AUGUST UPDATE – HOLIDAY FUN

August was a month mostly about my holiday to Cyprus, a place I hadn’t visited in seven years.  August was therefore bound to be totally consumed by holiday shopping and prep and the bit I hate most, packing. Apart from a visit to Oka in Kingly Street which I absolutely loved this time round, I didn’t really go anywhere else, still that didn’t matter because I was heading to my first beach holiday in three years and I was beyond excited.

Working two days a week seems to take up so much of my time nowadays and leaves me little time to do what I love most in the world and that’s blogging, but I just about managed to get in a beauty post which you can read here. It’s all about the beauty products I bought for my holiday and my personal recommendations for sunscreen, after sun care and make-up. Some of the products have been firm favourites of mine for many years and I always make sure I include them in my shopping.

Packing tips:

Well I’m not great expert on packing, for a start, I don’t go to that many holidays a year, but I must admit, I found packing seven suitcases stressful. Seven suitcases I hear you say? Yes, but let me explain, I semi-packed slightly larger than cabin sized suitcases for my older two boys and my husband who were joining me and my younger two kids a week into the holiday. So rather naively, I let them finish their own packing hence why they failed to pack a lot of what they should have and that includes hubby!!

My toiletries were a nightmare to pack, but I used a cabin sized suitcase which I checked in, that would always be my tip. Don’t pack your toiletries bag and try and stuff it in among your clothes, first you don’t know that they won’t leak but secondly, it makes the suitcase heavy and you don’t want to go over your limit. I packed all the shower, facewash/scrubs/dental care in their own bags and I packed sun lotions, after sun and face creams separately, this goes for make-up too, being organised is key. I’m rather fussy, I pre-washed already washed clothes from my previous holiday things like swimwear, beach cover-ups, shorts and t-shirts! I make a list of everything I must pack, and I tick it off one by one especially if I begin my packing a week or two before my holiday.  I pack the essentials first and leaving the evening clothes to last.  My beach towels I roll up and pack to the side of the suit case along with sandals however this year, just because I needed the space in the suitcase, I packed a cabin sized suitcase with all our beach sandals/flip flops and evening footwear. If your limited to weight or how many suitcases you’re allowed to check-in, then this means you can carry this on board, we flew with Jet2 and they allowed us to check-in this extra case and they’re generous with their baggage allowance, 23kg per person.

What I read on holiday:

 I took a book centered around Paris of course not wanting to be too far away from my beloved city! Paris My Sweet – A year in the City of Light by Amy Thomas which was fantastic. If you’re a foodie like me and more importantly, a foodie with a sweet tooth and love Paris, you’ll love following Amy around as she makes Paris her home for a year.  The second book I took on holiday but didn’t get around to starting was Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, it’s a book I will start soon. I’m usually quite good about reading but the problem was, I couldn’t read on the beach or by the pool without my reading glasses, something I have reluctantly caved into after realising these last 6 months that if I want to read and not just a book or magazine but anything – labels or instructions on food, medication, washing instructions etc. Then I need reading glasses, alas a sign of aging ☹ but I also need my sunglasses too so I quickly found out that I couldn’t really read while sunbathing unless I was under the shade of the umbrella but then I wouldn’t tan, what a dilemma!!but I did have my ipod so that made up for it some ways and left the reading to late afternoon or just before bed.

What I wore on holiday:

I’m no style icon or fashion blogger but during the day, I wore a lot of short sundresses rather than shorts and I had a range of 4 bikinis mostly from CocoBay and beach cover-ups, I’ve also grown to love Accessorize for their fun and affordable beach dresses, flip-flops and costume jewellery. In the evening I chose to wear bejeweled flats rather than high heels and some fitted dresses from the White Company, long flowy but sexy sun dresses and some short brightly coloured dresses, I’m a huge fan of red which looks great against a tan. It was all about comfort without compromising on style as the evenings in Paphos can be quite humid. That goes for make-up too, all too often, I would try to apply concealer to sweaty skin only to see it slide off!! I usually increased the air conditioning and patted my skin with a tissue then applied make-up as quickly as possible blotting and finishing with a matt powder, my favourite for the last 8 years is LauraMercierTranslucentSettingPowder there’s no colour, it just sets make-up perfectly, I usually use the set powder and a brush to get rid of residue.

My holiday:

I’ve got lots of exciting posts coming up all about my holiday including the hotel I stayed in so watch this space, but my holiday was all about relaxing by the pool and beach, lots of food and cocktails, day trips and my family in Paphos of course. With temperatures as high as 35-37 degrees, it was poolside fun with my son and daughter and sunbathing although I can’t seem to handle the sun as much as I used to anymore or rather, I found it quite boring to be there from 10am to 6:00pm like a lot of people. Most days, we took trips to the harbor in the morning after breakfast which was a 10-minute bus ride. When the rest of the family joined us in the second week, we had the luxury of a hire car and we know Paphos very well so it’s not a problem finding our way around town. There’s so much to see and do at the harbour in Kato Paphos but mainly, it’s just nice to sit down with a chilled coffee which the Greeks called Frappe’s while looking out to the blue, blue sea beyond, could there be anything better?

I loved visiting my family again who live in Yeroskipou which has now become a central part of Paphos rather than a village on it its own as it used to be years ago when I was little. Until the rest of the family arrived, my uncle would come to the hotel and collect us for the 10 minute drive to his house.  My kids don’t speak Greek because I always found it hard to speak to them in Greek when English is my first language, I do sometimes regret it, but I have just accepted it, it’s just how it is nevertheless, this did not take away from how much my kids enjoyed going to see my uncle and my cousins.

Coming back home:

No one likes coming home and it was heart-wrenching for me to say goodbye to my family and the island. Cyprus grips me and pulls at my heart every time I visit, there is an undeniable connection you can’t fight and leaving Paphos left me quite depressed for a few days. I’ve vowed not to leave it another seven years before our next visit, so I am hoping to go back in 2-3 years’ time. Of course, now there is the mountain of laundry to deal with but enough of that.

Looking forward to September:

September is mine and my daughter’s birthday month so there’s lots to look forward to.  Heading back to the Ritz was something we had planned for my birthday, but I told Mr LmP that I preferred to take an extra couple of trips to Paris for the blog and delaying that for another birthday since we were there only a few months ago for our anniversary but I will be having Afternoon Tea at the Ritz with my mum on my birthday.

Instead we are going to stay overnight in a hotel near Tower Bridge where I attended a blogging event and enjoying dinner in an Italian Tapas restaurant in Victoria I will also be going to the Coral Room as a guest to enjoy brunch this Sunday. I have something lovely planned for my daughter for her birthday and as always, I will baking her a cake too! Because she loves sushi so much, I think I will be taking her back to her favourite Sake no Hana for lunch and then probably a visit to the cinema.  Having done a lot of thinking about whether I keep my part time job or not, I’ve decided for now to keep the job providing I can change my days from Thursday/Friday to Monday and Tuesday so that I can be around for my daughter on the two most important days of her school calendar, this is GCSE year so it’s crucial that I support her in every way possible. I will try to combine the blog and my family commitments with work for as long as I can, but I have a feeling that after Christmas, I will say goodbye to the job in favour of blogging full time. I truly believe that to make a career out of it, I must dedicate as much time to it as possible.

That’s all for now, thank you for following my blog and please come back as I have several posts all about Cyprus, the hotel I stayed in and top thing to do in Paphos and Cyprus, until then……

Helen XxX