August has been a memory-making (and patience-testing!) month of travelling and first experiences.  We began August on a week-long family holiday in Spain where we completely switched off for seven days, swiftly followed by Ella and I spending a whirlwind 24 hours in London for a gig the day after we arrived home.  The end of the month saw us road- (and ferry-) tripping to the Isle of Wight (via a stopover in Southampton to visit my best friend and her family) so that we could enjoy one final adventure together before the launch of the new school year.

The weeks in between our two trips were filled with shopping for school supplies and uniforms, the girls spending time with their friends, plus the blur of being back at work after the month-long break I took in July.  It was like I’d never been away and I dove straight into an overflowing inbox and a full schedule of therapy clients.  It feels like the time has sped by and although we’re so close to it being September I’m nowhere near ready for summer to be over just yet.

Here are all the little things I’ve been loving lately in August…

Colourful flowers I gathered in Spain – aren’t they beautiful?

READ

A Gathering Of Shadows:  by V E Schwab.  This is the second book in a trilogy, the first of which I read last month and thoroughly enjoyed.  I started reading this one during our holiday in Spain and finished it while we were on the Isle of Wight.  I enjoyed the new characters who were introduced and the increasingly exciting plotline – the whole book builds up to one particular event.  They’re incredibly descriptive stories so I can really imagine every single scene in detail and I think they would make a visually spectacular film or TV series.

I’m already looking forward to finding out what happens in the concluding book of the trilogy.  It is rather chunky though (666 pages) so it might take me a while to get through!

‘A Gathering of Shadows’ by V.E. Schwab

WATCHED

Sunrises and sunsets at the beach:  I’ve mentioned here many times before how much I love watching the sunrise and sunset each day.  When it happens over the ocean it creates an even more special kind of magic so I made a point of heading to the beach in Spain and on the Isle of Wight at the right time each day whenever I was able to.  For someone who’s happy place is by the sea, I’m still not entirely sure why I choose to live in the Midlands, which is about as far away from the sea as you can get in the UK.

Spain offered some of the most peaceful moments I’ve felt in a long, long time.  I could have stayed there for hours each evening watching the colours shift through a spectrum of pastel hues as the water ebbed and flowed gently around my feet.

Sunrise at Burriana Beach in Nerja. All the fishermen were lined up along the shoreline waiting for the first catch of the day.

Spanish sunsets really are quite special. I can’t even begin to explain how tranquil this moment was.

The Isle of Wight was a completely different scene every time I showed up and the colours were absolutely stunning.  We were staying in accommodation that was literally just over the road from the beach so it was perfect for sneaking out in the mornings whilst everyone else was still asleep, or quickly popping out after dinner.  There were some points on the island that we visited (Steephill Cove in particular) that I would have loved to have been at for sunset as I think the views would have been incredible – next time we visit I’ll make sure we plan them in.

Sunrise at Sandown Beach on the Isle of Wight

As we were based more towards the Eastern side of the island, the sunrises were easier to capture than the sunsets. This one was one of my favourites – I loved the pink sky reflecting in the water.

HEARD

Alec Benjamin:  I had the utter joy of taking Ella to her very first gig this month.  She’s been a fan of Alec Benjamin for years (and as a consequence, having heard his music on repeat for weeks at a time, I’ve come to enjoy it too).  When he added an extra date to his UK tour that was the day after we got home from Spain I said yes to her desperate pleas and booked us tickets to go.

It was at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town in London – it’s an old cinema so a relatively small venue compared to a full stadium, which I thought would be perfect for her first live music experience.  It was a pretty epic journey to get there (5 hours in total involving trains, tubes and taxis) especially after all the traveling the previous day, followed by a long two-hour wait on the street to actually be let into the venue.  Her anxiety was sky-high but it was 100% worth it in the end.  The gig was brilliant, Alec sounded fantastic and when Ella hugged me and said “I’m so happy, thank you so much for bringing me” over and over and over my heart pretty much burst.

I know for sure it’ll be a memory that’ll stay with me forever.  I hope it will stay with her too.

This was his closing song (and one of our favourites):

MADE

The journey to Southampton:  We caught the ferry to the Isle of Wight from Lymington in the New Forest and made an overnight stopover in Southampton at my best friend’s house on the way there to break up the long journey a bit.  We hadn’t seen them in almost a year so it was really lovely to catch up.  I love spending time with her and her family – we’ve known each other for 33 years and her kids are an absolute joy.  We went for a long walk, picking blackberries and feeding the ducks along the way, then put the world to rights over pizza in the evening.  I wish we lived closer to each other.

My best friend and her two daughters feeding the ducks on our stopover in Southampton

WORE

Summer clothes:  It has felt so good being able to actually wear proper summer clothes this month – shorts and dresses and swimming costumes – thanks to the Spanish heat, the second heatwave in the UK and then the gorgeous weather we had for most of our time on the Isle of Wight as well.  Getting back into jeans and jumpers and boots for Autumn next month is going to feel very strange.

AND FINALLY…

Spain:  As I mentioned earlier, we completely switched off during our holiday in Spain.  There were lots of things I would have liked to do whilst we were in Nerja but the general consensus from everyone else was that doing nothing was what was needed for all of us, so that’s exactly what we did.  We walked into town for an ice cream every day, played in the pool every afternoon, and headed down to the beach at 9pm every night after dinner when it was cooler to swim in the sea.  It was lovely and I didn’t want to come home.

Admiring the view from the Balcon de Europa in Nerja

Pool-time fun – they practised this SO many times before finally nailing it!

Sunset beach walks are good for the soul

Isle of Wight:  Our time on the Isle of Wight was more activity-based – I really wanted us to get out and about to explore the island while we were there.  We played dinosaur adventure golf, visited Shanklin Chine, spent lots of time at the beach, had a morning at the Donkey Sanctuary, wandered around Osborne House and chilled out at Steephill Cove.  There were many, many more things on the list but we’ll save them for the next time we visit.

At the beach at Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s holiday home

Shanklin Chine

Steephill Cove

Chapter eight of 2022 is now closed and we’re heading into the final third of the year. I probably say this every month but I really can’t believe how quickly the time is going at the moment.  September is usually one of my favourite months of the year and I’m really not ready for it yet.  A new academic year starts next month – a big one for us as it’s Ella’s final year of high school with her GCSE exams next Spring.  I wonder what else it will hold?

I hope that you found plenty of little things to love throughout August and that September is whatever you need it to be.

Stay well x