Sunshine and Rain ★

so i got back to the Island yesterday afternoon, completely exhausted, sad to say goodbye to Ireland but undeniably glad to be home!!!

today i got up bright and early to head into a very gloomy and rainy Douglas, so it was boots, trench coat and umbrella weather again!

anyway i wandered around town for a bit before meeting my cousin Mandy and my little cousin Sienna

Mandy had to dash off so i got to look after little miss Sienna and then all of a sudden it was time for us to head to the Alpine to meet my friends Mike and Quinn for some lunch

Quinn's lovely little sister Elan came along too and we all had a yummy lunch in the Alpine (aka my café home from home!) where i also bumped into Melanie (the café's owner) who is in the process of getting some of my illustrations tattooed onto her foot!!!

i'll snap some photos once it's all done but it's looking soooooo awesome! it's crazy to see MY drawings on someone's skin! weird but very VERY cool!!!

anyway by the time we all left the café it was really sunny and bright! cannot handle this insane weather, how are you supposed to dress for a day like this?! we all stood chatting in the street for a bit while Sienna played with her new toy

it was a lovely afternoon though, we just wandered around town, looking in shops, chatting, generally having a laugh! i clearly don't get out enough... that's why i always enjoy it so much when i have a day out like this with friends/family!

we sat in the Strand Shopping Centre for a while too, well... Quinn and Mike sat while i mooched around the toy stores with Sienna and Elan, i really will NEVER grow up!

but alas at long last, it was time to go!!! i met them today because Mike is heading back off to University in Kingston on Friday so i wanted to say goodbye + hand over his belated Birthday present (a 'Back to the Future' t-shirt) 

luckily Quinn doesn't head off to start Uni in Falmouth until September so hopefully i'll get to see her again before she vanishes until Xmas! + i'm going to make her a very special little plushie fawn as a going away present!

anyway, after town we went up to my cousin Mandy's flat for a bit where Sienna tried on her pretty new dress

we actually went there because my mum had to pick up her pet birds (two cockatiels called George and Sid) but it was nice to relax for a bit watching MTV and playing in the garden with Sienna

and i guess that was my day! apologies for the uber personal post!!!

i have 3 amazing new creative café features lined up, in fact i don't know which one do do first they're all that good!!!

so be sure to look out for the first of them tomorrow evening

until then... that's all folks ◕‿◕ ★ xX

TT family times ★

so i vanished for a few days, i would have blogged earlier but i didn't get home from the TT fair until the small hours of Saturday morning, and i didn't get home last night until late because i was looking after my little cousin Sienna

oh and obviously this blog post is going to be kind of family orientated so if you despise my personal posts. . . now would be a good time to bugger off! i'll be doing a new 'Creative Café' post tomorrow evening so stay tuned for that instead!

so . . .

on friday night i actually left the house and headed into Douglas for the Senior race day firework display

it was a great night since i got to hang out with lots of my awesome cousins at the fair which was EXTRA nice because i hadn't seen them in aaaages

my cousin and little god-daughter Bonnie was there with her little sister Hanna, her brother Robson and her parents Gary and Sharon + my cousins Mandy and Marcus were there with Sienna

the kiddlywinks went on loaaaads of rides and Bonnie even managed to win a massive teddy bear!

they also all went on the old fashioned Carousel

while myself and Mandy looked after 'Diamonds' the teddy!

we all had a good giggle when Mandy and Robson went on 'the Vertigo' as well

as it got darker we made our way down the busy prom to find a spot to watch the show

and to be honest we couldn't have picked a better place to stop! we must have had one of the best views of the display

i took quite a few videos of the display but here's a little one you can watch if you fancy a quick skeet at the show

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in other news, i bumped into my friend Yvonne yesterday as well and she gave me a belated birthday present. . . full of the most awesome stuff!!!

there's a lovely embroiderer's guild embroidery kit + embroidery hoop

a 'make do and mend' postcard, a lovely embroidery stitch booklet and a 'Frida' card from Purplecatscorner

there was also this amaaaaazing badge which i love for obvious reasons!!!

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so what else?! well i bought myself a new dress yesterday + some pretty flowery headbands

it's the first time i've been shopping in about a month and a half (no. . . i'm not exaggerating! really!!) so i figured i could treat myself to something

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s'all for now, heading off to cook some tea now + sort stuff for college tomorrow, oh what a thrilling life i do lead!

until next time, that's all folks . . .  ◕‿◕ ★ xX