Archive | October, 2012

For Ladies Wot Celebrate!!! One Year Anniversary SPA WEEKEND!

30 Oct

Yes!  We know how to celebrate! And what better reason to relax, unwind and indulge in the good life than For Ladies Wot Brunch’s One Year Anniversary?  Nothing!

The weekend of 15-16 September saw 16 effervescent young women making their way to the Brooklands Spa & Hotel in Surrey for an afternoon of treatments, hot tub loving, race car watching followed by a private dinner party extravaganza, slumber party and breakfast activities which you’d only expect the morning after the night before…

The trip started with a bang and after a 2 hour journey (and being accused of having road rage.  Me?  Never!) we arrived in the hotel lobby.  Bags checked in, swimwear slipped into and robes worn, we made our way to the spa for our 2 treatments each.  Unfortunately, I cannot expose my ladies and therefore there will be no bikini shots for those of you eagerly scrolling to the slideshow at the bottom!  What I can divulge however, is that there were several smoking bodies on display!  The afternoon in the spa was amazing – from the body brushes, massages and manicures to the relaxation, steam and sauna rooms, it was utter bliss.

Dinner was just as amazing an experience and we were seated to a 3 course meal in our very own private dining room.  The conversations, catch up and meet ups were fantastic.  And of course the food was amazing too!

Here are some of the weekend’s highlights –

Musical Chairs!  It’s that simple!  After lots of food and even more to drink, the chairs were placed, the iPod dock was set and the game began.  The bumper to bumper dancing to ensure you weren’t knocked from your seat meant that everyone had a boogie with radical vigour and it was oodles of fun!  From 16 to 1 – the ladies were put through their strategic dancing paces and our winner was Feyi.  Please believe that she made sure we all hailed her as the Musical Chair Queen!

Let’s gatecrash the wedding!  From the moment we arrived at the hotel, we were surrounded by the guests attending a wedding that evening.  Now, these were not just ordinary guests – these were extremely handsome guests!  The type of guests that catch ALL eyes!  We ummm’d and ahhh’d about whether or not to gatecrash the wedding after our dinner – we were all immaculately dressed and super confident that we could and would add some extra fizz and pop to the festivities.  Wedding celebrations +anniversary celebrations = one good partayyy!  In the end, we were so consumed by our own fun and games, that we sacked the wedding off (as if we were actually invited!) and turned the after party into a slumber party.  But the side eye glances and hushed tones continued at breakfast the following day when all the guests emerged to break morning bread. It was lots of fun and despite not attending (or really knowing) the wedding party, we wish the bride and groom all the success and love in the world 🙂

High speed hot tub – I think every single one of us thoroughly appreciated the outdoor hot tub which overlooked the Mercedes Benz race and dirt tracks.  I think it must have been the combination of fast cars and fresh air and champagne which made it an exhilarating viewing experience.  The wolf whistles received from swimwear admirers below was a shameless added bonus (this may or may not be a lie). Tee hee hee!

Waiters wanna party too!  As we seem to be the life and soul of the party wherever we go, it was no surprise when we discovered that despite finishing dinner two hours earlier, waiters still kept coming into the room to “service the table”.  When we eventually cottoned on that the staff had been told about the fun-loving young ladies celebrating life and fabulousity and simply wanted to join in, we happily invited them to shake a leg with us and even got the head of waiting staff to azonto with the Ladies Wot Brunch.  Drop it low and bring it up slow ol’ boy!  Eassssy!

As I’m sure you’ve gathered, this was an absolutely fantastic weekend break.  The time spent relaxing with old friends and getting to know new ones whilst celebrating the club’s existence was icing on an already generously decorated cake.  We chatted weddings and babies because YES!  We are expecting our first Brunch Club baby!  Woohooo! A ginormous thank you goes to Tobi and Esther who not only painstakingly organised every last detail of our trip (including a surprise delicious Patisserie Valerie cake and a Prada purse for meeeeeeee!!!)  but also used their creative skills (Esther’s amazingly hilarious and engaging emails got us to do exactly what she asked) and connections with the hotel (Tobi is a celebrated Brooklands customer!  Big pimpin!) to ensure that we had the weekend of a lifetime.  We couldn’t have asked for anything more and the bar has been set for next year’s anniversary celebrations.

Brooklands Spa & Hotel: We loved it. We recommend it.  Go do it!

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For Ladies Wot Lunch… At Gilgamesh

18 Oct

August 25 was the wet Saturday afternoon on which the Ladies Wot Brunch took Camden by storm. Between the group, we’d been on holidays, attended weddings and had experienced exciting changes in our lives and so, a girly catch up was required! The venue chosen by our fabulous VVR Adaeze was Gilgamesh, one of The Stables’ most frequented, lush restaurants: fitting for a bunch of pretty princesses like us!

Booking

As a result of our uber organised VVR, booking was a straightforward process. The date was chosen, the restaurant was called, the menu was designed and prepayment was made to ensure that we had a smooth, cashless lunching experience.

Gist!

From designer iPad cases (lush!) to dream wedding destinations, wives and side chicks accompanying their man on the same holiday and hair dilemmas, we discussed it all and then some!

Here are some highlights…

Natural Hair, it’s a choice! A lot of women nowadays have decided to take the chop and revert back to their natural, wonderfully woolly locks. Amongst the African community however, this is not always an easy transition and surprisingly, many people feel that going natural is just a bit strange. The ladies shared stories of perplexed mummies, aunties and grannies asking their daughters why they had cut their hair or when they planned to relax it, which in itself is hilarious! The funniest thing is that natural hair dilemmas are not exclusive to Africans, and our lovely Sally shared her sister’s (who has gorgeous, thick, curly, blonde hair) experiences with us. Apparently, there are pressures all round on both black and white women to wear slick hair. But thank God our women are beautiful, with equally beautiful hair, and whether they choose to wear is short and curly, or long and luscious we love every single style 😉

Wedding photos on Facebook…? The simple answer is NO! How ironic that every single one of us had ooh’d ahh’d and saved many wedding pictures that we had seen on Facebook, yet when it came to the thought of our own wedding albums being posted on the popular social networking site, we were violently against it. The general consensus was that weddings are intimate affairs that should be shared with nearest and dearest and whilst Facebook is a great and easy way to share photographs, the risk of opening private albums for all and sundry to view was a little more than most were prepared to do. I personally join this school of thought. You won’t even sniff my wedding photos on the Book of Face…!

Don’t eat and you get to join the cool kids! We heard a bizarre teenage story about a popular school full of popular adolescents (namely now some of our wonderful adult Ladies Wot Brunch today) who at lunch time had an interesting way to pick who sat on the cool kids’ table. The jocks (popular boys) would only pick the young girls who didn’t eat much to join them. Why? Well, it wasn’t (just) because they were slim, beautiful, young girls. It wasn’t because they were consciously counting calorific content in their chosen meals. No. In fact, it was a lot simpler than that. They chose this particular group of girls to join them so that… they could lap up the remainder of their food for them! Ha! Talk about eating a balanced meal! But it was a well-balanced equation: Slim hot girls, well fed young boys. Everyone’s happy!

The wife, the husband and the lover go on vacay! We were told a true story about a husband, wife and kids who all went on holiday together, you know, as you do. But what the mama of the house didn’t know was that the hubby’s side chick was also on the same plane, in the same holiday resort and even on the same hotel corridor as the remainder of the family. And please believe she received the same rights and attention as the First Lady did. Such stories continue to annoy and disgust us. What I was very happy to hear however, were the acute punishment plans that my chicas have developed if, God forbid, such a situation were to happen to them. Men, especially men dating/married to any of the Ladies Wot Brunch, what is in store for a cheating rat is not, I repeat NOT PRETTY! Biko! Please, for your own sake, don’t do it!

Food

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As to be expected, the food did not disappoint and there was something to please everyone. From the salmon sushi appetizer and stir fry entrée to the monkfish curry with extra chillies for those who liked their food hot and spicy, we were very happy with the flavours, textures and presentation of the well cooked meals. As the set menu changes regularly, it’s definitely worth checking out the latest goodies on offer which promise to tickle your taste buds.

Service

The service on the afternoon was commendable. We had a number of waiters and waitresses assigned to our large table meaning that attention to detail was paid and particular food requests were met. The bar staff was also awesome, mixing up fruitiful, alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails for us to ensure the merry mood at the table was maintained.

Overall

I don’t think I need to recommend the restaurant to anyone. The mere fact that we ended up spending 9 hours there is enough approval (Yes! From lunch to Saturday evening drinks… we were there and welcomed another honorary Brunch Club boy!). It is a great venue, full of great people. Great food, great drinks, a great ambiance, great staff and plenty of inspiration for great conversation make it a great North London hang out. And if you fancy an alternative to Shaka Zulu, the South African restaurant and bar next door, then Gilgamesh is worth a whirl. Go geddit! A huge thank you goes to Adaeze for meticulously organising our wonderful August get together. Mwah!

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