Festival fun!

Some people may think that we did the Isle of Wight Festival grandma style, but personally, I think we did it the best way ever! We bought some tickets through a tour company so bus down, ferry across, accommodation on the isle, and transfers to the festival were all taken care of. It really was awesome and we didn't have to deal with horrible camping toilets (which I have a phobia of, ugh, nasty!)

The day before the festival we checked the weather forecast and were bitterly disappointed to see that the English weather was planning to stick to true miserable style. So we packed our jeans, docs and hoodie water proof jackets instead of short shorts, thongs and singlets. And were a bit sad when we woke up on the Friday to clouds. But happiest of days; as soon as we left the mainland and got the isle we realised that we were in for a treat and as it was it NEVER rained all weekend, awesome!!



The line up was pretty impressive too - headlining on day one was Kaiser Chiefs, day two was Sex Pistols, and day three was The Police. Other notable mentions were N.E.R.D, KT Tunstall, The Wombats, Kate Nash, The Zutons, Sugababes, Scouting for Girls, and The Kooks. Enough to keep us entertained anyway.



And Matt was stoked when he discovered the Guitar Hero tent which he spent pretty much most of his time at. We found out that the top three players of the day were asked onto the main stage to battle it out in front of the crowed. Awesome. Even better, Matt got asked to go up!! Not so good, he declined. He said he saw the competition - a 10 year old wonder Guitar Hero punk of a kid - and he wasn't about to be shown up in front of thousands of people! Fair enough. He did get a shirt and a wee badge for his efforts. Bless. LOL ;-)



So all up, lots of sunshine, tunes, mates, and drinks made for a great weekend away. Oh and couldn't resist adding *another* video!

Long weekend away to Leeds

Who can say no to a bank holiday long weekend away? Well we couldn't and we jumped onto the train for the 3 hour ride up to Leeds to see my cousin Darren and his fiance Lindsay.

They took us out and about and also on a day trip to York (only 1/2 an hour from Leeds) which was lovely. The weather held out for us and it was really nice day out (except for Darren who was supporting Leeds in a very important football game that I can't really remember much about now - anyway they lost...not good). Matt and I got our carricature done, which of course was hilarious!



We had such a good weekend away and it was great to see family and another new town. Leeds is quite a big city (much bigger than Cambridge) but what I didn't realise is that it's also a bit of a university town, so needless to say lots of uni students out and about and inevitably dressed in some sort of fancy dress. Although we didn't sample a lot of them, Leeds also has a lot of hip and funky bars and clubs - lots and lots to choose from.

So thanks to Darren and Linz for a great couple of nights and hopefully we'll see them again before we leave!

Girl's week away to Barcelona

Hola mis amigos!

Earlier in the year I met up with a couple of soccer chicks and after a few ciders we decided that it would be totally awesome to meet up and go for a holiday to Barcelona and stay with our friends Beth and Jules. So it was set and decided that it would be girls only week away (but that was okay given that Matt has never had any interest in going to Spain).

And what a holiday! Beth and Jules live in a district called Barceloneta which is approximately 5 minutes walk from the beach. Jules works in a coffee shop right on the sand and Beth rides tourists around in her rickshaw - what a lifestyle! KatyB, Pickle, and I were very very jealous!



We arrived at about 11pm to no Beth. We had to figure out somewhere to stay for the first night as we couldn't get a hold of Beth on her mobile or facebook. What the?! Although in hindsight we were very happy with ourselves for not freaking out. When you've got two pedantic planners (KatyB and me) and a free spirit in your group (Pickle) freak outs are bound to happen. But we were quietly impressed that this wasn't the case.

After we stayed in a hostel that smelled like boys feet (eew!) we managed to find Beth riding her rickshaw happily oblivious to the fact that she had three visitors roaming La Ramblas desperate for somewhere to call home for the week. Gosh!

The rest of the week went quite normally - sight-seeing (Gaudi's church), drinking (1 euro sangria and san miguel beer), eating (chocolate con churros, paella, tapas, all so delish!) and chilaxing (being ridden along the beach front on a rickshaw in the sunshine). Right until the day when Beth wanted us to film her doing a few wheelies....everything was going fine when all of a sudden she didn't see the concrete block in front of her and, bam! She ended up with a wee bit of bloody broken nose. Oops! Poor Beth, and she was so happy with her new rickshaw hat (a wee pressie from us to her).




So a bit of an adventure for the soccer chicks. And after all of if the best part of the trip (for me) was getting home and realising that I got sunburnt - hoorah! Enough sunshine to actually get sunburnt. My arms aren't as white as what they were when I got to Barcelona, happy days!

And after sangrias on the beach, there's now talk of another trip before Matt and I go home but this time Matt wants to come (he was a bit jealous when I spoke of stories about rickshaws and sunshine) and we're thinking of going via San Sebasitan and Bilbao. For sure.

Skiing holiday to Soll

Well we took the plunge and booked a last minute 7 day skiing holiday to a resort called Soll in Austria. We were really looking forward to going back to Austria but weren't too sure about the skiing part of the holiday - were we going to like it, were we going to break an arm, was it going to even snow (given that it was the last week of the season). But all our worries were in vain cause it rocked and we had a great great time. Although our arms, legs, and backs (and okay, sometimes heads, what with all that jagermiester around!) didn't like it much, ouch!

When we arrived in Soll we were a little skeptical, there was no snow! But the following morning we woke up to a blanket of fluffy white as far as we could see and it was so beautiful. The first snow we've ever seen - we were so excited!! And it pretty much snowed (and got even close to a snow-storm!) the whole week.




Not knowing what to expect at the time of booking, we didn't book a full skiing package. However our advice to anyone reading this that may be considering a simlar holiday - book the full skiing package (hire, lessons, ski lift pass) as it really is cheaper as a package and not pay as you go. Also some other advice - definitely pay the extra dollar something to upgrade your skiing boots, omigosh does this make a massive difference. End of day one of ski school and Matt had to upgrade; and end of day two, I had to upgrade. And our feet and calves were much happier for it!



We started out in the nursery slopes and were being shown up by three year olds everywhere we turned! After a couple of days falling flat on our faces and trying to master the ski lifts (where you had to stick a pole between your legs and hold on for dear life) we finally graduated to the gondolas...ooo...aahhh... We then braved the 'easy' blue run and the 'hard' blue run and discovered that speed actually makes turns much easier as well as falling much easier! But we managed not to break an arm or a leg, although bruises are starting to show up now...



So definitely a highlight of our trip so far and we're now looking forward to going skiing when we get back home and possibly a trip out to NZ - we're definitely basic-intermediate skiers now, and can even dismount from the ski lift without poles! LOL ;)

Couple of days in Cardiff

I took some time off of work and Matt took some time off of job-hunting and being a house husband for a trip out to Cardiff to see my cousin Lisa, her hubby Jamie, and their wee one year old, Gracie.

To be honest, Cardiff was never on our list of places to visit and this trip was really more about seeing the Stephens' than seeing the sites of Cardiff.

And we had such a great time - drinking lots of wine, playing with Gracie, seeing a bit of the shopping district (and the "massive" Cardiff Food Festival, where they had Cardiff mountain meat - meat made out of a mountain? How do they do it? LOL).




The weather wasn't very inviting when we arrived and it seemed like a gale came through during the time we were there. And typically the sun came out the day we left. But regardless we had a great couple of days away and it was lovely to catch up with the family before they jetset their way to the Channel Islands!

Thanks Lisa, Jamie, and Gracie! xx

Happy Days in Hobart Road, Cambridge

We farewelled Newmarket and moved into our new flat in Cambridge about a week ago. And we really are loving the location - walking distance to the city centre, lots of yummy restaurants, local pubs, and close to all the action (well theatre, really).

So we thought it was time to upload some photos of our wee flat....




...and the lovely things to see in lovely Cambridge :) We can't wait for Spring to see all the blooming flowers, will upload more photos throughout our stay here.

New Years trip to London

We headed down to London for just over a week to see the city again and bring in the New Year. And what a trip! Not only did we celebrate the New Year, but we saw a great show, were tourists (again!), caught up with friends, and got engaged!

Yes, that's right, Matt asked me to marry him just after we had just finished our first bottle of Moet and celebrated the New Year. I promptly accepted and we continued to celebrate the night away. The following day we went engagement ring shopping together and went for a walk through Hyde Park and when we reached the banks of the river Matt slid the ring on my finger and our engagement was official. It was great to be able to celebrate with our good friends Bronwyn and Kimmi :)

We also took in our first London show - Avenue Q. Not exactly the most traditional or classical musical, but it was hilarious and quite worth the effort of dealing with crowds and windy weather. It's a musical that has a familiar look and feel to that of Sesame Street with it's very own crass and potty-mouthed muppets. With songs titled, "Everyone's a little bit racist" and "The internet is for porn" how could it not be brilliant?! Anyway we loved it.

We visited the Tower of London and the ice-skating rink. However we didn't get a chance to go into the Tower or onto the rink due to the very expensive rates and crowds everywhere! Although as the sun was almost out and the wind wasn't too wild, we took some time to walk over the Tower Bridge and down to the HMS Belfast. It was a lovely walk and we also got to see the bridge raise to let some ships come through. Excitment! LOL

I also caught up with a friend of mine from back home; Meg - it was great to see another familiar face and to catch up on her travels. Bronwyn, Kimmi, Matt and I also ventured into the rainy cold to devour delish sushi and tempura vegies and drink sweet sweet plum wine. It was such a great Japanese restaurant, not too expensive and very authentic, we were impressed with our find (thanks to Joe!).

So once again another trip to London came to an end, however we did manage to start plans for a potential skiing trip to France and St. Patrick's day trip to Dublin - we'll see though!

Hope everyone had a great New Years and all the best to all for 2008.