2014 in Review

Where has the year gone? To be honest, I'm not particularly sorry to see 2014 go (so much bad luck!) but there were plenty of good times!

January

Fireworks, Got my stone and a half award at Slimming World, Attended the Pinned it, Made it Lush party, Hung out with my cousin in London

February

Visited Chinatown for Chinese new year, Went on lots of London walks, Won couple of the year in our Slimming World group, Visited Peterborough, Acted like a tourist

 March

Visited Manchester, Got into Breaking Bad, Went to two jewellery making classes, Visited Camden Passage, Work leaving party

April

Visited Amman, Aqaba, Wadi Rum & Petra, Attended my cousin's wedding, Played tour guide for my friends visiting London

May

Moved to Peterborough and walked in Hampstead Heath

June

Did the London to Brighton Trek, Visited the Cat cafe in London, Walked more in Peterborough, Celebrated my 26th birthday, Commuted, Went to Birmingham for Blognix

July

Lots of commuting and started a podcast with Topher

August

Visited Cornwall and Devon with friends. 

September

Slept, ate, went to the Classic Car boot sale and made the worst cheesecake ever. 

October

Commuting, Visited Manchester to house hunt, Had a bit of an accident with my car, ate Halloween treats

November

Moved to Manchester, Made new friends, Said goodbye to old ones, Made mulled wine, Attended the Christmas markets in Manchester

December

Went to Florida, indulged in Christmas activities such as baking, making a gingerbread house, decorating the house and having fun with friends 

Here's to 2014 and now bring on 2015, I'm ready!

How was your year?

There and back again: catchup & outfit post

3am in Florida

Sitting on the terrace, sipping a cold drink and tapping away on my laptop, I find myself far away from home again. As per tradition I spent Christmas Day at home with my family which was lovely and quiet. This was then followed by over 26 hours spent awake travelling to Florida the day after. 

Christmas lunch

Group selfie at the start of the journey...we had no idea what was to come! Safe to say, no one was up for an "after" selfie!

It was pretty hellish as far as journey's go - with Topher and my dad's boarding passes suddenly not working at the gate in London, then the car rental place in Florida overselling their cars so people who had pre-paid were left with nothing (do NOT use Thrifty car rental!) to finally topping off the long day with our hotel having oversold their rooms (don't use hotels involved with timeshare!). We finally got to bed at 5am local time (10am UK time). 

Topher at 10pm local time/3am UK time

But that my friends is all behind me now. I can smile safely in the knowledge that I am finally on holiday and the fun can begin! Since Topher and I have come with my family, we're doing a split holiday between relaxing and going to a couple of parks. I am so excited! The new extension of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a must and I am itching to catch a few (hundred) photos of the Christmas decorations in Magic Kingdom. Not to mention the outlet malls I'll be taking advantage of.

Anyway, I only got a couple of snaps of what I wore on Christmas Day but you get the gist. Black dress, maroon tights, statement necklace = sorted. I may have forgotten to bring shoes that weren't converse or sandals...

Dress & tights: Primark, Necklace: Reborn

 I'm not used to wearing drop waisted dresses as my waist is usually something I like to highlight. But I couldn't resist with this one and it's embroidery detail. Plus it's super comfy!

How was your Christmas?

Merry Christmas!

Just taking a quick opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I'm jetting off to Florida tomorrow so will be back in a few days. Enjoy the holidays :)

The Inevitable Christmas Party: Outfit post

Dress: House of Fraser, Necklace: Reborn

Whether you work in a 9-5, a shop, a warehouse or whatever, there will be the inevitable Christmas party. I will never be one of those people too cool to attend. I just love people watching too much. 

For my first party with my new company back in Manchester, it was much more of a lavish do then what I'm used to. There's only so many times a girl can wear a dress that's only fit for black tie. What happened to all the balls in the world?

So tonight we set our scene at the Lowry in Salford Quays. For those out of towners, that’s the posh bit of Salford where the new Media city and BBC reside. And the Lowry is a theatre that also has rooms you can stick a couple hundred people in to party. The below view is from the Holiday Inn where we were staying. Wow!

After sitting at my company’s table, getting settled and staring around in wonder at all the pretty lights, my thoughts turned to food. I love a good three course meal! I had some kind of vegetable soup to start.

Salmon, mashed potato and vegetables for the main course.

And chocolate mousse with raspberries for dessert. Delicious!

Of course with it being a party, it wasn’t long until people were on the dance floor. You’ve got to dance when there’s pure cheese coming out of the speakers. As the night goes on, you get the usual antics. There’s the guy who thinks he can dance to Single Ladies.

And this guy.

Three guesses to what song is on...

Then after crackers have been pulled, shoes have been broken and drinks have been drank, there’s the inevitable walk back to the hotel.

And playing Good Samaritan to the man too drunk to find his room.

Did you have any good Christmas parties?