My Week in Instagrams

1. A trip to the Wetlands, Newport  2. Painting my nails  3. Weekly shop arrives  4. Late night CSI  

5. A trip to St Fagans  6. A day spent baking  7. A evening out

Steps at CIA

Last Friday night S and I went to review the Step's concert in the CIA in Cardiff.  I was an amazing night, not only was I surprised by really good customer service (the first time I have received the tickets without any problems!) but Steps and their 2 warm up bands were awesome.

A great party was had by everyone in Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena while watching Steps and their friends on Friday night.


Shockolady was the first act on stage and one of her highlights was a disco version of Bennie and the Jets, including disco light boots.


The next act was former Miss World, Kamaliya who entertained us with Ibiza inspired dance anthems. Not just a pretty face, Kamaliya knows how to present a song that makes you get up and dance. This she demonstrated to perfection on her new single Arrhythmia when she was joined on stage by 6 dancers that displayed athleticism gymnastics.

Then it was Steps turn to take the stage. Their opening act included A Deeper Shade of Blue closely followed by a Steps Dance section enabling the audience to learn new dance routines to old favourites Last Thing on My Mind and Better Best Forgotten.


All 5 members of Steps individually showcased their own voices in a solo section. Highlights included Lee’s performance of Moves like Jagger and H singing Don't Stop Believing.


Steps were also supported on stage with 10 phenomenal dancers whose movements ranged from classic Steps disco pop to flamenco dancing and even dancing on roller skates!

Other Step-tacular highlights included When I Said Goodbye showcasing how strong their voices are and a Better the Devil You Know mash up with Judas by Lady Gaga.


The concert ended on a high with one of my favourite all time songs One for Sorrow followed by Steps new cover version of ABBA’s Dancing Queen and the BeeGee’s classic Tragedy.

Latest Reviews

Between the busyness of working lots of  jobs and looking after the family and the house I have managed to fit in 4 reviews in the last month.  Must start making layouts of all these reviews!  The fist one was at the end of November and it was Katy Perry!  I was really impressed by the great set and immaculate vocals!  The next one was Erasure in St David's Hall, it was great to have a night out with my husband and just relax and enjoy the music.  I have never been a huge Erasure fan but I was really impressed with Andy Bell, he had a great voice and really gave a wonderful performance.  Here's some pix from the night:

Finally, this weekend I reviewed Will Young (at St David's Hall again) on Saturday night and All then Fun of the Fair with David Essex on Monday night.  Will Young was amazing, he had so much energy on stage it was a really enjoyable show.  Here are some pics from the night:

Now i'm off to get started on Journal Your Christmas, finally decided to sign up this year, so looking forward to it!

The Big Splash 2011 (10 things)

This weekend has been a busy one for us as there's been lots going on in Newport and even better most of it has been free! The staff at the Riverfront Theatre have worked hard bringing a sort of Festival atmosphere to Newport. They've arranged for free live music to be on at the Riverfront cafe, free shows and craft stalls by the Red Wave. There's also been a few live shows, funfair, motorcycle stunts and a climbing wall.

My 10 things post this month is based on all the stuff we've seen and done the weekend:

1. Today, S decided she wanted to go on the climbing wall today. It was run by all the hardworking boys at Duffryn Sports Centre so we paid the £1 entry and off she went. Here she is on the difficult side:

 And then she had a go on the easier side and got a little bit higher.

2. We saw the finished version of this (by Kingway Car Park)

3. Yesterday A and the boys saw the healing of brân the blessed

4. and we all witnessed the amazing skills on display outside the Kingsway Car Park

5. we saw the Superdragons in the Kingsway

6. and made some flags and a mask at the Market

7. meet some lovely hearts somehow I managed to follow them round town - there were quite a few street perfomers around on Saturday

8. While I was at a party with the kids on Friday night A saw the opening act - Chris Cross the escapologist

9. There was loads of FREE live music at the Riverfront Cafe.

10. Finally, posing outside the chalk drawing on the Riverfront entrance.  Love it.

It's been a great weekend so thank you everyone at the Riverfront Theatre, looking forward to next years event all ready.

My hubbie has also blogged about the weekend as well, he couldn't do just 1 post he had to do 3 so click here, here and here!  And to see more 10 things posts go to Shimelle.com.  Happy reading.

Rach

Red Velvet Cake and Rhinestone Mondays

Oops! Long time no blog, thanks to summer holidays and now new school routine.  I will get some time doing the thing I love soon!   Just a quick update to let you know about some things I have been doing over the last week.  On Sunday I finally got to make a Red Velvet Cake. I have been dying to make one of these for about a  year and a half and the recipe had been on my fridge for the whole of the summer holidays.  Well, a week last Sunday I got all the ingredients but forgot the red food colouring so the cake had to wait until I got it this weekend.  The cake did take some time (including a blister on my thumb) but it was well worth it and everyone loved it.  In fact it was eaten so quick I didn't get a chance to get a good picture!


Last night S and I went to the New Theatre in Cardiff to see Rhinestone Mondays.  It was a really great night, here's the review I wrote for the local paper:

Going to the New Theatre in Cardiff is always a treat as the building is as beautiful as the shows that go on there - full of intricate beadwork and beautiful colours.

This week the featured show is Rhinestone Mondays, a brand new musical from Joe Graham following the ups and downs of a line dancing group which meet on a Monday night at a local social club. The main story follows the romance between Annie (Faye Tozer) and Tom (Antony Topham) who played some really touching and emotional scenes.

The cast, which consists of Shaun Williamson, Faye Tozer, Ian H Watkins, Lyn Paul, Anthony Topham, Ally Holmes, Phil Pritchard and Pauline Fleming all gave outstanding performances. My favourite part of the evening was the song Dance the Night Away where Anthony Topham wowed the audience with his beautiful singing voice and dance moves.

The show is full of country classics like Crazy, Ring of Fire, A Thing Called Love, Annie’s Song and Stand by Your Man as well as modern country hits 5, 6, 7, 8, There’s your Trouble and Achy Breaky Heart. My only complaint is that the show felt a little short and we could have done with more of a sing-along at the end of the show.

Rhinestone Mondays is a must for all country music fans but you don’t need to be a die hard country fan to enjoy it, what’s more it’s suitable for all ages which is always a plus.

The show continues at the New Theatre until Saturday 8th October 2011

The highlight of the evening for me was definitely Anthony Topham and I was thrilled to see a bit more of him in this advert.  Afterwards we waited by the stage door and met Shaun Williamson, Ian H Watkins and Faye Tozer.  They were all lovely and so accommodating.  Faye posed for a beautiful pic with Seren so thank you Faye.

Crafting Time with the Kids

After being knocked down by a nasty throat infection last week I thought anther week would go by without getting to do any crafting with the kids. Thankfully my husband is very creative and very helpful so on Sunday he cut out 3 letters from my chipboard so they could make these.


Then on Monday morning I emptied a lots of scrapbooking of-cuts, gave them a small bit of Mod Podge and off they went. Here they are, in full craft mode









Just something small but it kept them quiet in the kitchen for ages. Here are their final creations:









I love them and so do they! All are now proudly hanging on bedroom walls.

Kids Crafts to do this summer

Hi everyone, it's the 10 things post again and this month I'm taking inspiration from Pinterest again.  As I've been browsing Pinterest I've come across loads of craft ideas to do with the kids, and as the long summer holidays start in less than 2 weeks I want to have plenty of ideas ready now.  Here's my favourite 10 (as of now, it may change by the holidays).

Source: rebeccacooper.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: cluckclucksew.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: tokketok.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: mama-jenn.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: alicia-lafamille.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: prettylittlethings.typepad.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: blogs.babycenter.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: downlo.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Linking up with Shimelle for 10 things fun  today so click here to go and see some other 10 things posts.

Hello, How are you?

Wow I can't believe it's July already. I only did one post in June due to a lot of different events taking up my free evenings and a broken computer. Well the computer's been fixed and after S's dance show on the weekend it should hopefully quieten down a bit.

Today I'm sat on the sofa watching Toy Story 3 with a poorly T which has given me a couple of hours to plan some blog posts for the next few weeks. I'd forgotten how much I love the Toy Story films such great stories and so moving.



These last couple of weeks I've hard done any crafting but i have been making some friendship bands. That's something I love about having the 80's back in style, I love friendship bracelets!

Will be back soon with some more crafting updates.

Rach

Easter Holidays have begun

The kids broke up on Friday for Easter so today is the first day of the holidays for them.  No fixed plans for us yet but I'm hoping to do some crafty things with them.  I'm still working during the holidays so the days will be a bit limited but I'm sure we'll find lots to do.  At the moment I'm having a visit from Batman and found pix of Fireman Sam toys on the camera so that means the boys are having fun.  Yesterday we made rice crispie nests with eggs in them so we have plenty of snacks for today.  Here's some pix of the cakes:

 and to finnish a fireman same one...