February

I'm not doing too well with my whole regular blogging resolution am I?

Forgive me; February has been dissertation central- in the past few weeks I've had to give a presentation of my project and then hand in a draft version of it, so I suppose you could say life has been pretty stressful.

But the last month hasn't been all work and no play. One of my housemates, Lauren, turned 21 a few weeks ago so we paid a visit to one of our favourite cocktail places in Birmingham, The Jekyll & Hyde. It's a lovely little place with portraits of dogs heads on human bodies and some of the best cocktails I've ever had. For her birthday she had hired out the gin parlour upstairs which was suitably fancy and we had a 'madhatters tea party', complete with a cocktail to drink out of a miniature porcelain bath.

I also paid a visit to the capital at the start of the month with my sister and her best friend in order to find bridesmaids dresses for her upcoming wedding. I really do love London; it just feels so alive and there's so much to do. I fully intend on moving there at some point, if not purely for the food. I managed to visit both Byron burger (probably one of the best burgers I've eaten) and Pizza East (again, probably one of the best pizzas I've had) in the same 24 hours. In fact, the same 12 hours. Some people eat to live, I live to eat. But it wasn't all about food, we were successful in our dress hunt and I'm so happy with the result. We found the perfect dresses in a little boutique called Two Birds and I genuinely want to wear my dress all day every day. Thank god my sister isn't one of those brides who makes her bridesmaids wear vile dresses just so she looks better.

Of course, February is also the month of romance due to Valentine's day. Alas, my night on the 14th was spent at work pouring pints of snakebite and jagerbombs for the locals of Selly Oak- possibly one of the least romantic places you would wish to be on a day celebrating love. But one of the locals did buy me a pity rose so at least there's that...

Now for some February favourites:

Music: I'm sad to report I've not made any musical discoveries this month. However I have fallen even deeper into my Haim love affair, if that's actually possible, with the release of their new music video for 'If I could change your mind'. Seriously these girls can do no wrong in my eyes; the full choreographed dance routine, hair whipping and their outfits. Perfect. 

Books: Another resolution badly kept- I haven't finished another book yet..and I bought a new one despite having about six already on the go. I know, bad Hannah. I am enjoying my new book though, Norweigan Wood by Haruki Marukami, which I bought while trying to kill time in Waterstones. I had no intention of buying anything, in fact I went in there because I thought it'd be somewhere that I could resist making a purchase. How naive of me. There's something about that Waterstones which just makes me happy. If you're ever in Birmingham you must have a quick look inside (the one on New Street), it's a gorgeous old building with a huge staircase - a quick google has just told me it used to be an old bank. Anyway, this is off topic. I like my book so far and maybe by the end of March I'll have finished it.

Birmingham: It's no secret that I don't exactly love the city I study in. I love my university campus, it's very green and has some beautiful old redbrick buildings, not to mention Old Joe (the clock tower). I've just never found the city centre to be my cup of tea. Though saying that, I don't actually like tea so maybe I should say it IS my cup of tea. Anyway, I do want to take back some good memories of the city when I graduate so I'm going to add a Birmingham favourite for every monthly blog update. This month it's Boston Tea Party, a breakfast/lunch cafe a little off New Street. There are a few dotted around the country but they're all a bit different and don't have a 'chain' feel to them. My friend Sarah introduced me to the Birmingham branch last week and I fear it may become a dangerous addicition; she had eggy bread with bacon, avocado & roasted tomatoes and although my croque monsieur was perfectly nice, I had major food envy. Something tells me I'll be back there very soon. Possibly also motivated by the fact that the guy who served us was certainly what you would call easy on the eyes..

I think I've probably rambled on for long enough now. March will be a month of deadline after deadline so of course I will be doing my best to find some new music, restaurants and cocktail bars to ease the pain.

How was your February?

What are you doin' New Years Eve?

Somehow the end of 2013 has crept up on me - it feels like two minutes since summer. For me, this has really been both a difficult and an amazing year. I'm feeling particularly reflective, so I thought I'd write about some things that have happened this year.

Let's get the doom-and-gloom out of the way first; in February my boyfriend of almost three years and I broke up. Neither of us did anything wrong, but it was one of those crippling cases of 'what if?' and I just couldn't shake it. Nobody should have to feel like they're settling for something that's less than perfect and I think we were both scared of being alone. It took a while (and several bottles of wine), but I can definitely see that it was a positive thing now. It's important to know who you are by yourself and know that you can be happy without relying on someone else to provide it for you.

Okay, I'm out of my pseudo-guru state. Now for some positives.

My university has an event called 'Escape and Evade' where you have 60 hours to try get as far away as possible. Sounds simple, until you add in the fact that you have to do that for free. Yes, that means hitch-hiking. No, my mother wasn't happy about it. My housemate and I, both craving that 'strong independent woman' feeling having both recently gone through break-ups, decided to take on the challenge. I can safely say it was both one of the best and the worst things I've ever done. We managed to get to Zagreb in Croatia just by taking lifts from random foreign strangers- often standing outside petrol stations in -5 degree temperatures. It was really draining, but the sense of accomplishment we felt at the end of the 60 hours was incredible. It's something I'll always be proud of - I raised £300 for local charities too - and a story that I hope makes my future children think that their mum was 'cool' once.

Continuing on the travelling theme, for two and a half weeks during summer my best friend Kerrie and I went interrailing. We flew to Berlin, then headed to Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Zagreb (it was nice to experience it again when it was sunny instead of snowing), finishing in the gorgeous Lake Bled in Slovenia. We had a great time, saw some beautiful places and met lots of people. My one piece of advice; do not trust online forums that say that you don't need to reserve a seat for that delightful 7 hour daytime journey. It is lying and you will end up sat by the toilet for at least half the journey. Oh and be wary where you sit in the Tiergarten in Berlin. There is a nudist area and despite what you may think, you will look like the odd one out sat innocently eating your sandwiches while thirty or so naked adults soak up the sun.

Moving on; I've loved Haim since I first heard 'Don't Save Me' at the beginning of 2013. I counted down the days until their album was released and as soon as I heard they would be touring at the end of the year, I made it my mission to get tickets. Kerrie and I went to see them at the HMV Institute in Birmingham at the start of December and it was probably the best gig I've ever been to. Before I went I had a huge girl crush on Este and I can only say that that crush increased ten-fold after seeing them live. Despite the fact that Danielle (usually the lead singer) was ill and didn't sing most of her usual songs, I think it's a testament to how amazing they are that I didn't mind one bit when the other two Haim sisters stepped in to fill her shoes. I hate to sound like a 13 year old but, for lack of better words, they are just so cool. A friend told me once that I looked like I should be the fourth sister, and I resolve to maintain this standard as long as I can get away with wearing red lipstick all day every day. Okay, my gushing is over.

Finally a few other un-photographable snippets for the year;  I passed my second year of uni with a decent 2.1, which hopefully has put me in a good position for third year. My sister got engaged and will be getting married this August.

All things considered, 2013 has been a pretty good year for me. It's been quite an important year in terms of, for lack of less clichéd words, 'personal growth' and with university finishing this year I have no doubt that 2014 will continue in the same way. But, I have another post on the way purely for my resolutions, so enough of that for now.

How was your year?