Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?!

I was sat talking to my boyfriend last night and we both realised just how fast time seems to go as you get older. I mean, I’d already realised this once I got into the working world because you find yourself praying for your holidays, or bank holidays, or even the days that your boss goes on holiday! But last night I had a really depressing thought…..it’s TEN YEARS this year since I left school. I’m officially getting closer to 30 day by day. Zoiks.

Age generally hasn’t ever really bothered me. I have a friend who started using anti-wrinkle cream at 21, seems like a waste of time to start so young if you ask me, I know some may disagree but, as long as you keep your skin well moisturised and look after it then you’ve got a pretty good shot of keeping wrinkles at bay. Wrinkles are a fact of life unless you’re wanting to go under the knife, I’d rather just wear them with pride (providing I don’t start to look like an elephant at 30, then I may have a different opinion on the matter).

I look through old photographs sometimes and think, really, was that however many years ago? The post I did recently on San Francisco contained pictures from my holiday in 2009, 2009, that was almost THREE YEARS ago, a sad fact that makes me want to weep into my green tea. Sigh. It’s the same with music isn’t it, do you ever hear a song and think, aargh I remember this from that night me and *insert name here* were on a night out and stumbled up to the DJ like a drunken fool demanding he play such a classic. And yes, Dolly Parton 9 to 5 IS a classic despite what that nightclub DJ says.

It’s a sad fact of life that time goes too quickly, depending which way you look at things too it can be downright depressing but, I’m choosing to think of it as a reminder that I should shift my little ass and work on that bucket list because it isn’t going to complete itself. I should start with something easy, to give myself a boost so I feel like somethings getting done, like when you write a to do list, even if its a really easy and quick task that you’ve checked off, the point is, you’ve made a start and one item has been checked off. Now, I think trying caviar might be the easiest one because, because, and I hope, the snow angel is a no go until we get more snow around December (please mother nature, spring snow is unacceptable. Just saying.)

Never take a day for granted! I’m off to requaint myself with my bucket list haha have a fun weekend folks!!

XOXO

Venice baby!

This time last year I was pondering over weekend breaks for the New Year, this year however I have a holiday in August to save for (mum’s wedding) so I can’t imagine I’ll be going very far before then. In February this year however, we decided to book a trip to Venice for April. The April before, 2010, we had planned to go to Pisa but the ash cloud from Iceland but a stop to that and we didn’t have a holiday at all that year. Not that it mattered hugely because it was a pretty nasty year for me healthwise anyway, I kid you not, from 26 Jan where I ended up in A&E at 4am onwards was a disaster haha. Venice was a remarkable place. I had heard some amazing reviews anyway, especially about how romantic it was, but nothing prepared me for the views I was about to see.

The journey down the Grand Canal

We decided that rather than stay in Venice itself, which by all accounts is hugely expensive when staying in a hotel that is on the front and still in one piece, that we would stay on the island of Lido. The hustle and bustle of Venice can sometimes be too much and to be able to escape back to such a peaceful, picturesque place was heavenly!

Lido

Lido's beach

The beach was closed at the time but I managed to sneak this pic, maybe because it was April they figured that it was too cold to open it up but the weather was a scorcher, I managed to get burnt!   And the food, oh my the food. I am yet to try a pizza from Italy that doesn’t make me swoon!

Magherita for lunch on day 1

Just look at the size of this Calzone!!

One night, in my infinite wisdom and with the help of my trusty little guide book, I decided we should take the vaparetto to Murano (I wanted to see where my pretty Pandora charms were made!!) so off we sets at about 7.30pm. By this time it was getting a little bit dark but in a romantic way, a lavender sky with all the lights reflecting on the water. The vaparetto to Murano was no short trip either, the amount of stops it stopped at was ridiculous, so, over an hour later, now in the pitch black we get to Murano. Now I’m telling you, the Venetians do not seem to like their streetlamps. I’ve never encountered somewhere so dark on a night! To top matters off, I’m really scared of the dark when I’m outside somewhere I don’t know. All of the restaurants were closing too, well, I say all of, what I mean is all 2 of them. God only knows where the one in the guidebook was but after we walked along the main front that had one single streetlamp, a stray cat, an old lady with a paper bag and an extremely old man out for a jog panic set in. I’d noticed that the last vaparetto left Murano at 9.20pm, if you missed it you were royally screwed! By this time it was 9.10pm, dark, lonely and my childlike fear set in, I NEEDED to get back to civilisation, NOW!

Now, I’m not proud of this night haha it was all my fault, I’m willing to accept that, but we were both very tired and very cranky at this point…so I sat quietly on the boat ride back to the island we had started at, home sweet home, Lido.

My poor attempt at proof, to show how dark and scary it was. This was Venice itself.

This was dinner after the fateful trip to Murano - oops!

Old faithful

My poor boyfriend suffered that night, not only had I delayed our feeding time, I also made him wait until I had taken a picture of his dinner before he could tuck in. I really do do random things like this frequently.

I have to admit though, the meal here was amazing and I was kind of glad we never ate on Murano, but ssshhhhhh, it’s our secret!

I love looking through old holiday photos, it both cheers me up yet depresses me at the same time, but reliving happy memories is something that you just can’t put a price on.

Our hotel, Hotel Villa Pannonia

The dining room

I can’t recommend Venice enough, though I would never stay on Venice itself, always Lido! I could genuinely write for hours about my time in Venice, but I may bore you all to tears! I will love you and leave you with a few of my fave pics though, for many reasons, most of them bring back funny memories but some are just beautiful and fill my little heart with joy.

Stunning outdoor cafe, the band played whilst you sat. Unfortunately "8 euros for water, a 15 euro service charge for the music and 18 euros for a lager is pushing your luck Nic, NO!" haha

View from St Mark's Campanile, worth the wait

How cool!

It was a cold night so I wrapped up and got mocked as a result. An hour later a storm like you've never seen before hit Venice....I got the last laugh!

Best drink around, an authentic Venetian Spritzer

Proof that I actually had to, and did, use one of the worst public toilets I have ever, EVER experienced in my life. And I PAID for it too.

Yes I took a picture inside the toilets, but seriously, who has a gaping hole leading to the main street in a public toilet?!! Madness.

And I leave you with a truly stunning picture….

Xoxo

Lest we forget

RIP to all the fallen soldiers who fought for our country – 11.11.11

Lest we forget