21st Birthweek | My Trip To Dublin

Hello my loves,

So as you may or may not have known, I turned 21 on Wednesday (3rd Feb) and to celebrate I went to Dublin for 4 days as part of my birthweek, and let me tell you now, it is the most beautiful, relaxed city I have ever been to. I took quite a few pictures so I thought it would be nice to share with you what I got up to whilst I was there and maybe even give you a few ideas if you ever decide to go.

Day 1:

Our journey began very early on Monday morning so we could travel to Bristol Airport and everything ran smoothly and we got there with plenty time to spare. Little did we know we spoke too soon. Basically because our good friend Hurricane Henry was in the midst of blowing all over Dublin our flight was delayed. What a nightmare, I just wanted to get there. BUT he must have known it was my birthday as we were only delayed by half a hour. FINALLY WE'RE IN DUBLIN. Yeah .. that was short-lived excitement when we got lost and ended up roaming the streets of Dublin trying to find our back alley hotel! It doesn't help being in a different country with no data so we had to find Wifi to figure out exactly where we were every 10 minutes. But eventually after 12 hours of travelling we were in our hotel finally able to relax. Just down the road we had a giant Spar shop, which to be honest I don't really rate in the UK but it seems Dublin corner shops are slightly different. They serve hot food, have seats to eat in, they have a deli counter and a coffee shop as well as convenience items, this was our go-to place all week! Amazing.

Day 2:

Our first full day in Dublin, we planned to go to on a City Tour of Dublin but first of course, food! In our trusty Spar shop we purchased a breakfast roll, something the Irish highly recommend. It's basically boiled egg, hashbrown, sausage, black/white pudding, bacon and whatever else you might want to add and it's just 3 Euro! Bargain and it filled us up most of the day! We then went onto O'Connell Street to find the City Tour bus. There are 3 Hop On-Hop Off buses to choose from; Red, Green and Yellow. Some can be pricey but the Yellow bus CityScape is currently on offer for 10 Euro each for a 2 hour and 35 minute tour and I highly recommend it!! The journey is enjoyable and the commentator is warm and friendly and very Irish, and luckily the sun decided to make an appearance along the way! Also with a CityScape ticket you can get discount off other attractions including the Guinness Storehouse and you also get offers such as 2 for 1 Meals and a free glass of Guinness in a pub.

Guinness StoreHouse

Dublin's smallest pub. Capacity: 25 

Oscar Wilde statue

Ha'penney Bridge

Kilmainham Jail

The Spire or "Stiffy By The Liffey"

Aviva Stadium

Also, we came across the amusing trend of heels on electrical wires!

The city is surrounded by beautiful Georgian buildings and parks it is definitely worth a tour to see everything!

We ended the day with some Retail Therapy and a few drinks to bring in my birthday!

Day 3:

It's our last day in Dublin, (boohoo!!) but it's my birthday, 21 to be exact yaaaay! Yesterday we were informed that every first Wednesday of each month access to Dublin Castle and Kilmainham Jail is completely free saving at least 20 Euro so it is well worth knowing about so obviously today we took advantage of it and went to Dublin Castle which was right down the road from us. I recommend having a Guided Tour as apposed to a Self-Guided because you also get access to the remains of the Gun Powder Tower, the Records Tower and the chapel which is pretty amazing to see. Then you see the inside of the castle with the multiple rooms, absolutely majestic.

We then came back to my hotel and there was a bottle of Presecco delivered to my room, how cute of them! But we decided to save it until after we went to dinner with my two Irish friends Soph and Megan who I haven't seen in almost 5 years. It was so lovely to have a catch-up and eat Eddie Rockets (Irish version of Ed's Easy Diner) and boy it was goooood! Then we went for a wander to Grafton Street and Stephen's Green Shopping Centre which looks incredible.

I can't do a post without mentioning Twitter so I'd like to thank everyone for their birthday messages and my favourite part is the balloons that come up on my profile, so adorable!

And that's about it. I know this is a bit lengthy so thank you for sticking through this post, and thank you for taking the time to read all my posts. So happy. Here's to the rest of my 2016!! 

Love you lots

Katie x

Online Friends.

Hello m'loves.

So, this post today is something very close to my heart aswell as i'm sure thousands of you out there; Online Friends.

Who remembers when they were younger before "proper" social media was invented we were taught not to talk to strangers, not to speak to anyone you don't know online etc. (although i must admit the awful days of "chat rooms" there were a few, lets say "interesting" individuals you came across.) but like everything technology has evolved! Facebook was invented to reconnect with your friends and family but the Holy Grail that is Twitter was basically created to interact with people you didn't know.

Think about it, Celebrities and aspiring musicians/artists/actors etc use Twitter as their primary source of gaining new fans to grow their following and success. To be honest, it's quite impossible to even remember life before it. How did we find out the latest gossip so fast? What did we use to vent? How did we know about events etc? It's very scary how pretty much everyone on this planet relies on the internet nowadays. And of course, by following your favourite people you're going to interact with other new strangers who share your interest from all over the world. For something potentially so dangerous, it's actually pretty amazing. 

Over the years I have been lucky enough to find friends across the globe from when i was a fan of The Wanted {y'know the other boyband that wasn't One Direction .. Glad You Came?} well with their growing success came growing fans and I was in this little bubble with so many my age who wouldn't judge me unlike my "real life" friends and we would gossip, laugh, cry together until the early hours of the morning, gushing about our love. 

Honestly, when I first got Twitter I never expected to be able to grow such a deep connection with someone over a computer and I have had many friends that have come and gone but each time was truly special and if you had the opportunity to meet, it would be the most emotional time you could experience. Thanks to everyone I've met online, I've had the chance to travel some of England, Ireland and Wales. I've gained experience and memories so to those who frown upon it, those who constantly undermined me and judged me for liking "a poxy band" it was the best decision of my life.

And here I am today. I may not be crazy over a boyband anymore or in any kind of fandom but at almost 21, I'm still meeting and befriending people everyday. With different lifestyles, different backgrounds it's so fascinating to me and right now I have Dublin to look forward to where I will see Soph who I met in 2011, I'm going on adventures with Charlotte {who lives near me BUT WE MET ON TWITTER} and my two current closest friends Jay and Sam who I met online, and we are all uncomfortably close to the point we share everything. 

And even more exciting news; I GOT TO MEET JAY YESTERDAY.

 

Never underestimate the power of the internet.

My word of advice is; Speak to Strangers! (But obviously be aware of creepy people lurking around.)

Love you all lots!

P.s. My photoshop is back up and running so I'm playing around with header ideas for each post, what do you think?

Katie x

My Goals for 2016

So we've survived it people, 2015 comes to an end tomorrow to make room for the madness that will soon hit us in 2016. A lot of me is so sad to see this year end I've had great memories; see my photo album post. Although it didn't start off great (I was unemployed for a while and was ill for 3 weeks after my 20th birthday) I started my new job in April and I've never felt happier in a place of work, we are all like a family. I've had ups and downs with my friends which has just made us realise how genuine our friendships are and I've met some incredible people along the way. I've had my heartbroken, I've had a fair share of breakdowns but the main thing I remind myself of is I'm alive. I'm here. Life is actually pretty great.

I didn't want this to be too lengthy but I have a feeling it will so if you want to stop reading just look at the picture above. This post is about my goals for 2016. Not resolutions because they are so easily broken and cliche. I wanted to make a list that will excite me when I tick off each one and won't get boring to do. So here goes;

Happiness

An easy, straightforward and ongoing goal. Well, I say easy it can be pretty difficult. Some days nobody can drag me down (NOBODY, NOBODY!)(sorry one direction moment) I'm happy and giggly and if i say so myself, funny. I actually light up other people's day but then I get dark days, I get anxiety, I worry, I get paranoid to the point where I argue with loved ones. But I just want that to change. I'm going to cleanse my mind and my surroundings so I just have positive vibes in this often dreary world we live in and appreciate what I have. As I said before; Life is pretty great.

To Celebrate My Best Friends' 21st

So myself and my two closest friends from school all have our birthdays within 2 weeks of eachother. One is 20th Jan, the other is 28th and then mine is 3rd February so we all tend to celebrate together, however my goal (see below) is to go away for my 21st and Becky is having a party so I'm going to ensure we all party that little bit too hard in honour of the 3 of us. We're all growing up, we've seen eachother's triumphs and losses and I'm hoping this stays for life.

To Go Somewhere Beautiful For My 21st

I always see people visit some amazing places for their birthday and this year I am determined to do this myself. My heart is set on a few days in Prague or Rome, somewhere with substance and history with the most amazing picturesque views. I have the week off, why not spoil myself ey?

Confidence

Over the years, my confidence has grown mountains but I still have a long way to go when it comes to believing in myself. But I want to put myself out there more, set my mind on something and achieve it, no setbacks, no doubts. That would be my proudest moment.

To Be More Healthy

A bit of a cliche, boring goal for you. I often look at the stuff I eat and it makes me want to go out and buy a bucket load of salad, fruit anf veg but no matter what, the motivation goes. And the word Gym? It's foreign to me and I honestly don't see how people have the energy or time to do it. It's not even to lose weight, to just have a bit of a detox to see if it re-energises me a bit. Small realistic changes.

To Visit My Best Friends Up and Down The Country

Because of the wonderful invention of the internet, I have been lucky enough to 'meet' some beautiful, amazing people I'm comfortable to call best friends. So I'd love to just go and spend some time with them this year. I have Sam from Middlesbrough, Jay from Southampton along with a few in London I've met at shows and meet-ups and even Soph from Dublin. Some quality time with my girls and boys in person instead of over the phone would literally be amazing.

To Do A Good Deed Everyday

Whether it's just a smile to make someone's morning, I think giving back to people is the best trait someone can have.

To Go To A Festival

As you know, I love music but I've never been to Glastonbury, V, Leeds, Download, Reading, nothing like that and I reckon the experience would be like no other. Although the lack of hygiene does panic me ever so slightly!

To Invest More Time With Friends And Family

It's not until it gets to Christmas that I realise I feel like I neglect my family and friends because of work or just because I don't text them once a day. So spending some more thought on them wont go a miss.

To Improve My Blog

Everyone has room for improvement so I want to make some personal goals for myself, because I enjoy blogging, I want others to enjoy my blogging too! New equipment, fresh ideas, collaborations with different companies, I just can't wait.

I hope you all have an amazing New Year, and I'll see you in 2016!!

Lots of love

Katie x

2015; The Year Of Memories

A couple of months ago, I decided I really wanted to own a photo album with memories of this past year. Lurking around my house are many photo albums from when I was younger, my siblings were younger and my parents were younger but with the new technology of Instagram, Facebook etc. owning a photo album with physical photos is unheard of. I know the trend of Polaroids are back in but I don't think anything beats flicking through an album.

You might be surprised that you literally cannot purchase a photo album ANYWHERE, unless its a wedding album or another occassion, there are just photo frames everywhere which was so frustrating so in the end was forced to find one online and I fell in love with this. 

I got it for around £5 on Ebay and it's perfect. It holds 200 photos, has lines to write captions/memories beside each photo and the cover is so pretty. My only qualm (i like that word) is that you can only put in your photos horizontal, meaning my selfies are sideways but I suppose it's the memory that counts!

I spent quite a bit of time out of Plymouth this year as well as spending time with my friends and working; I went to Cardiff for the X Factor tour with my sister, I made monthly trips to London with my good friend Charlotte before taking my mum on her first proper trip there in August (the original time we were stuck in a coach station all night because we missed the last bus) and I met up with very talented people along the way who I become very close with (some more than others) ... 

ANYWAY, this book is full of my favourite moments of these past 2 years that I can keep forever and look back on as well as adding more memories to come. It also shows how myself and alot of other things have changed already but I will always have those moments with me.

Courtesy of The Wanted and my favourite song;

The Memory Of Being Here With You, Is One I'm Gonna Take My Life Through, Cause Some Days Stay Gold Forever.

Katie x