Yamas, Corfu!

I forgot how much I like video, I think the next few weeks will be focussed on a few projects I completely neglected when I lived in the land of terrible laptops. Moon and I spent the whole evening a couple of nights ago watching some old videos I made, they just feel so much more tangible, I'm excited.


My tan is starting to fade a little now but the scars from my incredible mosquito bites are still holding on. Here are some photographs from an amazing week with my best friends.



View from the kitchen balcony.
We chose Corfu completely at random based on our great Villa Plus holiday last year and where Villa Plus villas were. Corfu was pretty different from my experience of Athens and I could not recommend everything any more, it was great.

We stayed in the small village of San Stefanos, it had completely wound down for the end of season, which made it nice and peaceful, something that became particularly clear when we went to busier parts of the island.

It was just such a nice, relaxing week, I swam in the sea so much and saw more fish than I ever have while doing so. I would actually go as far as to say not only that Corfu is somewhere I'd like to return to but that particular part and even that particular villa!



There were a lot of 'wild' cats around, they were terrible beggars but they were very much up for affection too. We had one that was a nightly visitor. Unfortunately some of them were flea-ridden and a little mangey but overall they seem to be treated pretty well, better than what we saw of the ones in Portugal last year anyway.

Little Hulas.

I've been biting my nails a lot more than usual recently and it's due to this that it's taken me so long to get round to this little review. That and the move, I may have mentioned it?



Little Hulas Mini Nail Lacquers from the Hawaii Collection by O.P.I*
After being sent these so generously, I figured that the least I could do was give them a fair review on fingernails of a decent length, which sounds silly but it's honestly taken me so long to not bite them - not quite as bad as I was but bad enough. I feel like it's something I'm probably always going to have to try and keep at bay, I can't describe it but it's just constantly so tempting.

So, despite the fact that summer doesn't seem to know what the hell it's doing right now, this collection is perfect for summer, as well as, in my opinion, featuring colours that will take you right through to Christmas time if you like.

They're the perfect size to be taken away in hand luggage or popping in your bag but have a decent-sized brush so they're not fiddley or difficult to use, like other similar type of nail varnish minis.

My Summer Reads

This summer was when I came out of my reading slump. At the beginning of the year I finally started reading books for pleasure again rather than because I had to, looking at Photography books is wonderful and researching subjects that interested me for my dissertation was fun too but since then, my main reading material has really been online.

Every time I used to read something would wind up distracting me, I'd end up watching TV or back on my computer, it's not something I'm proud of and I'm not saying reading books is better or worse than either of those things but given that it's actually something I like, it was a bit stupid that I'd denied myself something like that for so long.

A few of the blogs I regularly read, like Becky Bedbug and Vivatramp post book reviews quite often, and this kind of daunted me when it came to sharing this post with you. I wouldn't say I'm a slow reader but sometimes these girls are reading a whole book a week, A WHOLE BOOK, at a normal pace it takes me at least a month.

Maybe I've not quite found 'the one' since jumping back on the horse but here are the 4 reads I've managed to squeeze in since the end of June.


Ready Player One by Ernest Cline –

I put off finishing this book for such a long time but once it gets to the middle of part two, it gets really good and really intense. Ready Player One is set in a future where almost nothing takes place in the real world any more, people work, play and are even educated using a MMORPG called, Oasis. The creator of Oasis passes away and sets up challenges within the online world for users to complete in order to win his multimillion dollar fortune.

The comparison of how good someone's life can be online compared to how terrible everything can go in the real world was an aspect that I quite liked. There's lots of commentary on how far technology could go and how damaging it could be to have your life online but on top of that it was just a good teen novel with plenty of thrills.

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk –

This was my holiday-read and the first book I've managed to read in under a week in the longest time. If you've heard of or read it, you'll know why I got a few raised eyebrows when my friends read it over my shoulder. It's kind of messed up, I'm not sure what I was expecting as it was the first Palahniuk book but I wanted something gritty and it definitely delivered.

Exploring so many grotesque themes, it was a little more adult that I was expecting too and it does escalate very quickly but it's also full of dark humour and social commentary (which apparently, I like). Set along a main narrative with short stories in between, I did actually quite enjoy it but felt the ending let it down because it just seemed like such a shrug after all the intense situations that the characters had been through together and shared with each other.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson –

This actually got Moon into reading more again and he banged on and on about it for the longest time before I finally caved. I can definitely see why he liked it and I actually found it really funny. It does get a bit preachy when it comes to the media showcasing 'the right kind of madness' and exploiting people on television but it's quite fun once you're around halfway through and going about trying to spot psychopaths in your day-to-day life.

I don't usually read non-fiction books for pleasure but this was really easy to get through - I even passed it on to a few people at work. I guess I really learnt that 'psychopath' is used so much in the wrong context in the everyday and you don't have to be a criminal to be one, which is the creepiest thing.

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson –

I read quite a few reviews of this before picking it up and the cover intrigued me for ages. As a Swedish translation, it's a little dry in places but the story of adventure flows well.
I found there were a few historical references that I (shamefully) had to look up later but I really liked this fun story even if took me a little longer than I'd like to fully commit to it.

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I felt it was right that I share my little accomplishment with you and figured it would be a good way to motivate myself to get back to reading more again, there are some great books coming out in the next couple of months too.

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

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? ::

End of Season.

Our 'Pick Your Own' at Cobbs Farm Shop has now run out of everything, but their autumn raspberries are thriving and we took full advantage of this last Sunday. It's a little ridiculous that it's August and Moon and I were bundled up like it was autumn but it's appropriate for autumn fruit, I guess.


I'm never really sure what to do with raspberries and usually just end up eating them as they are, very easy when they're this good. I'm determined that if we're able to go back before the season is out that I find at least a few fun raspberry recipes beforehand.

These were far more reasonably priced than I had been expecting, under £2 for more than we really needed, a much better deal than the pre-picked £3.50 packs they were selling in the farm shop and much more fun too!












I personally can't wait for blackberry-picking season to get into full-swing, it's so nice to be able to eat seasonally and ever so slightly more rewarding when it's free.

Ypres Excursion.

I'm not sure that our excursion to Ypres would have been any less poignant had we visited at any other time, but the fact that it coincided with the anniversary of the beginning of the First World War just one day after there had been so many tributes in remembrance, made the air a little heavier.




Admittedly I don't know much about the First World War and don't know of any relatives that were involved but it didn't make the trip any less moving or interesting. The visit to the town of Ypres was kind of staggering given that it was completely destroyed and was rebuilt from paintings and photographs as reference. We didn't stop off at the Flanders Museum as after visiting Tyne Cot cemetery and Hill 62 though as we all felt a bit overwhelmed.





I'm afraid these photographs are a phone job as I had a bit of a battery problem with my J1 in the morning. I think it's served pretty well though even if the pictures have come up a bit skinny.

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Gran had a raw beef sandwich when we stopped for lunch, didn't sit well with me but she said it was tasty.


The Menin Gate.


Kind of a shame that the main square had been taken over by fairground rides (that no one was even using) that day. It would have been good to get a proper picture of the rebuilt Cloth Factory.





Rich in recent history, and a pretty town, Ypres was worth the trip both thanks to the beautiful weather and the timing of our visit. I believe lots of events relating to the First World War centenary are coming up across the next few years if you were planning a trip to Belgium at any point.