Life lately, spring 2016.

Reading - I've become addicted to M.C. Beaton books, I'm on the Edwardian Murder Mysteries series at the moment!

Watching - We went to see Avengers Civil War at the cinema, and we've started our yearly re-watch of Doctor Who.  Also - GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE!!!

Getting Married - Yep, we did it!  I'm Mrs Evans now.  I might do a separate wedding-y post if any of you are interested in seeing wedding photos? 

 

Buying - I couldn't find my trolls in my mums garage, I think I gave them to the charity shop, I had to buy more, obviously! 

Learning - I've finished my Blog with Pip course, which was really good, and I've finished my business and admin course too (and got a shiny certificate!).  I'm still working through my computer course, it's quite boring!

Working -  Work is funny at the moment, we're waiting for a public consultation to finish before we find out how many jobs will be left for us to reapply to.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that just yet.

Guiding - (I'm a leader at Rainbow Guides, the girls are age 5-7) We had a fun circus skills session where I discovered a hidden talent for plate spinning!  We went to a Guiding activity day and spent a sunny afternoon playing in paddling pools.  And we're doing a Queen's 90th birthday badge.

Adventuring - We had our honeymoon in Aberdovey, it was lovely but not very adventurous, mostly relaaaaxing!

Auntie-ing - Both nieces are still lovely, they were the cutiest ever little bridesmaids at our wedding.

Gardening - Things are growing, I have so much weeding to do!

Home renovation-ing - Joe's started laying floor in the kitchen which can only mean one thing, soon we'll be ready to have a kitchen fitted and I can't wait!

Blogging - I had a little break to enjoy/stress about our wedding, I missed blogging though, I'm glad to be back!

The most popular blog posts this Spring have been,

Easy and nice ways to campaign.

Charity shopping - the one with the retro wallpaper.

3 ways to eat vegan yogurt.

Garden, May 2016.

On taking a blog break.  (this one has some sneaky wedding preparation photos!)

#honeymoon #charityshopping #charityshopblogger #thriftbreak

A photo posted by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on May 16, 2016 at 12:18pm PDT

#lastday #honeymoon 😔

A photo posted by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on May 18, 2016 at 6:42am PDT

How has your spring been?  Good I hope! 

* Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * Bloglovin' *

What do vegans eat, in Wales, Ceredigion and Powys.

When I tell people I'm vegan they always ask what I eat.  Here are some vegan meals and snacks I ate while on holiday in Wales.  We stayed in Aberdovey and went to Aberystwyth, both in the county of Ceredigion, and visited Macynlleth in Powys.

 

Bear of Amsterdam, Aberdovey.

We had our childhood holidays in Aberdovey, and mum always took me and my brother to the Bear of Amsterdam cafe as a special treat.  It's a cute little cafe where I had a simple but huuuge baked potato with beans.  I shared a side of chips with Joe and they were epic, best chips of the holiday!

Bay of Bengal, Aberdovey.

I only ate onion bhajis and popadoms from the Bay of Bengal Indian takeaway in Aberdovey, because I was feeling a bit full of food after eating out so much!  But they were both tasty and Joe's curry looked yummy too.

Lemon Sorbet, Aberdovey.

One of the ice cream shops in Aberdovey, I think it was The Fridge but I'm not sure, let me read the ingredients of their sorbets, they were suitable for vegans and I had a lemon one walking along the beach.  Yum.

Crimson Rhino, Aberystwyth.

I found Crimson Rhino, a veggie/vegan cafe on trip advisor when I was planning our holiday, and I was excited to try it.  We were going to have a drink and a snack, so I started with a vegan avocado whip chocolate muffin, real eat tomato and garlic quinoa chips and a lemonade, but the food looked so good going past us we stayed for lunch too!  I had falafels and patatas bravas.  Joe had a tofu burger and chips.  The falafel would have benefited from being in a wrap with salad, but the patatas were yummy and I tried a bit of Joe's burger and it was the best tofu I've tasted!  They had intriguing homemade vegan icecream too, but the only non-soya flavour was coconut salted caramel which I didn't fancy. 

The Chip Box, Aberystwyth.

I went to uni in Aberystwyth and I always used to get my chips from the Chip Box, so I had to go back.  The chips are super yummy and I love that they come in cardboard boxes rather than polystyrene.

Lidl, Aberystwyth.

There's no supermarket in Aberdovey (only an expensive corner shop), so I was keen to buy some snacks in Aberystwyth.  There are loads of vegan options in Lidl, the popcorn and vegan orange chocolate were specially yummy.  We bought some broccoli, garlic and pasta too for a healthy homecooked meal one night.

The Quarry Cafe, Machynlleth.

I want to pack up the Quarry Cafe and take it home with me!  Everything is veggie or vegan, my food was delicious and it has pretty fairy lights and bunting!  

The Coop, Machynlleth.

We visited the Coop in Macynthlleth for one thing and one thing only, vegan doughnuts! 

Tell me, have you eaten anything vegan and exciting on your holidays?

PS.  Check out what vegans eat in Birmingham, Brazil and at home too!

* Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * Bloglovin' *

 

Garden, May 2016.

I've decided that there's gardening weather and there's enjoying the garden weather.  We've had a good mix of both this month, grey days where you can dig loads without getting too sweaty, and lovely warm days where no digging is allowed, only sitting in the sun with a cold drink will do.  

Despite neglecting the garden to stress about our wedding, and if you ignore the weedy patches at the back, the garden is looking quite pretty this month. 

My main project has been digging the weeds (so many weeds) from the back part of the garden.  The nettles have grown so fast, they're as tall as me! 

Here's a before photo, and one of where I'm up to now.   I'm digging the weeds and an inch or two of soil up with it to try to remove as much of the roots as I can.  I did the same to the front half of this garden bed last year, it was time consuming but there are hardly any perennial weeds left, so definitely worth it.

Mum gave me some of the compost from her compost heap, so I've been sprinkling that all around the garden.

I've planted out some tomatoes (San Marzano and Mortgage Lifter) into the Belfast sink, my peppers have had a slow start but they're doing ok, and my first row of organic rainbow carrots have gone into the front garden raised bed.  I've planted out purple peas by my wigwam, and a row of beetroot (there was some lettuce too but that's been nibbled!).  Everything seems a bit slow in the garden at the moment, is it the same for you?

The side garden has pretty much recovered from being stomped on while having new fence now.  I've replanted all of the herbs and added a couple of apple trees I picked up on sale (they cost £2.50 and £3.50 each).  One is a 'Discovery' apple and the other is a family apple tree, it has 'Golden Delicious' and 'Champion' apples on the same tree.  Witchcraft I say! 

I also bought loads of clematis (bargain £1.77 from Morrisons) to climb up the new fence.  We didn't know the neighbours had arranged curvy fences, we don't like them and they don't give enough privacy so I'm trying to solve the problem with trees and climbers! 

Speaking of clematis, this one was in a pot in the garden when we moved in.  I planted it up the fence last year but it didn't flower.  This year I put a greenhouse in front of it, which apparently it loves because it's flowering away and looking so beautiful!

Last May I was digging up the first half of the weeds, the garden looked so different then!

How are your gardens this month?

I'm trying to spend 20 minutes a day in the garden, and I'm posting about it on Instagram.

* Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * Bloglovin' *

Photo an hour, May 2016.

Hello! 

I'm back after lots of weddingness and holidayness and a bit of much needed relaxingness.

And Saturday the 21st was photo an hour day, so here are my photos.

Photo an hour in organised by Jane and Louisa, anyone can join in and post their hourly photos on social media throughout the day tagging them #photoanhour.  Why don't you join in next time?

8am - these lovely rainbow-y tulips were a nice thing to look at while I ate my breakfast.

9am - my journey to work.  Didn't really want to go back to work after a week off! 

10am - however, when I got to work this little message in our keep-in-touch book made me giggle.

11am, 12pm, 1pm - no photos here, I was at work and it was super busy!

2pm - glad to be home after a busy morning and getting drenched in a downpour.  The postman bought a lego alien (I order minifigs on Ebay so I know what I'm getting), he's to keep Buzz Lightyear company.

3pm - this text was exciting because it meant food was on it's way, the delivery was only 50p and because they used my new name! 

4pm - making lists and writing thank you cards.

5pm - the house was a complete mess (it still is!), but I was avoiding tidying and watching Last Man on Earth.

6pm - I was going to take a photo of my dinner, but I forgot and ate it all before I got a chance.

7pm - I think for the first time in all my photo an hour posts I was going out on a Saturday night, so I had to choose something to wear.

8pm - this was my outfit (scuse clothes strewn everywhere, see 5pm, refusal to tidy).

9pm - at the pub, we went to see a ska gig.

10pm - I've missed an hour here!

11pm - moon on the walk home.  I was glad to be going home, I don't drink or dance where other people can see me dance and it was waay past my bedtime.

12pm - midnight snack, I'm addicted to these Herby Bread Baskets!

This time last year I was watching Eurovision at my mums house! 

Did you join in this month?   Let me know if you did, I'd love to have a nosey at your day!

* Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * Bloglovin' *

 

Blog break.

My wedding dress has arrived! #6weekstogo #tinywedding #nontraditionalwedding #myweddingdresshaspockets #hellbunny

A photo posted by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on Apr 2, 2016 at 3:51am PDT

Joe's cufflinks have arrived! #wedding #tinywedding #nontraditionalwedding #5weekstogo

A photo posted by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on Apr 10, 2016 at 3:43am PDT

Bridesmaids dresses have arrived! #tinywedding #nontraditionalwedding #4weekstogo

A photo posted by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on Apr 12, 2016 at 2:08am PDT

Awesome wedding music all sorted ready for meeting at the venue tomorrow...eeep! #4weekstogo #tinywedding

A photo posted by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on Apr 14, 2016 at 6:59am PDT

Bit of a gray day for it but we checked out our pretty wedding venue today! #Newport #tudorbuilding #tinywedding #4weekstogo #eeep

A photo posted by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on Apr 15, 2016 at 12:46pm PDT

#photoanhour 2pm - I met Joe for lunch at the lunchtime 3 courses for £7.95 curry place.  We're going there for a meal after our wedding (I know, we're too classy!) so wanted to make sure it was ok and booked our table, in 3 weeks it's our wedding day! #vegan #whatveganseat #curry #vegansofinstagram

A photo posted by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on Apr 23, 2016 at 7:59am PDT

I'm getting married in a week's time and everything's got a bit stressful.  So I'm having a little break from this little blog.

And when I come back in a couple of weeks, I'll be Mrs Evans!!!

Lots of love to you all xxx

* Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * Bloglovin' *

Easy eco articles and actions, May 2016.

Here's this month's round up of eco friendly actions and articles,

I Love Emma and Sophie Thompson's Bake Off themed protest against fracking in Lancashire.  Check it out and complete the online action to protect Lancashire from fracking on Greenpeace's website.

Photo from foe.co.uk

If you like eating delicious vegetarian food and want to eat more then sign up to Friend's of the Earth's Meat Free May challenge.

The scientific evidence that pesticides - known as neonicotinoids - are dangerous for bees is overwhelming.  But despite this our government agreed to let some British farmers use them last autumn.

And right now an application has been made to allow them to be used again this year.

We need to stop this happening.

from foe.co.uk

The soil association says bees are picking up more neonicotinoids absorbed by the wildflowers planted on farms to 'help' them, than they are from pesticide sprayed crops.  This is not good.  Use Friends of the Earth's online form to ask your MP to back the ban on neonics.   

 Photo from mindbodygreen.com

I love this list of 8 ways to have a no waste day from Mind Body Green.

Linda McCartney sausage have been the only meat alternative I can eat for the last decade, because they're vegan and soya free. Until now, they've changed the recipe and now they're made of soya! I'm so sad, please sign the petition to ask for them to be de-soya-fied.

It's national hedgehog awareness week.  I like hedgehogs so much that as a child I formed a hedgehog club, I was the leader and our headquarters was the garden shed.  The real hedgehog society have some tips for you on protecting hedgehogs.

Here are some easy and nice ways to campaign.

If you have an eco friendly or green living blog post or article you'd like to submit for next month's round up email it to me at secondhandsusie@outlook.com. 

* Facebook * Instagram * Twitter * Bloglovin' *