Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival

I never need an excuse to escape to the countryside, but if was to have one then a super, popular scarecrow festival would fit the bill perfectly. On the edges of the Yorkshire Dales lies the rural village of Kettlewell which puts on an almighty display of straw filled figures every summer. When I lived at home we used to head to a nearby town to wander round their Scarecrow festival on an evening so really it was the ideal continuation of tradition. 

In true Beth-Jason fashion we didn't take into consideration that the heavens had opened the day before, so sandals and boat shoes weren't the most sensible of footwear choices. Luckily for me, I had some wellies in the boot but no socks. Even luckier for me, there was a walking shop so I now have some £12-worth woolly grey socks that make my feet feel like they have their own radiator. Unluckily for Jason he had to stick to his boat shoes, but we did pretty well in avoiding the mud. 

With a trail sheet in our hands, we set off on a self-guided tour with 50% of our time spent admiring the scarecrows. The other 50% of our time was spent peering into people's homes, looking up cottages that were for sale and deciding what our scarecrow entry would be. It's safe to say when it comes to villages, Kettlewell is the place of dreams or as some would say #futuregoals.

{I also learnt to skim stones here, so if that isn't a good enough reason, what is?}

Little Things #26

My, oh my, time flies when you're having fun. Or in other words, you're super busy at work because you're going on holiday and you have far too much to do and not enough time. It's been weeeeks since I last gave you a little update on what's going on in my life and keeping me ticking over, so in a bid to avoid packing for my holiday, I thought I'd do just that.

• I passed my 6 month work probation and I'm one step closer to my country manor house. 
• McFly turner 13 so I celebrated with a party-for-one {aka listening to them all day}
• I turned twenty-two and celebrated with a Jammie Dodger cake and a trip to the cinema to aee Finding Dory.
• Many evenings were spent cheering on Team GB
• I'm nearing the end of my work notebook which means I can indulge in one of my favourite things to shop for. 
• I experienced my first 'bring-a-dish' event for a Sunday 'garden-warming' BBQ {I loved it}
• We finally went to Scarborough and the donkey's were wearing hats! 
• My suitcase is 70% books after going a little OTT on Amazon.
• Bake Off returned to our screens and I was loving life.
• It's less than a month until Once Upon A Time returns to our screens!
• My Mumma and sister hopped up on a train for a swift visit and it was wonderful. 
• It also meant I gained two more Disney DVDs and finally got round to watching Zootopia. 
• They also bought my some super cute biscuit tubs to transport Jammie Dodgers to work in- if you haven't already guessed, they're my fav. 
• My new magazine subscription arrived (thanks to my good friend) and the recipes are super dreamy *insert heart-eyed-emoki*
• Miranda wrote the best letter to Team GB #suchfun
• We attended a Scarecrow festival and I learnt to skim stones (& find our future house)
• I ordered some prescription sunglasses and the world was clear once again. 
• I'm going on holiday in exactly 15 hours 

Scarbados

Something University taught me was that spontaneous plans are always the best ones, and when you combine that with exploring new places then they are even better. So, when we woke up to sunshine and scorching temperatures (I've learnt 20 degrees is considered that up North) a few weekends ago we made the impromptu decision to spend the day at Scarborough, the closest thing we could get to Barbados. 

Obviously my touch-and-go stomach decided that it would be a good day to flare up, but after a delayed start we were tooting along. As usual we had a bit of a mare when it came to finding somewhere to park after missing pretty much all of the turns to parking, but after what seemed like forever, we were eventually parked and on our way to the beach (beach, let's go get a wave).  

The last time I went to Scarborough was when I was about thirteen so I can't remember much other than a few penguins at the Sea Life centre, so it was all pretty much new territory to me. I, of course, got way too excited when I saw donkeys on the beach (they had little hats on), and rainbow-coloured beach huts. Once I'd gotten over my excited-ness we found a sunny spot and settled down with some fish 'n' chips- they always taste soooo much better when you're surrounded by the salty sea air. 

In true English style the sun didn't stay shiny for long, so we took a wander over the clifftop and in true Beth style my tummy didn't stay happy for long- this was our cue to leave. Unfortunately this meant we didn't get to relive our Barcelona rowing experience or waste countless 2p's in the arcades, but that just gives us a good reason to go back!

Monthly Round Up: July

 

Let's just pretend that we're only 7 days into the month and not 17 days as that would be more acceptable for this post to be going up. Since I've been counting down the days till I fly to Sunny Portugal (12 to be exact), this month has been flying by. If I'm honest I'm not 100% exactly what happened in July other than the fact that I cut my hair off and started filling my flat with sunflowers, but I'm going to give it a good go.

The Good
July was full of celebrations with some of my favourite people. We kick-started the month with a Christening that included a new favourite Zara jumpsuit, a bouncy castle and fairy cakes. We then rounded up the month with a 4-year anniversary trip to a drive-in cinema, equipped with an sharing individual bar of aero and portable radio. 

The Bad
Me and a few team mates (makes it sound like I'm a sports person) attended an industry event at the start of the month and with that came a pre-networking night. This usually would be fine if I was sipping something bubbly with an alcoholic content, but due to my dodgy stomach I'm currently staying clear of the headache-causing-stuff which just made me realise how socially awkward I can become. (For visual reference: I turn into Chandler.)

The Ugly
Mr Latty started his big boy job as a Physiotherapist but it's never simple in our lives. Obviously there were complications with documents which caused some restless nights and some short tempers- who knew proving where you live could be so difficult. (In case your wondering everything is running smoothly now)

The Weird
I spent the last day in July walking round with a marrow. Yep, a marrow. Turns our the allotments near us have a little bucket of surplus veg and with our current love for Mediterranean veg it would have been rude not to pick it up. Unfortunately, this was about 10 minutes into our walk and we were out for a good couple of hours.

The Wonderful 
We finally saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and it was totally, incredibly awesome. We're yet to read the screenplay but I can honestly saw you can't read that and not book yourself tickets. The acting, the choreography, the score is all just unbelievable. I'll say no more #keepthesecrets

Hopefully, next month's post will be a closer to the actual month than the next!

I'm Feeling Twenty-Twooo

If you didn't sing 'ooo-oooooo' after reading this blog title then you need to seriously consider what you're doing with your life*. Lol, jk, apparently, twenty-two year old me is even more sarcastic than twenty-one year old me, which is something many (many being Jason & my mum) didn't think was possible.

I am officially 6 days into the year of it being socially acceptable to sing Taylor Swift when someone asks 'how are you feeling?' and I'm digging it. I think it's mainly because I don't really feel any older other than the fact that the bill-man still expects you to pay him even if you're celebrating Beth-day. Question- When do you start to feel a day older? Because I'd quite like to prepare for when that moment comes.

A beautiful bouquet from Bloom & Wild from my BFF (& a magazine subscription which I'm uber excited for next month) | A super snazzy stripey top from ASOS | Lovingly created tickets for #FRIENDSFEST until the real ones arrive (brithday is a personal touch) | A fancy flamingo scrapbook that fulfils my inner artistic goddess | Exclusive New Look dollar to keep my wardrobe in tip-top condition| The dreamiest set of tealights you'll ever smell

This year's birthday was my first ever birthday I've spent at work, and away from my family- they weren't even in the same country. {They did manage to wake me up at 6am though after forgetting they were an hour ahead, luckily I was in a good mood}. I did however keep up the tradition of opening my cards and pressies in bed, which 57% made up for the fact I wasn't able to lounge in bed for another couple of hours. The other 43% came from the fact that my work buddies had made my first work birthday a pretty good one by booking for me and Jay to go to #FRIENDSFEST in September, along with presenting me with some gorgeous smelling candles, a pretty little orchid for my desk and a yummy Victoria Sponge- Blue Digital, you da best.

And what does a twenty-two year old do when she gets home you're asking? Shewalks through the door to flowers and fairy lights all over the flat courtesy of her wonderful boyfriend, eats some dinner and heads out to the cinema to watch Finding Dory complete with pick'n'mix, because Beth-day wouldn't be complete without Disney. (It was great in case you were wondering)

*If you don't want to consider what you're doing with your life then you can at least watch this and it all might be a little clearer. 

Happy 6 Months To Me

Today marks 6 months since I first stepped into the offices at Bramley Grange, and I've been on one hell of a ride {a good ride}. My probation period is officially up, and I'm now a fully-fledged member of the digital marketing team, go me! *dances around the room* I still have mountains to climb when it comes to learning, but since starting there I have learnt some fascinating things about me, the industry and working life in general.

1. Don't ask me to make your hot drink if you want it within 2 minutes. {I wouldn't ask me to make coffees either unless you like it really strong or really milky}
2. Tape measures can provide endless hours of entertainment, but can end up annoying colleagues if over-played. 
3. Everyone has normally lost the plot by Friday afternoon.
4. I have limited self-control when it comes to any kind of office treat- I knew this anyway but work has just re affirmed that I can not resist a doughnut or two, or three.  
5. Organisation is the pinnacle to a stress-free day/week/life.
6. Clients don't always want to be on your team, strangely sometimes they'd rather be the opposition. 
7. Re-brands are stressful, especially when it comes to business cards.
8. A recent office shuffle round means I've got one of the best seats in the house- a radiator behind me and a window next to me #ballin.
9. It cab be super hard trying to explain to someone that what I (we) do isn't just try to get them to the top of Google. 
10. Just like school, I hate photo days.
11. The best part about filling a notebook is a trip to Home Sense to source a new one. 
12. Messy draws = messy mind
13. Sometimes clients just don't get it, and you have to be okay with that. 
14. Sleep is for the weak, the digital world doesn't stop.
15. When it comes to networking I either become mute or become the most boring person in the world- I'm working on it.