There is no fog on the Tyne.

This weekend past was my first night out since having my daughter.. in fact since falling pregnant with my daughter, so May 2011. My three closest friends from University invaded from the south and I’d booked us a hotel room in Newcastle as my home town doesn’t have much to offer in the way of a wild night out.

En route, getting in the mood with a bit of Jimmy Eat World

They arrived in the afternoon and we checked in. I haven’t seen these girls in a long time, but things never change. We all live in different places now so we don’t see each other very often even separately. The banter is unreal and a lot of people really don’t get it, but I like that. We dumped our stuff in the hotel and headed up into town for dinner.

We ended up in the very Frankie and Benny’s I used to work in and I was so surprised to see some staff I used to work with! We also decided that despite it only being late afternoon it was time to start drinking. We ordered a pitcher for four of strawberry daiquiri. Of course we can’t behave when we’re together, everything had us in stitches and for the first time since I had Olivia, I really felt I hadn’t changed. That I was still who I was before I became “mama!”

Our afternoon drinks. Cocktail o’clock!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel to relax before getting ourselves ready. We all ended up in our pjs just lazing around for a while before one by one we began getting ready. Ash was the stylist for the evening being the best at hair styling and make up. Then of course we had the usual Kariss dilemma (this is why we DIDN’T give her the room key) when she misplaced her purse and ID. Luckily we are clearly too old to be IDed these days.

I’m sorry Kariss, I just couldn’t resist!

When we were finally ready we headed next door to the Slug and Lettuce, again the very same I used to work at. I loved the new refit! We ordered more cocktails. The Slug does a 241 cocktail offer all day every day, instead of acting like normal people and ordering four cocktails getting two free, we ordered eight cocktails! Two each! I of course had a mojito and a Bombay breeze (how i’ve missed you Bombay Sapphire, I’m a classy girl!) We chatted and had a laugh, enjoying our cocktails before moving on.

I dragged the girls to my old haunt, Florita’s. This used to be my bar of choice on a night out when I lived in Newcastle for two years. Sadly I don’t think I’d be back. My sister has told me since, it has appeared on Geordie Shaw and that could explain why it was no longer my cup of tea. My Seven Sea Mai Tai still tasted amazing though so not all was lost.

Instead of being pushed in shoved in some more of the bars I used to know so well, we decided we’d relive our youth and bounce around in Venue. In Lincoln where we went to uni, we used to frequent Sugarcubes, this dingy night club that played alternative music (because deep down it’s the only music our hearts beat for) and on Saturday nights Venue offers an alternative night, a cheap alternative night, much like Cubes. Of course, we weren’t disappointed and we had a great night.

By 3am, we all had sore feet and all of us (especially Kariss) were close to being dangerously overly intoxicated so we took a taxi back to the hotel. We had a great discussion about the song “Fog on the Tyne” (Jess was disgusted that Ash had never heard this) with the taxi driver. Arriving at the hotel, Jess and I headed out to get take away that we proceeded to all eat in bed before passing out.

And because Kariss is Kariss.. she went for a wander around in the middle of the night.

On their first drink, looking beautifully poised. Ashleigh & Jessica

Kariss, Ash & Jess in Florita’s

We love suspender tights!

We always make friends, especially Kariss.

Red Velvet Cake Mix & Cream Cheese Icing £2.95 each from Fenwicks, PJs £5 each from Primark, Oil Cloth Satchel £18 from a market stall, Mustard Tights £1 Topshop Sale, Primark Tights £3 a pair, Checkered Shirt £9 Primark and a Basic Black Top £7.99 from H&M

Love you girls x Looking forward to Nottingham on the 1st December!