Wow. It's been a while! In my defence, I've been away rather a lot recently. In fact, I've only spent one weekend at home in the last five weeks. Bristol, London, Belfast and Edinburgh have all been visited and enjoyed but I'm so looking forward to spending some time in my glorious home city this weekend.
This post might get a bit long and, in all honestly, it's more for me and my own memories than anything else. I have plenty of other posts in the pipeline so fingers crossed I'll actually get a few minutes spare to write them up this weekend.
But, without further ado, the reasons why I've been so absent recently...
Bristol
In November I took a little sojourn to the West Country to visit the beautiful Abi and to see a few sights. Those sights included an epic wine tasting, the delicious dinner afterwards in a wine cellar, cocktails at Browns that tasted exactly like the strawberry cream Quality Street, AMAZING Eggs Royale at Boston Tea Party and far far too many hours spent on National Express coaches.
London
In late November I jumped on a train to London Euston and spent a wonderfully festive day with Sammy. We coveted the pretty things at Selfridges (that Ashish dress is my spirit animal), had the most incredible afternoon tea at The Chesterfield and then had a little wander through the Christmas markets on the South Bank. Oh, and there was the small (HUGE) matter of being asked to be her bridesmaid over dinner that night. Cue a lot of squealing, a few tears and a lot of grinning from ear to ear. There may also have been a cheeky trip to Meatmarket before I caught the train home on the Sunday. Oops.
Belfast
A couple of weeks ago The Soldier and I descended on Belfast for two amazing days in his lovely home city. We stayed at The Fitzwilliam again and loved it even more than last time, which I didn't think was possible. Highlights included lunch at Bubbacue (SO GOOD), delicious cocktails at The Merchant Hotel and lots of time spent at the Christmas market eating big sausages and drinking hot booze. Oh, and I finally got to take a trip to St George's Market and meet the lovely Claire. I can also confirm that her Lily Pink Bakery cupcakes are out of this world. Soldier boy and I may or may not have eaten two each for breakfast. Ahem.
Edinburgh
The last stop on my magical not-so-mystery tour of the UK was Edinburgh, for the lovely Kate's hen do. 17 of us stayed in a magnificent penthouse apartment, with some fairly special views. There was alcohol, a LOT of food, too many laughs to mention and surprisingly few penis-themed decorations. Marvellous. That beautiful tree in the photograph is in Jenners. Glorious.
