Rocking Your World Friday - 46th of 2018

Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

So it has been a busy week overall, you will all be pleased to know that the pre-Christmas deep clean is officially finished (there are still a few jobs to sort) but on the whole its done and the house feels sooooooooo much better for it and I officially know where most things are, which is brilliant! 

Next up, the decorations in the local shopping centre look lovely, I do so love the time and effort spent on such things, so it was lovely to walk through and see the decorations, despite it being something of an eventful trip through the centre.

I love the paper look of this one

Next up date night with hubby, always lovely, we went for some food, had a walk through the shopping centre and ended up at the theatre. 

We went to see a play called The Messiah with only three actors in it including Hugh Dennis and Lesley Garrett and whilst it was a lovely date night, it really didn't quite hit the spot.  We've seen other theatre companies that can just hit that humour factor every time but this one seems to have missed it, it was just about picking up prior to the interval before going downhill once more in the second part, but hey it was a fun night out just the two of us. 

As Saturday was spent finishing the deep clean (and yes we did attempt to do three rooms in one day), we decided that Sunday would officially be our day of rest.  So we headed to Chatsworth which has once again put a beautiful display on in the house, its Christmas theme this year being 'Once upon a time', inspired by stories and nursery rhymes. 

Our first stop was the stables restaurant for breakfast.

We took my crazy sister and my Mum with us, so a fun day was ahead. 

The walk down to the house was filled with silhouettes

And the entrance hall had a gorgeous sleeping dragon.

The first corridor was inspired by Charlotte's Web and there were lots of nods to the story. 

Including a pig from the story being found in the tree 

Next up the Elves and the Shoemaker, a personal favourite story of mine from childhood. 

The chapel had a beautiful carriage from Cinderella in it

I loved the tiny tree decorations. 

Then we went into the Princess and the Pea, I think this may be the only time I see that pea decorations on a tree actually work. 

Then the back of the Elves and the shoemaker

We posed for a quick Christmas selfie. 

Next up the main painted hall was decorated on the theme of - well I'm sure you can guess.

The ruby red slippers and yellow bricks were a bit of a give away. 

I grabbed this lovely photo of my Mum and sister

And loved the Emerald City tree at the top of the stairwell. 

There were 'wish' trees to adorn next to the Emerald City tree, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing what people wished for - I think my favourite was the Shakespeare one

The Chinese bedroom had the theme of Mary Poppins and the music was playing in the background, so we were singing along as we continued around the house. 

James and the Giant Peach story was the prompt on the stairs.

The inside of which was so very cute. 

Next up Arabian Nights (which didn't really work for me, it looked like a carpet stall if I'm honest). 

But the tree decorations were lovely

All in all a lovely festive (even if it does still feel a little bit too early), day out with family.

Next up, we enjoyed our first fire of the year, which was all the more pleasant for cleaning the glass of the fire, its weird the little differences make.  We sat curled up quite happily in front of the roaring fire reading books and chatting - bliss. 

We brought this little chap as we left Chatsworth, these little beasties were dotted on a children's trail around the house.  Apparently they are the children of the sleeping dragon in the entrance and have a specific Chatsworth label on them, which indicated that he was called Arthur, the problem was we'd already named him, so his officially name is Sir Arthur Bootastic the Third of Chatsworth, but we have named him Boo for short (he is the third Boo because my sister's cat is called Boo, then we met Boo on holiday so this is the third Boo and yes as you will note we are completely crackers). 

Said 18 year old's artwork is literally taking over the house (and deadline day of Thursday has now been extended to Tuesday so we still have a house full).  As a result the kitchen was out of commission, so we ordered in, you have never seen someone so happy for Dominos pizza!

I had an additional day of work so spent it making Christmas gifts (hence the close up)

And the boss brought her new dog to work on Wednesday, please meet Bryan a baby Bedlington puppy, he was very funny and very mischievous but also very cute asleep under my desk! 

And that my lovely people is the week that was, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, come back and link up and we can come and visit. 

Rocking Your World Friday - 45th of 2018

Good Morning lovely people

Tis Friday and time to catch up on the silver lining, positive moments and happy days that have been not only the last 7 days but also the 7 days prior to that! 

So as those that read my blog will know last week's post was mighty brief as we were away, but I promised to share our week with you this week - so I hope you've got a cuppa because this is going to be a long one! 

First up, the lovely cottage we stayed at at a place called Egton about 5 miles outside of Whitby, was an absolute delight for the week. 

It didn't take long for said 18 year old to get comfortable

I loved the view from the dining table looking upwards!  

Our first full day we headed into Whitby, it was Goth weekend, although we've seen adverts since and it indicated it was a Steampunk weekend, it was actually a mix of the two if I'm honest! 

Said 18 year old and his girlfriend were meeting up with said girlfriend's Mum and Mum's friend, so we went our separate ways for the day, whilst me and hubby went exploring! 

We wandered up the 199 steps to the Abbey and enjoyed the view of the harbour

Hubby has a card that gave us access to the Abbey, so we wandered in, they'd put items out relating to Halloween, the giant bat made me smile!

The sun was shining, albeit cold and rather windy, me and hubby got a reasonable selfie taken

The silhouettes were brilliant and the bit of blue skies was definitely good for the soul!

Outside, we found a giant pumpkins (to add to the giant bat)

And got a reasonable shot of the Abbey from the other side, I loved the people dressed in Victorian dress wandering towards the Abbey.

The detail of the Abbey is still amazing, despite it's ruinous state

Heading back down we had a good view of the beach

We headed over the other side of the bridge and along the pier, getting this view of where we'd just been.  I really really needed to see the beach that day, sometimes you don't realise how much you need that contact with nature. 

I can still hear the sound in my head

We bumped into said 18 year old and his group as we walked to the pier

These little birds were hopping around looking for food. 

The cottage came with its own resident cat, this is Boo and Boo appeared every time we were around, she expected to come in and by the end of the week, she expected treats, some freshly cooked chicken and lots of and lots of stroking, I've never known a cat like strokes like her!

The view from the cottage was stunning and we woke to mist in the valley on the following morning. 

We headed to Staithes and Runswick beach on our second full day (two places, we haven't visited before). 

The waves were quite ferocious that day

And it was windy, so the selfie was rubbish 

Hubby got shots close to the waters edge

And said 18 year old and girlfriend added to an already stacked pile of stones

The stones were fabulous and quite flat which made it easier. 

Finished

I really fancy painting this shot of the two of them! 

The bright sky meant the village looked really dark, but it was such a pretty village.

We walked along the harbour wall

And found a different route back to the car park (taking pretty, (soon to be turned into paintings) on the way). 

Then we headed to Runswick, which was just as pretty but less in the way of village

I was playing with this photo and inadvertently turned some of it black and white, no idea how

We popped back to Whitby as we needed a couple of bits and grabbed an evening shot

Back to the cottage and more Boo time!

Tuesday was forecast to be very wet, so we'd already booked tickets to the Sealife Centre at Scarborough before we set off as it was cheaper if booked online in advance. 

I grabbed plenty of photos

Rescued seals keeping their eye on us

Crazy sea dragons, I didn't even know these things existed 

Seahorse

The Sealife Centre was very very busy, once we got to the end, we stopped for a drink and then we had a second walk around. 

Wednesday was a far nicer day so we headed back to Scarborough

Soaking up that view was definitely good for my soul.

We had a great day with these two

And ended up around near the cliff side tram

They spent a £1 on the machines

And headed into town, eventually finding the graffiti street.

We headed back and then set off for Whitby in the evening, heading up the steps to the Abbey

The Abbey looked amazing

And the colours kept changing 

Detailed architecture, looked just as fantastic at night! 

Me and hubby managed a quick photo and my coat was lovely at keeping me warm during the week, so grateful for a warm winter coat!

The following day we headed out to Castle Howard, we were impressed at the pumpkins, although this little pirate ship looked a little sad. 

I loved the gate on the walled garden

These two were brilliant company

And we enjoyed a wander around the inside of the house, enjoying the extension

As well as the original entrance hall that was severely damaged in 1940 due to a fire. 

The ceilings were amazing

And it was lovely to see the turquoise room.

The house itself is very pretty! 

Back outside, we got a bit closer to the famous Atlas fountain, which wasn't running the last time we visited. 

Hubby managed to photobomb this one! 

And this one - blinking mischief that he is! 

Then I finally got this, whilst hubby distracted said 18 year old again! 

We captured the sun behind Atlas

We got pictures of the house through their picture frame

After we'd found the second pyramid in the woods

Back out through the walled garden, I enjoyed the reflections on the water, whilst reflecting on the day.

Said 18 year old was striking a post akin to the statue!

And the courtyard had this fabulous pumpkin display!

Back to the cottage, we had our regular evening visitor

Final full day, we headed to Robin Hood's Bay, where this sign made us all smile

As you can see we were treated to a blue sky day

We found the tide in

But managed to find a back route and got some chips, before grabbing a few final photos!

Selfies all round

We'd had a brilliant week, with great company!

Our last night, Boo made the most of all the strokes

We enjoyed a final evening in Whitby

Seeing the sun set!

Our journey home was quick and uneventful, so we were soon putting things away, with the washer running full tilt in the utility room. 

Sunday I'd got a class booked at the local craft shop, with my Mum and my sister.  We had a fabulous day! 

I was soon back to work, it has been a mighty busy one this week, but I've got a fair amount done. 

The big boat came past one morning early on as I was grabbing a coffee. 

And today (Thursday), I've had a fabulous day off (lieu day), doing a mix of cleaning and sorting.  It has been grand. 

I hope you've had a fabulous week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, pop back link up and we can come and visit.