The best burgers in Southampton and shaking our own cocktails

One of the things I love about being a blogger, especially in Southampton, is that I get to see a lot of the new restaurant launches pretty early on, and learn about all the great new businesses in the area.
I'm also a really big fan of supporting local businesses and independent companies, particularly if they are local!

One of our absolute favourite Southampton businesses is Mettricks. I've talked previously about their coffee houses (now numbering five!!) and their great coffee masterclasses, and now is the turn of a little something new from the Mettricks gang!

Welcome to Vospers*, a rather gentlemanly and cosy burger restaurant, steeped in Sotonian history. Unlike your normal burger place, it's no diner, but rather one of a kind wooden tables and deep leather chairs with a mish mash of old wooden chairs and antique furniture. Think an upscale Mettricks with burgers, and more alcohol!

Oxygen Free Jumping

Last weekend, I kind of did some exercise!!
I know, don't freak out, but it wasn't the traditional kind of exercise, and you guys are going to love it.

A little while back, Oxygen Freejumping came to Southampton, and ever since I've really wanted to go. And last weekend thanks to the Sotonbloggers I got to go!!

Oxygen Freejumping is basically a huge trampoline park! And it is the most amount of fun!
The park is filled with trampolines across the floor and walls, with sections for little ones and dodgeball, as well as the professional area including wall-walking. There is also a foam filled obstacle course, and giant airbag to throw/bounce your way into.

Westquay's Your 5

What girl doesn't love to shop? And with us heading straight into Autumn and Winter right now, the fashions are a'changing and that means a wardrobe update is required.

And what shopping trip is complete without a little personal shopping.

Last weekend, Westquay's team of personal shoppers and stylists were helping out us ladies of Southampton with our five key wardrobe items for AW16 - Your 5. 

Liptensity with Mac Cosmetics

You all know about my love of lip colours right?
I'm usually a budget girl when it comes to make up. Yes I like good quality but I don't relish paying out lots of money for lipstick - well that is until recently.

Being close friends with a number of beauty bloggers means I'm getting a real education in make up and the pros of paying a little more for a great brand.
I have to admit the two brands on the top of my wishlist for lipstick is Urban Decay and Mac, so when Mac Cosmetics in Southampton's Westquay invited bloggers to their recent lip launch I was really excited to learn a little more about the brand and what they had to offer. 

The Bloggers Blog Awards 2016

The 2016 Bloggers Blog Awards. They were literally all over twitter the last couple of months, and rightly so because anything that celebrates the hard work and dedication of bloggers should always be a viral cause in my opinion.

This year I was lucky enough to get a ticket to go up to the awards ceremony in Leeds, and a number of my blogging friends were also nominated so we decided to meet up there and give each other some support.

Here's a few photos from our afternoon at the Canal Mills.

Exploring the Emerald Princess

I love travelling. It is one of the biggest loves of my life. Discovering and exploring new places. And I'm quite happy to travel in lots of different ways. 

I've travelled by plane, train and boat. In fact my boat trip was my most recent one back in November of last year when we went on a cruise to Amsterdam (read about the trip here, and the onboard the ship here). I absolutely adored the trip, despite being nine weeks pregnant and suffering from morning and motion sickness, so I was so excited to be invited on board the Emerald Princess by Princess Cruises to have a little explore before it went on its next trip to the canary islands. 

Brunch with Thomas Sabo AW16

Thomas Sabo have been on my radar for a number of years, back to my university days when I spent hours trawling fashion magazines and googling the advertisements.

Dann bought me one of their charm bracelets for a birthday one year because I simply fell in love with them and the amazing selection of charms available. But I have to admit, since then, I've kind of put my love of jewellery to one side, and almost forgotten about them as a brand.

Recently Thomas Sabo has had a little refocus I guess is the best word, and with the launch of their new Autumn and Winter collections, they asked the Sotonbloggers to join them for brunch at their Westquay store.

Freakshakes all around

Southampton has some pretty cool places to visit, and a pretty great food and drink scene. The city is undergoing some huge development at the moment and is fast becoming a great competitor for cool city in the South. 

One example of the new cool is the introduction of the brand new Freakshakes to Orange Rooms in the Bedford Place area of the city centre.

Orange Rooms is a bar/nightclub by night, but is a little hidden gem of a daytime location if I'm honest. 

Not only is it the perfect backdrop for chatting - each room is decorated differently and it's pretty amazing - they also serve great food and drinks. 

As part of the Sotonbloggers, I was asked along with the girls to try out their Freakshakes,which honestly I was really excited about. 

Freakshakes, for those not in the know, and basically super sized,extra naughty milkshakes.They're a huge trend this year and aren't showing any signs of going anywhere - you've probably seen them on Instagram!

Owls, Chilli and Cheese, in Winchester

Last weekend was such a hit and miss weekend in terms of weather, but we still made the most of the outdoors. After visiting family, we popped over to the Chilli and Cheese Festival in Winchester. 

We went last year and really enjoyed it, and bought way too much cheese and chilli sauce.

Again this year the weekend was tailored for food lovers and families a like. We're so looking forward to this event when Henry is up and walking, so next year's should be a blast. 

We only managed an hour as Henry was getting restless towards the end, but we snagged a couple of great chilli sauces for our ever-growing collection, and of course stopped by the owl and falconry stand. I just can't pass up an opportunity to hold an owl, and Bertie the Eurasian Eagle Owl was too gorgeous to pass up on. He's one pretty heavy lad, but so soft and friendly - and those eyes!! He might look evil but he's a gentle giant. Also did you know that owls actually don't have that amazing eyesight?! They can see long distance amazingly well, but their close-up vision is terrible. 

BABY: A gender neutral baby shower

Over the Bank Holiday weekend I celebrated my baby shower with my friends and family in Southampton. With a little help from a couple of my closest friends, and lots of food prep with Dann, we had an afternoon filled with sandwiches, cakes, bingo and baby guessing, all in lovely sunshine (for the most part).

To be honest I really hadn't expected so many people to come, and definitely did not anticipate the amount of beautiful gifts. I had such a lovely and chilled out afternoon with so many of my favourite people, and lots of food! 

**this post is very photo heavy**

BEAUTY: Lush Summer Bloggers Event

As a bath lover it makes sense that I'm a little bit of a Lush addict. 

Admittedly I was a little late to the party, in terms of obsession, having drifted away from it for many years. But I'm back to my old lover, and it's better than ever. 

Last week I was kindly invited to spend an evening with the team at Lush Southampton, along with a few of my favourite girls for an night of smellies, fruit and bubble bar crafting, all in the name of Lush Summer 2015. 

All the ingredients for our fruit cocktails and drinks were in the Lush products, as they pride themselves on many natural ingredients. 

^^this is the new Avocado Co-Wash and boy does it smell utterly amazing. It's a solid shampoo and it is high on my next wishlist from Lush as it just smells so good.^^

^^can anyone actually resist a bath bomb from Lush?! I thought not! Check out my Instagram to see some in action, including the Experimenter which is just AMAZING!^^

Probably the highlight for everyone was learning how Lush create their infamous bubble bars. All are hand-made in their factories and shipped out to over 100 stores in the UK. The team in Southampton made up a small batch of Creamy Candy, and whilst it sat to rise, we had a little explore of the new products. 

Once the mix was ready, we all got the chance to shape our own! I went for a little heart shaped one! Cute right! Wait to set for 24 hours and jobs a goodun. I'm actually yet to use it at the point of writing this, but I love Creamy Candy* and its oh so sweet smell so I know this will be a heavenly bath time treat. 

And last but by no means least... the goodies. 

Of course I had to buy a few bits for myself, to top up some of my absolute favourites, including Brightside. The Comforter Shower Gel and The Experimenter. 

On top of this, Lush also created us some goodie bags filled with some of the brand new products. Mine included:

Intergalactic*

Kinky hair mask*

Sugar Daddy-O*

Pumice Power*

All in all, spoilt completely rotten!

^^photo courtesy of Alice and her selfie stick!^^

We had such an amazing evening, filled with lots of laughter. And we all came away with the always amazing products from Lush. 

You can keep up to date with all of Lush's products on their Twitter and Instagram, and follow Lush Southampton if you're in the area on their own Twitter and Instagram. 

So over to you? What are you eyeing up for your own collection?

Check out all the products as I test them over on my instagram here!

*post contains PR samples

LIFESTYLE: A morning of chilli and cheese

This was a last minute trip as we only found out about the event two days beforehand, but as food lovers, and particularly cheese and spicy stuff we knew we just had to go to the Chilli and Cheese Festival in Winchester a couple of weekend's ago.

Held in the Devils Hall - behind the River Park Leisure Centre and with beautiful sunshine for the day, this is a must for any food buff. Lots of local, and small business owners had stalls at the event including cheeses, chilli's, fudge, sauces, and drinks. This event particularly catered to families with children with an array of inflatable activities and mini fairground rides.