Post-Christmas Treats

Hello everyone, I hope you had a lovely Christmas without too many arguments over who passed go on the Monopoly board!

I was lucky to be gifted lots of vouchers for different places which I’m very thankful for, so I chose a few bits in the sales (although I didn’t brave the post-Christmas crowds until Thursday!) I seem to have been quite successful with sale shopping this time, as I usually never find anything I like!

First up was Debenhams, which is just a treasure trove of stuff. I am somewhat of a hoarder of make up so I had a browse of their sale stuff and I stumbled upon the Kat Von D Studded Lipsticks for £10 each. Now don’t get me wrong I’ve been known to spend a small fortune on make up, but I wasn’t willing to pay full price for them, but at just a tenner each I couldn’t turn them down. I’m the sort of person to wear any colour of lipstick, from reds to greens and back again so I like to keep an open mind when it comes to choosing shades. By the time I had a look at the Debenhams website, there were only a few shades left in stock so I went for two orangey shades, Gothic (bright orange) and Halo (copper).

Again, I saw these lipsticks and just had to grab them. I’m a fan of the NYX liquid suedes anyway, so at £15 (down from £30) I couldn’t resist. The mini size is perfect for me to try each shade before committing to a larger size tube.

Since I left home for uni, I found a real passion in home cooking. I’m always on the lookout for new recipes and I’ve got a cool stack of recipe books building up. Oner the past few months I have fallen into such bad eating habits. Come the new year, I really want to get back to cooking good, hearty meals so I popped into Waterstones to browse their selection. Although I’m no longer a vegetarian, I went for two veggie books, as I really need to start basing more of my meals around fruits and vegetables. Simon Rimmer is one of my fave TV chefs and I’ve been after his cook books for so long, so when I stumbled across The Accidental Vegetarian, it went straight in my basket. I then picked up the Thug Kitchen cook book, mainly because it just had a good cover and I liked the whole idea of it, and after looking through the recipes I knew I’d get along with them. I’ve heard great things about Jamie Oliver’s latest release so I nabbed that for half price too.

I treated myself to a few items from Lush, with another gift card. I use their bath bombs as a treat every now and then and I want to start taking a bit more me time to look after my body, so I chose a couple of bombs with lavender to help me relax at night. I’ve used the Ickle Baby Bot before, and I love the calming scent and the fact it isn’t over the top with colours and patterns sells it to me. I also chose the Twilight bomb because it has the same scent as the Sleepy cream which knocks me out at night so I can use it when I know I need a good nights sleep. I bought my first massage bar too, and I went for the Hottie. It has a raised texture which I was told would be great for working out any knots and tension I have. As my wedding is quickly approaching, I want to try and get my skin under control, so the new year brings a new attitude to my skin care. I trawled through the products online, and read all the reviews and settled on a couple of items. I got a handful of the Tea Tree Toner Tabs, to give face a good steam, and the Grease Lightening spot treatment to get my breakouts under control.

Over the past year I’ve got really into gin (hasn’t everyone?) and I’ve started gradually collecting different gins/ I was gifted a bottle of Bloom gin, and an Ophir gin over my birthday and Christmas, which are both lovely. Before Christmas, I visited a garden centre with a delicatessan section, and I sampled a couple of Zymurgorium gins which were amazing, so when I spotted the violet flavour in Selfridges I had to buy one! I love parma violets and I have a violet liqueur that I bought in Paris, so I hope this gin lives up to my expectations!

Did you get any good bargains in the sales this year?

J x

Festive Favourites

As I’ve said before, December is my favourite month. I love the journey home from work, when it’s dark outside but the streets are lit with Christmas lights, and you can snuggle up with a hot chocolate to get warm after a long day. There are so many things I love about Christmas, but I’ve chosen a few items that are favourites this years.

Trying to create that cosy vibe in my bedroom calls for lots of fairy lights, but one of my faves from this year is this cute little LED star from Primark. They also had a green Christmas tree but I chose the star as I can use it all year round!

One of the best things about afternoon TV at Christmas is the sheer volume of cooking shows. I particularly love Nigel Slater, so I was thrilled to receive his Christmas Chronicles cookbook for my birthday. There’s some really lovely recipes in there, taking you from November through to February, full of winter warmers.

The cold weather really affects my skin, so I find myself constantly applying hand cream throughout the day. I usually use The Body Shop’s hemp hand cream, but saw these festive ones and just had to treat myself! I bought the vanilla pumpkin a few months ago and it’s nearly gone, so I picked up the Christmas editions – frosted plum, frosted berries and vanilla chai. I also got this mulled wine cream from M&S which smells amazing!

I am a candle addict. It’s true. I like the Wickford & Co candles you can get at Home Bargains as they do some amazing scents, but I also like the luxurious Yankee Candles. I was kindly gifted this Red Apple Wreath scented candle from work for my birthday, and it makes the room smell like lovely baked apples.

Now most people look forward to the festive specials from Starbucks and Costa, and while I do indulge in a couple over the festive period, I tend to make my own drinks to save a bit of cash. A few years ago I fell in love with the Ribena Winter Spice flavour, it’s lovely, sweet but spicy and just a warming and comforting drink on a cold night. I was determined to find some this year, so much so that I went to three different supermarkets for it! I also adore a gingerbread hot chocolate, so I keep a stock of the Monin gingerbread syrup in the kitchen. It comes in handy to flavour a gorgeous festive fudge too.

Having spent a few years living in Germany when I was younger, I love bringing a few fragments of German Christmas into the house at this time of year. I’m not a huge fan of fruit cake, so I love to munch on a Stollen on Boxing Day, and I also wait all year for Lebkuchen to make an appearance in the shops. It’s a soft gingerbread that just oozes comfort and I love pairing it with a cup of tea.

Do you share some of the same festive favourites as me?

J x

Deck the Halls

Decorating the tree is my favourite thing to do, whack on the Christmas tunes and let arguments commence. This year I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had four different trees to decorate. We kicked things off this year with C’s parent’s tree, which ended up chock-a-block full of baubles, then came my Grandparent’s tree complete with vintage ornaments.

My Grandparent’s have a set of two bird ornaments that my Grandma has had since she was little, with feather tails. This year, she gifted one to me and it now perches on the top branch of our bedside tree.

Considering we only have a 2ft tree to freely decorate ourselves, it’s fair to say I go a bit OTT with tree ornaments. We’ve squished as many as we can on to our adorable little thing, but the overflow ornaments have had to find themselves a place on the family tree.

In the three Christmas’ we’ve spent together, me and C have bought a new decoration each year with a reindeer theme, which has become somewhat of a tradition. Wilko is a firm favourite for cute decs and two of our reindeers came from there, but we found this year’s addition in Matalan.

Every year we buy each other another Disney DVD, in the hope that we’ll eventually own all of the ‘classic’ collection. As I’m a huge Disney fan, and C loves Toy Story, I saw a set of baubles from the Disney store last year, and just had to buy them for us to put on the tree together. They’re just the right size to fit comfortably on the little one, as you can see in this post.

We also have a few decs left from my primary school days, which were basically a prophecy into my future artistic ventures. A personal favourite is this multicoloured tree, complete with glitter, it doesn’t get much more festive than that.

Most households will have the decorations that we use every year with out fail – we have many sets that we’ve picked up over the years, but we still pick up the odd bauble which means our family tree is very mismatched. This year’s new purchase is the cute Christmas pud that me and mum found in a garden centre. It has a textured bottom half and has such a traditional look.

That first look at the tree, with the lights twinkling and a bauble strung on every branch, is magical.

Enjoy putting your trees up!

J x

Time to Unwind

I often suffer from mean cases of the blues. I can’t drag myself up to get things done. Lately, instead of worrying that I’m not getting anything done because of how I’m feeling, I’m taking a little time out to indulge myself which makes all the difference in my well being. December is such a hectic month that we often need to remind ourselves to take a bit of time for ourselves. It’s not selfish, it’s just smart. With cold weather and the nighttime drawing in faster, it’s the perfect opportunity to snuggle up and get cosy, and just take an hour or two to unwind.

I’m sure many people will agree that a bath is the easiest place to relax. Chuck in some bubble bath (I sometimes use magnesium flakes that supposedly promote a healthy sleeping pattern which you can find here) light a few candles, sit back and relax.

Next comes the difficult bit for some of us – put your devices to one side and leave them there for an hour or two. We’re all too guilty of procrastinating on our phones or finding yourself 264 weeks deep in your cousin’s best friend’s ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend’s Instagram. Just unplug for half an hour and clear your mind.

Me and C have challenged ourselves to watch a Christmas film or TV special every day of December (it’s more difficult than it sounds, especially as we work at different times and I fall asleep at a ridiculously early time every night). So I’ll make us a hot drink, grab some nibbles and we’ll snuggle up and do a bit of festive viewing. I also have some Christmas themed jigsaw puzzles – don’t judge me too quickly here – which give me something quite therapeutic to do when I need to take 10 minutes.

Our room is chock-a-block full of stuff. Some stuff that we need, some stuff that we definitely don’t need, and some stuff that we just like. I like to think it creates a cosy atmosphere. I also collect candles and have various sets of fairy lights which adds to the ambience. As it’s nearly Christmas, our tree and several other strands of festive themed lights spread cosy vibes throughout the room.

So that’s how I unwind during hectic times – the only thing left to do is watch today’s Christmas film (which is actually the second half of yesterday’s.. because I fell asleep..).

J x

December: My Favourite Month

Winter is easily my favourite season. I love that it’s cold outside, I can get cosy in jumpers, scarves and boots. I love coming home and making a pot of festive flavoured tea to get warm. I feel like I have such a bond with winter because I am actually a winter baby – my birthday is mid-December.

My favourite teas are from Bluebird Tea Co. I usually hate fruit and herbal teas, I don’t know how people can drink them, but BBTC have really done it for me. Their teas are amazing, they taste exactly how they’re supposed to taste, how do they do it?! I have a cast iron teapot that I love to brew my tea in, so I’ve really been enjoying some of their festive blends. I’m loving the Mulled Cider ( I think it tastes like a less sweet version of Costa’s Hot Spiced Apple which is perfect because it’s not as sickly!), and the Christmas Cake because it just smells amazing! A pot of tea really helps me to relax in the evenings when I’m feeling quite tense.

Festive blends from Bluebird Tea Co.

There’s something about being awake early on a winter morning, throwing the curtains back, opening the window and breathing in the harsh, cold air, while watching the sun rise.

Oh and let’s not forget that big thing that happens in December..
IT’S CHRISSSSSTMMMMMAAAAASSS!

I am Mrs Christmas incarnate. It’s not about the presents, it never has been for me. As a kid, I never really got excited for Christmas (although I was always grateful for my gifts), but when I moved to Uni, everything changed. I think it was the act of desperately trying to feel at home that brought out the mad Christmas monster in me. The three years I was at Uni saw Santa’s grotto unfold in my various accommodations, a mini tree with so many baubles that you couldn’t actually see a tree, a vast amount of fairy lights on every surface, and so many cinnamon candles it was like living in a candle shop.

This year we’ve gone all out in our little room. We have tinsel adorning every surface, snowflake stickers on the window, and even dozens of handmade pompoms across our shelves. I insisted on a set of festive bedding, and I have a set of Christmas biscuit tins that are lovingly placed on my bookshelf (they’re just for Christmas decorative purposes, theres nothing in them!).

I’m super prepared when it comes to buying presents, as I can’t bear going shopping when it’s too busy. I like them to look pretty, so I choose a colour scheme and I match all of the presents together. This year I fell in love with the ‘Starry Night’ collection from Wilko. Their stationary, cards and wrap are so affordable but very well designed so I usually turn to them for my wrapping needs.

‘Starry Night’ collection from Wilko

There’s no better feeling than cuddling up to C and my cat, watching a Christmas film, eating obscene amounts of chocolate. My favourite Christmas films are Christmas with the Kranks, Love Actually, The Holiday and of course It’s a Wonderful Life! What is your favourite Christmas film?

J x

November Reflections

As we’re coming to the end of November, I thought I’d make my first post about how the month has gone for me.

Although I love that the days are getting shorter and the cold weather means its acceptable for me to wrap up all cosy and drink festive flavoured teas, I can’t quite believe we’re in the last week of November already! Yes, yes, I know everybody says this, but this year really has gone so fast and I have achieved so much throughout 2017 – but that’s a few stories for another post!

November has been the month that has sort of made us realise that we’re finally getting somewhere – Cam got his first pay packet since moving back up North, which meant we were finally able to start planning things, we’ve started planning more of the wedding and we’ve done a hell of a lot of Christmas shopping, but it’s also been the month that I’ve started realising what I need to do to make me a happier person.

Since leaving Uni I’ve been in that graduate limbo, where I don’t know what to do with the degree that I eventually worked so hard for, and I was struggling to see where I wanted to be in 5 years time. I struggle with bouts of depression and anxiety, but I’ve been experiencing the so called ‘Post-Graduate Depression’ and it’s a hard thing to work through.

I work part-time in a job I love so much – it’s right up my street! But I need something to do on the days where I’m not working – which is where the blogging comes in. I need to get up each day and have my morning brew whilst knowing I have something to do each day. Planning future blog posts and creating the content to go in each one is going to give me something to aim for once or twice a week. I’ve also decided that I want to start taking my little crafts seriously, and open an Etsy shop, so I’m aiming to get myself more organised and start making like crazy instead of binge watching Daredevil on Netflix.

And finally, with December quickly approaching, it means I can go full on Mrs Christmas. You’d better believe I will decorate every available surface with Christmas tat. Me and C share a mid sized room in my parents house, but over the next four weeks, that little room will be Father Christmas’ grotto. Some may say I go overboard, but I disagree.

 

J x