Monday, 30 November 2015

Weekend Summary #13 - Putting Up The Christmas Tree!

This week we went both went back to work after our week off and trip to Manchester, it was hard. As much as we both enjoy work and George is loving his new job, it was still hard to go back and get back into the usual routine. I hate getting up so early! An exciting thing that did happen this week though is that we got our christmas tree! The last few years we have just had a tiny one as we lived in Leicester for a year so there was definitely not room for a proper tree in a student flat and last year we moved into our new flat a few weeks before christmas so we didn't get chance to get a new one. We picked one up from Matalan and I love it so much now its all decorated! We put it up on Thursday but I had to include it in this post. It was nice to relax on Friday after work with the christmas tree lights on, it looks so pretty. Most of the decorations are from Primark, we got a big pack for £5 a while ago and I picked a few extras up when we were in Manchester, the angel wings are my favourite and they're right at the top. I know it's not even December yet but everyone seems to have got into it all so early this year and I just love christmas so I couldn't wait any longer!
We had an amazing tea on Friday night, we got steak and George cooked them perfectly, I should have taken a picture but I just wanted to eat it straight away. I didn't get chance to buy much on Black Friday as payday for me is at the end of the month, I did find that I still had some money left on an Asos voucher though so I ordered a present for George, I've already bought loads for him for christmas so i'm saving it for his birthday in January, it's so difficult for us both because my birthday is only like a week after christmas and Georges is at the end of January so we both have to try and think of even more present ideas! We did find a good deal on a TV though actually with the black Friday deals on so we just decided to go for it, probably shouldn't have but we did need a new one for the bedroom as the one we did have was one we brought with us when we move out and we haven't had chance to get one until now. I love it!

On Saturday we had the longest lie in and we had breakfast in bed which was really really nice, we watched a few episodes of Catastrophe on the laptop and then George went to Meadowhall to pick up a few bits from M and S and the TV for the bedroom. I then made a Slimming World Chinese, I did a pork stir fry and made my own egg fried rice and we watched X Factor and then some more Harry Potter, we're a bit obsessed at the moment, we're just going through them all! Sunday was very much the same, we got some presents sorted and I made a roast, I also tried making some gluten free brownies as I had a pack which we got free a while ago and I only needed to add a few ingredients, they were actually really nice!
Did you do much this weekend? 

Did you see my last post? What we bought in Manchester!

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Saturday, 21 November 2015

Christmas Trip to Manchester...

On Monday we went to Manchester for 2 nights, just like we did last year, I think its something we'll do every year as a little tradition. Last year we went for the first time to go to the christmas market which is just amazing to see and we got engaged! and since then I've been wanting to make it a thing for us to do every November, luckily we both got the time off work and managed to book a few nights away in the same hotel, I had been looking forward to it for months and months and i'm so sad that we're back now. Last year it was all just a whirlwind and I don't think I got to take it all in so this time we made sure we visited the market a few times and saw everything it had to offer. 
We bought a few presents for people, they had some really cute things and I love that the things they have you probably wont find anywhere else. We also tried so much food, the doughnut pretzels are sugary amazingness. It all looks so pretty at night when the lights are on and the big Santa is lit up, I just love it, I feel so happy there and it just went so fast! 
When we weren't at the market we were doing all of our Christmas shopping at the Arndale Centre which is way bigger than I thought it was, my feet were dead by the end of the few days. We decided to get as many peoples presents as we could while we were there so we could just get each others and any other little bits when we were back, we did treat ourselves though and bought more than we planned too, we didn't really think that we needed to get it all home! We bought some christmas bedding which I love, its a tartan one which I think is so perfect for winter, its so cosy! There was more too but I'm going to do a separate post on that. We went to Slug and Lettuce on the first night for a meal, the mains weren't great but the starters were good! On the second day we had Pizza Hut, stuffed crust really is my life, and we also had a nice break in Costa. George tried one of the new christmas drinks, I think it was a gingerbread latte, I actually really like it aswell and I normally hate things like that. I just love christmas and we had to try one of the christmas drinks while we were there!

This week off has just gone so fast, its been really nice to have time off together and go away for a few days, I just wish we were back there! Hopefully we'll be going back next year! 

Have you ever been to the Manchester Christmas Market?

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Thursday, 19 November 2015

November Favourites - Snow Fairy, Garnier & Primark Pyjamas!

I'm not sure if its too early to post this as we're only half way through the month but i'm going to anyway. This month there has actually been quite a lot I've been loving so I thought I would do a proper monthly favourites as normally I just wait and do a favourites post every few months as sometimes its hard to find things each every few weeks!
Lush Snow Fairy - I am so glad that all of the christmas products are back out at Lush! It's my favourite time of year and I just want to buy everything when it gets to the christmas range. I still had a small bottle of Snow Fairy unopened from last year so I have been using that and I seriously just fall in love with it more and more every year. It smells so sweet and just fills the whole room and I can smell it for ages afterwards! I definitely need to stock up on it this year, as well as all the amazing bath bombs which come out at christmas. 

Garnier Ultimate Blends Marvellous Transformer Shampoo and Conditioner - I love this shampoo and conditioner, it makes my hair feel so good! It just smells amazing and my hair just feels so clean after using it, I know your hair should after using any shampoo but the one I was using before this was just making it even more greasy and it just felt horrible most of the time. These ones are for dull hair and my hair is very dull at the moment, it just looks the same all the time and it needs livening up a little bit, this shampoo and conditioner are really helping and I can't recommend it enough. 

Primark Pyjamas - Primark is just the best for pyjamas, I bought myself some fluffy Winnie the Pooh ones a few weeks ago which are going to be perfect for christmas and a few weeks ago I bought some new bottoms and a loose vest and they are just so comfortable. The pyjama bottoms are cuffed ones and a really soft material and the vest says #letssleep and its a really nice loose one so perfect for sleeping in and even though they don't match, it doesn't matter, they're pyjamas and I just love the ones from Primark, after buying these I also went back and bought some red checked ones, they are so soft and they just look so christmassy!

Little Mix 'Get Weird' - I don't think I have ever bought a Little Mix album but after listening to a few of the songs on this album I might have to get it, some of them are just so catchy! My absolute favourite is Secret Love Song, I also love Hair and Grown. What do you think to this album?

One Direction Made in the AM - I loved One Directions last album so I wasn't sure if this one would be as good, overall I think their last one is my favourite but there are some amazing songs on their new one. I'm still so sad their going on a break, is it really a break? cos i think its a full on split. Anyway, my favourite songs which I have been playing over and over from this album are,  AM, Temporary Fix, Infinity, Perfect and Olivia. Have you heard the new album?

Another favourite of mine has obviously been going away for a few days with George to Manchester, like last year, it was just as good as last year and we went to the Christmas Market a few times over the 3 days so it felt like we really got the most out of it, and we did so much christmas shopping! I'll do a proper post over the next few days but I had to aad it onto this one!

Similar Posts - Recent Favourites - A Little Bit Of Everything! and Beauty and Random Favourites.

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Friday, 13 November 2015

Weekend Summary #12 - Date Night and Taking a Break...

Last weekend we had the boys to stop which as always was so much fun. It's so weird that we have our own place and that they can actually stop over for a few days every month, it's mad how grown up we feel and how quick it all seems to have happened, it doesn't seem like its been 4 and a half years since we first got together!

On Saturday we decided to go a Paradise Island, a mini golf place as we've been before with them and they really enjoyed it, I actually don't think it matters what we do, its just always nice to spend time together and have a laugh. There are two different courses at Paradise Island, we've been before and I mentioned it in Weekend Summary #3 if you want to have a read, so this time we went for the other course. When we got back I made Spaghetti for tea which was actually so good, I really went off it for a long time but I know the boys like it so I made it and all of us loved it, I was so happy with myself as it was the best I've made and I always worry that people wont like my cooking! We also watched Harry Potter, of course I ended up falling asleep! and we bought loadsss of sweets and chocolate to have with the film, we don't see them often so when we do we like to treat them.
Normally I have a long weekend as I work Tuesday-Friday but this week I worked on Monday instead of Friday (today) so this week I have been so tired as I've been out of my usual routine and I never really noticed until now the difference that extra day off at the weekend makes! Even though we've both been really busy this week and so tired, we went out for a meal on Wednesday, we went to Pizza Hut, I have serious love for cheese stuffed crust omg. It was just amazing and nice to go out on a date night, the cookie dough too was just insane.
As we haven't had time this week, I really want to get on top of the tidying this weekend and get sorted for next week as we're off to Manchester and I can't wait! On Sunday it will be a year since we went for the first time and saw the christmas market which I had been wanting to go to for ages! I won't bore you all over again but these are the posts from last year - I'm Engaged!, Manchester Christmas Market and The Trafford Centre, Lush, Superdrug and Selfridges Haul!.I'm so excited to go again and just have a few days away together, it always feels so special and especially now im working I think we'll appreciate the time off together even more.

I'm posting this today as I won't be doing a weekend post next week, we wont be doing much apart from tidying and packing and I just want to enjoy the start of our week off together, i'll be back doing posts over the next few weeks and i'm sure they'll be a few about Manchester but I just want to take a little break, I haven't posted for a week because I haven't had anything I wanted to talk about and I don't want to force myself to blog and to be honest I just don't have the time now, i'm definitely not stopping blogging because I do love it but I really don't focus on followers or stats anymore, I just want to blog when I have something worth mentioning and when I can really dedicate some time to it.

Last weeks Weekend Summary - Meadowhall and a Harry Potter Day!

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Friday, 6 November 2015

Quick and Easy Recipe - Covered Chicken and 5 Grain Rice

I love cooking and try to do it as much as possible but since starting my job it has been so much easier to just go for convenience foods or to pick something up on the way home. We still cook just not every night like we used to and its been getting me down a bit lately.
I was going through a some recipes a few weeks ago and found a really simple one by Jamie Oliver. It's literally chicken coated in parma ham baked in the oven. He added some cheese in the middle and different seasonings and things like that but I just kept it basic. I cut any bad bits of the chicken then seasoned a little with salt and pepper, wrapped each chicken breast in parma ham then placed in a dish which I had sprayed with frylight. I baked it in the oven for around 40 minutes, checking and turning it about half way through. 

I already want to make this again, it was so simple and easy to make and it honestly tasted so good. It's already on the meal plan for next week! I made a salad just consisting of some iceberg lettuce, cucumber, plum tomatoes and red onion (my fave). We also wanted to try some of the new Uncle Bens Rice Pouches which have been advertised a lot recently, we picked up the 5 Whole Grains one which has wholegrain rice, wild rice, barley, millet and red quinoa. I know its more expensive to buy pouches like this but its so much easier and it was really nice.

Have you got any quick and easy meal ideas that I could do when I get in from work? I'm really stuck for inspiration at the moment!

I know this probably isn't worthy of a blog post and is a bit of a random one but I was actually really proud of it and it was the nicest meal in ages!


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Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Weekend Summary #11 - Meadowhall and a Harry Potter Day!

This weekend was a really fun one, on Saturday we went shopping for a few bits, George was looking for some new work clothes, he started a new job on Monday and im so proud of him! He also looks really good in smart clothes, it makes a change to his old uniform that he absolutely hated. We've known for a while about his new job but I didn't want to mention it on my blog until it was definite and he had started but now I can finally say! Anyway, as well as work clothes for George, I wanted to get a few things too as its getting really cold now. I went to New Look and got some new skinny jeans, i cant find a link for them now but they're so comfy and I can't wait to wear them with my boots, I also got this grey longline top which is really flattering and so comfy and I got a zip side jumper which goes really well with my leather jacket and boots. I definitely need a few more things for winter but we're going to Manchester in a few weeks so I think i'll pick some more up then. The last thing I got from New Look was a perfume which is actually a present for one of our friends, we still have a few more things to get them but I thought she would really like this and it smells so good, I should have got one for myself!
I did get some new pyjamas from Primark too, I love buying new pyjamas and Primark just had loads to choose from, I got some cuffed blue pyjama bottoms which were £6 and a loose vest which was £3.50. I don't want to take them off! The last few things we got were from Superdrug, I got the Garnier Ultimate Blends Marvellous Transformer Shampoo and Conditioner which smell amazing. I used them a few days ago for the first time and I know im going to love it, my hair already feels better than it did before. And we went to Harvester for a meal, but they've changed the menu! So it was nowhere near as good as it has been before which is disappointing. On Sunday we had a film day, well a Harry Potter day, we only managed to watch 3 of them but there is so many and they are so long so we'll have to have another one in a few weeks! It was a really nice chilled Sunday which is exactly what we wanted the day before George started his new job, it gave us chance to get everything sorted and spend some time together, I also made a Lasagne for tea which was really nice, we hadn't had it in ages!

I'm so excited for the next few weeks, George is going to be on much better shifts now so we'll actually get to see each other a bit more, next weekend his brothers are stopping, I'm not sure what we'll be doing yet but we always have fun and then in a few weeks we're going to Manchester for a few days! I can't even explain how excited I am but i'll talk about that a bit more in a few weeks time as this post is long enough!


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Monday, 2 November 2015

A Cosy Movie Night In - Film Haul, Candles & Food!

Me and George both love a good movie night and we like to go all out when we do. We recently had one and George went shopping first to pick up a few films and essentials, I had no idea what he was getting and he did very well so I wanted to blog about it.

He picked up a selection of films as we had no idea what we wanted to watch, he got Cuban Fury, Maleficent, The Breakfast Club and Into The Woods. I think they were buy one get one free or something like that at HMV. They're all quite different which is nice, from comedy to disney and more. He also went to Primark and picked me up a new candle, in Pink Grapefruit, it smells so good! Also isn't the packaging so pretty? I love having candles lit in the evening, especially when we want to get cosy and settle down for the night. I didn't know he was getting anything like this so it was a very nice surprise. 
Then for treats because is it a movie night without them? I don't think so. He picked up my favourites, Dairy Milk Puddles and Caramel Nibbles. He also got a muffin for me from the best place ever in Meadowhall and he got himself a Krispy Kreme, baked goods are life.
Something else I think is essential for a movie night is cosy pyjamas and a nice glass of wine! I'm not normally too bothered about wine but George picked a really nice one recently and it's definitely one we'll get again. I also love my new cosy pyjamas from Primark! It was the ultimate movie night in, so lovely!

What are your essentials for a movie night? 

Similar Post - Pamper Night and Shopping in London!

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