Summer holidays: What have I been up to?

So it's safe to say that I have been quite absent from my blogging for the past few months of the summer break. If I am terribly honest with you all I have been extremely busy getting ready to leave my home for university this month and I was also delivered some bad news at the start of my summer break which has hit me and my family pretty badly. However things are getting back to normal and I feel like I am getting back on my feet after a stressful few months.

So most of my Summer break has mainly consisted of spending time with my Family and friends before I head off to Aberdeen. I must admit that I have been trying to spend as much time as I can with my family before I head away seeing as in a couple of weeks I will be hundreds of miles from them, which is a rather scary thought. Of course I am ecstatic to be starting University later this month but I must admit that moving to Aberdeen will be a massive change for me, not to mention I will be at least 3 hours away from my family and close friends.

However here are some adventures I have got up to during my Summer break;

Deep sea world Aquarium

I am a massive fan of sea creatures and the sea  in general, so I am a regular visitor to my local Aquarium "Deep Sea World" at North Queensferry. During the Summer I visited here twice with my Sister and her two kids. My Niece, much like myself, loves animals and she always has a blast when we go to Deep Sea World. We decided to surprise my Niece by taking her Deep Sea World and she had a ball.  Honestly, I am like a massive child myself when I go here and I think the place is brilliant for kids, as most of the staff members are trained in Marine Biology and there are regular classes you can attend throughout the aquarium, where the staff members teach you all about the animals. There is also class rooms for you to go and visit where sometimes you get to hold one of the animals, such as the snakes or tarantulas. I have to say I have never been brave enough, seeing as I have a massive fear of spiders. Despite not being brave enough to ever be near the spiders, I must admit that it is quite a shock that I have always wanted to dive with the sharks at Deep sea world. I know, it's weird right? But my boyfriend has done the dive years ago and says it was excellent and I have always loved sharks, Magnificent animals they are and not to mention, terribly misunderstood.

Films, films and more films. 
As you all know by now I am a massive film enthusiast. I usually go to the cinema at least three or four times a month to see the latest films. Not to mention I am going again this Friday to see "Before I go to sleep" with my parents. Rather looking forward to that film, I must admit.
So far this summer my favourite films that I have been to see are "Dawn of the planet of the apes", "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "The fault in our stars". These three films stand out as my favourite summer box office hits. Each one was very different and I absolutely loved them, I walked out of the cinema at each showing incredibly satisfied. Here is a little bit about why these three films were my favourite;

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" 
Of course I have to say that this has been my all time favourite film this year and is my film of the summer. I have always been a massive planet of the apes fan and I have always been a great admirer of Andy Serkis and his work. I have to agree with pretty much every review for this film that it is a cinematography masterpiece. Andy Serkis is brilliant as Ceaser the ape and his work in motion capture is just phenomenal. Though credit has to also be given to Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman who I think were spectacular in their own roles. Honestly I know it's a little late but if you haven't seen this film, please do. It is an absolute masterpiece.

Guardians Of the Galaxy
As a massive marvel fan of course I was going to run to the cinema to see this film. Guardians was one film I had been hotly anticipating for some time now seeing as it had been advertised at least a year ago. Unlike some very early reviews I was never skeptical about this film, yet saying that I was still not expecting the film to be as great as it was. "Guardians" is definitely the best film that Marvel have released so far. It's funny, heartwarming, filled with action and ambitious. One of the greatest elements about this film was, much like "The Avengers", the cast worked brilliantly with one another. Definitely a must see film

The fault in our Stars
So this film was a pleasant surprise for me. I am not big on rom coms or weepy films that much but I had heard good reviews about this film so I decided to try it out. I am glad I did go to see this film because it was genuinely brilliant. Shailenne woodley and Ansel Elgort shine in the roles of Hazel and Gus, two teenagers with cancer that fall in love. I think the best thing about this film is that it is funny, charming and heartwarming as well as having the ability to make you feel emotional and I have to admit, a little teary eyed. The fault in our stars was scripted and acted brilliantly. Definitely another summer must see.


Food and cocktails
So as it was my summer holidays I have taken this time to de stress from all things college and uni related, and what a better way to relax than going out for food and cocktails with my family and friends. I think everyone knows by now that I am a bit of a food enthusiast as well and me and my best friend regularly spend our time going out for a lovely meal and wine or cocktails. One restuarant I have been visting quite a lot recently, is Zizzi. A delicious Italian in Glasgow. I absolutely love Italian food and Zizzi serve some of the nicest dishes I have ever tasted. The pasta linguini and Lasagne are among my favourite dishes to eat.

Just the other day there I headed out to another restaurant that is fast becoming one of my favourite places to eat. Wagamamas. It's one of my best friends favourite places to eat, I have only been a few times but I have never been let down. The food is excellent. I must admit that I am a massive sucker for their "Firecracker Chicken" and trust me, this dish lives up to it's name, but if your like me and love spicy food. Then this is the dish for you. 

Back to Blonde
Just after my summer break began I decided that I needed a new change again in my life. Naturally that meant getting my hair done and changing the way it was. I have been growing my hair out of it's short length for quite some time now, I hope next Summer my hair will nearly be as long as it was before I had to chop it all off! I have had dark hair for quite some time now and I think everyone knows how much I like to experiment with my hair! I decided that I wanted to go back to my natural highlighted blonde for the Summer. We were having such nicer weather this year which was a surprise and after my personal issues I felt like I needed to get back to who I used to be and let some light back into my life for positivity, it's sounds stupid I know but going back blonde has made me feel more like my older and happier self for some unknown reason.

There is much more that I have got up to this summer, unfortunately not nearly as much as I wished I could but that couldn't be helped. However after this summer I am feeling ready to move away to Aberdeen and start my university degree. I can't believe just two more years and I will have an honours degree in Fashion! My future is looking great!.

I hope you all have had a fantastic Summer and relaxed for the last few months and I promise not to leave my blogging for so long next time, again I do apologize for how long I have been absent but personal issues got in the way.

Peace and Love, Rachel Couture  xoxo

Weekend Adventures: American Hustle, wine, Food & friends

So after a very hectic week at college, finishing up design projects and officially passing Semester 1! I was so happy when the weekend came so I could relax for the first time in a few months before all the work starts back up again. With all this work out of the way for the moment I decided that it was a good time for me and my best friend to have a catch up over some dinner and a movie, It's like a ritual for the two of us to always go and see the latest film and grab something to eat and as both of us are massive film lovers we don't really complain!.

So first of all we headed out to our favorite local haunt, Sumo. It's a fantastic small Japanese restaurant and I am always going for the chicken yaki - tori as my starter and the Chicken Teryaki dish as my main meal.

So the film of the week that we decided on this time was "American Hustle" and I was extremely excited to finally see it!. I had been looking forward to this film since it first came out and despite all the rave reviews from critics, I had heard from a few friends that it wasn't as good as they had expected so I was a little nervous. Not that I ever listen to other people's opinions anyway which is probably the best thing to do seeing as I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Quite frankly it was spectacular, I mean a film set in the 70's with fantastic costume design, music, con men, Scandals and Jeremy Renner means something brilliant in my book. Not too mention that every single cast member was on fine form, especially Jennifer Lawrence who seems to be on fire this past year and in my opinion a stellar performance from Bradley Cooper who seems to keep getting better and better every time I see him on screen at the moment. 

I am also going to acknowledge Jeremy Renner, who played one of the most interesting characters who was the heart and soul of the film, in my opinion, but the truth is Jeremy Renner is such a versatile and talented actor that he always ends up the standout in every film he does, take a look back at the 2010 film "The town", Renner may not have been the lead but he gave the best performance in the whole film and I always get this feeling that even when he gets nominated every awards ceremony overlooks him and I feel exactly the same with his performance in American Hustle, I think that he should be given some recognition for his performance as Mayor Carmine Polito. 

So all in all It has been a good weekend for me to unwind and spend some quality time for myself and friends. And Of course I believe that everyone should go see American Hustle and give their opinion on the film. I was thoroughly impressed with the film and can't fault it. One another plus note I shall be on my way to see the Wolf of Wall street next week as well 12 years a slave, I am little excited I must admit. 

Viva Brazil!

Have you ever been somewhere so spectacular that you kind of just want to tell the world about it? yeah?, well that's me right now. Now I know it has been a few weeks since my last post and of course I dearly apologize my lovelies, college work and university applications have been hectic, ugghhh the life of a fashion student........but that's not what this post is about!

So in my absence from blogging we celebrated my sisters 23rd birthday on January the 12th and like usual for us we always go out for a family meal to celebrate. My sister, Holly, decided on a new place that none of us had ever been before. A lovely restaurant called Viva Brazil, just in the center of Glasgow. I had absolutely never heard of this place before in my life so I decided to look it up and see what they were like, to find out that they were a Brazilian style steakhouse. Let's just say I was intrigued, and as much as sometimes that I hate to admit it my sister does have fabulous taste when it comes to picking out places to eat so I already knew Viva Brazil already would not disappoint.

Now that I have been there all I can say is that the evening was quite spectacular, Viva Brazil truly do live up to their motto "More is everything...food, service & atmosphere", they really do. The waiters were exceptionally nice in explaining how their restaurant works, which was quite peculiar once the manager had explained to me that there was an all you can eat buffet with mashed potatoes, chips, salad, rice, pasta's etc, that you could help yourself to while you wait on the meat coming around. Now this is where it gets interesting. Viva Brazil had passadors (meat carvers) that go around the room with selected cuts of delicious meats, there were 14 in total, such as porks, sausages, chilli chicken....even chicken hearts! (which I couldn't ring myself to eat by the way, but hey! at least there is always a selection. Nothing wrong with trying new things) that have all been slowly roasted over an open charcoal barbecue.

As I am such a massive food enthusiast, I just love to eat!, this place hit all the right spots for me and the funny thing is you would expect to be so full after eating, but because the passadors that go around give you just a nice carving of meat and leave a sufficient time between each meat selection, the surprising thing is that you can eat even more. Not that anyone was complaining!!!.

So since that I have established the food was excellent and that Viva Brazil's method of serving is quite something, I think I have to leave a little word about the service. All I can say is that it's probably one of the best services I have ever received in a restaurant. Not only did they always come over and ask if you needed a new drink or if you needed anything else but the one thing that really topped the night of for me was that they didn't rush you at the end of the night. You know how some places and you go out for a meal with a load of people and suddenly the staff are trying to shove you out the door? well that never happened. We stayed there for an extra hour just having a nice conversation over a cup of tea to let the meal go down and let the night wind down and not once were we told if we would like the bill, if we were planning on staying any longer and for some reason that just made it even better. The staff seem to be as relaxed as the customers and that's something to appreciate in a very busy restaurant.

So that's the end of my little review about my night out at Viva Brazil! and I just have to say that I truly recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a great night out with fantastic service and great food!. So if your around Glasgow anytime soon or your just looking to check somewhere else out, this is the place to go. You will not be dissapointed.