Life Lately - New Home, Making a Project House a Home

Hey All

I mentioned at the beginning of the year that C and I had bought our first home, property by us has been rising in price and we were getting to the point we were about to be priced out, as we started to look more at properties we decided a fully done up house wasn't for us. We knew we wanted traditional features still in the house, we wanted a bay and we wanted something we could make our own.

We've been in the house for over 6 months and I can't believe how much time flies so I thought I'd shared some of our progress, we've essentially lived in a building site for the last 3 months with our bedroom being our only sanctuary and because of all the work the rabbits were also in our room so it's been stressful!

Life Update - 2018 so far!

Hello everyone! It's been quite a long time since my last blog post, I'm normally pretty on the ball with scheduling posts, tweets and having my images edited and ready to go bit the last few weeks have been so busy I haven't even had time to think straight!

My last post was 3 weeks ago, so I thought I'd share some of the things I've been up to recently and share some snaps. I love seeing pictures of things that other people have been up to so I hope you like seeing mine too!

Life Update

Hey all

So it's been a long time since I wrote a blog post and even longer since I did a life lately post. A lot has been going on lately and life has been hectic!! C and I have just bought our first home and it's a total project renovation house so life has been busy moving, and starting working on it and Christmas thrown into the mix.

Life Update

Happy Sunday morning!

I hope you've had a fabulous weekend, I've had a family oriented weekend with birthdays, mother/daughter time and catching up with friends. The last few weeks I've been travelling all over the place for work and trying to keep up with everything, so I've got a post to show you what I've been up to!

Life Update

Hi all!

The first 2 months of the year have flown by, I've been trying to save some money so have been keeping things fairly low key. I've been out for lots of tea and cake, made a few things for my house and have been trying to up my photography game!

Street Food Circus

Hey there!

This weekend has been about catching up with things, I've caught up on the boring house things like cleaning and washing and also blog photos and painting my nails.

I caught up with some friends on Friday night at the Street Food Circus, luckily I went to the gym straight from work so not only was I super hungry but felt like I was justified in my huge binge of food....right?

We shared a few different meals to maximise our feast, we shared a burger from Got Beef (already a huge fan of theirs and this was a great burger!) and then we went straight to Meat and Greek. I haven't ever had any food from them before but I've heard amazing things and it did not disappoint. We shared the chicken souvlaki with halloumi and it was bloody good!

Next up we shared the cod bites from Big Fish Little Fish, the fish was amazing and the chips were covered in salt and rosemary....yum! The peas and tartare sauce were also great but I did think that this was overall a bit too salty for my liking - still great though!





I finished off my feast the only way i know how. Science Cream!

It has long been a favourite of mine, and the flavours were still the same as those from when I went the week before. With the gym as a justification I ordered the big guns - the Freakshake containing peanut butter ice cream, 'jelly' sauce, marshmallow and caramel brownie.

I made the mistake in assuming it was a milkshake with some marshmallows, berry sauce and bits of brownie sprinkled on top.....it wasn't. It was a beasty milkshake with a huge amount of berry sauce at the bottom, a brownie the size of a normal dessert and where you would normally have whipped cream on a frappe, homemade veggie marshmallow!



I was really impressed with the marshmallow, I've never had anything like it and tucked into it without hesitation. The shake itself was also great and I love PB so it was a favourite, but the berry sauce and the brownie was too much overkill for me. The berry overpowered the PB flavour and the brownie was quite stodgy. In my opinion, peanut butter goes with berries, salted caramel, brownie and marshmallow....but not all at the same time!



This was all from this weeks offering, but I have also been a few weeks ago and had the ribs from Hangfire Smokehouse - utterly wonderful but definitely worth sharing unless you don't fancy eating much else! The two ribs I had were both a similar size, and that was similar to the size of my forearm. My arms aren't huge, but imagine them as ribs and that's the amount of meat I had to get through!

After this I managed to share half a pizza covered with chorizo and honey - yes that's right HONEY! It was really good and now I might just put a swirl of honey on any meat pizza I eat in future, it was yum!

The Street Food Circus is definitely worth visiting though it does make me sad that it wasn't on for longer. There are only two more weekends left for eating your body weight in delicious food so I'd recommend going asap!


L xxx

Life Update

Well hello there!

It has been a reeeeeeeeeeeeeally long time since I've written a life update. There's been a lot going on but nothing too exciting.

Mostly things in my house have been breaking left right and centre - it has been a crazy expensive few weeks and I've used all of my savings to replace and fix things. So when I haven't been trying to sort that out I've been trying to do as many cheap things as possible!

Firstly, my step count on my Fitbit has been shocking. I've been trying to walk before work a few times a week and also on my lunch times to get my count up. Once I get out there I feel so much better, but it can be hard to get up early. The mornings when the weather looks like this really help!






I've even picked up a snazzy new pair of trainers - my other ones were 2 years old and there wasn't any padding inside any more, just the plastic!

As well as this I've been eating as healthily as I can and have joined a new gym. The Vale Resort is a pretty popular place, it's also expensive! I've been going to the local leisure centre since moving to my house but really miss the classes from my old gym which was a members only.

After a 21 day trial I obviously loved it, and joined as a full member. It is expensive but in my eyes, spending £40 a month on a gym that I don't go to is more of a waste than £55 on a gym that I got to 4 times a week and has allllllllllllllllllllll the extras including a personal trainer, sauna and steam room and Les Mills classes.



I've been trying to vary my food as much as possible and get as many veggies in, including trying out zoats. If you haven't heard of zoats before, they are basically zucchini (courgette) oats where you grate half or a full courgette into a bowl of oats and milk to get some extra vitamins into your meal.

I've also got into making rice out of vegetables, grating whatever I have in the fridge including cauliflower, courgette and carrot or even all three to make a bed for some chicken or salmon to go on.
I can't always make it to the gym but I can eat better, so this is a good start!

But sneaking in the odd piece of cake when visiting Waterloo Tea Gardens is always welcome, and when it's a spinach and pistachio cake it barely counts right?!

As well as things breaking in my house, my car has had a bad month. I already had my tax, service and MOT due. After that my car then decided to roll down my drive and into my house as the brake caliper had got stuck and worn away the brakes, a passenger door lock broke, a wing mirror fell off and I also need a tyre! I can't begin to tell you how much it cost and how utterly broke I have been wit also needing to pay for my glastonbury ticket, but I've spent a lot of time at home watching netflix to save every penny and over the last two months have managed to save myself a lot.

It's the grim reality of being an adult but I need my car to get around so selling it isn't an option.

I also had a weekend where my parents went away and I was dog sitting. It was a lush weekend and we had plenty of walks together, he's very active so needs 3 walks a day and loves playing in between. Chasing him around a table is one of his favourites so I was kept very busy! He's a pampered pooch!

Not much more to add than this really, hopefully the next few months will be a lot more exciting. I haven't even been anywhere with work and don't have any plans for the foreseeable future. Fingers crossed a trip comes up soon!

L xxx

Life!

Well it has been a pretty long time since I've done a Life Update - so make a brew, take a seat and browse my recent happenings with me!

Of course, I've been stuffing my face with street food as that's generally what I like to do with my spare time. This time it was the Winter Social from Depot Cardiff and *finally* I was able to see all of the umbrellas in their glory!

How pretty are they?! I love the snowflakes hanging from them.

I shared a few different dishes with a friend and we had a Merry Cheesemas burger (Wensleydale and cranberries on a burger, yum!), Crab Flatbreads (also yummy with so much garlic) and finally a pulled pork bun with winter slaw. I was very full at this point but clearly i still had room for one of my favourites - Science Cream!

I'm not one of the biggest fans of ice cream but the offerings from Science Cream are just perfect, the ice cream is made in front of you with fresh cream and liquid nitrogen. The result is the smoothest ice cream in existence, so I chose Sticky Toffee Pudding on this occasion and it really did have hot sticky toffee pudding with it and a dollop of salted caramel sauce, so much drool.

I had to go home and lie down afterwards.

I've also been changing a few things with my look. By that I mean, I bought a new palette and got my hair cut - I'm not one for drastic measures!

The Gwen palette is outstanding, both outside and in. As expected the Urban Decay eyeshadows are the most pigmented and silky as always and the colours are beautiful. Our post is here if you'd like more info!

As for my hair, I had a fringe cut in! It's taken some getting used to - mainly as if my hair is a mess I usually just scrape it back but now i have to do something with my fringe....I've bought lots of dry shampoo to cope though!

It normally looks a bit fuller than this, I was going for the Zooey Deschanel look so I need to wait for it to get a bit messier and relaxed. I definitely like the change though!


I've also been keeping busy with papercutting, although I haven't shown much on the blog or twitter. My latest creation is for my bedroom and is a classic Paper Panda design, you should checkout her website. I've been planning on making this for an entire year so I'm pleased that I've finally got to the framing stage, now it's just time to decide where on the wall it needs to go!

I'm thinking a gallery wall which probably means that I will need to make a whole lot more before I can put anything up!

Another paper related hobby I've been getting into is colouring. I have a fair few books now but you always need a few topics to keep you interested. The Harry Potter one is a current favourite, though it is taking me forever to complete each page.

Lastly I've been on a real health kick the last few weeks. I'm really missing having more control over my diet and exercise, and the thought of Christmas eating filled me with dread. That and if I indulge too early I will unfortunately make myself ill, so I need to control myself and then I can enjoy Christmas Day itself.

So I've been roasting loads of veg and making cous cous with soy sauce in batch. I then pair this with tuna, chicken or feta cheese for my lunches so with a good breakfast and this for my lunch I knew I wasn't going too wrong.

I've also been trying to exercise as often as possible. M gave me her spare 30 Day Shred DVD so I've been doing it as often as I can. 20 minutes is not much to ask and I know I have at least that to dedicate to myself every day and keep my eating in check. It's haaaaaaaaaaaaaard work don't get me wrong, but I've decided to just get stuck in and not wait until January to make changes.

In an effort to try more healthy recipes I have also finally made Cauliflower Pizza!

It was a really long process to make, not only to grate the cauliflower but to dry fry it for 15 mins and then bake it for 40 mins before even adding the topping........I was starving!

It did really taste like a pizza though so I was impressed, I just wouldn't make this for myself on my own and would probably just save myself for a real pizza!

It's been such a busy few months and I'm looking forward to a few days off over Christmas with my family. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

L xxx

Life Lately

Hey All

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've recently moved house so I'm without internet. That will be changing on Saturday. Can't wait to have it back sorted. I've also managed to catch a cold so feeling a little under the weather. I've got so many posts I've been wanting to write but I thought I'd just do a little catch up post!!

On Monday it was one of my brothers birthday's so I popped home for the evening to see him and catch up. I also made him a cake as I'm now out of shared accommodation I have room for all of my baking stuff. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted but it wasn't too bad!

L and I have been lucky enough to head to a few events the last week so we will be sharing some bits from these next week. First up we went to see the new products Dior have released for Christmas and then off to Lush. I couldn't resist some purchasing from both places and I've definitely discovered a few amazing new bits!

As I've just moved in with C we're enjoying making our new place feel homely. We've got most bits from Ikea or TK maxx. I still need to grab a few bits. These are the pots we got for the bathroom. I love the colour and look of these and they were a TK maxx bargain. One was £3 and one was £4. An even better but was the fact they are candles so I lit the candles every night till they were gone and then cleaned the jars. Candle pots are so pretty when I couldn't find what I wanted in the bathroom section I thought I'd check there!

 

Now I'm in a new place I'm hoping I can get a pet. I just need to convince C I should get one. This little guy won me over and even convinced C we can go and look together!

After resisting the urge to dye my hair for two months I couldn't wait to get some colour back on it. I really do love my hair purple but it always disappoints me how quickly it fades out. I need to decide what to do with it next. I think I need something more low maintenance for now.

I also had a great whirlwind weekend in London catching up with some of my closest friends from back home. We opted for London so we could see our amazing friend in Mamma Mia. He's sky in it at the moment. The show is awesome and it was amazing to see him on the big stage again!

L, C and I all headed out for Halloween. He was lucky to get stuck with us for the night ;). We originally got tickets for the Splott Warehouse Halloween party but after queueing for over an hour to get in, being squished in the process then being totally disappointed when we got in (you had to then enter a massive queue to get tokens to then queue again to get drinks!!), spending the night queueing in ridiculous queues didn't appeal to us so we headed into town and ended up having an awesome night!

I'm now counting down till C gets back from his latest work trip! The house does feel strange without him there but I'm hoping to change the colour scheme in our bedroom whilst he's away to make it pretty! ha!

It's been a crazy busy few weeks and with Christmas fast approaching it's not slowing down! I'm so excited for Christmas this year though and luckily I'm off to Copenhagen for new year. If you have any travel tips let me know :).

Love M

xxx

Life Lately

Hey All

Long time no post from me,  life really has been a bit crazy lately. The dude got back from a trip, I've had two weeks off work and just lots going on. I've got lots I want to share on here but thought today I'd do a little life update on some things I'll probably go into more detail on soon.

Pretty soon after he got back we had a black tie dinner to attend to celebrate our kickboxing club. It was so nice to get all dolled up and I got to wear my bridesmaid dress from a few years ago too! I had so much fun we ended up staying out till about 1ish but by then my ankle was really sore as it was only a few weeks after I'd sprained it!

By the time he got back we'd planned stuff for all our weekends. The following one we headed up to London to see some of his friends from uni. We ended up travelling all over :London using the boats, cable car and tubes to have an explore and ended up at the Greenwich observatory. It was such a cool day and I was glad I finally got myself an oyster card as it made it all so much easier. After catching a super late bus back from London I had a spa day with my mum. I love going for treatments but was left a bit disappointed by the afternoon tea! Me and the dude also decided to let the parents meet each for the first time. Definitely scary but they all got on really well thankfully.

L and I also got to catch up properly. I swear I have no time at the moment. We went for a sushi date as it's been ages and who can resist Yo Sushi! during September blues. We also headed to techniquest which you can read about here. Having never been I was so excited and definitely want to go to an afterdark session again!

Then the start of two weeks off work happened and some exciting developments. Me and the Dude, (I guess I should update him to C now to go along with the theme of things here!) have decided to move in together. We've been looking at places for a while but decided to finally go for it after finding a cute little house. I'm so excited to make it our home for the next year while we save to buy somewhere or travel. I'm already planning what I can make and he's even said I can scratch off where I've been to his scratch map! That's commitment right there ha!

For our two weeks off as loads of stuff was going on we decided to stay in the UK and go glamping after some friends had stayed in a Geo dome in Scotland. We decided to stay nearer to home and went to Hay-On-Wye. We had the best time there and I'll share more on it as it was amazing!

We've also spent a few day's in York visiting Cs grandma. I'd never been and loved all the buildings and little shops. We stayed in a really cute hotel. We also headed down to West Wales for a few days with my family for a break. It's been a busy two weeks but great one's too!

With it being the Rugby World Cup we've had busy weekends to fit in watching it all. I've loved seeing it but was definitely rather grumpy when England got knocked out! I finally managed to watch my first match in the Stadium too. What a match getting to see the Haka!! It was such a great atmosphere and I really need to go more now.

So there is my busy few weeks! It's not going to get any easier either with now a house move in two weeks and busy weekends but it'll all be worth it!

Love M

xxx