Octobersville

So. October. Where did you go? I'm struggling with the notion that there's only 2 more months left of this year. Seriously, where did the time go? I think it's an age thing.
I remember being a kid and the 6 weeks summer holiday being the longest thing in the world. Now August goes past in a blink of an eye, that could also be because I work at a Tourist attraction..

Anyhoo.Yes. October, What did I do?
It began with Dani's Birthday on a Sunday in Kasbah- that was quite fun, sober dancing in the day! Dani seemed to have a lovely day, which is all that matters.

Next up was my Highlight of October. Defo the highlight of the last few months. My lovely and Beautiful friend Cassie came to visit! I hadn't seen Cassie since January, so it was a long time coming. Cassie is just plain awesome. It's a simple as that. Stunning and an incredible dancer. Seriously, she has that natural bounce thing that people kill for... 

So, we had coffee, wandered about Ryde and got a little scared of how many window lickers were out on mass that day...

Anyways, I'd got us matching Poodle tees from Mischief made- we have our own Poodle joke.. so we were matching for the fluffy event at the Riverside...

There's a really good chance that we were Drunk before we left the house.. Then Drunkenly sang along to tunes on the bus. Yep. Grown ups.. 

So, we had a drink in town before heading to the Riverside for The Rockatoons. I have to say for the bands playing at the Riverside- Rockatoons are hands down, the best. That Sax player sure can bop!

I got to see all these Gorgeous people too. I really do have some awesome and wonderful friends. I'm a very lucky gal!

It was such a fun night and we ended up getting a lift home with some lovely old Rockin' folk who we'd never met before. It's ok, they weren't axe murderers.

Seeing Cass was awesome, we defo need to do it more often- I love that gal dearly, Totally one of my besties.

Next up was our daytrip to Mytchett to see The Bellfuries.

In car selfie with my travelling companions & Rockin' pals Max & Dawn.

I did briefly see The Bellfuries at the Rave, but didn't get to see the whole set, so I was stoked to have the chance to see them again. It was pretty weird to be honest, as I did my degree course at Farnborough, and Mytchett is like 10 minutes down the road. We popped into the North Camp station pub for a drink, which was very Stay away from them moors...

We did have a lovely lunch in Bills in Camberley though.

I have to say, as weird as it was watching The Bellfuries, a band from Texas playing a small community centre in Mytchett.. it was so fucking awesome. Seriously. What a gig. It was so intimate and just amazing. Joey can sing. Like, he sounds just like the record. And the accapella version they did of 'Cupid' man, that was my earworm for like a week.

Thanks to Dawn & Max for taking me. I made some great new memories.

Next up: Halloween

I do love Halloween. I blame my sister.

This year was Andy (Dr.Jive) Doing his thang at The Wightrock bar.

So. I got to dress up and decorate. Plus see my pals. This makes for a very happy Naomi.

 Sorry about how picture heavy this is, but I love sharing my adventures :)

Until next time folks. Much Love. Xo

September stuff

So, it appears to properly be Autumn now. Yay. Well all the spiced pumpkin joy is about, so it must be, right?

What happened in September then? Well, Stuff. Ha ha.

September began with the relief of the kids going back to school- always a bonus if you're free in the day and you don't have to avoid tripping up over kids. Bonus.

The first of Septembers offerings was the final carnival on the Isle of Wight. Ryde Illuminations. Tradition has it that you watch the shit floats go by and drink. This year Rooby was meant to come, but due to the evilness of Migraines she couldn't face it. :( So, Amy came over last minute and wore flashy shit with me.

We had a very classy wetherspoons dinner, then I proceeded to drink some more Rum. 

The floats were ok, There seem to be an awful lot of dance troops wearing neon on the Island apparently..

My favourite was the Back to the Future float, and of course Park of the dead. They don't seem to scare the kids, more the grown ups. One day I will go to it...

Skip ahead 2 weeks, and I'm off to Portsmouth again. This time with Leila and Laura (both gals I've met via meetup.com Next meet) planned to go to Joungleurs in Tiger, Tiger. Thanks to a groupon deal, we got it for a cheap price :) Good thing too, as we paid to have a table at Tiger, Tiger.

Before heading to Lelia's, I met Laura in Portsmouth and braved Primarni, before we went on a plight to find Marvel cushions in Morrisons. Oh and Lego Monster Figures... and eating Ice cream...

We went to Deans Diner in Port Solent first. I am always swung by a Diner & Sweet Potato fries.

Pre-giant troughs of Alcohol

I am way too happy about drinking Rum from a Pirate cup

The Lovely ladies in Deans Diner (fear not, there is Vodka in those cups)

The comedy was ok. The first guy was actually Dipsy from Tellietubbies. No lie. He wasn't so much funny as kinda aggressive. The whole comedy shabang was a bit weird actually, they had a bunch of rules, like 'No heckling' REALLY??  But it was funny. Not only because the people of Portsmouth are, well, a curious bunch of people.. but also for how darn polite the bar staff weren't...
On to Tiger, Tiger where we had our nice little table in the Tiki bar.

Tiki bar = Good. 

Music played in Tiki bar=Bad.

The self erecting straws provided much entertainment that evening

Lelia said do something funny. My drunken brain thought this was funny.

We ended up the evening after consuming the giant troughs & cherry sambuca shots, dancing to Backstreet boys in the next room (Laura insisted we danced. It was Everybody after all) followed by the Grease megamix, which every girl knows all of the words to.

Surprisingly the next day I wasn't that hungover. Laura on the other hand.. Yeah she made it to the Geek girl meet up in the last 10 minutes, and that was only to collect her Marvel cushions. 

And my final adventure of September was to A Rockin' Good Vintage Alldayer VII

My adventure pals:

We left the sunny Isle on the 9am Ferry and headed up to Kingston. We got there around half 11 and had a look around. I kinda expected it to be bigger, but it was fun. I saw Verity from the Vanity Box which was cool. Always nice to bump into people that you know.

We had a look at the cars too & saw this little gem

Just, Oh my. Why? 

I'm not entirely sure what the dude that made this was thinking. I mean I Love Elvis as much as the next guy, but WTF? It looks like the random end bit had to stuck on with Pollyfiller. When he drove out later on, I totally thought it was going to drop off...

There were some pretty cars too. 

We watched Fever, who were ok. They would probably go down a storm at the Riverside, but a bit too Rockabilly for Andy's liking... I had a couple of strolls. Even a stroll that started out as a stroller, then wasn't so much, but not defeated Danni & I stayed until the end....of the song.

It was a fun day, but had we known it was on the smaller side of things, we could of left a bit later. Thanks as usual to Andy for driving us & Danni for listening to me warble about shit for hours on end. You guys are the bestest!!

So. Yep. That was September.

October also has some excitement planned. 

Until next time here's a picture of me drinking a Spiced Pumpkin Cappuccino in cat glasses.

More 'Summer' adventures

So, it's pretty much the end of summer. I use that term loosely, as I can't say there's been a whole bunch of sun. Anyhoo, I for one, am grateful that things are slowing down a little. Work has been manic,but I've still managed to get a few adventures in.

I went to It's a Sin at the Wedgewood rooms with Lucy. We had some giant burritos & got 2 jugs of cocktails, however the second one was so full of sugar, we just couldn't drink it. I clearly am getting older, I would of tried to plough on through it.. So yeah, we also went to the vodka bar, before meeting some of Lucy's friends and heading to the 90s dancing fun. The mean DJ wouldn't play New kids on the block. I mean, what sort of an establishment is this? ;) Although I do remember dancing around to Just a girl like I was 17.. ah memories.

It was a pretty fun night and I even got chatted up a few times. Good times. Ha ha. I believe as usual it ended in Chips in pitta with hummus. 

The next day we went for a wander around Southsea and I got me some treats.

These Elvis coasters are pretty rad, right? And everyone needs a Capt Lego figure?

As usual there was a bunch of food involved, including these rather yummy Peanut butter filled crepes.

Sunday involved more Southsea fun as I headed to my Geek gal meet up. I met Amy first for food. She gave me some belated birthday treats. Clearly she knows me pretty well, Pandas, Flamingos and Captain America. Yup, that's pretty much all my loves!!!

Myself, Amy and Laura also talked about taking a road trip next year to Edinburgh Zoo to see the pandas. I wanted to go in Bumblebee, but £130 a day to hire a camero is a little outta my price range...

If you don't know what meetup.com is, check it out. I have to say I've met some rather awesome gals via it. You can even start your own meet up depending on what interests you have.

If you get a chance and John Green gives you the warm & fuzzies, check out PAPER TOWNS. After A Fault in our stars I read the whole John Green back catalogue (yes, I am 35....) and was kinda interested to see how Q and Margo would translate on the big screen. I really liked it, but judge for yourself.

What else happened? Oh yes, the bank holiday weekend. Which meant Tattoo time! I got a new tattoo at The Rockabilly rave, and I wanted to add to it. Anyhoo, I can't say there was anywhere on the Isle I thought was great until I found Old time Tattoo. I'd been in a few weeks ago to see Josh and say what I wanted. 

2 and a half hours later along with some great conversations about zombies and cats I came out with a rather beautiful old school mermaid tattoo. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit in love with her and she has a cute ass. She still needs a name though...

So yeah, it was Saturday and the lovely Lickle Amy & I had arranged to go out. Of course there was rum. A lot of rum.

There is Rum hot chocolate in these mugs...

So, we went for Tapas in Old Portsmouth which was quite fun and tasty. Then headed to the wetherspoons for more Rum and to Scandals for dancing to 90s music (I do seem to dance to 90s music a bunch, huh?)

It was pretty fun, although hot and cellarish, and the DJ's mixing skills were pretty bad.. but he seemed to be enjoying himself!

Sunday involved a slight hangover and finding food before heading home to two-stroke town. 

I did brave going to the Lud last night for a few hours were I had a jive and a stroll in a pub full of mods. Standard. I also saw the Lovely Toni Fox who I know from The Rockabilly Rave, so it was nice to get out and see her as well as Dawn, Max and Andy :)

So, yes, that would be summer over and done with. But there are lots of adventures yet to come. And maybe some sunshine now the kids are heading back to school.

Single summertime adventures

I have to say, it's been far too long since I've done a post.
Those of you who know me, will know there is a reason for this, and although it made me sad in the process etc, I am much better now than I was. So I can get back to boring you all about my adventures!

I have had quite a lot of mini adventures this year, and I know there will  be more to come. I've met some great people along the way, and I have to say I really know who my friends are now. I know some very decent, loving and awesome people and I feel so lucky to know them and to call them friends.They are the kind of people who come out of nowhere, and yet are there when you need them most!


So, yes, where was I? Adventures. I did have a mini adventure on Saturday to Retrofestival just outside of Newbury. Myself, Andy & Dani ventured on the overpriced ferry to Southampton and went on our merry way to Newbury.

Upon arrival, we did wonder if we had in fact arrived at 'Diggerfest'

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, as the word 'Retro' is massively overused and indeed covers such a wide spectrum of things. It was really random. It's in the showground which is pretty big with a bunch of Tents selling vintage stuff, as well as crafts and food (FYI, Fudge and Licorice don't really constitute actual food to me...) There were a few marquees playing different music depending on your preference. We ended up in the Rock'n'Roll marquee, which was a bit too fluffy for my liking, but I had a couple of strolls and a shandy, so it wasn't all bad.

Thank god for the person selling the Parasol's on their stall, otherwise I would have been a lobster at the end of the day, plus someone it made me swear less. Dani said it was a magic parasol... There was a lot of similar clothes and stuff for sale, you do kinda find there are only so many styles and clothes available in the Rockin' scene.

I did get me a lovely Atomic Swag tee. I'd seen them at The Rockabilly Rave, but they were kinda pricey, So i was pretty stoked to find Campbell Crafts selling them for £17. Plus the gal selling them was really helpful trying to find a size to fit me. I also got a rather lovely Sailor Jerry beaker in red, which I'd never seen before. And a lovely bit of atomic fabric.

It was kinda like going to the Chale show but with more stalls, Although there were MANY swoon worthy cars and a lot of Mingos. I am a mingo magnet...

YES PLEASE!!!

I dream of this scene on a daily basis!!

It was great getting to know Dani some more and its always lovely having mini adventures with Mr. Hendy. I am lucky to have spent the day with these guys! And of course the evening where Andy hosted his Rock'n'Roll night at Wightrock. I got to catch up with some old pals- lovely to see you Peck, even if you did call me a Trollup ;) and thanks to Mick & Dani for both being so kind to me!

Here's to the next adventure!

January... where did you go?

So, it's been a while since I've blogged, my memory is terrible sometimes and I keep on meaning to blog- it's even under my 'To-do' list...

Its February now, and January feels like I did enough for about 3 months!
New Years Eve was spent working at the yacht club, and avoiding drunken people trying to hug me at midnight- I was pretty successful!
January began by going back to work-always a shock after time off at Christmas, but it was ok, I had something to look forward to. Before Christmas my boss had asked if I wanted to go to Holland to a tourism show. Umm Hi, No brainer! Holland for free, yes please!!
So, Mid January I headed over to Southampton to stay in the Premier Inn at the Hotel- living on the Island means that you can't get to the airport for a 6:50am flight..  That bed though- totally big enough to fit 3 people in!!
So, I flew from Southampton to Schipol, then got the train to Utrecht where the show was happening- I still can't remember exactly what it was called-Vala something.
It was HUGE, like a gigantic travel agents, full of Dutch people who love a) camping b) motor homes, c) walking d) nature e)history.
That was pretty much my week, by the end of it I was speaking in broken English like a robot. But, check out how lovely my hotel was:

Yes, that is a whirlpool bath- I might of almost flooded the bathroom with bubbles....

view from the deck.

So, besides the epic amount of talking, and being ill since Boxing day, it was a good experience, and I feel like I helped the Island. Oh yeah, also committed an awful fat gal sin and bought skinny jeans...

After being away for ages I had 2 days off, so lazed about for one, then headed to the cinema to see Into the Woods. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should, purely for Chris Pine as Prince Charming....

Anyhoo, back to work for 3 days get everything done that I needed to as I had the week after off! 

The weekend was fun as my boy came to visit. We had a lot of fun dancing at Andy's DJ night at the Wightrock bar. Dancing with him is pretty scary- mainly because I suck, but hopefully I'll get better!

Tuesday I'd been looking forward to ages, because in October I'd got me and 4 friends tickets to see JD McPherson in Brighton. Anyone who knows me, knows that putting JD on will always makes me dance (I'm looking at you Andy). So I'd been excited about it for a while, plus it was going to be a great mini adventure with my pals. 

Sadly, that didn't quite pan out. They all, with the exception of one, bailed. I'm not gonna get into it, as its a whole other story, lets just say I'm a bit sad about it.

So, my Brighton adventure started on the ferry- I decided I'd go to Chichester first as I hadn't been there before. There was a 'vintage' charity shop, which I thought might be worth a look. Alas not, lovely idea if you like the 70s or overpriced vintage. I got stopped in the street by a guy who was trying to get me to model- my first question 'How much?' yeah, you telling me you've met Dita isn't going to get me to part with my cash.... 

So onwards to Brighton- I checked in to the very glamorous Travelodge and then went for a wander, and much to my joy I found Bubble tea!!!

I had Bubbletea for the first time in Canada with Sunshine. Man I miss that gal! So I was stoked to see it was in the UK! Yum!

From there I went and sold my extra JD tickets, then met James from the station and headed for the fun. I have to say the venue-Komedia kinda sucked. Its a small low ceilings dark venue, which meant the sound barely travelled- it would be swell if they could get that sorted out! But it was a good show, The Cactus Blossoms in support were kinda lovely, Plus I got to see my man and Miss O'Hara who I love dearly, and do not see enough of!!

That was not the end of my fun, oh no! My Mom's birthday is January 31st, so I wanted to do something nice for her. Her also being an Elvis fan, I decided that the Elvis at the o2 Exhibition was an obvious winner. I decided to drive to London. (If I suggest that again, slap me). The motorway was fine, the hour and a half past the motorway that it took to get to the venue, not so much. I got massively stressed to the point of tears, mainly because we were late for our allocated slot.

Turns out that didn't matter, so we headed up to this:

Now, I won't spoil it for you if you've not been, but you should all go. I'm hoping to go again at some point.

We had dinner at Frankie & Benny's then headed home. Mom was pretty stoked as she didn't even know it was on! and she didn't know I had more planned!

Saturday was her actual birthday, so I made her Blueberry dairy and egg free pancakes for breakfast- they weren't awesome, but pretty good for a first attempt :) I also made a rad cake, but that's besides the point. So yes, we headed over to Pompey to the Spinnaker Tower

Even though the weather wasn't the best, the views were pretty amazing. 

I treated Mom to Jamies' Italian for dinner, which was soooo good!!!

And that was January over with. 

I still have this crappy cold, so I'm hoping it will piss off soon. I know I have lots of adventures to come this year & I can't wait. :)

Rantsville

So, some stuff has been bothering me lately. I guess it's really Humanity that's bothering me.

I've been doing a course on Equality & Diversity and have been doing some research on it all, so have been reading quite a few articles on various newspaper websites (Never the mail, I hasten to add- everything they write is bull) and I can't believe some of the comments people write. Now I know that everyone is entitled to their opinion and we live in a massively diverse society (well, not me, the IOW is barely diverse) and you have to learn to tolerate others opinions especially when you don't agree with them. That is life. I have no problem with that.
What I have a problem with, is all the SHAMING.
The people who add their opinions when they think they know better. Sexist comments or shaming fat people are my favourite ones.

'Like, OMG what you're doing isn't healthy, how can you say you're happy with your body, blah,blah, blah'

My question is this: Did you ever stop to think that maybe that 'fat' person goes to the gym and eats healthily and that they are HAPPY with their body the way it is? They have achieved what so many of the commenter's haven't. Being happy with the way they look and with who they are.
Fat shaming, or shaming of any sort helps no one. I don't even know why people do it. Does it make you feel better about yourself? Does it suddenly solve all of your own problems and insecurities? No.
I suggest before you make your pathetic comments, do your research. Fat people go to the gym, Women do still get sexist comments, and just because it doesn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen, dufus. Maybe you should count yourself lucky that it doesn't.

Stop trolling, unless you actually have something useful to say. Go look in the mirror and sort out your own shit before you drop it on someone else.

Sorry about the rant, but it bothers me, I know I can't change it, and that people will always be negative and mean. But there are so many better things you could be using your time on, like actually being Grateful for the things and people in your life and figuring out how to love yourself and be happy.
No one else is here to validate you, or make you feel good. You have to do that for yourself.

Rant over. Thanks for reading and have a swell weekend kids!