November.

November had the perfect start - I went to see Bastille in Leeds First Direct Arena. Last time I saw them was when they supported Two Door Cinema Club in 2013 (and I bumped into Dan in Baa Bar next door, feeling pretty smug). The gig was awesome. For the encore, Dan miraculously appeared right next to us on the tier 2 balcony and sang Two Evils and we pretty much just died right then.

Dan & Will on the balcony during the encore.

The night after I went out with my housemates for a few drinks. As i'm sure a lot of students understand, a few drinks never usually stays "just a few drinks". I went into town around midnight to meet up with a few friends from school, and we went to Key Club for a few hours. I ended up bumping into my cousin who I spent the rest of the night with. We then wandered down to Stone Roses where we danced until around 6am (I was wearing heeled boots and my feet started to hurt so I took them off at this point. My feet were soaked with what I can only assume was a cocktail of drugs, alcohol and piss. Bit of advice: don't do that). Needless to say those socks went in the bin and it took me over a day to recover from that night.

Me and my cousin Harriet stumbling home at 6:30am, lipstick half gone.

I had also been editing the annual backstage video for Showgroup. I think it's a great way to showcase all of the hard work that goes into the shows and it's a nice way to thank all of the helpers for everything they do. If you want to give it a watch, here it is!

We also started rehearsals for our annual Christmas Show, in which i'm going to sing The Power Of Love (not technically a Christmas song but it was on a Christmas advert) and my sister is going to dance to it. I'm also choreographing a routine to 'Carol Of The Bells' by Metallica (bet you weren't expecting that), so i'm hoping it will be an excellent start to the holiday period.

Towards the end of November, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them was finally released, and of course, myself, Emma, Viv and Nathan went to see the midnight showing - we weren't going to wait any longer! The film was awesome and Eddie Redmayne was the perfect choice. 

Then on the Sunday, Emma finally got her 16th birthday present from me (11 months later), we went to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London. Although we had to get the Megabus at 6am, we had an amazing day and even got to squeeze in a quick visit to Madame Tussauds. I promised Emma i'd buy her a wand, so she chose Newt Scamander's from Fantastic Beasts, then we made the long journey back to Leeds.

Chilling on the Hogwarts bridge.

And of course, to finish the month off, there was lots of alcohol. I went out with my cousins for lots of shots and cocktails, then on the last night of November I went out for my housemates birthday, we had a great night but in true Annabel style I crashed and burned way too early.

Me and the cousins; Josh, Jordan, Sam, Chaz, Haz and Me.

Sian, Ellie and I in Canal Mills. I really need to get a longer lasting lipstick.

I wasn't going to write about this, but I always try to be honest when i'm writing my posts and one of the reasons I write this blog in the first place is for me to look back on everything in the years to come. Last week, I joined Slimming World, and to be honest, i've found it a lot easier than I thought it would be. it's a fantastic way to lose weight but still have little treats to enjoy! So after my first week weigh in, i've lost 4 and a half pounds and i'm on cloud 9 right now. Next month I may start a little weight loss counter on my round ups!

On a final note, it's Christmas in 24 days!

Annabel

October.

So for the majority of October i've been doing Uni work (yes, i've only been back 3 weeks and have shed loads to do) and organising for my dance show.

As i'm in 3rd year, this was my last Varsity (as a student), and unfortunately, Leeds Beckett lost the rugby final for the first time in 12 years. It was a little annoying, the Leeds Uni students got a bit cocky but i'll let them enjoy this one. Despite our defeat, we all went out and got smashed anyway. On the way out, our Uber driver, Ali, was telling us his life story and our drunken selves were giving him some advice (oh dear).

Yeah, we also got a selfie.

October half term. Every year since I was 5 years old, this has meant it's time for the annual Showgroup show. 17 years and still going strong. It stresses me out to the max but I just love teaching the kids and bringing together a show with the teachers, trying out different things every year. Every weekend of October is pretty much taken up with rehearsals and I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

Us Showgroup teachers! Harriet, Me, Emma, Sarah and Jess.

The show went amazingly and we all recieved such good feedback. It really does make all the stress worth it in the end to see the kids enjoying themselves.

A quick snapshot from our backstage video which will be going up next month!

I also finally uploaded my video from my Aussie adventures to YouTube! It was difficult squeezing 5 months of my life into 15 minutes, which is probably why it's taken me over 4 months to finish it. But here it is if you want to give it a watch!

Annabel

What I did on my week off!

I've been thinking for a while of what I could blog about next. I had a few post ideas a couple of weeks ago and instead of being smart and spacing them out, I got a bit excited and posted them all in one week.
Last week was the first time I've ever booked a week off work without having a real reason to. In the past it's been because i'm going on holiday. So it was amazing to relax for a week, meet up with a few friends and not worry about a thing. So to commemorate this wondrous occasion, I thought I'd share with you what I got up to.

Monday-Wednesday.
Even though I had the week off from LEGO, I still had to go work at my placement 9-5.

Wednesday evening.
After finishing my placement shifts for the week, I went to stay at my cousin, Harriet's house. I'm incredibly close with her family and I often go stay there every few weeks. We have a tradition of having my Auntie's famous chicken pasta (pasta bake with chicken in), and we watch a horror film. This time we plugged our phones into my Uncle's big speakers, turned the living room lights on, my cousin got the disco lights out and we had a little dance around the living room.

Thursday.
I had a very productive day. When I started University I went to a Freshers Fair and naturally inherited heaps of flyers. Most of them had pretty cool designs so I decided to blue tac them all to my wall.
Mistake.
I'm a very indecisive person; my room is a prime example of this. I'm permanently moving furniture round and changing the decorations on my walls. So I decided to take all of my Freshers flyers down. This took off like 80% of the paint on my wall. I realise i'm going off on a kind of tangent right now so long story short, I re-painted my wall.

Friday.
My friend Charlotte and I have quite an unhealthy obsession with the TV series Sherlock. We even went to the world record attempt in Temple Newsam.

Here is a picture of us on The Mirror's website donning our deerstalkers. Next stop, Hollywood.

So anyway, Charlotte came round to my house and we watched Sherlock Series 3 and played Sherlock Cluedo which I had just bought from Waterstones. You don't need to tell us how cool we are, we already know. But we had a great day and we always have such a laugh.

Saturday.
I started dance classes again. For those that don't know, i'm a Dance Teacher at my local community centre. Usually I choreograph 2 groups, 4 dances each. However, a week before classes started, one of the other teachers discovered she was expecting a baby (aww!) and told us she couldn't teach anymore. I jumped to the rescue and took over, so I now have 3 groups and 12 dances to choreograph and teach!
With it being Valentines Day my boyfriend James came to stay over and my mum and sister also had some friends round. Us 'kids' sat and watched The Inbetweeners whilst the adults talked about boring stuff.

Sunday.
Sunday, was perfect. My sister, James and I spent the day playing board games and taking it in turns on the PS2. I haven't had a sunday off from work in quite a while so it was amazing to just relax and spend the day in my pyjamas.
Then to finish the week off, Mother Riley served an amazing sunday dinner.

I need to book casual weeks off more often!

Internship!

So as part of my Events Management degree at Leeds Met University (I refuse to call it Beckett), I have to work in a placement for a year in the industry. Those that know me, know my first 6 months weren't the best. The centre where I was working didn't really have the facilities to accommodate me and the other 2 students. We would frequently go home as a result of the lack of jobs they had for us. To any one else, going home early is good news, but when you're in it to gain skills and experience, it's a complete waste of time.
In the end, I decided enough was enough. In the year I was supposed to be experiencing all of these new things in the industry I wanted to work in, I wasn't learning a thing. I needed something that was going to challenge and develop me for a career in events.
Then in December, I applied for an internship at a well known dance school in Leeds. Walking in for my interview felt like I'd stepped inside the Fame movie. Dance students were everywhere. Leaping, jumping, shouting, running around. It was like I was this weird, shy, new kid in a sea of eccentric and overly confident performers. Thankfully, I wasn't kept waiting too long.
Long story short, I got the internship and I started at the beginning of January. In the space of 1 week I had learned a lot more than in the 6 months I spent at my other placement.

     I have my own desk!

Whilst I have painted a pretty bad picture of my first internship, I still met some lovely people and gained 2 good friends from my course who I look forward to seeing again in September when we're back at University.