WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING DURING LOCKDOWN

Wednesday

Like many other countries across the world, the UK has gone into lockdown due to the coronavirus and we have been told we shouldn't go out unless completely necessary.

Whilst staying indoors, I have been keeping track of all the things I have been up to beside working from home, so I can share it with you.

Paint splash with caption from wool of the king

Disney+ and Netflix

A couple of weeks ago, Disney+ came out in the UK, so I decided to pre-order it so that I could watch it in isolation. I have to say, I have not been disappointed! I must have watched something from Disney+ every day since having it, as well as watching Netflix as usual.

Paint by numbers

Giraffe paint by numbers painting

Knowing I wouldn't be able to go anywhere for a while, I ordered myself a paint by numbers kit on Amazon. I have been working on this for a few weeks now and I have found it very therapeutic.

Home work outs

I have also being doing some exercise at home with my friends on facetime. I did try a yoga with Adriene video but I am completely useless at yoga. I am pleased I tried though.

What else?

In addition to keeping myself occupied, I am also trying to tick things off of my ongoing self admin to-do list. I got my Google Analytics for Beginners certificate. I have also been clearing out some make-up and have cleaned my make-up brushes which was long overdue.

Girl doing yoga with Adrienne

There is a lot more I hope to complete before lockdown is over. I would like to write more blog posts for you and would also like to update my CV with all of my new internship information.

How do I stay positive?

In times like these, it can be hard to stay positive. The way I try and look at it is, every day is a day closer to being back to normal. There will be an end to this and even though it is hard to plan things at the moment, when this is all over you will be more grateful for everything that you do.

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Wool of the King

21ST BIRTHDAY IN LOCKDOWN

Tuesday

I'm 21!!! I did have a lot of plans for my 21st but sadly wasn't able to do any of them due to lockdown as they included going to Rome and going out for food and drinks in Bristol. 

21st birthday in lightbox

However, this didn't stop me from having a good birthday on Friday. First of all, mum, dad and I had smoked salmon bagels with cream cheese and champagne for breakfast, in true Gossip Girl style. Then, mum made her famous sausage rolls in place of a birthday cake as I prefer them to cake. It's safe to say they didn't last the night!

sausage roll birthday cake tower

Later on we sat down to watch Gordon, Gino and Fred's Road Trip just as a bit of downtime before our 3 person party in the evening.

The 3 of us had a fancy dress party just to make it a bit different to a normal Friday night. I have to say, I do feel like a saddo even typing this but it was funny. We also challenged the rest of our family to dress up and facetime us with their best fancy dress. We had a great turnout. 

Girl in Hawaiian fancy dress

My friends, family and Joe really did outdo themselves to help me celebrate my birthday, even if I couldn't see anyone but my mum and dad. My uni friends made a video montage of them all saying happy birthday to me. They also made a music video of my funniest moments at uni, and made up their own lyrics haha. I was shook.

Even though I didn't have the birthday I'd planned, it was still so much fun and I'm sure I will celebrate again when things are back to normal, just as an excuse to party.

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LinkedIn: Lauren Kenny

Wool of the King

2020 plans and wishes

Sunday

Happy new year everyone!
This time of year is not my favourite by any means. Christmas has just finished and it's back to reality. At this time of year, I usually like to have lots of things planned to look forward to, to get through the January blues. So, I thought I would share my new year goals and plans with you.

2020 cake candles

What I've got on

My first thing of the year to look forward to is seeing Jack Whitehall this Wednesday. He is definitely my favourite comedian and I've never actually watched stand up comedy before so it will be a new experience entirely.

Still being a typical student, I have a good amount of nights out planned too. I don't go out as much on my internship because the nightlife in my hometown is awful which is why I need to plan them in advance in other cities. I'll also be going to Bournemouth 7s Festival again in May and my uni summer ball which is basically a 1 day festival in June.

For Christmas, I got a ticket to see Mamma Mia the musical in Southampton in February with my mum and grandma. Mamma Mia is my favourite musical ever I just love ABBA and both of the films so much! We're also going to see 9 to 5 The Musical in June. Super exciting stuff!

What I hope to get up to

As Joe is living in London until September there's a lot more trips there that need to be done. I've been looking at lots of cool things for us to do in London for each time I visit so keep an eye on my Instagram channels.

I am also hoping to go away for my 21st birthday in April but struggling to decide where. Let me know of any European cities you would recommend!

One of my goals for 2020 is to travel as much as I did in 2019, if not more. In 2019 I was lucky enough to go to Mallorca, Dublin, Amsterdam and Dortmund. 

I also just want to see friends as much as possible too because adulting is hard and often means you don't get to see good friends as much.

I'd love to know your 2020 goals and what you have planned. I'm sure I will plan stuff as I go along anyway.

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Wool of the King

Photos: Pexels.

A LONG WEEKEND IN AMSTERDAM

Monday


I feel like my social media is always filled with pictures of Amsterdam and I finally had the chance to go, thanks to my friends who are doing internships over there this year. We went for 3 nights but I'd love to go for longer, there's still so many things to see and do.

Amsterdam Canals

It is such a beautiful city and it feels like you're in all of the Instagram pictures that you see when you walk through it. Although, sometimes when you see a beautiful building, there can be a half naked woman stood at the bottom,which took me by surprise every time. I was definitely too British for that part of Amsterdam. 

When we arrived in Amsterdam, one of the first things we did was try MOAK pancakes. I was boring and went for just blueberry pancakes but it was the best option. The pancakes were so nice I didn't need all of the works. They even had cheese and onion pancakes?

Penis at the sex museum Amsterdam


In light of our lads on tour themed trip, we did what lads would do, we went to the Sex Museum. I have to admit, I just wanted to get a touristy photo next to the giant willy and I did! Other than that I don't really remember much except from photos of naked people everywhere, standard. Entry is only 5 euros though, definitely worth it for a laugh.

Amsterdam is quite an expensive city and we were very ambitious with the amount of euros we took out, we did have to get more. But it's worth it, we had some good food. My favourite food was the Stroopwaffels. If you know me, you're probably bored of me talking about these but they are so nice! I found a Dutch shop in London and I now have 4 packs at home. Obsessed!


Another one of my favourite things about Amsterdam is that on every other street they have cheese shops that do little free samples of cheese! On the last day we had already done everything we wanted to do and didn't have much planned so we went on a kind of free cheese crawl. I am actually surprised I can still fit into my jeans after Amsterdam, honestly.

We were so lucky to be able to stay with friends who took us to do such nice things. They took us on a boat tour around the Amsterdam canals which was so pretty and they took us to De Hallen which is a big food hall with lots of different types of food. It was a bit like an indoor Camden market if I'm describing it in Brit terms.

The weather was not great, it was freezing and really rainy but that's no different to England right now really and it didn't really affect anything.



A post shared by Wool of the King Blog⭐️ (@wooloftheking1) on

I almost forgot to mention that we went around the Anne Frank House. This is probably the top thing from our trip that I'd recommend to anyone. It was so emotional and so interesting. Tickets for this need to be bought online in advance, probably prior to your trip because it's a busy attraction but tickets aren't too expensive.

Let me know your favourite place to travel to or where you'd most like to go!

With special thanks to Maddie and Maike for making sure we had such a good time in Amsterdam.

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