Beatlemania!

We have just spent a fantastic 2 days in Liverpool with my parents in law!

My husband loves the Beatles so we decided to splash out and stay at the Harddaysnight Hotel When we had a look at booking up the rooms we wanted were £225 each per night, however when we made the booking we were told they had gone down to £90! Whoop whoop, what a great surprise!  Simon and I had stayed in this same hotel in August 2 years ago, when I was pregnant with Thomas, so it was really nice to go back and see it again, and of course for me to have a drink this time!  Thomas stayed between my parents and my sister so we were really able to relax and   let loose!

Simon in our room

We drove up and it takes about 4 hours from where we live so we set off nice and early.  As soon as we arrived in Liverpool we dumped our bags and went for lunch in one of the many pubs close to our hotel.  I get so excited about food and I have to tell you that the Sweet Potato Salad that I went for was really really good! I need to add sweet potatoes to my shopping list for this week so that I can recreate that treat!

Me in our room!

After lunch we headed over to the Albert Docks and after a quick mooch round headed to The Beatles Experience.  This is a great activity where you walk through a sort of museum which talks you through the history of the Beatles from the very beginning!  There are so many photos, items of memorabilia and quotes to look through and read and even though I wasn't born until the 80s I found myself feeling nostalgic!  It really makes you want to go back and be a part of Beatlmania as it happened!

Magical Mystery Mirrors!

Included in the ticket price at the moment is also an Elvis and Us Exhibition and a Fab4D experience so we headed over there next.  It was fun to see some of Elvis' outfits and read up a bit more about him but for me the highlight was definitely the Fab4D experience!  It was a 10 minute animation about a boy who has to try and meet his date on time to play a gig together and he goes on a Magical Mystery Tour bus to get there!  As it was 4D there were bubbles in the air, water sprayed on us, the seats moved, there was a strawberry scent in the air and more!  Great fun! 

Back up to change for dinner!

It was 5 o'clock by this time so we headed back to our rooms to change for dinner.  I wore a little black dress that I got from ASOS recently and my Carvela shoes that I talk about in this post.   

We had a drink in the hotel bar before dining in Blakes, the adjoining restaurant.  They do a deal between 6 and 7 whereby you can have 3 courses for £14.95 which is pretty good so I went for that and I choose a cauliflower soup to start, then I had aubergine terrine with apricot cous cous (this dish was also a winner with me and I will be doing a bit of research to see if I can make something similar!) Then I went for sorbet.  I get so excited about food so I had to share with you all what I had, haha!

Its not just me that loves to take the bathroom smellies home is it??

We then had to head to the Cavern Bar and the Cavern Club! It is international Beatles week at the moment so there were non stop live bands on so we picked the perfect week to visit!

My in-laws are so much fun and out partied me (I put it down to getting up early with an 18 month old every day!) so I headed back at midnight whilst the other 3 stayed out a bit longer and listened to an Argentinian Beatles tribute, fancy! 

We had to start heading back fairly early today to collect Thomas so we made sure we were up and out early and headed back to the Docks so that we could take a trip on The Yellow Duckmarine, which is a tour around the city and the docks on a World War 2 DUKW.  The tour guide was particularly funny today so we all had a good giggle!  Have a click here to be directed to their website and read up a bit more about this activity! 

I would highly recommend Liverpool as a location for a weekend away and we absolutely love the Hard Days Night Hotel!  Obviously it helps to be a Beatles fan but there is so much to do there that you wouldn't need to do any Beatles type activities if that doesn't float your boat!  Last time we visited we did the Magical Mystery Tour and a few museums and I could go on and on about the city and our 2 stays but I think this post is long enough already!  We have already said that we should visit again in another couple of years to do some of the things we have not had time for!

Which is your favourite city to visit for a few days? xx

Car Eyelashes for Sale!

This is a cheeky post, but we are currently sorting through our flat trying to declutter and refresh things ready to put it on the market.  Ooo exciting!  As such I thought I would take the chance to let you all know that we have fun Car Eyelashes for sale on eBay!  They come with plastic 'crystal' eyeliner in either pale blue, silver or bright pink and are £5.50 if you include the cost of the postage!  We are down to the last sets now and I would like to sell them ASAP so that we can empty the cupboard just a little bit more!

The pink ones currently are not on eBay as I only have 4 pairs left and need to put on a new listing, but they are still for sale!

Here is a link if you are interested or of course you can leave me a comment below! x

Silver crystal eyeliner
Blue crystal eyeliner

Keeping in Touch

Today Thomas and I are visiting my school friend and her son.  I haven't seen her since February at Thomas' first birthday party and in honesty that is probably how frequently we have managed to keep in touch over recent years, purely because everyone's lives are so busy!

For a start I have 2 sisters (my 3rd sister lives about an hour and a half away), my parents, Simon's parents and his sister all living nearby, and we see a lot of each of them.  Then we both work and I try to do Thomas friendly things like playgroup throughout the week!  Add in the weekly chores like housework and food shopping that doesn't leave a lot of time for seeing friends not to mention that your friends are just as busy and it seems nearly impossible!  But rather than give them up completely (which would be far too sad!) I try and see everybody as and when I can!

I have my closest friends that I see every week, whether it be meeting up for dinner or just popping in for a cup of tea after work and then we text, Facebook etc regularly as well.  Then I have my Mummy friends, this is a group of us that all had babies within a year of each other.  I was already friends with one of the Mummies and she knew each of us individually so she started a M&B (Mother & Baby) group that get together once a week.  I can't always go as I sometimes have customer's booked in but I do go when I can because it is great for Thomas as he gets to play and interact with the other children and good for me as I get a good old chat with the Mummies!!  We also have Simon's 3 best friends that we see regularly, mainly at the weekends in the evenings as most of them work Monday to Friday, office hours.  I am very lucky as I get on really well with all of the wives and consider them my friends in their own right.

So that is everyone that I manage to see on a regular(ish) basis.  But what about my school friends, people I have previously worked with, met at clubs etc?  These are the people who I end up seeing only every once in a while, but it still works for me.  I try and keep in touch and keep up with any news via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - which is my new favourite thing - and try to see everybody as often as possible.

For me it is very important to keep in touch with all these people, even if we only get together once every two to three months.  After all we connected and got on well to begin with for a reason so it is nice to keep them all in my life!  It may be meeting up for a lunch in someone's break from work, or popping in for a cup if tea in the evening, taking the children out for the day or a girls night out.  As I am self employed and at home with Thomas a lot I do try and fit in with my friend's lives as they have less flexibility with their free time.

Its a good thing to remember not to get uptight if someone hasn't text you back right away or sent you a message on FB, we are all guilty of forgetting a response or taking our time at some point, well I know I am any way!
How do you keep in touch with all your friends?  Do you have any tips on how to manage my time and not leave it so long between catch ups? x

Strawberry Picking Fun

Today my sister and I wanted to take the children to do a fun activity and as the sun was shining (sort of) we decided to take a trip to a local farm where you can pick strawberries amongst other fruit and vegetables.  We let the children have a punnet each and then we had a good root around in the plants to find the biggest, reddest strawberries we could find!

The punnets were £1.60 per lb although the babies picked about half a pound each before they got bored, but as they were hunting for the best fruits this still took a while!

We had a wander around the Farm Shop where you can also buy Yankee Candles and craft supplies before we went home, so the entire trip took just over an hour and we spent about 70p each!

We had a fun afternoon and came home with some strawberries for less than £1 so we will definitely be taking the children again!  This also promotes fruit as a treat instead of sweets and as you know I am all for the healthy eating so it especially floats my boat!  I am planning to do some research and find some recipes so we can pick the fruits or vegetables and then cook with them when we get home next time.

Have you taken your children to any fun & cheap or free activities recently?