October Life Update; Leeds Holiday

Hi readers, 

Last week my boyfriend and I went to Leeds. We did lots of things, including going to the Steampunk fair at a mill. We had a great time and it was a nice holiday which after recent happenings was a nice break for both of us. 

Some of my photos didn't turn out great, so I only had a few to pick from. I had issues with my camera again! 

Firstly, the steampunk fair which we went to on the second day, Sunday, though it seemed Saturday was the better day. Last year, we had a great time and there were so many good stalls but this year there seemed less stalls and less people. Maybe the weather had something do with it or maybe there was other events on, but I felt a bit disappointed. There weren't many things I wanted to buy, though needing to save money didn't help that. 

Plus, I wasn't that happy with my costume this year. It wasn't what I had really planned to go in as I wanted to be in the blue ball grown dress I'd worn for Comic Con but after the hassle of it, I decided to wear my skirt and blouse. Maybe, next time when I've lost some more weight which is one of my main goals now. Still though what matters is that we had a good time and we were together.   

The mill itself is an interesting place but because I've been like three times now, we didn't really wander around as much as we did last time. We got pizza for lunch which was really good. There was also some out door activities like a bird of prey flight, but the weather really wasn't great, though the rain held off.    

Below are the few things I brought; a felt bat, a self-published novel, postcard and business cards of the stalls I like. I could have easily made the bat myself, but I really liked the idea of supporting another crafter. The book is part of a series set in a dystopia world and it seemed like a good read. Even though I've so much to read right now!

That evening we went to TJI Friday's for tea and I tried this toffee apple rib dish which was nice but I still think it would be better as a sweet item instead! I also treated myself to two cocktails and this cookie dough sundae. We had a great time and it was a nice way to end the day.

Skipping back, on the first day we went into the city centre and had a walk around. We went into some of the shops and had lunch. Then we went to the Leeds City museum which small but had some interesting stuff. I really liked this skeleton elk which was huge. They also had some more animals and an ancient worlds section. It was a nice little place but it only fill two hours or so. It was reasonably busy but not so bad for Saturday. It was also raining too! 

On the last full day we went to the Royal Armouries, which my boyfriend was most excited about. You really need all day to this museum as it's a huge place with lots to see and do. My favourite parts are the horses and elephants. There was a lot of armour and weapons of course! Also, lots of history to take in. As it was a Monday, it wasn't busy which was good news for me. I bet at the weekend it gets very busy!

We saw two talks; WW2 dad's army and civil war weapons. These were really good as we learnt a bit about how the weapons were used and it was nice to bring the history alive in that way. The staff are really nice too.

I had a good time here and really enjoyed the Armouries and hopefully we can go back soon.      

We both had a great time and it was nice to escape things awhile. I hope we can go back next year but we've some plans already so we might not be able to fit it in! Leeds is a nice place and there's lots of things to see and do there. I do like it and my boyfriend enjoyed it too. 

Afterwards, I stopped by my boyfriends for a few nights and we went to this huge garden centre and I really wanted this bear statue but it was like £4000! Of course I've no where to put it and can't offered it but I can still dream! 

That's it for this post, thanks for reading.  

October Life Update: A Lot Of Ramblings

Hi readers,

So last week I was ill and couldn't write. I had also spent the whole day in Leeds and arrived back late, so I was super tried too. I've been at work today and I'm not much in the mood to write now, but I wanted to post a little about a mix of things instead of missing another week. So here's a very rambling life update.

First off the Steampunk fair was really good. It was the biggest I'd ever gone to and I brought a lot of things, including Christmas presents for my mum. There was a lot of things to see and do even though I was actually ill on the day, but I still had a good time. I was not able to take as many photos as I wanted, so I've only got a few and no good ones of me wearing my costume! This photo above is the view from the top floor of the hotel we were in. I loved seeing all the city lights.

I totally needed a new camera! Also a new computer screen or two as my second screen is just dying. I'm still in debate about getting a laptop too. It would be nice to curl on the sofa or in bed and write. Especially as the nights are getting colder.

Anyway, here are some of things I brought and some business cards I collected;

I really like this candle jar. It's so petty and also looks easy to make, but you can't put a real candle in it because there's paper inside. I might have a go at making one myself. 

I brought the wolf and Toronto key chains together because they were so cute and cheap! The tree of of life my date - soon to be boyfriend!- brought me and I'm so thinking of turning it into a necklace as it would look way better and also I'd love to wear it instead of just carrying it around with me. The actual necklace, which didn't come up that well is a Steampunk style heart with keys and gears, it looks really nice, but not overly Steampunk, so I can wear it often.  

This gnomes were too cute to leave behind! I got the red one of my mum and the brown one of me. I love how they seem to be steampunked with those large goggles. Mine is currently sat on my desk with the clay dragons I got last time.

Also, I couldn't leave this guy behind! He's a battle toad drawn by this very out of the box artist. He also told me he was working on battle snail and I'd have loved to have brought that too. Have to watch out for it next time. 

My collection of business cards and flyers. Some of them might come in handy for connected people. 

With it being October now I've started Halloween! I've already got a few decorations and yesterday I had my first practice at making gingerbread. I need to improve on my icing skills though, but they did turn out okay and they are very tasty. I also made flapjack and I swear taking good photos of food is hard! I've got a few plans building for Halloween too, so hopefully I'll write about them soon.

To tie into this tomorrow, I'm going to be making soap with the young people at the youth center. I say make but really I mean melt and pour stuff, which makes life so much easier. The kids are going to love it and I got ghosts and bat shapes for them to make. Also, taking photos of clear soap is hard. I so need a good camera! Maybe an idea for Christmas.

Speaking of I've already started shopping! Mum and I are doing the advent calendar bags again and we are also doing the Christmas Eve luckily dip. I've had a great idea to make lip scrub and festive shaped soap. Can't wait to start that! I think I'm more excited about Christmas then Halloween this year because of all the things I want to make.

I'm also applying for a new job. Actually it's at the place I work and part-time, so it's going to be real suitable for me. It's receptionist, front of house and a bit of admin, basically it's what I've been volunteering as for the last few months. I need to finish off my application tomorrow now and get it sent in. I'm going to get an interview anyway, but I need to try and my best. It'll be useful to have another job anyway and lucky for me if it's in the place I'm at now.

Recently, I've been enjoying watching autumn settle in, especially in my garden. We put out food for the birds and I love watching them coming and eating. We mainly have blue tits, coal tits, greater tits and black birds. I've yet to see the robin though.

We also have a squirrel or a few! Most people see them as vermin and invading the homes red squirrels which are native to England. But I still like them and find them interesting creatures.

I think they delight in teasing my dog though! She is forever wanting to go out and chase them. She is a terrier too and so has that urge more stronger then other dogs. I think this squirrel was a young one and s/he was burying their nuts under the rocks. I just find them so cute!

Lastly, I'm having a hard time reading The Vampire Lestat. I forgot how long and going on with itself it can be! I still love it and due to the chapters find it an easier layout then Interview With A Vampire, but my deadline of finishing was actually to day and I'm only about a quarter through! I don't know if I'll finish it in two weeks time when I'm now meant to be reviewing it. Then it's Halloween and the review of Queen of the Damned, which I don't think I'm going to get read in two-ish weeks either. So I'm not sure what to do.... I guess find other posts to fill the gaps or not write on those days. Have to figure it out.

I think that's it! Thanks for reading.

July Life Update 2: Leeds Trip!

Hi readers,

I decided to write about my trip to Leeds after all, only because I want to share these three places I found whilst I was there for two days. I'd planned everything out like I did for London and then I found out when I got to Kirkstall Abbey that everywhere was closed on Monday for cleaning ect. It's traditional for museums to be closed, but I don't think I knew that and also I never noticed that about places in Manchester.

Leeds is less then an hour away from me and I'm surprised that we've not been to these places before. They tick all the boxes for a family day out and fit in with what my parents liked taking us to during the summer holidays. Anyway, now I know where these places are I'll plan to visit them again and there's a steampunk fair at the Mill in October too!

I do actually like Leeds and there are lot are interesting places to go and visit. Last time I was there we visited The Thackeray Medical History Museum, where there was a steampunk fair and we also walked around a Christmas market, here's the post on that;
http://hailscrazyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/leeds-steampunk-market-and.html
I've also been to the Leeds Armouries Museum, which is a great place to check out. I also like the city center because there's a good choice of shops and there's the massive indoor market which dates back to the 1800's.

I actually went into the center and the market on Monday afternoon and I had a good walk around. I brought some stuff from the market too. Mostly sweets and some craft stuff, but also these knitting patterns. I saw this fluffy purple hedgehog and I really wanted it, but then I saw this rainbow one and the dragons and I brought both. Mum was fine with me adding them to the knitting list and we even brought all the wool! I'll post up some photos when they've been made.  

So, the first place I want to was Kirkstall Abbey. It was twenty minutes on the bus from the hotel we were staying in and there were bus stops close by, so it was super easy to get too. The bus goes to the city center too, so I got a day saver ticket to travel back and forth. The Abbey set in a large park area, so even though it wasn't open, you can still walk around the outside and you can see just about everything from that. It was smaller then some of the other Abbeys I've been too, but I still felt inspired by the place. I got to walk around inside the ruins the next day and that was cool too. It's free as well and the visiting center and shop are okay. The park area is really nice to walk in too and it seemed popular with local young families. Here are some more photos;

Stuck for lunch, I got back on the bus and went to the retail park I had past on the way. I got some stuff then went back to the Abbey and had a small picnic. It was really nice and I sat under some trees and also read my book. Then I decided to go into Leeds city center and try to come back the next day to see if I could have a walk around inside.

It me it was worth coming back for, but I didn't really see much more then I'd seen the day before. I did find out this Abbey was built in like 1152 and then it was abandoned around 1539 due to the dissolution of monasteries. Most of the stone was then re-used to make other stuff over the years then in 1895, Leeds council did some restoration and opened it to the public. The Wikipedia page also makes for an interesting read about it; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkstall_Abbey

I did get a few story ideas from this place and I do wish I'd had spent more time sitting and writing because that would have been fun. Actually the Abbey seems to have always attracted creative people as some artists are famous for drawing and painting the Abbey. Maybe I'll go back one afternoon and spend some time writing. Here are a few photos from inside the Abbey;

The next place I went to is Armley Mills. I found out about this place via Most Haunted. I'm not that big a fan of it now a days, but my chance it came on after another ghost thing I'd been watching and when they said they were in Leeds I got interested and then once I had the name of the place, I found it was it like a 20 minute walk from the hotel! I just had to go. I do love old mills because they normally have lots of interesting stuff in them. Also, they smell really good too!

So this Mill has a few working weaving machines but they weren't working when I was there due to being under repair. I learnt some stuff about the spreed of diseases though and about the working conditions. There were some other displays about making things and fashion. But I liked learning the history of the Mill more. Turned out the first Mill on the site actually brought down and they had to rebuild it. There was also stories of children and adults getting trapped in the machines. Always makes me freak out though!

They had farm machines and other stuff too, but I really wanted to see the steam trains as they are my favorite things at museums. But the Mill got flooded last year and since the engines were in the buildings near the canal, they were closed. There's a nice picnic area though and I spent sometime outside, having a snack. I really wish I'd spent some more time here because I ended up rushing through some stuff due to knowing I didn't have that much time- though really I did! Anyway, I'll go back for the steampunk fair.

 
The last place I went to was the Abbey House Museum. This was across the road from the Abbey and I'm so glad I went as the children's' toys and games section was amazing. They always have a Victorian style high street where you can walk into the different shops and the pub and look at the layout of things and the items for sale. Behind is also a side street of houses and it was just lots of fun to be transported back!

The floor above had crime and punishment and I found some of that interesting too. Then it was all the childhood stuff and the history of the house. There were lots of super old toys and games, some of which I did know! They also had lots of doll house furniture and two huge doll houses, don't think I've seen doll houses that big before! They had some creepy china/pot dolls too and I sort of avoided those, I blame all the horror movies/ghost documentary things for my feelings about dolls and clowns!

Surprisingly and like the Mill the museum was pretty much empty, so I got around fast. And once again I wish I'd spent more time, but I was hungry and tired and had been rushing around all day. Maybe I'll go back one day. They had a really nice garden area and a cafe, so I chilled out there for a bit then had to head back because my mum wanted to leave before rush hour traffic started.

Here are the photos and I'm sorry they didn't turn out that well but I wasn't allow to use my flash. I might have gotten away with it at some points, but I always try to respect the photography rules.

So that's it though I'm sure I'll be back to Leeds soon. Thanks for reading and remember to check out my other to blogs and come back here on Monday for a book review.