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. 

Happy Sunday! One thing I spoke about in basically every blog post last year but didn't really do was chatting about the things I got up to in London. So after reading how Charlotte has started writing up Sunday Share posts I felt it was definitely a way I could try push myself to document this London life as well. In this first post I'll be jumping straight into chatting about January as a whole since it's we're already in February.

On a whole it was a bit of a hectic month. Coming back down to London after spending both Christmas and new year home in Scotland, getting back to work, having Darren's family visiting as a surprise for his birthday, Darren's birthday itself and a few other things here and there.

One thing myself and Darren spoke about doing last year but never got round to doing was to head to a board game event. Back home, we used to spend a lot of our nights with friends playing games like Cards Against Humanity, Quiplash, etc so we've definitely been wanting to find ways to do this.  We headed to one at the start of the month and finally(!) got to play Secret Hitler (not as weird as it sounds, promise!), as well as, Coup and Azul. It was a fun afternoon and we've been back since. 

With this month being the month of looooove Darren and I usually get each other something small, either something we need or were going to buy ourselves anyway. For my V day gift, Darren bought me tickets for the MinaLima lates talk held at the House of Mina Lima. I have always been extremely fascinated with the work involved for producing the Harry Potter graphic design elements so it was fab to hear about that and their journey first hand.

The last, somewhat notable, thing to happen this month was my work held a Wellness week! A lot of my intentions this year relate to keeping an eye on my mental health and really reflecting on what I can do to keep myself in a positive head space. During the week I attended an 'intro to mindfulness' class and will be going to an 'intro to CBT' when it eventually gets rescheduled. But it's fab to working somewhere that is taking these things into consideration for their employees.  

Vegan eats

Greggs vegan sausage roll - Ok so I think pretty much everybody tried to try this when it launched last month and luckily I managed to pick some up before they sold out! Definitely a pick when I've had a night of drinking

McDonalds burger - Yep so I did that. And as bad as McDonalds is it is good that they are starting to offer vegan options, especially if there are more teens going vegan but still want to go places with their friends. Overall I thought it was ok, definitely the standard of something you expect from McDonalds.  

Pastry from Sainsbury's - This one was a bit random but Sainsbury's have started carrying a brand of vegan pre-made pastries by La Boulangere. And as someone who loves a good pastry, having a simple fix like this is great in my book. 

What I've been reading 

THIS SECTION CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS – READ MY FULL DISCLAIMER HERE

The Phantom by Jo Nesbo - Generally I enjoy Nesbo's books and the story telling but this one I wasn't too keen on. The story was a bit over the place and I just didn't like the ending. Plus, the more and more I read Nesbo's books I just feel at unease about the way he can talk about his female characters. 

Little Black Book: A Toolkit for Working Women by Otegha Uwagba- Was my first full read of the year as it was a Christmas present from Darren. I blew through this super quickly as it is quite a short book. But there are some great tips and bits of advice throughout, and it has given some suggestions of cafes to check out in London. 

Final Girls by Riley Sager -  Now this was an incredible read. I picked up the book years ago but it's been sat at home up until I took it down at Christmas. Sagar did a fantastic job of this book, hooking me in from page 1. As a lover of crime/phsyc thrillers I can usually do quite a good job guessing endings but I was way out of the boat with this one. 

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager - After finishing Final Girls I instantly ordered this one hoping for another fix! As much as I enjoyed this one I didn't feel it levelled to the standard of FG but was still a great read. It's definitely a book I could see getting adapted by the lot behind YOU, Pretty Little Liars or Riverdale as it would make for a fantastic TV series. 

If you want to keep up with what I'm reading, I am taking part in the GoodReads challenge and updating what I'm reading there. 

In my headphones 

Midnight by Set It Off - I'm seeing this band in April so I was instantly onto the new album the moment it came out! I'm a huge fan of the music Set It Off produce as it's such a mix of sounds, with some being much more dramatic and intense, while others are much more 'standard punk-rock' and this album didn't disappoint. 

My Favorite Murder - No I'm not just jumping on this bandwagon! I've listened to MFM for a good 2 years now but whenever they speak about mental health issues it always gets to me. Specifically in episode 158 'Burn Day' where they speak about having a 'ta-da' list and it's something I'm trying to include in my journal now as well. 

On my screen

Sex Education - So we'll all agree that Netflix is killing it, again, on the uploads last month yep? Sex Education had me tearing with laughter it was so good. A bit of a weird fusion of American/British culture and 80's/current day it had quite a unique feel. But overall the relationships between characters and the angst of being a teenager was highly relatable. It reminds me very much of the old E4 shows like Skins, Misfits and My Mad Fat Diary. 

YOU - Possibly one of the most spoken new series on Netflix (but definitely not top, that's next!) was YOU. I was so drawn into this show with wanting to know how this physiological thriller was going to pan out and how far Joe was going to push things. Another show that's been renewed for a second season and I cannot wait for this either

Conversations with a Serial Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes - And lastly, definitely the most talked about show in January is this new documentary. Being a true crime buff I knew about the monstrosity that Ted Bundy was but this documentary really gave me the insight as to how messed up it all was. The only thing I felt weird with it was, in the words of the MFM crew, that I didn't necessarily need to hear Bundy try to explain his actions as his actions spoke for themselves. 

Picking up this book I was intrigued very quickly as to what was going on as you were thrown into the mystery pretty much straight away. With the suspected suicide of young Leanne, Cora starts investigating with her television crew to see whether or not the death was actually a suicide. 

The book touches on a lot of heavy issues, obviously including suicide but also alcoholism, grief, depression, money issues, sex work and so much else. I think it's pretty great that all this was packed into the book as it rounded the characters out more and also showed that even tho on the surface things may be ok, there's always something going on underneath. 

And on the note of characters, Kabler I feel did a great job of introducing them and exploring their personalities throughout. With the wacky fashion styles of Rodney to the driven essence of Leanne and then the unnerving chills from Douglas Granley, you were exposed to a plethora of characters that reminded you of people that you felt you already knew. 

Now the main element of the book, what blew me away and hooked me in was the narrative and overarching storyline. With the way their investigation played out, you wanted to explore every avenue with the characters and make sure that both Leanne and her loving brother, Liam got the answers and then the rest they deserved. To me the storyline felt very similar to the Dutch tv show, The Killing. With crooked cops, people hiding secrets and sleazy business men, it made for a very good read. 

 So overall I highly recommend the book. It had everything I want in a crime/mystery novel but not in the traditional sense of it being a police officer or detective. The only part to the book that I found a bit cheesy* was towards the end of the book, when there's more unraveling between Adam and Cora. But if you can get past the slight soppyness of these two, and it's worth it too, you'll be in for a real treat! 

*yes, I know this is punny. You'll understand if you've/when you read the book.