Saturday 22 December 2012

Simple things...

Sometimes it isn't big things that puts a smile on your face instead it can be little things like unexpected surprises.

It might just be a little extra with in your parcels or it can be something you've just stumbled upon... as I headed for a bus and found this shop where the Oasis used to be in Chapel Walk.


It's full of Sheffield made food, crafts and hand picked books! Why did I just discover this?

There's also a few slightly bigger things which have lit up my evenings.

The Tardis and a Dalek! Always good thing in my book... as well as a few other silly things such as taking part in my work's festive bake off, turkey sandwiches, lunchtime drinks, bacon butties and lunches with Paul.
 He had a pie Friday and I stuffed myself silly with a lovely tasty burger along with a generous portion of chips.... I was stuffed!

All good tasty festive fun! Now time to crack on with the marathon wrapping and house sorting session and then head out again...


Tuesday 11 December 2012

Random Christmas shopping finds.

Recently I've been trying to find presents for a selection of my family and the ginger one so I've been scouring high and low on the Internet.  In the process I've come across a few crazy things, some quirky things and some pretty brilliant things as well.

One of the things that caught my eye and diverted my attention was this...
It looks like fun for my kitties then again it may encourage them to try to take over the house and then the world! (Also it's made of cardboard and requires some assembly...  and they're happy enough with ordinary boxes.)

Then again if this is the sort of thing your feline overlords would enjoy you can get it here for £14.99.

I've also found a half day outdoor rock climbing taster session for  £25.00 here which would be perfect for thrill seekers or me... however, I must remember I'm not shopping for me! Boo!

So I plodded on and then got distracted by this...

Yes, a book full of red heads to colour in! Brilliant! I mean interesting and quirky.  (Yes, of course that's exactly what I mean...) If you fancy colouring in some fiery read heads or gorgeous gingers you can get this here for £7.99.

I also found a solution for taking my tea from the kitchen on the third floor to my desk on the second floor without the risk of being told off by Kev.
Yep, a mug with a lid! Oh and does it look familiar?  Yes I think this would make me look right cool and wouldn't at all get nicked from the kitchen cupboard... or I could just stick with my silver and black mug flask. Boring but practical, what can you do?  If you disagree you can get this for yourself for £11.69 here.

I must admit that these also caught my eyes...
They combine three of my loves baking, biscuits and dinosaurs which makes them amazing!
I Want One of Those had these but sold out but Firebox has them here also for £7.99 as well as...
Muchstaches! A bit late for movember but maybe next year...


Oh and they also have these Ninjabreadmen which would be great for NaNoWriMo write-ins!

Sadly I haven't used my last lot of biscuit and cookie cutters half as much as I'd like to they'll have to remain online and not in my cupboards.

So these have been the some of the surprises I've found whilst Christmas shopping.  What have you found?



Sunday 9 December 2012

Pie is for life not just for Fridays!

On Saturday I was informed that The Nottingham in Broomhill was now doing food and that this food was pie!  I thought this could only be a good thing as I do like a nice pie...

The menu wasn't huge but there were about five pies to choose from for £5.95 with a choice of chips or mash potato and mushy peas if you like that sort of thing. I had a chicken, Serrano ham and asparagus pie and chips which is pictured above.  Shortly after I took this picture I poured Hendersons relish over my chips and gravy on top of the pie.

It was very tasty hearty food and I definitely recommend it if you're in Broomhill!

Monday 3 December 2012

How not to write a novel the end of NaNoWriMo 2012.

So I ended up finding out a few things this November.

50,000 words is a lot of words. I mean a lot! It's hard to write 1,667 words of fiction a day, work full time and maintain a blog. (As well as buy a new laptop when your old one dies on you!)  Sadly the blog got put on standby a little.

Its taken some writing before work in the morning, a bit more writing during a few of my lunch breaks, a lot of writing in the evenings after work and most of my weekends but I managed to do it.  I managed to write 50,000 words in 29 days!

It was late on Thursday evening after coming back from seeing The Ravonettes that I won and got this badge.



It feels good to win!  Especially after not managing to reach 50,000 words last year.

This year I've found that telling people about my writing, talking to other people who were doing the same thing and looking after myself eating breakfast and whatever I fancied really helped.

I must admit that on the 30th of November I went to work, then got home and crashed.  No writing was done not even a blog post or gig review!  Since then I've fiddled with the novel a few times but have only written a few hundred words. 

I'm hoping to pick up the pace and complete a reasonable first draft by the end of the month or if things don't get too crazy by Christmas. (Mad! I know...)  Still I've promised to let people read this one so I better get cracking!

Sunday 11 November 2012

How not to write a novel: NaNoWriMo day eleven.

Today started a little later than expected but pleasantly as Paul brought me breakfast in bed.

When I eventually came around I got up and started writing and managed to knock out about 1,000 or so words before having a short break to sort out the house a little writing another few thousand words and going shopping.

After returning and playing freezer jenga, wherein you balance half the contents of the freezer around the edges of the open freezer, insert nine pizzas then try to shove everything else back in.

Then I had a cup of tea and some stolen Soreen. (Sorry Mum!) Got cracking on my writing again for an hour before starting to make my tea, a lovely Moussaka...

If you've ever made this you know it's not the fastest meal but on the plus side it makes loads! So guess what I'm having for tea tomorrow and my lunch the day after that...

I fitted in a few hundred more words when the Moussaka cooked in the oven and then finally managed to edge up to and then beyond my word count just after lunch. Brilliant!

OK, maybe I only managed to write 41 words more than my target word count but every little helps right?

So I'm starting the week on a word count of 18,374 and am hoping not to slip off target when I go back to work tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

How not to write a novel: day ten of NaNoWriMo.

Today was an unexpectedly lazy day. All week I had expected to have to get up around 8 and get Paul to work, because of this I had formulated plans to take my laptop with me whilst dropping him off and to write in the library as I waited.

Thankfully he didn't have to work today so I got to have a well deserved lie in.  Then I ended up in procrastination station having breakfast, having a bath, putting the washing on, doing the pots, popping to the shop for bread and milk, making lunch, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, putting the washing out...

Eventually when it came to late afternoon/early evening I settled down to write and managed about 1,000 words before realising I'd have to sort out tea.

So I paused my writing made some chips, wrote about another sentence and then made an omelette to go with the chips and what felt like hours later had my tea whilst watching Burn Notice.

After that I had a bit of a slump and only felt like playing with my cats and reading things on the Internet but I tore myself away from the Internet, made another drink and managed to write another thousand and a bit words.

I could probably write more but I think that the standard might go down hill so it's probably best to quit when your not trailing as far behind as you were this morning and hit the sack for another writing marathon the next day.

Friday 9 November 2012

How not to write a novel: day nine of NaNoWriMo.

Today has been the first day that I've gotten up early to write and I managed to get a good few hundred words down before I stopped to get ready for work.

Then I lugged my laptop in with me in my big black laptop bag which makes me feel like a turtle and threw a few more sentences together over lunch in the quiet room. (It kind of became the chat about NaNo room for a short while but SHHHhh! Don't tell anybody!)

I was on a training course all day and finished a little later than I expected but this turned out to be a good thing as I met Paul on the bus home.  Sadly my luck ended there as all my will to write left me as I entered the front door.  I don't know what it was but for some reason I could only muster up a few more lines before admitting defeat. Tomorrow, hopefully tomorrow will bring better things!

Thursday 8 November 2012

How not to write a novel: day eight of NaNoWriMo.

Today was a bit of a mixed bag in that although I didn't manage to reach the 1667 words minimum word count to reach 50,000 words in a month I still felt like I didn't do badly.

Obviously there's still a lot of catching up to do but I think I thrive under pressure and having deadlines and targets really helps me.

I've also spoken to a few other people doing NaNoWriMo by email today which has helped in getting tips and keeping motivated.

So I've written over a thousand words which is a big improvement on yesterday I just hope that I can keep it up.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

How not to write a novel: day seven of NaNoWriMo.

Today was another low word count day.... I tried to repeat yesterdays success by bringing my laptop into work with me so I could write on my lunch again but this time I ended up going and getting fish, chips and a sausage for my lunch with a couple of the girls in my team instead.

Ooops! So I carried my laptop home and because I felt exhausted I bailed on my Bellydancing class.

I ended up moping about the house, having a nap and ordering a pizza.  When I sat myself down to write, it seemed as if I couldn't find a handful of words to put together and make a sentence so I gave it up for a bad job for the day.


Tuesday 6 November 2012

How not to write a novel: day six of NaNoWriMo.

Today was one of the better days where I actually managed to write a decent number of words!  I decided to bring my laptop to work with me today and after some trepidation about where to plug in my laptop in the kitchen at lunch I managed to find myself a spot under the TV in the corner.

Why is this an issue? Well the laptop I tend to write on is about five years old and the battery doesn't last all that long... about two minutes on average which can be very annoying when your in the middle of something!

After work I went to a Bollywood class where I danced up a sweat, came home had some tea and wrote a few more words before bed.

It was quite a productive day where I managed to beat the average word count although I sadly wasn't able to make up for yesterdays lack of productivity. Maybe tomorrow?


Monday 5 November 2012

How not to write a novel: day five of NaNoWrimo.

Today started off quite well for a Monday morning. I got up, ironed my clothes for the day, got the bus made some notes for the novel and went to work.

Everything went well up till about eleven o'clock when I started to feel tired.  Sadly I didn't get any less tired as the day progressed I actually got more drowsy and even the consumption of Malteasers couldn't help me!

So I've decided to call it a night and approach my writing with a fresh pair of eyes and hands in the morning.

Night night folks!

Sunday 4 November 2012

How not to write a novel: day four of NaNoWrimo.

Today didn't look as promising from the start as I had a bit of a lie in and then didn't start writing until after eating my lunch after two.

Strangely despite this I seem to have managed to write 3,187 words today....

How has this happened? I'm not sure... maybe it's because I've written a bit stopped, written a bit more had another break and carried on like this.

Another theory is that it maybe because my boyfriend has spent more time in the house today and has reminded me about not going on the Internet too much.

Maybe it's because I haven't left the house once today...

Then again is could be because the alternative to doing writing is ironing my outfits for the working week and because you cannot iron and eat Malteasers...

Whatever it was I hope I can keep some of this momentum up this week and am glad to be back on track.

Best get to bed now so I can get more written tomorrow. Night!

Saturday 3 November 2012

How not to write a novel: day three of NaNoWrimo.

Today was a day started full of good intentions!

I didn't have a lie in or a great deal of plans other than some nice company at lunch so I thought I might be able to beat my all time record of four thousand words in a day.

This was not to be the case...

I dropped Paul off at work, got home, washed some pots put the washing on jumped in the bath and then I spent far too long in the bath.

When I got out I thought there's still some time left so I wrote a bit of a review I was writing then wrote a bit of the novel before checking what the time was.  It was then that I realised it was nearly guest arrival time so I finished the rest of the pots and started to prepare the food.

After a nice lunch and a chat with my guests they left and I took Paul for some trainers, something I hadn't realised was on the itinerary... then trainers bought dropped him at the pub and finished that review off.

It was probably then I got the washing out of the machine and checked into procrastination station... looking at the Internet, checking Facebook, updating my word count every hundred or so words. It went slowly then I saw the time and went to pick Paul up from the pub but we got chatting and before we knew it the night was quite late!

So I whisked him away, got a takeaway then watched Stargate Universe and decided to call it a night.

Surely tomorrow has to go better?

Friday 2 November 2012

How not to write a novel: day two of NaNoWrimo.

Well today didn't go as well as planned... then again I do struggle with the idea of planning and fiction writing.

Today I didn't write anything in the day again and hoped to get all my writing done after work but by the time five o'clock rolled around I was shattered.

Nevertheless I headed home, sorted out tea and then started writing.

Then I got all worried about the quality of what I was writting and if it was turning into a script rather than a book.  After a bit more thought I carried on writing but sadly I only managed to write just over one thousand words.

If I keep that pace up I'll never make my target of 50,000 words I know quality is better than quantity but sometimes keeping up writing is more important to improving quality than dithering about is.

Maybe I'm rambling... I've started to fall asleep a bit at the keyboard so I'm going to head to bed now and try to catch up tomorrow.

Thursday 1 November 2012

How not to write a novel or NaNoWrimo time!

It doesn't seem like a year since I was last embarked on my last crazy NaNoWrimo challenge but time really flies!

Most of this last year I've been plodding away trying to finish my last novel with Paul's encouragement and not really getting anywhere very fast as I'd got a bit bored with the story and bored with writing it.  I had told myself that I couldn't do NaNoWrimo this year if I didn't finish the last one but with some encouragement I decided I may as well give it another try.

So I've decided to try and write 50,000 words in a month again for this year's NaNoWrimo.

If you'd like to take on this challenge or learn more about it then click here.

I'm writing as You'll Get What You're Given! If you are taking part and would like to add me as a writing buddy.

The novel I've started writing is called Time for Tea and so far I've written 1733 words on it, not bad going considering I've written it all after work.

Now time for a rest and to recharge my batteries for another day of writing I mean work!

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Happy Halloween!

It's that time of year again when the air gets chillier, the nights darker little ghouls come knocking on our doors and steal our sweeties...
Oh, yes I meant give some of our sweets to the trick and treaters who come to our doors and not get jealous when they take a bit handful.

I've been getting into the spirit of the season painting my mask from last year silver for the Goblin King's Masquerade  Ball...
As well as keeping warm after Saturdays snowfall by testing The Great Gatsby's new pies.
This one was lovely and warm and tasty, it has goats cheese and sweet potato in it, Paul wasn't too impressed by it but he was happy with his Classic burger so it's all good.

Now I just need to keep away from the scary monsters...

Like that one and wish you a Happy Halloween!



Saturday 13 October 2012

Recent adventures.

I've discovered that it's been a month since I last posted on this blog and it seems life managed to get in the way a bit there...  I guess I'm just an occasional blogger!

Recently I have been to see Allo Darlin play Queens Social Club on 6th September.
(Sadly my camera skills are nothing compared to the joy that is their songs!)

I caught a train down to Nottingham to watch the Hellfire Harlots battle the London Roller Girls Brawl Saints.

As well as to catch up with my sister and her boyfriend and their new house.

Later that week, on 12th September I grabbed some food in The Great Gatsby then popped into my car and headed up the Motorway to Leeds to see the rather lovely Beirut play the 02 Academy with my handsome boyfriend.

Then there was a lull as we both just worked hard and I tried to fit dance rehearsals in for The Beat around chilling out.

Near the end of September a strange construction graced Barkers Pool.
This turned out to be a Spiegeltent and part of the Festival of the Mind.  I went to an event put on by the Na Zdrove promoters on inside the Spiegeltent.  I wasn't sure what to expect but liked the look of bygone glamour and hope that extended to the inside.  Thankfully it did!  The night included an awful drag artist, three burlesque performers from Secrets of the Boudoir Burlesque, a comedian called Frank Sinazi and a band from Newcastle called The Baghdaddies.  As well as the Na Zdrove djs!



 A great night of cringing, cheering, laughing and dancing was had by all!

I also sampled the lovely food on offer at Maggie May's on 5th October whilst celebrating one of my work mates birthdays. I would've taken a picture but I ate it...

I also performed in The Beat 2012 on 6th October and danced a bollywood track and a bellydancing track.
For the weeks leading up to it I was wracked with nerves... but it all went alright on the night!  Obviously I took no pictures as I was too busy dancing. Maybe if I ever do it again I should give someone my phone to take pictures with!

Now I'm trying to get back in the swing of writing on a more regular basis, started my bellydance class again and have been debating also going to the bollywood class and maybe doing another show. Not entirely sure this is a good idea as the next one is just before Christmas though!

I've also been watching the Great British Bake off and making too many banana based foodstuffs (muffins and bread).  Now I'm just wondering what adventures lie in wait next?




Thursday 13 September 2012

Chocolate Utopia Nottingham - chocolate tasting.

In  a seemingly inconspicuous building on a main Nottingham bus route in the city centre, is the chocoholics dream Chocolate Utopia....  (The clue is in the name!)  It's a cafe, chocolate shop and chocolate factory all rolled into one. I've been lucky enough to have two trips there over the years once for their lovely hot chocolate many moons ago and more recently for a chocolate tasting session.

The first thing you notice when you enter the premises is the gorgeous aroma and of the chocolate filled cabinets.

Normally  Chocolate Utopia functions as a cafe with tables scattered around and throne like chairs available for customers to sit on; however, they prepared for their chocolate tasting session by arranging all their tables into one large table.

When  the chocolate tasting started we were offered a non-alcoholic beverage of our choice were given a chocolate menu to decide on a chocolate to accompany the drink.  Then once everyone had arrived and were comfortable the owners introduced themselves and explained the history of their business and got pictures, examples and samples out to demonstrate how chocolate is made.

As they explained this process we passed around a sample of a cocoa bean pod, crunched a smaller cocoa bean and sampled cocoa nibs and cocoa butter. Then we moved on to how chocolate is manufactured and we tried chocolate buttons with various levels of coco solids in them.

After we had tried these we had a little breather to stretch our legs then we went down stairs to see where the magic happens. (Or the place the chocolate is made to non-chocoholics!)  We gazed on the chocolate making machinery and were brought our choice of melted milk or dark chocolate in chocolate cups.  Then they brought out strawberries that had been dipped in milk chocolate and had then set.  These were lovely, I had a couple of them.

Once we were ready we ascended the stairs and had a quick breather before we were brought yet more chocolates to try! There was a variety from liquers to dark chocolates to truffles.  There were exotic flavours such as a thai food inspired chocolate and more conventional ones like milk chocolate truffles. We were even asked to try their works in progress such as the cheese chocolate which featured mature cheddar and dark chocolate.

There was lots of chocolates to sample and thankfully the owners gave us an option to save some of it and take it home with us in a doggy bag later.  We also had the option to take a few of the chocolate covered strawberries home with us which we were happy to do.

As we were leaving I tried to take a group photograph and one of the owners came out of the shop and kindly offered to take the picture for us.


It was a great night and I would recommend a visit to Chocolate Utopia to any chocoholic.




Sunday 9 September 2012

Home made tortillas!

The other day I accidentally tried a new recipe.  This recipe was a tortilla recipe in one of my cook books (Sam Stern's Real Food Real Fast) which had intrigued me for years but I never dared try... until now!  (We'll pretend that this was a moment of bravery rather than because all my local shops had run out of tortillas for some reason.)

To make them I used: 

225g plain white flour
1 tsp salt
25g butter
150ml warm water ( this is a rough estimate as I started off with the 125ml in the recipe but needed more...)
A sprinkle of herbs, I used oregano and basil.

I started off by measuring out my flour, then sifting it into my bowl and adding the salt and herbs to it.
Once I had done that I added weighed the butter and rubbed the butter into the flour mix until I couldn't see or feel it anymore. When I had rubbed the butter in I dug out my measuring jug and measured 125ml of warm water for the mix.

I then got a fork and stirred the mix with the fork as I added the water slowly until it wasn't really stirring very easily and at that point I tried to combine it all together with my hands.  It still seemed very dry and not very flexible so I added a bit more water and this made it easier to knead, however I probably put too much in and it got a bit sticky.  When I got it to a point where I was happy with it I covered it with clingfilm and left it for about 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes were up I dusted my kitchen side with flour and got the dough out of the bowl, then I divided it into 10 uneven balls.  I took one of the balls and rolled it for what seemed like an age until it seemed the right size for a tortilla, by this point it was incredibly thin... When I had rolled out my first tortilla I got the frying pan out and heated it for a few minutes before putting the tortilla on it.

As the first tortilla cooked I set about re-dusting my side with flour and rolling out the second one.  I did my first couple of tortillas like this and they became quite crispy but didn't brown. The third one ripped as I was rolling it, which caused a bit of cursing...  this was about the point where Paul came downstairs to help. 

I tasked Paul with keeping an eye on the cooking tortillas for me which helped make them a bit less brittle but we worked out that the dough was too dry after we had done a few more.  So Paul got the last remaining balls of dough added a bit more water to them, then helped me divide them equally before I rolled them out and finished cooking them. In the end a few of them even got a bit of colour on them! (Not many mind...)

Once done we put them aside whilst Paul made a vegetable fajita mix to fill them with, the more brittle ones made large quesadillas. All in all it was very tasty and I got to take the left overs with me to work for lunch the next day!

Obviously it is a lot easier and less frustrating time consuming to buy them but making yourself them does make them that bit tastier!  I can see these being on the special meal favourites list along with home made pizza and chocolate chip cookies.

Thursday 23 August 2012

Nigella's Croque Monsieur Bake.


I tried this recipe the other week when staying at my Mum’s, she made it for me and a friend in place of a fry up.  It was just as nice! She called it a savoury bread and butter pudding but if your looking it up it’s Nigella Lawson’s Croque Monsieur  bake!
To Make this recipe you need:
6 slices of bread
3 eggs
Half a pint of milk.
About half a block of cheese.
A pack of ham
Some mustard
A sprinkle of salt and pepper
(A bit of butter if your being really bad!)
To make this I got out all my ingredients and started off buttering my bread, grating cheese on to it , popping ham on to that and then putting mustard on top of the butter on one slice of bread. After I did that I popped the two slices of bread together, then cut it in half to make two sandwiches, then put these in a casserole dish.
Now most normal people would repeat this process two times at this point  but I decided to experiment with the mustard...  I tried using less butter and more mustard on one of the sandwiches, then for the last one I decided to completely get rid of the butter altogether and use loads of mustard!

When I’d made up all the sandwiches I whisked the egg and milk together. 

Then I poured this mixture over the sandwiches and sprinkled the salt and black pepper over it.  Where the mix didn’t cover completely I spooned some of it back on to the sandwiches.
Once this was done I popped some cling film over my casserole dish and went out dancing.
On my way back from dancing I called Paul and asked him to pre-heat the oven to 200c and the pop the bake in the oven for about 25 mins. The food wasn’t quite ready when I got home but it was nearly there!  After a little wait we were able to safely say it was quite nice.

 It wasn’t as nice as my Mum’s version I think that was due to my experimenting! Mine tasted very mustardy and felt a bit soggy to me but Paul loved it and there was none left on his plate so I must have done something right! We’re currently experimenting with lower fat meals so this won’t be on the menu for a bit but with some tweaking it maybe something to add to the repertoire....

Thursday 16 August 2012

Recent rocking things!

Recently things have rocked!  There has been more dancing, which is always a great thing in my eyes!  I even danced on a stage in public on Sat 4th August...

Photo courtesy of a friend of one of the other dancers... thank you!
This was a Bollywood work out choreographed by Nisha Lall as part of
the activities of Sheftival, which promoted exercise, sport and music.

I could have stayed at Sheftival and caught a few more bands; instead I headed to Wales for a good catch up with one of my friends and watched history being made in the Olympics.

Last week also saw a return of lunch club for my team with a new venue being invaded... tried!  This month we said good bye to The Hop and hello to The Frog and Parrot! We also saw Olympic fever hitting the office culminating in the office sports day or mini Olympics as I like to think of it! It involved mishaps such as the health and safety worrying three legged race, the controversial egg & spoon relay; as well as my event the hula hoop... a good time was had by all!
Action shot!
On the podium, I came second!

The next day brought more catching up with friends and family, a bout of roller derby.
That blur is the Sheffield Steel Roller Girls All Stars vs Nottingham's Hellfire Harlots.  Good bout but we got thrashed!

Saturday also saw my first roller merby bout...
Like roller derby but with them male creatures instead of female ones... This bout featured Sheffield's Inhuman League vs Manchester's New Wheeled Order.  It was a close bout but eventually we won.

This was followed by a drive up to Leeds for my friend Deborah's flat warming at her lovely new abode! Yet more catching up with lovely friends. (I could get used to this!)  Then all too soon it was time to head back...

This week has mainly been sponsored by overtime at work, a bit more dancing, experimenting with this recipe and looking forward to Jessica Ennis's homecoming on Friday! Should be a hell of a party!

Friday 3 August 2012

Pie Friday.

Tonight I gave in to temptation. (I know, not like me at all!) I went to The Old House for their pie Friday deal, which is more expensive than the one at The Hop down the road... Still they did serve us a couple of nice beef and moonshine pies.
I don't like peas!

Paul does though.
They're a bit more substantial than The Hop's offerings and a good deal tastier.  (We were even allowed plates and real cutlery!)

My pie wasn't quite as amazing as I had been led to believe, the verdicts given on the pies sold here a few weeks before had given me a bit of pie envy when I was eating my Salmon dish.  Maybe I have pie... I mean high expectations.  Still a pie and a pint in a nice bar was a great way to round off the week!

Monday 30 July 2012

What I've been up to recently.

You may have noticed I haven't posted much recently but fear not I'm not giving up on this blog!  It's more just a combination of being busy and my laptop starting to show it's age.... I went on holiday for a few days then when I got back it decided to black screen for a week and then after miraculously coming back to life again it's been temperamental to say the least, but I won't bore you with that!

This month I have been to see the Stone Roses at Heaton Park, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britian at The Botanical Garden's, helped my Nain celebrate her 70th birthday and had my first holiday abroad with my boyfriend Paul!

After much deliberating we decided to go to Brussels for Belgian beer, buns and waffles... oh and to see the home of the European Parliament!

The weekend after I helped my sister celebrate her birthday and went to Tramlines on the Friday night, Saturday and Sunday to watch local and not so local bands perform across my city.

It had a great atmosphere and went way too quickly! This week I've been trying to burn off my tramlines pints in the gym at work, whilst rehearsing for an up coming dance show or two, as well as helping some of my work friends celebrate their birthdays and going to my first burlesque show at The Greystones.

So I've been doing one or two things and should have a few more events to blog about in the near future!  Keep your eyes peeled!