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!