electric_dress: [Glasgow] Marry The Night

Home really is where the heart is. You can't spend 4 years in a city and not feel strongly about it, and Glasgow made a woman out of me. It was where I really grew up, arriving fresh-faced for uni life shortly after my 18th birthday back in 2006.... I returned to Glasgow for the first time after graduating last June for the New Year's Eve celebrations 2012, and had an absolute riot. I've been itching to return so after a few glasses of wine a few weeks ago, I booked myself a return for the Irish bank holiday weekend.

I booked onto the 8.15AM flight and miraculously, despite cocktails the night before at Cafe en Seine, I made it.. My best friend Catriona, who's currently in final year, met me off the train at Central and we zoomed up to her West End pad. Recently I've found I can't easily nap, but Cat physically forced me to go to bed to get some down time in the afternoon. When I woke up it was almost time to hit the town and fool around; we had a yummy dinner of tiger prawn salad and white wine and glammed up to go.

We headed out to the Roxy, where my best friend Stella was playing rent-a-crowd to her boyfriend Rab's mixing; I wore my starry starry Zara jumpsuit and Aldo killer platform boots. The Roxy used to be known as the Liquid Ship and has re-invented itself into a classy little bar/restaurant with a gorgeous wood interior. I couldn't believe how cheap the drinks were but kind of defeated the exercise by buying everyone their drinks all night! Sigh. My friend and Glasgow designer Silvia also rocked up with her mate Lola but couldn't stay, so it was a short but sweet meet and greet! Next time I'm definitely going to see more of her.

We went on to Chinaski's, the new hipster hangout; it's a basement bar next to the Black Sparrow where the bar and dancefloor were pretty packed. We drank shots and boogied til the wee hours, including some not-so-subtle girl-on-girl action.... as you do.

The next day was not a pretty hangover, especially as I had to be up early again to visit my beautician Shereen at the Lunatic Fringe, again making the most of time away from sky-high Euro land. After, I met up with IS magazine editor Pete for a spot of lunch at the amazing Hillhead Bookclub. A staple on the hipster map of Glasgow, I'll still never get sick of their super cool décor and kooky concept, like "Polly Put The Kettle On" ad's for afternoon tea, book mark cocktail lists and strawberry gin mojito's. Pete had to go do important editor stuff, but I spotted my Art School graduate mates Sean and Graeme who were there with Dearbhla, a blogger friend based in Belfast.

I ended up grabbing cocktails with the old crew and soon enough, Jamie Lee and Steph joined us for drinks. It was really fun to hang out with them; Cat joined us for a few before we headed back to the flat for dinner. It was a total effort getting dolled up a second night in a row, but I slipped into Ashish for Topshop sequin print tee and wet look leggings to join Stella and Rab for a night at the Arches.

I made my way to Rab's flat where spirits were high and there was some serious Absinthe consumption going on that nearly landed us setting the flat on fire! We made it out, however, and got ourselves down to Glasgow's finest super club for some pumping tunes and shots of many kinds. Catching up with Stella was super fun and we both couldn't believe it's now been six years since we were married by a man dressed as Elvis in the Arches.....

It was when Stella was turned chatting to someone else I met Colin, who was dressed like some kid heading out in Ibiza and took a shine to my iPad-as-clutch bag trick. We partied in the space beneath Central Station in the brickwork tunnels that fill up with club lights and mobile phone signal is just as non-existent as it was in the 1980s.

Stella and Rab had to be up early for Mother's Day lunch with Rab's mum, so I went with Colin to his mates' Kati and Dave's flat on the South Side. It was a beautiful apartment and they were a cool and generous bunch of people, although I was most likely filling the role of random-girl-at-the-party-who-thinks-she's-found-her-new-best-friends-for-life. But whatev's. I had fun!

Late that night I made my escape to Cat's flat where I ordered Domino's and didn't make a lot of sense. Monday was not nearly as woozy as I expected and after waking up early to pack, Cat and I hit up Yo! for lunch. Cat is a sushi expert and we made full use of the Blue Monday's special offer.

We headed to uni campus where I met my friend and blogger Ginger who's now filled my boots as Fashion Editor at Glasgow University Magazine for coffee. She showed me the new issue which is excellent, especially her profesh looking photo-shoot. Just time for a quick catchup with Stella as she walked her pooches Ruby and Roxy around campus, and then it was time to boost for the late night flight.

Cat drove me out to Prestwick and it was so hard to say goodbye, to the people and the place that made me who I am, and if ever I was offered a reason to go back to Glasgow, I would be there in a heartbeat. It has a raw energy and soul I've never found elsewhere, and the bad rep it suffers from is a glowing silver lining which means it remains an undiscovered diamond of a city...