Author: lauramerritt96

Ending July by finally spotting the Neowise comet earlier this week!??☄️

In case you didn’t know here’s some facts about the comet:

• It was discovered in March and has been visible all July
• During its closest passing of Earth it’s approximately 64 million miles away than the moon
• It’s visible to the naked eye
• It’s official name is Comet C/2020 F3
• The best way to view it is looking towards ‘The Big Dipper’ constellation
• It won’t be seen for nearly another 7,000 years!

We tried several nights to see it and were finally lucky enough! Our picture isn’t the best with living in the city and taken on my phone but hey not everyday you see a comet passing Earth!

So at the beginning of lockdown I read all the books in The Kissing Booth series, wrote by Beth Reekles. I absolutely loved them and it made me even more excited for the second film. You can read my review of all the books in the series here: https://lauramerritt96.com/the-kissing-booth-book-series-review-2/

This review is going to focus on the second film and The Kissing Booth Fan Fest which has took place all last week to celebrate the films release! I’m not going to write specifics that give away the plot but there will be references so just a warning in case you want to avoid all spoilers!

Let’s start with #TKBFanFest – this was a schedule released to show a list of events happening everyday of release week since due to the global pandemic a premiere wasn’t possible at this time. (Still hoping we might get to see all the cast of the film get together to celebrate at some point when it is physically possible and safe to do so!) The idea was a really great unique way to celebrate the release and including the cast being interactive with fans. I even ended up on the Virtual Premiere via Zoom with Joey King, Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Taylor Zakhar Perez!

I’m going to try and just some up key points as I could right an essay (my media studies brain coming back again) on how great I thought the movie was and all the reasons for that! Plus like I said I don’t want to give away any outright spoilers!

If you know me or have been following recent posts you’ll know my love of food and eating out haha. So I’m beyond happy to be able to start eating at restaurants again, and most importantly safely!

Originally planned on waiting a few weeks before going to a restaurant but Francesca’s opening made us change our mind haha. Had such a great experience as expected! Staff wearing masks, social distance markers, hand sanitiser available, tables socially distanced, Perspex screens, single use condiments brought when requested and music not too loud. All the steps to make it a safe and still really enjoyable meal!

We also visited Pizza Express on its re-opening day which again was an excellent experience. Staff wore face masks, each table was socially distanced with a spare table attached where the waiter would place your order and you could place your empty plates so that serving could also take place as socially distanced as possible. Other measures taken included: music not too loud, hand sanitizer and single use condiments.

We also visited Neptunes fish and chip restaurant in Seahouses and it was great again to see how well measures were put in place. As all of the above mentioned and a one way in and out system, making it an enjoyable experience and still really safe.

The use of track and trace by taking contact details from each party was also used in all restaurants which is great for giving extra piece of mind and taking the right steps.

It was great to get back to a bit of new normality and important to support local businesses and restaurants again after such hard times!

Bamburgh & Seahouses are one of my favourite places to visit! It’s one of the places I visit at least once a year ever since I was young.

I’ve never really holidayed in the UK and normally just go for a day trip. So far I’ve had too 2 trips abroad cancelled due to the pandemic (still keeping fingers crossed for the others upcoming.)

This was the first time of going somewhere for me since lockdown, other than work and local restaurants. It was really nice to feel like you’ve been away from the norm even for a short amount of time especially after being in the house for 3 months. Side note: also got my 1st haircut after lockdown so a good day all round haha!

The social distancing, cleaning and organisation measures in place in the restaurants and bars (sat in the beer garden) were great and made it a very safe environment.

It was reassuring and easy to still have a really nice day out and great to see a small seaside town being able to reopen safely and enjoyable!

Already looking forward to another trip back!

Skinnydip London has been one of my favourite companies to buy from for years! So many years that it was when they used to only sell phone cases!

They’ve always been my go to to find a good iPhone case because especially when there weren’t as many models it was so hard to find a nice fun design.

Since then I’ve bought endless phone cases, bags and accessories! When I saw they were bringing out another Disney collection i was so excited to add more pieces to my ever growing Skinnydip collection.

This by far is my favourite Disney collaboration they’ve done! Lady and the Tramp is one of my all time favourites and it’s often very underrated so can be hard to find merchandise for. So obviously I bought it all.

09.07.2005 – the best day ?

You were meant to be my dog ✨

Happy 15th Birthday Millie, miss you more everyday, love you forever ?❤️

A few weeks ago I did a post all about completing the Couch to 5K challenge which I had been running with my mam. We wanted to keep up our running and so far so good! We then fancied a new challenge after a week after we decided to give a Great Run Solo challenge a go!

I hadn’t heard of the Great Run Solo Challenge until I came across it on social media. My mam has completed 2 Great North Runs over the years (my dad has also ran it several times) and when I was younger I ran the Junior Great North Run a few times. Obviously being from Newcastle the Great North Run is always a huge event every year! I do eventually want to do the Great North Run myself but it’s really close to my birthday, sometimes even on it, so it’s hard to commit depending on birthday celebrations!

So I was really pleased to be able to take part in a virtual one! You can choose whether to take part in a week or monthly challenge with a range of distances from 7K to 280K. There are also junior events. To enter your ‘entry fee’ is a minimum £10 donation (you can choose to up it) which all goes to the NHS Charities Together COVID-19 Urgent Appeal.

I’m always on the look out for new and cute Disney clothes to wear next time I’m in the park and because let’s face it you can never have too many Disney clothes!

I’ve see people wearing the ‘pocket T-shirt’ designs but never knew where there were getting them from and now I do! Magical Day Apparel is the shop name and they have so many designs to choose from.

They recently did a collection with YouTubers L&R Dreaming, who I’ve been watching for a few years and am really big fan of their videos. They do great videos of Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Aline, Disneyland Paris and they’ve been to Disneyland Resort, Tokyo Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland. So whatever Disney content you’re looking for, they’ve pretty much got it converted!

A big announcement from Disney last week confirmed that the classic Splash Mountain attraction in Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World is to be reimagined with a Princess and the Frog theme.

The announcement comes after the ride was questioned during the recent rise of the Black Lives Matter movement as the theming of the ride comes from the controversial Disney film ‘Song of the South.’ It is possible this has been in Disney’s plan for longer as they often update themes to fit with more recent or popular releases.

I love Splash Mountain it’s one of my favourite rides, it’s so nostalgic as a theme park attraction and the song ‘Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah‘ is a classic Disney song I have always loved. While I love the ride it’s also really positive to see Disney moving forward by adapting the ride with the film featuring their only black princess, Tiana.

Gradually in England over the past weeks lockdown restrictions have been eased, with being allowed to meet more people outside as long as you are 2m apart and opening of non essential shops. The next stage of relaxing the rules comes on July 4th, with more places opening including restaurants and seeing people indoors again as long as you social distance to minimum 1m where 2m isn’t possible.

I feel like we are starting to see the ‘new normal’ that we have been talking about for months.