We do all the bowling!

Recently, my friends and I decided to go bowling as a cheap Saturday night out. It was such a good night, and it was so lovely to see everyone outside of work for a change. Admittedly I don't know who won and some weird random people turned up. It was only planned as a small group of good friends which some how escalated to fourteen!

Here's a few pictures of the night, hope you enjoy...

The girls from work

Kirtsy

Me and Cindy

This is definitely a must do if you want an enjoyable cheap weekend outing,  I spent £10 all night, Bargain! At that price you could become a bowling king or queen.

We walk all the places!

In April Anthony and I are heading to the Lake District for our anniversary and of course a week of relaxation and holidaying. This is our opportunity to be the perfect tourist couple, or in our case get lost and end up doing something completely random, which sometimes is the best way to explore. Cutting to the chase, I want to be fit to go and manage to do a long fell walk without having a heart attack, also the weight loss would be a bonus.

My goal

Admittedly I am not great on paint but you get the idea so, to start my get fit scheme last weekend I went on a five mile walk with one of my work friends and her friend. Luckily the weather was on our side and not a spot of rain landed on us as silly old me didn't think of taking any water proofs. We didn't venture far but to me it was a new land, I'm fairly new to Hereford and didn't actually realise there was great walking land so close by! I walk into the town but the walk isn't what you'd call pretty, just housing estates and big buildings, hardly anything to inspire you.

Walking pose!

I know five miles isn't really a long walk it only took us two hours and I though I would have struggled but it was actually just really nice to get outside and see some new places. I didn't get out of breath once and I thought I would, perhaps not quite as unfit as I once thought. I'm going to start swimming again, and I will go because I really want to get back into shape. I feel like a big couch potato at the moment, the sooner I start the sooner I'll be fitter and thinner and probably a little bit happier.

I'll leave you with a couple more snaps from our walk and I promise to keep you posted on the fitness scheme.

The woodland

Chillin'

We make all the pea soup!

On the weekend Anthony bought me Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Everyday cookbook. I've wanted it for ages and of course couldn't wait to start using it. The recipe I chose to do was a simple pea soup, purely because I had everything in my house. It's so easy anyone could do it and surprisingly tastes really nice, I thought it was going to be slightly bland but totally the opposite, I encourage you to give this one a try and trust me, it is good.

Yummy pea soup

What you need:

• Knob of butter
• 1 Onion - chopped
• 1 Garlic clove - chopped
• 1 Celery stalk - chopped
• A few thyme leaves (optional but highly recommended)
• 500g Fresh or frozen peas
• 750ml Chicken or vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan,  add onion, garlic, celery and thyme then cover and sweat gently for about 12 minutes or until soft.
2. Stir in the peas and the stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat to simmer partially covered until the peas are soft.
3. Puree the soup with a hand blender and season, add more stock if its too thick for you.
4. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy!

Perfect money saver and tasty soup, hope you enjoy it as much as did.

We give you all the updates!

I'd like to start this post by apologising for not blogging for what feels like an age, and I am going to try my very best to do more regular posts.
So brief summary of the last two months, I moved out, started my new job, found out my friends having a baby, Christmas (of course), lots of nights out and more recently some good cooking!

My new house is awesome, I love it and my housemates are all lovely, since I've moved in three people have moved out but obviously the rooms have been filled, the ratio of girls to boys is 4:2, it's quite a change from when I moved in (4 boys and 2 girls). Unfortunately I haven't got any pictures of my house or my room so very soon I will post some pictures, my room is huge which is great as I have so much stuff! Hereford's not the most exciting city but I've got a great group of friends here, I'm no to far from home if I needed to go back and the countryside is right on my doorstep.

New job is great, much more intense than what I was doing before, definitely a good career choice.

 

Intense nursing

 Over the weekend one of my good friends told me she was having a baby, I'm so excited for her. Totally unexpected even though I really should have pieced together the signs, no drinking, not coming out as much, generally a bit quieter than usual and of course the story that she's told me a while ago, most people would have just figured it out. She's not showing yet but I'm sure soon it's going to look like it grew over night.

I'll leave a few pictures of my nights out in December and I promise to start blogging more often again.

Country dancing Christmas party

Night out with Anthony

Christmas weekend

Same dresses!
 

See ya laters...

We saw all of Billy Talent!

On Monday night me and my good friend Josh headed to Bristol to see Billy Talent, I saw them when I was 15 so the night was bringing back some good memories. I was ill over the weekend so unfortunately I didn't have quite as much energy as I would have liked but as soon as they started to play my energy came back!

Square head rocking out

I liked the set list as it mixed up all four albums, I'm not so familiar with the newer material but the old stuff never gets boring! The gig generally had a good atmosphere with both young and older fans in the crowd, I didn't manage to brave the mosh pit due to the fact that it was full of testosterone filled boys (I think they would have pushed me straight to the floor!).

Bad quality photo -
Lead singer

I would recommend anyone to go see this band if you like rock/emo/punk/screamo music they newer material may sound more mainstream but it's pretty catchy. The band put on a good show, getting the crowd involved which I find is always a good way to keep and entertain the fans, telling jokes a little bit of Billy Talent trivia. I'll leave you with the set list and a joke told by Billy Talent on the night.

Josher and I

 

 Set list:

1. Lonely Road to Absolution
2. Viking Death March
3. Devil in a Midnight Mass
4. This Suffering
5. Line & Sinker
6. Love Was Still Around
7. Rusted From the Rain
8. Saint Veronika
9. Surrender
10. Runnin' Across the Tracks
11. Diamond on a Landmine
12. Man Alive!
13. Cure for the Enemy
14. This Is How It Goes
15. Try Honesty
16. Devil on My Shoulder

Encore:

17. Fallen Leaves
18. Surprise Surprise
19. Red Flag

Billy Talent Joke:

There was once a bear and a rabbit in the woods and the bear was taking a shit. The bear turns to the rabbit and says do you mind when you get shit on your fur? The rabbit replies, no, so the bear picked up the rabbit and wiped his ass with him.

 

Probably the best picture of the night

 
Hope you've enjoyed my blog, here's a little bit of music to give you a taste of Billy Talent.

Fallen Leaves 2007

 

We make all the pumpkin soup!

Soups always a lovely meal when it's cold outside and the evenings are dark and long. Tonight I had a go at pumpkin soup and it was really yummy, so I thought I'd share my recipe with you all.
I hope you have a go and enjoy this tasty winter warmer, it's so easy to make a monkey could make it, a one pot wonder.

Pumpkin soup

Yummy warming soup

1 Small pumpkin (if you're unable to get a pumpkin, butternut squash will do just as well)
1 Large onion
1 Large potato
2 Garlic cloves
3 Carrots
Chicken stock, enough to cover your vegetable (vegetable stock is also fine)
Pinch of chilli flakes
1 Teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon of paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for frying

1. Chop up all of your vegetables.
2. Lightly fry your onion, garlic and carrots in the oil.
3. Put the pumpkin, potato, and chicken stock into the pan and stir.
4. Add your spices and seasonings, bring to the boil and the allow to simmer until vegetables are soft, so that you can mash them.
5. Blend your soup into a smooth mixture; if you feel your soup is too thick add some water to thin it out. Taste, and amend seasonings to suit your taste.
6. Serve with fresh bread and enjoy.

I know this recipe sounds slightly laid back but that's the way soup should be. If you wanted to add other vegetables into your pot then go head, alternatively you can put a sweet potato in instead of a white potato. There are no rules with this recipe, if you want more spice add a chilli or add cream for a more subtle taste, I'll leave it up to you guys but my soup was just right.

Halloween!

On Halloween weekend Anthony, my friend Kirsty and I headed to Bristol to dress up and dance the night away. I was a little bit late organising my costume so a make shift zombie number did me well. I made mine and Anthony's t-shirts last minute so we had something spooky to wear on the night with fake blood and red and black hair spray. In the end I think they looked pretty good if I do say so myself.
I love Halloween in my opinion I think it's one of the best nights of the year to go out in town. It's cold, gloomy and everyone has an excuse to dress up without looking silly.
Here are a few of my favourite pictures from the night...

Scary Anthony

Nom nom nom, human flesh

 

Super woman!

Super woman can't fight off all evil :P

 

Zombified

I hope you've enjoyed my pictures as much as I enjoyed my Halloween night, but for now I'll leave the zombie wear until next Halloween.