L's Christmas Photos 2017

Hi all!

It's been a little while since sharing a post with you, between the two of us we've been moving, attending weddings, working and prepping for the Christmas season so took an unintentional break from blogging. It has been lovely to spend time with family and friends and tuck into the expected stash of Christmas food, so I thought today was the perfect opportunity to share some of these photos with you.

Christmas Day 2016

Hey all!

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas - I planned on getting some posts up in time for the Christmas period but it didn't happen because of so much food prep being required for the big day! You'll see what I mean below....

I spend Christmas with my family and pretty much move home for the Christmas break, even though I don't live at home any more I still end up decorating the house too, particularly the trees!

I love doing it but now I have my own and often do the ones in work it can mean decorating up to seven! I do love decorating the fireplace though, the lights and candles seem to make it!

Christmas Eve was spent in the kitchen, I honestly spent over 8 hours in there making various things. We pre cooked the turkey in the oven and the ham in the slow cooker. The ham was then put into the oven with a honey and mustard glaze on top to crisp up - it was amazing!

We also made the pretty popular Nutella Christmas tree, this was fun and really easy for such an effective treat.

All you need to do is roll out the pastry, cut it into a tree shape - I found it easiest to put them together and cut the shape first so they were both matching.
Then you need to spread a thick layer of Nutella onto one piece and top with the other. I also filled the off cuts too, I mean those extra bits almost taste better than the main tree right?

Then you just need to cut slices of equal size into the sides and twist upwards to give a better effect. It smells amazing when it's cooking away in the oven and we just dusted some icing sugar on top for some festive snow.

This tree is dangerous as you can so easily just keep pulling off a branch here and there!

After this we made some gingerbread men and I iced them very haphazardly - I attempted to do some bow ties and dresses but they look like they've had quite a few glasses of wine instead...oops!

For the main desserts we made the James Martin cheesecake (recipe can be found on Asda's website) which was a really easy no bake recipe, and covered with macaroons from the frozen section. We also decided that seeing as it was Christmas we'd also smother it in edible glitter and sparkly sugar, it was so easy and a big hit!

Lastly we made a chocolate torte, this was the BBC Good Food recipe. It was about 9pm by the time we started this so we were pretty tired but once the mixture was done it only took 40 minutes in the oven to cook and we had earned a big cup of tea and a sit down by then.

Christmas Day is my favourite, for the food and also for seeing my dog loving playing with the wrapping paper! He goes mad for it, loves helping people unwrap their presents and then rolling around with the paper afterwards.

My brother bought him a little Santa costume (which he absolutely hated!) but he was too big so it didn't stay on, still cute though!

We went to my aunty's for Christmas Day this year, the table was beautifully decorated with a gingerbread man theme. Isn't it amazing?

I piled my plate high with as much veg as possible (yes I did add gravy after taking this picture for anyone wondering where it is!)

We finished off the day with the obvious games and selfies with props - if you have played His and Hers we played it and even though us females outnumbered the guys we lost miserably!

What did you do Christmas Day? Do you have any traditions that you have to complete every year?

L xxx

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We hope you are having a wonderful day with your friends and family!

L and M xxx

Christmas 2014

Hello there!

I know a lot of people have already posted about their Christmas but I've loved seeing what other people get up to, their decorations and their traditions so I thought I'd share mine too.

One of my favourite things about Christmas is my dog; he absolutely LOVES wrapping paper! He waits patiently for you to unwrap your present and then runs away with the paper to shred it up. By the end of the opening session he's surrounded and normally has a load stuck to his tail! What a beauty!

I've dyed my hair back dark now and have been loving curling it and having it all back to my usual colour again. Blonde highlights were fun for the summer but I do prefer it this colour.

Wasn't long before Christmas dinner was served, we have ours about 1ish so I hadn't had many snacks beforehand and piled my plate up high! We had a massive turkey joint from our local butchers that we are still eating now.....even after the turkey curry!

My job was to make a cheesecake for the big day so I made a ferrero rocher hazelnut cheesecake in the tin above. It took a good few hours to set but when we removed it it looked really good and didn't last long at all!

My dog seemed pretty happy with his new blanket and teddies that he had, what a spoilt pooch!

We spent the afternoon playing games including a beetle drive, boy girl fruit flower and a few others. They were so much fun with everyone joining in especially making mistakes and coming up with wrong answers!

I had some lovely things for Christmas. My main present was a Hudl2 which is a tablet, I've wanted a tablet for ages but haven't been able to afford them and had no idea my parents had got me one! It was a lovely surprise and I'm hoping it will make blogging a lot easier too as I can do it on the go.

I also had a jar of nutella with my name on which was a personal highlight:

I also had some amazing Alice in Wonderland items, my mum went on a bit of a theme! There was a mug and loose leaf tea from Whittards, a vintage Alice in Wonderland book and a diary for the year. I also have an owl diary so will have to decide which is going to be my work diary and which is going to be for blogging and fitness related things!

In my Secret Santa gift I had a lovely bauble from Molton Brown filled with hand wash; how beautiful is this! I've never seen them before so it was a lovely surprise (though i think was well over our £5 budget!)

Since Christmas Day we've been making our way through the leftovers by making Bubble and Squeak which is a Boxing Day tradition for us and also our annual winter beach walk. I've been shopping in the sales and spent a ridiculous amount of money on a black wool coat from Linea and a black Ralph Lauren dress that I'd seen full price and loved; I never thought it would be in the sale so I had to get it!

I have been shopping for a dress for New Year's Eve too, this little black dress cost me £20 in the sale so I'm really pleased with such a bargain! I'm going to a friend's house for the night so needed something nice but also comfortable; this doesn't come with a belt and has a nice elasticated waistband and can be worn with tights so its perfect. I will be keeping warm and comfortable as well as hopefully looking nice too!

I love the gold details on the bottom of the dress; black and gold is definitely a favourite of mine. I also did my nails nude and sparkly; this is Essie's Sand Tropez with Barry M's Rose Quartz glitter on top. It's a simple but pretty combo and I've added as many layers as possible for the ultimate New Year's bling!

What have you been up to? Did you all have a good Christmas?

What will you be wearing tonight, do you have big plans or a quiet night in?

I'm hoping mines a bit of both!

L xxx

Merry Christmas!

Hello lovelies!

Hope you had a wonderful day yesterday, I had a great time and my Christmas spirit arrived just in time.

Unfortunately for me I've managed to get everyone else's cold and cough just in time for Christmas Day, which has left me feeling pretty crappy and I've not had much sleep because of it. I've also been working all over Christmas so that hasn't helped me either!

Nevertheless when Christmas Day actually did arrive I was in a good mood and had a great time.

Here's some photos from my day:

We went to my aunty's for our Christmas lunch with the rest of my family, there was only 9 of us but it was great as we could all fit around one table and we had homemade crackers with individual Christmas tree decorations too.

After having a snooze on the sofa and having a catch up we came back to ours and I really enjoyed watching Home Alone 2 in the evening. After this it wasn't long before I went to bed to try and catch up on some sleep and dose up on the cough mixture.

Today's plan is our annual trip to the beach; we ALWAYS go on Boxing Day to take to dog down there, he absolutely loves it and it will keep him from demolishing any more of his new toys!

Hope you've had a great few days of Christmas cheer, I'm so excited to eat leftovers later on and have our annual bubble and squeak for tea as well!

I'm sure there will be more Christmas related posts coming up soon :)

L xxx

Christmas Wishlist

This year Christmas is going to be a fleeting affair for me, I'll be working full time aside from Christmas Day and Boxing Day because everyone else managed to book time off before me...hurrah. I'm trying not to be Scrooge about it but 2 days off after building up to it for weeks probably isn't going to cut it; I'm probably going to end up sleeping for the majority of my time off as I'm so tired!

Moaning aside, I've managed to come up with a wishlist of gifts that if anyone would like to buy me, that would be FABULOUS.

I've gotten to the age where my parents and brother are the only people to buy me presents....it's a sad year for me indeed. I'm not materialistic obviously............but here's my wishlist if there was an unlimited budget and presents rained down on me on Christmas day:

1) I'll start off by stating the obvious. Soap and Glory. Who wouldn't want the big set for Christmas?!
It has been on my list every year and this year is no different, however I'm not quite so confident I'll get it. My mum knows how hard I've been working to get through my stash so I'm not so sure that I will be getting another 10/12 products to add to my collection! Especially as all of them are such good value and last a long time.....but rumour has it she went to Boots early to pick something up last Friday. Fingers crossed!

Image from lebeautygirl.com

2) Quite frankly I'd be ecstatic if anyone bought me the contents of Antipodes store. I drool every month at their products; even their website is a dream, the pictures are so mystical!

Image from antipodesnature.com

I've wanted to get my hands on the Juliet Brightening Cleanser, Manuka Honey Face Mask, Joyous Replenish Serum and their Kiwi Seed Oil Eye Cream.
I'm a big fan of the Divine Oil already, I can't possibly see what I wouldn't like from their products!



3) A pair of classic black heels. I'm talking Louboutins here obviously. Who on earth wouldn't want a classic black shoe which would go with absolutely everything with a flash of red on the sole?!
Here's a few ideas if anyone is feeling rich and generous:

 

(Images from Google)

Drool!


4) I'd like more clothing from Ralph Lauren and LK Bennett. I've started a (small) collection over the years from the outlet stores which is going quite well but I need more.
Whilst my cousin worked at an RL Outlet store it was great having the extra discount for family/friends but now she's gone off to uni the buying has dwindled down. I need more blazers, more jeans, and more dresses, Kate Middleton always looks good in hers and why not me too?! For example:

(Images all from Google)

Surely you can't go wrong with a bit of tailoring!


5) A bag. A black leather beautiful handbag to carry all of my worldly possessions on a daily basis would just be fabulous. Here's some bag porn:

All images from Pinterest

I'm quite a simple bag person it would seem! Any of the above would make me beam like a baby given its teddy bear.

6) Coats. I have a small obsession with coats. I hate being cold and love being all wrapped up in layers.

I'd absolutely love a cape, feeling like a chic superhero is definitely my thing!
I also think that details like the bow at the back and coloured coats with a belt at the waist are so easy but make a big difference.The ones above are all from Pinterest browsing so I've no idea how expensive they are!



7) I am a NARS virgin. I am yet to make my first ever purchase and to be totally honest I've no idea why. There's so many products they have that I NEED to own it seems a bit silly but nevertheless here are the specific ones I'm lusting after; any of those 4 blushes, any of the lip crayons and of course the amazing concealer they have, so creamy and buildable!

8) Urban Decay. Doesn't really need any introduction does it? We're all after the Naked 3 palette, I'm still after Naked 2 and Vice 2 along with all the others still available on the Debenhams website I was browsing earlier. Limited edition gets me every time, what a sucker!
Not only that but their eye crayons, primers, setting sprays and foundations are on my list too....neverending!

9) Holiday. Any where as long as it's hot! I'd like to lie on a beach drinking out of a coconut with nothing distracting my attention apart from my tan, my book and potentially my next meal/cocktail. Oh and soaking up some exquisite cultural experiences too!

 

If only.


10) Harry Potter Studios covered in snow. I've seen pictures and I've heard whisperings.....basically I'm uber jealous of anyone visiting the snow covered film sets.
I absolutely loved it when me and M went in March but I had to restrict myself when buying things and although I came out with a beautiful time turner necklace which is my pride and joy, I still want all of the additional book available in store, I want tshirts, wands etc etc. I especially want the map....HOW COOL!

 

So that's my wish list. I mean it's not too much to ask really is it?

L xxx