We booked this during the last school year so that we had something to look forward to!!
And it was a great night!
The theme of the evening was ‘Great Gatsby’ so they had lots of Flapper, dancing performers, a Singer, Acrobats and Fire Eaters.
They performed inbetween the different course.
The three course meal was really delicious. I wasn’t keen on the desserts but my Starter and Main were great.
My Starter.
This buttermilk chicken was delicious. It came with mini tortillas and homemade coleslaw.
My main course was the Vegetarian Wellington.
The Vegetarian Wellington was so tasty. It had layers of Veleriac, Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Pepper in a golden pastry case. The veggies (especially the carrots) and potatoes were great too.
We had such a fun night!
Great friends, good food, drinks, pretend roulette, shots… dancing, more shots đ¤ŁđŹđĽ
I thought I would start up the holiblog series again, for this summer.
Here is how I have spent the later part of July, since the summer holidays began.
It’s been a fun start.
H a pp y ⢠H o li da ys â˘
Saturday 17th July 2021
Out for a sunny walk, near our flat. We discovered a new part of the park.
Sunday 18th July 2021
Big Kids
đ
Moooooo
Fun at Alton Water enjoying the sunshine, mini golf, walking and ice cream.
Monday 19th July 2021
Breakfast with my friend Gemma & her boys.
Tues 20th July 2021
đ
Snacks!
The cinema really started to fill up
The boys first visit to our flat in over a year and a half đ
Wed 21st July 2021
Summer Reading Challenge
Sharing stories
Reading
đ
The start of my Summer Reading Challenge Volunteering. Signing up these guys and meeting for lunch at the bakery.
Hot Dog Party đđ
Sat 25th July 2021
Coffee and a book
Sushi đ
A chilled out Saturday. A bit of me time.
Mon 26th July 2021
Walking on the Heath
Lunch đ˝
Meeting up with Dan, a long walk followed by lunch.
Tues 27th July 2021
Wolves Wood
Walkinga
I made a friend đ¸
A walk in the woods together, followed by Arts & Crafts with Evie and lunch at Sainsburys with Charlotte.Painting at Pennikity Pots with my friend Steph and her boys.
Wed 28th July 2021
Summer Reading challenge week 2
The Waterfront
Dinner at the Bistro with Louise, Kerry & Rach.
Sat 31st July 2021
The boys first sleepover in over a year and a half . Dinner and lots of games.
What have you been up to so far, this summer? âď¸
So, this is my last post with the word Christmas in, honest!
Here is my book haul. I was very lucky to receive quite a few lovely books for Christmas this year, my ideal gift, so I thought I would share them with you.
It’s quite a mixed bag so let’s take a look…
Ant and Dec Once Upon a Tyne
I LOVE Ant & Dec, they are my absolute faves so I was super excited to receive this. This one I requested, so I hoped it was on it’s way. It’s really funny so far.
Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas
I had seen this one advertised and heard alot of great things (plus I love a cute, warm, festive story) so I was pleasantly suprised when my sister got me this. I’ve finished it and it was as lovely and heart warming as I’d have hoped. Perfect for Christmas & Blue January!
‘Still Friends’ 25 Years of the TV show that defined an era. By Saul Austerlitz
I can’t wait to start reading this. F.R.I.E.N.D.S is my ultimate fave TV show and my lovely friend bought me this for Christmas, knowing I love both books & friends. Definatly onto a winner with this one.
Collectors editions of: Peter Pan By J M Barrie, A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens & The Railway Children by E Nesbit
I discovered these in my local indie bookshop. They are absolutely beautiful. The covers are amazing đ I have wanted to add some classics to my collection for a while so I picked these out and my Mum and Dad gave them to me for Christmas.
I also got two illustrated Harry Potter books; ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ illustrated edition & ‘Quidditch through the ages’ illustrated edition
If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that I’m a MASSIVE!!! Harry Potter fan, so I was super excited to add these to my collection. I had asked for the illustrated ‘Goblet of Fire’ but I wasn’t expecting the ‘Quidditch through the ages’ illustrated version… IT LOOKS AMAZING.
Did you get some books for Christmas?? How are they??
For the final day of Blogmas I thought I would share some of the Christmas fun we’ve been up to on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
Christmas Eve
Me and my sister continued our tradition of meeting up for a burger with our friend.
Obviously being 2020 we had to get it takeaway and outside đˇ
So we incorporated a walk around the park and it was really nice (except the rain shower!!)
I had the Caffe Nero Mint Hot Choc finally, and it was so delicious and festive too
We also have a tradition of going around our local town to look at the christmad lights.
We keep an eye out in the weeks leading up to Christmas eve and there are a few that are always good too.
There were some brilliant lights on display this year.
Keepin’ it COVID secure by going in our separate cars and we just chatted over a voice call, worked pretty well đ¤Ł
Left my Stocking out for Santa, obv!
Christmas Day
Me and Tim started the day with a delicious and festive nutella pastry Christmas tree & a cuppa!
Followed by present opening đ
My father in law provided a lovely Christmas lunch for us, we had my brother in law on Zoom, at the dinner table with us… very 2020!
We enjoyed a bit of a relax and a TV break before another family Zoom with a game of birds names.
We had the standard Christmas day buffet in the eve with the other half of our bubble, my twin sister, brother in law and nephews.
We had fun opening presents, had a bit of a dance and enjoyed some yummy food.
It’s been a strange one in the sense that we are all (hopefully) being more cautious than usual this year, but it has been fun to be able to keep some traditions alive and to get together, where possible, to celebrate
I really hope that you’ve all enjoyed your day đ đť
Tier Four tomorrow! But we still have Boxing day Skype fun planned with a Christmas themed family quiz.
Stay safe and thankyou so much for joining me again for another fun, festive and unforgettable Blogmas.
I love documenting what we get up to in the Summer holidays.
Though thanks to Covid we didnt actually have a Summer ‘holiday’, I also didn’t have to work this Summer, so I had all six weeks to enjoy, have fun and relax ready for Sept!
So, without further ado, let’s have a look at what we got up to…
I’m in London all weekend so I thought I would share all of my festive activities with you guys.
Today, after staying up in London with one of my Uni friends (See yesterdays post for what I got up to in London yesterday ~ Blogmas Day 14 we met up with another of our uni friends and went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.
I’ve been a couple of times before but not for at least two or three years, so it was nice to get the opportunity to go again and see what’s changed and have a nice festive day out.
At Winter Wonderland it is free to get in and have a look around.
There are lots of stalls, food places, craft, hot chocolate, snacks, beer and rides to go on (at extra cost)
But, if you want to, before you go you can book onto some of their other experiences that they have on offer, such as Ice skating, a big wheel, ice bar with ice sculptures and shows such as the circus.
When I have been with friends previously we have booked onto the ice bar, some of the shows and the big wheel.
This time, as we have kiddies with us too, we thought it would be nice to just have a look around, instead of booking the big things.
It’s a lovely festive day out so it’s nice that you dont necessarily have to pay extra for all the other things, but you can if you want to.
I’m not sure whether you can book on the day, it might just depend on availability.
I didn’t know what to expect from the festive version, maybe just a few Christmas decorations, but it didn’t disappoint.
The enchnacements and extras from the original one were really cool so it really didn’t matter that 3 of the 4 of us had been to the original Friends fest.
Let’s take a look…
Rachel & Monica’s Apartment
Chandler & Joey’s apartment
Central Perk
Recreating Festive scenes
‘I’m the Holiday Armadillo!!’
Food
We didn’t eat at Friendsfest last time so it was good to try some bits.
They had a very festive chocolate orange hot chocolate on offer, it was amazing. It had whipped cream and mini choc orange segments on top!! So good.
We got Joey’s pizza for lunch which was super delicious (& I had the Joey special!!!) Because it was too good to just get one piece.
It was so much fun!
The festive extras were brilliant and it really got us all into the festive spirit.
Me and my friend went to a wreath making workshop this year. We did it in November in order to get the most out of our wreaths.
These were made with real fresh foliage and they were really fun to make.
The workshop was only with three others so five of us in total which gave it a nice relaxed atmosphere.
The lady who tan the workshop was lovely and very helpful and attentive.
We even got chocolate cake and cups of tea whilst we were creating our wreaths, always a winner when cakes involved.
You started by preparing your wreaths ring, then you added your large foliage as you desired. We had lots of different ones to choose from (I would love to tell you what they were but I’m no gardener haha) I did recognize the holly of course!
As extras we had pine cones, holly berries, cinnamon sticks, white berries, dried orange and lime slices as well as little Robin’s.
There was also a choice of ribbon to finish off your wreath. I chose the red and gold to match my theme. I love the more traditional Christmas colours.
I thought it was going to be really hard and fiddly, some bits were fiddly but over all I really enjoyed giving it a go and it was nice to get creative and just chill out.
I can be quite creative sometimes and I love making things, it’s one of those hobbies I don’t do enough!! So it was great to make time for it and have a lovely evening with my friend.
Me & my mum went out for afternoon tea to start off the half term! We both work in schools so we thought it would be a nice treat at the beginning of the holidays.
We went to a little cafe along the waterfront, in our hometown and it was lovely.
The interior of the cafe was really cool and quirky and the view (with sunshine!!) was amazing.
There were three tiers to the afternoon tea. On the bottom tier were finger sandwiches: Smoked salmon & cream cheese, Ham & mustard, Cheese & red onion chutney and cucumber.
The second tier was cakes, we had a piece of Victoria sponge to share, a piece of coffe cake to share syns a lemon curd that each.
The final, top tier was the fruit scones with clotted cream and jam.
You also got a pot of tea or coffee to accompany your food.
Sunday
I spent Sunday relaxing at a local day spa with my friend.
It was a great way to wind down after a busy first half term.
Relaxing in the jacuzzi, sizzling in the sauna & having a spot of lunch too.
We both decided to treat ourselves to a treatment on this occasion. I went for a back, neck and shoulder massage (Which was amazing) & my friend went for a facial.
A perfect Sunday đ§đźââď¸đ§
Monday
Before heading to work in the afternoon I caught up with my friend Livy and her little bundle of joy (SO CUTE!!) Finley.
We met at a local cafe, that I love! & is just around the corner, for what is possibly one of my favourite meals, Brunch!
So good!
But not as good as the catch up and Finley cuddles/giggles â¤
Wednesday
Another day, another brunch!
& this time with my lovely work friends from school.
It can be really tricky organising getting us altogether so it was lovely to be able to finally coordinate our calendars during a school holiday! We see each other every day but it’s good to just be able to chat properly.
Brunch is one of my favourite meals! Breakfast food is the best food for sure.
Thursday
On thursday evening I had both of my nephews and my niece over for a sleepover! (Call me crazy, but it was really fun)
I’ve never had them all at once seeing as they are 5, 3 & 2 but it was triple the fun.
We did lots of fun colouring together as I bought them a little colouring pad and pencil set each for the occasion.
We had tomato and cheesey pasta followed by a bit of Peppa Pig and a story.
And to make things even better they all went straight off to sleep đ´
Friday
On Friday morning I took the boys to the cinema before they headed home.
It was Casey’s pick this time and we watched Shaun the Sheep Farmaggedon.
With lots of snacks of course!
In the afternoon I headed to the station as me and my Auntie had a weekend in London planned together and I was meeting her on the train.
Once we had got to the hotel we headed out for a spot of dinner at a local Bella Italia. It was delicious!
We both had Calamari to start followed by a ‘Create your own’ pizza for me and creamy pasta for my Auntie.
I’ve never known a chain Italian restaurant to have a create your own option so this was great. I went for mozzerella, garlic mushrooms & salami.
Once we had eaten we headed back to the hotel to change then made our way to the theatre.
The show was amazing and such a cool and modern way to tell history.
If you dont know, Six is a musical concert telling the story of Henty the 8ths Six wives. They perform songs as if they are in a girl band and each take it in turns to tell their story.
The songs were really good and the singing was incredible.
Saturday
We started off the day as any day that proceeds a night stay away should… with an unlimited breakfast buffet, YES.
After that we packed up our things and headed to our first stop of the day, our London Bus tour.
I know that its so touristy but I’ve always wanted to do one so that’s something to tick off the bucket list.
We really enjoyed seeing all the different London sights.
We were definatly ready for some lunch, after our two hour trip, so we headed to a nearby restaurant/bakery for what turned out to be an incredibly delicious meal.
This avocado on toast was to die for and the chocolate bomb cake that I had afterwards was pure indulgence!
All that was left to do after this was make our way back to Covent Garden and grab our bags.
We stopped off for a cheeky soft drink at the hotel before making our way to London Liverpool street, homeward bound.
It was such a fun weekend đ
I had a great time xx
Sunday
Today was the last day of half term đ
But, it still counts so we made the most of it by spending the day together, having fun!
We started off by gaming, ‘caus we’re cool đ
& we took sed gaming to that lovely local cafe I mentioned in Mondays entry, (because as I said, its awesome)
So we spent the late morning/early afternoon playing in there and having some yummy lunch together.
The perfect end to half term with my favourite đ
Roseanne Byford 