Life Lately: The most exciting news that I received personally was my best friend asking me to her bridesmaid for her wedding next year! After the excitement of my own wedding, I’m really looking forward to being out of the spotlight and helping Anna prepare for her big day.
I returned back from South Africa on the the 8th of April, it was two and half weeks of excitement, adventure and seeing the most incredible sights. It was my dream trip, I can honestly say I couldn’t ask for more. The down side of an extended holiday and eating lots of nice food is atoning when you get back so I jumped right back on to the health and fitness bandwagon with determination this month.
Restaurants of the Month: I tried some incredible restaurants during my stay in South Africa, including a menu of surprises at The Tasting Room; The Test Kitchen which is renowned for being the best restaurant in South Africa; and The Delaire Graff Estate which has some of the best views (and desserts!) of any restaurant that I’ve ever visited.
In London, my besties and our other halves enjoyed a night at one of London’s most popular restaurants, Duck & Waffle and I had a delicious Mediterranean lunch with my mum at Rivea. I had loads of blogger meet ups including lunch at Heddon Street Kitchen with Suze and Catherine and breakfast at The Wolseley with Emma, Jaime, Kara, Yannick and Sam. I also had a fantastic dinner at Roka with Gary, Mehreen and Tahira and a walking tour of Belgravia both of which will be on the blog next week.
Travels: March and April were dominated by my big trip to South Africa. My hotel highlights were staying in the presidential suite at The Saxon in Johannesburg, the view of Table Mountain from The Table Bay hotel and the fantastic service at Ellerman House and Birkenhead House. Though we were thwarted by bad weather and spiders I also loved staying in my own treehouse in Plettenberg Bay.
In terms of activities, the highlights were a beautiful vineyard tour of the Cape Winelands, walking with cheetahs on the Garden Route and facing my fears by going in a cable car to the top of Table Mountain. Cape Town was one of the most beautiful cities I’ve even stayed in and I absolutely loved our tour of the Cape Peninsula, seeing the penguins on Boulders Beach and the Kirstenbosch Gardens.
Mr S and I have a UK mini-break planned and we’re heading of to Bath this weekend which should be nice and chilled. Later in the month is our one year wedding anniversary (doesn’t time fly?) and we’re very much looking forward to a luxe, foodie weekend in Rome to celebrate. You may remember at the beginning of the year I posted my travel plans as well as a wanderlust wish list? Well, one of my dreams has come true as I’ve been invited to stay at a hotel in St Lucia in November, more to come on that later this year.
Blog Love: One of my favourite posts of the month was Jaime’s piece on why she decided to attend a women’s college. I thought I knew about the selection process for higher education in the USA, but Jaime’s post was very eye-opening for me.
We’ve been a real globe-trotting bunch of bloggers this month. Jess and Mrs O were coincidentally both in South Africa at the same time as me, though we didn’t bump in to each other. While I was away, Catherine was also sunning herself in Australia and she went to some gorgeous beach clubs, ate delicious brunches and encountered cute furry animals. Laura and Lauren got their prosecco fill in Italy staying Tuscany and Venice respectively; while Andrea was sipping champagne in Paris. Jaime explored beautiful Sri Lanka, while Laura stayed closer to home with an solo journey to the Scilly Isles. I also loved reading about the fun Emma and Rebecca had as they explored the winding souk lanes of Marrakesh.
I was sad to miss out on meeting Polly as she headed back to London for a week and stayed at the Ampersand Hotel, checked out the Savage Beauty exhibition with Kelly and had a blogger meet up at Kettner’s.
In April, Jean from Holy Smithereens has had an utterly enviable Instagram account and I’ve followed her from Rome, to a cruise around Anzac Cove and then to Istanbul. Mrs O is travelling again and her Insta pics of the Maldives are just dreamy!
Are you following me on Instagram? Please check out my account for all my travel adventures, more food than you could imagine one person could eat and a couple of selfies…
