Der Glöckner von Notre Dame // Visiting the theatre abroad

I've been 'learning German' for the past 2 years or so. By which I mean occasionally having a little go on Duolingo and trying to translate the German sections of tampon leaflets and shampoo bottles. Armed with this practical experience, I decided I could totally visit the theatre in Germany and watch a musical performed entirely in German. How hard could it be?

Summer Frights with The London Dungeon

Being a literal Master of Death an' all, you'd probably expect me to be pretty hardy when it comes to spooky stuff. You'd be wrong. I am a massive wuss! 15 years ago I put myself on a self-imposed horror film ban, which is still standing, because the nightmares I got afterwards would be ridiculous. Hearing a creak in the house at night, or the shadow of a tree branch brushing past my window, is enough to make me cower under the duvet in fright. Yet, for some reason, there is one terrifying pursuit that I absolutely love to put myself through: The London Dungeon (oh, and also graveyards, but that's not really relevant to this post). My first visit to the London Dungeon was for my hen do, and I loved it so much that I visited the Edinburgh Dungeon shortly after my wedding too. This summer, the London Dungeon are putting on special adults-only after-hours events, and I couldn't resist going along to check it out.

Twenty Things I Learned in my Twenties

Tomorrow, I turn 30... and I cannot wait. Looking back over the past ten years, I can see the growth and evolution I've made as a person and I feel ready to start a whole new chapter. In June 2008, I was a first-year teaching student, in a two-month strong relationship with some guy called Rich, and I was making the most of university life. I had a lot of fun but I was unsure of myself, a little timid and a lot insecure. Now I finally feel like I've found my feet and it's got me reflecting on the lessons I've learned throughout my twenties.

My Solo Eurovision Adventure

I bloody love a bit of Eurovision. Every year I watch and think 'how amazing would it be to be there!' Last year I had an epiphany, when I realised there wasn't actually anything stopping me going. So I kept a close eye on the Eurovision site, found out when tickets were released and made sure I was ready, credit card in hand. Unfortunately I missed out on tickets to the grand final, but there were seats available for the first semi final, and I figured that was still part of Eurovision. So last week I found myself sitting alone on a plane to Lisbon, heading towards Europe's biggest party of the year.

This being my first Eurovision experience, I wasn't entirely sure of how things would pan out. I had three main questions, and luckily they all resolved themselves perfectly.

A Place on the Plane with Saturday Night Takeaway

Remember in 2016 when I went to see Saturday Night Takeaway and I wrote a whole blog post about how it was basically a dream come true? Well, as everybody who follows me on social media will know, that dream only went and got better because my mum only went and won a place on the plane to the series finale in Universal Orlando... and took me with her! I may have gone into full Rylan mode when she called to tell me- screaming and sinking to my knees next to the sofa. I'd like to say I'm joking but I'm not. I really like Ant & Dec, OK? (Well, we all know it turned out to be only Dec but the less said about that the better I guess) I wasn't intending to write about it- I even left my camera at home, so these are going to all be bad phone photos- but as you can probably imagine, it was an absolute dream and I can't resist typing out a few words! Make yourself comfortable because this might be long...

My first experience giving blood

I don't like to boast, but I have a high pain threshold and I'm not afraid of needles. It would be a shame to waste those skills. For ages, I've been saying I'll give blood but have never got round to it. When writing my 101 in 1001 conclusion post, I decided to transfer my uncompleted goal onto the new list, and then figured there's no time like the present. Visiting the Give Blood website, I registered and noticed there was a donation session taking place half a mile from my house in two days time. Before I could give myself a chance to procrastinate, I booked that appointment. I'm so very glad I did because it was a great experience and I'm already looking forward to my next session!

2018 goals

As I've mentioned over and over again, 2017 was a difficult year. The first half was great, if stressful. The second half was awful and still stressful. For 2018, I want to just relax and find my feet again. I've set just five goals for next year- three personal and two blogging- so I can live life a little more gently and recover from the last six months. 

2017 in review

2017 was not the year I thought it was going to be. After quitting my job and starting my master's in 2016, I envisioned this year mainly spent travelling, blogging and a lot of hard work studying. In the end, it turned out to be one of the most challenging years I've had in a long time. A year ago, I could never have imagined the crazy turn my 2017 took this summer and it set me back a long way. Turns out sometimes the things you dream about should stay as dreams. Still, I'm (mostly) over that now and things seem to be back on track. Let's take a moment to reflect on my 2017 goals and see how I fared.

A long-overdue catch up

According to Twitter, at least three of you have noticed I've been AWOL over the past four months. In my almost-six years of blogging, this is the longest break I've ever took and it felt a little weird but it was an absolute necessity. Now I'm back and, well, probably not better than ever to be honest. On a par with ever. Woohoo! 

So where have I been? The answer falls under three headings- dissertation, travel, and personal crap I'm not even going to begin to get into because we'll be here forever and really it's not that interesting.

Review // Giraffe, Basingstoke

I don't tend to be too adventurous with my food. Although I like to try new things, I find that I end up going to the same places over and over again. So when Giraffe invited me to try out their Basingstoke branch, I was eager to expand my culinary horizons with their signature global-inspired cuisine. 

A Mother-Daughter Day with Festival Place

Remember I wrote that post all about my mum for Mothers' Day (which she did see, by the way!)? Well we headed over to Festival Place for a mother-daughter day of pasta, shopping and frequent trips to see if the Debenhams brow bar was available.

Review // Wahaca Southampton

I adore Mexican food but I'd never been to Wahaca. How bad is that? Thankfully, the brand new Southampton restaurant rectified that when they invited me to try some of their Mexican dishes. I had no idea what to expect but I had such a wonderful experience. I can't praise them enough!

Review // Half a Sixpence

My favourite film ever is Oliver!, and I love the proper old-fashioned British musical aspect of it. Those huge musical numbers with everybody dancing in unison, and the complete immersion in this different world. When I saw the cast of Half a Sixpence perform on Children in Need, I got the impression that this was in a similar vein. I enjoyed the performance so much that I made it a priority to buy tickets to see it myself. Spoiler alert: That was a brilliant decision!

2017 Goals (and 2016 Reviewed)

'Tis the season for an overwhelming amount of goal posts. (That's posts about goals, not the things you have at either end of a football pitch). I happen to thrive on setting goals and failing miserably so you better buckle yourselves in for a whole week of posts dedicated to the things I definitely won't achieve in 2017.

Review // Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

When Myles was tiny, he really loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. We'd watch it together constantly and sing the songs but with little tweaks to make them relevant to us. So when Dick van Dyke sings "Someone to care for, to be there for, I have you two", I would swap you too for Myles and he would sing Becky. It was cute and cheesy and we both loved it. Of course, now Myles is a big lumbering 17 year old so when I jokingly suggested we go to see the touring theatre show, I was pretty taken back that he was up for it! So it was that we found ourselves sitting in a theatre on a Sunday afternoon surrounded by children and singing classic tunes from a 1960s musical.

Review // Chicago

I bloody love the film Chicago. When I was about 15, my friend Amanda was really into it so I'd watch it at hers a lot and her enthusiasm rubbed off. I bought the soundtrack and everything. Once I put All That Jazz on and performed a funky dance number for a then 4-year-old Myles. I got fully in the zone, jazz hands and everything, and it was only once I'd finished that my stepdad decided to announce his presence. Yep, he'd been standing in the doorway watching the whole thing. Mortified. Anyway, the point is- I really like Chicago and ever since I first watched it, I've wanted to see the theatre show. Last month the Chicago tour swung into Woking so I took my chance and booked a ticket.

My Dentistry Journey

Here's the deal: I hate my teeth. Like, really really hate my teeth. So much, in fact, that I used to Photoshop them before putting photos on Facebook (now I just don't post photos showing my teeth at all, unless they're in shadow or I'm a fair distance from the camera). Finally, I decided enough was enough. I somehow summoned up enough courage to get myself down the dentist and do something about it! 

When I mentioned this post on Twitter, a lot of people said it would be helpful to them so I've included as much detail as possible. I want to reassure anybody who is in the same position as I was, make recommendations and also tell you exactly what to expect, so make yourselves comfy because this is going to be a long post!

Review // Kipferl Islington

You know how I love Austria? Of course you do, I never shut up about it. Well, I was recently looking up best places to buy stollen in Salzburg (I'm going back at Christmas, you see) and the Google results were less than helpful. Instead they just showed me the best places to buy stollen in London. However one of these places was a cafe called Kipferl which- get this- is an Austrian cafe. A frickin' Austrian cafe in London! You better believe I made a special trip to London just to get some Almdudler.

Blogosphere Cover Reveal Party

Remember in June when I was guest lifestyle editor in Blogosphere Magazine? It happened again! To my delight (and amazement), I was asked to take on the role for a second issue and, as such, was invited to the cover launch party in London. As the last party took place while I was in Amsterdam, I was excited to be able to join in this time!

Blogosphere Summer Party

Remember back in April when I was invited to the Blogosphere Tea Party? This month I popped down to the Blogosphere magazine summer party and it was just as lovely!