Life Lately #149

Hello lovelies,

If you follow me on Twitter, Instagram or read my blog regularly, you'll know I've recently been on holiday to Kefalonia in Greece. I'm going to write a full post about our holiday, but for now, let me just say it was one of the most stunning places I've ever visited. The views were breath-taking & the sea was the most beautiful shade of blue. I've already written a post about how to deal with the holiday blues as I'm missing it so much! But I can't wait to show you all the photos from the places we explored. (keep an eye out for that post coming soon!)

On Saturday, we finally got to give Char her birthday day out to Brighton. We started with breakfast at The Breakfast Club, a place I've wanted to visit for years! They do the most amazing breakfasts as I'm sure you can imagine. I couldn't decide between the pancakes & a full English, so ended up having bacon, sausages, egg & pancakes on the side! It was honestly so delicious & not at all greedy of me..

We then headed to Churchill Square to do some shopping before walking to the theatre to see Legally Blonde the musical, which has been on my list to see for the longest time. It was absolutely amazing. Rita Simons was fantastic playing Paulette & she had great chemistry with her co-stars. I also didn't expect the show to have real life doggies in it as well, which was an added bonus! We got to meet Rufus (Bertie) outside the theatre when we left, he was the cutest bulldog but sadly we didn't get to see Bruiser.

Last Sunday, it was Father's Day, so I visited both my grandparents & my dad with some gifts & to have a catch up. I headed over quite early to see my family as I'm still trying to sort out the house after holiday! We currently have clothes everywhere.. all clean but just scattered through-out the house! I really need to start selling some again soon..

Oh & in case you didn't know, the World Cup has started..

James is mad on football, so he is in his element with all the matches (3 a day! Sometimes 4!) We watched England play on Monday with some friends & what can I say.. I'm just glad we had Love Island to watch after.. ; D

& speaking of Love Island, I spent my day off yesterday in my garden, catching up on the episode from the night before. Are you watching this year? I have to admit I wasn't as keen when it started as I have been in previous years, but I'm really getting into it now! Relationships are being tested & new people are coming & are hopefully going to stir everything up.. it's very exciting! Who are your favs?

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Life Lately #136

Hello lovelies,

So if you follow me on social media, you would have seen that I got my hair cut towards the beginning of October. I decided to have a longish bob, which is the shortest my hair has been since I was a young teenager! I absolutely love it & styling it is so much fun now it's shorter. I'm quite sad I didn't do it sooner!

On 12th October, Honey turned eight. EIGHT. Oh my god, where do the years go!? I came round to visit her & we had lots of cuddles & played games before curling up on the sofa together. She's such a cutie.

Last Sunday I met up with the girls at Pizza Express for lunch before I started work. It was so lovely to have a catch up with them. I was actually planning on doing some shopping after we'd met up, but we just talked for hours & I had to head straight to work! I also managed to pick up a few bits in a charity shop before meeting them, so keep an eye out for a small haul soon!

James & I both had last Monday morning off, so we decided to check out a local pub that's started doing breakfast. Oh my god. Look at my foooood. I couldn't believe how delicious & well presented it was. Oh & of course, you can't have breakfast without a cup of tea! Next time we go, I'm going to test out the pancakes, because they looked amazing as well!

It was Mum's birthday on Sunday & I spent the afternoon with her, eating lots of food & drinking lots of tea. We also took the doggies on a very Autumnal walk, which they enjoyed!

& finally, I've started to decorate our flat for Autumn / Christmas! I'm determined to get all my shopping done as soon as humanly possible this year. I do always try to get it done & dusted before December starts, however, I want to be finished by latest middle of November. Whether this will happen or not, who knows, but I'm excited to try! Would any of you be interested in me doing a post about decorating your flat on a budget this year? I've managed to do a few Autumn DIY's & managed to pick up some cute little decorations quite cheaply.

Have you started decorating yet?
Did you have any plans for Halloween? : )

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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 #125

Hello lovelies,

I went to my first ever bra fitting just over a week ago. I know right, I've just never been brave enough to do it before, but I wrote a blog post on my experience & why I think it's such an important thing to do. I won't go into too much detail as like I say, I've written a whole post about it, but you can read it here if you like : )

I had a lot of leave left at work from this year, so I decided to take a few days off last week. It was so lovely to just be at home & doing lots of bits & pieces I never find the time to do. One of which was finally editing the footage from our holiday to Corfu last June. I couldn't be more proud of how it turned out! You can watch it on my YouTube channel if you like. I also noticed it became Spring, almost over night! The sun was shinning & it was actually so warm walking the dogs.

Last Thursday my parents went to Crufts. James & I went last year & after we came home & raved about how much we loved it, they decided to book tickets & go this year. Crufts is a big thing in my family & we all watch it together every year, but they'd never actually been. Did you watch it this year?

Last Friday, mum & I went to Guildford for the day. We did some shopping & I took her for tea at The Tea Terrace at the top of House Of Fraser. We had such a lovely day & managed to pick out a few options for an outfit I'm hoping to wear to a wedding in June.

For my birthday, Cathy bought me a voucher for afternoon tea, so on Sunday, we booked a table in the local tea room & got this feast! It was so nice, all the sandwiches & scones were freshly made & we even got a slice of cake to takeaway as well!

Oh & finally, Honey on my bed yesterday morning. She hasn't been feeling too well recently, just a bit of an upset stomach, so has been snuggling down with me watching Netflix before work. I'm finally up to date with Riverdale! Is anyone else watching it? I'm really enjoying it but find it a bit weird how sometimes a massive storyline in one episode won't even feature in the next.. I won't give away any spoilers, but those of you who are watching, do you feel the same? : )

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Life Lately #124

Hello lovelies,

So on Valentines Day I did my last update post & said James & I were off to Brighton. We had such a lovely day. We explored The Lanes, popped into a few shops & visited the pier. I got some beautiful new tops in Primark & even got to pick up a few bits in Lush from their Valentines range, which was extremely exciting (reviews coming soon!) I mentioned we were hoping to go to The Breakfast Club, but we actually ended up in Days, an oriental buffet. I'd never heard anything about it & looking at the exterior of the place, you would never have guessed that it was like walking into a rainforest as you go in! The food was absolutely delicious & we are already planning another trip to Brighton again soon so we can go again! I also finally revealed to James we were going to see Craig David in concert in April! I bought the tickets back in December & had been waiting for the right moment to announce it & Valentine's Day seemed like the perfect time.

Ok, so last week was actually so miserable for me. I had conjunctivitis (I'm not gonna link to what it is, looking at pictures of people's eyes makes me feel so un well!) but basically it's an eye infection. It's one of the most painful, frustrating things I've ever experienced. You feel like a bucket of sand has been tipped into your eye, it constantly runs & hurts to open. I spent my first 3 days with my eyes shut, feeling hot / cold & not eating much, but then that subsided & I was just left with very sore eyes. My doctor prescribed me some eye drops which I had to take for a week & after a few days of hating the sunshine, I'm back to being able to see again! James was the sweetest thing & luckily this all started happening on a Friday morning & he was off over the weekend to look after me. He downloaded the audio book of Harry Potter so I could listen to that as it was impossible to watch TV or YouTube. He is simply amazing.

Last Thursday, Cathy & had a date day & went to Giggling Squid for lunch, followed by watching Sing at the cinema. I've mentioned Giggling Squid many times on my blog, but it seriously is one of my favourite places to eat. (There'll be a post coming soon about my top 5 restaurants to eat at, keep your eyes peeled for that!) Also, Sing. Most people I've talked to about it have loved it, but some haven't been so keen. I have to say, I really enjoyed it & will definitely be purchasing it when it's released on DVD. I didn't think it was as funny as some Disney films I've seen recently, but that didn't seem to matter because the characters were brilliant in my opinion. I might do a full review on it as I enjoyed it so much!

Last Friday; Cathy, Lily, Elisa & I went to Guildford shopping, on the search for my dream pair of jeans! I've been dreaming about the fit, cut & style of these jeans for weeks but alas, I still didn't find the perfect pair. I did however get some comfy blue jeggings from Primark for £6, so I'm gonna try to distress them myself & see what happens! We also had brunch in The Tea Terrace which is just the most adorable café at the top of House Of Fraser.

We also met up with Char & Mils at Nandos for dinner that evening. It was so lovely to see Char as she'd come back for the weekend from uni to visit us & her family. Mils had also just completed her first week of a new job, so we had lots to catch up on.

Last Sunday, it was my Nan's birthday. She turned 88 & we had a buffet lunch at my grandparents' house. My mum bought her the most fabulous cake, covered in iced rose petals. It was sooo delicious.

I also attended my manager's surprise leaving do on Sunday afternoon. Just look at the cake Elisa made! We all know how much Mike loves popcorn.. haha! So anyway, we'd been planning an afternoon tea since May last year, as Mike had a retirement date set early on! It was such a beautiful afternoon, complete with bunting, floral crockery & of course, a lot of tea & cake. He was so shocked when he walked into the barn we'd hired to see all of us standing there waiting for him. It's actually hit me harder than I thought seeing him leave. If you didn't already know, I've worked at my current place of work since I was hired at the age of 17 by Mike. I started as a steward for the films & after a few years & deciding not to go to uni, I was looking for full time work, to which he suggested I move onto the box office & that's where I've been ever since. I remember the day he came up to me & asked if I'd like to go on box office & I was so excited & asked when my interview would be, to which he replied 'you've already got the job Cat, you just need to start training'. I also wouldn't have met James if it wasn't for Mike. We met when he became a steward & we were put on the same evening shift together. I still like to think Mike knew we'd hit it off & become the power couple we are now! I can't thank him enough for all his support & friendship over the (almost 9) years I've worked with him. He really is such a wonderful man & I will miss him so much.

His final shift was last Saturday evening & we have his official farewell do this afternoon. People that know him or have worked with him over the years are travelling to say goodbye, so I think the worst is yet to come. Yes, I cry at everything, so I dread these type of things! Plus.. who's idea was it to jump straight onto box office after the leaving do.. I'm such an idiot.

How has your week been lovelies? I can't believe we are almost in March!
Where does the time go..

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Little Steps To.. Relieving Stress

Hello lovelies,

This post is part 2 of my "Little Steps To.." posts. I blogged about ways to find happiness last week, so today is all about de-stressing & how I find ways to switch off at the end of the day.

1. Go outside

I find at the end of the day is when I'm most stressed. I'll come home from work & immediately think 'I've done nothing today, if I was at home I could have done all these things & now I have such a lot to do'. Sound familiar? Yeah, I know right. My job means I am stuck behind a desk for the day, I do get to see the outside world, but I'm unable to actually go out & enjoy it, so I find when I get home all I want to do is go outside. This is obviously a lot better in the summer when the sun is shinning & you can feel those rays on your skin. However, sometimes it is just nice to have a walk in the chilly, frosty air & come back to a nice warm house.

2. Animals

Ah where do I start with this one? I am so grateful every day to have animals in my life & to have been brought up around them. My family have had chickens, cows & horses since I was born. We got our first cat when I was 5 & a few years later, we got our first dog. Since then, we've had dogs ever since & even though we no longer have cows or horses, we still have chickens. All I remember when I was younger was whenever I was upset, my mum would give me a chicken. I'd sit with the chicken & stroke it while it sat on my lap & it immediately calmed me down. Now I don't understand exactly how animals do it, but they are just the most comforting, reassuring things ever. Honey gives me so much love every day & I can't thank her enough for it.

3. Read

I'm hopeless at picking up a book. The only time I really read is on holiday where I get stuck into a book & will get extremely excited & say to myself I'm going to continue this at home, but I never do. It's such a shame because there are so many books out there I want to read but just haven't gotten round to it. What I do manage to pick up & read is non-fiction books. I mentioned the book Calm in a blog post last year which I'm still obsessed with, but I'm also currently loving Hygge (I'm going to do a full post on this in a few weeks time) but I'm addicted to it, anyone else?

4. Colouring

I got some new pencils & a colouring book for Christmas & I'm loving sitting down with it in the evening. You can pick up some beautiful books from The Works at the moment (they have an amazing sale right now!) but I know most places will sell them now as they are making a comeback! 

5. Meditation

Ok, so I touched on this in my Calm post last Summer, but meditation has become such a big part of my life. I sadly don't manage to practice it as much as I'd like, but I can't believe how amazing it is. If you haven't tried, I'd highly recommend it. Calm & Headspace are my favourite apps to use.

6. Planet Earth

Ok, so you've probably got to this one & thought, what the actual **** but hear me out! As I've already mentioned, animals & being outside are two of my stress relievers, so why wouldn't a program all about animals in the natural world relax me as well? I'll give you an example. For my birthday, I'd organised a night out at the local pub for my group of friends to go for drinks on a Saturday night. So, if I'm honest, I put up the event on complete auto-pilot & it was only after I'd selected the people to invite, made the event & posted it on Facebook, my heart sank. I'd organised something on the busiest night of the week, surrounded by people drinking. My head was screaming 'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE'. If you haven't already guessed, this was one of the worst scenarios for me to put myself in, which is silly because I used to do it most weekends when I was 18/19, but I'm in a completely different frame of mind now. I was ok up until 3 hours before we were due to meet everyone & I sat down with James, almost in tears, saying I couldn't go. Being the amazing man he is, he wrapped my up in his duvet & put on Planet Earth on iPlayer & we sat in silence & watched it. Half way through I realised I was ok. My chest felt lighter & I could breathe again. My head was saying 'you can do this, it's your birthday, nothing bad is going to happen'. & I listened. The program ended, I got ready & went out & I had one of the best nights out I've had in ages. So yes, Planet Earth is my saviour.

I would love to know what you do when you're stressed & how you find ways of calming yourself down. Remember to check out my "Little Steps To.. Happiness" post as part of this series if you liked this one : )

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Little Steps To.. Happiness

Hello lovelies,

I absolutely love reading these posts, so I thought I'd share what I do to boost my mood when I'm having a down day.

1. Pamper yourself

You know that Lush bath bomb that's been sitting in your bathroom, just waiting to be used? Run a bath, light some candles, put on some music & dunk that bad boy in! Nothing makes me happier than seeing a bath bomb whizz around the water! 

2. Try doing your makeup / hair differently

So, at the beginning of the year I saw on Twitter some bloggers deciding they would stop wearing makeup everyday. I used to be that person that wouldn't leave the house till I had a full face of makeup, but since the beginning of the year (thanks New Year's resolutions!) I've been wearing a lot less makeup each day, only putting on a full face if we're going out for dinner or for a special occassion, but also trying different makeup has made me feel like a new woman. Silly really, but such a small thing can really brighten your mood. Same with changing your hair up a bit. I had mine cut at the very end of last year & I love it, but it can simply come down to how you style it if you aren't comfortable with having a chop. Why not curl it today? Or try out that space bun trend that has always seemed a bit wacky? I find looking online, there are soooo many tutorials now. Why not have a search on YouTube for a step-by-step guide or look up some images on Pinterest.

3. Retail therapy

This one is just my favourite thing to do. Ok, so firstly, I don't mean spending hundreds & thousands, I just mean treating yourself to that pair of boots that have been sitting in your ASOS basket for the past few weeks. Just something to look forward to coming in the post is the best feeling.

4. Netflix

Since James & I got Netflix, I've been obsessed. I've been watching things I never usually watch (The OA for example, which I've reviewed recently & Making A Murderer which we are half way through!) but I find when I'm feeling low, all I need is a bit of time spent with my favourite tv characters. Big Bang Theory is one of our favourites when we need a laugh. The episodes are only 20 minutes long & are extremely funny!

5. Be social

I find meeting up with a friend or group of people will instantly brighten your mood. I know when I'm feeling down, all I want to do is sit at home & not socialize, but it really does help if you can get our the house & see people. My girls always know how to put a smile on my face, no matter what.

6. Plan a trip

So, you might not live close to friends or maybe you've texted around & everyone already has prior commitments. No worries, why not plan a trip to see them? I always find if I have an event in my calendar, it's something exciting to look forward too. James & I are potentially looking at going to Wales soon to visit his friend Tom & I can't wait to start planning our adventure.

What do you do to brighten your mood? I would love to know in the comments below!

& don't forget to pop back to see my next "Little steps to.." posts. I'm going to do at least two more; how to relieve stress & how to reduce anxiety.

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Life Lately #93

Hello lovelies!

 

This is the first update for December & I can't believe I'm actually typing the word December.. where has this year gone!? & what's even crazier is it's nearly Christmas! I don't know about you, but this is honestly one of my favourite times of the year. (Mostly because we count down the days in the form of chocolate..) I'm absolutely in love with my advent calendar this year. Thanks Mum!

 

Last Tuesday I received my first Christmas presents when I met up with my girl Ricka at Bills. It was a very exciting time & we got a few weird looks from people as we exchanged gifts on the 1st December.. haha! We also had the yummiest breakfast, complete with our favourite, earl grey tea. It was so lovely to see her & even though we live near each other, with our busy schedules, it's hard to meet up over the Christmas period.

 

Last Thursday I travelled up to Gloucester to see James at uni. We celebrated our 3 year anniversary at the beginning of December, but as we couldn't be together on that day, we made the following weekend extra special. We spent the day Christmas shopping on Friday & went out for dinner at Coal in the evening. I've never been to Coal before but found it to be such a lovely restaurant, I'd highly recommend it. We shared nachos as a starter & I had the most delicious steak for main & James had a burger & fries. We has a small cosy table away from everyone lit up by a tea light. It was perfect. We spent the rest of the weekend curled up on the sofa watching TV, including The Walking Dead which James has been trying to get me to watch for a good year or so! It's not that it's a bad series, it's the fact I hate scary thing & zombies is quite high on my list.. Don't worry, I got my own back.. he now has to watch One Tree Hill with me..!

 

& finally yesterday was the dress rehearsal for panto & it officially starts today! December is always the busiest month for us at work as we have cinema screens & a main theatre + studio shows, so the run up to Christmas is extremely manic! I'm looking forward to January when I can relax..

 

Hope you've had a good week lovelies! I've been blogging a lot recently (mostly Christmas posts!) so if you're struggling for inspiration this year, make sure you check them out! : )

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Life Lately #83

 

Hey lovelies,

 

Last week I went shopping with Gemma & she took me to Ed's Easy Diner. I've never been before, but every time we walk past the restaurant in our local town, it looks so inviting! I chose the hot dog & fries & Gem had the hot dog & onion rings. I really want to go there for breakfast after eyeing up the menu..

 

Last Friday we celebrated Jamie's birthday by going for a meal at our local Beefeater. I haven't been there since their recent menu change & the food has really improved. I had the burger & chips & myself & James shared a brownie for pudding.

 

I had to split myself in half that night & also attended Emily's birthday at the bowling centre. I did awfully! Haha! I used to think I was alright at bowling, but obviously I've gone down hill since my teenage years..

 

After work yesterday, I went over to Mils' house for a pool party. The weather was so lovely, we had sunshine for the whole afternoon, which included a lot of fun snaps of jumping in the pool & water gun fights.

 

Finally, nothing beats a brunch on a Sunday. I've been working today, but only till 4 which was nice. James has been playing cricket & I've been catching up on YouTube while eating chocolate this afternoon!

 

Oh & on a side note, we went to see Inside Out last week & oh my goodness, what a lovely film. Have you seen it? Would love to know what you think : )

 

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Life Lately #77

 

Evening lovelies!

 

Aren't you just loving the Spring weather? Here in the UK it's been beautiful (minus a few rainy & blustery days) I've been making the most of it by pondering through the woods, taking endless photos of the flowers. You just have to, right?

 

My girl Charlotte came home for a few days last week, so we met up for lunch with our friend Mils. We went to our local pub, which serves the most lovely food & at a totally affordable price. All of us had the same; gammon, chips & peas.

 

It was Gemma's 24th birthday last week, so we hit the town wearing pretty dresses & drank outrageous cocktails. Was a lovely night catching up with everyone.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't get to have a '3 day weekend' like most people. I had work on Saturday & Sunday, but was off Monday. Myself, Cathy & Elisa hit the town for some serious shopping. We made a pit stop at Costa, where I re-discovered the lemon & raspberry sponge cake, along side a iced lemonade. So delicious.

 

After a 3 hour look around the shops, we headed back to Cathy's for dinner, which was garlic bread alongside pasta, with peas, sweetcorn, chicken, bacon & Philadelphia. A meal none of us had had since our holiday to the Isle Of White last year! The rest of our girl group joined us in the evening, for some games & tea drinking.

 

Also, I managed to squeeze in a pamper hour last week, where I ran the hottest bath & used a face mask. I always forget how happy I feel after taking time to myself, I really should try to do it at least once a week!

 

On a side note, I can't do this update post without mentioning voting in the election yesterday. I still hadn't really made up my mind completely but when I was given the paper & scanned down the list of names, I just put what I felt was right. It felt empowering & when I came out of the village hall, I felt a sense of pride that I'd taken part & voted. I did get to vote 5 years ago, but don't ever remember feeling this happy with making my voice heard.

 

How have you been lovelies?

What did you get up to over the bank holiday weekend?

 

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