The Tea Room

Over the last two weeks, the Holden Gallery Cafe has been transformed into a 1930s tea room by 3rd year interactive art students, to raise money for their degree show. With hot drinks, freshly prepared food, music, service with a smile and an aviary, this has probably been the most imaginative fundraising event i've seen at uni. The amount of effort and planning that went into the event impressed me massively. It will be a shame to see it go.

If you didn't get the chance to visit, have a look through the photos on their facebook page (where these photos are from).

Back to Catalunya

Is it slightly excessive to visit Barcelona twice in one year? 

Probably. 

Today i am lucky enough to be jetting off to my favourite European city for a whistle stop trip filled with excitement. It's my birthday on Sunday, so i plan to spend the day enjoying the last of the summer sun, whilst stuffing my face at the food market. 

On Monday and Tuesday i am attending the AGI 2011 conference, which has some fairly massive names in graphic design speaking. Very very excited. Hopefully i'll come back feeling hugely inspired and ready to launch straight back into project work.

Fringe Benefits

As part of  my brief visit to Scotland this week, i spend a day in Edinburgh at the fringe. Having only ever visited during fringe season, i have no indication of what the atmosphere is like during the rest of the year, however it's always been very lively and friendly on my few visits.
Like last year we didn't pack the day full of performances, we mostly wandered down the cobbled streets watching street performers, and sampling the local pubs. We also checked out a couple of exhibitions, there was a particularly good Rauschenberg one at Inverleith House in the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The main highlight was a free show held at 'The Hive' by comedien Phil Kay. I never know what to expect with free shows, i usually assume i'll leave with several pulled muscles from awkward jokes gone down like a lead balloon. Phil Kay was refreshingly funny. It was a musical set of semi-improvised songs that built up layers of laughter. I can honestly say that i left with an aching face, i really enjoyed it.

On Your Marks

I will be spending this evening at the preview of the Manchester School of Art degree show. I won't however be spending my time previewing the talent on display, i will mostly be stood behind the Design & Art Direction bar, serving drinks dressed in a white tracksuit adhering to the chosen 'theme' (can you guess what it is?). The show runs till Wednesday so i'll hopefully get the chance to have a proper look round when it's quieter and in normal attire. 

Good Food

On Wednesday morning Nick & I caught the train down to Birmingham for the Good Food show. Neither of us had been to the NEC before, and we were both a bit flabbergasted at the size of it. It was VAST. The exhibition halls were filled with pop up stalls selling all sorts of different produce. There were loads of cheese, chutney and oil stalls, at which we took full advantage of the samples on display. I didn't really take that many photos, my mind was very much somewhere else, but you can get an idea of the scale of it from the ones below.

There were a couple of little restaurants and cafes inside too, however we decided not to sample them. Instead we hovered around the lone oyster stall where Nick tried his first (and 4th and 5th) oyster. They went down an absolute treat, and we both agreed that we should make an effort to go coastal in the near future and locate some more. Fine with me!

Tacked on alongside the Good Food show, was the Good Gardens show which was equally large. It didn't hold quite as much interest for us, but we did stumble across these nice produce baskets of tomatoes and beans. I thought the tomatoes were particularly lovely. 

If you do get the chance, the show runs until Sunday 19th. It's a really good day out.

Good Food Comes to Those Who Wait

For the Man Candy's birthday back in March, i got him two tickets for the BBC Good Food Show, held at the Birmingham NEC. We've both been looking forward to it since then, and finally the day has just about arrived. Tomorrow morning we will be up and on the train by half eight (urgh) and pootling south, stomachs empty and elasticated waist-bands on.
Watch this space...

The NQ Street Party

To celebrate the Royal Wedding and a nice day off work, the Man Candy and i took to the Northern Quarter streets of Manchester and joined in the general larking about.

It seemed to go down really well. Everyone was in a really good mood, and there was plenty of food, drink & music to last all afternoon. 

A good Friday out.

A Right Royal Knees Up

Whether you're excited or not, you will be very aware i'm sure (wherever you are in the world) that the Royal Wedding of William and Kate is tomorrow. Will you be celebrating in any way? Or ignoring it whole heartedly? I'll be at the Northern Quarter street party getting over excited about bunting hopefully.

World Book Day

How did you celebrate? Yesterday at uni, a drop-in workshop was being run that took you through the stages of book making. We watched the pages being printed on the off-set litho machine, then we letterpressed our front covers, and the Lucy May Schofield showed us how to bind. It was such a nice idea, and everyone came out with a finished book to keep. Makes me a appreciate the facilities we have at uni, and want to use them more, especially since they're constantly under threat.

Happy World Book Day!

Encore

Last night i went to see The National play at the Academy, it was pretty wonderful. The support (Phosphorescent) played really well, and then the National came on and made everyone melt. The frontman Matt Berninger has such a deep, lovely voice. They came on for an encore and for the final song, they asked everyone to be silent as they were going to try and play a song without microphones. You could have heard a pin drop, it began so quietly, and then the crowd softly started joining in (bizarrely in tune) and got louder and louder. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room, it was beautiful. My friend happened to record it, it doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea.

Happy Halloween

I will be spending it dressed as a witch, painting the faces of small children all day at work. I spent a lovely childish half hour carving this pumpkin at home this afternoon, and felt quite in the spirit of things. If i finish work at a decent time tomorrow I think i'll spend the remainder of the evening watching the old classics like Young Frankenstein. What will you be doing? 

9 to 5 Part 5

This is my final '9 to 5' post, thank goodness. Early starts are not my strong point. Thought i'd leave you with my preliminary birthday list...

Manchester Literature Festival

This year it's running from the 14th to the 25th of October, and is bringing some fairly major names to the city. The idea of having the actual authors read bits of their work to you is something i look forward to with a childlike sort of excitement. I'm thinking of getting a ticket for the 25th to see Monique Roffey, author of one of my all-time favourite books 'Sun Dog' (read it, i dare you not to feel inspired). Seamus Heaney and Carol Ann Duffy are also on the list of who i'd like to see, if only to gain some closure after studying their work to death for my English GCSE and A Level exams. Hopefully the dates won't clash too badly with my new 2nd year timetable, otherwise i might have to suddenly develop a nasty bout of flu for those afternoons.

See who's on. 

Quick Turn Around

Back from Pembrokeshire, one day to unpack/wash/dry/re-pack EVERYTHING. It's off to Budapest tomorrow afternoon for the weekend, then on to Serbia on Tuesday. This is where what we'll be doing this time next week...

The day has been spent trying to think of what i've forgotten. 

Italy vs Slovakia

Unless you've living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, you will probably be aware that the world cup is going on. Yesterday afternoon me and a few friends from work (two of them Italian in fact) went to watch the Italy vs Slovakia match in the city centre. It was being shown on a big screen that had been put up on a little grassy area surrounded by office blocks and restaurants. It was a must win game for Italy and there was a fair bit of tension building between our Italian boys and the Slovakian fans. At half time Italy were losing by one goal, so we decided we needed something 'rustic' to perk us up. There was a deli nearby and we bought balls of mozzarella, black and green marinated olives, salami, bread and cup cakes. It was such a lovely sunny afternoon, and we drank beer from plastic cups and ate mandarin sorbet from little tubs. The only thing that could have made the afternoon better was that if Italy had won.

Food was all bought from Carluccio's Deli

Hintlesham Hall

...Or as it's since become known to me, future wedding venue. The grounds were so beautiful and well kept. It even had a fig tree growing up a wrought iron spiral staircase. It's the only place that's ever jumped out at me as a potential wedding spot. In fact it jumped out at me as somewhere a big fancy event should be held, not necessarily a wedding. I think because it was such a warm sunny day i wanted to be floating round in a silly dress drinking flutes of fizzy things, that's all really. How lovely would a big long table, laid with a huge feast look just in front of that enormous tree? I picked up a bookings brochure on my way out just in case.

The Farmers' Market

Here are a few photos of what the Farmers' Market i went to on Saturday had to offer.  It was held at Rode Hall near Stoke which was a bit of a trek away but it was worth it. It was such a lovely set up, the barns were decorated with greenery and bunting, and there was a band playing blues in the sunshine. We will definitely be going again next month. I took full advantage of the free samples that were being handed out. It was difficult not to want to buy one of everything.

 

I think farmers' markets are one of my favourite things to do on a weekend. If you've never been to one, definitely see if there's one near you, they're really enjoyable.

Dresses

There is an event that happens every May, that i have been to for the last 6 years. It takes up a whole weekend, but a whole year of planning. I'm lucky enough to get to help on the day setting up and sorting things out. I enjoy it so much as i see people i don't normally get to, and stay in a lovely hotel...but what i love most is choosing a dress for the occasion. I've started browsing around for a few potential dresses and found a few really lovely ones...

I absolutely love this one above by Ted Baker

I think i'm looking at items a little out of my price range but it's nice to look. The colours i'm leaning towards at the moment are black, cream, red and pink. Suggestions welcome.