Feelin' Twenty Two

Okay, I don't really know how to start off this post because it happened so long ago. 

So I'm just gonna jump right in I guess.

To kickstart my twenty second birthday celebrations (17th March, St Patrick's Day), the team and I went to Nando's for lunch and my manager brought in two massive boxes of Krispy Kreme (yes, I went to work on my birthday, only a half day, as it happened to fall on a Thursday and that is my busiest day!)

So after Nando's, my usual lemon and herb butterfly chicken, with creamy mash and garlic bread (yum), I headed home with what was left of the Krispy Kreme's (there was no way I was leaving them at work, they would be demolished on the way to Oxford and in Oxford if needs must).

Now, this bit I cannot remember, so my helpful diary is assisting me. 

Once I got home, apparently I phoned my mum (standard), squeezed in a few episodes of Pretty Little Liars before Adeel came over and then we just watched Gogglebox. I don't even remember what we had for dinner (I don't think I wanted anything takeaway-ish because of the weekend ahead was sure to have lots of bad food).

The next day we woke up reasonably early and drove to Oxford. The drive was surprisingly short compared to what I thought it could have been.

We didn't need to check in until around 3 o'clock and we arrived in Oxford at about 12pm. So instead we went for a wander. Adeel showed me where he worked and we came across a few sites along the way to the town centre. It was absolutely freezing so we kept ducking into places before finally reaching Christ Church.

We  wanted to see this because of the Harry Potter scenes filmed here and it definitely did not disappoint. It was beautiful. We took a load of snaps and walked around the grounds (unfortunately we couldn't go into the hall as the students were on lunch or something).

Here are a few of the photos we took:

After that we were hungry and found a Burger King in the town centre. Because it was nearly Easter as well, I made Adeel keep stopping off so we could buy some nice eggs. We found a Harry Potter themed shop as well, am surprised I didn't buy anything from there too.

Heading to Eynsham Hall, our residence for the next few days, we found it was quite out of the way - the sat nav didn't even really know where it was (when we'd parked the image on the sat nav claimed we were sat in a big expanse of green in the middle of nowhere and told us to find a road so it could redirect us).

Eynsham Hall is a large manor, with stags heads lining the walls and olden furniture gracing every inch of floor. Our rooms were not in the manor itself but in a bunch of flat-like buildings a short walk away.

The rooms weren't all that impressive, pretty snug, but okay for just crashing in every evening.

After watching a couple of old episodes of Top Gear we decided to head back into Oxford to go bowling. I can't remember if we played one or two games, but it was quick with just the two of us. We then proceeded to play pool and air hockey in the arcade.

We almost went for dinner at Frankie and Benny's but there was a 45 minute wait and it was already about 9 o'clock so we grabbed some sandwiches/readymade pasta from Sainsbury's instead and headed back to the hotel to watch We're The Millers.

I didn't sleep all that well that night (I seem to have a weird thing where I have trouble sleeping in a new place for the first night) so the following morning we missed breakfast because of our unexpected lie-in.

Once we were up though, we got ready and drove to Bicester village. The shops were amazing, all lined out like neat little pastel coloured houses. We looked in quite a lot of them, me taking it all in in total awe as Adeel had seen it before.

I finally decided to purchase my first high end product - a DKNY handbag (I originally wanted a Michael Kors one but there was a queue outside the shop by the time I decided I wanted one and they were more expensive anyway!)

We stopped in one of their restaurants as we'd skipped breakfast and I had a really nice chicken and avocado burger thing (I think) with peppermint tea.

After we'd had our fill of browsing the shops (and going back to Ralph Lauren about 4 times before not actually buying anything), we headed back to Eynsham Hall and wandered around the grounds, taking lots of snaps and coming across a wedding party in the main hall.

Eynsham Hall is actually where an episode of Top Gear was filmed - or part of it. It was kind of why we ended up picking to stay here in the end, oddly enough.

It had a small maze by the water fountains which was creepy, but the grounds themselves were massive.

We stopped in the Gun Room Bar for a bit and ordered some food to take back to our room. Think I just had my usual, Chicken Caesar Salad. Adeel had a burger in which I stole his bacon from as he can't have it.

The Day After Tomorrow was on so we watched that and then called it a night.

The following morning, after a slightly better nights sleep, we made it to a buffet-style breakfast in time before we had to check out. I remember just having a pastry and some cheese and ham. Adeel went for a little bit more with hash browns, grapes, a pastry and a yoghurt.

We felt like the youngest people there, in fact I think we were, so we felt a little out of place the entire time but it was an enjoyable experience and a lovely way to celebrate my birthday.

Let's just hope if we ever revisit it's slightly warmer!



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Cherwell Boathouse, Oxford

So this week seems to have been all over the place.

I've had a lot of important problems to consider and not a lot of the usual things are managing to take my mind off of it all.

Hopefully some sort of solution can come about soon, it's sort of just a waiting game really.

Other than that, my manager came back to work this week and all seems back to normal on that front.

We've even come up with a movie club sort of thing between the three of us. 

We each take it in turns on a Friday to select a film we absolutely love on Netflix and then the other two have to watch it over the weekend and on the following Monday we discuss it.

I think it'll be a nice way to introduce new films to one another as well as getting to know each other better I guess.

There's a bit of an age difference between myself and the both of them so I guarantee they probably won't enjoy the films I pick as much, but it will definitely be interesting.

Anyways, I wanted to write this post about my most recent trip to Oxford (birthday weekend in March posts still to come 'cause I'm mega useless).

I think I wrote briefly before how I headed out of work slightly early a couple of Friday's ago and hopped on a train from Paddington to Oxford.

I had everything all meticulously planned out as per usual (it's me of course, I plan everything down to a T).

Everything was going swimmingly - no problems with the underground to Paddington (or nothing I couldn't handle), no problems at Paddington or with my tickets, and no problems finding the bus stop just outside of Oxford station.

But then came the part I was nervous about. The part where I had to get on a bus I didn't know, state where I was going which I did mention to someone who asked where I was going and he'd never heard of it (promising) and then figure out where to get off in a place I didn't know, once I'd eventually gotten on the bus.

None of this happened though as said bus never actually turned up.

My planning would have had me turn up ten minutes before seven, the time when we would all sit down to dinner, but, alas, they were in tatters as I hastily texted Adeel multiple times to come and get me instead, swanning in later than I had planned.

Great start.

Once we had arrived at the boathouse, however, I was in awe in all honesty.

It was such a beautiful location (plus the group we were eating with was a lot larger than I had anticipated).

Cherwell Boathouse (next to River Cherwell) is a beautiful Oxford location primarily known for its wonderful punting spot, the restaurant a clear bonus.

http://www.cherwellboathouse.co.uk/

With the hasty introductions out of the way, we sat down to our chosen starters already at our places (fancy name cards and everything) - we'd previously selected from a menu what each of us would like for starter, main and dessert - and tucked in.

I had chosen a smoked salmon mousse with pickled vegetables, rocket and lemon dressing for my starter and Adeel chose to go with a gazpacho with red onion, sans olives.

I have to say, out of the three courses I was looking forward to the starter the least as I didn't know what it would be like. I'm happy to say it was amazing. Plus the sweet pickled vegetables and lemon dressing really accompanied it well.

Unfortunately Adeel didn't like the gazpacho that much, in fact not at all, but I suppose you can't win them all.

For mains we both chose pan seared rump of lamb with buttered Jersey Royals, Chantenay carrots, summer greens and salsa verde. This was reallyyy something. The meat wasn't chewy like I've found most lamb to be and the rest of the flavours were just perfect. 

I ended up enjoying this more than the dessert and I am definitely more of a sweet person than a savoury!

And finally, for dessert I chose the orange cheesecake with orange gel and pomegranate sorbet and Adeel had the chocolate fondant with raspberry ice cream.

I know when I considered the menu I almost went for the staples I always seem to pick, but I went out of my comfort zone instead as it was an out-of-the-ordinary dinner with good company and a new hope blossoming.

All of the dishes were served beautifully, the portions weren't massive which was perfect for me who has never gotten through a three course meal before (and was worrying all day about how I was going to eat so much!) and the surroundings were stunning, peaceful and definitely a nice way to relax after a long week at work.

I couldn't recommend this place more. It's a bit off the beaten track - at least for me - but I would definitely go again. In fact, I am hellbent on going back and trying the punting at least!

I wish I had taken more pictures (okay, I only took one, I'm really awful at this!) but I just can't bring myself to take pictures of my food, especially as it was quite a nice place and I didn't want all those older people to look down at me.

Oh well, if you would like to see any more pictures their website is here: www.cherwellboathouse.co.uk

This post is not sponsored, all opinions are my own.



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Social Pressure

So, this post is going to seem hella out of the blue but it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately and wanted to get off of my chest. Plus, I'm not even too sure on how to write it without coming across.. weird, yanno?

It was my nan's birthday yesterday and I've been trying to go home a lot more as, well, they're getting on a bit and I miss seeing them as much as we used to as kids. We used to spend 2 weeks with my mum, 2 weeks with my dad and 2 weeks with my grandparents (6 weeks seemed like forever back then!) and then secondary school hit, and I just saw them less and less until I barely saw them at all when I was at uni. Granted, it was tougher considering I was in London and not a ten minute drive from them, but still.

It's just been on my mind a lot that I haven't seen them enough and I'm trying to make up for it in a way. I just don't feel as close to my family as some people do. Like, we have good chats and stuff when we're together, we just never seem to make the effort to see each other a lot. I don't know, we're weird.

Anyways, I digress.

So I shot over to St. Pancras International after work on Friday to be greeted by a whole hoard of people - there had been a signal failure further up the line causing delays. I cried on the inside but once I'd hopped on the train, we were actually only five minutes later leaving than scheduled - hurray!

We had a nice chill evening in watching Jurassic World and chatting away, settling in for the night in preparation for the following day.

After my sister had finally finished faffing about, doing God knows what, we headed over to my grandparents yesterday afternoon. We arrived before everyone else (just us and the grandparents) and settled in for my granddads infamous buffet-style dinner (he used to be a chef back in the day so I always look forward to the food!)

And then the others showed up, including my cousin and her baby.

Which leads me to my confession.

I'm really really broody. Like, I don't think I can control it right now, especially when I see my cousin's daughter. She is sooooo adorable.

But, well, basically, this post was meant to be addressing the fact that most women still feel the pressure to have kids even if they don't want them. I used to not want kids, as in I loathed the idea of them and any I came into contact with and whenever I aired the fact that I didn't want them, people would just look at me and be all "you'll change your mind, trrrrust me."

And then there are the others that are all "you should be grateful you can have kids, you're so selfish if you don't want to take advantage of what you can have, blah blah blah."

No.

I just think it's ridiculous that women have to feel like this, like it's hard wired into our DNA and we're meant to want this. Men don't have to want to have them, so why do we? We're allowed to play the field, be career or goal orientated.

Okay, so I have changed my mind but that's not because I feel pressured to, it's because I want to.

I'm still torn though. I mean I really really want them at the moment, but I'm also loving my job and don't want to take time off right now (plus there's the whole living situation and whatnot - which will hopefully be changing in the near future. Fingers crossed!)

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is I guess it doesn't help that I've been home a lot more recently for family birthdays and seeing my second cousin's adorable little face and the way my cousin has changed, it just makes me want it way more. Plus, A is so family-orientated that just seeing him with his little nephews and nieces makes my heart melt.

I don't know if any of this made sense or whether it was a random mishmash of my thoughts, but, yeah, I wanted to write it out, clear my head as it were.

I should definitely write spontaneously more often.

Let me know your thoughts!



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Belle Paris

One year ago, me and my friend Yasmin decided to go on our first adventure - no parents, no solid plans and no boundaries in this beautiful city. Paris.

We hopped on the Eurostar around lunchtime and headed off into the depths of France. A couple of hours later and we were faced with the challenge of finding our hotel - which actually wasn't a very long walk from the hustle and bustle of Gare du Nord.

Our hotel, Faubourg 216-224, was actually on a street full of a whole variety of culture, from Asian cuisine to fashion. It felt more like we were in India than Paris to begin with. The hotel itself was under a lot of construction, split over two buildings not far apart on the same street, and was okay for our short four-day stay.

The room was tiny (how do they make the rooms look so much bigger in the pictures?!) and it seemed a little worn but we weren't planning on staying in the hotel for huge amounts of time, so it would do.

After unpacking and settling in for a bit, we thought we'd head out in search of something to eat. We considered going further afield but in the end found something locally and familiar. Buffalo Grill - serving huge American-sized portions, with heaps of friendliness and a whole abundance of atmosphere. The staff are even happier when you try and speak a little French!

After stuffing ourselves and receiving this cute note from our waiter, we headed back to the hotel, ready for a good nights sleep and eagerly planning our next day in the city.

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