Pumpkin Picking @ Foxes Farm

So far I am loving being on Half Term. I have managed to actually relax and take time off from work (I’ve actually put it all in a bag away from me, so I can’t… More

After School Club for Grown Ups @ NHM

So, last Friday, I went to the Natural History Museum with my friend Emma. We wanted to do something a little bit different and, luckily, Emma gets newsletters from TimeOut magazine and saw this advertised.… More

The Happiness Recipe

So, today, I thought I would write you something a little bit different. I haven’t had the best couple of weeks with a lot of stress and a lot going on in my head. I… More

The British Museum

The British Museum hasn’t ever really been one of my favourites, but I do think it’s fun to mix it up a bit every now and then and do something different, so I went for the day with my friend, Briony. We travelled up to Holborn, and walked the short distance to the Museum. I was surprised not to be able to walk straight into the Museum itself and was directed to a summer tent thing, where the museum has set up security to check bags etc. It’s such a shame that cities, like London, feel that this is a necessary thing to do now, but I completely understand why and would rather see people being cautious of any threats etc. London is far too pretty for anything awful to happen to it.

Anyway, once we got into the Museum we wondered around and I found rooms that I had never seen before. We found the ‘History of Money’ with old coins and notes and even a money making machine! We also found some fascinating Greek and Egyptian artifacts. It was really interesting! We then left the museum after a few hours of soaking in all of the culture and walked down to Covent Garden, which is my favourite place to go for food and the markets. We looked around the shops, roamed around the market, had a lovely meal in TGI’s and then wondered back to Embankment station, where we came home. It was lovely to do something different and something that didn’t really have to happen. Like, it wasn’t for any occasion, it was just for something fun and different to do, and I love that.

I also found that we (by ‘we’, I mean London), have the Sutton hoo mask?!?!?! Whaaaaaat!?!?! I have taught my class about this loads of times over the last few years I have been teaching and they always find it really interesting, as do I. But, I never knew that WE had it in The British Museum. I was so happy to have found it!

Anyway, here’s a few pictures that I wanted to share with you. Please click on an image to enlarge it. Also, please visit Museums wherever you live! They are super important and they need our support!

Peace and love, Polly May xx

‘Me’ Days.

It’s really important to book in ‘Me Days’ where you go and do exactly what you want. Whether you like visiting new cities, new museums, new restaurants… whatever! Go and do it! Stop waiting for people to be there. Stop waiting for a particular day. Stop putting off seeing the things you want to see and doing the things you want to do.

Some of my happiest memories are from Museum days. When I was doing my Art Foundation Diploma after college, a lot of my friends, all of them in fact, went to Uni, so I was kind of on my own. I still spoke to them all most days and I made new friends on my Art course, that I am still best friends with now. But, I suppose if they had all been here, I wouldn’t have realised how important it is to just jump in your car or get on a train and have a whole day to yourself.

Last year, I blogged when I went up to The National Gallery with a book. I sat on the district line for about an hour reading my book (The Secret Life of Bees) before getting off at Embankment. I went and grabbed a drink and a chocolate bar and sat on the fountains in Trafalgar Square, people watching. I then spent about 3 hours in The National Gallery, before walking in the pouring rain all the way down the river, across the wobbly bridge and down to TATE Modern. I was so, so incredibly happy. I couldn’t even tell you why. I hadn’t had some amazing news. I didn’t have plans of where I was going. It was just a great day. I wondered around the TATE Modern for a couple for hours and found rooms I hadn’t found in there before. I saw paintings that almost made me cry and then I went and grabbed the train from Blackfriars station.  Even now, I still think what an amazing day it was and it honestly wasn’t anything special, but it was to me.

So, I have decided that every single month, I am going to put aside at least 1 day, where I have a ‘Me Day’. They will all probably end up being London days wondering around Museums and drinking copious amounts of hot chocolate, but I think it will be fun. I am going to write it in my diary and I am going to stick to it. No matter what. If things come up, or people can only meet up on that day, I’ll have to say that I’m busy and I’ve got a date with me! Ha!

Book your ‘Me Day’ in. Book that exhibition. Read that book in the park wrapped up in layers and layers of scarf. Visit that place. Listen to that audiobook while wondering around all day. Do it!

Peace and love, Polly May xx

London Snaps!

A little while ago, when the weather was bloody boiling and London was looking gorgeous, I went up to London with my fancy camera and took some pictures. I totally forgot to upload them, and I stumbled across them the other day, so thought I would share them with you. I absolutely love London when it is like this and I think that it is the prettiest place in the world. I also loved how busy it was with all the hustle and bustle. Mum and I had a lovely meal in Wahaca on the Southbank, which was honestly one of the best meals I have ever had. It was great.

It was the first time that I had gone up to London with my camera, and if I’m honest I did feel a little bit self conscious. I need to get better at ‘touristing it up’. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Peace and love, Polly May xx

Bridget Jones’s Baby!

Bridget Jones’s Baby was always a must when I saw the trailer for it a while ago. I love the first couple of films and, although the second one one didn’t get the best reviews, I still kinda like it.

I love her character and the fact that she keeps on trying. She just doesn’t give up. The third film sees Bridget Jones as a 43 year old spinster, with an ‘out-of-date’ job. She basically  then has a one night stand with a gorgeous American guy and a random night with Mark Darcy. She falls pregnant and doesn’t know who the dad is, so she includes both of them, until the very end of the film until all is revealed. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you :)

I did really enjoy and, although it was slightly unrealistic and a bit cheesy, I think it made it better. I love films that you can just switch off and watch and you don’t have to think about too much, so this rom com was perfect. I kind of liked that Bridget Jones had changed. She looks older, slimmer and more ‘together’ but ultimately, it wasn’t what she wanted and didn’t make that much difference to her. I like that it was about her being happy with herself.

It’s great for a girly night out. So, if you’re planning one soon, it could be perfect :)

Peace and love, Polly May xx

Hello the First of October!

So, September is over! It’s crazy how quickly this year has gone. Normally the year go by fast, but this year, I feel like I have blinked and missed it. How is it October? How?? It does mean that it’s time for cosy jumpers, cute ankle boots, Starbucks hot chocolates and country wellie walks – All the things that I love. Things I’m not looking forward to: getting up in the dark, coming home in the dark and feeling tired all of the time because it’s always dark. Ha! Not a fan of the dark as you might have guessed.

I do love autumn though. Some people have a favourite season of the year and I genuinely don’t know which one mine would be, but I do find it comforting to know that it’s getting colder and cosier and that Christmas is on its way. Sorry un-christmassy people.

September has been a bit of a tough one. I went back to work with my new class and my new role as English leader and it hasn’t been as easy as I thought. Not that I am struggling with the job itself, but I am struggling with managing my time and having a life outside of work. When I do go out, I am even more exhausted the following day, but I’m working on this and I’m trying to be better at managing my time. I don’t want work to be my priority in my life, but sometimes it is very easy to just take over and you kind of don’t realise that it’s happening. It’s all good though. I am going to sit down every Sunday night and make a Weekly list of things I have to do every week, not matter what. So, it might say ‘Go to the gym at least three times’ or ‘Go out to dinner’ or ‘Go walking’ and I’m going to be realistic and set myself goals that I know are possible, not squash it all into one week. It should help, and it’ll make me say ‘enough now’ and pack up my things and come home for the evening. Even if it is to do nothing or to go and meet a friend for coffee. I won’t keep saying I have work to do.

October is going to be full of fun, exciting things and I am going to try my best to take you all along with me. I already have a couple of things booked in, but I know that it’ll be better. I’ll be more settled at work, I will make sure I go out and do stuff and I will think about what I want to achieve and set myself mini-goals.

I hope you have things planned for October and you are going out and doing them!

Peace and love, Polly May xx

The Changes and The Differences.

So, I have to blogged for a while, so thought I’d do a little ‘hello’. I was supposed to be ginger out to see my uni girlies today, but the trains were well and truly f$!@ed! Honestly, it was like a wild goose chase. So, instead, I am going to sit and drink my chocolate cooler and not stress out about it all.

I’ve been back to school for 3 weeks and they have flown by. My English lead stuff is going really well and, even though it’s hard work, I have a good class with lots of potential to progress and move on. It’s pretty full on at the moment and I have developed a cold overnight somehow, but I’ll be fine. Like always :)

I am loving doing the 100 happy days challenge and I’m considering extending it to the 365 challenge. I think it could be fun to do a whole year of photos and you could really see the changes and the differences!

What are all you lovely people up to? Have you been up to much?

Peace and love, Polly May xx

Come With Me: Greenwich, London

As some of you might know, I actually went to Greenwich University to do my degree. It is also a really special place to me as we used to go quite a lot when I was little and visit the tourist spots, the museums and the parks, so I have a lot of great memories there. Although I love it there, I haven’t been back to Greenwich for a while, so my friend, Hannah, and I decided to go there for the day before the school holidays were over.

We began by going onto the Cutty Sark ship, which I had luckily got a 2 for 1 offer for. All we needed was a paper train ticker – no oyster cards for us! We spent about an hour or so wondering around, taking pictures and learning all about the ship and its history. It was really interesting to find out that it shipped tea to us and used to take a total of 215 days to go to china, pick it up and bring it back to London. After the tea, it moved onto wool, before becoming a museum in the late 1950s. Pretty cool and the weather was lovely, so we managed to take some lovely pictures and really enjoy ourselves.

After we finished up in there, we went for a mooch around Greenwich, where we actually graduated, before going for a cocktail and then eating at the Nando’s by the river. We then went to Greenwich Market, where I bought three AMAZING rings, and we went to the Maritime Museum. We then ended up in Greenwich Park and sat and chatted for a while, before going to a pub and polishing off a lovely bottle of Rosé.

It was honestly the most perfect day. I loved every second of it. Days with friends, catching up, eating Nando’s, roaming around parks, visiting markets, drinking rose and learning about London’s history really are THE BEST!

Peace and love, Polly May xx

Fruit Picking @ Spencers Farm

Once I returned from Crete, I was desperate to go fruit picking somewhere, however, after searching the internet for a little while, we found one about 2 hours away from where I live. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know we went to Spencers Farm Shop in Halstead. I went to pick my friend up and then we travelled to the farm, which was so, so pretty and looked exactly the same as it had been advertised. We rang before leaving and was told that, although it was the last of the season, they still had some strawberries, raspberries, loganberries, blackberries, Victoria plums and blueberries, so we were quite happy with that.

What I wore: Sage Green Jumpsuit (Primark, £13), Pom-pom sandals (Also Primark, £5), Michael Kors Watch, Feather necklace. :)

We arrived after a very hot drive and asked how it worked at the desk, and were told that we literally had to pick up a pot and fill it up, keeping everything we keep separate. Seemed easy enough. It was a lovely afternoon of wondering, catching up, picking fruit and being silly. We managed to picked enough and had a lovely time. We are already planning an earlier trip (around June time) next year, to get the best out of the day and although the farm has a lovely coffee shop, where we had fresh apple juice and cream scones, it is the perfect place for a little picnic.

I highly recommend it for next summer. It was so much fun and I loved coming home and making up desserts with all the fruit I had picked. I would also return to Spencers Farm Shop because the people were lovely and the farm itself was so, so pretty that I think it made it all the better. The shop was also amazing, making us realise how important it is to support small business’ and not always go to Sainsbury’s or Tesco’s. We treated ourselves to a few bits – one of mine being a bottle of peach and pear cider! It was amazing! It was also lovely to do something different, drive out a bit, away from everything and just have a great day with my friend. It was awesome!

Anyway, here are some photos that I wanted to share with you…. Enjoy!

Peace and love, Polly May xx

Matilda: The Musical.

I cannot explain to you how much of a Matilda fan I am. I had the film from a very young age and I was able to read items it word for word within no time. My VHS Video actually went wobbly towards the end, before it finally died and I was forced to join the 21st century and buy a DVD copy. It was, and still is, my absolute favourite. I even did Roald Dahl as a theme/topic with my class just so I could watch it with them! Ha, sorry teacher talk.

Anyway, when it came to my birthday this year, I asked my friend if she fancied going to see it at the theatre. I was desperate to see it before it went, but I didn’t want to be miles and miles away in the seats. We decided to splurge our money a bit, as it was my birthday, and bought seats in the stalls. This was probably the best idea. We could see every detail and every scene perfectly and I really did enjoy it.

I loved that they had put a twist on it and had Matilda create her fantasy family story and that it was far more grown up and dramatic than I had expected. The storyline was brilliant and I really enjoyed seeing the young children up there and imagining how it must have felt performing to such a massive audience at that age. The songs were brilliant and The Trunchball had me laughing out loud at one point! He was amazing in the PE scene!

After buying a mug with ‘Children are maggots’ in a chalkboard style and a programme, I had cocktails and a massive TGIS dinner before coming home. It was so good and I would recommend ommend it to anyone. Children will be able to think about it more deeply and create their own ideas and stories once they have seen the film and read the book, but I really did think it was good.

Teacher talk (Last time, I promise): I organised a Roald Dahl Day Picnic at my school and I actually got my class to learn ‘When I grow up’ and ‘Revolting Children’ as a surprise at the end. So good.

Peace and love,

Polly May xx

Come With Me: Crete, Greece.

So, having squashed in Dublin for a mini-break with Emma, my hot holiday was for 10 days on the Greek island of Crete with my friend, Briony. I had never been before and didn’t know what to expect, but wanted somewhere to relax and not do a lot. It was a completely different sort of holiday compared to Dublin (We definitely didn’t walk 26,000 on any of the days)… We sunbathed, read our books, watched the crazy water-gym man, went to the beach and ate copious amounts of pasta and chips, flashing our gold all-inclusive wristbands to whoever wanted to see them. However, I did take a few snaps to share with you all, so here they are.

Peace and love,

Polly May xx