011. Go to 10 gigs or tours (6/10)

The end of October and beginning of November has been full of gigs, concerts and live events! It's been very busy and very expensive, but we've been to see some amazing people so far this year.

Since Russell Howard in February and Take That in June, we'd had a quiet time so far this year. We started off a very busy 5 weeks with Lee Evans at the London O2 on September 30.

October started and that was going to be the craziest month of all. On October 19 we saw Noah and the Whale at Norwich UEA, then just a few days later we were heading to Liverpool to see Jessie J. One week later we were back in London at the O2 for the Britney Spears 'Femme Fatale' tour. I actually love her, I believe she's an Angel!

Another four-day working week and it was back to London for Tinie Tempah, again at the O2 arena. He puts on an amazing show, we'd seen him twice already at Norwich UEA. I can honestly say, and we see a lot of people play the O2, I have never seen that venue so hyped - the whole arena was up on it's feet and jumping. I was a hot, sweaty mess afterwards, but what an atmosphere! I will remember that forever.

The next tour we're going to see is Sarah Millican in Hull on February 9. I went to University in Hull and haven't been back since I graduated, James bought me the tickets for my birthday. I'm really looking forward to it.

A Day In The Life - October 22 2011

This 'A Day In The Life' was inspired by a project at sh1ft.org - we were asked to record our October 22 2011, in 24 photos or less.

We had travelled up to Liverpool on Friday October 21 for a long weekend away. We had tickets to see Jessie J on Saturday October 22, this is my day.

Taking advantage of not having to be up early for work or an absurd international Formula One race, we laid in until after 8am (probably not most people's idea of a lie-in, but for us it was good). Breakfast in our hotel room courtesy of our mini kitchen, complete with fridge. By 10:30am we were ready to go.



Our plan was to head straight down to the Albert Dock and spend time walking around that area.



We did one lap of the Albert Dock and started the indoor exploration with the TATE Liverpool gallery. Now, I'm not a gallery type of person, I really only like the gift shops!



Dressed for winter, the TATE was incredibly warm! I was bored and there wasn't much to see so we moved onto the next, which was the Merseyside Maritime Museum. In there was the International Slavery Museum, which was the most interesting part. I also enjoyed the Titantic exhibitions, I cannot believe it is almost 100 years since the disaster.



By 1pm we were ready for some food and drink. After walking past a few of closed the restaurants earlier, they were now open for lunch, so we wandered back around the dock to find somewhere suitable. We ended up at the Miller & Carter Steakhouse knowing that they will definitely cater for my picky eating. I chose to have a grilled chicken breast burger and James ordered a beefburger, both plain with no sauce, no cheese and no mayo. When our food finally arrived my chicken was covered in bacon and barbecue sauce! James and I swapped plates, so I ended up with his beefburger and he enjoyed the free sauce and bacon that should've been paid extras. The service staff were also terrible! We felt ignored and sat with dirty plates on our table a long time after we'd finished eating. We tried everything, making eye contact with the waitresses just got us a blank response or a 'how are you' before wandering away. James had to literally flag down a waitress to take away the plates and bring us the bill so we could leave. Terrible! And it wasn't even busy.



After lunch we went to take a look at the Liverpool Wheel. It was very windy and the cabs seemed to sway a little bit too much for me. It's so small compared to the London Eye, it just scared me. So we just looked and left.



We'd walked past a confectionery shop round the Albert Dock and near that was the Funky Shake Bar - they made milkshakes out of chocolate bars! James chose a simple Rolo milkshake, I went for a special for just £1 extra! It was called 'Bubbles' - it contained Daim bar, Galaxy chocolate and was topped with Maltesers. Amazing!



By 3pm we were back at the hotel for sit down and rest before heading back out to the Jessie J gig. I enjoyed some iPad Twitter time and a read of my magazine.



All I wanted to do was stay in a have a nap, but it was time to put my face on ready to go out.



Not bad!



Converse on, the only type of footwear suitable to gigs at Universities! 5:45pm, we're out.



On the walk to the University we stopped off for food in Subway. Mine was a 6 inch chicken on hearty Italian bread, toasted, with lettuce and red onion. Yum.



We queued outside the venue for 45 minutes. So glad I took my hat, scarf and gloves - it was very chilly. Some girls who were queuing near us were just wearing dresses, no coat, cardigan or tights! WHAT!



We changed our chosen position for Jessie J a couple of times once we were inside. I always knew I was going to have a hard time seeing her when she got on stage, I don't generally do standing tickets for gigs but that was all that was available. She looked and sounded great, love the purple hair! And there was confetti at the end, shaped like hearts!



We got back to the hotel at 11pm, after a quick stop in Tesco for some chocolate and Mountain Dew. Aching feet from the walking, standing and dancing - glad to get those shoes off and relax.



Checked Twitter before bed. Jessie J loved her loud Liverpool crowd - yeah, that was me!

013. Eat at 10 new restaurants (4/10)

James and I had tickets to see Lee Evans at the O2 in London on September 30, before the show started we wanted to get dinner in one of the restaurants at the arena. The doors were due to open at 6:30pm, and we didn't arrive at the arena until after 5 so we thought that we'd end up queuing for a decent place to eat. Tucked round the corner behind a horrible display (probably left over from the Millennium Dome days) was a restaurant called Armadillo. The food was mostly American/Mexican, so a steak and fries suited me fine. Being quite out of the way it wasn't busy at all. At first my steak came out way under cooked, we sent it back to the kitchen. I got a new steak cooked just how I like it and even got a free bottle of Dr Pepper (this saved us buying a drink in the arena). It was nice, expensive, but nice. We'd already had fries for lunch at a Little Frankie's by Trafalgar Square, so I didn't get to try desserts!

By the time we were finishing our dinner queues had started to form outside Pizza Express just opposite. I can't imagine queuing for a restaurant table.....