February.

Finally back to a proper monthly round up. It's always nice to look back on these and remember everything that I was up to.
This month I had my final first day at University. This summer i'll be graduating (hopefully) and that's the scariest thought i've ever had. A lot of my free time was spent on a hot date with my dissertation, writing towards my goal of 10,000 words of complete and utter bollocks.

Kiri is one of the closest friends I met whilst I was in Australia, and luckily enough, she only lives 2 streets away from me here in Leeds. We've been meaning to meet up for ages but we've been busy, and when we talked about it we figured that we'd been putting it off as we didn't know if things would still be the same now we're not in that amazing country any more. We couldn't have been more wrong. We had an amazing catch up and talked for hours. Both of us needed to be up super early in the morning so we agreed to "have a few drinks" and aim to leave Box at 11pm. This did not happen. At 3am we were sat in a girl's room that we had met that night (she wasn't a weirdo she was lovely), when Kiri turned to me and said, "Annabel, we definitely need to go to bed now". Miraculously, I still made my 9am lecture and Kiri made it to work. A nap was needed.

One of my most favourite things not just in February but like ever was seeing Green Day at Leeds First Direct Arena. I really don't know what to say now because I can't put into words how amazing they were. Billie-Joe Armstrong was the most entertaining artist I have ever seen, and he was so natural and genuine with it. The performance the group gave was amazing and I really hope I get the chance to see them again. I pretty much just spent the night screaming with my sister, Emma and cousin, Natasha. (Shout out to Posicle Riley & Uncle Simon for getting the tickets and taking us).

Best. Gig. Ever.

For Em's Christmas present, I surprised her with tickets to go see Jack Whitehall, and finally the day came! He was hilarious, I laughed so much my cheeks hurt. I've been to see a few comedians before but it was a first for Emma, who thought it was really weird sitting down in Leeds Arena.

I honestly had the best Valentines Day. I spent the evening with Kiri, Peree, Harriet and my Mum. I'd just won my stone and a half award at Slimming World so I felt like celebrating (we ate, A LOT, of shit*). There was Daim ice cream, cookie dough, melted chocolate, pizza, Walkers Sensations, wine... But we had a lovely night in with my Mum telling the girls embarrassing stories about me, watching TV and laughing at various memories when we'd consecutively go; "do you remember when..." or "remember that time...". All in all, it was a great night, however I ate nothing but vegetables for the few days that followed!

I feel like this month it would have made more sense if i'd just moved into Leeds Arena. This time it was to see Kings of Leon, a band i've loved for years. Jordan, Harriet (both cousins), Emma (sister) and I went and they were absolutely awesome.

My dissertation deadline is next month...i'm not freaking out yet but there is still time.

Annabel

Slimming World update: Got my Stone and a half & Club 10 awards this month, 1st 11lb lost in total.

*not literal shit...

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