Me and My Cousins (and You and Your Cousins).

Just a couple of pictures today of my sister and I with two of our girl cousins taken at my sister's 'leaving for Hong Kong' party last month.

I like to think that I'm quite lucky when it comes to family, although now we're now mostly grown and don't see each other that often when we come together it's just as good as catching up with old friends and I really love that. ♥

I know I'll probably get a serious Face-Time from my sister when she sees this complaining about her serious footwear problem, but oh well...

:: Have you entered my giveaway to win tickets to the Royal Berkshire County Show on the 20th September? ::

Film Club | August

I made it to 80 films in August, which isn't bad even if that does mean I only watched seven. I think I've been wandering off doing other things and hey, August has been pretty busy. This month is definitely the most eclectic yet, even for a selection that isn't that big.

74. The Lego Movie
75. Sharknado 2
76. Jakob the Liar
77. Life After Beth

78. Transcendence
79. Are You Here
80. Kill List

Most Favourite: Kill List – This might not be to everyone's taste but I really enjoyed it. It was so grippy and the ending gets really creepy. Despite the fact that it ends abruptly, which is something that only ends up making it more creepy, I'd say there are very few negatives. Starring 'that one from Utopia' (which I actually don't care for), he really pulls it off and it really gave me a good fix of tense thriller that I've been after.

Least Favourite: Transcendence – THIS FILM WAS SO STUPID! The science, even if you put that aside and try and enjoy it as a futuristic fantasy, is so plain ridiculous it's really hard to ignore. I must say, Johnny Depp does a good job of being a monotonous computer-man but I found myself getting so bored that in the end I was falling asleep. I know I've picked this when I could have picked Sharknado 2 (a film I also fell asleep watching) but I felt so strongly about how good this could have been that it was so totally ruined by that.

Look Back –
Film Club | January
Film Club | February
Film Club | March
Film Club | April
Film Club | May
Film Club | June
Film Club | July

You can also follow along on Pinterest.

:: Have you entered my giveaway to win tickets to the Royal Berkshire County Show on the 20th September? ::

A Time Machine... Out of a Delorean?

By now this will have been sitting in my drafts folder for quite some time.

I was already a little naughty and snuck my phone in with me for the main event but I couldn't ruin it further by insta-sharing the 35mm photographs I was able to take too. With today marking the end of Secret Cinema's Back to the Future, I'm finally setting these photos free into the universe.

Hidden away in one of the bars was a stall selling these disposable 35mm cameras, after seeing others with disposables and asking them where they were from only to be told they were from Boots, I was so happy to find it. I guess it's the photographer in me and yes, I'll agree that it's nice to switch off but seriously, there were so many good things to photograph and shamefully, I get a little tetchy in situations like that.




I think the main reason there were no cameras allowed was down to spoiling the secret but given that there was so much press prior to the day we went due to all the mishaps, I can't say I feel too guilty about it.

We visited on the 2nd August and had wonderful weather for it. It was such a great event and despite early criticism, Secret Cinema totally pulled this off. It was so nice to see so many people made so much effort too, sometimes it was difficult to tell the cast members from us normals.



After my previous immersive experience with The Drowned Man, I wasn't sure what to expect but was more than impressed to see that a mini construction of Hill Valley was right in front of me when we entered. From the McFly house to the Clock Tower, so much attention to detail had been put in, it's understandable as to why there was so much faff before the opening night. If nothing else, looking around all the houses, shops and even the high school, was a neat way to kill some time before the sun set and we could watch the film.















Not quite Doc..


It was such a fun movie-going experience, I loved that everyone cheered the first time we saw Marty on screen, that we booed Biff and mostly, that we laughed together. The live-action performances that went along with the film were really well done especially the clock tower abseiling finale (and seeing the Delorean for the first time). I'm sure there are things I've missed out but it was just a really good night out, my highlight was dancing along to Johnny B. Goode, and actually just dancing a lot throughout the whole evening.

Yes, it was pricey and paying for extras once we got in was quite a big ask, but you can forget about that when you've had a really, all-out great time full of references for one of your favourite films.

Long Weekend Plans.

[source]
The next few days are looking to be good ones.

Tomorrow, if I keep my fingers and toes crossed, I'll be heading to Secret Cinema's Back to the Future, 50's costume at the ready, and on Sunday, I'll be off for a mini-break to Bruges.

Since coming back from Portugal, I've realised I'd like to do a bit more of seeing the world and even though it's only Belgium and I'm also working at saving to buy a house, amongst other things, it's a small step towards that. Plus, going abroad twice in almost as many months is pretty lucky and I'm quite grateful.

I'm still hunting around for Bruges travel tips, but I've seen 'In Bruges' a couple of times so that's a pretty good start, right? Mainly I'm looking forward to taking photos of the architecture, spending some quality time with my Gran and sister and making use of some of the Dutch that's been floating around the office in the last couple of weeks.

Tot ziens ♥!

365 before 25 – One.

To come to terms with the fact I'll be hitting a whole quarter of a century next year, I thought I'd make a special effort to document it - I guess even more than usual along with everything else. I did almost manage to do one once before but didn't quite make it, I think sharing it on a monthly basis will allow me to keep up with it a little better.

I feel with practice it can only help to improve my photography further and really like photo challenges, whether it's my Photo An Hours or The FMS Photo A Day, I like the idea of having set parameters and guidance sometimes and even though there's not particular theme with this Project 365, I'm looking forward to carrying on with it as I have been.

Photo An Hour: 8/12 – August

31/08/2013
Better late than never, am I right? I can't believe September is here already but I sure am glad that the sun is still shining because I'm definitely not ready to give up summertime just yet. I've got a bunch of photos to share with you from our trip to Ireland last week but I thought getting this out of the way would be a little more logical.



9am – Being creeped on by this little grub // Post-flight blow-dry.



10am – Getting the new towels Moon's dad bought us out to dry by 10am on a Saturday because I'm some kind of super-human // Ridiculously proud of how my cucumbers are coming along.


11am – Popping into town to post off the last of my eBay things.



12pm – Picking up this week's fruit and veg from the market, a pretty good choice, I wish we had the time to do it every week ♥


1pm – Cobbs for lunch, we were attacked by wasps and had to go inside, would definitely recommend their fennel & salmon salad if it didn't have fennel in it.


2pm – Hunting for raspberries.


3pm – Admiring Cobbs' pumpkins and realising how terrible our effort last year was, it didn't even turn orange!


4pm – Homebase for weedkiller(!)


5pm – Last of the errands for the day, a post-holiday shop.



6pm – #firstworldprobleming over having to get my phone back to how I like it. // Fajitas for tea courtesy of a joint-effort by Moon and my sister.



7pm – Post-food mountain walk around the block, such pretty skies.


8pm – X-Factor time, not sure how likely we are to keep watching it this year...


9pm – Time to give Doll a bath, which meant getting almost a whole cat's worth of fur off her first, SO FLUFFY!

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I was pretty lazy again this month but I'm glad I managed to fit August's Photo an Hour on a day where I was running around doing a fair bit. I felt pretty grown up having so many errands to run right after coming back from a holiday, it was also pretty nice to spend some time with my sister and show off Cobbs before raspberry picking - not a bad way to end August really.