Pink and Lime Green Plimsole Slippersox! (with Lancaster and some Uni worries)

So what have I been up to over my birthday week?

Well on the Monday night after the Friday night out, I enjoyed a meal out with my family at Smithills Coaching House, as a joint venture for mine and my brother Matthew's birthday. It was very enjoyable, especially watching the young bartender (who was clearly on his first day) trying to remember what drinks we wanted and how to make them, and telling the maitre 'd girl to blame him for us not being ready for our table! The best bit was me and David winding up my grandad on the correct spelling and definition of the word "RIGGMORALL" (I don't actually know how it's spelt so that could be wrong) and Grandad accusing our miserable 60-yr-old waitress of fancying him. Much wine and grub was consumed needless to say.

Then on the Tuesday me and Mum went shopping in town for bits of Christmas presents, where we saw Bernice working in Café Nero (that will be of more relevance to Louisa and Charlotte - understandably I was distraught as it's my favourite coffee venue!) and my poor phone broke (it's now in for repair and I'm hoping I'll get it back before Oz!). Then we came back and enjoyed the delights of Horwich Leisure Centre's Health Suite (to which I'm still indifferent really) so it was a nice relaxing day of therapy!

My actual birthday (Thursday) was a nightmare, let's just say turning 19 and the stresses of running a Christmas Gift Section of a busy store don't mix! But in the evening me and my darlings Claire and Sam went to watch 'The Incredibles' and it was great, I recommend you all go and see it! The best part of the evening was receiving my birthday present off Sam - see, getting presents off Sam is never like getting presents from anyone else, cos you never know what your gonna get. For instance, for my 17th birthday, she bought me a bottle of perfume, and a blue-tit keyring that tweeted when you squeezed it. The bird was the better of the two. God love her.

Anyway, this year was no exception, as I received a box of Thornton's Goodies and a pair of knitted pink and lime-green slippersox in the shape of a plimsole shoe. I've never laughed so much at a birthday present and I love them. So good choice, Sam.

Saturday night was my work's Christmas do at the De Vere White's Hotel on the side of the Reebok Stadium. We were debating whether or not to sneak a bottle of booze in to avoid the extorsionate prices of drinks, but it's a good job we didn't really cos they searched our bags on the way in! The cheek indeed! I wouldn't have minded as much but my bag was tiny! As it turns out, I only spent £4 in the end by drinking all the free wine on the table! And I think I got indigestion from having a hilarious conversation about farting with Steph and Josie during the meal. So that wasn't good. Oh, and we all got disposable cameras free c/o the management; I haven't had mine developed yet, I'm too afraid to as I fear there may be a snap of my cleavage on there. There is, however, a 'Wall of Shame' up at work now, made up of everyone else's photos! Oh it's beautiful.

On Sunday, with a fuzzy head and a buzzing source-less energy I drove up to Lancaster to see my dear mate Lauren at university. It was remarkably easy to get to, just straight up the motorway, which may explain why about a fifth of my year at college opted to do a degree there! Claire had gone a couple of days earlier and made out that Lauren's room had enough room for a bed and space to fall out of it, but I was really impressed with how Lauren had made it really nice with photos and posters and stuff. We went out to Revolution for tea, and I had 3 glasses of full-fat hangover-recovery coke, meatballs with tomato sauce and spaghetti, and hot cinnamon waffles with strawberries and ice cream. Oh, it was divine! then we just came back and watched DVDs. It was really good as we had a right good catch-up.
On Monday we got up and went into Lancaster. We had brunch at Diggles (sausage, egg, bacon and only one hash brown cos I'm trying to be good), and looked round the shops before coming back and I set off home. I really enjoyed it and it was a nice break after a hectic week at work. But in a way it really got me worrying.

Thing is, the only thing I'd sorted out for Uni was my place. I hadn't really given it much thought after that, as I'd thrown myself into planning Australia and Summer Camp USA. Also, Lancaster was a campus uni, and Sheffield (where I'm off to next September) isn't. I'd never considered the difference before, but at Lancaster it seemed really good to have a Spar, Natwest, STA Travel, Waterstones and a pizza place right on your doorstep. The first thing that bugged me was that Sheffield isn't going to be like that and I'd never thought of that before. Then Lauren mentioned how Claire had applied for accommodation at Leeds, and I'd not even thought about that.

Anyway the long and short of it is that as soon as I got home, I began looking at accommodation in Sheffield, and discovered that the self-catered halls (which I wanted to stay in) are really boring. No common rooms, bars, lounges, annual balls, nothing. So i've decided - against all my previous principles! - to go catered in my first year. At least then I'll get the social side of living in a hall where I wouldn't if I went self-catered, and I can get a part-time job and not worry about shopping and where my food is coming from. After all, there's plenty of time for managing shopping and finances and cooking in my second and third years! I just hope I don't turn into a heffer!

Sorry for the uber-long post, I'll let you off if you fall asleep half-way through! I've been so busy I've had to update all in one go!

Anyway, I'm off to Huddersfield next weekend (providing I can take my owed time off work), so I'll keep you updated on goings-on.

See y'all!