May 2023 was an absolutely glorious month, if you ask me anyway. We had some awesome spring weather giving me lots of chances to spend weekends outside be that in the garden, having an after-work drink with some lovely company or just out exploring. Over the month I got up to quite a bit and spent lots of time with some of my favourite people. And, although you could argue two of these 5 Happy Things are kind of the same thing. (But, well, I thought one of them in particular needed it’s own spotlight too!).
The Build-up & Hype of Eurovison – & The Contest!
Every year, without fail, I get far too into the hype of Eurovision. (I’d like to say I blame some of my friends for encouraging this with us all sharing our rankings in the group chat in the build-up, but let’s be real, I left a party early a few years back to watch it… The Eurovision love has always been there!) So when in 2022, Ukraine won and sadly, for obvious reasons, couldn’t host themselves. The job went to the United Kingdom and it struck home that 2023 might get to be the year I saw the show live, in person, rather than just on a screen. As soon as rumours started on possible host cities, my friends and I were looking at booking hotels at the potential venues. Liverpool was announced and my friend Hannah managed to score us some Semi-Final Tickets, result!
Anyway, after watching the semi’s live I was incredibly hyped for watching the show at home. Finland was my pick to win, but I was very happy with Sweeden as the winner!
& Heading to Liverpool to Watch The Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals
So this is the one that’s kind of a duplicate of the above but how could I not have my day trip to Liverpool to see the Semi Final 1 Rehearsals as it’s own mention?! Acts in this half included some of my favourites from 2023’s roaster including Finland’s Käärijä with Cha Cha Cha, eventual winner Loreen from Sweeden with Tattoo and Queen of Kings by Alessandra from Norway. After the performance, we headed to the Eurovision Village where we met up with a few other friends and had a few drinks and a bloomin’ lovely ol’ time watching the semi-final’s actual results on the big screen. (Even though I had to flit halfway through to head back to London!). A concert, a day in the sunshine and fantastic company watching Eurovision and having a camp old time? What’s not to love about that!
Playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is one of the greatest games of all time. Since its 2017 release it’s picked up various awards including being the highest-rated game of that year on Metacritic as well as bagging various Game of the Year accolades. With me putting in over 150 hours the original, when the long-awaited sequel The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom was announced you know full well that I put in a pre-order right away. After watching all the trailers, reading lots of pre-release reviews and what felt like forever of waiting on the 12th of May my copy finally arrived. I didn’t know it was possible but it somehow manages to take the mechanics of the first game and improve upon it. The storyline is gorgeous, the artwork is superb and the gameplay… Well as of writing I’ve not completed it and more than matched the hours I spent on the first in the series. If you have a Switch and haven’t got it already, I implore you to go out and get it!
Bottomless Brunch at The Big Easy for Sophie’s Birthday
In May, it’s one of my favourite people, Sophie from Popcorn & Glitter‘s birthday. So a group of us got together to help her celebrate with a day out in London doing some of her favourite things. We met at Covent Garden to start the day with bottomless brunch, and of course, we chose to go for some classic American BBQ food at The Big Easy. Their brunch menu offers various options including lobster and steak (or both on their surf and turf option!) or unlimited BBQ. All washed down with either unlimited prosecco during the booking time or frozen cocktails. But Fran, you don’t eat meat or fish? I hear you say. Well, they were kind enough to as we were a larger group allow me to join in on the bottomless drink fun with a vegan burger, which was as always pretty darn yummy. With full tummies and feeling slightly tipsy we went for a wonder round Seven Dials market in search of dessert and on to have some American vibes at The Dukes of Highgate! What a day…
Weekly Episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race – All Stars Series 8
I know I said I spent a lot of May outdoors and I’ve mentioned both a video game and a TV show as a highlight for the month, but as I’ve mentioned, RuPaul’s Drag Race is a show I’ve consistently watched for years. And, after last years All Stars being All Winners, I was even more hyped for when All Stars Series 8 started on the 12th of May. With a stacked cast featuring some of the most iconic queens from the franchise, I really looked forward to watching it every Friday morning and catching up with my friends about what we thought of the challenges, the lipsyncs and the runways. Sometimes, the best part of shows like that is chatting about it with your friends. if you ask me anyway!
What are your happy highlights from May?
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