Highlights of 2013 - Part 3 - Glorious Goodwood Indeed

Hurrah! Tickets had arrived for Goodwood - we were going to celebrate my lovely friend Sarah's birthday and it was time for a new dress. I opted for this number from ASOS (it has now become one of my trusty favourites in the wardrobe, and you lucky things, it's now in the sale here).

And it wasn't 100% accidental that my boyfriend and I were so well co-ordinated. Love the Panama!

This man and I were slightly less well co-ordinated, although thankfully he wasn't my boyfriend, he was just casually photobombing my photo.

We headed out to buy our lucky tickets and waited excitedly for the first race. I'm not really much of a gambler. After having the odds explained, and how best to make your selection, I opted to go for the 'I like the sound of that one' technique. I'm pretty sure this is what most people do, but just pretend to have some well thought out reasoning behind their choice. Surely?

After watching a few races from the ground, we headed upstairs to get a different view, and ended up setting up camp in the sun in Gordon's bar.

The day raced by (no pun intended, honest), and a few jugs of Pimms later, we went to place our final bets. Now, a fair few of my 'I like the sound of that one' selections had some relation to my furry feline friends. When 'Pal of the Cat' was listed as a runner in the final race, it was an easy choice. We took to our seats in the Grandstand to watch the horses come in.

And would you believe it that Pal of the Cat won? I placed a £5 bet, and won £140! As I said, I am not a gambler, so this was a first for me.

And so, with the races over, and the sun still shining, we headed down stairs to celebrate. 

And celebrate we did, dancing about in the afternoon sun to some great live music. Beginner's luck? Probably, but I think my love for the furry ones worked in my favour that day!

Highlights of 2013 - Part 2 - Henley Royal Regatta

Henley Royal Regatta - the perfect excuse to get dressed up and spend the day drinking Pimms in the sunshine.

It was the hottest day of the year so far, and we started off on the river banks with a few bottles of fizz. The banks were packed with people cooling off and dipping their legs into the water. With little space or shade out there, we were pretty pleased that we were lucky enough to have badges for Stewards enclosure this year, all thanks to my lovely friend Sarah who organised them for us. This meant we had access to the stands to watch the rowing, and also to the large array of champagne, Pimms and seafood bars. So once we'd had been checked that we were all appropriately covered up in the right places, we headed in and hit the champagne bar.

It really was so hot, once we had a cool glass in hand, I don't think any of us even thought about rowing for the next hour at least!

Once cooled off, we made our way over to the stands to watch some rowing. I can't really claim to know much about rowing, but it was still exciting none the less, and who doesn't enjoy cheering on very fit men in lyrca?

Oh hi beaut!

Oh, and another!

Oh and a few more. Aren't my friends looking dapper?

Phew, that was hot work - time for another Pimms or tw. At this point our group of 12 had become a three, so we hedged our bets and headed to the Mahiki tent to find our pals. It wasn't long before we found them sipping on their Pina Coladas and settled down with the rest of the tent to watch Andy Murray win the title at Wimbledon.

And what better way to end such a good day? A party in the car on the way home. (I do have videos, but I've decided to be kind and keep these to myself - I'm not sure I'd be forgiven for sharing!)

And one final drink at our local. I think I might get this dressed up for a trip to the pub more often! :)

Henley Royal Regatta is on from the 2nd - 6th July 2014. Tickets to Stewards were great fun, but not essential if you can't get them - just plan to get there early so you can get a good spot on the river bank and set up camp. More info here.