A couple of weeks ago, Emma and I found ourselves invited to Tapas Night at the Bell Inn in the New Forest. I'm a big fan of the Bell Inn having gone there previously for a work's Christmas party (their scallops and steak are INSANE), so jumped at the chance!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am tapas obsessed. I love all Spanish food and Spanish culture, as I regularly go to Spain. In fact, I'm going in just less than two months time.. EXCITING!

The tapas evening started at 7, and was in lovely intimate dining room- there were only 26 diners in total. The premise of the evening was to taste Spanish tapas and the menu was already on the table when we got to our table. As it was a themed night, the menu was a pre-set menu of 10 tapas dishes. Whilst we waited for Mojitos, Emma and I caught up!

Our mojitos arrived (HELLO COCKTAILS) and we delved right in, they were quite strong! It tasted fresh and crisp, just like a good mojito should!


Next up, we were served rustic bread, charcuterie and patatas bravas! I really enjoy bread, dipping oils, olives and that sort of thing so this course was right up my street.. the manchego was strong, but paired well with the serrano ham.

I also have a bit of an obsession with patatas bravas, they're genuinely my favourite dish in Spain (except for Gambas Al Ajillo!) and these did not disappoint. I liked the addition of fresh spring onions as it added an element of freshness to a usually carby dish.


After a little breather, the next round of tapas were served. Albondigas and Oxtail Croquettes. I was a bit apprehensive of the Oxtail Croquettes, as I've never had Oxtail before. I'm a forever fan of Albondigas and I have to say, these were up there in the albondigas rankings. Really enjoyed them! The oxtail croquettes were a pleasant surprise! I also really enjoyed these and would have them again.



The third round of tapas were then served, Gambas Al Ajillo (garlic prawns), Chicken, Chorizo and Mushroom Empanadas and Spanish Omelette! I adored the Gambas Al Ajillo. Garlic prawns as I've said before are my FAVOURITE. These were wonderful! I found the empanadas a little dry so used the albondigas sauce to dip them in, full of flavour though and the albondigas sauce accompanied them well! The Spanish omelette was equally delightful, and I enjoyed it!

Last but not least, we had dessert. Creme Catalan and Churros with Chocolate to dip them into! The creme catalan was very sweet but delicious nonetheless but the star of the dessert show were must definitely the churros. The churros were insaaaane. I left very content and happy.

After dinner, we also had a quick tour of the hotel and the rooms are gorgeous and well decorated. Definitely stay here if you're looking for somewhere in the New Forest.

One thing I would say is some themed background music would have complimented the night beautifully. Overall, I absolutely adored our experience and I'd definitely recommend attending one of the Bell Inn themed nights!

Thank you so much for having us! I'll most definitely be back. I'll be booking in to have my Graduation dinner at The Bell Inn!

Some of the more eagle eyed of you will note that the products in these pictures are Mother’s Day products, and we are past Mother’s Day.... however! The quality of these products are exceptional and definitely earned their review! Unfortunately, I’ve been having site issues and haven’t been able to push this post through sooner.... so fingers crossed it makes it..



QUALITY: As previously mentioned, the quality of these products is second to none. I was sent a card, wine label and gift bag. The card was made of a study material and wasn’t one of those flimsy cards you get from some of *THOSE* cheap card shops. The wine label was perfectly sized and covered the wine bottle label and the gift bag held my Mum’s gift and didn’t show any signs of breakage despite the present being quite heavy!

RANGE: The range of their products are incredible. From cards, badges, balloons and banners to drinking games, bottle openers and gift wrap- they’ve got everything you could need for a gift. The ranges are SO relatable and are applicable to almost everyone. One of my favourite products is the “List of People I Want To Punch In The Face” notebook. Ever so relevant and applicable! Take a look at their products here.

PRICE: I think their prices are incredibly reasonable- £3.75 for a card is more than reasonable especially as you can buy fairly plain and boring cards in supermarkets for the same kind of price.

I’ll definitely be shopping with Love Layla Designs for my next family birthday, my sister will love them!

In terms of product, I love the product and it made my eyebrows super defined, super quickly which I loved. However, I don't always define and highlight my brows, meaning I ran out of the actual brow make-up lots quicker than the other two shades. Compared to my holy grail brow-zings it also ran out much much quicker (2 months as opposed to 6-8 months). As they are both a similar price, I think I'll stick with my holy grail Brow-zings. Good effort Benefit- but perhaps a refillable pen would be something to look into!

I'm a self-proclaimed Netflix addict. Nothing better than a cheeky day spent on the sofa binge-watching! I thought I'd share my recent watches and my thoughts on them without giving any spoilers...

The Kalief Browder Story

Sooo I follow the amazing Laura on Instagram, I watched her stories and she mentioned The Kalief Browder Story. I HAD to give it a watch. Quite frankly I sat there with my mouth open in disbelief. I don't want to give the story away, so watch it. Tell me what you think.

I Feel Pretty

I've had this on my watch list for FOREVER (well, since I heard it was coming out obvsssss). I love me a bit of Amy Schumer, and pre-accident she is SO relatable. I love the whole premise of this film, and it's a real feel good girl power type film.

Queer Eye- Season 3

I LOVE QUEER EYE. JVN is just amaze. I wasn't that fussed by season 2, but I absolutely adored season 1... I thought I'd give season 3 a watch to make my final decision. I feel like they stripped it back to the same sort of thing as season 1 which I loved. I watched all of season 3 in one day, it was an emotional rollercoaster of a day of highs and lows and at one stage I was sobbing into my dog (poor pup). So many incredible episodes, but my favourite must be Elrod & Sons. I cried.

Isn't It Romantic
I also love Rebel Wilson. She always always always plays a fantastically funny character. This film is no different. I love it- a typical satirical rom com.

The Disappearance of Madeline McCann

Everyone knows the story of Maddie McCann. There has been huuuuuge hype around Netflix releasing this 8 part series, I think on the most part because there are so so so many theories, and we still don't know exactly what happened to Madeline McCann. The Netflix documentary interviews many different sources and gives an 'outsiders' view into the case and what happened in terms of the investigation. Worth a watch.

So, it's definitely been well over a month since I returned from Vegas... It's been a mad few weeks since I landed and this has been my first opportunity to sit down and write...

If you didn't know, I went to Vegas at the the start of February with my friend Liz. We stayed at Hooters Casino and Hotel (which btw, is 300% worth a stay- great value and the rooms are big and spacious!) and stayed for a week. Let me tell you now, the week flew by and I was SO sad to come home, however, it was definitely a jam packed week!

I cannot stress this enough, Vegas is an INCREDIBLE place. It really is the adult Disney Land. It's so vibrant and you can see why people call it the city which never sleeps. We'd wake up and pop down to the casino at 6/7/8am and people would still be sat there gambling from the night before!

The majority of the hotels have a casino within them, even the petrol station had slot machines in! I also loved how each of the hotels along the strip had a different theme.

We did so much it would be impossible to cover EVERYTHING, but below are some things to do and places to eat that I'd recommend!


Things to Do
Grand Canyon- this is simply something you cannot miss. We did a coach tour which was a loooong ass day but it was more than worth it. When we visited, there was snow on the ground and the views were simply stunning. I'd have been gutted to miss this. Along the route, we also visited the Hoover Dam and Route 66 which were great sights to see. My sister loved the film Cars when we were younger, so it was amazing to see Seligman, Arizona which is the town which Radiator Springs was based on.


Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign- Typical tourist destination, but you can't go to Vegas and not see it (as pictured above!).

Stratosphere- Just incredible aerial views of the strip! A must see. You can also throw yourself off the top of it attached to a bungee cord, something which we witnessed someone doing.. not for me!


Gondola- We ended up on a cheeky Gondola ride for two despite booking to have a shared ride (Cheeky tip: go first thing in the morning muahaha!). It was surreal to be punted down a river in a hotel but feeling like you're in Venice and being serenaded in Italian.


Zip-Wire across Downtown Las Vegas- I hate heights. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate heights. However, this was on Liz's bucket list, and so we booked to go. I'm so so so so thankful she made me do it, as the experience was actually so thrilling.


Neon Museum- the bloggers/ Instagrammers playground. The graveyard for all of Las Vegas Neon Signs.


Any Casino- You can't go to Vegas and not gamble. Simple. As you can see, massive baller that I am... cashed out at $15!


Downtown Las Vegas- Incredible party atmosphere in the evening. A must see!


Chippendales- Honestly, you cannot NOT go to the Chippendales. I was lucky enough to be invited up on stage, TWICE. I mean, you have to go. WHAT IS NOT TO LIKE? Hellloooooo fit men! (ps. here's a photo of me slow dancing to Ed Sheeran with a naked Chippendale... you're welcome).



Places to Eat

Heart Attack Grill- the food was incredible but do not over order or you'll get spanked! We saw someone getting spanked and it looked PAINFUL. I opted for the double bypass burger with flatliner fries. No chilli and no extra bacon! There was SO much of it, I'd never have managed anymore. It was really good though!


La Pizza La Pasta at Eataly- This was our last night meal pre-Chippendales. We had had burgers and chips pretty much all holiday or some variation and we fancied a change. I had the Quadratini di Ricotta which is a pasta filled with ricotta and spinach in a lemon butter and walnut pesto sauce and it was GORGEOUS.


Nacho Daddy- one of the BEST meals we had. Also AMAZING margs, we opted for the White Peach Margs and they were INCREDIBLE. The nachos were seriously good too but I'd recommend sharing one portion between two! I had the ground beef nachos and their claims of never a dry chip are DEFINITELY true.


Beauty and Essex Bar- Some incredible cocktails at the Cosmopolitan, rather pricey but they were LETHAL.


I had the most wonderful time with one of my best friends, I'd definitely go again and it was a fabulous holiday!