THE MEGA UPDATE: April - Birthday Loveliness and a Magnetism to York...

The second part to my MEGA UPDATE! This covers the happenings in April!

It's finally April! We all know what this means...

BIRTHDAY TIME!! :D *Yay!*

We made a couple of days out of it because everyone was more free at the weekend, so I've got a few pics to show you (and yes, I did manage to eat a lot. There seems to be a theme here...)!

Here we go...

On the Sunday that everyone happened to be free, we went to Le Mistral in Sherwood. It's a lot like the Nottingham version and the food was just as tasty :) I had Duck Confit for my dinner (you may need to tilt your head to one side to properly see it) and Crème Brûlée for dessert.

This year's birthday cake, made by Mum! Me and Gem had a shared cake this year - 2 sections represent me and the other 2 represent my sister. Can you guess which ones were which?

On the day of my actual birthday me & Dan decided we would be adventurous and go out for breakfast. We took a trip to Pudding Pantry (one of my favourite places!) and I encouraged Dan to try his FIRST EVER pancakes & bacon with maple syrup (that wasn't made by me!).

He looks so happy in that photo!

(The pancakes did NOT last long after that)

Even Google decided to celebrate my birthday! (Mmm, cake)

To round off yet another day of eating lots, me & Dan headed to the Treetops in Mapperley for dinner. For a long time I thought I was allergic to scampi, but an enlightening trip to The Lobster Pot (see previous post!) changed all that. So for the first time in FIVE YEARS, I had scampi and chips! Dan had yet another glorious-looking cheeseburger with cheesy nachos.

To be totally honest, I truly didn't know what I was going to do with my birthday this year - I thought about having some kind of party (always a good option in my book) but I really didn't know what I wanted to happen for the day. So Dan, being the lovely and understanding person that he is, took me shopping for my birthday.

Now, Dan is not overly fond of clothes shopping for himself, so it meant a lot that he wanted to take me out into town to help me spend some of my birthday money.

We went into Cath Kidston and I picked out a dress - I wasn't sure of it at first, but Dan encouraged me to try it on! Naturally, I bought it because it turns out he's secretly a clothing genius :3 (He probably wouldn't say that though!)

I haven't had chance to take a photo of it yet, but when I do you'll see it on either Twitter or Instagram. Or both. It's a habit of mine. (And you'll probably find it next to all the food photos!)

Right, gotta go - I have more in the way of exciting things to plan... :3 x

So fun times were had with birthdays and eating and wonderfulness. But we're not done with April yet!

The following was an entry due for late April or early May...

FINALLY!!! I'VE BEEN TO YORK AGAIN!

It seems like it's been ages since my last visit to York and I've truly missed it having moved back to sunny (well, not that sunny, more like rainy) Nottingham. So to get the chance to meet up with the lovely Hannah and Sarah was too good to miss!

York was quite cold and a little bit wet whilst we were there. Hence the coats in the photo. We got plenty of time to do some shopping and a lot of catching up!

Me and the girls!

Yup. Cake again. Though this time it was at Betty's Tearooms!

So FANCY cake. :3

Another fancy cake called Japonaise, otherwise known as a "Jap". My Mum has been looking for places that sell the milk/dark chocolate one for ages - I found a white chocolate and rose one at Betty's, so I came close!

(This next section is a continuation and was written in early May)

UPDATE! I WENT TO YORK AGAIN!

Now it's early May. There were a lot of works on the train lines coming into Sheffield so it's currently closed off. Very annoying. Managed to get to Sarah's in good time and we planned to catch the Park and Ride into York.

Big Mistake.

Turns out it really would have been quicker to get the train - due to the unprecedented amount of traffic our bus was 40 minutes late! Thankfully Hannah was very patient and she saved a table for us at the Harkers pub in York city centre. We were exhausted already, so it's a good thing the food was amazing...

Ah. I thought I took a photo. No such thing exists.
Probably because I ate it so fast.

BUT after a lot of shopping was had (a miracle considering we only had a rather limited time after the bus escapade) we did manage to sneak in a trip to Crumbs Cupcakery and also a little shop we'd never seen before called Cocoa and Sweet!

Party. Ring. Cupcakes.

In a word: amazing.

Although if I'd had another, the girls implied they probably wouldn't be able to peel me off the ceiling.

This lovely little shop of magicness is called Cocoa and Sweet. This wasn't in York when we finished university in June of last year, so this is a relatively new shop to me and the girls.

It certainly is a beautiful one though - it gives the impression of a modern take on an old sweet shop.

Personally, I love it!

*Phew*. I've had a busy month.

Probably won't be long before I visit York again though. Looks like I can't stay away from the place...!

Tune in next time for the third part of THE MEGA UPDATE! The final month to be covered will be May!

Twitter: @PinkPurpleDinky
Facebook: Pink, Purple and Dinky (Writer page)
Instagram: @katylizzie1804
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Katylizzie1804

THE MEGA UPDATE: March - The Art Of Trying! (And Eating A Lot)

NNNNNGH.
SO. MANY. HAPPENINGS!

I've been doing a lot these past couple of months where I haven't exactly updated (obvs) so I'm gonna have to have a MEGA UPDATE and split it into 3 parts: March, April and May.
Here's the first: March...

This month I've been trying a few new things. Mainly food. But I DID go a little bit social and I tried Twitter's Periscope for the first time. It was a rather awkward experience if I'm honest - you know that feeling when you are in a position to talk about absolutely anything but suddenly you can't find ANYTHING TO TALK ABOUT-

Yup. That.

So once I've figured out a little structure or theme for each one, I'll try it all again and see how it goes! It's all live, you see. Very different to vlogging! (Speaking of which, I'll be getting a new video editor soon, so you'll see more of those in the near future!)

On the theme of trying new things, I visited a wonderful seafood restaurant recently called The Lobster Pot, located on Mansfield Road in Nottingham, with my colleague Lucy after we'd been to the gym (another very recent development and a slightly exhausting one). 

I've included a couple of pictures of what I had (and a glimpse of what she had!) - I even tried oysters and mussels for the first time! Two new things in one night!
I can't find the pictures of the mussels and oysters, but I got a couple of other pictures...

The main course - I had Salmon with a red onion marmalade and fries, whilst Lucy had a soy sauce and ginger Salmon with salad :)

BANANA CAKE (with ice cream)!! 

I very nearly face-planted this and probably would have done if it wasn't hot...

So a lovely evening filled with tasty things :) Good job Lobster Pot!

Jumping forward a little to the Easter weekend - I travelled up to Sunderland again, this time to share Easter with Dan and his family, as well as to celebrate Dan's birthday!

I received MANY chocolate things (believe me, it took a while for get through them all, even for me) and the Easter service at Dan's church was fantastic. I was also assured by Dan that he had a "brilliant" birthday (his words!); he got some fabulous presents, one of which being concert tickets to see Electric Light Orchestra! 
A few family members and friends came round for a lovely buffet lunch put on by his Mum and Dave - as for the theme of trying new things, I tried Dave's (very hot) chicken curry for the first time.

Two words. Instant. Regret.

I don't remember ever reaching for a glass of wine as quickly as I did after one bite of that curry!

Continuing on the theme of food, me and Dan went out for the evening to a nearby pub called The Stackyard. We usually go to Italian-themed restaurants when I'm up there, so it was nice to try something a little different. 
Here's a few pics of our meal (which was very tasty and didn't last long in the slightest):

I had steak and chips with crispy onion rings and Diane mushroom sauce...

...Whilst Dan had the most gloriously large cheeseburger I'd seen in a long time...!

Oops. How'd that get in here? ;)

So unashamedly, most of my 'trying' this month has been 'guinea-pigging' with food.
With all this eating, it's a good thing I've signed up to a gym so I can burn off the calories (so I can eat even more stuff!)...

The next update will cover April. Stay tuned!


Twitter: @PinkPurpleDinky
Facebook: Pink, Purple and Dinky (Writer page)
Instagram: @katylizzie1804
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Katylizzie1804

A Busy Christmas and a Happy New Year!

*Thud*

It's a good thing us Brits are natural queuers!

I can't believe it's already been three months since I started my full-time job at Beaverbrooks Jewellers (sorry for the lack of updates by the way :P) - I certainly learnt a lot over Christmas and the weeks leading up to it. Who knew we'd have to have a queuing system just to get through everybody? 

(Well, my colleagues did - they warned me and the other newbies that we'd be quite tired by the end of Christmas and the New Year sales!)

My colleagues are fantastic (and very funny!) and they've really helped me to settle into this kind of retail. It's very different to what I did before, so it takes some getting used to, but they're very supportive.

They were kind in letting me have New Year off so that I could go and see Dan up in Sunderland - it's been quite difficult as of late to get up and see him, due to us both having full-time jobs. He has weekends free, but I don't quite a lot of the time.

We had an absolutely fabulous time up North - he took me out for dinner on the 30th (*melts*) and then spent New Year's Eve visiting people and briefly visiting Newcastle (as you do). He even drove me all the way back to Nottingham on New Year's Day, only to drive back up the next day! He is good :)

Speaking of Christmas, I got a great baking-related present this year - a cake airbrush! You attach a specific food colouring bottle to a special-looking airbrush thing and you can spray the colour to decorate cakes and icing sculptures! I haven't used it yet, but you peeps will be one of the first to know as I'll probably end up posting it on here :3

I'll have to practise my decorating skills anyway - two of my friends who I have known since secondary school got engaged back in November and they want me to not only be a Bridesmaid, but they want me to make their wedding cake too! Well, I did help them choose the ring! Congratulations Mary and Stephen! :D

Right, I'd best be off - I have Christmas chocolate to polish off and it isn't going to eat itself... *nom*




Twitter: @PinkPurpleDinky
Facebook: Pink, Purple and Dinky (Writer page)
Instagram: @katylizzie1804
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Katylizzie1804