Christmas!

I'm writing this while indulging in a Big Bang Theory marathon, having eaten lots of smoked salmon eggs Benedict and birthday cake - what are holidays for if not loads of TV and food, right?

I definitely needed this holiday! Loving catching up on sleep and TV and enjoying the Christmas decorations in the daylight.

I got these flowers from my parents for my birthday (which was the 21st) and one little bloom fell off as I was trimming them for the vase - luckily I'd just finished my Benefit eye cream and discovered that the jar makes the perfect tiny vase! And it's still going pretty strong...

Tomorrow we're heading back to Reading to spend Christmas with family and see some friends, and hopefully do some more eating and lazing around! And sales shopping, definitely another Christmas staple.

I hope you all have a merry Christmas and enjoyed this little peek at our decorations!

Weekly Wishes: Autumn/Winter

Today (full of rain, clouds, and even a liiiittle bit of lightning) seems a perfect day to post a loosely autumn/winter themed wishlist. Not that I'm seriously planning that far ahead, but all the shops seem to be gearing towards autumn already - I swear this is even earlier than usual, or is it just that I'm paying more attention this year?!

I finally got around to buying new work clothes this weekend! I've been meaning to for ages as most of what I was wearing for work was just the more formal end of my everyday clothes and I wanted a bit more delineation, and to look a bit more professional. I picked up this cute M&S pencil skirt and I think it would go really well with a mustard top for autumn; I'm eyeing up this long-sleeved number from Next or this more budget buy from H&M.

Next up, I really like this lovely minimalist jewellery box from Anthropologie. As well as being pretty, it would be great to be able to see all my jewellery at a glance - then I wouldn't forget what I have! Their bits & baubles tray would also be a really useful and cute way to store my jewellery when I'm way too tired/lazy to put it away properly (which happens a lot!).

Lastly, these candles (also Anthropologie...) are not only beautiful to look at, but smell absolutely gorgeous. The 'biscuits and berries' and 'double latte' are my favourite Tea & Sympathy candles (top right) and this Boulangerie sweet vanilla cinnamon one smells exactly like Christmas - I may be thinking way ahead here but I'll definitely be buying it come December!

Hope everyone out there is having a great week! :)

Weekly Wishes: Kitchen Essentials

Hey, look, third blog post in a week! I'm on a roll. Now let's see if we can keep this up...Good thing I took lots of lovely photos of Plymouth this weekend.

A week or so ago I wanted to make a recipe from delicious magazine, but then realised it required poached eggs; not being brave enough to try poaching them for the first time in just a pan of water, I soft boiled them instead (just as tasty), but it got me thinking about what bits of kitchen equipment I'd like to acquire to be able to cook/serve food more effectively (and prettily) - they may not all actually be 'essentials', but here are some of my favourites:

John Lewis 'The Pan' Egg Poacher, M&S Acacia Salad Servers, Jamie Oliver Apron @ Debenhams, M&S Olive Wood Paddle Board

Cole & Mason Pepper and Salt Mills @ Debenhams, House by John Lewis Utensils, Falcon 6-Piece Enamel Prep Set @ Liberty

I'm especially loving M&S's gorgeous wooden serveware right now. It would all be perfect for summer entertaining, which we'll hopefully do some of once we move and have our own little garden! They've got a bit of a sale on at the moment too, so very tempting...

After consistently dropping food on myself while baking/cooking over the last few months, I recently had the brainwave that I could actually buy an apron (apparently a degree doesn't actually equal common sense - who'd have thought it, right?). I'm torn between the Jamie Oliver apron and these two lovely little numbers from Anthropologie though...Someone help me decide!! 

Weekly Wishes: Sherbet Crush

In order to (try to...!) ensure more regular posting I've decided to do a weekly wishlist post on a Monday - shopping is one of the best ways to chase away the Monday blues, even if it is just dream shopping...

Tesco Basic Chevron Print Duvet, Prices Grapefruit and Peppermint Candle, Tesco Pink Vase, Tesco White Glass Lantern, Tesco Colour Dipped Wood Salad Bowl

Tesco Dip Dye Earthenware Mugs, Tesco Smoke Taper Vase, Tesco Wood Stripe Tray

Sadly credit for the title has to go to Tesco; everything above is part of their spring/summer pastel-themed homeware range, 'Sherbet Crush'. I totally adore pastels, so I want pretty much everything but above are some of my absolute favourites (I may have already bought the duvet cover...shhh ;) ). I used to be a bit dubious of the quality of supermarket fashion/homeware, but I think in the last few years they've really upped their game and this collection has solidly made me a fan. What should I buy next?! (Bearing in mind that I'm pretty sure the boy will kill me if I buy more mugs just because they're pretty...)

Over The Weekend

Look at me, I'm on a blogging roll! (*touches wood*) I'm hoping to make it more of a regular thing...I have said this before, but the lovely weather/longer days help with taking photographs worth posting, and I'm definitely feeling a lot more of those positive/creative vibes right now. Anyway, here are a few pictures of my weekend...

My impromptu tulip purchase enjoying the sunlight...they're certainly looking a bit more faded now but hopefully we'll get a few more days out of them!

Shopping! Having done some experimentation in the last year with a few different brands of face washes/scrubs/moisturisers to combat my spot-prone skin and dark circles, I think for now I'm going back to these beauties. Currently I'm using No 7 Beautiful Skin foaming cleanser and their day and night creams for normal/oily skin, as I think my skin was the most spot-free when I used these products before, combined with the St Ives Blemish Fighting Facial Scrub a few times a week for a really good exfoliate to combat blackheads. Also I've just taken the plunge and re-purchased the Benefit It's Potent! eye cream, as while it didn't really make much of a dent in my huge dark circles when I sued it before, it leaves my under-eye area feeling super hydrated and is a good base for their wonderful Erase Paste; if I can't get rid of the circles at least I can hide them well!!

Ahem....I promise I'm not actually turning into a beauty blogger... ;)

Finally, I spent a relaxing Sunday afternoon browsing the M&S home catalogue and their May/June magazine; I often forget they have such lovely trend-led pieces, as clothing-wise my local store seems to cater more for the discerning middle-aged lady rather than younger people.

Hope everyone out there reading is having a great week in the sun - or as much as possible when not at work!

Sweating In Style

In the last couple of months I've gotten really into going to exercise classes at my local gym (Virgin Active Guildford) - for ages I was too scared to take the plunge, but one day I just thought, "Well, I have to start some time!" I really wanted to get into exercising regularly and not taking a week or two (or more!) off because I don't feel like it. I do love a good session on the crosstrainer but doing that three times a week can get reeeeally boring. I've been to lots of classes now, including body combat, body attack, zumba toning and normal zumba (love them all, though body attack is a killer!). It's so much fun being led through different energising exercises to music and I already feel fitter AND happier.

Anyway, after that much-longer-than-anticipated endorsement for organisedly (don't think that's an actual word...) jumping around to music, down to the actual subject of the post: showing off my lovely new workout gear!

I've been meaning to get new things to exercise in for ages, but kept putting it off, asking myself whether I could really justify spending more than £100 on workout gear. Then during one class the instructor advised me to get new trainers so I had more support and voilà, I was provided with the perfect excuse - if a professional is telling me to go shopping, who am I to say no, right?

At the top of the pile of stylish workout brands I felt sure I could trust my feet to was Nike - I've admired their gear for a long time and it's obvious a lot of research and care is put into building the right shoes for the right activity. I went with the Nike Free 5.0 TR Fit 4 Breathe (yep, that's a mouthful) because it seemed to tick all my boxes: breathable, supportive and designed with gym training in mind. I also got these capris, this top and these socks.

I've been using them for a few weeks now and I'm really pleased with what great pieces of kit they are; the trainers are comfortable and cushion my feet when I'm doing all that jumping around, and the clothes feel like a second skin so I avoid the distracting t-shirt -riding-up moments I used to have while doing push-ups etc. I'm already eyeing up my next purchases!