One of my goals for the year was to take a day trip to explore Bath. While it isn't that far away from home for me it is a bit awkward to get to and takes a while to drive there, so I've never really bothered.

To celebrate our 4 year anniversary Jared and I caught the train to Bath for a day of exploring and eating.

First stop was to see the Roman Baths which is obviously the focus for most tourists who take a trip here. We weren't even there on a particularly busy weekend but it was packed and quite expensive to get into (like £15 per person!). I wouldn't mind but there was so many people I couldn't actually look at any of the artifacts and I kept getting separated from Jared by the sheer amount of people. 

That said it was really interesting and pretty incredible at how much of it has survived. I particularly enjoyed looking at the curses people had written on pieces of lead and then folded up and thrown into the spring, hoping the Goddess would bring the perpetrators to justice on their behalf. They were mostly complaints about petty crimes, such as someone stealing their cloak but its fascinating to see proof that human nature has changed very little since Roman times! 

Afterwards we went to look round Bath Abby which was pretty awe inspiring. Some of their stained glass windows were particularly interesting with one showing multiple different parts of Jesus' life. In addition the incredible ceiling with its fan patterns makes it well worth a look.

Lunch was the high point of the day and we really went to town to celebrate our anniversary with a full three course meal and multiple cocktails at Turtle Bay. One of the best things about living in Southampton was having a branch on our doorstep and I haven't been since I lived there. Turtle Bay please can we get one in Salisbury?!

Not going to lie it was a pretty extravagant meal but I adore their jerk glazed steak and I live for sweet potato fries <3

We had a look around some of Bath's lovely shops (hello Anthropologie) but I was very good and didn't buy anything so we wandered back to the station to catch the train home.

After all the food and day drinking we both fell asleep on the way home so we were lucky we didn't miss our stop to be honest! It was a lovely day out and a wonderful way to celebrate together. 

Hopefully we will be back soon!

Things that have made me happy this week

Its been a long week that has mostly consisted of revision but I have managed to squeeze in some fun things to stop me going completely crazy. So here is what I've been up to this week. I'm one exam down now with only one left to go next week.

1. Abbi's birthday. So last Wednesday was my absolute BFF's birthday and shes a whole 21 years old. In the three years I've known her shes always insisted on us making no fuss for her birthday but this year I decided to just totally ignore her requests and go all out. My original idea was just to get a small group of our geology friends together for dinner to celebrate. But then I thought her flatmates might like to be involved so I contacted one of them and we hatched our plan. It soon grew to include her friends from halls and rugby friends as well. It took a lot of planning to get 4 separate groups totaling 18 people in the same place at the same time so a massive thanks to Felicity for all her help (you're amazing). It was 100% worth it for the look on Abbi's face when she walked in and we were all waiting to surprise her. Thanks for being the best mapping partner a girl could wish for <3

2. Cheeky Nandos. Ok after all the social media buzz surrounding #cheekynandos I remembered I had never actually been. So as a revision break Jared and I went to the one in Southampton and it was everything I expected. The food was good but not amazing and the banter was out in force. I don't know if I'll go again but I'm glad I experienced this part of British culture.

3. New Clinique bonus time. I recently discovered the site feeluinique.com (I know I'm about a million years behind the times) and used it to restock on some favourite facecream from Clinique. Partly because I was too lazy to go to town but mostly because you got a free bonus time gift with it. This included the Super Defense Day cream, Liquid Facial Soap, High Impact Mascara, Blush in bashful blush and a Chubby Stick in Roomiest Rose. I can't stop wearing it, its just too pretty! Plus the bag it came with is pretty cute. And you can never have too many little make up bags.

4. Malcolm in the middle. Such an oldie but I never watched it back when it was actually on TV. I'm currently on season 3 and it makes me so incredibly happy. Mostly because their crazy lives are remarkably similar to my own childhood except I am one of 4 girls instead of boys. Whether you've already seen them or not they are perfect for procrastinating as each episode is only 20min long.

5. Real Techniques brushes. I've always been a massive fan of Ecotools brushes but they don't have as large a range as Real Techniques. Everyone seems to love them and they are a similar price so I thought I would give them a try. I got the powder brush as I don't currently have a nice big fluffy brush and the Expert face brush. I've always used a flat foundation brush and find it leaves streaks so this is perfect for buffing in your base. Plus they were on offer in Boots. A girl's gotta take advantage of these things.

6. Sisters coming to visit. All three of my sisters came down to Southampton for a day out shopping followed by dinner at Turtle Bay. I was naughty and got three new dresses and had the juiciest steak for dinner. But shopping and good food soothes the soul right? That aside though it was nice to spend some quality time with them as now that two of us are at uni we don't get to see each other as much as I would like.

Things that have made me happy this week

 

I've got so behind on doing these posts I've ended up posting two back to back. Never mind, life gets busy sometimes. Its been a great week all in all and I've been pretty busy.

1. My sisters Ellie and Kiera came to stay (Sorry Tigs but you're too young) and we went out for a gorgeous dinner at Turtle Bay. This was then followed by sharing a sundae in Sprinkles which was just pure chocolate heaven.

2. Valentines Day. I had such a blissful day preparing a roast dinner from scratch with my boyfriend, playing music and getting drunker throughout the day. The recipes included honey roast carrots, lemon, thyme and garlic chicken, homemade meat stuffing and garlic and rosemary potatoes roasted in butter. So indulgent! I had then had a long shower and got myself ready just before the meal was ready. My boyfriend got some family recipes off his parents (thank you for that) and made us a very boozy trifle which was great. We followed this with yet more wine and a cheese board. Feeling so full I couldn't move we settled down with more wine to watch Harry Potter. It was literally the perfect day, thank you so much Jared <3

3. Taylor Swifts new album. I know I'm about 48659754 years late with the Taylor hype but my flatmate has been playing 1989 all week and I just had to get it too. Its making me so happy! If like me you were a sceptic then swallow your pride and just get on iTunes.

4. Painting my nails. I bloody love painting my nails and have done several times this week. Theres something so relaxing about it as you need to be zen else you will end up painting your whole hand.

5. Dior J'Adore perfume. I got bought this for Christmas by my extremely glamorous Nanny and it just smells like paradise. Until I found out how much it cost! Seriously Nan! So now I am using it very sparingly. I decided that Valentines Day was a worthy use of this delight and I just feel so elegant when I wear it.

6. Diet coke. Seriously, how does anyone even get through the day without this? I've been using this as a coping mechanism for a shit weeks lectures. Is it bad for me? Probably. Don't even care.

7. Continuing on the food theme, I've discovered that Doritos do a sour cream dip that goes perfectly with Sensations Chilli crisps. So effing good! It took me three films to get me through the whole lot and it enhanced the (shit) films I was watching immensely.

8. Watched 10 things I hate About You for the first time ever. One of those classics I've been meaning to watch and I was left alone with the boyfriends netflix... Such a great film! I absolutely loved it, my friends were right, I should have watched it sooner.

Turtle Bay drinks for Immies Birthday

I have literally the most disgusting amount of work to do. And I've spent the past few days in a semi permanent state of tears about it. Hence why I have only just got back up to date with this blog. Apologies. But to distract myself from that I went out for drinks at probably my favorite venue in Southampton: Turtle Bay.

My friend Immie has her birthday in the Christmas holidays which are nearly here and we went for cocktails at the Caribbean rum bar.

Had such a lovely time and it was so great to chat to everyone. Got the chance to meet a few of Immies rowing friends and they were all so nice.

Plus the cocktails there are incredible. Discovered a new favorite called Passion Rum Punch which was DELICIOUS and probably had about a million calories in it because it was so yummy. But who cares. If you are ever in Southampton you have to go to Turtle Bay, make sure to get something to eat because the food is to die for.

A big Happy Birthday to Immie! Welcome to being 21 and having the time of your life xxx