The weekend just gone was fairly jam-packed. I was off to Reading on Saturday morning to meet my university friends and one of those friends, Charlotte, from Brighton caught the train to stay over Friday night, so we could drive together.
It was nice to drive with someone else to minimise any navigational issues. I’ve driven to Reading many times (I had to work there for six weeks on a customer site for my current job in Basingstoke). But that was a few years ago and well, let’s be honest, it’s me. Anything could happen. This did mean of course we were late by about ten minutes, which my other friends knew was down to me and not Charlotte. I’m the queen of leaving no minute spare and believing everything will go smoothly.
Anyway, rewinding to Friday night. We had a delicious salmon and butternut squash meal. She’s a vegetarian and it was a meal that we used to share back at university the night before an exam (though with the less expensive tuna) . Not sure why, maybe because it was easy and we believed the nutritiousness of the meal and fish would add to our brain power (though tinned tuna doesn’t contain any omega 3…). Happy to report we both got a First in our Psychology degree 😉 Basically you halve a butternut squash, bake it, then add a tomato, fish and vegetable mix on top. Standard easy cheap student eats.
We then watched Fifty Shades of Grey. Both of us knew it would be rubbish and we’d read the books and found them fairly rubbish too, but it was such a girlie, easy film and we could talk our way through it anyway. It was terrible but in a very amusing way. And somewhat cringy with just how cheesy it was. Don’t think I’ll be seeing the next one!
The next morning I got up before 7am to get in a six mile run (my “long” run for the week). 
It went fairly well. Not “fist pump the sky” amazing, but relatively OK. After showering, having breakfast and grabbing a Starbucks for the road, we were on our way (*cough* about ten minutes late…).
Seeing my friends was, as always, lovely. One of them is at the early stages of pregnancy which is just crazy. I mean, I know pregnancy happens but it’s just so bizarre seeing one of your close friends with a mini bump growing an actual baby. Like an actual adult. I don’t feel like we are adults though yet. Well, I’m certainly not!
We had a lovely meal at Las Iguanas. Shockingly I went for something different. I’d been craving, fajitas and I do love an assembly job meal 😉
It was very tasty – and came with sour cream, guacamole and salsa on the side. The chicken and pepper mix was a bit over-oily, but it still tasted really good and, to be honest, dipping my tortilla in the oily sauce might have happened a few times. I fully enjoyed it. No puddings but I was fairly content with my meal. And I had a couple of apples in my bag soo…
Happily I also managed to pick up a couple of bargains in the sale. I got a beautiful soft leather jacket down from £75 to £35 (!) and an £8 cardigan from Oasis. I’m very pleased. I literally went out with the hope to find a casual jacket and it was the first one I saw.
I drove back from Reading on my own (Charlotte headed back on the train) and then quickly wolfed down some dinner before getting myself ready for my next social outing. My friend, Ant, has just turned 30 and was having a sci-fi themed party at his and his wife’s house. It sounds like a fairly easy fancy dress, right? For a guy maybe, but there isn’t a huge amount of choice when it comes to female outfits. The obvious is Princess Leia. But I didn’t think it in the best of taste and after Googling a bit I found a great outfit. It was about £27 but it came with lots of accessories and I could see myself wearing it to a movie-themed parkrun or race at some point… an investment!
It came with an arm gauntlet, necklaces, a feather necklace and the ‘loin cloth’ thing came attached to the blue suit. I added the flipflops, some extra bracelets, blue face paint (a bargain from Amazon) and plaited a few bits of my hair.
Not too shabby, eh! I love fancy dress so for me this was great. Though I did feel somewhat naked. Compared to my friend, Sarah, who was dressed up as a unicorn in a very fluffy and huge (self-made!) outfit. But mine was an ideal choice for any running in the future…
The party was good fun. We played lots of board games, ate lots and just generally had a laugh.
Our parties are far more low-key now we’re older but we still love a bit of fancy dress. There was an ewok, a storm trooper, terminator robot, Aragorn from LoTR (strictly speaking I’d say this is fantasy not sci-fi…) and Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (for my shame I was the only one who got the reference…). There was a random nun and Jesus Christ but only because they didn’t have a sci-fi outfit and wanted to dress up. In *some* circles JC might be seen as sci-fi I suppose…
It was a good evening and I was thankful for my friend lending me some baby oil to remove my face paint (the blue had stained my hands and didn’t seem to come off with just soap and water). It came off nice and easily with the oil. Though half way through the removal I did resemble a zombie – noted for another fancy dress option! 😉
I was quite thankful for this as I was meeting a friend the next morning for coffee and I really didn’t want a blue face!
Have you ever used face paint for fancy dress?
What would you go as for a sci-fi themed fancy dress?
Are you good with travelling to different places on your own?
Oh, I cannot function on my own in an odd place sans satnav. Fortunately, I managed to upgrade my parents’ one to the current OS and get an SD card with up to date maps in it (the M1 M6 junction was very confusing with a 10 year old map!) over Christmas. This was way cheaper than a new satnav.
Sci-Fi parties? I actually have a Star Trek dress. I’ve had it since I was about 16. Used facepaint when I dressed up as Death of the Endless. Loved that costume. Still have it kicking about…
Jane recently posted…This running to heart rate malarkey
Ahhh I did consider the Star Trek outfit – there was a good little red dress but I figured the Avatar was a bit more crazy 😉 and useful for the future of fancy dress running!
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Fori Bars Review
I am not good at driving to new places- I am getting better, and the parkrun tourism is making me do this (although sometimes I have run there, or got an uber…)- I am getting better but I take a while to process the directions and don’t always know my left and right instantly (one day there was bad traffic on my way to work so I used the google maps to avoid the worst- only it told me to turn left and I turned right and got even more stuck- argh).
Nice work on the bargains!
I look forward to seeing you running in that outfit, although maybe not with the blue facepaint? I have not worn face paint since being a child as my skin gets very irritated by even foundation so I would imagine that face paint would really make it sore. But then I am not a big dressing up person anyway.
Haha yeah definitely not with the face paint (although now I’ve just written that I’m thinking….why not…..hehe). It stayed on really well – actually very hard to get off with just water and soap alone so maybe it would stick if I did run in it. Hmm….
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Fori Bars Review
Your fancy dress costume looked amazing! I haven’t been to a fancy dress party in years (aside from Halloween which last year which was just general fancy dress as it seems to be these days!). I could never drive more than 30 minutes from my hometown back when I had a car – the idea of driving on a motorway really terrifies me! Think I’ll forever have to live centrally in London where no one has a car although it is annoying sometimes. x
LilyLipstick recently posted…Travel: A Week In Brighton
Yeah I guess when you’re in London you really don’t need a car. Being in Southampton I tend to have to drive to get to anywhere interesting 😉
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Fori Bars Review
Your fancy dress costume looked awesome. Last time I went to a fancy dress party I cheated and went as Paula Radcliffe. Rubbish I know! As for face paint… I dyed my hair and painted my face red for Comic Relief Day a few years ago. While the hair dye was quite easy to wash out, removing the face paint was a little more challenging. My skin is so sensitive nowadays, I’m sure that wearing face paint would probably end in a skin-related disaster. I’m rubbish at driving and navigating people to new places. So much for having a geography degree.
Emma recently posted…NATHAN The Hipster waist belt review
Nah Paula Radcliffe is good! I think outside our running community it would go down really well 😉
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Fori Bars Review
I must be one of the only people not to have watched 50 Shades yet! I got the box set as part of a goodie bag on my hen do and decided to read the first book whilst on honeymoon. It was pretty rubbish. I struggled to finish reading it to be honest.
I do love a bit of fancy dress. Your costume looked amazing! We used to go to fancy dress parties all the time at uni and somewhere Dan and I have quite a collection of random outfits and accessories. Good job that blue paint did come off in the end…imagine walking into Costa the following day with blue skin! 😀
Mary recently posted…Running – 15 weeks post baby
Honestly you’re not missing out on much. It was fairly terrible. Yeah and the book is very “fluffy” isn’t it – not particularly ground-breaking stuff!
AnnaTheApple recently posted…Fori Bars Review
Your outfit looked great!
Rebecca recently posted…parkrun – Thoughts from the finish line