Books of the Month - February

I've been reviewing all the books I'm reading this year over on my book blog, not just the Young Adult ones, so I'm unwilling to repeat myself here. So, for this year at least, the monthly round up of my books post won't happen here.

Instead, you can scroll through the last few posts on my book blog to see what I've been reading, if you're so inclined! You can also add me on Goodreads if you'd like :)

What I Wore 25th February

This is what I wore at Sheffield Zine Fest, because where else are you going to wear a unicorn dress? I got so many compliments on it which was really nice of people. The dress is very slightly too short for my liking, so I feel like I pull it down way too much. Oh well, it was fun to wear for the day!

It's by Cow Cow and I've heard their sizing is all shot to pieces now, so I haven't bothered buying anything else from them. Still, I love the colour and the print. My necklace was also a unicorn pendant, I bought it years ago and can't remember ever wearing it before!

Just before the zine fest started

Here's the badge I was wearing, my friend Jane sent me it for Christmas. It says "Wearing whatever the hell I want" on it. Appropriate for wearing with a unicorn dress!

Sheffield Zine Fest 2017

This was the fifth annual Sheffield Zine Fest, organised by my friends Bettie and Chella, and I took my distro and had a table. I had a really lovely time and came home with a fantastic haul of new zines which I'll curl up with to read sometime soon.

I've got just a few photos to share of the day.

Here's our stall. We've got a lot of zines, by people I really really like and admire, but we need to display them better. I've ordered a leaflet holder which will hopefully help a bit! I made the bunting years ago, it was one of the first things I made when I learnt to crochet!

In lieu of running a workshop this year, I had an ongoing table where people could share their secrets. A bit like PostSecret! There were quite a few secrets left in the box, some funny and some profound.

And here's all the lovely zines I brought home! I'm so excited about all of these! 

Trip to the Theatre

In February I went to the theatre with my friend Ruth to see Everybody's Talking About Jamie. It was at the Crucible in Sheffield which is one of my favourite theatres as it's "in the round" - the audience surrounds the stage on three sides. It's also where the snooker world championshop is held every year so you've probably seen it on the TV if you've never been.

I'd seen a bit about the play but didn't buy a ticket, and then Ruth had a spare one so I was able to go for free, which was very much appreciated. I knew it was about a drag queen but hadn't read anything else about it which was actually lovely because it meant that everything was a surprise as it happened. It was the opening night which meant that the writer and director were in the audience, which added to how good it was.

It was inspired by a documentary called Jamie: Drag Queen at 16. It's set in Sheffield and is about Jamie, who is about to finish school and who is, according to a psychometric test, suited to life as a fork lift truck driver. But sometimes he likes dressing up as a girl, and he wants to go to prom in a dress. His mum gives him a pair of platform heels for his birthday and Jamie goes to a shop for drag queens to buy a dress, where he is persuaded to perform as a drag queen at a club. He's bullied by some kids at school but has a supportive mum, surrogate mum, and friends.

The play has musical numbers too, and all were brilliantly sung and staged, and were really catchy. I love seeing how plays are set, and the stage was vibrantly lit for this which was great. The singing and dancing were really fabulous and I really enjoyed the whole thing. I wouldn't be surprised if they make this into a film sometime soon...

Reader, She Married Him

In a previous post I wrote about going to my friend Stacey's hen party and as I said the wedding was just one week later. It was held in Haworth, where Stacey and Dave got engaged three years ago. Stacey is an English teacher so what better place to get married than where Charlotte Bronte herself got married?! Stacey had thought of loads of literary details which made the wedding really lovely and unique.

I've got a few photos to share. Stacey and Dave asked me to read a poem in the service, the poem was Scaffolding by Seamus Heaney. Unfortunately I was full of cold so didn't feel like I read very well. But the poem is lovely!

The reception was held just a few steps away from the church, and we also stayed in a B&B called the Apothecary, so we only had a few metres to go at the end of the night. I've been to Haworth a few times but Lee has never been, so I think we'll go back at some point and explore it a bit more!

Reader, she really did! Stacey and Dave have been planning this wedding for ages, and I was so thrilled at how it all came together

Coming out of the church

Selfie with the bride - I can tell I was full of cold, I look terrible!

Full length shot of Stacey. You can't tell but the lace had really pretty patterns on it and was just gorgeous. The shrug was gorgeous and sparkly, too. 

So here's a thing - I introduced Stacey to Dave. Stacey and I are friends (we even went to school together) and I worked with Dave. I went on my work Christmas outing in 2012 and got Stacey to come and meet me to swap Christmas presents. The rest is history. This mug was a gift from Stacey's mum!

I'll treasure it!

The gorgeous cake. The words are Rochester's proposal to Jane Eyre

Cutting the cake

First dance

Stacey dancing with her little bridesmaids

And dancing along with Dave to Biffy Clyro later in the night

They had a photo booth which was a lot of fun. Me and my mum had fun with hats and glasses

Then Lee and I went a bit sepia for some cute photos from Team McCormick to Team Harrower

Haworth Church lit up at night, isn't it gorgeous?

Go Team Harrower! I hope you'll be really happy together, for always

30 balls of wool for a 30th birthday present

I wanted to share this earlier but obviously had to wait until I'd given the gift before I could! Fortunately my friend Sarah loved the present!

When Lee turned 30 in 2012, I made him a box with 30 bars of chocolate in it. Lee loves chocolate so I knew it would go down well! When the first of my college friends, Amy, turned 30 in 2013, I bought her 30 vegan snacks. When I turned 30, my friend Sam bought me 30 different sets of stickers, which are all too beautiful to actually use! It's a fun way of celebrating someone's 30th.

My friend Sarah turned 30 in Februiary and from Christmas I was wondering what to buy her. Sarah is really into crafting, so I decided I'd buy her 30 balls of wool for knitting and crochet. I had a really fun time browsing eBay for lots of wool and bought the last ones from loveknitting.com. I like wool myself so had fun squidging all the balls! I didn't want to wrap them all so I just packed them all into a big carrier bag and tied a ribbon around the handles.

I only bought balls of wool which still had their paper on, so then Sarah could be sure of the weight and type of each ball. Some of the lots I bought had part-used balls in too, so I kept those. A sacrifice, I'm sure you'll agree! There were loads of different types, including that purple yarn you can see at the back right of the photo - I've no idea how Sarah will crochet that!

I love thinking up gifts like this. My friend Sam turns 30 in June and I'm already plotting what to give her...

Afternoon Tea and What I Wore 5th February

On the second day of Stacey's hen party we met in the Grand Arcade in Leeds for afternoon tea at Just Grand. I've been there before but never for afternoon tea. It was really nice - unlimited coffee or tea, four types of sandwich, scones with jam and clotted cream, and cake. All for the bargain price of £12.95 each!

The waiter kindly took this photo of us:

Everything in Just Grand is vintage, down to the cups and saucers and the menus, which are made out of records! The food was really yummy and I'd recommend the place for a special occasion like this. 

I wore this Asos dress along with a New Look cardigan and Evans belt. I haven't worn the dress in ages!

I mostly wanted to wear a greenish dress to match my new green shoes. They're from Clarks and they were down to £30 in the sale! I bought them with some Christmas money. They're quite narrow so if you have wide feet they may not fit. They're so beautiful! 

I took an outside photo to show off the colour better. I'm so in love!

Here's a better view of the pattern on the dress. Lee says it looks like a china pattern, which it does, and I love it! It's just a swing dress so it looks better with a belt to pull it in on me.

What I Wore 4th February

As I said before I went to a hen party where the hens wore black and the bride wore red. Now unfortunately, I don't own too many black clothes and the ones I do aren't particularly nice for going out. But my mum made me this skirt for my birthday, so I thought I'd wear it for the first time!

I'm not sure if you can tell, but it's red and pink lips on a black background, and the writing says "love" and "lips" over and over. My mum chose the material and left the skirt quite long, but I think I'll get her to take it up to where the bottom-most line of white text is. I love handmade clothes because they're so unique, and it's extra lovely when my mum makes them for me!

I wore black leggings and a black v-neck t-shirt from New Look. I tucked the t-shirt in because it showed off the skirt better!

Hen Party in Leeds

At the beginning of February was my friend Stacey's hen party, held just a week before her beautiful wedding in Haworth! We went to Leeds. Stacey's maid of honour Shelli organised everything and she did amazingly. I had such a good time.

We met at 2pm at The Maven in Leeds. It's a prohibition style bar and it has a secret door, so you can't get there unless you know about it! Haha, actually it's the black door next to Pagan Piercing near the Corn Exchange, so do go because it's lovely.

This gorgeous tile will reassure you that you're in the right place!

We were booked into a cocktail masterclass and it was only open for us. There were two members of staff and we each made three cocktails. First of all was a mojito, which is one of my favourites - deliciously sweet and sour and refreshing. We each had the chance to go behind the bar and make one - I've never been behind a bar before! (In my uni years I worked at Asda, not in a bar like many people did - I firmly believe everyone should have to do SOME kind of job like this when they're young).

The bar

Shereen and her mojito

My mojito made by my own fair hands!

Carol mixing hers up

Me and Stacey, the bride... And a willy straw, apparently!

She was told to wear red while the rest of us wore black. You'll see my outfit in the next post, but doesn't Stacey look stunning?

The next cocktail was raspberry based and I didn't get the name of it, but it was foamy due to egg white being shaken into it! Unfortunately mine wasn't very foamy (my shaking action must be wrong)

Beth and Shelli separating their eggs. I'm never much good at it but I managed it perfectly!

Beth and her raspberry whatever it was. It had gin in!

Me shaking it all over

Not much froth on mine.

The last cocktail was called a Gin Garden and was a speciality of the bar. It was gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice and apple juice, I think. It was really yummy and the flower was fresh!

Carol doing her wet shaking

Shereen and I mixing it all up

And here's mine! 

Kielly made this for Stacey. It had a few dares for her to do, it was fun!

Here I am in the mirror near the loos. Like I say, the bar is really nice and I'd recommend it if you like secret places, cocktails, and gin!

After the cocktails we went to Jamie's Italian for food, but I didn't get any photos in there. Lee picked me up soon after that although most people stayed out a lot longer!