Peaceful week off

As you may of read in previous posts my holiday was cancelled this year so I joined Matt in taking a week off. He gets considerably more holiday than me and he had an exam so decided to take the whole week off. I haven't had a break this year so far so I decided to join him. I had no real plans just wanted to relax and unwind a bit.

I will start by saying Matt sat his exam on Thursday and he passed. I am really proud of him! We went out and ate waffles to celebrate.

I won't write a long detailed post as we really didn't get up to anything exceptionally exciting. Since Hyper Japan a few weeks ago I am thrown myself head first into the world of Yaoi anime and manga so I wanted to mostly overindulge on those and re-watch Black Butler. So the week involved a lot of pajama days in front of the TV or curled up up somewhere reading.... very relaxing and perfection!

Sunday Matt and I went to Bluewater and he managed to talk me into getting a new iPad. Oops..... I also got some manga and then in the evening I FINALLY saw STAR TREK..... I won't lie it was epic and I loved every minute of it. We went up to the BFI Imax to see it as we have done with the previous Star Trek movies. I loved how the characters really shone in this movie and I loved the story line as well. The whole thing was awesome....

Monday I insisted we took a trip to Brighton for the day.... this day was probably my favourite. We got the train down, ate lunch and then shopped. I got more manga (you see I have developed a problem here) and a dress in the sale for £15 that I fell in love with. We then laid on the beach in the sun reading and cuddling before going and getting ice cream and then having dinner on the sea front. It was hotter than I thought as poor Matt got sun burnt.

The next few days were really lazy days and on Wednesday Matt took me out for dinner to my first ever Indian restaurant. I'm still not a curry lover but I did really enjoy the meal we had and it was a beautiful restaurant. On Friday I insisted we go and do something so we had lunch and went to play mini golf. The day wasn't quite as exciting as I had hoped. The weather was crappy and the mini golf was super small and underwhelming for the distance we travelled. However I still enjoyed being out with Matt.

So that was pretty much my week off and here is a bunch of photos I took throughout the week.

New shiny gadget and mangas.

Star Trek was amazing and I want to see it again

Brighton was so hot and perfect

Brighton Doughnuts on the train home

More manga and the dress I bought

Matt and I out for dinner

Mini golf in my new dress

I do love dinosaurs 

Matt and I playing golf, he won :(

I would of liked to of had a few more things planned but at the same time I really enjoyed the quiet down time. I was feeling pretty burnt out so just needed a break I think for a little bit. 

I cannot believe the week has come and gone. I am not even sure if we actually had all the days off we were meant to it went that fast..... I really did enjoy some quiet time though and although I am gutted I have to go back to work, I am hoping I will feel a little more charged and ready to go! Well maybe haha! 

Video Games Live London date night.

Matt and I had a lovely date night/night out on Sunday; we booked tickets for Video Games Live back in 2015 as the it was less than a week after Matt’s birthday and our anniversary, so we thought we could make a nice evening of it.

We attended Video Games Live back in 2007 and had a such a good time we wanted to go the following year but unfortunately it took a few more years for them to play the UK again and it had slipped our mind a bit and we forgot about it. So I was delighted to see them playing around Matt’s birthday what better excuse to buy tickets?

I picked out my new Emily and Finn dress paired with my new Brogues, I really liked this outfit. It was still a pretty chilly outside so I paired it with my new leather jacket, scarf and gloves and luckily it kept me plenty warm! 

We picked the evening show, which now knowing what time it ended I wish I had picked the matinee as I didn’t get home till almost 1am, oops. So we headed to London  and went for a delicious Pizza Express meal in Wapping. This restaurant was sort of hidden away and had small half circle windows, the building had high ceilings filled with wooden beams and a revolving door to get in, it was really unusual and beautiful.

It was so quiet in there that we were the only customers at one point. Our food came quickly and tasted amazing! We then headed to the show which was a 20 minute walk away, but it was a really pleasant evening and I enjoyed looking at the city center from the water edge.

We arrived too early about 6:40pm and the doors opened at 7pm. It was warmer than I expected thank goodness and at 7pm we went in and took our seats. The show didn't start until 8:30pm so we enjoyed just sitting and chatting for a while. The time flew by and I managed to talk Matt into taking a selfie with me. He is a handsome chap *swoon*

The show started promptly and it was fantastic, although I have little interest in games I thoroughly enjoyed the music. A live orchestra is just beautiful what ever they are playing, the music is passionate and dramatic. Yet at other times it is so soft and beautiful moves you emotionally. The visuals they put with it make it fun too, makes me feel at home watching Matt play his games for hours at home.

They had a few world premiers and special guest that were great and they were presented with two Guinness World records too! 

The time speed past and it ended at 11pm, I wasn't expecting it to end that late as I said above and we had to make a dash for the train home before we missed the last one! It was a shame as we had to give the meet and greet a miss but it didn't take away from the show at all.

I loved watching the conductor Eimear Noone, she moved in a almost magical way. You could feel the passion and the music through her movements. The Orchestra were brilliant and the Laura Intravia who played multiple instruments and sang was just absolutely phenomenal. Her voice was breath taking and it just flowed from her effortlessly. Everyone involved were insanely talented and I really envy and respect them for what they can do!

I would highly recommend the night to anyone thinking of going. 

We then took a walk back the way we came and I snapped a shoot of the river at night and pondered how lucky I am to live a stones throw away from the center of London. Although I get frustrated with this city at times, I also feel very lucky to have grown up here and live so close. 

So I got back much later than planned so suffering slightly on Monday, but it was SO WORTH it!

I hope everyone else had a lovely weekend and please let me know if you have been to any Video Games Live shows!

Another year older, another year wiser but still just a Muggle

So I am now 27, EEEP crikey. It is terrifying to think I am really REALLY an adult and 30 is now only 3 years away! It only feels like a year ago that I was turning 21, I have been promised that my 30’s will be amazing so we will wait and see I guess. Until this I will enjoy being in my 20’s still.

If you saw my previous post you may have seen that my week off didn’t start quite according to plan alas. But Wednesday rolled around and I had a nice relaxing afternoon and saw my Aunt for a little bit. I then headed to bed for 11:30pm. This is a big thing for me as I am usually very impatient and I open my presents at midnight! I decided to wait till the morning which I am glad I did.

We got up about 7:30am, which is crazy early for a day off I’d say! But I wanted to make the most of my day. I had to sit outside the living room eagerly waiting for Matt to ‘finish’ a surprise for me. When he let me in I was so excited. He has dressed all the Poes in little hats, and he had, had them printed on a cake too and there were candles light and a hand drawn Happy Birthday sign. It really meant a lot to me especially as it was the first celebration in our flat together that he decorated it up a bit!

 I unwrapped my gifts and I was really surprised Matt got me the time turner I had been pining after. It is beautiful and is the real silver and gold one I wanted! I am terrified I might lose it so I may buy a safety chain to clip on it! I also got some Harry Potter Pop Funkos, and got a beautiful dress and shirt! I also spent my gift card the lovely ladies at work got me on Friday on a penguin jumper which you can see below too!

 I then got ready and I picked my new elephant dress. I bought some navy tights to go with it and paired that with a navy cardi and a backpack as I wanted to be hands free all day! We then headed to The Harvester to have breakfast. I had planned on a simple crumpet and fruit type breakfast as my tummy still wasn’t feeling 100%. However when we got there I was actually quite hungry and pretty unhappy about missing out on a fry up on my birthday so I caved and got one! I did however give some to Matt as I couldn’t manage it all! It was well worth it as it was DELICOUS!

The motor way was insanely clear and we arrived around 11:45am. Our tour started at 12:30pm so we had a fair bit of time to wait. We looked round the gift shop and I excitedly started make a mental list of how I was planning on spending my birthday money, and then we sat outside for a while as the sun was shining gloriously and it was the first beautifully sunny warm day that week!

We queued up just before 12:30 and headed in! We did the first part with the cinema and little talk and I got to push the doors open to the great hall as it was my birthday woo! I was so excited and I got Matt to snap as many photos of me with my favourite props and sets as possible and I took WAY too many photos myself… It is hard to pick just a handful out of the hundreds but here they are!

The sets are all beautiful 

I did the broom stick thing this time! That was loads of fun, I didn’t do it last time because of the queues and the fact that I really hated photos or videos of myself (shame really!) this time however the queues were only around 10-15 minutes long and I really wanted a photo!

I love this picture and I got to pick Gryffindor robes

After looking at all the beautiful sets, we headed into the next part which was the main reason for my visit THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS! It was really awesome and you got to go up inside it too which I hadn’t realised you could do! It was stunning and exactly how I imagined it would have been!

I tried so hard to get through to platform 9 3/4 but it didn't work

When you come off you can have your photo in a booth to look like you are on the train (which we did and bought!) and then you get to have a few snaps and play around in another booth with a video that plays in the window! I really enjoyed that part!

So happy I got a snap of Matt to keep!

We got through into the middle bit, and I was ready for a sit down! We both got butter beers (I got the fancy one with the mug you get to keep and Matt ended up getting 2 disposable ones) It was warm enough you could sit outside which was GREAT! It meant we got to do all the outside stuff properly and sit down and really enjoyed our butter beers (last time we went it was SO COLD outside we spend a minimum amount of time outside and rushed through it!)

I wish I could drink butter beer all day long

Couldn't resist getting a snap on all the things outside

The next bit was all the inside information, the how they did it and the artwork and what not. I love this bit too as it is so fascinating and interesting the amount of work that goes into making films.

Then you head up Diagon Alley. I remember it being longer and I kind of wished it was but it was really awesome regardless! I love peering into all the shop windows.

My favourite shop

Then the last bit which is defiantly a favourite of mine was the Hogwarts model. It is just stunning and the atmosphere in there is perfect. It just makes you wish SO HARD that it was all real and you could really go there. I won’t stop hoping that maybe one day I will get my letter ha! You just have to sit back and take it all in!

The Hogwarts model... so stunning

You then go through the wand shop bit with the names of all the people that worked on the films on wand boxes, again this is really atmospheric and pretty impressive.

And then you end up back in the gift shop! I was pleased I looked at the beginning as I was pretty tired (it was about 5pm by this point and I was starving) I picked out a few bits. I got myself a beautiful T-Shirt, chocolate frog, Muraders map mug and a souvenir guide. I really wanted a wand too, but I decided against it as it was quite pricey and I wanted to save some of my pennies for other things.

My mini haul

While we were paying I also got a ‘It’s my birthday’ badge! I was pretty pleased with that!

And with that we headed home. It was NOT a clear drive home, actually it took about double the time but I guess the M25 at rush hour you wouldn’t expect anything else. We then got a pizza and garlic bread from Morrisons on the way home and I really enjoyed that and ate while watching so Star trek next gen. The evening was spent being lazy in our pj’s just watching TV and playing on the internet.

It was one of those days that I just DIDN’T want to end, and I didn’t want to go home either. It went so quickly and I enjoyed every moment of it. I then popped into the shower and Matt relight the candles on my cake and sung Happy Birthday too me which was the perfect end to the perfect day!