Wednesday 15 July 2015

Camp Bestival - Let's Go Wild

Part of the fun at festivals is dressing up, with many having a theme for the weekend.  This year the theme at Camp Bestival is Wild. With guests including Michela Strachan and Steve Backshall it makes me think of wildlife and the Really Wild Show! So I have been thinking about costumes for the girls and maybe myself for Saturday at Camp B, which is the traditional fancy dress day.  So of course I popped on to Pinterest for some inspiration, looking for fox masks, feather headdresses and much more besides.  Here are my favourites so far -


Animal Mask Templates from Emma Magazine


Woodland Creature Masks from Hoosier Homemade


Ladybird Costume Tutorial from HGTV
There is also a butterfly, dragonfly and bumblebee costume tutorial on this link.


This would make a fab owl costume


I love this Leaf Girl costume from Alpha Mom


Feather Crown tutorial from The Wonder Forest

So what will you be dressing up as? Be sure to share photos with me!

Until next time, take care.
Zoe
xo




Monday 13 July 2015

First Two Weeks As a Qualified Radiographer

Well I have survived my first two weeks and can honestly say that I love my new job.  No longer being a student is strange but good and will take a while to get used to.  Returning as a qualified member of staff to my training hospital has proven to be beneficial, knowing my way around, already knowing staff names aswell as knowing how to use Varian equipment.  So far the transistion has been smooth and as of last Friday I am no longer supernumerary, which in itself is a milestone.  A scary milestone as I am now responsible every time I set up a patient and beam on! 

Many newly qualified's take the summer off before starting their first job, enjoying that last summer of freedom before many years of working.  However I chose to just have the three weeks, as I really wanted to start earning money but also because everything was still fresh in my memory.  Often returning to placement after the long summers meant I take a week or two to get back in the way of working. That's the problem with being a mature student! 

So I am now just waiting for my new uniform and name badge to arrive and then I think I will really feel like a real radiographer!

Until next time, take care.
Zoe
xo

Friday 10 July 2015

Summer Drinks For The Weekend

With the working week almost done and the weekend calling our names, I am sure I am not the only one looking forward to a cold drink in the garden or heading out with friends. Having collected some delicious drinks ideas over on Pinterest I thought I would share a few with you here, to help get the weekend started!


Limoncello and Raspberry Prosecco Cooler


Vodka Mint Lemonade



Rhubarb and Elderflower Mojito

Enjoy your weekend! Until next time, take care.
Zoe
xo




Wednesday 8 July 2015

Redecorating the House

During my time off I started redecorating the house.  We have been in our home for five years now and the rooms are all starting to look tired.  There are nasty paint scars left from wall stickers in the girls rooms, covered now by postcards and prints.  Whilst the hall and lounge walls are starting to look grubby and the boys would like a new colour on their walls having recently changed their furniture to create a more grown up space to accommodate them through the latter part of their teen years.  However I chose to start with the bathroom as I felt with all these big rooms to be painted I wanted to build up to it and started with the smallest two rooms of the house.  But now I have painted these rooms it has highlighted that the floors are in desperate need of an update!  So when Carpetright recently contacted me to discuss flooring options I was interested to see what they had to offer.

            
Bathroom Flooring



Obviously I am looking for something suitable for the bathroom and toilet, so that it is not going to be spoilt by water splashes.  Andy and I had been considering laminate or vinyl, the latter being easier to fit in a small space and to be cut to size.  Having been disappointed by a large diy stores selection of vinyl flooring I was interested to see if Carpetright offered a better choice.  Well I was not disappointed!  Firstly you can chose which room the vinyl flooring is for to make sure you get the right finish.  Secondly the choice was vast, with over 250 options of vinyl flooring for the bathroom alone!  Spoilt for choice I decided to take a look at the buying guide to see if it helped me narrow down my ideas, as I liked both the wooden and stone tile style. This would also prove very handy when it came to measuring up to avoid gaps.  

Still undecided about the style we want Andy and I have narrowed it down to four options and ordered some samples.  Hopefully this will help us decide! In the meantime I'm planning the next room to be redecorated.

Until next time, take care.
Zoe
xo

Monday 6 July 2015

Camp Bestival Countdown

This weekend we headed to Midsummer Music, the little music festival in our village which is held every other year.  Crazily I had agreed to play in the orchestra, having not played properly for several years, I was amazed that I could still play my clarinet.  The weather was amazing, although it was perhaps a little too warm for playing and I know some of the bands performing longer sets suffered a little in the blazing sunshine.  Sat listening to some talented local performers and bands, Andy and I realised it was only four weeks until Camp Bestival.  Time to get organised!


Having been several times now we know what to expect and have added to and removed things from our list.  The essential camping kit is at the top of the list, but this is a festival so there always extras added to the list.  Aswell as doing things slightly differently to normal camping, eg. no glass bottles, not being able to refreeze ice packs.  So looking at my list from last year, which you can find in this post  I am deciding if there any extras to add and what I still need to buy.  I think some new bunting is required and I have just brought a new camping kitchen stand from Vango.  Amber and Kitty are keen to have a minion windsock, but at almost £25 I think we will make do with our old flag, although if I have the time I would like to try and rustle up one that matches the retro scout badge style of the Camp Bestival logo this year!

Any essentials you will be taking to festivals this year? 

Until next time, take care.
Zoe
xo