Feelin' Good: Recapping Jan - Mar

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life, for me... and I'm Feelin' Good.

That's one of my fave songs of all time, and that's how I'm feeling today.

Nothing, of course, related to the fact that we've FINALLY booked a 2014 holiday.

I'm Makin'Whoopee (kinda), and excited for Summertime. Yup, I've gone all Jazz and Blues in homage to the fact that we're gonna be coasting around the deep, deep south in the heat of summer - I'm *squeeeeeeee*ing with excitement at all the music and cocktails in New Orleans.

#Sizzling

So, it's the first day of April and I'm feeling HAPPY. You would be forgiven for thinking that that's an April Fool, but I'm very superstitious, and it's after midday, so no, I actually am happy, after months of walking around like the grumpus!

It's the start of a new quarter, I have some solid travel plans in the diary, we can finally feel springtime in the air and I'm feeling like a breath of fresh air has finally wafted through my life.

So, onwards.

But first, a quick three-month re-cap...

January

It was my birthday, I kept it low key and took myself off for a ski trip with work. I had SO. MUCH. FUN. But only when I wasn't wearing ski boots. Ski boots are the devil. I hate ski boots and ski boots hate me.

I had some low key birthday celebrations with various groups, drinks on the sofa, dinners out, afternoon teas in (Chez Wal-cey), and an amazing Sunday brunch at Hakkasan with the Mister.

We celebrated some other big birthdays as well, including a 60^th for Mummy Anne and a 21^st for Baby Griff and christened the dining table Chez Katy with a boozy Sunday brunch.

February

February is where I always plan to reduce my alcohol intake after the excesses of Christmas, New Year and the Big Month of Birthdays (there are about 10 in January and early Feb), but this year that just didn't happen. We started it off with a glorious hen house party for the lovely Laura, full of food, fizz, cocktail making, arts, crafts, country walks and old-school film faves (in our own private cinema room, no less) showed Gemma the sights of our home town city with a bar crawl through Chelmsford, Katy, Claire and I thoroughly disgraced ourselves at Proud Cabaret, dancing with (pilfered) feather boas on our heads until 3 in the morning. We tried to reign it in for the rest of the month, to no avail, with Katy and I wreaking havoc in our onesies in the conservatory on Valentine's Day and then Gemma and I caused our Beaux much embarrassment with our havoc-wreaking  slick moves on the dance floor at the Gilbert nuptials

Let's just have a pause for that wonderful, glorious day...

...sigh...

And we're back in the game.

February ended with another trip to The Drowned Man (read about it on Florence Finds here) I'm still thinking about it...

March

March began with a fringe, a Tea Shop Luvvie brunch  (which of course lasted until tea time), birthday love potion cocktails for Nicky and a shopping trip for Indian wedding outfits. Which turns out to be dangerous... so much embellishment means multiple face and arm lacerations when being pulled in and out of multiple outfits. I found an outfit though, so it was a successful day.

March continued in much the same way as January and February: BOOZY. A night of Indian food and cocktails with Kim followed by an all-you-can-drink brunch and a bottle of Veuve at Sushi Samba with the god family, a trip to the Quaglino's Meringue and Bellini Bar, a visit to my grandparents in Yorkshire (including a stay in my parents' and grandparents' wedding night hotel) were all filled with fizz and fun.

Next up was a weekend in Paris (ahhh, Paris, my love) for Bhavisha's hen celebrations – food, fizz, hot chocolate, LBDs and colour pop shoes... I came home a stone heavier and with some new friends.

I rounded off the month, and Q1 2014 with Caroline's  birthday dinner a trip to the James Bond inMotion exhibition at the London Film Museum, a burger-fest Chez Gilbert, a big family-and-friend gathering for Mothering Sunday at a friend's lovely country pub and some much needed pampering time. 

So, April, and the rest of 2014... I'm ready for you.

Out and about: Brunch in Paris

I mention quite regularly my love of Brunch. I'd say that it's my favourite meal of the day (closely followed, in order, by Afternoon Tea, Dinner, Breakfast, Midnight Snack, Lunch, Supper and Elevenses) due to it being a food experience, as opposed to eating for eating's sake. It's an indulgence. A time to sit, enjoy, muse, chat and catch up... and eat. Oh, to eat.

I think it's my love of brunch that draws me again and again to the US for holidays. I just find it hard to better buttermilk pancakes with crispy bacon, berries and maple syrup and perhaps a mimosa or a breakfast martini...

This weekend I discovered that Paris is pretty good at Brunch too. Not just a pick-a-dish-from-the-menu kind of brunch, but a multi-course, set-menu kind of brunch. Erm... hello new favourite Sunday dining concept!

 

 

So, upon recommendation, at midday on Sunday (the clocks had gone back, which is why I was up, *ahem* so early!) Mr G and I jumped on the Metro to Chatelet and strolled up to Grizzli Cafe on Rue St. Martin. We nabbed a table just before the entire restaurant filled up with local families and couples (and their pooches) and placed our order.

To get started, a choice of freshly squeezed juices ("pamplemousse pour moi"... just because I love saying it!) and hot beverages ("cafe creme, s.v.p") with bread, conserves and pastries.

... followed by Mr G's all time fave - Eggs Benedict.

Still got room? In which case, your choice of steak tartare or salmon with potatoes...

... all finished with fromage blanc and seasonal fruit coulis.

We followed it with a mosey around the Louvre courtyard and a mile-long walk back home, to work it all off! Phew.

Who's with me for next weekend?

Out and about: Chocolate, cocktails and London!

Here are some of my favourite things...

- eating chocolate
- eating in general
- drinking cocktails
- walking around London with no particular place to be.

This weekend I partook in a combination of all three when I signed the whole family up to a chocolate walking tour with Great British Tours. Aren't I the best? The tour took us via some of my favourite chocolateries, including tastings and discounts, through Soho and the west end and it even introduced me to a couple of hidden gems!

The meeting point was the Algerian Coffee Store on Old Compton Street where our guide met us with chocolate coated coffee beans and a gigantic grin!

First stop was Hotel Chocolat where I convinced my parents to buy some chili hot chocolate...

... then on to Paul A. Young introduced us to unusual recipes such as limoncello and cucumber, pink guava and lychee, goats cheese, rosemary and lemon and Marmite truffles and Aztec hot chocolate...

... a quick pit stop at Freggo to refresh the palate with some Malbec and berries sorbet...

...a browse round the sweet counter (and a quick dash to the Christmas boutique) at Fortnum and Mason...

... a quick history lesson at Prestat...

...all ending up at Charbonnel et Walker where I stuffed my face with my favourite violet and rose cremes (Queenie and I share the same taste, you see).

After all that chocolate I was desperate for something savoury so we grabbed some mini tacos, tostadas and quesadilas at Wahaca before settling in at the secret gin garden at Carom at Meza for some floral cocktails.

All in all a fun filled day! Great British Tours also do a cupcake and macaroon tour. Guess what I'll be doing this winter...

 

Summer of Slipper: Out and About (and hiding a little bit)

The nights are drawing in, the weather is cooling off, my opaque tights are out, my morning commute is full of kids (but thankfully not my evening one any more), the shops are full of berry shades and my Sky+ is full of new season telly.

Autumn is here! Yippee.

I love autumn.

But before autumn comes summer. This summer was a BUSY one, and an emotional one. Aside from attending 237,546 weddings (only a slight exaggeration) and some amazing and exciting events, trips and parties almost every weekend, I also had a lot of stuff to deal with. Rubbish stuff. It almost broke me. Almost.

For that reason, I was a bad blogger. Despite doing a ton of cool stuff, that I loved and enjoyed and appreciated, I wasn't at my most effusive.

But that's enough about that.

Now, though, I'm full of back-to-school beans. These past two weeks at work have been ALL the busy, I've got some exciting and amazing adventures coming up, and generally have lots to look forward to. Not least A/W clothing, a few trips and the countdown to Christmas.

Despite finding it hard to use my words (to quote TC), I didn't find it hard to use my camera, so, in pictures (and a few links), here's what you missed this summer...



Tea, cake and a nosey around Buckingham Palace with my Tea Shop Luvvies

More Mad Hatter's afternoon tea at The Sanderson Hotel. Read about the last time I went here.

I went back to the stadium, to re-live last year's London 2012 memories

The boy and I took a teeny tiny mini/city break to Barcelona. Read about it on Florence Finds.

Afternoon tea with a twist at BRGR.co Soho

Champagne tasting at Searcys Champagne Bar at One New Change with some lovely ladies

A special someone came to visit. We talked a LOT. We drank even more at Aqua. CP+CT+VH=4evs

We made hats out of junk in a field at Fling Festival.

I drank my house dry on the 1st anniversary of moving in - and slept on the front lawn.

I had WAY too many G&Ts

I tingled with goosebumps as I watched my fave Shakespeare play at midnight

I checked out Queenie's pimped up ride at The Royal Mews

I saw Harry Pot... sorry D-Rad on stage. And he was, surprisingly, flipping amazing!

I saw Top Hat and yearned for Strictly to come back soon... and for an occasion to wear a sparkly, feathered ballgown

My knees went wobbly as i looked down over London from The View at The Shard. Read about it on Florence Finds.

We were slightly disappointed by the 80s Club to Catwalk exhibition at the V&A



We hung out at Tom's Terrace and embarrassed ourselves for Claire's 30th

 

We checked out some new funky places, including this one... with cocktails. on. tap. That's right...

I got an education in weird wine, in the comfort of my backgarden...



... with my Pineapple Club ladies

When I look back, actually, the "sad" is starting to fade. I reckon before the first live show of X Factor 2013 it'll all be a distant memory.

Happy autumn, peeps!

Out and about: Two shows, one night

Last Friday I had a bit of a theatre marathon. Starting off at the Aldwych for Top Hat and ending up at Shakespeare's Globe for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Not only did I roll in to bed at 4.30am, but I stood for over three hours... now that's dedication!

Two shows, one night!

Top Hat

I bought super-cheap seats on Lastminute.com as I'd heard mixed reviews and didn't want to risk a pricier ticket. Thankfully I wasn't disappointed... well maybe a tiny bit disappointed that I didn't act sooner and manage to catch Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen as the lead characters. That and sit one or two rows closer. Cheap seats means cheap. We were in literally the back row of the upper circle. A slight turn of the head meant I could see what the sound and lighting guy in the box was reading that week. But still, at least we had seats, unlike later in the night! Looking for the positive, it meant that we had a great aerial view of the chorus choreography!

Top Hat at the Aldwych

I haven't seen the film, but was vaguely aware of it, catching snippets on those Channel 4 countdown programmes or excerpts of the dances from the archives whenever someone references Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers. According to my mother the show replicates the film almost word for word - so if you didn't like the film, don't bother with the show!

I recognised lots of the songs, mainly from my own dancing days, and happily hummed along with Putting on the Ritz, Top Hat, White Tie and Tails and Cheek to Cheek, but it was only when Let's Face the Music and Dance came on and I realised that it was that famous dance.

Oh yes, I've seen this before!

It was beautiful.

The story is silly, funny and farcical, and great fun to watch but I would have liked to see a bit more dancing. I was, however, so excited by all the tapping (the one style of dance I never tried, and so still makes my jaw drop when done well) that I would happily see it again.

For me though, after the tap dancing and classic dance numbers, Vivien Parry as Madge Hardwick stole the show.

Oh, and the costumes.

The beautiful, swishy, feathery, fluffy, floaty, sequinny, sparkly and shiny costumes!

Swoooon...

A quick cab journey back across the river for a swift dinner and a glass of wine (with a gorgeous view) at The Swan at The Globe and then we were ready for our second show of the night, or in fact morning...

Dinner with a view at The Swan

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Last Friday I finally managed to do something I've been trying to do for almost half of my life. I went to a midnight showing of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe.

A midnight showing of A Midsummer Night's Dream

Alongside Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of my favourite stories from my childhood, and in fact my adult life. I think it's the theming, the dual character roles, the transition from real life in to fantasy life and back again and the mixed undertones of silly alongside serious.

Every year I mean to get tickets, and every year I miss it. This year, having recently sat next to an extremely knowledgeable Globe theatre staff member at a Midsummer Night's Dream themed wedding, I was spurred in to action earlier than usual and managed to bag myself, my family, some tickets.

Sadly they weren't seated tickets, so I was slightly worried about having to stand up for over three hours but I needn't have worried. I've done longer stints standing (festivals, concerts, on stage myself) and in less comfy shoes but in the end I was so engaged and invested in what was happening on the stage I barely noticed the standing. I think I could have been wearing five inch stilettos and I'd still have stayed until the very end.

The beautiful stage

I've never been to the the Globe before and I was as excited about the setting as I was the play itself. A modern glass exterior leads you through in to a replica Elizabethan open air theatre with wooden seating, a yard for us plebs to crowd in to and a raised, covered stage with beautiful decor. It would have felt magical at any time of day but arriving in the dark, as the previous audience were heading home for bed, for a midnight showing was utterly enchanting.

At 11.59, prompt, a band of Ye Olde Englishe musicians came out and played some music to set the scene, and from the first note at the open to the last hum at the close I was spell bound.

I laughed out loud, I grinned, I gasped and I sighed as the hugely talented actors brought Shakespeare's words to life and in the spine-tingling finale, as the fairies bless the temple, tears pricked my eyes and goosebumps appeared on my skin with the emotion... and perhaps a little fatigue!

A little rest in the interval

I loved it so much that I don't think I'll ever be able to watch the play again, for fear if it disappointing me in comparison.

So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

Out and about: BRGR.co Soho



About a month or so ago I met up with my usual afternoon tea crew for afternoon tea with a twist - BURGERS!

 

Check out my review here, on Florence Finds: http://www.florencefinds.com/girl-about-town-with-a-boy/



The Afternoon Tea Crew



BRGR.co Soho - boy-friendly afternoon tea!