Tuesday 22 May 2018

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!


SHARE:

Sunday 31 December 2017

The CSI Girls 2017 Round Up


Hey all!

We have finally reached the end of another year, and it has been a super busy one at that. We've both had our own personal highs and lows but the blog has progressed over the year and we're hoping to take it even further in 2018.

So put the kettle on, grab a brew and have a read of our recap of everything we've had the pleasure of covering in 2017!


SHARE:

Friday 15 December 2017

The Greyhound Inn, Letcombe Regis


As you know I travel with work so I stay in many hotels, and hotels can be memorable for many reasons. I've stayed in some pretty ugly ones but I try to forget those...when you stay somewhere good it makes it all the more memorable.

Cue my recent stay in The Greyhound Inn, in Letcombe Regis. I don't think I have ever written a hotel review so be nice! I just couldn't resist but share some pictures from my stay, so grab a cuppa and see why I decided to share them this time.


SHARE:

Thursday 23 November 2017

Healthy Vegetarian and Vegan, Quick and Easy Meal Ideas

Hey All

The past few weeks have been so busy and I wanted to share my latest favourite vegetarian and vegan cookbooks with you.

I went vegetarian around March time, I eat the occasional fish so technically I guess I'm pescatarian but I would like to cut that out too. Me and my OH used to eat a lot of vegetarian meals in the house and always made curries, chillies and Mexican dishes vegetarian so I wanted a bit more inspiration for more meal ideas that would be health and easy to do!


SHARE:

Sunday 19 November 2017

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!


SHARE:

Saturday 11 November 2017

Laguna Health Spa - ESPA Optimal Skin Profacial Treatment



Hey all!

I'm sure you've seen M's post on her amazing ESPA Body Wrap so I'd like to share with you my thoughts on the ESPA Optimal Skin Profacial Treatment that I had when I visited the Laguna Health Club.

We both love a good spa treatment and knowing the new treatments at Laguna used cruelty free products from ESPA we were looking forward to visiting again.

SHARE:

Saturday 28 October 2017

Laguna Health and Spa - Espa Body Wrap Review

Hey All

Laguna Health and Spa have recently switched salon brands to Espa and as it's cruelty free I was pretty excited to hear this! We were lucky enough to be offered to try out some of the treatments so couldn't wait to test them out.

Laguna Health and Spa is located in the Park Plaza Hotel in Cardiff and has a beautiful swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi, as well as a great gym (which used to be my gym and I really miss those classes!)


SHARE:

Thursday 26 October 2017

How to Pack Beauty Products with Airline Limits - Cruelty Free

Hey All

Twice this year I've traveled to Edinburgh from Cardiff and flown, the biggest challenge I find is getting all the products I want whilst sticking to the 10 x 100ml airline limits. Of course as with all of my posts all these travel products I use are cruelty free too!


SHARE:

Wednesday 30 August 2017

Zero Degrees Beer Tasting and Food


Hi all!

Recently we were both invited to Zero Degrees in Cardiff for an evening of beer tasting and food, we've both been before on random occasions for the odd drink but not for a meal and drinks so this was a great opportunity and we were really looking forward to it.


SHARE:

Tuesday 13 June 2017

Falafel Kitchen - Cardiff


Hey all!

We've mentioned a few times recently that we've both gone vegetarian - for different reasons but we both enjoy food and cooking so much that we've fully embraced it and have been trying new recipes as well as new eateries.

The next on our list was Falafel Kitchen, found on Crwys Road in Cardiff.


SHARE:

Friday 12 May 2017

10 Things to Help You Deal with Stress


Morning all!

I've got a bit of a different post for you today. The last few years have been stressful for me for a variety of reasons, probably no different to anyone else's life stresses but mine has obviously been building up and has recently made me ill. I might share more about this in future but for now I've been searching for ways to help me deal with the stress and recover, hopefully in a few months it will have gone away!

I've been writing this post for a while now but decided with it being Mental Health Week it is time to share my ideas and see if you have any you can share with me too. I've put together a list of things that have helped me the last few months and might help you too, so here's my top 10:


SHARE:

Monday 8 May 2017

Milgi's Cardiff - Review

Hey All

About 6 weeks ago I made the decision to try and lead a vegetarian lifestyle, I went completely cruelty free in all make up, beauty and home products I buy last year and decided it was time to try a vegetarian lifestyle too, it has been a discussion and debate for a while with C as we cook almost every meal from scratch and would mean a change to his diet or double the cooking for whoever was cooking that night. So when he went on his last work trip I decided to take the plunge so I could do it while he was away and then work his meals with meat into mine.


SHARE:

Thursday 21 July 2016

Lou Lou's Cardiff Vintage Fair

Hey All

So I've spent the last week celebrating my birthday. L and I went to Lou Lou's vintage fair on Sunday morning before heading for food and cocktails with some other friends. L had been before but I hadn't made it to one yet and couldn't wait to go and see it after some of the bits she's previously picked up.

Untitled

DSC_3739

In Cardiff Lou Lou's Vintage fair is held in City Hall. I love this building it looks so amazing and is a great location to hold it. The next Cardiff one is on the 4th September. We headed down at 10 am when it opened as it can get quite busy and we wanted to browse around before it was too busy.


DSC_3741

DSC_3742

L and I couldn't resist stopping for a cup of tea!! The cakes looked amazing but we resisted as we were off out for lunch! I love that they are served in vintage tea cups!!

Untitled

Untitled

There were loads of stalls selling amazing fashion pieces, I was loving all the sequins! I'd gone with the idea of buying a ring but L and I both ended up spending a fair bit on make up whilst we were there as there was the brand 'Outside the Box' there. We loved the look of it and the story behind it so we'll be sharing our thoughts on it soon! 

Untitled

There were loads of cute trinket boxes and amazing vintage mirror and brush sets I wanted. 

Untitled

This stall had some amazing jewellery and I couldn't resist a new floral crown!

2016-07-19_10-38-52

The vintage fair is great to browse around and only £2 entry per person! We'll definitely be back again. I loved browsing all the different stalls! You can see L's previous vintage hauls from Lou Lou's Fair here and here

Love M

xxx



SHARE:

Thursday 5 May 2016

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!

2016-03-07 06.54.06-1

Untitled
2016-03-10 21.42.37

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.

2016-03-19 11.59.44

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!

2016-03-12 07.57.17

2016-03-07 19.13.17

2016-03-13 14.07.30

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.

2016-03-17 18.42.44

Untitled


Untitled

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


SHARE:

Sunday 17 April 2016

English Tea Shop: Detox Me


Happy Sunday morning!

I don't know about you but we love tea, all types and flavours and we love trying new ones even more.

I've always been a big fan of TK Maxx and Home Sense but recently I've found myself going there more often and particularly to the food and book section. You can never go wrong with buying books and tea right? It's like they are made for each other!

I've seen the English Tea Shop brand quite a lot and so decided to give some of their blended teas a try. Today's post is about their Organic Detox Me tea, but rest assured I also have 2 other flavours to tell you all about - I just can't help myself and keep going back!





The Detox Me tea contains Peppermint, Spearmint, Elderflowers, Fenugreek and Rosemary, and the box contains 16 pyramid style tea bags.

I've been loving trying loose leaf teas recently but sometimes it's great to be able to ust grab the tea bag and let it infuse without messing around with measuring it out.

This tea you simply need to add to boiling water water and infuse for 2/3 minutes, and then maybe add some sugar if you think it is necessary. I didn't need to add any sugar at all and I really liked the refreshing taste.

2016-02-21 16.11.13

Sometimes the detox type teas can smell and taste a bit vile, or contain a large amount of licorice and green tea, or even give you some undignified side effects (we've all tried those teas by now I'm sure!).

I didn't find I had any of those with this tea and found it quite refreshing due to the mint. You can see the colour of the tea in the image below, served in one of my favourite Alice in Wonderland mugs from Whittards. I have the full set of these mugs thanks to some lush relatives, definitely have the tea pot on my list for Christmas though as it is also gorgeous (it's not too early for the C word right?!)

2016-02-20 18.30.15

2016-03-05 20.17.51


I have quite a few teas in my collection now as you can see by my shrine in the image above- maybe you think I'm obsessive but I just love trying out different types!

This particular tea cost me around £2.50 from Home Sense, but is available from Amazon for £5.82 at the time of posting. They aren't cheap but really worth it for the quality of the taste and the blends. They have quite a few I would love to try and the Peppermint Loose Leaf tea is a firm favourite of mine anyway - it lives on my wishlist for future repurchasing!

Have you tried anything from the English Tea Shop? Do you have any flavour recommendations?

Are you a loose leaf or a bag fan?? I think each have their time and place!


L xxx



SHARE:

Saturday 19 December 2015

Pettigrew Tea Rooms - Festive Afternoon Tea


Morning everyone!

I'm sure by now everyone knows that afternoon tea is just one of those wonderful occasions - copious amounts of tea, tiny sandwiches and a seriously calorific load of cake.

It's a typically British thing and I like to indulge in it as often as possible. Festive versions are a particular favourite as I also love christmas, combining the two is the best thing I've ever heard of so without further ado, let's tuck in to the menu from Pettigrew this year!

Untitled

Untitled

Me and my mum decided to have a Christmas shopping day in Cardiff this year, with only the Christmas markets and the labyrinth of arcades to wander around. It's always one of my favourite days of the year and having not yet visited Pettigrew Tea Rooms myself it was the perfect excuse.

Their Christmas High Tea cost £16.50 and included a mince pie and mulled wine, festive filled sandwiches, Christmas scones and also a slice of homemade cakes - I was drooling just thinking about it!

Untitled

On arrival we were shown to our table in the corner and our mulled wine and mince pie delivered. I have to say that the mince pie was one of the nicest I have had. It was quite hot so I had to wait a little while for it to cool down but as someone who isn't too big a fan of mince pies I enjoyed it.

The mulled wine was also delicious, but sadly I felt like this was a token gesture as this was essentially the size of a shot glass. It tasted wonderful and the slice of orange was a great addition but I was really disappointed this wasn't a normal size glass, it's not what you expect.
(it also wasn't that hot but it was the size that was more disappointing!)

Moving on, we then chose 2 fillings each for the sandwiches which were freshly made to order.

Untitled

I chose the cheese and chutney, and the salmon and cream cheese. I LOVE salmon and it's a staple in an afternoon tea, it was wonderful as expected and the bread was super tasty.

The cheese and chutney sandwiches were also lovely, I'm intolerant of dairy and bread so generally I avoid it in my day to day life and then on the odd occasion I can treat myself without getting ill. I honestly save myself up for days like this and these sandwiches were worth the wait - I'm craving my usual Boxing Day cheese feast ever since all because of these sandwiches!

Untitled

After this we had the scones, which were on the very top of the stand. These weren't normal scones however, these were Cranberry and Brandy scones - absolutely delicious!!!!

These were the best part of the entire afternoon for me and with the jam and cream too were outstanding. Even my mum, who enjoys homemade cake but doesn't really eat that much of it, ate her so fast I wondered where it was gone! That really was testament to how lovely they were, and I'd go back for one of these alone.

Untitled

Untitled

Yes I do put jam on first before the cream, how on earth else are you supposed to do it....?!

After this we were extremely full, and still had a cake to go! We had the opportunity to go and choose a cake from the counter and the choice was another factor that was outstanding. The variety was amazing from your classic Victoria sponge to Chocolate and Beetroot, Clementine and Polenta,


We chose to come home with a slice of Chocolate and Beetroot, and a Date, Fig and Salted Caramel to share for our tea. It was around 8pm before I tucked into my halves of them and they were so gorgeous, the chocolate cake was really moist courtesy of the beetroot but still tasted so luxurious. The date, fig and salted caramel was a great surprise, I'm not a date or fig fan but this cake was so lovely and I'd order it again. It wasn't overwhelmed by the salted caramel either so it was well balanced.

Overall I enjoyed my first experience of the afternoon tea at Pettigrew Tea Rooms. It was a lovely quaint venue and the scones and sandwiches were very tasty. 

I was disappointed with the tepid mulled wine and also that only one pot of tea was included, in most places the tea is unlimited. It's a fairly cheap addition to the meal and we only asked for one more between us, so it felt like a bit of a con to have to pay for more.

My favourite part was the scones and the homemade cake, I'd happily return in future for either of these and I loved the chance to try out some different types of cake to your average!

What do you think of Pettigrew Tea Rooms? Have you tried their afternoon teas?
Do you rate festive versions?

The Christmas High Tea at Pettigrew's costs £16.50 per person and is available until the 10th of January, so get in quick!

L xxx


SHARE:

Friday 28 August 2015

Life Update


Hey all!

It's been a busy couple of weeks but I'm planning a comeback - blogging has been the last thing on my mind whilst I've been decorating, moving and working like crazy! But I miss it and I still end up taking photos of everything anyway.

So what have I been up to?

Untitled

I've been away with work again, this time to the Cotswolds - it's a beautiful place and the people were all so friendly and overly welcoming!
On arrival at my simple B&B I was asked if I wanted tea, the answer was obviously yes.....and then tea arrived in a teapot with cups and saucers and homemade flapjack. How cute!

It instantly made me feel welcomed and I loved it, staying in different places can sometimes be daunting on your own.

Untitled

I even managed a walk which was great, lovely to get some fresh air after work and seeing places like the canal above. The boats were beautiful.


I've also managed to make it out with some work friends which was lovely as I've not been out for drinks for a while. I piled on my make up and went for pinks and loads of liner, not something I would do every day.

Untitled

Untitled

I even got to wear a new dress out, this was from Want That Trend and cost £21.95. It's perfect for nights out, the skater style is really flattering and I love the flowers too.

Untitled

With all of the decorating, moving, eating and drinking it has been a bit of a task to keep up my healthy regime and exercise.
I have a lot of routes around my new house and I've been taking my dog for a few walks and have even been for a run or two. I definitely need to up my game though, sitting at a desk all day isn't doing me any favours!

Untitled

I've been trying to keep the majority of my meals on track, and have been eating good breakfasts and taking lunch to work every day.
My downfall at the moment is the evenings, I normally manage to eat a fairly healthy evening meal but afterwards I always crave something sweet!

Untitled

Chia seed pudding is my latest fave - it can't be as unhealthy as all of the other desserts and treats that are on offer can it??

Admittedly I made the mistake of mixing chia seeds, almond milk and chocolate peanut butter together and that's not quite as healthy! It was actually divine though, and I know that when I really really deserve a treat it's exactly what I will be whipping up!

Untitled

I've started getting bored with my meals now that I've been moved back out for 2 months and cooking the same kind of things. I need to broaden my horizons!
If you have any new recipes you've tried lately and have found to be amazing please send them my way - I was even tempted to make soup this weekend because of the horrible weather!

What have you been up to recently? Have you travelled anywhere new?
What's your favourite variation of chia seed pudding?


L xxx


SHARE:

Monday 27 July 2015

Life Lately

Hey All

I really feel like life is whizzing by at the moment. The past few weeks have felt like a bit of an exciting blur with loads on and the next few weeks feel like they could be the same. Two weeks ago I got my dude back from his latest work trip away which was just in time for my birthday so we headed down to the local street food place with some good friends including L (my housemate has pictures of me opening my presents from L which I need to get off of her so I can share them as L did good on my birthday presents this year!).

DSC_0713

I love Depot and going with L is great as we like to share food so it means we get to try loads. I'd recommend heading down if you're local to Cardiff as it's still on through August so there is still time and the have one of our favourite places Science Cream (review here!) and as it's the Summer they have an awesome outside area with converted cars etc to sit in!

I spent my actual birthday with my family and OH. They came down to visit and bought my nieces so we ended up just eating out and exploring Cardiff. We had planned to go to the international pool and go on all the slides but we ended up not having time!

DSC_0724

DSC_0687

I've been spending lots lately. I really should put a haul together. When hunting for the perfect nude shoe I came across these beauties from Miss KG and couldn't resist!! They were half price and just to pretty not to order. I ordered from Very and couldn't believe how quickly they arrived!

DSC_0678

DSC_0668

I also finally got my first tattoo and I am totally in love with it. I can feel it becoming an addiction where I just want more. Also I got to properly bake again which I haven't for a while and made macaroons (my new favourite!) and my niece a rainbow sprinkles cake!

As well as all that there has been graduations (OHs brothers), weddings and overnight stays in Brighton and Bristol. Somehow most of this has all happened over the past two weeks!

DSC_0807

DSC_0755

DSC_0766

DSC_0726

DSC_0736

DSC_0851

DSC_0855

The weekends just aren't long enough! Have you been on any trips yet?

Love M

xxx

SHARE:
© The CSI Girls. All rights reserved.
Blogger Designs by pipdig