29 Things That Make Me Happy: Taking Pictures

So for those of you who don't know, it's my birthday month! Yupp, shout out to all September babies out there, we the best! For those who would disagree, please recall that Beyonce is a September baby! BOOM! Haha. For some reason I'm pretty excited about this birthday even though I have no plans and no plans to make real plans. Lol. I just want a cake and some friends around me... Anyways this month I've decided to do "29 Things That Make Me Happy" and share one every day on the blog. Two reasons really, it will help me be a more consistent blogger! Haha. And also it will remind me of all the beautiful things that life offers, has offered and will offer me by God's grace as I get ready to start a new chapter of my life.

Today is Day 1 and so I'd share the first one...

Taking Scenic Pictures

 I took this one on a very rainy day at the Lake District, England. The rainbow literally lasted seconds and I was so happy I got the picture. (Exploring England: Misadventures at the Lake District)

This is from Salford, a city really near Manchester that I cycled to one summer afternoon. (Exploring Manchester: Media City, Salford Quays)

A beautiful sunrise in Cardiff, U.K! (Exploring England: Sunrise on Barry Island)

The Lekki-Ikoyi bridge in Lagos, Nigeria. Still called the "new" bridge by many Lagosians! (A Few Shots in Lagos)

Fisherman's Land in the beautiful country of The Gambia about six summers ago. No link because this was waaay before I started blogging!

I'm not a photographer but I really enjoy taking pictures, they are the best way to keep memories intact. These pictures are never planned which makes me love them more, God just keeps reminding us that he is the greatest artist ever.

Feel free to join me on this #29thingsthatmakemehappy journey, even if you're not born in September, it's always nice to think on things that would make you smile! I'd be hashtagging on instagram too. @renijohnson

The Mark Addy Surprise: Life's Random Moments!

So it's one of those rainy days here and I'm busy reminiscing on summer days. I can't believe I forgot to tell you guys about this particularly awesome day! It was nice and sunny and a couple of friends and I decided to take a stroll around town and since my favourite photographer was around I decided to take my camera out with me and have a couple of impromptu lessons! First up we had flowers! The first couple of pictures came out a bit like this:

Not great at all right?? I know, I kind of suck(ed) but after a couple of trys it got a lot better!

I learnt a lot of technical jargon about aperture, shutter speed, ISO and when to use flash, which apparently is never! Lol. Next I got to do building and bridges whilst we strolled towards Salford, I love photographing interesting buildings, I find it so much more interesting that photographing people. Which you might think is a little weird but hey! It is what it is.

I really liked the colours in this picture, that burnt rustic orange that's so typical of Manchester buildings. 

Whilst I was busy taking pictures of bridges Tomi and Nnamdi were arguing about whether Salford is a city or a part of Manchester and since I had refused to join in their argument (I just wanted to google it) they decided to ask a random stranger! Well turns out that Salford IS in fact a city and apparently the only city within a city in the world and the random stranger was not just a Salford native but the owner of the lovely pub Mark Addy that Tomi had been trying to make us go to! He told us to head in there if we fancied a drink or two and then disappeared somewhere.

Doesn't it look so unassuming in the background over there? Don't be fooled, it's pretty massive! P.S. Check Tomi out, looking all cute and shit! Lol

We got inside and settled down to order our drinks and browse the food menu when we saw the owner again. He was such a friendly down-to-earth guy and came over to have a little chat with us about Salford and why he chose the name Mark Addy and then bought our first round of drinks! There's nothing more awesome than free drinks, trust me! Seeing as we were pretty hungry and just got some free drinks, I decided to ditch the diet and fill up on a sandwich and fries. This wasn't just any ordinary sandwich though, it was full of flavour and much much better than the cold stuff you get at Sainsbury's or Boots!

Tomi and Nnamdi went for the fish and chips which was quite yummy as well and Nnamdi managed to bag the very last plate of chocolate eclairs. 

Much to his chagrin I'm sure he ended up sharing this with us as soon as we smelt it! By far the best part of the meal!

We got another round of drinks, paid our bill and headed off after saying bye to our new friend (at this point he was behind the bar helping his staff pour a couple of beers, see what I mean about being down-to-earth?). It's funny how life treats you with these random little surprises from time to time you know. Who would have thought that little old me would have ever met the owner of such a popular pub and get free drinks from it! Seriously if you are ever in the area and fancy a drink definitely head there, it cost us all less than a tenner each as well! We strolled back home extremely content!

On that note, enjoy your Sunday evening guys, in a few hours the madness will start again! And don't forget to appreciate life's little moments this week.

Reni x