SWEETIESAL

This is up there in terms of the most random but special things I have seen! Not only was the holiday destination pretty damn spectacular (The Ritz Carlton in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands), but a record label was holding their annual conference at the hotel and as one of only two families who were not involved in the conference, the invite was extended for us to join them at their gala party dinner. 

This was held in the most idyllic location on the hotel's private beach and their musical entertainment was none other than the actual Beach Boys. This was a fair few years ago and I remember at the time me and my sister were disappointed that it wasn't the Backstreet Boys, but I definitely think seeing the Beach Boys on a beach was pretty damn cool!

I'm hoping everyone gets the song reference rather than thinking what a weird title?!

I have always loved fashion and each year I would read all the magazines and blog entries on London Fashion Week and lap up those style spotting snaps around Somerset House. When I got an opportunity to attend a blogger hangout at #LFW with one of the top influencer agencies of the time, I was SO happy and merrily headed to London for the weekend. As basic as it probably sounds, I am really glad I went as it was something I had been interested in for so long and I did find the experience really exciting and fun. Moral of the story is if there is something you want to do then find a way to do it rather than listen to all those internal voices telling you reasons why not to do it.

Radcliffe's Great Runners

As these opportunities usually present themselves by email, this was no exception and was along the lines of  'could you help us out here at Francis House?'

Francis House Children's Hospice is a charity that I feel compelled to lend my support to in whatever way I can. Without going into too much detail, they do the most amazing work but get no support from the government, my grandad also wanted to support them and when he passed away I promised myself I would continue what he started.

Francis House had been asked if they knew anyone who had done the Manchester 10K and would be interested in doing some promotional activities with Paula Radcliffe who was launching 'Radcliffe's Great Runners' with a view to helping people achieve their fitness goals and run the Manchester 10K.

What followed was a really random but fun day doing radio, tv and interviews with Paula Radcliffe and talking about my experiences of doing the Manchester 10K. If you have been reading my posts for a while you will remember that I set myself the challenge of doing the 10K when I had literally zero running experience. It was hard work but actually very fun and extremely inspiring on the day reading all the reasons why people do it!

That time I tried on a ring that was almost as expensive as my mortgage...

Oh this was such a fun day. Hancocks Jewellers invited me in to their gorgeous store in Manchester and I could basically try on whatever I wanted and they educated me on their heritage and approach to fine jewellery - I blogged about my day here. My fave was the yellow diamond (pictured above) but at approx £142,000 it's probably not something I will ever get to wear ever again! As much as it was stunning it does blow my mind that you could wear something that is the equivalent cost of a property. I don't feel like even if money was no object I would think to spend this amount of money on jewellery!

Meeting Charlotte Tilbury

Beauty School Dropout

My contingency plan if I didn't go to uni was to study beauty therapy and my love for all things beauty has never gone away so I randomly decided to study Manicure and Pedicure at night school. I LOVED it... I was the class geek and even though I don't do nails I really enjoyed learning about something that interests me.


So there's a few of my reverse bucket list activities. What would be on yours?