A Golden day at the Seaside

A couple of Sunday's ago I spent a gorgeous afternoon at the Essex seaside town of Leigh on Sea and an evening of entertainment at the Cliffs pavilion in Southend. We were blessed with the most glorious weather which made for a perfect stroll along the seafront and promenade.
The afternoon started with lunch at Leigh on Seas The Boatyard. Nestled amongst the cockle sheds in Old Leigh The Boatyard is a stunning restaurant butting onto gorgeous views of the Essex coastline.

Offering a fantastic menu and sunday roast this restaurant is perfect for small and large parties. We were seated on the mezzanine floor which gave us views of both the restaurant and the sea. With a relatively late lunch booking it allowed us to watch the sun start to set over dessert and coffee.
This was my first visit to The Boatyard and will definitely be adding it to my "re-visit" list, service, ambience and the food were gorgeous and look forward to going again.
The Golden sunset set us up perfectly for an evening at The Cliffs Pavillion where we were entertained in True 80's style with Tony Hadley.
I was with a friend that hadn't seen Tony before and he was really impressed with the show. Accompanied by a full symphony orchestra, Tony's set was a mixture of Spandau Ballet classics, own songs and some great rock & crooning tunes.
A Truly Golden day with great company in gorgeous Essex style.

Welcome Back Bridget.....

There haven’t been films this year that have had me wanting to rush to the cinema, (the last one being Me before You) but there has been one that has been on my MUST see list since the trailer aired and the location images started to appear on social media late last year. I am of course referring to Bridget Jones Baby.

Bridget is up there in my top favourite films for so many reasons. I have followed Bridget’s adventures since she first appeared as column inches in the Independent, which led to the book and then onto the movie. I too like Bridget have despaired over the size of my thighs, smoked too many cigarettes, drunk far too many units of alcohol and invariably fallen for the  very wrong type of man! (on several occasions) and acknowledges that I will always be ‘a little bit fat’.

My mum too tried to set me up with every ‘nice ‘ guy she knew during my twenties to no avail. I stumbled headlong into my 30’s in a drunken partying haze still falling for every wrong guy possible until they all but gave up with me and acknowledged that I would be the ‘forever’ singleton that could at times be the ditsiest klutz possible who loved her friends and was married to her career.  

I shared my love of Bridget with my Nan, and she too adored the movie and affectionately called me Bridget on occasions that deemed necessary, we went to the cinema together to see the first movie and I have really fond memories of the fun that we had with it afterwards.

Friday saw the release of the 3^rd instalment of Bridget’s life, and I can honestly say it’s the funniest Bridget ever. I laughed from the open through to the final credits, at one point thinking I was going to slide off the chair. Casting is just fabulous and its lovely to see so many old favourites back along with a couple of newbies. Patrick Dempsey who plays the very delicious Jack is just gorgeous and of course a welcome return to the ever lovely Mark Fitzwilliam Darcy (Colin Firth).

This movie has had lots of press, social media coverage and hype and it absolutely lives up to all of it and I’m thrilled that the surprises that are within the movie haven’t leaked all over the networks. The press junket has had me salivating over the fabulous styling of Renee Z along with the gorgeousness of Patrick & Colin.

Bridget may be 43 a little thinner but she hasn’t lost her fun, ditziness and vulnerability that we all fell in love with 14 years ago…. Welcome back Bridget, we’ve missed you x

Social Media Sunday ~ August

Today I am sharing some of my favourites from Social Media during the summer month of August. My Instagram feed is filled with hearts and twitter with stars. As usual my 'likes' are filled with flowers, and some fun favourites with a gorgeous hue of summer.

• Gorgeous blooms from the personal shopping lounge at Selfridges as shot by my lovely friend Elaine.
• Complete Kitchen-Aid envy with this beautiful baking shot from Tracey @ Tink72x
• Bike envy with this fun turquoise bike Captured by Lucy. I met Lucy last month on a photography workshop and her instagram feed is a joy.
• Perfect beach shot, capturing the absolute aesthetic of summer.. this time from my fabulous friend Lee.
• Beautiful blooms from Claridges hotel, as seen when visited earlier his month. Gorgeous hues of blue.
• Another perfect summer shot, this time from writer Ali Harris with this glorious beach hut image. Have loved following her summer adventures in Canada in recent weeks.
• More beautiful blue rhododendrons, this time from Sally at Gettingstuffdoneinheels, another favourite instagram feed.

• The recent art installation at Covent Garden has been captured perfectly by Tracey Burfield. Her images are fabulous from London and afar.
• Social Media Sunday wouldn't be complete without a picture of Mr Gandy, here captured painting whilst helping at a kids charity event with M&S.
• Tall ships gliding along the Thames, backlight by the O2 captured by Find Steph ....delightful.
• Eye Candy galore on this months favourites; Martin Kemp captured in the summer sunshine by band mate Steve Norman.. perfect.
• My favourite New York photographer has done it again Dantvusa sunset over one world trade centre is stunning.
• Had much fun following David Beckham this month and his adventures at Guy Ritchie's wedding....David Beckham & Henry Cavill together,... mmm now there's a thought.. and a visit to a firehouse!... oh my!!
• and finally this fun image of Johnny Wilkinson at the recent Touch Tour event with O2 at Saracens home ground... kicking off the countdown to the Rugby World cup.

I hope you have had fun with my social media summer loves... here's some from previous months... thank-you all that have featured for brightening my month with your gorgeous images and witty little posts... I've loved them.

A week of fun in June...

last week was a whirlwind of fun activity both at work and at play!... here's some of the images snapped on my social media accounts

• Hever Castle; a day out in the picturesque hamlet of Hever discovering the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.
• Selfridges Sale; Saturday snap of the calm before the storm!
• Beautiful British florals at Phillipa Craddock in the Selfridges foodhall. one of my favourite displays.
• Book launch at Penguin books meeting some favourite authors.
• Stunning London skyline of London at sunset from the rooftop of penguin books.
• Drinks and laughter with Mrs Christmas herself - Carole Matthews and Ali Mcnamara
• Thursday morning fun when David Gandy appeared in my time line photographed with Mr & Mrs Le Bon.... as a huge Duran Duran fan this was all too much for a hormonal female!... that Yasmin is a lucky lady!
• Monday morning saw me secure pre-released Duran Duran tickets for December!... beyond excited!
• 9th Selfridges sale and the yellow bags multiplied under my desk throughout the first day... multiple birthday and christmas presents purchased, along with a couple of treats for myself!... my mulberry collection may have been added to!

As you can see it was a busy week and somewhere and how I did lot some work in between!.... hope you are all having a lovely week... look forward to catching up with posts this week :-)

Goodbye May, Hello June....

June arrived with a blast of winter and a lots of wind blowing May away with rain showers and gusts... nothing like the weather usually clement with the arrival of the 6th month of the year. With better weather forecast for the end of the week I am hoping that summer is just a little late waking from its hibernation!

May was quite a busy month, filled with bundles of flowers, fabulous food and bunches of fun and catching up with some friends..

• Vintage Salt; Selfridges opened its summer rooftop dining experience and my friend R and I spent an indulgent lunch up there, with the chocolate burger being the highlight!
• London was awash with flowers & fauna in May for Chelsea Flower show which I enjoyed in many locations including a beautiful afternoon at Chelsea Flower show.
• Breakfast from above, I was lucky enough to breakfast at Aqua Shard on one of the nicest days in May and sat eating a glorious english breakfast watching the city come to life early morning - delightful.
• Another delightful moment was a brief stop at Peggy Porschen's parlour on route to Chelsea Flower show where I stopped for a slice of raspberry & lemon layer cake, along with a latte and an opportunity to glance at Peggy's newly launched book (added to my baking books wish list!)
• May saw me catch-up with Bestie over a quick pub lunch in the heart of "Towie" land, Fish finger sandwiches doorstop style, complete with a mini fryer of fries!. Lovely to spend an hour laughing and catching up.

Along with many flowers I also had bunches of fun in lots of ways...

• Calendar corner was very pleasing on the eye. 
• Taylor had his first outing at for Rugby and coordinated lovely with my Saracens shirt.
• David Beckham launched his instagram on his 40th birthday with this lovely waking up snap... much fun :-)
• Kit Kat launched its 'break' campaign and I had much fun picking appropriate 4 fingers for the team in the office!
• Spooks - a much welcome trip to the cinema to see one of my favourite TV series morph onto the big screen ... sheer escapism for a couple of hours.
• Mac launched its wash & dry collection in fabulous style!... my wash days at the launderette never look as good as this!
• London hosted some fabulous celebrations for the 70th VE day with a parade and a glorious tea dance 50s style in St James Park, complete with a red arrows flypast... humbling and fun at the same time. 
• Spent the evening in the company of Bradley Cooper watching the critically acclaimed The Elephant man, which was fabulous.... a semi naked Bradley is always pleasing on the eye!
• May concluded with a fabulous Saturday at Twickenham watching Saracens win the Aviva premiership league cup against Bath...always pleasing in so many ways!
• 
  Pink & Mint were my signature colours for my blog style for the month and this cascaded into much colour & fun through the month. Loved breaking in my new sneakers and stepped up my walking with these beauties on my feet.
• London turned pink for the night to celebrate the birth of a new princess in May with the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge welcoming the birth of their baby daughter Charlotte.
• Vintage Salt opened on the roof and these fabulous beach huts at the drift bar will reside there for the summer!
• Taylor met a little mint lady friend whilst I was out for lunch.... how cute do they look alongside each other! 
• My book post was full of flowers and styled lovely alongside my blog for the month; this post was my most read, tweeted and favourited posts. I received some lovely comments from the authors 

As you can see May was busy, and I look forward to continued fun in June... pop back at the end of the week when I will be sharing what June has in store and giving the blog a little makeover.

Fun in the sun in a 500...

So its a couple of months since I picked up me new little Fiat 500 and I am having much fun with it, however so far it's been nameless ....  As with all my previous cars they have affectionately been named, the most recent being  Florence (named as I bought her on my Nan's birthday), a Mabel (Nans middle name) however this time it hasn't been so easy, as old family names etc didn't fit a new little Fiat.
There has been much debate within the office and I can now say that 500 has a name at last!
.... Introducing Taylor.

As with all my cars there is usually a correlation between the name and when I bought it, the most obvious name was "Fifty" due to the movie and it being Grey and it has been nicknamed this whilst a proper name was found.
Taylor has arisen from a number of reasons...

• He is the chauffeur in Fifty Shades,(played by the delicious Max Martini) so links nicely to the colour & month I bought.
• I have recently discovered Chicago Fire, where I have a little 'girl-crush' on Taylor Kinney (fiancée of Lady Ga Ga- now that's a whole new conversation!... gives all us average ladies hope!!).. leading 'hot' firefighter in the series and finally
• The Taylor boys from Duran Duran ... JT being my absolute heartthrob in my teens!
• along with a 'teen' crush and a GBF sharing the name, looking forward to T & I having miles of fun in the future....

Taylor and T have enjoyed zipping through the streets of London over the past month and hoping to go a little further a field in the next few weeks...

I'm also having much fun styling looks to coordinate my days with Taylor, here's todays look complimented by 'old skool' Burberry, Mulberry & Longchamp!