DATE NIGHT / Boozy Brunching at Bourne & Hollingsworth

Looking for a Instagrammable, not out-of-the-budget, unwinding brunch? That involves knocking back bottomless bellinis? 

I won't wait for your reply because I know it's a "YAS"

Every occasion, whether its a normal date night, birthday, Valentine's Day or our anniversary, my boyfriend and I scan our 'places we MUST go to' list to see where it'll take us next. It's jammed packed, with niche bars to food trucks and even holiday spots. 

A boozy brunch was on the top of the list. 

For just £18 you can experience all-you-can-drink Bellinis and Bloody Mary's. That's the price of just two drinks! 

Let me stop bragging about alcohol and mention how delicious the food was. 

I'm that kind of loser who loves brunch but hates eggs. Yeah I said it, I despise eggs. But I like the look of them on a plate with smoked salmon. Don't judge - I'm not a fussy eater! I'm a foodie that loves pretty much everything apart from eggs. Even peanut butter (my childhood enemy) is growing on me. 

I went for the burger. The waiter said it was a good choice. And he meant it. And he was perfectly right. 

The colossal burger made wonder how can THAT fit in my gob. Somehow it did, but I wasn't overly surprised. 

After finishing my meal, I had a "lemme try to breathe without exploding my food out" moment. 

I swiveled in my chair taking in how airy and green the restaurant was. Nothing like other places I've been to. It felt like I was in a conservatory or a drawing room in a tropical country. I had a woven wooden fan spinning above my head. Sitting on vintage and cushiony seats. Don't tell me I have to leave. 

The funniest part of the meal was when my boyfriend shoved his glass to the edge of the table, he said, "it's just to let them know I've finished my glass and I'm ready for a top up" 

The waiters didn't need that memo. They came rushing to our side whenever we slurped the last drip. Leaving out that awkwardness of us being eager for more. 

Overall, it was a lovely lovely date. I'd recommend it for a girlfriend brunch or celebrating a birthday or anniversary. 

It's a restaurant that has dived straight out of Pinterest home inspo. 

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We're half way through the year...

And what could I say about 2016?
I really had a feeling it would start with a bang. I had a pocket full of aspirations and achievements in 2016.

People say that New Year Resolutions can be damaging. Most promises that we make for ourselves are broken or haven't seen daylight in these six months.

As this blog explores my pure honesty, shamelessly I'll state what my resolutions were and if I accomplished them.

1. TAKE BLOGGING MORE SERIOUSLY

ACCOMPLISHED?:
NO

I can admit that I have taken it more seriously, and I've seen the great benefits of it. However, have I done as many blog posts as I thought I would? Nope. Definitely not. It's a shame, because I knew a "blogger's block" (not yet a writer, so let's stick with blogger) would cover my motivation. I got in a habit of getting home from my internship, then eat, then watch tv, then do anything else on my to-do list that's not blogging, and then bedtime.

I've learnt that spending 8 hours in an office, followed by a much tighter schedule of free-time before bed-time... is hard. Within my free-time I didn't want to use my brain. I wanted to do mind numbing activities to get me prepared before another day.

Not only that, but I can be pretty stubborn. A trait that is getting worse with age.

When someone tells me to blog. I won't do it. I would say "yeahhh, lemme pick up my laptop and get writing!" but truthfully I'm picking up my laptop to start binge watching the Walking Dead. No regrets.

My resistance to blog a lot more is because ever since I was 15, blogging was my creative outlet. Not to get attention or followers. It was a way of expressing myself when I was in the mood. Posts may be sporadic, but they had great value to them. I know that recently I have put up posts just because it would increase my views. And when I am told to blog more more and more, it loses the respect of why I blog in the first place. I blog because I want to.

Yes, I get it. We all wanna be full-time bloggers because we love it so much. But right at this moment I'm seeing posts that I think are so uninspiring and 'done before'. We're too obsessed with getting noticed and forgetting about our content.

2. FIND A SPORTS/ACTIVE WORKOUT THAT I TRULY ENJOY

ACCOMPLISHED?:
KINDA!

I've realised that HIIT workouts are my thing. Quick but intense gets my endorphins bumping and jumping. I haven't really done much exercising lately, as the event that I was staying trim for has gone now. So back to my best friend called 'carbs'.

3. READ MORE

ACCOMPLISHED?:
YES!

I completely forgot this was on my list, and I'm glad it was on there because this time I've done it! During my delay commute to work, instead of staring into the sleepy eyes of other commuters I pull out my book. I'm starting George Orwell's 1984 (a classic, I know, I'm a literature student who hasn't read it). I've read Andrea Levy's Long Song, and Ruth Soukup's How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul. I got halfway, ok, it's more of a quarter, through Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, but it didn't grip me. Maybe the peculiar vocab is too much to grasp on in the morning and when I'm tired after work? But it is strangely fascinating, and someday I'll finish it. Maybe later in the summer.

4. MEDIATE

ACCOMPLISHED?:
NO

Yeahhhh, I was obsessed with it. But now I've lost it. One day it'll come back. I definitely have tried to be more mindful in general, now that I know what mindfulness is. So maybe I'm not in urgent need of meditation.

5. LEARN A NEW INSTRUMENT

ACCOMPLISHED?:
NO

Very sad to say but I haven't picked up my ukulele in a while. So nope to that resolutions, but maybe in the future.

So that's basically it in my six months of 2016. Stuck with promises, and broken them. C'est la vie!
I'm glad to have this reflection as now I'm able to revalue and switch it all up!

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