What’s that you say? It’s Friday?
Holy crap.

I honestly don’t know where this week has gone. ……Sunday to Tuesday was spent in Dublin with Matt to celebrate our fantastical 2nd Wedding Anniversary, after that it’s all a bit vague. So vague I thought today was Thursday… which it clearly isn’t…

Ho hum

Friday it is! Perfect day for a little in and out

Loving

Lipsy Dress

This is the frock I wore for our Anniversary dinner. I bought it in the Topshop sale for £30. Really flattering wee number if you hold any weight around your middle/ hips like moi.

Sorry about the flash but the hotel room had “mood lighting” and this was the only way I could get the colours to show up.

The Farm Restaurant, Dublin

“Affordable, tasty and home sourced” With as much of the produce as possible being organic and free range.
I didn’t quite know what to expect, especially as we were going on a Sunday night but it really was a treat. The interior is modern but homely, with a very feminine feel. Little sparkly lampshades and floral wall mirrors.

The food was gorgeous, my steak was melt in the mouth good. Matt had the lamb and was similarly impressed. The dishes were uncomplicated and clean though. No overly fancy “jus” or seasoning. Just good Irish fare at a reasonable enough price. We’ll be back.

Tesco Pumps (not the petrol kind…)

I’m not a massive fan of flats due to the negative impact they inflict on my joints, but when I see a pair as nice as these for £10 I can’t resist. One pair of foot pillows later and they are comfortable as well as cute.

Treating myself

Ah you’re a long time dead. If I want something I tend to write it down on a desktop sticky. If I still want it a month or so down the line, I usually purchase. It’s a good system.

I’ve deleted 5 MAC lipsticks off one already this week. Turned out I really didn’t want any of them that much

One thing I have wanted for about 3 months though are the David Smallcomb cuff bracelets that Lorraine sells on her website. I went for 3 small silver and 3 small gold fill, and people they ARE small. I have really slim wrists (about the only part of me that is) and they fit me just perfect. If you regularly have to get 3-4 links taken out of any watch you buy then the small is for you, if not order the large.

I totally <3 them. Brilliant buy!

Clogs

I love the clog trend. I had a pair when I was younger and they were the easiest things to wear. 2010 clogs, not so much. Sky scraper heels and open toed numbers are all very well but lifestyle wise they just wouldn’t suit me.

I needed practical & comfortable and the hubby delivered. He treated me to them in Clarks of all places. Reduced to 40 euro. They have hardly been off my feet. Perfect heel height, spongy lining and look trendy to boot. I’m a happy camper!

This also requires an honourable mention, Compeed Anti-blister Stick. I could feel my clogs rubbing slightly on the side of my foot. One swipe of this (it’s like hard vaseline) and the issue was gone.
No more rubbing because the surfaces can’t get purchase on each other. Best invention evaaaar! I got mine at Superdrug. It was a few quid.

Mumford & Sons

How are they not Irish? To me they’re like a modern day Saw Doctors (sorry… I still love them too) and the whole album is a winner, real hairs on the arms stand up greatness. Get it and LOVE it!

Reading

I just love to read, but bad eyesight and a vain refusal to wear my glasses meant that lately I hadn’t done much of it. I had to finally admit defeat when I was struggling to read my computer screen and munching tension headache tablets like smarties.
So I stick my glasses on and lo and behold it’s like someone turned the world into focus. I’m such a twat.

Reading is no longer a tired squinting affair and I’m no longer considering shares with Nurofen.
I’ve just finished Skinny Bitch. It’s very clear that the authors have their own agenda in regards to animal rights however accepting the contents at face value this was an enjoyable read. Certainly not life altering though.

Not loving:

Spider Season
It can fuck right off. Creepy eight legged freaks that like to hang out in our bedroom. Ugh. Major hate.

John James
If you don’t watch the UK Big Brother my apologies. If you do I’ll take a high five on that. He’s a major twat. Please put JJ and Josie in some kind of one way space destined rocket.

Indecisive weather
Be sunny. Or don’t. Just PLEASE don’t do the sun and rain thing. It’s not big or clever, just friggin impossible to dress appropriately for.

LONG Delivery Times
11 week lead time on a sofa?! What are you doing exactly? Making the thing from scratch?….. Oh you are. Well anyway when I order from somewhere as main stream and lets face it cheap as DFS I expect that they have multiples of the same sofa lying atop each other in some big NI warehouse.

They don’t. It like really truly actually comes from Italy. My worlds on its head here
Floor down on August 10th… sofa arriving Halloween… #fail

Milk Men
Or maybe it’s just my Milk Man. He likes to deliver practically our whole weeks supply on one day. Not only is storing that a headache BUT clearly we aint paying for freshness here. Plus when I try to cancel him he ignores the “No more Milk please, just the final bill, thanks” notelet and leaves a further 2 pints of milk. I’m losing the will.

I WAS trying to be polite about canceling his services. However now I’m thinking a “Please bugger off” note is the only way to go.

And just for cuteness, the one and only Tedster doing what he does best. Winky flashing on our bed!

Over and out xo

My anniversary gifts from Matthew were two books (1st Wedding Anniversary gifts are traditionally paper), I can’t wait to get The Time Travelers wife read before I see the film. It looks like a complete romance/ tear fest!!

I also got this stunning Eternity ring and I absolutely adore it!!

As a result I want to give my rings centre stage on my hand today, and so I’ve picked NYC Quick Dry Polish in Soho (222B) to wear. It’s a very muted frost pink. I’m not actually sure if I like the shade all that much but Matthew says he thinks its sweet and feminine, so its staying…. for now

Soho With Flash

Soho Minus Flash

Oh, and if you were wondering what I got Matthew….

For the paper element I got him a novelty present, a little local newspaper mock up, edited with our personal details. Just a bit of tongue in cheek fun

I actually can’t recommend the company I got this from highly enough “In The Paper”

The process was quick and easy, and most of all fun to do, too many of these personalisation websites are long-winded. This is definitely not. They also shipped very quickly (2 days from mainland UK to N.Ireland) and packaged the picture securely, as well as including a free A4 copy of the mock up which I plan to give to my mum. Best of all they were relatively inexpensive, so ticked my bargainista box too. Check them out.

I also got Matthew The Sailing Bible & some Cebe Polarized Sunglasses as he is learning to sail

I’m off to get ready for my night out now, hope you all have fun whatever you get up to this weekend xox

I nearly didn’t go today……

I missed the 9am meeting and had no intention of going to the 10.30am one either….. I’ve had a bad week food wise. I’ve totally lost control of the snacking and I didn’t want to see my leaders face when she told me I’d gained.

You’d be forgiven for thinking Easter has been and gone.

Not in my house. While my husband was out late last night I “found” a forgotten Creme Egg Easter Egg belonging to one of the kids. I ate it in front of Eastenders, every last morsel. I think it took me about 5 mins tops. I’ve been a nightmare this week with chocolate.

I think we all have our bad food whether it be cheese, chinese etc, mine is and always has been the chocolate. I can’t just have a little, and so I have none (other than WW substitutes), but last week I bought a Curly Wurly, and I kidded myself it was a one off. I then had one four days in a row, topped off with the creme egg. Ugh. Devil chocolate.

So after dropping the kids to school I settled down to watch Claire Richards “My Big Fat Wedding” on iPlayer.

After that, I practically ran to the later meeting to get weighed. If you haven’t had the chance to watch it you really should. From a weight loss perspective it is truly inspirational.

Anyway, in summary, I gained 1lb. It could have been much much worse. So I’m really glad I went to the meeting, without the pep talks from my WW friends, I think a bad week would have turned into a bad fortnight or perhaps even a complete wagon dismount. I was feeling that bad. Don’t underestimate the value of your Weightwatchers meetings!!

I came home renewed, did 10 mins on the trampette, then cleared the house of a few other eggs that were hanging about in cupboards. The kids don’t want them, and I don’t need them.

I went out to Tesco and did a shop for some ingredients, I’m going to get back into cooking from the WW Recipe books, they really are fab. It’s just so easy to get out of the habit, so I’m taking control back.

I got the “Weekdays” one today. £7.99 at meetings.

It has 60 recipes but the beauty being that none of them take longer than 30 mins to prepare and cook. Its a good design too, the book sits up and the pages are laminated so it can be wiped down, great for a messy cook like me

Hope everyone else had a better week than me weight wise

xoxox

Last night I went to the Girls Aloud gig with my brother’s girlfriend and it was a brilliant night.

We went to a bar first and I was very naughty and had a few pints of Tennents and some red wine. So I was very pleased today at Weightwatchers when I lost another pound! Happy days

I wore my new Max C dress and my all time favourite Rudey 3-strap heels which were a much loved present from my husband. I felt very glam, girlie & suprisingly svelte once I was ready.

*Pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them

Makeup was pretty lazy tbh, a staple go to for me. Basically MAC Woodwinked, Mulch, Lovestone and a smidgen of Urban Decay Oil Slick for added depth. I was also sporting my “Nicola” from Girls Aloud Eylure Falsies. Lips are MAC Angel topped with Soft & Slow.

While I like the shape of the lashes, I’m not overly impressed with the actual band on the eyelid. It is very spacey and required quite a layer of gel liner to conceal it. On a plus though they peeled away easily after wear and I will be able to re-use them at least one more time. I didn’t use the glue they came with, I prefer Duo Adhesive, it works best for me.

All in all the concert itself was fab. They all looked a little stiff and nervous for the first two songs but after that they were in full swing and rocked the place. Nadine’s legs are like tooth picks in reality and Sarah Hardings body is amazing (even if she was sporting very dodgy hair extensions), and Nicola is even paler than I could ever have imagined but still my favourite!

Below are a few snaps taken with my piss poor camera. Sorry for the quality but you get the idea

If you’re lucky enough to catch the girls on their tour, enjoy xoxox

How fab are these?
100 minicards from MOO.com for £9.99

You don’t need to have your own business, I don’t. However like a lot of us nowadays I do have Twitter, a blog & a website and these are a great way of sharing all those contact details.

Another neat way of helping people to contact you, other than just swapping mobile numbers. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve been out recently and ran into old friends. Now I’ll be able to give them one of my mini-cards and keep in touch. That goes for meeting new and interesting people too

They came quickly (2 days), were well packed, really nice quality & finish. The dinky size is more purse friendly than normal business cards and I love the modern, minimal feel.

Can’t recommend these enough! Order yours here!

xox

I hadn’t intended to ever buy this, having had previous experience of Bobbi Brown’s literary offerings I wasn’t convinced it warranted the £20 price tag.

However as I shopped in Tesco on Wednesday morning I noticed that they were selling it for £13. Seemed like a more acceptable price to me and I reasoned that should I not like it, good ole Ebay would probably get me my money back.

I’m happy to report (and a little surprised) that this book is a keeper. Section 1 is “The Basics”, and it really is everything you need to know whether an amateur or professional WITHOUT insulting your intelligence.

Section 2 is all about the “Artistry” and is honestly an invaluable read if you even have a hint that make-up artistry is something you might like a career in.

There is obviously a lot of self promotion in regards to her Bobbi Brown line, but hell, can hardly fault her for that, after all it is her book! There is a good section on the tools of the trade, great pictures of individual brushes and their use. I have to say I am not a fan of Bobbi’s brushes but there are plenty of dupes out there and these pictures give you are great idea of what shapes/ materials you should be looking for if you want a brush to perform a specific job.

The photographs are indulgent. I can’t show you content due to copyright laws but the picture inside the front cover gives you an idea of the vibrancy, young, fun feel echoed throughout the book. There are some exciting (to me anyway, being a make-up geek) behind the scenes photos to feed the celebrity addiction, and then to the rear of the book there is a lovely section on Beauty Through The Ages, a “Who’s Who In Makeup?” .

This book now has a place beside Kevyn Aucoin’s Face Forward in my collection which is fantabulous on a whole other level! It is catered much more towards the MA though, an awe inspiring collection of skilled creative artistry, illusion and fantasy.

Bobbi’s book is a read for anyone,of any age and any ability.

xox

This series of books has been the talk of the female You Tube community the past few weeks, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about, and I’m so glad I did! There are four books at present, although I think there may be plans for a fifth. Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse & Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer. These books are actually aimed at the teenage market but I’m 29 and if you’re anything like me you’re probably still that age group in spirit

The stories focus on a 17/18 yr old Bella Swan who moves to a dreary little town called Forks high above Seattle where she meets and falls in love with a gorgeous vampire called Edward. This ultimately leads to danger for them both, as these star crossed lovers try to figure it all out and find a way to be together. Bella also befriends a werewolf, the vampires sworn enemy and again this leads to much teen angst and drama as she tries to balance her relationships with them both. The books are not overtly sexual, its all underlying, subtle. Lots of whispers and promises, meaningful looks and kisses, interlaced with intrigue and unhemmed danger. You would need to be dead inside yourself not to experience a racing pulse while reading these.

So get out there and pick them up. Tesco is currently selling each book for £4. You could have them all read before the movie adaption screens on Dec 19th in the UK. Oh goody!!!
Check out the trailer

These are not hard to read, you will skip through them, but they are delicious and who doesn’t need some escapism now and then? These books offer this in bulk