And happy Sunday again! What has this weekend been like! The sun has been utterly glorious. But I'm not getting myself too hyped up for the freshness of spring (and hopefully no more mould growing because of cold weather) as I've been told and told again, that this is only just fools spring! We still have a bit more of winter to come.

Anyway, moving on from that somewhat pessimistic note, let's get chatting about the first half of February. I'm still not sure whether I'll be doing these Sunday shares on a weekly or monthly basis but with this month I feel like I've been up to too much that I needed to break it into (at least) two posts so it was digestible.


The first weekend of the month, we had my mum coming to stay with us. We had her down over a long weekend, so had a fairly good few days to fill with some activities! First up on Friday we were planning on heading to Camden locks but with the weather at the start of the month being a bit cold and wet, we headed to the cinema and Westfield centre instead.

On this trip, I didn't pick up much of anything in the shops but we did treat ourselves to some (vegan!) ice creams from one of the stands. Afterwards, we headed over to see our showing of Colette. Neither of us knew much about the background of the film, just that it was based on true events of a women who's husband published her works under his name. Would definitely recommend this film, as long as you like films based on true events and slightly-artsy films you'll enjoy this!


On Saturday, we made our way to Richmond to check out Kew Gardens. It was the first time any of had been so it was fab to check something new with my mum in tow. One thing we didn't plan on was that it would be busy! It turned out that Saturday was the opening day of their new exhibit, Orchids: Celebrate the colour of Colombia, which was perfect since my mum loves an orchid. Our first stop then was to the Princess of Wales Conservatory to check them out.


After the conservatory, we walked around the grounds checking out some of the smaller visitor points. But my favourite spot of the visit was into the Palm House. I've been into similar glasshouses before but this took my breath away! The tall ceilings and high walkways gives such an opportunity to see the plants from all angles.

From the Palm House, we headed towards the Great Pagoda before heading out of the gardens. On our way out, Darren and I decided to take out one of the friends of Kew Gardens membership cards so that we can head back throughout the year to see the rest of the grounds. As we live West London, it's only a few stops for us to head over too- in fact, we decided to visit again yesterday with the fab weather we've had.


On Sunday, we headed into central London to check out the Chinese New Year festivities. We were too late to see the actual parade but we made it in time to see the blessings of the shops and restaurants happening along the streets. It's so interesting to see the ways another culture celebrates the start of a new year. But, being born in the year of the pig (this years chinese zodiac), I do hope that I don't have as terrible a year as it's made it out to be.


After seeing my mum off on Monday afternoon, I met Darren once he'd finished work as we had tickets for the You Me At Six gig in partnership with War Child and the Brits at Scala. It's been the third time seeing the band since October last year but every time we've seen them it's felt completely different! At this gig, the set list was filled with a lot of songs from more of their newer albums, including Sinners Never Sleep (my personal favourite!). It was also a pretty awesome, although small, venue and I definitely want to try get to one of their club nights.



Later in the week, it was time for some 'good vibes only'. For Valentine's day, we decided to use the voucher my sister gave us at Christmas for a set menu meal at vegan restaurant, Tell Your Friends in Fulham.


Vegan eats

Tell Your Friend, Valentine's Day Menu - Omg I must say the food for this was incredible and definitely the poshest meal I've ever had (and that's including when I did eat meat!). We were £35 each with which we got a bottle of prosecco for the table, a starter, main and dessert. For starters, we both went for the vegan 'camembert' which I just want in my friend all the time now. For mains, I went for Beetroot & lentil cake, which came with spiced sweet potato mash, edamame and watercress while Darren chose the Seitan ‘steak’, dauphinoise potato, chilli kale. Then for deserts we shared the salted caramel popcorn pots and chocoholics tart, which were lovely but slightly too sickly sweet. Overall the food was super nice and I'd love to go back to check out their regular menu.

Flipside - This was a new one for me! I was googling to try and find somewhere to get lunch from one Friday, specifcally a toastie or panini and after deciding to check out happycow.net I realised this was just round the corner from my work. I decided to pick up their cheeze and tomato toastie with air-fried chips and was impressed with it. For air-fried chips they were nice but the toastie was definitely a winner. The cheeze melted pretty well and was sandwiched in between some nice bread. Deffo going to take another pay day treat there!


Frankie & Benny's - Having seen that F&B had released a load of new vegan options at the start of the year I've been craving to check it out, the only problem being, there ain't many in London! But while my mum was visiting we stopped in past the one by Covent Garden and I tried the new chicken nuggets and chicken parmigiana

What I've been reading 

THIS SECTION CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS – READ MY FULL DISCLAIMER HERE

Into the water by Paula Hawkins - This has been my longest read of the year so far. And by longest, I mean how long it's taken me! It's taken me just over 2 weeks to complete it as I couldn't get into it. I picked up as I loved the film of The girl on the train but this just didn't live up to the same hype for me. The change of perspectives and narrative didn't grip me and I found it confusing to keep track of all the characters. The plot line was pretty straight forward but with the faff of different narratives it complicated the entire book to a point I found it off putting. Can't say I would highly recommend this book, definitely read better and more gripping thrillers. But I guess they can't all be winners! 

How I Became a Freelance Digital Marketer - I've loved reading Charlotte's new blog posts including this one. With me exploring more of the creative/marketing side with doing google analytical courses and that, reading about Charlotte's own journey was intriguing to read. With both of having pretty different backgrounds, Charlotte's in fashion and mine as graphic design/illustration it's exciting to see where both of our interests overlap. 

In my headphones 

Yours Truly - This band popped up in either my discover weekly or release radar on Spotify but when I heard their new song 'Circles' I was hooked! Think of something between Paramore and We Are The In Crowd and that is what Yours Truly sounds like. Jumping into their music discography I'm now totally in love with this band. Along with Circles, another of my favourites is High Hopes which is so sing-a-long-able it hurts!

Ariana Grande - Ok so who hasn't been on the Grande train lately? Her music is just the perfect choice when you need a pop anthem in your head.

Simple Creatures - So what happens when you get the frontmen from Blink182 and All Time Low? Apparently Simple Creatures is the answer! Seeing this on my Facebook feed a few weeks ago I was shook. I'm so excited to hear what else comes from this new duo.

Sappenin' - So did I start listening to this podcast just because You Me At Six singer, Josh Franceschi, is interviews in one of the episodes? Yes! Have I continued listening because of nostalgia due to Dougie Poynter and Aled Phillips? Hell yes! I'm ngl this is been a great podcast to listen to intbetween all my true crime ones as it's so upbeat and happy, plus it's with a load of rocky/punky musicians! 

On my screen

Colette - As mentioned above!

Dumplin' - With my mum staying with us, I knew I had to pick out some films for her to watch from Netflix as she'll never get round to sorting it for herself back home. As she's a huge Dolly Parton lover I knew she'd adore this film, plus I've been meaning to watch it too! Definitely a good watch, perhaps my mums new fav film too!

Endeavour - I caught the launch of the new season while my mum was down and was intrigued! I've never watched the show before but I am so hooked now. I'm currently making my way through catchup on Sky.

Happy Death Day 2U - Ok I'll be honest, Happy Death Day was one my top films from 2018. I found the whole concept to be revived with the film and the perfect mix of comedy and thriller rolled into one! And whenever I made friends watch it, it always seemed to be a winner for them too. So when I seen that there was a second one coming out I was so excited. As an extra Vday outing, we decided to see the second film. Although not as good as the first one, I did still enjoy it (even tho there was a point I was tearing). If you liked the first one, make sure to check out the second one as well but make up your own mind if you want to pay the cinema ticket cost or if you want to wait and stream it.