A Belated Valentine

*WARNING* This post contains cute couples activities, happiness and the ‘L’ word, and may be unsuitable for the romantically challenged and/or cynically minded.

This weekend saw my third (!!) Valentines Day with the ever wonderful Gabriel come and go, and it was lovely as per usual.

Yes! I know! Valentines Day was, like, totally over a week ago now, but who actually celebrates on the 14th of Feb anymore? That would be far too obvious and ‘mainstream’ for us, so 2002…

I am, of course, kidding in claiming I/we are too cool for V-Day. I would absolutely love to be that girl who is just soooo over flowers and chocolates and cute cards and kisses; I’d love to sit here and type out some long winded, political post decrying the day for everything it has come to represent on a corporate, money-making, mechanical level – but I LOVE love, and I’m a sucker for romance! As are we all, ladies, and any girl out there claiming that she doesn’t care for even the smallest of surprises or nice gestures is lying to me, you and herself!

So the real reason as to why we celebrated on the 22nd of February is that I booked a weekend away with friends, completely oblivious to the significance of the dates – committing a cardinal sin, and becoming a complete hypocrite in the process! Yes, double standards would apply here; if Gabe had even considered committing such a crime, he would be paying for it until next year, I’m sure. But, being as understanding as he is, and generally being male, he wasn’t really too fussed about the state of affairs (hypocrisy excluded).

A few particular highlights of our Valentines Saturday, apart from the obvious ‘spending time with someone special’, would be;

The exchanging of our gifts, even though we had a strict ‘no present’ rule (‘what are we like!’ Ha ha ha, ho ho ho), with Hotel Chocolat and Ryan Gosling DVDs making an appearance, and the swapping of our cards – Lazy Oaf apparently being the card retailer of choice this year! Their cute, yet witty, selection of v-day cards really encompass modern romance in my opinion, and really enraptured what you’re trying to say to that special someone.

Our visit to the Nottingham Contemporary – visiting galleries and making up the most pretentious concepts behind the art in question being a favourite past time of ours. At the moment the gallery space is filled with two rather ‘different’ artists; Tala Madani’s rather political pieces, depicting patriarchal society and bodily fluids in a way that is definitely an acquired taste, and Marvin Gaye Chetwynd’s heavy use of performance art and theatrical props (probably my least favourite form of modern art). A visit to the Contemporary is never dull and always eye opening; “International art, for everyone, for free”.

And a beautiful meal at Iberico Tapas, one of the best restaurants in Nottingham – a nod to our time spent in Barcelona last summer feat. a bottle of the White Rioja (my favourite) and churros for two. Although the food was divine, the atmosphere was a little lacking; perhaps because we were sat on a separate mezzanine level and so a little away from the central ‘buzz’ of the restaurant, but most likely because we had the real deal to compare it to. We both agreed, however, that on this occasion the secluded and intimate table setting worked, and you couldn’t ignore the fact that the restaurant was absolutely full when we arrived at 9pm and was still busy when we left at 11.30pm. I would highly recommend Iberico, but make sure your wallet is full and watch out for the 10% service charge already added to your bill!

I really had a lovely weekend, that I simply had to share a small part of, and my only hope is that this post hasn’t had too many of you reaching for sick buckets (and even if it did, I’m too happy to care)!

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger

I could’ve predicted that I let my blog slip away slightly, but from now on I am determined for this to not be the case. The old cliche of ‘new year, new me!’, which we hear shouted from the rooftops and twitter feeds around January 1st, is going to start mid February for me – but I’m ok with that.
I’ve allowed myself plenty of time to get the January blues out of my system, got through my exams with a nice little collection of 2:1s, and am ready for a fresh start.

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to a completely relaxing, detox week at home, a major wardrobe overhaul & shopping spree with my mum (one of the most wonderful human beings on this earth), and last week I started my new uni modules – very productive and satisfying after the January slump.
So after my relaxation, this week has seen the appearance of the new ‘motivated me’; I’ve started a new job, I’m on top of all my uni work (granted it’s only the second week of a new term), I’ve started a new workout regime, and I’m feeling quite good about life.

For anyone else out there who’s still suffering from January blues, or feeling like a failure for breaking their New Year resolutions, I have three top tips;

Firstly, go shopping! If you buy 10 things, or just the one, treating yourself will make you feel better and up those serotonin levels which is vital if you’re going to conquer the world.
Next, do some exercise. I honestly feel that people underestimate just how much better the smallest of workouts can make you feel. I’ve actually been making the most of my gym membership as of late, but on the side I’ve been using an app called ‘Seven’ based around 12 different exercises, which each last for 30 seconds, resulting in a seven minute workout. The app sets goals and really motivates you to complete even the shortest workout. I personally complete at least two circuits at once, but even just the seven minutes gets your blood pumping!
And finally, get a calendar, or make some lists – get organised, and set yourself weekly goals! (I personally like to start off a list with something I’ve already done, just to make myself feel EVEN better – and I know I’m not the only one!)

This is only a short post, hopefully with a bit of a motivational message in there somewhere, and a promise to myself, in writing, to keep going and to get back into writing!

Find something you love and stick at it chicks!

Am I doing this right?

Somebody popped up on my Twitter feed recently saying that if you aren’t looking forward to coming back to uni, you aren’t ‘doing it right’ and basically decrying anyone and everyone who had the slightest reservation about returning to university after some time off.

I am one of those such people. For days before I am due to return to lectures and fending for myself, my mood slowly worsens; I become pathetic and needy, teary even, and finally turn to being a grumpy witch for the first four or five days back, at least. This affliction is particularly strong after the Christmas break – for obvious reasons – and in my particularly witchy, post-crimbo phase this particular tweet particularly pissed me off. Don’t you tell me what I should or should not be doing, or whether I am or am not doing whatever it is that I’m doing correctly!

Then, to add insult to injury, a fellow tweeter felt it necessary to say how sorry they feel for those of us who feel this way – to whom I say: I don’t need your pity! I have my own self-pity thank you very much, in which I am absolutely content to wallow.

And can you blame me? I go from a fully stocked fridge freezer, Kim & Aggie style levels of cleanliness, seeing my boyfriend most days, going out with my best friends and having free reign with my car to… well… Nothingness; Nothing compares.

So let me bring us back to my original question, am I doing this whole uni thing the right way? No, apparently not. So how exactly am I supposed to do it?

Should I be working hard, barely seeing the light of day in between intense library sessions, getting straight firsts without even the faintest glimmer of a social life? Or should I be going out five times a week, going on weekend-long benders complete with various forms of narcotics, not caring about the degree that I am actually here to get in the end? My guess is that our tweeter ps are referring to the latter, but that really isn’t for everyone (thank god!).

Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way the model student! I could count the number of times I’ve set foot in the uni library this academic year on one hand (two fingers to be precise), I have been to my fair share of lectures feeling the after effects of the night before and I have perfected my procrastination skills when it comes to essay deadlines. I get by having fun with friends, going out a couple of nights a week, sometimes doing work, most of the time watching Breaking Bad (or other equally as addictive TV shows). And all that’s great, well it’s ok, I have fun, I promise… It’s just that I have so much to miss!

I notice it is those of us that have something to miss who are reluctant to come back to uni; those of us who are pampered at home, who have pets that we adore and those of us who have boyfriends that we won’t see for weeks. We tend to be the worst hit by the return of uni, deadlines, revision etc.

So I throw out the aforementioned tweets as rubbish. I am perfectly content in hating uni for a week or two after a break. I’ll get over it, and then I’ll go visit my boyfriend at uni, pop home for a weekend, or go on a mini break with my friends and all will be right in the world again.

So yes – cheese alert – I am doing it right, I’m doing it my way!

January Blues

Every year Christmas comes around, the lead up to which fills the majority of us with excitement at the anticipation of it all.
The day itself gives us good food and lots of it, presents, family fun, and endless TV specials.
We then collapse into a coma and before we know it we’re all off on brisk Boxing Day walks and consuming leftovers for the foreseeable future.

And now come those strange few days before New Years Eve where nothing of note seems to happen. We are in limbo, in that strange in between place, waiting for our next dose of festivities.

I always have a feeling of uncertainty in this time – the fun of Christmas is over and so what else have I got to look forward to? I’m not going to fool myself into thinking that I’ll actually get anything productive done in this four day period, I’ll just accept the fact that moping about with post-Christmas depression and a case of extreme laziness is on the cards.
I am, essentially, just counting down the days until I am officially allowed to drink a little too much in order to numb the pain of entering January.

Yes, my negative feelings begin a little sooner than the traditionally prescribed Blue Monday. The act of getting an entire month’s worth of fun out of the way before its even properly begun is just, well, extremely soul destroying!
It’s our way of trying to take our minds off the crushing expectations that January brings, I think.

I personally finished 2013 in a friends basement with a bottle of Prosecco, and then started 2014 with more drink, kisses all round and reminiscing about all the great experiences that I’ve had and memories I’ve made over the past year. Does this make me feel better? NO! It just makes me miss each moment separately, and pathetically, and wish I could go back and start again in summer, with not a care in the world.

Over the first few days of the New Year I then proceed to sit and worry about the university deadlines I have to meet, the exams I have to revise for, the rent I have to pay, the crappy new job I’m starting in order to settle my debts with various clothing outlets, the boyfriend I won’t have time to see for an entire month… Need I go on?

The motivated ones among us who start off the year with promises of hitting the gym ten times a week, or limiting ourself to one cube of chocolate a month, are a rather infuriating bunch. New Year’s resolutions just set us up to fail and make us feel bad about ourselves in an already miserable month, I’ve always hated them. *

With friends expressing their displeasure for this time of year from all angles, I am yet to meet a single person who enjoys January – so keep an eye out for them and make sure that they are put right immediately.

*NB if anyone finds a rare creature who has actually completed a whole year of resolutions, or even managed to make it to February, please let me know.

[Be]Yoncé

Forgive me for being so delayed in writing this rather inevitable post, but I have been caught up in a Beyoncé whirlwind for the past seven days; Watching, re-watching and re-re-watching her 17 new music videos, and listening to her 14 new songs in between.
Yes, the Queen has reaffirmed her position as ultimate-pop-diva-royalty-extraordinaire by dropping an entirely unannounced musical bomb last Friday, to which over a million people have flocked and downloaded worldwide in just under a week – an amazing feat.
It’s clear that Mrs Carter has been hard at work, and Mrs Carter’s ‘people’ have been even harder at work dishing out confidentiality agreements, for however long is anybody’s guess. And so it is time for my hard work as I try and pick my five absolute favourite tracks from Beyoncé’s fifth studio album/visual extravaganza.

1. BLOW

“This is for all my grown women out there”/“Can you lick my skittles?”/“Keep me humming, keep me moaning” – The riddle really isn’t that hard to solve, B. This oral sex packed gem of a song has been, and will continue to be, playing on repeat during any party, car journey or Sunday afternoon that I am a part of for the foreseeable future. I love the style of the track, that I can only describe as a futuristic-disco-vibe – very Prince-esque. Blow is, without doubt, my favourite track on the album – forget all the meaningful, feel good ‘classics’ (they come lower down on the list), it’s all about the sex. Bee has always oozed sex appeal, but this song takes it to a whole other level.

2. PARTITION

“Est-ce que tu aimes le sexe?” Well Yoncé does, and we aren’t going to forget that any time soon. This is possibly the most erotically charged song on the new album, and I love every exhilarating minute of it. With Iggy-style beats that just won’t quit, a brief appearance from the new [Yoncé] alter ego and references to The Big Lewinsky, this really is a winner. Beyoncé’s fabulously honest lyrics “Take all of me/I just wanna be the girl you like”, coupled with her raunchy exploration and openness, is a combination that could only work with a committed and intimate couple. It’s like overhearing the most private of conversations, but instead we get to watch it too.

3. DRUNK IN LOVE

The Queen & her King are no longer merely “Crazy in Love”, they’ve indulged and become completely deliriously “Drunk In Love” with each other. Now I must admit, I probably would peg this track as my third favourite more for the video and my admiration of their intoxication with each other, and less for the lyrical genius and musical prowess, but I’m allowed as Bey is all about the visual this time round. It looks like the most fun that anyone has had on a beach ever in black and white. Beyoncé looks even more phenomenal than ever, breaks out some cracking dance moves and I love that these two still can’t keep their hands off one another.

4. ***FLAWLESS

There’s something innately awesome about Beyoncé in black and white, on a grungy backdrop, getting a bit crazy/viscous over an insane hip-hop beat. Flipping the single ‘Bow Down’ (leaked earlier this year) on its side, and putting the cherry on top of the cake, the track features feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche quoting lines from her 2012 “We Should All Be Feminists speech”; “We raise girls to see each other as competitors/Not for jobs or for accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing/But for the attention of men/We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.” It’s a feast of empowerment and reassurance, reaffirming B’s ability to create feminist anthems (see “Independent Women” and “Run the World”). Remember ladies, we flawless.

5. PRETTY HURTS

I couldn’t finish off my top five without including the album’s opening track; it may be the most straight forward song lyrically, and a most predictable in terms of Beyoncé’s style as of late, but that just serves to confirm its spot in my top five. An inspirational tour-de-force, with Beyoncé telling us that her aspiration in life is simply to be happy; this is an absolute belter – especially whilst drunk and weepy.

For everyone complaining that Beyoncé has massacred her position as ‘role model’ by laying herself bare, quite literally, there’s only one last thing left for me to say:

Bow down bitches.

The most wonderful time of year…

‘Tis the season once again, and with a week to go until the big day I thought I’d finally grace my new blog with a rather festive appearance with five things that make Christmas so, well, Christmassy.
So here we go with my festive blogging or ‘flogging’, if you will.
After all, isn’t that what Christmas is all about; supermarkets and department stores flogging their Christmas ware?

In that vein, here I start my ‘Top 5’, because, really, what is more important than the gifts we give and receive on Christmas Day? Particularly the receiving, let’s not beat around the bush.
We have grown up surrounded by the values of material goods; rushing downstairs on Christmas morning, not for the pure joy of Christ being born on this particular day a gazillion years ago, but for the sheer excitement at what our jolly, red-and-white-clad friend has left for us in our stockings. So can you blame us for our way of thinking?
I, for one, have indulged in creating a fabulously varied, yet concise – and colour coordinated, might I add – Christmas list this year. Every close family member and family friend in possession of an email address has been lucky enough to receive said list, so I had to make sure that there was something for everyone on there, you know? Always thinking of others…

Of course nothing gives us that festive feeling quite like Christmas classics of the song and film variety. To quote my all time favourite Christmas film, without which Christmas is simply without meaning, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear” – so whack out The Waitresses, Wham!, and Slade; indulge in Elf, The Grinch and Arthur Christmas; and really get into that Christmas spirit!

The next step to having the perfect Christmas day, without a doubt in a single person’s mind, is the food. Nothing quite beats fully stocked cupboards, fridges and freezers during the Christmas period (particular whilst home from Uni for the month), and that’s before we’ve even arrived at the main event.
A Christmas spread is a triple threat; a real treat for the eyes and the nose and the taste buds. Turkey, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets… Just the mere hint of these gets my mouth watering. It’s my favourite decadent display of so-bad-for-you-but-oh-so-good food.
I do feel a little sorry for the Turkey, who clearly drew the short straw all those years ago when the very first Christmas dinner was planned, but there’s no way that my vegetarian Aunt’s nut roast will compare on the day.

How I have come this far without a mention of one of my favourite things, a true icon of Christmas? Not our Coca Cola vision of Santa Claus, but the very thing that gives our house meaning at Christmas time, providing us with the ultimate festive transformation, making sure our presents don’t look bare heaped in the corner… The Christmas tree!
How strange it is that, at this time of year, we promote mass-deforestation, bring something which grows outside into our homes, and decorate it with all kinds of crap… But I adore the crap; nothing beats the process of finding the perfect tree, decorating it and the pride we get from the finished product – my fellow Instagram users and I are proof of this.

Now we mustn’t finish off here without mentioning the importance of family at Christmas. It’s the one time of the year that a family comes together and gets on like a house on fire, because there’s nothing that a little Christmas merriment can’t fix.
This year I’ll be working on Christmas day, and at first I thought nothing of it (except for the doubled hourly rate I’d be earning), but now I’m realising that I’ve probably taken spending Christmas Day at home with my family for granted.

Note to self: Do not miss Christmas again.