My Mothers Day

This year marked my second year as a Mummy and it was nice to be treated on Mothers Day. Every day since becoming a Mummy has been special, however, it is lovely to be appreciated and treated a little extra special on Mothers Day.

Below is what I got from Charlotte.

I absolutely adore my gift and card. Here is Little Miss and me on Mothers Day, it's the best we could manage all day, an active toddler doesn't have time in her busy schedule to fit in a photo!

Hope you all had an amazing Mothers Day.

Review: Flavourly Box March 2014

I came across the Flavourly Box when browsing on Groupon it was on offer for £4 for the box plus £2 postage. Normal selling price is £13 with £2 postage.  Flavourly states that it is the 'easiest way to discover new and exciting fine foods, snacks and delicious craft beer at an affordable price'. 

From the dispatch email being sent to me the box was delivered within two days which is always good. The box is shoebox sized and comes neatly packaged with brown paper and just like the beauty boxes you get a few leaflets. The first is a meet the makers which tells you all about the products inside. A recipe card and offers for Hello Fresh and Simply Cook which will be getting used.

Below is what I received. 

As you can tell it's a pretty full box and everything in it I had never tried before, in fact, the only brand I had heard of was Beyond Dark.

Overall, I was impressed with this box so far I have enjoyed the Beyond Dark chocolate and Hectares Sweet potato crisps. My little girl enjoyed the air dried apple crisps.  I loved that all were brands from the UK and that there was a selection of sweet and savoury snacks as well as items to make a main meal.

As with any subscription box there are going to be items you either don't like or aren't keen on. I hate olives, no matter how hard I try to like them I just don't, however, these were gratefully received by my Mum. I would have also like prices of the items to be included in the meet the makers leaflet.

Revlon Colorburst lip butter

 I thought I would share my collection of Revlon Colorburst lip butters and my thoughts on them. I have three; Juicy Papya; Lollipop and Strawberry Shortcake.

Strawberry Shortcake was my first purchase, I always tend to go for pink when choosing lip products and this one looked so beautiful when I swatched it in the shop. It's a lovely barbie pink. I'm not keen on this shade on my lips as they are a bit too pigmented for this shade to really work well. I use it lightly to add just a little shine to my lips.

The next one I purchased was Lollipop a vibrant pink with blue undertones. I love this colour so much and is perfect for an evening out.

I purchased Juicy Papaya after seeing Tanya Burr use it in a tutorial and thought it would be a perfect day colour and also something a little bit different for me. This is a perfect peachy orange colour which is lovely, when applied sheer it gives my lips a little perk up and when applied more opaque it's a gorgeous spring time colour.

Overall, the lip butters are a really nice product, they apply easily, last well and are very moisturising.

Review: Graze Box

I love Graze boxes and over the years have had quite a few boxes, usually when they are offering them free or at a reduced price. For those of you that don't know what a graze box is, it's a selection of 4 snacks sent through the post for £3.89 a box. You can choose to have these delivered weekly, fortnightly and monthly. The website allows you to mark products with bin, try, like and love as well as a tick box to send soon. 

When I first tried Graze a few years ago I wasn't too keen as most of the products had dried fruit in which I don't like but in recent years they have developed some really delicious snacks ranging from cakes to beef jerky.  They also have a kids graze box and an upcoming breakfast box.

The box I am reviewing is my third box this year as I got a deal for 3 boxes half price. I received Brooklyn Bites, Cheddar Gorge, Graze Brownie and Vitamin E Defence.

Brooklyn Bites contains poppyseed pretzels, cheese cashews and roasted pumpkin seeds. I loved this one it was so tasty and had a good variety of textures. This is 157 calories for the portion.

Cheddar Gorge is a regular in my box and is most definitely my favourite graze punnet. It contains cheese cashews, baked herbed bites and salsa corn sticks. There is a good mix of flavours with a little bit of heat added with the salsa corn sticks. This is 139 calories per punnet.

The Graze Brownie was a welcome edition to this box, it is split into three small pieces so in the interest of losing weight this can be portioned out, however, at 110 calories for the punnet you may prefer to have it in one sitting.

The Vitamin E Defence was my least favourite out of this graze box, it contained cranberries,roasted hazelnuts, jumbo raisins and  red skinned peanuts. As mentioned I am not a huge fan of dried fruits but loved the nuts that came in this punnet. I was able to share this with my little girl as she loves raisins. The punnet is 177 calories.

I do enjoy receiving my Graze box but I am currently taking a break as there is always something I don't like sent no matter how hard I try to weasel out all the dried fruit ones. I would like Graze to introduce a service where you could choose a couple of the things you would be sent.

Try yours at www.graze.com

Banana and Pumpkin Seed Flapjacks

This was a recipe I found in the Weight Watchers magazine which I changed up a bit. The first thing I did was use real butter instead of low fat margarine as I don't like the chemical taste of low fat margarine, secondly because I didn't have enough oats I used 90g less and thirdly I didn't add muscovado sugar as I forgot. However, these little beauties are amazingly good.

Ingredients

140g butter
140g golden syrup
260g oats
2 mashed bananas
2 tbsp of pumpkin seeds

How to make the flapjacks.

1. Preheat oven to 140c
2. In a saucepan melt butter and golden syrup together until it is a nice smooth sauce.
3. Add mashed banana, oats and 1 tbsp of pumpkin seeds.
4. Combine ingredients together and press into a greased tin and sprinkle the remaining pumpkin seeds on top.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden on top.

March Birchbox

My birchbox arrived this week, so here is what I received.

dr brandt Pores no more

Aromaworks Serenity body oil

Benefit Stay Don't Stray 

No7 for her by English Laundry

Molton Brown Rhubarb and Rose replenishing hand cream

Lulu Guinness rock

I was disappointed in this months box. The Lulu Guinness hype which started in last months box was a massive letdown, the stick of rock was a bit pointless as was the sleeve that covered the box. I would have preferred a specially designed box. I would've also liked to have seen a full size item.

The dr brandt Pores no more looks interesting but sounds exactly the same as Benefit's Porefessional which I received in last months box.

The Aromaworks body oil smells nice but I'm not a fan of body oil.

Benefit Stay don't stray is the product that excites me most as I have been looking for a new eye primer.

The No7 for her by English Laundry is a lovely smelling perfume, it's fresh but sophisticated.

The Molton Brown hand cream smells divine, I love Molton Brown products so was happy to receive this.

NOTD: OPI Gouda Gouda Two Shoes

Just before Christmas I was lucky enough to pick up 3 full size OPI nail polishes from TK Maxx for £2.99. Gouda Gouda Two Shoes was one of the shades which I tried for the first time last week. The colour is a little hard to describe as it is an orange but not too bright and wouldn't fall into the brown category. I also feel that it is almost like a dusky pink colour in some lights. It reminds me of the colour of terracotta plant pots. It has a lot of lovely gold shimmer running through it. 

It applied really nicely and needed two coats to be opaque. This lasted 3 days on me before the ends started to chip but I didn't use a top coat and maybe with that it would have lasted longer. It's an unusual colour and is lovely for the days you want to paint your nails but you want something a little bit conservative.

Slatterys

If you are local to the North West you will have either been to Slattery or heard people rave about it. Up until Valentines Day I was in the camp of never been but definitely needed to because of the rave reviews.

I don't celebrate Valentines Day, however, I do celebrate my little sisters birthday. Along with my friend we arranged to take her to Slattery for cake and of course Charlotte came along with us.

On approaching Slattery you can't help but see the amazing cakes in the window; massive, lavish cakes that make you marvel at the skill and effort that has been put in to make it. After parking the car we made our way inside.

Passing cakes made for birthdays and weddings was like being in a museum of cakes each displaying prices, who knew wedding cake was so expensive? Definitely worth getting married for! Downstairs consisted of the 'cake museum', cake supplies, freshly baked bread and cakes and pastries that you can just pop in and buy. At the back on the shop you are also able to watch the amazing cake makers at work.

The tearoom was upstairs so off we trotted to get our table. We were seated and began to make our way through the menu. There was more than cake on there, it had a lovely selections of afternoon teas, sandwiches, salads and platters. We ploughed through onto the cake menu, it all looked so delicious and making our minds up was difficult.

I ordered Charlotte apple and chocolate dip from the Children's menu and for £1.95 was very reasonably priced. A plate with slices of fresh, green apple with a chocolate pop and dipping chocolate arrived for her. It didn't take long for her to dive and there was chocolate everywhere, if you can't get chocolate all over your chops as a kid when can you?!? I would also like to point out Charlotte did not eat all of this! She would still be awake with the sugar rush now.

Between the adults we ordered the chocolate sampler platter and a Manchester Tart served with raspberries. This was delicious, lovely pastry, sweet jam and a divine creamy custard with a coconut topping.

The platter came with 4 different chocolate cakes and two chocolate pots; one filled with whipping cream and the other with melted chocolate. The cakes we received were a millionaires shortbread, white chocolate cookie, chocolate orange brownie and a chocolate covered chocolate cake. This was chocolate overload, we struggled with the sweetness of this between the three of us, amazingly this wasn't part of the 'sharing desserts' and people were having this to themselves.

If you are after somewhere a bit special for cake or afternoon tea I would definitely recommend a trip to Slattery, I will be returning this month to take my Mum for Mother's Day.

Family Day Out: Pennington Flash

Pennington Flash is one of my favourite places to visit. It is a country park located in the North West of England. It's a gorgeous place to walk, feed the ducks, bird watch, play on the park and to take stunning photographs

Before Charlotte arrived we used to go for walks, to feed the ducks and on a few occasions I took part in the Race for Life which is held there. When Charlotte was a baby I used to go for walks with the pram and sometimes we would be joined by my friend and her little boy.  Now Charlotte is walking it's lovely to take our time to walk with her without being hindered by the pram.

On this particular trip we took bread to feed the ducks, this was Charlotte's first time feeding the ducks and she loved it. She loved walking after the ducks pointing at them and throwing bread into the flash for them to eat.

If you are looking a for a nice, family day out for the cost of car parking (£1.50) definitely give Pennington Flash a visit.

20 Tag Questions

1.Thing you cannot leave the house without
Keys, mobile phone, purse

2.Favorite brand of makeup
I really love Urban Decay.

3. Favourite Flowers
I love Gerbera daisies and also really like daffodils.

4. Favourite clothing stores
Being plus size I am fairly limited to where I can shop at the moment I am enjoying Yours Clothing and So Fabulous.

5.Favourite perfume
My ultimate favourite is Chanel Chance. I also like DKNY Be Delicious and Britney Spears Curious.

6.Heels or flats
Flats. I am tall so heels do not work well with me.  

7.Do you make good grades?
I was average. I have 9 GCSE’s, 2 ½ A Levels and a degree.

8.Favourite colours
I like blue, green and purple.

9.Do you drink energy drinks?
No, they are so disgusting.

10.Do you drink juice?
Every so often.

11.Do you like swimming?
I like swimming and don’t go as often as I should. Charlotte will be starting swimming lessons next year so will get to go more.

12.Do you eat fries with a fork?
Nope, the only way is with your fingers.

13.Whats your favourite moisturiser?
I like The Body Shop’s Vitamin C one.

14.Do you want to get married later on in life?
At some point it would be nice.

15.Do you get mad easily?
Depends on the time of the month! Generally it takes a lot to get me mad though.

16.Are you into ghost hunting?
No.

17.Any phobias?
Does Peter Andre count?

18.Do you bite your nails?
No but I do pick at them.

19. Have you ever had a near death experience?
No

20.Do you drink coffee?
Yes. I love coffee.

NOTD: Mavala London with Barry M Silver Glitter

On my nails this week is Mavala's London with an accent nail topped with Barry M Silver Glitter.

Winter Tag

For Tag Tuesday this week I am going to be doing a winter themed one.

1. What are your favourite things about winter?

I love winter my favourites things are the weather, dark nights and Christmas

2. What is your favourite winter food?

Turkey and all the trimmings

3. What is your favourite winter drink?

Gingerbread latte or baileys hot chocolate

4. What is your favourite winter perfume?

Chanel Chance

5. What is your dream way to spend a winters day?

Spending time snuggled on the sofa with a good film and munchies.

6. What are your winter beauty essentials?

Burt's Bees lip balm and The Body Shop's Vitamin C moisturiser.

7. What is your favourite winter candle?

A the minute I am loving Yankee Candle Red Berry and Cedar

8. What colours are on your Christmas tree?

Red, silver, white and green

Eggy Noodles

Food Friday is here I found this recipe in a baby led weaning book (minus the sweet chilli and soy sauce) and it is just the perfect comfort food that is easily and quickly cooked. This can also have chicken or prawns added.

 
Ingredients.

75g of dried noodles per person
1 egg
Mixed vegetables(I used frozen mixed vegetables) 
Sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce to taste

How to make your eggy noodles

1. Make noodles as directed on packet.
2. Beat egg
3. Boil vegetables
4. Drain noodles and place in a frying pan with egg and vegetables. Stir fry until egg is cooked.
5. Mix in sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce.

NOTD: Rimmel Space Dust in Aurora

Today's nails are courtesy of Rimmel.

This is one of their Space Dust polishes in Aurora. It is a fine pink glitter with chunky silver glitter running through it. On my nails I have two coats but you could get away with one coat as long as you or no one else takes a close look. The chunky glitter is evenly distributed and it wears well. I am currently on day 3 with no chipping.

Christmas Tag

Tuesdays during blogmas will see tag posts. If you see one you would like to do please let me know.

1. What is your favourite Christmas drink?

Hot chocolate with baileys. Not sure how Christmassy this is but I only ever drink it around Christmas.

2. What is your favourite Christmas smell?

I love the smell of mulled wine.

3. Do you have any Christmas traditions?

We don’t have any Christmas traditions but I am starting some with my little girl this year like a Christmas Eve box and going to a special Christmas event. When she is older I want to do Elf on a Shelf.

4. What's the one thing you really want to get from Santa this Christmas?

I would really like a tablet.

5. Have you ever built a gingerbread house?

Nope. I’m not a fan of gingerbread biscuits.

6. Who is your favourite person to buy presents for?

I really enjoy buying presents for my Mum, she usually has a list which makes it easy and I can always find her a surprise.

7. What is your favourite Christmas song?

Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin’ Stevens.

9. What is the weirdest gift you have ever received?

A nodding pink poodle for the back of my car. Imagine the Churchill dog just in pink poodle form!

10. Do you like to dress up for Christmas or stay in your PJ's?

I like to dress up but be comfy so I tend to wear leggings and a nice top. This year I have a Christmas jumper which I am so excited to wear.