the Nakd healthy cereal bars. Despite hearing a lot of hype about Nakd, and a few criticisms of their high sugar content, I hadn't taken the plunge yet so was really looking forward to trying them out for myself.

Pretty much all of the gym classes Anna and I go to start at 6pm, by which point lunch seems like a distant memory. As there's only an hour between finishing work and starting the class, there isn't really any time to eat so I tend to snack on an apple while I'm walking to the gym, although I've found this doesn't really fill me up/give me much of an energy boost (getting wind half way through the class doesn't count, especially if that class is yoga!!), queue Nakd! The healthy cereal bars come in a variety of flavours, my personal favourite being Cafe mocha - yum, are a great size and really give you a good energy boost, as you can see from these photos of Anna and I goofing around before our yoga class.

My original idea for this post was to head down to the playing fields with Anna and take some photos of us doing some yoga in front of the Devon Knows graffiti and then chill out with a can or two of Pimms/Cider. Well that plan went out of the window when we found a load of guys playing football there, so we shuffled to the far side of the park instead. It was a silly idea really, have you ever tried to do Yoga while keeping a straight face, holding the perfect pose and not falling over? Yeah, don't bother. From the moment a small dog literally bounced over to us, Anna screamed and I nearly had an accident from laughing, heading straight for the cans was a far more sensible idea. Here are a couple of the out takes...

Update - Since writing this I have also discovered that the Nakd bars are great for dealing with hanger, you know when you're hungry and angry, and I will be keeping a stash on my person to give to all of my friends when they're having an outburst of hanger.

* A big thank you to Natural Balance Foods for sending me a lovely bundle of bars to try out. I am definitely a Nakd convert. 

Sarah

Monthly Review | September

Well September, what a pretty great month you were. Another month of slacking in the gym, but having so much fun instead. In September I...

Went back to Dismaland and had a fun afternoon at Weston Super Mare.

Celebrated the launch of Bedboat Magazine with great friends.

Embraced the arrival of autumn by foraging in the woods.

Saw some beautiful sunsets.

Had some horrific messages on Tinder. 

Went to my first Shepton Mallet flea market, it was incredible. 

Had a lovely visit from the Griffiths. 

I can't wait to see what October has to offer, hopefully there will be a lot of foraging and more time spent at the gym.

Sarah

xx