January & February Favourites

Hello lovelies,

Can you believe we are almost in March..!? Like, seriously, where has this year gone?!

March always makes me think Spring & Summer are on their way, however, I'm currently sitting here writing this post with snow flurries whirling around outside my window! It's actually bizarre. I'm staying at my parent's house as they've gone away for the night & it's in the middle of nowhere - no idea how I'm going to get to work tomorrow if it carries on like this!

Anyway, onto my favourites for January & February. I've actually not been changing much up this year so far with my beauty products. I struggled to find some I hadn't previously mentioned, hence the 1 lipstick featured in this post & apart from obsessing over my bullet journal & finding a new love of fiction, there isn't much else to add!

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No7 Matte Lip Crayon
Cathy kindly bought me this shade for Christmas & it's honestly one of the prettiest shades I own from No7. I'm usually a gloss girl, but I've noticed I've recently been wearing matte shades alot more. This one is called Dusky Rose & retails for £9.

Bullet Journalling

Since I got given a bullet journal for my birthday in January, I've been obsessed with designing my pages & creating content. I've got a full post coming up on my journal, so keep an eye out for that! But in the meantime, you check out my Pinterest Board that I use for inspiration!

Strawberries
I mean, I think this obsession started again when I had my first pancake of the year. Nothing beats a  pancake with bananas & strawberries on top! They have become my go-to snack at work as I'm trying to take at least 1 item of fruit with me each day!

Books
I made an order with The Works back in January to encourage myself to read more. I've been absolutely loving losing myself in a book in the evening, I just find it so relaxing. You might have noticed I've started reviewing my reads of 2018, starting with The Fifth Letter. Keep an eye out for my post coming soon reviewing Three Amazing Things About You! This book has deifnitely made my top 10 favourites!

Marc Jacobs - Daisy Dream Eau De Toilette
I was kindly given this eu de toilette for Christmas by my Auntie & I'm in love with it. The scent is absolutely perfect for me & I'm loving wearing it for special occasions.

A Little Something Hand Cream - Apricot
I can't for the life of me remember who gave me this hand cream! (I apologise if it was you, but please know how much I love it!) The apricot scent is so delicious, I have to resist eating it when applying it! It makes my hands so soft & has helped me out so much in these cold winter months. I'm quite lucky in the sense that my hands aren't particularly dry, but this helps keep them extremely hydrated.

Labyrinth
This board game has to be one of my favourites ever. James was given it for Christmas & we haven't gone more than a few days without playing it! It's so much fun & easy to understand (good for me) & a game usually lasts about 20 minutes, so it's perfect for us to do in the evenings just before bed. 

Events

I turned 27! As always, I filled the 5 days around my birthday with celebrations, including a trip to Brighton, West Wittering & Sumners Pond. It was amazing as always & I was thoroughly spoilt.

I met baby Rupert!

James & I visited Shere for the day (blog post coming soon!)

Valentine's Day was extra special this year. I worked with Cathy during the day who completely spoilt me with flowers, balloons & lots of beautiful gifts. James also cooked me a surprise dinner when I got home.

I got made full time at work! I'm currently on a 25 hour contract, but work between 37-40 hours a week doing overtime, but I finally have the 37 hours confirmed! It will make such a difference knowing what I'm doing months in advance & have the security of more hours.

TV

Friends
I genuinely thought I'd seen every episode of Friends, but since we've started watching it on Netflix, there's a few that have cropped up that I haven't seen! I absoutely love this show, it's one of those programs that can instantly make me smile, whatever mood I'm in.

Music

Craig David Feat. Bastille - I Know You

Clean Bandit - I Miss You

Lauv - I Like Me Better

How has February been for you lovelies?

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Life Lately #143

Hello lovelies,

At the end of January, I had to say goodbye to this wonderful lady. I've been working with her for nearly 10 years & she's like my second mum. She's starting her new adventure in Devon & I couldn't be more excited for her, but I'm also going to miss her like mad. Work really doesn't feel the same without her.

I met up with my tea ladies at the beginning of February, which was lovely as we don't all get to see each other very often. I also got to meet & cuddle the gorgeous baby Rupert, who was so adorable. Just look at his little face! He's almost 2 months old.

James & I had a rare day off together on Sunday & we booked a meal at the White Horse. It's a beautiful pub in the middle of a small village called Shere, in Surrey. I'd planned for us to do a 2 mile walk before our roasts to build up an appetite & despite it being freezing cold, it was an absolutely perfect day. The food was seriously incredible, I'm not exagarating when I say, it was one of the best roasts I've ever had. We explored the local area as well & picked out a few nice places to shop. We'll definitely be heading back to Shere soon to try out The Dabbling Duck.

Last Monday night, the girls & I celebrated Galentine's Day at ASK Italian. We had such a lovely evening. The food was delicious & we had a few cheeky glasses of wine!

For Valentine's Day, I spent the day with one of my best girlies. Cathy totally spoiled me at work & I came home to James, who had surprised me by cooking dinner. He also brought balloons & confetti to decorate the lounge. So cute!

On Thursday I met up with Lorna & Sarah in town before heading to afternoon tea with Cathy, I'd bought her 'Valentines tea for 2' at Wyevale Garden Centre.. except, we got stuck on the M23 for 3 whole hours because of a diesel spillage! We later discovered they'd shut the motorway & had to re-surface the road over night! We luckily managed to re-arrange the tea for this afternoon. Don't worry.. we'll be taking a different route this time! (Follow my Twitter for updates & see if we actually make it..)

Friday I went to Guildford with my girls & we had the most delicious Nandos while browsing the shops. I picked up the most beatiful playsuit for Summer, which I'm sure will feature on my Instagram soon. Look at Lily trying on all the shoes! Here she is modelling her favourite pair!

& finally last night, Gem cooked us dinner at hers. We had pasta bake & had a massive catch up, while watching lip sync battles! Have you seen Channing Tatum's Lip Sync's? Oh my god, we were crying with laughter!

How has your week been lovelies?

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Life Lately #134

It seems like an eternity ago now, but we went to watch banger racing on Bank Holiday Monday! It was so so so hot, I think the hottest Bank Holiday we've had on record. We were out in the sun the whole day, watching the cars race around the track. I was the only one that had been before, so it was great to watch everyone's reactions to the racing. (especially yours Jules!)

Oh, now how cute is little Maggie? My mum is looking after her a few times a week for a friend while they are working in London & I met her at the beginning of September. She is such a character, she's in to everything!

Look at these two. Aren't they just the cutest things? We had a girls night while all the boys hit the town & the evening was filled with baby cuddles, Say Yes To The Dress & pizza. 

Jigsaw puzzles. How under-rated are they? Seriously. Ever since I bought one for Elisa for her birthday, I've wanted to complete my own one. The Works had a 20% off sale a few weeks back, so I picked this one up for James & I to play. We're only half way through as it's so difficult, but so much fun!

Char finally came home for Nandos, yay! I'm kinda hoping she came home to see us, but really I know it was for the chicken.. haha! She's been away in Edinburgh for what's seemed like forever, so it was lovely to have a catch up over a bite to eat in town. 

Last weekend, James & I went to the New Forest for a couple of days. It was the perfect holiday for us, filled with animals, food & a cosy log cabin in the middle of nowhere. I'm going to write up a full post on our trip, so I won't go on about it to much now, but it really was the most lovely break away.

This week, the boys have been playing their annual golf tournament, so I decided to cook for them & Maria on Tuesday night. I was extremely proud as every plate was cleared! I made a lamb with orzo dish, with hot crusty bread & we had nuts & crisps for starter & a strawberry cheesecake for pudding. (Thanks Tesco!) Btw, would you guys be interested in me doing a 'what we eat in a week' series on my blog? I've seen quite a few YouTubers doing them recently & find them so interesting to watch. 

& finally, I'm currently staying at my parent's house, looking after Honey. They have gone away on holiday for their anniversary, so it's just the 2 of us (until James comes round for dinners in the evenings) & it's given me so much time to just sit & blog & edit all the footage I have from days out / holidays over the past few months! Expect a few more blog posts & videos over the next few weeks!

How has September been for you lovelies? Are you all set for Autumn? 

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Life Lately #127

Hi lovelies,

My friend Bo was in a play called Family Planning a few weeks back & Gail, Cathy, Elisa & I went to watch her perform. It was such a good little show! Bo's boyfriend Chris was actually performing alongside her, so it was lovely to see them both on stage!

Hasn't the UK had a mixture of weather recently? Luckily the majority has been beautiful sunshine, mixed in with a few cloudy days. I met my girl Ricka for tea at our local garden centre last weekend & we managed to sit outside in the sunshine for about a couple of hours, catching up on life. We actually got so warm!

I also managed to meet up with Cathy, Boop, Gem & baby Alice for lunch after seeing Ricka. We went to Sumners Ponds, which is the most wonderful place. They have a few animals, a lake where you can camp in the summer & outside seating, where you can watch the fishermen around the lake. We had a walk after lunch & visited the cows & most importantly, had a well over-due catch up!

Ah, so I've been looking forward to last Sunday since the end of last year when I booked the tickets as a surprise for James! We drove up to London to see Craig David at the SSE Arena. It was absolutely incredible! We stopped for dinner at Nandos before hand & drove back home after the show. I can't stress how amazing it was to see him live on stage, he is such a talented man.

How has your month been so far lovelies?

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Life Lately #126

Hi lovelies,

So, I've had a very exciting few weeks!

Firstly, Naomi came back from uni to celebrate her birthday with us. We drove to Brighton to play Globalls, which I'd never heard of before. It's a new indoor ultraviolet golf course in the marina. They've also added a few dinosaurs for good measure! It was so much fun (& I won yay!) then we headed back to Naomi's for lunch & a few games & our first Deliveroo! They've only just come to our home town, so it was most exciting!

Last Wednesday, I met up with Shez, Elisa & Lily & we went to Guildford for a shopping day. I managed to pick up a few bits & pieces, including some shoes, a rug & a cleaning cloth. When did I become such an boring adult.. haha! We finished up the day by popping into a nursery, filled with animals which I think we all loved more than Lily..

On Thursday, Lorna & I met up for tea & cake at Pretty Things. We love it in there so much, there's always new decorations, it's just the prettiest, pinkest shop you can imagine. We also discussed Beauty & The Beast, which I went to see on the opening day. How amazing was that film? Seriously.. I want to go & see it again!

Last Saturday was Maria's hen do. Maria is James' 'soon to be' step mum, which in reality, she has been for many years, but Allan popped the question early last year & they are officially tying the knot in less than 10 weeks! We had such a lovely evening on Saturday, (full post here if you want a read) & the boys were sweet enough to pick us up at 1am, after dancing away to Michael Buble in the local pub!

Sunday was Mother's Day as I'm sure you all know & I spent the day with Mum. We visited Nan & Grandad & had a lovely walk in the woods with Dad & the doggies. I also took mum to see The Time Of Their Lives on Monday as part of her present which we both really enjoyed.

Finally, on Monday I got to meet the newest addition to our group, baby Alice. Isn't she just the cutest thing? Gemma gave birthday to her last Tuesday (21st March) so I met her at 6 days old. I was bridesmaid for Gem nearly 2 years ago now & we've known each other since the induction day of secondary school, when I asked her for a pencil (haha!) so meeting Alice was truly over-whelming. Congrats again Gem & Ollie, I'm so proud of you both.

How has your week been lovelies? Any plans for the weekend?

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Life Lately #122

Hello lovelies,

I met my friend Ricka for a late birthday treat at Bills last Sunday. I haven't had afternoon tea there for over 2 years & even though they've changed it up a bit, it was so lovely! We had two scones each, a pot of blackberries, a piece of Victoria sponge cake & a pot of earl grey tea each. Heaven.

It was Bo's birthday on Wednesday, so we went to the pub for dinner. James & I both had a burger with pave for pudding, just look how delicious it was!

On Sunday Cathy, Boop & I planned Gemma's baby shower. It was so much fun to organise (if a little stressful at times) but we managed to get all the decorations ordered at the beginning of January, invites sent out & cakes baked. Everyone was asked to bring along a sweet treat, so we had mountains of food! Also, Elisa made this fantastic cake for Gemma & Ollie, just look at that little elephant! Gemma knows she's having a little girl in March, so it was easy to buy presents for her. I managed to pick up a personalised penguin dressing gown & had 'Baby Rogers' printed on the front. It was so adorable, I wanted to keep it for myself to be honest..

Tuesday morning I met up with Shezza, Elisa & Lily to have a catch up with life. Those girls seriously know how to put a smile on my face, especially Lily, just look at her little bunches!

Oh, & I always try to include a picture of Honey in these posts, because she's always a massive part of my life & makes me smile so much everyday. After my birthday in January, all the excitement of the last 2 months fades away. I know for most people that happens at the beginning of the month as Christmas & New Year becomes a memory, but it can get you down. All I need to do is make a cup of tea & cuddle this little one & my day is instantly better.

& I have to be honest & admit, a bit of retail therapy does help too.. look at my beautiful boots I managed to pick up in the ASOS sale! They were £19 down from £34.99 & I can't wait to style them once storm Doris has passed through.. the weather really knows how to bring down your mood. I seriously can't wait for Spring now & for us to head into the warmer months. It's seriously scary to think we are in February already though? Madness.

How was January for you lovelies?

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Life Lately #120

Hello lovelies,

A week before Christmas day, James & I attended our friends Christmas meal at Gail's house. We all bring an element of the Christmas dinner to the evening. This year James & I brought the Yorkshires, along with some wine & a bottle of sherry (which I quickly discovered I'm the only person that's a fan of it! Yay me!) We also did secret Santa (thankyou jack for my lovely candle) & played a few games.

The next day we went to see our panto Aladdin at work & it was genuinely one of the best pantos we've put on. I adored the way the story played out on stage & all the characters were brilliant.

On 19th December, it was our work Christmas meal that I'd been planning since the beginning of the year! We went to the same place as last year, a local pub with live music in the evening. We had a late sit down time of 8.45pm, just so the last people on shift could come too & the food was delicious as always. We had a 5 course meal; starter, pallet cleanser, main, pudding & tea & mince pies to finish.

For Christmas this year, James & I split ourselves across all our families. We started with Christmas Eve at James' mums, where we had a full Christmas dinner in the evening, followed by a few games & we watched Finding Dory while we waited for midnight. It's tradition in their household to open a small present at midnight & then wake up around 9am for the rest of the presents. On Christmas Day, we headed to my grandparents' for lunch. We don't have a massive family, so 8 of us on Christmas Day always feels like a lot of people in one place! It was so nice to celebrate with them all. Finally on Boxing Day, we headed to James' dad's for round 3! Auntie Jules was down as well, so we spent the day playing games & consuming a lot of alcohol!

Scary thought coming up.. Lily turned 1. Yup that's right, 1. How has a year of this little ones life gone by already!? We had a party for her on Saturday in the local barn, filled with lots of balloons, bubbles & cake.

& finally, New Years. James' birthday is in fact New Years Day, so we celebrated with a few fireworks & a games day, followed by curry in the evening.

Oh & yesterday was my final day of holiday before I headed back to work this morning. We decided as it was a beautiful sunny day to go to West Wittering Beach. Before James & I met, it was tradition for my parents, the dogs & I to go to the beach for a walk on New Years Day, but we haven't been able to do that for a few years, so it was lovely to go & visit the beach as it holds so many memories for me. Although it was freezing, it was so lovely to see all the doggies running around in the sea & lots of people wrapped up in their new winter clothes. It has to be one of my favourite places ever.

How has your New Year lovelies?

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Life Lately #116

Hello lovelies,

Have you ever dieted? I mean like, properly dieted? Isn't the most miserable thing ever?! James & I decided to start eating better by cutting out chocolate, crisps etc, but we are seriously so miserable. I like fruit & veg don't get me wrong, but it was so hard to stick at it. We've now got to the stage of being sensible with food & not going crazy with our portion sizes & we seem to be doing well so far. I've decided I could never live without chocolate.. ever..

The girls & I had Sunday lunch at a local pub last week, which I'd never been too. It was the most adorable little place, complete with a log fire & the best roast I've had in ages. Definitely going back again soon!

Friday before Halloween, James & I had the morning together to carve our pumpkins. I've never done anything other than a scary face, so this was a new design for me! Did you carve pumpkins this year?

We also got to dress up at work for Halloween. I went as a dead child, who had come back to life as a doll. Weird I know, but I wanted to have pretty makeup, complete with a bit of gore on the side!

On Tuesday, Gemma & Ollie had a gender reveal meal at Pizza Express, where we found out what sex the baby is! I'm actually so excited to meet their little one!

I met up with Lorna in the week & we went to Costa. My heart could literally not take the excitement of finding out that their orange hot chocolates were back this year. They were my weakness two Christmas' ago & I can't wait to binge on them again this year!

Friday night, Campbell held a firework evening at his house, complete with the most amazing display. James & I were planning on going to a local display on the Saturday night, but didn't feel we needed too as Campbell's was so good. We'd had our fill of fireworks for this year.

& finally we celebrated Char's birthday this weekend. We went to Giggling Squid for lunch on Saturday & had breakfast at Char's Sunday morning. It was so nice to catch up with her (she's currently away a uni)

How has your November been so far? : )

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Life Lately #112

Hello lovelies!

I never realised how much I say to the girls "Lets have brunch". A friend said to me the other day "I'd love to have your life & go out for brunch in the mornings!" Haha! I think because I love breakfast but I'm not a massive fan of eating first thing in the morning, plus most of my shifts are 12-8.30, it just makes sense that's what we all love to do! Anyway, I met up with the girls a few weeks back & saw this lovely little one again. Can you believe she is now 8 months old?! Crazy.

My mum & I went for afternoon tea at The Hickstead Hotel on Bank Holiday Monday. It was a birthday gift from James & we'd been saving up to do it for the longest time. It was lovely to spend the afternoon with mum. I'm going to write up a full post on our day so I won't say too much about it now, but make sure you check it out as it features lots of delicious food!

Oh & here we are again.. another brunch, haha! This time with my girl Ricka. We realised we hadn't seen each other since May, so we had a lovely catch up over pancakes!

Last Sunday, our friend Faye took part in Alice In Wonderland & she was Alice! It was such a lovely afternoon out. We got given balloons on arrival & were told to wait in the little café area (outside) & we would be taken into Wonderland. So much effort had been put into the show, it was such a good day.

I came home that evening to our first family BBQ of the year (bit late I know!) but it was so lovely. Even Honey was helping with the cooking!

& finally yesterday I had a day off in the sunshine & spent the morning with my girl Lorna. We went for tea in town, followed by a natter in the park. I'm sitting here writing this while the rain is pouring down outside, it's hard to believe it was boiling hot sunshine in the UK yesterday, but I guess that's just British weather for you!

How has your week been lovelies? I'm working a 3 hour shift today, followed by a 10 hour one tomorrow, but I'm actually off on Sunday which is exciting! Do you have any plans?

Oh & a massive thankyou to everyone who left a comment on my latest blog post. I mentioned on my Instagram I'm not massively comfortable with my appearance at the moment & you were all so kind. The blogging community really is a special one to be apart of.

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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 : )

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Life Lately #108

Hello lovelies,

Long time no speak! I've been away in Corfu then as soon as I returned & went to download all my photos onto my laptop, the bloody thing wouldn't turn on. I've spent the last week or so on the phone to the help line, resetting everything & getting it back to a healthy state, so I apologise for the lack of updates.

Just before I went on holiday, we had 4 ducklings hatch! They are just the cutest little things & have been regularly coming in & enjoying a bath in the house. Ducklings are so messy compared to chicks, so they need to come in to clean themselves every few days & have a splash around. Love this time of year for animals being born!

Ok, so my main update this month is our holiday to Corfu. I want to do a full post & vlog on our adventures, so I won't write much about it here except how amazing it was! We did so much in a week & had non-stop sunshine. (Bit different to our holiday to Lefkas 2 years ago when it rained for half the holiday!) Keep an eye out for that post coming soon & if you'd like to see what I took with me to Corfu, I wrote a full post about packing just before I left.

Last Sunday I held my annual Summer BBQ. I'd bought a marquee for this year as I wasn't sure how the weather would behave, but despite a few short showers in the morning, we had brilliant sunshine all afternoon & evening! Lily arrived in the cutest little dress, can you believe she is now 6 months old?! Crazy. She has just started sitting up on her own so won't be long before she's crawling around. Try & spot her in our pyramid!

I also stole a few ideas off Pinterest (anyone else obsessed with it as much as me!?) for some buffet food ideas. I made these pepper dips, which just involved cutting the bottom of the pepper & taking out the middle, before pouring the dips inside. I also made a watermelon jelly which I didn't manage to photograph unfortunately, but that turned out ok until we had to cut it into slices & it fell apart!

On Monday James & I went to see The Secret Life Of Pets & although it was good, I was a bit disappointed with the storyline, it just wasn't what I was expecting. The characters were good & it was funny, but I wouldn't rush to see it again. Have you seen it?

This week, I also got to meet this gorgeous puppy called Phantom. He belongs to a lady I work with & he came in to visit us on Monday. Isn't he cute?

Yesterday, Alex celebrated his birthday & we had a family meal at a local pub. Too much food was consumed! We also managed to get a group of 'older men' (they must have all been at least 70!) to sing to him! Was so adorable.

& finally I just wanted to include this image I took of our garden last week. Every time I look at it, it reminds me that even during the darkest times, there is light at the end of the rainbow. I've drafted a few more lifestyle posts recently that I can't wait to share with you over the next few weeks, as I'm hoping to change up my content on here to make it more 'me'. I think that's why I had gone off blogging at the beginning of June, it was just so impersonal for me to keep writing reviews of products etc, I want to make this blog about me again.

Hope you're having a lovely week so far guys : )

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Life Lately #107

Hello lovelies!

Feels like ages since I've done an update post. My head hasn't really been into blogging the last week or so, thank goodness for sensible me who decided to draft some posts a month ago! I don't know what it is, but I've been struggling to even want to sit down at my laptop & start typing. I think because I sit & look at a computer screen every day for work, I'm reluctant to want to do it in my spare time.. anyway, hopefully I'll soon get back into the swing of things.

The month has felt so busy, but when I actually look back over the past week or so, I don't seem to have taken many pictures..

My group of friends & I had a games day round Cathy's house  at the end of May & her cat Millie decided to hunt me down & rub herself all over me. I think cats have an inkling when someone has an allergy & will pounce as soon as they see you. As well as Millie infecting me for a few days, my hay fever has been driving me insane ever since. It's fine some days, but then others I'll feel completely run down by it. Please tell me its not just me?

On Friday 3rd June I went to my first football match in Southampton. I bought James tickets to the Sidemen VS YouTube Allstars charity match for Easter (who am I kidding, they were a gift to myself as well!) & we travelled up in the afternoon to grab some lunch before the game. We ate in a lovely place called Pitcher & Piano. The starters were delicious but we were unsure of the main courses. I had a burrito & James had a burger. They were a bit plain to be honest but it was a nice place to eat as it was right on the harbour. Anyway, the match was so good! It finished 7-2 & up until their young male fans decided to run onto the pitch at the final whistle destroying everything, it was amazing. I just wish they had been able to do the trophy presentation properly at the end. I vlogged the day, so that will be coming soon on my YouTube channel if you're interested.

Last Sunday, myself & the ladies from work took part in the Race For Life. It was our third year raising money & awareness for Cancer Research & thankfully, we had a dry, hot day! I'm so proud of them all!

I met up with Gem & Cathy last week for dinner at ASK. I always seem to forget about this restaurant in our local town as it's at the far end of a row of restaurants & because I cook pasta dishes regularly at home, it doesn't feel like a treat when I go there. However, I had the mushroom & chicken risotto & oh my god, it was amazing. To finish our meal, we had one of their new desserts, the chocolate lava mountain. It was heaven!

On Saturday, the girls & I went to the Ardingly Show, which is filled with animals; pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, horses, cows, rabbits etc & lots of food tents, stalls & floral displays. We had such a nice day, despite the rain & overcast skies. This is Gareth, you might remember me mentioning him in previous posts. He was on display in the chicken tent. Little Lily also came on our day out & had a lots of fun looking at all the animals!

& finally yesterday I had a day off. I can't tell you how excited I was to do nothing but cook, blog & relax. How did you spend your weekend?

 & I think that will be the last update from me before we head to Corfu next Monday. I'm actually so excited to spend some time in the sunshine away from work & every day life. I haven't decided if I'm going to set up a few posts while I'm away, I'll have to see if I can get my head back into it. Thankyou as always for your love & support on this page & all my other social medias. You guys are amazing < 3

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Life Lately #106

Hello lovelies!

Last week, I met up with my girl Ricka & we went for a walk & had a catch up at our local garden centre. It's the perfect location, a short walk from her house, takes us through the fields, across to the café. They do the most delicious cookies as well as proper lunch time meals. It's always so relaxed in there & despite them always being busy, there's plenty of seating, indoor & outdoor.

Ok, so the main update & highlight of this month was last Saturday when two of my best friend's tied the knot! It was the most perfect day, despite the occasional shower of rain. (May weather, so unpredictable..) They got married in the local church & held the reception just down the road. I can't stress how proud I am of both of them, it was such an emotional day. Vlog will be coming soon!

Sunday I was also lucky enough to not have to work, so James & I made the most of the sunshine & went for a long walk with the dogs. Honey gets extremely hot in this weather with her long coat, but she did amazingly well with her little short legs! We also visited James' dad & Maria for Sunday dinner. Was so lovely as we hadn't seen them for over a month & a half.

On Wednesday, my friend Sarah drove to mine for a walk with her year old dog Vinny who is such a crazy character! We took Harvey with us & they both seemed to get on really well.

Thursday I met up with Lorna & we went for tea in our local town. I always love meeting up with her, she has such amazing stories to tell!

& finally, last night the girls & I; Mils, Cathy, Kym & Catherine went to see Busted in London. Oh my god. My teenage self was extremely happy. I have loved James Bourne since I first saw him in the What I Go To School For video! I'd highly recommend going to see them live if you get the chance, they all have so much energy!

How has your week been lovelies? : )

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Life Lately #102

Hello lovelies!

Hope you had the most wonderful Easter! James travelled back from Gloucester on Easter Friday so we got to spend a few days off together over the long weekend. My grandparents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary (still can't get over how amazing that is!) on 24th March, so we had a family meal on the Sunday. It's so nice to actually have the day off work to spend with them all & eat ALL of the chocolate!

Lily turned 3 months at the end of March! Can you believe that!? She's growing up so fast & getting cuter by the day!

I met up with the girls after a meeting at work on the Tuesday for a cup of tea & breakfast at our local pancake house. Just look at that meal! Pancakes complete with bacon & eggs, it's the most amazing thing ever!

On Wednesday, myself & the girls went to Ikea. It was Lily's first trip & she loved it! & she even managed to get a few cute toys from her aunties. We also stopped for lunch at the café & sampled the meatballs, which are soooo good. I've never had them before, but everyone raves about them, so thought I'd give them a go. I went to work that evening & my stomach swelled up! It was so painful, I've never had a pain like it. It actually felt like a balloon was inside me.. now I honestly don't know if it was the meatballs or not, but has anyone else ever had this?

Last Thursday I met up with Lorna before work & we had a catch up at one of our favourite cafes. We even got to sit outside for the first time this year! Myself & the girls are travelling down to see Lorna in her home town in a couple of weeks & I'm going to try to vlog our day out, so keep an eye out for that!

& finally myself & James made these amazing crème egg brownies last week. Neither of us are master chefs in the kitchen, but we found a simple recipe on Pinterest that both of us thought we could accomplish & they actually turned out amazingly well! I took them to work for people to sample & we got such a good response so we're definitely going to try more brownies in the future, maybe Maltesers & Mini Egg ones!

Hope you've having a good week lovelies : )

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Life Lately #100

 

Happy Saturday lovelies!

 

At the beginning of March, Jack's girlfriend flew over from Texas, so we had a meet up at the local pub & look who fell asleep on me! She was the cutest little thing, she snuggled right up to me (think my new jumper from ASOS helped as it's extremely soft!) but she stayed curled up for a good 20 minutes while we all chatted away. She is just the sweetest little thing.

 

Last Saturday, my girls, Boop's family & I managed to pull off a surprise birthday party for my best friend. We organised a games afternoon at Cathy's, followed by "dinner at a new pub Cathy's parents recommended". We managed to get Boop there without suspecting a thing & it was such a lovely night. We hired a barn next to a country pub, filled with food, friends & music & chatted the night away. I filmed the whole day which you can watch here if you like or at the end of this post!

 

Sunday was Mother's Day & I got the cutest card & bunch of primroses from Honey! My mum & I had a chilled day & I'm treating her to afternoon tea next month. What did you do to celebrate with your mum?

 

I've had some annual leave to use up before the end of March, so I've been making the most of it & booked this week off work. I had this beautiful bath bomb to use from Christmas, plus been spending hours walking the dogs in the countryside & getting excited about all the pretty sunsets! The weather has been a complete nightmare, as one moment it's pouring & the next it's glorious sunshine but I managed to capture this sky shortly after a down pour!

 

Ah don't you just love belated birthday pressies? I managed to catch up with Emily at Sarah's birthday meal & she bought me this gorgeous Little Miss Princess mug. I'm actually obsessed with mugs.. I have so many! Thankyou again Emz!

 

Finally on Tuesday I headed up to Gloucester to visit James at uni & on Thursday, we went to Crufts. I've never been & always wanted to go so it was an amazingly special day. I got to hug a Pug (life long dream!) & a Chihuahua, plus I got to meet hundreds of other dogs. We went on the Toy & Utility day, so I also got to see the French Bulldogs, Boston Terriers & Poodles. Was so much fun! I'm looking forward to the final tomorrow night, have you been watching this year?

 

How has your week been lovelies? : )

 

 

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Life Lately #99

 

Hello lovelies,

 

A few weeks back I was very brave.. & had my hair cut.. but not just cut.. I had layers put back in! I haven't had layers in my hair since I was about 18, which was 7 years ago but decided to take the plunge. My hair is so thick & can get really frizzy & it just felt so heavy around my face. My hair dresser understood exactly what I wanted & I'm so pleased how it turned out. I'm really enjoying wearing it like this, when I can be bothered to style it!

 

I met up with my girl Lorna for tea & a catch up at Costa & it felt like we hadn't properly seen each other for ages! She always knows how to put a smile on my face.

 

I also got to have lunch with my favourites at Bill's. Just look how much Lily has grown since I last featured her on my blog! She's the most adorable little thing & has just turned 2 months which has gone by so quickly! It was also lovely to see Naomi who was back from uni & Cathy's friend Ash was also down, so we had a lovely catch up before I headed to work. I didn't realise, but Bill's do a bargain lunch menu, which included steak, salad or a fish dish + a pudding or starter for £10. Amazing!

 

On 21st Feb, I met up with my tea ladies to celebrate Sarah's birthday. I was working late but managed to make it in time for the most delicious pudding & to see her open her pressies.

 

I mentioned this is my January & February Favourites post, but James' dad & partner Maria got engaged! We were all so pleased for them, myself & James decided to set up a few balloons & banners for them on their return to England! I can't actually wait to hear about the wedding plans!

 

& finally last Friday & Saturday, it was my nan & dad's birthdays & we celebrated with a family meal on the Friday night. I always love seeing my grandparents & so nice to get us all together around one table! 

 

How was your February lovelies? : )

 

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Life Lately #96

 

Ok, so who else is dying of cuteness right now?! I'd like you all to meet Lily! I mentioned that she was born in my last update post & this was the day we went to visit her in hospital. Isn't she just the sweetest little thing you've ever seen? I don't have any babies in my family, so I'm massively excited by Lily's arrival! I didn't take a picture unfortunately, but we also said goodbye to Mils & Craig the same day as they headed off around the world on their travels. I already miss them both terribly, but can't help but be super jealous of all the snapchats I'm getting of Mils sitting on a beach.. how unfair as we currently suffering -5 degrees here in the UK!

 

Last Wednesday, I met up with Gemma for an early birthday lunch at Sugar & Snow. I was trying to be healthier with my diet since the new year, but that's gone out the window this past week! It's impossible to diet when it's your birthday! We had a lovely catch up, along side a tea & chocolate filled pancake. Was so delicious.

 

Our Race For Life photo was in our local newspaper this month! You might remember me posting about our day last year when we ran as a group from work. My lovely friend Shez who has organised it for the last 2 years left work middle of last year, so it's been left to me to organise this year's event. After meeting up with her last week, I'm actually so excited about organising it & we've already got some people signed up. If you want to take part this year, you can join in January for £10 as opposed to £14.99. It's such an amazing experience to take part in, I'd highly recommend it.

 

It's been so warm up until this week in the UK, we've had all the Spring flowers popping up in the garden! These were shop bought daffodils, but my mum gets them every year on my birthday. If you didn't see my post earlier this week, it was all about turning 25 & how challenging this year is going to be for me. If you fancy a read, you can view the post here. Thankyou for all your lovely comments, I never thought it would get the response it has. Really does mean a lot to me to know you guys relate to it as well.

 

Which leads me nicely on to my birthday celebrations! James travelled back from uni in Gloucester last Thursday & took me out for dinner at The Giggling Squid in the evening. I've raved about this restaurant before, but if you haven't heard of it, they serve the most delicious Thai cuisine. We had such a lovely evening & headed back to mine for some wine & pudding!

 

On Saturday I celebrated in style at my Disney party! I've literally been planning this night for months so you can imagine my excitement when Saturday came round! I hired a local venue for my event & decorated it with balloons, fairy lights & party poppers, complete with games such as pin the tail on the Eeyore & kiss the frog. We also did a quiz & connected a laptop to a projector so we could watch Disney films! It was such a good night & I was surrounded by all my amazing friends. I got to wear the most beautiful dress & was able to become a princess for the night! (A life long dream of mine!)

 

On Monday night I met up with my girls & we went for dinner at Cote. I've never sampled the early bird menu but it was such good value for money, definitely recommend it if you get the chance to go. I had a three course meal; pate to start, steak for main & chocolate mousse for pudding.

 

How has your 2016 been so far lovelies?

 

Thankyou so much again to everyone that left me a tweet, message or text for my birthday. I'm still in my little bubble of happiness from Saturday. : )

 

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Life Lately #95

 

These last few weeks have been completely manic but also some of the loveliest of the entire year.

 

Let's start with Elisa, one of my best friends going on maternity leave on Christmas Eve. She was due to give birth on 6th January, but actually went into labour on 29th & baby Lily was born at 11.09am! We have a facebook chat with all our close friends in & it was going crazy as soon as Elisa sent through a picture of the birthing pool! It was such a tense day as I was at work 12-8.30 & we heard the news at 2pm! Another of the ladies I work with ran out to box office & we both celebrated. Both mum & baby are doing fine & myself & James are going to visit Lily later on today. I'm so excited!

 

As tradition stands, myself & James go to watch panto every year on Christmas Eve. This year was Beauty & The Beast & we thoroughly enjoyed it. It had some beautiful music & we fell in love with the beast & the dame. They were both amazing.

 

After the panto, we headed over to James' mums for Christmas Eve dinner & then to my family for lunch on Christmas Day, followed by James' dads on Boxing Day! I love spending time with our families & of course that includes our lovely doggies. Just look how adorable Honey is! Of course, way too much alcohol & food was consumed, but that's what January is for right?

 

New Years Eve soon came round as I had to work between Christmas & New Year (luckily not Boxing Day!) & we celebrated with some fireworks, a curry & games in the evening. It's always a special night as James' birthday is on 1st January, so a lot of alcohol was consumed Thursday & yesterday! We decided to go bowling & out for dinner in the evening with the family at TGI Fridays. I'd never been before, but the food was delicious.

 

How was your Christmas & New Year lovelies?

Would love to hear what you got up too : )

 

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