Saturday 6 January 2024

2023 in Review



2023


What a year! I know this year in review is a bit late, but I’m easing myself back into this little space on the internet, and I thought a year in review would be a good place to start. We did a lot in 2023, so I’ll just summarise the highlights in this post, then maybe go into more detail in individual posts. So off we go…

Disneyland Paris







We started off the year with a trip to Disneyland Paris to catch the 30th anniversary celebrations, and I am so glad we did. Dream and Shine Brighter was an absolute joy of a show, and we really enjoyed our few days here. We also went to three new to us restaurants, and checked out Avengers Campus.

Paris











We also spent a couple of days in Paris as part of our trip, and, though it was cold, we had a great time exploring the city and sampling the red wine (or I did). We also went on a Seine river cruise which we really enjoyed.

Star Wars Celebration 









By far one of my favourite things we did last year was Star Wars celebration. It was 4 days of pure fandom joy, and we even met Hayden Christensen and Ashley Eckstein! This will definitely be getting its own post, but it was a fantastic 4 days, and we will definitely be going again.

Day Trips





















It was a great year for days out: we visited Oxford, Chester, Kent, London and Nottingham for various events throughout the year, and it was great to see some uk sights and go to events.

Disney Cruise









Our new Disney experience of the year was our first Disney cruise, which we took back in August. It was an extremely fun 4 nights of food, relaxing in the adults only section, and magic, and we even spent a morning in France.

Girlhood: Barbie, Taylor Swift and Time with Friends



















We can’t really talk about 2023 without discussing the two biggest topics of the year: Taylor Swift and Barbie. It’s been a stellar year for girlhood, and in 2023 I got Eras Tour tickets, saw the film in the cinema, and went all in for 1989 TV. I also saw, and really enjoyed, the Barbie movie. And last but not least, I also had some great times with friends.

So that was a quick highlights tour of my 2023. I’ll be sharing more about 2024, the potentially biggest year of my life, in the coming weeks, so be sure to look out for that.

Nic
xx

Saturday 17 June 2023

The Wedding Diaries 1: Picking Our Venue



Wedding Planning


With less than a year to go until I become a Mrs, I thought it was time to start documenting the whole wedding planning process, so I’ve started this little series I’m calling The Wedding Diaries, as a way to keep the memories preserved, but also to keep myself sane, because there’s a lot that no one tells you when you’re planning a wedding!

So, our first point of call was setting a date. For us, we knew we wanted to get married in the Spring, but what we didn’t know was that peak wedding season starts in April for some venues, so we’d pay as much for an April wedding as we would for an August wedding! Luckily, we’ve found a venue who’s prices didn’t jump up too much, but I’m getting ahead of myself.







Venue Viewing and Wedding Fairs


Next came the viewings. We looked at a few places; some were very expensive, and some were lovely but not the one for us, but we did eventually pick one (though we did have to visit a few times to actually see it dressed as a wedding venue). A good tip is to decide whether what the venue includes is worth it for you. 

There were some venues that were gorgeous but didn’t include enough of what we wanted in the price. In the end I think we looked at 4 or 5 venues before picking ours.

One of the most fun things about getting married is wedding fairs. We’ve been to three and I loved them all; we actually found our cake provider and an extra vendor at wedding fairs, and one of the wedding fairs we went to actually gave us free cocktails!




Our venue includes a package, so it’s a huge weight off our shoulders, and we are really happy with it. Our next steps in terms of the venue now are speaking to the venue dresser, which is exciting as we will start to see our wedding come together.

And that’s all for now. I think I’ll make this into a monthly series, because there are a few things that we already have sorted, and we still have a few months before the next big things (read: the food) need to be done, so it’ll be a fun little catch-up to where we are up to.

Nic
xx

Thursday 15 June 2023

My First Time: Disneyland





The Happiest Place on Earth


In June 2022, Sam and I were on our big Walt Disney World holiday. We had booked everything way before, and we were also supposed to be going on our first ever Disney cruise on the Wish. However, the Wish had been delayed, meaning we had a spare few days. We could’ve spent these days at the WDW parks, but I had an idea: let’s fly to the other side of the USA and visit Disneyland for a few days! It was the most extra thing I’d ever done, and let me tell you, we didn’t regret it one bit.

It’s cliche to say, but Disneyland really does hold a special kind of magic that the other parks don’t; maybe it’s because it was the original, maybe it’s because it’s the only park Walt ever visited, it really was something else.















We flew to LAX and got an Uber to our hotel- a little hotel nearby that wasn’t really anything to write home about, where we stored our case and walked to the parks. The first thing on our list was food, so we went to Jolly Holiday Cafe, somewhere I knew I wanted to try. It was delicious and the perfect way to start three days of magic; where we rode some classic attractions, saw the Dapper Dans, met Redd from Pirates of the Caribbean (!), saw Avengers Campus and West Coast Batuu, and soaked up all the magic Disneyland had to offer. Oh, and we got our first ever ride evacuation, which, oddly, is on a lot of Disney adults bucket lists.





We also got to see Pixar Pier, both during the day and at night, and I finally saw Mickey’s Fun Wheel- something I’d been excited to see for an embarrassingly long time. 

Our one sit down reservation was at Lamplight Lounge, where we got cocktails and snacks, and Sam got a Pixar ball straw, which he was very happy about. 

The absolute highlight of the three days for me though was seeing Fantasmic. I absolutely adored this show in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but it hasn’t come back yet on our trip, so when I found out that the Disneyland version was up and running, I was so excited. And reader, it did not disappoint. I think I cried for the full 20 minutes, but they were tears of joy. I just really like Fantasmic ok?!













Some of our favourite food/drinks on the trip included the Mac & Cheese cone from Cars Land, the mint julep and beignets from New Orleans Square, and the ice creams from Pixar Pier. 

Overall, we had an amazing trip to Disneyland, and we will, without a doubt, be returning.

Nic
xx