to market to market: on monday morning i began the festive pilgrimage up north by heading into manchester for the day. for as long as i've known donna, i've been insistent on meeting her there for a tour of the city and trip to the christmas markets, so finally we were able to make good on our promises. we began with a quick coffee at the pen and pencil before a whistlestop tour of the city's street art, donna's favourite charity and arty shops, and rounded off the day with a spot of fudge in the christmas markets. we weren't there for long, but long enough to get a taste of what manchester has to offer. will i be back? heck yes i will.
pub quiz un-champions: that night we headed to donna's local for a drink, something to eat, and a spot of christmas pub quizzing. the last part was not planned, but we stuck around anyway, and tried our luck for the £15 pot. of 50 questions, we only answered eight wrong...yet we still didn't even place in the top four. the quiz was a farce.
bailey's hot chocolate: the next day i was edinburgh bound. after many a delayed train and pulled muscle in getting to kirsty's, the suggestion of a bailey's hot chocolate in front of the telly could not have been more enticing. what could have made it better? a new favourite tv show, and marathon into the wee hours. i love when a plan comes together.
brunch with fitz: when mid-morning finally came around and it was time to resurface to face the day, fitz was there to help. and by "help", i mean by walking over my face to wake me up when he'd had enough of waiting patiently on his own. kirsty came to the rescue with bacon and avocados on home made sour dough, and a(nother) festive tipple. it was christmas eve eve, after all.
king luther: the newest tv show on my love list? luther. ok, so i'm a bit late to the party on this, but between arriving in edinburgh on tuesday and boxing day, i watched the entire three seasons and latest two episodes. i've been addicted to it. i love crime drama normally, but this drama is something else. it's clever, it's topical, it's interesting, and it's gripping. and if you haven't started to watch it yet, then do. the three seasons are on netflix now, and the latest episodes are still available on iplayer. get involved! it's seriously so good. thank you kirsty, you legend!
crafternoons: come christmas eve, rebekah and i realised the flat was very un-festive. we headed out around midday to grab some *stuff* that might help us to change that. laden with sticks and plastic holly and shitty glittery leaves and discounted baubles, we headed back to the flat to ~decorate. the result? a giant vase full of sticks with baubles and fairy lights, and an amazing centre piece made ~entirely out of plastic, and a real life candle. adulting fail.
christmas! because presents! and food! and wine! and more wine! and laughing so hard at cracker jokes that you fall off your chair while eating dinner! and eating all the forrero rocher with no shame or repercussions. go christmas!
a boxing daze: see above, but for two days in a row. oh yeaaaaaah. pass the stretchy trousers (i obvs mean pjs).
dizzying edinburgh heights: on sunday we decided it was high time to do some actual outside activities. i have been to edinburgh before, so i have seen a bit of the touristy things already; one of the things i have not managed to do as yet on my trips to the small-smoke was climb arthur's seat, so that was first on the list of things to do - well, once we'd eaten, of course. we headed to the black fox on leith walk after the recommendation from kirsty. despite their lack of brunch options (because we're london wankers), we sat and ate our fill and then climbed a fuck off hill. because that's a sensible decision. never. when we got to the top off the crags (because like fuck we were actually going to climb that volcano on a full stomach) we rejoiced in our success by taking many, many photos, then bemoaned our ridiculous decision to eat so much food first. with the sun setting in the distance we decided to head down and five miles across the city to calton hill to watch the sun set over the city. time was of the essence, and not on our side, but by god we made it! and what a stunning sight that was.
a night at the cinema: after that, we headed into the lovely warm pub for a lovely cold beverage... or two, before hitting up the local cinema for a girlie flick: sister. we'd watched an interview with tina fey on alan carr on boxing day, and we'd seen an extended trailer of the film then. i'd already wanted to see it, but with the other girls' interest piqued, it was decided. and it was hilarious! i don't usually expect anything less from madam fey, but a few of her things have been questionable of late (kimmie schmidt i mean), so i was hoping this would set her back on track. and it so does, and we laughed so hard! it was a great film, and if you are a fan of the poehler/fey dynamic, then this won't let you down.
and that's week one of the holiday now done - unbelievably; how are you holding up?
