Wonderbar at Selfridges

I stopped by for after dinner wine & dessert with my dear friend Helena to the Wonderbar at Selfridges. London has many amazing department stores, Selfridges being one of my favorite! Any place where you can sip Bollinger champagne, visit the Psychic Sisters for a psychic reading and buy a leather Tory Burch bag to go with Alexander McQueen couture all on my lunch hour does indeed = happiest place on earth.

courtesty of decanter.com as my photos are not this good!

We paired yummy scorched cocoa almonds from Selfridges designer chocolate department....

...with a 10 year ruby port for Helena and a 2004 Hungarian Tokaj for me (served in a large glass no less!)

...note:  drinking this Tokaj will somehow justify any post imbibing purchases. You have been warned!

Columbia Road Flower Market

Columbia Road Flower Market. Great place to meet girlfriends on a Sunday morning. Fabulously simple brunch choices, lovely vintage trinkets and you leave with a fresh bouquet for the week! The trick is to merely find it from Old Street Station.  

S.Jones - delicious cheeses

 

Weekend in Margate (Yes! Margate!)

The reaction I received from everyone when I said I was going to Margate for my birthday weekend was "Margate? Why?" A sleepy seaside town in Kent, Margate's hey day was about 100 years ago as a beach vacation destination. Margate is one of the many coastal towns  in the UK whose former Victorian glory has long since passed. It's more currently known as the birthplace of Tracy Emin and the new home to the Turner contemporary Collection opening April of this year.

However, I was not daunted by the naysayers, especially because we had booked into The Reading Rooms! By far, my absolute favorite place I have stayed just about anywhere in the world, and would highly recommended it (as alone it is a reason to go to Margate.) We stayed into Room 1, but I plan on staying again in Room 3. Owned by the lovely couple Louise and Liam, it's a three bedroom B&B situated in a renovated Georgian townhome on Hawley Square and within walking distance of everything you would want to see in Margate. Sumptious beds with overstuffed pillows, yummy linens and a cast iron tub underneath a whimsical chandelier with definitely enough room for two! And Ren bath products which = happiest place on Earth.