Birthday Fun: Bringing In My 28th Year

March 18th was by 28th birthday. Birthdays can be lots of fun, but I'm perhaps an unusual case and don't typically get very excited in the run up to my birthdays. I think this is something that changed when my dad died before my 17th birthday. It's a little bit the same with Christmas and other celebrations, too. That being said, I had organised a few things to bring in my 28th year. Here's how I celebrated.

Saturday I had a spa day at a Bannatyne Spa in Manchester with my girls. We started the morning with a relaxing back neck and shoulder massage followed by a scalp massage. Afterwards, we moved around between the pool, sauna and spa pool catching up on each other's news. The spa experience was nice, although there was no steam room or poolside loungers and the wet area was small and became crowded very quickly. We followed up our spa with a Nandos and vino. Two mains were around 10 minutes later than the rest arriving to us and we received a complimentary chocolate cheesecake each, served with it's own little jug of cream, as an apology. You're forgiven, Nando's!

On Sunday, my wonderful husband took me to a local Thai restaurant, Chaba Chaba. This wasn't the original plan. Before our rascal cat broke his tail, we were due to go to a spa hotel in Wales. Plans had to be reviewed now that we're manually emptying his bladder several times a day while we give him time to see if he can recover it for himself. Anyway, we live ten minutes away, at most, from a road full of restaurants from Greek and Chinese, to Mexican. We've not really made good use of any of these restaurants and so it was good to use my birthday as an excuse to try and find a new favourite. The menu was great and food was fresh and flavoursome. After a starter, main and dessert, I was very satisfied! I was spoilt for choice so I'm sure we'll go back and work our way through their menu.

After waking up on my birthday morning at 7.45am to express Jacques' bladder (!), I opened cards and gifts from my husband, family and friends. My friend had made me some beautiful cushions, too; the crafty lady. A good haul for 9am in the morning. I felt pretty darn spoilt.

Armed with a birthday pecan plait and massive mug of hot chocolate, we snuggled on the sofa watching The Graduate. We drove over to the Wirral and had a cold and wet walk along the Wirral Coastal Path and tried to take phone pictures of a beautiful rainbow. We had plans with my mum and brother later that night but fancied a light lunch so we stopped off at Hickory's Smokehouse in Caldy. Boy oh boy! This place is AMAZING. The restaurant had a fun, Americana feel, staff were super friendly, and we were served with water and complimentary popcorn on arrival. It was already looking good, and then I ordered a 'Big Pig Sandwich' (smoked pulled pork) and a 'Texas Cream Soda' cocktail: maraschino cherries, orange, and lemon, shaken with vanilla vodka and sweet cherry liqueur, finished with Goose Island Orange Cream Soda. It was gorgeous! Top marks for Hickory's. We've already planned a return visit with friends who live over 'that side of the water', as we say in Liverpool.

We raced home and had to find our appetites to make and eat a paella meal with my mum and brother and his girlfriend. More gifts, including a birthday balloon, a shopping day with my mum, Bumble and Bumble hair mask, Lily Flame 'Fairy Dust' candle, Mac goodies, musical earmuffs and lots of other girly treats. My mum's an awesome gift buyer! Just when I thought I couldn't eat any more, we polished off my homemade crème brûlée and I was presented with a One Direction birthday cake. Oh yes! M had taken care to place the candles directly into One D's members' lovely little eyes, making them look a tad demonic once the candles were out!

A wonderful birthday: quality time with favourite people, tasty food and lovely gifts. So, here we go; lets see what this, my 28th year, might bring! Make a wish...

Once Upon a Weekend

Another fun weekend. On Friday we tried out Lark Lane's Caribbean restaurant, Raggas. I had jerk chicken and M had jerk prawns, both served with coleslaw, rice and beans. The food was fresh, colourful, inexpensive and tasted delicious. Better still, it was BYOB so we took a bottle of vino and drank it out of tumblers.

Afterwards, we popped over to Bier, a busy, candle lit bar serving beers from around the world. Love a good unplanned dinner date and it was good to feel our age on a Friday night, even if we did mutter about how loud the music was!

Saturday I was in work for an open day but in the afternoon, my beautiful friend and her new husband came over to look at the photographs I took at their wedding last weekend. 

Saturday night we met up with friends for Mexican food and a showing of Grease at the cinema. Cue lots of singing and hand jive!

Sunday was February's official 'Date Day'. I cannot remember if I've mentioned this before, but basically for our wedding anniversary I made up a box of date day vouchers (paper), one for each month with a particular activity that we love to do together. This month was spa pampering. I am lucky that I have a man who jumps at the idea of a spa day, who has enjoyed countless massages and loves getting wrinkled in a hot tub.

We went to Rookery Hall and Spa in Cheshire, about an hour drive from us. After one of the most friendly, helpful spa inductions I've had, we changed and headed straight for the glass roofed pool side and worked our way through the sauna, crystal steam room, hydrotherapy spa pool and swimming pool. This area is open to all health club members but even for a Sunday it didn't get too busy. Wrapped in fluffy robes, we took advantage of the spa relaxation areas, available to spa customers only and complete with complimentary water, juice, herbal teas, and fruit. Our treatments were quite late in the afternoon so we had something in the spa cafe before enjoying a very relaxing aromatherapy massage. I think I floated out of that treatment room! 

Happy in...Bath

I have not spent much time exploring England, often opting to holiday away from the UK. I've started to realise how much there is to see on my own doorstep and I'm trying to see as much of this beautiful country as I can. We spent one night in Bath before meeting up with friends and going to CentreParcs in Longleat. I had never been to Bath and was very excited for this taster trip. We had booked to stay in The Northey Arms in Box, just outside of Bath itself.

I was very impressed with The Northey. The bus route into Bath was directly opposite and took around 15 minutes. The room was amazing! Bright and stylish decor, a fancy little Tassimo machine and a huge 'hidden' bathroom, accessed through what appeared to be a wardrobe door. The room was quiet and the bed was super comfy, making for an excellent nights sleep! We didn't eat in the restaurant. However, breakfast was included with our stay and we set ourselves up the following day with a full English breakfast, with eggs layed fresh from their chickens. 

Royal Crescent, Bath. September 2012

Once in Bath, we decided that we would get an open top bus ticket. It was a dry day, we were short on time and we were tired from the long journey down. The ticket cost £12.50 each, including a pair of headphones for the audio commentary. The ticket allowed us to hop on or off at any of the stops and was valid for two different tour routes (City Route and Skyline Route). We jumped off the bus on the City Route to take this panoramic photo at The Royal Crescent. Hot drink in hand, it was a great way to see Bath's main sights.

 

Image source: Bath Thermea Spa

We had also booked tickets through The Northey to visit Bath's Thermea Spa. I had read about this natural thermal spa on this lovely blog, and decided that it was a must see for our visit. We had tickets for a 2 hour session in the New Royal Baths and arrived around 7pm. We hired towels and were provided with wristbands which allowed you to access a locker and 'buy' any refreshments, settling up any tab after the session. We then made our way through to the wet areas and we were pleasantly suprised to find that it was fairly quiet. There was an indoor pool, a room with four glass aroma steam rooms and experience showers, and an open air rooftop pool which looks out over Bath. We were pretty relaxed as we waited for our taxi back to The Northey!

The next day, we headed over to Longleat for a more active week at CentreParcs. I am glad we stopped off in Bath and I'd definitely visit again, with a trip to the Thermea Spa again of course!

Happy in... Harrogate

A few weeks back, I treated my mum to a couple of nights away in Harrogate. Though only a couple of hours drive away, I had not spent any real time there before and I wasn't really sure what to expect. 

We had a great time! The sun was shining as we wandered through Valley Gardens and Harrogate's little cobbled shopping streets, walking past the impressive Royal Pump Room building (apparently you can sample sulphur water there - yum!), and stumbling upon a farmers market where we bought some almosttoogoodtoeat Lauden chocolates. 

 

We spent a mere £15 each to relax in the Turkish Baths (beware, clothing is optional for ladies only sessions!), treated each other to Champagne Afternoon Tea at Bettys Tea Rooms, and ate like kings in the stunning setting of Royal Baths Chinese restaurant.

 

Harrogate: Totally relaxing, and a lovely place to spend quality time with my mum. Anyone out there been to Harrogate? I would definitely make a return trip.