I'll start at March 31st. I went to donate blood again, for the first time in quite a while. I didn't realise until I received an updated donor card in the mail that that was my fifth donation! I've successfully given about half a human body's worth of blood. I'm also reassured that my iron levels are healthy, or they wouldn't have let me donate.
I found out the next day that I had lost four pounds in two weeks. I am still slightly suspicious of the scales, seeing as I weighed myself on April Fool's, so it was probably lying. But I'm pretty pleased with myself considering I wasn't trying especially hard to lose anything. I think getting back to drinking plenty of water, eating three meals, sleeping better, and moving around more is paying off all by itself. Imagine what a little effort on my part could do.
On April 6th, I had a mini birthday with my Dad. We went to Costa for lunch (where I tried the mango & passionfruit cooler - delicious!) and while we were in town, I got some more hair dye too. My roots are ridiculous, and I'm hoping Kim can come cut my hair soon so I can not look like Stig of the Dump. I saw my Nan for a while, which was nice as I've not seen her for ages. Then Dad, Kath and I had pizza and chips from the kebab shop and it was glorious. They gave me my presents and some birthday money (as well as the Easter eggs Dad forgot to give me the week before). I got a fancy handmade wine glass, a bottle of wine, Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee, and a few other cute bits and pieces. The birthday high began at this point.
My birthday was brilliant too. I was woken up by Ryan before he went to work and he gave me my present from him - an apron with a zombie in a chef's hat on it and the words 'The Baking Dead'. It's so funny and it will accompany me on my baking adventures. I got some nice presents from Mum and Martin, as well as a bunch more birthday money from various relatives. Mum and I went to get Caz (where I got a few more presents from Kate, Caz, and Susie!) and we went to Frankie & Benny's for lunch. I was disappointed in how downhill our branch of it has gone. The cutlery was filthy, service was sluggish, and it just wasn't as good as it used to be. I was gutted, because I hadn't been for ages and was really looking forward to it. Later, I was so full that I just slobbed around on my bed for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening, Mum and I had a few drinks.
Also, Mum got me a Star Wars cake:
Saturday was brilliant. Susie and I went to Bristol; on the train there, we decided to have a flutter on the Grand National and bet on a few horses in the race later that day. It was raining when we got there, which sucked, so we holed up in Patisserie Valerie. I had a hot chocolate and a slice of Black Forest gateau. Heaven! It took us some time to get going again because we were in sugar comas.
We took a turn around a few clothes shops, but of course I found nothing that I liked enough to buy. That's always the way when I have birthday money or similar; I want everything until I have the money to spend, and then everything is awful. We then walked down to our favourite chip shop in Bristol, Catch-22, and had the best chips and curry sauce. Out of the window, we could see the Marriott where a wedding party was having photos taken; the bride looked so pretty and the happiness was contagious. I love weddings.
The weather was still crap, so we went to the Watershed, an indie cinema near the waterfront. We watched High Rise, and it was brilliant! So funny and incredibly surreal. Tom Hiddleston was brilliant, and absolutely gorgeous, and the movie also contains one of my ultimate old-man crushes, Jeremy Irons. Susie and I were laughing about the movie for the rest of the day. I would recommend you go see it if you enjoy sex, violence, and surreal movies that serve as a metaphor for one man's nervous breakdown, and how easily society could collapse if we let it. So good!
We had a cocktail in the McKenzie's at Bristol, which we were not impressed with. Susie's Cosmo was warm, the service took ages, and the 2-for-1 offer suddenly didn't apply to anything except for one drink. It was frustrating, and I can't believe I've found a business that's better in Swindon than Bristol, but our McKenzie's is so much better. Another reason our visit there was crap was because I live streamed updates on the Guardian website to keep up with the Grand National and one of the horses we bet on came second. How annoying is that?? We were pretty gutted because we could have gotten a decent bit of money - our horse's odds were 12/1.
The Bootlegger was our next stop. We had a couple of drinks there, and Susie's friend Andy joined us. He's a misanthropic PhD student and he's lovely. He was a good addition to our little group. We went to another pub down the road, that I don't remember the name of. It had taxidermy everywhere, and was lively and crowded. I enjoyed it. We had some drinks there, before we had to get going for the train home. We stopped at Sainsbury's to grab a bit of food and mini bottles of Prosecco for the journey. Yes, we drank it on the train like chavs.
Back in Swindon, we decided the night wasn't quite over, and went to McKenzie's. Several frozen daiquiris later, we were exhausted and ready to get to bed. So I got a cab home and promptly passed out in bed. I had such a good time in Bristol, and I'm glad the weather cleared up a bit towards the evening (when we came out from the cinema the sun was shining and most of the clouds had gone). However, this past week I've eaten mostly crap, and I'm totally feeling it. I feel physically rough and incredibly tired - I need to get back to eating normally and drinking plenty of water. It's quite amazing how you notice how much junk food affects your body if you cut down on it for a while.
I've been coughing and spluttering since last Tuesday, which is just fab because I've only just gotten over the crap virus I had after getting back from Berlin. I keep needing to clear my throat and it's annoying me so much. I almost had no voice at work on Tuesday and Friday. Speaking of work, tomorrow my probation period ends! Wahoo!
I am totally in love with Tofu Cute, a UK-based store that imports and sells all sorts of Japanese products. I got a package that I ordered (I got a box of strawberry Pocky, a pen with a lucky cat, and a pen that looks like a milk bottle and has erasable gel) the other day and it's so cute! I have an extensive wishlist on there, and I'm having to be really disciplined because I'll buy everything if I don't watch myself. It's all so cute!
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