Our Weekend In Pictures...

My weekends of late have either been laden with crazy drunkenness and late nights or work and absolutely no play. So last weekend myself, Mini and our gorgeous little pal Kim decided to get the hell out of the city and spend some much needed time resting up in the country - Flaunden in Hertfordshire to be exact. It all started on Saturday evening when we raced to Waitrose to pick up our favourite foods for an indulgent dinner and Sunday morning brekkie ahead.

We finally arrived at Elm cottage when dusk was setting in...

We settled in, got the fire going and prepared our scrumptious dinner - homemade lasagne with lashings of white sauce, tasty beef and mozzarella... 

Prepped, ready and waiting we decided to wrap up warm, torch in hand and head to the local pub, The Bricklayers Arms for a bottle of well deserved wine. 

An hour later we zig zagged back up the pitch black country lane on our tipsy toes, chattering excitably as we went whilst on the look out for Orion's Belt of stars in the sky!

Ten minutes later, we were back in our safe, cosy little cottage and were ready to well and truly demolish our pre-prepared supper...

Next came the Champs... Kim had snapped up this little bottle of goodness from The Modest Merchant on her way to the cottage. A gorgeous independent wine outfit that offers up carefully selected wines from the major wine regions of the world. Each bottle of plonk comes with a thoughtful narrative card that talks you through the wine, where it comes from and why it's so special. Lovely touch...

And to finish us off, in true 3BadMice style, we indulged in a cheese board and settled in for an evening of Christmas films and snoozing. Heaven! 

The next day, we were up bright and early preparing yet more delish grub! This time sourdough, scrambled Clarence Court eggs (only the best will do), parma ham and parmesan shavings with a steaming pot of tea and freshly brewed coffee...

Next on the agenda? Sitting around in cosy PJs of course! Reading the weekend supplements, sipping more tea whilst talking make-up, boys and plans for 2015. Hours passed by without us even noticing - love these girls. 

To top off our blissful weekend, we took ourselves off for a blustery walk...

The Perfect weekend - only problem is, I now want to do exactly the same EVERY weekend! Kimmy - can we, can we???

Lobo Love...

Ahhhhh Vale do Lobo - my happy place! You might remember myself and Mini zipped off on a trip there back in June with beautiful twins, V & Kerrie and two of their pals from Ireland - check out our write up here. We just had the BEST time - five days full of girly giggles, sun, sea, champanski and lots of full-on 23-year old behaviour! With that in mind, you can imagine the excitement and squeals that could be heard for miles when a Facebook invite dropped into our inboxes from the twinkling twin-set inviting us to their 30th Birthday party... in Lobo!!! We were IN - late September, five days, fifty of us, last chance for summer sun and bad behaviour!

In June we stayed at the twins place within the resort, but this time we had no choice but to upsize because of the sheer volume of people flying in. Cue pictures of our magnificent mansion...

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, this was home to eleven girls for the next five days - myself, Mini, Birthday Blondie V, Rocket Man Fran, Dolphin Diver Becca, Fierce and Fabulous Ngozi, Mrs. Sergeant Pepper Holly, Anna-cougar, Power-Bitch Cathy, our Wounded Soldier Sarah and hmmmmm Sophie. We all rocked up together and spent the next hour running around the house at breakneck speed shouting 'OMG OMG OMG' exploring every inch of our palace - five huge bedrooms and V's master suite, a sprawling balcony with plush seating, a killer games room, curved grand stairs leading down to the pool of all pools and views sent from heaven. Let the F-U-N and pool lounging begin!

 

 

We arrived on the Wednesday with the big 3-0 party set to take place on the Saturday. Meaning we had two days and two nights to build momentum AND momentum we built! Ours days were mostly filled with this...

...recovering from the evening before! We managed to cram in a trip to oceanside beach bar and restaurant, BJs, where we were serenaded by the bold and bossy Ngozi who volunteered to sing us an Amy Winehouse, Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love medley ... oh-so-special indeed! Two rip-roaring house parties back at the mansion consisting of a cardboard box championship, more pool antics and homemade killer cocktails all set to Elton John's greatest hits - the only CD the mansion owned that was worth sound system air time! All topped off with a daily dose of Monty lovin', the local bar/club just down the road!

 

So Saturday rolled in after the blur of the last few sleep deprived and fun-filled day and nights ... some of us were feeling fresher than others but there was no denying EVERYBODY was on-board to make sure V & Kerrie's night would be one to remember! Things started off in a civilised manner with Champagne, Happy Birthday singing, present giving and group photography...

 

But very quickly, the champagne was replaced with seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time cocktail creations like tequila, vodka, peach iced tea and coke cooler (!!!), drunken dancing courtesy of DJ Fortune and the most ridiculous pool sesh! Picture evidence as follows...

How do I sum up the fun ... Trip of a Lobo-time! Big love and thanks to V & K-Fed for putting on the best time - we love you twinnies. Now when can we go back for round III???

 

Our Weekend in Pictures...

Hong Kong Mouse is back in town and as a result the whole of last week was jam packed with way too much London fun and frolics! There were no sofa nights in watching Orange is the new Black sipping tea that's for sure! Friday rolled on in and we were T-I-R-E-D and in need of some serious R&R - what better way of revitalising and re-booting our mousey selves than a weekend away in the country.

We hopped onto airbnb to search for the perfect weekend hideaway and fell hook line and sinker for an 18th Century 3-bed barn in the Picturesque village of Montacute, Somerset. Newly renovated by the owner, the barn looked perfect for three girly girls and Hong Kong mouses' boyfriend, Jasper. Done & done and before we knew it we had contacted the owner and booked after country bumpkin weekend away!

As always we had planned our breakfast, lunch and dinner menus down to a tee, emptying the entire contents of M&S into our weekend shoppers! We had enough food to feed the UK's population ... You know us and food! Friday arrived and we bombed it down to Somerset in our hire wagon, eagerly anticipating the fun and sun to come! Silly boozy roadtrip pictures obviously obligatory...

We arrived around 10pm after a traffic-fuelled journey - weary but hugely excitable, we were met by the friendly owner and shown around our swish pad. Beautiful and everything we could possibly want or need! 

Next? Eat of course! We whipped up chilli crab linguini followed by lemon meringue pie - yum yum. Full, happy and sleepy we all headed to bed to make sure we were fresh and raring to go the next day. 

Birds tweeting and light streaming through the blinds we were woken up naturally feeling rested, ready to dig into a tasty brekkie and explore the house and grounds in daylight - yippee! 

First up, the house - stark white pristine walls, the comfiest squishiest sofa that ever lived, antiquey accents, a fancy new kitchen and a grandfather clock to boot!

Interior grand tour complete, next we ventured outside to roam the 1.5 acres of surrounding ground. The only disappointment to note was that the outdoor swimming pool advertised on airbnb was actually closed - sob - so no poolside Pimms for us. What you gonna do - onwards and upwards...

That level of exploration called for a stiff drink and some serious sunbathing! Luckily there were four super comfy loungers all lined up ready for us to fall back onto...

After a strenuous morning of fashion magazine reading, champagne sipping and chit chat galore we decided it was high time we topped our rumbling tummies up with a rip-roarer of a lunch...

We were kept company by our new doggy pal, Wiggles AKA the owner's pet...

In the afternoon we turned our hand to something a little more civilised and cultural so off we scampered through the winding streets of Montacute...

...in search of Montacute House, a late Elizabethan house designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. The three-storey mansion was built in 1598 by Sir Edward Phelips (the prosecutor during the trial of the Gunpowder Plotters). The house was occupied until the early 20th Century and was then acquired by the National Trust in 1927. Stunningly beautiful grounds and fascinating history unravelled as we walked from room to room inside the House itself.

Puffed out, thirsty and hungry for our next feed off we went in search of our home away from home. Champagne with bobbing strawberries and a spot of cards was how we spent the next few hours...

...followed by more food and many bottles of wine!

And this is how the evening and weekend ended - a success in every sense!