Weekly Update!

Leather Trousers, a Hidden Gem & Cute Animals!

After a restful weekend away in Brighton, I was feeling very chilled out this week, and the lovely weather only added to this. On Tuesday I went into Altrincham with my friend Emily, for a mooch around the shops, and we stopped for a drink in a little cafe. I got some leather trousers/ leggings from River Island that were only £10 reduced from £30, which I was really chuffed with as I have been looking for some new trousers for a while- I seem to live in jeans at the moment. In the evening I tried out a new gym that has opened near me. Though it is fairly small, it is super cheap at just £10 per month, and the machines are all brand spanking new. I loved getting back into my usual routine of working out, and I'm sure my figure will thank me for it too!

I spent Wednesday adjusting my CV and looking around at various jobs, some of which I applied to. I got an unpaid writers position at a new online publication called Candid, that goes live at midnight tonight. I am going to be writing one article a week on fashion, film or music that will be put onto the website, which is great experience for me, as well as adding to my portfolio of work. In the evening I went out with my sister and the girls we went to Benicassim with. We started at one of the girl's houses, and then moved on to Wetherspoons in Altrincham before getting a minibus into Manchester to go to Factory. It was a fun and very late night, but it was great to see everyone I had been on holiday with again.

Thursday and Friday were fairly tame days, with a couple of shifts at work, and after another gym session on Saturday I drove to Crewe to see Chris for the weekend. We sat in the sun for most of the day

on Saturday, before going for a meal in Chester. We had looked online for somewhere a bit different to eat, and found Fiesta Havana, a Latin American restaurant that looked really cool. It is on the main street, and is down some steps so it appears to be in an old wine cellar. They had some brilliant deals on, so we had 3 tapas dishes for £8 to share for a starter, fajitas for main which were BOGOF and desserts were 2 for 1 as well! We got battered white fish, chicken in a cream and sherry sauce and deep fried king prawns as our tapas, and then I had waffle and brownies for my dessert, and Chris had orange and chocolate cheesecake. Even a bottle of wine was only £7.95, so despite Chris driving, we got the house red which I polished off once Chris had his one glass!

On Sunday we had a massive lie in, and then went for a last minute look around Reaseheath College, which has a maize maze, a little farm and a zoo. We didn't have enough time to do the maze or zoo, but we spent a while walking around and looking at all the farm animals, including some very cute alpacas, and some rather noisy donkeys! We'll definitely be heading back to complete the visit at some point over the summer.

Mid-week Update!

Ice Cream, Castles and Sunshine!

As I've had such a lovely busy week this week, I've decided to split my normal weekly update into two sections so it's not a mammoth post on Sunday.

On Monday I had my second day at Masquerade Magazine, and then after an early shift at work on Tuesday I went to Crewe to visit my boyfriend, Chris. Because it was such a lovely sunny day, we went to an ice cream parlour near to his house called Snugbury's (I blogged about it last summer). I had a double cone with honeycomb and the newest flavour: nuts about chocolate, which was hazelnut ice cream swirled with chocolate sauce and pieces of hazelnut. They have some farm animals there as well, which are always funny to watch. We then went home, and I had my first non-portable barbecue this year- gorgeous!

On Wednesday after a nice lie-in we went to Beeston Castle, an English Heritage site in Tarporley, West Cheshire. It has a number of walks you can do around the grounds, and a big drawbridge leading to the ruins of the main castle. It is atop a hill with some impressive views; you can see Jodrell Bank, Liverpool and the Welsh mountains! Again due to the sunshine, we took a picnic and lazed on the grass for a while before driving back.

On Thursday, I worked again, and then cracked on with some work for my creative writing portfolio, which slowly but surely is getting nearer to completion. This continued on Friday, and then once it had cooled down in the evening I went for a 4 mile walk around Dunham Massey with my mum. It is a National Trust park that has a beautiful lake in the middle and deer roaming free around it, the perfect location for a summer evening wander. We then went home and had a tasty Greek salad for tea- yum!

Weekly Update!

Cheese, Art and Farming?!

I've had a really good time this week. Except for crucial work and lectures/ seminars, I gave myself the week off as a reward for completing the dissertation. On Monday night, the fashion society all came round to my house and we had a cheese and wine night, which was gorgeous! We had about ten different types of cheese, olives, crackers, apple, grapes and chutney, and we gorged and quaffed until we were nicely tiddly and full to burst. We had some classic comedy moments as well, which is always a giggle.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I chilled out at home, watching rubbish TV and eating lots of chocolate and drinking tea. I also popped into town on Wednesday for a few bits, and had a gander at the market which always smells and looks delish.

On Thursday I went to see Ed Pien's 'Momento' exhibition, at a free art gallery with my boyfriend, before he cooked me a lovely curry. It was interesting, it was just one big room with a rope construction, that reminded me of those rope climbing frames you get on children's playgrounds. It had mirrors placed around it and a film playing that caught on the mirrors, so it had quite an eerie feel to it. We were only there for about twenty minutes, but considering it was in a place I'd never been before (The Storey Institute) it was good to discover another part of Lancaster. Afterwards I went to watch LUTG's production of The Rivals at the town hall (see previous post).

On Friday I went to the gym and then had a few friends round for some drinks and a takeaway. They arrived after my corner shop had closed, so we didn't get very drunk, but it was pleasant nonetheless.

Saturday was the arrival of Campusfest, an event on campus that is in its second year. During the day there are stalls and performances by societies, and in the evening there are a few different bands and dancers, topped off with a firework display. It was really good last year, so I was looking forward to it. The day was gloriously sunny, which makes a change for Lancaster,

and after arriving at about 2pm, we settled on a table for the day. We saw the bellydancers and ballroom dancers perform, and had a wander around some of the stalls, which included decorating cakes with the baking society, and playing Guitar Hero with the gaming soc. We went to the bar for a while to watch the rugby (I just followed despite not being a huge fan) and then had bratwursts for £1.50 for tea and watched some of the bands.

Later on in the evening (after borrowing a hoody now the sun had disappeared) I bought a bottle of wine and a white chocolate crepe from The Pancake Man, and watched October Skies and Fables, two bands that some of my friends are in. They were both really good, and it was super chilled, almost like a proper festival. We then headed off to Sugar later on for some dancing. It was really nice to have something to do to fill up a Saturday for once, other than moping and sleeping!

On Sunday I was doing a favour for my friend Danielle. She has applied for a position with Saatchi and Saatchi, and she is required to make an advert for them to judge her on. She chose to do the Yeo Valley advert, so four of us spent the day prancing around in farmer's outfits, 'rapping' and fooling around. It was really good fun, and we also got to see some super cute baby animals on a local farm we filmed at. A jam-packed week that tired me out, but was an awesome way to kick-back after weeks of work stress!