THE BEST COFFEE SHOPS IN LEICESTER: Esquires Coffee Wullcomb

Here in Leicester, we're home to two Esquires Coffee shops. Artisan coffee shops, specialising in fairtrade and organic coffee, yummy brunch and a great community spirit. Both are fairly new additions to the City, with the most recent opening at The Wullcomb on Vaughan Way, tucked between the John Lewis car park and the Novotel hotel.

I absolutely love working from home and I'm super grateful every day. But it can sometimes get a little tedious sat at my desk. I mean, I sometimes treat myself and set up on the sofa with some reality TV on in the background, y'know, on special occasions ;), but it's nice to have a change of scenery now and then, so once a fortnight I try to head out for something fondly recognised by my team as #CoffeeShopWednesdays. 

Esquires Leicester Wullcomb opened just a month ago (August 2020) as part of new apartment complex The Wullcomb. 

Bright, contemporary decor with huge windows create a lovely atmosphere for a quick coffee break or a morning of work. 

 

They offer an extensive Breakfast, Brunch & Deli menu from eggs royale or waffles for breakfast, to warming soup or ham and cheese toasties for lunch. They bake most of their produce on-site in each store and promise to always aim to serve only the finest quality natural ingredients. 

I went for one of their Breakfast Waffles with smoked turkey bacon and poached eggs, which I enjoyed so much I've been back and ordered again since!

Their drinks menu includes everything from espresso shots and flat whites to chai lattes and a range of specialty teas! They also have delicious freshly squeezed juices on offer too, my favourite so far is Kale, Spinach, Cucumber, Lemon and Apple. Packed full of vitamins to keep my mind focussed on my work.

The staff were really welcoming and friendly, whilst ensuring that social distancing measures were always in place, reminding customers to keep 2 metres apart, stand behind the screens and consistently keeping everywhere clean. We felt safe and comfortable the whole morning. 

This, and it's other branch in New Walk, Leicester have quickly become firm favourites for my #CoffeeShopWednesdays. Everything from the food, drink, staff and atmopshere make them the perfect location for my working breakfasts.

And it has to be mentioned that they're also totally instagrammable too! ;) With its floor to ceiling windows looking out to the pretty John Lewis building, trendy light fittings and greenery hanging from the ceiling, it's just beautiful. And, the New Walk branch has... A FLOWER WALL!! I'm planning a full-on photoshoot in my head right now! :) 

If you're local to Leicester, definitely go check out Esquires Coffee at The Wullcomb, it's just opposite John Lewis and is open 8.30am-7pm Monday to Friday, and 10am-5pm on weekends.

AD - GIFTED -  This was a gifted visit in return for my honest review

HOTEL REVIEW - Crowne Plaza Birmingham City Centre

I love nothing more than heading to a hotel for the evening. Whether it's a base for a girls' night, a trip away making memories with the boys, or even just a night away on my own... yes really! I love my kids more than life, but give me a solo night away with a relaxing bubble bath, using some hotel freebie toiletries, setting up my laptop in the hotel bar and working my businesses.

I love visiting new hotels, and one that I hadn't checked out before was the Crowne Plaza in Birmingham City Centre. 
I wanted to plan something for Taylor's 6th Birthday, After 6 months on lockdown, no party with his friends this year, I thought a couple of days in Birmingham; a fun day at the Lego Centre and Sea Life centre, dinner in the Mailbox by the canal, followed by a day of shopping would be a nice idea, and would double up as a celebration for Bradley completing secondary school and receiving his GCSE results. 
So I booked a couple of rooms so the boys could have their own double bed each, at a fantastic price. A two-double bed room has an average nightly rate of £78. 

This 4-star stylish hotel is in a perfect location within Birmingham City Centre, right next door to the Mailbox and just a 5-minute walk to New Street Station, the Conference Centre and Birmingham Arena, which is where the Lego Centre and Sea Life are based. 
We purchased combi-tickets, which allowed us to visit both attractions at a slightly cheaper price.

The hotel was spotless, with hand sanitisers on entrance and around the hotel, sneeze screens at reception and floor reminders to stay socially distanced from others. 
We were given the warmest welcome. The lovely gentleman in reception was chatting to my little boy, wishing him a Happy Birthday and gave him a colouring pack, which was a nice little gesture. The lady on reception, who I believe was the assistant reception manager was absolutely lovely and couldn't do enough for us. We were very well looked after, with an early check-in and city view rooms as promised. 

The rooms were lovely and spacious, with fast, complimentary wifi (tick! tick! tick!) and comfortable beds. Everywhere was completely clean and we felt extremely safe the entire stay. 
The bathroom was spotless, sheets were clean and well made, perfect desk space and mirror space (tick! tick! tick! tick!) and the TV was a great size and had a great variety of channels for both me and the kids.

After a fun-packed day and a lovely meal by the canal we came back to the hotel to relax, watch some TV and settle down for the night. We all slept really well, aside from a noisy family a few doors down who liked the sound of their door slamming, accompanied by their kids running up and down the corridor. Business guests will be pleased to know that there are designated quiet zones Sunday - Friday to ensure maximum silence, with unwanted wakeup calls from housekeeping or screaming children! ;)
The hotel includes a fitness suite / gym and a bar and restaurant with city views, which we didn't use but we did have a little nosey around and they looked lovely. It's definitely worth noting that kids under 12 eat free in the restaurant too.
I'll definitely be visiting again soon, with my girlfriends and maybe even on my own! It's a lovely hotel and in a fantastic location for all my favourite places in Birmingham.

My Overall Review for the Crowne Plaza Birmingham City Centre:
Hotel / Facilities / Staff - 4/5Location / Attractions - 5/5Good Nights Sleep - 4/5Value for Money - 4/5




Have you visited Birmingham recently?Where did you stay?

5 Beauty Products I'm Loving Right Now

It's been a while since I did a beauty-themed post, so I thought I'd do a quick round-up of a few of my favourite products at the moment. 

The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 
I'm big on my skincare, and after using a particular skincare brand for a couple of years that started changing its ingredients and just didn't seem to do the trick anymore, I've really enjoyed trying out some new brands and I'm loving The Ordinary at the moment and this product is like nothing I've used before. 
I'm in my mid-30's so Vitamin C is a key ingredient in my skincare routine. If you weren't aware, Vitamin C (also known as L-ascorbic acid) is an antioxidant that provides protection from free radicals, helps to minimise the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, promotes an even skin tone as well as increasing the protection of sun damage.  
This Vitamin C Suspension 23% with HA Spheres 2% is a suspension of very fine L-ascorbic acid powder which provides the most direct exposure of extremely high concentrations of Vitamin C topically. On application, the formula feels a little gritty and does tingle for a while so I've been using this every 2-3 days in the evenings as part of my before-bed skincare routine and I absolutely love how it makes my skin feel. I have noticed a huge difference in the look and feel of my skin, my complexion is visibly brighter and for the first time in years, I've been more than happy to leave the house with no makeup, as my skin is in such great condition. It's a definite skincare winner for me, and I'm pretty picky with my skincare! 

W7 Taxi 35-piece Shimmering Eyeshadow Palette
During my birthday weekend in Birmingham back in February, I nipped into a little beauty store based in Grand Central Station and picked up this Morphe dupe. The W7 Taxi 35-piece Shimmering Eyeshadow Palette includes a mixture of gorgeous matte and shimmer pans in gorgeous nudes, peaches, and browns.
Now, this ain't no Morphe, I'll admit! Morphe wins hands down for their creamy consistency. But at a fraction of the cost, and I mean a FRACTION... this is a pretty incredible dupe! The pigmentation is great, particularly with the mattes, and they blend really well.

Mila Simone Azzura Essence Vitamin C Serum & Hyaluronic Acid*
I was sent this serum for review about a month ago. As I mentioned before, I'm quite picky with my skincare, but I heard the words Vitamin C & Hyaluronic Acid and thought, 'Let's give this a go!'. The Azzura Essence is a powerful blend of antioxidants that work together to improve the overall appearance and feel of the skin.  
I've been using this daily, in the mornings for a few weeks now and really enjoying it. At first, I was slightly put off by the fragrance, as it smelt a little like 'alcohol' but I loved the consistency of the serum, perfect for massaging into the skin. It dries quickly and I absolutely love the way it feels on my skin. Over lockdown, makeup has been at a minimum, and I've been more than happy to go makeup-less for my daily walk or trip to the supermarket. And on a day when I do wear makeup, this serum makes a gorgeous primer, leaving my skin soft and smooth and the perfect base.
One thing you may have noticed, if you know your skincare, is that although a vitamin c serum is meant to be clear, which this was when I first started using it, it has very quickly turned orange / brown, which means the vitamin c has oxidised and therefore the fewer benefits available for my skin. This can happen to vitamin c based products, however, it seems to have oxidised pretty quickly, unfortunately. I'm quite gutted about this as I was really enjoying using it but for the few weeks I did, I really liked it!

Milani Conceal & Perfect 2-in-1 Foundation & Concealer
So I'm an Estee Lauder Double Wear addict, I've been using it for years and years, and even when I stray, I always seem to go back. But over lockdown, on the days I wore makeup (for a team call or something) I begrudged using my faithful DW with its hefty price tag, for the sake of a few hours. So I went in search of something that would still give me my coverage, but a little cheaper. Obviously, the shops were closed so I had to take the risk of ordering online and used a website called Findation to match my shade, which it did PERFECTLY! 
Milani Conceal and Perfect is a full coverage, long-lasting, multi-purpose, base product available at around half the price of DW and I AM IN LOVE!! Usually, by now I'm thinking, 'hmm, it's nice but I'll go back to DW next time...' but I ADORE this foundation! It applies seamlessly on to my skin, creating a perfect even finish and is super pigmented so gives great coverage with only one layer. However, if I want to go all out and reach that DW finish I'm used to, a second layer does the job perfectly. It is water-resistant and leaves a matte finish, eliminating the need for a separate concealer.
Honestly, for the price, I was expecting an average foundation, but I got SO much more than average. I'm absolutely loving this foundation and may have found a new favourite!! 

Hada Labo Tokyo Anti-Aging Super Hydrator
After asking for recommendations on skincare brands at the beginning of the year, one that came up a few times was Hada Labo. I did a bit of research, watching videos from skincare queens such as Nadine Baggott and Caroline Hirons and ordered a ton of products!! Not one has let me down, I'm on my second pot of night cream, and this little beauty is somehow still going! Maybe I'll do a brand overview of all the products I have used from Hada Labo another time, if you guys are interested. 
But back to this. The Hado Labo Anti Ageing Super Hydrator is a facial lotion that helps to hydrate dry and dehydrated skin as well as reducing those pesky fine lines and wrinkles with its incredible combination of 4 types of hyaluronic acid plus retinol and collagen.
I have used this every single day since I purchased it earlier this year and without a doubt be repurchasing as soon as it begins to feel empty. It's an absolute gem! I use it every morning and throughout lockdown, when I haven't been wearing makeup, I have been applying this lotion a few times a day and have really noticed the difference in the feel and appearance of my skin. It's bouncier, softer and I'm definitely noticing a difference in the appearance of my fine lines. My skin has felt healthy, hydrated, and is clearly a fan. I definitely recommend giving it a go! 




So, those are 5 beauty products I'm loving right now.What about you? I'd love to know what products you're loving at the moment, in the comments!

*This post contains a PR sample sent to me for review.All opinions are my own.

5 Places I Want to Travel to After Lockdown

I don't know about you but I've been spending a lot of time looking at images of all the places I cannot travel to right now. I mean, granted, working in travel means I'm constantly looking at all the beautiful places around the world, it's my job (lucky me!!) but I'm finding myself looking at calm, relaxing images of Santorini sunsets, the crystal blue infinity pool of a villa in the Maldives, the beautiful mountains of Switzerland, a bubbling hot tub nestled in the Devon Cliffs, a deserted white sand beach in Bali... you name it, if it's pretty and quiet, I've probably daydreamed about it. 

I think it's a form of therapy, and I sense a theme, that right now I'm desperate to be relaxing, de-stressing, listening to only the sounds of crashing waves rather than my kids whinging or screaming, which is what I spend at least 80% of my day listening to, currently. 
Tell me you relate?
But seriously, whilst we know that right now unless we're out there working on the front line or other essential work (for which we are all hugely grateful for, you're doing an incredible job - THANK YOU!) it's SO important for us to just STAY HOME, yet we're all dreaming of getting away, somewhere, anywhere further than our front gates right now aren't we? Many of us have had and will continue to have, holidays cancelled and rescheduled, and we're all looking forward to the day we can get travelling again. 

So, to help me get by, I've been thinking, of 
5 Places I Want to Travel to After Lockdown...


1. ISLE OF WIGHT

This beautiful island in the South of England is very special to me. It was almost my second home growing up. Some of my earliest, most favourite memories as a child were spent here. We have a family holiday booked here in the Summer. Who knows if we'll still get to go, but until then, I'm making lists of all my favourite places to visit with my children, when we do. 

2. BARCELONA

I've been spending some of my downtime doing some hotel brand training and have recently become a Luxury Brand specialist for Marriott hotels. I fell in love with a particular hotel in Barcelona and have been dreaming of a girls' weekend here ever since. I've never been before, but the idea of having both the city and the beach at arms reach really appeals to me.

3. MAJORCA

My youngest son has yet to go overseas. He's yet to feel the excitement of being in the skies, the feeling when you step off the plane into a hot country. He has yet to catch the travel bug that his big brother and I have. But now he has reached an age where I think he'd enjoy it, (...and I'd cope with him on a plane! haha) I'm desperate to take him away, even just somewhere like Spain or Majorca. Obviously, it won't be for a while yet, but I've already been looking at deals in my agent portal for next year!! As an Independent Travel Agent, I'm fortunate to have access to fantastic deals and personal discounts, which I'm definitely going to be making use of as soon as we possibly can! 

4. LONDON

CREDIT: Accor Novotel Canary Wharf - London

I adore London. It's an incredible city and full of amazing memories for me. I get the same overwhelming excited feeling arriving in London as I did many years ago. An evening away with the girls, in a lovely hotel with a rooftop bar, sipping cocktails and catching up would be perfect right about now. I cannot wait to do this! Get ready, girls! 

5. BUTLINS

I think my kids would disown me if I hadn't put this one in! My boys have been enjoying trips to Butlins since they were both babies. They both absolutely love it. (And Mummy is partial to an Adult's Music Weekend here too! ;) ) It's just jam-packed full of family fun and entertainment and there is so much for them to do and enjoy. We were last here at Christmas and had the BEST time! My youngest genuinely believes the Skyline Gang are his best mates and we cannot wait to go back and visit when we can. 

Which one to do first? 
But what about you? Are you dreaming of travel as much as me? Are you making bucket lists? 


Where do you want to travel to after lockdown?

Our 2020 Memories

*contains GIFTED activity

𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑫𝒐

Our family setup isn't the most 'normal' of setups, there are 10 years between my boys who are currently 5 and almost 16. My eldest is with his Dad 50% of the time, so our time together as a whole family can be limited. Plus, it can be difficult to find things that both of them will enjoy, as they're at such different ages.

This year, we decided the make the most of our time together by planning some 'Memory Making' days, fun activities for us to do together, no matter how big or small and to make sure we're doing something fun together every month.

To make it a little more fun, we made a Memory Jar.

How We Created Our Memory Jar

We took a glass jar with a lid (ours is from IKEA) and filled it with pieces of paper with activities written on each one. Taylor really enjoyed writing all the exciting activities onto pieces of paper and popping them into our special jar.

Every month, we choose an activity from the jar to do, together, as a family. 

I'll be updating this blog post every month with what we get up to throughout the year...

January 

This month the activity picked out of the jar was CRAZY GOLF! 

So one weekday evening we headed out to Treetops Adventure Golf* in Leicester, home of two fantastic 9-hole mini-golf courses and enjoyed their Tropical Trail course.

The boys were putting me to shame with their hole-in-ones and we had a great time making our way around the course, enjoying the amazing rainforest setting, surrounded by chattering toucans, caves and cascading rivers.

I pulled things back at the end though, by getting a hole-in-one on the BONUS 19th hole, WINNING A FREE GAME! Whoop whoop!!

We finished off our evening with the most amazing pizzas, Treetop Sunrise mocktails all round and Nutella and dough sticks - which were SO good!! 

We had a fantastic time. Crazy golf is a great, fun activity for all the family and both boys were happy (except Taylor who was fuming he didn't win the bonus hole, despite the lovely Tom, who was looking after us for the evening, letting him a few extra goes... he's a bit of a sore loser and was grumpy all the way home! It's so hard being 5! *Mum eye roll* haha)

But we will definitely be back - I've got a free round of golf to play after all!! :) 

February 

This month, the activity picked out of the jar was MAKING A CAKE! 

Now, I'm no baker, so I'll admit it was a cake mix, haha, but we still had to add the butter, eggs, and water, so we ALMOST made it from scratch!! ;) The boys enjoyed mixing all the ingredients together and decorating the cake, but of course, the best bit was eating it! ;)

March

So this month the Memory Jar decided that we'd enjoy a FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT!

One Friday evening, we prepared some snacks, snuggled under the blanket and watched The Queen's Corgi. Such a simple activity but so lovely for all of us to be together and enjoy a family film together.

Are you making lots of memories this year? 

*A huge thank you to Treetops Adventure Golf for the complimentary visit

Creating Vision Boards for 2020

It's a brand new year... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
It's the time for goal setting and making plans. I'm big on setting myself goals, I'm a strong believer that goal setting is hugely important; to stay focused, to keep growing. It gives your brain direction. I run 2 businesses, and a blog, and I'm a single Mum of 2 kids, so I have to be organised, there's no other option. I'm a big list maker. My daily to-do list is basically a list of goals I need to tick off each day, and I have weekly lists, sometimes monthly lists. My business and personal life would be a hot mess if I didn't organise myself in this way!!
Vision Boards, Goal Boards or Dream Boards, whatever you want to label them, are basically a collage of words and / or images that represent what you want out of life, the goals you want to achieve.

There is no right or wrong way to create a vision board, it's totally your choice.
You may wish to think about small, SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely goals) or you may wish to go all out and reach for the stars with some crazy 'Sky's the Limit' kinda goals, with your absolute dream house, living your millionaire lifestyle. These are YOUR dreams, what's stopping you from reaching them?  Now, the idea isn't to hit all these goals by the end of the year. You don't fail if your dreams don't come true. The idea is to give you a reason every single morning when you wake up and look at that board full of all your hopes, dreams and goals to get your ass up, make some plans and take action towards getting to where you want to be, living the life you want to live!  How you create it is totally down to you too. 
Some people choose to create one digitally and have it as their laptop wallpaper, or you may prefer to use a pinboard, a foam board, a poster board, a cute wire display grid or even just a large piece of paper. Likewise, what you use is your choice too; magazine cut-outs, Sharpies, glitter, washi tape, stickers, photos, etc. Some people like to get super creative while others like a more simple look, whatever works for you! If you're not sure how you'd like it to look, head over to Pinterest for some inspiration.  

I used a foam board and armed with my printer, some scissors, glue and some gold stars I was ready to go! I felt it was easiest for me to just print images out as I wanted them. I thought about using magazines, but they're not something I regularly buy and I wasn't going to go spend £4-5 on a magazine in the hope that I'd find some images that I resonated with or enough letters to create the word I was thinking of. (plus it reminds me of a creepy ransom note! ha!) It's important to think about what your goals are in advance, so you know what you're looking for. What do you want to do this year? What would you like to achieve? Where do you want to go? What does the life you want to be living look like? Think about your family life, your career goals, your health and fitness, finances, your home, making memories and having fun, your relationships, education maybe, spirituality, personal development, self-care, emotional wellbeing... there is so much to think about, so decide what is important to you.  Get designing!
Once you know, get designing your board; write words, stick pictures, get your goals and dreams for 2020 stuck in place. You don't necessarily need to be specific at this point, you don't need to explain what each image means, nobody else needs to understand what anything stands for, or why, this is YOUR vision board, YOUR goals, as long as YOU know the goal and dream behind it all, that's fine. However, if you'll be using the vision board to manifest, you're going to need to get a little more specific. (I'll explain more about that later...) Google images was my best friend whilst creating my board, I simply searched for an image or word that linked to my goal, printed them out and stuck them down, alongside some of my own personal photos which I grabbed from my social media. I also used some positive affirmations and quotes I found on Pinterest that really spoke to me and I felt were words I needed to read, and most importantly, say, on a regular. It didn't take me long at all, but I was pretty specific and knew what I wanted. My vision board is very much designed like a collage and I threw a few gold stars on to make it look pretty. I'm very happy with it and I cannot wait to give it pride of place in the new desk area I'm planning for myself. 

Manifest those Dreams
Once finished, you want to display your board somewhere you're going to see it and look at it every day. Now, I'm all for a bit of woo-woo and a big believer in the Universe having your back and always listening, and I LOVE the way the Law of Attraction works.  When you look at the things on your vision board, close your eyes and imagine that goal / dream is real and that you're living that life. This is where being specific about your goals comes in. If you have a picture of a car on your board, does this mean you want a new car, you want to go on more road trips, take some driving lessons or book your test? When you're manifesting your goals, you need to be specific about what you want. You want to lose weight? How much weight? What would you look like? You want more money? How much money? Enough to pay the bills? Enough to clear your debts? Enough to be able to go on numerous holidays this year? Make sure you're specific when you're putting it out there into the Universe! I also think it a fantastic idea to get the kids involved.
I was chatting to my boys about what I was planning to do while we were out for lunch, and my 5 year old wanted to do one too! I think it's a great idea as it encourages them at an early age to dream, there's nothing wrong with young kids having goals and dreams. Not only does it teach them responsibility, it allows them to aim high and builds self-confidence. With Taylor, I asked him what did he want to do or achieve in 2020, then we printed pictures off and he got to work writing his sentences and decorating his board. It was super cute when he woke up the following morning saying, 'Mummy, I just looked at my Vision Board as soon as I woke up.' I hope that having this board reminds him of his goals this year and he feels joy and pride when he fulfills them, and I hope he continues to set himself goals throughout his life. 

What are YOUR Goals and Dreams for 2020? Have you made a Vision Board this year?