WOW. What a week it has been. A week today, I graduated. I officially hold my MSc in Marketing Management from the University of Southampton. Just as a forewarning, this post is littered with pictures of 18/19/20/21 year old me (enjoy!).

Graduating for a second time has given me a chance to reflect on my academic career as a whole, in particular my undergrad. For those of you who don't know, I did my undergraduate degree in BA Anthropology and Sociology with Gender Studies at the University of Hull.

The road to Hull wasn't exactly straightforward for me. I originally applied to study Anthropology at my firm choice, Brunel and my back-up choice, Southampton (where I coincidentally ended up for my Masters), and I missed my grades. I luckily did the International Baccalaureate and my grades came out a month before A Level results came out. This gave me a slight advantage in finding another university, especially as my year was the last year of £3k fees as competition was FIERCE.

I looked at all my options before settling on Hull. The course looked fab, my cousin had been to Hull before me and loved it, and I was up for moving up north from Herts/ Essex.

Course- I loved my course and moving from straight Anthropology to a combined course was such a good move for me. I loved the variety of the course, and the teaching as far as I'm concerned, is outstanding. I learnt so much in my three years at Hull. Shoutout to my mentor, Susanne Clisby- she helped get me through those three years and also to my course mates (there were only seven of us doing my specific course)!

Place- I genuinely loved Hull as a place. It has a bad rep, and an undeserved bad rep. The people who live there are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet and I never felt unsafe. The university areas- Newland Avenue and Cottingham (although I hear the uni is shutting the Lawns- my first halls of residence! So sad) are lovely. The shopping in the city centre is also pretty sound- I loved St Stephens!


General Atmosphere- If it wasn't for Hull, I'd never have met one of my best friends (shoutout to Amy!) and had such a good university experience. The general atmosphere of the university is fantastic. I'll never forget chanting at the top of EYMS buses before a night out at Asylum. I was also joint social sec of the Trampolining club and I had some incredible experiences with HUTC. Although, I never did seem to get the hang of Trampolining! Socials in Jonny Mac were always a laugh, and I loved the fact I got to use a whistle.


Overall, I had a wonderful experience at Hull and I'd recommend to anyone looking at University to seriously consider Hull. See why you should choose Hull, here (if I haven't already!).

A few weeks ago, myself and some other bloggers from Bournemouth Bloggers were invited to review the Norfolk Royal Carvery which is held every Sunday. I hadn't had a carvery in absolutely forever (plus I'm a piglet and love food!) so of course I jumped at the chance!


I've never been to the Norfolk Royal before, and what struck me firstly was how regal and elegant the hotel is. It's set right in Bournemouth, and it's just gorgeous!


We sat down, and ordered our drinks before diving right into the Carvery portion of our visit. We met the chef who offered us our choice of meats. On offer were Gammon, Beef and Turkey. I opted for beef, but you could have literally one or all of the meats!

I also was given the option of a yorkshire pudding the SIZE OF MY HEAD. Of course I took one.


Next up... perfectly crispy roast potatoes, stuffing and PIGS IN BLANKETS. I cannot stress enough how much I love pigs in blankets. I had all the pigs in blankets. Not quite all, but 3. Insane. Insane. Insane.

I also did the #health thing and got some veg- the carrots were honestly done to perfection. Not overdone nor underdone. Just perfect.

Of course, I finished with a boat tonne of gravy. The only thing I would note, is that it was a little thin but I'm a fan of gravy so thick you can stand a spoon in it.


I honestly had the best afternoon with the bloggers, and although it was a little warm in the dining room, the food was lush and I'd recommend anyone to pop along.

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to The Stable in Bournemouth with Bournemouth Bloggers for an exclusive cider tasting event. We were greeted by the Stable's resident cider guru, Ross, who was to be leading us through the evening. We were given a glass of Rapscallion, which is the Stable's own cider. It was really good!


Before dinner, we were introduced to the cider making process, and it was explained how ciders differ. Ross was very knowledgeable and he was most definitely passionate about his job- which is always lovely to see.


For dinner, we were provided with the most delightful array of foods- the Duck Norris pizza was my favourite! (never would have imagined duck on pizza.... I'd recommend!)


After dinner, we got down to business tasting the cider. The ciders we tasted were all finalists at the Stable's Cider Awards. It was crazy how everyone's opinions differed so wildly... I could be saying 'It's a no from me' and someone else would be saying they absolutely loved it! Not going to lie though, even the 'No's from me' I still drank... none of the ciders were bad- I just preferred the sweeter fruitier ones.


Below, I'll explain my verdict on each one with my overall winner announced at the end.

Cockeyed- Made of 100% Juice and was quite sweet.
Bumblebee- Had a very woody taste to it, and for me it was too 'oak-y'.
Hallets- This had quite a sour quality- I said to Emma next to me that it was properly giving me Cardi B 'Okuuuuuuurt' vibes.
Nightingale- Tasted a bit like a prosecco which is always top in my books.
#5- This one had quite a 'farm' vibe going on. I wasn't a fan- but it was a favourite for some of the other girls!
Dudda's Tun- This was a genuine pleasure to drink. Tasted so fruity and apricot-y.
No 8- Also really lovely and sweet.
Perry- I wasn't the biggest of fan's.
Murmuration- another woody type cider which I've realised, is not my bag.
Gospel Green- this was popped like a prosecco/ champagne.  Although nice, I much prefer a glass of real Champagne or Prosecco!

We also got the chance to experience 'cider throwing' which, I was genuinely appalling at. Some of the others really got the hang of it though!


Overall, my winner was Dudda's Tun.. so much apricot-y amazingness. For someone who wasn't necessarily educated about cider before.. I certainly learned a lot and now know what kind of cider I like!

I had such a lovely evening, and I'd definitely recommend popping along to your nearest Stable to try their lush cider, and even more lush pizzas.

I don't know about you, but pizza gives me life. The minute the email pinged in my inbox from Bournemouth Bloggers with the opportunity to go to Pizza School at The Stable, I COULD NOT WAIT! Of course, I emailed straight back and bam, Pizza School was on! I'd actually never been to The Stable previously, so I was excited to find out more...

One Tuesday night, myself and a group of other bloggers from the Bournemouth Blogger community headed over to The Stable to learn all about how they make their pizzas!

We were greeted by the executive chef of The Stable, Patrick, and the southern region head chef, Charlie. FYI, he had a lush Irish accent which made listening even better!

We ran through a general itinerary of how the evening would go, and cracked on! We started learning about how The Stable create their infamous tomato sauce. A lot of love and care went into this process, and although I was shocked at the amount of salt and sugar which went in, we were quickly told it made in excess of 300 pizzas which made the proportions seem a lot better. I picked up a lot of tips and tricks which I can also apply to my own cooking. Next time I cook a spaghetti bolognese, my friends and family aren't going to know what's hit them!



After the tomato sauce run through, we enjoyed some drinks (a nice cool pinot grigio for me!) and some snacks. They had a selection of their sharers out, the Capreolus Charcuterie and Cheese Board and also their Vegan Sharing Board.

Some quick networking, munching and wine drinking later, we were back down to business and Charlie showed us how they create their bases for pizzas daily. It was interesting to see again, the love and care which goes into creating these bases. The yeast process which the bases require was also shown to us, and we got a chance to experience raw 'Jerry' (which is what the Stable have called their yeast as they have to keep it alive!) which was errr, an experience in itself.
Another little break later, and a quick excuse for a top up, we began making our own pizzas! There is definitely an art to topping the pizza nicely. An art, which I did not have down to a tee. Nonetheless, my pizza tasted INSANE and I'd definitely go back for a Stable produced pizza. I had cheese, onion and basil. Bit of a weird combo, but I enjoyed it!

They took a few minutes to cook, and with that, we were tucking in! I loved the evening, and it was great to see that the people who work for The Stable were so passionate about what they do. It was super interesting to find out more about how the pizzas were made, and I feel like there aren't any hidden nasties in The Stable pizzas which is amazing! I'll definitely be going again.

My LA weave to be precise. Recently, I took the plunge, went for a consultation to get hair extensions and then had them put in. I've dabbled in the past with clip ins- but I've always longed (pardon the pun!) for longer, fuller and thicker hair.

I did my research and off I went to see Molly at The Hair Extension Cave in Salisbury. She had a look at my hair and explained due to my hair type, I'm pretty much able to have any kind of hair extensions. She recommended the LA weave which essentially is nano-rings which crossover, and then the weave is sewn to these nano-rings (I'm fairly sure that's a terrible explanation so please comment if you want further clarification!). Molly matched me up with a colour and we decided on a length of  22"-24". Hair to the max.

I'm going to share my experience and thoughts, both pre-weave installation and post-weave installation. I've now had my weave in for just shy of a month so I'll also comment on my maintenance thoughts.

Before (also pre-dye)


Thoughts: Major roots, rat tail consistency and really thin at the ends. However, I did like the length colour so I kept that. As mentioned before, I wanted longer and thicker hair.

After (post dye and LA weave)


Thoughts: Objectives achieved. Paige at Legally Blonde did wonders with my roots. She blended the colour fabulously (like she always does!) (left picture) and the extensions matched beautifully and I have longer and thicker hair (right picture). IN LOVE. It took 2 hours to colour my hair, and 2 hours to pop the extensions in.

For the first few days, I experienced some slight discomfort as I got used to the tightness of the bonds and the weight of the extra hair. Now though, I would feel naked without the extra hair! I can do a proper hair flick *insert hair flick emoji here*.

Maintenance Thoughts: In terms of day to day maintenance, no one can prepare you for the weight of your hair with extensions when wet. I washed my hair in the shower and was like WOW. It also is no longer possible for me to wash and go either, it takes me a good hour to dry my hair which works out well as I can only wash my hair twice a week. I also have to sleep with my hair in a plait- which means I wake up very Elsa-esque and have cute curls through the day if I don't bother to straighten. However, it is worth it because I finally have the hair I want.

In terms of maintenance for the bonds, every 3ish months I need to go in and get the bonds moved up and the weave re-sewn in. Which actually isn't too much effort!

Overall, I'm so so so pleased with the results and it's definitely given me more confidence in myself (which is stupid to say as it's just some hair sewn to my head) but the lack of volume always knocked my self-confidence previously.