Happy Mothers Day 2021 đŸ’

I used to share snap shots of my life on her, things we had done to celebrate different occasions, fun days out, holidays, however, obviously this last year has been quite an unpresidented one.

I feel like I haven’t really shared much of what I have been doing because really we’ve all been doing the same haven’t we! Staying home, Locked down, on and off since Summer, working and just trying to stay safe.

But I thought to myself, why not share the celebrations we are still having, as wierd as they may seem in comparison to how it used to be, because it’s all we’ve got at the moment and we should still be grateful for what we can do during such a mad time.


Today is Mothers day and I have shared on here, for several years, our tradition of our Mothers Day, homemade afternoon tea.

This year was a very 2020/21 affair, via Skype, but it still involved Afternoon Tea so no complaints here.

We ordered the individual Afternoon Teas from a small local business (All Covid safe) and enjoyed them at our own homes via Skype.

They were delicious and it was nice to be able to continue the tradition, even if it was a little different to usual.

Most of our ‘Usuals’ seem a distant memory right now don’t they 😣 but, it’s also so important to embrace what we can do, communicate and spend time together however we can, whilst staying safe, because we can still stay in touch and stay connected, and we will all be back together properly one day.

It gets to everybody at some point, this wierd time we are a part of, but I’m so very conscious that there are people in such a worse situation than me, who have experienced some of the worst times during this pandemic.

If the worst part of this whole situation, for me is that I can only speak to people through a computer then I’ll be forever grateful. I know some people have it much worse.

It’s still ok to find it hard though and I hope you’ve had a little bit of light and joy come your way today!


• Happy Mothers Day Everyone •


Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

My May half term diary â˜€ď¸

I love doing a diary for each school holiday, it’s a great way of remembering what Ive got up to, a 21st century diary 👍🏻

Friday 24th May 2019

Me & Tim got some good use out of our Unlimited Cinema cards tonight by watching two films!

We watched ‘Detective Pikachu’ followed by ‘Rocketman’.

Both were really good. We had already seen Detective Pikachu and we just wanted to see it again, great for any Pokemon fans ✌🏻

Rocketman was also really good but not my fave of the recent biopic films.


Saturday 25th May 2019

Today I met up with my friend and her boys at the park. I took Noah & Casey with my to play with her boys.

They loved the bus ride.

We had a great time at the park, enjoying the sunshine and playing with all of the boys 💙

Me & Tim took the boys to see ‘Secret Life of Pets 2’. This was Casey’s pick as he loves cats 🐈 & he really enjoyed himself.

In the eve, once I’d dropped the boys off, me and my friends met up again and had a Chinese together at a local buffet restaurant. So good.

& a great opportunity for a catch up!


Sunday 26th May 2019

A busy weekend rounded off with a family day trip to Cambridge for some retail therapy.

Me & Tim drove down with my twin sister Sarah, Noah & Casey, whilst my older sister Charlotte drive down with her husband & Evie.

It was a lovely day and we enjoyed shopping (First stop, Primark of course!) Followed by some yummy lunch from our favourite Italian which we introduced to everyone, Aromi 👌🏻 Their veggie pesto lasagne is the one.

The kids loved the play area too.


Monday 27th May 2019

Cult Cafe for Tea, Cake & Games.

This has become our bank holiday Monday tradition and it’s great.

We usually chill on the bank holiday ans as the weekend was busy this is what we did. In the afternoon we decided to get out for a bit, Cabin fever was setting in!

This was really lovely ♡


Wednesday 29th May 2019

Today, with work, we visited a local farm.

It was a lovely day, really chilled It was fun being outside and visiting a farm I hadn’t been to before either.


Friday 31st May 2019

Today we met my friends little boy, Finley ♡

We hadn’t met him before and it was lovely to have cuddles he is adorable.

& it was a great excuse to get the girls together and have a bit of tea & cake.

Our friend was home for the weekend too which was great timing.

We went to my other friends in the evening for dinner which was great too.


Sunday 2nd June 2019

To round off the half term we decided to again take advantage of the lovely warm weather by taking a trip to Felixstowe.

‘Oh, I do like to he beside the seaside… 🏖’

We enjoyed a lovely meal of fish & chips, Mr Whippy & doughnuts on the beach. We had a lovely stroll along the prom before heading into the pier for some amusements. The perfect afternoon.

I even had a little paddle 🌊☀️ The weather was great.


I hope you enjoyed or are enjoying your half term!


Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

Half term diaries pt 1

Hi guys!

I thought I would document my half term, here on my blog. After all, I started this blog to capture memories, and so I thought that since I have a few things planned this week, this would be a nice way to document them.


Friday 15th February 2019


Half term is here!!

And what better way to roll in the half term than a delicious meal with a friend.

Me & my friend Steph met up for a long over due catch up at Wagamamas.

I tried a few things that I hadn’t had before and it was super delicious.

Then we rounded the evening off with a trip to Creams, a nearby dessert restaurant.

They do amazing crepes 😍


Saturday 16th February 2019


Me & my hubby Tim spent the day relaxing at a local spa ‘Aqua Springs’. This was our Valentine’s treat and a great opportunity to relax and spend some time together.

We rounded off the day with a couple of games of Cluedo with my mum and dad.

I’ve been wanting to play for ages but it’s not so good with just 2 players so we’ve had to wait.

I love their original Cluedo board!!

Unfortunately, I was the only one who didn’t win a game 👎🏻


Sunday 17th February 2019


Today, me & Tim visited my uni friend Kirsty and her little ones in London.

It was lovely to have a much needed catch up and Tim got to meet the newest edition to the gang, little Bella.

We had a great time chatting, playing some silly games and eating pizza.


Monday 18th February 2019


Today me and my friends Steph met up again, but this time in the day time so that I could see her boys too.

We had a lovely time at the soft play centre, a bit of lunch and then back to hers for a cuppa and a chat.

In the evening we went round to my mother in laws to see her and give her, her birthday present.

Another nice cuppa and a catch up to round off the day.


Tuesday 19th February 2019


Today me and my older sister Charlotte, and my niece Evie, went for Afternoon tea.

We successfully resisted any treats in the staff Room for the whole of the half term, and this was our reward.

We havn’t been here for Afternoon tea before but it didn’t disappoint!

There were four different finger sandwiches each (Chicken, Tuna, Cheese & Ham)

And a lovely warm sausage roll 😍

There was also a scone with cream and jam and a assortment of cakes, very nice!

Once we had finished we got the bus back into town, visited Elmer and then went back to Charlottes for a play.

My favourite girly 💜


What have you been up to this half term?


Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

Blogmas Day 23: Festive afternoon tea đŸ°

Yesterday afternoon I hosted festive afternoon tea, at our flat, for my mum and two sisters. The kiddies came along too.

I thought it would be a fun way to start the Christmas hols and we all love afternoon tea so why not!?!!

What was on the menu?

Sandwiches

Egg mayo

Ham

Cakes

Mums ‘Blasts from the past’

Victoria Sponge

Mr Kipling Candy Cane slices

Jam tarts

Mini Mince Pies

Savoury

Cheese pastry Christmas tree

Pigs in blankets &

Quorn cocktail sausages (Veggie)

Crisps

Drinks

PG tips Tea

Yorkshire Biscuit brew tea

Coffee

Fruit Juice

It was really yummy and fun to think of ways to make normal afternoon tea festive.

A tasty & fun family afternoon.

Happy Christmas Eve eve!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

Afternoon tea: Aqua Springs 

So on Sunday we treated mum to a spa day and afternoon tea for her birthday! Her birthday was back in September but we thought half term was the perfect time to indulge. We went to Aqua Springs Spa in Colchester which is brilliant and a lot more reasonably priced than most spas, plus you can spend as long there as you like! 

If you’ve been around here before you’ll have noticed that I have reviewed a few afternoon teas (I love cake, ok!?) I mean are you even human if you don’t.

Here are the links to those if you want to check them out too…

Afternoon tea: Suffolk Food Hall

Afternoon tea: The Salthouse Harbour Hotel 

Afternoon tea: Patisserie Valerie 

So let’s get into why we’re really here, the food. I just love the mixture of things that afternoon tea brings together and it was perfect as a little treat alongside the relaxing spa. So let’s take a look.

We had a stand between two people and each stand had three tiers:

Tier one (bottom) was the savoury, a selection of sandwiches

  • Egg
  • Ham
  • Cucumber 
  • Cheese 
  • Tuna

The sandwiches were lovely, delicate finger sandwiches. The only thing I would say was that this tier could have done with something else savoury such as a little savoury tart or a sausage roll as there was alot more on both of the sweet layers.

Tier two (middle) was the scones with cream and strawberry jam. Each person got two full sized scones which was awesome. There was a really good amount of jam and cream too, you each got an individual mini jar of strawberry jam and a mini pot of cream between two. There was also some fresh strawberries on this tier which was nice. 

Tier three (top) was the cake tier.

  • Mini pieces of lemon drizzle cake
  • Mini macaroons (Pistachio, lemon, vanilla, coffee, strawberry & chocolate) 

You got three pieces of lemon drizzle each (nice and moist!) And three mini macaroons too, the variety of flavours was amazing and the meringues were chewy and crisps. 

Also served with the afternoon tea was a cup of either tea or coffee. You only got one hot drink with the afternoon tea which wasn’t quite enough, we weren’t sure if you could ask for a refill or not.

Of all the afternoon teas this one was the cheapest at ÂŁ9 per person. Although I have said that there are several things that could have been added to this (because nothings perfect) for ÂŁ9 it was absolutely brilliant. 

Until next time, 

Roseanne 🙂

Baby shower fun 💛  

So during May me and my twin sister Sarah hosted our big sisters baby shower! She is due mid July so we decided May would be the perfect time, especially with Half term then too.
We went for an afternoon tea theme with the colour scheme of yellow/grey/gold as they haven’t found out the baby s gender! This was really cool to plan as the only other baby showers I’ve organised are Sarah’s and they were both blue themed.

Here are the decorations…

Afternoon tea vibes ✌

We had loads of food from sweet fruit scones, jam Swiss roll, lemon cheesecake, chocolate cupcakes & Victoria sponge to savoury cheese straws  sandwiches, sausage rolls & a cheese ring! With plenty of tea and coffee.

Activities…

So to keep the guests entertained we had a couple of games/activities and things for the guests to do.

Baby due date predictions.

Messages & advice.

Guess the baby. Whose old photo is whose?

Photo booth fun! 

Guess the size of the baby bump.

Opening presents.

Me, Sarah and Mum clubbed together to get Charlotte a few things that she still needed incl bottles, a steraliser & some bibs & baby grows.

Favours/mementos…

We bought these super cute gift/favour bags to pip a little something in for each guest. We thought the floral vibe went well with the afternoon tea theme & would be right up Charlotte’s street. The colours were of courses perfect too. 

In the bags we had little bags of milk bottle sweets, retro 😎 and little wish bracelets. Sarah found these online and they are sooo cute.

* Make a Wish for baby *

‘Tie this bracelet on your wrist, close your eyes and make a Wish. When the bracelet breaks in two, the wish you made may soon come true.’

The bracelets are yellow with a little silver footprints charm. I love how you could personalise it too.

As a little memento for Charlotte we also made a sort of picture guest book (thanks Pinterest!) 

Everybody who came signed a balloon with their name and then I arranged it onto the pre drawn picture. Someone I work with is brilliant at drawing so I asked her to draw the elephant on, it looks fab. We thought this would be a lovely keepsake, perfect for the nursery.

It was a really fun (& tasty!) afternoon and everything went smoothly, which as a host is all you can ask for really! 

As I write this there are only 26 days (or 27 if my prediction is correct haha) until Baby S is due and I’ll be an Auntie for the 3rd time, EXCITING!!

Until next time, 

Roseanne 🙂

Afternoon tea  🍰☕

I love Afternoon tea & I know loads of you guys do too so I thought that I would share my most recent Afternoon tea experience with you. 

We went to a place called Suffolk food hall that has a cafe, farm shop, garden centre & restaurant on site (amongst other things!) There’s lots going on there but it’s a lovely place. 

The decoration in the restaurant is lovely, it’s nice & bright. I love the white wood painted ceilings, Sandy brick walls & restored beams. 

The view outside the large windows is so lovely too! You look out onto the River Orwell & the cow fields too.

Here’s what we had for Afternoon tea…

Bottom tier:

  • Mini brown roll with Ham & mustard
  • Mini granary/seeded roll with smoked salmon & cream cheese 
  • Mini white roll with cheese & pickle
  • Mini cheese & leek tartlet
  • Sausage roll 

Middle tier: 

  • Large Fruit scone with clotted cream & raspberry jam
  • Carrot cake slice with cream cheese frosting.

Top tier:

  • Mini chocolate & caramel shortbread
  • White chocolate chip cookie 
  • Mini shortbread

& of course lots of English breakfast tea.

My mum doesn’t like chocolate so she was given a shortbread, however, she does eat white chocolate so I gave her my white choc chip cookie and I had her plain shortbread as I LOVE shortbread. 

Me & mum both work at the same After school club and we arranged this afternoon tea for our friend (who also used to work at the after school club) as it was her 30th Birthday this year! We had a lovely time 🎈

I really enjoyed this afternoon tea as it was a bit different to the last one I had (check them out here: Patisserie Valerie ) as the cakes/biscuits were different & really tasty! I especially enjoyed the chocolate & caramel shortbread, it was literally melt in the mouth 👌

The only thing I feel could have been improved was having a variety of breads for the savoury section instead of all rolls & a little bit more filling in these. 

Cost: ÂŁ14.50 each & bookable in advance.
I hope you’ve found this useful 😁

Until next time, 

Roseanne 🙂

Afternoon tea 🍰☕

One of my favourite meals has to be afternoon tea and my mum enjoys it too so, when a offer came up on Groupon for Afternoon tea at Patisserie Valerie I thought why not! The Groupon was for afternoon tea for 2, ÂŁ19 instead of ÂŁ25.

Me & my mum decided to go this week as it was almost the end of the voucher validity and it’s half term.

I was really looking forward to this and we weren’t disappointed!

Here’s the 3 tier cake stand of treats! 

The bottom tier consisted of little finger sandwiches (cucumber, ham & mustard, smoked salmon, chicken & pesto, egg & cress) as well as a little vegetable tartlet each.

The middle tier was the scones with clotted cream and jam. you get a mini plain and fruit scone each which was nice.

The top tier is all about cake. You got a mini chocolate eclair each (mum swapped hers for a coffee macaroon as she doesn’t eat chocolate) a chocolate mousse cake slice, a Carrot & walnut slice, a fruit mousse slice and a mini Victoria sponge. 

I’ve had afternoon tea a few times at the Salthouse hotel in Ipswich, this is quite a high end version at ÂŁ17.50 each but I have to say I was very impressed with Patisserie Valerie’s. The selection was nice with lots of different sandwiches, yummy cakes & different scones too. Great value for money 👍

Definatly one to try if you are a fan of afternoon tea like me.

Where have you tried afternoon tea? Any recommendations?

Until next time, 

Roseanne 🙂