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 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.

Twenty One.

On Saturday I celebrated my 21st birthday. My real birthday is 6th August, but being an August baby comes at a terrible price...
NO ONE IS EVER HERE.
I've always had my parties in July or September because the majority of my friends and family are usually on holiday when my birthday comes around (I know, how inconsiderate of them).

The day started with meeting my best friend Mary, and going to get my hair and nails done. Before this, I wasn't feeling particularly excited. I always feel slightly anxious before putting on a party, and this was the biggest one I had ever thrown. However after visiting the hairdressers the excitement began to build and Mary and I went home to begin with the drinking and getting ready, which is when Charlotte, another bezzie of mine, joined us. 

Kelsey arrived shortly after (another bezzie) and not long after that we were all ready to go so we made our way downstairs for Prosecco and strawberries.

Quick pic before we all get on the minibus with Mary, Jagger, Jess, Emma, Charlotte, Rachel, Kelsey and Foxy. The minibus driver was a bit miserable, and every time we asked him to turn the music up he would, but then he would very slyly turn it down soon after. What a dick.

My mum had been at the venue earlier on to decorate, so this was the first time I saw it all decorated. There were black, silver and purple balloons and a big silver 21. Of course, there were baby pictures of me stuck everywhere.

Once we were there I also got to see my cake (which was insane), and not long after I was on the meet and greet. My shoes were absolutely killing me, and after i'd made sure they lasted as long as possible, I made the swift change to flip flops.

I had a Photo Booth! Many silly pictures were taken and everyone seemed to love it.

I had such an amazing night consisting of arguments with Tom about how many claps you do in the dance to Saturday Night, laughing at my Grandma introducing herself to literally everyone and then doing the Macarena to Cha Cha Slide, dancing to as many songs as possible and getting pushed down a slide. I'm grateful to everyone who came and wanted to celebrate with me. The only problem is it went way too fast!

And Nathan was there so that was great.

Officially old.

It's official, I am no longer a teenager!
Despite leaving my teenage years behind and having to cope with the social expectation of becoming more mature (pfft) my birthday is still my favourite day of the year.
To kick start my 20th birthday and 21st year on this planet, my sister and I made buns for me to take into work the next day.
My Dad's a Postman, which means he doesn't get back from work until about 1pm. So I waited til he got back before I opened anything.

I love the way Mum wraps presents. So pretty.

BEFORE

AFTER

DVD's, Pandora charms, TV, a cup with Squirt on from Finding Nemo, jewellery, sweets and choc, LOTS OF WINE and other bits an bobs.

And of course, lots of lovely cards. Here is a compilation of my favourite;

My younger cousin made the LEGO one (because I just got a job there), I got the Simple Simon one off my best friend, my auntie and uncle gave me the Wine Flu card, obviously the Disney Princess one is from Mum and Dad (it came with princess cut outs and stickers inside OMG), and the belated card is from another best friend.

So all in all, a very lucky girl.

After opening my prezzies, we then went to Franco's; a restaurant that one of my Uncles owns and where I had my first job. It's always lovely to see everyone again and they always make a fuss which is nice. We had a few drinks with my Auntie Yats and cousins Harriet and Tom, and then my Uncle (the one that owns the restaurant), Auntie and cousins came to give me some prezzies! They then left and it was just me, Mum, Dad, Emma, Auntie Yats, Harriet and Tom that went through to the restaurant for our food. As always, I had Bruschetta Duck to start, and went for a chicken pizza (it had some other stuff on it but I can't remember what they were called!)

Family selfie!

We then went to Hollywood Bowl and picked up my boyfriend on the way. I'm very competitive, so I was determined to win.
This did not happen.
We had 2 lanes booked; 1 for girls and 1 for the boys. Here's  the score of the girls in the first game.

(At least I beat my Mum).

And as for the night out, I went to my other ex place of work - Propaganda! I love going back to see everyone. Plus I got free entry and 2 bottles of champagne that went down very quickly. The DJ played my birthday song (Not Nineteen Forever by The Courteeners), which made my night. I also caught a t-shirt that they were throwing out. Another girl caught it but I was showing no mercy.

Me and my friend Kelsey in Propaganda.

So all in all, as depressing as turning 20 is, I had a brilliant birthday and spent it with the best people. Despite the 2 day hangover!