People often tell me how my blog reminds them of Sex and the City and I have to admit to them that I've actually never seen the tv show, in 1998 when the first season was released I was too busy dancing in nightclubs throwing my arms up in the air and during the weekdays I had a 2-year-old so for some reason it just kind of passed me by.  I've seen the movie so I know who the characters are but this weekend I've just started to binge watch all 6 seasons.  Almost immediately I identified, especially as I've spent the weekend surrounded by my best girlfriends and boy do we share about our lives.  

I have in my life the most amazing ladies, all in their mid 30's and for some reason me in my 40's, when we get together there's nothing we can't talk about and we laugh so much, my friend Laura's current conspiracy theory that Richard Branson is hiding all of the dead celebrities on Necker Island is quite frankly hilarious, as we sat around discussing whether the dead celebrities were really dead or just hiding out somewhere in the Pacific, I asked if this was some kind of internet conspiracy but no, it's just a Laura one!  Meanwhile, someone asked "How do you get on the dark web?" and just as I was saying, "well what you don't do is google, how do you get on the dark web" Li was already asking google "How do you get on the dark web?"  I have no idea why we would want to access the dark web, I did interject that the Silk Road wasn't somewhere you bought second-hand luxury shoes and handbags...

Late last night my best girls and I went out dancing, well Laura dropped us off in her Uber on her way home, she was the lightweight of Saturday but then again, she has someone to go home to!  I myself not being in that category, especially at weekends threw myself into many dance shapes, I even jumped up and down and threw my arms in the air to a classic house tune at one point, that's why I love Madame Koo, it plays classic house, pop, and even party tunes all mixed together and all I drank whilst out was a glass of diet coke so £2 for a night of dancing is pretty cheap if you ask me.  I didn't kiss any boys this week, I left that to Harriet who was clearly giving off better hormones than me this week. 

Late into the evening or early in the morning we were stood outside in the little nook, a tiny outside space smack bang in the middle of Madame Koo when a drunken man who could barely string two words together decided to lick Harriet on the cheek, he then proceeded to ask if she could help him open the door, refusing his kind offer to be the door lady he simply decided to just pee in the corner and at that point we three ladies decided it was time for our taxi home.  I think you reach a certain point on Saturday nights in Newcastle and after that, it's a good idea to make a swift exit because all who remain are the kind of men you wouldn't want to talk to let alone let them kiss you.  Maybe it's because I at the most get a little tipsy so I'm always in control of my faculties but I can't tolerate intoxicated males, no matter how young and beautiful they are.  I like my men to be sober and in control of themselves.

Oh and meanwhile on Tinder, I turned down a man, I realise I'm being choosy but a royal marine holds no future excitement for me, as I told him, I'm looking for a metrosexual man who is creative, likes superheroes and knows of at least more than one musical, uniformed men really don't interest me, I realise half of the female population love that and I'm sure he's going to find someone just like that but for me, I prefer musicians to men with machine guns!  In just over 72 hours I've had 15 matches and spoken to 2 men, one of whom is lovely but quite far away and I really have learnt that it's just kind of easier if they live in your locality, it's all very well looking for your soulmate who's hundreds of miles away but who has the time?  Plato you are going to have to take one on the nose for me because I am restricting all future dating to within 50k of where I live!

Have You Visited Lane 7 yet?

Lane 7 in Newcastle is a boutique bowling alley,  it's got pub games, pool, ping pong and now a racing rig, it's for families during the day and then at 7 children are expected to be off the premises meaning it's a grown up playground, an ideal night out with friends and upon conferring with my friends who came along for the launch of the racing rig we also agreed it would be the ideal first date, there's also a restaurant and bar meaning you can have a whole night out in one place and if you're me that's a very good thing. It's also somewhere you don't have to wear big heels to, it's casual, it's grown up and the loo's are a testament to what you can do with chipboard (yes, really).

I went along to the launch of the new car racing rig (note to self, not go karts, you can't actually fit in them) after a kind invitation from fellow blogger Samantha which also extended to my lovely friend Harriet, it was a Tuesday night andLane 7 was packed to the brim with wannabe racers including famous face Scarlett from Gogglebox.

First though to ready our tummies for the race ahead it was time to sample to delights of the Lane 7 menu.  Lane 7 has a compact menu full of things they just cook really well, burgers, hot dogs, meaty sandwiches, a carnivorous delight although they do also offer veggie things too.

For desserts there was a choice of cheesecake which I had an ice-cream with a plethora of toppings, obviously way too tempting to wait for a spoon in the case of Katie Jane.

It was not long before several happy tummies climbed the stairs to the brand new racing rig, the rig has 10 seats, all of course full size racing seats with individual adjustable steering wheels, at first glance it looks devilishly hard, I can tell you that it is ridiculously hard if you're me, my best time was 85.99 seconds for one lap and that was mostly going backwards around the track.

A bevy of bloggers wait in the wings for their turn to race.

As we waited for the Go, the adrenalin was evident, I felt like Jensen Button at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix, my palms were sweaty, my heart was pumping, maybe I wouldn't be so bad as I'd imagined, for just a moment I thought all those years playing on my Sega game gear in days of yore might mean that I was secretly good at this kind of thing but just didn't know it and then a kindly assistant advised me that he would move my car back to the start when we come to the end of the race, yes I was so bad that someone had to come and move my car back to the start.  I literally couldn't move for most of the race but in my defence I don't drive and never will, there's a reason for that!  I'm fairly sure if I actually tried to drive I would end up in much the same position, backed into a wall trying to go around the streets backwards!

I'll definitely be going back to lane 7, it's the perfect place to take your teenagers and I imagine they'll be way better at racing than I'm ever likely to be, thankfully I'm not quite so bad at bowling so I might just give that a go next time.

Great Brazilian Food in Newcastle? - Cabana Brasilian Barbeque

I love a good BBQ, so does Looby and Iain, so much so that this year we bought a fire pit and if there's even a hint of a vaguely sunny day we get out there and we start a barbeque, sometimes though Newcastle upon Tyne doesn't exactly have a sunny climate all year round and so I was thrilled to read about Cabana Brasilian Barbeque coming to Newcastle and even more thrilled when I got the invitation to the launch night!

When I arrived with one of my very best friends Harriet I was actually surprised just how busy it was at 6 in the evening, the music was playing, the place was packed and there was a fabulous Brazilian buzz all around.

I wanted to take more photographs of the decor, the ambience but it was just so very busy that I soon went and pinned myself to the nearest seat and barely moved all evening.  That's not to say everyone was the same, once the dancing girls arrived (erm, I want a body like that when I grow up) the party atmosphere had people twirling and dancing and being happy, and when you add to that Caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil, well now you are talking, I adore tequila so this is a restaurant I can get on board with!

The food is mainly skewer based and that suits me just fine, it means that even on the rainiest of days you can go out for lunch (they do a special at lunchtime which is super reasonable) and feel a little bit of Brazilian sunshine in your soul.

Cabana is the second restaurant to arrive in the newly redeveloped sparkly old co-op buildings on Newgate Street, everything old is new again and both Cabana and Turtle Bay, the Caribbean food based restaurant have been great additions to that part of the city.  It's such an exciting time in Newcastle if you are a foodie and the great thing about these new restaurants which are springing up all around us is that they're new, they're different and I think they're all going to thrive, we Geordies love good food, a good night out, a great cocktail and a bit of a party experience.

I actually didn't take many photographs of the food because they were bringing them around on platters rather than leaving some on each table but I can totally recommend the BBQ Chicken, the dough balls and the raindrop doughnuts with Nutella in the middle.

When I decided to walk home at nine the night was still pretty young but after a few of the aforementioned Caipirinhas I thought it was better to leave early and not have a hangover the following morning.

Cabana also offer a kids menu and that's bound to be a hit, the next time I go I am definitely taking Looby, I think she'll love it, it's just so bright and happy, it's the perfect place for she and I, it's just a shame you can't take your dog!