30 Before 30 – Another Update

Wow, how is it already 2019?! Now that the end of January is just around the corner, I thought I’d re-evaluate where I am on my list of 30 things to do before I’m 30 – especially as I’ve only got four months left to complete it!

30 Before 30 – A Quick Update

Back in June, I wrote a list of 30 things that I want to do/achieve before I’m 30, with the whole idea being that surely I could stick to something if I wrote it down where people could see! Given that I’m now four months into my 30th year, I thought I should re-evaluate how much I’ve managed to tick off the list…

 

30 Before I’m 30!

I’ve never really bothered with milestone birthdays before – turning 18 wasn’t really much of a thing for me given my new parenthood status, and 21 doesn’t seem to hold the same significance as it does elsewhere in the world. I wasn’t even aware that people make a big deal about their 25th until I met Paul, shortly before he reached his. In any case, I will be turning 30 next May, and the change in the first number of my age hasn’t happened for a while, so I guess I should mark it with something!

Luxury Cinema Experiences with Odeon Luxe

With advances in home technology, and the increasing amount of various streaming services available to us, relaxing with snacks and a movie has never been easier. We have the ability stay in our own comfortable surroundings (usually while wearing jammies) and are spoilt with a huge choice of viewing entertainment, especially when companies such as Sky have movies in their store, sometimes within a couple of months of their big screen debuts – what is there to encourage cinema trips anymore?

 

Picture courtesy of Mischief PR and Odeon Cinemas

Fun Lunch Friday – Topolabamba, Glasgow

Since starting a blog, I’ve had so many brilliant opportunities to discover new things and visit a whole host of exciting new places, but my favourite thing to come out of the blogging world is definitely the wonderful people I’ve been able to interact with! As such, I wanted to include the lovely Lis (from Last Year’s Girl) in mine and Sarahjane’s semi-regular ‘Fun Lunch Friday’ exploration of the Glasgow food scene!

 

This week has not been a particularly good one for general health – Sarahjane was off ill and I’d had a churning stomach all morning – but I was determined not to cancel when it was Lis’ first choice of lunch destination. The original location was Chaakoo Bombay Café on St Vincent Street, but we arrived to find it fully booked out for lunch! Luckily, their Mexican sister restaurant was only a few doors down on the same street, so we opted for a stop at Topolabamba instead, with a view to returning to Chaakoo at a later date.

My American Travel Wish List

This time last year, I was enjoying one of the major highlights of PhD life while exploring the fantastic city of Denver. Having the ability to jet off for international conferences is one of the opportunities I would encourage anyone in my position to grab if at all possible, I was able to spend a wonderful week in the ‘Mile High City’, experiencing all the things I love about America - which (of course) mostly involved food! You can read all about that trip here, but it also got me thinking about all the other American destinations that I would love to visit at some point. With everything that’s happened this year, I never got round to posting about our Seattle honeymoon, but I’ve put together a collection of other places which are high on our travel wish list:

 

Organising Your Life With BusyB

It’s been a crappy few months, and not the most fantastic year overall, so when I received a lovely email from the team at BusyB, inviting me to the launch of their new collection of diaries and calendars for 2018, it seemed like a wonderful excuse to start looking forward to the future again! When I was little, I would always get such a great sense of enjoyment from surrounding myself with beautiful stationery, so having the chance to relive those moments again has undoubtedly helped improve my rather gloomy mood lately.

Smashburger Arrives in Glasgow

These days, when I think of burgers, I automatically associate them with the streets of Glasgow and the ever-expanding list of gourmet burger restaurants which serve them. I’ve even started a semi-regular ‘Glasgow Burger Tour’ with a couple of friends, with the aim of trying to discover even more varieties of this glorious American dinner option! When an email arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago, inviting me to the upcoming VIP launch of Smashburger in Glasgow, I jumped at the chance to expand my inventory of burger experiences, and (since he’s just started a new job near me) I dragged Scott along for the ride!

Link It! – A Fun Game For All The Family

In our household, we love a good card game, but it’s often the adult themed favourites (Cards Against Humanity, Never Have I Ever…) which are first on the table, meaning my kids are always excluded from the fun. When an email arrived in my inbox, asking if I wanted to try the new, fast-paced, family card game ‘Link It’ from PikyKwiky, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to include my children in one of our favourite pastimes!

 

The Readers - #7 Magenta Opium

It really has been a struggle to keep up with The Readers recently. With all the stress of my miscarriages, and then moving house, I’ve had so much on my plate that I’ve not been able to concentrate on reading. Top that off with the imminent conclusion of my PhD and the general decline in our mutual love of Book Club (we lost a member in the shape of Nikki), and it’s now six months down the road again. I also feel particularly bad, as this one was my choice, but I was the one holding everything up! Anyway, now that I’m finally finished, I present to you our latest slice of fun fiction – ‘Magenta Opium’ by Sharon Baillie.

Fun Lunch Friday – Steak, Cattle and Roll, Merchant Square

As the PhD reaches its conclusion, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to set time aside for blog posts. I fully intended to write this post up last night but, by the time I’d got home from the office, I was just too exhausted to sit still and think. Nevertheless, I’m determined to keep up some sort of semi-regular blog schedule, so I’m typing this up from my Saturday morning position of comfort on the couch, in my jammies!

Fun Lunch Friday – Café Andaluz, Glasgow City Centre

It seems like such a long time since our last ‘Fun Lunch Friday’, but with all the crap going on in my life, I’ve not felt much like doing anything fun. Regardless of this, I didn’t want Sarahjane to go off on her work placement without catching up beforehand, especially as I’m going to miss her birthday! So yesterday, I brought in her birthday presents, and we resumed our lunchtime tours of Glasgow with ‘Fun Lunch Friday’… on a Thursday!

Glasgow Burger Tour – Bread Meats Bread

It seems like I’ve been away from the blog for ages, and I’ve honestly struggled to find any sort of motivation or desire to share anything with anyone. You can read about the circumstances surrounding my absence here, but in the interests of moving on and putting the past behind me, I thought I’d jump straight back in with another delicious food post!

 

‘Fun Lunch Friday’ became a bit of a thing with me and Sarahjane, but this only works well because we spend so much time together at work. As I love trying out new restaurants whenever I have the chance, I was keen to arrange a recurring event that would allow both Paul and myself to visit places with other friends too - hence, the ‘Glasgow Burger Tour’ was born!

 

Now, Scott and Karen are close childhood friends of Paul’s, but various work and family commitments now prevent us from spending much time together as a group. I’ve also been keen to improve relations since my rather bat-shit crazy bridezilla behaviour in the run up to our wedding! The Glasgow Burger Tour seemed like a fantastic opportunity to get together semi-regularly, while also enjoying a huge range of different restaurants as we gradually work our way through the Glasgow burger scene – first on the cards, Bread Meats Bread.

 

The Readers - #6 I Let You Go

It seems like ages since my last ‘Readers’ post, but with my wedding and Lesley’s work commitments, it has proved difficult for us all to get together and discuss our latest choice. Given recent upheavals in my own life, I’m also glad I finished this one a couple of weeks ago, as I’d have hated to hold up the proceedings any further. So, without further ado, I present you with Lesley’s latest choice - ‘I Let You Go’ by Clare Mackintosh.

 

Fun Lunch Friday – Mercado, Merchant Square

‘Fun Lunch Friday’ seems to have fallen a bit by the wayside since Christmas and my wedding, but today, Sarahjane and I resurrected our semi-regular lunch date with a trip to Mercado in the beautiful Merchant Square, Glasgow.

Saturday in the City with Social and Cocktail

Who doesn’t love a good cocktail?! When I opened my inbox, just before New Year, to find an invite to an evening of ‘cocktails and cabaret’ in Glasgow’s city centre, I just couldn’t resist! Social and Cocktail, a mobile drinks company who specialise in cocktail making master classes, teamed up with The Riding Room, in Glasgow, and invited a bunch of lovely bloggers along to sample their cocktails and enjoy a snippet of the regular entertainment on offer – how could I turn this down?!

A Look Back On 2016

I’d originally planned to have this post ready to go by December the 31st, but I managed to come down with some sort of sickness bug and welcomed the New Year with my head in the toilet! Nevertheless, I always enjoy looking back on good times, so I wanted to collect my most popular posts from each month as a sort of 2016 highlights reel! With this being my first full year of blogging, I also feel like I’ve finally gotten into my stride with writing, although my planning and organisation skills still need a bit of work! I’ve had some great opportunities over the past year and met some fantastic people along the way, so here’s a snapshot of what I’ve been up to:

Fun Lunch Friday – Taste Buchanan

It’s that time of the month again – the first Friday after pay day, when you can push the boat out and live a little bit more luxuriously for one or two days! Forever on a budget, my idea of luxury is spending £10 on lunch, rather than £1, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to fit in another ‘Fun Lunch Friday’! With this one being my choice, I dragged Sarahjane along to the recently opened Taste Buchanan.

 

The Readers - #5 The Christmasaurus

Is anyone else feeling festive yet, I know I am! With Christmas officially beginning for many of you tomorrow, I’ve decided to bring the fifth instalment of ‘The Readers’ forward a month and provide you all with even more seasonal cheer in the lead up to the big day!

 

The Readers - #4 The Wolf Road

Gosh, I can’t believe it’s November already! It only seems like yesterday that I was away on my hen do, and now we are another novel further down our book club track. This time, Nikki selected a tense thriller in the form of ‘The Wolf Road’ by Beth Lewis.