Bottomless Brunch in York

In the middle of August I went to York to see my friends Katie and Kate. You may remember that I went to university with them, way back between 2002 and 2005, and we lived together the whole time! I see Katie more often as she lives in Wakefield, but it is always so nice to catch up with Kate. We were at York St John uni so we like to meet up in York as it reminds us of those days!

Lee and I picked Katie up in Wakefield and we had a good drive to York. I'm always a bit paranoid about traffic but we had set off in plenty of time. Lee dropped us off just at the end of Lendal and as we were walking across the road Kate caught up to us as she was coming from the station! Lee went to park and then he went round York by himself for a bit, he went in the record shops and the geek shops, and he had a roast turkey sandwich and a mint hot chocolate and a milkshake, so he was absolutely fine! I'm really glad he brought us though. 

Kate and Katie and I went into Lush for a mooch around. I got some of the sugar scrub from the new Barbie collection, it smells really nice so I can't wait to use it. We then went down to Manahatta where we had booked a table for bottomless brunch. We were a bit early but we were able to sit down anyway. We were on a really high table which was a bit difficult to climb into for me and Kate (she's short) but once we were sitting down it was fine. 

I went for smashed avocado and poached eggs on sour dough toast, which was perfectly nice. We sampled nearly every drink in the bottomless brunch I think - prosecco, apple spritz, Aperol spritz, two types of vodka and mixers, and something else that I've forgotten right now. We had two hours and the server was really quick which was good. It is worth the money but the food wasn't brilliant so I probably wouldn't go again.

After that we went round the corner to the Slug and Lettuce where I had two Sex on the Beach cocktails which were nice. We sat in the sort of porch area as there were no tables inside and it had been raining, but the porch was fine. We then went for a last drink in the Golden Lion, stopping off at a print shop and a fudge shop on the way. By this time it was 5pm and Lee had come back to pick us up from near the Minster. We said goodbye to Kate and were soon home where I definitely needed a lie down after drinking so much! I don't drink alcohol a lot anymore (it interferes with my medication) so it definitely hits me when I do! 

I was wearing a very cute heart/cherry print dress that I got quite recently from Lady V Vintage. I think I said at the time that I had got four in the sale - two are this style and two are a slightly different style. I hadn't worn this one before and thought it was really cute for the day! I had my Barbie colour Snag Tights on too. The dress is slightly too big on my chest, but I've decided it's fine!

I took this selfie just as we got seated in Manahatta. My lipstick is just a Rimmel one but I really love it

My lunch

Gorgeous Kate and Katie

This was the orchard apple spritz which I think was my favourite of the drinks

My nails were this lovely teal colour - it's from A England and is the shade called Galahad 

I think this was the strawberry vodka and lemonade we got at the end

And we got shots

They didn't like the earlier photo of them so made me take another... This one passed the test

And we made sure to take a photo of all of us. I was wearing my black shrug too

More drinks and more fun! We talked about all kinds of things

Me and Katie in the Slug and Lettuce

And finally my outfit when I got home!

Sam's Birthday Day Out in Leeds

The 10th of June was Sam's birthday and she wanted to go to Leeds, so she booked bottomless brunch at Turtle Bay for me and her and Jacqui. Then she added a booking at The Alchemist on Greek Street for after that, too. We considered going to the cinema but decided instead to do an escape room! I've never done one before so that was really exciting for me! We met near the escape room in The Light at about 12.30pm. 

Sam had chosen the Blackbeard themed escape room, so we were shown to it and then left in it. I'm not sure how much use I actually was but I had good fun doing it. We asked for quite a bit of help because we would just get stuck on one thing, but there was no penalty for doing so. We finished in 53 minutes! We were pleased with that, and our games master said that we hadn't asked for loads of help and to bear in mind that there were only three of us whereas some teams have six or eight people. I really enjoyed it and would do another one in the future. 

We went down to Turtle Bay for 2pm. We had tons of cocktails - three the same so we took it in turns to choose each time. You can choose any of the brunch food or wraps and burgers, so I went for the vegan chicken sandwich and had some sweet potato fries on the side too. Service on the drinks was a bit slow but the waiter kept taking orders which was good. You get two hours and it's just over £30 which I felt was good value. 

We finished our drinks and walked to The Alchemist. I've only been in the one on Greek Street a couple of times and it was busy because the weather was so nice! We ordered some drinks and some desserts. My first drink, a Screwball like the ice cream, was not that great; I wouldn't get it again. But my dessert was delicious! It was a s'mores cookie dough thing and was utterly gorgeous. I also had the colour changing cocktail which I love at The Alchemist. 

We all walked back to the train station together and I got the train home to Barnsley where Lee picked me up. It was such a lovely day for Sam's birthday! I was wearing one of my new dresses from Lady V Vintage; I bought four recently when they were on sale for £15 each. It's the first time I wore this one and I really love the watermelon pattern. 

It's summer so I'm trying to wear my contact lenses and then I can wear my pretty sunglasses too! Lolly gave me these ones and they're so much fun! I thought they and my lipstick (a Models Own one) matched the watermelons on my dress perfectly

There's a cinema in The Light so I had to go and play in the Barbie box. I am very excited to see the film!

These are some of the different escape rooms available

We escaped! I am really pleased we managed it!

The three of us in Turtle Bay

I don't remember which this cocktail was but it was nice

My vegan motherclucker burger - it was delicious!

Mojito! Nice and refreshing

This was in The Alchemist, isn't it fancy?! It had disco lights in the bottom too 

My gorgeous dessert

And finally the colour changing one!

Lunch and Shopping with Friends at Meadowhall

On the 4th of June I headed to Meadowhall to meet up with Lolly, Becky, and Georgina. Becky has been living in Canada for a fair few years but now she's back in Leeds so Lolly wanted to arrange a meet up. Georgina lives in Sheffield so we invited her too - she hasn't been out much because of the pandemic so I was really pleased she said she would come along! We arranged to meet at Starbucks near Yours at 11am, so once we did that we each got a drink and chatted for a bit.

We then headed into The Perfume Shop; Georgina is a brand ambassador for them and we both love perfume so we tried some new ones and smelt a ton! Then we headed into Next - Georgina had been recently for the opening of their new beauty hall so wanted to show the rest of us. It's lovely - it looks really fancy and the staff were all really helpful. I picked up some Next perfume, which I think is really nice for the price you pay for it. This was a small bottle so perfect for chucking in my handbag for use during the day. I also got some White Pear and Nectarine shower gel from a brand I haven't heard of before but I love the scent of it. 

We had a table booked at Las Iguanas at 12.30 so Becky and I headed there so that we weren't late and waited for the others. Georgina uses a wheelchair so we had said this on the booking and it was no problem so that was good. I had a passionfruit mocktail and then tapas - nachos, cauliflower bites, and beach cheese which is a bit like halloumi and is served with a chilli jam. Everyone liked their food I think and the drinks being two for one is always good!

After lunch we headed back to Yours, I looked at a few bits but didn't buy anything. By this time Becky had to go catch her train so Georgina went that way with her, and Lolly and I popped into a couple more places before walking back to Marks & Spencer where I had parked and where Lolly could go catch her train too. It was a lovely afternoon though, I am so glad we did it and hopefully we can do it again soon! I was wearing one of my new Lady V dresses that I got in April and haven't worn before. This one has pale pink hearts on the dark background and it was nice to wear. It is perhaps a little bit big on my top half, but never mind! I was wearing my black shrug too but I took it off in Las Iguanas as it was warm! 

Here's all four of us in the restaurant

My passionfruit mocktails

I took this but struggled to get us all in haha

Nachos

Cauliflower bites and beach cheese. I do love tapas!

And finally Chloe had asked for a full length photo of me as a reference for something, showing off my dress perfectly!

Lunch Out in Sheffield

On the first bank holiday in May Lee and I were at a bit of a loose end. I had had a bad cold that I was at the tale end of, and Lee was still ill with some flu type thing which had really knocked him out, so we didn't want to go far but we did want to go out. Lee realised we still had a food gift voucher to use from Christmas so we decided to go to Ask in Sheffield. I'm not always in the mood for Italian food because for vegetarians it can be quite dull, but I was quite in the mood so I booked a table online and we set off.

I wouldn't have needed to book a table as the restaurant wasn't hugely busy, but I didn't know that. I went for a vegan 'noduja' pizza with chips, and a lemon drop spritz cocktail. They were all so nice - the pizza was really lovely and I really liked it. Lee had a chicken and mushroom pasta bake thing which he liked too.

When we'd finished we walked down to the market which was in the Peace Gardens. We had noticed it on the way in. I thought there would be a stall selling crepes so suggested that for pudding. In fact, we came upon a stall selling churros first so both had some of those. Mine were with chocolate and banana slices and they were so good, especially as they were so fresh! 

We looked at the other stalls and there was one selling just crepes so next time I would know that! We went into Orchard Square and had a browse round Waterstones but didn't buy anything, and then went into Blue Banana where Lee bought a Metallica t-shirt. Then we decided to get another drink so went into All Bar One. Lee (who doesn't drink ever) got a coffee and I got a Sailor's Swirl which was a really lovely sweet cocktail with lots of rum in. 

When we'd finished our drinks we were both quite tired so decided to just come home, but I was glad we had bothered to go out and we had had a nice afternoon. 

I was wearing this new Lady V dress. I only had one of their dresses, I think, but then a few days before this I had got a sale email where tons of dresses were down to just £15. They're usually about £60! I ordered four, two in one style and two in another. I liked all of them so decided to keep them, but I'm pretty sure if I don't love them in a year or two I can resell them for nearly what I paid for them (thank you Vinted!). I chose this one, mocha with white polka dots, and paired it with my black footless Snags and my newish black cardigan. This dress feels quite fancy and is nice to wear, so I'm glad I wore it for our afternoon out

New dress, which came with the belt, ready to go out in

Lemon drop spritz

Lee and I waiting for food

My vegan pizza - the tomato base especially was good

Churros!

My Sailor's Swirl in All Bar One

The fountain in Barker's Pool as we were walking back to the car

And we both noticed this old church too. Look at that sky!