Easter Weekend and a new home

With the sun shining, the none existent snow and blue skies you would think that spring had arrived here in the Lake District. Technically it has but the fact that I am still wearing my penguin mittens and bobble hat everyday makes the long spring afternoons feel a million miles away. Fingers crossed that April brings us temperatures above 2c!

I've had a very busy few days as this weekend was moving in day for me. Finally my boyfriend Matt has landed himself a job on the better side of the country (sorry you Eastern readers) and after nine long months of a long distance relationship we will finally be living in the same place. To make me even happier we have the most gorgeous apartment in town with spectacular views over the river.

So far so good with the moving in process; we even managed to construct a bed together with no arguments! Although our own bed which he constructed without my supervision did collapse at 6 in the morning with us both on it, so one minor mishap! We had our first visitors yesterday and our second lot today, I think our location makes us very popular for those wanting to visit the lakes… how convenient of us! We currently don't have all the furniture we need so expect a lot of interior design inspired posts coming up. I may even film a flat tour once everything is out of boxes and looks a bit more like home.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend with your family and treat yourself to some chocolate eggs! What are your plans for the weekend? 

Advertise on Outside Beauty, Inside Health

 

You may have seen me on Twitter talking about how I am now offering advertisement on my blog, or even noticed the little advertising page underneath my bio on the right hand side.

I know there is a bit of controversy about bloggers offering advertisement on their blogs, but to be honest I see no problem in making a little bit of money from something that we all put our heart, souls, time and effort into. I decided to offer advertising after receiving a number of emails asking if they could advertise one my blog, so if the demand is there I thought why not!

I am however only offering 4 advert spots a month as I don’t want my blog to be over cluttered, and personally I never look at all the adverts on other peoples blogs, so I want to make sure that your money is not wasted and that everyone will check out your blog or shop. The fewer adverts, the more likely that someone will check yours out! I want to make sure your advert is worth the money and it won’t get lost amongst 20 other adverts on the same page. Plus is means I can give each of my sponsors a separate weeks worth of love and attention!

If you are interested in advertising on my blog, please check out my advertising page. For this month only I am offer 50% off, so it will only cost you £4! There are only 3 spots left, so be sure to let me know.

What are your opinions about advertising on blogs? Is it something you offer, or have thought about? Or do you regularly advertise on other peoples blogs? I would love to know your thoughts!

Nutella Melt Cupcakes

 

It seems to becoming a bit of a habit of mine these baking posts. I do actually post quite often, as we have a weekly “Cake Day” at work. I also come from a long line of cake bakers. My mum bakes, my Nana bakes, my Great Grandma bakes and my Grampy bakes. There is very rarely a time when there isn’t cake around in one of my family member’s homes… which is of course very homely but not great for the waist line! Hence the mountains of running I now do!

On Friday night I came in from work and had the urge to bake. So Friday night I took over the kitchen, turned the music up and came up with the idea of Nutella Melt Cupcakes. I had a jar in the cupboard and thought it would be a great addition to my usual vanilla cupcakes.

I wanted to have a Nutella melting middle and was unsure how to go about this. I decided to make the cake mix, place that in the Cupcake moulds then add a dollop of Nutella in the middle and finally another spoonful of cake mix. This turns out not to be the answer. As you can see from pictures above the Nutella sunk to the bottom of the cakes. They are still yummy, but a little messy to eat! Next time I will be adding the Nutella to the cake after its been baked, either by scooping out the top and adding the Nutella before topping with icing, or try piping the Nutella into the middle. Anyways here’s my recipe for a simple vanilla cupcake, which you can alter as you wish!

You will need(makes 12 small, or 6 large cupcakes like above) ;

Cake Mix- 110g butter, 110g caster sugar, 2 eggs, 1tsp vanilla extract, 110g self-raising flour, 1-2 tbsp milk

Buttercream Icing- 140g butter, 280g icing sugar, 1-2 tbsp milk

Preheat your oven to 180c/ Gas 4 and line your muffin tin with paper cases. Cream your butter and sugar together in a bowl until smooth and pale. Beat in the eggs gradually and stir in the vanilla extract.

Fold in the flour, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. Now bake in the oven for 10-15 minute of until they are golden-brown on the top and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Set to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.

For your icing, beat the bitter in a large bowl until soft, then add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Now add the remaining icing sugar with one tbsp of milk, add more milk if necessary. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. If you want to make the above cake, mix a coupe of tbsp of Nutella into your icing sugar.

If you want to make the Nutella melt cake above, before icing your cakes, scoop out the top of them, as you would when making butterfly cakes and place the Nutella into the hole on the top of the cake. Then ice your cakes as you would normally.

What do you think of my Nutella Melt Cupcakes? Do you love Nutella as much as I do?

Baba Ganoush Canteen Kendal| The Perfect Brunch

 

Bottom Image from www. Baba-Ganoush.co.uk

Now that my boyfriend Matt is finally moving to live in the same town of me, we finally have the opportunity to discover some new eateries, and our first stop was Baba Ganoush. If you are from the Lake District in Cumbria you will of probably heard of this spot. If not, when you visit Kendal you have to put this on your list of places to go.

Baba Ganoush is a canteen and food shop hidden down a little side street in the market town of Kendal, Cumbria. Matt and I visited the canteen on Saturday morning at around 11 and the place was already filling up quickly. We were greeted by a smiley, friendly member of staff (always great) and told to take which ever table we fancied. Menu’s were already on the table so you could start making your choices right away. The place has various specials boards scattered around which are filled with soups, main dinners, platters and cakes.

As it was brunch time, Matt went for the Fish Finger sandwich on granary bread (all the bread used in the spot is fresh from the famous Staff of Life bakery next door) and I was rather greedy and went for a soup and hot sandwich. The food arrived very promptly and was delicious. You get plenty of filling for your money, and you can tell that the ingredients are of the highest quality and the fresh bread just makes the food even more homely.

The canteen is a rather small place with around 12-15 tables, and it was full of a variety of ages, from old dears having their tea and cake, to groups of friends having hangover breakfast and families on days out stopping for lunch. Matt and I have already planned our second visit for a hangover breakfast of pancakes with syrup, butter and bacon for me, and scrambled egg with chorizo on toast for Matt.

If you have visited the Lake District of Kendal, where are your favourite places to eat? Or in your own home town, let me know where to eat in case I make a visit!

Easter Egg Brownies| So Naughty but So Nice

 

I have been meaning to try this recipe for a little while after my best friend Sarah shared it with me, and after seeing Becky form Milk Bubble Tea bake her Creme Egg Cupcakes I had major cake envy and spent last night baking these naughty treats above.

The original recipe is for Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies and it has circulated various food blogs over the run up to Easter, but as members of my family do not like Creme Eggs my boyfriend suggested we made Cadbury Caramel Egg Brownies as well. The mixture of gooey brownies with the Caramel or creme egg filling is just divine!

You will need;

185g unsalted butter, 185g chocolate, 85g plain flour, 40g cocoa powder, 3 large eggs, 275g golden caster sugar, 3 Cadbury Creme eggs cut in half, 3 Cadbury Caramel Eggs cut in half. 

Preheat your oven to 160C and grease a 20cm square baking tin. Melt the butter and chocolate together. Break your eggs into a large bowl and tip in the golden caster sugar. Beat them together for a good 3-5 minutes, or until the mixture looks thick, creamy, pale and double its original volume.  Pour the cooler chocolate mixture onto the eggy mouse, and gently fold together.Sieve the cocoa power and flour onto the top of the mixture, then gently fold it in. Pour the mixture into your baking tray and cook for 15 minutes.

Take your tin out of the oven after 15 minutes and gently press the Cadbury Creme and Caramel Egg halves into the mix. Space them evenly apart and don’t push them too far in otherwise they will sink. Put the tin back into the oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until when poking a skewer into the mixture it comes out clean. Leave to cool before removing from the tin and cutting into squares.

A little Easter treat for yourself and a fun way to make your chocolate brownies a bit more interesting! Do you think you will give them ago? What is your favourite Easter treat?

Fitness Friday| Weight Loss| Preparation & Planning

You rarely venture into anything new in life without first thinking about it. Remember back to when you started your blog, did you think about it before you started it? I bet you carefully thought about the name, what you wanted to say and what you wanted it too look like. Well if you are to start a healthier lifestyle, the same rule applies!

Success loves preparation! If you want your healthy lifestyle to be more than just a phase you need to plan and prepare throughout. This may sound like hard work, but as I always say; make small steps each day and they soon become habits.

Think about it. If you are not prepared for hunger you normally just grab something on the go. Be it a bag of crisps, chocolate bar or a shop bought sandwich. If you are prepared you will more than likely have a snack in your bag that is healthier, be it a homemade sandwich or wrap, nuts of fruit.

The same happens in the supermarket. If you are prepared, have planned your meals and have a list of ingredients you will more than likely only buy what is on the list which means your kitchen cupboards will be full of healthy food. However if you are unprepared you will venture into the supermarket and end up buying what ever takes your fancy, be it healthy or not.

I am not saying that you need to count calories, plan every single meal that you have and panic when you don’t have a pre-prepared snack, just become a little more prepared and it can make a big difference! Below are a couple of preparation tips.

• Plan your meals- One night a week flick through your favourite cookbooks for meals you can make. This means you will have meals for each night, reducing the likelihood of ordering takeaways.
• Stick to your shopping list- If you are too tempted by BOGOF offers then keep your head down and go directly to where your shopping list items will be found in the store. Do not browse every aisle in the supermarket… you will just buy more!
• Wake up 15 minutes earlier- This means you will have time to sit and have breakfast each morning, instead of grabbing a coffee and muffin from Starbucks!
• Keep a food diary- You can use a Diary, such as the Moleskin Wellness Journal*, a notepad or an app on your phone. Food diaries make you more accountable of what you put in your mouth. You will be surprised at what you actually eat when first starting a food diary!
• Prepare your lunch- A couple of nights a week get out your Tupperware and make up your lunches to take to work for the next couple of days. Lunch can be a meal that if bought on the go can have a million more calories that you would think. A sandwich bought from a shop can have around 400 calories in, add your crisps and cake to this and your lunch could amount to over 700 calories! By preparing your lunch in bulk you will have no excuse as you can simply grab it from the fridge before you leave in the morning!
• Keep and water bottle with you- If you struggle to get your 2 litres everyday, keep a 1 litre/750cl bottle on your desk or in your bag and sip it throughout the day. This saves you money and reduces the likelihood of grabbing a bottle of pop.
• Plan ahead when eating out- Most places have their menus online, and large chains even have the calories count on there. So if you are watching your waistline and don’t fancy splurging then check out the menu and plan your meal ahead. 
• Schedule in your workouts- Schedule in your workouts as if they were a meeting or dentist appointment. If you cancel a half an hour appointment to improve yourself then I’m sure you will feel guilty! Get your workouts written down in your diary!
• Set goals- Long term and short tem! Try aiming for so many inches lost by a wedding in the summer, or aim to take homemade lunches to work every day that week. If you have a goal you have something to concentrate your efforts on. Even better reward yourself after meeting goals… have a manicure, buy a new dress etc.

I hope these tips help you prepare for a healthier lifestyle. Tell me how you make sure you are prepared for a healthy week!

Goodbye Google Reader| Where else can you find me

 

I assume you all know already that Google Reader is no more come July, so whether you use it to read blogs currently or not I’m sure it will have a huge impact on some people’s blogging. The major worry for many bloggers is that Google Friend Connect (GFC) may also disappear as a consequence. So before we all loose touch with each other how about we connect on different platforms and adapt to new ways to catching up with our favourite blogs. I have demonstrated below the other social media platforms that I am alive and well on, if you would like to follow me. I obviously don’t want to loose contact with you so please, please, please leave your social media links in a comment below and I will follow you all… lets share the love!

Bloglovin’

Bloglovin’ has had a very busy day as bloggers scramble to add their favourite blogs asap. I have seen such a huge increase over today that my blog has become number 33 in the Up and Coming Personal blogs… made my day! It seems to be the platform of choice for many.

Follow me here.

 

Twitter

Twitter is actually one of my favourite platform for reading blog posts, as it is instant and I am always on it. Yes you have to click through to a persons blog and everything isn’t in one place, but I very often favour peoples tweets then go through them at a later date to check out their recent posts.

Follow me here.

 

YouTube

Not so much of a blog following platform but still a social media platform. I am very new to YouTube and am slowly but surely working on it, so if you fancy checking out my videos and subscribing then go ahead.

Subscribe to my channel here.

 

Pinterest

A very different and interesting platform. I could spend hours looking at all the pretty and inspirational picture on Pinterest. It is great for fitness motivation also. I really need to work on my boards but plan on doing so soon.

Follow me here.

 

Hello Cotton

This is a relatively new platform for me, and rivals Bloglovin’ It allows you to follow your favourite blogs all in one place, but is a bit more magazine like than Bloglovin’, which appeals to many.

Follow me here.

 

She Said Beauty

A completely new platform for me, I literally signed up a few minutes ago, so I’m unsure to what it is like, but first impressions are good. Like Hello cotton is is a bit more magazine like with different sections etc. I also allows you to add all your social media widgets which i like

Follow me here.

 

Google+

This again is completely new to me, I have played around with it in the past but I find it quite hard to navigate and am a bit unsure of it. This is the platform that Google wans us to all start using but its yet to take off in the way that they had hoped.

Add me to your circle here.

 

Which one is your favourite platform for keeping in touch? Please leave your social media links in the box below and I will follow you all on all of the sites. I need to make sure that I do not loose touch with my favourite bloggers!

The Days Gone By| Feb to March

It feels like forever since I wrote one of these posts, so I thought I would let you all know what I’ve been up to over the past month.

 

Valentine's Dinner- As you will know from my Valentines Day post, this year Matt and I decided to stay in and have an evening to ourselves. To make it special I cooked dinner (seems I never cook), and I’m happy to say I never gave him food poisoning so I would say it was a success.

Hart of Dixie- I am a little bit obsessed with this programme, and I know a few of you are also. If you loved Rachel Bilson in the OC you will love her even more in this…She is my girl crush!

Ebaying- I have been going mad on ebay this past month. I have so far sold about 40 items of clothing and made about £200. I think the people at the Post Office are sick of the sight of me, but it's great to get rid of my fat clothes and get some money for some new ones!

Theme Hospital- After seeing all the talk of the relaunch of SimCity, it had me wishing that Theme Hospital would be relauched also. So after a long search online I found out how to get the game to work on newer operating systems. You can see more info here if you are interested.

My New Apartment- Matt and I have signed for a new apartment and I am so so so excited! We will finally be living together again after 9 months of long distance, and we will be living in a building I have had my heart set on so I couldn’t be happier! Expect lots of posts about interiors, furniture and pictures of my new apartment in the coming months!

Confused.com- This past week, thanks to my blogger friend Jamie, who writes the Zombie Fitness Blog, I was featured on Confused.com. The article was about their top fitness tips from favourite fitness bloggers, so I was honoured to be featured.

Personal Fitspiration- As I was sorting through my pictures on my laptop this past week (blogger problems) I came across some bikini pictures of me from 5 years ago and was amazed at my flat stomach! I think I’m going to print out the picture and put it by my treadmill as some fitspiration!

Matts Birthday- My boy turned 27 last week so we were obviously out celebrating. We went for some food and plenty of drinks in Leeds last weekend, and I definitely paid for it the next day!

Hangover Breakfast- The second hangover of the month, this time from meeting up with my friend whom I moved to France with. We haven’t met up in about 6 months, so we went out for a few quiet drinks in Jesmond, Newcastle, which turned into playing drunken darts at my friends house till 2 in the morning. It is safe to say I was very thankful for this breakfast in the morning.

Fitness Clothes Haul- I finally went and bought some new workout clothes! My road running trainers are a little tired and have given me a sore foot this past week, so I went and bought these gorgeous new pink ones, along with new leggings and bras!

Mothers Day Afternoon Tea- As today is Mothers Day I have spent the day with my gorgeous Mother Bar. We went for a run on the fells this morning, had some laugh when trying to complete some hill sprints, and treated ourselves with homemade afternoon tea.

Froggy’s- The pond in my mum’s garden is currently home to hundreds of little frogs! We went up this afternoon to watch them all.

 

Do you love Hart of Dixie as much as I do? Have you ever made money from Ebay? What have you been up to over the past month? Anything exciting?

Primark & New Look Haul

 

If you follow me on Twitter you will know that I have been selling all my belongings on Ebay the past couple of weeks. I say all my belongings, I really mean all my “fat clothes.” As I have lost quite a bit of weight over the past few months, my clothes have been getting rather large for me, especially around my boobs! So as I have been quite successful on Ebay I decided to reward myself and go on a shopping spree!

It was great to go in a shop and not know what size I was, and in most of them I was pleasantly surprised!  Unfortunately, as always when I have money to spend I can never find something to buy, so my haul was smaller than I wanted it to be.

You can find what I bought in the video below, which for the first time is in HD! Yeah!

 

Have you got any tips about which shops have some great stock in at the moment? I really need some casual dresses, so any help is much appreciated!

My First Blogger Meet| Carlisle Blogger Meet

 

As much as I love blogging, it can be a lonely hobby. Yes I get to talk and meet hundreds of like minded blogging girls on twitter, but most of my blogging in real life is confined to the four walls of my bedroom. I have a number of friends and family who know about my blog but I end up boring them chatting about it continually, so very often my blog is neglected in my day to day conversations. My family and friends often don’t know what a blog is, don’t understand the appeal of it, think it’s a bit self obsessive and wonder why the hell anyone would care about what I have to say. For these reasons I have been desperate to go on a Blogger Meet, and Helen from Pierre Le Cat must of heard my cries and invited me along to the Carlisle Bloggers Meet last Sunday.

We arranged to meet up at Thin White Dukes in Carlisle city centre, which turned out to be a great location and a new favourite of mine. I was unbelievably nervous before going as I was the only one going who hadn’t met any of the other girls in person. Thankfully after thinking of cancelling multiple times, I plucked up the courage and went. I had described what I was wearing to the girls before hand as was more nervous of not actually recognising anyone and going up to a complete stranger and asking if they were a blogger! Thankfully as soon as I walked in the door I was met by Jo’s smiley face who recognised me. I sat with Jo and her sister Jen for a little while before everyone else joined us. At first the conversation was a little forced I think, as it always is when meeting new people but after the first drink everyone loosened up and we were sharing joke, stories and blogging experiences as we would with friends. We sat for nearly 3 hours, drinking eating and chatting and I left feeling like I had made 6 new friends. We now have a Facebook group that allow us to chat often and we are already thinking or organising the next meet. So as I have made 6 new friends I want to introduce them to you!

Amanda- Uniquely Snowflake

Amanda is a crafty and creative blogger. She has her own shop which she creates one of a kind jewellery, homeware, accessories and children's gifts.She is also a popular mummy blogger. Her blog is a mixed bag; full of interesting posts, crafts, fashion and life.

 

Anna- On The Dressing Table

Anna is the only other self confessed beauty product lover! Her blog is full of honest, detailed product reviews, and pictures of her adorable dogs! Like the rest of us she dabbles in some lifestyle blogging by sharing pictures of her life and personality throughout her posts. She is also to credit for the photos as I was too nervous to take any!

 

Helen- Pierre Le Cat

Helen has been my blogging friend for a long time and even helped me with my dissertation. She has such an interesting blog. A fashion and true lifestyle blogger her blog is pack full of unique online boutiques and fashion stores, creative photography and her latest post on her love of old people was so beautifully written it has been very popular.

 

Jen- Jenny And The Magic Feather

Jen is a lifestyle blogger who is amazing at blog designs, she actually helped with a few of the girls mentioned blogs. She is a creative and crafty girl who’s blog is full of baking and cute pictures, especially of her little pet Degus… you have to go see how cute they are!

 

Jo- The Perfect Hiding Place

Jo is a super crafty blogger who is a self confessed Pinterest addict…love this! Her blog is like mine, a mixed bag; full of life, crafts, and lots of nails! She is a super creative girl with a friendly blog with great photographs! I love her mix of topics.

 

Sally- Sally Tangle

Sally is a fashion blogger who dabbles in lifestyle posts. you can tell she’s a fashion blogger as she looked amazing when I met her!  Her blog is so pretty and I love her pictures, her writing style is personal, relaxed and a great read over a cup of tea.

 

I hope you go and check out these girls and their amazing blogs, and find some new favourites amongst them. If you are a Cumbrian blogger leave a comment below and we can invite you to our Facebook group and keep you informed for the next Bloggers Meet.

How was your first ever Blogger Meet? Were you are nervous as I was? What did you gain from it?

Valentine’s Day| Ideas For A Special Day

 

With little more than a week to go I’m sure those with partners are busy wracking their heads for ideas on what to do for Valentine’s Day. I have been with my boyfriend for five years and I still end up over thinking about what to buy him, or how to spend the day. It is one of those holidays where although the aim is to show your loved one’s that you care, it is difficult to demonstrate your love, and figure out how to make the day extra special. I know that just spending the day with your partner should be enough, but it is nice to go that extra mile to make Valentine’s unforgettable. So for those who struggle for ideas I have put together a few homemade and inexpensive ideas along with the help of Pippa Middleton and her book Celebrate. 

Dine In

There is no need to folk out for expensive set menus in busy restaurants and hotels when making dinner at home can be just as special. I don’t cook at all, so at Valentine’s I make the effort to design and make a three or four course dinner for my boyfriend. Try and pick foods which you can share, my favourite is chocolate fondant with strawberries and marshmallows! Make it extra special by making your own menu, decorate the table, fill the room with candles and create a soft. romantic playlist full of your and your partners favourite songs. 

Cute Cards

Valentine’s doesn’t have to be just for those with partners, share the love with all those that are special in your life by delivering homemade cards. Knowing that you have put in the extra effort to make a card will really brighten up someone’s day.

Picture Perfect

An inexpensive and thoughtful gift is that of a photograph. Create an album or scrapbook with your favourite pictures of you and your partner. Annotate it with your favourite moments from your time together; your first date, the moment you fell in love etc. It doesn’t have to be an album, how about picking your favourite picture of you and your partner, printing it out and putting it in a cute frame. This works great for those in long distance relationships; you can print out a picture of yourself for your partner to put on their bedside table.

A Hundred Reasons Why

For those on a budget look no further. Find an old glass jar (Asda sell them for £2), some ribbon and a sheet of paper. Cut your paper into one hundred pieces and on each one write a reason why you love/fell in love with your partner. Fill the jar woth the hundred reasons and tie some ribbon around it. The perfect sentimental present for very little money.

I Owe You

Sometimes the best present is quality time. Take 20 pieces of card and write an IOU on each of them, tell your partner they can cash one in each week so you are guaranteed some quality alone time together. IOU’s can be as sweet or as saucy as you want, some ideas would be; massages, breakfast in bed, dinner at your favourite restaurant, a bath together etc.

You’re My Sweetheart

Shop bought sweets or chocolates can be great but how about making your own. It is relativity simple and cheap to make your own cupcakes, popcakes, gingerbread hearts or chocolate truffles and they are so much more impressive than shop bought ones.

A Year of Dates

Again a gift of time. Fill twelve envelopes with twelve notes detailing twelve different dates. At the beginning of each month give your partner the envelope detailing the pre-planned date. To make it extra special write a poem that hints as what the date will be so they can spend some time speculating what you have planned for them. Some ideas; Dinner for two, A couples massage, Night at the movies, A picnic on the beach, A bubble bath and foot massage, Tickets for a concert or sporting event.

A Perfect Place

On a map of your town, mark all the places that hold happy memories of you and your partner. Mark out your first date, first kiss, favourite view, favourite place for breakfast etc. Use hearts to circle your special places. You can easily print out maps from Google and can even frame the finished product, or leave it unfinished so you can continue to mark it together.

Remember Me

Similar to “A Hundred Reasons Why”, but instead your partner will fill the jar themselves. Either sew or cut out a number of hearts and plant them around your house and amongst your partner’s belongings, places such as; their suitcase, work bag, coat pocket, gym bag, shoes, underneath their aftershave, anywhere an everywhere! Then give them a jar wrapped in ribbon with a tag stating “Remember, I love you.” The aim is that everytime your partner finds a heart they will think of you and smile, they then return the heart to the jar after they have found it.

I hope you have something special planned for Valentine’s day, and if you haven’t that my list has helped you. Let me know which one is your favourite and what you like to do for your partner on Valentine’s day to make it extra special!

Fifty Facts and a Catch Up

 

Pretty Snow- Cookie Dough- YouTube video- Dinner-Sunrise- The Hospitality Show 2013-Playing in the snow- Chilli and Ginger Salmon- New running trainer insoles- Cajun Chicken and Wedges- Card from my boy- Mozzarella and tomato Chicken- Woolly Hat- Easter Egg- Posing before work- Baking cookies- Cutie George- The Devils Number-

So it is finally the end of January… what a long month! Pay day was yesterday and I’m already itching to spend it after a month of having very little money. I never learn! It seems that January is everyone's least favourite month, and although it’s not my favourite I don’t hate it. I think January is a great time to focus on yourself and enjoy life's little luxuries. I mean the majority of people don’t have any money and we have all set ourselves New Year Resolutions, so why not get cracking on improving yourself than dwelling on the end of the holidays.

I have had a quiet month on the home front but a very hectic one for work. This month I got to go on my first ever business trip and although it was only to the Birmingham NEC it was great to get out of the office and talking and networking with everyone else in my industry.

So this month has been great for my career and also for my blog. I have already completed one of my New Year Resolutions which was to film a You Tube video. I was so scared and nervous about it, but after getting such an amazing response from all you lovely people I have gone ahead and made my second video, which you can see above. The second one was so much easier to make than my first one, I felt more at ease when recording it and am happy to hear that my accent has toned down and is a bit more natural now! So to anyone thinking about dipping their toes into the YouTube world my advice is to do it! Yes it is scary but you will never know how it goes until you do it!

Subscribe to my Channel so you don’t miss my next video!

How has your January been? How have you been working on your New Years Resolutions?

Soap & Glory Archery Review| My First YouTube Video

So this post both excites me and terrifies me! This contains my first YouTube video… you can actually see me and hear me and Oh My God do I actually sounds like that! So yeah! The video is a review if you hadn’t guessed by the title of this post. It is a review of another Soap and Glory product, the Archery Brow Tint and Precision pencil*.

Soap and Glory say;

“Distinctly “no-brow”? (Or could do with a fullness boost?) Brush-on-brows and fill in any gaps with the all-day, long-wearing precision-point stain, then use the crayon to give your brows the perfect shape.”

I say;

“ I love this product! I admit I don’t have many to compare it too as am fairly new to the whole looking after your eyebrows thing. However I wouldn’t purchase any other brow pencils now as this one works wonders. It really gives great definition and it lasts all day! What more could you possibly want.”

I decided to do a video on this product as I don’t think the photos you can see above do the product any justification at all. I do have quite thick eyebrows in the first place but I thought a video would be able to show you how to use the product and the results it actually gives. I will apologise for the quality of the video, I don’t think  my lighting was too great and at times it goes a little out of focus, but it is my first video so please be kind!

I hope you enjoyed my first YouTube Video. Please let me know what you think, and leave me any tips if you have any! Have you ever tried this eyebrow pencil before? Are there any others on the market that you think could rival this one?

P.S. Apparently I don’t actually sound like that, and I am in fact using my posh telephone voice… I will work on toning this down in my next video.

Snow Day| A Winter Walk

 

So if you haven’t noticed…. I’m pretty sure you have seems you have eyes and everyone keeps going on about it… it snowed!! I love snow! Loads! I turn to an infant state of mind as soon as the first snow flake lands on the ground. However I have been sulking over the past couple of days as you southerners have been steeling all the snow! We haven't seen any over the past couple of days in the Lake District. The snow you can see in the pictures above is the remnants of the snow we had at the beginning of the week. So we don't have lots of fresh powder, just a lot of icy crunchy snow; still enough to take pretty pictures and to go sledging.

Matt and I went for a nice long walk with my two daft dogs this morning. The dogs love it! They spent most of the time rolling around in it, eating it and chasing snowballs or kids that were sledging. As I mentioned it was very icy, so much so that Matt managed to slip and fall down a hill which was very funny.. not to him, but for me it was.

I’m hoping that it will snow some more tonight then we can go sledging tomorrow! So I will be sleeping with my fingers crossed and one eye peeping out the window waiting on that first snowflake!

I hope you made the most of the snow, if you were lucky enough to get some. Has anyone gone sledging or made some snowmen over the past couple of days?