The Perfect Girlie London Day

On one of my recent visits home I had a practically perfect day out in London with my wonderful mother. It has been a while since we've had some real quality time, just the two of us, so this day out was the perfect fix, just what the doctor ordered!

We started our day with a visit to What Katie Did where I was treated to a sort-of-belated Christmas present (I did in fact receive my present in Christmas day but the items didn't fit properly!) of a stunningly beautiful set of retro inspired lingerie. The whole experience was amazing, the ladies of WKD were so helpful and friendly and I was treated like a film star during my fitting. I will definitely be visiting there again, I'm a convert to vintage style lingerie!

Next up I treated my mum to afternoon tea at Bea's of Bloomsbury at St. Pauls. The venue itself was really special, our table had a view of the cathedral which looked beautiful in the wintery sunshine, but the food itself was what really stole the show. We each had a selection of sandwiches on beautiful crusty bread, a cupcake (we had chocolate peanut butter and a red velvet), scones with clotted cream and jam, homemade vanilla marshmallows, lemon and pistachio biscotti, a brownie, a blondie, a coconut meringue and an individually wrapped salted caramel. Heaven on a platter! And I also had a pot of some of the most delicious peppermint tea I have ever tasted. It was d divine. I was a bit horrified at the amount of food I was able to put away, particularly as I had intended to eat much healthier this new year, but to be honest I don't regret it. I know for a fact that my mother and I would have been happy to eat it all again, although perhaps with a bit of rest time in between to aid digestion! It was a wonderful experience, brilliant conversation over fabulous food, I couldn't have been happier. I can't recommend Bea's of Bloomsbury highly enough (beautiful food, great service and very reasonably priced!), I know that I will be back there very soon and I intend to bring lots of friends too!

We ended our girlie day of fun with a trip to Haymarket cinema (one of the most beautiful cinemas I know!) for a showing of The Artist, something that I have wanted to see for quite some time. It was a beautiful film, I won't write too much about it in case you haven't seen it, but let me just say that the dog is a scene stealer and they couldn't have asked for better faces for silent film from both their leading performers! Seriously, they were both so gorgeous it almost made my eyes hurt :)

We returned home exhausted but happy, filled with food and carrying lovely purchases (plus extra cupcakes for my Dad and my Sweetheart, how nice we are!), it was a perfect day and I was in perfect company. I have always been close to my Mum, she has been my constant friend and my rock over the years, she is always there for me and asks for nothing in return. It makes me incredibly happy to be able to show her, even in a smallish way, how much she means to me. It has been difficult for me to spend quality time with my family recently because of my hectic touring schedule, but being away from them has made me realise just how much I need and love them. This is why I added "Orgainse some special family days" to my list of 24 things before I'm 25. This has been my first of these days, spent with the most wonderful woman I know, and I intend to have many more with my whole beautiful family. 2012 is the year for the ones I love :)