Date Night at the Opera

Catching up on blog posts from Easter and April before May arrives and I disappear for 16 days on an epic adventure (more to follow on that!) - I have over the last few months alluded to being back out on the 'dating' scene and although not quite ready to tempt fate and completely spill the beans, I am happy to report that I have met someone and it looks promising!

One such date night on Maundy Thursday involved a lovely pre-theatre dinner at Balthazar in Covent Garden followed by an evening at The Royal Opera House watching Madame Butterfly.

M & I have known each other a little while now and have shared Bucket Lists's of things we would like to do, see and travel. We started working through the lists as friends and things have kind of evolved - the opera was on M's list and I was thrilled that I managed to book tickets for Madame Butterfly at its sell out performance at the ROH - we were in the nose bleed seats but still able to see and hear everything which was lovely. 

I wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner, we had already been to The Ivy Grill at Christmas when we went to the Ballet and as much as we loved it, I wanted to take him somewhere else, with Balthazar in close proximity this was perfect for a dinner. We both opted for the Pea and mint Risotto, followed by the Pork which was delicious. The pork was served with new potatoes, spinach and a medley of mushrooms.With the restaurant offering a pre-theatre 2/3 course menu this is a great way to eat in a nice restaurant without paying huge prices. The service, food and ambience was fantastic with no pressure to hurry you up.

Going straight out after work is always a balance and I am lucky to work somewhere that I can get my hair blow-dried, my nails paited and my make-up done. As you can imagine I took full advantage of this and felt fabulous i my gorgeous winter white DKNY trousers and black top. 

Not a huge Selfie fan but it was a must in the fabulous New York feel bathroom in Balthazar.💖

Date night continued at The Opera which was delightful. I loved that the 'words' were highlighted overhead to your seating areas so it was like watching a real live film with subtitles. On previous opera visits I haven't had this and have had to struggle along a little.

The performances were heartrendingly beautiful by the lead Butterfly and the Captain was a complete Cad. We loved it and started our Easter off perfectly.

April plans ...

April is upon us and I have a few things planned during the month that I am really looking forward to along with spending some time with family and friends over the Easter period.With the lighter nights and hopefully warmers days I am slowly coming out of hibernation and getting out and about.

I really enjoy Easter and always see it as a kick start to spring and 'newness' so much more than New Year and star writing lists and planning things for the rest of the year.

I am house-sitting for a friend over the Easter period and hope to catch up on some crafting, blogging and a little 'me' time as well as cooking and baking for Easter.

April dates include a local derby day with Saracens at Wembley for the rugby, and an evening in Covent Garden which includes dinner at Balthazar and then Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House.

Covent Garden is already beautifully festooned with flowers and colourful eggs along with a giant bunny.

My local surroundings to work have taken on a colourful spring bloom with the tulips in Hanover square looking particularly pretty amongst the building works of Crossrail and Claridges lobby looking delightful with yellow daffodils and forsythia.

I still have my makelight walk to catch-up on the blogging posts along with some TV treats and a huge adventure that is planned in May.

Hope everyone has a delightful Easter and I look forward to reading and viewing all on blogs & instagram.

Goodbye March ..... Hello April

Well a quarter of the way through 2017 and my blogging resolutions are diminishing with each month. March was a busy month, but still no excuse for not blogging.
March was a mixed month for me filled with trips to Newcastle for work, lots of time watching the Rugby 6 nations and spending lots of time outside walking and spending some time with M.
March saw me take on the challenge of 10,000 steps a day for Cancer Research, I did this previously in September and look forward to updating you with how I did later in the week.

My steps took me out and about and over the month I have explored nature parks near to where I live that I haven't visited before. I also explored parks and places in London that I love. Some of the lovely places that I've walked this month include Leigh on Sea, Thorndon Park, Primrose Hill, St James Park and Rafaels Park in Romford. With the clocks going for
ward in my final week made the evenings much more pleasant to walk in.

Work was busy in March and the corner shop was filled with flowers, cake and lots of loveliness for Mothers Day. I particularly loved how my new hair matched the new Charlotte Tilbury beauty space. March saw more planning and juggling life, slimming world and work as well as several date days / evenings.
Slimming World successes continued with me being named Greatest Loser within my group which is the first time I have enjoyed being called a loser!!
The final week of March saw celebrations for Mothers Day and the anniversary of the loss of Gramps - falling in the same week I found this a little hard, but I know they would be immensely proud of my life and what I have done since they passed.
During March I also spent a day with Emily and the Makelight ladies on another photographic walk, something that I will blog later this week as I have so many beautiful images to share.
During the month I also got to spend it with both my oldest and my bestest friend - 2 different occasions but both lots of fun and a reminder why after 30+ years we are still as close as ever.
So I bid farewell to a mixed month of March and hello to an April that I hope will be filled with blossom, sunshine, chocolate & hot cross buns.

Goodbye February.... Hello March >>>

 So February’s flown and we are a week into March and I’m still working my way through my February blog post list … ooops!  Not sure where the time is going but I am thankful that the days are getting a little lighter and it feels in between the rain showers that Spring is trying to blossom.

February was buy workwise and quite chilled at home, which helped with the stress levels and just learning to adapt to a new role and lots of life changes. It was a month of catching up with friends and family for birthday celebrations, lunches and coffee as well as a few date night!

Date nights included

·         Theatre Night - a trip to the theatre to see Dream Girls which is just fabulous and involved a visit into the Savoy (alas not to stay) but still savoured the ambience pre-theatre.

·         Movie Night – Movie moment from February was the Oscar winning Manchester by the Sea – loving my movie moments and hope to share more this month

·         Curry Night – kept it casual for Valentines Night with a trip to the local curry house, no pressure on either of us other than to catch-up over a glass of prosecco and a curry and enjoy a night off plan with SW! It still called for a new dress and a little pampering which was nice.

Valentines also lent itself to going full on pink & red at the corner shop with the façade being decorated in balloons which made for some great Instagram moments along with a lovely pop-up Valentines market inside featuring the most decadent glorious flowers, more balloons, cards and candy. It also allowed me to get the red lipstick out and little red dress.

February also allowed me to make some sale purchases, most thrilled with my size 12 skinny JBrand jeans and Bella Freud Jumper which I picked up at significantly reduced prices and finally seeing the benefits of my Slimming World journey over the last 18 months. The loss is slowing and I am aiming for Target before Easter, so that I can go on holiday in May and enjoy.

Birthdays in February included my oldest friend, my Niece and another friend. Friends birthdays were celebrated with suppers and drinks and my lovely Libs was the family tradition of cupcakes and presents for breakfast. Her birthday usually falls in half term so it allows for us all to get together early which was lovely and this year included to friends from her sleep-over and my nephew who came home from Uni.

That pretty much sums up my month, I hope that February was kind to you all and I really hope that sometime soon I get upto date with my blogging and share a little more.

Movie Moments - 2017

This week saw Hollywood host the 89^th Academy Awards – where the coveted Oscar is awarded to what the members believe to be the best within their field for the year.  Usually the only thing that makes the headlines are the frocks and fashion from the evening, this of course this year was over shadowed by the horror of the wrong Film being called out at the Winner of the Best movie 2016.  The winners list always kick starts my Movie list for the year, as it gives me ideas of what I would like to see.

My movie moment in February was the movie that bagged the Best Actor award for Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea. Produced by Matt Damon this movie deals with some hard hitting subjects with some fabulous acting – stand out performances from both Affleck and Lucas Hedges. Launched at the 2016 Sundance Film festival, this movie has picked up a host of nominations and gongs during the award season.

The movie centres around a small town in New England, where everyone knows everyone and their business, winters are long and bleak and summers short. Affleck’s character is a brooding loner holding a janitorial handyman role in a suburb of Boston when he receives a call  summoning him back to his home town of Manchester by the Sea and deal with the aftermath of the call and the responsibilities that it brings. It is apparent from early on that Affleck has his own demons and issues with returning to the town which slowly unravel as the movie develops.

I enjoyed this movie, it’s not something that I would usually pick out to see, but glad that I did as the acting is impressive and is very thought provoking.

A couple of other Oscar nominated movies have made by Movie Moment shortlist for 2017, however most of them are ‘bums on seats’ movies as opposed to Oscar winners, something I find every increasing in the movie world. There are definitely 2 types of films made these days, those that are pure escapism and sheer enjoyment and those that tick boxes as Artistic, Political, Historical, Minorities etc and are made purely to win awards and not necessarily take money at the box office.

I am definitely in the escapism camp and just want to be entertained; some of my movies I will wait for the DVD/online release but a few I will go to the cinema to see, here’s a few that should take me through to the summer:

Patriots Day – Mark Wahlberg plays a cop involved in the investigation and aftermath of the bombing of the Boston Marathon – based on the tragic events that took place 4 years ago, this movie shows how the city went into lockdown and a race against the clock to bring the bombers to justice.

Beauty and the Beast – definitely one for the big screen, where Emma Watson takes on the role of Belle and Emma Thompson steps into the very big shoes of Angela Lansbury’s Mrs Potts for this live action of Disney’s award winning animation. One of my Disney favourites, I can’t wait to see how this has been bought to life.

King Arthur  - looking forward to seeing is Guy Ritchie’s interpretation of King Arthur – with a huge cast of stars including Charlie Hunnam as Arthur and a cameo from David Beckham, this movie could be one of the big hits of the summer and I hope will look epic on a big screen.

My Cousin Rachel – adapted from Daphne Du Mauriers classic, this stars Sam Claflin and Rachel Weisz, - a young Englishman plots revenge against his mysterious beautiful cousin believing that she murdered his guardian, however she soon beguiles him and conflicts are torn. Definitely one for the ladies.

Well that's a  few from list - what are you looking forward to seeing this year?