May Roundup!

My finals photos, Decoration at my training, new watch, Snapple my favourite drink, Cuddles with the nephew, barn owl handling, Lush Oxford Street, Pamper evening face and foot mask, White chocolate waffle.

May has been quite a weird month for me, and a lot has happened this month. I started a new job, went to London for training, met another owl, and had some pampering and baby cuddles...

As so much has happened I thought that it was only right that I talked about some of the highlights of the month for me!

I went to a chocolate making evening in Reading, and got to make some yummy treats. As soon as I walked through the door I was hit by the smell of chocolate. That was due to the three huge vats of chocolate in the back of the room, one white, one milk and one dark... It was amazing... On the table in front of us was a huge selection of sweets to use on our chocolate, although most of them made it into our mouths before it did our chocolate...

We got to select our favourite flavour of chocolate to be the base of our bars, and we could even swirl them with other chocolates, which I attempted to do... badly I might add! Then we got to stuff our bars full of sweets. Once they were done we moved onto making a chocolate lollipop, and three truffles. By then end of the evening I felt sick with the amount of sweets and chocolate that I had eaten but I still had an amazing time!

The day before I went off to do my training Tim and I decided to go and spend the day in London hunting down some of the Shaun the Sheep sculptures that are currently all over London. They are all based on different themes and sponsored by different companies, and the idea is that you try and find as many as you possibly can. There are free maps you can get and specific trials you can follow, but honestly the maps were so confusing that Tim and I gave up after finding a mere eight Shaun's. That was about the time we headed to Lush Oxford street which you've already heard a tonne about.

I hope you've all had a good May, I know I have, and I hope that my year continues to be full and interesting!

This Week I'm...

Reading: Lots and lots of blogs

Listening To: A 90's Playlist on Spotify

Playing: CSI on Xbox 360

Feeling: Lost at the moment to be honest

Looking Forward To: Getting better

Sum Up Sunday #8

This week has been pretty standard for me to be honest. I have been sticking to my diet and exercise plan, and I still haven't found it hard, or wanted to give up yet, which to be honest is amazing for me! A lot of what I have been up to this week, is blogging, to make sure you all have plenty of posts to read...

Last Sunday Tim and I popped into Basingstoke to do a bit of shopping, and we headed over to Pets At Home to get some Gerbil supplies. Outside were some beautiful owls from a rescue charity, and you could donate £2 and take a picture holding one of the Owls! Honestly the best £2 I think I have ever spent. I picked the smallest owl there, because he was just too cute, and Tim got some seriously great shots of him. The handler was telling me that he used to be kept in a tiny cat crate in the dark, so he used to crane his head right back to see some light, that's what he is doing in the picture above. Also because the crate was so small and he never flew his wings didn't develop properly so now he cannot fly. I'm so glad the team rescued him, I hate to think of this little beauty in the dark...

During the evenings this week I have been unwinding by playing an online version of Cards Against Humanity, which if you haven't heard of already, is probably the most offensive and hilarious game ever created. You win a point if your card is the most funny and the first to ten points wins. If you want to give it a go then click here. 

Yesterday Tim and I went to Bills in Newbury for a little lunchtime treat, and it was lovely. I had a butternut squash Mac n Cheese... It was so yummy, I'm salivating just thinking about eating it again! We were very good and had no extras, and I just had a cranberry juice with my meal, so I'm hoping it wasn't too unhealthy an option for my diet...

Then we went out to see my mum as she isn't well at the minute, and I taught her all about Pinterest! She was looking for knitting patterns online and I thought Pinterest would be the perfect place for her to find some, and I was right! I even had a go at knitting, and I wasn't too bad at it, so I may have to pick myself up some knitting gear this year! When I was sitting on the sofa with one knee up, Tigger decided that he want to lay on that knee... He climbed up and dug his claws in and he looked so pleased with himself... He didn't last long there though I had to put my knee down he was clawing me so much!

I hope you've all had a wonderful week, and I'll see y'all in the next one.

This week I'm...

Reading: The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly (Still)

Listening To: Topsify playlist on Spotify and loving Uptown Funk...

Playing: Hidden Object Games (more to come on the blog soon)

Feeling: Happy that I lost weight again this week!

Looking Forward To: Having a naughty slice of cake later today (More on the blog soon)

Sum Up Sunday #6

From Top Left to Bottom Right: All my Baking Books, Christmas Chocolate collection, new stand mixer, Hot chocolate with all the trimmings, Gingerbread house, Sister Selfie, NYE Selfie, New Blog notebook, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Selfie with my bro, Wedding Selfie, and Cuddles with Sven.

I don't even know how I have managed to cram so many things into this one week, no wonder I am so tired! Tim and I started off our week by finally organising our Christmas presents and finding places for them all. This prompted a clear out of our shelves, so that I could fit all my baking books onto them. Well I wish they all fitted on one shelf... some of them are actually floating around on a separate shelf... This also meant we had to find somewhere for all of our Christmas sweets and chocolates and thankfully we have a few spare shelves on our TV unit which is now housing a tonne of chocolate.

I finally ordered a stand mixer! I settled on one by Morphy Richards which was £69.99, my plan is to use this one for now, and then to save up all my money to buy a Kitchenaid later on, maybe when Tim and I finally move into our own place (I can dream right?). Tim and I have been very naughty this week before our new diet kickstarts next week, we've eaten far too many sweets and treats, including building a gingerbread house, drinking hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows, AND going out to Gourmet Burger Kitchen for lunch... All I can say is I'm going to miss all of these treats when our new lifestyle really sets in next week.

I've also attended a few events this week, of course it was New Years Eve on Wednesday, and we went to a party in my village, and there was a lot of drink and dancing. To be honest I didn't drink too much, Tim maybe had one too many, my 16 year old brother on the other hand came home completely sozzled, having managed to sneak a LOT of alcohol from under my dad's nose. Tim and I left the party early and went home to bed, and were rudely awoken at about 1:30am by my Dad barging into the living room demanding that I go and help him sort my brother and sister out who were royally pissed. I managed to get them out of the kitchen and up the stairs then as soon as I had settled myself into bed I heard dad shout, 'Oh now he's chundered everywhere', of course I had to go investigate, and I found my brother in a right old state. By this point my mother had now also been woken up (she was at home ill and didn't go to the party), and obviously was none to pleased to find my brother rolling around on the bathroom floor absolutely paralytic... We all tried and failed to get him to bed, and it took us about an hour of helping, and laughing to get him sorted. I can honestly say I have never seen anyone in that bad a state, he was talking nonsense, and crying... There is video evidence of all of this (which I took to show him the next day), but he's promised to ruin my life if I ever share this with the internet. Other than that it was a pretty good night.

Then yesterday I attended a wedding of some of our family friends, and it was a lovely ceremony. It's made me get the itch to get married to be honest... I'm just waiting around for a certain someone to ask! Then when we were outside my sister managed to snap a couple of decent photos of Tim and I, which I couldn't resist sharing.

Apologies for the soppy-ness, but I rarely take a good photo, so when I happen to get some good ones I always get excited. I'm not normally a fan of 'kissing' photos, but my sister snapped us mid-kiss and I think it looks really beautiful... It's probably one of the best pictures we have of us together actually...

Then to top off an amazing weekend I managed to handle Sven for about 15 minutes this evening! It was lovely, he was running all over my leg very confusedly, but settled down and then didn't seem too bothered. He did give me a little nip when I picked him up to put him back in the cage, but I think I scooped him up too quickly and he didn't like it. Either way, I see that as a success!!

This week I'm...

Reading: Blog posts! I'm enjoying reading everyone's resolutions/goals for 2015
Listening To: 'Who Run The World? Girls' playlist on Spotify
Playing: Luigi's Mansion 2 on 3DS
Feeling: Tired... and like I haven't stopped at all this week.
Looking Forward to: Getting back into a normal routine next week, even though that means going back to work.

Sum Up Sunday #5

From top left to bottom right: Cute box for my new hobby, Pajama Selfie with the boyf, Christmas Jumper, Christmas Make-up, Christmas Selfie game with the sis, Cuddles with my doggy, Maizey thinks she's a cat, Chocolate Mousse Cake, Getting Tim's niece to sleep.

This week was Christmas! If you didn't know that then where have you been? It's been a very fun, and also very tiring week, I can't wait to use the next week to relax...

I've decided to pick up a new hobby, and I needed a box to keep all my stuff in for that hobby, so after a quick trip into TK Maxx I spotted this adorable Parisian style box, and it's the perfect size for all of my things.

For Christmas Eve, Tim and I decided to start a new tradition whereby we buy each other Christmassy Pajamas, and it just so happened that this year, our pajamas matched. 

Then comes all the Christmas Day photos, which of course feature lots of selfies. I bought Maizey a Christmas dress, and she loved it and looked so cute in it! She wanted lot of Christmas Day cuddles, and I even managed to get her to attempt to open her Christmas present (a new dog bed). Christmas Day was also the first time that I have ever worn properly red lipstick, and I think I liked it... 

On Boxing Day Tim and I headed over to his families for our second Christmas Day and we got to have lots of cuddles with his Niece. She was feeling a little under the weather and was fighting not to go to sleep, so I laid her down and rocked her to sleep. Tim was seriously impressed with me!

This Week I'm...

Reading: All the baking books that I have been bought for Christmas, and struggling to decide what to bake.

Listening to: The Frozen Soundtrack (Agian)

Feeling: Tired after a long week of Christmas Festivities!

Looking Forward to: Sleeping in every day for the next week, before having to go back to work!

Sum Up Sunday #2

Untidy desk, Dan and Phil SIM, Our Christmas Tree, Cupcake Thursdays at work, Home-made Calzone, Christmas Coke Zero, Frozen T-shirt, Beautiful Boots, Mocktails in Bristol.

This week has certainly been an interesting one, not a lot actually happened to me during the week, and as my thumb was still recovering I didn't get up to a lot either. I've properly settled in at work now, and I'm a bit of an untidy worker, with paper everywhere, and just generally being messy. 

This week Tim and I ordered our Christmas tree for a mere £25, so when it arrived we wanted to put it up to make sure that it didn't look cheap, and to our surprise it looks pretty good. It is still standing in the living room waiting to be decorated tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for pics of it when it's done!

Every other Thursday at work we get cupcakes delivered, and they always come nicely boxed up and looking tempting. I'm in love with the Banoffee ones, which surprises me as I'm not a massive fan of banana. I actually had two cupcakes this week, because a lot of our team were out of office, and I couldn't let them go to waste!

In general this week I have had some fairly good food, including a lovely home-made Calzone with chicken and pepperoni, made by my lovely boyfriend. We also went to Bristol on Friday for one night, to start our Xmas shopping, and had two lovely meals out. We visited Giraffe on the Friday night and I had this lovely refreshing mocktail called a wavebreaker, with Pineapple and coconut, that reminded me of being on holiday somewhere warm and sipping cocktails by the pool.

I also managed to try a few new items of clothing this week, that had been sitting in the wardrobe waiting to be worn. My favourite top I now own in the world was finally worn this week, and that is my Frozen T-shirt. It's so cute, and in a lovely mix of blues, and we all know how much I love Blue. Also I managed to wear these beautiful boots that my dad treated me to a few weeks ago, they are absolutely stunning, and I can't wait to wear them again.

Whilst we were in Bristol we even managed to do a fair bit of our Christmas shopping, and we plan to get the rest done (apart from our presents for eachother) today, so that we can simply relax for the rest of December!

This week I'm...

Reading: Mary Berry's autobiography, still... BUT I am only a few chapters away from finishing it!

Listening To: Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus, and being transported back to my early teenage years...

Feeling: Excited for Christmas! Can't wait to decorate our living room tomorrow!

Looking Forward to: The Vodafone Christmas Party that I have been invited to at the Racecourse :)

A-Z of Me: E is for Embarrassing

I think I'm probably a pretty embarrassing person, and I'm not just talking embarrassing for the people around me, I also mean embarrassing for myself.

First off, from a very young age I was taught to have fun and let myself go, so as soon as an opportunity presented itself I'd happily make a fool of myself. Now don't get me wrong, I was no class clown at school or anything like that, but at a party I would really come alive. I think being bullied in secondary school meant that it was easier for me to make a joke out of myself, rather than let other people make a joke out of me. 

Secondly, I can never take a decent photo. Around the time that camera phones became big, and every one started taking photos of themselves I realised I really don't take a good picture. So instead I decided I would take funny pictures. There are literally a million hilarious pictures of me on my Facebook profile, because I prefer to pull a funny face than attempt a nice picture for it onlyto look bad...

Thirdly embarrassing things just happen to me... The other day at work a bird pooed on my head. At the time I was walking into the canteen with a colleague, and it was the first time we had been to lunch together alone. Thankfully she didn't notice, and neither did anyone else and I got myself cleaned up without too much of an issue. Now yesterday mum came to pick me up, and as I was walking out to the car I slipped on a mossy path, and took a nice big chunk out of my thumb. Thankfully only my mum saw me fall over, but now I've got my thumb all bandaged up! Literally anything that can happen to me, will happen to me. I find that it's always at the most inappropriate of moments that something embarrassing will happen to me. Thankfully I have a slightly thicker skin than most due to the above reasons, so whenever something embarrassing presents itself I tend to do pretty well!

Let me know in the comments the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you recently, and share in my embarrassment...

See my other A-Z of me posts here.

October in Photos...

This month has been amazingly fun for me, not only is Halloween my favourite time of year, but I also celebrated my one year anniversary with my boyfriend. Along with reigniting my passion for baking... I can't wait to see what next month brings!

Life Lately...

So I know that recently I have been absolutely pants at keeping up with my online life. To be honest it's not that I've been too busy, or that I have been lacking motivation, I have just had a terrible case of writers block. Every time I sit down to write a blog post, I start, maybe get a paragraph into it, and then give up. However I have promised myself that I am going to start getting back into this now! I was only supposed to be taking a short break whilst I moved home and settled into a new life with my boyfriend. Enough is Enough!

So I thought I'd start off with something simple and share all my instagram photos with you from the time that I have been absent on here! I am also STILL taking part in the #100HappyDays photo challenge, but it's just taking me longer than most to complete...

24th May 2014: My cousin came down to visit for her little boys birthday and we all went to Monkey World. He loves taking selfies, so I always make sure I snap a few with him. In this one he was a little distracted by the TV!

25th May 2014: Treating myself to a mini mint magnum! My first Magnum in a long time I believe!

26th May 2014: After seeing all the lovely nails that my colleagues at work have. They all get theirs done professionally once a month. I decided that it was about time that I gave myself a mani! Of course it had to be blue...

30th May 2014: We had Tim's friend, Keith over for dinner, and he bought me a bunch of flowers! He is such a sweetheart!

1st of June: Tim and I treated ourselves to a Costa, and I tried their iced mocha mint drink. It was scrummy, but so filling, I couldn't finish it!

1st of June: Tim and I had a curry, this was the night before I started the 5:2 diet and is the last takeaway I actually had!

5th of June: My second after fast day on the 5:2 diet. We had these lovely Turkey burgers for dinner, they were seriously tasty, and only had 300 calories per serving!

8th of June: I finally got around to wearing my Lion king t-shirt that I got at Primark!

8th of June: I took my nan up to Costco, and we always have a slice pizza from their 'food court', I can't believe this massive slice only cost £1.50...

11th June: I made this SUPER tasty Cowboy Chicken Stew from the Easy Cook Magazine that Tim and I have recently subscribed to. The chicken literally fell apart, it was so tender!

16th June: Tim and I got sick of ordinary pizza, so we made puff pastry pizza! this one had ricotta and caramelised onions!

20th June: My workplace had a 6th birthday BBQ and we managed to get our own personal ice cream man!

20th June: This is the ice cream that I had (courtesy of the company I work for), it's a bubblegum knickerbocker glory! I really struggled to finish it...

21st June: I posted a picture of the dinner that I had last night! Salmon, with rice stuffed tomatoes! This was my first time eating salmon in three years, and I really enjoyed it...

So there you have it, that's what I have been getting up to whilst I've been away! I'm going to try and be better with posting, but I honestly can't promise anything at the moment... I guess we'll see...

#BEDM 18: #100HappyDays 61-67

It's that time again y'all! The time of week where I share my #100HappyDays photos...

Day 61: I got Tim and my brother to put up my newly arrived dressing table, which I promise you will get a shot of soon!

Day 62: I was enjoying some Assassin's Creed Black Flag, this game is seriously awesome, and the Xbox One graphics are simply beautiful, my iPhone doesn't do it justice...

Day 63: I tried a new flavour of cider, Cloudberry. Do cloudberries even exist?

Day 64: I had been craving a scone for a long time, and I found these Cherry ones on offer in Tesco, I simply couldn't resist...

Day 65: Trying yet another new cider that was on offer in Tesco! This one is one of my new favourites...

Day 66: Tim and I revisited the place that first met about a year ago... How time flies...

Day 67: I made my first roast, pork belly, and it was seriously tasty! It wasn't perfect, but it was 100% cooked by me, and I was pretty proud!

Let me know in the comments what you've been getting up to this week!

#BEDM 1: What is your blog about?

I only just found out about this challenge when I saw some other bloggers posting today, however you all know how much I love a good Blog Challenge. Especially as I am trying to kickstart my blogging again, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity! This challenge is being hosted by the lovely Rosalilium, and you can check it out here.

Today's prompt is 'What is your blog about?'. I can answer this question in short, my blog is about me. I write about my day to day life, and what I get up to, my hopes, dreams, goals and I even write about some of the items I use that I love! I've been writing this blog since January last year, and I cannot believe how much it has grown since then. never in my life did I think my blogging would ever turn into anything more than being my online diary. I'm happy to say I've met some wonderful friends through blogging, and have certainly had more opportunities, and I can't wait to continue to grow my blog futher!

If you've never read my blog before click the links below to find out a bit more about my blog, and about the features I regularly write!

• About Me
• 23 Before 23
• Wishlist Wednesday
• Friday Favourites
• My Week in Pictures
• Getting Personal

I even wrote a roundup of what I got up to on my blog for the whole of 2013! You can check that out here.

Finally, If you want a feel for what I am like as a person, then direct yourselves to the photos below!

#100HappyDays Day 48-54

Blogging for two days in a row now? I think I am finally getting back on track, and I am certainly enjoying it! Today I bring you another #100HappyDays roundup, I'm actually not posting one of these every day, and some days I'm posting several. Mainly because I want there to be more interesting things for you guys to look at! So let's go...

Day 48: I finally met my boyfriends neice! She is only 11 weeks old and so small. I had lots and lots of cuddles, despite not technically being family. I love this picture as we look like a proper family! So glad I got to hand her back at the end of the day though...

Day 49: Tim bought me Frozen for Easter! More fool him though, as I'll be watching it all the time now!

Day 50: Tim and I finally got our hands on an Xbox One. Setting up was fun, and the instant sign-in and hand controls are pretty cool too. Can't wait to start playing Assassin's Creed Black Flag!

Day 51: I made cottage pie for dinner, and even though I severely burnt my mouth on it, it was super yummy, and I can't wait to have it again!

Day 52: I found this when moving my clothes around the other day and I couldn't resist wearing it. I'm still #TWFanmily at heart.

Day 53: I realised I had all the ingredients needed to make mini pizza muffins for lunch, they were seriously tasty, and Tim was jealous that he didn't think of it first!

Day 54: I cleaned the Gerbils cage, and it's looking better than ever. Seeing my boys run around in their plastic balls, whilst I was cleaning, was a giggle.

So there we have it, another week, another 7 photos... This challenge is just flying by...

#100HappyDays Day 34-47

Hello again all! Yes I am alive, no I haven't given up blogging I have just been a very, VERY, busy girl. What with having a full time job, a flat to look after, and a boyfriend to cook for, I haven't had a lot of time to myself. I'm slowly getting used to this life and will no doubt have it under control very shortly, and I'm going to try and blog once a week from here on out.

Day 34: I finally got hold of my favourite sweets in the whole world after having an almost two month break from them!

Day 35: We made delicious home made pizza, with curly fries. Which again I hadn't eaten in a long time.

Day 36: I made Paella! It was super tasty and I cannot wait to make it again. I will be writing a post about this very soon!

Day 37: I'm obsessed with this new game, it's basically Bejewelled... but it's Frozen related, therefore it is awesome!

Day 38: This t-shirt I bought at Primark is super cute and I simply couldn't resist it!

Day 39: I went to a Dog Show in my home town and came across this lovely boy, Oscar. Doesn't he look super Dapper!

Day 40: Out with my old school friends, first time I had seen some of them since Sixthform! I drank a fair amount of wine...

Day 41: It was our anniversary and therefore Tim made me breakfast in bed. Pancakes, banana and golden syrup, served with orange juice. I scoffed every last bite.

Day 42: Technically the same day but I needed to catch up! Tim FINALLY bought me flowers, and even managed to surprise me with them! Anyone who knows me will know that I am actually quite hard to surprise!

Day 43: Tim really spoilt me on our anniversary... He cooked a gorgeous steak with a red wine, bacon and mushroom sauce, served with onion rings, chips and peas. Literally my favourite meal, and it was absolutely delicious!

Day 44: I had a really pretty apple in my lunch box, and I couldn't resist snapping a picture of it at work!

Day 45: I did a cake sale at work to help raise money for my Race for Life campaign, which you can check out here. I managed to raise a cool £22.15, which considering I work in a small office was a miracle!

Day 46: Introducing my new Gerbils... Olaf and Sven! I'm gutted that this picture is so blurry, because my little babies were cuddling inside their bed! It was far too cute!

Day 47: The sun was shining, and the bluebells just outside of our flat are in bloom! It's so nice to be able to look out of my window and see these beautiful flowers...

So there we have it, a quick recap of how my #100HappyDays challenge is going. I have managed to skip a few days, mainly when I wasn't doing anything interesting, but I hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am!