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The one that's all about friendship at Christmas

This week, this glorious week, a week that I finally learned again that the best thing about breathing is to remember just how alive you are.  So much good has happened in the last 7 days and actually I could go back a little further, the tides have been turning and I feel that I am at last back on track. Recovering from the end of a marriage takes so much time and energy and it affects every individual facet of your life and your personality, If I look at where I was 2 years ago today, I am a completely different woman.  I can look in the mirror now and I don't hate the person that I see staring back at me, although I'm the first to admit to having put on my winter weight of late, too much cake and not enough walking , I try not to worry about it too much though as it's only my waistline and it's not worth making a change there until January now, I certainly don't believe in denying myself treats at Christmas!

In the whole of my working life I have strived to give the best, to be the best and to give my entire heart in everything I do but the truth is that I operate at my best when I am surrounded by people I love, people who encourage me, people who inspire me, it's that love and encouragement that drives to me to always look ahead, to be better and stronger and more brilliant and it's no secret that I only ever make one New Years resolution and that is to continue to be brilliant!

On Friday night,  some wonderful friends and I made merry at my house, our first Christmas party was all inclusive with Abigail, Looby and Iain all having a friend or two of there's present, we laughed, we ate, we drank too many cosmopolitans and champagne cocktails, there may have even been a tequila shot or two, a strange thing to do a tequila shot with your son but he is 20 after all!!

When I woke up feeling a little delicate on Saturday morning after sending home the merry makers at 3am I was relieved to have a day off but a couple of hours later I was back out with Abigail watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a whole day with just Abigail and I, it's always bliss to have a mama/daughter day, even if Abigail did comment at one point "I really want you to embrace Christmas on your own instead of always inviting people over, I want you to reduce the number of people you have so that next year I can spend Christmas with my dad"  Well that hit me right in the heart and she's got a valid point, I have no doubt that she will spend Christmas day with dad one year but I'll never stop inviting friends for they are the people who make my life the fun adventure that it is, why would anyone choose to be alone at Christmas unless they really wanted to, it's something I feel passionate about, I am not a hermit (well not all the time anyway), and yet I don't seek to have hundreds of people around me, for me, a handful of people who love me and who I love is quite enough, time spent with friends who are not only my friends but also each others, my favourite thing about my friends is that they all get along famously and I guess I've spent my life picking friends who I knew would all get along if they should meet, perhaps because I pick such interesting friends but friends who all at the heart of it are warm and loving and positive, I love my friends so much!

I'm honoured today to have made it through to the second round of the UK Blog Awards 2017, I was nominated by a couple of people initially and now the public vote has opened so I'd love it if you could vote for me, It's not that I expect to win but you never know until you try and I'd love to get some acknowledgement for my blog as it's probably the thing I work the hardest at, my blog will be 11 years old in February so it's not a flash in the pan and I've written enough words to have completed a saga of many books so a nice decorative object celebrating that would be lovely!!

Finally, can I just offer up a recipe for the best Cosmopolitan you've ever tasted?

20ml - Citrus Vodka

10ml - Triple Sec

5ml   - Lime Juice

40ml - Cranberry Juice

Give that all a shake with some ice in a cocktail shaker, rub the peel from a sweet clementine around the rim of a cocktail glass, pour in your liquid goodness and then pop in the piece of clementine peel, believe me when I say these are seriously moreish and impressively alcoholic!

So this week coming, I have more making merry to do with friends and a Skype date with Mr France to look forward to, it's going to be a very good week, I can feel it in my festive baubles!

Ellefluence Does Cocktails At The Rub Newcastle

The Rub, a fabulous BBQ smokehouse is quite a new addition to Newcastle but it's already becoming a firm favourite of mine thanks to being a passionate carnivore, what I didn't know was how amazing they are at making cocktails so when lovely Laura from Ellefluence put on a cocktails event I couldn't refuse the chance to try out the menu as well as spending some quality time with some of my most favourite bloggers.

I'm a big fan of cocktails even though I will confess, I am a lightweight and really don't drink a lot of alcohol, well apart from the 1 or 2 hangovers I have each year but one or two hangovers isn't bad when you're a grown up!!

The Rub serves a mind-boggling selection of cocktails, the menu is huge and contains all of the favourites, however they may not taste quite the same as you remember them because these guys are doing it properly using only the best of ingredients and taking 110% care to get the tastes just right, one of our hosts for the evening Joe is a world champion cocktail maker, this makes me think he'd come in very handy at parties.

I've never been to a blogger event which was quite so much fun as this one, we were split into teams and then had to recreate some classic (and not so classic) cocktails after first being given a demonstration by Joe, I decided to put myself up for the Cosmopolitan round being that it's my favourite cocktail and clearly I know my favourite drink well because our team won that round, it's no surprise then that this week when I hold my very first Christmas cocktails and karaoke party at home its Cosmopolitans I'll be providing for my lovely guests.

I love the Ellefluence events because as well as gorgeous Laura there's also lovely Laura Pearman Photography, an awesome photographer who I happily recommend if I can't take my own photos, Laura is number 1 on my list in the photography world, she's quirky, fun and fabulous, she's also amazing at capturing events, something I definitely don't specialise in, it does also give me the option of leaving my camera at home and that isn't a bad thing at all, I did, however, bring my camera to The Rub because I love photographing cocktails, yes I know, I'm a weirdo!!

After several rounds and a truth or dare style round which saw me doing an extra salty tequila shot (really, tequila is my favourite so it wasn't too hard although I also followed that by having lots of water, it was a Monday after all) we finally came to the last round where we had to create our own cocktail from a random selection of ingredients and so I did, I created a caramel choo choo, Joe even said it was good and he'd be happy to serve this on the menu, I'm currently adding cocktail making queen to my CV. 😉

As well as cocktail concocting fun the lovely people at The Rub, Newcastle also provided a tasty carnivorous cornucopia which helped to soak up the alcoholic we had imbibed during the evening, I'm growing incredibly fond of the meaty delights served by The Rub!

All in all, it was such a great evening, full of fun and I met some fabulous bloggers I hadn't encountered before, I love my blogger family so it was a delight to spend more time with favourites Pixie and Katie, Alice and Melissa even if Pixies team pipped our team to the post, remind me never to be on an opposing team to Pixie, that fabulous diva is not to be messed with in any kind of competition, I've never seen anyone suck on an Oxo cube (not a euphemism) for as long as that lady!

If you want to check out the delicious cocktail menu at The Rub which you'll find in The Gate, Newcastle you'll be super duper chuffed to know that they have 2 for 1 on classic cocktails every day from 11-7 and 10pm until close, now that's got to be a good excuse for another night out with my favourite girls!

Best cocktails in Newcastle? Head to the Science Bar

There are so many places serving cocktails in Newcastle now that it's hard to know where the best places are, well if you want something completely different and a little bit science themed or even science fiction themed, you need to head down to the Science Bar which is just next to central station in Newcastle upon Tyne.

I went along to sample a preview of their new cocktail menu which launches this Thursday, yes that's right, only 2 more days to go and then you too can get down there and sample the wonders of the Einstein or the Asimov.

The Science bar is just a little bit geeky and you know what, I love that, in a world where all cocktail bars look exactly the same I love the fact that there's really nowhere else quite like it.

I can quite imagine hanging out with friends on an impromptu Sunday evening night out and whiling away a couple of hours chatting about life over the coolest cocktails in Newcastle.

I love science and science fiction, I would say I love it but i'm not a geek if that makes sense, well maybe I'm a little bit geeky, I'm certainly a Whovian, I adore Doctor Who, I love sci-fi movies and watch lots of sci fi on tv, oh wait, maybe I am a geek after all?!

One lady who certainly knows her science fiction from a science fact is one of my very best friends Harriet and she came along as my last minute plus one and watched closely judging whether the science facts about each drink were truth or just a little made up.  I'm pleased to report that mostly of their science fact is actually well researched and if they have been just a little creative it's all in a good cause.

I'm going to leave you now with some photos of cocktails, the green one with the lime in had tequila in it and that was the only one I managed to bag all to myself, I'm a huge fan of tequila as anyone who knows me well will know.  I only ever get accidentally drunk these days as I am way too old for hangovers but if it does happen you can guarantee there was tequila involved (Holly Ball at As You Like It, I am looking at you!)

I always think that cocktails are an art form, well when you decide to mix that with science and chemistry it's another thing completely, these drinks take months and months or research (and hangovers no doubt) to get just right so the least we mere mortals can do is get down to the Science Bar from this Thursday and check them out!!