Last week was wonderful.

The Bloke and I watched Matilda on Monday night at the Birmingham Hippodrome. I’d heard endless good things and was intrigued to see how it transferred to the stage, and in many ways it didn’t disappoint. The set was incredible, the songs and choreography were great and some of the actors in particular (Bruce Bogtrotter, Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey) were fabulous. However, it wasn’t completely my thing – I’m an enormous RENT freak and the shows that I have enjoyed the most have much more of a rock inspired content (Rock of Ages being one of my favourites) and while the child actors were certainly talented, I found it difficult to totally understand their dialogue at times. There was also a technical hitch in the second half which caused the show to be suspended for a little while, so by the time it finished it felt excessively long. It’s certainly something that I’m glad we had the opportunity to watch, but probably not something that I would rush to see again.

I met one of my favourite people – blogger and author Shelley Wilson – for lunch on Tuesday. It turned out to be quite eventful. I managed to surpass myself by managing to miss four – yes, that’s FOUR – buses all at once, sweating profusely after breaking into a run, only to see all four buses that were waiting at the stop pull away at the same time. They made me run for nothing. Consequently, this made me fifteen minutes late and when I arrived I found Shelley being entertained by a rather talented accordion player outside Waterstones. I had predicted in advance that Shelley (as a book enthusiast) would take the opportunity to arrive early so she could go and buy some books and she didn’t let me down – greeting me with a hug while clutching a Waterstones bag containing numerous new purchases. After a healthy breakfast we went to Bacchus Bar, our favourite place, where we spent hours talking, laughing and eating (I was on a cheat day) – I had a sausage sandwich, Shelley had a fish finger sandwich and we both had chips. Yum. As it had been a while since I had eaten anything unhealthy I may have been a little too enthusiastic about it, particularly when we were discussing Scott Eastwood’s performance in The Longest Ride and the resulting appreciative noise I made while I had a mouthful of sausage and chips was perhaps rather loud. I also managed to show her how much I was enjoying her company by accidentally launching a pint of cordial in her general direction, spilling it all over the table, floor and part of her seat.

That’s the beauty of spending the day with me – I will turn up late, accidentally make completely inappropriate noises while eating and then throw my drink at you. I’m a good friend. 

On Friday I went dress shopping for a friend’s wedding the following day. I can’t remember the last time I wore a dress, but the weight loss had inspired me with the confidence to at least try some on. I ended up finding one in Jacques Vert, and it was beautiful. Unfortunately, with it being the hottest day of the year the changing rooms were hotter than Hades and so while the dress looked nice, the rest of me looked like I had just done a two hour hot yoga session. I felt a little guilty handing back all of the dresses that I had tried on to the assistants – ‘here, take the dresses back… you don’t mind that I have just sweat all over them, do you?’

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful. Held on the top floor of the Park Regis Hotel in the city, The Bloke and I watched as Marika and James said their vows with the view of the city skyline behind them. The bride was gorgeous, the bridesmaids were gorgeous, the venue was gorgeous… I had received an awesome surprise just before the ceremony started when my friend appeared after secretly traveling from Spain – nobody except the bride knew and The Bloke managed to capture my delighted expression when she walked through the door. We were joined by another one of our friends and spent the rest of the day and evening catching up, eating lovely food and dancing (until my trusty shoes decided to randomly fall apart). 

And to top it all off, the weather was amazing. Unfortunately, I think the heat may have broken the cat…

What an amazing week, filled with fun, friends, laughter and numerous memories to hold on to…

What about you guys? How has your week been?