Best weekend
– Tom’s birthday weekend, our trip to Windermere
It was the weekend of surprises… I’d arranged for three of
Tom’s best friends to stay at our place for a big birthday surprise and his
face was a picture when he saw them! He was then on edge all weekend, convinced
I was going to surprise him with something else at any moment… I think we actually
got to eight on the surprise count!
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| My second birthday cake attempt was much prettier than my first... |
After a big birthday dinner at Avanti on the Saturday night,
we spent his actual birthday in Windermere. It was a crisp and sunny day –
perfect weather to explore lovely Bowness.
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| The birthday gang minus Beth who took this fab photo! |
We were all quite keen to go on a boat cruise around the lake
and, as luck would have it, one was just about to leave as we walked past. So,
we bought our tickets (only £7.50 each) and jumped on board! It was very windy,
but it was nice and refreshing.
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| Boat fun! |
The commentary about Lake Windermere was really interesting
and we learnt lots of cool facts. One of the highlights was going past Storrs
Hall – our wedding venue! We all felt quite emotional and it was so lovely
seeing the magnificent building from the water on such a beautiful day.
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| Storrs Hall - Windermere's very own Downton! |
After the boat trip, we were all pretty chilly and fancied a
nice hot drink to warm us up. We wandered around the cute streets and found a
traditional old pub called Hole in t’Wall. It was just what we were after and we
warmed our cold hands while sipping Baileys hot chocolates and cups of tea
while chatting about Storrs Hall and the wedding.
A little later on, we were all craving a traditional Sunday
roast for dinner and we wanted to find another cosy pub to have one in. We
asked a few people and they all recommended The Albert. It was really busy, but we managed
to get a big table for five upstairs. I had a lamb roast with a nice glass of
Malbec and it was so delicious. It was a very generous portion, served with
tender lamb, crispy roasties, creamy mash and big bowls of vegetables for us
all to share.
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| Sunday wouldn't be Sunday without a big fat roast! |
After our huge meals, we were all quite glad we had parked far
away. It meant we could walk off our dinners and also enjoy Windermere in the
evening when the throngs of tourists had headed home and all that was left were
the swans and a pretty blue-pink sky.
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| Lovely Lake Windermere at dusk |
Best meal
out – Avanti for Tom’s birthday
If you live in/near Kirkby Lonsdale, or if you’ve ever visited the town,
then you will probably know what a challenge it is to book a table at Avanti on a
Friday or Saturday night! It is probably the most popular restaurant in KL because of the delicious food, reasonable prices and buzzing atmosphere.
At first, I thought my plans were going to go haywire when I couldn’t
book a table. Luckily however, after a chat with the manager (who I pleaded
with to help me out!), he managed to squeeze us in. He also decorated the
table and presented Tom with a whopping big sparkler in his birthday cake (my
instructions were to embarrass him as much as possible!)
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| Tom was definitely not the slightest bit mortified about the subtle birthday display I arranged... |
We all had a great meal there. I had the chicken saltimbocca
which is served on a bed of risotto, I’d been meaning to try it for a while,
after both Tom and my best friend Loren had previously raved about it.
Two
bottles of wine, an Italian feast and one embarrassingly loud rendition of ‘happy
birthday’ later, we all wandered over to The Sun for a nightcap, then headed
home for a game of Cards Against Humanity – more on that later…
Best meal
in – Fillet steak with vegetables and roasted potatoes
The first part of Tom’s birthday weekend began with one of our
favourite ever meals. We picked up two juicy fillet steaks from Dales Butchers
and cooked them rare (obv) with roasted vegetables, baby potatoes, steamed
asparagus and a peppercorn sauce.
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| What dreams are made of |
We had a glass of Moet to start and a glass of Alexis Lichine Bordeaux Supérieur with the steak. The
wine wasn’t actually as bad as the reviews I’ve read have made out, but having it
with steak was probably a good call, as it lifted the flavours of the wine.
My first attempt at Tom’s birthday cake had gone slightly
(massively) wrong, but despite it looking like a baking disaster, it actually tasted
pretty good, so we had a bit of that for dessert while watching House of Cards.
Great start to the birthday weekend!
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| My cake catastrophe |
Best
evening out and about – Lancaster night out
You know you’re getting older when you have to psych yourself
up for about a week before going on a night out. About five years ago, my
friends and I would hit the town on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights –
three nights running! I honestly don’t know how I did it!
We had a good laugh in Lancaster though. We started our night
at Merchants 1688, before
moving on to the bar at 1725. Then we went to Mint where my cocktail came with
a shot of champagne! How fabulous!
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| Girliest cocktail ever |
After that, we had a quick drink at The Borough and then ventured over to The
Apothecary. I was really boring because despite the adventurous and lengthy
drinks menu, I went for the same cocktail as I did the last time we were there because
the glass comes with candy floss in and then you pour the drink in and it
changes colour! (I know I sound about six-years-old, but it is REALLY cool!)
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| Smileeee :) |
Best
event – Kendal Food Festival, Lakeland Businesswomen's Network Conference and Posh at Camp and Furnace
It’s too difficult to pick my favourite event because I’ve
been to some great ones this month.
Kendal Festival of Food was incredible because I’m such a
foodie and I loved writing my blog post
about it.
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| We bought lots of goodies at Kendal Festival of Food |
The LBN
Conference was just so fabulous and inspirational. It was really useful on
a professional level, thanks to all the workshops and business advice.
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| I left behind two bad habits following the LBN Conference |
Watching a performance of Posh at Camp and Furnace in Liverpool was also a really
fantastic night out. The play, based on The Riot Club, was excellent and I felt so proud watching my super talented cousin Adam.
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| My cousin Adam in Posh at Camp and Furnace |
Best blog
post – The one I’ve enjoyed writing the most and my most popular post
I really
enjoyed writing the post about my 10
random facts. It made me giggle
and brought back lots of funny memories, especially the time when I interviewed
the tallest man in Europe! The pictures never fail to make me laugh whenever I see them.
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| 7ft7 versus my barely 5ft self! |
My most popular blog post this month was the one about Kendal
Festival of Food with 187 views so far! Amazing!
Best
purchase – Primark haul
I had a bloomin’ good Primark haul this month. I was feeling
the pinch as it was Tom’s birthday and I wanted to spoil him, so Primark was my
shopping fix saviour! I got some ripped jeans for just £11 (I think they were down
from £18) and amazingly, they actually fit me on the leg, they must actually be
cropped jeans because THAT NEVER HAPPENS. I had to buy them for that reason
alone.
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| Ripped jeans (£11) and pumps (£4) from Primark |
I also bought some nice indigo jeans (that don’t fit me on the
leg *sob*), a few gym/lazing around t-shirts, a couple of smart shirts, a pair
of comfy flat pumps and two cute little gold necklaces which were just £1.50
each.
Best film
– All the Harry Potter films!
Usually when I tell people I haven’t watched the Harry Potter
films, they look at me as if I’ve just said my name is
the-one-who-can’t-be-named! I read the first four books when I was younger,
then for some reason, I lost interest. I don’t know how or why on earth that
happened because my love for the stories has now well and truly been ignited!
*Spoiler alert* I watched all the films this month and I can’t pick my
favourite because they are all so good (but pretty scary!) I cried my eyes out
when Dumbledore died (I still refuse to believe he’s actually dead!) and I knew
Snape was going to be a good egg in the end!
Best book
– My Best Friend’s Girl by Dorothy Koomson
This book was such a surprise, as I didn’t expect it to be
actually as deep as it was. The front cover looks like your typical chick-lit
book, but it's actually a really emotional story that makes you realise that you just
never know what is around the corner in life. I really like Dorothy Koomson’s
writing style, so I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for more of her
books.
Best
quote – Can't say!
Okay, so I can’t write my favourite actual quotes from real
people here. They were all from a game called Cards Against Humanity (probably
the most politically incorrect game to ever be invented), but as we discovered,
SO much fun. However, I really cannot repeat anything that was said that evening on here...
Best
wedding planning fun – Save the Date cards
We picked our Save the Date cards a couple of weeks ago! It
was so exciting, even though I drove myself a little crazy proof-reading the
tiny paragraph of text about 50 times...
Best
recipe – Deliciously Ella creamy coconut porridge
I was so excited to buy the Deliciously Ella cookbook. I’ve
been following her for a while on Instagram and Twitter and I love her healthy
recipes and lifestyle blog. I am making my way through the book, but it’s a bit
of a challenge to convince Tom to eat vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free recipes!
It’s hard to pick my favourite, but if I had to, it would
probably be the creamy coconut porridge. I am verging on obsessed with it. I
have it most days for breakfast now and I always top it off with a tablespoon
of chia seeds for an extra fibrous boost!
The recipe:
(Serves 1)
200ml of
boiling water
1/3 a cup of
oats
4
tablespoons of coconut milk (or almond milk works well too)
1 tablespoon
of almond butter
1 tablespoon
of coconut oil
1 sliced banana
If you have time, you can let the water and milk
soak the oats and half the sliced banana. If not, then simply add the oats,
water, coconut milk and half the sliced banana to a saucepan and allow it to
heat for about ten minutes, until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Then,
stir in the almond butter and coconut oil and let them dissolve into the mix.
Once it’s all nicely mixed, pour it into a bowl and add the other half of the
sliced banana and any other yummy toppings.
My favourites toppings include:
Crushed almonds
Chia seeds
Blueberries
Sliced strawberries
Dried mixed berries
Dried cranberries
Raisins
Best new
discovery – Cards Against Humanity game and Grasmere gingerbread
The Cards Against Humanity Game, as I mentioned earlier, is my
favourite new discovery. It is just SO wrong, but so appallingly right. It is
seriously hilarious – as in, you can’t even catch your breath hilarious. I’d
recommend anyone with a bit of a naughty sense of humour to buy this game ASAP!
(And play it with like-minded friends!)
My other favourite discovery is Grasmere gingerbread. I tried
it at the Kendal Festival of Food and I can’t believe I haven’t had it before!
It is absolutely delicious and so is the rum butter too. I keep nagging Tom for
a trip to Grasmere so we can stock up on some more!
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| The best gingerbread in the world! |
And finally… we had the best news ever in March… our
offer on a gorgeous house in Kirkby Lonsdale was accepted! We are so happy
because we’ve been house hunting for absolutely ages and we were starting to think we
were never going to find one! A great way to end a marvellous March. Hope you
all had a lovely month, fingers crossed for a wonderful April too x
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