Take a Break

As some of you have noted I took Mike’s home coming as a break in my blogging mission (this is fairly normal at the moment – especially as he’s only home a fortnight for every 4-8 weeks he’s away) apart from feeling rubbish and continuing to go downhill with my health, three days after Mike’s return I hit my 2 year blogging goal to reach 16,500 readers!

Thank you so much guys, lots of you retweet, share and Google+ my posts and I'm grateful and honoured that you like my ramblings enough to share them with your nearest and dearest and/or message me hungrily for the next post when I go quiet!

With 9 day’s until the actual 2 year anniversary I’m hoping to reach 17,000 readers, there is now a bold hits counter on the right hand side of the blog so you know I’m not fibbing lol!!

If you click here you can join my FaceBook Page, click here you can join me on Twitter and here for Pinterest.

My 12 day’s with Mike were lovely, we had three BBQ’s, went to see The Dark Knight Rises – awesome by the way, took my nephew and nieces for a picnic on the beach and the wedding I mentioned in my last post was amazing!

At 28 weddings are a normal occurrence in my social calendar but not many of my male friend’s have taken the plunge. So when I attended Steve and Sarah’s (Steve being my original friendship in the couple) glorious day I had an odd awakening that the “boys night out” although made redundant a couple of years ago, was definitely over as one of our mutual friends came the do with his wife and one of his two gorgeous children, another couldn’t attend as his wife had given birth that day and the last finally told me he was having a baby with his missus in 5 months time!! I expect this behaviour from my girlfriends but seeing “the boy’s” all domesticated was quite a shock!

In between all the above mentioned fun; I wasn’t the nicest person to live with; snappy, dozy and generally a pain in the arse! Between full medication doses, sleepless nights and the pain itself I was a moo – so I publically apologise to Mike.... as lovely as he was about it, I expect he’s happier (and possibly safer) in California while I adjust to a life in full relapse.

On a more positive note I think I’ve chosen the charity that I wish to support (with all your help!) in providing people less fortunate than my moody self with wheelchairs. So with some discussion with them I shall enlighten you in my next blog with their identity and the weird, wonderful and damn right scary idea’s people have sent in!

L x  

Start Your Own Club!

You guy’s will be proud! I have been actively resting... yeah you read it right! I haven’t been gallivanting across the globe, I haven’t attended a hen do or wedding in over a week and I have said “No” to social invites!?! ...Ok I did meet up for one coffee but that was a special circumstance (I’ll blog about that soon!).

I can’t quite believe it myself I spent Friday through to today (Tuesday) napping, catching up on TV, reading, sleeping, a few e-mails did I mentioned I slept ALOT?

I needed the rest so bad and I have accepted the fact that this will be a regular routine in the coming weeks or months, not to say I won’t be a little busy....

Mike’s coming home in two days and the day after we’re heading to Sussex to see his family for my nieces 2nd Birthday, 5 days later we have the last wedding of the season to attend. I cannot wait to see the boy and I’m beyond excited by the up and coming events.

But if soon I can’t go to the entertainment I’ll bring the entertainment to me; so last week (before the mammoth resting session) I hosted my first ever book club.

Talking to my friends Sarah and Kylie and my brother’s girlfriend Kate at the Jubilee weekend BBQ we commented that we needed to find new ways of meeting up that A. Didn’t assault our bank balances and B. Didn’t mess up our diets and involved alcohol for once!

So the Jubilee Book Club was formed.

Since we all had a copy of Room by Emma Donoghue from me being a World Book Night Giver it seemed like a natural starting point.

Being somewhat over enthusiastic about the club I opened our private Facebook group, started work on a logo and read Oprah Winfrey’s guide to starting and running a successful book club! Neither I nor the other three members had ever been in such a group and if anyone can start a success venture it’s Oprah.

I was hosting the first meeting so I made a tea time buffet of sandwiches, mini cakes and crisps with tea and orange juice aplenty. Tea was of course inspired by Afternoon Tea at the Roslin but I currently have no cooker, hob or kitchen sink so sandwiches on paper plates was as fancy as I could go!

Being that we are all friends there was a great amount of gossiping before we actually got down to business.

When we finally got there we discussed;
How often we’ll be meeting? Once a month

How will we chose the next book? Who ever hosts the meeting chooses the next book – I’ve chosen Dear Fatty by Dawn French

Genre preference: We’re happy to read all and any suggestions!

... You get the picture, but Oprah says you must establish ground rules!

Then we got on to the subject we were actually meeting for; Room by Emma Donoghue, I think we surprised ourselves how much depth went into our discussion; character narration, the book’s language and reflection on society, the books affect on us emotionally and simply whether we liked the book or not – we all loved it - a innocent narrative woven into a disturbing theme, with complex characters and an attention into the mindset of a 5 year old was astounding – see we do sound intelligent!

Haven’t you ever got to the last page of a novel and thought... “I must tell _____ about this book” only to have that conversation halted because they haven’t read it and they don’t want you spoiling literacy surprise!?

I highly recommend starting your own book club, it doesn’t cost more than a few refreshments and a copy of the book (if you’re really strapped for cash all bring nibbles to share, you could share copies of the book or use your local library). You get to see your friends on a regular basis and make new ones when you gain new members... in fact I’m about to e-mail a friend to join Jubilee book club right.....now!

L x

Afternoon Tea at The Roslin

One of my best friends is moving to Plymouth and like our Queen for her Diamond Jubilee – Helen has been having a succession of celebrations so that she can say Goodbye to all her friends, giving us a chance to wish her well on her new adventures.

After a Malibu fuelled girls night out and a family friendly BBQ in Helen’s back garden for our final farewell - our friend Jen booked Afternoon Tea and the Roslin Beach Hotel, on Southend’s Sea front.

The Roslin is an award winning, hotel, restaurant and popular wedding reception venue. I’ve gone passed it a million times and always wanted to go in and see if all the personal recommendations and awards were worth the hype.

Upon arriving we found that the parking facilities, although free were limited, but two of our three car convoy managed to get a space.

I was happy to see a wheelchair ramp and double doors into the bright, white and cream reception where we were welcomed by the receptionist and restaurants’ Maître d'.

We were lead to a light and spacious dining area with large round tables covered in perfect white cloths. There were three other groups of ladies lunching – many, like ourselves, were dressed for the occasion in summer prints and classic cut dresses.

Ladies that lunch L-R Helen, Me, Lauren, Jen & Sara

We were greeted by our waitress who asked if we preferred coffee or English tea and soon tea pots matching our ornate, bone china floral tea cups and plates were placed amongst the 5 of us. 

Tea anyone?

Within ten minutes of arriving two, three tiered stands adorned our table with fresh sandwiches, mini cupcakes, fresh meringues and scones accompanied by Devonshire clotted cream a selection of Tiptree Jams.

Devonshire Scones as they should be - cream then jam! 

One of our group unfortunately didn’t care for any of the sandwich fillings and another of our friends is a vegetarian – I was worried asking for some extra and different food’s would be seen as us being difficult customers but the waitress seem unfazed by the request and a batch of cheese sandwiches and a plate of strawberries soon made their way to our table – all very delicious!

Our conversations consisted of Helen’s big move and the beauty of keeping in touch via Skype and Facebook, 50 Shades of Grey – our table was split and I’m not sure what it says about our group that none were shocked by its content, The Olympics and the havoc that will cause in London and a good old gossip about life in general.

After another round of perfect cups of tea and only a few crumbs remaining (I was particularly partial to the smoked salmon sandwiches – in fact I ate them all) we said Good Luck and not Goodbye to Helen and I personally wish her and her family all the love and luck in the world!

L x

Afternoon Tea at Roslin Beach Hotel is £14.95 (per person) on weekends and £12.95 during the week. Open 3-5pm Monday-Saturday and 12:30-4:30pm on Sundays. There are upgrades to the package where you can order savoury platters and even indulge in pink champagne!  Call 01702 586375 to book.