Review: Dune Surfer and Just Burgers & Beers.

A while ago (ahem, November!!) I was invited to my first Blogger Event from the lovely girls at LUX. As life has been pretty chaotic I've only just got round to finishing this post (bad blogger!)

The event was taking place in Just Burger & Beers up in the Royal Mile and was to promote a new low-cal refreshing beer - Dune Surfer. Now I LOVE burgers and I LOVE beer, so yeah, there wasn't really any part of me saying no - apart from the small nervous part about meeting a bunch of strangers. Now I'm no stranger to the blogging world, having had this one since 2009 (although the lack of older posts doesn't make this clear, I had a bit of a radge moment and deleted all my old posts and wish I never had), but this was my first meet up, other than nods of acknowledgement from others when I've been out and around town. So I was a little nervous about that, but really shouldn't have been, everyone I spoke to was lovely.

So back to the beer and burger.

We were firstly spoken to by the owner of Just Beer & Burgers who explained we would given a small sample of their 'sides', home-made 'slaw, pulled pork, chicken wing, chili and nachos, - god it was all so tasty but so filling, I wasn't actually sure I'd be able to manage my burger afterwards. 

We then had a chat from the owner of Dune Surfer, a gentleman with years of brewery experience. The beer is marketed as refreshing, hydrating, low-cal and low- alcohol (around 2%). The beers I tend to drink are ones like Heineken, Innis & Gunn lager, a few choice Williams Bros and Black Isle. So this was probably a fair bit away from my 'norm'. However, I did find it refreshing, fruity and very light, as to not suffer from the beer bubbles. I could quite imagine sitting in a beer garden in the Summer having a few of these.

Next we tried a beer cocktail, they added gin, watermelon and something limey, it was delish, something I would certainly attempt to recreate at home. 

During this part our burgers arrived!

I'd gone for their 'Anna Nicole Smith' burger, a lovely burger but a bit of a mess, (too harsh?...maybe). But it was one of the best burgers I've had. Served on a seeded bun with the Wee Mans fiery beef chilli, melted Monty Jack cheese & jalapenos. 

There were also fries and onion rings the size of your hand, I was stuffed by the end, and we got chocolate brownie to take home. Chocolate isn't high on my list of 'like's but the brownie was superb.

30 is just 21 with 9 years experience

So, yeah, life's been a little bit crazy over the past few months.

We've had Christmas and New Year, I turned 30 (and it wasn't as tough as I thought it was going to be), works been crazy busy too! I feel like I just get home and it's time to start all over again! So I've taken a little time to write the mandatory 'catch-up' post.

So my 30th birthday wasn't a huge disaster, I didn't wake up grey with masses of wrinkles. In fact it was pretty awesome. I was spoiled massively. There was Harris Tweed, Rox, alcohol, jewellery, Radley watch. I done very well. And on top of that Jamie's parents bought me driving lessons. I'm currently on my third and so far so good. 

On my actual birthday Jamie had booked a table at Chaophraya, if you don't know it, it's a LOVELY Thai restaurant in Edinburgh that has spectacular views of Edinburgh castle. There is a roof terrace that would be great for Summer time but as it was winter it was safer to stay inside. The food was amazing. I've never had proper Thai out in a restaurant so stuck with safe dishes, prawns with sweet chilli dip for starter and Thai green chicken curry for main. The chicken was like butter, sooo soft, and I could have lived off the sauce alone. Jamie had black pudding & scallops for starter with a Thai twist and sizzling chill steak for main. We also had some 'sticky' rice which lives up to it's name!! Afterwards we popped to 52 Canoes for 'a' drink, which resulted in us leaving around 12.30. 

On the Friday we went out a did some Winter Wonderland bits and bobs, sampled some cheese and the thinks you feel a little obliged to do at this time of year. 

And on the Saturday before (as we had a wedding on the Saturday) I had a great night out with my lovely friends in Pivo. Usual protocol is we'll go the The Black Bull but as there were a few more folk out that normal, Bob - the loveliest bar manager in Edinburgh - suggested we use Pivo. Jamie, being the little scamp that he is, had gone in earlier after rugby to put up photos and banners, whilst Bob provided the biggest chocolate cake I've ever seen!! I had a fantastic night and we danced the night away till 2.30 - not bad for an oldie!! 

Christmas and New Year were both ace, lots of food and drink, more gifts and although I only had a little bit of time off work, we made the most of it.

Hopefully I should have some exciting news to share soon....hopefully!!

Silent Sunday #2

Marcos Returns

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Lucy at Hot Tin Roof, a PR agency in Edinburgh, to see if I fancied popping along to the reopening of Marcos Pizza & Pool Hall (previously Marcos Leisure) on Grove Street. I immediately jumped at the chance!

You see, back when I was 19 I worked in the old Marcos part-time and loved it so much I quit my government job a year later to work in Marcos full-time. I was mainly on reception or bar and eventually I ended up doing Little Marcos too, dressing up as Marco Bear and doing the hokey cokey. But it was by far the most fun job I've ever had. Marcos used to host 2 pool rooms (31 tables), a full-size competition snooker table, 2 private snooker rooms. Fitness classes, squash courts, a sports bar, a cafe, Little Marcos and the first free weight gym of it's kind in Edinburgh. I remember one night we had Snow Patrol playing downstairs, KT Tunstall playing upstairs and XFM DJs Paul and Fraser playing in the main bar - not too shabby. 

I was absolutely gutted when the main building was demolished and student accommodation built, I had long since left to pastures new but it was a huge part of my life (cheesy I know) so hearing it was returning was just fantastic news.

So yesterday whilst standing in what was the old kitchen looking into the new bar it was quite surreal. The new bar is nice, clean, fresh, and a decent selection of beer starting from £3 a pint which isn't bad at all for being in town. There's even Goose! 

There's also a good selection of bar food, pizza, nachos, chips, again all reasonably priced. Although I did miss the mini TVs on the bar taps that the old place had, those were ingenious. 

The new pool hall is situation downstairs underneath the bar, make sure you stop for a 'selfie' with Marco Bear on your way down.

And also check out the history of Marcos on the walls. 

Did you know Bruce 'The Boss' Springsteen trained in the gym at once!? 

The new hall is hugely different from the old ones, and hugely different from any pool hall I've been in before. 

We had a few games, ending  in a 2-1 victory to Jamie, was pretty cool being the first people to ever play on table #1 though. I think there are about 17 pool tables and prices start at just £5 an hour. So in all honesty, get yourself and your mates along for some eats, drinks and pool stat! 
The official opening is Wednesday 5th November.

One of my favorite parts of the night - this picture. 

I would honestly have a copy in my flat if I knew who the illustrator was. 

30th Birthday - What To Wear?

I've been scouring the interweb for some birthday outfit inspiration. My actual birthday night out is pretty low-key. It's being held in a local pub with my lovely friends and I'm not making a massive deal about it therefore I want to keep my outfit low-key too. The other thing is Jamie is treating me to dinner, now I know it's in one of three places: The Witchery, Howies or Chaophraya with drinks beforehand at The Devils Advocate, so for that I am looking for something a little more dressy.

So getting the easy ones out the way I thought something like these for my night out with friends, simple and low-key.
 

Boohoo skater dress, £25 / Kiss The Sky lace cami tank / Skinny jeans / ALDO black leather boots, £34 / ASOS strappy shoes / Jimmy Choo pink handbag, £765 / Maison Martin Margiela silver charm, £370 / Kate spade jewelry, £30 / KENNETH JAY LANE clip-on earrings, £24 / Glitzy Rocks sterling silver stud earrings, £9.00

 When it comes to the second part, my birthday meal. I'm at a complete standstill if I'm honest. I've been looking over my old favorites ASOS and AX Paris and so far have come up with the following: now don't even get me started on shoes and accessories.

John Zack floral pattern dress, £33 / ASOS blue v neck dress, £24 / AX Paris macrame dress / ASOS pink cape, £24 / Asos shorts / Pleat Front Chiffon Long Sleeve Playsuit - AX Paris

So what do you think? Can you suggest somewhere else I should check out?

Winter Wedding Dilemmas

In the coming months I have two evening wedding receptions to attend. One of which the female guests were asked to wear a floor length gown, and for which I've chosen this black JS Collections maxi dress. I spotted this dress about two years ago in House of Fraser but with no reason to buy it the £150 price tag made just a little bit pointless. I missed it in the Summer sale and then it hasn't been back in stock since *sob*. 

I did however keep a close eye on ebay and picked in up 'as new, worn once' for £15.95, how's that for a bargain? I do have to get it altered slightly but I would have had to get that done regardless.

Jamie's mum has given me a pair of earrings to wear, they were the first pair she bought when she got her ears pierced so a lovely pair of vintage that look similar to the ones below. 

The red dress I bought back in February in the ASOS sale, mainly because although I have a few lovely dresses there was nothing I could lift out at short notice and with a boyfriend that attends quite a lot of corporate events you just never know. However this one hasn't made it out the wardrobe yet.

I'm trying to be a little thrifty so close to Christmas so have been looking for shoes and a bag I can use for both, Jamie being the only person who will be at both, and have settled upon gold or black. So with the help of Polyvore I've been putting together some ideas for both events.

 

To go with the red outfit I've decided to have my hair down and hope to god it will actually keep a curl. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos and going through Pinterest to get some suggestions and I think it should be OK. I may add in a few extensions just to give some volume. 
For nails & make up I'm going to go light & natural. I think I will DIY French Manicure my nails and keep my makeup to nude shades. 

For the black outfit I'm going to go for a 'messy side bun', which again I've been researching lots. Having fine hair that doesn't back comb well is a bit of a nightmare. But a few lightweight products and plenty kirby grips should help. For nails I'm thinking a deep maroon, slightly 'gothic' vibes that will tie in with the Ghillie Dhu but again I'll probably keep my make up subtle and light. Mainly as my little eyes don't carry off a lot of make up, but I have almost two months so I may practice a lot and see what I can achieve, any advice is more than welcome.

So any fashion bunnies out there, what do you think? Does this work? Black or Gold? Something different altogether? And all you lovely beauty bloggers - HELP!

Guts, Ghosts & Gore Oh My! Edinburgh Dungeons Review

When I was asked recently if I fancied popping along to Edinburgh Dungeons I absolutely jumped at the chance. I LOVE all things scary (we're currently watching 'Would You Rather' on NetFlix) so couldn't wait to sample the guts, ghosts and gore of Auld Reekie.

Being a local I have been to the Dungeons before but it was a very, very long time ago so I was looking forward to seeing how much it had changed. I wasn't disappointed.  From the first few steps inside I was feeling a little nervous. The ambience, the creepy music, the decor, all fantastic.  

The tour was filled with Scottish history, from Burke & Hare to William Wallace, the Cannibalistic Bean family and much, much more. 

I don't want to give too much away, there were certainly more than a couple of jumps & screams from our group, myself & Jamie included and you have to go in with an open mind because they do pick on members of the audience. Jamie ended up in front of the judge and one of Sawney Beans creepy-as sons wanted me to be his girlfriend. It was a great laugh. The staff were fantastic and it's definitely something I'd recommend. 

Our whole tour lasted about 1.5hrs and with tickets costing from just £9.50 for kids and £10.95 for adults (online pre-booking), there's also special offers for Family and Group tickets - it's definitely worth it. 

After the tour you do have an opportunity to buy some pictures that are taken of you during the tour. We got a picture from the final part of tour, the Drop Dead, it wasn't the most flattering of me but I think it captured exactly how I felt. 

Maybe if enough of you lovely people click through to the Dungeons link I'll share it with you all. Until then it's staying safely on the fridge. 

*disclaimer: I was given two free tickets for the purpose of reviewing the Edinburgh Dungeons. All views are my own and all reviews are 100% honest.

Degustabox - July Review

If you would like to try Degustabox for yourself and get a cheeky £3 off your first box just click here.

So I enjoyed my first Degustabox so much that I decided to stick with it for another month. In this months box I received: 

• 3 bottles of ZEO drinks (peach & grapefruit, citrus crush & lime zest) 
• 3 packets of Portlebay Kracklecorn (popcorn) (crispy bacon & maple syrup, sweet & salt, chilli & lime)
• 6 packets of Maggi sauces 
• Dr. Oetker Eton Mess and Violet Crystals 
• 2 Hornsby's Apple & Blueberry cider 
• Green & Blacks Dark Chocolate & lemon chocolate

Unfortunately a lot of this box won't get used straight away (Maggi's and Dr Oetker) and the popcorn will need to be sampled and reviewed by Jamie.

What I can review: firstly the chocolate. Dark chocolate isn't my thing BUT this was lovely, just a square or two totally satisfied any sweet craving I had. This I would possibly buy again. 

Secondly, Hornsby's apple & blueberry cider. At first I thought this was very 'odd' tasting but I have to admit half way through a cold bottle on a Friday night I was quite enjoying it. Would I buy it? Potentially. It makes a bit of a refreshing difference from my normal Rekorderlig mixed berry or strawberry & lime. 

Rudi enjoying the box again - pretty sure he's looking forward to it more than me!

Steak'N'Shake Tuesdays!

Last Tuesday I was very fortunate enough to be heading along to Steak in Edinburgh for some free dinner after winning their 'SteakNShake' competition the week before. 

Every Tuesday Steak run the competition via their Twitter page, all you have to do is come up with a milkshake flavour and they choose the one the like best from that week - simple. 

My entry - mango & passion fruit. 

Now I have to admit, this was actually my second time winning. My first time being last December when it had not long started, I'm sure it was 'chocolate orange' flavour as it was Christmas time. So anyone thinking you can't win. You can (go,go,go)

My first trip to Steak was my first 'proper' date with Jamie, as in dinner and drinks. So it was also a great reminiscence. 

Every Tuesday between 5pm – 10pm feast on a 200g rump steak with fries and wash it down with a refreshing milkshake - yum. - £15.00pp

Before we went up for our meal, we headed to Beer & Skittles, it was my first time in, although I've been meaning to for AGES. 

Huge plus points:

Lovely beer garden 

Huge sofa booths for when it gets a bit chillier 
£10* beer pitchers with 'Beer & Skittles' beer made specially by Bellhaven. 

(*you must check-in on Facebook to get this special deal)

I enjoyed Beer & Skittles so much I'm even thinking of inquiring as to whether I could reserve more than one booth for my 30th. It would be a fab place to meet for a few hours before folk tail off.

After a few, ahem, 3 pitchers of beer (there were three of us to begin with) .... we went with a bottle of Cótes Du Rhóne to finish off with, which was lovely as always.

Our server couldn't have been nicer, and we were even able to have our table pushed back 45 minutes whilst we finished our beer downstairs. 

I couldn't recommend Steak or Beer & Skittles any more, especially for mid-week treats like this. 

Standard food pic

*Disclaimer - I have not been paid for this post and all thoughts are my own.

My First Degustabox

Almost a month after receiving my first Degustabox I've gotten round to writing about it. 

(I actually get my second one next week!) 

A while back the lovely Laura over at TheLikelyLady did her own post on Degustabox and I was immediately interested. For £12.99 a month you receive a box of 9-12 food & drink items delivered to your door, what's not to love!? 

I'm always up for trying new things and this way it could be something I wouldn't have thought about trying before. 

My June box contained the following: 

Elizabeth Shaw Milk Chocolate Amaretto Flutes   
Urban Fruit - Pineapple

Be Fast Breakfast shakes - banana (2)   
Bear Alphabites cereal   
Strawberry Lambrini

Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Grinder
Veetee Egg Fried rice
Estrella Damm

and as an extra, Earl Grey Tea:Latte

 

 I found June's box was a nice mixture. You may notice that the Milk Chocolate Amaretto Flutes aren't pictured, these may have been consumed by my colleagues & I....

In a quick rating: 

Milk Chocolate Amaretto Flutes - 5/5

I'm not a massive chocolate fan if I'm honest. I have to be really in the mood but these....very tasty, very moreish and the calorie intake was pretty low, shame you want to eat a whole box at one.

Urban Fruit - Pineapple 

These are still in the cupboard unopened unfortunately. I'm not a huge lover of dry fruit and will probably keep these until one of my friends with kids visits as I'm sure they'd make a great healthy snack. 

Be Fast Breakfast shakes - banana (2) - 4/5

I had one of these shakes when I was in a rush and too busy one morning and failed to  have breakfast. It was very nice, great banana taste, a bit like a Yazoo milkshake, not too sweet and it didn't taste like it had 'stuff' in it. I'd definitely have these again.

Bear Alphabites cereal 

Neither J or myself are huge cereal fans, the occasional bowl of coco-pops once in a while is about as far as it goes. So, these are also in the cupboard awaiting the day that I crave some cereal again. 

Strawberry Lambrini

Currently chillin' in our beer fridge waiting for a summers evening to be be popped open. I enjoy strawberry flavored drinks and I'm sure I've had some other fruity Lambrini in the past that wasn't hideous so I am looking forward to trying this.

Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Grinder - 5/5

Getting this for amongst my box I was pleasantly surprised, vanilla is not cheap and to buy this alone would probably be about half the price of the box. So I'm squirreled this away for my next baking day. 

Veetee Egg Fried rice - 3/5

Rice, oh rice! As much as I think of myself as a decent cook, cooking rice is my MAJOR downfall. Want a home-made lasagna including pasta, sure. Steak, peppercorn sauce & home-made fries, def. Want fluffy tasty rice with that shredded chilli chicken I whipped up, no danger.

So you get the idea, micro-rice is my calling. And this was decent. I wouldn't favour it over good ol' Uncle Bens, it was a little on the dry side for my liking. But all in all, a good rice. 

Estrella Damm - 5/5

Now we're talking. 

A light, crisp, cold beer, perfect for these Summer evenings. This I would 100% purchase, no ifs or buts. 

Earl Grey Tea:Latte - 0/5

Lastly....I don't mind an earl grey tea, but this wasn't nice. The mixture didn't well, mix, as you can see from the lumps on the bottom picture. And it didn't taste very nice either, a few sips and it went down the sink.

Maybe it was my tea making skills, maybe different flavours would be nicer?! Either way this wasn't for me.

And finally - even the box went to good use. Rudi loved it and spends a lot of time in it with his toy mouse....he is an odd kitten. 

 

If you would like to try Degustabox for yourself and get a cheeky £3 off your first box just click here.

Silent Sunday

Review: Wings Edinburgh!

Do you like chicken? Do you like good banter? Have you been to Wings? I'm actually reluctant to blog about Wings because it's so damn good, and always so damn busy already!! However, it deserves a little review.

*5/7 Old Fishmarket Close, Edinburgh

My first trip to Wings was last year when it was a little secret in the bottom of a Mexican restaurant in Victoria Street, my friends husbands mate from school set it up after a trip to Canada (I think it was Canada...) anyway, I'm not the hugest fan of chicken on the bone, or rather I wasn't. Until Wings. 

Wings come in sooooo many different sauces & dry rubs, with so many brilliant names, and you can't have Wings without some chips or strips for dipping, and £2.50 bottles of Corona. (Don't ask for juice - you'll be laughed at!) Wings also do a 'Suicide Challenge' now I LOVE hot food, I LOVE Franks hot sauce which they use BUT - I'm not brave enough. The warning that comes with the challenge is enough to make me not want to attempt - and with only 100/399 completing it, it sort of speaks for itself. 

I have to say, I tend to go for the same sauces when I order - I'm not a huge fan of the dry rubs - usually 3/4 per person (if you want to share) are sufficient, and it's about 6 Wings per bowl. My picks would be: 

• Tiger Sauce/Taps Aff/SaberTooth! - All three are spicy, just depends how brave you're feeling that day 
• No Big Dill - Caesar sauce with dill, great for cooling off after a hotter sauce 
• Chalapeno - cheese sauce with jalapenos - two of my favorite things

Jamie on the other hand prefers the BBQ ones, and a couple of the hot. Jamayacain me crazy is pretty good tho.

Now Wings isn't classy, it's paper plates & napkins, it's messy, it's throwing your bones in a bucket, it's brilliant!! It's also full of brilliantly-crazy staff and weird & wonderful decoré!

 

 

New Year, Same Me?

So we're almost a full week into 2014, I'm not sure about you but the turn of the year didn't inspire big change, there aren't any resolutions as such, I have set myself a few goals, most of which I believe are highly achievable, one, erm, maybe is a bit iffy, but we shall see. 

2013 for me was fab. Jamie and I moved in together, we had a holiday in Turkey, a mini break in Amsterdam and London, and as cheesy as it is I fell more in love with his cheeky face that I thought I could. I made some new friends and got to know some old ones better, and at the end of the year I got a bit more responsibility at work which could prove very worthwhile in the coming months. My friends are all very happy in their lifes, there was a new baby, a new relationship, more relationships growing stronger and I know 2014 is going to be full of happiness for them all.

2014 for me shall involve a two week trip to South Africa with Jamie and his folks, us buying a kitten (maybe two if Jamie can be swayed), and lastly buying a house. We were going to be doing this sooner rather than later but due to a couple of things we're going to put it off until November time, unless the right thing comes up sooner of course. 

My goals for 2014: 
Run a half marathon - I'm 50/50 at signing up for the RockNRoll Edinburgh half marathon again, last year I had to pull out due to a chest infection which unfortunately I get regularly. So whether it's a half on my own on a Sunday afternoon or part of a race, that is my running target for the first half of 2014. 

Weigh it up - Ahem, weight training, 2014 goal - squat my body weight, or 60kg, which ever is heaviest (hopefully the 60kg), even if it's just for one rep. At the moment I can do 35kg with very little upper body strength, not to mention squatting does give you a better backside. 

Driving - this is the biggy for me, I am not very co-ordinated and I don't have a great deal of spatial awareness, two of the things needed for driving. But I think it's something I should try, properly, once more. I've had a few lessons with my uncle who's an instructor, but I think that was part of the problem in my head, 'He's my uncle, what if I crash and kill him'. So, maybe a new instructor, a few lessons and see how we go. I do feel bad that Jamie does all the driving, although he does enjoy it. 

Shoot! - In the gun sense. Jamie's dad, as well as being a world renowned vet, also shoots, and culls. I won't go into detail in case I upset someone over the population control of wild animals, but he has agreed to take me shooting - but on a target, and not a moving one. I have shot before in cadets, using a  .22 rifle and a SA80, I enjoyed it, I'm actually not too bad at it and I'm looking forward to giving it a go again. 

Work - My job isn't something I ever thought of doing, in fact, I didn't even know what we do existed until I rocked up 7 years ago for an interview as their receptionist. Slowly I've worked my way into the Project Management side of things and at the end of last year there was some restructuring within the business which left me with a few new clients and more responsibility. My 2014 goal within the work place is to take on extra training, email work etc, and get as much out of it this year as I can.

I've read some good 2014 resolutions and goals, and everyone seems to be going away from the 'norm' of diets and focusing more on goals and achieving more for themselves - I like it. What are your 2014 goals?

Happy Birthday to me!

Back in early December I celebrated my, ahem, 29th birthday, the weekend after I was treated to a weekend in London from Jamie - firstly it was kept a secret until the day of my birthday and he told me in an amazing way.

We stayed in the Park Plaza Country Hall which was about 5 minutes from Waterloo train station - it was AMAZING. We had a little suite with a sofa, 2 TVs, a little kitchen, lovely comfy bed and a MASSIVE bathroom. Jamie had mentioned it was for a birthday so the hotel had left a bottle of red in our hotel room which was brilliant, and not to mention the view. 

On the Friday night we went to the Hammersmith Apollo to see Ed Byrne, who was as usual brilliant, the highlight of the Friday evening though - meeting Dara O'Briein who just happened to be sat in front of us. (Ignore the cheesy face)

On the Saturday we done some touristy things, a walk along the Thames, Hyde Parks Winter Wonderland, which kind of crapped all over Edinburgh's if I'm honest, we went to Ripleys Believe it or Not - which was fab and we had managed to get complimentary tickets, without being rude, I wouldn't pay £30 per adult for a visit. We visited a couple of the local rock bars The Crowbar and The Intrepid Fox, the standard Harrods visit, and also Liberty. And we did pass the infamous ChoccyWoccyDoDa, which being honest, I had no idea was in London as I thought there was only a Brighton one. Unfortunately I suffered a little injury in the Intrepid Fox, which was honestly the fault of a misplaced doormat and not the few pints I'd had, although Jamie did sit and kindly ice my ankle.

Sunday was our last day and the one in which we were visiting Harry Potter Warner Bros. studios. It was in one word, amazing, if you're down I would recommend it 100%. I wouldn't necessary go down just to visit as it is a fair bit outwith of the centre of London. It wasn't very busy when we visited, which was great, I can imagine it takes a lot longer to get around when it is. There was so much to see, including the night bus, Pivot Drive, the Weasleys car, inside Hogwarts, as well as Diagon Alley. And all the little things like outfits, chess pieces etc. I could stick up 100s of pics but here's a few to give you an idea. The best piece of advice I read on Trip Adviser was to take a picnic with you. There is an outdoor sitting area where there are some hot dogs on sale, and some Butterbeer - although I was really disappointed that the Butterbeer came in a plastic cup and not a tankard, we didn't even bother with it in the end as it was really just for the photo opportunity. 

The weekend before I had a lovely night out with my friends in The Black Bull, one of my favorite Edinburgh rock bars, it was a fab night out - now to think about this years - the big 3-0!! Yikes.

My Super Duper Autumn catch-up

So, here is my super photo heavy 'here's some of the stuff we done over the last few months' post. In September Jamie & I went on our first holiday and we booked up for a week in Akyarlar in Turkey. You may or may not know I was there last year (in Marmaris), and loved it. We had a standard 34c during the day and a 'modest' 24c in the evening, I have to say coming home to 6c wasn't much fun. 

During our time we took a couple of boat trips, Jamie went snorkling & scuba-diving, not for me, and we took a couple of trips into the local town of Turgutreis which was only 3lira on the bus (about £1) and a 10 minute. 

Our hotel was pretty decent, but after a week I was ready to come home. 

We spent a second week at home chilling out, pub lunching and also learnt how to make fresh pasta at the Bellini Cookery School which was a lot of fun and it's amazing how simple making fresh pastas and sauces is. I would highly recommend the place, Jamies mum treated us on a Groupon deal but even the normal prices for classes aren't bad.

  

In October, Jamie turned 27 so as a birthday treat I booked us a trip to Amsterdam. I had never been before, Jamie had when he was younger, I don't  need to add that this trip was a little different. 

We flew into Amsterdam around 4pm, I cannot praise KLM enough, both for their assistance before we flew and during. Free luggage if you sign up to their free 'Flying Blue' scheme, free to pre-book your seats, and some free snacks & drinks (mini cans of Heineken FTW) on the plane, and Schiphol airport....well, we could learn a thing or two from them also. 

Anyways, a few things we done whilst there were, visit the Red Light District - standard, I have to say I expect something a lot worse than what I saw. The 'Heineken Experience', pre-booking recommended, you also get two mini Heineken at the end. The 'Xtra Cold' bar, -10c, don't expect the type ice bar you see in London etc, it was fun but it was freezing, you got two comp drinks which you drank out of an ice-glass, it wasn't the easiest to hold and FYI - don't do what Jamie done and wear shorts! 

There were some amazing shops and little markets, as well as FEBO - now FEBO is like a hot food vending machine/shop thing. You pop some euros in, open a little door and take out the food. It was super yummy for what it is, and very conveinent. As well as pizza shops still open at 3am.

I booked our trip through LastMinute.com and took a risk on their 'secret hotel' which turned out to be NH Hotel - Amsterdam Centre - it was fantastic. It was central, very easy to get to by public transport once you knew your way about, we took a taxi to the hotel but walked to the train station on our return journey and took the train that takes you right into the airport.

Finally, my top rated thing about Amsterdam - how open everything is, sex shops next door to what I can only class as Tesco, the Red Light district, the cafés (not that we visited), everything is so open, and it seems to work well for them. I'm not sure it would work so well here though. I would love to go back and do more, I can't wait. 

PS: Be midful of people of bikes, they are EVERYWHERE!