More panda-y goodness

I may have started a second blog, dedicated to all things panda...

You can find it here:

Enjoy!

Panda time

I haven't done much over the last week. And that feels alright.

One thing that has been putting a smile on the face (apart from remembering that I'm going to the Royal Opera House this weekend!), is the Chengu Pambassador facebook page.

They basically fill my timeline with cute panda pictures, which make me smile on a daily basis...

The panda quest continues

The main reason for driving to Madrid whilst all sane Spaniards were heading to the coast was that Madrid has a zoo, and in that zoo they have four pandas! That's a lot of panda-y goodness. After my slightly disappointing encounter with the two at Edinburgh Zoo, we figured four pandas would definitely do the trick :)

Questionnaire-y type post

Whilst I was off on my jaunts (which I will be blogging about over the next few days), two of my blogging friends (Elle at eat run sail and Mrs DiscoBows at Disco & Bows) nominated me for a Liebster Award. It's not my normal type of post, but here goes...

Liebster is a German word that means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

Rules for receiving this award:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Then answer the questions the tagger sent for them, plus create 11 questions for the people they’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Notify the people you have tagged.
5. No tag backs.

Things about me:
1) I love the sea.
2) I love flying.
3) I'm very good at starting projects and not very good at finishing them. Hopefully, as I age I'm starting to buck this trend.
4) Gardening is a particular example of the above - I love gardening and always start with lots of good intentions and end up not giving the plants enough care and attention.
5) I'm much too worried about what other people think of me and I hate thinking that someone might be laughing at me.
6) If I could do everything I want to, I would need to be a superhero! My ideal weekly activities would be: 2-3 ballet lessons, karate lesson, homegroup, swimming, 1-2 runs, Spanish and/or French lessons, meeting with friends and one quiet night in.
7) I roller skated a LOT as a child (think artistic skating, like ice dancing). I was never great at it but got to the point of landing the odd double jump, which is pretty cool. I am, consequently, quite at home on eight wheels.
8) I have big feet (due to being tall). The other day, a shop assistant in a Spanish department store almost laughed when I asked for a shoe in my size (and it wasn't because of my awful Spanish pronunciation!).
9) I do both ends of the spectrum - tomboy-one-of-the-lads rigging (e.g. for fireworks) and lady-what-lunches (dressing up and enjoying dining out).
10) The fact that I've worked on about 30 fireworks shows does not dull my excitement when I see a show. Sometimes I even jump up and down when watching.
11) Pandas :)

Today in pictures (part one)

Road tripping :)

A panda-spotting mission

Ever since the pandas arrived at Edinburgh Zoo in December, I've been half-heartedly dreaming about a trip to see them. Pandas have been my favourite animals since I was a little girl - one year my mother made me a panda t-shirt for my birthday because she couldn't find one in the shops. Another year, my most prized present was a panda book. You could say I'm a bit obsessed.

Monday morning involved an early start to check-in for our flight. It also accidentally involved three breakfasts! By 11.30am, we were checking into the glorious (and highly-patterned) Hotel Missoni. You have to check out their photo gallery - the place is amazing!

wild crockery :)

pretty bed linen