November.

The penultimate month of 2015 is already over. What the HECK?!

The first week of November was a weird one. I had an essay due on the 7th and I hadn't started it as I had been so busy previously (see October's round up). I was also pretty ill and that added to the stress had a really weird effect on me and I was barely sleeping or eating all week. I've never really been super stressed about University work before so I think it was a bit of a shock to the system; i'm often too laid back to care about grades (for example see my GCSE results). This meant that Bonfire Night (if you're not from the UK, Google it) was spent writing my essay, however I did leave my blind open so I could watch the fireworks at the same time. Multitasking at its best.

Anyway, the week after my deadline, it was finally time for my 21st birthday present from James.

We stayed over in Manchester the night before as our flight was at 6:30am, and having to be at Manchester airport for about 4am means waking up in Leeds at about 2am. No thanks.

When we got there, the phrase "Rome wasn't built in a day" was bouncing around my head. I saw how true this statement was. All of the buildings are so beautiful and detailed and in the taxi journey from the airport to our hotel, I just couldn't stop looking out of the window.

My personal favourite of the attractions: The Trevi Fountain.

Every time a new Hunger Games film has been released, my best friend Charlotte and I would go see the double/triple bill at the cinema. But this year Vue decided not to do a quadruple bill and instead they only did a double bill of Mockingjay. Bit rubbish right? It was also the week after I got back from Rome and I had about £5 to get me to payday, so I couldn't go. So my friend Viv suggested we make our own quadruple bill. We fell asleep halfway through Catching Fire so this failed epically.

Things started to concrete over for Australia too. I bought my travel insurance and my VISA got granted. It's all becoming real, it still hasn't hit me yet!

My Mum got me and my sister these awesome Christmas jackets because I got a first in my placement year and my sister did something good in Spanish (I can't remember what it was).

One of my friends from work had his leaving do on the 30th. I'll be so sad to see him go but he's going to South Africa which is pretty damn cool. So for his leaving party we all went to his house and had a Disney night in. I know right? Amazing. We were watching Disney movies from 2pm until half 4 in the morning (we also watched Ghostbusters because Nathan was 'a bit bored' of cartoons...weirdo).

Nathan fell asleep so we played Buckaroo.

On the last day of November I decorated my room for Christmas. I couldn't wait any longer. In the process I managed to impale my foot on one of the hooks that I use to hang tinsel up. That hurt. A lot.

Nice and festive!

So that's it for another month! I'm so excited for December (I always am).

Rambling Post #6: I'm actually terrified.

Recently whenever people have been asking me about moving to Australia they usually ask "how excited are you?!", and don't get me wrong, I really can't wait to go, but i'm also absolutely terrified.

I've never lived away from home before so going from my comfort zone in Leeds with all of my family and friends around me, to the other side of the world where I know absolutely no one makes me a little anxious. Knowing that I won't have my parents as a safety net whilst i'm out there is probably what scares me the most. But that's life. I've got to leave them at some point. I think i'm not that good at making friends, it always just happens by a happy accident. I'm not the kind of person to put myself out there in a new group of people and i'm actually pretty quiet when i'm getting to know people. It's only when i'm comfortable with someone that you start to realise i'm actually quite loud and never shut up.

Then there's the snakes. And spiders. And crocodiles. I've been watching I'm A Celebrity this year and every time I see one of the huge spiders it just reminds me that they're probably just a typical 'house spider' over there. I can deal with the usual British 50p sized spideys but hell naw to the spiders down under. I think the first things I will buy when I get there is a fly swat and a shit load of bug spray.

I feel like i've lived in my comfort zone for 21 years now and it's about time I did something that scares me, because staying in my comfort zone isn't going to get me anywhere.

But yeah, growing up and doing scary things sucks, but moving 10,053 miles away is also hella exciting.

𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

Rambling post #5: Be yourself.

During High School, and even into 6th Form and the beginning of University, I had a pathological fear of what everyone thought about me. Throughout the years it started to get a bit ridiculous: I would be getting dressed for the day and I would be choosing what to wear judging it on what the people I would be seeing that day would think of it. I know it's important to take pride in your appearance, and I do (most of the time), but this obsession was rapidly becoming unhealthy.
I'd start to change my opinions about things in discussions with friends just so I didn't sound weird or different to everyone else. "You like Dubstep?! Me too!" Bullshit.
I know it sounds unbelievably cheesy and too much of a cliché, but it's true when they say to be happy you need to be yourself, and it's only been recently that i've been doing this and i've realised just how relaxed and happy I am as a result.
There are people in the world that are going to judge you no matter what. It's taken me 21 years to realise that if people are going to judge me anyway, i'm at least going to get judged for the things that make me happy. Live your life for yourself. If you obsess over making others happy, what happens to you? Who cares what anyone else thinks? Why do their opinions matter?
I feel that when you reach your twenties you need to be selfish and do things for you. I need to start living my life for myself and no one else. Don't get me wrong, I don't exactly want to make people miserable whilst i'm loving life.
I'm always going to be one of those people who cares about others. I'm just going to be someone who doesn't really give a rats ass about anyones opinion anymore.
All I want is in 70 odd years (fingers crossed), I can look back and not regret a thing.
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

G'Day Mate!

So i've been keeping this quiet on social media until now (i've pretty much told everyone I know in person though, I was too excited to keep it to myself).

I'M MOVING TO AUSTRALIA!

People i've told have been like, "erm what where the hell did this come from?"
But in February 2016 i'll be moving to Melbourne COMPLETELY BY MYSELF to study at Victoria University until June.

Honestly, i'm absolutely terrified. Australia has always been that one place that i've always said i'll never go on holiday (you know, spiders etc), but when I got nominated by my current University to go here, who the hell would say no?! I've never done anything this big before and it's probably the most terrifying and brave thing I will ever do, yet funnily enough, I can't wait!

I still can't believe that I will be calling this place home in 3 months.

If i'm completely honest, the thing i'm most excited for is decorating my new room.
I feel kind of ready for a fresh start. It's not that i'm upset with anything here in England, I'm perfectly happy, I've just never done anything as exciting as this and I can't wait to meet a bunch of new people.

But don't worry, i'll still be keeping you updated on all of my adventures whilst i'm over there! (That's if I have any). My course leader told me last week that whilst I usually take 3 modules and have 2 assignments per module at Leeds Beckett, at Victoria i'll be studying 4 modules with 4 assignments per module. Goodbye social life. The positive is that the grades I get whilst on Study Abroad don't count towards my degree, so all I have to do is pass. Brings a teensy bit of pressure to this semester though, now all my Semester 1 assignments count for my whole second year.

I'm hopefully signing on to this International Orientation trip before the semester starts in Melbourne, Basically all the international students go on a trip for 3 days and we learn to surf, visit a zoo and go on some sort of hike (ew).

My plan for the Easter Holidays (if I can afford it and if it can be done), is to go to Sydney for the first week and climb the Harbour Bridge and go see something at the Opera House, maybe try and find where Dance Academy was filmed. Then for the second week I want to fly over to New Zealand and go see where Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit was filmed. Then at some point in all of the madness, i'm going to grow a pair (i'm terrified of sharks) and go snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef (my GoPro will be perfect for this!).

So there you have it. Probably the biggest news I will ever have (until I eventually get to the proper adulty stuff like babies etc. But that is a loooong while off).

October.

So here I am, procrastinating from my first University deadline of the semester with less than a week to go to get this essay done. So naturally, this is the time I decide to get a blog post written as I haven't in a while! I can't believe it's November already. It's nearly my favourite time of year and I almost can't contain my excitement! But we're not there yet. Here's what I got up to in the hallowed month of October.

I met Nick Frost! Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead are among mine and my boyfriend's favourite films and when I saw that Nick was doing a signing at my local Waterstones I didn't hesitate to get me and James tickets.

Cornetto?

I LOVE fancy dress and will pretty much use any excuse to dress up, so when my bestie Charlotte invited us all to her house for a pre Halloween party, I couldn't wait to make my costume.

My sister went as a zombified Sleeping Beauty and she also looked pretty awesome.
I wore a long black skirt and black top, with a long black cloak that my mum made for my sister when she dressed up at the Woman In Black a few years ago. I bought the horns from a fancy dress store and put in light green contact lenses.

My Maleficent make up!
(Please excuse the emoji's on my head they were not part of my costume)

I then made the staff out of white piping and stuck a polystyrene ball on top, then covered the whole thing in black tape. I did the make up myself, sprayed my hair black and then I was good to go!

Everybody's pumpkins! I think from this picture it's pretty obvious that my friends and I are massive Disney fans.

Close up of my pumpkin! Maleficent the dragon!

October is always a pretty hectic month for me. Those of you that know me well know i'm a dance teacher from February - October every year, with the annual show taking place in October half-term. This usually makes me slightly busy, but since this year I was actually in the show too, this made me very busy. On top of that I was working 2 days a week and at Uni for 4 other days. It's a good job this only goes on for a month because if it did any longer, i'd have probably had a mental breakdown.

My oldest group practicing their lift before opening night!

We had some amazing feedback about this years show and i'm so proud of everyone that helped and took part. It got pretty stressful at times but all in all I had such an amazing week performing and it sounds like the kids did too!

Interval madness.

That's all that really happened last month. Pretty much most of my time was spent preparing for halloween and the show so I didn't really have time for anything else. This month i'm going to Rome so my next monthly round up post will be a little more exciting!

Rambling post #4: Writers block.

Here I am attempting to complete my first assignment for my second year at University. It's due in on Monday and I currently have 138 out of 2,500 words written.
Back in 6th Form and even First Year I could whack out a decent essay in 1 or 2 days, this doesn't seem to be the case.
This essay was set in my PR module around 4 weeks ago, which was 2 weeks into the semester at Uni. This raised the question, "how can they expect me to write an essay on a subject I have never before studied in my life?".
As a result, I left it for a couple of weeks until I had been to a few lectures and seminars to familiarise myself with the subject. I'm a little more clued up to the subject, so why am I still sat here with only 138 words of an introduction?
I'm not usually one to stress or get upset about school or Uni work, but theres a first time for everything. This is definitely stressing me out. Big time.
Usually once I have the basic gist figured out and I have something to start on, it just flows out of me. This time i've written and re-written the essay plan at least 6 times, and it's pretty difficult to write about something when you're not even sure what you want to say.
I'm hoping i'll have an epiphany soon or a textbook will fall and open on the exact page that I need for inspiration, but right now, there is absolutely nothing working in my brain.
If anyone has any tips on writers block, it would be greatly appreciated.
Also if you made it this far, thanks for listening to me whinge.
𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

September.

Another month down. Only 3 to go and it's 2016! This year is completely flying by and it seriously needs to start slowing down!

So the beginnging of September wasn't actually that exciting. It started off with a lot of after holiday blues following a brilliant week in Mallorca. Mostly because I was poor, I didn't really do much for the first couple of weeks.

Then my best friend, Tom, at work had his leaving do. It's weird and sad that we'll never work together again (i'm pretty sure everyone else is glad that Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee have been separated), but he's moving to University so i'm also super happy for him.
So anyway, back to the leaving do. We went to Roxy Lanes in town and had 2 rounds of bowling. Never drink and bowl.
Ever.
Before you know it bowling balls were flying all over the place and people were racing to take each others goes. I'm pretty surprised no one broke their foot to be honest (Dayle was throwing them backwards). After that some of us moved on to Tom's house where more drinking and fun and games continued. I remember it took around 2 hours to order a pizza and have it delivered. I don't think i've ever been so angry at pizza before. The next morning was the typical walk (or taxi journey) of shame in last night's clothes. Classy.

Another weekend I went to an 18th which resulted in a spontaneous trip to town. Which then resulted in another walk of shame the next morning after staying at my other bestie, Mary's house.

Then it came to starting University again. Here we go with second year. Before I know it i'll have no social life and will be permanently glued to textbooks and writing essays.

It's not been the most exciting of months, but with my dance show being next month, October should be more interesting!

Get To Know The Blogger

Recently my pal Thomas (mentioned quite a few times on this blog) tagged me in a questions post located here for me to answer.

1. Do you have a middle name? I do not. I'm usually quite reluctant to tell this story but I want to answer these as truthfully as possible. When my sister was born, I was a very jealous 6 year old because my new baby sister got a middle name and I never had one. I know, how rude. So I decided to make up my own. Annabel Star Riley. My Mum tells this to everyone we meet so naturally, I get called Star a lot.
2. What was your favourite subject in school? I loved Art. I've always been very creative and get my drawing skills from my Dad. I'd spend hours drawing in my sketchbooks and adding things to projects. It's the only thing i've ever received an A in.
3. What's your favourite drink? Wine. Unless it's none alcoholic, then it's more wine because that's ridiculous.
4. What's your favourite song at the moment? I hate this question. I can never pick one song to focus on. I usually have a top few but at the moment i'm liking a lot of different things.
5. What would you name your children? It's kind of a Riley family 'in' thing, but my Granddad used to love birds, especially Robins. I absolutely adored my Granddad and ever since he died 5 years ago it's always been a thing to see a Robin and know that Granddad's looking out for us. It's because of this I want to name my first girl Robyn.
6. Do you participate in sports? That's hilarious.
7. What's your favourite book? Nope. Impossible. You can't do that to me.
8. What's your favourite colour? Purple. My room looks like Barney threw up.
9. What's your favourite animal? I really like Dolphins and Tigers. For as long as I can remember it's been my #1 dream to swim with Dolphins. I finally got to do this in Mexico a few years ago. Next on the bucket list is to cuddle a Tiger cub.
10. What's your favourite perfume? I've been using Thierry Mugler's Alien for a while now and I love love love it, however in Duty Free on the way home from Mallorca last week I treated myself to a bottle of Marc Jacob's Violet which i'm quite liking right now.
11. What's your favourite holiday? Definitely Christmas. I'm one of those sickeningly happy people that get way too excited when the Coca Cola advert first screens in November. And I still can't sleep on Christmas Eve.
12. Have you graduated from High School? I have indeed. Just under 4 years ago.
13. Have you been out of the country? A few times yes. I've been on holiday to Jamaica, Mallorca, Menorca, Lapland, Paris, Belgium, Mexico and Spain. I've never lived or travelled abroad, but I'm planning to do both of those in the US when University is out of the way.
14. Do you speak another language? Not fluently. I know quite a bit of Spanish which I try use as much as possible when i'm on holiday there. I'd love to be fluent one day though.
15. Do you have any siblings? I do. She's my favourite human and the bane of my life, Emma.
16. What's your favourite store? Either River Island or Waterstones.
17. What's your favourite restaurant? I could eat at TGI Fridays every day of the week. I got pretty close to this once. I felt like I had to work out for months afterwards though.
18. Do you like school? I didn't like High School. I was bullied towards the beginning so that wasn't fun. But I really enjoyed 6th Form.
19. Who are some of your favourite YouTubers? I really don't watch YouTube videos that much. Just the likes of whatever pops up on Facebook. I'm subscribed to Tom Fletcher from McBusted who seems to pull out a classic video every month, and I also quite like Zoella's videos.
20. What's your favourite movie? Jurassic Park. Hands down.
21. What are some of your favourite TV shows? The Big Bang Theory, The Vampire Diaries, FRIENDS, Sherlock and Game of Thrones.
22. PC or MAC? I love my MAC more than I love myself.
23. What phone do you have? iPhone 5s in gold (debating getting the next iPhone when it's released though)
24. How tall are you? This is pretty much the same answer Tom gave but my situation's the same. I think i'm 5'8" but Mum tell's me i'm 5'7" so ok.
25. Any pets? I have a demented cat called Freddie. I'm convinced he is the spawn of Satan.

There you go, now you know me a little better! I now nominate Emma.

August.

Where the HECK did September come from?! After having a pretty hectic month, i'm quite looking forward to a slightly calmer one where the only exciting thing to be happening is going back to University and Freshers Week, (which after being away on placement for a year I am really looking forward to).

So the first week of August saw me flying to Disneyland Paris with my sister, Sophie and her brother, Danny. Read about Day 1 here, Day 2 here and 3 here.

Then there was the rest of my birthday week. Laserzone, birthday meal, Thorpe Park, Manchester and a well needed lazy day. You can read about all of that here!

Then came a pretty normal week at work doing the usual grafting. Not long after, my Mum, Dad, Emma, Auntie Alex, Uncle Simon and cousins Anya, Natasha and Katrina along with my Gramps John went to the villa that we visit in Mallorca every year. This left me with a free house, so naturally, the alcohol began to flow. I had 2 friends from work, Tom & Nathan (the only ones that could make it) round to my house and i'll be honest, it's very surprising how messy it can get when there's just 3 of you. The night consisted of multiple games of Ring of Fire, Shot Roulette and sitting on my shed roof playing 'Never Have I Ever'.

We learned way too much about each other and if we ever played again it would be way too soon.

A few days later, my boyfriend James and I flew out to meet the rest of my fam in Mallorca for just over a week. Revisiting the villa always feels like going home and I can honestly say it's one of my most favourite places in the world. On our second day we went on a yacht trip and this is when we all (including James) discovered that he is incredibly seasick. We also discovered a natural/man made pool next to the ocean. We all had such an amazing holiday (as always) and yet again i'm sat writing this with some serious after holiday blues. But I still have Rome to look forward to in a few months!

So here's to finding out what September brings!

Paris, Day 3. Disneyland.

Our day started at 7am yet again. We were up bright and early to grab some breakfast and check out of the hotel. It took me and my sister a solid 10 minutes to figure out how to work the lockers in the luggage room, but once we had it all locked away, off we went for another day in the Disney Parks.
To kick start the day we went for another ride on Space Mountain and then went to Thunder Mountain as the queue the day before was a ridiculous 90 minutes. On our way out of the main park, we noticed that Winnie the Pooh barely had a line to go and meet him. Guess what happened next?

Pooh bear!

We then ventured off to the Walt Disney Studios park for the rest of the day.

Ft. Emma

It was interesting to see some behind the scenes of Disney. The first ride we made our way to was the Hollywood Tower. A few friends have told me about this one in the past and they said you can't go to Disneyland and miss it out. The weather was hitting the high twenties, and we were waiting for the Tower for at least an hour in the scorching heat. Eventually, we were at the front of the queue and excitedly anticipating what was to happen next. I must have looked like an easy target because the staff there kept making me jump. The ride was brilliantly hilarious. I mean, just look at our picture:

Beautiful.

We then went on our second favourite ride of the holiday: Rock n' Rollercoaster. This one is a little like Space Mountain: underground, lots of loops and twists and turns. However with one exception, it blasts Aerosmith right next to you. Me and Emma were singing "DUDE LOOK LIKE A LADY" in between screams the whole way round. It's fair to say that at this point, my voice was pretty worse for wear and I was starting to sound like Marge Simpson. After a quick ice cream and a drink, we went to the last ride of the holiday: Crush's Coaster. By now our feet were hurting, we were extremely exhausted and we were very thirsty. We queued for this ride for over an hour. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, we were finally on the ride and had a blast. Sadly, it was now time to make our way back to the hotel for our transfer to the airport and leave Disneyland behind.

Bye bye Disney!

We all had such an amazing time and were extremely sad to leave. It's somewhere you can really bring out your inner child and not feel judged for it and anyone that knows me knows that I don't exactly act my age. Emma, Sophie, Danny and I are already making plans to back again next summer. Even though it felt like all we did was queue and wait and travel for three days, it was one of the most amazing trips i've been on, and I can't wait to go back.

Ps. There is no way me and Emma could have survived the week on our own, so thanks for gatecrashing Sophie & Danny. We would never have made it back to Cheesy.

Until next time, Disneyland.

Paris, Day 2. Disneyland.

Despite having such a late night the night before, we were up bright and early and downstairs for 8am for breakfast. After plenty of croissants and pain au chocolats we hopped onto the shuttle bus and made our way to the Disney parks for the first time.

We arrived a little early, so in the middle of our childish Disney excitement, we went into a big Disney shop just outside of the gate.

(Headbands make me look bald so pls excuse)

I spent WAY too much, and I didn't regret it one bit. We spent at least an hour in the shop - there's so much to look at! I just wanted to buy everything.

Ready to go!

At 10am, we went into the Disneyland Park and first of all went into the Buzz Lightyear ride where you had to shoot the Evil Emperor Zurg (I won of course). Then we went to Space Mountain. Which soon after became our favourite ride. We went on it 3 times throughout the 2 days and each time managed to be at the front.

Say cheese!

We then went for a wander through the park and then walked through the castle

So pretty!

Because we were already acting like we were 5 years old, we decided to go on the Merry-Go Round.

Quick selfie

It was then that Sophie spotted Tigger just around a corner with only a short queue to meet him. As we were walking around the building to where she saw him, we realised that Eeyore was stood with him. Anyone who knows me could guess that at this point I was freaking out big time (Eeyore is my all time fave). So naturally we joined the queue and we all got hugs from the loveable characters.

They were so cuddly!

We then made our way to other rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean (which has absolutely nothing to do with the film disappointingly), Star Tours and Indiana Jones.

Then it was time for the parade! The song is forever stuck in my head but it just reminds me of how amazing it was. Being there, you kind of forget your age and who you're with, making you morph into this 5 year old version of yourself. I tell myself this to convince myself it was okay to scream.

I took way too many pictures.

By this point it was well into the evening so we walked to Planet Hollywood where we had reserved a table for dinner. The guys who served us in there were so lovely and welcoming - we definitely want to go there again. After another mooch around the shops after we had eaten, it was time to go sit by the castle in the main park for the firework and light display.
It
was
INSANE.

AAAAAAH!

They projected pictures and short clips of the Disney movies onto the castle and it was so clever how it all fit together and it looked like the characters were really there.

When the display finished it was midnight, so we went straight back to the hotel knowing we had to pack ready for home the next day. As Sophie and Daniel had a double bed and a bunk bed in their room, we all decided to have a little sleepover, and when we had all finished packing at 2am, Emma and I ventured off to their room.
Neither of us got to sleep until 3am, despite knowing we were up at 7 again the next day.

Make sure you check back tomorrow for our third and final day!

Paris, Day 1. The Eiffel Tower.

For my 21st birthday, I decided instead of a present I wanted to go to Disneyland Paris with my sister. After my parents surprisingly agreed for me to take my younger sister out of the country, we just grew more and more excited. A couple months before we were due to go, my best friend Sophie texted me to ask if her and her brother Daniel could gatecrash and come with us. It was the best idea Emma and I could think of and before you know it, off we went.

I'll skip through the whole fandango of travelling there with the boring security checks and baggage claim, so i'll just show you a picture of us on the plane with the strange man that was sat next to me.

Plane selfie!

Once we had checked in to our hotel, we decided to go on a little adventure to the Eiffel Tower considering our Park tickets were only valid for 2 out of our 3 days. This started with having a small dilemma at the train station; we had bought our tickets and knew what stop to get off at, but all of the signs were in French and we had no idea what side of the station to get on the train! After a lot of confusion and slow conversations with the French Information people, we managed to get on the right train, only the line terminated 1 stop before where we needed to get off.

A DOUBLE DECKER TRAIN PEOPLE

So it was back to stressing out. After leaving the tube station, we knew we were in the main city of Paris, but had absolutely no idea where. We figured that we were bound to see the tower from somewhere - it's huge! We were stood staring at a city map for what seemed like hours to try and navigate ourselves there. In the end I got a little fed up and flagged down a taxi (I was totally feeling like Blair or Serena when they go to Paris in Gossip Girl at that moment). 1 taxi ride later, and we were there.

Here we are!

Once we were there, the phones and cameras were out and millions of photos were taken. After seeing it in real life, i've realised that photographs really don't do it justice. It's so much bigger and so much more beautiful when you're really there. Especially when it's lit up at night! We had a little mooch around and bought a few souvenirs and some food, then decided it was time to get in line to go up the tower. The queue was horrendously long but eventually we got to the front.

So pretty!

Going up the lift made me nervous. I'm not brilliant with heights, yet I still always want to look down, and that was a bad idea. We went straight up to the second tier (unfortunately the top had closed by this point). The view was incredible. We saw the Arc de Triumph and Notre Dame and you can literally see for miles, I just couldn't stop looking out into the city.

The view from the first tier!

It was 11pm when we decided to leave and make our way back to the tube station. We got a taxi back and went down about 5 escalators into a completely deserted station. It looked apocalyptic. Exhausted from an extremely long day, we got on the train and began to relax knowing we would be back in our beds within 2 hours. That was when we realised that the last train stop was 3 stops before ours back in Disneyland. Time to panic again. When we got off at some station called 'Torcy', we saw that there were other passengers waiting for another train too. Knowing that we weren't completely alone and in the comfort that there was another British family on the platform, we sat and waited 20 minutes for the next train.

Eventually, the train came, and before long we were back in Disneyland and getting onto the shuttle bus straight back to the hotel. It was 2am when we were back in our rooms, and after such a long day travelling, we all crashed pretty much straight away.

That's the end of day one! Check here again tomorrow for day two.

Birthday Week.

So anyone in and around my radar will have caught wind that I turned 21 last week. I mean it was pretty difficult not to notice, the celebrations lasted over a week. Here's an overview of everything I got up to!

Monday 3rd August
We're going to Disneyland! Me, Emma, my best friend Sophie and her brother Daniel went to celebrate mine and Sophie's 21sts. After we had checked into the hotel we went on an adventure to the Eiffel Tower and got slightly lost in the process. Still, it was a brilliant start to my birthday week.

Tuesday 4th August
Our first day in the Disneyland Parks! We were in the main Disneyland Park from 9:30am until midnight. It was a LONG day! Our favourite ride was Space Mountain (we went on 3 times) and the parade was INSANE! That night we went for dinner at Planet Hollywood and went to watch the evening firework and light show at the castle.

Wednesday 5th August
After spending the day in the Walt Disney Studios Park, meeting Winnie the Pooh and queuing for over an hour for Crush's Coaster, we eventually had to make our way back home. I'll be writing about all 3 days in Paris in much more detail soon so watch this space!

Thursday 6th August
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY BITCHES. My birthday started in the wee early hours - arriving at Leeds Train Station after an awesome 3 days in Paris. I have already claimed this day as everyone's favourite day of the year, and there was only 1 way I wanted to spend it - LaserZone! I invited my whole family to Xscape and we played 2 hilarious games. We were split up into a blue and yellow team. In the second game some kids and their Dad joined in and may I just say, they were absolute little bastards. So we all ganged up and annihilated them. Afterwards, we all freshened up and went to Franco's Restaurant for some good nosh. At the meal I opened a few more prezzies and suffered the annual embarrassment of being sung to with a birthday cake. When we got home, I finally got to open my boyfriend, James' present, after he'd been raving about it for weeks. He's taking me to Rome and we're staying in the Princess Hotel - perfect!

Friday 7th August
James and I finally got some use out of our Merlin Passes and went to Thorpe Park for the day. We managed to go on all of the big rides; Swarm, Saw, Nemesis Inferno and Stealth (Colossus was closed). I had a great time and it was funny to see the Nemesis Inferno after it was featured on The Inbetweeners, but I honestly don't understand the massive hype that the park gets. If you're ever torn between the two, definitely go with Alton Towers. Plus when I went to the little girls' room, there was an employee sat in a cubicle with the doors open hugging her knees and crying. Then she got up and acted like nothing had happened...

Saturday 8th August
By this point in the week, I was extremely exhausted (each night in Disneyland, including the night before, I only had 5 hours sleep). I took my cousin/goddaughter to Manchester, to visit the LEGOland Discovery Centre. It was a really fun day out and we got to visit the Sealife Centre too then nipped into a few shops, including the Disney Store (you can never have too much Disney in one week). By the time I got home and into bed, I pretty much crashed immediately.

Sunday 9th August
Finally a lazy day! I had such an amazing week but it all finally caught up with me, so naturally I had a well needed PJ day. I also had a bit of a clear out and managed to fill 2 bin bags full of stuff I don't need any more. Out with the old and in with the new!

I had such a good week and I owe it all to the one and only Momma Pip. She's put up with my constant diva moments about wanting everything to be perfect and it so was. I love you Mum.

July.

Where the hell did July go?! I can't believe it's August tomorrow already. This year is just flying by.

My best pal Thomas did a June round up last month, and I liked the idea so I decided to copy him like I always do.

The month started off brilliantly. In the first week, I got a new car, was voted Employee of the Quarter at work and I finished my placement year for University.

On July 4th I went to a leaving do for one of the guys at work. My memories are limited but from what I can remember, there were countless arguments about Ring of Fire, I fell asleep on a balcony which felt like it was going to fall off, Tom can laugh at himself in a mirror for a stupid amount of time and Sarah is incredibly light.



My sister left for Finland on the 11th to go represent Team GB at a worldwide gymnastics event called Gymnaestrada. Here she is with her GB squad and some of the German team (she's the one on the far right).

Needless to say i'm insanely proud of her for this. From what she's told me it sounded like an amazing experience and she met people from countries all around the world.









The biggest event in July for me was my 21st. My birthday is in August but a lot of people are usually on holiday around that time (I know, how inconsiderate). So we went the whole nine yards; booked a venue, DJ, Photo Booth, caterer and I even booked a minibus to take me and my friends to the party after we had some Prosecco at my house. In a nutshell I had an amazing night that I spent with the best people. It consisted of arguments about how many claps to do in the dance to 'Saturday Night', my Grandma prancing around in a silly hat introducing herself to literally everyone, being pushed down a slide and having Sambuca and Tequila being forced down my throat. Ugh. If you want to read more about it - here's my previous blog post!

Over the weekend of my party, one of my best friends, Mary just kind of temporarily moved into my house. I don't see her a lot so when I do she's not allowed to leave! We spent the day after my party with one of my other besties, Kelsey, cuddled up in duvets watching Disney movies and eating Dominoes. Very luckily work had given me the 3 days after my party off, so they were naturally all spent lounging around not doing much.

The month ahead is looking pretty jam-packed so I can't wait to tell you all about it!