I'm notoriously bad for trying to do too much and letting my social life slip at the hands of my work.
It's not unusual for me to go months without seeing my pals, but still talking daily, it's just how it is.
Between this and the fact that my mum's away quite often, I was shook that we'd gotten to May and still hadn't used the voucher I bought my mum for Mothers Day.
I'm a sucker for a bargain so subscribe readily to anything that gets me a wee percentage off or a freebie. Knowing that my mum loves an afternoon tea I spotted a great deal on Itison for tea for two and a glass of Prosecco each for just £19 instead of £40.
This deal isn't live right now, but you could try this one for Gin71 or this one in Brown's Brasserie which have a similar offering.
We were both off for a bank holiday and decided we'd have a day out together as it's been ages since we caught up properly. I moved out a year ago and the hardest part was not seeing my mum every day, like I'd been used to.
Actually, that's a lie. The hardest part is waving goodbye to a huge chunk of my wage for the mortgage. But it's a close second.
Simon kindly took us into town as torrential rain had started just as we were getting ready so I once again thanked the gods for my saintly husband and we trotted off towards our first stop.
Marco Pierre Steakhouse.
The interior is very grand, I go weak for ornate coving and paneling - so it ticked more than one of my boxes. While the restaurant itself was pretty fancy, the tables were a little bit basic and the whole place was freezing!
We asked about turning down the AC which our waitress happily did, but it was still totally Baltic.
My mum, Karen, is vegetarian and is working her way over to becoming vegan, but decided that for today it would be easier to ask for a veggie afternoon tea as it's probably best to book a vegan option in advance. Dining out with a vegan can be a bit challenging I've discovered.
We were given our glasses of prosecco and we caught up on everything from our workplace gossip, to stories of things we've been up to and my mum showed me photos of a wee dog, Barney from Birmingham she wanted to adopt.
Barney is gorgeous, but I'm such a cat person.
Our afternoon tea stand was brought out and my mum had a whole separate plate of sandwiches which was nice, some places would have popped them all on one plate so it was reassuring to see that some thought was put into it. On my plate I had a dinky cucumber, a smoked salmon, a ham and a roast beef sandwich, my mum had a mixture of cucumber and cheese and tomato.
Along with this we had unlimited tea and coffee, this was great but the cafetiere I received my coffee in wasn't the cleanest and I'm easily freaked so I just had one cup from it.
Once we'd finished our sandwiches we moved on to our still-warm fruit scones which came with jam and cream. After asking for some butter as my mum can't eat cream, we thickened the scones with jam and tucked in. I'm not a fruit scone fan, but by god these were incredible. Buttery soft inside with a golden crust, I need the recipe! Hit me up, Marco.
The top tier always ends up slightly overlooked in my experience, as you've spent so long talking over your sandwiches and drinking that you can't really be bothered with the cakes. Obviously I forced myself!
We had a selection of carrot cakes, caramel shortcake, New York cheesecake and some mixed berries. I don't 'do' carrot cake, so gave my mum both bits and I had some of her cheesecake.
We had booked our table for 1pm and by the time we left just after 2pm it was starting to busy up, though it looked like other groups with the same voucher deal as us.
My mum was telling me all about Las Iguanas' cocktail deals where they do BOGOF during the week. Once we'd bought the first round she reminded me of this and we came to the realisation that it must be an England-only deal due to Scotland's stricter pricing policies when it comes to booze. Never one to be put out, she chugged her pornstar martini and got on with it, leaving me sipping my mango and elderflower margarita in her dust.
One Up
The next voucher we had booked was for cocktails and bar snacks at One Up. This one was around £12 from Groupon just last week so there may be something similar. We've been here before so knew what to expect, but if I'm totally honest I was a little underwhelmed.
Again, the bar was pretty chilly, but there is a door which opens to a roof terrace, so that makes sense. Our table was right at this door so we asked to move somewhere less exposed, this may have been the beginning of our trouble as we were now tucked out the road. For our first cocktail we both got French Martinis, ordering our next ones - Boe Violet Gin Fizz - next.
However there was no next as we waited and waited, then when a passing waiter stopped to collect our empties we had to remind about our other drinks. He was very apologetic and couldn't have been more pleasant, however our cocktails very pretty honking.
It's very rare I find a cocktail I don't like, but it was too strong and not one I'd rush to order again.
One Up do offer some pretty decent deals such as bottles of house wine from £6.50 during certain days, so for a midweek sesh I suppose it has its merits.
I had some shopping to do next as I'm a compulsive online shopper, so it was a trip to New Look on Buchanan Street to get rid of some things I wasn't sure of, then onto Primark on Argyle Street to spend more cash.
I do try to shop in stores as much as possible as I can see the impact of how we shop is impacting the high street, but quite often when I do shop in a physical store I struggle to find my size.
Revolution
We still had a another drink or two in us, so I coerced my mum to head to Revolution on Mitchell St. I wrote about my first trip here, so I knew what to expect. Although it was relatively busy, we managed to find a table no bother and get fired into the cocktails.
A word to the wise, Monday is classed as a Happy Day so certain cocktails are marked as just £4.50. We didn't realise this when ordering the first round, so Pornstar Martinis aren't included but the Popping Espresso Martini was.
For our next round I stuck to my fave while Karen went for an aptly-named Bird Bath. I have no proof but I'm almost certain the little bird clipped to the side swayed her.
This one was a little too sweet for me.
Since I'm back at work tomorrow we decided to call it a day and hop on a train back home, making plans for a sneaky bag of chips along the way.