Recently

I hope this blog will be a digital den of witty remarks and cultural insight soon enough, but my days have been a bit of a hodge podge of really lovely social schmoozin' recently, so maybe i'll just stick to the fun stuff for this one?

(Shoreham Woods, Kent)

Armed with a brilliant man, half a tank of petrol, a ticket to London and a pair of sunglasses, last weekend was one of pocket friendly antics and Spring shenanigans. It's safe to safe that all four feet took a battering, but miles and miles worth of sauntering (because we don't walk, we saunter), was so worth the ache. Kicking off with a wander in the Shoreham woods, the look of lust in our eyes over the local farm shop goodies (79p for a punnet of strawberries, ugh, delicious) and hollerin' at a cocktail bar, we spent Saturday all about the shop. Sunday was spent in very much the same way, but this time with elbows up at Columbia Road Flower Market, pancakes and pretzels in Shoreditch then a canal dally from King's Cross to Primrose Hill before fighting over a round of 'lob that grape in the air and see if you can catch it in your mouth', which, for the record: 10-5 to me. If we did anything this weekend, it was prove that money sure as heck don't matter.

(Our room at Adiva was more like a plush Bedouin than a Spitalfields eatery. This, for the record, is a great thing)

Turn down BYOB and Lebanese food with some friends? Like you'd pass that up. You're not stupid. After heading to Adiva in Spitalfields for a friends birthday this weekend, one thing is clear, anyone will schlep out their Sainsbury's bag on the dinner table in the name of £5 wine. I'd never been to a BYOB restaurant and have concluded that they are better than all the restaurants ever. I don't know who to thank more, Adiva, or Becky for being born and having us all there. While I was a bit hazy headed the next day, more canal cavorting was afoot. Cue cider at Crate in Hackney. I really liked this hipster heavy joint, but in a country where sunshine spills through the trees like a sieve, we left upcycled benches and the industrial for a chat on the other side of the river where Vitamin D was doing the rounds. So, so nice.

(Burt's Bee's: Almond and Milk)

Rounding this post off with hand cream? Sure, that follows the theme. By the luck of some crazy draw, our office was sent some sweet Burt's Bee's goodies to get our chops and our mitts on, literally: hand cream and lip butters. Whilst i'm a sucker for a red lip and if chapstick isn't edible, I probably won't invest in it, there was one goodie in our bundle that I fell for. Beautifully packaged and a lovely cry away from Burt's normal honey-coloured branding, this is actually an almond and milk blended hand cream. I'm getting to the age now where I notice that my mitts ain't what they used to be, and whilst i've tried a sunflower based cream before, this actually boasts a richer consistency and, yes it's true, didn't leave my hands feeling like Mr Stretch on a hot Summers day. If you're an impatient and boisterous son of a gun like me, then you'll love how this blends. Oh, and if you loved the smell of a bakery in the early 90s? Then the delicious marzipan scent is going to send you wild. It's not the cheapest at £9.99, but being that it's a product from their classics range, it's so worth it.

Whilst I know some blog posts like this can be a super drag, and I have so much more to share following two of the most lovely weeks, i'm actually really excited to have a slice of life embedded online, so please bear with me!