Winter Dog Walk || Letters to a Friend

Dear Ellie,

Today I took a walk, a walk I take most Sundays, a walk with my Mum and the Dog in the beautiful countryside our Island has to offer. These walks have changed a lot since this time last year, Ellie, we had two of the little terrors then! I cannot quite believe that it is almost a whole year since we lost Ben but I must say since then our walks have become a lot calmer!

These days we take a gentle walk around the countryside as Harry explores all the hedges and banks, yes every single one we pass, and now that I don’t have Ben to walk I have a chance to take some photographs. Some of them are alright but most of them end up a blurred mess as the shutter snaps at the exact moment Harry gets bored and moves his head. Who would have thought taking a decent photo of a dog would be so hard. I was quite proud of this one though.

As Harry gets older and his abilities to walk long distances is reduced I cherish these walks we take together. My mum and I chat no stop whilst he potters around at our feet no longer racing ahead trying to burn off his never diminishing energy. However although he is getting old it does not stop him climbing to the top of the nearest bank and surveying his kingdom. I always think he looks like he is saying “I am king of the castle, you’re the dirty rascal” when he is up there, which is probably why he doesn’t really listen to what we tell him to do!

Bonfire Night || Letters to a Friend

Dear Ellie,

Writing letters in the form of a video is, I must admit, not exactly my idea but when I saw Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Letters to Autumn I realised it was the perfect way to communicate with you, Ellie.

Being able to show you clips of my, now very busy, life whilst on the move is wonderful. Such as the time my parents and I donned our warm winter coats, and stood on the beach by a bonfire lit in the shadows of Peel castle.

I can now let a friend, whom I used to spend 6 out of the 7 days with, in on my daily life once again all the way from that house you now occupy a good 350 miles from my own. Not to mention that awkward stretch of water too Ellie.

I am not sure how often I will write to you and don’t worry I don’t expect letters back, I know how hard you’re working at the moment, maybe just a comment? I hope I get to write to you regularly though, Ellie, in the form of video I mean, I quite enjoyed making this one.

Hope you enjoyed the fireworks.

P.S. I might have got a little bit excited and made some mince pies this evening! (woops!) And yes I have already eaten one!

A Busy Busy Bee

Hello!!

Sorry EyeZedZedWhy has been quite for a couple of weeks but my word I have been a busy little bee. So much so that if I have a free hour or so I am not really sure what to do with myself. You know when you have so much in your schedule that those free moments are really weird and confusing? Well that is where I find myself right now, I have just got back from the supermarket and I have a few hours before I need to go to bed so I thought it was the perfect time to write a little post.

So why have I been so busy you may ask? Well first of all I started a new job! It is a very big step in to the unknown, so I am learning on the go and so it's absorbing an awful lot of my time and energy at the moment but it's defiantly worth it though. I have already met lots of lovely people so I think it is going to be a nice place to work too!

Another reason my life has got super busy is that scouting has started back up again after summer. If you have been reading my blog for a while you may know that I am a leader for both the youngest section, Beavers, and the Scout section as well as a member of the oldest section, Scout Network. It may sound like a lot to be invloved it but there are people that put in a lot more time than me, to help you guage, I tend to spend three evenings during the week and a day or two at the weekend, with all the meetings, planning and activities. Scouting is a special hobby, it takes a lot of work but it is the most rewarding thing I do.

I actually really enjoy being busy, I like always having something to do. I can get quite hyper so I like to always have something to keep me occupied! One thing I do think is important though is to have sometime for myself too, it is great to be able to recharge and then be able to jump straight back into being active again! 

How do you find being busy? Do you like it?

Hope your week is going well xx

What's next for EyeZedZedWhy?

Hello!

So 30 days of summer is now over and that makes me sad. Writing those 30 posts was hard work but well well worth it! I had so much fun doing the challenges myself and to hear the stories of what you got up to was just amazing. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 

 

You may be sad it is all over but worry not! This blog will not be quiet, I have a number of ideas for posts to appear in the coming weeks and months. I thought I would let you know what I had planned and then you can let me know your thoughts, this blog is for you at the end of the day!

Some of you whom have been around on EyeZedZedWhy for a while might remember the Happy Friday posts I did? Well they are coming back! Well almost, it will now be Happy Monday because I thought that Monday is the day everyone needs that lift to get you out of bed in the morning! On (most) Mondays you can expect a shiny new blog post with a number of things that have made me happy recently in the hope it will encourage you to look out for the little things.

Something else that I will be starting soon is a challenge set over on a blog called Ditsy Sprinkles called the Fall Bucket List. She has given us 10 Autumn Challenges to complete such as jumping in a pile of leaves or holding a sparkler and I can't wait to try them out! I will be blogging about all of the challenges as I do them and it would be great if you did it too, go over to her page and give her some love.

As I am pretty sure I have mentioned several times before I am a Beaver Scout Leader and a member of the Scout Network so I plan to write posts about not only the adventures I get up to but also ideas for activities you can use with those kiddos in your life. I expect to hear stories of your adventures and those of your little people too in return though, deal?

Over the past couple of years I have grown to enjoy a bit of photography so do expect to see some of my attempts every now and again in the hope that I make you jealous of the lovely places I have been lucky enough to visit.

Last but not least I want to introduce you all to my favourite place in the whole wide world, the Isle of Man. I want to get out there and show you my favourite bits so that you can see what a magical place it really is.

If you have any suggestions of what you might want to see on this 'ere blog, then please to let me know below!

See you later Alligator! xx

Time to Sit and Think | 30 Days of Summer | Day 30

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Sit and Think

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

So here we are, the last day of the 30 Days of Summer Project. We have done a lot this summer so today I thought it might be nice to spend some time reflecting. 

This week I have been spending a lot of time sat in a field just thinking. Ok, that may sound weird but I have been marshaling for a motorcycle road race which requires me to stand in a field in the middle of no where! There happens to be a lot of time waiting around as well which gives me a chance to look out at this beautiful view and think.

These days it is really difficult to just sit and think because be have so much to distract us. So I challenge you, for the last time this summer, to go to somewhere with minimal distractions and just think. Maybe you could even reminisce about the amazing summer you have just had.

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye!

xx

Fun in the Sand | 30 Days of Summer | Day 29

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Play in Sand

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

It may sound childish but I think you can have fun with sand no mater what your age. You don't have to just make a sand castle like when you were little either (although that is still most defiantly allowed!), how about making a sculpture or even burying someone!

In the photo above we were actually recreating a two-dimensional map in sand. We were using it to help young people learn what symbols and lines on maps mean and it is a fantastic tool. We then went on to make a sculpture of the Isle of Man out of sand! The sand made learning about maps much more fun and helped them learn in a practical way.

Of course you don't need to learn anything while your there, it was just part of the game for us. Just get down to your local park or beach and do something with sand! I once spend an entire day at the beach sculpting a seal out of sand with my cousin, we were so proud of the results.

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

Star Gazing | 30 Days of Summer | Day 28

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Source

Star Gazing

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

Sitting and looking up at the nights sky is magical. Looking out at the distance galaxies, imagining what could be within them or just simply marveling at the beauty of it. 

Space fascinates me and it always has. Did you know that when you look out into the nights sky you are looking into the past? Some of the stars and galaxies are so distant that the light you can see in the night sky is from thousands upon thousands of years ago, that star may be dead by now!

What about the constellations? They are really impressive when you spot them. I will never forget going on holiday to France with my friend and her uncle pointing out constellations in the night sky whilst we walked around the lanes, is there a more perfect way to spend an evening?

Why don't you get outside on a clear night and see what you can see? It is best to go somewhere with less light pollution if you can, somewhere out of a city if possible. If you are lucky enough to live somewhere like the highlands of Scotland, far from any cities, you will see some seriously breath taking skies!

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

Geocaching | 30 Days of Summer | Day 27

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Geocaching

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

What is Geocaching you may ask? Well it is a bit like a treasure hunt I guess, you use a GPS devices or your mobile phone to navigate to the location of the cache then you have to try and find it, they can be quite small so it may take a little bit of digging around! For more information and to get started go to the Geochaching website.

Even if you go geocaching right next to your house you could we end up exploring a little corner you didn't even glance at before and although there are a lot in the countryside they are also all over cities too!

When you find the cache you fill in a log book and in some of them you can even swap nic-nacs! Looking at the log book and other stuff in the cache is really interesting, are you the first person to find it or the 128th?

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

Gardening | 30 Days of Summer | Day 26

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Gardening

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

This summer we have been getting outside quite a lot so why not make your own outside space look even better and maybe even make it productive aswell? 

Getting green fingered is something I did quite a bit as a child. Until I was eight I lived in a house with quite a big garden so we would grow vegetables, the advantage of that is we got to eat the results. I was a weird child, I actually liked vegetable! There is something even tastier about fresh veg that you have grown yourself straight from the garden, you don't even need to cook it!

You don't have to grow vegetables though, what about planting a few flowers in an empty corner of your garden, it will add a nice bit of colour. Perhaps you don't have a garden, window boxes or plant pots on a windowsill are both perfect places for growing veggies or flowers. 

I hope you enjoy your gardening adventure and enjoying the food or flowers you produce!

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

Baking | 30 Days of Summer | Day 25

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Get Baking

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

If you live in Britain you will, no doubt, have noticed that the amazingness of the Great British Bake Off has again graced our screens with its presence! Even if you are not from Britain you will probably have seen the mayhem online. If you are somehow haven't heard of it, it's a baking competitions that means I can spend a whole hour staring at delicious baking!

Do you know one thing that is almost-slightly-maybe better than GBBO? Actually baking yourself! I bake quite regularly and the picture above is of a chocolate orange brownie, which is AMAZING! It is actually a Sorted Food recipe and I do recommend it! 

Look at the beautiful chocolate stuff!

Remember baking isn't just cakes, don't forget the bread too! There are millions and millions of recipes out there to try, they don't have to be really complicated, just pick something you like to eat and get in the kitchen and get baking!  

Also if you have never seen GBBO please go at watch it, even just a clip, you are missing out on the beautiful food, Mary Berry and the funniness of Mel and Sue!

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you next week!

xx

Board Games | 30 Days of Summer | Day 24

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Play some Board Games 

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

Do you remember that old source of entertainment before we all sat on our own playing games on our phones and tablets? It is easy to forget about entertainment beyond our electronic devises, and I will admit I am quite bad for it!

Board games are brilliant indoor entertainment away from technology. Sadly, in may house, they only seem to be brought out during powercuts but when I was away at University we spent a number of evenings paying monopoly into the wee hours and it was a lot of fun!

There are so many board games out there so you have a lot of choices. So get looking at the back of your cupboards for that dusty board game that has been sat there for years, get some friends round and maybe some pizza and get playing!

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

Bowling | 30 Days of Summer | Day 23

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Go Bowling!

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

It is often easy to forget about those activities that are ready and wait near by, but bowling is great for getting you active. It is a fantastic activity for when it is raining and if you go at off peak times you can often get a discount too

"Oh, but Izzy I am not very good at bowling!" 

I am, in fact, an awful bowler, without the bumpers up I have no hope. Yes, I know the bumpers are designed for kids but I am that bad. If I can go and have fun then so can you! It is a game that can be competitive or not competitive, you could just try to improve on your own score. It is nice to be able to chill out with friends while doing a fun activity.

If you don't have bowling in your area, what about trying a new activity that gets you out with your friends using your skills to see who has the talent and who (like me) needs some practice. Well, practice is a great excuse to go more often!

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

Visit a Market | 30 Days of Summer | Day 22

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Go to a Market

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

Markets are really exciting places to shop. The people on the stalls are all really passionate about what they sell and are egger to incourage you to buy there produce above anyone elses.

Markets are often full of energy, with people buying their shopping, bumping into friends along with the shop keepers promoting their wears. The colours of markets are amazing too, produce of every colour you can think off and the stalls brightly decorated in a bid to make them stand out.

These are also places where you can find the unusual, from a fruit you have never heard of to a stall sell reels upon reels of sari fabric. 

When I visited London last I found my self in Bourgh Market, and what a place that is! It is massive, with every type of food you could ever want, both meals ready to eat and ingredients ready for your next culinary adventure.

I went all the way to London only to found some Manx produce! Proud!

Go and find a Market near you, even if you don't buy anything you will find lots of inspiration none the less!

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

Picnic | 30 Days of Summer | Day 21

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Have a Picnic!

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

Picnics are awesome, they include friends, food and the great outdoors and you know how much I enjoy the outdoors! So get out your picnic blanket, make those sandwiches and lets have some fun.

Picnics can have a reputation for soggy old sandwhiches but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are some amazing food you can make for a picnic and you don’t even need sandwhiches if you don’t want them, why not try  pasta salad? A ploughmans? Or even make a pizza and eat it cold? I am making my self hungry just taking about all these lovely foods!

A picnic doesn’t have to be in the park, although it is a great place for them. You could go on a ramble and find a field somewhere or go to the beach, just try not to get sand in your sandwiches!

You don’t even need nice weather to have a picnic, just grab a coat find a nice spot and enjoy the view! 

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

My Favourites

Hello!!

With my blog currently taken over by challenges I thought I would take today to talk about one of my favourite topics, myself! (specifically my favourites)

I must admit my favourites can change quite regularly but it is nice to take a minute to think about all those things that give me so much joy, so here goes, my favourites:

Film

If I'm honest I really wanted to say one of the Harry Potter films for this one but firstly that is a really common and boring answer and secondly I have just spent ages trying to decide on my favourite of the bunch, and failed miserably.

During the stupidly long time I have just spend thinking about Harry Potter, I remembered the film I went to watch in the cinema in September not once but TWICE, About Time. It is about a young man that finds out he can time travel, and it is the story of how he uses this power. It isn't sifi or superhero-y it just blends in with the story as though it was real life. This film has to be one of the most beautiful I have ever scene, and the message behind it really made me think about they way I live my life too.

TV Programme

Picking favourites really isn't easy! I struggled with this category too but after much deliberation I have narrowed it down to two. I am aware that is kind of cheating, but they are in completely different category of programme so I hopeyou will let me off. 

The first one is Call the Midwife, it is about nuns and midwives in the west end of London and it is based on the autobiography of Jenny Lee. It is a lovely story of caring, love, live and death.

The second one is the reality tv show 19 kids and counting, a programme about the Duggar family. The Duggar family, as the title suggests, have 19 children and the show follows their lives as they grow up together. I love to watch the bond they all have and how they work together.

Colour

This is an easy one, blue. I sometimes like to say that I really like the bright colours because they make me happy and I do but it is hard to call them my favourite colours when a large number of my clothing and belongings are blue! 

Song

I never really have a favourite song as such and I am not even going to try and pick one but I love pretty much anything you can sing along to. I adore singing along to songs, sadly the people around me don't enjoy it quite so much!

Shop

My hobbies include knitting and crocheting so this shop for me is heaven, its called Joan's Wools and Craft and it is a nice calm environment that is full of the stuff I love. The one problem with it is possible for me to spend a lot of money in that shop!

Book

Grr! Why are favourites so hard? There are loads of books I have really enjoyed including Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, anything by Jill Mansell and even a few autobiographies, so choosing my favourite was difficult to say the least.

After much consideration I decided on The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, it isn't my normal happy-go-lucky chick lit but I enjoyed it immensely! The characters have a lot of depth and the story line has many twists and turns. Due to some of the issues raised in the book I would recommend that you only read it if you are over 16 though.

Well that's it for my favourites, I hope you found them interesting, maybe I have even introduced you to something new? Why not tell me about you favourites from the categories above? I would love to hear them.

Bye xx

History | 30 Days of Summer | Day 20

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Visit somewhere of historical importance!

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

History not only tells us about what happened in the past but it also helps to explain the way we live today. It is all around us, it can be beautiful but it can also hide some awful secrets. It is finding out what is hidden in the past that can be most excited.

History isn't just what happened thousands of years ago, history is also what happened in our parents life time or even our lifetimes!

Recently I visited the Laxey Wheel, which is the worlds largest working water wheel! It was built to pump water out of the mines nearby allowing them to mine deeper. Whilst visiting the Laxey Wheel there was also the option to have a look down the mines for which we had to wear hard hats, it was a good job though because I hit my head a lot!

What history can you find in your area? Maybe you will find out something completely new about your local area, just from its history.

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you next week!

xx

Road Trip | 30 Days of Summer | Day 19

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Take a Road Trip

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

Getting a group of friends together and heading out on the open road, I find, rather freeing. The fact you can head wherever you want combined with the excitement of where you will end up is brilliant.

I went on a road trip with a group of friends the other day and we just drove round to see where we would end up. Even the drive itself was good fun because it gave us chance to look at our surroundings, and to sing at the tops of our voices of course!

But Izzy, I don't have access to a car surely that means I can't join in? Fear not! Why not just hope on a bus or a train? The important thing is you get out there, and travel to new places and enjoy whatever journey you take.

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx

Volunteer | 30 Days of Summer | Day 18

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

 Volunteer!

If you are new to my 30 days of summer challenge click here to find out what it is!

There are so many organisations out there that would simply not function without the help of volunteers, so why not spend a day or two helping them out. Not only does volunteering help the organisations you volunteer for but it gives you valuable skills and you can even make some amazing friends!

I am a regular volunteer with the Scout Association, in fact I have just come back from a trip with a group of young people to an event called Chamboree in Cheshire. It was a week of adventure, parties and meeting new people and although it was hard work looking after them all and making sure they all had a good time, I had an amazing time.

Seeing the smiles on the faces of the young people all around me made all the cooking, washing up and hard work very very worth while. You see, volunteering can be extremely enjoyable, I have just come back from a week of very hard work and yet I still can't wait for the next trip! Although I must admit, I was very tired afterward but it's nothing a bit of sleep can't fix.

So get out there, find something you care about, give your time, make friends and learn new skills! I guarantee you will be appreciated!

 I hope you have fun with today's challenge, if you want to make sure you see tomorrows challenge be sure follow my blog and follow me on twitter too. Also make sure you record all the exciting things you do this summer, take lots of photos and keep your own blog, and please send me a link to it so I can see what you are up to, I would really really love that! 

Bye, see you tomorrow!

xx