My Experience of Black Friday Weekend 2016

This weekend my parents were visiting. Despite the cold and rain, we decided to go to the Black Friday sales that were on. I have never been to any Black Friday events before and was excited. I love a bargain! Finances have always been difficult for me, but I really wanted to buy something for Christmas for my sister and nephew. I also wanted an early birthday celebration as my birthday is near Christmas. 
 I wanted to show my parents the Primark flagship store and so we went there. The store was full of people and the lifts were really busy but we made it. On the way, we stopped for a hot chocolate at a café which surprisingly had really good wheelchair access. 


My Primark purchases were a really soft short fleecy dressing gown in dove grey and a pack of really thick black tights to go with a black and white wool skirt I bought earlier in the autumn.
 I looked for another skirt in Primark as well as in Zara and Mango, but they were all pencil skirts which I find uncomfortable or skirts in designs I would never wear. The best surprise I got in Mango was the fact that they had redone the store and put a lift into it. The lift went down to the Mango Outlet which was great because I had never been able to go to that floor before . Mum bought me a really nice terracotta/rust colour tunic blouse which was €17 down from €30.  
 I saw online that Kiko Makeup Milano had a 3 for 3 sale on. Those of you who follow my blog will know that I am a complete Kiko addict and have taken advantage of this offer every time it has been on this year which is so far a couple of times. The other times I used it were online so I wanted to go to the store this time.
 One of the smaller stores was very full of people but luckily there was another one nearby. It was also really busy but the sales assistants were really helpful and got the products that I needed from the display stands. I was really disappointed that the two water shadows that I wanted (205 Chocolate and 223 Eggplant Purple ) were completely out of stock. So were the 3D lip glosses in shades 18, 22 and 21. 
 I ended up buying the lipgloss in shade 20 (Chestnut) and the sales assistant also checked that I liked the colour before I bought it, which I thought was good customer service. Usually, I find that if I need assistance in shops, the shop workers can be quite unhelpful at times.

This goes for any shop. A couple of weeks ago, I saw that Kiko had bought out a range of eyeshadows for just €2.50. This is called the Smart Eyeshadow range. I looked through the colours online before going to the store, and automatically loved shade number 23, Metallic Jeans Blue. 


I am always in need of really dark deep chocolate browns, so I found shade number 4 Metallic Cocoa was just what I was looking for. 


My fingernails seem pretty weak so I was looking for a strengthener and bought the Longer and Stronger Base Coat. 


I also finally bought the water shadows in shade 203 (Burgundy) and 204 (Plum) that I wanted!


 

At the drugstore, I bought the Oil Control Makeup Fixing Spray by Makeup Revolution and Wet and Wild’s glitter eyeshadows in Brass and. I am really glad that we went to the shops despite the rain and cold and I’m especially happy with the fact that I was able to buy the gifts I wanted as well as everything else I bought.
 On Saturday, we ate at Gino’s, my favourite Italian restaurant which is part of a chain. I decided to have the pizza bread and lasagne. 


We went to the cinema afterwards to see Fantastic Animals and Where to Find them. All through November, the Harry Potter films had been on TV at the weekends and I was really wanting to see the new J.K. Rowling Film. I will review it on this blog soon. The cinema had really great wheelchair spaces with a lot of room. It was mum and dad’s first time watching a film in Spanish. Alfredo and I had been to the same cinema on August 23 2016 to see Star Trek Beyond. 
Sunday was a relaxing day in our apartment. We took some photographs (see below) 


 and had pizza and salad before mum and dad flew home in the evening.
All in all, I really enjoyed my Black Friday weekend ( apart from the weather of course!) Here we are braving the rain and cold. We even saw a Christmas tree and decorations. 


I am really looking forward to swatching and reviewing  my new products for you which I will do very soon.

At the time this post was written, some of the products I mentioned were  and others were not stocked online. To guarantee that you can get them, first check the website in your country before going to the store.
  

Dewey's  24 hour Readathon-  April 2016 Progress Summary and Survey 

 

Day 1: Saturday 23 April 2016 
 2 PM – Listened to The Curious Case of Benjmin Button by F Scott Fitzgerald.

3 PM – Started listening to When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalinithi. 

4 PM – had lunch, watched some TV then went back to my audiobook .

8 PM – A Thousand Naked Strangers :A Paramedic’s Wild Ride To The Edge and Back by Kevin Hazzard

10:30 PM –What She Knew by Gilly Macmila
Day 2: Sunday 24 April 2016 

7 AM – continued with, and finished What She Knew.

8 AM – 11 AM Star Trek the Next Generation Crossover by Michael Jan Friedman

12 noon – Star Trek the Next Generation First Contact by JM Dillard and The Hospital (Mountain Man)  by Keith C Blackmore 

1 PM – Leonard: The Story of a Fifty Year Friendship by William Shatner   

2PM – End of Readathon. 

 My answers to the End of Readthon Survey 

Which hour was most daunting for you? None really, I’ve done the Readathon for the past 3 years and have set my pace well. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalinithi 

For Trekkies: Star Trek The Next Generation Crossover or First Contact

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?

Offer more swag, make the writing spaces on the printable bookmark bigger, they are way too small. 

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

Everything, it is always well organised and fun. 

How many books did you read? 7 and a quarter

What were the names of the books you read?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F Scott Fitzgerald

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalinithi

Star Trek Crossover by Michael Jan Friedman 

Star Trek First Contact by JM Dillard 

The Hospital (Mountain Man) by Keith C Blackmore

What She Knew by Gilly MacMillan

A Thousand Naked Strangers: A Paramedic’s Wild Ride To The Edge and Back by Kevin Hazzard

Which book did you enjoy most? Most of them – they were all different and enjoyable in their own way

Which did you enjoy least? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- I felt a narrator who’s voice was annoying at times ruined an otherwise very good short story

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? Very What role would you be likely to take next time? Reader and I would love to write a warm up or guest post!