Hello July! It seems a lifetime ago since I’ve actually blogged about something that isn’t a ‘review’ which is a bit weird. Last week, Emmavictoriastokes.com turned five. FIVE. I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for so many years and I’ve managed to stick at it. That’s what you get when you have passion, people! Don’t get me wrong, it’s hasn’t always been rainbows and butterflies, because being a blogger in this digital age can be oh so tiring. With so much competition and people fighting to demonstrate what real blogging is, at times it’s been a love/hate relationship. So over the last couple of months I’ve been evaluating what I want my blog to evolve into now we’re half way to double digits. I’ve taken a step back and reassessed what I want to post. My insides were screaming to go back to basics and figure out what made my blog work in the first place. So with this in mind, I’ve created a new weekly series where I’ll be writing about what I’ve been up to during the week. It might sound a little boring to most, but I can look back in years to come and say to myself yes, those were the wonder years and I loved every second of it.
In juggling my full time freelance job (copywriting and social media if you need any help with yours) with actually having a life, seeing friends, going out to blogger events and eating lots of food, I decided to start the month off in a fun way by organising things to after 5pm. So first, I decided to dye my hair purple. Back in April I dyed my hair pink for a Secret Cinema event and this time I wanted to go darker. Because I guess this is what being your own boss allows you to do. I also hit up Bonehead, Birmingham for the second time. As the name suggests, they serve lots of chicken on the bone. From delicious wings to fried pieces and burgers, it was the topped fries that got me all worked up. If you’re a fan of fried foods, this is the place for you. I was also invited to a cocktail masterclass at Jailbird, which is another new restaurant which has opened in the city centre. There was lots of booze and we had the opportunity to try some of some of the new drink options which was great. Midweek, I booked me and Josh into The Rage Room where you go to smash electronic items up with a baseball bat. It’s a great stress reliever. See video at bottom of post.
Later in the week, I booked us into Opheem, a new Indian Cuisine located on Summer Row. Originally, this visit wasn’t meant to be for blogging purposes but more of a celebration of a fantastic working month for me. But things change very quickly around here and I’m going to be doing a full blog on the experience. We had three courses with wine, beer and little nibbles in between. I’d be very surprised if this restaurant doesn’t receive a Michelin star. I also need to tell you about these amazing lamb chops which I had whilst drinking cocktails at Jailbird. They brought food out to us after cocktails and they were heavenly. The group didn’t eat them all so I took the remainder home for the next day. That’s the foodie in me. Last but not least, today meant a recovering from a slight hangover from the night before. I needed to escape the house so we visited Caffiened, a coffee shop in Harborne. We stopped off for a latte and a brownie before heading onto do a small Sunday lunch shop. I picked out some meats, cheeses, olives and focaccia. Today has been wonderfully relaxing, despite the hot weather that needs to break at some point. I hope you’ve enjoyed my little weekly roundup of places I’ve visited Keep your eyes peeled for the second edition next week.