August Life Update; Flash back to July part 2. Birmingham bear hunt and London trip

Hi readers,

In July, I went to Birmingham for a night and a day then on to London for two days and two nights. I had visited Birmingham before a few years back whilst on a canal boat holiday and stopped in what's known as the Birmingham basin. This time, I stayed in the city center and I had a really good time. Currently, they have this bear statue hunt on and there's like over 200 bear statues and some little bears to find. I had great fun doing this and it also helped me navigate about the town center. My favorite bear has to be the first one I found; Shakesbear.  

Around the church yard there were lots and I spent time taking photos and looking at the gravestones. It was a nice place to chill. I went inside the church too and saw the pretty stained glass windows.

My favorite bears here where Peony the panda and this love hearted one. There was also a jungle bear and a metal bear called Snowy.

 I then went over to the art gallery and museum which I'd picked to spend the afternoon in. On the way I found some more bears! This moon and star one is so cute.

Everyone loves the Spock bear.

My favorite in this section had to by Olly bear because he was so funny. Lots of people wanted their photo with him.

It was also at this point I helped someone to find a bear. I had a printed out map but it made it easier as I had already seen and taken a photo of the bear she wanted to see. Later, I picked up a real map from the train station and discovered the locations of all the bears!

I also liked this bear with a northern lights theme. Then I went on to the art gallery and museum. They had a lot of the little bears there and I too far too many photos to post up here. I looked round and did enjoy it, but with the weather being so nice and the wanting to find other bears, I left early.

The bear who cares a lot was the first bear on my list but I didn't find her until we had got back to the train station. She was the last bear I found because we then had to leave for London. I did so want to stay and look for other bears though!

I had a good wander around Birmingham city center and I really enjoyed it. There was lots of shops and people, who were all interesting to watch. I found a cool Japan shop and brought some presents for myself and my boyfriend. I found this like hidden cathedral and this cool waterfall, which the water falls over a poem about the city and it's really interesting to watch. I'll miss Birmingham and hopefully I can go back someday. 

London

Next came two nights and two days in London. Sadly, I wasn't feeling well and choice the first day just to stay close to the hotel which was in Blackfriars, so I just had a wander around there. I walked alongside the Thames and I saw the Eye. I've been on it a few years ago and I saw some of the bridges and some boats. It was a nice walk under lots of trees. 

Then, just wondering about, I found St. Bride's church. I think I'd past it last time I was in London but this time I decided to check it out. It's really small and pretty. The old woman at the desk was so nice and happy too. I went down to see the crypt which had some buried headstones inside of it. No one actually knew about the crypt and foundations until the a second world war bomb hit the church. Then they found that it dated back a long time.

This is like a underground chapel that's just off the main crypt. It was really quiet and cool down here. I took a few moments to chill out.

From there I went to St. Paul's and had a walk around the gardens which I'd missed last time. I also saw and went on the Millennium bridge which felt a bit weird crossing. I only went like half way because I had no reason to cross to the other side.  

View of St. Paul's from Millennium Bridge. 

The next day, I was feeling worse, but I couldn't stay in the the hotel as we'd checked out. I went to see The Temple church which wasn't far away. Though I did get lost and had to ask a doorman where it was. There are lots of doorman in London and they may seem scary but they are actually nice and helpful.

You have to pay to get into The Temple church, but its' worth it. Inside is really nice and bright, it's quiet expect from when a load of tourists come in! They had lots of history information up but I was distracted by the knight statues. It actually took me a good few minutes to figure out this was the Knight's Templar church! You can go to the first floor and look down which gives a nice view of the structure of the tower.

There's lots of knights and other important people statues. There are like from the 1300 and have worn a bit. I found that there wasn't much information about them and some of the statues haven't been identified! There are some memory stones too and it was interesting to read some of them.

The Templar's have a thing about Pegasus, I saw a lot whilst I was there in all the designs of the floor and hangings. There was also one in a stained glass window. I should have asked what it meant, but I forgot.  

I also liked all these little faces which came out of the sides of the tower. These two were like the cheekiest as most were sensible. They made me laugh though.  

I also liked all the old Bibles, prayer and hymn books there were in the pews. I took some cool photos of them. This one is my favorite though. 

Temple Church is really nice and if you want to escape the busy flow of London It's a good place to just sit and chill. Though I'd prefer St. Bride's as it's less busy with tourists.

You can't get into the gardens, even though I wanted to. I had to make do with the courtyard. It was nice with this water fountain, though it was really loud. I read my book for a bit and then had to go back to the place my mum was at because I still wasn't feeling great.

I wished I'd been better and bale to travel around London more. There's so much more I want to see there. Maybe next year when I hopefully go for my birthday.

That's all for now anyway. I'm off to Sweden on Thursday, so my next post will be all about that. In the meantime please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ I write a new shor story everyday on there.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!

June Life Update: Home Improvements.

Hi readers,

It feels like an age since I last did one of these posts and I've been so busy! But also, the Soulless books have been taking up the last few weeks. I actually got the idea for this post at the end of May/ beginning of June, but actually I'm glad I didn't post it up then because it's meant I've had more time to write it. However, it's now become a lot longer then I first planned, but I've got lots of photos to break things up with. So let's start! 

Last month my old desk chair broke. It had been on it's last legs/wheels for awhile but one night as I sat in it singing along to Five Finger Death Punch, the chair snapped in half and threw me against my bookcase and floor. My foot was trapped underneath the seat, but luckily, I got free and after a few minutes of laying on the floor I got up. My chair was announced totally broke by my dad and so began the search for a new one.

I had this idea that I wanted like a comfy plush armchair, but all the ones I looked at online, in charity shops and furniture shops were not desk height. My mum took me to IKEA for the first time as the last place to look. We arrived at the right floor and the first thing I saw was someone being told off by a member of staff for using the wrong trolley! Seems the long flatbed ones could only be used on the floor below and not in the home area.

Visiting IKEA for me felt like visiting a number of different houses. I love how you can just walk into a living room or kitchen etc and take a good nosy around. You so get a really taste of what you could make any room in your own place look like and I enjoyed that experience, even though it felt a bit weird and it took me awhile to actually step into one of the rooms.

I saw a number of chairs I liked, but none of them ticked all the boxes either because they were too small for me - I need a big chair because I like to curl up and I do move around a lot, plus I spend a lot of time at my desk- or they weren't the right height or they were too expensive. So, even though I saw lots of cool stuff, I didn't get anything. I think when I've a place of my own, then I shall go back to IKEA. The bookcases were awesome!

In the end, I went back to the internet and looked on Amazon. It really is my go to place when I want/need to buy things. Finally, after a lot of researching into desk/computer gaming chairs, I went with this one;

I know the photo isn't that great. The sunlight appeared at the wrong moment and I've just not get around to trying again. Plus it's really tall, so actually getting a full photo of it without showing the mess my front room is currently in is hard. So, its a computer gamer's chair with fake leather and plush panels that actually have an autumn leaves print on them and I do so love autumn and leaves! It's super comfy, really supportive and it was well within my budget. I'm happy with it and hope it lasts an age now.   

On to the second thing. For anyone who's been reading this blog awhile you'll remember my addiction to cacti. I have a huge one called Bob, who I took to uni with me and it was given to me by my now passed away uncle as a small baby. Well, I decided he needed re-potting again. This is like his fourth new pot now and he seems to suit it. Sadly, I think I choice the wrong time because he was flowering- as you can see below- and normally he gets large pink flowers on all his tops, but it's not happened and they have started dying. I hope he's going to be okay. 

The cacti in the photo at the start of this post are all my new ones. They were really cheap from a supermarket and I couldn't say no to that. I re-potted the one that looks like Bob in his old pot to encourage him to grow big. It's the same for the cactus next to Bob in the above photo. It looks big already, but I want it to grow more. They all look really good on the window sill which is next to my desk and computer. I added the bunnies from one of my old posts next to them as I've been sewing so much new stuff lately that I've run out of room.

The cacti below I've had for awhile and actually they are the only ones that I didn't re-pot. That's because I'm pretty happy with them as they are. They haven't grown much though, expect for the two tall ones at the back, they seem to be doing really good. The cactus in the middle is a special one I got from the Eden Project in Cornwall on my birthday. I did have another one that was orange which I got from my first trip but it sadly died. I've no idea why though! The other cacti came from a garden center and it's the same place I got the seashell stones from. I like them because they just add some color and decoration on top of the soil.

One of the things I love about summer is all the outside decorations you can get. This year my mum and I decided to buy some new solar lights for the trees we have in the garden. I went with stars as I really like them and they do look good. Then I choice some twinkling fairy lights to make like an archway between the trees. That turned at really well. I love waiting for them to come on and though they've not been so bright recently due to lack of sun -feels like another washed out summer in England- they still look good.

At the same time, I also got this which is meant to be fireflies in a jar. I love the effect and I have it inside on my window sill, balanced on a cactus pot during the day then moving around my desk in the evening/night, so I can enjoy it. I really like it and also it could easily be made with a jar and some lights, but this was super cheap! 

To fit in with this I recently brought some new LED fairy lights for my seashell collection. I have always collected shells when I've been at the seaside. I try to get the ones that I think sea creatures won't want to use and then I only take a few. I've also brought some too. They use to live in a shoe box under my bed, but a few years back I decided to get a large glass vase to put them in. I then brought a string of 20 fairy lights to put in with them and it's stood on the end of my desk under my bed for ages. 

A few weeks back whilst tidying my room I decided that I'd love this on my PC desk where I could have the lights on more often and enjoy it more. So I brought it and my large lava lamp, which I felt the same about to my PC desk. It was there after having it on a few times I decided that it would Benefit from having more lights in as only the middle section was really lit up. So, I went on Amazon and got some. 

It's taken me four tries to get it right. The problem was I got 100 lights when before there was only 20 and the wire was really thick, so twice all the shells won't go back in and the third time I decided that I didn't like the arrangement of things. It took a lot of thinking, but I'm happy with how it turned out. Also, having just the blue and green lights on gives a really nice affect.   

My younger brother moved back from uni about two weekends ago now. He wanted to sort though the corner wardrobe that's in his bedroom. I ended up giving him and my mum a hand, we found a lot of interesting stuff and were able to get rid of most of it. I still have some books and a bathroom stuff to give to charity. Though what I really want to do is raise some money for arts and crafts supplies at the youth center. Going to have a look into doing that very soon.

Among the finds we discovered these two Charlie bears! Mum said she was sure one of them - the panda on the right had been a Christmas present for me she had lost a few years back. The other shares the name of my other brother and that's why she got him, but for reason he then got left in the cupboard. I'm glad to say that both bears have now joined all the others in my bedroom. 

The other thing I wanted to write about were these Dungeons and Dragons Role Playing books. I had for sometime kept three of them in my room on the top shelf and we found the fourth one in an old box of childhood books. I'm not sure how it got there! They date from 1992-1993 and were meant to be used with the 1990 D&D board game as additional adventures.

We don't have that board game and though it's easy enough to get one, I'm thinking I might sell them. Right now they are coming up as being somewhat expensive. Seems there's a surge in old D&D stuff.

But I feel kinda attached to them and I don't know why. Maybe it's got something to do with the geek in me and I keep thinking I could keep them, get the board game and find some people to play it with. On the other hand, that's unlikely to happen and maybe someone who wants them for memorabilia and knows about them better then me will want to buy them? 

I don't know, but I'm storing them inside my small bookcase next to my desk till I decided. Take a look at these maps though! I've got them for each different adventure and I love the detail in them.   

To tie in with this when I cleaned my bedroom last month I found these novels. I knew I had them as they were giving to me by a high school friend back in the early 2000's. I just about think I've read the vampire one, of course it's about a vampire so why wouldn't I? But I've never read the others. I got them before I knew what D&D was and I think I just thought they were fantasy books like the role playing ones I got at the same time, but now I know them for what they are and I like them a lot more.

They are on my to read list now. Strangely though the D&D adventure I'm playing right now is linked to the vampire novel as we are playing The Curse of Strahd and that novel is based on the original adventure. I think one of the reasons I've not started reading it is because I'm worried there might be information which could be seen as meta-gaming actually in the novel. So I'm going to wait until the adventure is finished and then read it. Also, I've a huge pile of books to get through right now! If you're interested in playing D&D here's the link to the website;  http://dnd.wizards.com/

And I'm sure I've wrote a lot about how playing D&D has changed my life in the past, so I won't go into that all again here. I've got three things left to write about now and then I'm finally finished. 

So, recently, I've become really big on products from The Body Shop. I have also loved their strawberry wash stuff and lotions and the orange one they have too. At Christmas I got into their apple scent and now with summer under way, they have brought out a range of pina colada - pineapple and coconut stuff and that's like my second favorite smell. I'm totally in love with it! Also they have some hand cleaners, which I love too and carry around with me wherever I go.

The other product I'm addicted to is the peppermint foot treatments. I love the smell of it but also my feet have so improved using the deep intense cream. When I was a ballerina I never kept on top of my foot care like I should have done and now I've become super aware of the pressure points on my feet, eg. the heel and base of my toes. With wanting to wear sandals - despite the rain now taking over the summer- I thought I should start giving my feet some TLC. So far it's really working and my feet look better then they have in years. 

Last week, during one of my first meet ups with a guy from an online dating website, ( I was going to write all about my 'first' dates and how my mentoring Sunday's are going, but this post is too big all ready so I'll carry those over to a second July post I think as the first July post is about all the sewing projects I've been doing) I had a shopping trip. I don't normally spend so much money at once, but I wanted get a few things anyway and then I found more. 

I needed some strips of fabric to make my new craze of hair scrunches. I learnt how do them from the fabric activity volunteer at the youth center and when I made my first one I become hooked. So now I've got all this awesome fabric to make some more!    

A few posts back I wrote about my happy book and how I fill it with positive quotes/Menes and things that make me happy. For awhile now I've been looking to get another notebook to continue the happy book in as it's almost full now. I spotted the small two notebooks on a top shelf in The Works and decided they were too cheap to pass up on even if they didn't become the next happy book. Also the inspirational quotes drew me in. 

The white book behind them is actually a design your own cover book and though it's too big really to be my new happy book I liked the idea behind making my own cover and also it's plain paper inside, unlike the others which were lined. So, maybe it's work as my new happy book? Have to see when I actually need to switch out.

I also got these books too as they were very cheap and I thought the two sewing books would be great inspiration for my job. Some of the projects in them look pretty good and I thought it'd save me sometime looking on the internet. The other book is about funny newspaper headlines and yeah I was drawn in by the custard shortage line. I thought this would be useful for writing prompts. One of the things they say to look at is news stories and I like the sound of some of these headlines. There was one about a dog being attacked by swans, a man being found dead in a graveyard and one about boiled egg exploding. I also thought if I need a giggle then it'd be good for that. 

I also brought the new J .R. Ward series book 1! It was on my birthday wish list, but with Waterstones giving it a buy one get one half price sticker I thought I'd get it then find another one. It took me awhile as the selection they had wasn't great for me, but I decided to get the home for peculiar children because I had seen the ad for the movie on tv and though I have actually looked at the book a few times I didn't know it was about children with supernatural powers. So I thought I'd give it ago. Two more books to add to my reading list!

I'm close to finishing now, there's only one more thing I want to write about and that's; 

Up and Coming Book Reviews. 

So, I just thought I'd share this list of some of the books I plan to read and review for the rest of the year. Of course, this list isn't set in stone and a few others will pop up. I've tried to do it by month too, but this no doubt will change. If you want to keep up with what I'm reading here's the link to my Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7400715-hayley-hardman

End of June, but reviewing next week as one post; Soulless Manga Trilogy.

July; Gail Carriage The Custard Protocol book 1 and 2, J .R. Ward Blood Kiss.   

August; Darren Shan's The City Trilogy, Stephan King's Joyland and Cujo.     

September; Joseph Fink Welcome to Night Vale Volumes 1 and 2.  

November; The above writing books as it's write a novel in a month time. 

October; J .R. Ward The Beast.   

December; To Be Decided.

That's all for this update. Thanks so much for reading and if you have time please check out my other blog were I write a short story everyday https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/. Next month, I hope to launch a new blog which will also be on Wordpress and I want to get the first collection of short stories from my blog self published on Amazon too. 

See you next week. :) 

Images: all my own.