Last week, a few of the blogger girls I met at both the The Body Shop meet up and nw bloggers meet up, got together for food, cocktails and giggles at The Smugglers Cove on the Albert Dock! 

I love the maybe not-so-subtle ship theme of the restaurant and the fact that there's always live music every night!!! A great place to catch up and admire the views of the dock - especially at night!

It was soooo hot that day that we arrived pretty much shouting I NEED A DRINKKKKK!! Cocktails were a definite as soon as we booked at this place to be honest as they're so deliciously good!

Pineapple and Peach mojito is a personal favourite of mine!

Cheers girlies!

Laura's Chicken Liver pate arrived presented in the most original way I've ever seen. Such a lovely touch which made the evening feel a bit more special!

The red debit card has been put in this photo for a reason...more on that a few scrolls down :)

I'm not usually a seafood fan but I'm so proud of myself for branching out and ordering calamari - yep I actually ate squid and do you know what, it actually tasted really nice! 

Onto the next cocktail! I could feel this one pretty much as soon as I'd taken one sip. The Mint and Passion Fruit Daiquiri certainly has a kick to it, you have been warned!

Katy's yummy deli platter

You can't really go wrong with steak can you! I got full quite quickly though and was genuinely upset I couldn't finish this!! I love my food so I hate when my appetite goes all rubbish and lets me down :(

Sarah, Jemma and Laura - cuties!

Katy, me and Holly :)

As you can see, Laura was pretty merry after a few Zombies - Jemma too but she's hiding it well!!

I never thought I'd meet any other bloggers in person so it's been great making friends with people who don't judge me for taking a million photos of the same thing and stopping them eating their food until after I've documented it!!

Now, onto the app! Basically Kitti* is an app powered by Santander that allows a number of people you choose to all pay into the 'kitti' towards a particular event you're planning. For us, it was this blogger meal. Someone creates the kitti, in this case it was Jemma, and then invites other members to the group. 

It costs 35p to pay into the app which is reasonable considering the app itself is free to download.

There is a time limit set so that people all get a move on and pay in. The money then goes onto the red card you saw pictured above, ready to spend! 

It was so much easier and quicker paying for the meal all in one go, without faffing on working out who owes how much and who needs how much change - we've all had that carry on!

You can find the app here!

*honesty is the best policy so I just want to make it clear that we did all add money to app but were also given some extra in return for reviewing the app - all my thoughts are what I genuinely think though :) - cause I mean..as if a student could actually afford steak without a little help - it's a hard life!

My favourite blogs

I've wanted to write this post for months but just never got round to it. I hope you find some new favourites from this great bunch!

Milkbubbletea

Becky's lifestyle blog is full of pretty pink pastel photography and her room gives me major bedroom envy! I've found so many pretty items through reading Becky's posts as well as my 'go to' foundation.This is the blog that inspired me to write my own blog!

The Londoner

Rosie's photos are incredible! I love her mouthwatering recipes and restaurant reviews. Her photos are so big, I just want to grab the food from the screen. Her posts about the Maldives were amongst some of my favourites - she's been to some incredible places! Rosie's witty puns always have me smiling whilst reading.

Hearting

If you like making your nails look pretty, then Ioanna's blog is for you! She has a real mix of posts - her reviews of beauty products tend to be my favourite but I do love blogs with a bit of variety. I've followed Ioanna since the beginning and have loved watching her blog and photography grow.

Tealight Sky

This summer I'm going to try and attempt as many of Tashiana's recipes as possible - they really are something else! As well as being a great baker and photographer, Tasha is a comical writer! It's hard to find blogs with a good individual writing style, but this is one of those special gems!

Little Miss Katy

Katy and I share a love of food and I relate to so much of what she says! Her blog has a real mix of posts which appears to be a common factor amongst all these fab blogs I've listed! I love a good restaurant review and seeing what people ordered - just nosey like that.

The Love Cats inc.

If I'm looking for a decent beauty product, Helen's blog is where I'll head to. I've come to trust her opinions and recommendations. She also writes a lot of useful 'tips and tricks' posts which I've learnt a lot from. 

So there they all are, in no particular order! What are your favourite blogs?

Bloggers who Brunch

I met some lovely bloggers at the #nwbloggersmeetup back in March and have stayed in touch with lots of the girls since. On Sunday I met up with Emma and Sophie for a catch up over Brunch at Moose in Liverpool.

I had absolutely no idea where it was but when we did finally stumble upon the right street we then had to find the right place. In the distance I could see loads of people queuing outside a venue and of course...that was where we were going!  We put our names down and actually only had to wait around 25 minutes which was soooo worth it...just you wait!

                                            

Moose is known for its extensive menu of American/Canadian breakfasts.

I had no idea what to pick as everything sounded so delicious..but me being me, had already googled the menu days before we were going and managed to narrow down my choices to two; either the New Orleans Moose or Apple Pancakes with Salted Caramel sauce...

Tea was the obvious choice of beverage! All three of us were a little chilly from the wait outside but this did the job at warming us back up!

Just LOOK at the food!!!!! Yep, I went for the New Orlean's Moose, which is pulled pork on a bagel with egg's benedict! I have never tasted anything so good!

I was actually a little disappointed that I'd only just discovered this place..

Emma and Sophie went for the Bacon and Maple syrup Pancake stack...I actually ended up eating a lot of Emma's as she was so full and I'm such a greedy guts!

We got so many funny looks whacking out our big cameras to take these but I had to document this moment of glutinous heaven!

L-R: Sophie and Emma

Once our little tums were sufficiently full, we headed over to the waterfront for a little walk towards the Albert Dock (my favourite place in Liverpool!)

Everything looks much better in the sun!

We finally stumbled upon the Liverpool Big Wheel...Sophie had to head off at this point..perhaps a wise move

As Emma and I made the spontaneous decision to go on the wheel! Not a great choice for someone with anxiety and for someone with a height of fears..we didn't do a great job at keeping eachother calm as the little car rocked away in the wind at the top!

But the views made it all worth it!

We all had such a lovely day! One of the best things about starting a blog has been meeting fellow bloggers!

Have you met any other bloggers?

#nwbloggersmeetup part one: The Event

Last weekend I attended my first big blogger meet up (if you haven't seen my Body Shop Blogger event then click here) and I have been desperate to tell you all about it ever since, but life has just been a little busy!!! So finally, I'm sitting with a cuppa by my side and ready to share it all with you :)

I met a few of the girls at Central Perk beforehand to make the whole 'arriving at the venue' situation a little less terrifying...there were 25 bloggers going after all! They make an amazing spiced chai tea latte, so if you find yourself there, I'd recommend you go for that.

We all voted on our little facebook group we'd created to go to Kabinett which is cutely tucked away down some stairs on Myrtle Street. It has such a cosy atmosphere and the barman was super friendly :)

When we got there my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw all the goodie bags laid out! Sammy did an amazing job at getting them all sorted and we got some amazing brands on board, just you wait and see..

We had personalised bags from Wild Thang which looked fab and were just about ready to spill out all over the place, they had that much stuff in! 

I have so much love for Utility and I've mentioned some of their products in the past here and here! Check them out, they're really good for gifts, cute stationary and little gadgets.

Lucy came along representing Natalie Roche, which is the UK distributor of Xen-Tan, Glam Glow and Amazing Cosmetics! I'm really excited to try out my Glam Glow mask as it's supposed to be really good! I tried some of the samples on my hands and they smelt gorgeous, especially the Glam Glow Power mud dual cleanse.

I've already tried my sample of the Amazing Cosmetics concealer and it is without a doubt one of the best I've tried! I don't have the best skin but I felt like I had enough coverage just from a tiny bit of the concealer, without the need for foundation. It is a little pricier than what I'd usually go for, but Lucy said the 15ml tube would last the year! You can find it in Marks and Spencers and they will hopefully be bringing the foundation over from America soon too!

I also got to meet Carrie from Junkbox who was showcasing a few of her pieces. She was so lovely and had some really cute items to show us. The picture frames had photos in that she had taken on holidays - such a nice personal touch! Her shop is based in Chester and her items will soon be available on ASOS, how exciting!

After chatting to the brand reps, I mingled and chatted to as many different bloggers as I could! It was so busy that I didn't get chance to speak to everyone but I'm sure we'll all be doing something again soon!

I decided to get a raspberry mojito since it was a special occasion after all...but I very quickly got all light headed and giggly haha!

Me and Tasha

There was also some yummy cupcakes provided to us by hello and.... I picked up a vanilla cream one which has cinder toffee on top and jam in the middle..so so good! I managed to get crumbs everywhere, of course!

At the end of the event, there was a raffle from which we raised £80 that will be split between Freshfields Animal Rescue and Claire House Children's Hospice! I managed to win a couple products from The Naked Skincare Company which I'm really keen to try!

Afterwards, a few of us decided to head for food at Las Iguanas, which rounded off the afternoon very nicely! 

Jemma 

 Of course, more cocktails were ordered!

I may have ordered half a chicken yes...

Aisling and I

It really was such a great experience and I'm so happy that blogging has led to me meeting such a lovely bunch of girls :)

I'll be doing a separate post about what was in the goodie bag shortly, but for now, here's a sneak preview!!!

I love reading about meet ups, so if you've done a post about one you've been to, I'd love to have a read!