London Views and Bradley Cooper

Last Saturday, it was my dearest mother's birthday, so to mark the occasion, I took her on a surprise trip to London where she had literally no idea what the plans were! 

Our first stop was the Sky Garden on Fenchurch Street. I'd heard good things about this place from a friend and it sounded right up my mum's street! So up we went in the lift, 36 floors in 12 seconds, and entered one of the strangest rooms I think I've ever been in. 

It was basically what it says on the tin: a garden in the sky! As we walked in, we were greeted to a bar and restaurant, with a balcony giving us access to an incredible view of the London skyline. And lemme tell ya, my mum's a sucker for a good view! 

There were really quirky touches to the place, like this bright yellow bike, just chilling by the door! 

And then you walk up some stairs, and BAM! It felt like a much lower scale version of one of the botanical gardens at Kew. 

It truly was beautiful, and as the building was made of glass, it gave us a 360 degree view of the entire city! 

If you're ever in London and have a little time to spare, I'd definitely recommend the Sky Garden. Tickets are FREE and can be booked up to 2 weeks in advance from here!

After a quick pit stop at Starbucks, we went to Pizza Express for dinner - a personal favourite of mine! Mum had a voucher for a free bottle of prosecco as a birthday gift from the restaurant, which was the perfect touch to the celebrations. We shared the Dough Balls Doppio to start - I can't go to Pizza Express without getting these! And for our mains, I got the Margherita Bufala, and mum got La Reine, which we would both recommend! 

And for the final stop on the surprise birthday adventure, I took her to the Haymarket Theatre. For this. 

I'd heard some amazing reviews of the broadway show, and didn't even realise it was coming to London until my housemates told me they'd booked tickets! So naturally, I went online straight away and snapped up two tickets!

My mum is a huge Bradley Cooper fan, so I knew she'd love it, even if the play itself is a little dark. But oh me oh my! It was emotional, it was funny, it was just brilliant. The acting was amazing, from all three leads, not just Mr Cooper! But he obviously gets the main applause here, as he was just tremendous! I would recommend buying a ticket, but by the time this post goes live, the show will have ended its run! Just take my word for it that it was amazing! 

After the show, we legged it to stage door, where we got some of the cast members to sign our programme. Including Bradley Cooper. He looked at me, smiled, and said "of course" when I asked him to sign it. That is all. 

It really was a fantastic day, and I'm so glad my dearest mother enjoyed herself! 

Have you treated anyone special in your life to anything interesting lately? Put it in the comments below, I'd love to hear your stories! 

Afternoon Tea with Fleur de Force

Way back in February, Fleur de Force released her book, The Glam Guide. I bought this in Sainsburys while doing my food shop, and noticed a sticker on the front. This was an exclusive competition for Sainsburys customers only, to win afternoon tea with Fleur herself. I'd been watching her YouTube videos since about 2011, so I entered, not expecting to hear anything back at all. So imagine my surprise when I received an email from Fleur in March, telling me that I had won! 

The invite was for afternoon tea at The Berkeley Hotel in London - I googled it, it's fancy! So on the 29th May, I packed up my book (meaning to get it signed, but obviously being too stupid to remember it was there!), and headed into London for the day! 

I met Fleur at the entrance to the hotel - there was a man in a top-hat outside the revolving doors who told me where to go... Told you it was fancy! I was worried that there would be awkward silences or that we wouldn't have anything to talk about, but I couldn't have been more wrong! She is such a lovely girl, and we chatted about YoutTube culture, being recognised in public etc., but she was also asking loads of questions about myself, about my degree, future plans, my blog, and if I'd ever considered starting a YouTube channel. 

But enough about that. Let's move on to the food! 

The premise of Pret-a-Portea is that all of the cakes are made to look like recent fashion trends, so the menu changes every season. Everything was super colourful, and the china... I just wanted to take them home!

We opted for the champagne afternoon tea, because if you can't drink champagne in a posh hotel, when can you? After the champagne, I chose the pot of Lemongrass and Ginger tea, which was pretty darn tasty. I was also "that girl" who spilt her champagne on more than one occasion... Yep. Stay classy, Kathryne. 

When the savoury plates came out, I was overwhelmed with choice. There was a selection of sandwiches, and some bite-sized options that were quite exotic. I'm quite a picky eater, so a lot of it was definitely out of my comfort zone, but the ones I did like, were really tasty! 

After the savoury food was devoured, then came the cakes...

Three tiers to devour, and I'd say we managed quite well! As mentioned above, each cake was designed based on one of the current fashion trends. Here is the link to the menu so you can find out what's what! 

Everything was so delicious, but for looks, my favourites were the cute Anya Hindmarch's handbag and the Giambattissta Valli cakes. They made my eyes happy as well as my tastebuds.

Once we were finished, they gave us the leftovers in a little bag, which I so kindly let my brother and sister have! I know, top sibling points!

I had such a lovely afternoon, and would highly recommend The Berkeley for afternoon tea if you have the money! And if you ever see Fleur out and about, she confirmed that she truly enjoys meeting viewers, so don't be scared to approach her - she truly is lovely! 

The Diner

Last week, my beautiful housemate Gaby came to stay with me in Essex. She actually lives in Mexico, so didn't go home for the Easter break because of the ridiculous amount of money that a plane ticket would have cost! So instead, she spent 5 days with me, shopping, walking and plenty of eating!

As I live so close to London (it takes about 25 minutes to get to Central London from my nearest tube station), we decided to spend the Saturday (her 21st birthday!), shopping on Oxford Street & Regent Street, and wandering around Soho. We stumbled across this cute American diner that I'd heard about and we just had to give it a try!

The Diner has several locations across London, and the Soho branch was literally just off of Carnaby Street. The interior (I was too caught up in the moment to take a picture. #BadBlogger) is the typical American diner layout, with a bar in the middle and numerous booth tables dotted around. 

We decided that we wanted to try a bit of everything, so we ordered a hot dog, burger, fries and corn dogs to split between us. I was also extremely excited that they had Dr Pepper on the menu! 

The food came fairly quickly (although the waitress seriously needed to lighten up a little; whatever happened to service with a smile?), and everything was amazing. The fries were the perfect amount of crispy, and I got to try a corn dog for the first time - we both loved them! 

For dessert, we had to get milkshakes, because why go to an American diner if you don't order a real milkshake? Mine was hazelnut and vanilla, Gaby's Oreo, and both were beautifully thick. They even give you the leftover milkshake so you can refill it! 

Finally, we ordered Gaby a birthday brownie, which was just melt-in-your-mouth delicious! 

I absolutely loved the atmosphere and music in this diner, and will definitely be returning! Oh, did I mention that the toilets were very reminiscent of the Ministry of Magic? 

The Simple Things

It’s been a long summer… I’ve been home from uni since the middle of June, and yeah, it was fun at first, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t spent the last few weeks at home, in my pyjamas, spending all day on The Sims. When it gets to the point where you have no money to be able to go out and enjoy yourself, it gets boring. And I can’t wait to go back!

But because I’ve been spending so much time at home, I’ve come to realise just how much I can enjoy the simple things. Last week, me and my good friend, Laura, decided that we would go for a walk along the south bank of the Thames. Being in such close proximity to London, it’s easy for us to do little things like that.

Although we didn’t even do much apart from walk (a long way, I might add!), it was nice to just talk to her about the things going on in our lives, while enjoying the sights. I really do love London, and even though it’s hard to see past the hustle and bustle of tourists sometimes, it really is a beautiful place.

I’ve decided that for the rest of the summer, if there’s a day when I’m stuck at home, instead of complaining about boredom, I’ll go out and do something. Even if it’s something as trivial as a walk through my local park, I’ll try and find the beauty in it, and snap a picture or two for this very blog. Maybe finding beauty in everything will help to cover up the bad things.

Shifting the "Essex Girl" stigma.

I've lived in Essex my entire life. I love being in such close proximity to London, without being completely immersed in the hustle and bustle the magnificent city brings. I've always known about the stereotypical image that coming from Essex gives us, but until I came to university, it was never an issue for me.

The main culprit of this "Essex girl image" is none other than the show TOWIE. The Only Way Is Essex provides the public with this "entertainment", showing us the lives of real Essex folk. Real meaning fake, of course!

Fake tan, vajazzles, that goddamn "I'm from Essex so I'm going to speak like a complete fool" accent, it all adds up to my complete annoyance at the show, providing the public with a completely false representation of the county I come from. It embarrasses me that people associate me with this show.

When I went to the University of Kent for my first year in September 2012, I was overwhelmed by the amount of people that said they could tell I'm from Essex. I neither look nor sound like a stereotypical Essex girl. I never have. Friends back home always tell me I sound "posh", not like I'm from Essex. Maybe it's that I just don't sound that Essex-y that people at home don't notice it, but people from other parts of the country can.

Whatever the case, I am definitely not a stereotypical Essex girl. I've never used fake tan or dyed my hair, I do not plaster my face in make up (in fact, the only times I ever actually wear the stuff, is on a night out!), and I don't talk as if I have lost half of my brain cells.

I'd love to hear from my fellow Essex girls! Do you guys have the same issue? Or do you embrace your inner Essex?