Liverpool

On Friday we travelled to Liverpool to catch up with our good friends Elaine and Cam.  Elaine is one of the girls I met whilst backpacking around Australia in 2004, she met Cam whilst travelling and set up home in Perth and was back home visiting family in Scotland so we decided to have a weekend break half way between Scotland and Essex - we haven't seen them since Summer 2012 so I was so excited to see them!

We arrived in Liverpool on Friday afternoon, checked into the Marriott City Centre which was our base of the next 2 nights and made our way down to the historic Albert Docks to soak up the great waterfront atmosphere, we then walked along the Mersey to Pier Head to the Liver Building and Beatles statue.

Elaine and Cam arrived late afternoon so we made our way back to the hotel to meet with them and get ready to go our for dinner.  We had the most amazing meal and at What's Cooking located in the Albert Dock and had lots of fun catching catching up over cocktails.

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning, first stop was breakfast at Bills

Veggie Breakfast & Eggs Benedict

We then hopped onto Magical Mystery Tour which took us on a 2 hour journey introducing the lives of the Fab Four,  their homes, schools, birth places, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields plus many other landmarks which inspired their music.

"Roll up the Magical Mystery Tour is waiting to take you away"

George Harrison,  John Lennon & Paul McCartney's childhood homes

Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields Forever

The tour finished with a visit to the famous Cavern Club where we had a few beers and listen to the live bands playing.

 We finished our evening with dinner and at Jamie's Italian.

Meatball Bruchetta/Crab & Avocado Bruchetta/Italian Lamb/Wild Mushroom Risotto

The next morning we had fun reminiscing on our fun weekend over coffee and breakfast at Carluccios.  

Final group photo - sigh!

And thats a wrap on a super fun weekend with Elaine and Cam - I can't wait until these guys are back in the UK again!

Black Tie Anniversary Party

On Saturday we celebrated our good friends Fiona and Robin's 10th Wedding Anniversary, It was a black tie affair and oh wow these guys really know how to throw a fantastic party!

We were greeted on arrival by stunning Silver Belle stilt walkers and given glasses of Bollinger champagne to drink whilst we were entertained in the courtyard by an incredible close up Magician who left us speechless with his tricks and illusions and Fire Performers who twirled batons of flames whilst we being served delicious canapés

As the sun began to set we made our way into the stunning marquee which was decorated with an opulent twinkling starlit roof and dance floor and the entertainment continued inside with more close up magic and a crystal ball juggler!

The live band were amazing and the dance floor was full all night! Later in the evening we were served bowl food, mini burgers and lamb kofta in pitta bread and we continued dancing and drinking until the wee small hours of the morning.

This was one amazing party!

Kelly x

Magic and Curry Night

Last night SWEC hosted a Magic and Curry Night.

The church was transformed for the evening beautifully decorated with midnight blue drapes strung with stars and the tables were set with vases filled with glimmering water crystals creating a wonderful atmosphere for the night.

Our magician for the evening was Nick Lear who is also the Regional Minister for Essex.  Nick wowed us with many illusions and tricks and showed the impossible was possible right in front of our eyes!

We were also treated to an amazing meal of samosas and bhajis, 3 types of curry and indian ice cream.

It was a truly magical evening!

Kelly x

All the Fun of the Fair!

At the weekend Carters Vintage Travelling Funfair came to Central Park in Chelmsford.

Visiting this old fashioned fun fair we were transported back in time to a bygone age - beautiful Victorian fairground rides, pipe organ music and traditional side stalls such as Coconut Shy, Shooting Saloon and Test your Strength Strikers and well as Candy Floss Stalls.

The fair is free to enter, so you can wander around a soak up the nostalgic atmosphere, the rides operate on a token system 4 tokens for the smaller rides and 5 tokens for the big rides - tokens are 50p each - it was very family friendly with lots of rides for the little ones to go on.

The boys absolutely loved it and was so excited to go on all the different rides it was a brilliant afternoon and we shall be back when Carters rolls into town again!

Austin Cars

Dodgems & Hurricane Jets

 ToyTown

  Train Ride

 Hook a Duck & Steam Yachts

Giant Octopus & Chairoplane

Mini Octopus & Carousel

 Obligatory ice cream!

Kelly x