Our Holiday to Crete

Our holiday to Crete is my favourite holiday that we've had so far. Would I go there again? Yes! There are so many beautiful places to see - I'd definitely recommend hiring a car/quad bike and seeing as much as you can.

Where To Stay In Crete.
When we went, we stayed in Platanes, just outside Rethymno on the north coast. Although we thoroughly enjoyed where we stayed and liked how we were quite central, if we were to return then we'd definitely stay in Chania (west of Rethymno) as it's one of the nicest cities I've ever visited and most of the places we fell in love with were that side of the island. The north of the island has a main road running right along which makes getting about a lot easier and quicker. The roads on the south of the island leave a lot to be desired! Many of the ones we ended up on were rubble which made journeys take a lot longer but don't let that put you off, it's less touristy and the beaches on the south are quieter and there's gorgeous deserted coves too.

Dipping my toes in the sea :)

We travelled as far east as Malia (around 1 hour 15 mins away) - out of curiosity really - and unless it's soley nightlife you're looking for, I wouldn't recommend. We travelled as far west (south-west) as Elafonisi lagoon (just over 2 hours away) which is the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life.

Top 5 things to do in Crete.
 
Elafonisi beach lagoon

As I mentioned, this is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I'm not sure the pictures do it justice, it was just bliss. The sand is pinky white and the water is clear blue and in many parts very shallow, we were able to go out so far and it never got any higher than my knees. It was well worth the 2 hour drive each way but as I said, I'd stay closer if I were to return. We were told about 2 lagoons, this one was the best of the 2 but I've decided to do a comparison post where I'll really go into it as they're very different.

Chania

We really enjoyed visiting Chania, it's a city so there's plenty to see and do but what sold it for us was the promenade/port area. There's a lot of places to eat and drink right by the water, we really enjoyed chilling out with drinks and the sound of the water gently lapping the wall but we ate dinner in the old part of the town. We found a pretty little 'old Cretian style' restaurant with outside seating in a little courtyard. It was really difficult to choose where to eat as there were so many great little places.

South of the island

We only saw a small part of the south island as it look over an hour to get there and the roads weren't great. We visited Preveli beach which looked gorgeous online but unfortuntely we were disappointed. It was over crowded and dirty. We headed along to the Agios Pavlos area, in the middle of nothing really. We had the whole place to ourselves and caught the sunset, it was so lovely. On our way to the south of the island, we stopped to stretch our legs and both experienced something we'd never experienced before. We got off the quad, looked at the view then realised we could literally hear nothing. No wind, no traffic, no birds.. Absolute silence, with a gorgeous view. It was just amazing.

Hire a quad

For the first week of the holiday we hired a car to get around, then we swapped it for a quad for the last few days which was awesome. There's something far more exciting and exhilarating about jumping on a quad bike to get about rather than a car. We'll definitely be opting for a quad over a car for future holidays, I do recommend getting one with a box on the back to put your handbag/suncream/map though - although it's not safe to leave unattended.

Try a gyro

Our flight to Crete was an evening one but by the time we'd got off the transfer coach - which seemed to take forever - it was around 11pm. We dropped our cases in our hotel room and wandered down the road in search of food! The only place still serving food was a fast food shop with a restaurant on the side.. This was our first taste of gyros, they're a must if visiting Crete. They're kind of a kebab, it has the kebab meat but it also has chips and a gorgeous Tzatziki sauce in there, boy it was good. The sauce was so good, we've been making it ourselves since, although it's not quite as good as the real thing! Unfortunately I never got a picture of this (what?!) but I can assure you it was yummy!

don't worry, my eyebrows are way better now ;)

What a brilliant holiday it was. I always say I would go back but I probably won't go back. I would because it's beautiful and the people are so friendly and laid back but I won't because there are so many other places for us to visit first before we make repeats, do you know what I mean?

Are you thinking of visiting Crete? Or have you been before? I'd love to know where you stayed/where your favourite places were! xxx

Feeling Fresh

Howdy!
For the past few months, I'd been toying with the idea of coming back to blogging. Again.
I've always wanted to blog as it's something I really enjoyed but it's the actually doing it part I struggled with. I've been away for well over a year but now I'm back with tons of fresh ideas for posts and I'm raring to go and create the blog I always wanted to. Lets do this!!

So much has changed since I last blogged..

• I'm still with Aaron, it will be 8 years this year, how scary is that!
• We had a fantastic holiday to Crete (highly recommend if you haven't been) around a month after I last blogged, I will do a seperate post on that.
• I got a new job in Nov 2014 as a customer care advisor for a hearing company, I'm still there now and really enjoy it.
• Unfortunately our gorgeous cat Chester had to be put to sleep a week before Christmas 2014. He went downhill very quickly (2 weeks) all the vets knew was that his liver was failing, despite lots of tests and medication nothing worked and they decided it was best to say goodnight to him. He was only 2 years old and it's still very raw :(
• Early 2015 we decided to rescue a kitten from a local cat shelter as Vinnie had become very lonely and couldn't bare to be alone. We named him Tommy.
• We finally got a newer, more reliable car. An Audi A6, we love it.
• I left my Slimming World group for various reasons, I just wasn't happy there anymore. I'd lost nearly 4 stone when I left... I've put nearly 2 of those back on, although I am trying it from home again now. Watch this space!
• In 2015 I got my brow game on (I'll blog about it soon) and had my longgg hair cut to a medium length - this was a big deal to me! - I much prefer it now :)
• We had lots of fun days out and I've manged to tick off quite a few things from my 30 before 30 list (see above).
• At the end of last summer we rescued a third cat, this time from Cats Protection (fantastic experience with them) he's a year old and named George. He's such a sweetie.
• Aaron started divorce proceedings with his ex. More on this once it's all done with.
• In January we booked a holiday to New York for this year so expect posts on that too!

I think that's you all caught up now.. For future posts you can expect a real mixture of lifestyle kind of posts.. days out, holiday/breaks away posts, wedding posts, how-to posts, anything exciting I get up to and lots more! I'm excited! xxx

I Bought A Dress!?

Anyone that knows me will know I never wear dresses. Infact I would challenge anyone I know to name the last time or even A time they've seen me wearing one aside from work parties, funerals or our engagement party. At my heaviest and being top heavy, I could never find a dress that didn't make me look like a dumpling.. Anything I liked seemed to show off my "donut" of fat round my middle so I ended up avoiding them altogether.

Fast forward to last Sunday, 5 months at Slimming World and over 2 stone gone forever, I grabbed a dress from the "normal" range in New Look, tried it on and fell in love. Just to be shopping in the "normal" range again feels so good but to try on something I've always wanted to wear but never felt comfortable in and love how it looks was just amazing!

Sure, I still have far more fat on my body than I'm happy with but you don't get to where you want to be over night, it takes time. I'm just so chuffed with how the dress looks and feels, how it doesn't show off my fat but skims over it and hides my lumps and bumps - apart from my boobs, it makes them look pretty good FYI!

It's really comfortable to wear as it has some give without giving the impression that it's going to lose it's shape and because it's a thicker kind of material with 3/4 sleeves it will be perfect for autumn. I plan on wearing it out to dinner a couple of evenings on holiday next week but when I'm back I shall be wearing it with some black tights and black boots. I'm definitely going to be keeping my eyes peeled for more dresses like this - especially now I have a wider choice of shops I can shop in again!

Where's your favourite place to shop? xxx

Feeling lonely..

I'm sitting at home on my own every evening this week, just like I was last week and just like I will be next week too as Aaron is working away in the big smoke. It's his first time doing over night site work with his company and while it means more money (which we should be greatful for as we go on holiday in less than 2 weeks - hello Crete!) it also means I'm feeling like a little lost lamb!

He worked away for a month in Canada with his last company a few years back which was awful. I cried every single day. It was so hard being limited to about 5-10 minutes on Skype every other day (when he could borrow a laptop) and the odd text message as it was expensive. At least with him being in the same country we can chat on the phone and send messages during the day..

I'm not a very independant person. I could never live on my own, I just don't like it. I haven't slept right through the night since Aarons been away.. It's far too quiet when I first try to sleep - his half snoring as he's drifting off must be some sort of comfort for me! Since we met 6 years ago, we've pretty much been inseperable, never going more than a couple of days without seeing each other and we're so close as a couple which is probably why I don't find it very easy when he's not here.

Do any of you have other halves that work away regularly? If so, what's your secret to coping?! Do tell! I want to be strong and be like "yeah I'm fine!" but he knows me too well anyway! I'm such a soppy bloody donut!! What has upset me this time though is that he's going to be away on my birthday next week which is really crappy. I would invite some friends over if I had any! - Well technically I do but they don't live round here anymore and the others weren't really friends, more "friends" and I stopped being a mug where they're concerned.

Ho hum! xxx

I'm not a "new" blogger..

..but this is a new blog :)

I haven't written a blog post in quite a few months as I've been working, had laptop problems and just generally been busy. The last few weeks I've been thinking how I really want to get back into it but my last blog was left in a bit of a mess (account wise) so I decided it would be a lot easier for me to just leave that one behind and start a fresh. Ta dah!

For anyone that has followed me over to this new blog.. firstly, thank you so much and secondly, here's a bit of an update from while I've been away.

• I'm still going to Slimming World - I've lost 2 stone 2.5 lb so far and recently won woman of the year!! I've gained a lot of confidence and have been much happier in myself.
• I'm getting on really well with my parents now and have even become really close to my sister for the first time ever which is so nice.
• Aaron and I are still going strong and are settling nicely into our new home, we have a new kitchen and new flooring, we just need to decorate now!
• The kittie boys are fine, Vinnie is as soppy as always and Chester is still a lump!
• My laptop I last blogged from broke and I lost EVERYTHING. This means I don't have any of my saved fonts, layouts etc from my old blog or even the programs I used! (Thankfully all of my personal pictures are either on Facebook or Dropbox, phew! And music can be downloaded again whenever)

I've still been enjoying reading blogs and watching You Tube videos while I've been away, especially lifestyle ones. Which is what I'm intending on doing here. Snippets of my life, what I've been upto, where I've been, thoughts and feelings.. You know what lifestyle means! :)

Until next time xxx