The Chances of Anything Coming from Mars are a Million to One

Okay, quick confession - there is no week 2 to the Christmas Countdown. SBB was knackered from working 25 days straight and on the Thursday we went on a little trip.

SBB and I have always been big fans of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds so when I heard the stage show was coming so close I snapped up tickets ASAP. And it. Was. Amazing.

Here's how our trip went:

Breakfast. Toasted bagel with honey and a cup of tea. Lovely!

Red Funnel gets festive

We traveled up on Thursday lunchtime and headed straight to our hotel to check in. We stayed in Hotel Celebrity (although I don't have a picture of it).

Each of the rooms is named after a famous person (or people) and the halls have some really quirky artwork.

Erm... What goes on in THIS room?

It even has a ghost! Unfortunately the room seems to be an office and not available to book... But how cool would that be?!

 There's even leaflets/a poster about the ghost. I nabbed one to read later.

Our room was Keira Knightley. It was a nice room - clean and tidy.

View from the window - not quite as good as the last time I was in Bournemouth!

We trundled into Bournemouth and had a good wander round the Christmas market.

Those little black dots in the sea near the pier are surfers - very brave as it was freezing!

 After a quick trip back to the hotel to dump our shopping we heading out for some food. We settled on Prezzo.

There was so much on the menu I almost couldn't choose - I was drawn towards the lobster spaghetti but I've never had lobster so wasn't sure whether I should take the risk but then SBB asked:

'Well, how often do you get the opportunity to eat lobster?'

Good point.

Doesn't it look good?

It was so SO good but I couldn't eat it all. It was literally a mountain of spaghetti in a sauce that was so good I wanted to bury my face in it. But I didn't. Obviously.

We may have come on a particularly busy evening but as soon as we arrived we were asked, rather imperiously, 'Have you booked or just wandered in?' We were served very quickly which was both admirable and unexpected. To give you an idea of how quick it was - I've had longer waits at McDonalds! On one hand it was nice to be served quickly but we did feel a little rushed.

After dinner we wandered around a bit and then went into a place called 'Fun Station'. It had a load of arcade games but what drew us in was the counter in front of the window selling waffles and sundaes. A perfect place for pudding.

Looks bloomin' marvelous doesn't it?

I've forgotten what our sundaes were called but SBB had one with brownies and chocolate ice cream and I had one with banoffee and toffee. Oh my they were good.

After pudding it was time to head over to the BIC.

The stage

I took another picture during the intermission but I won't upload it because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. The show was great. The acting was a little poor (even Liam Neeson in the first half. For shame, Liam, for shame!) but the music more than made up for it. It was a great evening which finished to thunderous applause.

The next morning we were heading out so we heading down for the buffet breakfast which was lovely. I think it was an 'all you can eat' but I only managed the one plate.

I'm quite glad I picked Hotel Celebrity. It was friendly, clean and quiet at night (which is always a plus for me) and for £36 for the two of us for a night was an absolute bargain!

We took a rather bizarre detour back to Southampton because SBB turned left out of the hotel's carpark instead of right like I told him (sighs and rolls eyes).
Once in Southampton it was time to head to one place: Ikea!

It's strange but it's only after being in Ikea that I remember how much I dislike the place. I think what I dislike is the fact that you have to go through the how show room to get to the actual 'shop' area. But we were there to buy stuff for the flat and we managed to get everything on our list except the light fixture we wanted because they'd discontinued it (sad face).

Our trolley

Our trolley was filled with all white and clear items, except for a new storage box for my workout clothes.

*I wasn't paid to review Hotel Celebrity I just enjoyed my stay!*

Brr....

It seemed I woke up one morning and the temperature had dropped by about five degrees. Brr! The log fire has been on every evening and, although I'm still refusing to turn the central heating on I'm starting to miss our bathroom fan heater (it was making a loud rattling noise so it was taken away to be fixed on Monday but isn't back yet :sad face:  )
Where did October go? It seems only five minutes ago that it was September! However, I have been thinking that I'm ready for October to be over. I'm not sure why. October is my favourite month and it's not like it's been a tough month - it's actually been quite fun!
Early October brought our anniversary - 3 years married - and last week I went away with my Mum for a mid-week break to Bournemouth.
We went to see Caro Emerald at the BIC and she was AWESOME. I think I'd put her up there in my top two of live performers (the other being Madness - those guys know how to put on a show!)
We stayed in the Queens Hotel and Spa and when we arrived the girl at reception told us our room had a sea glimpse. We discovered a 'glimpse' it was not, but instead probably the best view in the hotel:

 Mum was really pleased with the view. She phoned Dad immediately.

View from the other window

We made full use of the spa facilities - swimming every day and chilling out in the hot tub and sauna. Day two brought rain. Lots of it. So we wandered along the seafront and around the shops, had lunch out and generally spent some quality time together.
We noticed these cool metal sculptures on the railings down to the beach:

Rain clouds hovering

In the afternoon we went back to the hotel to rest, eat Greggs sandwiches and watch Jeremy Kyle (guilty pleasure) before getting changed.

Watching the rain.

Then we caught a taxi to the BIC by which time it was really hammering it down. We were on the end of the row and the two seats next to me were empty all night, which was nice. The two seats in front of us were eventually filled - 3 songs into Caro's set - and then vacated before she'd finished her first 'last song' (after which she came back for a really excellent encore)!

Caro on stage

The next morning brought more rain but we headed downstairs for one last swim and then went to the spa for treatment packages. By the time we'd finished the sun had come out and after heading out for a quick spot of lunch we headed home.

Bye Bournemouth!

It was a lovely little break and broke up my work week nicely - I only had to work Monday and Friday which was great!