Achieving The Dream...

Hello World!

It's certainly been a while since we last spoke and it's about time that I start writing once again and fill you in with everything that's been happening lately. Firstly, I have officially finished school not just for Summer but forever. In many respects it's a relief to be closing a door on that part of my life as it's been a challenging number of years in regards to education. I will however miss my amazing tutors who really brought me out of my shell and helped boost my confidence as well as teaching me the most amazing skills in art and music.

Now that I'm finished with school I'm in limbo in many respects at the current moment due to health reasons another of the reasons why I haven't been so active on my blog. Since the beginning of the year I've been suffering from non stop UTIs and have been on a number of antibiotics to fight against them. Unfortunately, I'm not quite out of the woods yet as although there is no longer signs of infection I am still suffering from various symptoms. Having been on various painkillers due to my chronic pain condition for such a long period of time it was a concern to me that perhaps they could be causing me such symptoms as I tend to keep a close eye on the literature accompanying the medication. After expressing my concerns to my pain management consultant he felt that it would be beneficial for me to see a specialist in that field however it could also be down to the fact that my nervous system is so sensitive that any pain and discomfort could be increased and last much longer than the actual infection itself. So due to this I haven't been feeling my best in recent months and have taken a step back from things to allow myself a break.

My plan is however to start writing more frequently once again now that I have more time to spare. One of my biggest aims is to redesign my blog and give it a brand new look. I'm currently looking into this and hope to get things moving over the coming weeks so please bear with me! I have a number of topics in mind that I hope to cover in the coming months which I feel are extremely important to write about here on my blog that I haven't yet discussed. Perhaps I might even look back at some of my older posts and rewrite them with fresh words and new opinions because like everyone I've become stronger in mind and my outlook towards life is constantly developing.

As always my biggest passion and interests are wishing the media world and I must say that I feel all the more determined to make it now than I ever have. It is without a doubt my dream to become a full time radio/TV presenter within the entertainment industry. I spend many an hour watching and listening to various shows studying the best in the industry picking up on their quirks and how they connect with their audience. My Sister and I spent the evening last night glued to my laptop watching the Billboard Music Awards and admittedly, I spent the duration of the event telling myself that one day I could be there presenting and interviewing and I genuinely believe that I CAN make it happen. There's been a couple of occasions in recent years that I've received knock backs that made me doubt myself and even just a few weeks ago I had a slight blip where I felt frustrated and despondent particularly due to the setbacks that having a disability has on achieving my dreams. But the more I've thought about it the more I realise that I can make it! It might be a long, hard ride but nothing worthwhile in life is easily achieved but when I do get there in the end I'll truly appreciate it! One of my biggest driving forces is proving every single person that's ever doubted me or put barriers in my path wrong and for whatever reason that determination has really helped me get my head in the right place again lately.

Life is far too short to allow dreams to slip by you so why should I give up the fight? I am determined to make a positive out of each of life's barriers and hope that this post will encourage you to do the same!

Please wish me luck as I make my way into the world. This is where all of the hard work begins and one thing for sure is that I ain't giving up until I'm living the dream; my dream!

Until next time!

Love & Peace xx

The Final First Day

Schools back and tutoring begins for me once again. I can't believe the Summer holidays are behind us now, where on earth did the seven weeks go? It feels like just yesterday that I was counting down the days until the Summer holidays. BOOM! And they're gone!  

It's weird saying that this is my final first day of term. One day down how many more to go? I can't quite believe that I'm in sixth year; my final year of school! It feels just like yesterday that I waved goodbye to primary school and started secondary school exactly five years ago today. I spent three days in my new school before heading down to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London for the knee op that changed my life. I was off school for months and finally returned for a period of a couple of months before I realising that I really couldn't cope with school. I was under a lot of medication and the more active I became the more my pain increased meaning that my doctors had to increase the medication dosages and I didn't particularly like the side effects but I'll leave that for a future post. With this in mind I made the decision to return to home tuition which I've been receiving ever since.

I can't say that home tuition has always been easy nor has my education/schooling in general. We've had a lot of tutors come and go over the years as unfortunately, not everyone quite understood what was wrong with me and in turn didn't understand that I couldn't cope some days. Eventually, we did find the right tutors for me and words cannot describe how much of an impact they've made in my life. I'm a completely different person since I first met them; they're always willing to adapt and make every task something that I CAN achieve! And as result look what I've achieved!? I actually passed my art and design qualification and things are looking hopeful to attempt some further qualifications this year. So without a doubt I'll miss my tutors next year when I leave school however I have a lot of plans and aspirations for the future and can't wait to take them forward!

I turn eighteen in less than a month and I feel like there's so much ahead of me in my next chapter. On reflection I can't quite believe what I've done with my life and I'm only seventeen so who knows what the future holds!

My ambitions for this coming school year are pretty high; there's ALOT of things I want to do and put into action and my intentions are to get the ball rolling. At the moment it looks like that my tutoring will consist of a four day which means I'll have an extra day to myself meaning that I can use the extra time wisely by working towards my goals. I want to make this final year of school/tutoring count so I've got a lot to do or at least make a start on. So be sure to keep up to date with my blog, YouTube and social media accounts to hear all of my latest news, updates and follow each step of the journey!

Let's see what I mad things I can cram into the agenda between now and the day I leave school next June! I'll never say never about anything anymore that's for sure!

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Good News!

Hello my friends!

I've been absent here on my blog since the end of last month as you may have noticed as I haven't been so well. I've been suffering from a bad pain flare up in my knee which has lasted for quite some time much to my frustration. Mum managed to eventually persuade me to go see a doctor yesterday however, just as I suspected there's nothing they can really do to help me. Chronic pain is a tricky business, there's isn't an exactly a cure just ways to mask the pain and most of which comes with a price to pay. So it's just another flare up that I'll have to ride through until me body decides to settle down a little once again.

Those of you who know me will know that I'm not one to sit back and do nothing, it's not within my nature to do that so it's been difficult trying to accept the fact that I need to rest and live a quiet life in order for my pain levels to improve I must admit. Although, as suspected I couldn't sit still long and have found myself working on bits and pieces including some new videos for my YouTube channel which I've had very little time to focus on during school term so it's been great to make some new videos! I'll embed the latest video somewhere amidst this post however be sure to explore my channel and have a little peek at some of the other videos that I've been uploading. I also uploaded a vlog which I filmed whilst in Liverpool last month and have two more videos worth of footage from Liverpool still to go up so keep an eye out for that!

Anyway, on to the good news! You may remember before the school Summer holidays here in Scotland I decided with the encouragement of my tutor to submit my artwork to be assessed for a National 4 in Art and Design. Well yesterday, was the SQA result day when the all important letters were sent out to 4th, 5th and 6th year pupils with their exam results and I was one of those pupils who received a letter with the results from my Art & Design course. And I'm so delighted to say that I passed!!!!!

It was so nice after a particularly rough couple of weeks health wise to receive such a great piece of news! I only have limited period of time between the Easter and Summer holidays to complete the coursework and as you may remember I had a busy few weeks amongst it all. So to say I actually achieved it in such a short period of time feels brilliant and I'm really chuffed with the outcome! I'm not gonna lie, there was a few pieces I could quite easily have ripped up in frustration as I couldn't see where it was going or it didn't look the way I wanted it too. Thank goodness for my Mum and fabby tutor who kept me sane and helped me get the end result which I'm pretty delighted with!

So I guess that's all the news I have for you at this very moment. I promise I will get that final Liverpool post finished and posted with soon, it's a long one and there's a lot of facts and information in there which I've had to do a little bit of research into in order to make sure I get it correct hence why it's taking a while but it is there, I promise!

Anyway, I better go for now! I hope you're all doing well and enjoying what's left of the Summer holidays, you'd think it's the middle of Winter here in Scotland-it's so miserable!

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Day 31: Music Shopping

Hello Guys!

Gosh it's been rather quiet around here hasn't it, I'm rather frustrated with myself for not daily blogging of late but to be quite frank I haven't been feeling so well with pain. And you know how that goes. The change in weather of late certainly hasn't helped matters for sure. The spell of sunshine and warm weather is long gone-come back soon, I'm begging you!

So I've just had to do what my body's told me and rest as much as I hate to use that word. I can't stand not doing anything however sometimes I've just got to go with it. I keep logging into my blog and find myself staring a blank screen looking for inspiration to write but gave up eventually as nothing I wrote was worth reading. That's what happens sometimes and I know there's no point if I'm not totally "feeling it" hence why I've been so quiet.

Early last week, on Monday, I attended my first wheelchair skills training appointment at hospital in Glasgow and surprisingly we found where we were going with little difficulty. I didn't do too much physically as they had to do some adaptions to my wheelchair which basically made it lighter than it already is. This, in turn makes the chair a lot easier to tip (yes tip!) which will enable me to be able to bump it up onto pavements with as little trouble as possible.

I attempted to learning some basic skills which will result in me being able to bump onto pavements however it'll definitely take a lot of practice and persistence. As a result I've had sore arm muscles but I suppose I've had to carry my own body weight which I'm not used to but again I'll get there eventually. I'm determined that's for sure!

It's Monday again, my second last day of tutoring before I finish up for the Summer holidays tomorrow and my goodness am I relieved about that! I am absolutely shattered and very much in need of a break. I had my last art session on Friday there and I believe my tutor handed in my art coursework so fingers crossed it'll be worth all the hard work and effort and it'll get a pass!

My music session this morning was a little different to what I'd normally do and instead we met my tutor at the local guitar shop so we could pick out some new music books for next term. I had a little longer to get ready this morning as the shop doesn't open until 10am which was rather handy as I was absolutely exhausted and on a go slow mode. Apparently my Mum woke me up at the normal time this morning however I must have nodded off as she had to wake me up once again at around 8am. I decided to stay at home whilst Mum dropped Laurel off and give myself a chance to wake up a little.

Just a short while after Mum returned home, my Grandparents arrived as Grandad was going to stay in the house whilst we popped out to the music shop as we were having repairs done to our tumble dryer . At this point I was still sitting on the sofa in my PJs half asleep with no intentions of moving. Eventually, I did get myself going; got dressed, made my bed and put on some makeup before heading into town with Mum and Gran.

My tutor was already there by the time we arrived so we had a browse through the shop's book selection and decided upon a three different bass books. My tutor had been looking at some of the amps and trying out some of the basses so called me over to have a wee shot. There's nothing quite like plugging a bass into an amp, turning it up loud and hearing the pungent sound fill the air. It gives me such a buzz!

Heading back home we picked Grandad up and went out for a spot of lunch and a nosy in TK Maxx although I didn't spend any money for once. I've been saving my it for going away during the Summer holidays. It's always nice to have a bit of spending money in order to splurge a little!

And that really brings me to the present moment. I thought I'd do a bit of blogging in my free time this afternoon in hope of successfully managing to finish writing a post and update you all on why it's been so quiet.

Speak Soon!

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Day 26: Artwork & Airing My 1st Ever Radio Interview!

A photocopied segment of the collage I've been working on

So I haven't got round to updating my blog for a few days much to my annoyance but I have literally working non stop on various other things and before I know it, I'm quite literally nodding off with my laptop sitting in front me. That's usually a sign that I need to pack everything away, head to bed and get some sleep or I wouldn't be worth a button the following day. But it's Friday night (well, the early hours of Saturday morning to be honest!) and I don't have to get up early so hopefully, I can get a few things ticked off the list tonight that I've been meaning to do.

Well, yesterday (Thursday) I aired the first part of my first ever radio interview with Graeme Clark from Wet Wet Wet on 3TFM which I was extremely nervous about. I don't know why I was so nervous but I was! I mean the radio side of things feels like second nature now to be honest but I suppose considering it was my first ever interview, it was only natural haha!

It was also my first ever evening slot on radio as I've now moved from Thursday afternoons to Thursday evenings and it actually was almost a year to date since I aired my first ever radio show (well technically as it's now Saturday it IS a year to date!). It's quite frightening to think it was a whole year ago;  in many respects it feels like a lifetime ago and in other ways it feels like it was just yesterday. My friend Jim who started at 3TFM at the same time as me and aired his first show at the station before me swapped over to evening slots back in January but my new slot is now straight after his again so I'm absolutely delighted about that! It was so lovely to catch up with him at long last!

So how did the interview go? Better than I thought to be honest! So far I've received good reviews so that's the main thing-phew! I made my poor Mum sit outside in the car to listen to it as it made me all the more nervous to have someone in the studio watching me-sorry Mum! Although my Sister decided to come up with us and leave my Dad at home to listen to it by himself, I think it was more the fact that Mum had bought a big bag of Malteasers to munch on in the a car that enticed her to come (there was none left by the time I got off air either so I made Mum stop into the petrol station at Sainsbury's to buy a big bag to stash in my room). I believe that Mum was sitting having a wee tear to herself whilst listening (proud mother moment haha!).

Oh I'm going off track a little! Before I go any further, I just wanted to thank you all for sending me such lovely messages about the interview! It really meant a lot to me reading them all! Also, a huge thanks again to Graeme for everything! From actually agreeing to it in the first place, to being so easy to talk to during the interview, being interested in how I got on with the editing side of things when I spoke to him at his gig last week and helping me promote it; I really do appreciate his support!

Besides the big day at radio, I've been run off my feet writing various articles. It doesn't help that I'm an absolute perfectionist and probably over critical but I'm not happy unless I know it's 100% to my satisfaction hence why it sometimes take a little longer than I'd like to get things done. I must read everything I write at least a hundred times before I'm entirely satisfied with the outcome.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I've been working on achieving my National 4 in Art & Design and well, my art tutor is hoping to have it handed in next week so getting the final touches these past few weeks have bene priority. Although there's never a serious moment in the process of it, my tutor and I always end up in fits of laughter over one thing or another and that's how I like it. It's not really like school it's more relaxed and fun so I count myself really lucky!

My final piece for the course is pretty much complete, I probably mentioned a couple of weeks ago feeling completely out of my depth creating collage and struggling to see where to take it. However, I am delighted to report that you'd never even know that it was ever the same piece of work. I really love the end result! My tutor took it away with her the other day and photocopied various sections of it and enlarged it so we could show various examples in my sketchbook we've been putting together and the photocopies look equally as amazing if I do say so myself! I'll insert a pic of one in particular to let you see a quick glimpse of what I've been working on.

Back in September/October last year we spent a period of a few weeks focusing on designing masked inspired by the stunning venetian masks and the different seasons throughout the year. We'll also be using the masks as part of my coursework so my tutor asked me to model it so we could take a photo to put into the sketch book too so I snapped a quick selfie to let you guys see one of them.

Modelling the mask I designed

And it was also really lovely to catch up with my lovely best friend/adopted big sister Heather this morning for a coffee in Costa and a wee browse in some of the shops. Heather's just back from Soccer Aid and a few stories to tell one of which was particularly exciting; she quite literally bumped into Robbie Williams in the hotel elevator! How cool is that!? So it was really cool to hear all about everything happened! And of course we needed a HMV fix although we're a terrible influence on each! We could easily buy half of the shop between the pair of us! We also have certain mischievous routines that I can't really tell you about but put it this way; there's never a dull moment! We also paid a visit to Primark and three t-shirts with moons and dreamcatchers on them (surprise! surprise!) and a pair of boho inspired brown ankle boots later we left the store. And unfortunately, by that point it was time to head home to get a quick bite to eat before my tutor was due to arrive.

Anyway, I better go get ready for bed and attempt to get some sleep, I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with a proper daily blog for you. Today, I just wanted to briefly update you about my crazy week and why I haven't really been able to catch up on blogging. Anyway, I wish you all a good evening although it'll probably be at least midday before you actually read this!

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Update April 2016

Hey Out There!

So it's been a while since I last properly posted on here which I'm a little frustrated about I must admit. It's been a busy few weeks for me and I've not had a chance to keep up with things like my blog and YouTube channel hence why it's been so quiet on here. I really miss being unable to write on my blog so I thought I'd make some time to write a quick update post and let you all know I'm still alive and haven't been kidnapped by fairies or something crazy like that!

So first and foremost, one of the reasons I haven't posted was that I caught the flu virus and have spent a lot of time in bed or cuddled up on the sofa feeling absolutely miserable. I've had no notion to do anything apart from laze around and quite literally do nothing which is so unlike me!Usually, I can't stand sitting down, lying in bed and doing nothing as it reminds me of being in hospital but in this instance I had to in order to get better.

It was by far the worst I have felt in a very long time, I could barely lift my head off of the pillow and was very sick which as you can imagine was not fun at all! I spent most of the days watching TV, catching up on daily episodes of The Ellen Show (I'm so glad we finally have Ellen in the UK-she is absolutely hilarious and never fails to put a smile on my face!) and working my way through all of the Disney films on Netflix (I'm such a big kid!). I wouldn't say that I feel completely better but I'm getting there and that's the main thing.

I've also been absolutely run off my feet working on a few side projects which I'm not going to tell you too much about as of yet-sorry, my lips are sealed folks! What I can tell you is that I am very excited about everything I'm currently working on and I hope you guys will be equally as excited when I tell you more.

As you know I've been studying Art and Music this year as part of my home tutoring which I really love and enjoy. My art tutor has been working with me on an art portfolio and a range of work, I've definitely improved ALOT and learned a variety of new skills since we started working together in August last year. Turns out that the work I've produced in this time frame is nearly enough to achieve a National 4 in Art and Design which I am absolutely delighted about! I've been working very hard during the past little while to complete all of the required work in hope that it'll be ready in time for it to be submitted. And hopefully I'll achieve the Nat 4 qualification which for me would be a major achievement! But I'll keep you all posted with how everything goes-wish me luck!

Anyway, I better go and check whether my latest YouTube video has finally finished uploading or not-it takes forever! Hopefully, it won't be too long until I return with another post but until then why not check out some of my older blog posts if you haven't already!

 

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xxx

Long Time No See!

Hello Out There!

 

How are you all?

It feels like a lifetime ago since I last posted here on my blog; the reason why? Well, we moved house at the beginning of December and haven't had any internet access whatsoever ever since. I've never been more excited in my life to visit the supermarket to take advantage of their free Wi-Fi so I could keep up to date with social media and see if there were any exciting concert announcements (priorities right?). Hopefully, our internet will be finally be up and running next week so that we can get back into the swing of things! 

Currently, I'm sitting in my Grandparent's living room setting up my new laptop which I received for Christmas, uploading a new YouTube video and writing this post for you guys to read! I've really missed being able to write here on my blog but during that time I've created a list of video and blog post ideas which hopefully I'll be able to create for you to enjoy very soon-so make sure to keep an eye out for that!

I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas and a happy New Year! It was so lovely to be in our new house during the festive season! I have a lovely new bedroom which I've had a great time decorating and no doubt will continue to enjoy decorating it over the coming years! I've decided to decorate my bedroom inspired by my love for bohemian/hippie things. Perhaps I might create a "room tour" video to post on my YouTube channel to show you guys around!

I just wanted to pop on to say a quick hello and let you all know that I'm still alive and well (he he!). I promise I'll be back very soon with lots more to share with you all! I think 2016 is set to be a good year with plenty of more exciting adventures which I can't wait to share with you all! There is already plenty of things in the pipeline so stay tuned!

 

Until next time; love & peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Memorable Moments of 2015!

Hello Hatters!

Happy New Year to each and every one of you out there! I really hope that 2016 will bring good things for and that overall, it'll be a great year for you!

2015 for me personally, was one incredible year and I think it'll be difficult to top it but I'll certainly give it a good shot! I started 2015 thinking it was going to be like any other year but little did I know what it held for me! In the space of 12 months so many amazing things have happened to me! The chances of a lot of what happened in 2015 actually happening were very slim; or so I thought anyway and having as many of them happen within such a small proximity of time was even more unexpected! It's been a very long time since I've had such an amazing year and thanks to it I've become so much more confident than I used to be and feel more positive about life in general! I am so excited to see what 2016 holds for me and hope that it also, will be full of amazing things for each and every one of you out there!

I thought that in today's post, I'd take the opportunity to look back on some of last year's best bits and celebrate them one more time before moving on to a new year and a new chapter! So here it goes:

1. Meeting Stevie Nicks & Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac

So this is by far the highlight of 2015 for me and I don't think I'll ever stop talking about that day back in June! Stevie Nicks as you'll already know, is one of my biggest inspirations/role models and I'd dreamt of meeting for a long time and thanks to the most amazing charity Ray's of Sunshine, my dream finally came true! 

My Mum sent an application to Ray's of Sunshine back in December 2014 in hope that they'd be able to help make my dream come true and they said they'd do their upmost to make it happen. And true to their word; they did just that! Fleetwood Mac announced they were coming to the UK on tour in 2015 and after attending one of their gigs in Glasgow, I was taken to the side of the stage with my parents to watch the final few songs and was then escorted upstairs to the band's dressing rooms where I spent a hour with Stevie Nicks chatting quite literally about everything and anything! During the time I spent with Stevie, a very tall Mick Fleetwood appeared in the doorway of Stevie's dressing and after being introduced to us, pulled a chair up beside us and spent ages chatting with us. Both Stevie and Mick worked their way through my pile of CDs and merch, signing them all for me and admiring my metallic sharpies. Both Stevie and Mick couldn't have been any sweeter!

I owe Stevie a huge Thank-You for all of the encouragement and advice she gave me that night! It has helped and inspired me in so many different ways and has helped me grow as a person and achieve more of my dreams! I love you Stevie!

Like I said, none of what happened would have been possible without my Mum spending the time that she did filling in the application forms which I am so grateful to her for! And of course the fabulous team at Ray's of Sunshine who actually arranged for it to happen! I am currently brainstorming fundraising ideas as I want to say a thank you to them for what they did for me and of course, help in some shape or form give other young people a magical experience just like the one I had!

2. Becoming a Radio Presenter

If you've been following The Hat Hippie since early 2015, you'll have followed my story of becoming a radio presenter at 3TFM. I'll not go into too much details but for those of you who don't know, I applied to volunteer at a particular radio station and was declined due to the lack of disabled access which is absolutely shocking in today's society but you all know my thoughts on disability discrimination and my previous blog posts discuss it in more detail. Anyway, I wrote a post about what happened and a lot of family, friends and readers got behind me, shared my post and helped me find 3TFM. At the same time, the Irvine Herald newspaper got in touch with my Mum and they also got in contact with 3TFM on my behalf and wrote a very supportive article about what had happened. 

Just a short period of time later, I joined the team at 3TFM, started my radio training and just a short period of time later I hosted my first ever show live on air! I now have my very own radio show every Thursday and I love it so much! If any of you would like to tune, I usually post the tune in link on my social media accounts so pop on over to them for more information!

3. I Started A YouTube Channel

I'm always looking for new avenues to venture, new skills to learn and ways in which I can develop my blog. Starting a YouTube channel is something I've considered doing for quite a while and I finally decided to sit down and film my first ever video. I spent ages editing it and eventually posted it and have made a bunch of videos since. Hopefully, there'll be lots more videos to come in future and that you'll all enjoy watching them as much as I enjoy creating them! 

4. Visiting Liverpool and Seeing Paul McCartney in Concert

These were two other big dreams of mine which I hoped to tick off the bucket list at some point in my life but little did I ever imagine that I'd combine the two! Seeing Liverpool was amazing! It's such a great city and everyone is so friendly and would do anything they possibly could to help you! Paul McCartney was incredible and exceeded my expectations despite the fact that everyone thinks his best days are behind him-I beg to differ! I am sitting here in my room absolutely bursting with pure excitement as I relieve the memories of seeing Paul live! Although, I don't think words can describe just how excited I was whilst there in person and I'm sure my Mum could testify to that! I certainly kept the ladies sitting on our right well entertained throughout the show and they just so happened to be the first people I saw when we got back to the hotel after the show (red face moment!).

5. Moving House

I'm writing this post in advance as I might not have internet for a few weeks and don't want to neglect my blog so I thought I better prepare in advance! But basically, by the time you read this my family and I will have moved house! So I'll have a nice new bedroom to my YouTube videos which is very exciting! I might even do a room tour video on my YouTube channel so stayed tuned!

6. Opening My Local Pharmacy

Some of you may have read my post a few weeks ago but I was asked by the staff in my local pharmacy who I've known since I was little if I'd come along and officially open their newly refurbished store. So of course I said yes! I'd never been asked to do something like that before and felt very touched and honoured that they'd asked me! So that was another highlight of 2015 for me!

Anyway, that was just a few of my exciting moments from 2015! It has been great to write about them here on my blog throughout the year and of course share the excitement with you all! Hopefully, there will be many more memorable moments to share with you in 2016, perhaps I'll even vlog some of them on YouTube-you never know! Here's to a great 2016!

Love, Peace & Best Wishes,

The Hat Hippie xx

Moving House!

Hello!

I thought I'd share some exciting news with you all and that is that my family and I are moving house! We saw inside our new house for the first time last week and received our keys yesterday morning. So as we speak my family are currently up at the new house as a gentlemen is coming to measure the windows to have blinds fitted. I haven't been feeling particularly great these past few days with my pain so decided that rather than trek out with them in the cold and rainy weather, I'd stay at home where it's warm and avoid making my pain any worse. I thought I'd make great use of the time I have and update you guys with what's been happening. 

My parents ordered the flooring for our new house the other day and it was delivered yesterday just after they picked up the keys, so the joiner started fitting the flooring this morning and hopefully that'll be finished in a couple of days. There's still things like ordering a new oven as well as ordering new beds for my sister and I's bedrooms still to be done in the next few days or so but its all very exciting! At the moment I think we're hoping to move in properly sometime next week which I'm delighted about!

We currently live in a flat where my sister and I share a bedroom and the shower room is pretty small with a step up into the shower which is not good for me as I loose my balance very easily nowadays. Our new house has a fabulous wet room as well as a bedroom downstairs suited to me. There's also a separate bedroom upstairs for my sister meaning that we no longer have to share! All the rooms downstairs have wide doors which means if my pain levels ar really bad, I can use my wheelchair to get around inside the house and overall become a little more independent.

I've spent the last year or perhaps even longer picking up bits and pieces for my new bedroom in hope that we'd be moving house at some point in the not so distant future. Intially, I had intended to go for a black and white, 1950s hollywood glamour inspired room as I'm obsessed with old actors and actresses like Audrey Hepburn but decided to change the theme. I'm now opting for a bohemian inspired bedroom which as you all can probably imagine is right up my street! Although, I've managed to incorporate a lot of the black and white things that I previously purchased because when it comes to bohemian things; anything goes! So be warned; expect a few bedroom decorating YouTube videos/blog posts coming up in future!

Apart from packing up the house lately, I've been working hard at preparing a bunch of blog posts for the next few weeks as I might not have internet access for a little while until everything is up and running at our new place. I'll use not having internet as an excuse to get my Mum to take me into town for a coffee and cake at one of the cafes with free wifi so I can pop on here and keep in touch with you lovely people. But like I said, I've prepared a bunch of posts in advance and have got them schedule to post automatically so make sure to pop back from time to time to check them out as I might not be able to share them on my social media accounts until a few days after they've went live. 

Anyway, I'll still be around for a little while and will make sure there's plenty still happening in the crazy world of The Hat Hippie! So keep on reading!

But until next time,

Love, Peace & Best Wishes,

The Hat Hippie xx

1 Year of The Hat Hippie

Hello Everyone!

 

Today marks exactly an entire year since I posted my very first blog post here on The Hat Hippie and I thought I'd write a little post in order to celebrate! I can't quite believe it's been a year since I clicked published on my very first post on the 12th November 2014. If you're new to my blog and would like to read my very first post click here and if like me, you've been here since the beginning why not go read it all over again!?

It's certainly be an exciting and eventful year since I first started my blog! On reflection, I can't quite believe all the amazing things that has happened this past year and I'm so glad that I decided to create it when I did. Had I not, I wouldn't necessarily have had a way of looking back and reliving all those memories that I've made. For me, it's amazing to think how much I've grown as both a person and in confidence during the past 12 months and I'm so proud of all the things I've managed to achieved!

Some of my biggest dreams have been made a reality this past year; it's been a long battle over the years with my health and it was nice to finally have some good things happen for once! In such a short period of time, I've met some lovely people who have truly inspired me in many different aspects of life and I'm such a lucky girl to know and have met all of these people!

My dream of being a radio presenter finally came true and I currently have a weekly show on a Thursday afternoon which is the best thing ever! I've learned so much during my time at the station, had some good laughs and of course, have enjoyed playing some great music and hosting a show! There's still ALOT for me to learn but just like living life, I learn new things each and everyday! So a huge thank-you to everyone at 3TFM for having me on board and making me so welcome! I really appreciate it!

A huge thank-you to all my close family and friends for the love, support and encouragement you've given me throughout my entire life! I don't know where'd I'd be without it! I want to say a huge Thank-you to my Mum in particular who is my hero and biggest inspiration! Without her I wouldn't have the confidence or oomph to do everything I've done. She's always there for me whenever I need a hug or some encouragement! Words cannot describe just how much I love you, Mum! Thank-you for all that you do!

Finally, I want to say a huge "Thank-You!" to you, my lovely readers, my amazing friends! Every time I click publish on a new post, it's so lovely to receive all the lovely comments and messages you send me! They put a big smile on my face and encourage me to work hard and fight for what I believe in! Your support throughout this past year has been absolutely incredible! You all never fail to brighten my day and I hope that I can bring a little light or cheer to your day in some shape or form!

Really!? A whole year of "The Hat Hippie"!? How, did that even happen!? It's certainly been one incredible year and I can't help but wonder what this next year will bring? I suppose I'll just have to take each day as they come and watch the year unfold and I hope you'll all continue to join me on the journey!

 

But until then, keep dreaming!

 

Lots of Love, Peace and Best Wishes,

The Hat Hippie xxx

Opening My Local Pharmacy!

Hello Out There!

Just over a week ago I was asked to do something very exciting, something that I never expected to do at 17 years old yet alone as an adult. It really hit home to me just how cool this was when I read an article about Ed Sheeran doing something similar the day before. So that pretty much says it all doesn't it!?

Anyway, I was asked by the staff in my local pharmacy if I'd come along and open their newly refurbished store. Without a doubt I said yes! The staff in the pharmacy have known me since I was just a little girl and helped me out a lot throughout the years during the times that I've endured numerous operations and treatment. They're such a lovely bunch of people and have always put a big smile on my face no matter how miserable I've felt with pain, recovering from surgery and attending medical appointments. I really don't think they realise just how much of an impact they have had in my life. So as you can imagine, it was a huge honour to actually be asked to take part in this event!

I thought rather than writing a huge post like I normally do, I'd write a brief post and share some of the photographs that my Mum took on my behalf to show you guys. The local newspaper was actually there to take some photos when I cut the ribbon, officially opening the shop; so that was exciting! The photo was actually in latest edition of the local newspaper so I'll try and take a photo of it and might pop it up on my Facebook page for those of you who'd like to see it.

At the opening, there was a buffet filled lots of yummy food for us all to help ourselves to which was lovely! They even surprised me with a huge bouquet of gorgeous flowers and a lovely present which was so sweet and unexpected! So a huge thank-you to the everyone at my local Lloyd's Pharmacy! You seriously have no idea just how much it meant to me!

Below, I have attached some of the photos taken at the event so I hope you enjoy taking a look through them all!

 

Having photos taken for the newspaper

 

 

A wee close up

 

Karen and I

 

Such a beautiful bouquet of flowers they surprised me with!

 

I know this was a shorter post than usual but I just wanted to share another of my latest adventures with you and of course it's nice for me to pop back in future and look back on all of these lovely memories! Anyway, I hope you're all doing good and that life is treating you well! I promise I'll be back again very soon with another new blog post so make sure to pop back in the not so distant future!

 

Until then I send you all my love, peace & best wishes,

 

The Hat Hippie xxx

Hospitals & A Bad CRPS Flare

Hello!

It's been an eventful few weeks since I last posted here on my blog and you may have noticed that I mentioned on my Facebook page that my knee has been playing up lately, causing me quite a bit of pain and discomfort. Despite giving it plenty of rest and keeping it elevated as much as I possibly could, it didn't seem to improve any. In fact, it probably got worse if anything.

So after feeling pretty miserable all weekend it was off to the doctors surgery on the Monday morning to see my GP. We are pretty fortunate when it comes to our doctors surgery as they'll always do their best to fit you in as soon as they possibly can and last Monday was no exception. They managed to fit me in that morning roughly just an hour and a half after Mum called that morning. That's almost unheard of in today's society!

So after a shorter than usual tutoring session that morning, my Mum and I made our way across town to the surgery listening to the radio as we went.  Listening to the radio is by far one of my favourite past times and is great when going to a medical appointment as it helps divert my mind from worrying about it. After attending so many hospital appointments throughout the years, you'd think it wouldn't bother me too much, but for whatever reason I still get quite worked up about going for one.

Anyway, we arrived in the surgery car park just as they were playing the new ELO song which actually reminded me a little of another song. We were a little early so we sat in the car for a further ten minutes or so, which was much better than sitting in a waiting room, whilst I sat there deliberating what song it reminded me of. Then it hit me! It sounded like Golden Slumbers by The Beatles (my favourite band-in case you didn't know!) I quickly pulled out my iPod and started playing Golden Slumbers to compare the two songs. My poor Mum must get sick and tired of me having mad, geeky moments about music-she has the patience of a saint to listen to me rambling on all day long! But in all seriousness, go look up the two songs and have a listen! I mean it might just be me, but that's exactly what it reminded me of. Oops, I've just realised that I went off track enthusing about music (again!) Sorry folks!

Inside the surgery we spent a further twenty minutes or so waiting to be seen as it was extremely busy and they were running a little late. There really wasn't a need to complain though, as these things happen and they were good enough to actually fit me in at the last minute. After twenty minutes of watching I don't know how many different faces come and go and for me, counting the faded outlines of squares on the carpet (the things you do to past time), my name was finally called.

After explaining to the doctor what was going on with my knee, he gave it an examination, asking me questions about my most recent visit to hospital and what motions they used when examining my knee as that was really when my knee began flaring up. Apparently, the motion they used in hospital, which almost looked like they were popping my knee out of place and back in again, was actually to test the ligaments that had been created during my knee surgery back in 2011. I was told to rest my leg just like I had been doing and was prescribed yet more pain killers.

By Wednesday, my pain levels had grown worse and I spent the day in bed and for a little while in the afternoon curled up on the sofa feeling absolutely miserable. This was probably the worse my pain had been for a while. It was at the point that it had me in tears so that said a lot. My Mum decided to get in contact with the hospital and managed to get in contact with my pain management consultant's secretary who arranged for me to see both my pain management consultant and my othopedic consultant the following day which we were so grateful for them arranging.

So the next morning it was a 6:30am rise for us in order to get there in time. Quickly, we ate a spot of breakfast, got dressed and were out of the door before we knew it. On route to hospital, we picked up my Grandparents and hit the motorway in the morning rush. Fortunately, we managed to make it in time for my appointment.

After finding out where exactly to go for my appointment, (no one seems to know where exactly anything is in the new hospital) we were then told by a receptionist that my consultants had been called to theatre and they had no idea how long they'd be. Mum and I decided that we'd go get a coffee from the hospital coffee shop when we bumped into my orthopedic consultant on route. It turns out that he hadn't been called to theatre afterall, so we followed him to the plaster room where he had a look at my knee and decided to send me for an X-ray. It had been a good two or three years since I last had one actually. We were sent through what was like a secret corridor which led to X-ray department and let the receptionist know that I was there. After a fairly short wait, I was escorted through to the X-Ray room by a student radiographer who said that I'd been the most stylish person to step through their doors that week if not ever. Yes, even on a hospital visit, I still manage to wear one of my hats and a pair of Dr Marten boots because let's face it; it just wouldn't be me without them! But anyway, it was a nice compliment!

The radiographers who  took care of me that day were extremely lovely which makes a  huge difference! Some of my last X-rays were taken at an adult's hospitals and they barely uttered a single word to me and didn't even bothered to crack a smile-is it really that much to ask?! I mean, I was only about 13 or 14 at the time!

After being made to bend my knee in a variety of awkward positions, standing as still as I possibly could, the radiographers were satisfied with the images and sent me back through to the plaster room to find my pain management consultant dressed in his blue theatre gowns. He had to take a quick phone call, so my orthopedic consultant had a look at my X-Rays which thankfully looked normal. Although when it comes to my leg "normal"  is completely different to the average person's leg.

The long and the short of it was that last time I saw my consultant, which was around a month or so ago, whilst he was examining my knee, my fibula may have knocked against one of my nerves and upset things after it being moved around as much. There isn't much holding my knee together meaning that everything is kind of floating around, hence why my fibula could have hit against one of the nerves. There's isn't anything that they can really do to fix this so he suggested that I keep my leg well rested and that I wear a splint as much as I can over the next few weeks to keep things secure. So as one of his fellows ordered the splint, he popped out to go collect it.

During this time, my pain management consultant returned and asked me about what had happened over the past few weeks with my knee. I explained the situation to him and he also suggested me wearing splint on my knee. So everyone had a wee laugh about how two great minds think alike when my other consultant returned. I had to sit on one of the hospital beds as they fitted the splint which is extremely heavy and makes me feel like a robot, but I'll ride the storm and put up with it in hope that it'll help. Since I was there my pain management consultant also gave me a course of acupuncture in hope that it would help with my pain. Obviously, I wasn't able to see what he was doing as I had to lie on my side, but apparently my consultant used a lot more needles than he'd previously used when I had acupuncture.

So I was eventually sent home to rest my knee and to try out the knee splint for the next few weeks. I am most definitely not a fan of it as it's so heavy, however Ive got to do what I've got to do.

Anyway, I shall go for now but until next time I send you all lots of love and best wishes!

-The Hat Hippie xx

My 17th Birthday!

Last Tuesday, the 15th of September just so happened to be 17th birthday! To be honest, it only feels like yesterday since I turned 16-this past year has seriously flown in! So I thought in my next blog post I'd write about what I got up to for my birthday last week. So here it goes.......

Like every weekday morning I got up at around 7:30am (or thereabouts) to open my presents and cards with my family before my Dad went to work and my sister went to school. I was a bit sleepy headed I must admit, I am by far more of a night owl rather than a morning person. However, I received some lovely cards and presents including a Beatles t-shirt, hoodie, purse and lanyard that I'd picked out in Liverpool back in May, jewellery, Cathy Cassidy's Looking-Glass Girl book, a new hat (of course!), chocolates and some money from my family and close family friends which I'm going to put towards purchasing a new camera that I've been saving up for. So a huge thank-you to everyone for their kind gifts of money! I am extremely excited to buy my new camera which I'll be able to use to take photos for my blog, for personal photography and I also hope to experiment with the film features in order to create a YouTube channel. I received some truly lovely gifts and my Mum even managed to find wrapping paper with my all-time favourite fictional character Peter Pan printed on it! How cool was that!? Yes, I get excited about the simplest of things in life!

After Mum and I dropped my sister Laurel off at school that morning, my Grandparents came down to visit with my birthday card/present. I had music tutoring in the afternoon meaning that time would be too tight if we decided to go out for lunch so instead we went out for a birthday breakfast, which was lovely! My music tutor arrived at around 2pm like he does every Tuesday afternoon for my bass lessons. I know not everyone would be too chuffed about having education of any sort on their birthday but I for one was actually quite happy! My music tuition is never something I dread as I enjoy it so much and like I said before I am now learning to play songs rather than learning the basics like I started off with. Now, if I remember right last week I was learning to play the bass line to Band on the Run by Wings which was great! As you all know by now, I am a huge Paul McCartney fan so actually learning to play one of his songs is absolutely amazing! All I'm waiting for now is that all-important phone call from Paul himself inviting me to come perform live on stage with him! One can dream right?!

Anyway, after Mum and I picked my sister Laurel up from school, it was a mad rush back home to make dinner because just a short while later I would be heading out to The Gaiety Theatre to see a Beatles tribute band. For dinner, Mum made me probably one of my very favourite meals; roast chicken, mashed potatoes and vegtables-mmmmm! It makes me seriously hungry even just to think about it!


Me and my birthday cake (please excuse the bad lighting!)

And of course it wouldn't be a real birthday without a cake; or at least not in my world! Ever since I was little I have always had a major obsession with birthday cake. As weird as it may sound to some, I think that there's something really exciting about birthday cake; always have and probably always will! So of course everyone sang Happy Birthday to me, took a few photographs (which I'll try and add to this post in the editing stages), made a wish and then I attempted to blow the candles out but there's always that one that chooses to be difficult and takes a couple of attempts to finally blow out! But we always catch it out in the end!

After blowing out the candles, we soon realised that time was ticking on and that I needed to leave the house soon or I'd be late! So it was kind of rush round the house as I flung everything I needed into my bag, popped on a coat and hat and tied up the laces to my Dr Marten boots. Thankfully, we made it to the Gaiety Theatre in time for 7pm for me to meet my friend Heather. Once we met up, Heather and I went inside out of the cold (typical Scottish weather!). Thankfully, the doors to the actual theatre itself were soon opened meaning that we were able to find our seats in plenty of time before the show began at 7:30pm. It looked like the theatre was almost a full house so fortunately, when Mum and I had booked the just tickets a few weeks earlier there were a couple of seats remaining in the second row which of course we snaffled up meaning that we had a great view of the stage! The show itself was absolutely brilliant! Both Heather and I couldn't get over how a like the gentleman playing John Lennon looked in comparison to the real thing-it was unbelievable! If you closed your eyes, it could easily have been the real band performing right there in front of you. Overall, both Heather and I really enjoyed the show and would definitely go again if they were to come back in future! If you'd like to read more about the Cavern Beatles show click here to be directed to the review link on my music blog.

 

After the show, Mum picked us up and gave Heather a lift back home on route to our house. Heather had surprised me with a lovely card and gift which I opened when I arrived home. I don't know how she managed it but a few weeks ago when we went shopping together and popped into the town's new record shop, I'd been eyeing up a Beatles record and unbeknown to me as I later discovered Heather bought it for me as surprise for my birthday! I was absolutely delighted about that! Thank-you so much Heather! To finish off my special day I tucked into a delicious slice of birthday cake before heading to bed just a short while later.

Before I go I just want to say a huge thank-you to all my friends and family for the lovely cards and kind presents that you kindly gave me for my birthday! I really appreciate it! I also want to say a huge thank-you to everyone for the sweet birthday wishes you sent me across my social media sites; it was so lovely to read them all! Here's to a great year as a 17 year old-I wonder what adventures it'll bring!?

Anyway, I shall love you and leave you all for now!

Sending you love, peace & Best Wishes,

Rob, The Hat Hippie xxx

 

Hello September!

Hello World! 

I thought it was about time I wrote an update for my blog seeing as it's been a few weeks since my last post. During that time the schools here in Scotland have returned following summer break and I believe that the schools down south have also followed suit during the past two weeks. With that being the case, I have been extremely busy throughout the past few weeks and haven't found the time or the inspiration if I'm being honest to sit down and write a new post. It's quite late right now and I'm a little tired however I don't feel ready enough to fall asleep just yet so thought I'd make use of my time to write a quick post for you lovely people!

Like I said above the schools have resumed following summer break and so has my home tutoring. This year I'm going to be focusing on art, music as well as working on the John Muir award which focuses on the natural environment and conservation. I have tutoring five days a week and oh my goodness is it going to take a while to get into the routine of having tutors at random times each day. But we'll get there eventually (I hope!).

As some of you may already know I play bass guitar and have been doing so for the past two years or so. I absolutely love playing bass particularly now that I'm at the stage where I hear a song by my favourite band and am able to pick up my bass and learn to play it almost immediately which is extremely exciting! So I'll be continuing to learn bass for the next year as part of my schooling which I couldn't been any happier about!

 During my art sessions which I only started a few weeks ago, I have already produced a bunch of art work using a range of materials and of course doing a little experimenting with Photoshop as well. Since the new term started I've produced a range of drawings/paintings of natural objects such as shells and flowers and in that short period of time have developed particular love of watercolour and line drawing. So I thought from time to time I might take a few photographs of my artwork and post them up here on my blog and share them with you lovely people as well as keeping track of it for my own future reference.

As we all know it's now September and summer is unfortunately behind us for another year much to my dismay. Without a doubt, autumn and winter are beautiful months for the scenery and the colours in the trees however I am not a fan of the cold weather that goes alongside that. As you'll have read in my previous blog posts I suffer from CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) which is affected and aggravated majorly by the cold and damp weather. It's only been September for just a few days and the weather is already reminding us that summer is now over. And with that has come an increase in my pain levels which has not been fun at all! So my trusty companion; my hot water bottle has shown face once again for yet another year. To whoever invented the hot water bottle; I thank you! I seriously don't know what I'd do without one nowadays.

Just as I was saying above we are now in the grand old month of September and despite my moans of September signifying the start of the colder weather, it also has its good points. September is my birth month and on the fifteenth of the month, I turn seventeen years old which is an extremely scary thought! It doesn't feel that long ago since it was my sixteenth last year. My goodness, the past the year has flown in so quickly!

So anyway, I just wanted to share this brief post to keep you all update to with all that's been going on in my life throughout the past couple of weeks. I am now going to edit and publish the post before making a start on another of my future blog posts so do keep an eye out for that; it should be up in the not so distant future! If you haven't already make sure to click here and give my Facebook page a like to keep up to date with all of my latest news!

Sending you all lots of love, peace and best wishes,

Robyn xxx

 

The Final Week of the Summer Holidays 2015

 

Me in Castle Douglas

Last week was the final full week of the Summer holidays here in Scotland and I can't help but wonder where on earth have the Summer holidays gone!? They've seriously flown by this year! Although I think I say that every year! You blink suddenly it's all over and it's back to business; back to school!

Anyway, my final week of the Summer Holidays was certainly nothing short of crazy; I've quite literally been here, there and everywhere and could do with a wee lie down to be completely honest! Seeing as I count myself as a lifestyle blogger, I thought I'd share what I've been up to with you lovely people! So sit back and relax with a cup of tea (or a nice glass of lemonade!) and enjoy reading about my busy week!

To start last week off I met up with a lovely friend of mine, Daisy who I've known since we were around five/six years old. I lost touch with Daisy when I moved house as well as school when I was in Primary three and bumped into her once every now and then after moving. As I grew older

I decided to join Facebook and managed to get back in contact with Daisy, discovering that we share a lot of similar interests (particularly in music). So it was really lovely to finally meet up with Daisy after such a long period of time and spent a few hours chatting and catching up in Costa-it is however, a wonder that the staff didn't shoo us off as we were in there for hours! Hopefully, it won't be too long until we meet up again!

On Tuesday, we visited my Grandparents and as it was such a lovely day I was able to spend some time wandering round their garden with my iPod taking photographs of all the lovely flowers my Granddad grows there. Stupidly, I'd ignored the fact that it was a nice day; the perfect day for taking photos and didn't bother to bring my camera with me to get capture my surroundings. I was however, pleasantly surprised with the picture quality that my iPod produced and successfully managed to take a handful of decent photos.

 

My lovely Mum and I at the theatre

 We then enjoyed some yummy Chinese takeaway for dinner from one of the local takeaway's, before Mum, Gran, my sister Laurel and I travelled to Glasgow to catch the opening night of "Dreamboats and Miniskirts" at The Kings Theatre. I am huge fan of the musicals and love going to the theatre so without a doubt I had a great night! I'd previously seen "Dreamboats and Petticoats" back in 2012 which was set in the 1950s but if I'm being completely honest I preferred the sequel as I was more familiar with the music, fashion and the era in general. However, I must admit the highlight of the show for me, was the scene set in The Cavern Club in Liverpool where the actors took on the role of John, Paul, Ringo and George as they performed Twist and Shout. As you'll probably have worked out by now, I'm a huge fan of The Beatles so this particular scene really made my night! And of course I had to sing along although I'm surprised I didn't clear the theatre as I'm such a terrible singer!

The following day my Mum, Laurel and I took my Grandparents on a trip to a lovely town here in Scotland named Castle Douglas. We visit Castle Douglas at least once every year, sometimes more frequently than that depending upon just how busy we are. The drive there is lovely as there's so much beautiful scenery to take in along the way! It is in my opinion Scotland at some of it's very best!(providing that it's a nice day of course!)

Castle Douglas itself is a lovely, quaint, little town with some fabulous little shops and cafes for a much needed snack or even a spot of lunch. As we arrived, lunchtime was quickly approaching and we all felt a little bit peckish and in need of a bite to eat. With that in mind we made our way to the Designs Café which we only discovered a few years ago after a family friend recommended it to us. Designs Café sell a range of delicious sandwiches, toasties, soup, daily specials and even home baking. For lunch, I decided upon the chicken fajita featured on the daily specials menu which came accompanied by a lovely salad, all of which tasted great and could easily have fed a small army!

Our lovely lunch was followed by a browse round all of the lovely independent shops in the area. There was an amazing bohemian shop selling goods such as clothes, jewellery and house accessories which I thoroughly enjoyed wandering round and raking through the clothing rails. I couldn't leave this fab shop empty handed and instead left with two boho cushions and a gorgeous throw for my bed. Amongst the other shops we visited my sister and I couldn't help but pop into a little toy shop that we loved as young children named "Jenny Wren". Despite the fact that we're a lot older now it's still good fun to look around and reminisce about all the toys and cute little bits n' bobs we used to play with when we were little. And of course a visit to Castle Douglas is most certainly not complete without a visit to the ice cream shop next door! The only problem was that there were so many different flavours to choose from leaving in deep deliberation over what to pick. Eventually, I decided to be boring and completely unadventurous and opted for chocolate ice-cream. But oh my goodness was it absolutely delicious!

On our way home from Castle Douglas, Mum pulled into a little lay by beside Loch Ken so that I could take full advantage of the beautiful scenery and the unusually lovely weather (for Scotland that is!) and take a few photographs. So I spent a good half hour or so snapping photographs of the loch which I'll eventually get round to editing. I think that'll be a job for when the weather's bad and I have nothing to do! 



The sunset over Dunure

Needless to say I was exhausted by the time we arrived back home but still to accompany my Mum on a trip down to one of our very favourite places, the small fishing village of Dunure. My sister was invited to a movie night at a friend's house so we decided to take a short drive there and enjoy the stunning scenery on offer! I somehow managed in the short time between arriving home from Castle Douglas and popping back out again removed my camera from my bag meaning that yet again I missed out on a photography opportunity! Typical!

The following day was of course Thursday which meant I had my radio show at 3TFM from 1-3pm. Every week during my show I pick a "Dream Theme" which helps me plan out my playlist for the show and gives my lovely listeners the chance to request the songs they want to hear during the show. Last week's theme was a follow up to a show I hosted a few weeks a few weeks ago named "Girl Power" which celebrated the best female artists to brace the music industry. So as you've probably guessed by now last week's "Dream Theme" was of course "The Best of the Boys". So in the space of just two hours I attempted to squeeze in as many of the best male bands/singers into my show as I possibly could. That particular theme could easily have gone on for hours as there are so many amazing bands/singers that deserved to be included on the list!

Colourful beach huts in Kirkcudbright

 On Friday my parents, my sister and I decided to pay Kirkcudbright a visit. Kirkcudbright's yearly art trail happened to be on so we managed to visit a few of the stops and have a look around the artwork. Up until then I'd never been to Kirkcudbright before which is a little strange I suppose. Following a mooch round Kirkcudbright we also visited a place named Gatehouse of Fleet which has an old mill situated directly beside the river with a cute little café and tourist information centre hidden inside. We decided it was the perfect time to take a break and enjoy a much needed refreshment from the café. As we sat outside in the cafe's patio which looked onto the river we spotted a heron in the distance closely studying the water surrounding it for fish. Unfortunately, it was too far in the distance from where we happened to be seated for me to actually get a decent photo of it-next time perhaps! The peaceful surroundings was the perfect place for a café and I for one could have easily sat there for hours enjoying the sweet sounds of nature-pure bliss if you ask me!

To finish off our busy week my Grandparents treated us to dinner at The Stage Door our favourite restaurant in Ayr on Saturday. The Stage Door is an extremely popular restaurant inside The Gaiety Theatre located in the town of Ayr. I've been lucky enough to have dined there with my family on numerous occasions since it first opened a couple of years ago and not once have I ever been disappointed! The menu has something to suit everyone; the prices are great and the portions are huge! My Mum, my friend Heather and I had breakfast there one morning and couldn't believe just how big the small breakfast was! It was seriously unbelievable! The food itself tastes and looks absolutely amazing which is all the more reason to dine there! And of course my diner there last Saturday lived up to my previous expectations and was just as good as I remembered it to be! So if you're ever in Ayr and looking for somewhere to eat; The Stage Door is definitely worth a visit!

Last week was indeed a busy but great week however all good things must come to an end and so do the Summer holidays. Today, the schools here where I live have now returned which for so many means early morning rises, homework and wearing a uniform. So to all my lovely readers who've already returned or are due to go back to school in the not so distant future; I send you all my best wishes for the coming school year!

Lots of Love, Peace and Best Wishes from,

Rob (The Hat Hippie) xxx