Family Wedding and What I Wore 24th June

The 24th of June was my cousin Rob's wedding and he married his fiancee Beth in Leicester, where they've both been at uni. We just went for the day there and back, but we had such a lovely time. I think I'll share a few photos instead of blathering too much:

My uncle and aunt (my mum's sister). Isn't Caroline's dress gorgeous? My mum helped her pick it and I think it's gorgeous, especially with the blue accessories to make it pop

Here's my cousin Peter, Rob's younger brother. He scrubs up well! 

Here's Peter and me. I'm wearing a new dress from Scarlett & Jo, I wanted a new dress for the wedding and it was £25 in the sale

And here's Peter swwping up confetti afterwards, bless him.

Along with one of Rob's ushers, who sang Chim Chiminy as he did so.

Here are my grandma, Peter, Caroline, Rob, Beth, Neil, and Neil's mum

Aww look at my cousins all grown up and handsome

They do like each other honest

Inside the reception venue

Peter and me again later. I swear he didn't used to be that tall

Groom and groomsmen on the bouncy castle

Peter bouncing, he's a good gymnast but I don't think he had room on here to somersault

The cake had a nautical theme

And these two very cute ducks on the top

The evening reception was a ceilidh, which I've never been to before but I really enjoyed it. I danced the first dance, it was so fast! I loved the music.

And lastly here's the bride and groom :)

Nails of the Week - end of June

At the end of June I had a family wedding to go to, so for the first time in ages I painted my nails. I haven't painted them in ages, and I'm not sure why? They've been all different lengths and been breaking, but they all look okay now so I decided to paint them this bright, summery colour.

It's a Ciate polish, called Play Date. It's a coral red colour and I love it, I think I'll definitely use it again! I think it's one of those polishes that looks best on short nails.

Grrrl Con 2017 - Day 3

By the third day of Grrrl Con I barely felt like I was a person anymore. I was so tired and my head was so buzzy with inspiration and I had met so many new people. It was great, but also exhausting. Anyway, here are just a few photos from the Sunday.

I had been kept awake by an alarm that kept going off every couple of hours through the night. Don't worry, when it went off the first time I did get out of bed to make sure it wasn't my building. At around 7am the receptionist in my hotel was clearly worried so he phoned the fire brigade. Everything seemed okay, though.

I liked this musical instrument statue just outside of Affleck's Palace. I stopped to take this photo and a man gave me such a strange look

I also passed this billboard which was advertising Queer Britain, which is on iPlayer, I really recommend it. I like the advert, I think it looks like a Young Adult novel.

For lunch on Sunday we went to Pie Minister which was AMAZING, I am so taking Lee there for his birthday. I had goat's cheese and sweet potato pie, with a side of mac 'n' cheese. So, so good, I want to eat it again now.

And here are the books I got. The bottom left is a magazine that my friend Lori was published in. The top right sounded interesting so I bought it from the author on Friday. The other two are anthologies and are by black and minority ethnic authors, I'm really excited to read these! 

Phew, that was Grrrl Con 2017!

Grrrl Con 2017 - Day 2

Day 2 of Grrrl Con dawned bright and sunny. I hadn't slept well - my hotel was really a bit dodgy and I'd been woken up by doors slamming for most of the night. I didn't have a bathroom in my room, I had to share a toilet (although I never saw anyone else in it). I did however have a sink and shower cubicle in my room. Like, just there in the corner hanging out. It was weird.

Anyway, Day 2 happened to coincide with Photo An Hour, so although I couldn't keep strictly to times due to being busy at the conference, I did manage to take lots of photos at regular intervals, so I thought I would share them all here. Enjoy my day!

Up bright and early with my hair all over as per usual. 

I needed a shower, but the water barely worked. It had no pressure when held up high, so I ended up showering bent over trying to get my entire self clean. My hair felt gross. Hence my cross face.

This was the street my hotel was on as I left around 9.45 to get to the conference. Look at that gorgeous sky! I really liked all the streets around here, and the shops. So much that I'm going to take Lee here for his birthday so we can explore all the record shops and vitange shops and yummy restaurants. 

The first panel, which I actually really didn't enjoy at all. 

My first workshop was held across the road in Madlab, where I really liked the beams in the attic room.

Selfie on the street around lunchtime, waiting for my friends to come and join me so we could go find lunch. At last year's conference I didn't know many people so it was nice to have people to go eat lunch with this year. 

Lori took this photo of me in Dough, drinking prosecco like a fancy bitch.

Selfie in the lift going back up for the last speaker of the day.

Patience Agbabi was the last speaker, she's a poet and I liked most of her stuff. 

We had arranged for six of us to eat at the vegan diner across the road, but before that we had some free time so I for one sat and read some of my book. I truly believe the first line here - funerals aren't for dead people. They're for the living. I loved this book. 

Here's the food I had - a "chicken" burger made of seitan, with guacamole and salsa, and fries topped with hoisin sauce, "cheese" and peanuts. It was so good - I've never had vegan food like this and I'm not sure I liked the texture of the seitan - but it was really delicious and I was really glad to try it!

My friend Amy and her friend Elise had come to meet us for food, as they're both vegans, and Amy took this photo of me. I love it! I look so natural. The drinks were coconutty and creamy and really nice. 

After we'd eaten Lori, Amy, Elise and I went to Soup Kitchen for a couple of drinks. Now a bar on a Saturday night in a city centre is pretty much my idea of hell, but this one wasn't too busy and so I felt okay. I even dared to go up to the bar to order drinks instead of getting someone else to do it for me! It had a nice vibe. 

Look, I had run out of wine! Terrible shame.

We finally called it a night just after 11pm. Lori and I were absolutely dead on our feet after being on the go all day, but I was impressed we'd kept going for so long. I was very glad to get into bed, though. I had to take this photo to show Amy the shower and sink... 

And that was Saturday! A gorgeous, fun, tiring, beautiful day!

Grrrl Con 2017 - Day 1

Last year I went to Grrrl Con, a conference for women writers, in Edinburgh and thoroughly enjoyed it, so when I saw that it was being held in Manchester this year I obviously had to go. I booked a hotel which was a bit dodgy but did the job, and set off from my village at 8am on the Friday morning.

This year the con was three days instead of two, which was great as it meant more to do, but it also meant it was even more exhausting. I'm glad I was able to take a few days to relax afterwards because I really needed it. I am writing a zine about the conference as a whole so I don't want to share everything here, but I thought I'd post some photos.

I got the train from our village to Huddersfield, and from there to Manchester. It was fine, the trains weren't busy at all. I had plenty of chance to read my book (which is excellent and everyone should read it).

The first panel, in the main room. I don't think this picture gives the true scope of the conference - there were about 70 of us in that room and attending the con!

My first workshop talked about the inner critic and how to get rid of it, with Rosie Garland. It was really cathartic and amazing! 

Looking out of the back of Ziferblat, one of the venues. I love these Manchester streets (the Northern Quarter)

On Friday evening I went out to eat by myself which was terrifying but I was fine. I went to Turtle Bay as I knew I liked the food. I liked this on the receipt, in support of the attack at Manchester Arena recently. I love Turtle Bay and the curry I had was really spicy. This waitress was really lovely too. 

What I Wore 15th June

From the 16th of June I was away for three days at a conference, so before I left Lee asked if I wanted to go out for tea with him. I needed a shower and he needed a bath, but once we were clean we set off to the pub up the road. It's cheap and basic, but nice enough. I had a Lebanese chicken kebab and Lee had a chicken burger. I then had Dime Bar Crunch Cake which is one of my favourite desserts!

Anyway, I chucked this dress on to go out. It's really old, I must have had it about five years. I love the pattern on it and I'm not sure why I don't wear it more often! It's a typical skater style and I really like the sleeve length. I'll definitely have to pull it out more.

Feelunique haul - June

While I was in France Bettie mentioned Feelunique, where you could get free samples of perfumes just for paying postage. When we got home I had a look, because I really love trying new perfumes. I've been wearing Flowerbomb by Viktor Rolf since Christmas, when my mum bought me a bottle, but it's nearly run out and it's really expensive, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to buy more. I used to wear Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker, which I may buy another bottle of, but I was keen to try some new perfumes anyway.

I clicked on the pick 'n' mix thing on the website and chose five perfume samples, all 1.5ml or more, for the price of postage. While I was there I had a look around the website as a whole as it's not somewhere I've bought from before. It sells a lot of make up, bath products, and other beauty items. I have loads of make up and don't wear it often, so I concentrated on the shower gels.

I absolutely love shower gel. I never have baths but I love a long hot shower. I like fruity, zesty, strong shower gels, so I had a wander round the shower gel section. I ordered a bunch and two boxes arrived a few days later. I thought I'd post some pictures, Feelunique seem like a good company to buy from so I'd recommend them!

This is what the bigger box looked like when I opened it. The samples came in a smaller box, not entirely sure why. For waste reasons it would have been better if they'd all come in one box. I will reuse both packaging boxes though. 

A lot of the Zoella stuff was on three for two, including these. The little heart is a solid perfume which I like to put in my handbag. I really like sugar scrubs, this one seems pretty solid so it'll be interesting to use. All three have quite a subtle scent, but it's nice enough.

I've never tried Korres shower gel before and these sounded great. The small bottle is good for travelling and not taking huge bottles everywhere. These flavours are Bergamot Pear, Basil Lemon, and Japanese Rose. They all smell SO GOOD.

These are bigger bottles but still small enough that I don't get bored before I get to the bottom. The left is Moroccan Mint and the right is Lemongrass and Green Tea, they both smell really fresh.

These are the perfume samples I got. Some names I know but others I don't. I particularly like the Weleda Agrume (grapefruit) so far.