Life: January Roundup

I'm going to put it out there, I quite like January. Not only is it the month of my birth but I love that it seems like a fresh start, a time to make plans, set goals and have lots of things to look forward to throughout the year.

January has been filled with lots of happy moments, yummy food and lovely things. At the start of the month we spent a lot of time cooking and tidying the house, this is the year where I try to declutter a bit, our house isn't big enough for all my crap! My birthday mid-month saw me very spoilt with loads of lovely gifts, some bits from Charlotte Tilbury, a FittyLdn box and tickets to see Ellie Goulding in March!

In the gym, I've been working on building my strength and working on my pull ups - training was going really well, but I've been knocked out a little with an ear infection that has put my balance way out of whack - hello dizzy spells. A few weeks later and I'm feeling much better and can't wait to get back training!

Ted's been on lots of adventures this month, the biggest being when we headed to Richmond on the train. He wasn't too sure about the train at first but he soon settled, trying to say hello to everyone! We had a wander around Richmond park before stopping by Richmond Bridge to give our paws a rest.

This weekend, I headed to the Fresh & Fit Fest at The Hoxton in London. There were different workouts to try, talks by many influencial fitness people and lots of yummy food to sample & buy. I went to a Silent Disco, hosted by Misfit and run by Tally & Zanna from the #GirlGains, I knew it wasn't going to be just dancing with Tally writing the HIIT routine, it was hard but I loved it. Later on, I also tried out a Rave class by Gymbox- a dance routine, with glow sticks, on a mini trampoline. I loved it! Today, my arms and legs ache so much but I loved and am so tempted to try another class.

January was an awesome month and a great way to start off my year! I can't wait for the rest of 2016 now!

How was your January? xx

Blogger Bookclub - What Alice Forgot By Liane Moriarty

Alice is twenty-nine. She adores sleep, chocolate, and her ramshackle new house. She's newly engaged to the wonderful Nick and is pregnant with her first baby.

There's just one problem. All of that was ten years ago . . .

Do you ever wonder where you will be in 10years time? What if you were made to relive the last 10 years of your life, but you don't remember any of it? That's what happens when Alice hits her head at the gym, she wakes up thinking she is 29. The story follows Alice as she struggles to remember what has happened during those last 10 years, why she is divorcing her husband, how she is meant to look after her children (none of which she remembers) and discovers who she is now.

I liked the concept of the story but I feel there is too much going on around the story and not enough of the actual story. It jumps between Alice's story, Elisabeth's (Alice's Sisters) diary about her struggles with trying to have children and Frannie's (Alice's Granny) blog - it felt like these parts were put in to fill up the story.

It's not a book I would normally have reached for, I enjoyed it but it took ages to get into and when I finished a chapter, it didn't make me want to read the next chapter in a hurry - I had a few days off this book and it didn't bother me so I know it's not one that I would rush to recommend.

You can read what Leanne & Lorna thought of the book by heading over to their blogs.

Let me know if you read this!

Sarah xx

Life - A Weekend in Northern Ireland

Way back at the end of October, my family and I flew out to Northern Ireland to suprise my Grandma for her 80th birthday. I took it as an opportunity to practice some of my photography skills as well as documenting a fun weekend. I've been lucky enough to grow up spending time over there, exploring lots of different places and building happy memories. This trip was even more special as I got to share it with Andy and show him around all of my favourite places.

Mum & Dad hired a Ford Galaxy, we all bundled in and headed off. The first stop on our trip was to visit some of the filming locations for Game of Thrones. We stopped at Downhill Beach which is Dragonstone and walked along the beach.

From there we headed on to Portrush. I've not been here for years but it's exactly as I remember it. We parked up and walked along the East strand before heading back into town and down to the main harbour where we took lots of family selfies. From there we walked round to a pub to have a family dinner. After that it was back to the car to head over to Portstewart for ice cream at Morellis - this was always tradition on our last night over there in the summer.

The next day we all pilled back in the car and went to the Giant's Cause Way. We had several stops on the way, stopping at Portballintrae as well as view point to see Dunluce Castle. Finally we arrived at the Causeway and we wandered about, we headed out as far as we could on the stones before wandering back to the main site and popping into a little pub for some more food.

That night we were back on the plane heading home, shattered but it was well worth it to spend time with my family. Having just popped over for a weekend, I now really want to plan lots more adventures for 2016.

Any suggestions for weekends away would be great!