Friday 30 September 2016

The Woolpack Inn

Hello lovelies,

At the end of August, James & I spent a few days exploring Somerset & Bath. My parents had kindly bought us a two-night stay at a B'n'B in Beckington & tickets to Longleat. I wanted to share with you today the lovely B'n'B we stayed at called The Woolpack Inn.


We arrived quite late in the evening on 23rd August, as James had work till 7pm that night. Travelling from home, it took us around 2 & a bit hours, so not too bad. The B'n'B is also a pub, so it didn't matter about our late arrival. We checked in & headed up to our room, which was a superior double.

It was such a stunning little pub & our room was beautiful. It was on-suite with a small sofa area. It looked out onto the main village road, but there was hardly any traffic & it wasn't unusual to hear horses trotting past in the morning!




Breakfast was between 8-10am in the morning & no need to book, so you walked down to the breakfast room at your own leisure. We wanted to leave the pub quite early to get to Longleat at 10am, picking up lunch on route, so we headed down on our first morning around 8.30am & the second around 9.30am.

There was a lovely selection on the menu, including a full English, scrambled egg on toast or you could help yourself to the breakfast buffet, which included cereals & muffins & a wide selection of juices.


We then headed to Longleat (separate post coming soon!) & decided to have an evening meal back at the pub.

James & I decided to share the garlic bread for starter, I had fajitas for main & James had a burger. Our main meal was very nice & service was fantastic throughout, but we weren't keen on the garlic bread. It was covered in a very odd sauce, which neither of us were amazingly fussed on, but overall, it was very good value for money, as we did have wine too!


We went for a walk after dinner that night & found ourselves walking around the quaint little village in the rain, but it was too good not to explore, despite the fact we got wet!

I can't rate this pub enough, we seriously had such a wonderful stay & the staff were lovely. Beckington is the perfect place if you want somewhere quiet & away from a main town to stay, but only a short journey into a main city.

Have you ever visited Beckington or Somerset?

Make sure you pop back soon to check out our adventure at Longleat! : )

Sunday 25 September 2016

Life Lately #113


Hello lovelies,

Let me introduce to you some of the best people you will ever meet. At the beginning of the month, myself & the ladies from work, met up with our old boss Nigel at ASK. It was such a lovely meal & we had an awesome time catching up with him.

As the Summer is coming to an end now, I've been enjoying taking in the last of the sunshine with the doggies. We've been going on some exciting walks near my house & just enjoying the outside world. I literally take my phone just in case of emergency & love being dis-connected from social media, even if it's just for half an hour at the end of the day.

When I was in ASK with my work colleagues, we discovered a menu for breakfast there. Please tell me I wasn't the only one that didn't know they did breakfasts? Cathy, Gem & I decided to try it out & went there for brunch last weekend. I had pouched eggs on toast & it was seriously delicious!

Last Monday, the girls & I went to see the new Bridget Jones film, Bridget Jones' Baby. I seriously can't rate this film enough. We literally laughed the whole way through & I would even go as far as saying it was my favourite one of the three films. I actually want to go & see it again it was so good! Have you seen it?

On Wednesday I met Shez for lunch at a local farm house. It was so lovely to have a catch up with her & put the world to rights ; D

& these past few days, my parents' have been on holiday to Exmoor, which means I've been in charge of all the animals, including the chickens. I love going to see them & just watching them. There's something about chickens that I find so calming.

& finally on Friday I had my hair re-dyed & cut. I always feel so happy after a hair cut, there's something so uplifting about it! (when they do it how you want it of course!) I had a darker balayage than I'd normally go for, as we're getting into the winter months, I thought it would be nicer than the blonde tone I tend to go for.

How has your weekend been lovelies?

Wednesday 21 September 2016

What I've Been Wearing On My Nails #34


Missguided - Misschievous
This is such a summery shade, I love wearing it with a bright red lip & a little black dress in the evening. It's one of those polishes that looks so expensive but I actually got it free with a magazine a few years ago!

Natural Collection - Black Cherry & Ciate - Caviar Pearls - Shooting Star
If I'm honest, I have no idea how I came up with this nail art! I just envisioned it in my head & went for it. I love the nude base colour here, it's one of my all time favourites.

Marks & Spencer's - Blue
How gorgeous is this baby blue? I'm obsessed with it as you can probably see from me using it twice in one post!

Marks & Spencer's - Blue & Collection - Sparkle Top Coat
I thought it looked lovely on it's own, but couldn't resist adding a bit of glitter. I really want to try it with a matte top coat as well as I think that'll look beautiful too.

What have you been wearing on your nails this month? : )

Saturday 17 September 2016

Elizavecca - Milky Piggy - Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask

Hello lovelies,

I'm already starting to regret documenting this on camera.. when I looked back over the photos this morning, I was literally crying with laughter! Hello moon face.


So, what is this face mask you ask & why is it so different to normal face masks? Well, if we're getting all technical, its basically a clay mask that reacts to the partials in the air which makes it foam & create bubbles on your face. Fun eh?

It was amazingly priced I think, seeing as you can get quite a few uses from one pot. I bought mine from Amazon using Amazon Prime, so I received it the following day, priced at £10.48.



Oh & just look at that cute little pig! How could anyone resist this packaging?!


It even comes with a small spatula in the lid (a bit like an ice cream tub you get at the theatre!) which you use to apply the product to your face. As you can see, the instructions are all in Korean, but it's literally a case of applying the mask, leaving it on for 5-10 minutes & rinsing your face with warm water.


The most difficult part of using this face mask is how quick you need to be! After opening the lid & snapping a few pictures, I could already see the clay forming small bubbles on the surface, so I quickly applied it to my face, but it had already started bubbling away on one of my cheeks before I could finish fully applying it!


This photo was literally taken after I had finished applying it & you can already see a lot of bubbles on my face. I really wasn't prepared for how bubbly the mask would become..


This is after 10 minutes! I was actually a bit panicky that it was going to take over my whole face & go into my eyes & mouth (it has already started going up my nose!) as it just seemed to keep expanding the longer I left it!

I removed it shortly after this with a warm flannel & moisturized my skin. I've read in a few reviews that some people let it foam up & rub the bubbles into their face & then remove after 10 minutes completely, which I'm going to try next time I use the face mask.

So here's what the product claimed it would do;

- Remove stubborn impurities & dead skin cells leaving the complexion deeply cleansed
- Provide the vitality the skin needs
- Leave the skin feeling soft

I have to say I would agree that it does all these things & pretty damn well too! I'm amazed at how soft it left my skin feeling. As soon as I removed the bubbles & clay underneath, my skin looked & felt so fresh. I absolutely loved using this mask & will definitely be re-purchasing it in the future once I've finished my existing pot. I think it would be great for a pamper evening with the girls as it was such a laugh to use!

What is your favourite face mask at the moment?

I'm really getting into my skin care at the moment, so would love to hear your thoughts on this mask & any others you recommend me trying : )

Tuesday 13 September 2016

Drusillas

Hello lovelies,

At the beginning of August, I went to Drusillas for my best friend's birthday. Drusillas is a small zoo, located in East Sussex. It has a wide range of smaller zoo animals, attractions & activities.

Although the park is aimed at young children, we had the most amazing day, reliving our childhood & exploring what the park had to offer.

We started with the smaller animals; as you enter the park you are greeted with monkeys & farm animals.



What I loved about this part of the park was the interaction you have with the farm animals. I spent most of my life growing up around animals, but it was amazing to watch little kids stroking the goats, ponies & pigs & getting so excited they were able to do this!

Kym even had a go at milking a cow & even Mat got dragged into interacting with the meerkats!


Once you've exited the farm animals, you come to one of my favourite animals (who was extremely active when we went) the Serval. This cheeky cat managed to get itself stuck on the top ledge of it's enclosure when a nearby monkey thought it would be fun to play in the trees next to it. It eventually managed to get down, but was whinning for the longest time for attention!



As well as monkeys & smaller animals at the zoo, you also get to see some of the bigger zoo animals, including Camels & even a Binturong. I bet some of you are thinking, what the hell is a Binturong, haha! I had no idea either but he is the cutest little bear-like animal you'll ever come across. Just look at those whiskers!



He was extremely sleepy when we visited, but he just looked so cuddly!


As well as having animals, a new addition to Drusillas is Hello Kitty World. I've always loved Hello Kitty from a young age so this was heaven for me!


They had the cutest garden, full of rides for children & even tea cups. It was like we stepped into a different world.



After visiting the HK world, we had a picnic, with lots of un-healthy treats & a chocolate birthday cake for Lorna, before heading back to the zoo to explore.

There are plenty of picnic spots dotted around the park, including restaurants to buy hot meals, but we all agreed to bring food with us.




What I loved most about the zoo is how much there was to do! We managed to spend the whole day there exploring & visiting all the animal enclosures.


Some exhibits you were even allowed to walk through. The lemur pen was one of them & despite them being cheeky little things most of the time, I managed to get this one to hold still for a split second to take his photo!


We also got to see some animals being fed, including these cute little penguins! They do talks & feeding displays through-out the day, so if you're interesting in catching them, it's easy enough to pick up a map & timetable to locate what's happening, when & where.




& finally my favourite picture of the day, this stunning Grey Owl. Just look at those eyes!

Have you ever been to Drusillas? What did you think of the park? : )

Friday 9 September 2016

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.

Sunday 4 September 2016

OOTD - Summer Rose






Dusky Pink Pinafore Dress - Primark (LINK) or (SIMILAR HERE)
White Tee - Primark (LINK)
Rucksack - Primark
Heeled Sandals - New Look (LINK)
Sunnies - Primark
Rings - Pandora
Nail Varnish - Barry M

Ah, look at the sun. I can almost feel it on my skin again looking back at these pictures! It was around 31 degrees when I took these & I literally ran into the house sweating & had to change immediately!

I want to first of all confess my love to suede. Yes, the pinafore & sandals are both suede. There's something so beautiful about it I can't resist it.. please tell me its not just me?

Let's start with these sandals. I've been looking for the perfect pair for over a year now & these recently came into my life when I was searching online for some new winter boots. Sadly, I didn't find any, but I did find these! Funny how things work out eh? They are the perfect height for me as an everyday work shoe, so hopefully I'll be getting use out of them for the rest of this Summer & next year.

On a recent trip to Bath with James, we popped into Primark & this pinafore dress immediately caught my eye! Just look at that dusky pink colour, it's so beautiful. I'm tempted to go back & get the dark green one, as that would be perfect for Autumn with some black boots.

Oh & this rucksack was my life saver in Corfu. It's the perfect size & carries so much in it. I wouldn't have survived the holiday without it.

OH & I filmed this outfit too! My first ever OOTD on YouTube, so please go check it out. Any comments / suggestions are very welcome! I love making videos but I know I'm not the best at it.