Holiday to France - Day 2 and 3

On the first morning of our holiday, my mum and I went out to buy croissants and bread, and then decided to go to the supermarket to get food for the next couple of days. That way we could all just relax - plus Monday was a bank holiday so the supermarket wasn't open for long - just until 12.

For the rest of Sunday we just played in the pool, sat in the sunshine, drank beer, and relaxed. It was so lovely and even though it wasn't that sunny it was still warm.The pool was heated, too, which helps. On Sunday evening we had pizza to eat which was one of those really relaxed meals that are just perfect on holiday.

On Monday morning my mum and I headed out to the boulangerie for fresh croissants again. My godmother and her husband were due to arrive mid-morning as they live close by and were going to stay overnight with us. They arrived in time for breakfast and we again spent the day around the pool enjoying the sunshine. In the evening we had a barbecue and then Lee, Bettie and Jen played Scrabble and Boggle until late!

Just a few photos from these two days. It was nice to do very little and read. I also started a new cross stitch!

Breakfast! Pain au chocolat, fresh bread, coffee, and juice. Perfect! The gite was called La Varenne, hence the mug. We were given a mug each as a gift at the end of the holiday, too!

Living my best fancy bitch life in the rubber ring. The swimming costume I'm wearing is from Simply Be - it's blue on the bottom and coral on the top, and has a halter neck tie.

View of the swimming pool

This is Joy and John's cat, Fleur. She was pretty friendly!

She was so fluffy

And here are my many drinks on Monday evening. I was drinking wine with my mum, a Desperado with my godfather, and had a cup of coffee to warm up as I'd had to have a cold shower! Fancy bitches drink lots of drinks, obviously. 

Holiday to France - Day 1

At the beginning of June Lee and I went on holiday to France with our friends Bettie and Jen and my mum and stepdad. Now, it was actually a week's holiday that Bettie won in a Sheffield Hospitals raffle last year! The owners of the gite, Joy and John, generously donate a week's holiday as a raffle prize and Bettie was lucky enough to win. The gite sleeps ten people so she asked us if we'd come, which was so lovely of her. We had to pay for flights and car hire, obviously, but it was otherwise free.

We flew from East Midlands Airport on 3rd June. I've not been from there before, but it was easy enough to get to from our house. We got meet and greet parking because it was cheap, and it was so easy - we just went in, left the car, and had it returned to the car park upon our return a week later. It is a much better airport than Leeds Bradford (which is impossible to get to) so I would definitely go there again. We arrived around lunchtime and had a nice meal in the pub before boarding our flight at 1.30pm. It is only an hour and twenty minutes so before we knew it we were touching down in Limoges.

I've been there twice in recent years - once when we went to Vayrac with our parents, and last year when my godmother got married. We just happened to be in pretty much the same place for this holiday. When we arrived it was absolutely bouncing it down with rain, meaning that me and my mum got very wet when we went to pick up the rental cars!

Lee gets very travel sick so he'd had strong medication, meaning I had to drive Bettie and Jen to the gite, while Lee went with my mum so he could lie down on their backseat. I've never driven a left hand drive car, though, so I was really anxious about it. I was given a VW Golf, so nothing too huge, but it had a really complicated handbrake system which made it a faff. Once I finally got going, I was okay, although I did keep trying to change gear with my left hand. Still, I actually enjoyed it, and found the Golf a nice car to drive.

We stopped at the supermarket on the way to the gite to get provisions for the evening. I bloody love French supermarkets. Bettie and I are actually going to write a zine about the holiday and I know I'll be writing about supermarkets as part of that. We got to the gite about 7pm and were immediately welcomed by Joy and John. They showed us round and Bettie, Jen and Lee immediately went for a swim!

Here's some photos from the first day. I've got loads of photos to share so there'll be bunches of posts, sorry!

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Jen, Bettie and Lee waiting in the airport

My stepdad, my mum and me on the plane 

Lifting off from England

The south coast of England. I was fascinated by all the different colours in the sea 

Ships crossing the channel

And clouds over France, hence the rain!

Films of the Month - May

Again, it was a pretty slow month for films. I think I was really busy in May and didn't have much down time. I watched eight films, around two a week. I will have to up my game in June.



1) Paper Planes - this is a really sweet film set in Australia, about a little boy who makes paper planes and enters a competition. I would really recommend it.
2) Casting JonBenet - I've always been a bit morbidly curious about the JonBenet Ramsay case, and this documentary just added to that really. It has a lot of different people talking about what they think happened. It's on Netflix and I'd recommend it.
3) The Breakfast Club - I have seen this before but not for years. I enjoyed it, it's a classic for a reason.



4) The Help - I wanted to watch this after seeing Hidden Figures and it didn't disappoint. I highly recommend it. Brilliant film.
5) The Social Network - I love this film and Jesse Eisenberg is just perfect for the role of Mark Zuckerberg.
6) A Monster Calls - I wanted to watch this after reading the book earlier in the year. It is really heartbreaking and looks really good. I liked it.



7) The Godfather - Lee and I watched this over two nights. It's one of my favourite films and we have a big poster of Al Pacino in the film in our living room. We'll have to watch the second one at some point.
8) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - I had never seen this so I thought I would. I liked it a lot! I might watch some more Marilyn Monroe films in the future :)

Books of the Month - May

I feel like it was a slow month for books and I'm not sure why. I only read four books, which is rubbish. I enjoyed them all. though. The best was Flight of a Starling by Lisa Heathfield, and I really liked Liza's England by Pat Barker which I read for my book club. As always, reviews are over here.

As I write this I'm about to go on holiday to France and I'm hoping to get a lot of reading done then!

Trip to Leeds

It is my mum's birthday at the end of May and to celebrate she decided she wanted to go with us to Leeds, and we decided to make this coincide with Lee and my stepdad going to the cinema to see Alien: Covenant. We went to the Alchemist in Trinity for food, and then Lee and Norman went off to the Everyman Cinema, which is a really lovely cinema if you've never been. It's got cosy sofas and does excellent food and drinks which are served to your seat.

Anyway, my mum and I then went to Angelica's for a drink, and then finally to Yates'. The Alchemist has really amazing food and I would definitely go again. We had cocktails to drink which were lovely and served with a sense of theatre. I instagrammed some photos that I thought I'd share.

The next day I went back to Leeds to meet up with two uni friends, one of whom I haven't seen in over three years! We went to Turtle Bay in the Light, and then went into Epernay champagne bar, and finally ended up in the other Alchemist on Greek Street. It was a really lovely day but I think I had my fill of Leeds for a while!

Anyway, here are my photos:

This was a Pornstar Martini which Sam has got me into drinking - really yummy! The prosecco came in a little beaker.

This was my chilli and rice, served with nachos in this gorgeous tiffin box

Then this was The Colour Changing One, it came with two beakers and one was blue and the other was clear, and when one was added to the other it bubbled and smoked for ages. Such a lot of fun!

We both look incredibly young in this photo.

A Venetian Sunrise in Angelica's. It tasted a bit like an alcoholic irn bru, yummy

We had a drink in Everyman with Lee and Norman, before heading to Yates' where I had this uber sweet Refreshers cocktail. I'm not sure I would get it again! I had a lot of fun though.

What I Wore 27th May

As you saw previously, Lee's sister Kim got married at the end of May and we went up to Durham for the wedding. I bought this Scarlett & Jo dress in a half price sale in around February and thought I would save it for Kim's wedding as I was sure it would be perfect.

It is a typical S&J dress - it has a lining and two layers of netting underneath, it's cotton with a tiny bit of stretch, and it has these really gorgeous sleeves which I liked. I love the pattern on it, and I like the wrap top. It was gaping a little bit, so I used two safety pins to keep it closed. I think if I'd been wearing a different bra it might have been better. Oh well, you can't tell in the photos so I don't care.

I'll definitely be wearing this again. I kept my accesories all pale pink - rose quartz pendant, necklace, and pink earrings. The ribbon was originally tied at the front, but I looped it through so that I could tie it at the back. I think I prefer it this way. My sandals were from Simply Be and they're the absolute most comfortable ever.

Family Wedding 27th May

Lee's sister got married at the end of May. She and Steven have been together for 17 years and have three kids, and have been enaged for a while, but finally decided to get married this year. They had a humanist ceremony at their own house - they have a huge garden that was big enough for a marquee.

It was really hot as we arrived and as the ceremony started, there were rumblings of thunder overheard. Just as the officiant said, "The new Mr and Mrs Finley", the thunder cracked overhead which was dramatic and funny. It did at least cool the weather down quite a lot. The ceremony was a humanist one (they did the legal bit earlier in the week) and it was really good and full of stuff about respect and about their family.

The heavens then opened and it was raining heavily, and then it started hailing, too. Fortunately this cleared up after a while so the photographer could take photos. There was a food truck that arrived - serving hotdogs, burgers, salads, and veggie options. It was really nice!

We had a really nice time catching up with Lee's family, who we don't see often. Kim and her bridesmaids and the kids all looked gorgeous, and the details that she'd thought of for her vision of a wedding at their home. I took quite a lot of photos:

From inside the marquee when the rain started and the thunderstorm was overhead

The hailstones

This was a present at Lee's place - isn't it lovely? All her brothers had one

Bride and groom, with Tillie just in the corner

All of Lee's siblings. Victoria (who was a bridesmaid), Andrew, Chris, Kim, Lee, and Daniel. Lee is the eldest at 34, Daniel is the youngest at 18

Lee's dad Michael, stepmam Mary, and Victoria. I love this photo!

Lee's dad's speech

Kevin, Lee's uncle, Tracey, Lee's auntie, me, Lee, Lee's mam. Kevin is Lee's dad's brother and Tracey is Lee's mam's sister - how confusing is that?! 

The bar was serving cocktails so I had a couple of strawberry daiquiris

There was little things like this strewn across the gardens

And the garden has an actual stream in it! Isn't it lovely?

I took these photos from the little bridge

First dance - I'm not too sure what the song was but I know it was a pop song, not a slow one

Trying Lee's glasses on, I was a bit tipsy by this point

The cake

Cutting the cake, with Tillie getting her fingers in

Kim's bouquet - it was so stunning

And finally, a late night selfie of Lee and I :)

What I Wore 18th May

On 18th May I wasn't working, so I arranged to meet up with Lolly for lunch at Meadowhall. We hadn't seen each other since October, so it was well overdue. Lolly had Franklin with her so we went to the food court so we could each get the food we wanted.

I had a beef burrito from Bar Burrito which I've not eaten at before, so it was nice to try it. I got loads of stuff on mine and it was really delicious. Then Lolly and Franklin and I walked down to the play place for Franklin to have a run around, and we sat chatting and putting the world to rights. We popped into Kiko, which sells make up, and I got a few nice bits. I also went in the American sweet shop and bought some fun looking sodas that we don't get over here, including Cherry 7Up and some cream soda.

Anyway, this is what I was wearing. I bought this spotty dress from Evans a couple of months ago, in the sale before the store relocated in Meadowhall. It's gone as a concession in Wallis, which is a real shame. The shop before was huge and I'm really sad that it's gone. It won't be somewhere I check out much anymore. But I liked this dress and it seemed like a good dress to chuck on to go out in.

The wrap is a mock wrap, which is good for me because it stops any inadvertent flashes of knickers. There's a stitch at the top of the chest wrap, to stop it exposing your bra. I love the sleeve length and the material has a nice feel to it. For £20 it was a pretty good buy!

This was what my nails looked like - one of the Barry M Aquarium collection, it's a gorgeous gold green

Dress, from Evans

Just to show you the wrap part, which is securely sewn shut!