What I’ve Been Up To October / November 2019

Yes yes yes, I know this is late, and I’ve already cracked on with 2020 posts (check out Five promises to myself for 2020 if you’ve not already read it). However, I really like posting my What I’ve Been Up To posts as they’re a nice little diary for me, and a way to look back on good memories with my friends and family. I didn’t get a chance to post any after September last year as the final quarter of 2019 got pretty busy, and I also found my MH took a bit of a nose dive as my dad Curly continued to battle his health struggles. However, amongst all the angst and stress I also had some really fun times so wanted to record some of those, so here is What I Got Up To in October and November 2019. Ohh double whammy!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Kicking off October with a bang, Andy and I finally went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the theatre. My god it was magical! I saw it when it first opened years ago, but couldn’t remember to much about it (may have had a few too many drinks at lunch beforehand) and Andy had never been, so the daily countdown was real for this one! Merlin’s Beard it did not disappoint!

Now I’m not going to say too much as I want to #KeepTheSecret but it really was fantastic, and the staging is absolutely incredible. It really does bring the magic to life! I’ve got a couple posts written about tips for going to see the show, and also where to go in between the two parts if you’re seeing them both in one day, so they’ll be up soon.

Celebrating Curly’s birthday

Curly celebrated his 69th birthday at the beginning of October. To celebrate Andy and I and my brother and his wife headed to my parents house for lunch. Sue made a cracking lemon and basil chicken tray bake which went down a treat! Curly had been struggling to eat much whilst having his chemo but Sue’s lunch seemed to hit the spot as he was able to have a good serving, his first proper meal in a long time! I told you, she’s a good cook! It was great to celebrate all together and Curly loved the new top I bought him, and has been sending me a voice note of him reading one of the jokes from his new joke book everyday! Legend!

Mindfulness and Wellbeing Yoga Event

2019 really was the year of wellness for me (and will continue to be for 2020) so I was really excited when Living London invited me to learn more about ways I can look after my physical and mental wellbeing. It was a such a great evening, including a yoga class, mindfulness workshop and nutrition talk. I learnt all sorts of tips, such as 10 reasons why yoga is good for your health, how often you should practice mindfulness and how to do it, and the best food for good mental and physical health. Read all about it here.

Seeing Groan Ups at the Theatre

My favourite theatre company Mischief Theatre (known for The Play That Goes Wrong and The Play About A Bank Robbery) brought out a new play in October – Groan Ups. My cousin Anna and I go to see all of their shows and so couldn’t wait to see Groan Ups and weren’t disappointed – it was great!

The show follows a group of five school friends as they grow up from cute toddlers in Reception, to gawky teenagers and then as adults attending the high school reunion. It was, like everything else they do, brilliant, and actual belly laugh out loud funny! They’ve already got another show – Magic Goes Wrong – out now and I cannot wait to see it. They also have a show on the BBC at the moment called The Goes Wrong Show – which is definitely worth a watch.

Chapter One with Curly and Sue

Every year I treat my parents to a nice meal at their favourite restaurant, Michelin recommended Chapter One in Bromley. This year Andy and I joined them and it was such a lovely day. The food was as good as always – I had the cauliflower veloute, the braised venison cottage pie with roasted carrot, curly kale and venison jus and the dark chocolate delice with banana cremeux and lime sorbet. It was all delicious but the dessert was particularly epic with the bitterness of dark chocolate being offset by the sweetness of the banana and sharpness of the lime. Perfection! It was so nice to sit, relax and chat with my three favourite people. Love love love.

Dunelm SS20 Press Show

Back in July I headed over to the Dunelm Christmas in July press day and in November got to go and see their Spring / Summer 2020 offering. This seasons collection is centred around creating a mindful home with sustainable pieces which promote a nice and peaceful vibe to make your house a relaxing place to be. I’m going to write a full post about this as I was so impressed by the products on show – as always Dunelm has really stylish pieces at really affordable prices, so you can get on trend without breaking the bank.

Meeting Baby Everly

My best friend Faye finally had her baby – a beautiful little girl called Everly Autumn. Ever since I’ve known Faye she’s always wanted to be a mum, and the number of times she’s looked after me (particularly when drunk) I’ve known that she’s going to be the best mum there ever was. Faye and baby Ever came to meet me for lunch at the end of November and it was such a lovely time catching up in the Marks & Spencer’s café and of course I got a big squishy baby cuddle.

While she doesn’t look too happy in her photos (just jealous she didn’t beat me in the competition for biggest forehead), Ever was amazing – didn’t cry once and just happily smiled away while Faye and I chatted. So great to meet you baby Ever and I’m so excited for the adventures to come! <3

Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter Hogwarts in the Snow

Every year Andy and I make our way to Watford for the Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter – Hogwarts in the Snow exhibit. This year we went at the end of November, just a couple days after it opened and my God it was better than ever. We went on a Wednesday afternoon and it was super quiet so we got to spend as much time as we want to looking everything and taking loads of photos without worrying we were getting in the way of loads of kids.

The tour has been through so many changes since we came last year and we were finally able to see the Gringotts Bank section which was amazing. They’d also completely redone the entrance (including a life size Ukrainian Iron Belly Dragon) had built a brand-new chocolate frog café, and the gift shop had pretty much tripled in size. We had the best time and I’ll be sharing all photos up on Instagram soon. You can read more about previous trips to the Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour here and here.

Little Mix LM5 live at the O2

I bloody love Little Mix so my girlfriends I were super excited to see they were touring and hitting London’s O2 Arena at the end of November. The show was incredible, smashing through the hits of their latest album LM5, and we even got a special guest appearance from Stormzy! We had an epic night and even my crippling hangover that lasted the next two days couldn’t dampen my spirits of what a great night we’d had! Hopefully we’ll go see them this year too as they’ve got some new tour dates in. Hyde Park anyone?!

So there you go, my favourite events from October and November 2019. I am going to share one more What I’ve Been Up To post for 2019 then it will be full steam ahead for 2020! December was a great month for me, as I had a trip to Devon for my brother’s wedding, a week living it up doing ALL THE CHRISTMAS THINGS in New York, and then of course Christmas itself!

How do you like to record and remember your special memories?