Preloved Vintage Event - Night and Day, Manchester

Ping!

A lovely email popped into the The Lucky Rainbow inbox a few weeks back inviting me down to the Preloved Vintage Event taking place in the bar Night and Day located in my favourite part of Manchester, the Northern Quarter. As luck would have it, lots of other fabulous Manchester bloggers were attending also so it was the perfect opportunity to catch up with some familiar faces and exchange chatter over a lovely glass of free prosecco.

Starting back in 1998 Preloved's mission is to help you buy and sell second hand and previously loved items. It's different to the likes of Ebay or even Etsy, in that there are no auctions, listing or selling fees and obviously promoting buying second hand means its awesome for our lovely planet too.  Having had a browse on their website, I've spotted a few bargains already. I'm only dying to dress up our little apartment with a few trinkets and art pieces and Preloved is a cheaper alternative to hitting the likes of Ikea.

Us bloggers were given a little heads up advantage over members of the public and were allowed to arrive 30 minutes earlier so that we could snap up anything we desired in advance. The lovely Breige from the Rare Opal blog (go check out her nail polish addiction!)  and I arranged to meet up and travel over together and it was a real treat to get a glass of bubbly and a goody bag on arrival. 

Breige and I made a beeline for all the cute stalls at the back of the bar and it wasn't long before we were knee deep in all kinds of treasure and we ducked and dived around all the vintage goodies while listening to some lovely music. We spotted and got chatting to Susan from Susan Styles You and heard all about what she has been up to lately, She was rocking an amazing skirt and looking back I should have taken a photo of her, as she was looking impeccable as always! I finally got to meet in person, Emma from Miss Pond, and was introduced to Cat from Cat Girl Blogs. I also got to say a quick hello to the always lovely Georgie from She dreams. Sometimes the best part about attending these events is catching up with the lovely blogging community and inevitably you end up being introduced to more people and thus discovering more blogs.

There were also some stalls selling some lovely foods and it wasn't long before I came across some delicious homemade chutney. I am a slave to that stuff and combined with the perfect cheese....oh my! We were lucky enough to receive a mini free sample in our goody bags and I'm on the hunt for the perfect complimentary cheese. I particularly loved the gorgeous flower fabric adorning the jars, a change from the usual gingham.  Great tastes and flavours from the team behind 'Love Spreads'

While I didn't pick up any items myself, it was so lovely to have a rummage around all the beauts on display from Oxfam and I later heard that over £300 was raised on the night. I'm a little nervous buying vintage clothing sometimes often preferring to buy little trinkets for my flat much to the amusement of my other half.

Thanks to Preloved for inviting me along and for a lovely chilled and relaxed evening.

Why September + Students = No Blogging

Well hello there!

It's been quite a while, I know. I mean it's been weeks since I've put a proper and robust blogging schedule together and part of me hates that I'm writing this post to apologise or explain my absence from the blogging world, but it's simply because at this time of year (mid August to late September) my 'bread and butter' job goes into mayhem mode. 

By day, I work with students in halls of residence and given that thousands of them have just descended onto Manchester once more, you can't even begin to imagine the workload it creates for my team and I. It can be tough mentally and physically but you feed off the energy from the excited first years and their anxious parents and go from there. 

Before you know it, it's late September, the workload decreases and you realise you've neglected your little corner of the interweb, you've a trillion - million blog posts to read and you've missed interacting with all your blogger buddies from near and far! So apologies folks if you've been wondering why it's been nothing but tumbleweed  and cobwebs here. Someone, somewhere needs to help me source additional hours in the month of September!

So, whats coming up now that Autumn is here? Lots and lots! I've been to a few, awesome Manchester blogging events recently, so pics and posts to follow. I've had the opportunity to meet some lovely new bloggers that I've admired from afar and get to know better and I'm still enjoying the perks of eating clean. 

In the coming months, I will be increasing the blog post output. I recently made it to the finalist list for best blogger in the category of 'Disapora Bloggers' in the Irish Blog Awards and it's really inspired me to write more and write better. While I didn't win the overall award, it was an honor to be nominated, shortlisted and placed on the finalist list. It's more than nice to know there are readers and fellow bloggers out there enjoying your output and going to the trouble of completing a nomination form just so you can receive a little recognition. I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

So, increasing some lovely blog posts, sharing some more fabulous blogging events and more than a few more ideas up my sleeve, The Lucky Rainbow is back in action once more. Queue happy dance, I've missed you all.

Hiking in the Peak District & Clearing the Cobwebs!

The concept of a bank holiday must have been generated by a woman. Only a woman would have the foresight and knowledge to know that every now and then us humans require an extra day after Saturday and Sunday to catch up on life, slot in some extra rest and generally clear the cobwebs. The boy and I, on whim decided to hire a car and get away for a portion of the August Bank Holiday, which in the UK falls at the end of the month and not at the start of the month, like in Ireland.

The Peak District, literally only an hour or so from Manchester was our chosen destination. As we decided to head there on a whim, accommodation was scarce. So scare that we ended up booking a hotel outside of the Peak District, but we didn't mind. We had a car for the weekend and knew we'd spend most of our time outdoors taking in some fresh air. I recently had been worrying alot about work. There were heavy deadlines looming and I needed to get away from it, even if it was only for 24 hours. I just needed space to clear my head and what better way to do then with a 10 mile, mostly up hill, hike!

It was a well known route that the boy discovered online and being in a 'up for anything' kind of mood, we packed the car, turned on the sat nav and made our way to the Peak District to our hiking starting spot. When we arrived and despite wearing gym gear, we felt like amateurs. We were surrounded by outdoor professionals. People and families geared up in the best of hiking boots, jackets and waterproofs, while the boy and I looked like we were heading to a spin class. We laughed it off and made our way to the starting point. The funny was, the boy was going to wear jeans until I told him to change!

Within 20 minutes we were on our way and also on a very, very steep hill. The boy, clearly fitter than me found it easy, while I and my thunder thighs worked hard through every single step. Despite recently loosing a stone, eatting clean 80 percent of the time and loosing a jean size, my dire fitness levels were evident. I was nearly passed out by a 70 year old man! A very friendly and lovely 70 year old man, but a 70 year old none the less.

After about an hour of huffing and puffing, we reached the first summit. I didn't die along the way, I didn't give up and despite shouting at each other, the boy and I didn't break up along the way. It was a mini success to reach the top and the worries of work were becoming a distant memory.

The views were pretty incredible and we took a little time to rest, top up the water levels and chat to others who had reached the top. The 70 year old I previously mentioned arrived a short time later and was joined by his son. Chatting away, he told us that he meets his son once a year for a long weekend and it always results in a hike and a couple of pints. What a lovely idea!

After our short break, we continued on. There was a brief period where the terrain was level or downhill which was a nice relief for my poor legs and the steepness which followed afterwards, while tough, was no where near as tough as the initial climb. The scenery continued to be breathtaking and refreshing and when we reached our second summit, we choose it as the spot to eat and share our homemade packed lunch. A ham salad sandwich never tasted so good!

Fed and watered and ready for more exercise, we started the final aspect of the hike. Now mostly downhill (I was delighted) we met lots of families, couples, energetic dogs and individuals along the way, all of whom were making the most of the bank holiday weekend and making the most of the fact that the weather forecast said rain would hold off until 4pm. Despite feeling a little sore, overall I felt awesome. The hike did what I hoped it would do. It removed worries, cleared concerns and put things into perspective. It felt more than good to get fresh air into the lungs and get the heart pumping. 

The closer we got to the end of the walk, the more we talked about what we would do when we got there. Chats about eating, shopping or even sleeping and taking a nap cropped up, but really what we needed was a lovely little treat. On our arrival into a little village, we found the first pub and hey presto, we were satisfied. A gin and tonic and beer never tasted so good.