Tag: celebrations

Hen Do Party Antics!

July 25, 2021

It’s been a long time coming, but finally one of my best friends will be getting married in 3 weeks time – eeeek! With all the lockdown restrictions over the past year and a half, this will be the third time they’ve had to move their big day, so fingers crossed it will be third time lucky.

For the original Hen last year we had a big weekend in Bath lined up, but with so much uncertainty over the past year or so, we decided a girls night get together at home was the safest and least stressful option… and it certainly didn’t mean we had any less of a good time!

We had the perfect setup in the bride-to-be’s gorgeous family home garden complete with cute hen themed decor of course. A generous spread of crips, crackers and dips to accompany our cocktails and pink prosecco, we were set for the evening ahead.

A few drinks deep and we got the hen party games going. The maid of honour did a brilliant job of preparing the games including a fun quiz, a ‘guess who’ game and later on ‘swing the ball-sack’, hilarious!

What a laugh that was; simple but very fitting and extremely funny game to get us on our feet. The bride-to-be was the overall winner too 🙂

With their outdoor pizza oven, we were even treated to our very own personalised pizzas each. I chose to top mine with olives, sweetcorn, basil and rocket – delish way to soak up the alcohol!

Overall an absolutely fabulous night with the girls laughing, giggling and just being silly, the way a Hen Do should be!

Girls just wanna have fun… am I right? ❤

Bottomless Brunch; Grind London Bridge

July 4, 2021

It doesn’t get much better than a boozy brunch on a Saturday arvo with the girls. With it being one of our besties birthdays this weekend too, it was the perfect excuse to book in for a table at Grind in London Bridge and let the boozy brunch commence…

Grind has always been my favourite cafe spot in town to grab a good coffee or nice evening cocktails with the ladies. Knowing how great their food is too, I had high hopes for their bottomless brunch deal at £15 per head free flowing prosecco for a whole 90 minutes! They even have the proper champagne coupe glasses which really is the only way bubbly should be served.

Arriving at 2pm for our reservation, the place was already buzzing as everyone was getting merry on bubbly. In fact, the general atmosphere in London was electric as the nation geared up for the England football match taking place that night. It was great to see the city alive again and people just having a good time following lockdown life.

Service was fabulous at Grind and the food delicious. I had their sweet potato harissa cakes served with yogurt and a poached egg cooked to perfection. The girls enjoyed theirs too and I just had to have a taste of my friend’s buttermilk pancakes which were divine.

The hour and a half sure did go quickly, but we certainly did make the most of our prosecco top-ups, my glass was never less than half full! So then we enjoyed a sobering walk along the South Bank via a quick stop at Borough Market where the birthday girl got a box of free doughnuts 😉

We ended our evening at an outdoor pop-up on South Bank Between the Bridges where there was live music, food trucks and more booze of course. The warm summer air made for the ideal setting to enjoy outdoor sundowner drinks.

I would highly recommend the Grind bottomless brunch and will most definitely be booking in again soon myself. Overall a top day back in London Town having fun and getting boozy with my besties ❤

GRIND LONDON – https://grind.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-MeOs4HK8QIVh-_tCh37fgMkEAAYASAAEgJZk_D_BwE

A British Summer BBQ

June 13, 2021

With a mini heatwave hitting England this weekend, it was the perfect excuse to fire up that BBQ and invite our parents to enjoy an evening of good food and drinks with us as the sun went down.

Our garden is finally complete with fabulous bamboo trees and our gorgeous new outdoor furniture. The luscious green grass was looking glorious in that sunshine, the most picturesque setup for our BBQ.

We kept the menu simple with burgers, chicken skewers and chicken thighs accompanied with a green salad, a greek salad, garlic bread and my speciality crispy roast new potatoes with garlic.

For our feast I laid up the dining room table complete with a tray of condiments and all the essential sauces which are a staple for any typical British BBQ.

It was such a joy to be host for the evening and finally be able to invite others into our home following lockdown restrictions. I do love the process of planning, preparing and seeing people having a good time, so I was in my element.

A beautiful summers evening with family in our wonderful new home; I was a happy Bee indeed 🙂

NYE 2020; We Will Rise

January 4, 2021

We may have waved farewell to the challenging year that was 2020, but we still have a way to go before the world can find balance once again. That said, the past year has taught us a number of valuable lessons, the most signifiant for me being not to take the little things in life for granted. Whether its simply taking a trip to the shops and grabbing a coffee with a girlfriend, or getting together with family and friends to share all the wonderful festivities of Christmas, I will cherish these times that bit more now that we’ve experienced a life without those moments of joy.

Like most of the rest of the UK, we celebrated our New Years Eve at home and the Nieuwenhuys family know how to party, so we were in for an evening of fun with plenty of booze at the ready! I love any excuse to dress up too, so I spent the day pampering myself and getting glammed up for the night. I wore this cute seventies inspired outfit: ASOS flared jeans, Topshop lace bralet, Stradivarius check blazer, ASOS maroon lace-up heels and my favourite accessory pieces, including a new ring from Cali Tiger.

I know it’s been a tough year for many which makes me even more thankful for my secure family home, supportive friends, amazing boyfriend and of course my job. I may not have been able to progress to where I’d of hoped to in my career by this point, but maintaining my role as Events Assistant at the Four Seasons Hotel with the hope that business will return, is something I’m proud of during such unstable economical times. It’s important we celebrate the little wins like this and focus on the positive knowing that things could always be worse.

Crystal coupes lined up on the gold mirror tray and champagne chilled and ready to pop, I couldn’t wait to get the evening started! We ordered takeout from our favourite local Italian Mama Mia and following our pizza and pasta feast, we got Jools Holland’s Hootenanny show on the TV to get us fully in the party spirit.

The night went in a flash and before we knew it the countdown to 2021 was on. My Dad and boyfriend had an absolute blast setting off the fireworks, it was practically our own private show with all the boxes they had purchased – we certainly saw in 2021 with a bang!

So before we say hello to 2021, let’s take a moment to reflect on the year that’s been and not forget the lessons we have learnt from the most unique and challenging year for the entire world… from this I’m hopeful, we will rise. HNY ❤