Scenes From My Weekend

Last weekend, Tom and I had an early birthday weekend, as we won’t be together for our actual birthdays. Tom’s birthday is two days before mine, but unfortunately, we’ll both be working on his birthday, and I’m away for mine. Instead, we decided to do presents and dinner last weekend.

1. I’ve posted the Wonder Woman Converse on here several times now, and clearly Tom has been paying attention! I’m chuffed to bits to have them, and don’t think they’re going to be off my feet much now. Apparently, I have another present coming, but it didn’t get delivered in time. I am beyond excited to see what it is, as Tom did so well with the shoes!
2. We’re both mad for Gourmet Burger Kitchen, so we headed off for some burgers as big as our heads, and dived head first into some Oreo milkshakes.
3. OREO MILKSHAKES!
4. As well as winning with the present, Tom also got me the best card ever. Giles!
5. I treated myself to some new shoes. Both pairs are Marks and Spencer. This pair are less pink in real life, but really pretty!
6. The colour of these hasn’t come out right either, they’re really bright red. So many awesome new shoes!

I’m excited about how much awesome stuff I’ve got coming up in the next couple of weeks; birthday, a Muse gig, Comic Con…loooooots of lifestyle posts coming up, you guys!

Top 10 Guilty Pleasures

I think we all like to think that most of the time we are at least vaguely sophisticated, and some of us even develop tastes for things that make us feel very grown-up, like olives, french cinema or red wine. But let’s face it, we all also like stuff that is actually rather naff.

I’ll make you a deal. I’ll share some of my guilty pleasures with you, if you share yours with me.

Musicals
If it’s got a show-tune and a knock-out dance routine in it, I. Am. There. I like all kinds of musicals, from the classics of the stage like Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera, old movies like Singin’ In The Rain and more modern musicals like Footloose and Avenue Q. I know all the words to a disturbing number of songs from the shows.

I took ages to decide which clip to share to go with this, and in the end had to go with Grease. It’s one of the first musicals I remember watching. Plus, John Travolta in this movie? Yes. Tell me about it, stud.

80s Movies
Me and my old flatmate used to have Footloose ready to go on top of the DVD player at all times, for emergencies when you might need the dance scene in the warehouse to cheer you up (try it, it’s hilarious). We both love a good 80s flick, be it a Brat Pack movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Flashdance. My personal favourite is The Breakfast Club.

 90s Pop
Shameful, I know, but I think this is mostly nostalgia. Me and my best friend had a fantastic road trip not so long ago, singing along loudly to the Spice Girls greatest hits. Just watch girls who were growing up in the 90s at a party or at a cheesy club if they play something by the Spice Girls or B*Witched. I know I’m not the only one.

Facebook Stalking
You know you do it too.

Eating entire tubs of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream
Ok, I haven’t actually done this since university, but woah, is it good. Pass the Cookie Dough.

Bad TV shows
I’m not talking Jersey Shore or TOWIE, that’s too bad, even for me, but I will happily marathon watch anything with Gok Wan, and I have a secret love for Project Runway, Queer As Folk USA (I may or may not own several box sets of this) and Man Vs Food, amongst others. I think Queer As Folk USA could have a place on the list all it’s own. I’m not much of a shipper, but Brian and Justin are very definitely my One True Pairing. So many feels!

Sad Songs
I really don’t know why, but I love a good bad tragic ballad or a song that tugs at the heart-strings. This kind of overlaps with my love of musicals, as most of my favourites are songs from musicals, like I Know Him So Well from Chess, There’s A Fine, Fine Line from Avenue Q and A Little Fall Of Rain from Les Miserables. My love does extend outside the world of the West End though, with Abba’s The Winner Takes It All, Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black and Frank Sinatra’s One More For The Road holding places on my favourites lists (eclectic lot there!). My all-time favourite, and possible my favourite song actually, has to be Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah.

Wasting Hours On The Internet
Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter. The internet is a blackhole for time.

Junk Food
Giant bags of jelly tots, burgers the size of my head, excessive amounts of pizza. Gimme.

Drinking On A ‘School Night’
I don’t do this so much these days, but in my previous jobs, I was often still to be found with a drink in hand when I had to be at work the next morning. Shocking behaviour.

Over to you!

Life Lately

1. Bath has some seriously cool street performers, especially now that’s the weather has picked up and there’s more tourists around. This chap is Dick Danger, who does an incredible act with a 20ft Chinese pole. For his grand finale, he dives from the top of the pole, to land head first in a bucket of water. If you don’t believe, there’s a video clip of him performing this stunt at the end of the post.
2. Today, Mum’s been up for a visit, and we went to the Jane Austen Centre. Jane Austen lived in Bath, and frequently visited before she lived here, so there’s quite strong ties with Austen and Bath. She based two of her novels here. The museum was quite small, but interesting. This regency frock is rather smart, huh?
3. Sally Lunn’s is meant the oldest tearooms in Bath and is home to the original Bath Bun. We didn’t go in this time, but the building is very pretty.
4. The Abbey in the sun.
5. I’ve been back to Bea’s Vintage Tearooms again, to sample some more cake and some of their delicious lemonade. Perfect in this hot weather.
6. Bea’s Vintage Tearooms cake selection. I’ll take a slice of each.

The weather has been bloody gorgeous here again today, and I’ve got rather pink shoulders to show for it. I’m keeping everything crossed that this keeps up.

Here’s the promised clip of Dick Danger and his death defying stunts!

Mini Haul

Living in one of the most beautiful cities around has it pitfalls; mostly that it costs me a small fortune to live here. I’ve had to really check my spending since moving here, and it’s been absolutely ages since I bought anything that wasn’t an absolute essential. This month I’ve had a couple of unexpected windfalls (thanks council tax refund), and while I’ve been sensible with most of it and squirreled it away, I thought I was well overdue a little shopping spree, as I’ve been so horrendously broke lately.

White Vest Top – H&M: Not the most exciting purchase, but I love these vest tops from H&M. They have adjustable straps, so you can make them fit perfectly, and avoid that annoying straps falling off your shoulders situation. I have these in several different colours, and wear them under shirts and such-like. My white one is not very white anymore after several too many trips through the washing machine, so I picked up a replacement.  

Cry Baby Vest – H&M: This doesn’t seem to be online anymore, so I can’t link it, but you can still get these in stores. Anyway, Cry Baby is a brilliant, if bizarre, early Johnny Depp film. It’s set in the 50s, and basically Johnny is rather delicious in it, so I couldn’t resist this vest. It’s got those really low armholes, so I’ll be wearing this with a strappy top or a bandeau top underneath. I’m looking forward to wearing this with denim shorts in the summer.

Sandals – Dorothy Perkins: Dorothy Perkins had 20% off shoes in store today, and I needed some summer sandals. I’ve got a gold pair from a couple of holidays ago, but I really wanted some simple black sandals for knocking around. These have got little diamante bits on the straps, but they’re really simple, and exactly what I wanted.

Feather Necklace – Dorothy Perkins: Also sold out online, so no link, I’m afraid. I spied this on my way to the till. I love delicate jewellery, and the bargain price made sure this was coming home with me.

Memoirs of a Geisha: There’s a good second-hand bookshop on the way back from the centre of town, so I popped in on my way home for an explore. I picked this up, as shockingly, I haven’t read it, despite hearing great reviews. I’ve actually not seen the film either, so maybe if I enjoy this I’ll make the effort to actually see the film.

MUA Pro Palette – Undressed: This palette is supposed to be a really good dupe for the Urban Decay Naked palette that all the beauty bloggers went gaga for. I’ve never tried the Naked palette, as it’s bloody pricey, but I’ve been loving a nude eye look lately, so decided to give the Undressed palette a whirl. I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

The weather has been gorgeous here again in Bath, so I really enjoyed my stroll into town. As always, there were great street performers around, including an acrobat I hadn’t seen before. I’ve got some pictures to share of him, but I think I’ll save them for my next life lately post.

I’ve got an extra day off work this weekend for the bank holiday, so I’ll be getting in some much needed relaxing, and getting a visit from my mum on Monday. What’s everyone else doing with their bank holiday?

Joules–VIB

Some rather exciting emails have been dropping into my inbox lately, the most recent being a invitation from Joules. Tomorrow, Joules are opening a brand new flagship store in Bath, and tonight, the fashionable set in Bath, including those deemed by Joules to be VIBs (Very Important Bloggers), were invited along to check out the new store before its official opening.

Joules wasn’t a brand I was familiar with, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The new store is beautiful, and an absolute TARDIS. The small store front suddenly opens out into a big, bright shopping space. The store was pretty packed, so I didn’t manage to take many photos there, but I have got some pictures of the swag I carried away to share.

We all got a goody bag on the way out. The bags are so pretty; I’ll be saving mine to store something away in. They’re too cute to go out in the recycling. In my goody bag, as well as some vouchers, I had a little chocolate hare and a very pretty journal. I’m mad for stationery, so as you can imagine, I was pretty pleased with my goodies.

Tonight, Joules were offering 25% off everything (the discount is running in store until the 6th May, those of you in/near Bath), but I really struggled to choose what I wanted. The current collection is themed around ‘British Summertime’, which really shows in the bright colours and classic florals. I swung back and forth between buying a fox print scarf, an umbrella printed with Mallard ducks, polka dot pumps and flip-flops printed with a beach scene. I was very hard on myself, ignoring all the beautiful clothes out of my budget, and restricted myself to one thing. I eventually chose these:

You all know I’m crazy for polka dots, so I guess the likelihood of my leaving without these little canvas pumps was pretty small. They’re simple, classic, and so cute, and they’ll be perfect now the weather is finally improving. I love the little twist of the soles being different colours!

The event was brilliant, with trays of Champagne and canapes everywhere you turned, and a few local offerings from Dawkin’s Ales and The Bath Sausage Shop. There was also live music from Murray Hockridge, who played beautifully. I lingered around for ages, soaking up all the bright cheeriness of the shop, listening to the music and sipping Champagne. Not a bad Spring evening at all.

Croeso i Caerdydd

This weekend Tom and I headed off to Cardiff, so Tom could face the terrifying ordeal that is meeting your girlfriend's dad.

I haven’t been in Cardiff for ages, despite it being my very favourite city, so I was pretty happy to be back, especially as we were lucky enough to get some beautiful weather in.

On Friday night, Tom nearly melted himself from the inside with a seriously hot curry (the rest of us weren’t quite so brave), and then we all proceeded to empty the alcohol cabinet. Drinking at my dad’s is a dangerous affair. He and his girlfriend have a habit of just handing you a drink, or topping your glass up, so it’s easy to drink far more than you realise.

On Saturday, the weather turned out gorgeous, so we set off for a walk and some lunch in Cardiff Bay.

I’m a bit pleased to have achieved my first outdoor drink of the year. We sat outside by the water, and it was blissful. This might be one of my favourite parts of Summer, chilling out in the sun with a drink. It looks a bit grey in the above picture, but I promise it was beautiful most of the time.

Dad’s girlfriend Kate and I have a silly tradition of riding the carousel in Cardiff Bay. We did it once on a whim when we went for dinner on my birthday a few year ago, and we’ve kind of kept it up. We couldn’t persuade Dad and Tom to come with us, because they are boring. 

So, Torchwood fans, does this look familiar to you? Torchwood used to be filmed in Cardiff, mostly around the Bay. The entrance is shown by this huge silver sculpture thing (which sometimes has water running down it). Actually, there are two entrances to Torchwood. One is now covered by the Ianto memorial, but this one is still there. Anyway, as you may have noticed, Tom’s coat bears a striking resemblance the coat of a certain time-traveller.

What do you think? Excuse the appalling quality of the second image. It’s a still from the show, so it’s pretty grainy, but as Jack Harkness is standing in the exact spot, I had to include it. Tom isn’t a Torchwood fan, really, he just happens to have a similar coat, but it was funny watching people clocking him in the coat in the perfect place.

Next stop on our adventure tower of Cardiff was Barry Island. I’ve shared pictures of Barry before, mostly of the various Gavin and Stacey filming locations. This time, we played Crazy Golf. Tom and I lost, and so had to buy Dad and Kate coffee. It was a close game though and we had a lot of fun.

Tom and I headed back to Bath on Sunday night, and met some friends for dinner on Monday night. One of my old work colleagues came to visit us, bringing with him a picture of another old colleague, who was missing out on the reunion fun.

Here we are being highly entertained by how pathetic my fist looks in comparison to Martyn’s, and being photo-bombed by the touring picture.

I’m shattered now after a busy weekend, and was very sad to say goodbye to Tom today. However, I’ve got a bank holiday ahead, so chin up! Anyone else been having good weekend adventures?

Afternoon Tea

My friend Annette came to stay last weekend, and just for a change, we decided to be refined ladies, and take in the sights of Bath, instead of exploring the cocktail bars. The weather was beautiful on Saturday, so we headed out into town. We had a good dig round the vintage shops and charity shops (they are some awesome finds, thanks to Bath being full of posh people!), and then decided to take ourselves to Bea’s Vintage Tearooms for afternoon tea, like classy ladies. We chose the afternoon tea for two, and pot of Assam Breakfast Tea.

The tea came with a proper strainer, and an even an egg timer to tell us when the tea was properly brewed! I’m mad for the pretty crockery in the tearooms. I’ve begun gathering some pretty teacups of my own, but I obviously need more.

The afternoon tea was amazing. We had three kinds of sandwiches (smoked salmon, cucumber, and egg and cress), buttermilk scones and two kinds of cake (Victoria Sponge and a lemon cake with lemon meringue topping). Everything was delicious. Annette and I cut the two cakes in half so we could try both, and they were perfect. I’m not actually that big of a fan of Victoria Sponge cake usually, but it was seriously yummy.

• Jumper from Next
• Necklace from Dorothy Perkins
• Sunglasses – Ray Ban, thrifted

How do you like the Ray Bans? We’re pretty sure they’re genuine, after comparing them to Annette’s, but I picked these up on Saturday for £1! Serious  charity shop win, right there.

Suitably full of cake and tea, we went back out into the sun for a walk around Bath, before stocking up on ice lollies and cider, to consume in my flat with all the windows open. All in all, we had a pretty perfect sunny day.I swear they’re not paying me, but we had a fantastic afternoon in Bea’s Vintage Tearooms, and it’s definitely a must visit if you’re in Bath.