Weekend Adventure

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

Amsterdam. Can you do it in one day?

Well, at the weekend, Daniel & I boarded a plane & hit Amsterdam to find out!

I had brought the plane tickets as a surprise for Daniel’s 25th Birthday so we were extremely excited.

We arrived at 9:30am & boarded the train from the airport into Amsterdam City Centre. With this only taking 10 minutes, we had arrived into the centre at 10am so decided to go for a coffee in Dam Square to consult our maps & arrange a game plan for the next few hours!

I don’t know what it is, but the coffee we have in Europe, always tastes better than the coffee we get in the UK!

We decided to have a general walk around the City & after stumbling upon the Red Light District, we felt we needed to get away & do something we know well…SHOPPING!

With Amsterdam’s equivalent to Harrods right around the corner, we decided we needed to visit!

De Bijenkorf is right on the edge of Dam Square, & away from all things drug & sex related!

We spent some time in here & decided to look at the restaurant & champagne bar on the rooftop.

We settled on sushi, Tai & champagne whilst deciding on our next move!

We headed over to Jordaan, which is a neighbourhood in Amsterdam considered to be one of the prettiest.

Full of canal side cafes, scenic views everywhere you turn & A LOT of bicycles!

The bicycles were cute to start with. Then a crazy lady man-handled me & I nearly ended up in the canal. Not so cute.

Overall we had 6 hours in Amsterdam before making our way back to the Airport, (which, is HUGE by the way!).

We felt like we had done everything that we wanted to do & saw everything that we wanted to see.

We felt staying over night or staying any longer would have been too long for us, so we were ecstatic to be back home in our pyjamas with a tea by 7.30pm!

It’s quite crazy what you can do in a day.

We grabbed an early flight from Birmingham Airpot & travelled with Flybe. I would highly recommend doing what we did if you want a real adventure! You can get to most places in Europe in one hour (with Amsterdam taking us 50 minutes!), so what’s stopping you grabbing an early flight & visiting somewhere for a day!

Happy travelling!

18Mar2015

Girlie Day: Leamington Spa

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

The weekend saw me & the girls drive down to Leamington Spa for a girlie day!

Leamington Spa is a town in Central Warwickshire, which means trips to Warwick Castle & Warwick Town are on your doorstep. With trains from Birmingham taking around half an hour, it’s a lovely place to go for a girlie day or a romantic weekend away.

Firstly, we visited the Episode Hotel for a lovely Champagne Afternoon Tea where we had a natter & a giggle over a lot of cake!

The Hotel is within walking distance of the lovely town centre, so of course, we have a stroll to the shops! The town has everything from your usual hughstreet stores, to House of Fraser & cute independent gift shops.

After a few hours in River Island (yes, really), we decided we needed to round off the day with a cocktail!

With an amazing choice of restaurants & bars, we finally settled on Turtle Bay. The cocktails in Turtle Bay are amazing, & with it being happy hour, it would have been rude not to!

I was so upset we had to leave Leamington & could have stayed for at least another day with the girls, exploring the beauty of the Town & maybe even venturing into nearby Warwick!

To plan your visit & to see what’s on, check out their website here!

1Mar2015

Food Review: Sabai Sabai

Posted in Food by Jenna Louise

Saturday evening saw me & the girls venture into Harborne for some food & drinks.

Harborne is a town 3 miles from Birmingham City Centre, & if you ever find yourself in the Birmingham area & want amazing Thai food, then I highly recommend Sabai Sabai!

Located at the beginning of Harborne Hughstreet, the Thai restaurant gets immensely busy on weekends & it’s not hard to see why.

The cocktails are phenomenal! I opted for a Lychee Martini, which was quite possibly the best cocktail I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

To start, me & the girls decided on a sharing platter, which included chicken satay, sweetcorn fritters & prawns.

After looking at the extensive menu & struggling to pick just one thing, for my main course I settled on chicken with cashew nuts with coconut rice. I honestly could eat that main course again and again, and again! It was gorgeous!

For three people: a starter, main course, rice, noodles, 3 cocktails and a bottle of prosecco came to just over £100.00.

An unbelievable cost for an outstanding experience. There was an incredible atmosphere & the service was quick & very friendly.

With a 5 minute taxi journey into Birmingham City Centre’s bars & clubs, Sabai Sabai is a perfect starting point to your evening.

For contact details & menus, check out their website here.

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22Feb2015

Weekend Roundup

Posted in Lifestyle by Jenna Louise

Sunday evening…HOW is it here again?

It doesn’t seem too minutes since I kicked off my work shoes on Friday night with a huge smile on my face!

Friday was a perfect relaxing evening. I had a bubble bath & then cheekily stole Daniel’s dressing gown for the remainder of the evening!

Saturday morning saw snow, hail & rain hit the Midlands, but we still braved the Great British weather & headed into Birmingham for a French breakfast.

My French toast & Hazelnut Latte went down a treat!

I decided to embrace the inner Parisian in me & opt for a French nautical look!

Blazer: Zara

Tee: H&M

Bag: DKNY

Jenas: Topshop

Flats: Primark

I also picked up a Bubble Tea from Mee Cha which is an absolute must when in Birmingham! I am a tad obsessed, & that’s just with the cute Panda packaging!

Saturday evening saw me celebrating my Dad’s birthday! We ventured into St Paul’s Square in Birmingham for food & drinks. It was a night filled with cocktails, wine, prosecco & yummy food. It’s always lovely to spend an evening with family!

The morning after the night before saw me head out at the crack of dawn & complete the Action Heart 5 mile (8K) run. Action Heart is a cardiac rehabilitation programme & helps hundreds of people each year. It was an honour to take part with 500 other people in my local area! I have never been so cold, nor have I ever ran up so many hills, but I was very happy to finish with a big smile on my face!

The rest of Sunday was a lovely relaxing day! I collected the Sunday papers for Daniel & I & we also watched my Dad open his Birthday presents, which was lovely! I finished the weekend off with a super Sunday Dinner with Daniel’s family!

How was your weekend? I hope you all had a super fun time! x

18Feb2015

Weekend Adventure

Posted in Travel by Jenna Louise

So it’s Winter, it’s the weekend & you want somewhere cute to go for the day?

Well, look no further than the wonderful Bridgnorth!

A beautiful town in Shropshire, England, situated on the Severn Valley.

It is home to the Castle Hill Railway, which is the steepest and only inland railway of its type in the country.

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It links the high town to the low town and was used to carry goods and produce up and down the 111ft sandstone cliff back in 1892 when it opened.

The town is a typical quaint, English town full of independent book stores, cafes & tea shops & we enjoyed a lovely Winters day strolling around hand in hand thinking we had stepped back in time!

We found a lovely tea shop called Tea & Roses in the town centre where we enjoyed a pot of tea and some coffee.

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They sold fresh cakes, cookies & sandwiches & also had a lovely range of homemade cards & vintage crafts & accessories.

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The roaring log fire was enough to entice us in & the homemade menus were just another wonderful added touch.

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As you can see, the scenery & views are spectacular. We really are lucky to live in such a beautiful and picturesque country!

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To find out more about the lovely town of Bridgnorth, check out their tourist website here.

15Feb2015

Weekend Roundup

Posted in Lifestyle by Jenna Louise

So, it’s Sunday evening & we find ourselves thinking about work tomorrow.

I’ve had another lovely weekend! Here’s what I got up to!

Friday

So Friday saw me spend Valentines Eve with my two best girl friends. We went to see the much anticipated 50 Shades of Grey! There was A LOT of people! We had thankfully booked our tickets in advance & we were not disappointed! We were quite happy to spend our Friday evening with Mr Grey!

Before the film, we went for pizza, wine & dessert & 2 hours of giggles & gossip later we made our way over to the movie!

No movie night is complete without a Pick n’ Mix! The Great British weather was awful on Friday, so it called for a fur & jeans kind of evening! My fur gilet is from H&M & I’m wearing my trusty Topshop Jamie jeans & H&M black polo!

Saturday

Saturday afternoon saw me attend a Football game with my Dad. It was the FA Cup here in England & I took my Dad for his Birthday!

Thankfully, the team that we support (West Bromwich Albion) won 4-0 so we were happy! I had to grab a Costa on the way to fuel my Costa obsession!

Sunday

Sunday, as you know, is my favourite day. Me & Daniel grabbed the Sunday papers & headed for breakfast at our favourite place, Fig & Favour. See my post on them, here!

We then got home, got straight into our comfies & watched Films & had a nap! We always try & make our Sunday afternoon’s super relaxed ready for work the next day!

I love lounging in my Victoria’s Secret tee & my Nike running tights!

Find similar Nike tights (on sale!), here.

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend! I’m already on countdown to the next one!

4Feb2015

Smile for the Camera

Posted in Lifestyle by Jenna Louise

Teeth Whitening?

What is it & does it work?

Me & Daniel went to find out!

We’ve been thinking about it for a while, & with it being January, we thought, what the hell.

With neither of us being smokers, or heavy drinkers, we wanted, and expected to go a few shades whiter.

As we’re both Birmingham based, we found a place in nearby Wolverhampton that catered for our needs.

In comes Marie. Marie was so lovely. She made us feel at ease right away & did our checks and forms both professional and efficiently.

Firstly, Marie checked what shade our teeth currently were. This is to check how many shades whiter you have gone after having the treatment.

Overall, the procedure lasted 60 minutes. It was broken down into sections, & both me & Daniel experienced no pain, sensitivity or discomfort. For 48 hours after the treatment, you are forbidden to drink tea, coffee, wine, beer etc. & you can only eat white foods. Needless to say, me & Dan nearly died not being able to have our weekend cups of tea!

After the treatment, Marie then checked how many shades whiter our teeth had become. I had gone an impressive 11 shades whiter, & Daniel an even better 18 shades whiter! Overall, we were very happy with the results!

A top up session is advised every 4-6 months, & we are definitely going to do that in about 6 months time!

If you are Birmingham based and you do fancy having whiter teeth for a special occasion or that summer holiday, then go check out Marie’s salon here!

You can also view their official Facebook Page here.

3Feb2015

Keep On Running

Posted in Lifestyle by Jenna Louise

At the weekend I competed in my 7th competitive race.

Running for me was a way to keep fit & to lose weight, but then, I actually fell in love with it!

I’ve done everything from 5k fun runs to half marathons. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes, running is the LAST thing I want to do, but I love the buzz that you get when finishing a race. It feels good to push yourself.

The race that I took part in on Sunday was a local cross country race. It was held in Mary Stevens Park in Stourbridge at 10:30am.

It was 7k of pure HELL! It was immensely cold & I got covered in mud. The course was through mud, fields full of scary horses & animal poo. Halfway through the race I got very angry at the state of my poor trainers.

I then looked around and saw the true beauty of the countryside. I was ashamed of my moaning. I am able to run this race. I am able to walk this race if I so wished. I am lucky enough to be here and running on this wonderfully sunny & brisk morning. Those thoughts got me through the duration of the race.

I then of course came home, got back into my pyjamas & had a lovely snuggle Sunday!

Have you competed in any races? Do you love to run too?

27Jan2015

Sunday Comforts

Posted in Style by Jenna Louise

So, the weekend has been & gone & we’re nearly already half way through the working week! (Hurrah!)

I love my weekends. Particularly Sundays.

Sunday walks, breakfast, comfy clothes, numerous amounts of tea & catching up with the news are my favourite things to do!

If I do venture out of the house, I will always wear a casual outfit & almost always go for my trustworthy Primark shirt & converse! (the dirtier, the better!).

What is your favourite thing to do on a Sunday?

25Jan2015

Breakfast at Browns

Posted in Food, Style by Jenna Louise

It was Saturday & the sun was shining. There was no way we were wasting such a lovely morning!

We decided to go for breakfast at Browns Bar & Brasserie in Birmingham. I decided on the Eggs Florentine, which was yummy!

The decor is lovely & relaxed (they have a live pianist on a Sunday afternoon), and the views of St Martin’s Church & the iconic Bullring whilst sipping on your morning coffee is beautiful.

What I Wore:

Hat: Primark

Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa

Jeans: F&F for Tesco

Scarf: Burberry

Bag: Prada

Hope you all had a wonderful Saturday!

cashmere caviar

…The finer things in life.

Tag Archives: Weekend

Weekend Adventure

Girlie Day: Leamington Spa

Food Review: Sabai Sabai

Weekend Roundup

Weekend Adventure

Weekend Roundup

Smile for the Camera

Keep On Running

Sunday Comforts

Breakfast at Browns