Wednesday 27 July 2016

What I've Been Wearing On My Nails #33


Barry M - Turquoise
I'm so obsessed with blue nail polish at the moment! I've found myself picking it up every time I've gone to paint my nails. Powder blues are such a statement colour to use in Summer, I even managed to match my toe nails to my finger nails (which never happens!)

Essie - Ruffles & Feathers
You might remember in my latest nail art post, I featured a gorgeous orange nail polish from Essie, that I fell in love with. So much so, I included it in last month's favourites. In the pack of three I also received this beautiful green. I'm usually more of a pink / red girl, but this colour looked so stylish on my fingers, I couldn't resist wearing it to death this month.

Essie - Haute In The Heat
This dark pink was also included in the pack of three Essie polishes I picked up from TK Maxx. I love it! It looks more red in the picture here, but it is the most adorable dark pink. I haven't got any other shades in my collection like this, so I was pleased it add it.

This last one.. what can I say..? I literally had this idea floating around in my head so I just had to give it a go. It looks a bit mad but I really liked it. Sort of a mosaic effect, but I managed to use a few shades in my collection that rarely get to see the light. The lime green is so luminous, it's a bit over the top for an every day look, but I love it regardless!

What have you been wearing on your nails this month?

Friday 22 July 2016

Life Lately #109


Hello lovelies!

Can you believe little Pushka is 4 months old!? Last weekend we took him for a walk in the fields around Gem's house & he's doing so well with his training. She's been taking him to puppy classes & he's been amazing off the lead. He gets so excited when he sees other dogs, all he wants to do is play! After our walk, we went to see Absolutely Fabulous at the cinema. Have you seen it? It's such a silly film. It did have funny moments, but the storyline was so rubbish! I won't be rushing to see it again if I'm honest. We went for dinner at Ask Italian (working for the local council, I get 30% off which is a bonus!) after the film & I'm currently obsessed with risotto. They do the nicest chicken & mushroom one, it just melts in your mouth!

Ah look what arrived this week! I ordered this little camera from Groupon a few weeks ago as a cheaper alternative to a GoPro. Obviously I wasn't expecting too much from it as it was literally a quarter of the price, but I'm looking forward to taking it on holiday with me next week. I'll write a review on it when I'm back.

My parents went to Yorkshire for a couple of days last week, so I was dog sitting while they were away. Harvey & Honey were so well behaved & it gave us an excuse to go out & enjoy the mostly cloudy but warm days. We walked for miles (I was trying to wear Harvey out as he hates mum being away & gets very anxious when she's not around) & it worked! I love this little pond that's near my house. We stopped here & watched the ducks swimming around while having a rest in the shade.

Look who was born this week! I feel like in every update post I announce someone has hatched, haha! This week it was our first peachick. We won't be able to tell for a while if this little one is male or female, but it's already become such a character. On it's first day in this world, it sat with me for an hour or so, just cuddled up. It ate some crumb & had it's first drink before going back under it's heat lamp. Hopefully it'll be joined by a few more chicks soon!

Now unless you've been living under a rock, you'll have heard that Pokémon Go hit the UK middle of last week. Of course, we all downloaded it (by we I mean our friendship group) Char & I worked 11 hours on Saturday & just across from us is a park which has lots of Pokestops & gyms in it, so we went for a stroll after our shift! We caught a few Pokémon, but it was mostly just nice walking around with the park on a warm evening getting some fresh air. I think we're going to try & do that now a lot more as we have late shifts together. I managed to head over to the park on Tuesday & took over my first gym! I've never been so excited. It lasted a whole 5 minutes mind.. but I was so proud!

On Sunday, the girls & I had a picnic in the park before work. It was so nice to have a catch up with them all (& eat all the remains from my BBQ a few weeks ago!) We also went shopping on Monday to Guildford. We sat & had lunch by the River Wey. It was so hot! Little Lily was looking so adorable in her hat & sunnies!

On Thursday I met up with Lorna for a bite to eat & a catch up. We don't get to meet up that often so it's lovely to see her when I can. The weather is so beautiful in the UK at the moment, it's been lovely to spend some time in the sun.

I'm actually off to Lanzarote with Cathy on Sunday! I have scheduled a post while we're away, but I'm going to be taking another break from social media as I found it so refreshing last month. Hope you're all well lovelies : )

Monday 18 July 2016

Corfu! Part II

Hello lovelies!

If you're new to my blog or haven't stopped by for a while, make sure you head over to the first part of this post, as I'm continuing on from there!

Thursday 23rd June

Today we decided to explore Corfu by driving over to the far side of the island. We had a few issues with getting out of our local town as it's full of steep hills & turns. Our poor little "fun bus" failed to make it up two hills, which resulted in everyone having to get out & walk to the top to be scooped up as Allan whizzed past us all in first gear! It was pretty funny, nothing is ever boring with our adventures!

We stopped at a view point shortly after getting going again, it was the most stunning scene of the harbour.



We then headed to the most gorgeous beach. The sea was stunningly blue & you could walk so far out before you were out of your depth.

The boys played some ball games, while us girls chilled on the beach.



I was trying to capture all the little fish that were swimming around my feet, but unfortunately they didn't come out on my camera. There were hundreds of them!


After the beach, we headed home for a quick turn around before jumping on the ferry to Corfu Town. It was around an hours journey (we weren't travelling at great speed mind!) but we soon arrived late afternoon for a few drinks followed by dinner & explored the town.



There was a huge choice of restaurants but we went for a quiet one that looked over a park. I had chicken & chips for dinner & then we had a walk around the museum to photograph the sunset over the sea.





I tried to capture a photo of the birds that were swarming over our heads about to nest for the night, but I couldn't get a good photo (there will be a vlog coming soon, which has video footage of them all!) There was absolutely hundreds!

The ferry journey back was one of my favourite parts of the holiday. The sun was setting over the sea & we had romantic music playing out of the speakers. It was so beautiful.

Friday 24th June

We had another pool day today, complete with pool volley ball games!



I still say the girls won hands down! ; D

James & I took another trip down to our beach in the afternoon & we found another bright green lizard & some swallows nesting right by the rocks.




We finished the day with a BBQ, which included chicken skewers, beef burgers & sausages. Allan was the master of the BBQ!

Saturday 25th June

Today we decided to explore Old Perthia, which was full of adorable tavernas. There was one that was covered in beautiful flowers & had grape vines woven around the outside.




We stopped for a cold drink as it was around 33 degrees that day & after a quick explore round the old buildings, we headed to a view point for lunch.


After lunch, we headed back to the villa to relax before going out to dinner. We decided to go to a place called Dimitri's which looks out over Kalami. The restaurant provides a taxi to & from your villa, with a lovely local man called George.

When we heard a vehicle coming up the hill to collect us, we actually couldn't believe it was the taxi! It was a 'well-loved' green mini van with a beaming George behind the wheel. The whole way there & back he was chatting away to us & even taught James to say "I love you" in Greek, so he could wake up every morning & say it to me. So cute.


Once it got darker, the view was so beautiful. We could see all the villas lit up & even a fireworks display from a restaurant down on the bay.


Sunday 26th June

Our last day. : (

We had another pool day to soak up the last of the sunshine & headed to Nikolas Taverna in Agni for our evening meal. What was extra special about this restaurant is again, like the previous night, there was a taxi service, but this time by boat. They came & collected us from our beach & took us to the taverna. It was a short 5 minute journey, but it saved us walking up & down rocky tracks in the dark to get there!



The food was delicious, Alex & I had the special which was basically an English roast dinner with a side of potatoes!


We also caught sight of a super yacht which was anchored near the restaurant, wouldn't be amazing to own one of those?! The swallows also kept us company at dinner as they were nesting in the light above our table. We think they had chicks in there as we could here a lot of commotion when the adult birds landed!


Monday 27th June

Home time.

 I can't seriously believe we've been back nearly 3 weeks.. where does the time go!? I thought I'd leave you with a few pictures from our plane journey home. James managed to capture these shots out the window as we flew over Corfu.

I can't explain how amazing the island was, if you ever get a chance to go, do it. The locals are all so friendly & keen to help make your stay the best you can imagine & the beaches & views are just incredible. I really want to go back!



I hope you enjoyed these two instalments of my adventures to Corfu, I've loved looking back over the pictures & writing about what we did. Remember to check out part I if you haven't already! : )

Wednesday 13 July 2016

Corfu! Part I

Hello lovelies,

Hope you're all well!

At the end of June, James & I jetted off with this family to Corfu for a week. It was one of the most beautiful places I've been lucky enough to visit. The weather was stunning, we had highs of 36 degrees & only a 5 minute shower of rain one day (which was actually quite refreshing!) So sit back, relax & enjoy the post!

Monday 20th June

3.25am.
Can you believe I was awake this early?! Neither can I..

Our taxi was booked for 4am to take us to Gatwick, luckily we don't live too far away so after a short 25 minute journey, it meant we were at the airport for 4.30am. James & Alex decided to stay up all night, while the rest of us managed to get around 5 hours sleep. The flight was delayed by 30ish mins, so after a brisk check in, we were through security & boarded our flight. In just under 3 hours, we had arrived in Corfu.

I absolutely love the initial opening of the plane doors & the heat just hitting you! Best feeling ever as when we left England it was cold & rainy. We managed to pick up our bags & the hire car / fun bus & headed out to find some food. As we couldn't get into our villa till 4pm, we found a local taverna for lunch.


I'm a massive fan of Greek food. A lot of it is similar to ours, but you are always welcomed with baskets of bread & most of the time, a complimentary dessert or shot at the end of the meal! You can't really complain!

We then headed over to our villa as we were exhausted from travelling & got straight into our swim wear for a dip in the pool & unpacked.



They had kindly left us an inflatable ball & two lilo's to use in the pool, which was very sweet. Although, we lost count of the amount of times we lost the ball over the side as we had some very competitive pool volley ball matches!



The views were seriously amazing from the pool, we only had a few neighbouring villas.


That night we decided to head into our local town called Yaliskari as England were playing Slovakia in the Euro's. The walk down to the town was beautiful & you could even catch a glimpse of our villa through the trees.


Tuesday 21st June

As we got to bed after midnight on Monday & had a 3.30am start, we had a lay in & spent the morning by the pool. James & I decided to take a stroll down to our beach in the afternoon. The villas in our area had access to a private beach, which was around a 5 minute walk down through the olive groves. We spied a few lizards on our way (I wanted to hug one but sadly couldn't catch it..) & there was also a lot of butterflies, grasshoppers & crickets.






I still can't get over how blue the water was, it was so beautiful!

That night we decided to eat in a local taverna called The White House. This place has so much history attached to it, I've linked the official website so you can read all about it if you like.


We had a table right on the water's edge which was stunning.


& I had one of the best chocolate brownies I've ever tasted, even the locals wanted a slither..



Wednesday 22nd June

When we went to Lefkas a few years ago, we hired a boat for the day & it was one of the best days of the holiday. We explored secret coves & snorkelling spots for the boys, so of course we had to do the same this year & explore the island from the water.

Allan, Alex & James all took it in turns to drive as we headed out to sea.



You can just see the light house here on the corner & that marked the spot where we turned & came back. The waves were seriously choppy & after 2 'super soakings' from the boys, we made our way to a taverna for a snack before lunch & a dry off!

Our little boat is the one to the right of this picture with the blue towels hanging on it! We had a few starters here before heading off to another small town for lunch.


James decided to have a quick snorkel before we made it to the second taverna. I'm not a massive fan of swimming in the sea, especially out of the depth, so I left him to it!


We picked the most gorgeous spot for lunch, right on the sea front, looking out to hundreds of fish, swimming below us. It was also right next to a very crowded beach, but it gave me the chance to have a dip & cool off before we set sail again!



Hope you've enjoyed this post lovelies! Part II will be coming soon : )