So as I said in my previous post, I was away on a trip with my sister down to England. I wrote about the first few days that we spent in Manchester here, which you can read before / after this one if you haven't already. Not only did we extend the trip from one night at a concert, to three nights in Manchester, we also decided that while we were down in England, we should visit our older brother too. Anthony lives in Herefordshire, in a wee town called Leominster; we visited him last summer, so you may remember some posts already on my blog about this area of the country.

We arrived on Thursday, and were put up by Anthony and his girlfriend Becca for the four nights that we were spending with them. Leominster is a pretty small place, with not a terrible amount going on, as Anthony and Becca liked to remind us. However, coming from the hustle and bustle of a big city like Manchester, some peace was exactly what we needed.

The weekend was spent with lots of great food - the two of them are amazing cooks, and prepared some delicious meals that helped to counteract all the unhealthy food we'd consumed in Manchester. Two of the nights we went out for dinner; the first of which we travelled into Hereford. Anthony and Becca had promised to show us the nightlife that Hereford had to offer, so beforehand we decided to line our stomachs at a place called the Shack Revolution. Previously a stall at festivals, this little pop up restuarant was the perfect combination of good food, drink & shabby chic. It only sells pizzas, but its totally worked to its favour, and delivered some delicious pizzas to our little seating area outside. The cocktails are to die for, and I rotated between "English Garden" and "Bramble" which were both made with quality gin.


We also went out on the Saturday to a Polish cafe in Leominster itself, which served us a mystery three course meal. The woman who runs it is friends with Anthony & Becca, and cooks up traditional Polish meals for them when asked. Each portion was enormous, and despite being a girl with a big appetite, I couldn't eat it all. It was so lovely to try different types of food and different flavours & ingredients. The presentation was also so gorgeous, and made me sad (for a mere second) to tuck into it.



We decided to have a wander around on the Sunday where Leominster was having a Medieval Pagent. We didn't expect the displays that we came across, but ended up having a fun time looking at all the stalls, and watching a demonstration of a battle. I even managed to put into practice a little bit of the knowledge that my Medieval Europe course taught me last term.




It was so lovely to spend time with my brother again, and experience a bit of what Leominster has to offer. I can't wait to see both Anthony & Becca in August when we go back down for a holiday, it's such a chilled and relaxed area, where you can really take a break.



Where is your favourite place to visit?

Love,
Emily
xxx

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As you'll have noticed, I've been a bit awol recently, you'll have seen in my most recent post (My Weekly Round Up ) as well as over on instagram and twitter that I took a wee trip down to the warmer climate and much more interesting city of Manchester & village of Leominster. I thought I'd write a couple of posts with all the pictures & things that I got up to while exploring a new place - starting with this one about Manchester.

I planned this trip almost a year ago with my little sis Eleanor for the sole purpose of going to a concert. Yes, we're those types of fans who actually travel to see bands - it sounds more obsessed than we are, I swear. But instead of just going down for the night, we decided to make it into a small vacation and explore a bit of the city. We flew down Monday morning, arriving in our very budget hotel (we're in money saving mode for our next holiday this year to Maga) by lunch time, giving us almost 3 whole days there.




We've been to Manchester for a couple of long weekends before, so knew a few places that we wanted to go. We mostly spent the days exploring the shops that Aberdeen doesn't have to offer, and made ourselves at home in the Northern Quarter where all the vintage shops were. We spent the whole time wandering about, getting sore legs but feeling like we actually saw the city.



The buildings were one of my favourite things about Manchester. The first time I visited, we stayed a bit out of the city, so saw a lot more of the industrial side, but through all our walking we discovered some awesome artwork adorning the buildings. It's such a change from the grey buildings that I'm so used to in Aberdeen, and a lot more edgy / modern than the grand old buildings of Edinburgh.




We made an effort to explore a bit of China Town as well, which I found fascinating - its like a different city within the city centre. The smells from the restaurants were mouth watering, although I'm ashamed to admit the menus in Chinese intimidated and confused us too much to actually step in. The architecture again  was incredible to see, and added so much light and colour to the area.





In order to celebrate Eleanor's 18th fully, we drank every night we were there, testing the many different bars and pubs that the Northern Quarter had to offer.. I'd have to recommend Night and Day, a really edgy little bar where we had our first drink of the week as well as The Turtle Bay, which was  a little pricier but was where we had some Caribbean cocktails to toast to the end of the Manchester part of our adventure.



Tuesday night was spent at the concert. Usually a whole post would be dedicated to a concert, but the photos that we took were, to say the least, a little blurry from all the jumping around, so I'll incorporate it into this post. We were seeing the band 5 Seconds of Summer, a band who we've loved for the last few years, and have already seen 4 times before. The concert was absolutely fantastic, and our seats were floor seats fairly near the front, so we had a great view of the boys. The set was really good, despite missing two of my favourites from the album, but we were up & singing along for the whole time. And I'll even admit that I got quite emotional during Beside You, where the crowd sang the last chorus back to them, and you could see the proud look on all of their faces - its truly an incredible feeling being surrounded by people singing and enjoying the band along with you.




Our last day, Wednesday, turned out to be a scorcher, and was possibly my favourite of our time there. We went Manchester Museum, which can be found in the university campus. I was shocked that Eleanor even considered going to a museum, let alone stepping foot inside one, but I think she did end up enjoying it. There was an exhibition on Easter Island, which I found really interesting as its not something I've studied much before, as well as having an area with live amphibians and reptiles - something I've never come across in a museum, but really enjoyed. After spending just over two hours here - a record for Eleanor - we then spent some time relaxing in some gardens beside the campus, with a punnet of strawberries and cherries to get some vitamins back into our bodies after only eating junk food.





I absolutely loved these four days that we had in Manchester; I kept saying to Eleanor how grown up and independent I felt being on a holiday without our parents, and managing to negotiate airports, train stations and buses all by ourselves. I loved Manchester, and really want to get back to explore some more. The two of us have already decided to do a little road trip around the UK next year and actually get to know the country that we live in, so a return visit will be in order.

Have you got any places in Manchester or the UK that you recommend visiting?

Love,
Emily
xxx

ALSO: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I have somehow managed to reach 1000 followers on bloglovin for this little blog. It started out as a little project but has really grown into something I love and want to spend time on. It's been an incredible year & half, and I can't wait to see where it goes.  Thank you to all my lovely followers for getting me to where I am today - you are all brill. 

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I've decided to add a new & regular style of post to my blog, and that is a little round up of my week, including things that I have been loving in the week as well as what I've been doing.



This week has been a fairly busy one and started with a day of travelling back from Leominster to Aberdeen. Now that I'm home, I've been all about the family time. I'm about to leave next week to go to Italy so want to fit in as much bonding time as possible. Saying that, I've also fit in a couple of nights out with my school friends as well as spending the days following lying on the sofa and trying to control the hangover (please share your secrets - I can't deal with another hangover at the level I was experiencing this week!). Now it's all about the packing and preparation for my trip, I expect next week will be a busy one, with trips to Primark scheduled between child minding and day trips, but want to enjoy as much time with the fam as possible. Including today, which is Father's Day in the UK - so lots of spoiling of my dad will occur as well as a dinner with chips and baked beans included, since it seems he has truly embraced the student lifestyle after completing his first year at uni.

Things I've loved & enjoyed this week

1. Lemon juice - I am making a real effort at drinking more water, but since I'm not a huge lover of plain water I've been adding a slice of lemon to it. As well as the fact my mum bought a huge pack from Costco. and needs some help getting through them all. 
2. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight - I was given a long list of books to read by my sister and finished this one at the start of the week. Its a really interesting story about a mother investigating the death of her daughter, which had been ruled as suicide. Throughout the book you're constantly questioning everyone's actions as you follow Amelia in the month before her death, and I found it a really intriguing read. 
3. Iconic 2 Palette from Make Up Revolution - my mum bought this for me to do Eleanor's make up for her school dance with, but I've found myself using it this week too, as I really love the browns included in it. 
4. How to work off your Wimbledon favourites - I was contacted by Central London Apartments who shared this infographic with me. Its really interesting to see how much tennis you'd have to play for different treats you eat over summer, and particularly over the Wimbledon period. Have a look for yourself here and see how much you'll have to play. I love this concept, especially as getting bikini body ready is on my mind!
5. Primark Black Cut Out shoes - I featured these the other day as an OOTD ( shameless plug for you to have a look here ). I don't think I've worn another pair of shoes this last week. They are super comfortable and can be styled with anything. They were perfect for all the walking I did in Manchester and Leominster and didn't blister once. 
6. Prison Break - I am obsessed, and have been since I finished uni for the summer. Its such a great series that I can not recommend enough. I seriously missed it while I was off on my travels, and now I'm back I can't wait to watch the last of series 4. If you're looking for a series to watch then this is the one. (And Wentworth Miller is utterly gorgeous).

I thought I'd share a bit of a reflective piece today. It's been two weeks and I still haven't got my head around the fact that I have finished my second year of university. Before starting, everyone had said that uni would fly by, but its a concept you can't grasp until you experience it, and even then it's hard to get your head around just how fast each term goes by.

I thought I'd do a new type of post for my blog - my first ever outfit post! I've been wearing this outfit non stop recently so thought I'd share it, and as you can see I mix it up depending the weather, with my boyfriend coat for those drearier days or a similar patterned cardigan for the rare days the sun shines.









Plain White T: Asda
High Waisted Boyfriend Jeans: Topshop
Checked Cardigan: H & M
Boyfriend Coat: Next
Frilly Socks: Primark
Black Strap Shoes: Primark
Double Coin Necklace: Topshop

What do you think of this outfit? I love oversized clothing so love this coat, and have gotten over my fear of looking like I'm a little kid dressed up in my mum's clothes. I based this look around the looks I see over Edinburgh Uni campus, and feel these jeans fit in with the style there. I also just love these shoes and have worn them almost every day - what a bargain for £12! I think they look cute with frilly or patterned socks as well as being paired with tights or with nothing at all!

Did you enjoy this post / should I include more OOTDs on my blog? With summer coming and a whole new wardrobe in mind, I'd love to share some more of the outfits I regularly wear.

Love,
Emily
xxx

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