How to: Rockpooling

Here are some top tips about successful and safe rockpooling on a North East beach.

Firstly-make sure you dress appropriately!

Shorts are best, or leggings that can be rolled up as you never know how far you'll want to go into the water. Take a jumper for your top half though; it is England after all! 

Bare feet are the best for rockpooling - feet are the hands of the legs. This means they have much more grip than you might think! You can cling onto those rocks much better in bare feet than in your flip flops

Be careful when you're climbing on seaweed or wet rocks, they can be slippy!

This is (I think) Bladder Rack. This one is very slippy even when it looks fairly dry!

This one is softer on your feet and generally not as slippy, I always stand on this one where possible.

How to find stuff!

I always check in small corner areas of pools like this, small animals often tuck themselves away here.

Pool with lots of rocks in them are good too, there might be creatures under there.

My top tip is to lift up any large rocks that you can manage, if there is anything hiding underneath it will dart out and you'll be able to see it and maybe even pick it up!) If you don't want to put your hands into the pool, use a long strong stick to turn stones over and move them out of the way, e.g the handle of a fishing net.

I liked this little area that I found today, it looked like a theatre curtain on a stage!

But sadly there was nothing hiding there :(

What you might find

A sea anemone with its wiggly bits out!

A bird having a swim in his own private pool

I found lots of crabs today (one was really big!) but unfortunately they were all dead ones that had been washed up by the tide. I found this pretty big crab claw too.

Amazing shapes and patterns that the sea has created on the stones!

A little mermaid...

Oh no, they were just posts with seaweed on them!

A shy sea snail who didn't want to come out for a photo

Amazing patterns on rocks, I think this might be made by mussels sticking to the rock and then being pulled away?

Bonuses of the beach

This type of seaweed makes an excellent Lion tail, and is also great to chase people with!

Free natural foot ex-foliation!

Make sure you end the day right!

This is the Rendevous Cafe - gem of the north east coast, which was recently on a bank advert (I can't remember which one). I have been coming here since I was born. You cannot visit this beach without also visiting the rendevous (I'm pretty sure that's now an actual law).

Oh no...melty!  O_O'

Finally...

I love the feeling of sand on my feet. Top tip- don't bother brushing it off with a towel, it never works anyway and you ruin the magic of the beach.

Heading home! 

Thanks for reading, have a great summer!

THRIFTED DAISY DRESS - OUTFIT

Today I am wearing my new daisy print dress that I got yesterday from a charity shop. It's so cute and has buttons up the front. Cost: £3.99

I also got my loafers from a charity shop a couple of summers ago. 

I love my backpack satchel so much! I've wanted one since I saw Hairspray and Amanda Bynes' character had one! Also, since I saw the Cambridge Satchel advert where the Mum says "They don't make them like this anymore," and the daughter encourages her to start making them and then the mum builds a whole company based on that conversation but fails to actually make any backpack satchels -.- 

I finally found one on eBay last year and it's great because you can unclip the straps and change them so that it can be worn as a backpack or a messenger bag.

This is my 'going for a meal with family - must look nice' outfit. 

I hope there's lasagne or pie where we're going!

(Luckily the dress has an elasticated waistband!)

Thanks for reading!

The Weekend in Pictures

Here is a photographic account of my weekend.

This weekend I have been staying at my Dad's house.

Friday

On Friday:

I wore my new jumper that I got from Small Change, the vintage shop (see previous post)

I did ridiculous selfie faces.

I met my Dad in the afternoon and went over to his house.

Saturday

On Saturday:

I wore my new purple shorts which I found at a charity shop- win! 

Click here to see what else I thrifted!

But I had to use my little brother's belt to keep them up when I discovered I had no belts at my Dad's house; fail.

The weather was amazing! Which was good as I was helping out at my brother's school fair. (I was running the children's tombola!)

Unfortunately the lovely (and unexpected) weather led to me getting this ridiculous farmer's sunburn -.-

My Dad found my old gardening gloves when he was tidying out the shed! I couldn't even get y fingers into these now! Strangely we didn't even have a garden when my Nan bought me these...

My brother made me a loom band. MY FIRST LOOM BAND! 

I was very sleepy after the fair (and being out in the midday heat- slowly melting away) so I had a little lie down and started reading Caitlin Moran's book which I've been meaning to start since Christmas! 

I was laughing out loud (or 'lol-ing') after two pages!

I rediscovered these sandals in my wardrobe which I thought I would bring back into use seeing as Birkenstocks are now 'cool' instead of only being something the socks and sandals generation wears (over their socks).

I got a bit dressed up to go next door for what I was told was a 'chef night'. My curiosity, and the temptation of free food, persuaded me to go along.

It turned out our neighbour was hosting a Pampered Chef party, which I hadn't heard of before but it turns out is the kitchen version of an Avon party. We got shown how to make a risotto using the Pampered Chef products and then we all got to try some. It was delicious! Cherizo and sun dried tomatoes, which isn't one I had had before. I'm going to add it to my list of make-able risottos though! We also got some devil's food chocolate cake with fudge sauce which was gorgeous ^-^

Thanks for reading! oxox

'Small Change: The Newcastle Vintage Shop' Haul

Yesterday I went to Small Change vintage shop for the first time and it was lush! ^_^
My new favourite vintage shop! They have really low prices and so much stock to rummage through!
 Check them out on facebook: Small Change: The Newcastle Vintage Shop

What I bought:

Golfer print tapestry bag - £5

This is so cute, I love golf themed stuff, it reminds me of my Grandad.

Towel material jumper - £3

I'm wearing this today! So soft! There were loads of jumpers for £3 (long sleeved) and £2 (short sleeved) absolute bargain! 

Children's Christmas jumper - £1

This is the cutest thing! I had to get it, even though I'm not sure who's going to wear it. 

Children's knitted skirt - £1

Same with this little matching skirt! I thought this and the jumper would make such a cute little outfit together. 

Pink velvet top - £2

I can't wait to wear this with some high waisted denim shorts or mom jeans. I love the little tie at the bottom. 

Harley Davidson vest - £1

I love the studded detail on this! Small Change had a big selection of Harley Davidson tops, all £1 each!

Vintage shirt - £2

Thin summer vest. I'm going to wear this with high waisted denim shorts or black tube pants.

Bird patterned collar sweatshirt - £5

Small Change had a huge range of animal print sweatshirts all £5 each! I love this one because of the attached collar.

Total Spend: £20

Can't believe how much I got for my money when normally you would be paying £20 for just one vintage item! There's so much to look at too, me and my Mum spent 50 minutes there checking out all the stock!

Definitely worth a visit

Make sure you check out their vintage Barbies too, they'll bring back some memories!

Thanks for reading oxox