Monday, 26 August 2013

Weight training ... time to get buff ...

With the wedding only a few months away I have decided to hit the gym hard in an aim to get buff for my big day. Part of that includes making sure that my arms are all toned for my strapless dress. This involves doing some weight training, I would do this at the gym but a lot of the machines are too wide for my shoulders so I cant get the right motion without it feeling uncomfortable. The other option is the weight room however this is usually filled with meat heads who are annoying as hell. 

So I decided that the best thing to do would be to make use of the fiancés weight gear at home. See he has a bar and barbells with lots of different weight, so I can reduce the weight to suit my needs and do stuff without feeling like I'm being stared at by a bunch of meat heads. 

As such this weekend fiancé has been teaching me a few exercises I can do at home with him spotting. First up was dead lifts, this is where you squat down with the bar in front of you then lift the bar up to your waist keeping your back straight. The next one was the squat, like it sounds you stand feet shoulder width apart then squat, only difference is that you hold the bar across the back of your shoulders. 
Mid squat - push down through your heels 
Gotta keep that back straight

It was a lot of fun, I've been doing squats at the gym with a kettle bell or with the weighted bar thingy but it was good to do them with a proper weights bar and weight. Fingers crossed after doing a few months of these along with my normal gym routine I will be all toned up and ready for my dress fitting in January. 

Think I am going to stick to doing these at home with the fiancé spotting me for the time being, never know in a month or two I might be strong enough to try doing some at the gym.

Next up I need to start doing bicep curls and maybe see if I can find something to do flys on to help tone up my upper arms. The pulldown is good at the gym but its always best to switch up your exercises so you tear different parts of muscle and so you don'g get complacent, your muscle starts to remember the movements so it becomes less effective this is when its time to switch up the weight and the exercise. This is why I have been trying to rotate through some different exercises for my muscle groups, keep them guessing and when it starts getting easy ... up the weight!! 

Go Hard or Go Home!! 

xXx

Clean skin, Clear skin

With the wedding just under 9 months away I have decided its time to find a good beauty routine and stick to it. This includes  a complete skin care routine, I'm quite good with my skin but not overly consistent which is where my downfall is. 

So to try and improve my skin care routine I have been doing some research into different techniques and came across the facial brush. This works a bit like a body brush exfoliating and rejuvenating by sloughing off dead cells whilst stimulating the skin underneath. See when you use a bristle brush to slough off cells you are also manipulating the underlying cells in your sub dermal layer this promotes increased blood flow and gets all you other fluids moving through your skin so keeps it... well fresh. This is the same principle as using a body brush on your legs to stave off cellulite and improve your pins. 

The main difference is that on your legs you use long strokes towards your heart to get all your lymphatic system draining, where as with your face you go in small circular motions all round your face to gently rub off the dead skin. 

 After deciding on a facial brush I needed to decide which one to go for. I liked the look of the No7 Beautiful Cleansing Brush available at Boots as it was only £25. But at the same time I didn't want to jump straight in with a product that I might end up not liking or not using very often. So I looked for cheaper alternatives to trial first then might put the No7 brush on my birthday list. 

I found there are a lot of manual alternatives my favourite was this little one from the Body Shop. Its about an inch and a half wide and has a nice little handle on the top, best part is the price ... its only £4. I like the handle on the top as it allows you to rotate the brush nicely on your face and the size means it can get right in around your nose.  


 Review: 

The bristles are just rough enough to stimulate and exfoliate without being too scratchy or irritating. After using it my skin felt nice and tingly but that could also be from the Tea Tree in the cleansing wash. I have been using it nearly everyday for about 2 weeks and my skin feels really nice. The lady in the shop recommended using their own brand tea tree cleansing facial wash. Its really nice, very refreshing and the tea tree is obviously good for clearing up your skin. 

After I finish my current exfoliant, a Boots tea tree and witch hazel one, I think I am going to try the Body shop one. The lady recommend trying to use the brush and cleanser everyday and an exfoliant once a week. So for the past two weeks I have been giving my face a quick wash off with some warm water to remove the thick of my makeup then using the brush with a squirt of cleanser. Like I said above my skin is starting to look really nice. It looks healthy and refreshed afterwards, and it feels really smooth. I think this will be £4 well spent, I will write up another short review in a few more weeks as you have to give new skin care regimes at least a month to start working and three to really take effect. 

So if anyone is looking for a good skin brush and cleanser but doesn't want to or have the money to shell out on the electric ones I would highly recommend the Body Shop £4 facial brush. 

xXx 

Saturday, 24 August 2013

Tea!!! ... I love a pot of tea ...

If you have had the good fortune to meet me in person and visit my house you will know that I am a big fan of tea. There is nothing more soothing then curling up with a nice warm cup of tea.


I think its a family thing, my whole family loves tea, if you visit my aunts house she will offer you a second cup before you are half way down your first!! My mum always offers tea when we pop round or more accurately I will have been in the house for 10 minutes and will hear 'emma run and put the kettle on' hehe 

Then there are my friends who also enjoy a fine cup ... or several. If you visit A or Ns house you are offered a variety of teas from their cupboards usually an earl grey or lady grey. In contrast fiancé's friend L offers tea by the ever filling mug full, he's a big fan of tea after Uni and follows the same rule of thumb as my aunt ... if you are half way down a cup its time for another. 

Anyway I wanted to write up a little post about some of my favourite teas.

This is my current collection: 


PG tips was on offer so who can turn down a giant box - it will keep us going for a while an keep my work draw stocked. 

Peppermint - I discovered the joys of peppermint tea after I developed a bad stomach last year. My stomach would get really bloated and hurt after I ate, didn't know what was wrong but a pharmacist suggested  I try colpermin peppermint tablets, they contain pure peppermint oil which settles the stomach. I did a bit of research and discovered that mint has been used for years to settle bad stomachs and ease bloating, peppermint in particular is really good. So after that I bought some peppermint tea, this way I could take a little bit of peppermint throughout the day. 
Both the tablets and the tea really settled my stomach. Now I keep peppermint because a) its nice and b) its great if you are having a 'fat' day, it soothes my stomach and makes me feel normal again. 

Green tea and Green Tea with lemon - This was bought for the fiancé when he was still loosing weight as it helps to increase your metabolism. Green tea has been drank for centuries by the Chinese and has been found to help increase metabolism a bit like chilli. Its really nice if you want  a light tea for an afternoon or for with your lunch. Fiancé isn't a bit tea drinker and found it a bit sour so did a little reading and discovered that if you add a little lemon it gives a bit of a lighter taste. Hence why we also have green tea with lemon tea bags, stops him having to add lemon juice. 

Red berry - I got this one after trying some different fruit tea at the coffee stop next to fiancés training sessions. I wanted something fresh and light to drink but a bit fruity so picked up this red berry one from Tesco to try. I looked at some of the expensive brands but didn't want to shell out on tea bags to find they were too sour or sweet for me. This turns out to be really nice its fresh and fruity but not too strong that you feel like you are drinking warm Ribena hehe 

English breakfast - this is a fairly light standard tea which can be drank when ever you fancy it really. You can add milk or drink it black depending on how you feel. I find that some normal or breakfast teas can taste a bit bitter but this one is really nice with or without milk. Personally I don't take sugar, I used to take loads when I was little but slowly stopped taking it at all. All my immediate family are milk only even the fiancé and sisters partner, but that wasn't really their choice hehe the rest of us just forgot to put or offer any sugar to them. We offer guests sugar ... but family you have generally been making them tea so long that you just make up a load of cups and hand them out normal for everyone then black for my sister in law. So now neither of them take sugar either hehe probably a good thing as we generally don't have sugar in the flat, if you want any it has to be caster sugar out of the baking cupboard. 

Now for my Twinings  teas: 

Lady grey - this one I love either black or with a splash of lemon. Its a bit lighter then an Earl Grey so a good starter tea hehe if you feel like branching out from PG tips etc. I couldn't tell you how it tastes with milk as I only ever take it black. 


Mango & Strawberry - this is my latest tea addition I picked it up on offer in Tesco the other day. I wanted something similar to the red berry but with a bit more citrus so thought I would try this one. Its turned out really nice, fresh like the red berry but with a little something sweeter from the strawberry and a hint of tropical from the mango. 
I tend to drink my fruit teas a little cooler then other tea as I feel like you loose some of the flavour when they are very hot. Might just be my taste but if you find that you cant pick up the flavour very well leave it a few minutes. 


The last little gem hiding in my tea stores is the little balls in the baggie on the left. These were from my mum they are tea flowers. You might have seen them in some Asian restaurants, they are awesome. You out the little ball in the bottom of a large wine or other big clear glass then fill with warm water, the little ball opens up to reveal a flower which flavours your tea. I cannot wait to try them they look so pretty, this one is jasmine, I might even try it this weekend. I will be sure to write a post about it and no doubt will take loads of pics. 

So there you have it my little tea collection. I thought I would finish with a little pic of my other tea love .. tea pots. If I had more space I would have loads of tea pots you can get loads of really fun ones but always check the spout no use having a pot that pours terribly. 


LtoR - Nana's teapot older then me, Cow from my bro (ornamental as its got a broken spout :( ), Red spots from fiancé, Butterflies from fiancés parents. Can't have tea with out a milk cow then my tea spoon/tongs and teabag dish. 

As I have been typing I am sure that my mango & strawberry has gone cool so I will have to put some more in from the pot ... oh dear ... what a shame hehe 


Let me know what your favourite teas are and if you find any fun tea related things like the tea flowers. I hope this may have inspired you to try some new and different teas.

xXx

Sunday, 18 August 2013

What a wonderful weekend ...



So this weekend was full of good friends and good food. 

Friday: 

Our friends from Cumbria travelled down for a quick visit. They had been to stay a few weeks ago but unfortunately fiancé had to work both days so this time it was nice for him to be able to see them during the day. Hehe it was also nice that there wasn't an lengthy gap between visits like there had been for the last visits. As anyone will tell you its hard to organise visits as you get older as life gets in the way and everyone has conflicting plans so it was great to get to see them so soon, also good as S is one of my bridesmaids hehe 

For dinner fiancé served up a delicious chicken, prawn and chorizo paella, it was delicious as ever. Boy makes a mean paella. We try to serve something different whenever we have friends visit to make sure we mix it up, having friends over is also a great opportunity to try new things and experiment/expand your repertoire in the kitchen. 

Along with our paella M brought ingredients to make raspberry mojitos ... yum. They were awesome, he used fresh raspberries crushed in the bottom with the mint and sugar. Really fresh and fruity, they were a delicious cuban treat with our spanish paella. 


Giant paella pan, check, crusty bread, check, mojitos, check ... 
After dinner we sat and watched a film whilst drinking more mojitos, the drinks and company were excellent the film however was not. Got off to a good start then failed miserably but oh well. 

Saturday: 

On the morning we took our friends up to Lumley Castle to have a look as they had not seen the venue for the wedding, then we had a spot of lunch. Roast chicken submarine rolls and crisps. Then they had to get home as M was going away on business Sunday so needed to pack (last minute packing is such a boy thing) 

Saturday evening we went round to some local friends for a chilled BBQ. Unfortunately it was rained off so we did indoor BBQ hehe you have to be prepared in the UK, bloody temperamental weather.

Good night chilling with friends and catching up with come people we haven't seen in a while.  Lots of wedding talk from the girls, the hosts got married just under a year ago, I am nearly finished my wedding planning and our other friends have just booked their wedding so started the planning in earnest. So of course we were looking at dresses for C and I got to see L's finished wedding album, its really nice to chat with other people who are getting married or who have recently got married as you get to compare and swap ideas. 

Sunday:

Today is full of busy, its the last day of our holiday :( sad face back to work tomorrow, we started with brunch, then home for fiancé to watch the first game of the season for Spurs then round to my mams to car pool up to my brothers for a family birthday tea. 

So brunch ... it was awesome!! 

I was chatting with a friend from LA last night and told her we were having US style brunch she replied by asking what we considered a US style brunch ... I answered honestly with I wasn't sure but thats how our Texan friend had described it. My friend then described some of their brunches and I have got to say us English are lacking on the brunch front, the Americans know how to brunch! 

As this was our first visit to N's house for food so I took along a hostess gift, brunch appropriate boxes of Twinings fruit tea. Usually when we visit friends for food we take a bottle of wine and a dessert but that didn't seem appropriate. 

N then introduced us to Texan style breakfast tacos. It was amazing, homemade flour tortillas filled with huevos rancheros (scrambled egg, chorizo and pepper mix) topped with cheese and salsa!! It was delicious, these are apparently available at Texan schools pre wrapped in foil for the kids to eat for breakfast ... I would have loved to have these before school. We also had bowls of greek yogurt with fresh fruit and some granola with Earl Grey tea. It was amazing, we shall definitely be stealing the recipe for  the eggs and trying it again. 


After brunch we came home and the fiancé sat and watched the football while I blogged. (he is very happy as his team, Spurs, won) Now we are off to my mams to head up to my brothers for family birthday tea. Its a family tradition we have, and since my brother and his wife's birthdays are close together we tend to have a joint party either between or when its convenient ie best weekend around them for a family get together. Well I best be off. Blog later. 

xXx  

Saturday, 17 August 2013

Ever growing nail varnish collection ....

As you will know from my previous posts, I am a big fan of nail varnish and a big fan of a bargain. This week I popped in to Durham with the fiancé and had a cheeky look in Superdrug I wasn't looking for anything in particular but ended up coming out with 2 lovely new nail varnishes. One of them I could have done with the other week for our friends wedding when I was frantically searching round Boots for a nice light pink colour and couldn't find a decent priced one.

The two colours I bought are Late Night Latte and City Blackout. I love the pink its really shimmery and you cant beat a good black in prep for autumn/winter.


These were £2.49 each or multi-buy 2 for £3 bargain for polish bottles this big.  

I currently have the Late Night Latte on. I used Avon illuminator base coat then two coats of the colour followed by a clear top coat. Going to see how long it lasts, supposed to be long lasting 10 days but we shall see how it fairs with my typing at work, which tends to rub the ends of my colour off and see if it chips from wear and tear. 

Here are the colours in person, sometimes I think website images can blow out the colour a little so you really need to see them for yourself before you buy them. 


You can see in this pic how much the pearl quality catches the light. Its a really light natural colour which I think will work with a lot of different colours. I think it will also work as a shimmer top coat over some of my other colours but I will try that at a later date. 


As this colour is so light but still shimmery I am thinking of wearing it to the wedding in a few weeks time. As that outfit is neutral and blush this colour should work really well. 


Hehe last pic is my toes, I currently have NYC Raindop blue on them, as I wanted a pop of colour. The weather isn't quite bad enough for socks all the time yet so I am making the most of having my toes out in sandals hehe plus I don't see the need to always match hands and feet, I will sometimes but other times I like having a contrast. 


What do we think? Do you have any new colours in your nail varnish collection? 

xXx

Friday, 16 August 2013

Footies!

This is a bit of random post but I had to share these with people. As any girl knows you cant really wear socks with ballet pumps or some little slip on shoes .... here is where footies come in. They are basically the younger brother of the trainer liner, covering just your toes and heal. 

I have a few different types of footies mainly black sock material ones but also some thin skin coloured ones and some lace ones. The lace ones are great but a bit big at the front so can be seen a bit more which isn't always what you want. The main problem you have with footies is the heal, if your shoes move a little on your heal then they can have a tendency to slip down which means you end up stopping and fiddling with your socks. The advantage to them is that your feet don't get as sticky in your ballet pumps, or if your wearing vans you dont make your shoes nasty inside and they cant be seen. 

So the main point of this isn't to introduce footies but to tell you all about these really cool ones I bought in Primark the other day. I picked them up in the queue for the tills, £2.50 for 2 pairs. 



What I really like about these is that you can see how shallow the front is so they fit under most of my ballet pumps. They are also make from a really thin slippery material that is light and breathable so they didn't make my feet very hot at all. The stitching is also a plus, this might seem daft but the fact that the bottom and sides are actually stitched means that they don't slip about under your feet. Speaking of slipping one thing I hadn't spotted when I picked them up but is a main reason I would recommend these is the little gel dots. The first lot in the bottom left pic are under the foot so stop your shoe slipping around then the next blob is on the heel. This is great as it stopped them from slipping under my foot which was awesome as its a real pain to have to fish your sock up all the time. 

I would definitely recommend anyone who wears ballet pumps a lot invested in some. 

xXx 

Thursday, 15 August 2013

Outfit of the week - w/c 22nd July

Here are a few little bits that I piked up the other week:


From left to right: Superdry T bought as a present from the fiancé £10 in the sale, Maxi skirt from Primark for £11, Skater dress from Primark £5. 

I really like the t shirt as the pattern isn't too bright, I'm not a fan of bright white patterns on t shirts as they can look a bit too in your face. I also really like the short almost cap sleeves. 

As you know I'm a big fan of a Primark and a big fan of a maxi dress so when I saw this one I just had to buy it. The best part about this one is that the pattern is actually dyed onto the fabric not stuck on. There are a lot of pattern dresses out there at  the moment and the patterns are stuck on the fabric I'm not a fan of this as the pattern doesn't stretch with the fabric so it looks like it will start to tear. 

The dress is really cute and for £5 a mega bargain. The only down side is that because its a skater dress when its windy it does fly up a bit hehe think I will need to get some cheap little shorts to wear under it like when you were a kid. 

Next up some recent outfits I have worn: 


Here is my maxi skirt paired with a cream cami and blue cowl neck top from New Look. Next up is my new Hollister crop top paired with a pair of dark pink skinny jeans. I like that these two looks are really casual and comfortable.


The last one is more of a summery look for with my maxi skirt. Here I paired it with a loose fit tan tank top from H&M and some sandals. Then just tied my hair back and added some dangly earrings to keep it casual.


What have you all been wearing recently. Find any good bargains, let me know? 

xXx



What to wear for another wedding ....

This is a sort of follow up to my previous posts about wedding attire, you see this year I am fortunate enough to have been invited to 3 weddings! The first was the other week in Ampleforth, the second is at Lumley in a few weeks then the last is at Durham Castle in January.

This of course requires wedding outfits, for the first I chose a gorgeous purple Hobbs dress with Laura Ashley cardigan and pashmina and an Accesorise handbag. The day its self was gorgeous, Ampleforth College is a stunning venue as was Byland Abbey for the reception, the bride was an absolute vision and the groom was very handsome. One of the best parts of the day for me was seeing the look on the grooms face when he looked at his bride, the only way to describe it is utter joy.

Before I start on outfit two, here are a few pics of our outfits from wedding one.

Me and my handsome Fiancé. 
Decided to keep my hair simple, down with the side pinned & fascinator.

At the gorgeous Byland Abbey.
Now after a quick round of that wedding outfit on to the next. The next wedding is at Lumley Castle in a few weeks, I was just going to wear my purple dress but then I found a nice dress in Laura Ashley that matched my pashmina. It was in the sale so I bought it, but after getting it home decided that actually it wasn't really me so I returned it. Mum said we could go up to Boundary Mill where I got the Hobbs dress to have a look but then she found a sale in our local Outfit. Outfit is new to our local retail park, its one unit but has Warehouse, Miss Selfridge, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Wallace in for the girls then Burton and Topman for the boys. Basically the different shops that make up part of the arcadia group its really good, the different sections are about as big as you would find in a Debenhams but still have loads of things in and you can look at all of them in one shop. 

Anyway mum went in and found they had a sale on, there were a few dresses she liked so I met her after work and we had a look. I think I ended up trying on about 6 different dresses, most of them were really nice but just weren't quite right. You know how it is when you are looking for a specific outfit when you try it on something clicks and you think yes this is it. So we ended up with it down to 2, one from the normal collection and one from the sale. In the end I have gone with the sale dress, not because its in the sale but because its the one that said yes. The other dress was really nice but part of me felt it was a little to work wear, I could see my self wearing it to an interview etc. 

So here is my outfit for wedding two. I first saw this dress in the Warehouse in Selfridges Manchester and the first thought in my head was that it would make an excellent wedding guest outfit. 



Here is a breakdown of my new outfit: 

Dress - Warehouse - Organza Embroidered Tulip - £75 down to £45 
Cardigan - Dorothy Perkins - Petite Stone Diasy Mesh - £16
Heels - Dorothy Perkins - Hilda Nude Gem Sandals - £40 down to £22
Pumps - Nude Gem Bow - £23 

£106 down from £154, not as much saved as before but still a good saving. I'm sure the pumps should have had money off but I think it was a one day thing so no point taking them back. 

Also bought new earrings from BHS for £2.50 and already had my fascinator £1.80 (customised).

I love the lace detail on the dress and the see through organza neck line is really nice on. The heels are for day time and pumps for evening incase my feet are tired. I love how it all tones in together and it looks great with my current tan hehe 

Here is me in my new outfit ready for another wedding: 


These are my new earrings, cute and sparkly so they will tone in with the rest of my clothes and tie in to the shoes. 


Think I'm going to go with my little cream bag from Acessorise. 


What do we think? 

xXx

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Wedding Planning ... part one

As anyone who knows me or has happened to read my blog will know I am getting married next year!!! To be more precise I am getting married in 8 1/2 months. As such I thought I would do a series of posts about my experiences wedding planning. 

The first place to start is BUDGET!  

After you get engaged you will be full of ideas and dreams, the problem is that those ideas don't yet have a price tag and believe me the minute you put wedding in front of anything the price racks up. So the best thing to do after you get engaged, before you start thinking venue or date is find out what your budget is. 
No use planning a wedding for a years time if you cant afford to pay for everything in that time frame. So have a sit down with the parents or your partner and work out what your end budget is. 

For us we have a total of £15,000 to play with. From here I went a step further and would recommend you do the same. Start looking online at venues that you like and see if you can find a local wedding fair, best to do this at the same time as you can go look at a venue and visit a wedding fair all in one go. Whilst at the fair pick up as many leaflets and brochures as you can, I know this sounds odd but it will make sense. 

Once you have all your brochures and have an idea of some venues its time to start costing your wedding. By this I mean taking your total budget and breaking it down to see how much you are going to spend on each item. Now I'm a big fan of a spreadsheet so for my budget I have a sheet with loads of different columns each showing a different calculation but you can just keep a list in a notebook. You want your total at the top then down the side you need a list of the different items you will need. Here is an idea of my list: 

Venue 
Registrar 
Dress 
Suits 
Bouquet 
Cake 
Flowers 
(bouquets, buttonholes, corsages)
Room Decorations 
(centre pieces, chair ties)
Rings 
Photographer
Invitations, Save the Dates etc 
Postage
Wedding shoes 
Favours 
Gifts 

Once you have the list you need to start breaking up your budget across the elements you want. First place to start is to look at those venues and see what sort of price they offer. Here you might hit a snag as lots of venues do food per head so use a guestimate of how many guests you will be having, as a rough guide 80 people is a decent number for a large wedding, gives each side 40 guests so you can get all the family and friends involved for your ceremony then probably under 150 for evening. Evening includes the day time people so with 150 would give you an extra 70 people. We have around 85 (including us) for the day and 120 for the evening. 
Once you have your estimate numbers price up the venues you have looked at and find an overall estimate for what you are willing to spend on a venue. 

Next its time to do something similar with the rest of your list, have a look at the leaflets you picked up and think how much you want to spend on each item on your list. I know this sounds a bit long winded and not very fun but it will help you a lot in the long run. You now have a guide to go off when speaking to vendors and you also have the starts of your To Do List. From here you can either jump straight into the fun stuff or speak with your family so see if they have any ideas about your budget. 

Before jumping in though be aware you need to keep track of what you are actually spending in comparison with your budget, you might think something is a great deal but in the long run it might not be, so stick to your budget as much as you can and do your research. 

If you are jumping into the fun stuff like I did then there are several places you can go from here and a lot of them can be done at the same time. For me I started doing more research on my venues, thought of a rough date, picked a colour scheme and started thinking of the guest list. The first two I will cover in the next post. As for the other two the colour scheme is important as you don't want to clash with your venue and guest list well... This is where families start to get involved so its a good idea to have a think on your own before you start getting told who you NEED to invite.


COLOUR SCHEME 

Have fun and embrace the internet. I found google really useful just typed in X colour wedding ideas then looked at the pictures that came up. This way your not just looking at one element in  a colour but pages of different ones. 

I am super organised when it comes to events so once I picked my colour I decided to make a sort of mood board of the images I have seen so I could show people instead of just saying the colour. Here is my mood board for our lime green wedding: 


I love how bright and fresh this green is and all the different ways people have decided to use it. 

Another really good site to start using at this point is Pinterest! it is a wealth of ideas and you can pin them all to a wedding board to look at later or show who ever is helping you. 

You will see as I do more of these posts I am a bit fan of keeping things organised and putting my ideas down into different documents which might not be your style but believe me its a good idea, planning a wedding is a big job and you will want all the help you can get. 

Tuesday, 13 August 2013

Mini Haul from the south .../Outfit of the week 7th July

As anyone who reads my blog frequently will know I went on a mini holiday down south with the fiancé to visit his family a few weeks ago. Whilst there we went for a day trip into Guildford and did a little shopping. Ended up getting some great bargains.



I have been looking for a jersey pencil dress for ages!! and would you know I went and found two while we were away. The first one is a 3/4 sleeve all grey one from Republic which I picked up for £5!! First I tried it on in an 8 which was too tight on the sleeves then I spotted a 10 so grabbed it. 
I love this dress worn it a few times since generally with sandals and just some dangly earrings to keep it simple, then when I wore it to a bridal shower I threw on some bright red lippy for a pop of colour. 


This one you cant really see the detail very well but its think navy and white horizontal stripes. Its a little shorter then the first one and you can see the short sleeves. I've also worn this one  a few times since again with sandals and dangly earrings. Today was a little windy in Durham so I paired it with a thin white cardigan. 
I love the simple design on this and even better it was £10 from Republic so considering the amount of times I have worn it, I think its paid for itself now. 


We also took a little look in Hollister, remind me to take a flashlight next time its way too dark in there. Usually I don't find anything in there as all the women's sale stuff is still mega money or really kiddy. This time however I lucked out and got two tops. This first one is a loose racing back tank which is really cute, the front is jersey and the back a cotton material which adds another dimension. 

The one below is a long sleeve thin jersey crop top. I love the low scoop back on this as its a bit different (and it shows of my tattoo hehe). Obviously got both of these from Hollister, I think together they came in under £30 which was a real bargain. 


The last piece I picked up in Guildford was a little bandeau top from Urban Outfitters. This is another shop I don't usually go in, mainly because whilst all the stuff is different and alternative style as a whole there are that many people wearing the style it gets a bit contrived and try hard. Also it can be a little over priced for some of the stuff. I went in to have a look at their sale just in case and found this cute top. I have been wearing a few bandeau tops this summer under sheer tops or as you can see above under low cut tanks. I like this one as its got a wide lace band under the bust but the middle section is lined and has boning down each side so it doesn't scrunch up. I also love the colour in person its a burgundy red which works for summer and autumn. Picked this up for £5!! 


As you can see I had a bit of a bargain day. Oh and check out the weather in the in laws garden, it was steaming hot all week ... I loved it. Topped up my tan a few days which looks awesome with my new clothes hehe

Last pic is one of my new finds all styled up and ready to go out to meet a friend for drinks. 


Simple cream and black clutch, dangly white earrings, red sandals, tortoise shell wayfarer shades in my hand and my macaroon mint nail polish. Ooh can't forget the bright red lips for that pop. 
This was my Outfit of the Week!  

Let me know what you think of my new pieces. 

xXx 

Monday, 12 August 2013

Race for Life ...

A bit behind the times but I now have a week off so I can catch up on my blogging. First place to start is the Race for Life that I have been banging on about for ages.

On Sunday 7th of July me and the fiancé walked down to County Hall where the Durham Race For Life was starting. It was a bit of a hectic morning as we had to pack up the car so we could head down to Cranleigh after the race. It was a really warm morning so I was a little bit concerned about running, see when the fiancé ran the Blaydon Race it turned out to be mega hot an he said it was awful. So as we walked down and the sun was blaring on me I started to get a bit nervous.

Now I may or may not have mentioned this but I was running the Race for Life for three people, my Mam, my Cousin and my Dad. My father passed away when I was younger from cancer and both my mam and cousin have been diagnosed with breast cancer. They are both doing ok right now and its just fingers crossed that things stay like that. Every day is a new day and hopefully a step closer to finding cures and developing better ways to fight cancer for the unlucky people who get diagnosed. This is why I decided to do the Race for Life and why my amazing fiancé is running the Great North Run for Breast Cancer Care .... because together we can make a difference. Its not just a quote or a platitude its a fact, the more money that is raised the more research and treatments that can be developed. But we cant forget that these charities also provide much needed support for the families of cancer patients because its hard for them too. Any way here are a few pics from my day :D

It was an awesome day in the end, my mam, step dad and sister all came down to support me. Mam even joined in with the warm up which was hilarious and helped me relax.


Shoes on ... ready to go
Like I said we walked down, stopped for a quick photo op outside my mums hehe 


Fully kitted out in my pink, shoes, leggings, top and armband, even got some on my bag. Didnt need the pink waterproof though.  


Pink band for me and  a blue supporters one for the fiancé


My reasons for running, keeping it pink and bold so everyone can see my motivation!! 


Supporters sign made by my amazing fiancé, he even managed to make it to the front of the crowd near the start so I could see the sign as I went by :D 


After we arrived it was time for a warm up, then a bit of a dance. Step-dad snapped a couple pics of me and Mum do some light aerobics. 


Not quite sure what my sister is up to in the back of this one hehe at least her and the fiancé are having a laugh. 


Now we have some action shots of me coming in to the finish line. Like I said the day was really warm and humid so I had some trouble catching my breath at times. The route wasn't easy it was a bit hilly and not very even under foot so I did a lot of jogging and some speed walking at points but hey I made it and its all for charity. Anyway like a good runner I saved a little bit of energy for the home straight, got to finish strong. Step dad caught me just as I came round the corner then fiancé caught me just before the finish line. 



Swapping my bottle over so I can high five the MC at the finish line. 
So in the end we think I finished with a time of 36:30 Woop Woop!! personal best!
This is a rough idea of my route, I missed a bit at the start as my app was playing up so had to pause to get it going, but as you can see it was a bit wiggly, what you cant see is the gradient change. 


Look I made it! did have to have a little sit down for a minute afterwards. Then a good dose of water and a protein shake for a boost. 


Look I even got a medal woop!! Its currently hanging over the edge of my degree certificate in the hall hehe think after fiancé does his run we might put the medals in a frame to display them. 


That concludes my little pictographic round up of my first 5k, first run and first Race For Life!! Next year I aim to beat my time and raise a bit more money too. This year I raised £180 so beat my 150 target. 

Now its time to hit the gym hard in prep for the Wedding, less than 9 months to go! 

xXx