Penultimate Weekend in March

I was really busy the pentultimate weekend in March, the one before Easter, but I thought I'd combine everything into one post! It was a lovely but busy weekend, I'm not really sure how everything ended up happening at the same time!

On the Friday night Sam and I had tickets to go see Gaslight Anthem in Manchester. They're one of our favourite bands and we first saw them together in February 2009! I haven't seen them as often as she has, but I fancied seeing them again so we got tickets. It was at Manchester Apollo which is terrible for parking and for getting food nearby, so Lee and I had a bigger lunch and then I set off over the A628 at about 4pm.

However! I was just in Hollingworth, just before where the Glossop road joins and which is one of the busiest roads in England probably, when the car broke down at some lights and refused to start again. A man drove past me and told me I was in the way - like yeah! No shit Sherlock! I am not actually just stopped here for the fun of it! However then a different man pushed me on to a side road so at least I was safer and the traffic could move properly. I rang Lee who set off in my car, and then a local shopkeeper told me to go in if I needed anything, which was nice. And THEN a different man helped get my car on to the pavement so it was safer. I am glad for these strangers!

Lee arrived about 5.30 and we phoned the breakdown people and then I set off in my car to Manchester. Fortunately I managed to park just across from the Apollo and met Sam, and we went into the nearby pub for a drink. We ended up sitting outside but it wasn't too bad, and then we joined the queue to get in and got in very soon after doors opened. We had seats upstairs so headed up there. Emily Wolfe was the support act and she was pretty good, I've seen worse support bands. Then Gaslight Anthem were excellent! I really enjoyed myself and I'm glad I managed to make it! Lee got taken home and our car was left outside our local garage to be looked at!

On Saturday morning I had a very big lie in, and then Lee and I headed to Rotherham to buy a new sofa. We had been looking for one a few weeks before when we were also looking for a new mattress, but nowhere in Barnsley really sells sofas, hence heading over to Rotherham. There's a Sofology there but there are also about a zillion other sofa places! We had a look round a few and then went to German Doner Kitchen for lunch. I wasn't sure if they had anything vegetarian but they did, and it was actually really nice. We also went to Morrisons to buy Easter eggs for each other. We went into DFS where we saw a sofa we both really liked and which means we will actually get rid of both of ours! We got done quite quickly and got home about 3pm I think.

I did some cross stitching for a bit and then I got ready to go out with my mum, my friend Katie, and her mum Kath. Katie and I see each other quite often but it's ages since our mums got together so we thought it would be nice if we did. I booked a table at Qubana which is one of my favourite places in Wakefield to eat, and we arrived there about 5.45 for a drink first. 

Our table was ready at 6.30ish so we sat down there. My mum, Katie and I shared a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc which was really nice. We all had tapas - my mum and I shared hummus and bread and patatas bravas, and I had manchego cheese and she had pork tenderloin. Qubana has upped their vegetarian choices recently which is really good. We had dessert too, I had vegan chocolate fudge cake which was lovely. The only thing was that the service was a bit rubbish; we would definitely have had another drink if we had been offered!

Katie's dad picked us up at about 9.15 and took us back to my mum's house, which was really nice of him. I had a couple of glasses of wine with my mum and stepdad and Lee came to pick me up before we went home. It was a nice civilised night out! I was wearing my new Hell Bunny dress which I bought off Georgina recently, but I didn't get a picture of it. I did like my make up, though!

On Sunday morning Lee and I tidied the bedroom and the stairs ready for the new mattress to come on the Monday morning, and then I had a shower and had lunch, and then set off to Huddersfield. I had tickets to see The Motive and The Cue which is a National Theatre recording of a play starring Johnny Flynn, Mark Gatiss, and Tuppence Middleton. Johnny Flynn is playing Richard Burton, being directed by John Gielgud, to play Hamlet. It's really good and I really enjoyed it. Because it's the play it's quite long and has an interval, so we had the most delicious brownies in the middle. 

I got home about 6pm and relaxed for the evening because I had been so busy! 

Here's a ton of photos:

I love it when the band name is on the venue outside

Here we are sat having a drink outside the pub

Emily Wolfe! 

And Gaslight Anthem! Or maybe Aslight Anthem, as I couldn't see the G from my seat!

They played two of my favourite songs so I was happy

Here I am ready to go out on Saturday evening. My lipstick was a Body Shop one and it's really moisturising so I really liked it

Here we are in our booth in Qubana! It is a nice place, I recommend it if you're in the area!

Manchego cheese and hummus. The hummus was lush, there just wasn't a lot of it

Fudge cake and ice cream

Not a great photo of Katie and I due to the low lighting, but still nice to get a photo of us! I do love her, she's funny and fun and we've been friends since 2002 when we met at uni!

Here's my brownie in the cinema on the Sunday, it was so nice!

And here I am when I got home - a leopard print dress that I do love wearing, teal footless tights from Snag, and my zebra print cardigan!