Date Day

Throughout all the craziness that's happened over these past few years, the one thing that has remained constant and which I can always rely on is my relationship with Jonathan. Unfortunately it's also something I often take for granted. I recently realised that as much as we have the luxury of jobs that allow us to spend a lot of time together, we don't tend to make time for each other without the children unless it's something work related. And while our relationship is strong a marriage takes work and it's important to me that we look after it so we can be the best parents possible to Emilia & Eduardo! So we've decided to make a conscious effort to organise a weekly "date night" or in today's case "date day" where we don't talk about work and do something nice for the two of us. 

Today's date actually exceeded all of my expectations! I had anticipated maybe going for a meal in our local town (I'm a simple girl!) but after showing Jonathan an Instagram pic of the kind of amazing deliciousness that is a s'mores milkshake, he suggested Bluewater which is home to the red velvet Lola's Cupcake shake - my all-time favourite treat! The excitement nearly kept me up all night...I couldn't wait to go! We decided to beat rush-hour traffic and go during the day when it's quieter...hence the "date day" was born! Here's what I wore on our lunchtime date - a pretty simple outfit which is nothing you haven't all seen before! The blue shirt is an old Tommy Hilfiger one, my jeans are beaten up €5 ones from a Zara sale rack, the pink bow flats are from ASOS about 4 years ago and my pashmina was from a stall in Sorrento. My bag is by Chloé (my 21st birthday present from Jonathan ;)

Bluewater has a huge selection of restaurants but we finally decided on Jamie's Italian for lunch as the last time we were at one was probably in Dublin. I went all out and ordered my absolute favourite pasta dish...black squid & mussels spaghetti! Seafood pasta is pretty much all I eat when we're in Sorrento - I am obsessed! This certainly didn't disappoint...the spaghetti was amazing and super filling! So much so that I passed on dessert (totally unlike me) and didn't even feel like my cupcake shake! Instead we opted to do some retail therapy which mostly involved spending a ridiculous amount of time in toy shops picking out presents for our kids, Jonathan trying on and subsequently falling in love with the Apple watch (I still don't get it) and me filling the void in my heart after finishing up with breastfeeding by buying 12,000 push-up bras.

Here is some of the damage that was done today! As you can see it was a very pink haul...poor Jonathan! This is minus the kids' toys of course...but I did pick up a little flannel beach dress for Emilia from Juicy Couture which I thought would be so cute over her swimsuits this summer! I also got a set of hot pink heart print pyjamas which were on sale. From Victoria's Secret PINK I did pick up some bras as I'm in dire need of new (smaller...*SOB*) ones! And one boring pair of white undies. The bras are all from the Push-Up range and I got four "The Date" ones (in black, grey, indigo and berry) as well as one plain "Wear Everywhere" white one.

There was one more major, unexpected and very exciting thing we did today that I haven't mentioned yet because it's not the right time BUT I will tell you about it soon ;)

Meanwhile back at the zoo...here's what this monkey was getting up to! I swear to god, my children could not be anymore different! Emilia would never do anything this crazy but this ladies and gentlemen is little Eduardo Jonathan...professional furniture climber and the sole reason for which I will most likely go grey in my late twenties. 

All jokes aside, today was pretty amazing and we both came home feeling refreshed, renewed and even more in love. I highly recommend setting aside some quality time for each other every week especially if you have kids! Life can get stressful, crazy and sometimes you end up taking out your daily frustrations on the very person you are closest to. So it's important to give your relationship a little TLC to remind yourselves why you got together in the first place! Let me know what you think of date night/days. Do you have them and if so, do they make a difference to your relationship?