I feel like I say this in every single monthly, but wow this month has just flown by!
I don’t even know where to begin, April has been jam packed with a variation of everything I could think possible.
Uni has been getting me down, I just feel ready to be done with this year to be totally honest, I am really passionate about everything else in my life apart from uni at the moment haha. I know it’ll all pay off and help me with the direction I’m heading towards in my career so I just keep telling myself that. But with deadlines fast approaching, second year will be over before I know it – which can only be a good thing!
April has been a little bit of a head fuck (pardon my French). I feel like I spent this month having a constant battle with myself in my head, but I’m working on it, and I’m sure it will all get easier once deadlines are out of the way.
The month started with a sweet weekend with Max, making a Sunday roast, going to the cinema to watch Isle of Dogs (1 million percent recommend if you haven’t already seen it) and then going for cocktails with Amy, Travis and Chris at Slug & Lettuce.
Fast forward a few days to a boozy night with Amy & Trav at Dogbowl having a good old fashioned catch up!
(Spoiler alert: this month involves a lot of alcohol – as always!)
I spent a few days away with my family up in the Forest of Bowland, but I’ll skim over that as I will do a whole other blog post about that in a couple of weeks time.
Third term started back and boiiii is it intense, but I’ve already spoken a lot about uni, so moving swiftly on!
Amy put on another gig as Girl Boss (if you are Manchester based you should definitely check it out) and she smashed it as per usual, so awesome to see my best friend thriving in her career and living out her dreams!
I went to Leeds to see Alex, an old college friend, perform with his new band and he was so good – I felt like a proud mother hahaha. He created some visuals for it as well which is think is such a good idea, more people should do that for their gigs! It was so good to see him & Georgia too so that was a bonus.
The next couple of days were full on to say the least. The whole of Sunday was spent in the recording studios filming and recording a few tracks with The Bright Black for In Session, we are so proud of the outcome and I would really love it if you checked out our company and what we were getting up to! It was lovely to spend some time with the guys but to also do a full studio day which is something new for us as a company and great practice! We stopped midway through for some lunch and a beer which was a good way to wind down. After they’d gone we packed down and started prepping for the next day, which was on location at a beautiful independent coffee shop Espresso Corner, with fellow blogger (and also incredibly talented musician) Sara.
That was a totally different vibe to recording the full band in the studio, which was really interesting and a good challenge! The evening went by so fast, me and Sara had a good catch up, a quick stop off for food then on the train back to Manchester.
So there was like, a heatwave apparently, in Manchester for all of three days and it was freakin incredible! I went out bare legs, showing off all my bruises, sunglasses and crop topped and it was still unbearable (I am awful when it comes to the heat, get me some breeze though and we are all good). So yeah, the balcony has had a years worth of use in around 3 days after not being used for the whole of winter!
A few cocktails (again) with Amy, Trav, Sara, Grant, Chris and Max accidentally turned into a mini night out, but it felt good to let my hair down after long weeks at uni!
The Bright Black boys played a ma-hoooosive gig at the Academy, and it was so insane to watch! It was so nice to be out with such a big group of people all for one thing.
The next day we nursed the hangovers with a beaut Sunday lunch at Rain Bar (I honestly feel like I could have a whole section on reviewing the best Sunday lunches around Manchester haha), followed by a lazy afternoon in front of the TV.
A friend from home was touring with his band, so I couldn’t miss his Manchester show! It was a great night and I thought the band were insanely good!
I jumped on the train to Huddersfield to have a well-deserved time out! I spent a lot of my weekend cracking on with work but it felt good to be in a different environment.
Friday night was the last ever Hang The DJ, with some brilliant live music and a DJ set, accompanied with a great atmosphere it was a fab night, plus everyone else was sick apart from me so, small wins woo!
I didn’t take any photos of the night but I did wear my new purple flares so this seems to be the appropriate time to show them off:
We went to see Avengers and all I have to say is, you need to see it if you haven’t already.
A lazy Sunday strolling around Huddersfield’s Record Fair, Max picked up a Billy Ocean record that he’s been after for a while so it was a success, grabbing coffee and a catch up with Henry & Peter too made it the perfect Sunday to end this month!
Some favourites this April (soz, I totally forgot to do this last month, let’s just pretend that I did it yeah?):
Album / Playlist: So everyone else has been hating on it, but Sting and Shaggy’s 44/876 – what a musical combination!
Song:Â This is slowly becoming a section where I shout out pals music, so lets go with Midnight – The Bright Black
TV / Movie:Â A combination of the Netflix Original – Love, Hollyoaks who tackled a homeless storyline that I would recommend watching, The Lie Detective (great for binge watching), Jersey Shore: Family Vacation and of course the new Avengers!
Place:Â The Forest of Bowland, such a tranquil weekend away
Memory:Â 3 days of pure Summer heat and sunshine, engrained in my memory forever as we won’t get weather like this again for like another year probably
Accomplishment:Â Keeping on, keeping on, through some crappy mental health timezzz
Journaling Maddie x
Me & Amy
Me & Amy
Alberts Schloss meal
boats
sunrise ft. Max
are we ever not drinking coffee?
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