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

Crazy Golf | 30 Days of Summer | Day 17

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Play Crazy Golf

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

Crazy golf is a fun little activity rather than a proper sport but, to me anyway, it is still very challenging! Simply put, there are obstacles that you have to hit the ball through and into a hole on the other side in as few hits as possible.

Today, along with a group of friends, I had a game of crazy golf and to say I lacked skill is an understatement. Basically I came last, I have never been very good at sports involving balls! Much halarity came about when one of my friends kept hitting the ball to hard and knocking it through the hedge and she had to go searching for it!

Today's challenge is a great one for getting friends together and doing a cheap and cheerful activity. The likelihood is you wont be as bad as me and you will score much better but even if it is not your forte it is still a fun activity to do with friends!

I don't know whether other countries have Crazy Golf so just in case you don't have a course near you why not try going to a park and seeing what you can find, a maze perhaps. Whatever you find just get out there and have fun with some friends. 

 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

Internet Freedom | 30 Days of Summer | Day 16

Good Morning!

Today's Challenge is:

Spend a day with out the Internet

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

The Internet plays a massive part in a large number of people lives these days and I am one of those people who is addicted to the internet, or should I say, I was. I have just come back from a week long scout Jamboree in Cheshire called Chamboree and throughout this time I did not have internet access and, you know what, I didn't even miss it!

I was really worried about the prospect of being away from my beloved-ed internet, I spend so much time on it and invest myself so much into its world that it can, at times, get a bit too much. Don't get me wrong, I have got so much from the internet world and I really do enjoy it but getting so invested in so many people, places and things, often very far away, can get a bit stressful. It was really refreshing to spend a week away with only things directly around me to worry about and, most importantly, to enjoy.

It may seem weird writing about not using the internet, on the internet but the number of devices I have that can be used to access the internet is ridiculous! A week without it has simply reminded me to spend a bit of time away from it from time to time and that is what I encourage you to do. 

So this challenge is to spend a whole day without the internet. It may sound difficult when you think about how much you use it but the key is to fill your day with lots of fun things to do and, just for one day, simply enjoy what is around you.

  

Make sure you check back the day after and read the post you missed though!

 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