Fred Astaire's the man for you

On Monday, I took my first trip to what could well be my new favourite place in the world ever. The Belgrave Music Hall opened its doors in Leeds earlier in the month and I'd been itching to take a visit to Leeds' newest gig venue ever since. Luckily for me, San Cisco were playing so I had the perfect excuse to pay the venue a little visit.

San Cisco were pretty decent and their set offered me lots of opportunities to boogie around to a bit of indie pop (something I'm not sure I'd ever be able to resist) and their summery vibes helped me forget the horrible wintery weather I'd left behind outside. Although it was a lot of fun, at times it was hard to forget that I was again experiencing the sinking feeling that I'd inadvertently landed at an under 18's disco. Getting old is tough sometimes and its only when you're surrounded by cool kids who would have only been about 10 when you were there age that you truly realise it. 

That said, I'm glad I'm that little bit older than all the posy kids we were surrounded by. It meant we could fully take advantage of the Belgrave's facilities, they've got a huge bar downstairs playing some awesome songs, complete with a canteen style fish and chips shop and pizza stall (I was eyeing up the pizza all evening... definitely going back for a slice soon) and possibly the best roof terrace known to man, even in the rain it was a great place to sit and take shelter in a cosy wooden shed. 

Leeds, you're doing brilliantly at the moment. I love this city and the ever increasing amount of brilliant places to visit.

Fred Astaire- San Cisco

But I'll never look you in the eyes again

Does anybody else ever get that feeling where you really want to do something a bit rebellious just because you're young? I go through occasional phases of thinking that getting a tattoo would be a really good idea but the sensible, grown up part of my brain (there does seem to be a grown up lurking in there somewhere it seems!) thinks I should probably give it a miss since it could affect me getting a teaching job in a few years time if the head teacher likes their staff to look squeaky clean. Plus there's the whole fact that I'm a MASSIVE wimp and am really scared of needles which doesn't really help me when I start thinking of tattoo ideas. Other days, I find myself thinking I should get my nose pierced or dye my hair a fun colour but always manage to convince myself otherwise again on the grounds that it might ruin first impressions in an interview. 

Gahhh, see, this is yet another reason why adult life is no fun! 

In the meantime, to satisfy my youthful, vaguely rebellious streak, I managed to find a less permanent way to be a bit expressive and creative with my general appearance. Hair chalk. I found this in Topshop a while ago and when I saw a girl on the make-up counter colouring a girl's hair in a brilliant shade of pink I just couldn't resist buying some myself. So, every now and then, if I'm beginning to get a bit twitchy and starting to look at tattoo designs or brightly coloured hair on Pinterest, I like to have a bit of a mess around and colour the blondest bits of my dip dye in to give my hair a bit of a rainbow-like boost. It literally is as simple as colouring your hair in and it comes out with no problems in the shower. Perfect for somebody like me who just wouldn't be taken seriously as a 'professional' in my line of work if I had multicoloured hair. 

It may not be permanent or particularly adventurous, but its better than nothing. And that's enough to keep me happy when I'm feeling a bit too grown up for my liking. 

Although, after saying all that, I'm thinking a tattoo on the back of my neck might not be a bad idea if I went along to any future job interviews with my hair down... sadly (or luckily, depending on which way you look at it) my ridiculous needlephobia will probably keep that idea at bay at least for a little while longer!

We found love- Palma Violets

You don't have my number, we don't need each other now

With the exception of showing you all my black lace dress a few weeks ago, I haven't done any outfit posts in what seems like forever. Mostly because of the inconvenience of this 'spring' weather we've been having leading me to live in wooly jumpers and not a lot else, but also because I really am an awkward little so and so when it comes to taking photos of myself and all that jazz. 

Anyway, the real point of this post is mostly to show you my lovely new necklace from Kukee. I'd been hunting around for a bunting type necklace for absolutely ages but was really struggling to find one I liked anywhere (I was even starting to contemplate concocting a cunning plot to get my friend who had a similar necklace to think she should give hers to me). Luckily, a browse on the Kukee website one evening saved me from my necklace-less induced sadness and probably saved my friendship while I was at it! 

And we all lived happily ever after.

In other news, I met a new patient at work yesterday who said I looked about 15. Given my current age-related crisis at becoming an old person, after getting over my initial horror at being mistaken for somebody about to sit their GCSE's, I couldn't help but partially see this as a good thing as surely it must mean that I don't have to start acting my age yet?!

top: Urban Outfitters, skirt: Urban Outfitters, necklace: Kukee, shoes: Converse

My Number- Foals

And this is how it starts

Earlier this week I took a trip to Cockpit in Leeds with my friend who had a spare ticket to see The 1975. It feels like absolutely ages since I last went to see a band live (think it might have actually been Leeds festival...  very unlike me not seeing anybody live in so long!) so it was nice to have the spark for live music ignited again inside me, especially as Cockpit is such an intimate little venue which usually has a great atmosphere. 

However, despite giving me loads of motivation to find more gigs to go to over the next few months, this particular experience also filled me with a weird feeling that I'm getting OLD. We walked in and were hit with a strange feeling that we'd accidentally wandered into some sort of underage club night, with the girls running around squealing and whispering at each other because the fitty from their school just looked at them.  I think this was largely due to the fact that both support acts had  come from local high schools  and had filled the venue with their school bus groupies. And so a strange thing happened. We became part of that sensible group of old people who stand between the middle and the back of the room, enjoying the music without the risk of some swishy haired 14 year old knocking over your pint as she clambers onto her friend's back. 

And actually, I think I'm ok with that. 

(definitely helped by the fact that with such a young crowd filling up the front half of the room, for once we  had a near perfect view of the stage because none of the kids in front were quite fully grown yet!).

Sex- The 1975