Bettie and Jen's Wedding

I've scheduled this post for the 29th of February just because that day never usually exists!

My good friends Bettie and Jen got married at the beginning of February and Lee and I were invited to the evening reception along with a bunch of people we know, so it was lovely to celebrate with Bettie and Jen and hang out with some lovely people.

I wore the Scarlett & Jo prom dress that I also wore for my stepdad's 60th - it's such a gorgeous dress but easy to wear. Laura was wearing one of the Scarlett & Jo velvet dresses and she looked amazing in it!

Laura and I were drinking lots of cocktails - I think this was a Cosmopolitan. 

Lolly and me, it was lovely to hang out with her

Bettie's mum had a photobooth with loads of props - Laura looks great I'm sure you'll agree!

Here's the brides Bettie and Jen rocking out

And here's who were were hanging with - Lou and Simon, Claire and Sandra, Chella and Sarah, Laura, and me!

Weekend Away in Harrogate

After I finished my MA last month I went away to celebrate with some family and some friends. There were seven of us - my mum, auntie Caroline, my BFFs Sam and Jacqui, Steph, Leanne, and me.

I booked Braham cottage near Harrogate and would highly recommend it - it's in the middle of nowhere so very quiet, it's very well-equipped and comfortable, really cosy, and the owners are really friendly. I think we might go back as my stepdad likes stargazing and it's so dark it would be perfect for that! We paid for the extra bed which was in the sort of playroom between the kitchen and the stairs. Steph slept here and said she was fine, although it doesn't have much privacy. The house has two bathrooms though, which is lovely when there's a few of you. I got a double bed to myself which was excellent - I slept right in the middle!

We cooked in teams which I love to do. We drank a LOT of alcohol. On the Saturday we went swimming in Harrogate and we played board games. My mum brought along a murder mystery too which was really cheesy but funny and good fun to do!

I had such a good time with my friends and mum and aunt. I got prints of the photos of all of us and sent them to all of them as a thank you.

This is the very comfortable cosy living room

With woodburning stove

The kitchen has sooo much stuff and also a nice dining table in the middle. 

Here's my mum, aunt, and Sam

All of us on Saturday night - I love this photo!

Cheers!

Sam set this up for the murdery mystery

Saturday evening chilli

And again

On Sunday evening there was just us four and my mum left so we made ridiculous cocktails in pitchers

Here's my cake!

And this I think was the Cheeky Vimto we introduced my aunt to! She decided it was a waste of good port!

Books books books!

I have a lot of books. I love books! I read a lot! I have a tablet that I use the Kindle app on, but I still like paper books, and I've been collecting them for like fifteen years so, you know, there's lots. Our house is pretty small. We have a large attic room on the 2nd floor, but the first floor is made up of our bedroom (which is pretty big, but full of clothes/furniture), the bathroom, and the very tiny spare bedroom. It's around 4 foot by 8 foot, at the most. We have a 2'6" bed in there, which has storage underneath for jigsaws and board games and stuff, but the rest of the room was taken up by books.

When we bought the house this room had two Ikea shelves on the wall, so we just left them there. A few years ago we bought a big bookshelf from the British Heart Foundation shop in Barnsley town centre, and also a stereo cabinet. These were both full, and books had started to pile up on the floor. It was pretty bad.

So for Christmas my mum and stepdad bought us one of those square bookshelves from Ikea. We have something similar, although bigger, in the attic, so I knew how much you can fit on those shelves. A couple of weeks ago Lee and I started to go through my books. I got rid of LOTS that I've read and won't read again; they've gone to friends or the charity shop. I've split the books into those I've read and those I haven't. I rarely re-read, so the ones I've read went to the bottom or the back of the shelves. There isn't much space between the bed and the new bookshelf, but I've slept in there and it's quite cosy!

Here's some pictures.

The empty bookshelf. My mum told me we could have whatever colour we wanted, but this turned out to be the cheapest one. I like the bright whiteness of it!

These are all our books about music. Lee owns very few books but most of these are his. This is one of the wall shelves; I painted them white years ago. The shelf above is full of Lee's magazines and stuff.

These are all unread and are mostly Young Adult ones that I've acquired over the past two or three years! Books are tripled layered here - yep there's loads!

These are mostly read books. You can see the, what, eight inches between the bed and bookshelf.

This is the bookshelf from the British Heart Foundation. Books are double layered here.

What do you think?

My birthday!

I turned 32 on the 19th of January. Lee couldn't have the day off, so my friend Chloe offered to take me out for the day. We went to Meadowhall and met up with Lolly and Franklin. We wandered into a few shops but then went into Las Iguanas for lunch. Since I wasn't driving I got cocktails and also a free mojito as it was my birthday!

Here's some photos

Strawberry daiquiri

Mojito

I absolutely did need to wear the umbrella

In the evening, my mum and stepdad came over to give me some presents - among a few other things they bought me this gorgeous flower arrangement.

Lee and I then went to Huddersfield to meet my friend Sam. We went to Med One which is really delicious. I liked this painting on the walls. 

All in all it was a nice birthday!

Films of the Month - January

I watched quite a few films in January! Here's a rundown.

Bright Young Things is an excellent film and I recommend it; I've seen it before but not in about ten years!
I watched Half of A Yellow Sun because I read the book in December, it's not as good as the book but it's still good



I love the first Pirates of the Caribbean film but had only seen the second one a couple of times and never the third one. The second one is okay but the third one made NO SENSE to me and I gave up halfway through



We watched Star Wars (by which I mean A New Hope) as we saw The Force Awakens between Christmas and New Year, irt's ages since we watched it
We watched Dogma because Alan Rickman died - I love him as Metatron
I was away with friends at the end of January (on which more later) and Pretty Woman was on the TV. I'd never seen it so they made me watch it! I quite liked it.

Books of the Month - January

I liked writing these posts last year so I thought I'd carry on in this year. I haven't posted very much recently, and I want to rectify that, so here we go. Here's what I read in January:

Heart Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne - I bought this when I met Tanya at YA Shot last October. It's pretty good, although quite confusing.

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp - Marieke is friends with my friend Lucinda and I met her last year at YALC. It's about a school shooting.

Losing It edited by Keith Gray - this is an excellent collection of short stories for teens about sex or not having sex. Some are touching, some are funny - it's really good. 

My Name is Mine by David Almond - this is a quirky book about a girl who leaves school, she's having a really tough time and likes to sit in the tree in her garden. I liked it. 

Carrry On by Rainbow Rowell - this is a meta book and it took me forever to read but I did like it. 

You can see my reviews in more depth here

What I Wore 25th February

I know this is a crappy selfie picture, but I wanted to share it anyway. I wore this to work on the 25th of February, and afterwards I met up with a friend and she said I looked lovely.

I bought this top in Evans last September. It's sleeveless so more of a summer top, but I felt drawn to the pretty paisley pattern and decided to put a cardigan on top.

The cardigan is from Primark, but I got it at a clothes swap in November. It's a size 20 so officially too small for me, but it's really stretchy. It's got cute buttons and it's also really soft. I'm officially in love with it!