Goodbye first year....Hello liver failure!

Well hello there blogger...long time no blog! Theres no one to blame for my lack of communication lately but myself, but to tell you the truth i have been having too much fun (and when im not having fun, well, im usually hungover.) Its officially summer and i intend to make the most of it! After all iv been working hard all year in university...i think you would all agree its time for a much deserved break!! haha i kid, lets face it this whole years been a break and i have LOVED it!

Its seems like only yesterday i finished school and was heading out into the big bad world of university...in fact its been a year since then and although its flew in i think iv mastered the art of student life! I have loved living out of home. Don't get me wrong, it hasnt all been easy, not to mention its hasnt been all that cheap but in the end everything has got resloved (to a point) and i am looking forward to what the next year of independance will bring. Aside from moving out, this year has also extended my friend group...and what a friend group they are! I would go as far as saying if carlsberg did friends well they would be my friends!! From sociolgy peeps to surf club chums to the english (dont hold that against them) i love them all!



Yes i really enjoyed my first year at Queens, yeas i would do it all again and yeas i cant wait until next year...until then though i have some time to kill and for the purpose of some blog-tastic moments i am goin to have to make my summer interesting! In the couple of weeks i have been off so far, i have discovered £1 drinks at Mclub, rediscovered my love for rain, met Stephen Ferris of the ulster rugby team (what a babe), fufiled my goal to go on a mystery tour...and what a tour it was, made the bangor comeback (o how i missed hpw) and enjoyed a wee bitta Snow Patrol in Ward Park! All of this in such a short time has meant excess spendage and certain liver damage...but hey, you only live once! Bank balance and liver permitting i say this summer, LETS GO FUCKING MENTAL!!



Rachael xx

The musical equivalent to pure beaut- Legaci.

At this point in time my revision could really only be summed up by the much used phrase- EPIC FAIL! The only thing getting me through it is my itunes and on that note i thought i'd take a break and share with anybody who is reading my new found love for the talented band Legaci (props to my cousin Lynsey for introducing their music to me.) Basically they are a four piece band that do covers of well known songs only in their own unique way. Most of the stuff they do is acapella and their abitlity to harmonise with each other is amazing! I love music and i love to sing and honestly i am in awe of their talent!! I'd love for you guys to listen to them and hopefully you'll enjoy their music as much as i do!!



Legaci's Top 40 Medley (Down by Jay Sean, My Love, Real Love)
The video above was the first one i watched and it made me fall in love with them. The only instrument they use is their voices and so the piece is kept simplistic, i find it so easy to listen to.



IYAZ Replay cover - Legaci & Summerbreeze
I absolutely loved this song by Iyaz when it came out, Davis will even tell you that i used to sing it around the house non stop. This time round i've fallen in love with it again...its so different to the original version. The way they boys use their voices to do the intro is incredible and then the guitar comes in and it hits a whole new level of beautness!!



Whatcha Say - Jason DeRulo (Legaci cover)
The piano is brought into this song and its beautiful. Its probably my favourite instrument and together with the band Ooo baby!


I hope that you enjoyed these cover versions as much as i did. I've already downloaded their songs so that i can listen any time....and i only heard them for the fist time yesterday!! They are relatively undiscovered but they have so much talent. I could actually listen to them harmonise with each other all day, they've just got such a nice tone to their voices. I am truly in awe!

You know summer has arrived when Donegans open the beer garden bar!

Friday 21st May 2010

Davis: "you wanna head down to donegans for a drink?"

Me: "yea why not!"

This was the conversation of two people who were going for a quick Friday night drink, with the intention of being home and in bed no later than midnight! In reality however, well that was never going to happen!!

My friday began unusually early, with a last minute cramming session for my soicology exam. I would go into more detail about that but im trying to forget about it. All you need to know is that its done and i only have one more left...pass or fail il be enjoying a very messy and very epic summer! :D For the moment though, i was very tired and was actually quite looking forward to a night in with Johnathon Ross (I genuinelly love the guy...hes an absolute nutter. I really think if we ever met we would be best of friends! I live in hope). Before leaving i rang davis and well from that point on it all went down hill....i'l cya next week Rossy!!

Judging from the fact that it was a Friday night and all the cool kids go out on the Saturday (and when i say kids here i genuinely mean kids...recently Bangor has turned into a bit of a purgatory for those few who are too old to hang out behind the bus station with a 3lt of frosty jacks but too young to hit up the club scene in Belfast! Eh who am i to talk though, i'd still enjoy a 3lt of frosties behind the bus station- im a classy girl) we weren't expecting much. The low expectations did however become raised slightly when we were greeted by a familiar face...who i hear you ask?! Well, it was none other than 'Ross Green- voice of many pitches'. After grabbing a drink at the bar we made ourselves comfortable with Green and his possy and thats where it all began!!

...Kinda where it all ends too, because after that my minds a bit fuzzy! Aiding me in early life liver damage for the evening was my good friend Magners. The thought behind this particular beverage is that it is a chilled, drink it at your own pace kinda drink BUT and this is a big but, a certain person under the impression that women can't drink challenged me to sink my pint. Needless to say i won the race and proved him wrong! The person in question, not naming any names *cough* Ross Green *cough*, will tell you if you if you ask, that he went easy on me. I on the other hand am not convinced and maintain that I AM A MACHINE....if your reading this Ross, know that i have no hesitation in whipping your ass again!! :P The night continued at this banterful pace. Texts were sent in reference to large, motorboat friendly boobs- sorry Steph; phone calls were made between old friends- sorry Katie; and general fun times were had- sorry anyone that wasn't at our table, you missed out!

Rachael xx

Did you know there's actually 5 seasons?!...Just before Summer there's EXAM SEASON!

In exactly 1 day, 15 hours, 49 minutes and 11 seconds from writing this i will be sitting a 3 hour 'sociological imagination' exam. Now, you may be thinking here is a girl that is so ready for her exam that she has time to waste writing pointless blogs. To those of you who actually think this i say, i am not ready in the slightest for my exam and i probably should be revising now, however, if i did not waste precious revision time blogging there would be nothing to distract you, my dedicated follower, from your revision and you would therefore achieve higher grades than me...this way at least i get to drag your sorry ass down with me!!

Its at times like these that i drift in to fantasy world and wish that i had some sort of device similar to that of Bernard's watch! I know that everyone lives in the hope that one day this dream will become reality and if you don't, well you obviously haven't seen an episode of the epic childhood series in which case YOU FAIL AT LIFE!! Although, if i'm totally honest i could think of so many better things to do with a watch that stops time than just plain of revision! And well Bernard if your reading this your ideas were pretty lame...no wonder nobody has invented the watch yet. You weren't exactly this most exciting product advertisement!

It pointless hoping i'm going fall into an alternate universe in which its possible to stop time, i'm just going to have to do a bit of old fashion cramming! It'l be summer soon and i cant wait. I like to think that if i went back in time i'd do things different...but the more i think about it i know i wouldn't. I may not be the most knowledgeable on my course and i won't get the highest marks in my class but iv had an epic 1st year at university with no regrets, and i plan to have an equally summer!!

Wish me luck!
Rachael xx

Ba da da da daaa, I'm lovin' it!

Ok. So i'm struggling to write a blog at the minute that doesn't revolve around surf club and its extra awesome members....however, as a certain member of my extended 71c family left me this week i had no other choice but to spend my free time with my fellow surfies! Realising how that sounds, i would just like to take this opportunity to say that i do not begrudge spending time with queens finest ladies....in actual fact i cant get enough of them! SHOUT OUT TO MY WING WOMEN....YOU COMPLETE ME!!

So anyway. Having powered through Sunday to Tuesday without Davis i decided to make the most of Wednesday! And with it being Steph's Birthday and all that it worked out rather well, if rather well describes time spent eating, drinking and partying rather than revising for exams that are fast approaching! Someday i'll grasp the concept of revision and hey maybe i'll even get this thing they call "THE FEAR" but until then i'm just lovin' life...and well Steph's birthday was one of those lovin' life moments! It all began with some civilised pre-drinks in 71c and well thats as about civilised as it gets. After round number one of drinking there was really no other option but to call in to ye old eglantine for the customary 6 shots and a cheeky wee WKD party shoot!! This never gets old....and to be quite honest i couldnt pass up an opportunity to kick the birthday girls ass in a game of "who can down their jager bomb fastest" which obviously i won- I AM THE MASTER!!!

The decision was made to go to Box to round of the night and Gina was kind enough to take up the position of taxi driver for the night. First thought- SHOTGUN!! Second thought- Ooo high school musical soundtrack! After the long wait to get a parking space we eventually made it in to the Odyssey...and the first port of call was the bar. But i probably didn't need to tell you's that. The night then consisted of drinking, dancing, group toilet trips, hottie patrol and lots and lots of photographs. After what had already been a pretty fun night we had intended on hittin' up Rain...however when rain is competing with a 24hour McDonalds theres no competition. McDonalds always wins!

So new plan: Go to McDonlds...Pie out on food...Go home feeling full and satisfied! However there was one major flaw in the new plan...we weren't exactly sure how to reach our destination! After several minutes of aimlessly diving around with me being told to use my inside voice in the back seat (yeas you heard me backseat! My shotgun privileges had been revoked on the return journey), we decided to indulge in the wisdom of the good old Belfast black taxi driver who kindly pointed us in the right direction! I can honestly say that after all the trouble we had went through to get there i had never been so happy to see the great golden arches of the McDonalds M! I ordered a large meal with extra fries and polished it off in record time...but what can i say...right after drinking, eating is my specialist subject! The night was rounded of nicely with a victory lap for McFlurries and well after the mammoth feed i couldn't have slept better! I can only hope Steph's 21st matches the standards set this year!

P.S. I've just realised how long this blog is...hope you were all able to stay awake until the end! For those of you who didnt, i demand you go right bck to the start and try again :)

Rachael xx

Slave Auction?! Eh...More Like Babe Auction!!

Wednesday 5th May 2010

Where to start?! I guess one of the advantages of a blog is that you can record life changing experiences or momentous occasions. Well try this out for size...I JUST BOUGHT A BELFAST GIANT!!!

Do I hear forty pounds?!....fifty pounds?!....sixty pounds?!....seventy pounds?!....EIGHTY POUNDS!!!!! OK. so some of those bids were me bidding against myself, but I'd never been 2 an auction before. I didn't know how it worked! Plus, I got slightly over excited and forgot that I was bidding real money....real money I REAL-ly don't have! However, I have chosen to look at my purchase as a life time investment. At this moment in time, yes, I am £40 out of pocket (tag team effort with Gina G means that we get half the team each) but once those giants see me and are instantaneously blown away by my charm and natural flair on the ice, I figure at least one of them are bound to fall in love with me! It will be no time before I become Mrs Belfast Giant and that £40 will seem like pocket change. Until then though, I'm officially broke.

I can't wait to inform you all of how the big day goes...but as of yet i'm not sure when that will be and to be honest i'm struggling to see past my hangover! Definitely considering the prospect of a "tactical chunder"!! On that note...

Rachael x

To Spoon or Not to Spoon?!

Saturday 1st- Sunday 2nd May 2010

Well, if i'm being honest there's not really any question there...the answer is always to spoon! and what better way to start my new life as Rachael Crilly- serial blogger, than with a blog about my May Day weekend with QUB surf club. To quote my inspiration for joining this world of on-line journaling, "surf club is my favorite!" and truer words have never been spoken! If the words PURE BEAUT were a group of people then surf club would be those people. If however, the words were a weekend then they would have been the weekend that we just spent wakeboarding in Monaghan.

After digging out a stolen rucksack from OLSPCK and cleaning off a thick layer of mud, brought all the way back to Newtownards from punchestown racecourse(OXEGEN 2010- which at the risk of overusing the words was PURE BEAUT) I was ready to hit the road. Four people, one car, one musical pillow and one glee soundtrack on repeat for the whole journey...the weekend was of to an excellent start. Although the initial idea of camping went straight out the window, with the promise of four walls and a roof...the new sleeping venue proved all the more interesting. With a floor covered in sleeping bags and blow up beds we redefined the world of wrestling forever...and by wrestling I mean RAPE! The night came to a close with a game of big spoon little spoon...and you'd be surprised how many spoons fit on one little blow up bed!

The Sunday, as God intended, was a day of rest! Pringles and plenty of bed rest...you just can't go wrong with that. Eventually, the decision was made to take the plunge in to the cold lakes of Muckno. It had to be done for the pure fact that the reason we went away for the weekend was to wakeboard! But after getting over the initial horror of putting on a wet wetsuit and the pain of using muscles in my arms and legs that i'm pretty sure God never meant me to use, it was actually a pretty exhilarating experience. I make it my mission in life to be a wakeboard pro and surf champion by the time I finish university...I actually think Ladbrokes are taking bets now with pretty good odds!!

P.S. If I learnt anything this weekend, its that you cant beat smo-cialising in a good ole irish pub with a bag of scampi frys!

Rachael x