Brizzle Sunday.

Newbury may not be the most exciting place to live, but one thing it definitely has going for it is the fact that it's in the middle of everything we need. Trips to either Bristol or back home to Surrey can be done in just over an hour, and then there's commuting in to Oxford, popping down to the seaside or heading to the New Forest, it's all easy. Not the mention that Newbury generally isn't to bad to hang around either, we've got a John Lewis, don't you know?!

Last Sunday, before going to the Trampled by Turtles gig at Thekla we figured going to Bristol for the afternoon was a good way to make a day of it and Bristol is just one of my favourite UK cities.


We actually walked past a 'street art of Bristol' tour while we were milling around and actually, even though it seems super-contrived, I think I'd quite like to go on one, it seems like a cool way to learn about some of the more established pieces. They do them in Brick Lane too and we overheard some pretty great historical facts last time we were there.





Stumbling upon the Christmas market had us feeling all festive a little before time but it was quite nice, particularly as December moves ever closer and we're probably going to put up our tree some time next week (it's only a month to go on Tuesday, guys!).






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Moon's growing a beard for No-Shave November and currently hating life. I quite like it and definitely think it will get less itchy over time but if he wanted to get rid of it I wouldn't cry over it or anything. Still, that macho pride is getting the better of him and it's here to stay until 30th November.







Some absolute bantersaurus-rex put bubble bath in one of the fountains, chaos ensued and it just seemed to get worse (and more fun) each time we walked past.


We filled our tums with delicious fried chicken from Start the Bus, which didn't quite meet up to our recent Big Society outing but certainly did the job.






There aren't many better ways to spend a late autumn afternoon than browsing the shops before eating lots, this Sunday is a little less about travelling to the city and more about wrapping up and relaxing before a sure-to-be busy week - I'm good with either option really though. ♥

We love you, Brighton.

Last weekend to celebrate Moon's 25th (lolz) birthday, we took ourselves down to Brighton. After being incredibly disheartened by the crazy hotel prices (it's the beginning of March, what even?), I took a gamble with airbnb.

Looking back on it, I definitely take back the feeling of it being a gamble because it actually worked out really well for us, it meant we could stay the night and not feel guilty about it, plus our host (we rented a room rather than a whole place) was really accommodating and friendly, but more on that later...


Brighton really is one of my favourite cities, it's a big toss up between it being because it's by the sea or because it has so many cute, unique shops, but I just really like it there. Brighton makes me feel like going back to city life wouldn't be so bad, then I remember that I quite like the quiet and time marches on.

We didn't really see anything new so you've probably seen all these kinds of photographs on here before but it was just so nice to have the sun back in our lives for a bit - how nice has it been this weekend? I hope the weather is here to stay! It really gets me ready to get stuff done when the sun is shining.





Utility might be my favourite Brighton shop, everything in there is just so satisfying; the décor, the products(!!!) urgh, it's just all feels like it has so much purpose.




We stopped in at a café called Bertie's for lunch, it was mainly because it was the first place we saw before we got distracted by something else, but boy oh boy are their sandwiches delicious.






Obligatory West Pier scene.




Pizza 7 was our Saturday evening meal of choice. We had set our sights on Meat Liquor but after being told we would have to queue outside to wait for a table (sorry mate, no restaurant is worth that kind of hype) we took our business elsewhere. And I really am glad we did because the Pizza 7 staff were really lovely and it felt like a really unique experience. Their whole thing is artisan beer and stone baked pizza (very hipster but it was kind of Moon's birthday meal so I wouldn't have expected less) and a lot of the beer I wanted was pretty elusive which meant I was able to try new things. What more can I say, pizza and beer is a combination you just can't fail with. ♥




We spent two full afternoons in Brighton, on Saturday we explored The Laines as we always do, while on Sunday - Moon's actual birthday - we headed down to the Marina (I wouldn't really recommend it) for a our first carboot of the year, neither of us got anything but it does make me look forward to carboot season really getting going in the coming months.



We were pretty unimpressed by the Marina, it definitely could be way nicer than it is, but then when it's competing with the likes of more well-known Brighton tourist destinations that are more central and clustered together, it's easy to see why things are quite as thriving round there as they could be - free table-tennis though.





The Marina's chilli shop was a redeeming feature, we tried chilli chocolate brownies, banana chilli jam.
Some of the hot sauce ratings were pretty terrifying though. 40/10 for heat D:


We've been lacking Mexican food since our beloved Taco Shop closed down in Newbury and while we promised ourselves some wonderful Foodilic, Tortilla was just too hard to resist. Honestly the best burrito I've ever had - would definitely recommend their chicken one, my word!







I always try and stop in at Cloud 9, their one of the bakeries that I see as worthwhile when it comes to spending money on cupcakes.

I can't believe it really was over a year since my last trip to Brighton, that was so fun too, I guess we just got caught up in visitors and closer attractions. I hope to try make some more time for the seaside this year, can you believe it's March already?

I feel like I talked about food a lot, but if you're just here for photographs, that's fine too.