Generally we try to have something more exciting in the diary and Friday night's plan was a real humdinger.

In fact I was practically bursting with smugness every time I explained what we were doing, because not only were booze and music involved, there was also a great big dollop of culture.

A killer combination by anyone's standards.

I was one of the lucky guests at the launch party for the city's first street art gallery – Best Joined Up loves subism – at The Faversham, Hyde Park.

We're not talking huge, lurid graffiti murals or images stencilled on brick walls, this was a beautifully presented selection of artwork, much of it framed, so varied it would look good anywhere, from album covers to children's books.

They say the art world is largely unaffected by the credit crunch and now I know why.

Your heart rules your head and before you know it you've snapped up two pieces – oops.

The club night Best Joined Up, supported by the Pampero Fundacion, is the only event of its kind in Leeds.

The pub's conservatory is turned into a giant blank canvas, with temporary walls ready to be transformed by street artists who are surprisingly happy to share their pens and paints with revellers who fancy doodling while they're drinking.

If like me you're about as artistic as a gnat, you feel like a talentless wally at first, worried everyone else will be sniggering at your scrawls.

But within minutes you become totally absorbed, until you're diligently scribbling away, head down, tongue out, like a five-year-old with an amazing colouring book.

To complete the trip back in time, there are bowls of Haribo sweets and retro treats like Refresher bars and candy sticks to chew while you work.

What's not to love?

Except of course, the best-laid plans often go to waste, in my world certainly, so I didn't go home proudly clutching my artistic efforts and a goody bag crammed with sweeties.

Impress

Instead I dashed off to meet my BF at Roast on Whitehall Road, thinking we would return to The Fav and I could impress her with my eclectic social diary.

But after considering all our clubbing, dancing, dining, karaoke-singing options, we ended our night in perhaps the least cool circumstances imaginable – stuffing our faces with Burger King chips and onion rings at 11.15pm, while sitting in Leeds Railway Station.

It might not sound like fun but it really was.

So today's lesson is, it's not what you do or where you go that matters – it's who you're with.

Well, sometimes anyway.


Cost cutting that took some pluck


Any woman trying desperately to curb her spending while still looking good knows ways to stay chic on the cheap.

And in these credit-crunching times, it's wise to keep your eyes peeled for special deals.

When I spotted that Glow Urban Spa, Lower Briggate, needed models for junior staff to hone their techniques on, I signed up immediately.

I was hoping for lash extensions but was offered a bikini wax.

Blinded by the thought of saving £20 I forgot that: a) this would be painful rather than relaxing ; and b) I was basically volunteering to be a lab-rat.

I was at the mercy of an amateur armed with a pot of molten wax, and found myself stretched out half naked in front of not only one person but two.

Mortified

I don't care how confident you are, it's difficult not to feel mortified when two young girls are surveying your nether regions.

And you know how experienced waxers rip off the strips in a flash?

Not learners.

They're scared of hurting their "victims", so don't pull hard enough – which has exactly the reverse effect.

Thank goodness the tutor stepped in and saved the day before I jumped off the table and legged it, half-plucked.

Still, Glow is home to some of the best waxers in the business and recently scooped two gongs, including Best Beauty Salon, at the Leeds Retail Therapy Awards, so I guess you don't get that good without practice.

There can't be many people daft enough to volunteer to be a bikini wax model, so next time you have a perfect treatment, remember… my pain was probably your gain.


Cocktails...

I'm looking forward to the Floridita opening party on Thursday.

What better than a taste of Cuba to banish the winter blues?

And who wouldn't want to raise a glass or two to celebrate the fact that we have finally waved goodbye to the eyesore that was once Break for the Border?

The original El Floridita, founded in Havana, was renowned in the early 1900s as the city's "cathedral of cocktails".

Now we have its namesake here in Leeds – Hallelujah!

Ladies, I feel I'm ready to worship, how about you?


...and mixers

transformation of a more subtle kind could also be under way at that end of town.

A very reliable source tells me that Morgan's City Living on Dock Street could well morph into a chameleon concept – letting agent by day, bar by night.

Ingenious.

Maybe regulars will rent out their favourite spot at the bar.