The one where I catch up and we move on ......

    
Hi Birdies, 

Firstly let me say sorry for the lack of action on here. Life has been pretty busy , and yes I realise that's the point of the blog to blab on about my busy life but, seriously it's been busy. So this post will be a round up if you like of what I've been up to for the last few weeks.

So......thinking back , let's go .....I've been on Brownie camp which was lots of fun. I was asked to go with my mates Kirsten and Sag and their brownies. The brownie house was right by the safari park at Knowsley and even closer to the lion enclosure perimeter fence. So close in fact that on the Saturday evening and the Sunday morning we could hear the lions roaring. 
The safari park was a lot of fun and I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area any time soon. The ape drive through was an experience that I will never attempt in my own car. We were in a tour bus from the park. They actually came to the camp house and picked us all up which is a fantastic service. The car behind us in the ape section got wrecked, and I mean rubber pulled out the windscreen, window wipers pulled off , licence plate pulled off wrecked..... I would not have been happy. 
The theme of camp was superheroes and on Saturday evening I dressed up as Mrs Incredible which was fun but no one needs to see that so no pictures to share. 

In the week following that it was my mother in laws birthday so we all went out for a curry. 17 of us...to say it was chaos is an understatement but we had a great time and celebrated as a family. Last weekend the Mr and I were away in Roger. We didn't go far, only around 40 mins away from home but the site was a lovely quiet one right by the canal and a pub called The Lock. We went to the pub for food on Friday and had one of the best burgers I've had for a while , typically I forgot to take a picture of it as I was so hungry I dived right in and inhaled it oops! They also serve frozen cider which is essentially a cider slushy , so nice and definitely moreish. So much so we wobbled back to Roger and zonked out by about 10.30pm. Lightweights I know. 
On the Saturday morning we went out to Frankie and Bennys for breakfast. I think their breakfast menu is the best around and always hits the spot, if you download their app now you get £10 to spend on main courses. Everything is the same price so it's easy to navigate the menu and they do bottomless coffee which is big thumbs up from me. The location of F&B in Kidderminster is amazing, they have a seating area right by the canal and when the weather is as good as it was last weekend it's joy to sit there. 
The small matter of triple pancakes with bacon and eggs helped of course. Once again idiot rubbish blogger Birdie inhaled the breakfast and didn't take a picture . I have a new mental note and I've told the Mr to remind me to take the pictures before I dive in !!!!! 
After breakfast we headed off on Rhonda to Stourpourt on Severn and had a walk around the permanent fun fayre. I have to say, I know the kids love it and it's a great asset to the town for pulling people in to visit but it was a bit grim to say the least and I think the owners need to think about investing some serious money on a facelift. 
So a very brief walk around the fun fayre completed and we set off for a stroll up the river. There were lots of family's out enjoying the sunshine, picnics on the grassed areas, lots of kids using the park and outdoor paddling pool and it was lovely to see. I decided to challenge the Mr to a game of crazy golf which was fun and proceeded to whip him at his own game. I scored 3 holes in one and well and truly beat him. Ice cream consumed as a celebration ( no picture ) but trust me it was amazeballs ...we set off back to Roger. 
We were due to meet up with family later for a takeaway but due to confusion ....mainly mine apparently I was waiting for them to text us and they were waiting for us to turn up ! This resulted in us ending up back in slushy cider pub, getting a call about a mini festival 12 miles away, jumping back on Rhonda going to festival to meet up with other friends and having a nice catch up. 
Whilst there I decided to text about this takeaway and was informed they had been waiting for us since 6.30pm major oops! So back on Rhonda to meet family and grovel like the loser I am. 

So sorry Kelly, Lee , Holly and Emily we got there in the end and can't wait to catch up again and play on the Bizzie Bee snap chat. 

 And so now to this week.....I have to say fairly quiet, I've not been in the mood to do much in all fairness due to one reason or another . The gym has been pretty none existent despite best intentions, I've totally lost my mojo. 
Friday saw us decide to go into holiday mode a week early and we went out for food again. I TOOK PICTURES !!!!! 
We went off to Bella Italia which is fast becoming a favourite for us. Due to a rubbish week we decided to go whole hog and I managed to consume wine , garlic prawns a bbq pizza and a tiramisu followed by a cocktail of prosecco and limoncello.  Needless to say from Saturday I was back on the SW wagon. 
I haven't been weighed for weeks so I need to go on Wednesday and I cannot say I am in any way looking forward to it, but the time has come to take control again and taste my medicine. Given I'm off on holiday Saturday  I'm not sure what I can do with the result other than think about it and bare it in mind while I'm away. 

So that's all from me birdies , as I said I'm off for 2 weeks so I'll post from sunny Florida but I'm not sure when exactly. 
 I'll tag all the pictures to the end of the blog in no particular order , but hopefully they will be chronological. 

So until next time as always birdies....Make good choices and eat the cake ....always !   

BB 

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The missing link .........

So Birdies last week was a no show from me I'm sorry.

I had a busy Friday and Saturday and basically just crashed to earth ....well the sofa....with a mahoosive bump on Sunday and lost all motivation for life. In the week is never a good time for me to try and write a post so I'm a week behind effectively. 

So I've made a gap in the time space continuum in the stylee of Back to the Future ...but this is actually back to the past ..ala last week so not quite right........but anyway I digress as usual ....here is what would have been last weeks blog and in the week I will post this weeks update and then we can all calm down and get to normal , whatever that is in Bizzie Birdies world . Actually we can't because I go on holiday in a few weeks and that will throw everything out again. But let's just forget that for now or the time space gap will close and we will all be forever stuck somewhere between last week and this week ! 

Soooooo.....this week (really the week before) Right I'm gonna stop this right now or we will all be confused ....it's a week late you get it I get my bad.....let's move on and call it The Week. A fairly uneventful week aside from Monday, the Mr won at bingo which was nice as he won a house so a whole £100 so thanks for that Gala. Other than that we had a quietish week , trips to the gym have dribbled down to like zero of late so we made a good effort to be there every day . I was away with work 2 nights but diligently took my kit and used the gym at 6.30am both mornings so I was feeling pretty smug I have to say. Thursday was my little sisters buffday and we had planned a night out in Birmingham on Friday to celebrate. To say it was a rush was an understatement and to say I was tired was an even bigger understatement.  After a mini rush to get my shit together we all , me the Mr my sister and her hubby and my daughters and 1 bf.....the other joined later via FaceTime .....went into town. 

I wore a navy blue jumpsuit from the Myleene Klass range at Very. It was an off the shoulder affair and I have to say I felt great in it and can't wait to wear it again somewhere. I'm not a big goer outer as in clubbing it has to be said. Aside from the fact I'm way too old. But I do love getting poshed up and going out. We were planning a meal but thought it would mean an early finish and as Angela wanted to go dancing we decided previously to just go right to the hard stuff. 

First stop was a cocktail bar called The Botanist that was packed out . We dropped on a table by luck and all  looked over the huge array of cocktails on offer. The chaps typically settled on beers and a shot , I had a Lemon & Vanilla Goblet which was really nice and refreshing , birthday girl had a Strawberry Cucumber Cooler, Chloe had a Mojito and Chantel had a Watermelon Martini. The cocktails are not cheap but nor are they outrageous but to drink there all night you'd need deep pockets. The atmosphere was friendly and they had live music on which was nice and I can see why it gets so packed out.

After a drink we headed over to a bar/club called Reflex. My sister, fellow Birdies is true 90's child so this was her choice of venue and boy did it suit her down to the soles of her studded shoe boots. She had cleverly called ahead mid week and got us into the guest list so we skipped the queue....when I say queue its in the loosest term, there was a homeless man in a doorway and 2 worse for wear gents who were being turned away.....but still we waltzed right past them like royalty ala Kardashian posse and went right in. Angela got a goodie bag and a bottle of cheap fizz and I was a little dubious to what type of place we were in. Worry not ........a bucket of Woo Woo later and some absolute classics from the DJ we were all,  aside from Chantel, Chloe and Sam smashed. So basically all the responsible parents, aunts and uncles were well oiled and the younger members of our party were looking on in bemusement. Not too bemused to take an embarrassing video or 3 mind. And the place was packed to the rafters by the time we left at around 1am. 

I have to say we had a great time and I would go back to either place in a heartbeat. My feet killed me, my head hurt the next day and the Mr's wallet wanted to know why we never used the return metro ticket and got stung for a £40 taxi !!!! 

The next morning , or late that same day I was on a train to Liverpool from New Street at 8.37am. Was I regretting the late finish? YES, did I feel like crap? YES was I gonna miss seeing my Chicas Kirsten and Sag? Hell to the NO. This weekend was meant to be a full on 2 nighter in Liverpool but for 1 reason or another it fell apart so turned into a day trip instead. 

I met the girls at Liverpool One and they had bought along Ceri who I hadn't met before so after some introductions we went for some much needed carbs in the form of Eds Diner.  I opted for pancakes with bacon and a peanut butter shake. When the pancakes came out I was faced with 2 of the largest pancakes I've ever seen. In fact I couldn't manage both and farmed the other one out the others. Ed's Diner is an American themed restaurant and I love it in there. After breakfast cum lunch, feeling less hung over we spent some time shopping. 

There was a vintage event on at the docks so we headed over to see what was happening. Unfortunately the weather was typical July fare and it was wet but we did not let that spoil our day and we had a good walk around the stalls and stands. Inside the Tate there was an area where you could print your own fabric. This was an instant must do for all of us and so along we trooped to be faced with a room of kids printing onto cloth. Not easily discouraged we all jumped right in and I have to say had a great time and made these beautiful works of art. 

We then walked around the vintage clothing stalls and a green dress Immediately caught my eye. I tried it on over the top of my jeans and top and it fit perfectly and felt like it was made for me so I felt compelled to buy that and I'm so glad I did now I've tried it on at home properly with the right shoes, I just need somewhere suitable to wear it now. After looking round some more shops we were in need of food again and settled on the Hand Made Burger Co. I have to say I was a little disappointed in both the restaurant and the service and think that the branch in Grand Central Birmingham was much better. I had a BBQ burger and fries , Sag is a coeliac and has to be careful and she couldn't have fries in this particular place which was disappointing for her. She also required a special bun and on the first burger they bought out the bun was stale. The waiter or table cleaner as I prefer to call them just shrugged at us so I said can you get a fresh one please? There was maybe a hint of passive aggressive but seriously ....he shrugged ! The second was marginally better but by his own admission they don't get many people asking for gluten free so they were probably old....I mean really , no really ??????   I think we all left feeling a bit cheated for one reason or another.

HMBCo is a self service type place essentially as you have to note your table number and go up and order and pay. Hence the table cleaners and not waiting staff. It's a very expensive Burger King when you look at like that. So for me the food needs to be exceptional, and on this occasion I felt cheated in a way and wish we'd gone elsewhere. BUT , as I said I've been to the one in Grand Central and that one was worth the money so try it for yourself and see how you get on before taking my word for it. 

By 6pm my hangover tiredness had well and truly kicked in and I was getting miserable - sorry girls  So as my train back had been cancelled I headed to the station to see if I could get the slightly earlier train.  I loved my day in Liverpool and can't wait to go again and do some more exploring. Kirsten and Sag have promised me a trip on the ferry across the Mersey , I love a good cliche me. I arrived home Saturday night and literally passed out on the bed. I think I saw the Mr for around 3 seconds at 7.30am that morning and as he was out when I got home we didn't catch up until Sunday afternoon when I finally surfaced and he got back from golf. So that's my week Birdies. Sorry it's late,  blame my sister and the bucket of Woo Woo if you feel the need to point the finger somewhere. This weeks blog will go up by Wednesday night then i'm all paid up and I'm back square with y'll, right ?   

So have fun birdies and don't forget....

Make good choices......

BB

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