Mother's Day

My mum is awesome. She's beautiful, my best friend and the hardest working lady I know. So it's nice to spoil her once in a while, and I couldn't think of a better way to do it than a day of shopping, cocktails and carbs.

Getting to Cardiff around midday, we managed to wander around a fair few shops before our bellies started grumbling. We dawdled around and decided on Jamie's Italian for lunch. Being a lovely sunny day, the Jamie's in Cardiff is perfectly positioned for dining al fresco and watching the world go by.

Predictably, it was super busy in Jamie's, so we sat at the bar with a cocktail and waited about half an hour for a table. Which, to be fair, was not that bad at all considering it was prime lunch hour and we had requested a table outside.

And half an hour goes by very quickly when you are faced with a beauty of a watermelon martini like this...

We finally got seated and trawled the menu. Starters were a given, a bread selection with balsamic vinegar and oil for mum, and some fantastic large green olives for me. They are amazing! Served on ice, they were about an inch long and the butteriest olives I have ever eaten. Lush.

Mains were a little harder to decide on, but the specials swayed me. Mum had the prawn linguine, and I went for the pork meatballs with fennel.

The meatballs were extremely tasty. I'm a big lover of fennel and all things liquorice-y, so I really enjoyed these. The fennel was a strong flavour, and really complemented the pork, which can sometimes be a bit bland. The spaghetti was perfectly cooked and the slightly spicy tomato sauce set all the flavours off wonderfully.

But sometimes, they say pictures speak louder than words...

Once again the service at Jamie's Italian was outstanding. The barman made us some gorgeous martinis and also gave me the recipe so I can classily get sloshed in the back garden when the sun starts to make a permanent appearance. You can always count on great service at Jamie's. Even though it was 1pm on a busy Saturday, everyone was eager to fall over themselves to help us, down to getting us the table I wanted and knowing all the specials inside out. Pretty impressive.

It was really nice to spend some girly time with my mum. She's always busy running around after everyone else and making sure everyone is OK. Everyone needs girl therapy once in a while, cocktails shopping and gossip. Especially as she likes food as much as me, we can spend hours munching and people watching.

Revitalised after a few martinis and a double dose of carbs, we shot off on our spending spree once more. It's amazing how a few cocktails can loosen your hold on your wallet... And now I'm entirely shopped out until I next get the urge to splurge payday thanks to Topshop and an AMAZING new handbag from Ollie & Nics (expect pics soon) but totally worth it for the best day out with my lovely mum.