Weekly Musings

2018 - Week Twenty Six

'Like confetti.That's how you throw love. You worry about the mess tomorrow.'
(Lauren Eden)

This week has been another I very fortunately had off work. The beautiful weather hasn't stopped yet, so I spent Monday chilling on the boat and did a bit of outdoor yoga, before having a big scary meeting with my boss. By this I mean a casual discussion that I organised to address the future of my role and a potential payrise, which ended up being not scary at all, but in fact, very beneficial and highly rewarding (yay!). That coupled with the fact that I finally exchanged on my house on the same day, meant that the week got off to an absolutely stonking start.

On Tuesday I had both doggies for the day, so Emily and I went to John Leigh Park in Altrincham for a few hours with a little picnic and to let them run off some steam. Most of the rest of my week during the days was spent frantically trying (and failing) to start packing for moving, which has been fixed for July 7th/8th. I did take the afternoon and evening off on Wednesday though, to go into Manchester with my parents and Jasmine to watch Chic. We started with a cocktail on Deansgate Locks at El Diablo, which is another reincarnation of every other bar on there, with cocktails that are always two for one and pretty much all taste the same.

It was my first gig at the Castlefield Bowl, and I think it is up there with my favourites in the city, when the weather is decent anyway. I also approved of the addition of prosecco to the bar menu, albeit only a 500ml bottle. The band were incredible, playing all their old classics (Le Freak, Everybody Dance, Dance Dance Dance, Good Times) as well as an ode to the late great David Bowie, and the Nile Rogers hit with Daft Punk and Pharrell, Get Lucky. The atmosphere was electric, and it was so lovely to spend an evening as a family all together drinking and dancing, 10/10!

On Friday night I went out for a few drinks with Amanda, who was over from Paris for the weekend. We started in 20 Stories, which has been on my go-to list for a while. It has a rooftop bar with great views of the city and is pretty swanky, so there were the usual pretentious wankers to deal with, but the majority of the clientele were very friendly, and the cocktails I had were tip top.

We then downgraded to The Botanist for some bubbling smoking cocktails that were slightly more on budget, and then had a couple in Guilty in the Northern Quarter. It's a good job I checked my last train home, as I discovered it was over an hour later than I thought, so we could fit in a margarita or two in El Capo, bonus!

Yesterday and today I have been helping Chris with his stall at Holistic Manchester, a yoga and wellbeing festival at Victoria Baths, a venue I adore. I managed to sneak away to a couple of classes over the two days, a kundalini one which was super intense but amazing: we had to hug everyone in the room and shake our bodies like crazy things, and do salute to the sun sequences as fast as we could, it was mad! The second I did today was a bit more conventional but still challenging. Chris was absolutely chocka with people paying to have mini treatments and we sold some chakra stone sets and gave away lots of business cards so it was a successful venture.

Last night we rushed back and got ready to go to Smeed's 30th birthday, a Mexican themed house party where La Casita from Chorlton were doing the catering. It was a fun night with tasty food and a beautiful cake as per by Emily; it was nice to unwind with a margarita after a hectic and very hot day!

I also got a poem up on Instagram on Thursday, read it here, and my track for this week above HAD to be Florence - the queen has returned!

Weekly Musings

2018 - Week Nine

'Come closer than my skin, I'll show you what it's like to begin again.'

(Perry Poetry)

It has been bliss this week being back in the comfort of my flat with my trusty hound, and it's been a really easy one for me work-wise; Aum had barely any homework so I finished early on a few days, and I even had Wednesday afternoon off due to a school meeting meaning his mum collected him, bonus! My weird mood from last week quicky dissipated, I heard it was something to do with an unusual moon which really affected some people? My track for this week is CHVRCHES new one featuring Matt Berninger from The National, which I am obsessed with, it is almost embarrassing how many plays of it I have racked up this week, but I love the contrast of the band's classic upbeat '80s synth with the sadness of the vocals and lyrics.

Due to my spontaneous free afternoon, I ventured out to grapple with the 'Beast from the East' with Ferryn on the football fields behind mine. It was like walking through the tundra! The wind was howling and kicking up all the snow into swirls in the air, and stupidly I had chosen to wear gym leggings so could barely feel my legs when I got back; I swiftly prescribed myself a steamy hot chocolate to cure the affliction.

On Friday Chris came and took refuge at mine for the day due to the insane wind rocking his canal boat and blowing all the smoke from the fire back inside it. It was cute us both just cracking on with our work sheltering from the elements, and in the evening he made us vegan pizzas from scratch, so I treated us to some Sweet Octopus goodies - a mocha bean stack, and a chocolate orange mousse dome, which we ate whilst watching Crash, what a classic.

Yesterday my mum came 'round and we drove into Cheadle to the Maker's Market for a wander and some lunch. We shared a roasted veg, goat's cheese and chilli jam pizza twist, and a cherry cheesecake brownie for dessert. We then broke our Lidl virginity (anywhere that sells fresh chocolate hazelnut croissants for 45p has my heart) and she dyed my hair ready for a much awaited night out with the girls.

Tasha and Abi came to mine for a couple of predrinks before we got an Uber into Didsbury village to The Botanist. We had some cocktails whilst a live duo played, and then left at midnight to move on elsewhere before we realised there wasn't really anywhere to go! After a pitstop in a random pub to get out of the freezing temperatures we got another taxi to Burton Road and went to Hula. It seems to have the same playlist every time we go, is always rammed and takes about half an hour to get served for a drink, but we got to have a dance at least!

Today Chris and I both had the whole day completely off in the flat, which has only happened once in the entire time we've been together! We had a lie in, drank coffee and ate pastries in bed for breakfast, and have just finished eating an adapted roast dinner (toad in the hole) whilst chain-watching House of Cards. What Sundays are made for!

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Two

'We cross our bridges as we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and the presumption that once our eyes watered.'

(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Tom Stoppard)

This week has been a reminder of how incredible my friends and family are. Despite (luckily) feeling positive about the whole breakup situation, it always helps knowing you've got a massive posse of people who totally have your back (love you!). On Monday I de-exed the flat, by swapping pictures in frames over, extraditing anything of his into the spare room, and of course crucially removing the Facebook status. I thought it might have made me feel a bit weird doing it all straight away, but I actually found it really cathartic, and was so much more relaxed when I could sit down at the end of the night and feel like it was solely my flat again. My friend Natasha came for a coffee that afternoon before I did the school run, so I filled her in on the gossip, I feel like it's one of those situations I'm going to want to have a tape recorder to play to people soon so I don't get bored of saying the same things over and over!

On Wednesday my sister Jasmine and I went into Altrincham for some lunch. We were intending checking out the Con Club that has recently opened, but the menu was geared more for a big evening meal, so we kept it simple and went to the cafe at M&S instead. On Friday evening I worked late as my bosses were in London, so I took Aum (the little boy I am a nanny for) to Pizza Express for dinner. I sampled a Soho 65 Romana pizza, but my server suggested I add mixed Italian meat to it (it is usually a veggie option), which was the best decision ever, I thoroughly recommend!

 Due to my late finish I indulged in a lie in yesterday morning, or as late as I could before the dog insisted I take her out. That afternoon was Aum's birthday party at Manchester Climbing Centre, which is amazing! It is inside an old church in Gorton and has facilities for bouldering, and more traditional climbing with a belay system; seeing everyone having a go made me want to give it a try - it's now on the To-Do list.

That evening Natasha and my other friend Abi came to mine for some pre-drinks and a night out in Alderley Edge, where they have recently opened a branch of The Alchemist bar. We headed there for about 10.30pm, and it was busy - we waited forever for a drink which wasn't a great start, but a quick celeb spot of Misse from Housewives of Cheshire and Jake Hall from TOWIE kept us entertained; they weren't the freshest shall we say! 

It seemed to die down just after midnight, so we moved on to The Bubble Room, which was playing some great tunes for a dance (including the track above which I am loving at the moment, despite not being an Ed Sheeran fan), and I started on the margarita cocktails. We ended the night in The Botanist, where after some Dutch courage I asked one of the (seemingly surprised) bartenders who had been serving me all night for his number, and succeeded - always a boost to know I still have some skills after it seeming forever since I last dated! We won't dwell on the fact that after a few texts when I got home it was ascertained that he was 22; but still, I'm officially back out there!

Today I was pretty tired and hungover so delayed a trip to Ikea with Mum to another day as I really couldn't deal with the crowds and effort, and we just had a little mooch around TK Maxx and HomeSense nearby instead. I got home and Despicable Me 2 was on, which was great easy viewing, and I took another single step and joined Bumble, which is apparently the new Tinder. Purely for research purposes of course... watch this space!

Weekly Update!

Cocktails, Catchups & Chinese!

This week has been a great week for socialising with lots of different people, my favourite kind of socialising! On Tuesday I went for a coffee and catchup with Rick in Altrincham, and had dinner at the Country Club. On Wednesday I had a good chatter with Laura in Didsbury, we went for a cocktail (mine's a margarita) at The Drawing Room, and then a fruity cider in Folk. Lovely filling her in on all the gossip in my life right now!

On Thursday Brian from uni came to stay as he had an early interview the next morning so needed somewhere to crash. We had a nice casserole for dinner and then sat around talking for ages, pretty deep for a weeknight! On Friday I went to watch my other friend Rick's play in Manchester with my mum and grandpa (see previous post) and then yesterday I did a lovely yoga class before the Miles foursome travelled to Leeds for my cousin's 21st birthday party.

Stephanie had hired out a bar near to their house called Medusa, and we stayed there all night drinking wine and jaegerbombs as they were four for £10! Today we woke up and had a big cooked breakfast (much needed as I was desperately hungover, and Mum was throwing up all night!) before travelling home, and I am now safety at home after a roast dinner in Alderley Edge (see previous post), chilling out before getting a Chinese later when Mo is home from London.

New Tastes...

The Botanist, Alderley Edge

Today I arranged for all of the girls and their boyfriends to go to The Botanist in Alderley Edge for a Sunday roast. It is somewhere I've heard is really nice, and I knew after my cousin's twenty first birthday last night that I would be in need of hangover food!

We had booked a table for 3pm, and when we arrived it was pretty much full, and the atmosphere was warm and lively - they had a singer/ guitarist on in the background playing some decent tunes. We were in a corner around a big square table, which was a little bit of a squash but nothing we couldn't deal with.

We ordered our drinks and then food shortly after - we all went for the roast except Emily, who opted for sausage and mash. There was a choice of beef or chicken, and it came with a large Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, stuffing, lots of veg and gravy! 

Apart from a few hiccups with our orders (mainly as we asked two portions to be kept on the heat as Tasha and Tom were arriving later) the experience was a good one, and I think a roast of such quality for £11.95 was a real find, especially for Alderley Edge. I'd definitely go back again, and am tempted to try the food there on a normal night as well after it was so tasty!

Weekly Update!

Karaoke, Plant Pots & Meatballs!

Mo had this week off work, so it was nice to spend a bit more time with him than usual at the start of the week before he went on a roadtrip on the bike. On Tuesday I ate at the Country Club and had a bok choi, cashew but and cucmber salad with a king prawn skewer on top, drizzled with a garlic soy dressing. It was really nice, although there was slightly too much dressing for my liking - it is pretty sweet which overpowers the subtle taste of the salad leaves. Aum and I shared the brownie for dessert as well, which is served with pistachio ice cream (my fave) and is incredible!

On Wednesday I went to Mudcrab for lunch (see previous post) and after work I popped round to see Hannah which was nice. On Friday Laura, my friend from uni came to stay for the weekend, and we went to the opening of the new Zizzi in Piccadilly Gardens that evening, as she works for them (see next week's post). 

Afterwards we ended up going to Orchid Lounge, the Chinese karaoke in China Town, which I have never done despite going out in Manchester for over eight years. It was such a laugh, and super cheap! We stayed up chatting until 6.30am so didn't get up on Saturday until well after midday, which dashed our plans of going for a spa day at the Country Club as it wasn't really worth Laura paying for a few hours. Instead we had a wander around John Lewis and Didsbury, and then got cakes from And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon to eat back at home as it was nearly closing time! 

That evening Tasha, Abi and Dave came out to Alderley Edge with us. We started in The Botanist, where Laura and I had an amazing cocktail served into plant pots by a watering can. It was a gin drink, with lots of fruit and herbs in the cup, definitely something a bit different. We then moved onto The Bubble Rooms, and the time ran away with us, we ended up getting back at gone 4am again. It was mostly due to the clocks changing though, so we weren't such dirty stopouts!

Today I dropped Laura at the station and then went on to Ikea with Mum. I got lots of stuff for the flat (again!) and then Dad and Mo came round and we all had meatballs for tea. Best weekend I've had in ages, was so cool to catch up with Laura, and both nights I felt really chilled and carefree and just had an amazing time!

Weekly Update!

Ceilidhs & Chippy Tea!

Another fairly quiet week, but it's been good as I've had a couple of easy days at work due to it being Diwali on Tuesday so I finished a few hours earlier (and I got given a huge box of Thorntons Continental!) and Aum having a playdate at a friend's house on Friday so I dropped him at school and finished for the weekend! Aside from working at the pub and doing the usual gymming, I didn't do anything sociable on weeknights week, which is probably for the best as I'm running very low on pennies at the moment!

On Friday Abi decided to come home from uni at the last minute, so the two of us went out in Alderley Edge to The Botanist for a couple of drinks. I drove as was leaving early on Saturday morning for Devon, but it was nice to get out of the house to somewhere with a bit of atmosphere. We were home by midnight which was ideal, so I got a decent sleep despite having to get up at 8am! 

It took us just over 3.5 hours to get to Brixham in Devon, but Dad was driving so I could have a nice snooze on the drive there. We went to say hello to the Smiths (no, not the band) the family friends we were staying with, before going to our families house to catch up with everyone. There was definitely a house full! We then went back to where we were staying to get ready for the party, as it was my great auntie and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. We had been told it was a ceilidh (where an irish band play music and the guests are shown dances and then perform them) but weren't told about the 'barndance' dress code, so we were all in nice dresses whilst most were in cowboy boots and checked shirts! I wasn't too bothered though, I am often overdressed for family occasions, it's not like I shy away from attention!

It all kicked off at 7.30pm, and everyone quickly got into the spirit of things dancing away. I have never been to anything like it, but it was so much fun, and made the night very social as everyone spoke and danced with each other. As the night progressed everyone was more and more drunk and making mistakes which was hilarious! We had a break in the middle to eat some food, which was amazing - there was a choice of chilli, beef stronganoff, curry, a prawn and salmon creamy casserole and a couple of pasta dishes which you could have as much of as you wanted, and then there was chocolate torte, pavlova, fruit salad or trifle for dessert, and a cheeseboard! I was very full afterwards, and had to sit out the first dance, much to the compères dismay, as he'd taken quite a shine to me, and was ridiculing me in front of everyone!

The party ended at midnight, and we all took some cupcakes home to eat in the taxi which were delicious. I was really tired so pretty much went straight to bed, but the 'adults' stayed up until the early hours quaffing wine - I felt very clear headed compared to them this morning! We had bacon sandwiches and packed up, before saying our goodbyes to both houses and setting off for Timperley. It took us a little longer on the way home, but we were still back by 4pm, ready for a chippy tea and I'll be indulging in an early night I think!

Weekly Update!

Catchups, Corsets & Housewarmings

The start of this week was BORING! I did absolutely nothing until Friday apart from work and go to the gym, which meant by the time it came around, I was desperate to do anything entertaining. During the day I went for a coffee with a guy I used to work with, which was really nice. I hadn't seen him since I was about eighteen, so we had lots to catch up on!

In the evening I had Tasha and Emily to my house for a few drinks, and then we went into Alderley Edge for a change. We started at a bar called Botanist, which was very lively and had a great atmosphere, and surprisingly wasn't too expensive. Despite not intending on having a particularly late one, we then moved on to Panacea, another bar but with a bit more of a clubby vibe. We had a really good night, and then got a taxi home which was unfortunately £40 compared to the £20 we paid on the way there.

On Saturday I had intended going to the gym, but chickened out as I had a horrendous hangover. I spent the day sleeping and eating rubbish food before jumping in the shower ready for another night out, which I really didn't feel up to, but it was my friend Hendo's flatwarming in Manchester, and a few people had cancelled so I felt I should make the effort. I drove there as I was staying over so had to take my airbed etc, and parked up before getting back on the alcohol. There were quite a few people there, including my ex Chris and his friend Jess who have just got back from travelling. It was slightly awkward, but I guess that's to be expected, especially as they had been on a coach for the past 22 hours so weren't in the most sociable of moods. 

I was on the gin, and there was also skittles vodka going around, so no surprise that I was in quite a state, the photos are awful! We went out to Revs, and that's about as much of the night as I can remember... Today has been a worse hangover than yesterday, I only drove home about three hours ago - clearly I can't handle two nights out in a row anymore, sad times!