No such thing as a free weekend? Don't bank on it

I always think that Easter bank holiday is such a great time of year because not only do you get a 4 day weekend (woo) but I feel like it signals the start of summer. Especially this year, since it was absolutely beautiful weather! And after getting back from my Baltic holiday on the Friday evening, it was a case of no rest for the wicked because I headed straight to Laura's house for drinks and games night, and then was up on Saturday to get ready fro another day at the races! This time it was for Vintage Day and I wasn't entirely sure what vintage was, but I did know that I wasn't feeling going in 1950s fodder. I eventually bought a monochrome midi dress with thigh split but after seeing the weather forecast, I quickly swapped to something shorter. Luckily, I have so many clothes that last minute outfit changes rarely cause a problem! This topshop dress has been a loved part of my collection for many years now, as I'm always partial to some crochet detailing. I felt like the lacey fabric was a little nod in vintage's direction, and I added my white mule heels and white fascinator (which I bought for my last day at the races and was keen to get my wear out of).

I've said it before and I'll say it again but I will never get bored of, or stop being grateful for, the generosity of the company I work for. They're always spoiling us and this time it was a big day out for everyone at the races in the hospitality boxes. Last time me and my colleague Philippa went, we spotted a little gap in the advertising banners and decided we wanted one for the season, which then quickly turned into also being the headline sponsors for Vintage Day too. So we got to trot around the event feeling very important indeed, while we admired the gin and tonic cart, vintage car, carnival games (like in Grease), and live music. We also admired the Gordon's flower wall, although it had nothing on the one in our beauty salon! It's fair to say that the event was much busier than the season opener we went to a couple of weeks ago and loads of people had thrown themselves into the theme. Again, I was in a hospitality box so we got a buffet lunch and free-flowing drinks and a perfect view of the track from our balcony. That perfect view also including laughing at some mischievous horses who all chucked their jockeys off and went for a gallivant, 3 in one race! There were barely any horses left running that one by the time it started. Luckily mine still was though but unluckily, he didn't win (he did come second though). I stuck with my method of picking by names (as I reckon most people do) and decided I wouldn't start betting until we were atleast halfway through the 7 races. So on race number 5, I lost £10, I skipped betting on the next one (which was good because the one I would've picked, lost) and then I decided to bet on the last race of the day. Cosmic Ray just spoke to me and I liked the odds (7/1); not the front runner but not the never-gonna-happen either. I picked the horse because of its link to the power of the universe and the universe certainly delivered for me because my horse won! So that was a nice little £80 in my pocket (well, clutch bag).

The fun and free drinks didn't stop there though, as we headed into town where we had another buffet and an open bar tab (best believe I made the most of that). It was such a fun night and we had live music and drinking games; drop a pound in someone's glass and they have to down their drink. So everyone was walking round holding their drinks protectively from the top, and not only did I successfully manage to block my own drink from being got (quick reflexes) but I also managed to sneakily catch the birthday boy out too (which earned me a few high fives).

Considering I was drinking for 10 hours on Saturday, I was amazed I felt totally fine on Sunday morning. The universe was definitely smiling down on me this weekend. Which was a good job too because my mum would've killed me if I was too hungover to attend Sunday dinner (which happens rather a lot). It was an amazing dinner too, as was pudding (homemade cheesecake) but the real highlight of the day was the annual Easter egg hunt. For new readers or people who have better things to do than memorise the anecdotes of my life, I'll fill you in by saying that my mum has been swearing it's the last ever Easter egg hunt for approximately the last 5 years. You can literally read the same line in every Easter blog post I've ever written. But 21 and 22 is definitely not too old to be running around finding eggs so after pleading and demanding, mum obviously ended up doing one after all. Our Easter egg hunts are certainly not a chuck-some-eggs-in-the-garden-and-find-them affair; there's treasure maps, coded messages, picture texts, digging in flower beds, smashing big blocks of ice and this year she'd even hidden one in my car. I won (as I do every year) and I'm now fairly certain that I have enough chocolate to last me until Christmas.

It seemed that every man and his dog were day drinking on Sunday (obviously because the weather was beautiful) but I take my tanning too seriously for that. So after a day spent in the garden, I got ready for a night out instead. As you can see, I am definitely not the kind of girl who believes outfits can't be repeated. I have worn these topshop shorts to death and definitely intend to continue doing so;  I love the print, love the fit and love that they work for day and night. This time, I paired them with lacy black bralet under yellow bodysuit and then black strappy heels. Me and Paige always have such a good time when we go out together and this time was no exception. Town wasn't quite as busy as we'd expected (obviously because everyone had been out in the day) but we ended up going to a few bars and then ended up in Pryzm, which is usually full of students in cringey fancy dress but it was actually pretty good for once!

Miracle of all miracles, I again avoided a deathly hangover?! And once again the weather was beautiful so we spent the whole day lounging around in the garden and I am very pleased to say I have officially got a tan (3 people have commented on how brown I look today). Better than your average Monday right? What's even better is that this weekend cost me nothing effectively. Every single thing I ate and drank on Saturday was paid for and thanks to my Cosmic Ray of good luck, I ended up coming home with more money than I went with, which then paid for my Sunday night out. Who said there's no such thing as a free lunch?