FEBRUARY UPDATE – WHY IS FEBRUARY SO BORING!

Where did February go? besides the fact that it’s the shortest month of the year, one minute it was here and then it was gone, February is indeed a strange and very boring month. For a start, I nearly forgot to write an update hence why this post is so late! For me, the things that I look forward to in February is making a fuss over Valentine’s Day, putting something together for the Valentine’s Day blog post was quite fun. We never go out on the day itself, the cynic in me often believes that the day is a bit of a cliché because you don’t need that one day to declare your undying love but really, I am a hearts & flowers kind of woman, you can read more on what I really think of Valentine’s Day here. Of course, February also means Shrove Tuesday better known as Pancake Day, both occasions fell over half-term, so my son and daughter were home that week which was nice. My daughter helped with getting the props just right for the Valentine’s post, we did lots of baking, but we didn’t go anywhere, there was simply no time. However, we’re excited to finally going to Sakagura, another good Japanese I’ve been wanting to try for ages, so my little sushi lover will be coming with me next week, she’s excited about that.

Further on from my January post, my eldest dropped a bombshell, that he wouldn’t be coming home in February as we all thought after his contract finished ☹. He waved goodbye to two years in South Korea and will be travelling around South East Asia until the end of April/May visiting Bangkok, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia and Japan! It’s an exciting time for him and that makes me happy. He’ll come home fresh and ready to tackle the City of London with vigour and zest.

We visited Bonnie Gull Seafood Shack in Soho to satisfy my craving for oysters, it’s a cute restaurant with a tapas-style theme of small sharing plates dedicated to seafood and fish.  It’s a tiny restaurant, very narrow with a few tables round the back and bar stools which is where we sat.  Next time, I think I’d like to visit their Fitzrovia branch. If you’re ever in Soho shopping, they do a “Happy Hour” called Bonnie Hour where you get to enjoy oysters for £1 each, a glass of prosecco for £5 and cocktails from £6, a real bargain I think, this is on every day from 4:00pm-6:00pm.  You can read that post here.

As if that wasn’t enough to satisfy my craving for Oysters, on a dull rainy Monday morning, I headed to Oxford Street, Primark of all places. I loathe that store, but they do really good value everyday stuff for my kids and I don’t mind if I have to bin in 6 months to a year. I then decided to indulge in oysters and champagne at Selfridges champagne and seafood bar in the food hall, Caviar House & Prunier. Best thing I ever did to cheer up a miserable Monday and was a good start to the week I thought! you can read that post here. It was so good, I did the same the following week!

I spent a lot of the month researching lots of Paris bloggers and websites, making a list of Parisian restaurants I want to visit and pairing arrondissements for future visits.  This is just so I know what’s located where because when you’re in Paris for just a short time, you really want to maximize the time you’re there concentrating on all the wonderful things each arrondissement has to offer rather than try and cram in too much in one go. I can’t wait for my trip in two weeks’ time, I’ll be staying just on the edge of the 9^th arrondissement bordering the 2^nd & 3^rd. I’m usually a Left Bank girl but I also want to explore the Right Bank and gather lots of content for the blog. Alas, I’m only there for 36 hours but the beauty of living in London is that it’s short journey to St Pancras and with plenty of affordable Eurostar train tickets, I can hop over for the day whenever I like.

If anyone is concerned about safety for female travelers, read this post written by one of my favourite US based Paris bloggers Everyday Parisian, click here for more.

Next week, I’ll be doing a special Beauty Overhaul post, I’ve just invested in a lot of beauty products that I’ve run out of which has made a bit of a dent in my pocket and so I won’t be doing that again in a hurry. My moto is, as you notice your product running low, just go out there and replace it before the next one runs out, so you don’t have too many to buy in one go as I did. I’ve got some lovely products which I can’t wait to share with you in my post.  I’m also putting together a short post on what I’m packing for Paris, the weather in Paris is very much like London so it’s easy to do.  This time, I’m going to a special restaurant for that one evening so I’ve invested in a lovely black dress that I feel confident in wearing now that I’ve lost a little bit of weight but there is a long way to go on the diet front.

I’m also tweaking my blog a little, a subtle change to the logo, have you noticed it? I’ll be asking Pipdig, a very well-known name in the blogging industry to migrate my blog over to one of their themes as I want it to look more polished, that’s exciting, really looking forward to that.  I’m trying to sort the categories out too, so everything sits neatly where it should and add or remove where necessary.

That’s pretty much it for February, looking forward to a fun and busy March and it’s officially spring, definitely reason enough to be cheerful….have fun everyone and if you’re celebrating Mother’s Day, I hope it’s a wonderfully special day.

Love Helen XxX