christmas day down under

I've been keeping a little secret from you all, as a christmas present to us we decided to hop on a plane to spend the holidays in the sunshine...

and after a rather generic start to christmas day it all went a bit upside down...

Despite it only being 10am the sea was perfect and we definitely were not alone, the beach was packed ( australia packed, not bournemouth beach packed) with families toasting champagne, chasing each other on their jet skis and kids playing in the surf. After an hour we headed home and christmas day continued...

After a huge roast dinner - no bbqs here- we got down to business with the silly games, I baked mince pies and mulled wine which we devoured when the evening sun dissapeared before partying the night away with friends.

Best christmas ever? I think so.

xo

make it bournemouth this christmas

If there's one thing you need to do this Christmas it's head down to Bournemouth gardens to experience all their christmassy goings on, I grabbed my partner in crime and met some gorgeous Bournemouth bloggers on the ice...

The ice skating queen

Possibly the only picture where I don't look like bambi...

I spoke to soon....the only way to stop is crashing...right?!

class of 2013

And when our time was up, there was only one place we could go....every Bournemouth girl and boy knows, it's not christmas until it snows you've hit the german bar...

Cheers!

If you're around Bournemouth this Christmas I urge you to wonder down to the gardens and experience everything Bournemouth has to offer this Christmas, you can find out some more information here on the make it Bournemouth website.

A huge thanks to Cheryl for organising the day!

If you'd like to nosey on the blogs of the girls:

Becca , Cheryl, Rhiannon, Katy, Georgie, Laura, Brogan, Becky, Scarlett, Joanne & Kara

What makes you feel Christmassy? Does your town do anything for Christmas?

xox

 

Braxton gardens

Today was mummy and daughter day so we decided to go exploring and stop for tea at my favourite local tea room...


Braxton Gardens is nestled just off the main road to Milford on Sea, without knowing about it you'd miss the turning and just keep driving but by sheer luck we discovered it and it's stayed a firm favourite ever since. Sarah and Si the owners took over Braxton Gardens in 2011 and have transformed the place in to a wonderfully well kept garden, small nursey and shabby chic countryside tea rooms. Sadly it's not the time of year for thousands of beautiful flowers, although the garden does still look wonderful, so I'm going to talk to you about their amazing cafe, let's face it you're probably already dribbling at the cakes...

Muffins Galore offer an amazing home made selection of cakes, cream teas and lunches. Today we went for a lemon muffin and a cherry and almond muffin, both of which are vegan. Since cutting eggs and milk out of my diet I've really struggled to find vegan friendly cafes so when the waitress told us that I could indeed eat about half of the cakes on offer I was pleasantly suprised. We did a little bit of cake plate swapping and I can safely say they both get the seal of approval, bursting with flavour and the perfect texture- you wouldn't even know they were vegan if you didn't check the menu! Much to my amazement they also offer a take home service, which I am most definitely going to have to check out one day soon. 

We washed everything down with white vanilla tea and rose lemonade before having a little wonder around the garden and heading home via a near by farm shop to stock up ready for a big roast dinner, perfect.

You can find Braxton Gardens at Lymore Lane, Milford on Sea. They're open Tuesday - Sunday all year round. Dogs are more than welcome. You can find the website here


xo

wahaca westfield

Whilst in London shopping last weekend we couldn't resist a little lunch break at one of my favourite chain restaurants..




Wahaca is the love child of chef Thomasina Miers, famed for winning masterchef back in 2005, the restaurant boasts mexcian market style food made fresh to order and you can really tell it's made fresh as it all arrives at different times, but all within a few minutes of ordering. Each dish is bursting with flavour and can easily be spiced by wahaca's gorgeous table sauces. Wahaca also pride themselves on serving real tequila, which should be sipped slowly, the taste savoured. No shot allowed, if you facy trying tequila or a tequila based cocktails the bar staff really do know their drink. What I love most about wahaca though is the portion sizes, think mexican style tapas, I'd recommend at least 2 dishes per person but luckily the food is really affordable; we shared all the food above, plus some ice cream and drinks and the bill came in just under £30.

It's by no means the best mexican food in the world, but for a chain restaurant with really quick service, it's really not bad at all.

Have you been to wahaca before? What did you think? xo

notting hill carnival

Grab a cup of rum punch, put on your brightest clothes & slip on your dancing shoes, it's carnival....



Notting hill carnival is something everyone needs to experience at least once in their life, however it's not something you can experience properly just stood on the pavement miles back from the floats, to really experience carnival you need to get in to carnival spirit, get to the procession route and dance till your feet hurt and then dance some more. What I love most about carnival is that anyone can get involved, it doesn't matter if you're 1 or 100, male, female, white black, under weight or over weight, everyone is welcome to grab a plate of jerk chicken and cup of rum punch. If you're brave enough you can jump on the procession route and whine and twerk (none of this miley cyris business though) your way up Ladbroke Grove to ragga dance hall with the floats or just hang back and admire it all from the pavements.

Yes it is very crowded and yes you'll end up dancing with strangers but that's the joy of carnival, it's one big, colourful, drunken party.

Have you been to carnival before?xo