Day 1 – Wednesday

Ahhh bliss I now officially have 8 days off work!! Wooo! Originally I was supposed to be in Alton Towers but then I won a trip to Marbella (see My Weekend Off Work) so planned to go there this week, however, after deciding to save Marbella for some May sun, I now have next to no plans at all!

My day has started with a healthy morning – a banana, a hour of Kettlebells and a WeightWatchers acceptable lunch. Kettlebells always feels like a good way to start the day, almost like I’m earning the rest of my day. Which meant I was allowed to come home have a shower and crawl into bed for a few hours watching Grey’s Anatomy (which I’m addicted to and up to season 10) even though that always ends up with me getting sticky up hair because I leave my hair wrapped in a towel for too long instead of just drying it #lazy.

As you can see my hair is flicking out all over

I did make it to the pictures though with my Mam and we braved ‘Miss You Already.’ Anybody who knows us will understand how close to the bone this film was for us to watch, but I’m glad I did it because it was a wonderful depiction of the genuine wears and tears of cancer, specifically showing it doesn’t just affect the patient but the lives of those around also. It hasn’t got long left at the cinema but if you get a chance I would definitely recommend going, or if you don’t have time but the DVD when it comes out!

After a quick stop in Asda for healthy food supplies it was home to get quickly changed for STAMP. Currently we’re working on a Christmas show called Rock ‘n’ Roll Christmas which I wrote for them; it’s basically a load of kids in a 50s style diner with cool kids and waitresses, a love story, a missing girl and lots of music. So last night we staged a wedding dream scene of Bobby’s Girl. Hopefully when we get all of the props and things it’ll look really good!
My body looks strange proportions on this picture haha but nevermind

It was then home for a little bit of tea and Grey’s Anatomy again before bed. Whilst the aches and pains of kettlebells started to settle in ready for the morning 💪🏻 bring it on!

Day 2 – Thursday

Well kettle bells got cancelled this morning even though I was fully up for it (aches and pains aside) so I got to have a little bit of a lie in before heading shopping with mommy to the Metro Centre. 

My feet were killing off all of our walking around, I managed to buy some raffle prizes for our Christmas show, a few little Christmas presents and some goodies for myself – including a blanket just for the cat to have cosy place to lie because she has a preference for dressing gowns (I think she misses her mammy). We then had a semi-healthy lunch at Zizzi’s with 2-4-1 on my taste card, I had a beautiful Chicken dish and my mam had salmon and brocolli. 

We’re always convinced that we get forgotten about whenever me and my mam go out for a meal, we had an absolutely lover waiter but our food took over half an hour to come out. It was worth the wait though I suppose.

After a little bit more shopping we were all shopped out and headed home – although just to ruin my day my mam got an ice cream even though she knew I couldn’t have one on my diet. Boo-hoo.

Some of my shopping goodies

I then made the mistake of climbing into bed with my book and pjs not wanting to move when I had to get ready and head back to kettle bells as Danielle was making an appearance for the first time in months and I needed to be there as support. The pain following class was real! Now not only do I have an aching back but also hamstrings that feel like they might drop off, I keep telling myself it can only be a good sign!

Now I’m going to curl back up in bed with a healthy tea of salmon and salad, then read my book before having an early night – I’m so hardcore.

Day 3 – Friday

Ha. I literally fell asleep at about 9.15 last night and for my laziness had an absolutely terrible nights sleep. I also woke up aching from my 2 days of kettle bells just in time to head back for day 3. To be fair this mornings session wasn’t too bad (except the burpees) and it feels like it might’ve eased my muscles a little bit – no doubt until tomorrow when they are really painful again!

After a shower and a quick change I met up with my friend Michelle for a walk down to Clifton Café on Ocean Road for some afternoon tea, although I think we both underestimated how far it was to walk and had to get a bus part of the way… Clifton Café is just a tiny little café inside one of the b&bs on Ocean Road in South Shields and it was the first time I’ve actually been; I had heard lots of good reviews about it though. A negative I would mention is that if you’re going to book a table I would probably recommend a window seat as otherwise there are a few tables which just seem to be in the way, however everything else was a positive. The service was friendly and not too domineering (I find in some places they don’t leave you alone but want to ask lots of questions) and the presentation and taste of the food was beautiful.

Although we had opted to have the afternoon tea in advance we had a quick browse of the rest of the menu and it looked really nice, and relatively cheap! A lady ordered a cheese and pate platter whilst we were there and even though I’m not a big fan of pate I was really jealous as it looked really good! I honestly cannot wait to go back again. Even the teapot was cool.

After a few lazy hours just generally wasting hours browsing the internet (and spending money 🙈) I’ve forced myself to go back out into the freezing cold weather that seems to have come out of nowhere to head to Newcastle to get one of my nails fixed (I caught a bit of the gel and it’s pulled off) and go and see Pan.

 This was my ‘unimpressed with the cold’ look

Well after a little bit of confusion of ‘who told me I could come and get my nail sorted… Although it’s not a problem’ I got done and scraped it to the cinema in time for the film – with a ridiculously large popcorn and 7up zero (I’m impressed they offer more sugar free drinks than just Diet Pepsi).

I’m a little bit undecided how I feel about Pan, I wasn’t expecting it to be very good because I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews but I did quite enjoy it. Rooney Mara was the highlight, with young Levi Miller doing a great job, Hugh Jackman being nothing short of what I expect from him however, I found Garrett Hedlund’s portrayal of Hook annoying.. First of all he was wayyyy too nice as in not believable he is going to end up the baddie, he also had a really annoying accent which I really hope isn’t real.

I was also hugely confused by some of the music choices, for some reason the Pirates and miners sang Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana and I just do not understand why… On the other hand I did like that they incorporated some important points from the disney cartoon which served no real purpose other than as a link – the crocodiles and mermaid lagoon.

Like I say I’m undecided, but then I haven’t been a huge fan of many of the real life adaptations lately, I might watch it again when it comes out on Blu ray and then decide…

Now after a internet search for a hotel in New York which we still haven’t decided on I’ve put my new grumpy pjs on and am heading for bed to read some more of The Rosie Project; hoping the annoying fly buzzing around my room stops soon!

  Pretend I don’t have a double chin…

Night xx

Day 4 – Saturday

Okay so when I’m off work Saturdays are always my favourite because I NEVER get a Saturday as a regular day off. Tradition is that my mam, sister and Lynne (my mam’s cousin) go to Debenhams every Saturday morning for coffee so I got up early once again to go along.

To be honest, Saturday morning coffee isn’t that exciting but we say and nattered for a good 2 hours which is always nice. My plan for after that was to go home but my pjs back on and chill for the afternoon. But noooo of course I couldn’t chill.

Literally about 10 minutes after getting home I got ‘I need to go to b&q are you coming with me?’ So off to B&Q I went… Got home once again made some lunch was about to put my pjs on… ‘Awww we were supposed to go to Asda to pick the photos up’ back in the car again.

I put my pjs on at 3.30!

Whilst in Asda though I had decided I would make cupcakes so I did that when I got home this time

 I made some regular cupcakes and while they were cooking I thought I’d make some colourful ones… However, I’m sure they’ve change the food colouring because it used to make lovely bright coloured cakes and now it’s literally just a little bit different to regular cake… Failure
I also bought Frozen icing to put on top

Which was an absolutely disaster ‘easy squeezy’ it is not! And it also doesn’t taste very nice. So currently my cakes are just naked because I had no other icing sugar.

Clearly not a very successful time! My mam supported my disaster by telling me to never apply for the Great British Bake Off…

Then no rest for the wicked, I jumped straight in the bath; read some of The Rosie Project, and started getting ready for mine and Laura’s spontaneous meal out.

 I enlisted my personal makeup artist to do my eyes – Ruby – and put on my new dress I’ve been dying to wear which you can actually see in any pictures… Nevermind.

We headed to Mambos which is always reliable for nice food and I was surprised at just how busy it was! Pretty sure they had already crossed our booking off the list by the time we got there (5mins before) so we had to wait at the bar for a while, before we got taken upstairs to our table.

 There are very few people I can just sit and talk to 100% without worrying what I’m saying, but Laura is one of those people and we literally just didn’t stop talking all night. We were sensible and had 1 cocktail each

 I had a trusty old Strawberry Daiquiri while Laura tried a Dr Pepper which literally did just taste like Dr Pepper. And we had a portion of potato skins each and a chicken dish.
I really enjoyed it and to be fair the bill wasn’t too bad, we had a cocktail and a soft drink each and 2 courses and it came to £25 each.

That was my exciting Saturday night… Then me and the cat curled up in bed… I’m so old!!

Day 5 – Sunday

Now everybody in the world knows that Sunday’s are supposed to be spent in your pjs just chilling and doing whatever takes you fancy… Everybody that is except my mother who woke me up at 8.15… Shall we go for coffee at 10.15? So often I would have said no you’re ok but today is my mam’s last day before she goes back to work so at 10.10 I unwillingly dragged myself out of bed and threw some clothes on… Yupp I went out without brushing my hair (I just scraped it into a ponytail) and without any makeup on.. It’s a Sunday!

My mam likes to take me to coffee shops I’ve never been to before so this morning we went to the Red Fox Nursery (a garden centre not far from Boldon Asda). The garden centre itself was starting to get the Christmas things out so that was pretty exciting!

The coffee shop isn’t what you’d expect from the centre itself, it’s really nice and fairly modern. The cakes looked amazing! But seeing as it was before 11am I opted for a bacon and egg sandwich, whilst my mam had a scone.
I was really happy when they handed is our number for the table to show where the food should go as it was my lucky number

When the food came it was very nice, although I managed to get egg all over my jeans because I forgot the yolk hadn’t burst and when it did it went everywhere… Awkward.My last little bit of fun in the garden centre was when I saw a frozen cut out… You cannot take me anywhere!

Then after a quick pit stop at Tesco it was home where I finally convinced my mam I should just go back to bed and have a lazy Sunday. I was however made to start the desert for tonight first – I think she’s trying to domesticate me.

 Let’s see if this is more successful than the cupcakes!!!

After pushing the cat over so I could at least squeeze my bum on my bed I spent a relaxing few hours curled up finishing my book (this is what I had envisioned my week off work to be like) which I thoroughly enjoyed (it was The Rosie Project and you can read a review of it here if you like) followed by some internet browsing on the logistics of my travel to America in March; yes I know I’m extremely prematurely excited, I learned I will travel through 4 time zones across 4 days and 5 airports! 

 Okay back to the trifle…. It was pretty successful, maybe I should stick to packaged deserts where I just follow simple instructions… Although it did follow a really naughty tea of Chinese instead of the planned beef dinner, whoops! 

 At the moment Sunday nights = Xfactor nights and I was really into last nights episode, Simon Cowell was in a really bad mood and making; in my opinion, stupid decisions, I think he let some really talented people go. But hey ho! Judges houses next week… wooooo!! I then just couldn’t decide what to do with my night so I ended up on YouTube catching up with Dear Carrie/Tom/Gi episodes from the past year.. but I didn’t even make it to Christmas before I fell asleep haha.

Day 6 – Monday

Monday passed in a blur of naughty food, Dash Dolls & a blast to the past with Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica. I had to wait in for my mam’s new phone to arrive so I couldn’t go to kettlebells and because I didn’t know what time it was going to come I couldn’t really make any plans for the day in general. As it happened it came at 10.20 so I had all day to do something if I’d known.  

 I was a good child and put all of her contacts in and everything though and put a picture of us on her wallpaper.
Other than that the highlight of my day was Dash Dolls retweeting me  

And my delicious Sunday dinner on a Monday that my mommy made – basically anything with mashed potato would be a winner to me… And I naughtily finished it off with a syrup sponge and custard 🙈

  
Oh and I finally finished my patchwork quilt square I started last week! That is really it. 

Day 7 – Tuesday

I can’t believe that today marks a week off work! It goes way too fast and I’ve done hardly anything I planned to. Lazy days probably don’t help like, and today I have barely been productive.

I had a 9 o’clock start at kettlebells where I thought I was going to die I felt so sick (cramp is the enemy), I then came home and got distracted playing on Smule: if you haven’t discovered it yet it’s like a little recording studio in your iPhone; I sound thoroughly horrible but it’s fine because there’s people that sound considerably worse than me – just don’t link it to facebook! 

I then had a nice relaxing bath where I started my new book (The Best Of Me by Nicholas Sparks) and finally washed my hair (first time since saturday) and rustled myself up a leftovers lunch – I fried the remainder of last nights beef, some rice and some red pepper in soy sauce. It was pretty boring but nice all the same.