Civic Dinner at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst

Friday 15th September was a rather grand affair where we accompanied the Mayor, Councillor Valerie White with her husband and Consort David, to greet guests at the RMA Sandhurst to the civic dinner. As the first to arrive we were privileged to be given a tour of the private rooms for prestigious guests – the place where royalty chill out before a parade or passing out of the officers.

We stood to attention with the Mayor and her Consort to welcome guests in the main entrance with welcome drinks and a saxophone soloist.

The dinner was a collective of Councillors from Surrey Heath’s Borough Council, their partners, and local businesses that had won the Surrey Heath Business Awards.

The meal was absolutely stunning, beautifully prepared and presented. And of course the finale of a cheese board and port was gratefully (😜) received.

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Don’t take my head off Mr Deputy Mayor!

On Saturday morning I attended the opening of the new Cotswolds Ourdoor shop in Bagshot to escort my husband, Deputy Mayor of Surrey Heath Councillor Dan Adams, on the unveiling.

It was an incredible launch event and with thanks to the whole team went really smoothly. The Eagle Radio team were present for the opening after a campaign to promote it in the previous few days with discounts aplenty!

We were lucky to have a nosey prior to the opening with Lauren showing us around. I didn’t think it would be my thing at all until we got to the Runners Need area, then I got pretty excited! I used to be a sprinter when I was younger but now I have really gotten into long distance running. So I will definitely be back there to try it out as I know after I do anything over 5km I do run (😂) into problems with my joints and my pelvis. I’d be really interested to see what the analysis would say.

Well done to everyone who waited in the queue, we got there at 8:40 and there was already a pretty big queue gathering for the 9am opening!

Mrs Deputy

So back on the 17th May my husband was elected at the Deputy Mayor of Surrey Heath. Which makes me ‘dum du du dummmm’ Deputy Mayoress of Surrey Heath, sounds pretty cool huh?! So watch this space for some of our cool goings on as we take on the next year and then on-going from May 2018 when we hopefully go on to become Mayor and Mayoress of Surrey Heath. It’s gonna be one heck of a ride and we both cannot wait! So why don’t you join us and follow along?!

 

Should’ve gone to Specsavers… oh wait – I did!

So last year I started getting incredibly bad headaches. I get migraines and I get standard headaches, however these were completely different. I was a little concerned so I decided to pop into the Specsavers in Camberley, I explained my symptoms and the optician that I spoke to was incredibly supportive and agreed that getting my eyes checked was completely the right decision. She examined my eyes in great detail, with far more gadgetry than 20 years ago (the last time I had had an eye test)! It turned out that my pupils are of a slightly odd shape and a very minimal deficiency to the sight, the decision was completely mine if I wanted to order prescription glasses. I’d decided that at the time I didn’t feel this was the cause of my headaches and declined a pair of glasses. As it turns out changing jobs did the trick!! And since then I’ve now had any of those strange headaches – funny what stress does to you. 

After seeing my hairdresser the other day with a fabulous new pair of glasses from the Kylie Minogue range (at Specsavers!) I really wanted to have another look and see if I could pull off a pair for myself. Even though my vision is pretty great, just that slight change perhaps could make a difference. After all – I’m over 30 now!! So I went back in about a month ago, had a chat with a fabulously helpful ‘style guru’ of Specsavers, Darren, who gave me some great advice on the different styles of glasses that would suit my face shape – who knew there was a science to it! 

So I now have a fabulous new pair of glasses & sunglasses for the summer, am currently testing them out on our holiday right now! 

Glo – a salon experience in Camberley like no other! (Really!)

This weekend was an incredibly special one for 2 beautiful girl friends of mine – one birthday was yesterday and the other is tomorrow! So as 2 incredibly gorgeous ladies, it was a time for pampering like no other. There was no spa, no green smoothies, no wind pipe music – we visited the place that is quite literally the spa of the future – Glo hair salon in Camberley, Surrey.

There was prosecco, chocolate and fruit treats (I did take these in as an extra for the birthday lovelies, however the Saturday boys did an incredible job plating it all up for us), hair treatment, head massage and plenty of gossip and laughter to keep us going through our colour set time. I also managed to get in a sneaky freebie for us all of their Kerastase Fusio-Dose hair treatment which was advertised on their Facebook page, all we simply had to do was check-in at the salon with a picture of ourselves and boom – freebie colour-protect treatment worth £15! Find it for yourself at http://www.Facebook.com/glosalonCamberley 🙂

The girls in there were absolutely amazing. So helpful in putting a birthday banner up for our arrival, great chat and just really made it an incredible experience for us all. We had the stunning Zoe, Amber & Lace cutting and colouring our hair with Bianca and Amy coming over to check on us occasionally and always making sure our glasses were full. We’ll be back soon ladies!

 

 

 

A Stroll (!) UP Box Hill and a very quirky dinner

Considering last Sunday was due to be a ‘heatwave’ for February my husband and I decided to take the dog for a hike (!) up Box Hill! We asked friends to join us with their 2 year old son, little did we realise it would be quite the adventure that it turned out to be!

The 274 steps up were challenging, with a 2 year old wanting to be carried part way and a deaf 13 year old dog that enjoys running off at every opportunity. As we gained momentum around every bend there was always the question to passers by going down of “how much further?!” But we made it and were not disappointed  by the stunning view – every time we go it is just as spectacular as the very first.

A little someone absolutely loved it! Taking in the view all by himself, chuckling as if to say “I made it!”, we won’t mention the steps that he didn’t manage on his own! And a big someone absolutely loved the journey down – lots of rolling down the slopes thanks to the beautiful green hills, apart from the yelp near the bottom stating he thinks he was stopped by cow dung, yuck…. Luckily it was dry, but still, pew!

Dinner consisted of a new favourite for us – ox cheek casserole. Would you believe it was so scrummy! I had it in the slow cooker before we left and as we entered our flat the aromas that exploded through the door were sensational. Definitely a new contender for the Sunday dinner table. The recipe was a simple one that I found on Pinterest – I’ll definitely be searching for more of them.

 

Brits hit the Macy’s 1 Day Sale

So whilst we were in Florida and watching Good Morning America (love that show!) there were a LOT of adverts for the Macy’s ‘1 DAY SALE’, all day Saturday for 1 day only. Opening hours from 8am ‘get there early or miss out’ kind of thing. We needed to get a couple of bits for people for Christmas that involved designer bits but couldn’t find at the outlets so we thought we’d give it a go. My husband and I are early risers and thought we could join the crowds to see if we could find our Christmas presents and maybe some hidden gems.

So we set the alarm, showered and headed over to the Orlando Mall, aiming for 7:45 to hopefully get a decent parking space and wait for the shop to open. When we arrived at the entrance to the mall’s car park there was no queue, managed to get a spot pretty much right outside Macy’s front entrance and no sign of life anywhere. We did kind of think  ‘oh dear, did we get the wrong day’. I checked on-line – we had the correct day and correct time. So when 8 o’clock came and we saw one lady walk into the store we decided to take the plunge (as Brits that hate being embarrassed) and walk through the doors. The place was empty! I got the Mac makeup lady all to myself, the shoe section all to myself and the changing rooms (almost) all to myself! It was an absolute dream! Those Floridians do not get up early on the weekend for anything!!

One small step for man (and his Surrey Gossip Girl)!…

So whilst on holiday in the amazingly beautiful Davenport, Florida my husband and I decided to embark on the NASA Kennedy Space Center mission! We have the most incredibly stunning SUV (amazing car and service given from the great team at FloridaCarHire.com) however it doesn’t have a sat nav built-in. But no panic from us as I have discovered that my mobile app Waze can actually navigate without the need for mobile data! The only thing you have to do is to start the journey WITH wifi – then you are good to go and it will remember the roads and directions – simple!

Getting to the space centre was pretty easy and as we drive over to the island I actually saw real life dolphins jumping through the ocean – beautiful does not come close to the description that this needs. The only time I’ve seen these glorious creatures has been in captivity so in their own environment was just breath-taking.

The NASA Kennedy Space Center was just great! Depending on your devotion to finding out every detail or if you just want to dip your toes in to the experience – it has everything for everyone. The interactive exhibits were fab, 3D experience and short movies were really interesting, this coming to you from a person that wasn’t really interested in going until my husband dragged me along!

Surrey Gossip Girl to base – over and out!

 

Christmas Tree in a Convertible!

So this weekend saw the yearly ritual of our Christmas tree purchase. We’ve been to the same place in Runfold since living in Camberley for the past 5 years.

Having a 2 door convertible makes things a little more interesting however! Especially with the tall tree that we’d chosen to fit into our Victorian conversion flat: tall ceiling = tall tree! So the drive home along the A331 was a windy one, with me wrapping Mitzi’s car blanket around my knees!

We absolutely love this place for their trees – they are by far the best that we have ever had. The needles are described as ‘non-drop’, and boy do they live up to that advert! Yes I do have to vacuum up a few, but that’s only after about 2-3 weeks and mainly due to disturbing the tree with pushing presents underneath. Apart from this the trees stay really nice and full and most importantly – green, even on the day when we take it down. The family that sell the trees are incredibly friendly and approachable – give them a price you’re happy with and they’ll show you the trees for your budget. No judging or assumptions, just honest and reasonable.

We’ve opted for a ‘mix and match’ tree this year. Classic multi-coloured lights and an array of ornaments to adorn the branches.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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