Weekend Inspiration

Well we had a jam packed week, we did a night summit of mount Snowdon last Saturday to simulate summit night of Kilimanjaro. It was really worthwhile and we both managed well but we were knackered after, mainly due to having to get up and do the climb at midnight!

However it meant we got to the top at sunrise so it was well worth it.

Then we were home for one night then off for a week of camping and rock climbing in the Peak District at Stanage Edge. It was an amazing week, we got loads of climbing done despite some wet weather, with only one day spent at an indoor centre in Sheffield due to the rain. It wasn't particularly hard climbing we were doing, as Tom was trying out leading outside for the first time so we took it steady, but it was a really enjoyable week just to be outside climbing all day :)

I actually feel I progressed this week with my climbing, but more in my head than on grades or difficulty. As I said they weren't technically hard routes, but some had big gaps to bridge, or big moves to go for, and I did all of them without wussing out. I'm well proud of that as fear is what often holds me back, that panic that seeps in and makes your hands not want to cooperate with your mind, now I feel like I finally have a handle on it and I had to have a few words with myself on some climbs but I finished all of them.

I think this is the inspiration for this week - You can do more than you think you can. Believe me you really can. You are stronger than you would ever imagine. This week I've climbed a mountain, and been up and down a cliff face more times than I can remember, and spent an all day session at an indoor centre and finished all the routes I tried there. I'm feeling pretty battered, sunburnt and bruised but also pretty damn invincible and like I have made some massive achievements. This time last year I had only just started climbing, I certainly never thought I would ever even sign up for a climb like Kilimanjaro, let alone be feeling ready for it by now! I'll also be back to my usual training schedule next week (gym Mon, climbing Tue, rest Weds, running club Thurs, gym Fri, rest sat, climbing Sun) which I actually enjoy now, anyone who knows me knows this would not have been enjoyable for me even 6 months ago! I hated PE at school and have pretty much been inactive since then, up until last year. So that pipe dream you've had of doing something big? Do it. You really could make it, and worst thing that could happen? You could try and fail. So what? As long as you give it the best you can that's great - at least you'll know.

Now I am home and spending today tackling the washing pile, and cleaning up the mould we are still getting inside as the unit that was promised hasn't been fitted yet...must get onto that...

P.S I am doing the climb for charity, if any of you would like to sponsor me below :)

Sponsor me to climb Kilimanjaro! www.justgiving.com/katie-kili

The Hotel

While we were away in Albania we stayed in a hotel in Tirana for the first and last night's of our holiday. It was pretty fancy! I think hotels are often a good source for home inspiration, as nice ones are often well decorated.

This is the bed, that's Tom trying to start the apple tv with the iPad (actually weren't that impressed would have preferred normal tv). The bed was so comfortable, the pillows were a kind of gel and I have to get some for at home! It was also huge, I could have slept on it width ways! After 2 weeks of thin not very supportive mattresses at the apartment this was like sinking into a cloud...seriously I think my spine sighed...

The door on the right is into the bathroom, a glass door, and the full length window on the left is a window into the shower. It looked pretty cool but did mean no privacy in the bathroom!

Excuse the mess, I just ran round and snapped some quick pics with my phone and the camera (one I found it in the hand luggage!) before we unpacked and got out to explore Tirana! It's an interesting city, we had some nice meals in places near the hotel but as we were only there for one night at either end of the holiday we didn't really get the chance to explore too in depth. There was a nice park with a lake near to the hotel though which we had a walk around on our last day.

The bathroom was pretty awesome despite the total lack of privacy/sound insulation. The sink...

The shower. It had loads of settings to either be a waterfall, rainfall or just normal shower and I could have spent all day in there!

We also had 2 hours access to the spa and pool which we took full advantage of and it was a very relaxing end to the holiday! It's the same people we rented the apartment from that run the hotel, and it was all very well done. We had a driver and a car to take us to the apartment and the airport (although they forgot to get us from the airport on arrival!) and the spa access was a gorgeous end to the holiday.

We've been away...

I missed a post last week, sorry to anyone who noticed! It was because we were here

On holiday for 2 weeks in Vlore Albania. I didn't want to tell the internet at large that we were going to be away for 2 weeks, especially after putting so many photos of our home on here so I tried to have a backlog of posts scheduled to go up over the holiday but didn't quite make it for all of them. 

The holiday was a great opportunity to unwind, as we were self catering in an apartment with a few restaurants nearby and the beach but not much else! We spent the 2 weeks relaxing, eating, reading, sunbathing and swimming in the sea, I'm not usually too keen on swimming out of my depth in the sea as I'm not the strongest swimmer how could we resist when it looks like this?

Albania was an unknown to us as we had never been before and knew nobody who had but it was a pleasant surprise. The weather was better than we expected this time of year, although not many people spoke English we got by (although we found Albanian hard to learn more than the real basics, but we found a lot more spoke Italian than English if I'd have known I'd have learnt some!), we did stand out in a way as I didn't see any other tourists the whole time we were there but everyone we met was friendly.

As this is a home blog the apartment is what I wanted to focus on...it was pretty! As I said back in this post it was featured in an Ikea catalogue a while back, and literally everything is from Ikea. From the towels and plates to the appliances and kitchen! So here's a quick tour of the apartment, it was a 2 bedroom in a modern building, in a very quiet area. I think only a few other people actually lived nearby a lot of the apartments were vacant (possibly unused holiday lets as we were out of season)

Living area, with sky Italia which (once we figured out how to change films and programs back to their original language) was handy as the nights were chilly so if we weren't at one of the 3 local restaurants we got loads of snacks in and watched films. The sofa had the pouffe in front of the coffee table at first but we dragged it over to make a big bed/sofa we could sprawl out on!

Dining, love the light and the table the glass really helps to not obstruct the window too much.

Kitchen, nice and had a dishwasher and washing machine but no freezer, kettle, toaster or microwave so not what I'd call fully equipped but we got by!

Bathroom, very red! Not my favourite colour but it was pretty funky. The bath was lovely and deep and the glass tiles around the top let in a bit of natural night.

Bedroom 1, we slept in here 2 nights and it looks lovely but that bed creaked and wobbled all the time and wasn't overly comfortable.

We decamped to here after, as it was more comfortable (well less wobbly the mattresses were both thin Ikea ones which my back did not like!) and as it was at the back there was a bit less noise in the mornings. We kept the other room as our dressing room!

The balcony, just gorgeous!

And the view, the main attraction! We got some nice days and also some pretty cool storms and sunsets. Waking up and sitting looking out here having a cup of tea in the morning was really the highlight.

There were unfinished buildings on all sides however Albania seems to be a country under construction so they are literally everywhere. Only a few days the noise from the one over the road got to me as they were just drilling all day long. This photos sums it up for me really, beautiful view, big half built concrete tower block which we saw no work being done on while we were there.

All in all we'd go back to Albania, they are still building up their tourist trade so it's not quite 100% there yet (although bonus to this it's quiet and everything was so cheap we brought spending money back which is a first!) but they've had difficult times more recently than I realised. So it depends what you're looking for, maybe not an action packed holiday (although we were out of season and hear there are more activities, trips, places open etc in the summer) but for a nice relaxing holiday just taking in the sights it was just what we were looking for!

You can find the apartment we stayed at here if you're interested in going!

We're going to stay in an IKEA catalogue!

We're going on holiday later this year to a self catering apartment, as usual we cannot wait for a few weeks of relaxing in the sun but we found out something pretty cool about the place we're staying...

It's in the 2013 IKEA business catalogue! You can see it here

We'll let you know how it was after we're back (not going for ages yet) but it was also pretty reasonable, only around 300 Euros per week! It's in Albania where neither of us have been before but the area looks nice and to be honest I'd be happy just to stock up on food and wine and sit on the terrace for 2 weeks straight...

We're both off work this week and looking around wedding venues and having a little 'staycation' just to have a break, hopefully we'll get a week of weather like last week...

What did we do on my birthday?

We got engaged!

Tom took me to Paris for a surprise trip and proposed...

I had no idea where we were going only that we were going away somewhere, he even fooled me into thinking he didn't bring the passports by leaving his new passport on the coffee table and sneaking it out at the last minute so I assumed he'd left it at home. So until we got to the Eurostar station I really didn't know where we were going!

Obviously I said yes!

We had our engagement party on Sunday and I'll share some pictures of that (and some DIY table decorations) soon...