Sugarhut Shenanigans

Friday night consisted of champagne, vodka and spag bowl in the comfort of my second home, Georges' house, an evening that sounded so relaxed equaled 3 people getting sick, pie in the face and shots of 70% rum! So, after finally recovering from the hangover from hell and a serious anxiety meltdown, I was due to join my friend Isabelle for a night out to celebrate her 21st.

My anxiety almost stopped me from missing out on girls night out that I was seriously in need of and I am so glad I didn't let it beat me. We had dinner at one of my fave restaurants, The Fat Turk Meze & Grill, Ongar. Turkish food is the gift from Gods as far as I am concerned. This was also my choice of restaurant for my birthday and Valentines!

Strawberry daiquiri was my choice of beverage, of course along endless skittle vodka shots. It wouldn't have been a celebration without some pink vodka clearly! 4 of us then made our way to the most Essex of them all nightclubs, Sugar Hut, Brentwood. We danced until our tootsies seriously couldn't take anymore which was difficult because the music was incredible. There were such a mixed bunch of people, ages, accents etc. and it was a real eye opener on how men approach women on a night our, I swear, a man barked in my face?! When did it become acceptable for a man to bark in a women's face, shortly after, myself and Isabelle were patted on the head, another move I cannot say I have seen in action before! It got to the end of the night and then there were 3 before making our way home and there is no better way to finish a night out than by having a heart to heart with you Mum until 4am!

I adored my outfit choice which was a black, plunge halter neck dress with lace detail. Plunge isn't usually my sort of thing, but I was clearly feeling daring! The dress was from Rare and a steal at £49.00 (find it here). I paired it with black Christian Louboutin shoes and my caviar Chanel handbag and finished it with my Christian Louboutin satin rouge lipstick. 

Take a look at my next post devoted to Saturday night's make up look.

Crazy Bear

So, for Christmas my main gift from my boyfriend was a stay at the Crazy Bear, Stadhampton (Oxford). It couldn't have come at a better time than after being away from him for 5 days! It was a place I had always wanted to go and didn't disappoint, I am already trying to convince we need a second visit.

We made our way up there Monday morning as we had decided to pay Bicester Village a visit, but unfortunately no purchases were made, a clear sign that my constant shopping seriously needs to stop! We did, however, have a beautiful lunch at the Farmshop, it looked so good that I had to take a picture of it (obvs) and it tasted even better than it looked. I enjoyed avocado and poached eggs on sourdough toast, which is possibly my most favorite thing in the world to eat, whilst G enjoyed a scotch ducks egg that look amazing! To follow we both had spit roasted chicken with coleslaw, garlic alioli and for me it was honey roasted root veg. Just thinking about it now is making me hungry...

Food babies in tow, we made our way to the hotel, to be presented with a double decker bus which was in fact, the hotel reception (they didn't lie when they called it Crazy) we couldn't check in until 3pm which gave us some time to chill out in the bar, A glass of champagne on arrival was tossed into my hand and of course I was not going to say no! Our room was beautiful and cosy, red velvet walls, a big fluffy bed and more champagne on ice. But being the party animals that we are, we relaxed in our room (obviously doing far too many face swaps on snapchat!) and enjoyed champagne in our bathrobes.

There are 2 restaurant to choose from, English & Thai, naturally we opted for the Thai which was a 12 plate tasting menu! All of which was super delicious;

CRISPY SEAWEED

STEAMED EDAMAME

SHRIMP CRACKERS

WAGYU BEEF TARTAR

MODERN STYLE SEABASS SASHIMI

ROASTED MANDARIN CHERRY VALLEY DUCK

HONEY ROASTED LOIN OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE OLD SPOT PORK

CRISPY BELLY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE OLD SPOT PORK

LOBSTER PAD THAI NOODLES

WOK FRIED AUBERGINE

STEAMED JASMINE RICE

CHILLI AND VALRHONA CHOCOLATE TORTE

My personal favorites had to be the duck, pad thai, aubergine and of course the dessert! I didn't get any great pictures due to lighting.

We then spent the rest of our evening in the bar drinking strawberry daiquiris. Breakfast was continental and of course they had home made granola (wasn't quite a morning crunch but was still delish) G ordered the Full English followed by the words 'when in rome!'

Our stay was short and sweet but like I said before I am already planning our next visit, this time I would like to try the Beaconsfield location. I must say, despite being the least romantic man in Britain, or even the world, I enjoyed every minute of our stay at Crazy Bear, I don't think he realises just how much I enjoy his company (CRINGE!)

Empire State of Mind

So, I have recently come back from 5 days in my favorite city, New York! My best friend and I went for a girly trip of sights and shops plus lot's and I mean lot's of food!
This has been my third time visiting the Big Apple and it really doesn't fail to exceed all expectations. We stayed on W 53rd St, 7th Avenue, a 7 minute walk from Central Park and a 7 minute walk from Times Square, right in the middle of everything!

After what seemed like the most eventful flight in the world. we arrived in brilliant sunshine although we were expecting arctic temperatures! So our first point of call had to be none other than Times Square where we took a shameless amount of selfies, if anyone were to be playing Spot the Tourist we would have stood out like a sore thumb! Seeing Lou's face made it extra special, as she was just in awe of everything going on around us! Next stop the Empire State Building. Despite this being my second visit to the Empire State, it was just as breathtaking as the first and the clear blue skies made it extra special. It was after this that the first league of shopping commenced Macy's, Victoria Secret etc. Our first night dinner was none other than TGI Fridays, it had to be done when you were staying on the same avenue as Americas largest one! After this we paid a visit to the 230th Fifth Bar where we enjoyed Hot Chocolates with Vanilla Vodka. All in all we were up 25 hours before we made our way back to our hotel, how did we manage it?! It just goes to show what shopping, sights and a vanilla vodka can do!

Our second day we went on to visit Woodbury Common which is a designer shopping outlet, another recommendation of mine! We got endless amounts of bargains and shopped until we dropped (I must add that the shopping did not stop when we got back to 7th Avenue). We also went for dinner at the Brooklyn Diner where I was presented with a monster chicken pot pie which I must say was absolutely delish!

Wednesday was by far the WETTEST day I have ever experience, by this I mean, we were soaked through to our skin! But did we let it stop our sight seeing? Of course not!
After a brief visit to Grand Central and a breakfast of french toast at the amazing Penelope's (Lexington Ave) we had to take at least one obligatory trip in a yellow taxi down to Soho and then ventured towards Ground Zero, which is the most moving place I have ever experience, you cannot put into words your feelings and your outlook on life once you visit and see what's inside. It puts like into perspective and makes you appreciate the saying 'live each day like it is your last'. We made it to the Statue of Liberty before the rain began again and finished off with even more shopping in Century 21. Dinner was at the famous Carmines Italian family restaurant.

Penelope's French Toast

Thursday came and was dry-ish today was a more relaxed day Central Park was on our agenda along with Bloomingdales along with every other shop we laid our eyes on! However, first up was breakfast at Sarabeth's Central Park South, this was a place I had seen on a blog myself and knew it was our sort of place! We go there before it opened to be presented with a queue of people which made it even more exciting. We both enjoyed a Morning Crunch granola bowl, which could possibly have been one of the nicest things I have EVER eaten. Those who know me, know I have a granola obsession! Our night finished with MORE food at Ellen's Stardust Diner, typical diner food and all of the staff are on or trying to be on Broadway, the atmosphere was insane!

Sarabeth's Morning Crunch

Friday came far too early, this trip felt like a lifetime away when we booked it and it was more than I could have ever asked for. We spent the whole time in crying with laughter and most importantly having quality time together! After spending everyday together at school, then college, when we eventually had to admit defeat and become grown ups with jobs and boyfriends, we found it very hard to adjust, my best friend is practically my sister! We obviously had to pay another visit to Sarabeth's where this time I had a Garden Omelette (not to everyone's taste I know!) and Louise had bacon eggs Benedict a delicacy which I think I must be the only person in the world that doesn't like it! We visited Carlos' Bakery and done our final bits of shopping before doing Top of the Rock in the meantime we did have our Times Square debut, where the camera came on us and we were on the big screens for all the world to see, the excitement in our faces as we photobombed a large group of tourists was utterly priceless. Top of the Rock was something I didn't do before andonce again, the weather was PERFECT and the views were to die for, on our next visit (yes, we are already planning it!) we would like to visit Top of the Rock at night! It was then time to make our way back to the airport where went spent our time reminiscing over a pretzel!

I know there is noting worse than looking at someones holiday photos and hearing every single detail but it really is the concrete jungle where dreams are made of and if you haven't already, you need to!