Gag House Comedy Superstars at White Rock Theatre, Hastings - 8th February 2019

As a busy mother of three I am always looking for an excuse to escape for the evening with my husband. There is nothing we like doing more than laughing, and going to see a comedy show is a great way to do this. In 2018 we went to see loads of comedians at our local theatres and we hope to do the same for 2019.

It's not always easy to see the big stars though as the prices can get pretty steep, and last year we missed a couple as it would have been £80 for the two of us and for a local night out in East Sussex, we thought that was a bit steep. For this reason I was super pleased to learn that Gag House Comedy are bringing a show to the White Rock Theatre in Hastings on Friday 8th February 2019, with the show starting at 8pm.

The cost of the tickets for this show is £20.50 - £22.50 including the booking fee, so I think that's really reasonable and especially when you consider it's a show being compared by Mark Dolan, with Lee Nelson headlining, accompanied by Jen Brister and Stephen Bailey.

36 Hours in London with my Hubby - A Big Reason to be Cheerful

How are you today friends? I hope the week has been treating you kindly. It’s been quite a good one here and I’m looking forward to a chilled and uneventful weekend.

The basis of this weeks Reasons to be Cheerful post was my overnight stay in London with my hubby last weekend. We only had 36 hours up there but it was enough to tire me out, as well as provide a fabulous time.

We headed up on the Friday morning once the kids were off to school and started the day with a wander of Borough Market, with coffee and cake at Southwark cathedral. It’s so nice to be able to chat without interruptions, and I really needed a break from hearing ‘Mum’!

Reasons to be Cheerful - Parents Evening, Tina and All Paid Up!

I really wish they'd paint all the beach huts at Bexhill. They'd look so cute multicoloured. As it is, they look pretty fine all white! ☕️🍛 Lovely day to have coffee with friends and then a spot of lunch before parents evening tonight. Not that they'll tell me anything I don't know. JJ rushes and talks too much! It's true but he is still getting all 8 & 9's bar PE and Art do I can't moan too much! 🏆🏆🏆

A post shared by Michelle Pannell (@michelletwinmum) on Jun 15, 2017 at 7:01am PDT

Evening all, It's getting late and I totally meant to write this post last night but you know what it is like, sometimes time just runs away.

I was tempted not to bother with this post but Becky had emailed me earlier to say she has a bit of an emergency and won't be hosting R2BC this week and seeing as I am sat here n a fug, feeling very grumpy, of course what I need to do is focus on the positives.

So here are my positives -

1.  We just had an amazing family holiday in Spain and I had a wonderful time and not only that but as soon as school is out in about 5 weeks I'll be off to Bournemouth with my parents and the kids for another holiday. I'm a lucky girl.

2.  I went to JJ's parents evening tonight following his report we received last week and there were no surprises there. He is a super bright boy, with a great future ahead. He just needs to stop rushing, put a bit more effort into homework and work on his empathy/ kindness. I need to set him some challenges over the summer months to help with this, do shout if you have any ideas!

3.  I'm off to the food bank tomorrow to volunteer and I always enjoy helping there. I am thankful that I am not in the position to need the help and grateful that I can do a small bit to make someones day just a bit brighter.

Review: Wicked, the Musical at the Apollo Victoria

Images courtesy of the Wicked Musical website

I'll start off by being totally upfront with you - Wicked is an amazing West End show and we absolutely loved it. In fact last week was the second time I've seen it. A show doesn't run in a theatre that seats 2,300 people for over ten years if it isn't good, does it?

I found the Wicked story line so very clever, it isn't a prequel, nor a sequel to the Wizard of Oz, it runs alongside it and some of it does happen before the classic story that we all know but I love the way the two stories intertwine together, it is very, very clever. The story keeps you hooked from the moment it starts right through to the end.  I easily could have watched for another hour.  Needless to say the show ended with a standing ovation from the crowd.  The performances were absolutley sublime.

I really don't want to tell you too much about the story line though as that would take away some of the fabulous surprise elements. Although having said that, I saw it in 2011 with my mum and then this time with my husband and I didn't recall the story line at all, how bizarre is that? I know I loved it first time round though as I have the evidence here on my blog.

So many themes are explored as part of this theatre show- friendship, falling in love, being disappointed, being different and learning to accept yourself, not being one of the popular kids and standing up for what you believe is right to name just a few. Probably my favourite angle to the show is that things are not always what they seem, so you mustn't judge a book by its cover because bad isn't always bad (or wicked in this case).

Reinstating our Date Nights with Pistachio and Orange Crusted Lamb #MiniRoast

Date night in Hastings earlier this year

My husband and I have been married for fourteen years now but together for twenty-two and with three tween and teenage kids it can be hard to find the space to make time for us to just be a couple. 

Sometimes (no idea why) we seem to be better at this than others. If I'm honest we have not been great at carving out time for ourselves in recent months, we've stolen moments after dinner to chat or had the odd cinema night but we've not had a really good long chat for some time. I think the last time might have been the beginning of May when we went for some food and then had a long walk along the seafront in Hastings and visited the new pier. I do love those times when we have no agenda and we just wonder and chat about whatever is on our hearts at that point.

I've realised that I do need to be more intentional again and make sure we are having the opportunity to have those special times together. One of the barriers is how often we are in the house on an evening together. At the moment this is only a Wednesday and Saturday and I have to admit that I love a full family Saturday night with snacky food and trashy TV, so that just leaves Wednesdays but a week night isn't always ideal after dh has been at work all day and the kids have homework. I'll have to be a big girl and give up my trashy Saturday night TV every once in a while as well as making time on a Wednesday.

Date Night, Walking the Cliffs and Beautiful Sunsets

Happy Thursday friends, how are you today?

I'm doing well but getting desperate for the end of term, there is so much going on and the kids are getting more and more tired. I really struggle to understand why primary school children still have homework at this time of year, mine just can't focus... but not long now!

It has been a fabulous last week in general and here is just a few of the highlights -

1.   A great date night with my hubby. We went to see the film Absolutely Fabulous and it gave us a good few belly laughs and we also enjoyed a fabulous authentic Italian meal. I'd highly recommend Rustico Italiano in Hastings, East Sussex if you are ever local. Such reasonable prices and the food was exceptional.

2.   Cliff walking with our Pastoral Group at Seven Sisters and the Birling Gap. This area of outstanding beauty managed by the National Trust is truly beautiful and really worth a day trip. We have been here dozens of times but I never tire of it. You can walk for miles or just lie there and take in the glory of God's creation. I'll be blogging separately about this soon.

Thanks to Erica for this great picture