Activity ideas for a laid back holiday & what I’ll be doing on my countryside cottage holl.

We go away next Friday to a countryside cottage for two weeks. It’s a very calming, tranquil place to spend time. They have beautiful farm animals including horses and a few pubs and cafes nearby to grab a bite.

I spend quite a bit of time before we go deciding what activities to take simply because it’s quiet where we stay and I want to keep myself occupied.

This year I’ve collected some books which I can’t wait to get stuck into. Two of the three books are new authors to me so I’m hoping for good things. In addition I have a selection of films to watch as they have a TV and DVD player. Mostly films I haven’t already seen therefore they will be a surprise to me when I watch them.

I wanted to branch out in the magazines I am taking this year. Company magazine is no more and felt like a bit of a change anyway. I opted for Hello and Hello fashion magazine so I will see how that goes. I have a few new CDs too to play on my Walkman.

Lastly I was going to dabble with my creative skills and do a bit of sketching. Included in my packing list are watercolour pencils, graphic pens and pencils as well as a really cute sketchbook. In addition I might do some baking as they have cooking facilities.

To recap here’s a few ideas you might like to try for yourself…

-   Read a new book by an author you’ve never come across before.
-   Have a DVD session and catch up on latest films
-   Step out of your comfort zone with other reading material such as a different magazine.
-   Treat yourself to a new CD and listen to it on holiday
-   Take a sketch book and pencils. Draw what you see!
-   If you have cooking facilities where you are staying try a bit of baking. Even a ready mix will
    do :-)

Did you like this post? What are your holiday plans? xx

Leeds Weekend Shopping Haul

This is part two of my Leeds weekend post. Go to the previous post here. So I thought I would show you the things I bought, let’s get started….

My favourite clothing item I picked up would have to be the linen shirt from Marks & Spencer’s. In my opinion it’s such a lovely casual versatile piece. Since being back home I have been wearing it undone like a little jacket with dresses. I can see myself wearing this loads!

A close second would have to be a coral jumper my Auntie spotted in the sale for £3.00. Again I have been wearing this none stop. Mainly like a jumper dress with leggings on my days at home. I bought it really oversized for this reason.

I purchased some loungewear in Primark including a nightdress with ‘Tres Chic’ on the front. I cheated a little with this item as I have been wearing it out as a T-shirt dress. I thought I could get away with this quite easily due to the style of it. In addition I purchased two pairs of lounge trousers. I prefer the black ones to the peach coloured ones as they can be worn out.

Lastly I we went into Wilko and I spotted a really sweet notebook for £1.00 and I just love it. What a little bargain! I got some Hotel Chocolate and a cute folder as souvenirs but didn’t photograph these.

Have you picked up any similar items? What was your fav thing that I bought? X

Marks & Spencer’s
Blue stripe linen shirt £28.00 (Buy here)

H&M
Coral oversized jumper SALE £3.00

Primark
Black chic t-shirt dress £5.00
Black joggers with logo £8.00
Peach joggers with logo £8.00

Wilko
Selfie exercise book £1.00 (Buy here)

Shopping Weekend In Leeds // Lifestyle Post

At the beginning of the month I visited my Auntie who lives near Leeds over the bank holiday weekend. On the first day we chilled out at home and ordered Chinese. On the Saturday we headed in Leeds centre to have a wander, do a bit of shopping, stop for coffee and have lunch in a restaurant in the Leeds Trinity centre.

Our trip is an annual one and I look forward to looking round the shops in Leeds. Since the new shopping Trinity was open we tend to go in there mostly. They have some awesome shops and quite newly an enormous Primark has been opened. It was probably the biggest one I’ve been in and there was so much stock to look at. I was impressed with their homeware and loungewear in particular this time.

We stopped at Caffe Nero’s for a drink and I had a delicious hot chocolate. We had lunch at a stylish Italian restaurant and the meal was lovely. I had the duck salad, my Aunt had homemade Ravioli and for dessert we shared a posh ice cream dessert. We both had a smoothie with our meal. Later I popped into a smoothie bar for a banana smoothie.

On Sunday and Monday we spent time with family. My Grandparents took my Aunt and I to an amazing carvery pub and I very much enjoyed it. I had a great weekend, it was lovely to see family and have a change of scenery. I will be doing a Leeds haul post with what I bought while I was away too! :-)

Have you been to Leeds centre shopping? Did you enjoy it? :-) x

Superdrug Haircare, Skincare and Body etc. Haul

Hey, I feel like I haven’t done a haul blogpost for a while so thought I would show you a few toiletries I have been buying. My lips have been a bit chapped so I purchased my holy grail Blistex lip cream. It does an amazing job at softening and moisturising my lips.

I wanted to try a few new products which is something I haven’t really considered for a while. I’ve been eager to check the Aussie volume shampoo for a while now. I’ve been using it as one of my current shampoos. It’s pretty good but doesn’t quite live up to Miracle Shine by Aussie.

On another thought I’ve been testing out the collection concealer which is big in the beauty community. I absolutely love the effect however the lightest shade is just a touch too dark for my skin tone.  I think I will get some use out of it in the summer though.

What are your favourite products at the mo? Have you been shopping too? Xx

Purchases...
Blistex Relief Cream £1.29 (BUY HERE)
Carmex Ultra Moisturising Lip Balm in Pomegranate SPF 15 £2.16 (BUY HERE)
St Ives Gentle Apricot Scrub 150ml £2.14 (BUY HERE)
Aussie Shower Gel Shower Smoothie 250ml £2.99 (BUY HERE)
Aussie Shampoo Aussome Volume 300ml £4.69 (BUY HERE)
Superdrug Body Puff X 2 In Pink and Blue £1.99 each (BUY HERE)
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in fair £4.19 (BUY HERE)
Essie nail polish ‘Jump In My Jumpsuit’ given as gift (BUY HERE)
Essie three way glaze. Given as gift. (BUY HERE)

Whittards Fruit Tea // My Thoughts

I have been slowing getting through my tea Hamper I received at Christmas. I had the last tea sachet today and was quite sad as it made a lovely treat. I also got given a hot chocolate hamper and because I gave fruit tea to my close family we’ve had a lot to get through.

So I thought today would be an appropriate time to share my views on Whittards Fruit Tea. This particular hamper is still available on the official website for £12.00. Click here for the link. They also have a massive range of other fab gifts so make sure to take a look!

Anyways let’s get on with my review…..I thought the tin of samples was a lovely idea and was lovely to open on Christmas day. Included were four different flavours two fruit flavours, a peppermint and then a ginger one. My Favs had to be the two fruit ones raspberry and peach and then pomegranate and orange.

The taste of each one was very authentic and I loved the idea of trying four different flavours. I really enjoyed drinking the tea and it put me in a good mood. My all-time fav tea brand is Pukka but I would say this brand is a close second. I’ve really got into drinking special tea over the last year. I also think it’s become a bit trendier. I highly recommend giving herbal and fruit teas a try!

Do you like drinking tea? What kind do you have? :-) xx

I’ve Been Baking // Happy Easter!!

Yesterday I did some baking so thought I would show you the results. I made mini egg cookies. I used a basic cookie recipe and added the mini eggs on top just before baking. I got the recipe from a book called ‘Easy Peasy Sweetie Pie’ it is a beginners baking book from an author called Mary Contini. Click here to buy the book from Amazon.

I love baking it’s a cool hobby to have in my opinion. I have been experimenting with a couple of recipes over the year so far. I’ve tried different biscuits recipes including heart shaped valentines biscuits, chocolate cookies etc. The recipe before last I made flapjacks. If you are interested in seeing the photos I have created a folder on Flickr click here to see.

I also have a passion for photography which I hope comes across in my blog. Most times I bake I try and capture some photos. I’ve noticed lots of other similar blog posts over the Easter weekend so far. Have you been baking? Feel free to post a link below if you have a blog post! :-)

I hope you all are having an awesome bank holl weekend. Sending Easter wishes to you all :-) xxx

H&M Nail Polishes

I wanted to tell you all about two nail polishes I picked up a while ago because they are just so fab! I picked up ‘Did I tell you’ which is a clear polish with large bits of blue glitter in and ‘Serenity now’ which is a beautiful opaque royal blue.

What I loveee about these polishes are they are really great quality for £2.99 each. I like to apply two coats of ‘Serenity now’ with a coat of ‘Did I tell you’ over the top. The glitter adds a party vibe but the blue on its own is versatile for every occasion.

I’ve been going through my nail polishes just recently and decided to get back into wearing them. There are just so many pretty colours for this time of year. What is you go-to Spring shade? Helen xxx