2015 is shaping up to be a fab year - Mumford &Sons intimate gig!

2015 is shaping up to be an exciting year!

• I meet the Game of Thrones cast and attend a red carpet event….
• I am going to meet Richard Dean Anderson in July..
• I am seeing Astronautalis next month …
• AND yesterday I got to see Mumford & Sons live in an intimite gig…

On Thursday I got an email saying that tickets for a tiny gig were going on sale on Friday at 10am… the show was Monday night and it was in the Brighton corn exchange (less than 2,000 people)

I frantically got up as many screens as I could and waited between 9:30-10am refreshing waiting for the tickets to go on sale. I managed to grab two I was soo insanely excited I was shaking SO much I couldn't enter my card number. I believe within minutes they were sold out so I was very lucky and CRAZY excited!

So I finished work half hour early yesterday and speed home to get dressed and my sister picked me up. I picked one of my favorite dresses (my duck dress). I scoffed a sandwich and crisps in the car for my dinner and we drove down to Brighton. The doors opened at 7pm and the band came on at 8:30pm but I wanted to get there as soon as possible.

We queued for a while I think we got there about 6:45pm and we got in quite quickly. The rule was because it was before the album was released you weren't allowed to take any phones or recording devices in. We opted to leave our phones in the car rather than handing them in.

We went straight through and my sister’s eye was caught on the merch stand. She very nicely bought me a t-shirt as they were a little steep in price for me as I am saving and we took our place in the crowd maybe only 6 or so rows back from the front.

We took it in turns to pee and Sarah got us water and we wait until 8:30pm. I was glad there was no support band because I usually get a bit bored through that bit.

They came on and they were just amazing… and the crowd was great too really nice people. I jumped and danced like I had never danced before.

Set List 27th April

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Only Love

Ditmas

Wilder Mind

The Cave

Lovers eyes

Monster

Lover of the light

Tompkins

Thistle

Ghosts

Broad-Shouldered

I will wait

After the storm

Just smoke

Snake eyes

Hot gates

Dust Bowl

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Lion Man

White blank page

Believe

Wolf

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The night was just so amazing. Lion Man was the highlight, the crowd and the atmosphere went crazy!

It was also the first time I had a enough confidence to take my cardigan off and jump around with my arms in the air and I didn't even care..... which is a huge step for me. 

It was amazing to hear such a good mix of old songs and the new ones sounded fab! I cannot WAIT to get the new album. They sounded amazing and they are just exceptionally talented men!

We tried to get a set list at the end but was unsuccessful! We did however ask if we could have a bag that you got when you handed in your phone as they were super cute and they gave us one each! yay!

Because we weren't allowed phones in the venue we didn't get any pictures of the gig alas. We did take some VERY EXCITABLE snaps in the car though before we left (we were very happy with parking too 2 minutes down the road and £4.50)

I had an absolutely AMAZING NIGHT! MANY HUGE thank yous to my sister for coming and for my T-Shirt made my night it really did!

I CANNOT wait for them to announce their tour I will be first in line for that!

Now today is a dull day and the gym this evening even though I am knackered, but it was more than worth it!

Training in London!

So this week I was off up to London to do something HTML 5 training. My company sent me up on a 2 day course. I have to say I wasn’t looking forward to it, I think it is the traveling and all the kafuffle that goes along with going to London. However over the weekend I realised it was something I enjoy doing, 2 days out the office and the weather was meant to be lovely so I changed my mind a bit.

On the first day I made the earlier train and I got to the place 40minutes early. I managed to pick up a coffee at Victoria and spill half of it down my sleeve… not impressed. It was a pretty run down building when I got there… I was a little disappointed as I thought a training centre in Kings Cross would be quite fancy and modern…. I went in and up to the 4^th floor and was pleasantly surprised… it was a well light super modern floor…. Lots of glass classrooms it was lovely! I had a coffee and avoid the biscuits and then at 10am we were called inside the room. There were just 5 of us so it was lovely and small. The trainer was a really nice guy and reminded me of a smaller Peter Capaldi. The course was a lot more basic than I thought it was going to be especially on the first morning; however it was good to brush my skills and learn a few new things.

Lunch was at a buffet they had loads of food, curries, pizza, Chinese and salads. I was good on Monday and had a small stir fry and an ice cream.  The afternoon was also enjoyable and picked up a little, and I left at 4:30 in a really positive mood. The sun was shining and I had, had a really enjoyable day.

Now the plan was to be healthy and get an early night Sunday and Monday and do they gym on Tuesday. This did not go to plan. I was in such a good mood on Monday that I decided I wanted burgers for dinner and I took matt over to lakeside as we had a 50% off voucher and we had a HUGE dinner and drinks and it came to £13!! Bargain I say!

So not really an early night at all Monday… then Tuesday I ended up being  an hour early so enjoyed some time in the sunshine and called the bank and headed over to the place…. Again the morning flew by….. Started to do more in-depth things which was good. Got better at small talking with our people and this time at lunch I took full advantage of the buffet and had pizza, noodles and some over bits and pieces and finished it off with a ice cream again.

The afternoon however I started to struggle, my concentration just died and I started to make some silly mistakes and I just wanted to go home. Not sure if it was later than I would have liked evening or the fact that 2 full on days of learning was too much for my brain! Anyhow I passed and we ended up at 4:30 again and I headed off to the station again. The sunshine was beautiful and I was in a pretty good mood even if I was in need of a nap!

Gym didn’t happen… and a KFC and a bag of chocolate appeared instead woops. I do now feel a little guilty. I have 5 weeks now to loose 7lbs! I can do it I just need to focus…

But I wanted to write about it as it was really nice experience and I had a lovely time. One big thing I did learn was I am NOT CUT OUT for the London rush hour commute. It is almost fascinating watching all these people who probably share the same train on a daily basis, all standing alone on their phones or reading and then everyone shuffles off and shuffles off to another queue to shuffle along. I didn’t enjoy the travel to London luckily I finished early enough to miss most the rush hour on the return… and I got on the train home early enough to enjoy a seat all the way :)

Anyhow I am back at work today and missing the idea of walking down a London street and going for lunch (even though I am in Croydon )

I now cannot wait for the weekend. I don’t really have any plans, but we are seeing The Avengers on Saturday so I am looking forward to that. I believe Matt is doing air soft Sunday so might be a quiet lonely day but hey ho…

The weekend just passed I got my Game of Thrones signed calendar back from the framer and it looks AWESOME. 

Me and Matt also took quite a big step and went to our first house viewing on Saturday. We got out the car and I was full of excitement, only to be let down by the fact they changed the times and no one was there and no one told us. I was NOT IMPRESSED at all. What should have been a really exciting experience was actually pretty depressing and a massive let down. BUT HEY HO! There will be more and hopefully they will go well.

I am hoping the rest of this week flies by and goes quickly because I am exhausted!

2015 where are you going?

I knew 2015 would be a year of big changes to my life! And I made a list at the start

• Loving myself.
• Working on my design work
• Debt,
• Having my own home!

I am VERY VERY proud to say that the debt is gone. 110% gone every single penny of it! I actually paid it off last week. I haven’t felt that different or excited… but when I think about the almost 10 grand that I paid off I think it is a real big achievement! I am so used to just earning money and it going into the Credit cards and over drafts… and it just hanging there over my head. When I actually do stop to think about I have this little flutter in my chest and I think Oh my, all the money in my account is mine and all mine.

Then this leads me on to my next step this year. Move out with Matt, having my own home. The idea of a mortgage is sad because I feel like it is achievable. We could save for a deposit, put away the amount of money I have been putting away and in 2 years we would have a deposit hurrah. But I can’t wait another 2 years. I want to start a life with Matt and I want my own space and yeah, so I plan on saving enough for a deposit and all the other charges that come along with moving and I am kind of hoping that MAYBE there would be enough too for a cheeky holiday in September. We shall see though!

It is quite amazing to think that everything I earn is mine and actually it’s made me appreciate my money more. Now I really do stop to think, DO I WANT THAT? DO I NEED THAT? Because when it’s a credit card and its not actually your wages it’s actually so much easier to spend. I defiantly could have maybe done this a month or so quicker or done it in a way that wasn't so tough… but the important thing is I learnt. I learnt that actually I don’t need to buy everything I want. Actually if I walk away and come back I don’t always want it. I learnt that weekends stuck in doors suck, but they save so so much money.

Most importantly I have learn the value of money and I have learnt about sensible spending and I have also learnt that I don’t need 150 dresses and 150 shirts and skirts (maybe I might be exaggerating) but actually just enjoy what I have :)

The good thing about all that is that I have learnt to budget like crazy, and that means I feel more confident about being able to pay rent and budget now when we do move out as I have been doing it for the last year and I’ve gotten better and better!

Now hopefully by June/July we will have enough and I hope by the summer I will be blogging about my lovely new flat!

Happy Friday all!