In which Rosie goes to the pub and has a spiffy time

I had a pretty lovely birthday this year - check out my birthday pizza! And it's Domino's as well - no expense spared!

We went for a picnic, then to the beach after visiting my friend Gareth's chocolate shop in Tynemouth - he does the most amazing ice creams these days - the hazelnut praline was heavenly...

 Gareth was in, so he took us upstairs to view his chocolate-room, including his amazing drawer full of decorations! It was pretty awesome. I did a bit of frolicking in the sea afterwards...

 Looking a bit sunburnt there! 

It did start raining shortly after that, so I made my merry way home and headed pubwards in the evening. It was such a fab day and people are so generous - below are two of my favourite presents:

 

A record player from Will's Grandma, care of his parents - thanks guys!

  A great book about outdoor swimming - something I'm hoping to try out more - from my awesome big brother Dan

Massive thanks to everyone who made it a lovely lovely day!

 

 

Favourite things: Sarah

Hey, time for another set of favourite things! I am a massive fan of these posts - I end up finding so many new things through them! Today we have...

Sarah

Age: 19

Occupation: Stalling for time

Book

Mostly anything by Nick Hornby, but trying to wean myself off him and venture elsewhere in the literary world... I just finished Douglas Coupland's The Gum Thief this morning which was incredible, with the relationship between Roger and Bethany striking me very similar to Seymour and Enid in the film adaptation of Daniel Clowes' Ghost World, which is a brilliant segway to..
My top 5 books currently... 1. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby, 2. Ghost World - Daniel Clowes, 3. The Rotter's Club - Jonathon Coe, 4.The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath, 5. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

Film

In a nutshell...Kevin Smith/Studio Ghibli/Coen Brothers/Jason Reitman

 

Breakfast

Anything involving bananas and/or marmite! Banana and marmite toasted sandwiches, banana pancakes with marmite, if I'm feeling a little less racy perhaps just toast with bananas, or toast with marmite.

Song/artist

I love Tom Waits to bits, and my Dad bought me Closing Time for my birthday which absolutely broke my heart, especially Martha and I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You. Lovely lovely lovely. When I'm not being so soppy, I can't get enough of Le Tigre, or JD Samson's brilliant new project MEN. Lots of great electric lady dance music

 

Drink

Morgan's Spiced with Diet Coke, or Desperados with a big hunk of lime if I'm at the pub, but I mostly just drink litres and litres of water during the day.

Internet time-waster

blogsblogsblogs. Tumblr is my new favourite thing - http://birdatron.tumblr.com/archive/ gone slightly off the boil recently, but hunting down some nice new things...I also can't get enough of the fantastice feminist blog The Vagenda - http://vagendamag.blogspot.co.uk/ - super smart, and super funny. Well worth a read.

Piece of clothing

My ultimate LBD - an incredibly comfy jumper dress I bought in the H&M sale on a whim about 5 years ago, and is my go-to piece. Whack on some tights, boots, and I'm set

Board game

Articulate! ARTICULATE! I am hooked. My first New Year's of legal drinking age, I spent at home with some friends, beers, and Articulate and it was the best. Lots of frantic hand flapping and shouting...

 

Sleeping position

starfish, belly down...it's a wonder why I'm single!

Your best things in life

libraries, museums, galleries, cookie dough, knitting, friends and family.

This and that

Isn't this the greatest? I found this old record in an oxfam shop, kind of kicking myself for not getting it now...

 

Things that have happened lately:

• We have just completed moving Will and his flatmates into their new house
• I have been helping prepare for my Mum's civil partnership
• I have found a potential new flatmate for next year in the lovely Sarah! 
• I have decided to take up homebrewing (and have all the kit - now all I need is some apple juice to begin my first batch of cider!!)

 

 Will's brother Louis decided to get a motorbike, so for his birthday we got him and jacket and decided to wrap it ridiculously!

 I have drunk lots of earl grey

And appreciated how lovely my hometown is...

Will's Birthday!

Well, SOMEONE has a fabulous party hat!

It was Will's birthday on Friday - the big 21! We had a lovely chilled out day comprising mainly of food...

(Scones, pavlova, choc-chip banana bread and chocolate-peanut-butter pie were Will's requests)

... drink... (virgin apple mojitos)

... and board games.

We went out with the family in the evening, but somehow I completely neglected to take any photos. Whoops. But we had delicious Indian food and then went back to Anis and Becky's for yet MORE cake, so all was well :) 

 Pudding stick!!

One of Will's birthday presents from his brother and sister-in-law. I really can't recommend the pudding sticks, they were bizarre...

Happy Birthday baby!

Summer frolics at Warwick

Another update of Teacup adventures! 

A couple of weeks ago, we all went to perform at Warwick folk festival - and had quite the fun long weekend! 

So far, Warwick is definitely my favourite festival to visit as a performer - they looked after us so well. At a surprising number of festivals, the "organizers" don't know the answers to your questions, they act as though you're lucky to be there, don't tell you important details etc etc. However, at Warwick, everyone we talked to knew what the score was, and were super friendly and accommodating. Not to mention we got put up in the dorms of a private school instead of having to camp, AND got free breakfast every morning! (Not that I mind camping at all, I LOVE camping, it's just not the easiest for me to feel pretty on stage when I have crumpled clothes and ma-hoo-ssive fluffy hair)

Something I always notice about folk festivals is that they seem to be in the loveliest little towns and areas around the countryside - this one had boats on a river that you could hire! So we did.

We also got to perform in quite a few different locations - this was a lecture theatre that we sung and also answered questions in, as we were doing a "meet the teacups" hours. We also performed in this lovely tea-shop in the town...

... which resulted in the inevitable cream teas.

I also got a super pretty henna tattoo! The lady who did it for me told me all about how she does henna parties for Indian brides and does designs all over the bride's arms, and then smaller tattoos for all the women in the bridal party. Phew! So pretty though - and it smelt gorgeous!

Three festivals down, one to go - bring it, Whitby!