Nearly a Year...

It's been nearly a year since posting my last blog post (well, non-weather blog post anyway!) and I think it is time that I changed that and made blogging a more regular thing. We've had a pretty hectic start to the year, with Hannah enjoying a trip to Australia with friends in January and the purchase of my new car this year too!

Enjoying the October sun in Pendine, Wales

 The Lacetti was showing its age over recent months and with a big breakdown during our small break at Pendine Sands in October, the car decided to start to need more frequent repairs. I am now the owner of a shiny new Hyundai i30. I'm still trying to get my head around how far car technology has come! The daily drive to work is now much more pleasant! Thank you Berkeley Vale Motors for your help in securing my new car!

My shiny new Hyundai i30

There have been a couple of weddings that we have also attended; with my cousin Stu tying the knot with Lisa at Eastington Park in October and Hannah's cousin Helen tying the knot with Craig at Manor By The Lake in November.  I love attending weddings and often wonder how my own will look like in the future - people keep asking when that will be - including Hannah! I'm not sure how much more the answer "soon" will let me off the hook from the questioning though!

Enjoying the wedding reception at Eastington Park for Stuart and Lisa's Wedding

I've also become quite attached to guinea pigs. Our landlord has kindly allowed us to move Hannah's guinea pigs from her mum's house in Gloucester to live with us. Unfortunately we lost Jem late in December through a mix of a respiratory illness, kidney problems and cancer (thank you to Keith at Vets4Pets in Yate - your care was brilliant!) Despite this, we now are enjoying the company of Dill and Boo, two young female cavies and they have been provinding us with hours of entertainment. Hannah has even set them up with an instagram account "@pigletpals", so if you want to see their antics then feel free to follow them!

Boo (bottom left) and Dill (top right), keeping us entertained this year

So that is about it in terms of the main catch up, but we do have one other event that I'd like to talk about. Hannah and I were lucky enough to help Gloucestershire photographer Christy Blanch build her couples portfolio. Saturday 24th February saw us head to the grounds of Woodchester Mansion for an outdoor photoshoot. It was crisp morning, but the sun and the frosty ground made for beautiful conditions to have photographs in. Christy was great company and made us feel at ease during the shoot and we have a good 80 photographs that capture us simply perfectly.

One of the photographs taken by Christy Blanch - fully recommended by us both.

Please check out her work at www.christyblanch.com

I would highly recommend Christy to any couples - even if you aren't yet engaged or married and her pricing is very reasonable for the quality of her work. A link to her blog on the session can be found HERE, where you can see more photographs from our shoot, but please check out the rest of her site at www.christyblanch.com.  I may not have popped the question yet, but I think we may have found a wedding photographer already! Thank you Christy!

Until next time, stay warm during the Beast from the East and thank you for reading!

Jason