All posts filed under: Special Days

#PizzaExpressIceAge

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We LOVE Pizza Express in this house and Emma is the biggest fan among us all so when we were contacted and asked if we would like to review a family meal, we squealed with joy! Not only because we would spend some quality time together but also because Emma was allowed to bring a friend or two, making the experience a thousand times more fun! We have two Pizza Express restaurants in Belfast but the one we almost always prefer is the one in Victoria Square. That is where we headed yesterday evening, with three very excited little girls and large appetites :-). As always, the staff was extremely welcoming and friendly to the girls.(We had a little four year old with us who can be extremely shy but by the end of the evening, the lovely staff managed to make friends with her!) We were offered a table immediately and drinks were brought out very quickly. While we were perusing the amazing  summer menu and reading the Piccolo one to the girls, the …

A Mother’s Day surprise from Tesco

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Since it is International Women’s day today, I find it appropriate to write about the absolute treat Tesco organised with Alex’s help as my special Mother’s Day surprise. It all started with a lovely email from their marketing team, asking for Alex’s email and having all to do with Mother’s Day. I am not daft, who does not like surprises, right, so I was quick to connect the two parties and let the whole thing in their apt hands. Last Friday afternoon, a beautiful parcel arrived but I was not allowed to have even a peek in, as it came with strict instructions to be opened by Alex and Emma, close to Mother’s Day. Saturday morning they decided to organise a rehearsal for Mother’s Day and I got treated in bed with beautiful porridge, loads of fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice and loads of grins from both of them 🙂 Sunday was even better! With the other bits that arrived in the hamper, Emma wrote me a beautiful card and delivered a hand …

Win Christmas 2015 at Coombe Mill

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I have known of Coombe Mill for years, probably ever since I started blogging. I have always dreamt of spending a holiday in the heart of Cornwall and felt even more drawn to the farm when I realised that Farmer Nick is actually Farmer Nico, Greek descendant and that Alex and him would probably get on quite well, since they share the same country of origin and love for good food and Greek feasts :-). When Georgie was born, I imagined a holiday as a complete family at Coombe Mill but it was never meant to be, Georgie never made it to Christmas and what should have been a magical holiday last year transformed into a dreary and endless season of mourning. I dread the thought of another Christmas at home now. I would love us to be able to win a Christmas stay at Coombe Mill and stay in their cozy Trevarno Scandinavian lodge this year. I imagine ourselves arriving to a fairyland of lights and snow. (Yes, they had snow last year and …

Our Easter Tree Tradition

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We started having an Easter tree last year.I wish I could say it is for Emma’s sake only but it would be a lie. I love putting it up and decorating it, so it is for my sake as well as hers :-). I love Christmas trees and since last year at Easter we had such a cold spell, with snow and stormy weather, it seemed appropriate to have an Easter tree too. Which proved a bit confusing up to a point but hey, that’s another story… Last year Alex found a tree branch which had been cut off and we decorated that as our Easter tree. This year we decided to upcycle our optic fiber Christmas tree and use it instead of a real branch. Works a wonder and on dark evenings we have the option to light it up, a bit weird but looks lovely when sitting with a cup of tea in the living room. My decorations have been exclusively bought from bargain shops, as you can see in the picture, at …

Spare a thought…Christmas sorrows

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I have been so bloomingly and naively unaware of grief at Christmas. Call me simple or sheltered or disconnected from reality or just pure blessed. For me, even as a child in Romania with not too much to receive at Christmas, the season has always been cheerful and sometimes even magical. I realised early on that Christmas, like any other major festive celebration over the year, is not so much about things or food as it is about people. So I trained myself to recreate a patch of magic on every special occasion, especially since we had Emma, using simple things like a Christmas tree, festive baking and most importantly, spending time together. But this year the reality has hit me on various occasions: only yesterday, a Facebook friend was sharing the sad news of her dad’s passing. Just this morning I read a very raw article on Parentdish by  a lady who finds herself single at Christmas, after the failure of her 10 year marriage. Not to mention the blog entries or Facebook updates …