*Dis Girly Weekend to Birmingham '07*

[mandymouse]

Friday 12th October

After a hectic morning of shopping at Asda, housework, having a bath etc, and dropping the girls back to school/college after lunch, the nerves started to kick in around 2pm as I waited for Nat and Joh to arrive at my house. To calm me down I cracked open a bottle of wine and within minutes, Joh's car was pulling up on my drive. The girls came in for a quick drink and then my hubby came home and took us over to Birmingham

Kaylee arrived at New Street Station around 4pm, so we picked her up and DH dropped us at The Hyatt. The hotel was lovely. It was situated 2 minutes from Broad Street, 5 minutes to the Mailbox and about 10 minutes into the town centre

We all checked in. Kaylee was sharing with me (and we were being joined by Jo the next day) and Joh and Nat shared a room

Our room

We found some slippers in the wardrobe

and then we found some snuggly dressing gowns in the bathroom

After a few minutes we were joined by Nat and Joh, and the wine and breezers began to flow

After chilling in the room for a while, we all got ready to go out. We were told a short cut through to the Mailbox (where we were eating tonight) and we found a lovely Cocktail Bar, where we sat outside as the patio heaters were on. We had a pitcher of 'Sex on the Beach'

After our cocktail we went to Strada for our meal

We had a lovely meal, I had pasta and the others had pizza and then after we had a dessert (sorry girls I can't remember what you had), though I know I had Tiramisu - which was delish

After dinner we went back to the Cocktail Bar for another pitcher and then headed back to the hotel

We had a lovely evening and look forward to being joined by everyone else the next day

 

[jns]

Sounds like you all are having a great time
no shopping Yet
Thanks for posting

 

[Chilly]

Hi Mandy, You were quick off the mark on the trip report. Thanks for a great weekend. It was great to meet you and the others, and see Joh, Nat and Theresa agaian.

 

[saratogagirl]

great start Mandy, really pleased you had a good time

 

[mandymouse]

Saturday 13th October

Kaylee and I were up around 8.20am and after a quick shower we rang Nat & Joh, and as they were about ready, we headed off into Birmingham

We stopped at Starbucks for various drinks (non alcoholic I may add ) and then we went to our first meeting place which was 10am at the Bull statue outside the Bull Ring. Here we met Lisa and then we went into the Bull Ring to start some shopping

We went in Girl Heaven (just like Claires Accessories) and took some photos in silly hats - until we were told off as you weren't supposed to take photos in there (what a spoil sport )

What are we like ??

We wandered around the shops and then started meeting others along the way. We ran into Theresa and Claire outside Selfridges and then we were joined my Eloise and Jo outside Pizza Express. Emily had already text me to say she couldn't make it (maybe next time) and Gemma and her friend were running a bit late, so we settled at our table, ordered our drinks and waited for them to arrive

(Joh, Theresa, Me, Kaylee, Claire, Eloise, Jo, Lisa & Nat)

The food was lovely (I had mushroom ravioli - Mmmm) and everyone's food looked great. We had a lovely waiter, who was always smiling and was very attentive - well Nat thought so anyway

Nat's waiter (oops I mean our waiter )

The Disney Store was calling us, so we headed over to the Pavillions Shopping Centre and after a bit of a mooch and lots of carrier bags later, we all came out and went off to find more shops. We said goodbye to Gemma and her friend and a while later Lisa said bye too.

Nat and Claire were wanting to go to Primark (which was packed) and I'm sure it was Joh who spotted a little pub opposite, so we left Claire and Nat and had a quick Bacard Breezer and watched the beginning of the England footie game. After that quick pit-stop we all met up and then walked up to the Mailbox. We had a quick look in Harvey Nichols and Nat nearly fainted at the price of the Jimmy Choo shoes

We had a glass of wine, and after saying bye to Eloise, we headed back to the hotel. Jo settled into our room and after quick showers we all set of to dinner. Once again we were eating at the Mailbox, so we were hoping to introduce our Cocktail bar to the others, but for some reason it wasn't open. We were eating at Bar Estilo tonight, so we sat outside for some cocktails for a while and then went inside as the time for our reservation was coming up

(Nat, Theresa, Me, Claire, Kaylee, Joh & Jo)

Once again we had a lovely meal, me and Kaylee had the Vegetarian Paella which was really nice, but it was so filling that we were unable to have room for a dessert

After dinner we headed up to Broad Street as someone suggested going to a club. Broad Street was packed with lots of queues into various bars and clubs. We queued up for the Reflex, where someone (I think Joh) said it was 15 quid to get in and I nearly had a heart attack (she's got a piccie of that look on my face )

We had a good time, it was all 80's music and videos and the turning dance floor was fun. The lightweights i.e me, Kaylee, Jo, Claire and Theresa headed back just after midnight and we left Joh and Nat boogying the night away

We had a great day and evening, and it was lovely to see everyone, even if we only got to see you for a short time

 

[mandymouse]

Sunday 14th October

Surprisingly we all awake around 8ish without a hangover. After quick showers and some quick packing (isn't it funny how before you go away it takes a couple of days to sort your case out, and on the way home you can throw it all in in about 5 minutes ? )

Paul was picking us up at 9.45am, as Kaylee needed dropping at the station for her train at 10.30am. We said goodbye to Jo, Claire and Theresa, dropped Kaylee off and then Joh picked her car up at our house and drove home after taking Nat home

All I can say is that we had a FANTASTIC weekend. We chatted, had some lovely meals and even better drinks with some great company. We've been thinking of ideas for our next meet, possibly in Cardiff, as we missed Sue and this way it would save us a fortune on hotels and we can bunk up at her house (only joking )

Thanks everyone for coming, it was great to meet you and my jaw has now stopped aching from all that laughing

I hope you can all make it next year, and hopefully we may have some others with us too

Mandy

 

[florida sun]

Welcome home, I missed you all

Sounds like a great weekend and brilliant photos Mandy, Im def coming next year, you can count on it

Now get back to work,it's been so busy I need Triple pay for this weekend

Only joking, its been as quiet as a mouse

Welcome home all, so gald you had a great time

 

[mark&sue]

What a fantastic weekend. I just love the look of the cocktails. I am so jealous.

The photos are absolutely brilliant.

Thank you so much Mandy for your amazingly fast trip report too.


susan

 

[AlanUK]

Now get back to work,it's been so busy I need Triple pay for this weekend

Only joking, its been as quiet as a mouse

All the trouble makers were away this weekend then :

Welcome Home everyone, DW is still stuck on the train so we haven't seen her yet.

 

[natalielongstaff]

here are my pics...copied from the original thread

here are some pics for you all to have a laugh at !!

Joh in our bathroom

our room

mandy and kaylee

me and Joh

Joh and Kaylee

me and Mandy

pizza express on saturday lunchtime

Kaylee, Eloise and Claire

Mandy and Jo

Theresa, me, Jo and Mandy

i didn't take my camera out last night so you will have to wait for Joh's pics later on

 

[T16GEM]

Thanks for organising yesterday - we had a lovely time and it was great to finally meet everyone! Lou and I went off to Selfridges and then to Costa for a giant hot chocolate then had to get back to the kiddies!

Has anyone else got anymore pics?

 

[natalielongstaff]

Im surprised that Mand forgot to mention my excitement during our meal in strada when i spotted one of the bbc local newsreaders ....ashley blake

I went all star struck for a minute

 

[mandymouse]

This is my problem Nat, I can't get over how tired I am at the minute. But how the heck did I forget about you spotting Ashley Blake (or Nathan as I kept calling him ) especially as you were hyper-ventilating at the time

What a shame we couldn't get you a postcard of him from the BBC shop

If anyone else has any stories or photos from the weekend, then please post them on here

Mandy

 

[wils]

Thanks for a lovely weekend girls - it was great to meet you all and enjoy some good food, drink and music with you. Anyone who was hesitant (or unable to come) this time must try and come next year as I was like seeing old friends(which of course you all are but you know what I mean)

After you left DH went off to the Comic thingy so I had a bit more of a wonder round Brum with the kids and we ended up meeting in Pizza Express for lunch (Nat - only saw your waiter briefly but he certainly wasn't smiling today )

 

[Latte Lover]

Hi girls. Thanks for a lovely weekend. Really good fun. Can't wait for the next one.

 

[jen_uk]

It looks like you all had a great weekend, the photos are fab! I am definately coming to the next one!!

 

[Netty]

Looks like a fantastic weekend was had by all!! Great photos

 

[emily1982]

Great pics! Glad you all had a good weekend, sorry couldn't come, maybe next time!

 

[wilma-bride]

Very quick with the report Mandy I think the only thing you forgot was the minor heart attack you had when the waitress last night said your drink was non-alcoholic

I will try and upload my pics to post later (shall I put them on here?)

 

[mandymouse]

Very quick with the report Mandy I think the only thing you forgot was the minor heart attack you had when the waitress last night said your drink was non-alcoholic

I will try and upload my pics to post later (shall I put them on here?)

LOL - yes, that was another priceless moment Joh

Yes, stick your photos etc. on here, and I look forward to seeing them

Mandy