The Chelsea Flower Show

Christmas was becoming more imminent when I finally decided to purchase two tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show for my mum for Christmas. I knew she had always wanted to go so I saved up and planned to go on one of her days she had off work, during the week it was being held.

I booked the 3.30-8pm slot as I thought we could take a slow ride up to London and have some lunch. We had to go to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea and had to queue as we arrived early.

A definite tip for anyone thinking of going next year is to definitely arrive early and queue so you're one of the first people into the Show.

My mum and I standing by the most beautiful flowers that were named after ice cream flavours!

We went round the gardens after looking at the main map at the start of the park.

The map telling you the layout of the event.

These are some of the photos I took of the day...

Prince Harry's garden, inspired by an african theme.

The tree coming into the photo on the top left is over 150 years old.

Dead and alive plants hanging from the ceiling.

Outside the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.

Inside the large marquee, where plants from over the world were shown here.

After spending the day here, I definitely felt like I had more of an idea which plants can be grown in 'acid soil' and which gardens I wanted! Unfortunately, my favourite, Roses weren't to be seen! I would love to go next year, so will keep an eye out for tickets when they go on sale. 

Kirsty

xxx

Valentines Weekend

My workload has been so busy recently with essays to be completed and a busy seminar season, there has been a lack of sharing on my blog. I will try to update you with what I have been up to over the last few weeks!

On 12th February, Brandon and I flew to Amsterdam for a weekend away exploring in another city. We departed from London Southend which was so much quicker travel wise, as I usually go to Stansted to get my flight back to Glasgow.

Taxiing to the runway.

Above the clouds!

We arrived early Thursday evening and checked in to our hotel, ready to explore the next day.

On the Friday we wandered around all that felt like the whole of Amsterdam the amount of walking we did! We stayed just off Dam Square and so we walked through here everyday to get to the different places. 

Dam Square with the Royal Palace in the background.

We visited numerous shops, many where I longed to buy all the clothes in the shop. The only thing stopping me was the number on the price tag! We also found a lovely teashop that sold the most amazing cakes and had a view where we could just watch the world go by.

The cupcakes were so lovely!

On Saturday evening, we went into Dam Square and got the tram to this restaurant Brandon had booked. It was lovely and we were spoilt by a four course meal and entertainment, consisting of poetry and acoustic music.

The starter was my favourite, usually I don't do salads!

The singer entertaining us for the evening.

On Saturday before dinner, we also went for a canal ride. It was so pretty, and lovely to see the city in the dark. 

The canals were so lovely with the lights around the bridge!

On Sunday afternoon we found a gap and we had been told that if we get a chance we should go to the Sex Museum, soooo... we found it on google maps and made our way to the tiny museum!

yeah.. me, a penis and bran

It really was one of the most obscure things I think I have ever been to! As hilarious as it was, I can't believe how popular this place was!

However, in the evening, we made our way to the Ice Bar! It was so fun, but very, very cold and I didn't manage to make it the full 20 minutes inside! We first had cocktails though as we arrived early. I had a Sex on the Beach and Brandon had a Mojito!

Our cocktails before heading inside the Ice Bar!

It was a lovely weekend and it ended really nicely by going to the Zoo on Monday, something which I love! We managed to see the elephants, giraffes and lions, amongst other mammals and sea creatures. We also went to a planetarium.. although this was in Dutch, it didn't stop us seeing some of the most amazing views by staring above!

I did not want to leave, but unfortunately we had to go back to reality.

Until next time!

Did you get up to anything nice over the Valentines weekend?

Kirsty

xxx

An evening with the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon

On Monday evening I was just going through my twitter and saw a tweet from the university's page announcing that tickets had been released for Nicola Sturgeon.

As bad as this sounds, I only knew her name and nothing more about her. I knew that she had stepped up when Alex Salmond resigned after the Scottish independence election and so I decided to get two tickets for my friend and I. I didn't realise how popular it was and that we were lucky to get tickets.

We made our way to Bute Hall on the Tuesday evening. We arrived early to ensure we had one of the best seats in the house and waited for her arrival.

The ticket that I had to show when I got to the door.

She arrived late due to traffic, but this did not stop her fans and myself, as I eagerly await to hear what she was going to say. When she did arrive, we all clapped, and she had photos taken for the press and for the university, before starting her speech.

Nicola introduced herself and as an alma mater of the university, she felt very comfortable here. She spoke of Bute Hall and felt many emotions when she stepped inside this room. Like many of us will eventually do, she took her final exams here and graduated in this room, and now, presented to us with the prestigious role of First Lady and Minister of Scotland. 

The morals she spoke of she held close to her heart. I found inspiring to listen to her as she pressed that everyone should "be yourself". As a politician, she said she was easily judged on the way she behaved as she was always in the news. If she did not smile then the newspapers would have something to say about it. Equally, if she was being too friendly, then she was seen as weak. Nicola made it clear, that no matter what path you wish to follow you can achieve your dreams. 

She made everyone feel that the impossible was possible. Nicola opened up to us all and explained inequality in gender in today's society still exists. She told us about how she would be judged on what she wore but ensured us she ignored these remarks and told us to do the same. It rang through to us to be ourselves and "follow your heart". 

Nicola said: "Whatever you want to do in life, follow your heart". As a teenager, she was told that to have a chance for getting into parliament she should join Labour. Nicola explained to us, she didn't want to do this because her beliefs were different. If she did not choose to join the Scottish National Party then she would not be following her heart. 

The talk was interesting and was started by a new lecture series of Successful Women at Glasgow (SW@G). 

Nicola was smartly dressed and I loved her shoes!

She finished the talk with questions, all based on women's inequality of some sort which was interesting to hear as she could speak of her own views and opinions on these subjects. She was a pleasure to watch and I felt so inspired at the end that I feel anyone could achieve anything if they put their mind to it. 

I even managed to get a photo with Nicola at the end of the talk.

Have you ever met anyone that has inspired you, or read something that has motivated you to work for something you saw before as impossible?

Kirsty

xxx