11 THINGS I LEARNED AT CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

So last week I was lucky enough to be whisked away to Paris for an evening at Cirque du Soleil TOTEM!  I'd never witnessed a show before, and this included the whole experience, including a backstage tour - so I thought I'd document my time there and put together a lil piece for you guys; here are 11 things I learned at Cirque du Soleil!

Reading Festival 2016

Download Festival 2016

Despite it being dubbed as 'Drownload' this year, the line-up and atmosphere totally made-up for the stormy weather, and once again, Download has made it into one of the best weekends of my year!  See what I got up to after the jump!

Exploring Camden Market

Slam Dunk Festival 2016

Catwalks, Shopping & Cakes | LFW Day 3

IT'S A LONG ROAD THROUGH THE NIGHT

Now that I'm living in central London, I've made it my resolution to explore the city more, so I had a day out with Tessa to explore, where we visited a couple of galleries.  I also want to introduce more lifestyle posts to my blog, so I thought I'd combine an outfit post with 'what I did today' to bring you this - more after the jump!

72 Hours In Amsterdam

I have far too many posts that I've half-written then moved on from, leaving them forgotten in my drafts, and I'm determined to let them see the light of day, as some of them already have hours of work put into them!  This one is about my little trip to Amsterdam in July last year - I had a blast so thought I'd finally publish it!

The Man In The High Castle #AmazonVideoClub

My 2015 in Bloopers

 

Instead of a resolutions post that I know I won't stick to, I thought I'd scour through my shoots and bring you some of the photos that didn't make the original cut (for obvious reasons).  I have accumulated a load of my derpy moments to show you it's not always plain sailing when shooting photos!

The Holidays are Here! #AmazonVideoClub

JOIN OUR #AMAZONVIDEOCLUB!

Thank sweet baby Jesus that term has ended and the stress is all over (aside from Christmas shopping that is!).  I've literally spent every day since binge-watching shows with no regrets whatsoever - it's been awesome.  

I'm working on an exciting project with Amazon Video which I'm thrilled about, and I love the concept!  They have created the #AmazonVideoClub with me and a couple of other bloggers and I can't wait to discover new shows, keep reading to find out more!

Festival Number 6

 

I'm sad to be writing that this will be my last festival diary of 2015 (perhaps the reason I've put this post off for so long - sorry I've been so busy with uni!) but at least Festival Number 6 ended the season with a bang.  Thanks to the lovely people over at Funkin' Cocktails, I got to party the weekend away in the mountains of Portmeirion with my best friend and blogger pallys, Kayla and Jo!

The journey up was pretty long, but 6 hours of travelling was totally worth it when we arrived at a massive bell tent, with a huge bundle of Funkin' Cocktail mixers to sort us for the weekend!  We all had air mattresses with a foam layer on top to make them super comfy, complete with pretty bedding, so all we had to bring was our clothes and ourselves - so much easier than lugging all your camping gear there!

   

The arena had a gorgeous view of the mountains, and was large, but still pretty intimate.  All the attendees were super chilled and there was a friendly atmosphere all round.  Below it looks a little cloudy, but we were blessed with gorge weather most of the weekend which I was very chuffed about!

The first thing we checked out in the arena was a big tent filled with independent brand's stalls - some selling handmade goods, others with vintage, it was an incredible variety, and everything was just so pretty! 

  

  

We spent a hearty amount of time at the Old Mout tent; drawn in initially by the trampolines, we bounced on over to free samples, which obviously lead to buying a couple ciders, they are pretty damn delish!  A gospel choir led a karaoke session and I was this close to having a go myself, but hadn't got enough liquid confidence yet - thank the lord it was a cider bar and not a wine bar or my awful wailing would have taken over!

Festival No. 6 has definitely topped all festivals I've been to this year in the realms of food.  There were so many independent stalls offering amazing looking food - I feasted on the likes of gourmet mac 'n' cheese, premium scotch eggs, and my favourite festival food of the summer, Pieminister pies!

      

Mark Ronson was a stand-out act on Friday - his DJ set was filled with hits and we danced the night away.  I saw Catfish and the Bottlemen at Latitude, but their set was spilling out the tent so it wasn't too great an experience - this time we got close to the front on the main stage and they killed it, definitely one to listen to if you're into Arctic Monkeys.  I also loved Everything Everything - despite being to a few festivals they played this year, they've always clashed with another act.  They played a mix of old and new material, and the new stuff is so catchy you didn't need to know it already - I've been listening to their latest stuff since and absolutely love it!



Of course I can't go without gushing over Portmeirion village.  Walk through an archway in the arena and you are transported to a pastel paradise - all buildings designed by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis to look like a quaint italian village.  I especially loved the big pink unicorn building (future home please??) and if you ventured into the forest there were hidden stages everywhere, and glades with DJ set-ups, with huge art installations in the branches.  We climbed up to the very top to find the most breathtaking view of the beach - I'd love to return to Portmeirion someday when it's not filled with festival-goers!

  

Of course we had to frolic about on the beach, and we picked the perfect weekend to do so.  After wandering through the woods for quite a while, we found a rope that took us down to the beach.  A little sketchy (especially in tiny shorts), but throwing our shoes off and running into the sea was so much fun - how many festivals are there where you can take a beach break right??  It was so sunny that it seriously felt like we were sunning ourselves in Spain or somewhere exotic, the only giveaway that it was Wales was the surrounding green hills!

    
All-in-all it was a magical weekend, and it's making me so sad that the summer is over, bring on summer 2016!
A mahoooosive thank you to Funkin Cocktails for making the weekend possible - it was truly a festival like no other, hopefully see you next year, FN6!

AMY X

Reading Festival 2015

Reading Festival is always the festival everyone's waiting for - it's the perfect way to end the summer with a bang, especially with such a killer line-up!  2015 was my 10th year in the fields, and it was definitely one to remember.

I'm very much used to camping at festivals as I've had to do it countless times, but the novelty really starts to wear off, and at the end of a long day of dancing you just want some peace and quiet, and a comfy bed.  I stayed in Pink Moon Camping* and I was so glad I did - your tent is already put up when you arrive, and there's fancy toilets and showers, a tent to re-charge your phone, and even a beauty room with hairdryers, mirrors ands straighteners, to get your festival look on point!  Our rainbow tipi was so spacious, and because we got the package with an inflatable mattress and sleeping backs included, we only had to bring clothes with us - better than lugging a whole campsite around!  It's also a 5 minute walk from white car park, so on Monday morning, the journey home wasn't daunting at all - a superb experience all-round, and now I don't ever want to camp in 'regular' camping again!

 

Reading really is a festival for everyone, with an eclectic mix of genres from metal to dance, no one's experience is going to be identical, which is what I love about it!  Friday kicked off with some throwback acts like All Time Low, Panic! At The Disco and Limp Bizkit (who put on an incredible set).  Alt-J were gripping as ever, and Reading was the third time I've seen them this year.  I'm a huge fan of the new album, preferring it over the first, but I was a little sad they didn't play The Ripe & Ruin!  The night finished off with Mumford & Sons, who I was seriously looking forward to.  I saw them back in 2010 and have been dying to again since.  The atmosphere was amazing, and it was the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

 


Saturday was the day I was seriously buzzing for, as Alexisonfire returned to the stage after 3 years out of the game, an act I never thought I'd see!  I stayed at the main stage for most of the day, as it was one incredible act after another - Royal Blood killed it with their bold riffs, and of course Bring Me The Horizon brought the thunder, playing their new That's The Spirit hits.  Nature kindly co-operated to bring us a gorgeous sunset, and they ended on an anthem, Drown.  Of course, Metallica were the headliner and they rocked the house - amazing to see such a legendary band!

 

Sunday started earlier than I thought it would, as I wanted to catch the Black Foxxes set.  Turns out we got the time wrong and only caught the last 2 songs which sucked, but at least it got me out of bed at a reasonable hour!  It was a lazy day of being hungover and flitting between stages and having a shop around the stalls.  Later on we caught Jamie T's set and he really got the crowd going - I saw his secret set last year so it was cool that he got to return, this time to the main stage!
Manchester Orchestra were the act I was most looking forward to all day - I got into them when the line-up was first released, and I've been totally obsessed since.  They definitely did not disappoint, and I was over the moon after finally seeing them live - was upset how short the set seemed though!
I'm not much of a Libertines fan, so after Kendrick Lamar we caught some of Deadmau5, then went off to the campsite to party!


 

Unfortunately (yet unsurprisingly) the English weather wasn't perfect, but my survival kit from Insurance2Go really helped out!  The waterproof case kept my phone safe from the rain, and solar charger kept it going so I could keep you guys up to date with my weekend, plus the speaker meant we could have our own music at camp!

Leanne and I got to hang with some awesome people in the press area, and I got to meet some seriously incredible artists.  We saw Frank Iero wandering around and we went straight up to him for a photo - I was the biggest MCR fan so I knew I'd regret it if I left it - he's so chill and lovely!  Loz and Aaran from While She Sleeps also wandered in, and naturally I had to have a photo as I was wearing my brainwashed tee!

 

All in all, Reading Festival this year was unforgettable - it's always been my favourite festival and it just gets better every year!  The atmosphere is always so friendly and it's awesome to be surrounded by people who love music as much as you do!  HUGE thank you to the people at Reading Festival for having me - bring on Reading 2016!
AMY X