Thursday 29 January 2015

BooHoo Wishlist

 
Aren't these just the cutest things? They also come in red, but I've fallen for these pink ones!
 
Who says it's only acceptable to wear sparkles at Christmas? I think you have to make an exception for this skirt. I'm addicted to everything sparkly. 
 
This is such a statement piece, it just screams sophistication. I don't own many jumpsuits but am making it my mission to add more to my wardrobe this year.
 
Knee high boots have been on my previous wishlists & I still haven't got round to purchasing any! I really like this pair, just not sure I could cope with the heel for every day wear.
 
I know roll necks are massively in at the moment & I have to say I'm not a great lover of them. I've never been a fan of having something wrapped tightly around my neck, but this one is loose fitting & would be perfect for work.
 
I think this is more an Autumnal piece, but I couldn't resist adding it to this wishlist. It's perfect for that transitional period into the colder months with the slightly longer sleeves & tartan design.
 
My every day look at the moment is a simple shirt, jeans, jumper & a statement necklace. This one is just fabulous & such a good price! 
 
Finally, a basic striped tee. You just can't go wrong with this. However, I am slightly worried people may confuse me with Where's Wally..
 
What's currently on your wishlist? : )
 

Wednesday 21 January 2015

My 24th Birthday!

Hello lovelies,
 
I'm sure that those of you who follow me on Twitter & Instagram will already know from the continuous stream of photos & updates, that it was my birthday last Friday. I turned the grand old age of 24. Now a birthday for me isn't just a day.. it's a good few days worth of celebrations. Let's start with Wednesday..
 
Myself & my tea ladies went for a meal at Côte. Côte is a beautiful French restaurant, which serves a variety of dishes. I opted for the steak with fries & a praline & chocolate pancake for pudding. The only downside to this restaurant is the lighting.. It was impossible to take a photo of the food, let alone our faces..!
 

Thursday I had a total 'me' day. I decided to get my hair cut (nothing drastic don't worry!) & have my first proper French Manicure. I haven't had my hair cut since June last year & after it looking like someone had shredded it to bits, I wasn't in any rush to get it cut again! I tried a new salon in my local town & couldn't be happier. Also, my nails are still going strong. I'm soooo pleased with how they turned out. My parents cooked us dinner that evening too, where we had a gorgeous cheesecake & some birthday sparklers.
 
 
Friday, I went to visit my Grandparents in the morning & James treated me to a trip down to Brighton to go ice skating at the Pavilion. It's an outside rink, surrounded by fairy lights & speakers which played the cheesiest music. I haven't been ice skating for years.. & even then I was horrendous at it. But after half hour, I braved letting go of the side & with James holding my hand, I managed to skate round a few times. We came home late afternoon & headed out to the local Chinese with James' dad & partner Maria. After a bottle of champagne & two bottles of wine between the four of us, we stumbled home!
 
 
Saturday was the big night out with my friends in town. We headed to the pub around 8.30pm & drank the night away. I say this.. being a 24 year old means you have to have some restrictions.. midnight was late enough for me..
 
 
& finally Sunday was a chilled day. James headed back to uni & I went out with my ladies for dinner at The Giggling Squid. I've never been there before but the menu looked delicious & after some very high praise from people at work, we booked it & weren't disappointed. After all of us getting through three courses each, we rolled our separate ways.
 
I can't thank my friends, family & James enough for everything they did last week. I received some amazing gifts & had the best days & evenings out I've had in a very long time.
 
What have you been up to this week? : )

Sunday 18 January 2015

The Tea Terrace

 
Hello lovelies,
 
Last Sunday, myself, Boop, Gem & Cathy went for a late breakfast at The Tea Terrace.
 
This was actually a spur of the moment meal. We arrived in Guildford for a day of shopping, with the additional tea break rota-ed in, but as soon as we headed into House Of Fraser to look for potential bridesmaid dresses, we saw the cute little sign for this café. It's right at the top of the building, complete with views over the looking the city.
 
Like I say, we literally headed up there for teas & hot chocolates, but after seeing a sign to say breakfast finished half hour after we arrived, we couldn't resist.
 
The most adorable aspect of this café for me, was the crockery. Just look at that china.. my eyes lit up! I love floral designs on anything, but I think with tea it's just amazing. Maybe it's a British thing.. : )
 
Myself & Boop had scrambled egg on toast, Cathy had scones & Gem had a full English. All of our meals came with a fruit stick which was a lovely touch.
 
I'd highly recommend going if you're local to the area, we're thinking of going back to Guildford just to eat here again!
 
Have you been to any cafés / tea rooms lately? I'm so keen to explore the ones in Brighton!
 

Friday 16 January 2015

Life At The Moment #69


Hello lovelies!

Haven't done a catch up in a while & as the last few weeks have been very eventful, I just wanted to do a quick round up.

First of all, I know it was nearly a month ago (crazzzzzzy how fast the time goes) that it was Christmas! If you're like me & still have those festive blues, you can check out our Christmas Eve, Christmas Day & Boxing Day adventures here. I love Christmas, but after it's been & gone, it feels like your life is half empty.. is that just me?

At the end of December, myself, James, Alex & Flo went to Winter Wonderland. You can see a post about our adventure here. I'd highly recommend going if you haven't, even after Christmas day it's still a beautiful place to visit.

Myself & my work colleagues finally managed to meet up (so hard to find a day where none of us are working) & we went for a late Christmas breakfast at the local Beefeater. I never realised before but they do an all-you-can-eat breakfast before 10.30 every morning. We had a full cooked English, plus access to the continental breakfast menu, which included croissants, cereals, toast, muffins & yogurts. Oh & endless refills of tea & coffee. Perfect.

It was James' 21st birthday on 1st January & I managed to book a hotel just outside of London for New Years Eve. It was the most stunning place, complete with heated flooring, a tv in the bathroom & the biggest bed to spread out on. I've done a full post about our stay which you can read here.

& finally, one of my New Years Resolutions was to re-connect with friendships & last Sunday, myself & my three best girls got to spend the day together; shopping, eating & playing games. It seems silly, but to find a time when we're all free is near enough impossible with our working hours.. just need to book in a few more days now : )

What have you been up to recently?
As always, please leave your links to your blog posts, I'd love to read them!

Monday 12 January 2015

2015 Resolutions

Hello lovelies,
 
I wanted to do this post in the middle of January so I could actually review my resolutions & see if I've stuck with them! I have to admit, usually I'm hopeless at keeping resolutions. I hate change & anything out of my normal routine, so this year I decided to add small but beneficial changes to my life style.  
 
1. Be healthier
Resolution - This one is something I've been trying to work on since last Summer. Ever since I went on holiday & I came home & saw the photos of me in a bikini, I knew I wasn't happy. Now, I'm not fat, I know that, but that small ring above my hips stopping me from doing that big button up on my jeans, does bother me. This resolution is simply about swapping that chocolate bar for a packet of grapes, or a cup of raw carrot. It's simply about giving my body something healthy other than crap basically.
How am I doing - This one so far I've been able to keep up with! I've been taking a lot of fruit to work & resisted the urge to go & delve into the biscuit tin. I haven't really noticed a difference in how I feel energy wise, but I'm slowly starting to head more towards the fruit bowl than the sweets cupboard. I've been using the 'My Fitness Pal' app which is fantastic. It's got nearly every food listed & broken down for you so you can see exactly how many calories it is, the sugar levels & fat content.
 
2. Exercise 2-3 times a week
Resolution - Again, similar to number one, I want to become more active. My job involves me sitting at a computer screen which can be up to 9 hours a day. Now I'm never going to be an Olympian, but I would love to be able to go for a short run or long walk without feeling like I've hiked up Mount Everest. My tummy does bother me like I've previously mentioned, so I want to tone up for summer.
How am I doing - I have actually been doing more exercise since the beginning of January! I've been watching YouTube workout videos at home, (I'm not one that finds going to an exercise class or the gym appealing, I'd much rather do a free class, alone in the comfort of my own home) & it's been going amazingly well. After each workout, I've felt like I've accomplished something. (We'll ignore the fact I couldn't walk up the stairs very well for 2 days after one workout.. lesson learned.. warm up properly!)
 
3. Blog 2-3 times a week
Resolution - I do adore blogging & like other things in my life, it's all about keeping up a routine & finding the time for your blog. I've managed to stick with this hobby for nearly 4 years now & can't believe how far my little blog has come.
How am I doing - So far so good. Like I say, I am usually pretty good at blogging quite frequently (ignore December..) so this one I hope will be quite easy to maintain.
 
4. Be happier
Resolution - Now this one is hard for me to describe. Let me start of by saying, I'm not an unhappy person. Far from it infact, but certain aspects of my life I want to work on & I think 2015 is the year for me to do that. I want to start by being more organised. People that know me will be screaming at the screen right now, shouting "more organised!? how can you be more organised..?!" You see I usually am the person who does arrange events, days out, places to meet & times etc. But I mean organised with my own time. Now I'm exercising more, I want to be able to have time to workout, to blog, to eat proper meals, to see more people & to make time for myself. I do work a lot of hours & it does drag you down when you literally have no time to do anything but go to work, come home & sleep. I do love my job, but sometimes I need to take time for myself. Also, I've realised I've lost so many connections with friends over the past 5 years, since leaving college & people going separate ways, it's hard to keep in contact. So I want to build back some of the friendships from previous years.
How am I doing - So far, amazingly well. I have booked off 6 days this week as my birthday is on Friday, I've got quite a few bits planned with friends & family, but also a pamper day to myself which will be nice. I also managed to spend time with my three best girls yesterday, the four of us haven't had a day together for ages. I'm also working on doing things that I've never thought I could do before & such simple things as well, which are so scary to me! I'm proud of what I've accomplished this year so far, despite a few rocky patches on the way, I think I'm slowly getting there.

 
Let me know how you're getting on with your New Years Resolutions & if any of yours are similar to mine, I'd love it if you could comment & we can help support each other. Also, please leave any links to your posts in relation to exercise, being healthy or just happiness. I'd love to read them : )
 

Friday 9 January 2015

James' 21st

Hello my lovelies, hope you're all well.
 
Today I wanted to share with you a very special post featuring something I had been planning for nearly a year. Back in February 2014, I booked myself & James an over night stay on New Years Eve at Hotel Verta
 
As well as being New Years Day on the Thursday, the 1st January is also James' birthday & being his 21st & all I wanted to make it memorable. We headed up to London just after midday on the Wednesday & stopped for lunch at Nandos, before checking into our hotel at 4pm. Hotel Verta is located on the River Thames, 4 miles from the London Eye. I'd packed a picnic & some champagne for our evening meal & we sat in bed & watched Alan Carr until midnight, where we had the most fantastic view of firework displays over the Thames.
 
Nandos!

On the train to London & our room

Our view


Getting packed up on New Years Day

I insisted on wearing my hat. Biggest mistake. It was so windy I had to hang on to it the entire day..
 
Oh & the hotel has it's own helipad where we saw a helicopter land & re-fuel in the evening! We then headed home for more celebrations with the family & to eat a ton of cake & Chinese on New Years Day.
 
How did you celebrate New Years? : )
 


Tuesday 6 January 2015

Winter Wonderland

Happy New Year lovelies!
 
Hope you're all having a fabulous year so far!

I wanted to share with you a few photos from our day out last week, we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Despite it being freezing cold, it was a lovely day. We decided to go down around 2pm as the park is open till 10pm, we wanted to see all the Christmas lights & the attractions in the dark. It's such a pretty place to visit, I'd highly recommend going if you have the chance. It's free entry as well, so you just pay for the activities you want to do. Or in the boys case, the rides you want to go on.. : )

 
As well as rides at the park, there is also food stands, a Christmas market & little log fires to warm up by which we definitely appreciated by the end of the evening! The markets were full of decorations, ornaments, candles & everything & anything festive that you can imagine.
 
 
They also had a mirror hall, which myself & James couldn't resist.. & just look at that gorgeous big wheel. It looked stunning in the dark when it was lit up.
 
 
& just look at that Christmas tree..
 
 
We ended up headed home around 8pm & snuggled up in our pjs, with a takeaway & watched Aristocats. Perfect way to spend the evening after a cold day!
 
How has your year been so far lovelies? : )