Manchester 2024

 Hello, flowers!

This year is certainly one filled with travel! Rome, York, Dublin, and now Manchester! Yes, Charmine and I went on a UK holiday to Manchester in August. In the past, we've both briefly visited Manchester (separately) but wanted to explore the city properly. It was our first trip as a couple, and Manchester did not disappoint us at all!

We spent four days exploring Manchester. During that time, we drank lots of coffee, ate so much good food, and laughed a lot! Manchester is beautiful, filled with life, amazing artwork, and lovely people. 

On our first night, we went to a cocktail bar, The Wash House, which a good friend recommended. The cocktails were outstanding! When you enter the building it looks like a laundry mat, it's very cool. We tried a bunch of cocktails - all of which were very aesthetically pleasing! Both Charmine and I really enjoyed ourselves - neither of us is a big alcohol drinker, but they were so fun, and each cocktail had its own little narrative and backstory. It was an experience!

Before we left, we went to the bathroom, which had an epic disco ball. We clicked the button, and it was just so fun to see the room light up. The bar was so well thought out; it was more than just a place to drink; it was an interactive experience. 

One of our favourite spots was Afflecks, the infamous shopping place with the best vibes. We explored each floor, entered all the great indie shops, and even stopped at the photo booth!

I had to take a picture of some of the iconic things, the stairs, the outside artwork and a very cool glasses stand. We had coffee in Afflecks, too, and I enjoyed our many coffee stops during this trip.

I remember my first time visiting Afflecks, so I knew I just had to show Charmine - of course, it didn't disappoint.

We visited EveryMan cinema, we are huge cinema go-ers so we thought we'd catch a film while we were there. We saw Deadpool & Wolverine, it was funny. After the movie, we walked through a gallery and really explored the best we could. See some of the cool snaps I got during our trip:

Some of my favourite couple photos from our trip:

Manchester was an absolute blast! It was filled with lovely people (as expected) and is definitely a LGBTQ+ friendly city. If you're looking for a vibrant UK city to explore, I'd highly recommend it!

Manchester 2024

Thursday, 19 December 2024

Newcastle Pride 2024

 Hello, flowers!

This week, I want to share my favourite Pride so far! If you've been around a while or one of my very kind friends who supports my writing and blog, you will know I'm no stranger to Pride. I've been attending Pride since I was 14. As the L in LGBTQ+, I enjoy coming together with my community; this year was no different. Well, it was different. I attended Pride with my partner, and this was her first Pride!

I've only been to Newcastle and Brighton Pride, but both are epic! Every July has a three-day Pride event; my favourite day is Saturday. Saturday afternoon kicks off the Pride activities with a parade from the Civic Centre. It's my favourite part of Pride; it's filled with people being their true selves and enjoying who they are. Some people even bring along their furry friends for support. The parade is beautiful, flags galore, people cheering and seeing, and it's magnificent. The parade includes brands/businesses and people coming together to show Pride. It is a riot, but one in which we all get to be true ourselves and enjoy being around our community. No violence, just love. 

One of the things I love about my hometown is how people come together for the parade, shops put up displays and dances, and people cheer with allyship. I was fortunate to grow up in a city so accepting and diverse. There have been very few times I've ever been made to feel uncomfortable about my sexuality in my town. Pride, especially, has always made me cry for happiness. 

So, Charmine and I grabbed a coffee before we entered the parade. Coffee is needed for all the singing and dancing, and we did sing and dance!

Every year, I try to make the parade, even if it's the only thing I do. It simply fills me with so much joy and appreciation. I made more effort this year than I usually do; I was repping a Mason Denver non-binary receptionist of hell t-shirt, a huge lesbian flag I wore over my shoulders, and a rainbow flag on my cheek, which matched with Charmine.

We wore our rainbows and even blessed other people with some, too! Every soul is a kind of Pride. It is truly a spectacular community; each year, it always amazes me how incredible Newcastle is. 

I've always gone to Pride with my friends, but attending Pride with my partner was another lovely experience. She got to see Newcastle in all of its glory and beautiful support. Hundreds of people are in the Pride parade, and maybe even more are standing along the route, cheering it on. It's only an hour max, but it's fabulous. 

Pride events were spread out all over the city centre this year, you could go different places for different events. After the parade, we sat in the sun near the grassy civic area. I was actually interviewed by a student; they asked me questions about my sexuality and experience of Newcastle and Pride. It was wholesome, and I enjoyed talking about the past and present Pride events; plus, it was for their dissertation project; I remember all too well how strenuous they are, and any help really goes a long way. After the interview, I was told I gave good answers and spoke the most from any other interview- I wonder if this was a good thing, but I'll take it as a compliment. 

It was fabulous! I'm glad I got to take Charmine to her first Pride. Here's to our first of many together!

Newcastle Pride 2024

Wednesday, 13 November 2024

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care

Guess who has her reading spark back? I am back to reading and writing book reviews!

 
So, I recently read Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake. I came to write the review as soon as I finished but all I could fathom was: wow!

A day later, I can string a sentence longer than that together. I just have to say, I loved every second of this book. I went looking for this book months back, I saw the hype online and knew I’d love it. I’ve been feeling a little off about reading recently but this book has left me wanting to read more WLW books! 

This book tells the story of single photographer Delilah Green, she heads back to her to home town Bright Falls to be the photographer at her estranged sister's (Astrid Parker)  wedding. This is where she meets Claire Sutherland, again. Claire is one of  Astrid's closest friends, she has a daughter called Ruby and throughout the story, she struggles with abandonment due to her baby daddy constantly leaving them. Delilah and Claire hit it off, and we follow them through a secretive, steamy queer romance.

 
I love Delilah Green, she reminds me a lot of Shane from L Word (the OG series) but more femme. I loved reading her point of view more than Claire's but the stories were told well side by side.  Claire is fun, sexy and curvey. I cannot fathom how happy it made me feel seeing bigger women in romance novels especially getting her happy ever after! It took me a little while to really understand Claire, but once I did she easily became such a fabulously relatable character.

The build-up between Delilah and Claire was intense, steamy, and always left me wanting more. I have never wanted a couple to be together more than I did these two. I finished the book in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. I had to know what happened in the end.

I read the book for some woman-loving-woman romance and I got so much more than that. I really liked the dynamic between Delilah and her step-sister Astrid. At first, I didn’t like Astrid but I loved how they worked things out and really managed to bond and be there for each other in the end. I love the whole sister helping sister bond and being strong for it (RE: Elsa & Anna). 

I cried at several points in the book, at one point it was Delilah bonding with Ruby and they are a moment together where Delilah introduces her to photography and they really connect, I cried so much. It was the fact that Delilah could really see herself in Ruby, and Claire observing it was so great. I also cried at the breakup, it had me bawling. The story really takes you on an emotional rollercoaster but nothing too exhausting. 

There isn't a single fault I have with this story, it was beautiful, steamy, and just fabulous. If you haven't read it yet, you really should!

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care

Sunday, 16 October 2022