1 year on...

It's been a whole year since I last posted on this blog. 365 days of life have flown by and I haven't been recording them here. That's okay, but I find writing therapeutic so I'm back to explain where I've been.

We moved (again) and now live on a tiny island in the English Channel. Thankfully, we moved in the summer so I took 4 months off work and spent plenty of time on the beach like the one in the photo above. The water here is so clear it's beautiful, though plenty rocky so you've got to watch where you tread unless you want a scraped leg or stubbed toe!

Eventually, I found a job and went back to work in the Autumn. This was completely planned, I found a job pretty easily once I started to look for one. We had so many visitors coming to enjoy the beach see us that I was busy hosting most of the summer which was so great. I love having people to stay.

To get off the island you have to either go by boat (which takes a while...like 8 hours) or by tiny plane. So this is a view I've seen a bit of whilst waiting to leave:

The island is really pretty and has plenty of cycle routes and walking paths to explore. Over the summer one of my favourite places to take friends and family was to the West Coast to watch the sun set over the sea. Fish and chips whilst sitting on the beach made this sight really enjoyable:

There are other (even smaller) islands to explore too, with crazily small populations and more fun beaches to relax on:

We've made some great friends here which we're both looking forward to growing. The Church is fantastic and we feel at home already. It's a strange feeling to go away for a week and come back to hugs from people who are happy to see us again, we didn't have that before.

There are definite downsides to living here though. Sometimes I feel like I'm Truman in the Truman Show and have reached the edge of my bubble when I can drive Coast to Coast in 20 minutes...and that's even with driving at 25mph. When the bad weather sets in the port and airport close and you can feel a little trapped.

Festive loungewear

Does anybody else come home from work, realise they have a night in and reach for the comfy PJs instead of actual clothes? It can't just be me surely? For those of you who are done with adulting for the day at 6pm, here are my best picks of festive PJs this season: 

Left to right: Joules / Fat Face / White Stuff / FF Clothing

Bloomin' beauties

This post was not sponsored or endorsed by Bloom & Wild and all opinions are my own. 

Flowers around the house are such a simple way to bring life, beauty and sweet smells to your home. My husband does buy me flowers but I also enjoy choosing them myself and others. When my friend missed my bridal shower because she was ill the biggest surprise came through my letterbox a couple of days later...

Bloom & Wild flowers!

They're flowers which are selected and sent to you in a box slim enough to fit easily through your letterbox. This is perfect if you want to send flowers but are unsure whether the person will be at home to receive them. Or, if like me, you're sad creative enough to send them to yourself and you're out at work all day. 

They come with the heads of the flowers wrapped in protective netting and a helpful little guide to introduce you to flower care etc. 

I chose the 'Sophia' bouquet which was full of purples and creams. They smell amazing in my living room!

If you live in the UK and want to give Bloom & Wild a try click here to select your flowers...(and become a flower addict who sends flowers to themselves!)

I'm a Mrs!

I can't believe this is my first post as a Mrs not a Miss. It's been 4 months! I'll share some memories and photos in the coming weeks for you all though.

The day after the wedding Mr had a business trip he had to go on and although I'd planned to go back to work for a couple of days he wanted me to go with him. You don't have to ask me twice! We flew out in the afternoon and enjoyed dinner on a balcony overlooking the water. The next day he went to work and I experienced what it was like to be a lady at leisure. I went to the gym, relaxed at the spa and then headed into the local coastal town for shopping and lunch. Then it was time to fly home. It was a lovely day away but I wouldn't want to be without a job to float about like that all the time - boring!

Being a practical couple, being that our flight for our honeymoon left the UK on a Sunday night we naturally felt it best to stay in a hotel the night before, because who wants to drive for 2 hours on the same day as your holiday starts? Ridiculous I know. We've since tightened our budget. The Crowne Plaza upgraded us to a spa suite and gave us sparkling wine and truffles though so it was totally worth it! More on the amazing honeymoon later...

We moved into my rental flat for 2 weeks then I found us a house last minute while Mr was working and I had a day off (to recuperate from all that beach time obviously). We've got a cute 2-bed house now complete with a garden and a garage. How grown up. How very expensive. Now the saving to buy in this inflated economy begins!

I'm in law school part-time though still work a full week (stress but strangely i'm enjoying it). Mr is busy with numerous projects, most of which involve his new garage and boats. We're pretty happy as a Mr & Mrs!

Adventurers

I'm calling on you guys today to help a girl out a little. This is a great problem for my fiance and I to have but one all the same: where should we go on our honeymoon in June?

Here are some amazing options we've looked at so far...

Italy / Mauritius / Thailand / New York

There's some variety there right? We can't decide if we want a beach holiday to lay about, drink cocktails and read or a city break to immerse ourselves in food, art, nightlife and theatre. What we do know is we both want a holiday we couldn't do when we have children. 

So, any thoughts friends? 

Images are not my own. All images taken from Google. 

Cosy up this November

All images for this post were taken from www.birchbox.co.uk and are not my own

I'm a sucker for mail. I still have friends who I write to and love receiving reply letters and surprise packages from in return. So when I heard about Birchbox I had to give it a go as the thought of receiving make-up and beauty products through my letterbox was too tempting to ignore!

My first box was the October breast cancer awareness box though I didn't get around to writing about that one so I'll start with the November box I received this week.

Birchbox send you a text message when they dispatch your box so right away I got excited and knew it would be waiting for me one day this week when I stumbled in from a long day at work. I loved my October box and I certainly wasn't disappointed with the box for November either.

You receive a hand-picked selection from a range of products based on your online beauty profile. Make sure you complete this profile to ensure you receive the best products suited for you. Below is the full product collection which my items were selected from.

I received the following in my November box and can't wait to test them all:

1. Full sized OPI nail polish from the Coca-Cola collection shade Turn On The Haute
2. Beauty Protector protect and detangle spray
3. Full sized Dr. Jart+ V7 Balancing Toner 
4. Drinkwell vitamin capsules 
5. English Laundry Signature for Her EDT perfume 

All products can be found at the Birchbox store. The theme was "Cosy At Home" and I can definitely see how these products both pamper your skin and body for the long cold Winter. I especially love the OPI nail polish as nail polish is my beauty weakness!

Check out the pictures of my products below. If you would like to sign up to Birchbox and receive your November box they're currently offering a £5 off deal when you enter the code NOV5 at the checkout. I'm just gonna whack my referral link here and see what happens: http://birchbox.co.uk/?raf=60774 

 
 

Goals check back - How did I do?

I've loved having goals to work towards this month. I've been able to muse over them and having a physical list has helped to pin down certain goals to achieve this past month out of many swimming around my mind. So how did I do? 

Finish the She Reads Truth Hosea study
Check! See my thoughts on the study here. This was such an inspiring yet challenging study and I'd encourage you to read through the Hosea with a study guide if you haven't already. The She Reads Truth website still has their study guide here.

Run at least twice a week
I started this with the best of intentions and did get a few runs in during the beginning and middle of the month. Then I had dental work, which resulted in a mouth and tongue infection. Then I caught a cold...so this goal is going to carry over.

Try new recipes from my cookbooks
I tried one. ONE! What is wrong with me? I had a whole 30 days and a shelf full of books. What's wrong with me? However, the recipe I did try was from the Hairy Bikers Asian Adventure book and it was amazing. Matt agreed so that's not even a biased opinion...

Have my first dinner party with friends
FAILED! Much to the sadness of some (who will remain nameless but you know who you are...you...the people who have asked me on a weekly basis) this hasn't happened. I have no excuses. A carry over for sure.

Print holiday snaps and use them in decor
Half-way there! I found a Snapfish coupon on Wowcher to print 100 photos for a pound so I've had them printed. I stil have one evening left to fulfill the decorating part of this and I will persevere! Also, why hadn't I got them printed before, I've absolutely loved looking back at old memories. 


I didn't have a photo for this post and blogging "rules" dictate I need one. So here's a photo of some horses in the New Forest National Park who were chilling out by my car. These weren't the horses who tried to eat my picnic, though the one on the left has some attitude to show me his butt.

Anything is possible in an Audi

Just a short post about this amazing little Audi which was spotted and snapped at a new hair salon in town. Now, I don't know about you but I wouldn't say no to somebody gifting me an Audi for a week. I wouldn't like to own one, I'd just like to whizz around. Maybe I'd drive to the Lakes and have unbridled comfort on the 10 hour drive. Or I could go shopping in France, have lunch in Belgium, maybe trip to Switzerland for some hot chocolate. I get the feeling anything would be possible in an Audi. 

That's why if I were a 3 year old again this little car would've changed my low opinion of getting my hair cut. 

You see that fringe? That's because I wouldn't sit still in the chair when I had to have my hair cut. Thankfully the film Tangled wasn't released either or I definately wouldn't have let anybody near me with scissors. 

So well done hair salon with the mini Audi chair. You're setting yourself up for some easy wins there. Soon there might be no little terrors at the salon anymore...until my children are born of course.

Lately

Matt and I discovered Netley Abbey one afternoon after sailing...how could I have lived 10 minutes away and not known it was there?!

I've had a whole week off! That's what I've been upto. How did I spend it? The best way a broke girl could:

• I had lay in every day and enjoyed the fine hobby of bed rolling (waking up and rolling around a big empty bed). 
• Cooked breakfasts when I could be bothered and chocolate cereal when I felt like it.
• Because I'm still looking for a flatmate my place is my own which allows for craft materials to be left strewn about and impromptu card making to take place, perfect for when midnight inspiration strikes.
•  Coffee and lunch dates with friends and even with Matt (he's a workaholic so when I dragged him away for a lunch date I felt like a heroine). 
• Cuddles with my dog all afternoon, enough said.
• Bike rides and runs in the last of the summer sunshine.
• Finishing books, starting books, finishing books, starting books...
• Baking for and welcoming people into my new home. When people come bearing gifts of flowers, food, a coffee machine etc. they were extra welcome.
• Discovered some new blogs and wondered how these clever women link their Google+ profile to their blog without ruining the Blogger platform. I still don't know the answer to this but have loved reading new blogs all the same.

However, fun had, now I'm bored and wanting to get back into work and get some business done! 

 Netley Abbey ruins. More information about the Abbey can be found at the English Heritage website.

He's so handsome...but not a lover of historical ruins.

My dad makes an amazing grandad.

I'm a History graduate so monuments like this have to be studied, photographed and spoken about. 

Simple Jerk Chicken

This is a great 10 minute preparation recipe that I got from a friend and thought I would share.

 You'll need: 

Vegetables of your choice. I used 1 green bell pepper, 1 onion and 2 tomatoes.
Chicken breasts
Rice / cous cous
(If using cous cous you'll want 1 pint of chicken stock too)
Olive oil
Levi Roots Jerk sauce (or any brand)
Baking dish
Saucepan

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.

Cut the vegetables into chunky quarters and put them in the baking dish. Pour olive oil over the veg so a little is on each piece and shake the dish from side to side to spread the oil about.

Next, make a space in the centre of the baking dish and place the chicken breast in the space. Make short cuts in the top of the chicken breasts, maybe a couple of centimeters deep.

Pour over the jerk sauce , making sure to cover the chicken and getting it into the cuts.

Put the baking dish in the oven and cook uncovered for 40/45 minutes (adjust cooking time to your oven).

Prep. the rice while the chicken is cooking. If using cous cous, soak it in the hot chicken stock for the stated time.

When cooked through and the vegetables are looking lightly crisped on the outside, serve with the rice or couscous and VOILA! A cheap and easy dinner.
     
                 Before cooking....
                                                                                                        After cooking...

                 

If you have more time you could make your own jerk sauce and marinade the chicken in it overnight in the fridge...but that's neither quick or simple.

Oh, and it tastes delicious!

Introducing...

Sophie Annabella! Born Saturday evening to my sister-in-law and brother, with gorgeous little cheeks and blonde whisps of hair she is a little treasure to our family. I'M AN AUNT!

This obviously isn't me, it's my mum, who is overjoyed at becoming a grandma! 

I will go and meet her at the end of the month and give her lots of cuddles and love. In the meantime, I will pester my brother for facetime requests and photos. Babies are the best!

Congratulations to my Jon and Victoria on becoming a family of three! I will take my aunt duties seriously, including but  not limited to:-

• Teaching her to sail
• Teaching her to climb
• Cinema trips with mountains of popcorn
• Park trips where I will climb the apparatus too. 

Glamping...almost

Have you heard of Glamping? It's the new trend to go camping but in luxury. Camping in a glamourous manner I guess. Well, in the absence of money growing on trees in my current situation, the man and I decided to take a camping trip to Devon. I had planned the Barcelona trip in October last year so this trip was his planning domain and boy was I nervous!

I only asked for three things: hot showers, no drunken louts and next to a beach. He did good!

Pictures below of our amazing holiday to Woolacombe Bay in North Devon, full of surfing, sunbathing, coast walking and delicious food.

High Five for Friday

Does anybody else have that annoying problem with computer keyboards that when they type 'Friday' it turns out as 'Froday'? No, just me? Okay.

This was a flyby week, one where I seemed to blink and miss hours in a day. Maybe I did...hope not.

1. I read this book over the weekend and really enjoyed it. I've struggled with not being a 'nice girl' but somebody who has always been a bit feistier and strong minded. Now I know it's okay to be. Link to my thoughts here.

2. I'm moving next Saturday so have been understandably panicking thinking about how to furnish my flat. Ikea table anyone? (Also, the food in Ikea is strangely very nice so had dinner there too.)

3. Date night with this one ended up in an ice cream parlour and I forgot my lactose-funny stomach whilst I devoured this kids-size sundae. I paid for it after but boy was it worth it! Also, I love him even more in a shirt...

4. Took my dog to the groomer and it was a dog filled screaming, biting, snapping, water filled nightmare. Here he is at work the next day...he has his sad face because he doesn't like being at work. 

5. I LOVE o2 Priority Moments. Free pizza from Domino's on Monday, free hot drink from Nero on Friday and random free stuff thrown in throughout the week from other shops too. What's not to love?

Are you a nice girl or a good woman?

I recently finished reading Nice Girls Don't Change The World by Lynne Hybels. I have to be honest, I only started reading it because my mum had left it in my room and I had run out of books to read. I really struggle with many Christian books and tend to avoid them. This one was a little different though.

To start with, it's not a thousand pages of a Christian superstar telling you what you should be doing with your life, It's simply another woman's true story of her discovery of a loving God. The realisation that God's love doesn't need to be earnt but is given freely to anybody who accepts it. That being a good woman, somebody whose foundations rest in God's love, knows that HER life, HER personality and HER talents are deeply valued and recognised by God even if by nobody else, and who doesn't let fear ever keep her from stepping out and living for God, is ultimately a better choice than being a nice girl.

This is an excerpt from the end of the book and it touches on what we as women need to be striving for, praying for and hoping for:

May we be dangerous women.

May we be women who acknowledge our power to change, and grow, and be radically alive for God. 

May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.

May we weep with those who weep and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

May we cherish children, embrace the elderly, and empower the poor.

May we pray deeply and teach wisely.

May we be strong and gentle leaders.

May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear. 

May we never hesitate to let passion push us, conviction compel us, and righteous anger energize us. 

May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world. 

May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.

May we shine like stars in a darkened generation. 

May we overflow with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus. And in that name, and by that power, may we change the world. 

This isn't a book which preaches, it's a book which encourages and energises us to be the best we can be. 

All excerpts taken from Nice Girls Don't Change The World, Lynne Hybels, Zondervan, 2005.Picture from www.christianaudio.com. 

Spring time goodness

Thursday was an exciting day and one which I'd been waiting for since October last year when show tickets were purchased! It was the day of the  Country Living Spring Fair held in the London Design Centre in Islington. This is a huge exhibition about all things spring: homewares, clothing, cosmetics, fabrics, furnishings, paintings, crafts (all sorts) and food.

When I visited the Christmas fair in October (premature but a sure fire way to get some early Christmas excitement) I was a little overwhelmed at the vastness of the whole show. This time I went prepared to be wowed and the experience certainly didn't disappoint. As you walk in you are greeted with a pretty garden display complete with a fountain and a pond! Ribbons hung from the high ceiling and the theme was pastel colours throughout.

There were hundreds of stalls to browse and buy from, many staffed by the artists/designers themselves. I had been saving to go so was really happy with the treats I bought for myself!

This tin lantern has a glass insert and was a gift from my aunt.

A cute Bill Brown of London fabric bag for summer and the beach.

This Jan Constantine cushion was actually free with something my aunt bought for my mum, I just benefitted from the free gift!

I also found a heart shaped ceramic dip set with a bamboo base from Occasion for Entertaining but it's wrapped for moving so I haven't photographed it yet. Having been sucked in by the selling technique of an Irish man I ended up buying toffee vodka, which after two shots tasted delicious and I was sold! Wonder why that was?! Also a food centred buy (I'm a foodie) were the curry sauces I bought after copious tasting and choosing of which flavours I wanted. I cooked the butter chicken last night and it was great!

There were also workshops and talks which were interesting and the Greene and Blacks chocolate talk was definitely my favourite (mostly because of the tasting!) The orange flavoured milk chocolate is divine and I had to try quite a lot to be sure I liked it as much as I thought I did...

After we were weighed down with bags we ventured into Islington for coffee and then down the pretty terraced house lined streets to a gem of an old pub for dinner. 

We were all falling asleep on the way home that night but so full of joy from our day out the exhaustion was worth it!