By Stacey x

Following a hugely successful run at the Noel Coward last summer, 2:22 A Ghost Story makes a limited return to the Gielgud Theatre. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the amazing Giovanna Fletcher as she was recovering from injury. From the get-go we are startled by high pitched screams and flashing red neon lights. Jenny (Rhiannon Hardy) is painting the house her, and husband Sam (Elliot Cowen) have recently bought and moved into with their daughter Phoebe. Jenny is alone whilst her husband is away for work and the ominous clock that ticks to the time of 2:22 and we hear muffled sobs and footsteps. Jenny hears this every night at the same time. Upon Sam’s arrival home they decide to hold a dinner party and invite his long-term friend Lauren (Stephanie Beatriz) and her new boyfriend Ben (James Buckley). Over the course of the dinner wine is flowing and tensions start to run high at the mention of the paranormal activity that seems to be happening within the house. Thus, opening conv...

What a month December was, definitely one of the busier months we have had in a while. I didn't feel that Christmassy this year. However, we still managed to have a good month so here are 5 happy snippets from it. Christmas Lights in Trentham Gardens On the 12 th December we visited the Christmas Lights around Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent and they were lovely. I’ve never done anything like this before and it was the perfect thing to do for Christmas. The gardens were big, and the trail went all the way around them in a big circle. I was quite ill as well this weekend and so felt like this was the best thing to be out in the fresh air and just taking time to appreciate the lights. I’d 100% do it again next year and would like to visit the gardens when it isn’t Christmas. Jersey Boys UK Tour On the 18 th me and my fiancé’s family went to the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham to see a matinee performance of the Jersey Boys UK Tour and it was good. It was a unique show, and the...

I think it’s safe to say that I will be very glad to see the back of 2021 it’s been a mixed year. The second half has been better than the first half. The main thing was being able to start doing normal things and being able to enjoy them even more. I thought I would pick out some of my highlights from the year. Getting Engaged In February I got engaged and it was amazing, it was at home, and it was very simple. Darren got me a card with some nice words and a rose and asked me in our living room. I had no idea even though looking back now it all makes sense. We have booked our wedding for summer 2023 and I am so excited for it. I have a wedding blog post that I will link,  Wedding Planning Part 1 Holidays We have been very lucky to have been on holiday within the UK twice this year and I am so thankful that we were able too. In June we went to Brean in Somerset for 5 days which was lovely, we stayed with my family in a lodge that had a hot tub. We also had lovely weather as wel...

On Saturday 18 th December me and my fiancé’s family went to see the Jersey Boys UK tour matinee show, which is on at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham. I have not seen this show before and this was the first time I saw a musical at the Alexandra Theatre. I thought I would share my thoughts on the show and the theatre. Synopsis & Cast Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and how they developed over 20 years within the group. The story is told in four chapters using each one of the stars as a narrator, over 2 hours and 15 minutes with interval. We start with spring told by Tommy DeVito played by Dalton Wood, Summer told by Bob Gaudio played by Blair Gibson, Autumn told by Nick Massi played by Lewis Griffiths and finally Winter told by Frankie Valli played by the alternate Luke Suri. The narration is easy to follow throughout the show and gives you a story from each person’s point of view. The first half really sets the scene for how the band came toget...

It feels like November flew by but it has been quite a quiet month before the chaos of Christmas and December hit us. I'm still taking everyday as it comes and I am continually grateful to be able to experience what we can and for the life we live. Here are the 5 happy things that have happened this month, Darren's Birthday This month was my fiancé's birthday and whilst we didn't do anything big to celebrate it. However, we did go and have an amazing meal at Miller and Carter which was so lovely. We both had salt and pepper calamari for starter, then we both had a steak with chips and I had it with beef dripping sauce and no wedge because I don't like them. It was so nice that I could treat us to this and it was the perfect way to celebrate Darren's birthday. Mum's Birthday This month was also my Mum's birthday, it was really nice to go to my parents and just chill there for the day and then have a Chinese takeaway to celebrate my Mum's birthday. We ...

After 21 months and a pandemic, on Saturday 14th August, I finally stepped back into a London theatre. It’s been a testing year with the stay at home orders, social distancing and mask wearing. It was emotional and an absolute joy to experience live theatre again. Originally, we had booked to see the Prince of Egypt in August 2020 but obviously couldn’t so we moved it to the same weekend in 2021. However, we were very close to missing the show again due to COVID as the show had a case and shut down for about 10 days or so but reopened on Thursday 12th August. I’m so thankful we were still able to go. In regards to the pandemic and safety within the theatre, I thought it was done really well. The day before I was sent a text message with a link to e-tickets and also where I could provide track and trace details and assign the tickets. Additionally, on the e-ticket it gave us our staggered arrival time of 6:55pm-7:10pm. Once at the theatre, there were separate doors for the stalls and ci...

We got engaged in February and we’ve started to think about what kind of wedding we want. I thought it would be interesting to document various steps we get to in our wedding planning. We’ve settled on getting married in summer 2023 and originally we’d booked a registry office for the ceremony and then hold the reception somewhere close such as a sports and social club. We’ve put the deposit down for this which was about £100 and is non refundable. Originally, we wanted a fairly small inexpensive wedding, where we just have a big party and that, then go on a really nice honeymoon after. However, in the past few months this has all changed, my fiancé's parents went and had lunch at a small hotel that’s about half an hour away from us and picked up a wedding brochure as an idea, originally for the wedding reception. We looked through the brochure and just fell in love with it and started thinking about how our wedding could be there. I then booked us an appointment to have a show ...