Over the August Bank Holiday weekend, I spent the Saturday and Sunday at Bournemouth 7s Festival. I had my ticket booked so long ago and was due to go in May 2020, so I felt like writing about my experience there.
If you have been following me for a while, you may remember that in lockdown last year, I tried recreating Bournemouth 7s Festival in my back garden.
Related: Throwing a festival lockdown party
Luckily I was able to stay at a friend's house so I didn't have to do any camping. I'm so glad, it was such a tiring weekend so I needed the proper sleep in a bed.
Day 1
For day 1 my friends and I went out for breakfast so we could line our stomachs and started drinking pre-lunch time. No judgment here it was a big weekend! We had some more pre-drinks at the house before heading to the festival at around 2pm.
The queue for day 1 was pretty long as we had to show covid passes or test results, tickets, ID, and our bags all in different places.
When we arrived we tried out all of the different music tents and got the drinks in. The sponsored drink this year was White Claw, which I really think helped me out. Because it's a hard seltzer which is quite watery, it was so easy to drink all day and was quite hydrating. They were also not too strong so I didn't overdo it too early. Incidentally, water was £3 and these cans were £4!
The headlining act on day 1 was Ella Eyre. She was good but the main tent was so full and we were so far back that we couldn't really see that well and it was getting a bit crowded, so we ended up just going to an RnB tent which was so good.
Day 2
Again, we had a couple of drinks before leaving for 7s, some of us were more hungover than others (I am smug because it's usually me but I felt amazing - thank you White Claws). We left for 7s earlier and there was no queue as we all had wristbands by that point so got in a lot quicker.
We did actually watch about 5 minutes of rugby on Sunday, I know it's mainly for sports but I much prefer just dancing and listening to music to watching the sports (sorry!)
After that we did a bit of the Bingo Lingo which was good, my feet were killing from the day before and there was still so much walking be done so I was just grateful for sitting down really.
As for the rest of the day, it was pretty much the same as the day before, just going between tents and dancing listening to the different music.
We didn't end up seeing the headlining act, but I can't remember who it was anyway and the other tents had such good music anyway that it didn't really matter.
It feels quite weird now because that was the last event in Bournemouth that I'll probably go to for a while because I've finished uni there now. But I'm looking forward to more events in the future.
Have you been to any festivals this year?
This year is the year of the staycation. As annoying as it is that we can’t go abroad, it’s much better for the planet and it reduces your carbon footprint. Did you know that a flight from London to Rome produces 234kg of CO2? That is the same amount that the average person in Sierra Leone produces in a year! A flight from London to New York is 986kg of CO2, which is more than the average person in 56 countries use per year, including Paraguay. (figures from The Guardian)This is a guest post by Caroline from Enviroline Blog.
Tote bag
Reusable water bottle
Spare bags
Cutlery
Travel mug
So I finally got round to reading Women Don't Owe You Pretty by Florence Given and thought why not share my thoughts with you? This is my first time writing a book review so I hope you enjoy and let me know if you'd like to see more of these.
First of all, the book was written by Florence Given, who is currently a 22-year-old writer, artist and influencer - the same age as me!
What is the book about?
It's a non-fiction book that talks all about the different areas of being a woman. There are different chapters about relationships, body image, building an identity and the difficulty in doing this in a world rooted in racism, misogyny and sexism.
It is a mainstream dive into feminism and is easily accessible for those who don't want to read mounds of feminist literature but still want to learn about feminism and the need for gender equality.
The aim of this book is to challenge the ideas you thought you already had about the world, gender and identity. Due to studying a lot of the things the book covers at university, I already knew a lot of what was in it however, this book still taught me a lot and has changed my way of thinking even more.
Related: 5 books I wish I'd read sooner
Additionally, the book is filled with beautiful illustrations that Florence Given has created herself. At times, there are triggering subjects talked about such as rape or sexual trauma, (with appropriate trigger warnings in place) and these images just lift you back up after reading about these topics.
This book is definitely relevant at the moment, in a world where some people may even think what? Of course we have gender equality by now? By reading this book, you will know that we don't in this society still.
Should you read this book?
I would definitely recommend this book and I feel like this is an important read for everyone. I definitely learnt a lot and feel like everyone needs to read what is in this book. It hits you with cold hard truths that we all need to hear.
Related: The art of blog writing E-book
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts?
As a lot of people are travelling more now, whether that be around the UK or abroad, it's important to know what to pack. Many of us will be out of the swing of it due to various coronavirus restrictions on travel, especially abroad.
For this reason, I am going to share with you a few of my travel essentials. I usually try to pack as light as possible because I hate having to carry heavy bags when I go anywhere, so this will probably be bare essentials and I may miss some stuff out that is important to you. These are just my tips.
5 essentials you need for travelling
1. A separate purse or wallet
Related: UK cities you need to visit
2. Miniatures
3. Hand sanitiser
4. Portable charger
5. Pain killers
Related: 10 European cities you need to visit
You might be thinking, what is a media kit and why I need one? Well, I'm here to answer these questions and give you some advice on creating one, and what to include.
What is a Media Kit?
A media kit is a document that bloggers, content creators and influencers use to show information about their platform. It's usually shared to brands so they can learn more about the creators they are working with.
If you want to work with brands, it's important to have a media kit that you can keep up to date with your stats. This way if you are emailing a brand to work with them, you don't need to send a long email about the views you receive on your blog or the engagement you get on your social posts. You can keep all this information in your media kit and attach it, such a time saver.
I used Canva to create my media kit and made sure the branding aligned with the colours I have used across my blog and social media channels to keep it all consistent. Mine is also only 3 pages because I feel like for now, that is all that's needed but yours may be more or less depending on how much information you want to put in. I would try to keep it to around 2-5 pages though, to try and be concise.
What to include
- A short bio about what your platform/blog is about.
- A photo of yourself.
- Who your main target audience is.
- Your blog and social media platfroms and stats - I just included followers on my socials, my blog views and blog domain authority, but you may wish to include social engagement rates too. Make sure these are up to date before you send it to brands.
- Brands you have worked with in the past. This is optional, if you are new to this you won't be able to add this just yet but it's just a good way to show your experience if you have it.
How to use it
Bit of a chatty one - I just thought I'd update you all on my life as I have finished university!
A few years ago, I wrote posts on applying to uni and wrote updates on how my first year was going, but since then I haven't really spoken about it that much on here.
So after 4 years of being a Communication and Media student at Bournemouth University, I have finally finished and I got a 2:1 overall with a 1st in my dissertation! I am now working as a Social Media and Communications Coordinator for the same organisation I did my internship with between second and third year.
I am so glad I went to uni it was such a good experience, obviously there were some downs but I wouldn't change it. I won't get into all of my highlights and lowlights for the year because that would take forever. Maybe I will do that when I am really missing uni but for now I just wanted to update you all.
Related: Top tips for starting university
What have I learnt?
To be honest, I feel like most of the stuff I learnt was about adult life and what kind of person I am rather than academic. Obviously I did learn a lot about media too, I feel like I can never watch a film or read a newspaper article properly again without analysing every word or every scene. But reflecting back, the experiences I had will mean more to me than that kind of stuff (sorry lecturers).
It was a shame that Covid kind of got in the way a little bit of my final year but I have still been able to do lots of fun things with my friends. 2021 is definitely the year of the bottomless brunch!
Luckily, because I live an hour away from Bournemouth I can go and visit whenever I want and I will still have friends living there.
I live in a very small town where I'm never really pushed out of my comfort zone so uni really helped push me to make friends and put myself out there (usually helped by a little Dutch courage too).
Where do we go from here?
As I mentioned before, I am starting my career in social media marketing and I am really enjoying it so far. I'm really looking forward to see how my career goes too. At the moment I am still learning about it while working.
I've had a few questions about university and applying to jobs so if you want to know anything, please feel free to ask me.
Related: 7 ways to enhance your CV
To be honest, I just can't believe uni is over it's so weird how quickly it went. I still feel the same age as when I started too, I feel like everyone says that.
It definitely feels like the end of an era but also not in some ways because I am still planning to keep in touch with all my uni pals as much as possible.
I am not affiliated with Free Trade but if you download the app through my referral link I will get a free share too.
OK this is my first ever 'money blogger' post and I am really excited. I have been following money bloggers lately and my favourite way to make money on the side that isn't through blogging is through Free Trade. As a blogger, I will often write sponsored blog posts which helps make me a little extra cash too.
I first heard about Free Trade from Reinventing Neesha who you need to follow ASAP if you don't already. She will teach you all you need to know about making passive incomes and saving money.
What is Free Trade?
Free Trade is a trading app you can download on your phone. At first, this put me off a bit because I don't really know anything about stocks and shares, but you don't need to know much when you are using the free shares.
Basically, they give out free shares between £3-£200 when you refer a friend to you, and to the new friend downloading the app for the first time.
If you want to receive free money between £3-£200 then keep reading
This post contains my monthly advertisers.
Welcome to another Meet My Advertisers post. This will actually be my last advertisers post for a while. I have started a new job after finishing uni so have a bit less free time on my hands so I want to focus on creating my other content and writing my weekly blogs.
I have loved sharing some amazing blogs with you and will let you know if I start my advertising service again, but for now this will be my last.
Anyway, keep reading to see some great blogs that you need to check out this month!
5 Blogs you need to check out this month
Check out these posts from Lynn
Start by checking out these posts
Read these posts from Caroline
Check out these posts by Hannah
Start by reading these posts
Ok so I love cocktails and I love prosecco so I thought this would be an exciting post for me to write! I have been loving going out for cocktails lately but it's still good to know how to make some of your own at home. Whether you are having people round, or whether we are in lockdown number 107583.
If you're a prosecco drinker like me and would drink it anyway, then it's very handy to know how to make prosecco cocktails because they are simple but look far more impressive than just an ordinary glass (even though there is nothing ordinary about it). What is it Gino D'Acampo says? Minimum effort maximum satisfaction - and I live my life by that mantra.
Related: 5 cocktail recipes you need to try
Why Prosecco Cocktails?
I always want to try making different cocktails at home but it can be expensive, and just a lot of effort to buy lots of different ingredients. However, if you're going to drink prosecco anyway then you will already have one ingredient in.
Also, they are just tasty and elegant and let's not lie, it will make you look fancy if you have guests over. Try any of these cocktails with champagne too if you're feeling really boujee.
5 Prosecco Cocktails you need to try
1. Kir Royale
This is a super easy cocktail, it's literally just a glass of prosecco with some creme de cassis (a fancy way of saying blackcurrant liqueur). At home we usually just use Chambord which is more widely available and tastes like a jammy doughnut. I am not going to give any measurements because everyone has different tastes, but its just a small bit of Chambord or your liqueur in your prosecco.
2. Peach Bellini
Again, super easy! It's just a glass of prosecco again with a little bit of peach puree added. You can make your own puree or just buy it.
3. Mimosa
You may know of this as a Bucks Fizz, it's a glass of prosecco with orange juice. This is breakfasty for me, I probably wouldn't have it in the evening but a lot of people like it. I am thinking more brunch on holiday vibes. (I saw a video saying how we get away with day drinking by calling it brunch, SO TRUE)
Related: A-Z of date ideas
4. French 75
I hadn't actually heard of a French 75 until I read a blog post from Faye at Female Original. It is usually gin and champagne but as I thought I'd swap it for prosecco for this blog post. Faye has a great recipe to make a French 75 with Bobby's Gin.
5. Pink Gin Spritz
OK, I kind of stole this one from Slug and Lettuce, but we have had to recreate cocktails in various lockdowns when we haven't been able to get them out. This cocktail is a bit bigger than the others so I'd use a gin glass rather than a prosecco one for this. It's a double shot of gin, prosecco and then topped up with soda water or lemonade. Basically like a posh, stronger G&T.
And there we have 5 really easy prosecco cocktails you can try making at home. Which one would you love to try the most?
AD: PR Visit - This experience was gifted in exchange for a review but all opinions are my own.
This week I had the pleasure of visiting the Greyhound at Corfe in Dorset with my friend and partner in crime, Maddie. The Greyhound is a stunning old English pub right next to Corfe Castle, which of course meant there were stunning views in their pub garden area. We had originally booked to sit inside but the garden just looked so nice that we requested to sit out there with the sun shining too. There were also some really cute dogs so that was a plus!
Upon arrival we were greeted by the most lovely staff that just couldn't do enough for us, they were very attentive and chatty - I wish I caught their names now but we were served by a lot of people so I safely assume that they are all as friendly as each other.
Maddie and I both ordered the same thing which was nice, nobody got food envy. For a starter, we had the Dorset Crab Tien (when in Rome). It was really nicely presented and tasted amazing too!
After that, we had the beef and chorizo burger for a main accompanied with halloumi fries on the side. It was a mega burger, you definitely won't be leaving hungry if you order it. The halloumi fries were 10/10 although, I did wish there was a few more of them.
Related: Places you need to visit in Dorset
We only had soft drinks but were very envious looking around at some of the cocktails, maybe next time.
If you are in Dorset or want to go then I'd definitely recommend visiting Corfe and the Greyhound. It's such a picturesque, historical village and did you know it's home to the smallest town hall in England? The Greyhound is such a lovely way to top off a great day out in Corfe.
I would definitely visit the Greyhound again, it's pub garden area is one of my favourites ever and the food and staff are both great.
Where have you been for food lately that you really enjoyed?
Related: A day at Sculpture by the Lakes in Dorset
Bloggers you need to check out this month
Start by checking out these posts
Make sure you check out these blog posts by Sarah
Check out these posts
As a blogger, I am often spending a lot of time on social media. Whether that is to promote my blog, or to research trends to grow my presence, I feel like I spend most of my free time on there. As a lot of us know, too much time on social media can sometimes become a bit toxic, as we may find ourselves comparing our lives to others too much. That's why I've come up with a list of activities you or your child could try instead of scrolling social media for hours.
Social media can be great in moderation, as it helps us to connect with people we may not get to see a lot, especially in recent times in the pandemic. It can also help us to connect with new people too, but it's important to take breaks from it too.
Activities to try instead of using social media
1. Exercise
2. Painting
Related: 22 things I've learnt in 22 years
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