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!

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!