Secretly Blogging

Lifestyle blog

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Liverpool, UK

Birthday Trip - August 2022

In August we had a night away in Liverpool, we stayed at 30 James Street - The hotel was amazing and I could not recommend it enough! The rooms were very nice, the view from our room was great, the beds were really comfy and the breakfast was lovely and a great start to the day.

During the day we explored the docks, where we had some lunch, visited Liverpool Museum and then we did a bit of shopping.

We went to slug and lettuce for our evening meal and a few cocktails/beers.

After the best sleep and a lovely breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed for Knowsley Safari Park. We did the walking route first, before going on the baboon bus through the driving route.

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Blackpool Zoo

I treated my nephew to a day out before he went back to school after the summer break. I gave him a handful of options and he chose the zoo!

We had a great day, the weather was amazing and all the animals were out and ready for visitors. The sea lion show was amazing and was the highlight of the day for both of us.

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In June, we went to Alcudia, Spain.

The view from the apartment was amazing, it overlooked a few buildings and the sea in the distance.

We explored the Port and Old Town, where we visited the Sunday market, I even treated myself to a new bag because I had forgotten to bring one for the daytimes. Some days we spent by the pool and unfortunately I spent 2 days in bed unwell with migraines.

We hired a car for the day to visit the Caves of Drach, they were so interesting and definitely worth the drive. Whilst we had a car we also visited Pollenca for some lunch and a walk to Albercutx Tower.

One of the last days, we went on a boat trip. We enjoyed lazing around, swimming in the sea, paddle boarding and some snorkelling. We were loving the day until we got back onto the boat to head to the next swimming spot….we were both hit with sea sickness! Luckily the captain was great and gave us advice and a anti sickness tablet so we could enjoy the lunch being served.

Our last day, we got the bus to Palma, dropped our bags at a storage location and spent the day exploring, having lunch and getting ice cream before collecting our bags and getting a bus to the airport ready to fly home.

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Family wedding weekend 💍❤️

I attended a family wedding recently, my first full day at a wedding!

Everything from the venue, photographer, band to the caterers, the speeches and the dress were amazing

The wedding party were brilliant and did everything they could to make sure the bride and groom had the perfect day! The best man really got into the role with an interactive speech - taking full advantage of the projector and years of friendship with the groom! 😂

We had pie with veg & potatoes for the dinner and wedding cake for desert then pizza was served in the evening. I’m still dreaming of the food and wish I could have it again now.

The dress was BEAUTIFUL!

They also had a VW camper van that had been converted into a photo booth. The lady was so kind and approachable. The camper van attends the Manchester Christmas markets so I will definitely be looking out for it this year.

The whole weekend was amazing and it was lovely to spend time with the family all together ❤️ I even got to bring some flowers home with me.

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Pennington Flash, Wigan

I haven’t been to Pennington Flash since being a lot younger. We wanted a quick walk, 30 minutes - an hour, so I suggested Pennington Flash 🙈. Only to discover it is ALOT bigger than I remembered and it took us 30 minutes to get parking paid for (one machine wasn’t working, online wasn’t loading) and then a further 2 hours to walk round.

Luckily the weather was really nice and it was refreshing to be out in the fresh air and having time just the two of us. Even if my feet were sore and blistered afterwards 😅

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We have applied to be fosterers for Guide Dogs.

We spent time to do some research and make a decision, as it’s a big decision to make. We were supported from the very start, any worries we had were happily talked about and information provided.

After the online application, we were contacted to confirm a few details and move along with the process. We then had a meeting and home assessment with our Volunteer officer, now we are just waiting on our training session dates.

Being a fosterer includes opening your home of an evening and weekend to a dog in training for a period of time, following the trainers advice whilst the dog is in your care and taking to and from the training centre Monday - Friday.

We are extremely excited for our training sessions and to be matched with a dog in training. It is also very rewarding knowing that our small part is helping towards the bigger picture and will end in the dog providing support.

Please do your own research and discuss with GuideDogsUK before applying for any role they have available.

The views in this posting do not represent the views of Guide Dogs.

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A great day at Haigh Woodland Park

This weekend we took a break from decorating for one day to enjoy the weather and have a walk. We didn’t go too far from home, but Haigh Hall and Woodland Park is so beautiful and felt like we were worlds away. There is so much to do, from crazy golf, walking trails, playgrounds, and a courtyard with cafes and shops.

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First Anniversary ❤️

One year together! One incredible year with the most amazing, caring person.

I couldn’t of wished for a better match, my life has changed so much, for the better, since we meet.

We celebrated our anniversary by going to Rudy’s in Manchester for pizza, drinks and kinder bueno cheesecake.

The food, drinks and service were all amazing, we had such a good time.

Picture of my beautiful necklace I got as a present from my boyfriend. Sunflowers are my favourite 🥰🥹

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Chester

We had a short break in Chester before Christmas. It was nice and chilled and just what we needed before the Christmas madness.

We visited the Christmas markets, cathedral, city walls and canal before going for an Italian meal and for some drinks in a local pub whilst we watched the Manchester city vs Leeds game before heading back to the hotel for a good sleep ready for the next day at the zoo.

The zoo was amazing and I loved every second of our short break.

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London - part 2

Day 2 started with breakfast in bed, before going off exploring again.

The day included us seeing;

Tower of London

St. Paul’s Cathedral

The shard

West end show

The Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral we’re included in the London pass. We had to pre book The Shard.

The view from the Shard was amazing, after taking in the views we sat in the bar for a while.

After we had finished our drinks and had some dinner we headed over to the theatre for the second time this week 😂(previous post explains). We saw The Lion King, AMAZING! Would definitely recommend going. Everything from the cast, the music, the crew, the theatre staff, the atmosphere, everything was amazing. By the end of day 2, we were less tired but our feet were sore and my feet were just as swollen as the day before.

Day 3

Our final day in London - we were up and out of the hotel by 9:30am, luckily we were able to store our luggage there for the day because we had some more exploring to do.

We spent our last London day at the ZSL zoo. also included in the London pass and was a 25 minute walk from our hotel.

The zoo was incredible, the layout and routes were really good and we managed to see every enclosure and most of the animals. We had a slight bit of rain when it came to the indoor enclosures, by the time we had come back outside the rain had passed and we were able to continue with last part of the zoo.

After lunch we headed to our last sightseeing destination….Kensington Palace.

We had to book a time slot but it was included in the London pass.

Again the history there is amazing and the way the history is shared and showcased is incredible. The new Diana statue in the gardens was heart warming.

Our train home from Euston was at 9:40pm, so we had a few hours left before heading to the station. We decided to go for some dinner and then get our luggage before heading to the station for our journey home.

Overall the whole London trip was absolutely amazing. Being able to explore our capital with the person I love and share the new experiences and memories with was fabulous.

I can’t wait for our next adventure 🥰

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LONDON

Day one:

We got an early train and arrived at London Euston at 09:03am. By 10am we had got the underground from Euston to Bakerloo, had a short walk to our hotel to drop off our luggage and we were set for the first day of sightseeing!

Before we went we got a 3 day London attraction pass and Oyster card for the 3 days so we were able to jump on and off the underground and some attractions were free entry because we’d already paid for the London pass.

Day one included a lot of walking and we saw;

• British Museum

• Trafalgar Square

•Downing Street

• Big Ben

• Westminster Abbey

• House of Commons

• London Eye

•Buckingham Palace

My favourite of the day was Westminster Abbey, it has so much history and it is beautiful!

After the London eye we made our way across to near the theatre to have some dinner. We found a nice Italian, where we sat outside and enjoyed a drink, our food and talked and laughed so much 😊 After we’d ate and realised we weren’t at the theatre until the next day we decided to have a walk to Buckingham Palace, it was lovely. The walk was pretty quiet with only a handful of people around the palace, we had a few photos and then headed back to the hotel, we watched a bit of tv and had some snacks AND I also got a foot massage because my feet had swollen to twice the size as normal 😳. We had been awake since 5am so sleep came easy, we slept right through until the next morning.

*DAY 2 will be posted soon*

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The Lion King - Lyceum theatre, London 🎭

For my birthday my boyfriend surprised me with theatre tickets for THE LION KING!

After queuing for a short while, having our COVID passes and bags checked, we were finally at the main doors and having our tickets scanned… until they couldn’t scan and made the dreaded rejection beep!

In all the excitement, we had got the wrong date 😳😭 luckily we were only a day early so didn’t miss out on the show, we just had to wait another day 🙈 - I hadn’t checked the date of the tickets and left it to my boyfriend to organise dinner around the show.

When we went back the day after and our tickets let us in, we had a fantastic time, our seats were amazing and I didn’t want it to be over. I 100% recommend and encourage everyone to go atleast once in their lifetime if they get the opportunity ❤️

The staff at the theatre were all very helpful and friendly.

The costumes, dances, music and acting were amazing and you can tell how much work and dedication the cast put into each show! I can not fault the cast, crew, theatre and staff. I left a giant smile on my face and a warm happy heart.

I’m hoping to see more west end shows in the future and would go to The Lion King again.

🦁👑

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I went for a meal and to the cinema, to watch the new suicide squad. I get Meetkat deals through my car insurance so got 2 for 1 cinema tickets, which is amazing when it’s been a busy month and a date night is on the cards (Who doesn’t love a bargain and saving money).

I really enjoyed the movie, it had me laughing a lot, and I was also cringing at some of the bloody and gory scenes.

I would definitely recommend going to watch it.

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Visual impairment

I am always willing to learn and be educated on new subjects. I think it is really important that people have awareness of all situations especially ones that impact people’s lives in a lot of ways.

Last week, I took part in a Visual Impairment Training session. I have always known that some people have visual impairments but I never knew the different levels or types of vision loss.

Some of types are;

- Macular Degeneration

- Diabetic Retinopathy

- Retinitis Pigmentosa

- Cataract

- Glaucoma

Whether someone has loss part of their vision or all of it, they should still be able to live life to the fullest. Everyone should have equal opportunities in life, personal and professional.

I still don’t know everything about visual impairment or blindness but I will continue to learn and build my knowledge on the subject.

The more people know and are aware, the better the world will be.

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I recently went Blackpool for a mid week break. Being away from home for a few day with my boyfriend was nice, it was like we were in our own bubble.

We stayed in the Imperial hotel for two nights with breakfast included. The breakfast was a buffet style, offering hot and cold choices.

We got a 3 attraction ticket deal which got us tickets for the Blackpool eye, Circus and sea life.

Day one; We had a walk up and down the sea front before going to the Blackpool Tower. We visited the Tower Eye and the Circus before heading back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. After dinner we found a Prosecco and gin bar at the end of the pier where we had a couple of drinks and watched the sun setting.

Day 2; We spent the day at the Pleasure Beach, with the first ride of the day being ‘The Big One’ which I regretted straight away 😂. We had a great day and then after dinner we did an escape room. WE ESCAPED!!! Without any arguments and only a slight disagreement which was solved when one of the staff sent us a message to say that I was right and he was wrong 🙄 We escaped with only 2 seconds left on the clock! We was very proud of ourselves so went back to the Gin and Prosecco bar on the pier for a celebratory drink.

Day 3; We were up and checked out of the hotel by 10am. We visited Sea Life and then headed home.

Neither of us wanted our short break to end and we enjoyed the quality time together. We are already planning our next trip, London.

No matter where you are, if you are with the right person/people then you’ll enjoy it!

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Starting back at work after slightly over 2 years off.

Just before the pandemic hit I came out of work due to my health, I needed to focus on myself and get my health up so I could continue my life the best I could. Then the pandemic hit and it gave me more time to focus on myself and what I wanted out of my future.

I decided I wanted to change the area of work and go back to working in admin and study accountancy.

In June I started a part time job as a admin assistant/PA. I am loving being back working and taking the new chapter in my stride. Part time, 2 days a week is perfect for me and having a balance between work, study and home life.

Starting working again after any period of time is difficult. It’s nerve wracking, but I was fully focused and committed to getting back into work and being somewhere so welcoming and friendly just helped me settle that extra bit quicker.

I can honestly say that I am happy in my job for the first time in a long time. It has give me more confidence and some more independence back. Building my confidence and independence back up has had a positive impact on my work life aswell as my personal life. ❤️

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CBD tablet update!!

Ive come to the end of my first bottle and I’m so happy that I gave these tablets a try!

They might not suit or help everyone but they have helped me. My anxiety has stayed at bay, even with starting a new job and having an exam finishing my course. The anxiety has been controllable.

This isn’t just down to the CBD tablets but also the coping mechanisms and e-therapy I have under gone.