For the first time in ages I had a totally free week - what a novelty! After my last exam last Thursday I honestly didn't know what to do with myself, I've been in total study mode for weeks on end! So, I decided to make the most of my free time this week and indulged in lots of (naughty) dinners out, glasses of wine and cocktails, catch ups with pals and strolls round the shops. It was bliss (though my bank balance begs to differ), and I thought I'd share what I got up to during my freedom with you before the chaos of the next trimester at uni begins again tomorrow!
Monday was a nice wee lazy day - I had a lie in, and then got myself looking presentable to film a couple of videos. I was trying to find an appropriate thumbnail image the other day and accidentally paused at the moment in the above photo, which made me laugh - not sure what I'm so surprised about! It was nice to have time to actually plan out a couple of videos rather than just filming something last minute like I got into the habit of during the last two months of 2013. Then, after a marathon of Home & Away and Neighbours with my mum, I headed up to Emma's to plan a wee day out the following day - really though, it was just an excuse for a cup of tea and a chat, the planning took up about five minutes of the evening!
Tuesday was a lovely wee walk down memory lane - Emma and I headed into the West End of Glasgow for lunch in The Old Schoolhouse, a pub next to Glasgow Uni and one of our old haunts. Days like that make me miss that time in my life so much. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a ball at uni this time around, but I just get really nostalgic any time I'm around the beautiful Glasgow campus! We had a huge lunch consisting of (in my case) a barbecue cheese burger, chips and salad, and an amazing apple and blackberry crumble and custard. Some health kick this has turned out to be ;)
After lunch we walked up along University Avenue and reminisced about the hilarious things that happened when we were students there. Then we cut along Ashton Lane (pictured above in all its instagrammed glory) and kept walking for a while to work off some of the food! We got the subway back into the city centre and wandered the shops for an hour before heading home. It was a perfect afternoon.
Wednesday was the only day this week I technically wasn't free - I was working 9-5. But after the working day was done I headed to Pizza Express for a catch up with my lovely friend Gemma. With a 40% off discount code the sky was the limit, so we enjoyed our usual favourite pizza and wine combination, followed by a tiramisu which we shared (how good are we!). We had a good wee gossip as always, before heading across the road to The Counting House (one of the many Glasgow Wetherspoons!) for another drink and a chance to talk weddings - Gemma's getting married next year and it was so nice have a proper chat about it and hear what she's got planned.
Thursday was a quiet one, and a chance to give my purse strings (and waistline) a wee rest. However, it turned out to be just as good - if not better - than any other day, because the results of one of our huge group projects at uni went up online. This was one that we had worked ridiculously hard on, and I've mentioned before that I was lucky enough to work with an amazing group. Anyway, the long and short of it is that it went really, really well and we got a brilliant mark for it. I'm not usually one to talk about that kind of thing but I'm so, so proud of this! I loved every minute of that project and I'm so thrilled that it went well. It just shows what you can achieve when you work hard!
Friday was a day I've been looking forward to all month - tapas and karaoke with some of my favourite blogger ladies! I don't know why I still often refer to them as blogger friends because they're just my regular, 'in real life' pals now, but it's a habit I can't get out of! Anyway, the lovely
Lynne organised this night for us and it was such an good night! I got myself all dressed up in a cheeky wee H&M purchase from my shopping trip with Emma on the Tuesday, and headed into Waverley to meet
Iona. We had dinner in Cafe Andaluz which was AMAZING - myself, Lynne,
Kirsty and
Lianne split into a little four to order and enjoyed a selection of gorgeous food, including some delicious honey and mustard glazed crispy chicken which was my favourite of the night. Washed down with a few glasses of sangria and followed by some caramel cheesecake, we then headed off to Supercube for some karaoke - with everything from an amazing rendition of what is slowly becoming our anthem for some obscure reason, Kate Bush's ''Wuthering Heights'' by Kirsty and
Gillian, to Iona and I belting out Nicki Minaj's Super Bass and all ten of us doing THE dance to Whigfield's Saturday Night during
Laura's performance, it was a hilarious night. I got a catch up with
Jade who I hadn't seen since Aberfeldy, and it was also lovely to add another member to our gang for the night in
Terri's friend Brooke - who immediately got on board with the madness that tends to be one of our nights out!
So that just left last night - after a hectic week, spending the afternoon drinking tea and watching Life Unexpected on netflix and then getting comfy in my raccoon jumper and slipper socks and settling down for a dvd night with the bestie was the perfect way to round off the week. Emma recently picked up Carnage (starring Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and John C Reilly) so we gave that a go, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's based on a play and we are both in total agreement that if we get the chance we want to see it on stage - the atmosphere must be amazing! It's now 3pm on Sunday and I'm cosied up on the couch watching the crazy rain and hailstones outside and trying to get mentally prepared for getting back to work tomorrow (and getting up at 7am!).
So that's it - if you got to the end of this post I applaud you. This was just one of those really lovely weeks that doesn't come along very often, so it's good to appreciate them when you can. I am now slightly afraid to look at my bank balance, and I most definitely need to up my fruit and veg intake and lower my cheese and cake intake this week, but it was totally totally worth it.
Hope you've all had a lovely week! Thanks for reading :)
