At the end of last year we went to Norway (Chasing Magic), then last month we went to Amsterdam (photos). Next month we’re off to Paris, so it’s safe to say that all those things, combined with Joe’s tax bill, means we’re pretty short of money at the moment.

On top of that, I’ve been working extremely long hours in my day job. We’ve signed up a lot of customers, had a lot of sales enquiries, and it’s going great, so I’m really happy about that, but it’s meant I haven’t had much time to myself.

In fact, I managed to totally forgot that Valentine’s Day was coming up, even though this year is the 9th year we’ve celebrated it. Oops! So I was really grateful when an email landed in my inbox from Showcase Cinemas, asking me if I’d like to celebrate the Oscars with them in the form of two cinema tickets for February, cinema snacks, a hamper, and Twitter bingo during the Oscars itself.

Unsurprisingly, my answer was: Hell yes I would! I’m looking forward to the Oscars part which will be coming up later this month (details at the end of this post), and in the meantime Valentine’s Day was sorted. Perfect timing. Thanks Showcase!

So on Tuesday after exchanging some silly presents (a zombie apocalypse survivial guide and a geeky bookmark for him, and a llama hot water bottle cover, a creativity book and a rose for me), we went to see The Batman Lego Movie.

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It was a bit weird not actually paying for things, but I could definitely get used to it ;)

The film itself was hilarious: I loved The Lego Movie that came out a couple of years ago – I saw it twice at the cinema and bought the game), so I was really hyped for this one. I was intrigued by the fact that Batman was presented as not being perfect, and then Joe explained to me that he’s actually an anti-hero, and we went on to have a discussion that was altogether far too in-depth for a kids’ Lego film but interesting all the same (!) It’s a real feel-good movie without any hint of being patronising or sickly, so if you haven’t seen it already I’d recommend checking it out.

There are about four cinemas within two miles of our house, but we usually only visit the Showcase because the screens are better (we’re such tech geeks) and I love the huge reclining chairs (all the seats have them!). It was the perfect way to unwind after a busy few months…and the rest of the week was busy too.

I took Friday off work because a couple of my friends were visiting. After I graduated from university in 2008, I moved down south for my first ‘proper’ full time job. Even though the job wasn’t for me, I met some amazing people who I’m still in touch with, and I normally I visit them a couple of times a year. This time the stars aligned a bit differently and they came to stay over at mine. We had a lot of catching up to do, and quite a few cocktails. And pizza. And snacks. It was a great night, but I couldn’t stay up ridiculously late because I was off to a college friend’s hen party (bachelorette party) the next day.

As I got on the train, I was musing about how it was a real nostalgic weekend seeing different groups of friends from the very beginning of my adult life, so I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going. When I looked up to find my seat, I suddenly noticed that someone I knew was standing right by my seat – a manager from a job I had in 2009! It was such a weird coincidence, but luckily she’s a person I really loved having as a manager, so it was great to catch up after all this time (we’re Facebook friends but that’s about it). We had a lot of catching up to do, and she now has an adorable daughter, and I happened to have some adorable stickers on me (GitHub’s octocat and Hack24’s unicorns and watermelons), so I passed some over and everyone was happy.

The hen party was a lot of fun, and the preparation for it was great too – my friend treated us to a blow dry at the hairdresser’s (I managed to sneak in a quick cut too, since my hair hasn’t been cut in forever), and we had lunch with some other old friends. After the day’s preparations, we went out for a meal and drinks. I left before they moved on to the main bar because I get to the train back (and I was totally wiped by that point), but it was a lot of fun.

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Harry Potter fake tattoo…all part of the hen party fun.

On Sunday I was supposed to have a driving lesson but it got cancelled. I was intending to work on this blog (new theme coming soon!) but I was still so tired I just did some gaming with Joe and then we went to a local pub for lunch with some friends. After that I went for a walk, read magazines, and then played Flash Point.

So overall, a very busy week, but a very fun one! Are you staying up for the Oscars? If so, join me on Twitter for some Oscars bingo! The Oscars start at midnight UK time on Sunday 26th February, and I’ll explain all on Twitter at the time :)