What made me smile in 2013

Hi everyone. Today is new years eve so thought I would share a post of things that made me smile in 2013. At the beginning of this year I decided I would save little trinkets to remind me of all the good things that have happened a mini time capsule. This was probably the only new years resolution I have ever been able to keep. I put them all in a box and opened it today. It has made me realise that although 2013 has had it's bad points, I have a lot to be thankful for, especially my amazing family and friends.

One of the best Christmas presents I have ever received was from my sister last year. She surprised me with a trip to Disneyland Paris! I was so excited. We went with my niece and nephew in February and I had such a good time. This is the note she gave me as my present plus our entry tickets to the park.

In April I turned 30 and celebrated with dinner and drinks with my friends in Shoreditch. I saved a card from the restaurant and the cork from the champagne my sister bought me.

One of my favourite birthday presents was from my friend Jess, tickets to Lovebox! We go every year as a group and the group keeps getting bigger. 

In September my sister and I went on or first holiday with just the two if us. We flew to Costa Brava in Spain for 4 days and it was the most relaxing holiday I have ever had. I saved the dining pass from our hotel as a little reminder. You can read more about that holiday here

In November I was lucky enough to have a flying visit from my best boy who now lives in Australia. We had a day out in Greenwich followed by a night of dinner, cocktails and dancing in Soho. I saved the ticket stub from our ride on the Emirates cable car across the Thames. You can read more about that day here. 

And that's it, 2013 in a nutshell. Here's to an even better 2014.

Happy New Year! 

Christmas Time

This year I spent Christmas with my sister, niece and nephew at their new home in Essex. We had a lovely couple of days together. Christmas eve is always spent wrapping last minute gifts, watching Christmas films and sipping wine. This is my niece totally engrossed in watching Toy Story 2.

And here we are snuggled up on the sofa

My sister and the kids writing Christmas cards...

Here are a few snaps of festive prettiness...

On Christmas day the kids were up at the crack of dawn which meant we were too. After the excitement of opening presents we settled down to a breakfast of gammon, bacon, sausages and West Indian bread, a bit of a family tradition. 

I was in charge of making Christmas dinner and I have to say I think I did quite a good job...

After dinner was spent watching Christmas movies, eating chocolate, drinking wine, playing with new toys and tucking into this bad boy

I had an awesome Christmas. I hope you did too. xx

Family Time

It's always fun to be around children during the festive season so in the run up to Christmas I headed to Essex to spend some time with my niece and nephew. They are 5 and 10 and it sounds like such a cliche but they really do grow so quickly so I always try to take photos when I see them. Here are a few snaps of our day together

Roll on Christmas!

Tasty little lunch

Thought I would share this little dish I threw together for lunch the other day. It was very simple and very tasty.

Baked goats cheese with a dollop of caramelised onion chutney, side salad of asparagus, tomato and avocado and a hunk of brioche.

It was delicious. Will definitely be having this again

In Town For One Night Only

Ryan is one of my best friends, and before he moved to Sydney 4 years ago we used to spend pretty much every weekend together partying in London. We stay in touch via Facebook, Whats App and emails but hadn't seen each other in a year, so when he told me he was booking a trip to London, I was uber excited and started counting down the days.

We met in North Greenwich and decided to take a 360 tour of the Emirates Air Line Cable Car. Here are a couple of snaps I took...

We then took the River bus to the other side of Greenwich and took a stroll through town. Next was lunch at one of my favourite restaurants in Greenwich, The Hill. I ordered the scallops followed by a sea bass ravioli, and Ryan had langoustines to start followed by paella.

Scallops

Seabass Ravioli

After lunch we headed to a local pub and settled down with several vodka tonics and a good catch up.

Later in the evening we headed into Soho and had dinner at Balans. I had the duck which was cooked to perfection

We then met up with my sister in Covent Garden for cocktails and dancing.

I love days like this.