Toodles 2013!

I've seen a lot of posts today saying goodbye to 2013 and welcoming 2014, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon! 2013 has been an amazing year for me. 

The year kicked off with our engagement shoot in February. At this point I was still in super wedding planner mode and probably didn't enjoy it as much as I could have, but we still got some lovely photos! Our photographer (Chris) was amazing both on the actual wedding day, and at the initial meeting and shoot. Any Cambridgeshire brides out there looking for a photographer, check his website out!

 

Then in May, Luke and I got married. After working so hard the year before on saving for and buying a house, and then saving for and planning a wedding, the culmination of all that hard work really paid off. The day was absolutely stunning, and I had the best time! I really can't thank everyone who helped with planning, last minute disasters, listened to me whinge/stress, and actually came to the wedding, enough. You all helped to make our day so memorable. 

Straight after the wedding we had a week in Center Parcs, which was a brilliant way to relax after all the wedding stress! We actually had a go at some of the activities on offer this time as well. We had a fantastic spa session, ate loads of food, and (my personal favourite) had a one hour falconry session.

I look really dishevelled here because that bird whacked me in the head before it landed :P

Pretty soon after we came back from Center Parcs, our nephew was born. We were both really excited about this as neither of us had any nieces or nephews before Thomas. He's growing up so fast now, and he's turning into a real cheeky chap!

In June we brought home our own baby, Bernie! She's completely changed our lives for the better. She's so much fun, keeps me fit (all those walks) and is also great company. I can't believe she'll be a year old in April. 

 

In August it was my grandad's 78th birthday, and we had a brilliant family party to celebrate. Many laughs were had, much cake was eaten, many wasps met their end. 

August was also the month that I decided to start blogging. I've really enjoyed writing about weddings, Glossyboxes, books and dresses this year! I can't wait to see what 2014 brings blog-wise. 

We've also spent a lot of time with Luke's family this year. His mum and dad sadly lost their dog early on in 2013, but a few months later they brought Luna home. Bernie and Luna have become firm friends, although they spend a lot of time stealing each others toys!

 

As for 2014, Luke and I are off to Corfu in May for our first wedding anniversary, and we've also got a short break to Norfolk booked in September. I'm excited to have a year where we don't have anything major planned, (like buying a house or getting married) although I have been considering starting a degree with the OU in October. This would be a pretty major step for me so its not a definite, but it's still an exciting idea. Overall, 2014 is looking pretty good.

What are your plans and goals for 2014?

Nails of the Day #5

There's nothing like a sparkly nail polish for new years! I've been loving the look of the new Barry M Royal Textured Glitter Collection, so I decided to pick up Gold Majesty in Superdrug during their 3 for 2 sale. 

I'm pretty much in love with this polish. Not only is it a great shade with plenty of sparkle, it's super strong too. I've had this on for two days now, without a top or base coat, and it hasn't chipped at all. I'm very impressed. I've certainly got my eye on a couple of other shades in this range. Purple Duchess and White Pearl look fantastic, I might just have to nab these next time I'm in town. The polishes are £3.99 each, and Gold Majesty is available here.

Bernie's Christmas Haul

As this was Bernie's first Christmas, she's been extremely spoilt! I thought I'd do a mini round up of all the toys she got for Christmas.

Looking pretty pleased with herself.

We picked up this toy from Pets at Home earlier today, so it's not technically a Christmas present, but I thought I'd include it anyway. This is made by Kong who are pretty good at making tough chewy toys. Bernie seems to really like this one, but it doesn't seem as strong as some of Kong's other toys. These come in a variety of colours and animals and are available here for £5 each.

Next up is this treat cube which Bernie got from Luke's mum. She loves this, it's great for when we go out for a bit. We keep aside some of her breakfast and put it in the treat ball, and she's perfectly happy chasing it around the house. She can pick it up quite easily and it keeps her entertained. Happy dog, happy owners! 

This chewy ring wasn't an immediate hit, but it had to be confiscated this morning after I realised she'd started to chew the little spikes off and eat them. She likes to chase after this if you roll it along the ground. 

This toy has been christened the Loofah Dog. We're not really sure what the loofah bit is made of, so we're keeping an eye on Bernie when she plays with it to make sure she doesn't eat it. This one seems to be slightly less popular than the others, possibly because it doesn't squeak. 

The reindeer was something I happened to spot on Sainsburys on Christmas eve and decided to grab. It was incredibly popular but we've had to remove the stuffing from its head because Bernie ripped a hole in it almost instantly. 

 One of Bernie's favourite toys this Christmas has to be the stuffing-free rabbit. These toys have no stuffing in, but they do have squeakers. So if your dog does love ripping stuff up, these aren't entirely safe to be left with your dog unsupervised. We've had to remove them from ours already, as Bernie had pulled the little bags containing the squeakers out of the rabbit within about 20 minutes of playing with it. These also come in a variety of animals, but I could only find the duck on the Pets at Home site. It's here for £6.

Finally, this was Bernie's main present. I spotted this on Amazon a month or so before Christmas, and thought it looked great. The idea is the squirrels can be hidden in the trunk, or removed to be played with. Bernie seems to mainly enjoy running up and down the living room with the trunk and throwing the squirrels out as she goes. It's definitely her favourite, but she has to be rationed with it as it was quite expensive and I'm not really sure how robust it is! You can find these on Amazon here, although they are currently out of stock. You can also purchase replacement squirrels on Amazon.

Sorry for the slightly random post, but hopefully this will have been helpful and interesting to some dog owners out there! 

Did you do anything special for your pets this Christmas?

 

Christmas Haul

Hello everyone! It's nice to be back blogging again. I've decided to do a quick post about the gorgeous beauty products that I was gifted for Crimbo, as I love having a nose at what other bloggers got! I did take the opportunity to make a list for Luke and his family, so I got some lovely things from Benefit and Stila which I am itching to try out!

 First up though, the bath/shower products! I got this lovely hand cream and shower gel set from Luke's grandparents, which also came with a pretty mug. I've already tried the hand cream and it smells fantastic, and left my hands feeling super soft. 

I also got this lovely Dove set from one of Luke's aunties. I love Dove's shower gels, they leave my skin feeling so soft. I think these sets are great as well because they come with a shower puff, always handy!

This set of nail polishes came from Luke's brother and sister-in-law. I think Helen did a great job picking these out! I love the colours in this set, I don't have many metallic polishes and I can't wait to start swatching them!

I think Luke's mum might have gone a little bit crazy this year, but I'm definitely not complaining! I've wanted to try out Stila's make up for a while, and this set of lip glosses went straight on my Christmas wishlist. So many lovely colours! The shimmery shades are particularly calling to me to be tried out.

Finally, the Benefit goodies! I've been lusting after Benefit's cosmetics for ages, and I just loved the idea of the gift sets they had available for Christmas. Luke got me the How to Look the Best at Everything set, and his mum got me the Rockateur blush and the Rich is Back set. Very excited about these! (And very spoilt! Thank you so much Susan, if you're reading!)

I'm going to do some more in depth posts on these when I've had time to try them out, so you'll have to wait to see what's inside the pretty boxes! I also got a couple of samples to try out with these items.

I'm not really sure if I'll be able to get a feel for these as they are only samples, but I'm still quite interested to try them out. 

So that's my Christmas beauty haul! I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've received, and having a sneak preview of the things I'll be reviewing in the future! What were your favourite beauty gifts this year?

Weekly Book Round Up #20


This is awfully shocking but I haven't actually fully read a book this week! Christmas is always a very busy affair for us, as we tend to visit my family for lunch and then travel to Lincolnshire to visit Luke's family. However, this year my mum, dad and brother all came down with Norovirus! So we went straight to Luke's family, and I haven't had access to a laptop/computer. It's been nice to have a break but I have missed blogging. I hope you all had a more successful Christmas than my family did anyway!

I'm currently rereading this chunky book by David Starkey. It's a non-fiction book which takes you through the history of the wives of Henry VIII. I know, proper nerdy. But I've been wanting to reread it for ages! I did get a couple of books for Christmas, and some Amazon vouchers which have also gone to books, so I'll have some lovely new things to review in the new year :)

Limited Collection Wanderlust Eye Palette

Another adorable Marks and Spencer christmassy gift idea to review, and my last post before Christmas! WOOHOO! This little palette is great for someone on the go. It folds out to reveal five eyeshadows and an applicator, the only thing thats missing is a mirror!

 

 



 

 

As I've already swatched this, I've decided to go for a basic make up look to show off the beautiful colours! I used the greeny blue colour as a base, and then added a layer of the sparkly silver over the top for a an icy look!

 

 

 

This is a great palette. I've used it a couple of times for work, and without a primer the eyeshadows pretty much last all day. The shadows are pretty buildable too, so you don't have to worry about looking slightly mental with the bright pink! This palette is £8.50 and is available here.

Glossybox December 2013

So this is probably going to be my penultimate Glossybox. I have enough Glossydots for a free box in January, but after that I'm going to cancel my subscription (again). The boxes have really gone downhill for me recently. October's was shocking, November's was passable, but the December special and the standard December box have really put me off. Here's what I received in the standard December box.

First up, because it's a slightly random product, is the Wilkinson Sword Intuition Naturals Razor. I'm not too unhappy about this being included in the box. Razors are expensive so getting a freebie to try out is pretty good! Having said that, it is a BIG razor. It looks very clunky next to my usual Gillette Venus. Plus my skin doesn't normally get on with the razors that include soaps. But I am willing to give this a try!

I also received the Rituals Miracle Balm hand cream. I've currently got two other hand creams on the go at the moment (Hand Food from Soap and Glory, and the Chocolate and Raspberry one from the November box). However, this is a full-size product which retails at £10, and it smells pretty good! It definitely applies more like a balm than a cream, its very thick.

Now we get on the the less positive reviews. Glossybox have really bigged up that we'd be getting a Maybelline product in this months box, and I've received the Browdrama Sculpting Mascara. I'm not going to get any use out of this as the shade I have received is dark brown. Seeing as I'd rather not end up looking like Alistair Darling for Christmas, this will be put aside for a giveaway or something.

Horrible blurry photo :( The light has really not been kind to me today!

I also received the Beautiful Movements lip gloss. I can't see a name for the shade, but on the Glossybox card it's described as 'nude'. Its sort of a dusky pink colour, but it's pretty boring. Not particularly Christmassy. But I do really like that it is cruelty free.

Finally, the product that really pushed me into cancelling Glossybox. I was annoyed enough at the brown nail polish we got in the Special Edition Christmas box, and now I've received another one! This is Chocolat by Seche, and it's a full-size polish which is cool, but I hate the colour. It's kind of a rust brown and I just really dislike it.

Sorry for the awful nails and for only swatching one! I didn't want to have to remove my glitter polish to do a whole hand of brown. Bleurgh. This is one coat.

So this is almost good bye for the second time around Glossybox! Hopefully Birch Box or Love Me Beauty will suit me better.

What do you think about the December Glossybox?