February highlights

I can never relax when things are going well; it's as if I know that as soon as I begin to relax something bad comes out of nowhere to disrupt things. As long as I have something to worry about, then nothing can surprise me.

This often steals my attention from the really good things going on in our life and makes me a rather difficult person to live with. So this year, I've decided to try and talk myself down from the edge and remind myself of all the good that I have to be grateful for.
Getting all the family together for Mam's Birthday

In honour of my Mam's 50th Birthday, the "Redfern" side of the family gathered at Chateau Rhianfa (the hotel where I work) and enjoyed a Sunday Lunch. It was the first time we'd all been together since my Taid's funeral, and I know it was tough for my Mam to be celebrating a huge milestone birthday without her father there. I think he'd have been happy to see us together for a happy occasion.

Cardiff for the Welsh Wedding Awards

We had been nominated as the Most Romantic Wedding Venue in Wales and we were made up to be able to bring the trophy home with us. It was a flying visit to the capital with my colleague, a 4-hour train journey each way was made complete with books, panads and snacks. Arriving in my Hotel room to find a bottle of Prosecco on ice and Rose petals scattered on my bed made me feel well special. A massive bath meant I could pretend I was Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I wish I could treat myself to solo hotel trips every now and again - I came home feeling like I'd had a full week away,

8 year Wedding Anniversary and weekend away

On Tuesday 19th February it was our 8th Wedding Anniversary, which sounds like a really long time but it really has flown. We've done and been through so much that our wedding day seems a whole different lifetime ago. This past weekend we went away for the night to Rowton Hall, Chester. Unfortunately, Mr M wasn't well at all and I spent most of the evening sitting on my own in the Hotel restaurant, pretty sure the other guests thought I'd been stood up. I actually quite liked it, I could have a good old nosey around at the place, watched the F&B staff fascinated at how they do things differently to what I'm used to. Mark was a lot better by Sunday so we could go to Cheshire Oaks and have a walk around the shops, I wanted a new handbag as a birthday present.

My Birthday

I'm not bothered about getting older, I may be 32 now but I still feel the same as I did when I turned 17. I just have a lot of grey hair now. I worked on the day of my Birthday this year, which is something I've never done before, but this year I felt differently. I share my Birthday with my Grandmother and this year was our first one without my Taid so I was quite happy to ignore it and treat it like any other day. Mark and the kids brought me cards and gifts with my breakfast in bed, my Mam had made a nice Birthday Breakfast at hers before I went to work and I was more than happy with that. My friends at work had arranged a quite Birthday Cake and panad the day before, and I'd had lovely gifts from them.

Half Term Holidays

I think they're saying that this is the warmest February on record and I'm delighted to have a few days off with the kids while they're home from school. They drive me crazy when we spend too long at home so I have something planned for every day. We love picnics and being outdoors. Mark was only off today so I've plans with friends for the other days. Today we went to Bodnant Gardens, you would have thought it was April as it was warm enough to do away with our coats and just have little jackets on. I know I'll be more than ready to escape to work on Thursday afternoon and I'll be so glad to be back in term time routine next week.

GM
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