All Things Single...

That would be me then.

After just over a year together, Sam and I have split up and I've kicked him out of the flat.  So what does a girl do in this situation?  She goes away with her favourite girlie.

Last week we packed a bag and headed off to Birmingham to see the Clothes Show Live and shop our hearts out.  And that we did.  After a Megabus up in the morning, we arrived in Brum just as the shops were setting up so we went for a cheeky breakfast at Cafe Rouge.  (I say breakfast, but the price we paid I'm pretty sure we have shares in the company now).  

After that we attacked the Bullring.  For those of you that don't know, the Bullring is an awesome shopping centre in Birmingham.  We attacked the basics; Forever 21, New Look etc.  Before moving on to lingerie; La Senza and Boux Avenue didn't know what hit them.  We must've spent about £200 each over the course of the day.  

That night, we threw on our new clothes and went clubbing; Brummie style!  The picture above is us just before we headed through the door.  We summoned a cab and told him to take us to "where there will be people".  So we headed to Spoons.

In spoons a couple of guys took a shine to us and decided that we would make a foursome.  We weren't happy about this but tottered up the road to the next club which was really busy and had some good drink offers on.  I have no idea what it was called but the music was good and our newly adopted 'friends' bought us drinks which saved waiting at the bar.  

After a couple in there and a trip downstairs to the questionable toilets, we decided to head on.  The next club was desperate to get people inside so I bantered with the promo guy until he offered me a bottle of "champagne" for going in.  (By champagne read: Chateux Shit...)

There weren't many people in there but the music was awesome (Fresh Prince of Bel Air, anyone?)  It was really good just to have a night to ourselves where we could do whatever we wanted.  A cheeky drink and good slutdrop to Jason Derulo can make everyone feel fantastic.

Somewhere around the 4am mark our feet were killing so we tottered into a taxi and back to the hotel where we had a footbath before heading to bed.

The next morning we got ready and headed for some lunch before going to the Clothes Show Live.  I've loved the Clothes Show ever since I went on a school trip when I was about 15.  This time however, I'd bought presale tickets so we were front row!

And by front row, I mean FRONT ROW!

It was amazing! And definitely helped take my mind of things.  I mean, look at all of those topless men!  I can't wait until next year.

After we'd had our fill of the sassy men, we headed back to reality and got a ride home.  I had such an amazing time that I've decided that I belong on the front row now.  Maybe I can convince the Clothes Show to run every month in future...

All Things Lucky...

"Hello, who's that?"

"Urm, it's Lyndsey"

I was confused.  This number had called me.  I hate when people call you and ask who you are.  Do you not understand how phones work?

 "Hi Lyndsey, it's Capital FM.  What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"I... I don't really know."

I was lying.  I had work.  I always worked on a Tuesday.

"Well how would you like to walk the red carpet alongside all of the celebrities 

at the Thor première tomorrow?"

Well duh! I said yes.  Kat Dennings was going to be there.  That woman is one of my idols.  Hilarious, gorgeous and ridiculously talented, I could watch her movies all day.  

My prize involved train travel to London from Cardiff, a nights stay in the K West Hotel & Spa and tickets to see the première of Thor: The Dark World, where I could walk the red carpet too.  I was ridiculously thrilled and immediately cried off work.  (I told them why - don't worry, I'm not going to get sacked for faking illnesses or anything).  I picked up the tickets and packed, ready for my cinematic adventure the next day.

We got our train to London and rushed to the swanky hotel.  We'd done a bit of research on it during the night and it looked really upmarket - definitely nothing that we could've afforded.  

When we got there, they upgraded our room, UPGRADED!  We also had breakfast included in the room.  This just got better and better.  We went upstairs and couldn't believe the room.  It was gorgeous.  

 The bed was big enough for four of us to sleep comfortably and was as long as it was wide!

 There was a desk and chair, as well as a lounge area for watching TV.  It was essentially an entire flat in one room.

 The shower was huge too.  I was really starting to consider giving up my flat and moving here forever.  That was plausible right?  If I was going to be rubbing shoulders with celebrities, why not live like one?

We got ready and headed off on the Tube to Leicester Square ready for the film.  It was packed there with people hoping to get to see/meet/touch/marry their favourite actor or actress.  We were ushered in long before the celebrities got near where we were waiting which really depressed me as I wanted to hug Kat Dennings... or hump her leg... whichever came naturally.

Alex Zane presented which was cool because I think he's really entertaining.  And then we were made to walk the red carpet.  Which is insanely soft and bouncy.  There are no words for how badly I wanted to take off my shoes and just plod along in my socks.  It was an amazing feeling, knowing everyone was watching in envy and that we were going to be surrounded by celebrities.

 We had to sit inside for over an hour waiting for everyone to come in and the two people who were meant to be sat next to us didn't even turn up.  So we stole their sweets.  Naturally.
We'd each been given a free bottle of water, a Yorkie bar and a bag of popcorn which I thought was a great extra. 

The film itself was brilliant.  It was really funny and even included a not-really-necessary-but-definitely-enjoyable topless scene with Chris Hemsworth.  The cast and crew were all sat at the front of the cinema and you heard them laugh at this point so you knew that one of them had made a smart comment about it.  It was really cool to be able to be part of that.  

Once the film was over we all headed outside to catch a glimpse of the stars.  Unfortunately, Kat dove straight into her car which I was devastated about.  I did get to see Chris for a moment although I didn't get anywhere near him.  The only other celebs I spotted were Tom and Danny from McFly who are ridiculously small.  Like crazy small.  They were really slim and quite short too, it was mad.  I never would've guessed that from the times that I've seen them on TV.  I suppose that shows that you shouldn't believe everything that you see on TV.  

Afterwards, we had a few drinks in the Yates bar on the square, before getting the tube back to the hotel.  It was a genuinely gorgeous evening.  

The next morning we had our free breakfast which was unbelievably small and not very filling, like most pretentious food, before heading back to the train home.  

Unfortunately our train was an early one so we didn't have any spare time to roam around the city, but we had an unbelievably amazing time.  

Roll on our next chance to mingle with the A-List! ... and possibly McFly...

All Things Sickly...

And so the adventures continued.  I returned to the Heath bright and early ready for my scan, dressed in my snazzy new skirt and top.  (Sometimes dressing nice just cheers you up, y'know?)  I was made to wait and partake in more tests until eventually I was wheeled downstairs to the ultrasound.

After it was over - they were getting pretty routine now, I was told to sit in the waiting area for a doctor to see me.  So I took my seat and waited...  And waited...  And waited.

...oh and waited.

At about 5pm I was finally escorted to a bed.  I'd cleaned out my entire handbag and purse, pulling out more receipts than a store hand out daily, as well as started writing an ode to waiting rooms.  (It'll be the making of me - just you wait.)  The, clearly underpaid, doctor came along to introduce herself and inform me that I would be staying overnight so that I could have a procedure in the morning to unblock the stones  ...I think I'd jinxed it by wearing nice clothes.

I was left where I was until 11pm.  Dwelling on the fact that I was going to miss yet more Eastenders.  In the bed next to me was an old woman who couldn't even sit upright.  They had to use what I can only describe as a miniature crane to lift her onto the bed.  She was in a lot of pain and would alternate between crying out, "just put me to sleep, I can't take this anymore", and "please help me, I don't want to die."  It was really heart breaking to hear anyone in that kind of pain.  

As I said I was moved on about 11ish to the short stay ward ready for my procedure.  I was handed some water and a cheese sandwich and that was it, I just had to wait.  By now it's pretty safe to say that I was sick of waiting and wanted to gouge out my own damn gall bladder.

How ridiculous is it that we've evolved over millions of years, probably from something that once had bloody gills, and yet we're still stuck with pointless organs such as the appendix and gall bladder?  Come on biology, get your shit together.

 The girl sat in the bed across from me, I later found out her name was Chloe, had been in the waiting room with me that morning, before being rushed off because she couldn't stop throwing up.  And now here she was, sat in the same room as me, still suffering every hour or so.  The next morning she was shipped off into the next room to sit in a bed whilst she waited for an op, (because we'd been lying on trolleys all night) whilst I was whisked away to have my procedure.

I had to be awake for my procedure which I wasn't happy about, but I was pretty high off whichever drug they had given to me so I can't remember much.  They made me lie on my front on the trolley before drugging me and shoving a tube in my mouth and down into my stomach.  The tube held a camera so that they could see what they were doing, as well as the tools to do it.  The nurse told me that they made a slit in the side of one of my bodily tubes and inserted a balloon to allow it to stretch; preventing any more stones getting stuck.  Hopefully. 

A few hours later, I was back on my trolley with a sore throat when they found me a bed in the next room, opposite Chloe.  We didn't really speak, it was more of a case of giving each other sympathetic smiles but she told me that she still hadn't had her op, despite being told that she was "next on the list" that morning.

It was about 10pm that they came for her, she returned at 12.30 - completely out of it because of the drugs.  They told her that there was nothing wrong with her appendix, but they'd taken it out anyway "just in case" and that they think it was just muscle bruising that had been giving her pain.  It's good to see all those years of medical school and that really expensive education being put to good use. 

The next morning, Chloe seemed a lot brighter and we started chatting, entertaining ourselves and clearly bothering the miserable woman that also had the misfortune of sharing a room with us.

When the nurse came to tell us it looked like we could go home that afternoon, there were no words for how loud we became.  A group of twelve year old girls could've been offered a meet and greet with One Direction and they wouldn't have been as excitable as we were.  We were told to wait for lunch - Chloe's first meal since arriving at the hospital, and then we could go soon after.  Well, the dinner lady wasn't a swift mover and the smell of fish and chips was driving us insane so this seemed like the longest half an hour of our lives.

It was Friday afternoon and we'd had enough of being ill.  After two weeks of suffering, I was finally able to eat and wasn't in any pain.  It looked like I would have to come back for an operation in six months time, but for now I was good to go.  The doctor signed my sick note for work (a week off, thank you very much) and gave me some cheeky painkillers and waved me on my way.  I gave Chloe a hug and we promised to stay in touch.  It's weird the way you meet some people sometimes isn't it?

And that was the end of my Glasgow/BlytheCon/hospital adventure.  Although I'm keen to go back to Glasgow and do it properly, I hope I'll be able to go without reliving this particular experience.  Wish me luck (and good health!)

All Things Medical...

Okay so it doesn't take a genius to realise that things weren't quite right with my last post.  I was really ill.  I'd finished the medication that the useless doctor had given to me and the pain hadn't eased up at all.  We decided not to go to the BlytheCon after party because I could hardly move in the bed, other than to sit on all fours because it felt like it was doing me more good than lying down.  Eventually Sam had had enough of seeing me suffer and we piled into the car and back to the hospital.

It was a little after midnight when we got there so A&E was filled with the standard drunken fools that had fallen over or the odd one in cuffs with a split lip from fighting, which meant that I had to wait a bit longer to be seen this time.  They shoved me straight into a bed though and then I was placed in a cubicle to wait.  At about 2am I sent poor shattered Sam back to the hotel to get some sleep and tried to doze myself.  Of course, that's when the nurses decide that they want to attend to you, naturally.  

Numerous various tests and samples later, I was given a diagnosis of gall stones.  It was now past 6am and I was wheeled onto a ward where the other patients were starting to wake up ready for breakfast.  I, obviously, was nil by mouth.  The caterer, clearly filled with compassion, set up her station at the foot of my bed to feed the other invalids.  I felt like a baby tiger looking at all the people scoffing burgers outside the enclosure whilst I sat under a sign clearly marked; DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.

The next couple of days blend into one constant loop of having my blood pressure checked and being wheeled off for various ultra-sounds and MRI scans.  Poor Sam visited me for as long as he could but they would send him away at meal times, despite me usually not being allowed to eat and again at 10pm so I could sleep.  Fat chance of that.  I've never had a more uncomfortable night in my life.  And I've slept on a conservatory room floor.  

On Monday Sam had to check out of the hotel, so he spent the day with me in the hospital whilst I pestered the doctors to sort themselves out because we needed to get home.  Not that they paid any attention.  Maybe the accent barrier made things more complicated.  You know how a doctor uses complicated medical terms that you don't really understand and you're forced to ask them to "speak English, Doc"?  Well imagine that with a thick Scottish accent on top too.  Conversations were a question of endurance of your mental capacity as you tried to decipher what the fuck was truly going on.

I was tired, I was ill, I was yellow from the jaundice and I was fed up.  So I had no choice but to self discharge and return home.

Again I slept most of the way home as Sam drove us home and we had a night in our own bed, knowing that nothing productive would get done at that time of the morning in the hospital. When I woke up I got dressed in jogging bottoms and slippers because they'd clearly keep me in once we explained everything to them, and we headed to the Heath.  

Eight hours later, I'd been poked with fingers and needles, had multiple tests and the final outcome was...  they agreed.  It was definitely gallstones.  Hurrah.
The Glasgow hospital was refusing to send the results of their scans over so I was sent home with a goody bag of pills and told to return the next day for yet another ultrasound...

All Things Scotland...

Wow, what a mad week it's been! There have been highs and lows and some unexpected ventures all in the space of ten days or so.  The highlight however, has to be my (long-awaited) weekend away to Glasgow for BlytheCon.  It was brilliant!

We left Thursday morning for our long drive, its approximately eight hours to Scotland from home so we left at about 4am, to try and arrive at lunch time.  I'd been working all week so I was exhausted and I'm ashamed to say I slept for most of the journey - leaving Sam with just Radio 1 for company as he drove.  Some road trip eh?

Now a little back story is necessary here; I had woken up in the middle of the night on Monday with really bad stomach cramps which had been coming back on-and-off all week.  I'd taken all of the painkillers and Rennie's a woman could handle and had no idea what was wrong but knowing I couldn't fit in a trip to the doctors before we left, I decided to ride it out and I'd book an appointment when we got back if I was still suffering.

So we pull up to the hotel, it was a gorgeous little place called The Swallow.  It didn't look much from the outside but on the inside it was decorated beautifully and seemed quite up-market.  I was really impressed.  Sam woke me up to say we'd arrived and the cramps started getting much worse, to the point that I was almost in tears.  We decided to head inside for directions to the nearest hospital to get it checked out, plus we were two hours early to check-in anyway.

While Sam got the directions, I popped into the toilet which again was decorated gorgeously.  If I hadn't have felt so awful I'd definitely have been taking a few selfies in there!  Everything was purple and luxe looking.  There was even a bench which I lay on for a few moments as I came over really faint.  Once I'd gotten myself together we drove to the hospital.

I threw up twice as we got there.  Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long until I was called in.  The doctor in charge ran one test, molested my stomach for a bit and brushed it off as my muscles spasming.  He gave me some tablets to take over the next two days and sent us on our way back to the hotel.

The pain had subsided a little bit so I got some sleep and the next morning we were able to head out into Glasgow.  We took the Underground into the city. *Fun fact: Glasgow has one of the UK's oldest underground systems.  However, everything looked completely brand new and it was such a smooth ride it was great!  I would definitely recommend it to get around.

We pottered around the city, doing some shopping and stopped off in a bar for some lunch which was really nice.  We decided to go back to the hotel about 5ish, to get changed and then head back into town to have a night out in one of the clubs, because who doesn't love a drink when they're on holiday?  When we got back I had a cheeky nap as I felt really drained, but when I woke up my stomach was hurting again.  So with heavy hearts, we decided against clubbing.  Instead we went for a drive to find a restaurant.

We drove in the opposite direction of the town and found a little street that had some boutiques and take-aways on it.  Right in the middle was a really sweet looking Italian restaurant - my favourite!

We were sat in a little dug-out in the wall that acted as a booth.  It was really quirky - the lampshades were even covered in newspaper and beads!

The meal was gorgeous too.  If I ever return to Glasgow I'd definitely revisit.  The waitresses and the chef were really friendly and giving fun banter to each other.  It was just my sort of place.

These were the awesome plates our meal came out on.  Custom plates - how cool and professional is that?!

So after dinner we headed back to bed because we had an early morning Saturday for BlytheCon!  We got the underground into town again and went to The Lighthouse - which was the name of the venue.  It was quite sleek and sophisticated... until you got upstairs, where it was over run with dolls!  It was fabulous!

We both got a goody bag when we arrived and were ushered into the main room, which had all of the stalls in.  There, I was able to buy lots of little outfits and accessories for Celia, (my Blythe doll which Sam had bought me for my birthday, knowing how desperately I wanted one - he's really rather well trained.)  I also bought lots of cute fabrics so that I could try making outfits of my own. 

People had their Blythe dolls on display; some to show off what they had done and some to sell.  It was amazing to see how far people go with this hobby...

 How gorgeous is this African lion princess??

 I love the detailed paintings on her eyelids

They were all adorable.  I wish I was nearly this talented!

There were workshops running all day that taught techniques for customising Blythe and making her clothes.  I only made it to one of these, which taught us how to make her a cute pencil skirt.  It was fun to come away having produced something, rather than just shopping.

At the end of the day they raffled off literally hundreds of Blythe related prices which unfortunately I didn't win.  I'd started feeling a little rough again so we decided to head to the hotel so I could nap.  Then hopefully we could go to the BlytheCon after party that was being held that evening.

It was an amazing day and I literally can't wait for next year, when hopefully I'll be healthier and up to meeting more of the other collector's that were walking around.  Scotland is rapidly winning a place in my heart.

All Things Old...

I'm officially old now.  So old I don't even get an age on the birthday badge that my mother insists on getting me every year.  I can legally do everything in every country and there's no more barriers to cross.  It's a little depressing.

I'm feeling a bit more Lily Allen than Taylor Swift about being 22.  But it's not all doom and gloom, I got some good gifts; a tartan skirt ready for when I go to Blythecon next month.  I also got two bottles of Killer Queen, which I LOVE...

But you know me and my Katy Perry addiction.  I haven't actually had all of my presents yet.  I've had nothing from the boyfriend, or my best mate because she's only just gotten back from holiday.  So that's something to look forward to.

I've decided to use my new found age as motivation to take action.  I need to go out less and take control of my life.  I hated every moment of my degree and since leaving university I haven't used it at all, which means that it wasn't worthwhile and definitely isn't worth the infinite amounts of money I now owe.  I'm going to take action, and try to get a real job, in the industry that I want to work in.  Something that I'll enjoy.  

I also need to earn some real money.  Being an adult is expensive; I'm not a fan.  So I've gotten a new job at a local pub to get some extra dollar in without sitting around the house so much.  Going to have to try and find the motivation to get out of bed in the mornings now.

Operation Adult is go...

All Things Nautical

So some of you may be aware that I have moved into a flat with my boyfriend.  It's a really nice flat so I've been acting like an adult about it and choosing colour schemes and suchlike to keep it that way.  I've decided not to put up any posters (which is very hard for me - in my parents house I wall-papered my room with pictures of celebrities; a habit that I continued throughout my various University flats.)  So I have to discover pretty canvases to adorn my many bare magnolia walls...

The first room I've started to decorate is the bathroom.  When I moved to University, everything I bought had a green colour scheme, but it seemed a bit much keeping it up in every room, so I reigned it back a bit to just the bedroom and kitchen.  

This meant that I got to start from scratch for the bathroom which was exciting.  I decided on a theme that's been everywhere lately and has grown on me a lot... nautical.  This meant dark blues and creamy whites, and stripes everywhere.  I started with towels; a new towel rail meant that they would be on display and therefore had to set the tone of the theme.  I lucked out in Asda and found the perfect ones to get started.  I then found some more subtle white ones with blue detailing in Matalan to balance them out on the rail.

Next, I had to find some storage to hide all the various beach towels and old green towels I had, and didn't want to get rid of because, you know, towels are always useful.  I found some nice boxes in Tesco, but they were a bit small.  Luckily I found similar ones in Asda that were bigger.  There were only two, compared to the three in Tesco, but it was enough space for me so I grabbed them pretty sharpish!

The last big thing I wanted was a way to store my toiletries without having hundreds of bottles everywhere cluttering up the room (my pet peeve).  I'd seen some nautical storage baskets with quirky rope handles in Wilkinsons that I really likeed, but I needed a way to store and display them.  After some brain-storming, I decided that I wanted a pine shelving unit because it would show them off whilst being in-keeping with the theme.  (I've put a lot of thought into this, god help me when I do the other rooms!)  I searched every square inch of the internet and kept coming up blank, which is the main reason the room was unfinished for so long.  

Eventually, I was searching the internet again out of formality, when I lucked out!  B&Q had exactly what I was looking for, and better yet - it was on sale!  However, the nearest store that had any left was the other side of Cardiff.  So I marched the boyfriend to the car and we went off in search for the unit.  When we got there we were told that it was on one of the pallets in the top of the Warehouse, which they only get down at night, so we would have to come back the next day.  I was not pleased, as you can imagine.  So the next day, we headed off again and finally returned with the shelves.

I built them according to instructions and put them, pride of place, in the bathroom.  Then headed off to buy the baskets, which I hadn't gotten yet in case I couldn't get a shelving unit to show them off.  Well just my luck, they were sold out.  They continued to be sold out for weeks after that.  Just when I was about to give up hope, my mum called me at work to say she was in Wilko, and they had just gotten fresh stock in.  As you can imagine I rushed there the next day and picked them up, and so my shelf was complete!

It doesn't look much for all of the aggro that I went through, but I love it so it was definitely worth it in the end.  All that was left to do was decorate the bare walls with some nice pictures:

I think they're really me, so I love them.  I also got a big image to sit over the bath, which is a bit lighter so it brightens up the room:

However, I've since seen some nice canvases (canvai?) that are similar in size, and have pictures of beach huts on them that I think would be perfect.  I need to find someone willing to switch to try and save my wallet!

Anyway, that's enough for this interior design session, I'm off for a bubble bath!