A little trip to Brighton

Last month I headed to Brighton for a mini-break with Lee. 
We bypassed London on the first night so I could play a gig with The Brownies (which was awesome, I got the opportunity to meet some lovely people). 
In Brighton, we stayed in a hotel that was out of this world, called Hotel Pelirocco. It's a theme hotel, beautifully decorated throughout. We stayed in Dolly Parton's ranch, naturally. It's well worth a trip - the people are warm, the bar is well stocked with the nicest rum and they have luxury shampoo and conditioner (the most important thing).


To sum up the trip in a few words: Beach, 2p pushers, eggs benedict, long strolls, cocktails, scampi and chips and quality time. Yeah.


xx

BITS AND BOBS

 

1. Washing lines of cards hanging in our house

2. Beautiful flowers from my BFF Vicky

3. Homeless kittens that I met - when I reported from the RSPCA Paws Centre

4. A snap shot of Blakeney Quay

5. A trip to a mouth-numbing-tasty Deli

6. Winter food planning and day dreaming

A mini-post card of what I've been up to! 
It's definitely the little things in life that have been giving me the most pleasure. Washing all of my clothes and reorganising our bedroom and storage made me immensely happy this week. As did sitting down and dreaming about the kind of things I'm going to cook before Christmas. I'm going to make my first ever Christmas Cake for sure - I'll let you know how it goes!

x 

Fian-SAY-WHAT?

 

Lee and I are getting married. It's crazy and fantastic and we're both really happy. 

Ever since our first year together, I had a feeling this would happen. He's my best bud. I always wondered how Lee would propose. Whenever we spoke about it, he would say that he would catch me totally off guard with a hugely romantic gesture. On the 8th of October I decided to take the matter into my own hands. I can't describe why - I just woke up and decided to do it. Lee went to band practice and drummed his socks off. I went to pets-at-home and bought our kitty Boo a new collar. I had a tag engraved too. We met back at home. Boo slipped her new collar on with a little persuasion from me and she paraded into our living room. Lee was lying down on the couch. I directed his attention to Boo's new look. 

His exact words were - "That's nice".

"Have another look" I replied. 

"It's really lovely. Leopard print suits her"

"Just take... one more look. It's a really posh one."

"... ok"

And so, he read - Lee - Will you marry me?? on the engraved tag. Bemused, he looked up to my weepy eyes and said yeah. 

It was such an awesome moment, and it's been a whirlwind since. Our friends and family have been so elated. My sister threw us a surprise engagement party, my radio colleagues made me recount the story on the breakfast show -  and Lee and I have chosen our venue and our date. 

Excitement! I'll keep you posted.

p.s. I didn't buy my own ring too... in fact - we decided to resize a ring that Lee gave to me for Christmas a few years ago. Perfect.

 

Weekend Bliss

I've had a rather clumsy and awkward Monday morning so far - so I'm going to cheer myself up with a look at the amazing weekend that just was.

I left Friday's post on a mega cliff hanger.

I was feeling pretty rough but planning on pulling myself together to have a few cups of tea and a bit of a celebration with Lee and my family... because...

We're engaged! 

I'm happy/sorry to tell you I plan to write a whole post about it soon.

When we arrived at my parent's house it was a surprise engagement party with all of our friends and family thrown by my beautiful sister. 

Biggest surprise of the year.

It wasn't something we had planned to do - but it was so cool to get excited and talk with our nearest and dearest about it all. 

I spent a large deal of time in this corner of the party - where music from 2001 blasted and cake was consumed:

*I made my sister a big breakfast the next day as a thank you. 

 Yesterday - I joined my ma and pa on a boat trip. It was a right old adventure. 
We went from Brundall to Norwich. My mum brought tea in a flask with fresh milk (posh), my dad drove and navigated and I didn't do much. We got into Norwich and ate lunch. It was perfect.


COMING SOON: 
I've been working on an awesome DIY tutorial to share with you. 
I won't give it away - but some advance warning - you will need a cardigan. 

xx

I LOVE FOOD

I've had a crazy month. A good kind of crazy. It's taken it's toll on my body a little - so today - I took most of the day off and tried to spend it relaxing and recharging.

I spent the afternoon with my mama at her work - watching her cook and nattering. 

Then I took a really long stroll around my neighbourhood and my favourite part of the city - Magdalen Street. 

I bought some b-e-a-utiful fabric for my next sewing project - a right bargain too - reduced from £11 per metre - to just £1.  So naturally - I bought twice as much as I needed.

I wandered through my nearest ethnic food shop - Asian Bazaar to be precise. INCREDIBLE ingredients... exotic ingredients... but I walked away with some rather tame (but cheap) spices for...

A BEAUTIFUL TIKKA MASALA CURRY THAT I MADE FROM SCRATCH:

 

The home made mango chutney I made earlier in the year was the PERFECT match for this saucy dish. I love it when a plan comes together. 

Have a lovely night! I'm rounding mine off with a bit of a family celebration... 

xxx

Glastonbury 2011

I think it has been an appropriate amount of time for me to re-visit what I got up to last weekend... 

GLASTONBURY. 

I had never been to the worlds greatest festival before - and to be completely honest with you - I had always shrugged it off as some hippy fest with a load of crap bands playing.

Oh how wrong I was. 

It was definitely a peak in the graph of my valuable life experience. I saw lots of amazing bands (skip ahead for a round up of that), worked a little at the BBC Introducing stage, met some stellar people and spent some well needed time with my nearest and dearest.

If unlike my former self, you care one smidgen about the massive weekend - you will probably have caught up with the wealth of Glastonbury videos on the BBC's website. 

What you will not have seen, is a small collection of my photos:

Now that you have, let me tell you...

Fever Fever - my BFFs (and by no coincidence one of the greatest bands on Earth) played to a big ol' crowd on the BBC Introducing stage. It was a very proud moment.

Other weekend favourites:

• Jimmy Eat World - I spent most of their set patiently waiting for two songs: Sweetness and The Middle. They played them back to back at the end of the set and the 14 year old inside of me wept a little bit.

• Fight Like Apes - made the crowd BOO them and chant 'Shite Like Apes'. Impressive.

• Friendly Fires - A total surprise. I didn't realise I liked them. Apparently I do. A man hip shaking hasn't looked so hot since Elvis.

• Pulled Apart By Horses - I need not explain. Awesome.

• Beyonce - THOSE THIGHS, THAT VOICE, THE HAIR... I genuinely cried a little bit and tried to pass it off as hayfever.

• Ed Sheeran - we've been championing this fella for a couple of years now at BBC Introducing in Norfolk. It's amazing to see him at number 3 in the charts, and even more amazing to see hundreds of people bellow out his songs.

Glastonbury is my new favourite Utopia. I will definitely be going in 2013. Want to come with me?

xx

Love your BROTHERS

Last night was incredible. Without sounding as wet as a swimming pool - it was one of those nights that make you realise how lucky you are to live where you do/have the friends you have/do the things you do.

It was Twee Off and Gravy's summer party at the Norwich Arts Centre. If you have never had the chance to go to Norwich Arts Centre - it is basically a converted church venue with an amazing musical history. It deserves a whole blog post of it's own.

Last night was a real treat. Danish beauts Fair Ohs, Balaclava Kid and Dad, (my band) BROTHERS and Khan entertained familiar faces all night with help from drink, dancing and veggie burgers fresh from the garden BBQ. 

1. Flint ahoy - it's Norwich Arts Centre.

2. I love bands that play barefooted. See also, Bare Feet Records.

3. These two ladies are incredible.

4. BK and Dad played on the floor. Not the stage. Hip.

It was such an awesome night. I wish that each person reading this blog could have been there and hung out.

So, I'm going to recreate the experience for you. Below are videos from last night (kudos Charley and Stevie). I suggest you turn off the lights, grab a gin or can of Orangeboom, maybe some kind of barbeque food and turn the speakers all the way up.

KHAN

BROTHERS

BK AND DAD

FAIR OHS 

(and this video is OBVIOUSLY not from last night...)

 

What a nice way to spend a Saturday. 

Today, many people who attended last night lugged themselves up at the crack of dawn (12 midday to be precise) and went back to the legendary venue in order to be extras in Fever Fever's new video.

A sneak preview: 

It's way past my bed time. Tomorrow morning I am up at the REAL crack of dawn (5am) in order to present the Breakfast Show on Future Radio 107.8FM. I'm stopping by Tesco on the way in to gather supplies, including: a newspaper, some cereal or a pastry or perhaps BOTH - coffee and more coffee. I'm very excited - it's my first brekkie show EVER. I will take pictures for you and everything.

I hope you have had an amazeballs weekend - I'd l-o-v-e to know what you've been up to.

xxx