LIFESTYLE, PARENTING
I took the plunge this year and decided to take part in Lady Writes‘ Secret Santa (check it out on Twitter to see what other people have got #ladywritessecretsanta) and wrote a post about what I got my person here. It was really fun picking out gifts for someone I’d never met, but it was of course equally exciting to be receiving presents myself! So what did Santa bring me?
Ooooohhh a personal trainer. Now doesn’t that sound fancy!!
Well yes, it may seem a little bit extravagant, but if there is one thing my impending wedding day is helping me realise, it’s that my body needs quite a bit of looking after. As I am speeding towards the grand old age of 30, my metabolism is not quite the same as it was when I was 16 and doing exercise five times a week.
After I left school I chomped my way through enough packets of Doritos and drank enough bottles of wine to put on the weight of a thousand men. Luckily I kept up most of the exercise and only went up to a size 12. University finished, I got a full time job and broke up with a long term boyfriend. Cue dropping down to a lithe size 10. Four years and a happy relationship later and I’m a 12-14. The weight is creeping back on as I kid myself that I can still eat whatever I want and see no waist expansion. HAHA.
I absolutely love Christmas – I always have. And I think that’s because I’ve always had wonderfully relaxing, cosy winter days curled up in my Mum and Dad’s house with my close family around me just spending some time together. Sure, there has been the odd scrap and argument, but Christmas is just such a magical time it takes a lot to overshadow it.
With it now being two weeks today until the big day, I thought I’d share the top five things I love the most about Christmas to help get you in the festive spirit!
For Christmas this year, I decided to share the kindness and got involved with Lady Writes Bloggers Secret Santa. The concept is simple – you have a budget of £20, you get sent the details of another blogger, check out their pages to see what they’re into and send them a lush box of gifts to start December off with a bang!
Wow, ten years in Newcastle upon Tyne. Who would have thought I’d still be here ten years after rocking up at the University in tears because I was leaving my friends and rubbish ex-boyfriend behind? I must admit, it hasn’t all been plain sailing and I’ve considered leaving more than once, but somehow Newcastle just keeps me in its grasp.
Last week I was lucky to have a totally flying visit to Budapest, Hungary. In between various work commitments, I worked out that I had a total of four hours to get as much sight seeing done as I could in that time. Having never been to Budapest before, and never even looked at a map of it before last week, I decided to get on the Google and look up the top sights to see. Also shout out to Queen B for posting about Budapest *just* as I looked it up. Good timing!
So what did I get up to in four hours?
I got a surprise, late birthday gift this week that turned out to be surprising in more ways than one! Have you ever heard of Lipstick Queen’s Frog Prince lipstick?! I hadn’t but was certainly surprised when I opened the pack…
As part of my birthday pressies, my wonderful fiancé Andrew bought me tickets to see Maximo Park play Newcastle City Hall on 19 November. They are one of my favourite bands and I had completely missed out (forgotten) to book tickets when they came out so I was thinking I would be missing out big time. Andrew saved the day! The tour is in honour of the tenth anniversary since the release of their debut album, A Certain Trigger. Was it any good?
I have the bestest family and friends, I really do. Once again I have been well and truly spoilt for my 29th birthday! I had a lot of beauty products on my wishlist as I am always looking to expand my collection, but I was overwhelmed with everything I got. I thought I’d share a few of the beautiful gifts I got that I am really looking forward to using in the run up to Christmas.
I recently wrote a post about five easy ways to show someone that you care on World Kindness Day, which was Friday 13 November this year. Without getting embroiled in political debate, it turned out that we needed kindness more than ever on Friday 13 this year. But I am also a staunch believer that it’s important to practise a little bit of self-care every so often. You can spend so much time running from one occasion to another (grabbing a glass of wine as you go) that you end up feeling burnt out and a bit blue. So I thought I’d share some of my top tips for giving my body, mind and soul some extra TLC.