Hello all! I hope everyone had a good week. I didn’t get up to much, work was busy and I spent the evenings watching Friends. This week’s post is going to be a short one as I’ve got errands (haircut!), and tomorrow Lucy and I are going out for lunch and shopping. I’ll be back next week with a recipe, but for now please enjoy a look back at what I got up to this winter. Also, I’ve been testing new makeup products like crazy so stay tuned for reviews!
My two biggest outings in winter 2017 were going to Vancouver for Christmas and visiting Blenheim Palace for their lights exhibit. I wrote separate posts on those that you can read via the links.
Back in November, Oxford got an overhaul with the opening of its massively refurbished (essentially new) mall called the Westgate. The old Westgate was a 1970s monstrosity; it’s only redeeming value was the large Primark. There are definitely pros and cons to the new Westgate being open. It’s excellent for shopping, but it’s taking business away from other areas of Oxford. There is a noticeable number of empty shops on Cornmarket (the main pedestrian street) and the historic covered market isn’t doing too well. The Westgate is also open plan so it’s very cold… but this should be nice in summer.
I occasionally pop into the Westgate on my way home from work, but Lucy and I wanted to go for a visit together to hit up three places in particular: Uniqlo, John Lewis, and Comptoir Libanais. Comptoir is our favourite restaurant, with branches originally located in London. When we heard the Westgate was being renovated we thought “what are the chances Comptoir will come to Oxford?”. Well, here it is— front and centre at the entrance to the mall! FYI- this is a Lebanese cantina with hummus, wraps, baklava etc. We both love their pomegranate and orange blossom drink and I obsess over their pickles. We’re going back tomorrow to celebrate Valentine’s Day; can you tell I’m excited?!
We also both love John Lewis – not just for their products, but because it’s an interesting place to wander around. On the roof of the John Lewis is a Scandinavian restaurant called Kupp. If you’re in Oxford and want a good coffee with a great view, I’d check it out! The decor is reminiscent of a birch tree forest and you can either go for table service, or sit at the bar. The picture below is a view from their large balcony.
Last, but not least, our town goes big with Christmas decorations. It makes it so magical – like a Cotswold Disneyland, and it was so dreary when I came back from Canada and the lights were off. The pictures didn’t come out great as I took them on my phone, but I snapped a couple during the Light-Switch-On festival. All of the trees in the town square were covered with copper and white catkin lights and it was so beautiful!
That’s all for now. I’m off to do a bit of cleaning/hide under a blanket with my book because it’s freezing…
Have a Happy Valentine’s Day – love to all!
