A Love Note to Innocent Smoothies

All those who know me know my addiction to one particular brand. I am the definition of 'brand loyal' when it comes to Innocent Smoothies. Not only are their products ridiculously delicious (and healthy!!), their brand image is wonderful. Did you think it was possible for a company to simultaneously be crazy ethical and yet feel like that old weird friend with the endless stream of dumb jokes and fun facts? Well my friends, that's Innocent. 

So when I was browsing my Twitter feed and saw they were holding a festival, I booked tickets that very same minute. Which brings me to this post. 

Innocent Unplugged 2016 was the second annual festival where Innocent encourages people to get off their phones, disconnect from social media and actually take a look around. All whilst listening to some pretty cool music and having a couple of smoothies for good measure.

£15 tickets booked (all of which was, I believe, donated to local Kent charities), I waited weeks for the 28th of May to arrive. Unfortunately, the friend I had originally booked to go with had to pull out super last minute and so I ended up going with my sister but nevertheless, I was excited. So tent packed and sunglasses firmly planted on our faces, off to Kent we went with high hopes the weather would be kind to us. Spoilers: It was. Mostly.

Now, I cannot call myself a Festival Connoisseur. In fact, I'd never even been to one. In fact, I'd never even been camping which became painfully clear when my sister and I, equipped with 30 packets of crisps and very little else, unfurled the tent and then proceeded to stare at it for 20 minutes because we didn't have a damn clue what we actually needed to do with this thing to make it, well, tent. We eventually asked our neighbours who kinda laughed at us, realised we were serious and then taught us Camping 101. Thanks guys!)

But as a Festival First, Innocent Unplugged was pretty damn marvellous.

They say you're not allowed your phone and for the most part, people seemed to stick to that, the exception being when they were taking photos of the most Instagram-worthy place I have ever been. Seriously. The festival was in the middle of a forest and arboretum and my god, it was absolutely stunningly picturesque. To get from the camping site to the festival, you needed to walk down a path through the woods which was lit up by fairy lights at night. Then you walked through a path lined with Rhododendrons and other (unknown to me) gorgeous, colourful flowers. I was pretty much expecting to see the White Rabbit running past, it was so bloody beautiful and Alice in Wonderland'y. 

Throughout the day there was a lot of activities going on in different tents, from music on the main stage, to talks by adventurers, food critics and happiness consultants, to activities like belly dancing and story telling. You were never wanting for something to do, and if you were feeling particularly zen, you could drop in on one of the yoga and meditation sessions which were going on throughout the weekend. I spent my time wandering from thing to thing, laughing and joining in with whatever random thing I stumbled upon, sipping on smoothies and coconut water. 

I had my portrait drawn by Rosie Curran, a lady in a 'Photo Booth' (large cardboard box) which promised 30% accuracy and slipped out my picture from a slot in the front of her 'booth'.

I had absolutely gorgeous little flowers painted on my face by Doodle Cheeks 

I ate more free Lick frozen yoghurt than my stomach really wanted me to. 

I crowded into the main tent with a ridiculous amount of people and followed a session held by Mr. Motivator (yes, the Mr. Motivator ft. special guest, Mrs Motivator) 

I joined the last part of a belly dancing class and was instantly bumping my hips against a strangers upon entering the tent. 

I ate half a chicken off the bone and roasted marshmallows as I sat around a camp-fire as the sun set. 

I had a dance party to Destiny's Child on a footpath in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night. 

I had a Sunday morning sober rave which I would highly recommend to anyone. It really wakes ya' up. 

I followed the rave with my first ever meditation and yoga session which has totally converted me to yoga despite the fact two days later I can still barely walk. 

I spent 2 hours talking to strangers in a hot tub and sauna drinking Prosecco whilst a group of adults next to us played children's games. 

And I had a whole butt-tonne of fun. 

Little Megan by Rosie Curran 

One selfie all weekend? Oh, my.

I was intending to play by the rules and so when I arrived and my phone died, I was pretty pleased that the distraction was gone. But when I actually entered Innocent Unplugged, I was gutted that I wouldn't be able to take any photos of the beautiful surroundings Innocent had found to hold their weekend of fun. With the very tiny amount of battery my phone held, I managed to take three photographs. Three blessed photographs. But then I started to enjoy the rest of my weekend without worrying that I hadn't taken a selfie with that background or the photo opportunity in the spa was so wasted. I spent my time actually enjoying it.  
And actually, the rest of the weekend has been photographed in the really retro way; with my memory. Yup. That got real cheesy, real quick. I'm aware. 
But boy, what happy, gorgeous memories I have. 
We really don't need to be on your phones all the time. Yeah, we may miss out on 'likes' and retweets. We may not be able to add filters and make collages of your weekend, but you know what? 
Sometimes life is better when it's not seen through a screen. We have eyes, People. Let's focus them on what's around us. 
It really can be more fun that way. 

If you go down to the woods today... 

So thanks, Innocent. Keep up the good work! 

I would totally send you a fruit basket or something as thanks, but I get the feeling that would be kinda pointless. 

See you next year! 

M x 

Goodbye, Devon. Hello, Bournemouth.

I've not blogged a lot this Summer. Why? Well, I've been pretty bloody busy. I can't say that anything extremely eventful has happened to me, but I have been kept sufficiently occupied to seemingly abandon this little blog of mine. Well do you know what I say? No more! It's time to dust off the interweby cobwebs and bring out the cyber vacuum cleaner.

And now, for those that care, here's a post on what I've been up to in the Summer of 2013.

Work

As previously mentioned, I worked in a fish and chip shop for the summer. Lovely. That beautiful heatwave we had? Yeah, I didn't see any of it because I was working every day in an absolutely horrifically hot kitchen. It's safe to say that the boss really doesn't give a damn about his workers and point blank refused to get any form of air conditioning. Charming. I previously wrote about how I was head of house. In theory, it was a very good job. I got a pay rise, I got three days off a week and I didn't have to do half the amount of work that I was required to do as a waitress. Reality? The pay rise was by 75p, I worked at my other job 2 out of the 3 days I had off and usually ended up waitressing for my remaining day off and I ended up doing far more work than I was supposed to be doing which I really wouldn't have minded doing, except I was pretty much just doing my old job with a whole load more crap to do. Also, my discovery of the summer was tourists are jackasses. Yes, I understand that you're on holiday and are out looking for a nice evening/time. No, that does not mean that you have to be an absolute jerk to anyone that you come into contact with. People can be downright rude and by the end, I had simply had enough of it. So if you were one of the customers that were screaming in my face (especially the particularly charming woman from Essex) then I have this to say to you; badly done. 

But the good news is that I am officially finished there. I've handed in my apron (and kept my name badge) and so I now, thankfully, done with working in chip shops. I've done my time. Never again. 

University

This is where things get really exciting. I am finally packing my bags and making my way to university. It's been a long time coming and I really cannot wait now. I'm studying Public Relations at Bournemouth. My A level results turned out to be absolutely shocking and it's something that I will never forgive my school for (see previous post explaining the absolute shambles of my exam day) so well done, Axe Valley. You've managed to mess up every single year of my sixth form education without fail. And yes, I know that I have to take responsibility but the things that have happened just shouldn't have and I can't help but feel incredibly let down. But anyway. Bournemouth accepted me and I, by some miracle, managed to get into the Halls that I wanted to as well. I move on the 15th of September which is hurtling towards me far too quickly, really. I've started (yesterday) sorting out my clothes. This is most definitely the largest item on the agenda but boy oh boy do I hate washing and ironing. Weep. Sob. Expect future posts all about moving in and Freshers. EEP! 

Baby James

I am now an Auntie! The very biggest of congratulations to my brother and his fiancée, Nadine. James William Ruddy was born on the 28th of August and he's absolutely gorgeous. I've been waiting to become an auntie for so long now and it's amazing to finally have a baby in the family. I'm the youngest in my family and so there's never been a baby around for me to see growing up and coerce into being a badass. Honestly, absolutely every little-person thing I've been seeing I've been wanting to buy. The money I've slaved away for is trying to spend itself on every pair of booties, every soft toy, every hat with ears and every rattling, noisy, fluffy, adorable thing that I lay eyes on. Welcome to the World, James. I hope it's kind to you. 

M x