Monday 26 January 2015

First ASOS finds of 2015!

I follow so many clothing brands/stores across all my social media platforms so it's impossible to avoid finding things that catch your eye! This month it was a super comfy jumper which subsequently led to finding 3 other things falling in my basket! Well, you can never just order one thing right?!



1. ASOS TALL exclusive longline with high neck in Chenille.  -  £38.00
This jumper is so super comfy and warm, i've spent pretty much my whole weekend curled up in it. I saw it on one of the girls I follow on instagram and instantly fell in love with it. It's in the tall range which I wouldn't normally look at but I couldn't resist, free returns anyway eh!!
Because it is a high neck jumper, I was a little concerned at how tight it was going to be around the neck but it's absolutely fine, it's actually quite loose. The only thing is that the sleeves are pretty long so i've had to roll them up a bit! If I ordered it again I would probably have gone for a smaller size.

Wednesday 21 January 2015

How to live a healthy lifestyle.

"Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase them." 
To start I just want to say that this is how I go about living a relatively healthy lifestyle, i'm not a nutritionist or a PT by any stretch of the imagination it's just a few things I live by to help keep me on track!

Rule No. 1: Prepare!
I can't stress how important this is. Everyone has days where they slip back into bad habits (eating badly, skipping the gym etc) and mine tend to happen when i've neglected to prepare for the day ahead. I'm following a workout program which has massively helped my motivation with going to the gym.

Side note: The Kayla Itsines BBG guide is amazing! I'm really enjoying the workouts and the community that she has created. Check out her website and instagram

Go to the gym.
Okay, so it's easier said than done but it's not impossible and it can very quickly become a habit. My body now craves a workout in the morning, it's really easy to get up at 6:30 now! Who'd have thought! Keeping your alarm far away from your bed should help to get you up and out of bed too, you'll have no choice but to get up and turn it off!

My top tip for getting yourself to the gym is to get up as soon as your alarm goes off and put your gym kit on, it's the best motivation there is.

Saturday 17 January 2015

Cappuccino cake bars!

Another weekend, another baking challenge. This weeks recipe was from my BBC Good Food: Bakes & Cakes book that my parents got me for christmas. It's got some really nice things in it, we were limited as to what we could make based on the ingredients we had in the house (the food shop's tomorrow!).


None the less this one took our fancy anyway. We decided to half the ingredients to avoid the risk of making too many and wasting some. It was a good job as well as the recipe makes loads, even halving it we managed to make 16 bars!


It's a really simple recipe and they taste amazing, the perfect afternoon snack with a cup of tea!

We used:
   •  100g softened butter
   •  1/2 tsp cocoa powder
   •  1 rounded tbsp of coffee granules
   •  100g caster sugar
   •  2 eggs
   •  100g of self-raising flower
   •  1/2 tsp baking powder

For the icing, the recipe included white chocolate which we didn't have so we just made a standard butter cream icing and dusted it with cocoa powder. Simples! Literally all you have to do is heat the oven to 160 fan, grease and line a baking tin, mix all the ingredients together, level it out and shove it in the oven for 20 minutes. Voila! 

Monday 12 January 2015

My super cute recipe file.

In the last year or so I have become more and more interested in food. The nutritional value of it and how to cook it! I recently took the opportunity (my mum was away) to cook dinner, using inspiration from my cookbooks, Pinterest and things i'd heard about and wanted to try. It's becoming a real passion of mine and one i'm yet to master!

My mum and I share a love of cooking/baking and she used to keep print outs of any recipes we tried and things she found on food packaging etc in an old book. The book was getting really out of hand, the design was dated and she just didn't like it anymore so for christmas I got her a recipe file from Paperchase! She absolutely loved it and has already filled it out with all the scrap pieces of paper and recipes that filled the old book.

I absolutely loved the idea of it and when looking on Paperchase found one I loved too, it was an adorable design and just what I wanted to keep all my recipes in too. We now have somewhere to keep all our recipes neat and tidy, i'd definitely suggest anyone having the same problems should think about getting one!


The design itself is super cute and the book is made really well. It's a ring binder as well which I love because it means if you have more recipes for a particular thing you can move the recipe cards around to suit. I think the recipe file has been thoroughly thought through and i've really enjoyed filling it out. It also includes a handy conversion chart and even has a couple of dinner party planning pages!

What are your favourite recipes? Do you keep them in a handy file?

Friday 2 January 2015

What I got for christmas!

First off, Happy New Year you beautiful bunch! I hope you all had a really good Christmas and New Year, another year come and gone, here's to another good year filled with fun, adventure, good health and happiness.

It seems to be a very highly requested post for bloggers and vloggers to share what they got for Christmas so it seemed only right to do one. I'm also suffering massively with post Christmas blues, it's officially 2015 and so the Christmas decorations have come down and it's back to work tomorrow.

Anyway, I was well and truly spoilt again this year, by friends and family and without further ado i'll share with you what i was lucky enough to receive this year!


  1. 3 mini impulse body sprays. My mum buys me these every year, they are so handy and perfectly hand bag sized.
  2. Phil Smith SOS rescue shampoo and conditioner. These are absolutely amazing! They have argan oil in them which is known for being really good at rescuing damaged hair. I've only used it 2/3 times but the results are incredible already, I would definitely recommend it to anyone trying to rescue their hair.
  3. Absolut raspberry fizz - mini vodka bottle. Every year mum does a little treasure hunt and this was the treasure this year! 
  4. Pack of 5 assorted tip uni pin pens - I have always used these for typography and the like. I personally really like them, they've got a pigmented ink which stops them from fading.
  5. A pink pig sketchbook, i've always used this brand purely because it's the one we had through school and I got really used to the paper. I also love a ring bound sketchbook.
  6. Christmas socks! 
  7. A pack of 2 super cute, warm socks - they are probably my favourite socks. 
  8. A Real Techniques powder brush. These brushes are incredible, they are so so soft and just really nice. I don't think i'd use any other brush. 
  9. Seventeen's complete smokey eye collection - this box is full of goodies. It's got loads of eye shadows, brushes, gel eyeliner etc. It also has the best sharpener ever!
  10. Undies. My friend got me these gorgeous red lacy underwear. So cute. 
  11. Leather gloves - I was desperate for some of these for driving in. I find gloves typically slip on the wheel so apart from being lush, they're practical. 
  12. Travel mug, I got 2 of these this year. Different designs one for home and one for work!
  13. Benefit perfume set - how cute! It's a set of 4 'cocktail' perfumes - they're perfectly handbag sized and smell divine.
  14. 3 Dixi rings. I'd had my eye on these for a while, they're beautiful - if you're into boho style jewellery then i'd definitely recommend that you check them out at shopdixi.com
  15. A gorgeous chunky gold necklace. I'm a big fan of chunky necklaces so this is a perfect addition to my collection.
  16. This nail manicure set was from my secret santa at work - it's perfect for keeping in my handbag. It's got nail clippers, scissors, a cuticle pusher and a nail file all kept neatly in the adorable flower case.
  17. Calvin Klein, Reveal! This smells incredible and the smell lingers for ages. I stumbled across this in a magazine and fell in love with it instantly.
  18. This adorable chocolate heart with chocolate candy canes and more chocolate looks too good to eat. It's beautifully packaged as well, an overdose of chocolate just waiting to be eaten! 
So that's that! What did you get for Christmas this year? What's your favourite present?