Goodreads challenge 2022 Pt 3

My goal for 2022 is to read 24 books this year which correlates to 2 books a month 😊 I actually have managed to read a few more books than that since the start of the year and am about 6 books ahead of schedule having finished 18 books in the first half of the year 😊 I thought I would do a little rating and review of the books so far.

With this Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher- 10/10: I am a big fan of Carries and have read all of the books she has released so far and have absolutely loved them 😊 I love that she always includes an element of magic or something not quite of this world in her books and that she writes such strong female characters and female friendships in her books and this one is no different. It’s such an interesting concept and you are rooting for the main character from the get go 😊

Someone we know by Shari Lapena- 8/10: This was actually part of my friend Hannah and I’s book club and was Hannah’s choice for the month. I really enjoyed it and there were lots of twists and turns which were really cool 😊 I definitely didn’t see some of the reveals coming and it was really interesting seeing it all unfold.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty- 10/10: I actually borrowed this book from my friend Hannah when I went round there for a BBQ and it was so so good!!! I watched Big Little Lies when it came out and absolutely LOVED it so thought I would probably enjoy this book and I loved it! I liked all of the different characters and again didn’t see the big reveals coming!! It was interesting hearing all of their different stories and how they reacted to the therapy.

The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary- 10/10: I am a big fan of Beth O’Leary books and really enjoyed The Switch and The Flat Share. This book has been sat on my TBR for ages so when we went to the beach for a weekend I took it along with me as her books are usually the perfect beach read and I thoroughly enjoyed it 🙂 I always love a strong female friendship in a book and theres usually some sort of twist and she always delves into some pretty tough topics.

The No Show by Beth O’Leary- 8/10: This was the other book that I took with me for our weekend away to the beach as it had just arrived a few days before we left 🙂 I really enjoyed this book and I really liked seeing the same character projected through three different POVs and it was a very interesting concept 🙂 I think my favourite of the three girls was Siobhan and I did see some of the twists coming but definitely not all of them 🙂 I think this was my least favourite of all of Beth O’Learys books however that doesn’t mean much because I loved her other three a lot.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman- 9/10: This book has been on my list for so long and I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, it reminds me of Only Murders in the building actually! 🙂

Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these books 🙂

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Selsey Weekend 2022 😊

This year due to the Queens Platinum Jubilee we got a 4 day weekend so my family headed to my Nans caravan for the long weekend to spend some time together and to let Maya have a run around and a swim in the sea ❤️

On the Thursday we headed up to Selsey in Chichester. On the way through we stopped off at a sweet shop in the village which was really cool and then headed to the caravan and unpacked our stuff and headed straight to the beach 😊 Maya knew where she was immediately and ran to the gate to run onto the beach 😂

The next day we headed into the village for some breakfast and also stopped off to get some ice cream which was delish 😍 we also saw the Selsey Seal which was so so cool!! He was chilling on the rocks to the side and we borrowed the neighbours binoculars to get a better look as well 😊

On Saturday my Dad had to come back to our hometown for a bit but my Mum and I stayed up by the beach 😊 we walked up to the village for some breakfast and then spent the rest of the day at the beach with Maya ❤️

The Sunday included a little street party for the Jubilee which was fun and then we headed back pretty soon after because we were really tired after a long few days and needed to get back and get organised 😊

It was a really lovely long weekend at the beach and Maya had a really good time I hope 🤞

Let me know in the comments what you got up to for the long bank holiday weekend 😊

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Bucket List 401-425 :)

401. See Hex Live (15.1.22)

402. See Bring In On the Musical live (18.1.22)

403.Play Monopoly lifesize (22.1.22)

404.Eat at the Coppa Club (22.1.22)

405. Go to Megans for Brunch (23.1.22)

406. Go to Claridges for Afternoon Tea (25.1.22)

407. Go to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience (5.2.22)

408. See The Drifters Girl Live (12.2.22)

409. Go to Eataly (17.2.22)

410. See Pretty Woman Live (27.2.22)

411. Go to a Candlelight Tribute (5.3.22)

412. Tour Holyrood Castle (7.3.22)

413. Climb Arthurs Seat (7.3.22)

414. Go to the Ivy (7.3.22)

415. Go to the Edinburgh Castle (8.3.22)

416. Try a Deep Fried Mars bar (8.3.22)

417. Go to Victoria Street (8.3.22)

418. Try a full Scottish Breakfast (9.3.22)

419. Climb Calton Hill (9.3.22)

420. See Tina the musical Live (10.4.22)

421. Walk round Battersea Park (18.4.22)

422. See Jersey Boys Live (24.4.22)

423. See Fletcher live (10.5.22)

424. See the Little Mix confetti tour (14.5.22)

425. Watch Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness (22.5.22)

Let me know in the comments what is on your Bucket List 🙂

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Theatre programme Pt 3 😊

I absolutely love musical theatre and always buy a programme whenever I go so I thought I would update my last two Theatre Programme collections with the shows that I have seen so far this year as I have been lucky enough to see quite a few 😊

1. This is my programme from when my Mum and I went to see Hex the musical at the National theatre in January. It was actually my brother and his girlfriend that got us the tickets for this show for Christmas which was so lovely of them ❤️ I feel like this show is a mixture of Wicked and Into the Woods. Favourite song: Make it all good Any Celebrities? Not that I know of

2. This is my programme from when my Mum and I went to see Bring it On at the Southbank Centre in January 😊 I am a big Lin Manuel Miranda fan and also love this film so I have been looking forward to seeing this show for AGES and was meant to see this show twice before as due to Covid it kept getting postponed or cancelled. Favourite song? We Ain’t No Cheerleaders or What I was born to do. Any Celebrities? Amber Davies from Love Island was playing Campbell which was pretty cool 😊

3. This is my programme from when my Mum and I went to see The Drifters Girl in February which was pretty cool 😊 This was a show that my Mum really wanted to see but I wasn’t that bothered as I didn’t really know any of the drifters songs but it was so interesting learning their story and the songs were really good. Favourite song? Under the Boardwalk. Any celebrities? Beverly Knight plays the main woman in the show Faye Treadwell

4. This is my programme from when my Mum and I went to see Pretty Woman in February which I would say was both of our picks 😊 I watched the film a few years ago and really liked it and then we saw a few bits from the show on different things including West End Live and thought it looked really good ❤️ I actually thought the best character from the show was the narrator who definitely stole the show! Favourite song? Welcome to Hollywood or Anywhere but here Any celebrities in the show? Not that I know of.

5. This is my programme from when my Mum, my Grandma and I went to see Tina the musical in April. We booked this show during London Theatre Week on TodayTix which meant we got pretty good seats for pretty cheap and it was so interesting learning about her life and I was pleasantly surprised how many songs of hers I knew! Favourite song? River Deep Mountain High or What’s Love Got to do with it. Any celebrities in the show? Not that I know of.

6. This is my programme from Jersey Boys when my Mum and I went to see it in April. This was another show that we booked as part of London Theatre week and was one that I really wanted to go see as I had never seen it before but my Mum had seen it once before. It was really good actually as the Four Seasons had a really interesting career and the person who played Frankie Valli was really good! Favourite song? Oh what a Night or Walk like a man probably but all of the songs were really good Any celebrities? Not that I know of

Let me know in the comments if you have seen any of the shows I have listed here 😊

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My life is changing and I’m going to keep you updated- Chapter 16 recap and Chapter 17 aims :)

On the 9th of July 2020 I uploaded my Month 1 aims for my Changing my life series and now I’ve just finished Chapter 16 of my Changing My Life series and am very excited to get started on my Chapter 17 aims 🙂

Favourite quote of the month: Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today

It has been a really fun few months including a trip away to the Spa and a weekend away to Edinburgh which was so so lovely 🙂 I absolutely love going away for weekends and definitely want to do it more often 🙂 I would love to get further with my goals and really work on myself in the following months 🙂

Cook twice a week :)- This has been one of my most consistent goals that I have been able to work on and finesse since starting this challenge and I have been doing quite a bit of cooking. Some of my favourite dinners that I have cooked is chicken gnocchi, butter chicken, beef keema naans, noodles and finally lots of other bits as well 🙂

Update my CV and Linkedin- I still have not done this yet which is absolutely ridiculous and will be one of my main goals in the next chapter!
Watch work videos and dog training videos- I have kept up with my two main dog training videos and have also started watching work videos again which I am going to try and keep up with in the following months.

Go to Edinburgh- I had an absolutely AMAZING time in Edinburgh with my Mum at the start of March 🙂 We spent 4 days there and did a lot of sightseeing, ate some amazing food, had drinks and just had a generally lovely time 🙂 I think some of my favourite moments were climbing up to Arthurs Seat, exploring Edinburgh castle and Holyrood house 🙂

Spa day- One of my brothers usually gets my Mum and I a spa day voucher for Christmas and this year was no different 🙂 This year my brother got us a voucher for Greenwood hotel and spa and it was so lovely 🙂 I ended up reading the second Bridgeton book whilst floating around in the pool, we had some lovely food and just chilled 🙂

Continue to sort out my Bedroom and organise my life- maybe do a bit of a spring clean: I have done a little bit of a GYST this chapter however probably not as much as I would like to because I have just been really busy with life and other things. I have started growing some tomatoes which is really fun 🙂 I ended up going to a cousins wedding during the easter bank holiday weekend, I have been to see lots of musicals including Tina and Jersey boys 🙂 I have also been to a few concerts and went on a work night out 🙂

This chapter has been a bit all over the place and I’m excited to see what else is to come 🙂 I think my next chapter will lead up to my 25th BIRTHDAY!!! I cannot believe that I am going to be a quarter of the century on the 4th of July!! I have a few goals which I am hoping to achieve by then which I will list below 🙂

• Cook twice a week
• Take Maya to Selsey for the weekend
• Write a letter to my 30 year old self
• Spend time with friends and family 🙂
• Update my CV and Linkedin
• GYST

Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas of what goals I should choose for next time 🙂

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My Favourite Songs from Jersey Boys 😊

On the 24th of April I went to see Jersey Boys with my Mum and I really enjoyed it 😊 the show is a jukebox musical and tells the story of the Four Seasons, a band from Jersey, and their ups and downs. Obviously I already knew some of the songs however there were definitely a few new ones. Recently I have been writing blog posts about some of my favourite songs and lyrics from shows that I have seen so I thought that I would do the same for Jersey Boys 😊

• Cry for Me
• Sherry
• Big Girls Don’t Cry
• Walk Like A Man
• December 1963 (Oh What a Night)
• My Eyes Adored You
• Beggin
• Big man in town
• Can’t Take My Eyes off of You
• Working my way back to you
• Fallen Angel
• Who loves you

Let me know in the comments what your favourite songs from Jersey Boys are 😊

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Goodreads Challenge 2022 Pt 2 :)

My goal for 2022 is to read 24 books this year which correlates to 2 books a month 😊 I actually have managed to read a few more books than that since the start of the year and am about 7 books ahead of schedule!! I thought I would do a little rating and review of the books so far.

Killjoy by Holly Jackson- 9/10: I absolutely loved the Good Girls Guide to Murder series and this is a World Book day short story where we learn about Pips first escapade into detective work when she goes to a murder mystery party at her friends house.

Princess at Heart and Princess Ever After by Connie Glynn- 9/10: I started this series when it first came out and absolutely LOVED it!! Although I am slightly older now I wanted to finish the story and still enjoyed reading about the characters and the last two books in the series didn’t disappoint! The books have a very interesting concept behind them and I love a bit of fantasy as well 😊

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne- 8/10: I actually read this book on the train on the way to and from Edinburgh and I actually quite enjoyed it- if you are a fan of the enemies to lovers trope in books then this is definitely one for you.

The Viscount who loved me by Julia Quinn- 10/10: I actually read this book at the Spa after watching the second series of Bridgeton on Netflix and I absolutely LOVED IT!!! If you are a fan of the second series of the Netflix show then you will definitely enjoy this book although quite a few of the scenes have been changed from the book to the show it still has the same essence and I just love Kate and Anthony’s characters and story.

Everything is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray- 8/10: While I was reading The Hating Game on the train to Edinburgh my Mum was reading this book which I believe had been given to her as a present from one of her friends 😊 Once she had finished it she lent it to me to read as she thought I might enjoy it which I did- it’s a very interesting concept with a little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance and reminded me a little bit of Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine.

Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these books and your opinions and also if you have any recommendations for what I should read next 😊

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My Favourite songs from Tina the Musical :)

On the 10th of April I went to see Tina the Musical with my Mum and Grandma and I really enjoyed it 😊 the show is a jukebox musical and tells the story of the legendary Tina Turner. Obviously I already knew some of the songs however there were definitely a few new ones. Recently I have been writing blog posts about some of my favourite songs and lyrics from shows that I have seen so I thought that I would do the same for Tina 😊

• Nutbush City Limits
• It’s gonna work out fine
• A fool in love
• Better be good to me
• Higher
• River Deep, Mountain High
• Proud Mary
• Private Dancer
• Disco Inferno
• I don’t wanna fight
• Simply The Best
• What’s Love Got To Do With It
• We Don’t Need another Hero

Let me know in the comments what your favourite songs from Tina the Musical are 😊

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Edinburgh 2022 :)

On the 6th of March my Mum and I boarded a train from Kings Cross in London to Edinburgh Waverly 🙂 I had never been to Edinburgh before but my Mum has been a few times so I was super excited! We packed ourselves a picnic for the train as it was around 6 hours but time actually flew by 😊

When we arrived in Edinburgh we headed straight to our hotel which was only 5 minutes from the train station to dump our stuff and have a think about what we wanted to do for the rest of the day- we ended up just having an explore around the immediate area, did some shopping and found the castle!!

After our little explore we headed back to the hotel to change and then headed to dinner at an Italian restaurant near our hotel called Vapiano which was absolutely delish!

The next morning we got up early and headed to Holyrood house after some breakfast which is the Palace that the Queen uses when she has engagements in Scotland including the garden party 😊 The palace is beautiful and it’s so interesting learning about all of the history as well including stories about Mary Queen of Scots

We then sat down for a hot chocolate and scone in the palace cafe which was really nice 😊

After the refreshments we decided to start heading up Arthur’s seat which is an ancient volcano that resides next to Holyrood house! It is an epic hike up to the top and we were absolutely knackered by the end but we did make it and the view was definitely worth it!

Once we had hiked back down Arthur’s seat we decided to do a bus tour for the rest of the afternoon so we could rest and also see different parts of the city that we had yet to see such as the Greyfriars Bobby inn and some of the other beautiful buildings

We then headed back to the hotel to change and go for dinner at The Ivy which was so so delish!! Neither of us have been to The Ivy in London but we spotted it at the end of the road that our hotel was on so figured why not! I had prawn tempura to start and then fish and chips for mains and then finally for dessert a chocolate bombe 😊

The next day we got up early and this time we headed to the castle which was actually only about a 10 minute walk from our hotel 😊 we did a tour of the castle and even saw the 1 o’clock gun which was really cool!!

After our tour of the castle we headed off to find some food and stumbled across a Thai restaurant which was pretty much next to the castle and it had the most amazing Pad Thai!!

After our Pad Thai we headed to Victoria street which is a street in Edinburgh which apparently inspired Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series which is super cool!! While on that street we found two different Harry Potter themed shops which was pretty epic 😊

After our explore of the Harry Potter street we headed to The Royal Mile to try and find a deep fried Mars bar which we did actually manage to find in a fish and chip shop 😊 there was also a Christmas shop which was super cool!

After exploring Royal Mile we headed back to our hotel and then headed to a local pub for some dinner and afterwards we went to a Gin Festival which was really cool!!

On our final day we woke up and headed to a cafe for breakfast where I ordered the traditional Scottish breakfast including haggis, black pudding and lots of other delicious things 😊

After breakfast we decided to have a walk so we headed up Carlton hill which was really fun and it has some really epic monuments at the top 😊

We then headed back to our hotel, popped into M&S to grab a picnic for the train home and walked to the station 😞

It was such a lovely few days away and I really loved the city of Edinburgh 😊 I would definitely like to go back in the future as well ❤️

Let me know in the comments if you have ever been or Edinburgh and if you have where your favourite place was 😊

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My life is changing and I’m going to keep you updated- Chapter 15 recap and Chapter 16 aims :)

On the 9th of July 2020 I uploaded my Month 1 aims for my Changing my life series and now I’ve just finished Chapter 15 of my Changing My Life series and am very excited to get started on my Chapter 16 aims 🙂 Chapter 15 has been focused on trying to work on my New Years resolutions.

Favourite quote of the month: She rescues him right back from Pretty Woman

February has been a really fun month with lots of exciting things that I have done including lots of good food, organising stuff which has been on my to-do list for ages, saw a couple of shows and celebrated Mayas third birthday!! I can’t believe we’ve had her for almost 3 years now!!

• Cook at least twice a week- During one of the lockdowns we started to get Hello fresh which is a delivery service that drops off boxes of ingredients and a recipe for you to follow which we have been absolutely loving so I have been cooking for my family pretty consistently 2-3 times a week for a while 🙂 Some of our favourite recipies this month include: Harissa chicken, Halloumi tacos, lots of tomato pastas, quick chilli, beef tostadas

• Spend time with family and celebrate Mayas birthday: As mentioned in my favourite post we decided to go to Brighton on Mayas birthday which was such a lovely day ☺️ she got utterly spoilt with new toys as well!

• Spend time with friends and see a show: My Mum and I actually went to see two different shows this month which were The Drifters Girl and Pretty Woman The Musical both of which were really fun! I have also this month seen my friend Hannah to go to a Van Gogh exhibit and also saw my friend Dorothy for dinner at a place called Eataly ☺️

• Sort out my Charity shop/Depop pile: I actually did this relatively early in the month and have taken the bags of stuff to the charity and uploaded everything else to Depop and have even sold my first item!

• Dye my hair- I actually dyed my hair on the 26th of February and I absolutely love it!! I have had red hair before and as most of you will already know am usually a blonde so this time I thought I would combine the best of both worlds and blend the two ☺️

• Update my CV and Linkedin- I still haven’t done this which is a bit ridiculous so I will make sure to add it to my list for next month!!
• Watch 3 work videos a week and also dog training videos- I have been really lax at watching YT videos this month as I have been really busy doing other bits but I will also try and get on this next month 🙂

Last month was full of ups and downs as I did relatively well on some of my goals but on some I really slacked so it would be nice if next month I could complete all of my goals 🙂

• Cook twice a week 🙂
• Update my CV and Linkedin
• Watch work videos and dog training videos
• Go to Edinburgh
• Spa day!
• Continue to sort out my Bedroom and organise my life- maybe do a bit of a spring clean?

Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas for goals for the rest of the year 🙂

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