HELLO FEBRUARY 2024
FABULOUS THINGS THAT HAPPENED LAST MONTH
1. My Max’s 16th
birthday – where did my baby boy go?
2. Max got in to his first
choice 6th Form college
3. An amazing trip to Berlin
with Belle
4. A gorgeous weekend in the
Lakes with friends
5. A successful Pantomime
season
6. Enjoying starting Yoga
classes properly
LIFESTYLE, LEISURE, PLACES & HOME
A trip to Berlin with my gorgeous girl
One of my daughter Belles 18th gifts was a mum & daughter mini-City break to Berlin. This was originally booked for June 2023 but had to be changed a few times for various reasons, so we ended up going in cold January.
Unfortunately, the weather is a bit like the UK at the moment, grey
& wet but Berlin has had a big bout of snow recently, so the city looked
quite waterlogged from melting snow.
However, bad weather certainly wasn’t going to spoil our trip and, after
an extremely seamless journey from Manchester, we arrived at our hotel The
Hotel Riu Plaza.
The hotel was slightly clinical but extremely clean with a great
breakfast - all you need on a city break really- along with drink making
facilities in the room, our hotel was ideally located not far from the main
city attractions.
Although very touristy, I’ve always found a hop on hop off sightseeing
but is great on the first day in a new city so you can get your bearings and,
with the weather being miserable in the morning it was the perfect thing to do.
My first impressions of the city as we drove round was that it looks
like it’s still stuck in the 1970’s (maybe the C&A department store added
to that!!!!) with many concrete buildings and everything looking like it needed
a good lick of paint. With its graffiti adorned buildings it’s certainly not an
aesthetically pleasing city and to me it doesn’t hold a candle to Cologne where
I lived for a few months in my 20’s.
However, it’s always good to experience a new city and it was very
interesting to see the remaining section of the Berlin Wall and the holocaust
concrete graces.
After learning about the historical side of the city on the tour it was
time for some fun & we alighted the bus in Alexandraplatz.
The "Alex", as it is called by Berliners, is the central
square of the eastern city centre and encompasses attractions - such as the TV
Tower, the World Clock, and the Fountain of Friendship between Nations - which
are popular with tourists from all around the world.
For pre-dinner drinks I had booked The Ice bar Berlin & for the
entry price of €22.50 3 drinks were included. I have to say the bar looks
better in the photos than it actually is & it’s much smaller plus the
drinks were not great with very little choice. We had a fun half an hour or so
in there, but I wouldn’t particularly recommend it.
Having travelled extensively in my 20’s I have a tradition of always
visiting the Hard Rock Cafe in every city I go to so of course we had to dine
one night at the Berlin Hard Rock which was great.
On our final day we visited the fabulous KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westerns)
department store & then sampled some local delicacies including a delicious
bratwurst & schnitzel before heading back to the airport.
Not a city I’ll rush back to in a hurry as there are much prettier
cities in Germany alone, but we still had a wonderful trip.
BEAUTY, HEALTH & STYLE
Dewty Collagen Drink
There is a lot of hype about collagen drinks at the
moment and, with many of them having excellent reviews I’ve been interested to
try them for a while. I found the Dewty brand on Amazon after reading lots of
good reviews whilst also being affordably priced. It’s early days as yet as I’ve
only been taking it nightly for a couple of weeks but I’m going to continue as
the results are supposed to begin to show after a couple of months. So, is it a
fad or will I end up with plumped glowing skin? Watch this space!!!!!
RESTAURANT OF THE MONTH
The Magic Roundabout – Bowness-on-Windermere
Breakfast, Lunch, Coffee bar by day & smokehouse and gin bar by day, The Magic Roundabout is a quirky restaurant with delicious food. Situated in the heart of Bowness-on-Windermere in the stunning Lake District, this establishment is well worth a visit if you are in this beautiful part of the world. Very friendly staff and reasonably priced food & drinks, I highly recommend this unique restaurant.
www.themagicroundaboutbowness.co.uk
COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH
White Chocolate Martini
Ingredients
1 ½ ounces of vanilla vodka
1 ounce white chocolate liqueur
1 ounce cream
White chocolate shavings to garnish
Method
1. In a cocktail shaker, pour the vodka, liqueur
& cream & fill with ice.
2. Shake
for at least 30 seconds to incorporate the cream
3. Strain
into a well chilled cocktail glass
4. Garnish
with white chocolate shavings
5. Serve
& enjoy!
Mr Bates v’s The Post Office
Toby Jones heads up a stellar cast in this excellent tv drama. This shocking scandal happened between 1999 and 2015 which saw over 900 subpostmasters prosecuted for theft. Everyone remembers the story vaguely from the time but it’s taken this brilliant drama to shine a bright torch on what really went on & the tragic personal stories to come out of it. Shocking, gripping & tragic, this is really not to be missed.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Drawing on scientific research and real-life examples
this book provides practical ways for creating good daily habits. I took a lot of
new ideas from this book & further cemented good habits I already implement
in my day to day life. It’s a book I’ll keep going back to from time to time
I’m sure.
THIS MONTH I'M LOVING
I feel well rested after being lucky enough to go on 2
trips in January!
THIS MONTH I'M NOT LOVING
Feeling unsettled! As if it’s time for a change in
certain areas of my life!
THIS MONTHS FAVOURITES
1. The Apprentice
2. Call The Midwife
3. Daffodils
4. My new Ninja Airfryer
5. Pure Lakes Sweet basil
& Orange shower gel and handwash = www.purelakes.co.uk
THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH
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