Christmas in Birmingham

My next adventure took me and my friends to the midlands where we visited an old school friend in Birmingham.

We got the train super early and arrived in Birmingham at 9.45. Grand Central (Birmingham New Street Station), has only recently opened and its amazing - the architecture and atrium is stunning, so of course we got the selfie stick out, much to the amusement of passersby!

We met our friend and walked straight into the city to the Christmas market, this is meant to be the best German market in Europe outside Germany - however we were not enthralled by it! To us it was like any other christmas market - still lovely to walk around and get in the Christmas spirit.

We were then taken on a tour of Birmingham, visited places you would never normally visit including a fruit and veg market and also the custard factory area. Here we visited a cool sweet shop called McTunneys where we all picked some sweeties to enjoy. Follow @mctunneys on instragram!

It was absolutely freezing so we nipped into the Bull Ring for a bit of shopping and to the best make up store - Kiko! ps 913 lipstick is amazing!

We were starting to feel a bit peckish so our friend suggested a pub near her that had recently opened called The Plough. We drove out of the centre parked outside her house and then walked into the highstreet.

As we knew we were having a big dinner all three of us chose the root vegetable and bacon soup served with soft bread. It hit the spot and warmed us up. We then wandered back to our pals house stopping off at every charity shop on the way - there were 13 in total on the highstreet!!

In the evening we headed to the area renowned for curry and had the most amazing indian feast ever - we all agreed it was one of the nicest curries we had ever enjoyed. We shared rice, bombay aloo and some chickpea dish the waiter recommended between the table, along with a ginormous naan bread. We all had our own curry dish with the balti dopiaza being the favourite.

The next day we wandered around the centre again before getting the train home.

I very much enjoyed my weekend away from home and cannot wait for Christmas now!

Next stop Brighton in a couple of weeks! xoxo

Graduation weekend

I have finally graduated, and I had the best weekend in Sheffield graduating with my besets ever friends and spending quality time with my family, not to mention eating lots of delicious food!

I arrived on Wednesday evening and headed straight to Meadowhall for a Five Guys which is something I had been craving for a while - you cannot beat a Five Guys burger and of course the cool mix your own drinks machine!

The next day was our graduation, we got up early to head to the hair salon to have my hair curled and then back to the hotel for the final preparations.

We headed to city hall to pick up our gowns and then stood in front of city hall and took lots of pictures! The ceremony started at 3pm and we sat and clapped all our fellow friends walk on the stage and shake hands with Lord Robert Winston, 3 seconds of fame for a 4 year degree!

Dress from ASOS - Crop Top Lace Midi Navy

Lord Winston gave a short speech and then the ceremony closed at around 5pm.

We had dinner reservations at Rubarb & Mustard on Eccy Road for 6.30, so headed to Graze Inn on Eccy Road for a pre dinner cocktail - I had a delicious frozen strawberry daiquiri :) Dinner was with my two best mates and their parents. All our parents had never met before so I was a bit nervous, however the whole evening was a great success!

Rhubarb & Mustard had a set menu for 20 pounds, I had the terrine for started followed by Pork belly then white chocolate panna cotta. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures as it didn't seem polite.

The next morning me and my best mate met her parents at Marmedukes for some food, we missed the breakfast menu by 9 minutes so had a tasty ciabatta with pesto, rocket and mozzarella instead with a lovely hot chocolate.

That evening we headed to our absolute favourite place ever - Smoke Barbecue for an amazing dinner. I had the pulled pork, hot link sausage, mac n cheese and chips, it was simply amazing!

The next day I headed into the Peak District to meet my parents in the cute little cottage they had rented. It was so lovely to be out in the countryside again, we went for a walk from the cottage in Baslow to Chatsworth House, they happened to have a christmas market going on so we wandered around it but it was raining which wasn't very nice so we walked to a tea room in Edensor to warm up with a hot drink and a rocky road!

We then headed back home to spend the afternoon by the fire, perfect! We had dinner reservations at the local pub, where I had a delicious medium rare steak.

The next day following an amazing cooked breakfast at Charlies in Baslow we drove back home in the pouring rain!

I had such a lovely weekend and really do miss living in Sheffield and so close to the peaks and not to mention the lovely people up north. Sheffield will always have a special place in my heart!

Stylist Live 2015

Me and two best friends had a day out to Stylist Live, which was a new event for 2015 set up by Stylist Magazine. The event was held at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

The event was a mix of fashion, travel, beauty and food which is the essence of the Stylist Magazine. We were welcomed by friendly faces who gave us a free tote bag, an event guide and also a card to give us a free glass of bubbly!

We started by getting our bearings and having a little wander around checking out the stands and ended up at the Benefit stall. We spoke to such a lovely lady who was very knowledgable and super friendly. She showed us how to have perfect eyebrows and also what benetint looks like as a natural lippy. She then took us to another stand to have a sample of gin!

We sampled some gin and then sampled a number of different types of vermouth. The man on the vermouth stand was extremely knowledgable and passionate about the brand and we sampled different types in different ways - some straight and some with tonic water. And then stumbled across a photo booth, which no one else seemed to have noticed and we jumped straight into it taking some hilarious pictures. We decided to use the booth three times so we could all have a copy - by this time a long queue had formed, oops!

By this point we were ready for the talk by Madeline Shaw, so made out way to Learning Lab1 only to find out it was full already and there were only enough seats for 70 people.

So instead we headed to Pukka to sample a variety of teas and get some samples. After this we then want to watch the catwalk.

We were lucky enough to get front row seas - FROW! They had organised the fashion show around 5 key themes the stylists had picked up from various fashion weeks around the globe. We were provided with the details of all the clothes worn and got all geeky with our pens highlighting the pieces we liked! However some of our favourites were super expensive and nothing we would ever afford at the moment!

After the catwalk we were feeling peckish so headed to feast street where we sampled a little too much Green and Blacks chocolate and watched them make delicious truffles. There was not very many food places or places to get lunch, apart from Mac n Smack that had the longest queue ever. We decided to leave and pop out for some grub, so we headed to M and S. We created the most delicious baguettes ever and sat in the cafe cutting up bread, cheese and ham with plastic forks!!

We then headed back to the show, with the aim to attend a talk, however again the talk was full and people had been queuing for an hour to get a seat with their first come first serve system. Next time bigger rooms for the talks please as we didn't get to attend a single talk session! :)

We ended our day at the Tangle Teezer stand where we met the founder of the company and he showed us how to use his new hairbrush to make your hair super soft but volumous!

Before leaving we took some fun photos that made it look like you were on the front cover of Stylist Magazine! 

A visit to Cambridge

With the stress of assignments and dissertation, I totally forgot to write this post!

Over Easter myself and my family took a day trip to Cambridge. Now I thought I had never visited, however on arrival I started to recognise places, and turns out I came to Cambridge on a Geography field trip many many years ago!

Anyway, we parked in a Park & Ride, and took the bus into the centre of Cambridge. It was nearly lunchtime so we decided to pop into Nando's for some food, which is always a winner!

After devouring Nando's mum took us on a massive walking tour of Cambridge that she had found online. It was lovely, she took us down all these streets and into the many beautiful college grounds.

The sun was shining and everything looked stunning, and it was such fun watching all the punters on the river!

After a long walk, we ended up at this cute cafe called Sticky Beaks. The cafe was rammed, so we sat on stools at the window which was nice as we could watch the world go by! I would definitely recommend this cafe if you ever visit Cambridge! They serve lunches as well, which looked delicious, and also a variety of cakes and sweets too!

xoxo

A trip to an Alpaca Farm

On Thursday myself and then girls wanted to take a break from the library and enjoy a day out. We had no idea where to go so turned to Groupon for ideas. We are students so a spa day is WAYYYY to expensive and nothing else took our fancy!

Then we found a voucher for a trip for 4 to an alpaca farm on the edge of Sheffield for £10 for 4. It seemed like a bargain! I then found a voucher for 15% off local Groupon deals so it came to £8.50, £2.25 each for a day out for students is perfect.

We drove out of Sheffield to the farm which was on the edge of the Peak District. When we first arrived we were confused and not sure what we were doing or where to go. However we went into the visitors centre and gave the lady our voucher who gave us a token each. The token allowed us to go through the gate and into the farm.

The family started the farm when a family member was ill and it gave something to take her mind off things, the farm has grown and grown since. There were so many alpacas it was crazy! We had bought some feed so fed them and ran away when they spat at us!!!

At the farm there were also some cool wallabies and Shetland ponies and a horse. 

It was a fun day especially as we had a selfie stick to play with so took loads of photos and tried to take selfies with the alpacas too!!

Afterwards we headed back into Sheffield and had tea and cupcakes at Fancie. I had a tasty salted caramel cupcakes and iced caramel latte.

Next we want to go and enjoy afternoon tea at Fancie, it looks excellent value!

Thanks Groupon! xoxo

Pots of Arts and Waffle House - St Albans

My sister went to Fiji on Sunday to teach for 8 months so before she left I wanted to organise a girly day out for us both. I went onto Groupon for some ideas. I wanted to do something a bit different and didn't fancy a trip up to London.

After searching I saw a deal for painting pottery, so that gave me the idea to go and paint pottery. I looked to see where one was that was local to home and the one in St Albans called Pots of Art seemed good.

We arrived at midday and there were a couple of people in there but it wasn't busy. It was advised to book at busy times but I figured a weekday would be quiet especially as most people have gone back to school and work.

The best thing about this place is that you don't get charged a 'studio fee', you pay for the item you paint and that's it. It was fantastic as many places charge you up to £5 on top of the item you have chosen to paint.

Trying to decide what to do was the hardest part, there was so much to choose from! Did I want to make a money box, or paint an animal, or a plate or a mug?! In the end I went for a simple square plaque.

I decided to put Little Miss Tiny on it, as I am known for being short! I am not the most natural person when it comes to drawing, however I tried my best!

We were there for a couple of hours and then drove to the Waffle House which is the other side of St Albans.

I love the Waffle House and their sweet waffles and was excited to take my sister there as she had never been before!

We were originally going to get a waffle with chocolate sauce and choose extras such as butterscotch sauce and whipped cream. However I noticed a special which had everything we wanted on it plus more.

It was called Knickerbocker Waffle and was amazing! It had chocolate sauce, toffee sauce, vanilla fudge pieces, chocolate shavings and whipped cream and ice cream. It also came with berry coulis but we asked for it on the side. It was such good value and tasted divine. I could eat another one right now!

What a lovely day we had! xoxo

Castleton - Mam Tor

My family came up to Sheffield with me so I wasn't alone in my flat on my own whilst working.

I worked Monday and Wednesday, so on the Tuesday we took the shop drive from Sheffield to the Peak District. It snowed a lot on Boxing Day in Sheffield and the snow was still present, which made driving a bit tricky!

Castleton was still covered in a thick blanket of snow and looked stunning.

We walked up Winnats Pass and headed up the hill to the top of Mam Tor which gave stunning views of the Peak District. We then headed back down the hill. It was a long walk and very hard walking in snow, my leg muscles ached the next day!

The walk was simply beautiful and the lighting was gorgeous, I took a tad too many pics!

In the evening we went to our fsvourite restaurant in Sheffield - Graze Inn.

We were sat in a cosy booth at the back of the restaurant. I had a delicious raspberry mojito for only £5 as it was happy hour. I also enjoyed some ribs served with winter-slaw, fries and peas and carrots. The portion was huge and I couldn't manage it all, excellent value for money!

I'll miss this place once I gradate from University! xoxo