Lifestyle Monthly Round Ups

June Round Up…

I know I sound like an old woman talking about the weather, but when you live in Newcastle you really do tend to bang on about it if it gets higher than about 9 degrees. Throughout June we’ve had some of the nicest and hottest weather I can remember for a long time. June has been filled with countless BBQs, lots of drinks and a fair few special occasions made better thanks to the sunshine.

 

June round up

 

I feel like through June I’ve really made the most of time in Newcastle. I went along to the opening of Colonel Porter’s Emporium on Dean Street, and sampled a delicious taster menu at Marco Pierre White as well.

 

 

It was really nice to try new places, as well as visiting old favourites which was the case at The Botanist. The evening we spent trying the new summer cocktails was a lot of fun, and actually really interesting to get a bit of background knowledge into their cocktail creations.

 

The Botanist summer cocktail menu

 

Following on from my discovery of the Saltwater Fish Company in Fenwicks food hall, I also went to Fuego for the first time which was a fabulous Spanish tapas meal washed down with a crisp glass of rosé. Exactly what you need to get in the summer vibe.

 

Fuego at Fenwick's

 

Newcastle comes to life in summer (more so than usual) and I’ve loved having days and nights out along the quayside. I’m often asked to contribute to travel blogs wanting to feature Newcastle, so I’m starting to put together a city guides series with more general info as well as itineraries. The first one was my guide to the quayside after we spent a couple of days there for Kierans birthday. My itinerary posts go crackers so I’ll keep them coming as long as I’m being asked for them.

 

Newcastle Quayside

 

Keeping on the subject of Newcastle, the Hoppings came to town for a week as it does every year, so I shared some of my pics and thoughts on that here. I was pretty gutted not to be at Parklife Festival again this year, but after going back through my time hop and putting together this post on festival fails perhaps that’s a good thing…

 

The Hoppings, Newcastle

 

I love summer events of all types, I was so happy to see Nadal win the French Open, and I’m really excited for Wimbledon this month too. Royal Ascot was a lot of fun to watch, I had a few winners but like a lot of people mainly enjoyed seeing what the royals were wearing. Definitely not to the same calibre, but I am hoping to get to Ladies Day this year again.

 

Ladies Day

 

When it comes to travel outside of Newcastle I’ve been to the Lake District, more on that later, but at the start of the month I started to cover my trips to Amsterdam in more detail. After a third visit in May for work, it refreshed my memory on all the areas of Amsterdam I love myself, so I’ve shared posts on my favourite cafe – Pluk Amsterdam, a fabulous hotel we stayed at on our second trip – The Ambassade, and my favourite area of the city – the Museum Quarter.

 

Museum Quarter, Amsterdam

Museum Quarter, Amsterdam

 

I’m definitely not done with Amsterdam so there will be more in the coming weeks. I’m also booked up for trips to Florence, Philadelphia, New York, and I’m working on a summer break for August too.

There were a fair few occasions in June, Father’s Day was first which we spent in Tynemouth, tapas at Allards followed by some G&Ts outside making the most of the weather. It was Kieran’s birthday which is the reason we spent two days staying on the quayside, eating and drinking our way around various places.

 

Quayside

 

The big one was Kieran’s mums 50th birthday. For that we went to the Lake District for a few days, and stayed in a lodge complete with hot tub and mountain views. It was such a lovely place, and we hit lucky with the weather the first couple of days we were there, so went out on the lake, enjoyed the hot tub and had a wander around Keswick. Keswick looking cute is the only post I’ve done so far, but the rest aren’t far away!

 

Keswick, Cumbria

 

The last of my group of girls turned 30 on the last day of June, happy birthday Lucy, but we are celebrating that next weekend as she’s currently busy bossing life at a competition with her dance school. This photo was one of my first ever instagrams.

 

 

A very random post I threw into the mix last month was ‘Currently loving‘, which isn’t the type of thing I would usually do at all. Mainly because I usually love the same things all the time (doritos, cocktails, carbs etc) so it would get pretty boring. I’ve used the same make up for about ten years so beauty thoughts are out, and I’m hardly Kate Moss when it comes to fashion, so there’s no chance of any fashion advice either. Bags though, bags are my thing. I created my entire currently loving post on the fact I got a new bag and just thought well why the hell not. I might turn this type of thing into a monthly newsletter though, will see.

 

Kate Spade

 

One of the most exciting things in terms of the blog happened to me last week. I found out I was shortlisted in the final five for a Northern Blog Award. I’m in the travel category and literally couldn’t believe it when I found out. I’ll be sharing more info on this as soon as I have it.

Have a great July everyone x