Friday night fun

Friday night a few years ago would mean meeting friends after a long week at work, drinking many cocktails and eventually leaving some club at 4 in the morning searching for a fix of carbs that I'd ultimately regret the next day (along with the copious amounts of cocktails) however, nowadays it consists of being snuggled up with Freddie and his daddy watching a Disney film, chatting about our week, eating treats (current obsession is homemade popcorn drizzled in hot fudge caramel) and making plans for the next couple of days.

It dawned on me tonight, when I received a message from some of my (childless) friends saying how much they missed our Friday nights together, that whilst I love my friends dearly and wouldn't trade them for anyone or anything in the world, I definitely didn't miss those nights and I'm so content with my life right now!

Happy Friday everyone!

<3

Lovely Little London Visit

As i've previously mentioned on my blog my two close friends live in London so whenever I manage to find a cheap train ticket I pop down to have a catch up - because no matter how often you Facetime or Skype someone there's nothing like a real life catch up!

I immediately made my way over to Covent Garden after arriving at Euston and met up with my friend Sarah at The Shake Shack, now if you have never heard of this place let me let you in on a little secret. I had my first Shake Shack experience over in New York City a few years ago and I instantly fell in love - when I found out they'd opened one in the UK I was beyond excited and it certainly didn't disappoint! I went for the classic Shack burger, cheese fries & a sticky toffee frozen custard, it was a gorgeous evening and a perfect way to spend an hour catching up under the heater lamps!

The next morning we headed over to the Columbia Road flower market, I could not get over the low prices and the huge variety of flowers that were on offer - It's now my mission to find something similar in the north west, if anyone knows of any then please do let me know!

After we'd fought our way through the market and browsed in the little boutique and vintage shops - where I managed to pick up a little present for Freddie - we took a short walk over to the V&A Museum of Childhood. Now I'm no museum or exhibition expert but my friend Sarah is, I knew little about this place but it's one of the favourite things I've done in London. The afternoon was full of nostalgia and insight into the past, I need to bring Freddie back here on my next visit - he will absolutely love it!

My friend Charlotte and I used to fight over this vacuum when we were young, it was almost surreal sharing the experience of seeing it in a museum with her and reminiscing over our toddler days!

Before I caught my train I paid a little visit to one my all time favourite coffee shops - Tap Coffee and said our goodbyes over a flat white..

Until next time London

<3

Cupid tames a tiger

I've been waiting to share a little bit of news with you all and finally I can, the very talented London based artist Samuel Turner got in touch with me last year to ask if he could use Freddie in his next painting. Sam is an amazing artist and a close colleague of one of my best friends so it took me seconds to make my mind up, we travelled down to London late last year and did a photo-shoot from which Sam went and created his painting, the painting is about cupid taming a tiger. 

copyright Samuel Turner

It's a beautiful piece of art, so detailed and such a perfect portrait of Freddie. It wasn't easy getting the right photos as he was very lively (aren't all three year olds) but the painting is amazing! I really hope Freddie will be proud to have been a part of Sam's work in years to come but for now he is quite scared the tiger will eat him but extremely happy that he has wings - a three year olds view on art!

Please check out the website linked above to see more of Sam's work. A lovely experience and a memory to treasure!

<3

Bloglovin'

So it's been a couple of weeks since my last post (sorry about that - these three year olds sure do take up a lot of your time!) 

I noticed through my stats that i've been getting a lot of blog views through Bloglovin' which is amazing however, I don't have many followers over there yet - boo hoo - So if anyone fancies clicking the link and giving me a follow I'd love you muchly!

If you don't know what Bloglovin' is then crawl out of that rock you've been hiding under and check it out! It's an amazing blogging tool that allows to you to read all your favourite blogs in one place whilst also helping you to find new blogs to fall in love with!

http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11122051

See you over there soon :)

<3

A beach day in winter!?

Today, Freddie and I took a road trip over to a place called Lytham, which is on the west coast of Lancashire. Whilst the weather was windy and rather cold, the sun was still shining and we had a lovely afternoon walking along the sea front - It was a bit of a change from our usual haunt of St.Annes located about five minutes away, which has a pier and more of an old school sixties 'holiday destination' vibe. 

This year I decided that I would explore the west coast a little more and try to find different beaches or sea fronts that are less populated. Today only made me want to explore the coast further, so if any of you readers have a favourite place to visit in Lancashire, do let me know! I am praying that we get a repeat of last years glorious summer so that I can use my hidden beach findings to their full potential!

Lytham boasts a brilliant stretch of grass that runs parallel to the sea front - a handy alternative to sand, especially on such a windy day! We also found a few daisy's - even though it is the middle of winter, which Freddie enjoyed picking and handing out to everyone!

We wandered over the grass to the huge old windmill, that is sadly no longer in use but utterly beautiful. The contrast of the white against the green grass was stunning.

As it was almost lunch time and the sea air was making us rather hungry, we made our way into the centre of Lytham and of course found ourselves a chip shop because what else can you eat when beside the sea!? It was absolutely delicious and I would highly recommend! 

After having a little stroll through the town centre - that was full of lovely little interior and boutique shops, we made our way back to the car along the sea front capturing a couple of precious moments!

Freddie loves going to the seaside and I would one day love to have a home that overlooked the water, it'd be so amazing to set out of your door straight on to the beach - insanely jealous if any of you currently live with that luxury! 

I do hope you're enjoying these little adventure posts, I certainly enjoy writing about them and sharing them with you - I do have to apologise for the poor quality photos however - I completely forgot to charge my camera and so I had to make do with my iPhone *must be more organised*

<3

BBC introducing..

Late last year my very talented friend Alex was asked to play a live set for BBC introducing through Radio Lancashire, for those of you reading that aren't from the UK, BBC introducing is a platform for unsigned and emerging new talent to showcase their songs on local and national radio - so a pretty big deal!

Alex asked if i'd give him a hand filming, which of course I didn't mind and we finally got round to editing the video! It's up now on his YouTube channel so please please please go and watch it, subscribe if you enjoy and hit that thumbs up button.. There's more to come from his BBC introducing session so make you check back for those too!

I'm really proud of this as he's had over 1000 views in just over a week and many a famous folk have commented saying how much they love his work including my personal fav being Danny from McFly - fangirl moment right there!

I really hope Alex gets all the success he deserves in the future as he's one seriously talented guy, the start of big things..

Alex Johnson - Lover's Ode

Thanksyou <3

London with a toddler!

A couple of my very close friends decided to uproot from our small world in the north and brave life down in the big smoke a few years ago, since then I make regular visits and try to take Freddie with me whenever plans permit!

Fortunately it only takes a mere two and a teeny bit hours to get to London on the train from my nearest stop which is brilliant when travelling with kids and since the nice guys at Virgin let under 5's travel free it's brilliant for the purse too!

Whilst the weather was rather cold on our last visit, we still managed to fill our visit with lots of fun! It was lovely to catch up with our friends and them to spend time with Freddie!

We met with friends at The Rainforest Cafe which was amazing, it was my first visit and whilst the food wasn't anything to rave about, the surrounds defiantly made up for it. I'd recommend it if you've got young children but be warned it's not the cheapest place to eat and the food isn't anything extraordinary unlike the experience!

The following day we made our way over to Greenwich and took a return Emirates line trip over the Thames, since it was midweek it was rather quiet and we didn't need to queue also we got our own pod between four of us! 

I would recommend this to anyone it was a great and different way to see the sights and skyline of the city! We then wandered down to the riverside, under the brightly lit walkway and hopped on a boat back to central London, which again was a great way to see the sights!

On our final morning before we headed home we decided to go for a short walk to the park and get a Wagamamas for lunch in order for Freddie to burn off some energy before our train journey home! 

Such a lovely couple of chilled, yet fun filled days in London! We've booked to go back in late spring and we already can't wait!

What are your favourite things to do in London?

<3

Oops!

Soo it's Feburary 2014.. Eh! How did that happen?! 

Massive apologies for the lack of posts - I'm not really sure how it happened but a week turned into a month then a month into two and now it's the following year and the last time I posted it was bonfire night - nightmare!

I do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year - it sadly feels forever ago now - I'm back on it with the blogging, I'm not setting any rules or promises this time except I won't leave it four months between posts again.. Serious blogging fail!

So there's my super short and quick hello, sorry, happy new year and I'll see you soon post..

I guess.. I'll see you soon!

<3