Why Festivals Might Not Be For Me

Firstly, how I got to 41 without going to a music festival is beyond me, I probably should have spent some of my teens and twenties going to music festivals, but I didn't. Which is why now, after going to my first music festival, it is time to realise that perhaps music festivals may not be for me.


Don't get me wrong, I had a fantastic time. I went to Let's Rock Leeds and I saw some of the people I missed the first time around, like, Dr & The Medics, Tony Hadley, Kid Creole and The Coconuts and Human League and they were fab.

But I need my creature comforts, CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE TOILETS??? Every time I needed the loo, (Quite often, I have the bladder of a toddler) I wanted to cry. The words CESS PIT were muttered under my breath more times than when I walk into my teenagers bedroom, the smell. OH MY GOD, the smell! Is that normal? Why is it normal?

Is this why people drink? So they don't have to smell the portaloos?

The weather was fantastic, I have never experienced weather like it, so so so hot, the kind of day you want to either hide away and eat ice cream or be out with friends and eat ice cream, UNLESS, like me, you are concerned about the sun safety of others. I managed to burn one arm, (I'm a twat, but I'm a safe twat) but some people were topless or wearing bikini tops and I was flinching as they walked past, it looked like a Lobster convention where the beer was cold and in plentiful supply, (If you didn't mind queuing for an hour)

I kept flinching at people and thinking, "They are going to feel that in the morning"

Mum Mode Level 10.

I also don't like crowds, so we sat on the grass, well out of the way, high on the hill to get a great view of the stage and listen to the music.

Which is great at first, until another 10,000 people descend on Temple Newsam and pretty much all of them decide to sit in front of you/beside you/on you. 

It was at this point I wondered who I should have sold my soul to, to upgrade to the VIP section. 

They had posh loos, at this point, I would have sold everything I own, just to get access to the posh loos. 

Face paint helped. Face paint always helps, right?


Slush puppies helped, but then, Slush puppies always help too.



I have come to the conclusion that festivals are perhaps not for me, unless I get either A, A VIP pass, or B, a posh loo pass.

There is no shame in admitting that perhaps festivals are not my thing, I had a great day out with my husband, but would I do it again?


I'm not sure.



How about you? Are you a festival fan? Do the toilets always smell that way? And where does one get one of those inflatable things you lay in? They looked fab.


Let me know.

Be At One Leeds, Cocktails

You all know that I bloody LOVE a good cocktail so when I was invited to the opening of the new Be At One on Boar Lane in Leeds, I accepted my invite quicker than I would accept an invite to get naked with Tom Hardy.


If you've never been to a Be At One before, think cocktails, with some more cocktails, and thrown in for good measure, MORE COCKTAILS.

From Oxford St, Kings Cross, Nottingham to Bristol, Be At Ones are springing up everywhere and bringing you beautiful bars with cocktails you may never have tried before.

We had a cocktail tasting and got to sample a lot of the cocktails, (although I did take umbrage in having to share each cocktail with 5 other people, don't ask, I wasn't impressed)  and I found a lot of cocktails that I probably never would have chosen for myself but would now ask for by name.  ANYONE that names a cocktail a Jager Mega Drive is ok by me.



This Sherbet cocktail was one of my absolute faves.

We got a lot of background into the bars as well as the thought that goes into each cocktail, I do love on the menu it gives you a helping hand in what to choose by giving you a wheel of choices and tastes to help you narrow it down a bit. If you want something creamy, it lists them all in one place rather than you getting confused and ending up drinking the same one each time. It encourages you to try something new.

The taste masterclass was great but for me, the real test was when they turned up the music and let the evening run as if it was a normal evening with all of being able to order a drink. The atmosphere was great, as you can see, there was dancing on the bar and everything, FAB. 

I'll definitely be going back to Be At One to try some more cocktails, there is a Be At One somewhere with an Irish Disco Biscuit just waiting to be drank.


Have you been to a Be At One, before? Let me know what your favourite cocktail from there is.

Hard skin remover for feet? How A-peeling!

Firstly, let me apologies for the pictures of feet, let me apologise for the pictures of dead skin and let me just apologise, full stop. I was never going to blog about this so I don't really have any artfully posed pictures of feel covered in rose petals or Rose Gold nail polish on my toe nails. I'm shit, what can I say, I'm a busy working woman who cannot even find a cat to put my feet on to get an Instagram worthy shot at the moment. (I will turn in my blogger card at the door, Im a fucking disgrace) 

HOWEVER, what I can tell you, is that I am wearing sandals, at least I think I am, when I look down I just see boobs, Its a great view, trust me. I am wearing sandals and my feet are in my opinion, OK. which is a HUGE step for me from thinking that my feet are absolutely vile and I hate them, Urgh feet. 

So here follows the story of me using one of the feet peeling foot masks to try to remove dead skin from my feet which pretty much nothing was ever going to remove. 

Firstly, it puts the feet in the bag (Please read that in a Silence Of The Lambs tone or it just doesn't work) 

Oh hang on, see i told you i was a terrible blogger lately, HERE is the foot peel that I purchased, I got it from Amazon, I am sure there are other stockists available but I am lazy, and I have the app. Soz.

Buy it, its fab. (Do I actually need to continue with this now? Are you all just here for the pictures of peeling feet? YOU ARE, AREN'T YOU? YOU MONSTERS) 

So I put my feet in the bags, planning to sit on the sofa and not move for the 90 minutes it told me to wear them, 2 minutes in and i needed a wee, the phone rang, my youngest wanted help putting on a hat or something equally ridiculous and I had left my phone on the other side of the room. SIGH. 

So I can assure you, you can walk around while wearing the bags on your feet, you look like an absolute KNOB whilst doing so, and you are constantly in fear that you will fall over, but you can walk around. 

after the time has elapsed, you take the plastic bags off, they call them socks but  assure you, it is like tying Asda bags around your feet, and then you wait, you wait and you wait and you wait some more just like at a red traffic light that you start to assume MUST be broken and then just as you forget you did it, you take off your socks at the end of a long day and your sock resembles some sort of freakish snow globe that has malfunctioned. Skin everywhere, 

And thats when it starts to get FUN. My name is Kellie Dawson and I have an addiction to peeling skin off my feet. 

Dear God, the satisfaction I got from peeling my feet was almost sexual. I am not even sorry, t was all I could think about. I was sticking my feet in the bath as many times as I could get away with just to loosen more skin so that I could peel it off in sheets. Some people wonder when they can slip off for a crafty wank, all I could think about was when I could next peel skin off my feet. it was intoxicating, addicting, I kept waving my feet in front of my husband going look at my gross feet, aren't they gross? 

I never realised how grey my feet were until the pink started showing through, and then I just wanted to see more, if I could have peeled down to the bone, i genuinely think that I would have done so. I just couldn't stop. It was amazing. 

All of the hard skin came off the balls of my feet and across. I peeled in places that I didn't even realise I had hard skin, I PRACTICALLY DEGLOVED A TOE AND I LIKED IT. 

but then, as always, good things must come to an end, I ran out of skin to peel, my feet were baby soft and pink. (I must add that my poor feet were sore for a couple of days, not unbearably but it does make you wonder if we do need a bit of hard skin to protect our poor feetsies) 

It has been a good couple of weeks since I last used the foot peel and I can't lie, I want to do it again, but I want to let the hard skin build up a bit again so that it is not a disappointment in comparison to last time. I'm gross aren't I? This is why I don't often do reviews, I am too honest. 

Do I recommend using a foot peel? FUCK YES, it is disgustingly brilliant and I loved every moment. 

Do I recommend YOU use one? 

Only if I can come and help you peel your feet. 

What do you think? Have you ever used a foot peel? Have I put you off for life or are you now furiously scouring the internet to find one. Let me know in the comments