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Showing posts with label 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2013. Show all posts

Tuesday, 31 December 2013

This year's for me and you

To follow on from yesterday's post rounding up the music that's been blasting out of my speakers for the last twelve months, I thought I'd do a bit of a round up of the other things that have been happening over the last year in my world. For the most part, 2013 has been very, very good to me and I've done loads of fun things that have been really fun to look back on. I'm going to try my hardest to make sure 2014 goes the same way.
January: I started the year off with a trip to Xscape near Leeds for a bit of sledging with two of my favourites and subsequently spent the next 11 months plotting to make it an annual expedition since it was so bloomin' fun. We were the only people there over the age of 7 aside from a few cold looking parents but we fitted in pretty damn well (and had an added advantage of being able to whizz down the hills a lot quicker due to the extra weight pulling our adult bodies along!).

February: Back in February I whizzed around the country a little catching up with various people. One of the most fun days out was an early birthday outing with two of my friends from home where we had afternoon tea (or lemonade in my case...) in an old fashioned Tea Room in Southport and then paid the Anthony Gormley statues on Crosby Beach a visit. It was freezing cold but my friends thought it would be a great idea to get ice creams on the beach. Its making me cold just thinking about it.

March: Always one of my favourite months as I get to drink way too much in the name of getting a little bit older. This year was a really fun one- we went to Laserquest in the daytime and then in the evening I drank rather a lot of vodka and managed to break a wine glass by sitting on it. My birthdays are always such a classy affair.

April: Remember that time when it was still snowy at Easter?! Don'tcha just love British weather sometimes. The snow always melts really easily at home as we're so near the coast so when my parents decided we should have a trip to Wales over Easter weekend we were amazed when we got out of the car and were greeted by a big haze of white. Everywhere.

May: This was one of my favourite months. There was lots of live music thanks to Live at Leeds, and lots of merry nights out (including the night before Live at Leeds which probably wasn't the most sensible decision I've made this year!). Any month with two bank holidays is always a winner with me.

June: June was my rollercoaster month. On the one hand I found a beautiful little house to move into with two lovely, lovely people and was really excited for the big move at the start of July, but then towards the end of the month my Auntie Jackie sadly passed away suddenly leaving a huge hole in my family. I'm not sure how I managed it, but the day after receiving the news I still got on a train for a weekend away in Birmingham with my faves complete with a trip to Cadbury World and Snobs (best venue ever...). In a way I'm so glad I had that weekend planned- its impossible to feel sad when you're surrounded by the most fun people in the world.

July: After unpacking all of my worldly possessions into my new house I barely had 10 seconds to sit down before the ginger and I were off to Latitude. Four trains and a shuttle bus journey later and we finally arrived in Suffolk. Seriously the best festival experience I've ever had. I loved every minute of it. Aside from the hungover journey back. Let's never speak of that again.

August: Despite having lived together for over a month by this point, we still hadn't managed to christen our house with a shindig. We had a great housey day trip to Temple Newsam in Leeds to see the farm animals and have a mammoth picnic followed by a really fun night out. That picture above is our first official house photo. N'aww.

September: We had a belated birthday night out for one of my friends back in September (we did a lot better than in 2012, when we didn't manage to celebrate it until October) and in honour of our never ending nerdy Harry Potter related jokes we decided to mark the occasion with Harry Potter themed cupcakes. Then went out and pretended to be dementors. Totally normal behaviour, I promise.

October: One of my favourite parts of October was a family trip to Edinburgh. I still can't get over how flipping beautiful the view was from above the cloud at the top of Arthur's Seat.

November: November saw another birthday outing. And yes, the fake moustaches made an appearance. It'd be rude not to show our appreciation for Movember.

December: Proudest moment of this month has still got to be winning a prize at Iron Cupcake. I'm still amazed that I didn't make a massive mess of my reindeer. On top of that, I've spent the month seeing lots of people and eating far too much having lots of fun.I wish December lasted a little longer, there's far too much fun to be had for it to be over this quickly.

So there you have it, that's a little snapshot of how my year has been. Looking back, it seems to largely consist of spending time with my buddies, being an embarrassing drunk person and eating lots of cake. I'm not sure what more I could want out of life really!

Hope 2013 has been good to you! Have a great New Year's Eve and I'll see you in 2014!

Monday, 30 December 2013

2013 in music


If you're a regular visitor to Sunshine Days, you'll be fully aware that music plays a mahoosive part in my life. Looking back, I've been to some bloomin' brilliant gigs this year (above is a little snapshot with some rubbish quality photos... I'm far too busy actually enjoying the music at gigs to watch it through my phone screen!) from little gigs like The Family Rain who played the Brudenell Social Club to a mammoth expedition down to Suffolk for a weekend of fun and vodka at Latitude. Other highlights included HAIM, an Old Skool Cribs gig a few weeks back and stumbling upon a tiny Pigeon Detectives set in Leeds Trinity and ending up on the front row (even though we don't really like them all that much...). 

While I'm thinking about music of 2013, I thought I'd put together a list of my top tracks of the year. I did this back at the end of 2012 too and its a great way to look back and remember songs from a particular time in your life! Last year I narrowed the list down to five songs, this year I just couldn't whittle it down to any less than ten. Miss Indecisive 2013 right here.

Why'd you only call me when you're high? Arctic Monkeys



My Number Foals


 The Wire HAIM


Lovesick Peace


 Hearts Like Ours The Naked and Famous


Biblical Biffy Clyro


 Trust Me... I'm a Genius The Family Rain


Wasting My Young Years London Grammar


Best of Friends Palma Violets


Youth Daughter



What have been your favourite songs of the year? Hope you've enjoyed some of my top ten too!

Roll on 2014- its already shaping up to be a good one for me music-wise... so far I've got tickets for Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club and *ahem* McBusted (not ruining my indie street cred at all there...).

Also, for once I've not used song lyrics in my post title- yet more proof of how indecisive I am... I couldn't pick one of the 10 songs above as the most worthy of the title! I was discussing with my friends the other day that I really should get an app or something that will make all life decisions for me!



Sunday, 6 January 2013

Falling through high places

Yesterday was one of the most fun-filled Saturdays there ever was. I went to Xscape near Leeds with two of my friends for some jolly snow time where we joined a load of small children on the slopes for a spot of sledging. We decided it was definitely an activity better suited to us 22 year olds than the kids though because we had a quite significant weight advantage helping us along (I knew indulging over Christmas would come in handy sometime!) and unlike most of the people around us we managed not to cry every time we fell off our sledges! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon eating burgers, nachos, doughnuts and lemon drizzle cake. It appears that sledging makes you work up quite an appetite (any excuse). I also took a trip to Urban Outfitters, again on a quest for some cheap jewellery, and somehow this time came home with this new camera. I'm a ridiculous human being.



Then to celebrate the end of the first Saturday of 2013 (here's hoping all Saturdays to follow are equally brilliant!) we cracked open the rum and headed out for the night. The perfect opportunity to give my new dress its first outing. It has a panther on it don'tcha know.




dress: Topshop, socks: Topshop, shoes: New Look