Ebb and Flow

Hello everyone, 

On Saturday we were wandering around the shops in Southampton and realised, as you do halfway through a busy day, that we were ravenous! Neither of us particularly fancied anything major and we weren't in the mood for savoury food either. Tricky...then I remembered this fabulous little place called Ebb and Flow. 

It is tucked away at the top of the high street, but it always seems really busy. It is quite boutique with a very kitschy-hipster vibe to it. The furniture is very eclectic with lots of rough painted wood, floral patterns and pastel themes. Sounds perfect right? Here are some of the many photos I took, it was so tempting to just keep snapping away! 

 Gorgeous floral pattern! 

 This mirror was so trippy...

"What about the food?!" I hear you all shouting. I went for some thick, buttery, American style pancakes with liberal dollops of honey and juicy blueberries. Mr.Gingersnap went for pancakes too, but he had un-smoked, back bacon to go with his honey...sounds gross, but it's so yummy! The pancakes hit the spot perfectly and it was such a lovely atmosphere in there. To drink I had a delicious Sloe Lemonade Posh Pop from Breckland orchard and he had an extra creamy cappuccino. 

If you ever find yourself hungry and wanting to inject some style into your usual routine, check out Ebb and Flow here. I can't wait for my next excuse to go there and try more of their food, my bestie better watch out, she'll be being summoned for a girly day soon!

What is your favourite spot for pancakes? Let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

Secret Santa Adventures

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day, whether you celebrate Christmas or not! For those of you who do, Merry Christmas!!! 

Now that it is out of my system, I wanted to tell you about my Secret Santa this year. I had it all planned out, 15 of us were playing so I was super excited.  I cut up small pieces of red card, wrote the names in gold glitter pen (of course) and sealed them with gold glitter and a snowflake. Everyone picked a name out of the santa hat in late November. Up to there it was going well, but then I went back to uni and all hell broke loose! Clearly my little elves playing the game should not have been left in charge haha, my request for everyone to take some of the wrapping paper failed miserably. The plan was for one person to bring the wrapping paper and everyone to take some and use it for their present, attaching the name tags I had lovingly prepared. The wrapping paper was plain blue, I mean come on! It wasn't even christmassy, but I told myself it would be fine and we would make do, but then one person waltzed off with it leaving no paper for most of us, myself included! Come the big reveal we ended up with all sorts of wrapping, including one wrapped in tissue paper and duct tape, however, it was a fantastic laugh with some weird and wonderful gifts being exchanged. Obviously I had to take photos of our surroundings too, they were so deliciously festive...

Moral of the story is this: 

1 - if you want it doing how you imagine, do it yourself! 

2 - who cares about organisation really, all that matters is the love, laughter and smiles exchanged on the day! 

Overall we had a fabulous time and laughed the whole night long, we spent the evening in our local pub the Queen's Head in Burley where they had the most beautiful decorations and also do some rather lovely food. If you live in the New Forest or are coming on holiday then check them out here. I have something a little different planned for secret santa next year, though for now it is a secret...shush! Enjoy the holidays y'all, eat, drink and be merry! :-) 

xoxo 

Lazy Lounging

Hello everyone! 

Last weekend my parents came up to visit me on their way home from my cousin's wedding and, in the way all parents of uni students do, decided I needed feeding! On the Sunday morning we went out for a little drive and ended up in a nearby town called Heswall. Heswall has a number of lovely cafes and restaurants, but finding one open at 9 a.m on a Sunday and that takes dogs can be quite the challenge, but luckily for us we stumbled upon Otto's Lounge. 

Otto's Lounge is one of the Loungers chain, each one boasting a very retro and vintage ambiance. From the moment I walked in I fell in love with it and proceeded to whip out my camera and take pictures. The decor is kinda Eastern European shabby chic, with lots of mirrors and eclectic paintings. The light sconces were a work of art in their own right! The chairs and tables were beautifully mismatched and the whole place had a very casual, yet oh so cool vibe to it. Quite the hipster spot if I'm honest! I especially loved the book swap bookcase for people to exchange books, I may have to make use of this in the near future...

Now, being a vet student, places that are open to dogs always gain bonus points for me. The waitress was lovely and showed us to the dog friendly area and even brought my little dog her own water bowl and a couple of biscuits. Doggy heaven for her really, she did nothing by wag her tail the whole time! 

I can feel you all asking, but what was the food like?! It was AMAZING! I had thick american style pancakes with chopped strawberries and banana, peach cream and maple syrup, liberally sprinkled with icing sugar of course. Not only did it look delicious but it tasted it too, combined with the rich hot chocolate melting mini marshmallows it went down a treat. My mouth is watering at just the memory. 

I highly recommend that you all head over to the website and find your local loungers, to take a peek at my local one click here. 

Let me know in the comments below your favourite place for hot chocolate! :-) 

xoxo