What it means to be happy

I am a firm believer in the old saying 'anybody can do anything if they put their mind to it'. Happiness is my number one goal in life, not money or possessions (even though I would like these too), but true f**king happiness, and this I believe, can only be achieved when all possibilities are explored. I am a wonderer, an adventure seeker, and I will not settle until I feel I have achieved all that I am destined to. The world is such a fascinating place and my mind is truly open. In little under three weeks time, I will be embarking on my next journey, starting off in Sydney Australia and from there, who knows... The world is certainly my oyster at the moment and that one way flight to Australia is my calling.

I have always been destined to travel. I hate the thought of settling in one place. This scares me above all else. Life is too short to settle, to stick with one job and one set of friends. There are over seven billion people in the world right now. How sad is it that we only know a fraction of these, a mere flicker of dust on the earth's surface. My favourite thing ever - meeting new people. I love exploring new cultures and seeing how others live - this excites me above all else.

Time. I never seem to have enough time at the moment. It's like the world is against me. That's another reason I am going in a way - I am getting older by the second! I fear this, and am trying to put off doing the stereotypical things every adult is expected to do at some point - move out, find a partner, get married and have children. 

I have never been as sure as I am right now that I need to get out of here, move on, and 'find myself'. Okay this is the cliché travelling thing to say, but I truly do feel like this is my time. I set up this blog in the hope to share my writing, to make new friends, but most importantly, to keep a sort of diary of things I have been up to. Travel writing has to be one of my favourites now. I love the way one can describe a place, how you get lost in the words almost. I know I don't belong here, and until I find somewhere where I can 'settle' so to speak, then I am going to keep on travelling and never ever look back...

Have you ever been travelling? What does it mean for you to be happy?

Sorry for the lack of posts at the moment but expect many more travel related ones over the upcoming weeks. I would love to hear your thoughts on my next adventure too, so feel free to share these. 

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Afternoon Tea

On Saturday, it was one of my best friends birthday, and for a change, instead of getting stupidly drunk and rolling in and out of taxis, we decided to head over to Birmingham for some tea and scones (very sophisticated I know). I love my tea, and may have been even more excited than my friend at the prospect of eating my way through various cakes and sandwiches that afternoon.

The Birthday girl

After finding ourselves a bargain deal on Groupon - Tea for Two for just £7 each, we headed over to the Novotel in Birmingham. I must say I wasn't quite expecting the service we experienced that day. In this case, paying less was certainly a good thing. We were greeted by our waitress who showed us to our seats and took our beverage orders, before being presented with an array of delicious sandwiches to choose from. 

As you can see, these aren't your standard poxy finger sandwiches which you would usually expect from such an affair; these were good sized sandwiches (and lots of them). I went for the tuna and mayonnaise sandwich to start, along with a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich - both of which were delicious. The only criticism I have to offer in regards to the sandwiches is, they were all arranged on white bread. What happened to the wholemeal?!

After we had finished our sandwiches, it was time for more tea and gossip (yes we got unlimited tea refills too). Our waitress came over to take our plates and presented us with this beauty. I love cakes, but my gosh - this selection was to die for! 

We soon got stuck in to our brownies, scones and flapjacks.I couldn't manage my cheesecake so I had to leave this one (to my utter despair) - talk about sugar overload. I am very fond of my cakes and again - these didn't disappoint. I am not sure if they were home-made but they were  fresh and extremely tasty nevertheless! So all in all, a successful afternoon. No fancy cake stand or selection of teas which you may find at your more traditional afternoon tea experience, but for just £7 you cant complain. I would definitely recommend you check this place out if you'e after a fairly inexpensive afternoon tea experience, or even just a quick catch up with your loved ones.

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Birmingham Blogger Meet - The Body Shop

I first heard about this event over on the Birmingham Blogger Facebook page - which if you're from the Birmingham area - I am sure you have heard of by now. This was the second Birmingham Blogger event organised by the amazing Abbigayle, and again, she did us all proud. I went along to this event not knowing what quite to expect. I managed to grab a ticket last minute after rearranging some of my former plans for that evening, and I am so glad I did! What I did know was that this event was being held at The Body Shop in Birmingham which meant lots of shopping and a hole in my bank balance! The Black Friday weekend brought along all sorts of madness. Trying to get through the determined shoppers as well as the German market visitors was a challenge to say the least. I found The Body Shop in good time, bearing in my mind I didn't really know where it was. I can't really say I'm a huge 'Body Shopper' to be honest. I love their products but unfortunately I don't have one on my doorstep so it's not somewhere I regularly visit.  

But back to the event - once everyone had arrived and settled in, we got started with a Birmingham Blogger event favourite - the cupcake challenge. We all had to come up with a cute innovative saying for our cupcakes and upload them to Instagram. After struggling to get wifi, I uploaded my terrible attempt at being witty (as you can see below). After this, we all chose a celebration of our choice as part of the ice breaker challenge. Depending on what celebration we had, we all had to answer a question each. I was asked where I would most like to visit if I had the choice, which for me was a treat in itself as it just so happens that I am going off on my travels next year. The answer being Australia.  After this we got a formal introduction from The Body Shop manager and were split into three groups. In our groups we got the opportunity to go round the store and test out all the wonderful products. Along the way we also had to try and solve the answers to a little quiz Abbigayle had created which listed questions based on The Body Shop ethics. This was used afterwards in a prize drawer at the end of the night. 

My adorable cupcake

The first station

Massage time!

I really enjoyed testing out all the products I must say, including our wonderful hand massages and mini makeover. The Christmas products in particular smelt amazing and I couldn't wait for the interval so we could finally shop. As expected, I got somewhat carried away and ended up buying a lot more than intended. However, I did manage to pick out a few Christmas goodies in my sweep which made me feel a little less guilty. I also got the chance to mingle with some of the other girls, a few of whom I had met at previous events including the amazing Lenny, Kirsty and a couple of new faces including Tashpantz and Sarah. I was definitely impressed with the organisation of the event. Even though we didn't manage to fit everything in, we definitely had an action packed evening. It was a very chilled and went far too quickly for my liking. 

So, after we were all shopped out, it was back to more games and nibbles including the classic charades which was the perfect team building excuse.  May I also add how amazing the popcorn was that evening! We all got given a free bag of this in our goody bags which I will be sharing with you in my next post. After the games drew to an end, it was time for the raffle and competition prize givings before saying our goodbyes. I can't wait for the next event already!

Nibbles and more...

And again...

Body butter heaven

The strawberry products have to be some of my favourite

One of the blogger games was to upload a photo of three to five of your favourite body shop  products - here's mine!

Time to shop!!!!

All of the #bhmbloggermeet beauties together 

Have you been to any blogger events recently? What do you think of this body shop special?

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Opus Restaurant Birmingham Review

This is going to be a fairly short one from me as unfortunately my phone decided to die on me last weekend whilst visiting this beautiful restaurant on one of Birmingham's undiscovered back streets. However, it is definitely one to mention and well worth a visit.

I think the first thing that stuck me about this restaurant was it's contemporary exterior. It is very alluring; I certainly wouldn't have been able to walk past without having a nose in. Once inside, I felt completely relaxed. The service was spot on all night and we were made to feel very much at home. The constant flow of wine didn't go a miss either. It is definitely somewhere to visit with friends or your colleagues - serving upmarket food at affordable prices throughout the day. Once inside, we found a mixture of people, but mainly couples and businessmen. Again, the modern interior décor added that extra bit of class to the this simple yet stunning little restaurant. 

My new work colleagues and I all decided to go for the market menu which offered three courses for just £16 which is amazing value for money. As we were trying to be 'good', we decided to skip dessert and just go for the two courses, a starter and a main which was a little cheaper at £14. I decided on the salmon tart to start with, which came with a simple salad garnish and a tasty seafood sauce. For my main course, I had a spinach, broccoli and cheese ravioli. I must say even though the portions were fairly small, the food was really delicious. I am not a huge fish fan but the salmon tart was the perfect starter; very light on the palette and a clean eat too. Again, my main course wasn't something I would usually go for but I really enjoyed this vegetarian option so to speak. I love spinach, and again this was a very light and fairly healthy dish (minus the cheese).

Overall, we had a brilliant night. I would definitely recommend Opus to those finer diners out there, who are searching for some quality reasonably priced food in a quiet and relaxed setting. I will certainly be returning to this restaurant, only next time I will be pushing the boat out that little more and trying the al a carte menu.

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Birmingham Blogger Meetup

So as you may be aware I attended my first EVER blogger meetup on Sunday. I made that pretty clear on social media beforehand and during the event too. 'Hi it's my first ever event...be nice' and that everyone was. I couldn't have asked for better company to be honest. To say I got a space on Friday and I went along not knowing quite what to expect; I came out with a satisfied stomach, a lovely goody bag and a whole bunch of new blogger friends. A successful day indeed. It always helps to be in good company especially when you are rocking up to an event solo. I am not phased by meeting new people, not at all, but in the fashion and beauty world you can only expect some girls to be a little judgemental. But all the bloggers were welcoming and this made me feel at ease so thanks girls!

We started off by hitting the shops (it would have been rude not to) and ended the day hitting the shops... Remind me to never wear platform boots to another blogger event again please. Looking 3 inches taller and feeling that little bit sexier did not make up for the agony my feet were in by the end of the day.  

We arrived at the Slug and Lettuce in Brindley place right on time, 12.30pm. This is where we met the rest of the girls and took our seats ready for Abbigayle to announce the schedule for the day. The event began with a whole range of games including my personal favourite, the cupcake messages. Not only was it one delicious cupcake, I thought the idea of writing a personal message to share with the group was such a thoughtful idea. I came up with this (see below) which plays on the idea of my blog. The person with the wittiest message won a prize but unfortunately with my luck I didn't win a thing all day (maybe next time).

We all uploaded our pictures of our cupcakes to Instagram with the #bhmbloggermeetup hashtag which helped us to socialise further and log the day's events as we went along. This was great when creating a buzz around the event as Abbigayle wished for. Along with the wonderful cupcake game, we had some other icebreaker games where we got to introduce ourselves, our blogs and blogging aspirations. Even though I somehow managed to forget everybody's names by half an hour in, it was great to hear from so many different bloggers. As you can see from the photo above, another one of the blogger games involved uploading a selfie with our cute little organisers which I will be going into more detail on in my next blog post (watch this space).

Abbigayle did a great job and managed to secure a lot of worthy sponsors including some of the lovely ladies from The School of Makeup in Birmingham and Motives representative Kirsty who was adorable! I really enjoyed watching some live make-up tutorials and hearing all about the brands that had helped make the event the success it was. 

A trivia quiz and of course the amazing buffet brought the event to a close. It was a really fun day and I can't wait to do it all over again. I met some wonderful girls who I hope to stay in touch with and possibly attend some future events with. Hopefully this event in particular will enable further coverage around bloggers in the Birmingham area and help to secure some more events in the near future.

Have you been to any blogger events recently? 

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Positive Thinking

In a quest to find my inner positive self, I have been doing a lot of thinking just lately into the positives in my life. I must admit, I have been feeling quite down lately. Finding a job is proving more difficult than it seems and I am newly single so I guess you could say I haven't quite been myself. So here is another one of my feminist rants as some of you may call it, or just something a little different to the ordinary; a look into those little things which we often take for granted, like friends and family and of course our health. I think this post is a great way of boosting my own self esteem and in turn will hopefully get you thinking too. One word of advice - never ever let anybody tell you what you can and can't do, especially not a male. 

Here's to being positive! Below is a list of my 10 positive things. Fancy writing yours? Join in using #10positives

1. I have the best family and friends. Yes everyone says this but in all honestly, I do! I may only have a small bunch of friends now but they are the most loyal people on this earth and I love each and every one of them. My family who I also adore are brilliant. I don't tell them enough how much I appreciate them so if you're reading thanks for everything!

2. I am healthy. Need I say any more? I am a healthy young lady who is able to do and go wherever I like. If this isn't a positive I don't know what is!

3. I don't have children and I am no longer tied down in a relationship. I am free to do whatever I want and this means TRAVEL!!!!

4. I have a degree. I keep forgetting this one but now I am qualified, I can do whatever I want. My dream job may not have found me yet but it will eventually. 

5. I am in work and can afford my own clothes, makeup etc. In fact I can spend my money on whatever I like at the moment. I don't have to pay bills and am not slave to a mortgage, my money is my money to spend.

6. I have food on the table. Yes I may still be living at home after graduating but this means more time to save those pennies. I am still young and am in no rush to move out and become a proper adult just yet.

7. I can date whoever the hell I like! Today women are much more independent and this means going out there, exploring and not settling for second best.

8. If I want to do something I can do it - the world is my oyster. If I want to become a spaceman who is stopping me really? 

9. The best times are yet to come. I have probably only lived a quarter of my life. I am constantly learning and this time next year who knows where I may be. As the saying goes, live every day as if its your last.

10. I am beautiful. Now this isn't a compliment I often like to accept but I have come to realise that every woman deserves to be called this because in our own unique way, we all are. 

So there you have it, 10 positive thoughts for you to ponder on this sunny evening. I may be reiterating what people have already said to me but actually writing these out has made me feel even better about everything. 

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