Hi all, hope you're having a great start to the month! For me, the first weekend of August was a fab one, so much so that I wanted to share it all with you. I have a lot to cover so let's just jump right in...
THURSDAY 1st AUGUST 2019
I don't know that Thursday technically counts as the weekend, but let's just go with it. It was Yorkshire Day, an annual event that you know I can get behind. What better way to celebrate my county than taking a trip to Leeds, eh? I hopped on the early morning train from Rawcliffe (and slid in the mud en route, it was a life flashing before my eyes moment) and was in the city centre before nine o'clock. It was SO nice to walk through Trinity this early, all of the shops were just opening so everything was presented neatly and looked organised - even in Primark! It was also really quiet and easy to look round, which is probably why I ended up spending so much money. Luckily by half past ten my friend Chloe had joined me and dragged me away from the shops and into Cosy Club for a well deserved brunch!
We sat outside on the roof terrace which was really nice, there were some buskers just below and the temperature was perfect! I also really admired the lights out here, how cool are they? I want some when I move out and get my own house, which I swear will happen one day... just not yet.
We both ordered some tap water, a large freshly squeezed glass of OJ, and then I went for the eggs royale, while Chloe opted for avo on toast. If you didn't know, I'm testing out a pescatarian diet at the moment, hence the smoked salmon for breakfast - I promse I haven't turned right-wing overnight.
Breakfast was incredible, I'll insert a photo below so you can see! Portion sizes were decent, the food was reasonably priced, and presentation gets a 10/10 from me. Unfortunately, one of the members of staff in there was BEYOND rude. I think he was meant to be seating people but we ended up going up to him and asking to pay for our bill because nobody had come to give us it (despite our plates being cleared and us declining anything else), and he seemed really annoyed by this!? We asked to split the bill and he told us he needed us to determine an exact amount, so we asked what half of the sum was (you know maths is not my strong point so I don't expect to come out to breakfast and have to do mental arithmetic) and again, he was SO funny about it?! I'm guessing he didn't want to do the maths either? Anyway, we managed to pay in the end and he didn't totally ruin our experience, the other servers were perfectly nice so let's not dwell on one bad egg when the others (including the one below) were so good!
After brunch we had another little mooch around the shops, where I spent even more money, and then headed to The Alchemist. It hadn't been our original plan to go for day drinks, but I can't say I'm really surprised that that's what we ended up doing - how could we resist? We've been to Leeds a few time and Alchemist is always heaving, so we were relieved to find it so empty on this occasion, we even managed to bag another nice outdoor spot!
This is a Bubblebath, NOT to be confused with Bath Bomb which was absolutely rank - I would NOT recommend! This one, however, was lovely! We sat out here for a couple of hours, trying and testing our way through the menu, though we did only sample four each, and only three and a half really because neither of us could finish Bath Bomb, and we somehow still ended up feeling tipsy! I've been cutting back a little on my drinking - though you wouldn't think that reading this post - and hadn't touched alcohol since graduation, which I think is why I ended up being such a lightweight. Chloe is about half the size of me so I'd say that's why it went to her head too! We were discussing how every time we go to the Nyx shop in Trinity, we're always a bit tipsy, as was the case on this occasion! It's just a tradition by this point. I bloody love my days out with Chloe and I'm so buzzing for December because we've arranged a trip to the Harry Potter Studios, which Maisie will also be coming on! I know it's a way off but it gives us something to look forward to, and it means Hogwarts in the snow which is going to be extra magical! We're also in the process of perhaps booking ourselves onto the Eurostar to Paris at some point before the year is out too, we were thinking around Halloween, so watch this space! Our last trip was to London and we had such a great time, I'm really kicking myself for not blogging about it to be honest, but you know how busy I was back then. I'm loving writing more now that it's summer, so hopefully you're loving reading!
Anyway, here I am posing with my first cocktail! Excuse my hair, the heat that day made it flatten in an instant, while my extensions remained super curly... it wasn't a good look. I also tried their Aperol Spritz and Strawberry Daquiri - two staples that were definitely safe bets after the Bath Bomb! Both were really tasty and refreshing, so I'd recommend. I'm glad we finally got to spend some time at The Alchemist, we're looking to hit up The Botanist next so we can compare, you'll no doubt read about that in a future post if we ever manage it!
After we'd finished our drinks we wandered back to the shops and then in the evening we got an early dinner. We both love Bills for breakfast so figured we might as well see if it was up to much for evening meals, we were not disappointed! Service was really quick and we had a lovely new waitress called Hannah serving us. I think it was possibly her first day because she was doing a lot of shadowing and had a lot of other staff members watching over her too, and I just wanted to say that she did a fantastic job. After a year of teacher training I know just how hard it is to perform when you have an audience, but she didn't seem to let the pressure get to her one bit and was calm and collected throughout our stay. I heard one of the other waitresses refer to us as her first table of the day, so hopefully the rest of her shift went really well too!
Sticking to my pescatarian diet, I had the halloumi burger, which came with sweet chilli sauce, lettuce, hummus, red onions and red roasted pepper, with some rosemary and sea salt fries. I wasn't sure what I'd think of this to be honest, I'm usually such a meat lover, I didn't know if this would hit the spot... it did! The burger was phenomenal and the halloumi worked as a great meat substitute, with the sweet chilli sauce giving it fantastic flavour. I would one hundred percent get this again!
I attempted this gorgeous lemon meringue pie for pudding but only managed to get through about half of it which is definitely not like me! It tasted so nice but was super sickly and after so many fruity cocktails, I just didn't have room to store it.
It was a day of indulgence and being a total consumer, which you can't and shouldn't do often, but it felt so great to treat myself! I wanted to show you some of the bits I bought, so I'll insert some pictures below.
Watermelon Bubblebath from Neon Sheep (£6.00)
Cat Necklace from Next (£5.00)
Vegan Face Masks (Avo & Oat and Charcoal) From Superdrug (Two for £7.00)
Friday 2nd August 2019
From Yorkshire Day, to Roma Genocide Remembrance Day (PLEASE check out my post from last Friday, it's very short but informative and educational). The daytime was pretty relaxed for me, I did a workout, wrote some blog posts, tidied my bedroom and tested out my new bubblebath, which I really liked by the way, and got prepared for the evening time! I had my cousins, Emily and Lucy, round for pizza and drinks from five o'clock. Now that it's summer we're all able to hang out a lot more and I've been loving it, I think you're really fortunate if you can call your family members your friends as well, and that's definitely how I think of mine! We had a proper little girls night, though my brother did intrude (he was welcome to be fair) and enjoyed a couple of drinks and some pizza! Then we played this meme board game that I got at Christmas time, for which my parents ended up joining us, and then the party extended even further as my cousin FInlay and his friend arrived! We did Harry Potter Eye Toy, which I'm sure is taking some of you way back, and then Singstar, before going for a half past nine game of rounders on the village green. It was such a fun evening!
Saturday 3rd August 2019
Saturday was another relaxed day, I was really feeling the effects of all the indulging and decided to get a bit more proactive and conscious of what I was putting into my body. I've been trying to embrace a healthier lifestyle and up until Thursday I had been doing so well and feeling really good for it, but I wasn't going to let a couple of days off-plan ruin my week! I spent the morning doing a 25 minute low intensity workout (but my GOD did I find it intense) and then followed up with a run.
In the late afternoon I got myself dolled up and ready for my cousins 40th birthday party!
God knows why I look like such a giant next to my mum, Joe has recently decided that he's going to film a Harry Potter remake and has cast me as Hagrid - so I feel great about my stature now!
This weekend was a busy and rewarding one, with lots going on and lots to enjoy! I have decided to dedicate this next week to getting prepared for September, so I have less to look forward to and wanted to prolong the experience of this weekend a little by writing it all out! I hope it's been somewhat interesting. Please do feel free to give me some inspiration for future posts, I'm now facing serious writers block! After my recent PGCE related posts (and the promo from BGU) I have found myself reaching a much larger audience, and i really want to make sure my content is suitable for you all! So please do send me a message via the About tab, or though Facebook, Instagram etc. if you know me personally. I appreciate every single view and subscription, so thank you very much, I look forward to chatting to you all again soon!
Jess xx