Slam Dunk Festival 2019.

Hello! I wrote a blog post about Slam Dunk last year and here I am again! I ADORE this festival, it’s just a one day event but they do one in the South and one in the North. We go to the South held at Hatfield, London. I really rate the efficiency of how they run Slam Dunk, in my experience getting in has always been easy, the line of cars to get in the car park moves fast and there’s never been a que to get into the actual festival itself which is awesome, so props Slam Dunk! They changed the way they scheduled set times this year to avoid bands on different stages having the exact same slot, they staggered them out a bit more, which did definitely work for us, we managed to see a lot more than last year however sometimes we were running off before one band finished to make it to another. There’s an app you can download prior to the festival so that you can plan your day and make a list of the artists you would like to see and on the day it will send you a notification before their set so you can make your way there! Much like last year the weatherman was threatening rain, however we only got a little, all was good! The morning started off so hot, I was starting to panic that I hadn’t brought sun cream, my arms were covered so I panic bought a hat. I actually really love the hat though! Of course as soon as the hat was purchased and upon my head the sun went away for the majority of the day.. Sorry everyone!

Anyway we managed to see…

Kublai Khan – We had never heard of these but as we were strolling past the tent we could hear them playing and that drew us in! Really good!

Knocked Loose – A band my partner wanted to see, not my cup of tea but still appreciated that they were good!

Boston Manor – We saw Boston Manor supporting Good Charlotte at the beginning of the year and I have been obsessed since so I was really looking forward to seeing them again!

Wage War – Another one for the other half, once again, cool, but not my thing!

Turnstile – They came on after Wage War and my partner was intrigued as he had heard of them, at this point I was just getting excited for The Interrupters!

The Interrupters – AHHH! I LOVE THEM. I was totally loving life when they played ‘She’s Kerosene’. I remember at Slam Dunk last year they were playing them on some speakers between setting up the stage for another act and I thought how good they would be if they played at a Slam Dunk – The gods listened!

Cancer Bats – I’ve seen them before and my partner has seen them every time they play near us as he loves them! Always so much energy and a good show!

Simple Plan – Oh the nostalgia!

Employed To Serve – WHOA, the front-lady of this band is fire, you would look at her and hear the noise coming out of her and think ‘no way’ … Love love loved them!

Neck Deep – I freaking love Neck Deep, my Spotify is probably tired of me playing ‘In Bloom’ as much as I do! Was lovely to see them, we did have to quickly run off towards the end though…

Less Than Jake – Favourite of the day! There was no way I was going to miss them, we have both seen them before but they’re just so much fun. One of my all time favourite bands. There was such a cool moment whilst watching them too, the rain gave the crowd a good soaking for about 5 minutes then out came the sun, this created the most beautiful rainbow right across the entire stage, made even more magical by Less Than Jake playing ‘Whatever the weather’ at time…Amazing!

New Found Glory – Once again..Oh the nostalgia!

Plain White T’s – Admittedly I only ran towards Plain White T’s at the end of the set in the hope that they were saving ‘Hey There Delilah’ until the end! We caught it, which made me a very happy Misha, what a song, I have adored it for years and years!

My favourite picture of the day, the rainbow over Less Than Jake!

There’s no doubt that I’ll be going back to Slam Dunk next year, I highly recommend it for an easy going day festival because as you can see we managed to see so many artists! Oh and as for the food (very important subject) there’s so much choice, even for us veggies!

Thank you for reading!

Advertisements

Road Trip, UK to Austria!

Hello! Ok so I have just got back from one of the most incredibly ridiculous, amazing, hilarious and memorable trips. I will start from the beginning.. My partner is close to the end of building his own Swallowtail MK1 Golf which has been a huge dream for him since forever, we often attend car shows and I have adored taking on his hobby and trying to learn as much as I can. Don’t get me wrong I still don’t know a lot about cars but I actually enjoy the shows and I am extremely proud of him for the effort and commitment that goes into building up a car from just a shell.

There is an event every year held in Wörthersee in Austria, it’s basically a giant car meet where people bring their cars from all over and hang out. We have always spoken about attending and just saying ‘one day..’ Last year we chose to make it happen, that ‘one day’ would be in 2019, no excuses. My partner worked super hard with a crazy amount of help from a friend Stu to try and get the car finished in time for Wörthersee, unfortunately due to circumstances out of their control it wasn’t ready in time but we were still going ahead with the trip, just in my partners daily car.. A Seat Arosa! 😀

Norfolk – Harwich. 84 miles.

So the 11th May rolled around and we were running around packing (last minute of course) to leave. We met our friends Stu and his partner Jo and set off on the first leg of the Journey from Norfolk to Harwich, 84 miles. We caught an overnight Ferry to the Hook Of Holland. I freaking loved the Ferry as I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting. Our little cabin was adorable, just like a tiny hotel room with a bed and a cute little bathroom. Stu had been a hero and booked a lounge area that had free wine, juice, teas and coffee so we made the most of that! I ate my weight in nuts and raided the biscuit bowl before leaving, don’t judge! I must admit I slept terribly as my slightly tipsy boyfriend fell asleep very fast in total starfish mode leaving me pushed against the wall in a tiny space, the amount of times I hit myself rolling around wasn’t even funny, so many bruises. I allowed this dreadful sleeping arrangement and just laid there silently miffed as I was mindful that he would be driving us to Germany the next day! I haven’t shut up about it since though, I will forgive but I wont forget! We were kindly woken up with a wake up call from the Ferry, a song that unbeknown to me was about to be stuck in my head for the entire trip ahead…’Do do do doo doo do do, I love your smiiiile’ we then had our breakfast and grabbed the cars to head to Germany!

Hook Of Holland – Nürburgring, Germany. 224 miles.

We headed to a Fuel station to fill up and met the next car to join our convoy! Rich and Rish. We knew Rich from briefly speaking to him at another car show we go to called Edition 38 and we follow eachother on social media. Rich had been looking for a co-pilot and Rish stepped up, the cool thing was that they had only met briefly at Edition 38 also so didn’t really know each other but got on extremely well straight away which was lucky considering they were trapped in a tiny car from the UK to Austria! As we continued our journey Rich started to have some problems with the alternator on his car but as he was already aware of the issue he came prepared with two spare, so after a quick stop on the side of the road to change the alternator we were off again! When we arrived in Germany the plan was to do a lap around the Nürburgring but we were unable to find the start so re-grouped and went for a pint instead! That’s where we met Oscar and his friend Magnus. Our friend Stu knew Oscar and Oscar had met Magnus 7 years ago broken down on the side of the road on the way to Wörthersee, Magnus had driven all the way from Norway! This is what I love about the car community. Most of them look out for each other, great friendships are formed and the people are lovely. After getting to know everyone a little more we headed a Nürburgring viewing point and watched the cars absolutely flying round and that’s when we realised just how lucky we were getting lost whilst trying to find the entrance! We would have probably died out there in our little cars! 😀 We went to our cosy little Air B&B apartment and got ourselves ready to go out for a meal at a steak restaurant owned by the family of Sabine Smidt, we had a lovely evening and celebrated Stu’s birthday. Apparently the steak was incredible but I can report the veggie option of pizza was a winner also! We went back to our apartment and got a good night sleep in ready for the longest day of travelling!

Adenau, Germany – Kärnten, Austria. 550 Miles.

Rich’s Series 1 Golf GTI, Stu’s Swallowtail and Oscar’s MK1 Golf GTI G60.

Once we were all up and ready we dragged all of our luggage back to the cars, loaded up and started the long journey ahead, but first, McDonalds! Ohhhhh my goodness it was a looooong day travelling but (here comes the cheese) I was stupidly happy, sat beside my partner with all the time in the world to chat about everything and anything. The roads in Germany are amazing though, so much quicker and more efficient than back home in the UK so it felt like we were making great progress. We barely hit any traffic but of course the one time that we did was the one time that I was really needing a toilet break! I can tell you that being stuck in traffic whilst you need the loo is horrible, but to make things worse the services that had originally been 20 miles away was then blocked due to road works so we drove past them and I had to wait for the next one, I was fearing for my partners seats! Once we finally made it I think I had jumped out of the car before we had even stopped – imagine some stunt in an action movie where someone jumps and rolls from a moving vehicle – yeah it was nothing like that! I ran/waddled across the carpark to the patisserie we had stopped at and of course went the wrong way…When I eventually found them I was faced with two doors, one had just the letter ‘D’ and the other ‘H’ and it was that exact moment that I wish I had learnt some German! My desperate logic had me so close to charging into the toilet with the ‘H’ on the front…I am ashamed to admit I just figured it was like ‘Hers’ ignoring the fact that my flawed logic could also make it ‘His’… Luckily for me some poor German man walked up to the toilets, instead of waiting to see which door he went into I practically shouted ‘WHICH ONE AM I!?!’ …I now know, I am a Damen…Anyway after that ordeal I felt I was deserving of a cake and we continued our journey! The moment the snowy mountains came into view it felt like we had made it. I went into full Julie Andrews mode, the hills were alive with the sound of my wailing! We stopped for some dinner as we hit Austria and prepared ourselves for the last 3 hours. It was the journey through Austria that was the hardest (says me who just had to sit there) I honestly don’t know how the boys managed to drive all that time, but they did, and we all arrived safely and soundly, all five cars and eight people!

We made it!

So we arrived, past midnight. we travelled over a wooden bridge, up a quiet dirt track, past a giant deer, deeper into the middle of nowhere until we arrived at our house! Arriving is going to forever be one of my favourite memories, we were all deliriously running around in absolute hysterics as the house was HUGE and not gonna lie…It felt a bit spooky! We explored, found the kitchen and two sitting areas then we all chose our rooms and after a quick cup of tea we got ready to crash out. Now because I was a little freaked out I had my partner open the cupboards in our room to check there was nobody hiding in them! There was a small 4ft cupboard in our room that as we opened reveled some steps down into a bathroom! We had an en-suite! As we looked inside we found two more doors.. Both leading to two other bedrooms that we hadn’t discovered! We walked through the bedrooms to find a big spiral staircase going down into another lounge that we hadn’t yet found with another kitchen attatched! On top of the kitchen was another balcony with a table and chairs and another toilet! The house was MASSIVE! Spooky or not I slept SO well!

I will leave this post here and continue on another blog post! Thank you for reading! Where’s the furthest you have ever road tripped to!?

Books On My ‘To-Read’ Shelf.

Hello! Happy Saturday! Hope you are having a magical weekend! I haven’t done one of these in so long and if I’m honest I haven’t really been reading much lately but here are some books I’ve downloaded and can’t wait to pick up and read! I’m off work for two weeks and heading on a little road trip to Austria today! We’re catching an overnight ferry tonight to Holland so I’m thinking I’ll have plenty of time to read once my partner is thoroughly fed up of my one woman car karaoke show!

‘Laughing At My Nightmare’ by Shane Burcaw.

I have started this one recently as I watch Shane’s videos on YouTube. He has a channel called ‘Squirmy & Grubs’ with his girlfriend where they vlog and talk about their interabled relationship. I have fallen in love with Shane and his girlfriend Hannah, I can’t get enough of their videos so I figured it made sense that I’d love his books too! Once I’ve finished this one I’m excited to read his other one titled ‘Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse’… Totally recommend this book and their YouTube channel!

‘Everyday Sexism’ by Laura Bates.

This one has been on my ‘to read’ list an embarrassingly long time and I still haven’t got round to it! It’ll be ticked off next though I promise! Laura Bates set up a project on a website to call out sexism she saw everyday and asked women all over the world to send in their stories and experiences which lead to this book. I just love the idea of women standing up and shouting back, coming together to encourage a new generation to recognise these problems, I feel it’s so important as often I sadly think these issues are overlooked as ‘the norm’ because it really is an every day thing that goes on everywhere so we’re just conditioned to think it’s OK as its completely normalised? Of course it isn’t OK. Some of the stories in this book are shocking, some are funny but they’re all important and I can’t wait to read them!

‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ by Jon Ronson.

This one is a slightly different book for me, this is how it is described on Goodreads… (Because they’ll describe it way better than me!)

For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us – people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work. Once their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with the force of a hurricane and the next thing they know they’re being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered at, demonized, sometimes even fired from their job.

It just sounds so interesting and honest. I think we have all been guilty of focusing on others flaws, mistakes and to read about the scary part we all play in the war on human flaws will be eye opening.

‘Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race’ by Renni Eddo-Lodge.

OK so again this is one that has been on my list of books I want and need to read for a very long time, I’m making it my mission to have read it by the end of June. The book came about when Renni Eddo-Lodge wrote a blog about her frustrations of how most discussions in Britain about race were mainly from people who weren’t actually affected by it.

Here is a description of the book from Goodreads.

Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge and counter racism. It is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today.

I just think it’s one of those important ‘must read’ books.

‘It Only Happens In Movies’ by Holly Bourne.

This is one of those books for when I just need to chill out and read something a little more lighthearted. I am guilty of loving a bit of YA fiction and I have read some of Holly Bourne’s books before so I can’t wait to get stuck into this one!

Thank you for reading! I’m off to go run around and do some last minute flapping for our trip, I still need to pack and I have a whole list of other stuff to do… But now all I want to do is curl up with my kindle! Wish me luck! 🙈

April’s Photos.

Hello! Hope you’re all well. So April has been and gone super fast and I just wanted to document it with some of the pictures that I have taken through the month!

Firstly here are a few from the very first day in April where my partner and I scooped up the dogs and headed to Horning in Norfolk for the day, we had intended on going for a long walk but my wonderful boyfriend snapped his flip flop just as we started so he hopped on one foot back to the pub and that’s where we stayed.. I wasn’t complaining but I was definitely laughing.

Here is one I took from the woods, this picture sums up my two babies to an absolute tee. Ginger is sat doing as she’s told and posing beautifully for my picture whereas Pebbles couldn’t give any shits about what I was saying. None.

Jen and I had a lovely morning, we went to a Lisa Angel Sample sale. We were there dead on the time it opened and carnage ensued. Straight away I picked up a bargain £2 table with the plan to put my record player on it. Only problem was I then had to carry it around with me as I looked at everything else… I’m not exaggerating when I say we couldn’t really move. The stock was all piled up in a little square to walk around in a warehouse and we were all crammed in there digging around looking for bargains, my table then turned into kind of a weapon to save me from the seasoned bargain hunters, they were savage… I managed to pick up a few lovely bits. I got a cute purse for £3 (big enough for all the money that I don’t have and receipts from 2001.) I also found some lovely little pieces of jewellery and a little travel case for jewellery as I always struggle on trips with where to put them so they don’t get lost or tangled! Oh and I found a lovely wooden jewellery box with multiple drawers for £2! Afterwards we headed to White House Farm for a cup of tea in the cafe and a little look around their shops. The tea was needed.

My £2 table in all its glory!

Half way though the month we went to see the band ‘The Hunna’ I have been obsessed with them for the longest time. Dr Robotnik’s mum bought us tickets for Christmas so I had been looking forward to it for ages! I can’t even put into words how well they performed, thank you Sue!

I’m so lucky with my work that I get to go to some beautiful places and have lovely days out with the people I support so here is one from a day we had on Wroxham Broad, I had just got my new phone (a Huawei p30 pro) so I wanted to test out the camera!

My dad moved house in April which meant my old friends from my childhood were dug out and have now come to live with me! Who else had beanie babies? I was obsessed and had quite the collection! I enjoyed going through them all, boring my partner with the stories of where I had got them and I scarily remembered most of their names!

My partner and I spent the day in Wroxham towards the end of the month. If you’re local you’ll know but there’s a place called Wroxham Barns in Norfolk, they have some cute shops, a cafe and restaurant, some rides for little ones and animals! I mainly wanted to go to see the lambs and I was in my element when I got to bottle feed one! I also fell in love with some little piglets that were only 12 days old! The goats were hilarious as usual, as soon as you walk into their barn with that paper bag of food you are getting Goats coming at you from all directions, I feel like that’s the same reaction my partner gets from me when he arrives home with food! Except I’m not a goat. I’m not sure why I felt like that needed clarification.

OK so this photo is completely terrible and I probably shouldn’t even include it but as it was a highlight of the month and the only picture I took I felt it was necessary… We went to see Papa Roach in Norwich! Ahh it was so good! Nostalgic and a great atmosphere. So thank you for the tickets Grandma! 😁

Right so that’s it for April! Lots of exciting things are coming up in May, I have some time off and a trip to Austria! Plus Slam Dunk Festival at the end of the month. Busy busy! What are your plans? ☺️ Thank you for reading!

Zoella X ColourPop Review.

Hello! If I said the name Zoella to you I am pretty positive most of you will know who she is, I like many others have followed her on YouTube for years, right back when she made videos from her little bedroom in Wiltshire to now from her ginormous mansion in Brighton… It’s basically a mansion right? She recently collaborated with the makeup brand ColourPop. ColourPop is proudly cruelty-free and MOST of their products are vegan but their ingredients list is available to check certain products. I had never used the brand before as its not easily accessible in the UK but I have always been curious to try it, especially the liquid lipsticks that I had heard everyone and their dog raving about, I need to stop watching American YouTuber’s makeup videos! I had a little look at some videos of people swatching the Zoella Brunch Date eye palette, creating beautiful looks and once again raving about the liquid lipsticks and I was sold, I’m easily influenced!

Unfortunately my poor little bank account wouldn’t allow me to buy the whole collection so after much deliberation and putting things in and out of my basket like some kind of makeup hokey cokey I had settled on the ‘Brunch Date Eye Palette’, ‘What Happens At Lunch Lip Bundle’ and the ‘Bellini Supernova Shadow’.

I chose to put the eye palette and lipstick to the test first. I played around with a few of the colours, quickly discovering that Mimosa was probably my favourite, it looks so pretty under the eye! I managed to do a pretty half decent job considering my makeup ‘skills ‘are extremely questionable, the colours blend out beautifully and are really easy to work with and I didn’t get any fall out.

I popped on the ‘Oh Snap’ lip pencil and the ‘@me’ liquid lipstick – a gorgeous mid-tone matte pink colour and was impressed with how it dried without making my lips feel super dry like the Sahara.

Ok so, the ultimate test.. I went to a gig for the evening, I usually come home looking like a baby Panda that has got into her mum’s makeup stash, eyeliner halfway up my forehead, lipstick on my chin, eyeshadow everywhere but my eyes… I create such a glamourous picture of myself don’t I? Anyway, as I was saying, ultimate test! I am happy to report that it passed with flying colours! In the car the whole way home I was marvelling at my makeup in the sun visor mirror, constantly repeating myself to my partner how amazed I was that it was still all where I had put it! I should probably mention that I have hooded eyes too so it really is a miracle that the eyeshadow was still going strong and hadn’t transferred up near my brows! The lips had held up incredibly well too, no cracking, barely faded and not on my chin, winner! I am pretty sure ColourPop has just become one of my favourite makeup brands?!

Ok so the Bellini Supernova shadow – I put this to the test at home on a housework day, Cinderella Misha had nowhere to go but to stay home and hang out with her Zoflora and Hetty Hoover. I can tell you that my bedazzled eyes and PJ look wasn’t exactly the one but the colour is a glittery rose-gold delight! It dries quickly as it goes on as a liquid, straight away I tried to rub some off around the edges and it was not budging so you need to work quickly with it, something my sloth self struggles with. I was really impressed with how it felt on the eyes, I kept forgetting I was wearing it until I caught my reflection in something shiny and it made me giggle seeing it paired with my crazy housework hair and no other makeup. The verdict, it lasted fabulously well and really did look lovely however I am not sure wearing it all over the eye is good for hooded eyes like mine as it did start to crack slightly in the crease, which you kind of expect with this kind of eyeshadow anyway but it did last a lot longer than any others I have ever tried so props to ColourPop! I feel that in the future I will use this product as just a pop of shimmer on the lids or use a thin eyeliner brush to apply it close to the lashes. So pleased to add this to my makeup collection as it is something different that I wouldn’t usually try, its good to push those comfort zones and all that!

So that’s that! Overall I am so happy I took the plunge with ColourPop and will absolutely will be purchasing from them again, I have been lusting after their Disney Designer range and the Disney Villains collection which has my name written all over it!

Thank You for reading! Hope you’re having a wonderful day!

Setting Myself A Challenge..

Happy 1st of April! I’m feeling the Spring vibes and happiness that the sun seems to bring! The Spring air must have well and truly got to my brain because I’m about to set myself a challenge and no, this is not an April fool’s joke!

This may not be a big challenge to some, infact lots of people may achieve this every day. Not me, I am a potato. So here goes…

I, Misha Gray, set myself the challenge of walking 10k steps every single day throughout April. Done, there I’ve said it. I’ve blogged it. I HAVE to do it now!

The real challenge here is remembering to charge my Fitbit… I’m utterly useless at such a small task so that is a challenge in itself!

Why?

Well for one, I’m unfit and lazy! I need to move more and create new habits so I’m hoping setting this challenge will put me in the right frame of mind to get myself thinking differently and healthier. Secondly my clothes are getting a bit erm, snug! So there’s that! 💁‍♀️ We are off to Austria next month so I’d like to just feel that little bit happier with myself… I’m also going to eat healthier and stay well away from the Just Eat app! – All in the name of saving pennies and my ever expanding stomach!

Right. Let’s see how I do! 💪👟

Thank you for reading!

Monthly Music Favourites – March.

Hey! I’ve been terribly slack at these whole monthly posts! The time seems to fly by and I’m too busy trying to successfully adult that I can’t keep up!

In February we went to see Good Charlotte at Ally Pally in London, it was every bit incredible. They were promising a brilliant show unlike others and they delivered! They played songs they haven’t played in years and fireworks galore! Loved them! Good Charlotte will always be one of those feel good bands for me, whenever I listen to a song it takes me back to a time and a place and has me reminiscing… back in my day! 👵

Anyway, I’ve been reliving the whole gig through March and playing lots of Good Charlotte! Good Charlotte had three bands supporting them, The Dose, Boston Manor and Sleeping With Sirens.

Ok so the Dose.. I dont know if it was just me but slight Nirvana vibes going on there! Spotify them and let me know if you agree! 🤔

I had heard of Sleeping With Sirens so bopped along to the one song I knew thanks to Kerrang, they were good and I do really like the one song I knew but that was it really, not my cup of tea! ☕

Boston Manor. They stole it, they reeled me right in! Stage presence was tip top and their songs are so freaking catchy! They’re going to Slamdunk in May so I’m hoping to catch them again! I think I probably listened to them every day in March.

We also went to see Alien Ant Farm in Norwich again, we went last year and I just adore them. Again they’re a band I’ve grown up with whose songs pinpoint particular times in my life so it really gives me all the warm fuzzies when I get to see them!

POD were headlining the night of Alien Ant Farm, we stayed for a couple of their songs but I’m not the biggest fan, they opened with ‘Boom’ and we sacrificed seeing ‘Alive’ to leave early. Old age huns! 💁‍♀️

A band called ’98 were supporting POD and AAF. Just two men on their own grabbing an entire room and going for it. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them even though once again, the music wasn’t really my cup of tea I could appreciate how good they are at what they do and I’m staggered by the amount of energy and humour they put into their set!

So here is my March playlist! I’ve been loving every single one of these songs throughout the month!

Thank you for reading!