Starbucks, Shopping, Sushi and Fro Yo

In the spirit of looking on the bright side...one of the things I’ve been enjoying about my recent separation is the occasional child-free day. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with my children, but single parenting is hard work so the odd time to myself is enjoyed too!! Liam normally has the children on Saturdays, so I go spinning and to the gym in the morning and before I know it it is time to pick them up again! This weekend however, he had them on Sunday. The 4 of us went to Halfords to buy Christmas presents. A bike for Izzy…

And a helmet for Toby, as we are giving him a second hand bike from my friend’s son…

I then headed into Exeter on my own, bliss! First stop, Starbucks for breakfast…

Dirty chai latte and toasted fruit bread, my favourites!

I then set about the serious business of clothes shopping(!) It was so peaceful shopping by myself, but I did miss having someone there to give an opinion…so I ended up taking lots of photos of myself in changing rooms & texted them to my sisters…what did we do before iPhones?!!

My main aim for the shopping trip was jumpers, as I literally have none – it has been a little chilly around here in just tops and my gilet! I bought this turquoise jumper from Superdry…

and I also loved this purple hoodie…

but my sister, Sarah, suggested I look in Republic instead…

Perhaps not quite as nice, but £20 instead of £45…I was glad of the saving!

I am also addicted to buying Pineapple exercise gear from Debenhams…I already have it in black/turquoise, grey/red, and black/purple but this black/lilac combo drew me in!

These capris are a bit longer than my usual ones, which is good for this cold weather. The new design is also more black than the other ones - my other sets have tops that are mainly coloured with just bits of black or grey. I'm happy that these look a bit different whilst still being the great fit that I love.

For lunch I went to Yo Sushi. It only opened in Exeter about a month ago, and I’ve only been to any Yo Sushi once before when I was pregnant with Toby, so I was excited to try it!

I don't like the idea of raw fish though, urgh, I definitely stuck to the vegetarian options!!

Avocado maki…

Inari Pocket…

Crunchy Tofu Salad…

and Vegetable Futomaki…

The tofu was a bit bland - but the rest of the salad was good; and the inari (fried soya bean) was a bit sweet – but the contents of the pockets were tasty. I loved both the rolls though, simple really is better!

No dessert as I was headed to the most exciting part of my day! When I’d been out in Exeter in the evening a couple of weeks ago, I’d noticed a new cafe called Bubble Bubble Co. It mainly sells bubble tea, but it also has self serve frozen yoghurt!

The bubbles were also part of the topping options. I was curious about them. They are vegetarian – made with seaweed extract and fruit juices. I tried the peach bubbles and they were actually my favourite topping – so fresh and real tasting!

I had chocolate and caramel swirl frozen yoghurt, topped with spiced biscuits, chopped peanuts, a couple of varieties of chocolate sprinkles, raspberries, blueberries and peach bubbles…

It was priced by weight so I was hoping it wouldn’t be too expensive…it came to £3.12 which I didn’t think was too bad? Although my wallet and waistline are both probably glad I don’t live that close to Exeter…this is definitely a treat that will be included in every shopping visit from now on!!

My other aim for shopping was to buy some shoes. I have flat feet, which are also size 8 and wide…so shoe shopping is an absolute nightmare. My current shoes were some men’s navy hiking trainer type things from Sports Direct, and after just a few months they already had holes in both shoes – by the big toes and at the edges! I failed at finding any other shoes to fit me though, in the end I bought the exact same shoes again (!) but at least this time they were half price!!

Luckily yesterday I was shopping in my local town and popped into Fat Face. They had some boots that caught my eye and the display size was an 8 so I tried them on, so comfy! This is the first time I’ve ever owned boots like this so fingers crossed they wear well!!

I also bought those trousers, but in the next size down from the pair I'm wearing in the photos, yey, my hard work at the gym is beginning to pay off!!

And now I really need to stop spending any money…at least until the post-Christmas sales!! I have got everyone's Christmas presents sorted already, luckily, but yesterday someone crashed into my car while it was parked outside my house, grrr, no contact details left so I’ll have to pay the bill…not what I wanted a week before Christmas!!

Have you bought any new clothes lately? Or anything on your wish list? I think I’m pretty much sorted for clothes for now, although I am planning to go sale shopping on the 27th or 28th as Liam has the children on those days. I’m not sure how much shopping I’ll actually do then though, it’s always so busy but at least I wont be trying to fit a pushchair in the crowded shops!! The last time I went Boxing Day shopping was when Izzy was still in a pushchair - a year before Toby was born - I still shudder at the memory!!

Girlie Shopping + lots of coffee & cake

Coffee and cake counts as a meal right?! I had two of those kinds of meals yesterday!!

First though, coffee in bed…this mug is so true!

Followed by a 9am spin class…I’d set my alarm for 8am, not expecting to really need it, but the children let us sleep in for once! So it was a bit of a rush to drink my coffee and get ready, but I made it! I’ve only just started going to Saturday morning classes so this instructor was newish to me – such a tough class! One of her regulars is off to Australia for 3 months and apparently someone else had joked that you couldn’t spin to classical music (this other regular’s favourite type I guess?)…well the instructor proved them wrong – lots of fast and high resistance, ouch!!

After spinning, my sisters took Izzy swimming while I showered etc, and then I went into town with my Mum and sisters for coffee & cake “breakfast”…

Caramel iced coffee

and carrot cake

This carrot cake was so good! When it arrived, Mum liked the look of it so much that she ordered herself a slice too! All of the cakes in this cafe were gluten free, but you couldn’t tell at all – delicious!

By the time I got home, Liam and the children had eaten lunch so we headed into Exeter. Liam needed to go to B&Q so he took Toby, and dropped me and Izzy off in town. It was so nice to spend some time with just Izzy – I spend lots of time with Toby alone when Izzy’s at school, but I hardly ever get alone time with her. First stop…Starbucks!

I had a pumpkin spice latte (!!) and an apple fritter doughnut for my "lunch"…

To be honest, I wasn’t overly thrilled with either of these the doughnut had no apple in it, and the pumpkin spice latte was only ok – it was perfectly nice, but didn’t live up to my (admittedly high) expectations – not much flavour except a bit of cinnamon. I’m going into Exeter again this week so I might try it iced and see if it improves things, I’ve seen people on Instagram having it as a frappe.
Izzy couldn’t decide between all the cakes, so instead of making a decision, opted for two chocolate coins instead (!!)

After Starbucks, I decided to take Izzy clothes shopping as she wanted some new clothes that made her look “pretty and cool”, haha, we headed to H&M – so busy, it was a little chaotic!!

Izzy insisted that she was too old to just try the clothes on in a corner (really??!) so after a long queue for the changing rooms, it was time to try lots of clothes on…

She had such fun twirling in front of the mirror, so I guess it was worth the wait!

I liked this first (wool?) dress, but Izzy wasn’t keen…

She loved the Hello Kitty top though!

And when we got to the grey party dress she started “posing”, haha, worrying!!

And there was also a pink spotty combo (the top was actually a two-pack with a plain green one too, but she’s wearing it with the skirt again today!)…

There were also several dresses that were deemed “no” by one or the other of us, and we finally narrowed it down to 6 items (because she’s 6??!) and went to queue for the second time in the same shop, yawn!

Clothes shopping done, we headed to Boots, where I resisted buying nail polish (the Essie stand was half empty!!) and then Topshop where it got the better of me…I did have a gift card though so only paid £2 for these!

I also loved this cake stand from Next, but didn’t buy it…Christmas present please Liam or Mum??  

When we got home, I took photos of the clothes Izzy had bought, and realised that the only thing I hadn’t got photos of her trying on was a jumper we picked up on the way to the till. So I asked her to quickly try it on for me, and then this happened…The first three photos are my daughter looking “normal”, if slightly hyper (!), but I have no idea where all the other poses have come from, aaargh, my 6 year old is growing up too fast!!!






So, food. You’d think that after coffee & cake for both breakfast and lunch, I might have something healthy for dinner? Nope, not really! I ended up eating 4 slices of pizza when the children had tea (roast veg…does that count as kind of nutritious?!) and then, as Liam was out for the evening, I had lots of treats lined up for last night…

Chips and dips (my favourite!):

Followed by chocolates and ice cream...this is my favourite chocolate mint ice cream - lots of different textures - I love the crystals of mint sugar in it!

And a magazine to fuel my Autumn obsession…good times!!

Have you tried, or are you planning to try, the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte? What did you think? After seeing it raved about so much by American bloggers, I had high expectations for it so am a bit disappointed. Although, thinking about it, I can’t really pinpoint what exactly pumpkin tastes like – it is usually accompanied by other strong spices/flavours. I’m tempted to either buy or make my own pumpkin syrup though to see what I like – Maria found a syrup to buy (which I've just noticed is out of stock - it wasn't a couple of days ago, lots of other people obviously have the same idea! The site normally gets stock back in quite quickly though, fingers crossed!), or there is a recipe that I remember being popular last year…so I’m not giving up on pumpkin lattes just yet!!