January - a sunday snapshot

Hooray! January is finally over, we survived it! January is always a bit of a bleak month especially after all of the frivolities of Christmas. The Christmas food has been replaced with lettuce, the twinkle lights replaced with a grey dullness and the hope of snow replaced with rain and lots of it!
However it hasn't been all doom and gloom this month, here's what I got up to...

 

 

1. It's quite clear from these photos that I haven't quite committed to the lettuce based diet just yet, we indulged in Father Cheesemas burgers at Byron's accompanied with mac and cheese (because you can never have too much cheese!)

 

 

2. Finding some January sale bargains at Bluewater. You can find out what I bought by clicking here.

 

 

3. We enjoyed an amazing weekend away at Ashdown Park hotel and Spa. We had such a wonderful time, I love cocktails and the cocktails at Ashdown Park were simply delicious. I am a huge vodka fan and they had such a choice of vodka based drinks it was almost impossible to decide which one to try first.  Keep and eye out for my review, which I will post soon.

 

4. We stumbled across a wonderful tea shop which was entirely Winnie the Pooh themed, I'm a huge Disney fan so I was in my element. We also took a stroll through the 100 acre wood and found Winnie the Pooh's secret home!  If you are ever near by I would highly recommend a visit. You can read about my adventures by clicking here.

 

5.As a wedding presents a dear friend bought us both National Trust memberships, it's been so much fun getting out and exploring nature. We have managed to visit some great places using our membership and this month we visited Sheffield Park, it was so peaceful wondering around the gardens, looking at all of the huge trees- it reminded us a little of our trip to California. I also couldn't believe that some of the snowdrops were out already!

 

6. I love getting my nails done, it's fast become my favourite monthly treat. My nail technician is amazing, there is nothing she cannot do!

 

7. I am terrible with hairstyles, usually my hair is found in two styles (and I use the term 'style' loosely) either down (with help from my GHDs) or up in a (not very good) ponytail. A few weeks ago a few friends and I got together with a hairdresser to learn a few different styles of plaits. This is the waterfall plait she showed us - I love it, all I have to do now is remember what do it!

 

8. My friend and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea at Mrs Sailsbury's famous tea rooms in Maldon, it was fabulous, the food was wonderful and it was down such a pretty side street called Bright's Path. I promise I will share photos of it soon.

 

9.We booked our summer holiday!!! I am so excited, we are going to Canada for 10 days then cruising around Alaska for a week with Disney! I really can't wait and as it will be cold in Alaska I need to start my holiday shopping now- Yipee! Do you have any recommendations for places to see in West Canada? I would really love to hear your suggestions.

 

 

 

What has been the highlight of your January?

I would love to know, leave me a comment below!

Love Chlo XxX 

Burn's Night dinner party

A few years ago I decided it might be fun to throw a Burn's Night dinner party, whilst I'm not Scottish I never turn down a reason to celebrate. I thought it might be fun to share some photos with you, apologies for the photo quality- I never thought I would be sharing them when I took them!

 First we started with a Scottish smoked salmon and scotch egg salad. I made a dressing from mustard, clementine juice and extra virgin olive oil- it was amazing!

 

Next up was the star of the show- rare scotch beef, haggis, neeps (swedes) and tatties ( mash potato) 

I bought two haggis ( haggises?) a traditional one and a vegetarian ( I just couldn't face eating a sheep stomach.) I boiled them in their sack and when served they resemble crumbly stuffing, the vegetarian haggis was surprisingly nice ( as was the meat haggis, so I was told.)

Finally we ended our meal with my take on a cranachan, hand whipped cream, meringue, raspberries, flapjacks and shortbread biscuits- it was heaven!

After our scrumptious meal we headed to the pub for a quick tipple.

After returning to the pub I treated myself to a nice cup of tea in my most Scottish mug and a shortbread biscuit ( what else?!) 

Do you celebrate Burn's Night? What's your favourite meal to cook for friends? I'd love to know! 

Chlo XxX

If you go down to the (100 Acre) Woods today...

Winnie the Pooh and the 100 Acre Woods

 

In the words of Winnie the Pooh himself " I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen" and that's how I felt when driving into Hartifield and stumbling upon Pooh's Corner, a delightful Winnie the Pooh shop and Tearoom.  According to their website the shop was opened in 1978 and has become home to the world's largest "pooh-phernalia." I love buildings which are soaked in history and I was thrilled to find out that the original owner of the shop (Mr Ridley)  had met Christopher Robin Milne on a number of occasions. In fact this is the area were the real life Chrisopher Robin and Pooh bear had their adventures and provided inspiration for the classic books.   

The shop is beautiful and sells every Winnie the Pooh item imaginable. The staff are really friendly and helpful- offering information and directions to some of the most famous (real life) Winnie the Pooh locations. After purchasing a 'Poohstick Bridge map' (for the bargain price of 50p) and some 'Hunnycombe' we decided it was time for a little something so headed for a smackerel or two in Piglet's Tearoom.

One of the beautiful shop window displays

We settled ourselves at a cosy table and studied the menu - it's huge! Sandwiches, cream teas, cakes, pies- even the famous bear himself would struggle to polish off this menu.  I decided on Pooh's cream tea (which consisted of two fruit scones, jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea) and Matt choose a turkey, brie and cranberry wrap. The staff promptly brought over our tea and I almost squealed in delight when I noticed that even the cups were Pooh themed. Soon followed by our food, the potions are heffalumped sized (sorry I couldn't resist! but seriously, the portions were enormous.)
My fruit scones were lovely and came with plenty of clotted cream and jam ( they were huge I couldn't manage to eat both) and Matt really enjoyed his turkey wrap. I loved the décor here, the walls are full of Pooh themed memorabilia and photos of A.A Milne and Christopher Robin.              At 2 o'clock one of the wall clocks started to play the Winnie the Pooh theme, straight after this another clock played a slightly different Pooh tune and then another ( I suspect this happens every hour, on the hour) it was fun to watch and added even more to our 100 Acre Wood adventure.

This place is great,  the prices are SO reasonable, the setting is lovely and the staff were really friendly and welcoming ...

 And as we were leaving I spied a man with Winnie the Pooh shaped toast and honey! I am definitely going to come and order that toast!

Heffalump sized scones

After our delicious lunch we followed our map to the 100 Acre woods to play a game of Poohsticks. (Now, those of you who aren't familiar with this Winnie the Pooh based game it is NOT as disgusting as it sounds! The rules are simple, players choose a stick, they drop it into the river facing upstream, then look to see which stick comes out the other side of the bridge first.)
The 100 acre woods were only a few minutes away by car and had lots of parking. It took us about 10 minutes to find the famous bridge, I heard that the bridge had so many visitors it had become unsafe so Disney paid for the bridge to be rebuild.


The Famous Poohstick Bridge

 

About 100 yards past the river is a tree said to be 'Pooh's home' it seems to have become a shrine to Pooh enthusiasts.

 

 

 

 

 

It was fun to walk through the woods and imagine different homes for the characters. 

Who lives in a house like this?



We had a fantastic adventure and are keen to return to try 'Pooh Toast' and hunt for Heffalumps and Wozzles and what great adventure doesn't end with a souvenir to take back home?

 

 

Have you been on any adventures lately? Is there anywhere you would recommend visiting? I would love to find out!

 

 

Chloe XxX

Illamasqua - a mini review

 

 Illamasqua mini haul

 

Illamasqua is a fairly new make up range for me, I first discovered it when I had my wedding make-up trail and since then I have been using their brow and lash gel to keep my unruly eyebrows in shape.

I  love their eyebrow gel so I thought I would give some of their other products a try.

Empower Palette
Whilst gazing longingly around Illamasqua's London shop my eyes were immediately drawn to their Empower Palette. I am a total magpie and was instantly drawn to these glittery colours.

Colours ( clockwise from top left) Blink, Synth, Slick, Fervent

 

The powder is silky and glides on easily. Synth, Slick and Fervent all have a lovely iridescent shimmer.  

Blink- This is quite a neutral colour, it's a lovely shade of Tuscan beige and complements the other stronger colours in this palette. It has a lovely matte finish and blends really well.
Synth - A beautiful light, shimmery colour ( this really reminds me of Bobby Brown's Ballerina) I love this pink however the colour does somewhat disappear when you apply so you do need to apply a lot!
Slick - I LOVE this colour, it's a cool metallic grey colour. Great for smoky eyes.
Fervent- Another great colour, a glittery dark brown with a hint of gold. It really lives up to it's name- Fervent: displaying a passionate intensity ( yes, I had to look up the meaning)
I love how all the colours in this palette work together, Blink and Synth are great day time shades.Whereas Fervent and Slick are made for the night, all colours blend and work well together and this small palette offers a lot of different looks.

 

Intense lipgloss

 

The first thing I love about these glosses is they fact they smell AMAZING! Just like strawberries! (they also taste quite nice) secondly I love the intensity of colour they offer.

 

Touch - I feel like it's my life's mission to find the perfect red lipstick/ lipgloss and this one came soo close! The colour is epic, I love the ferocity of red and the intense glistening. The colour is just perfect the only thing which lets this lipgloss down is its wearability. Sadly when road-tested, this perfect shade of red let me down a little. It's one of those lipglosses that does not want to stay put ( and ends up on my costa cup, teeth, sandwich and everywhere else apart from my lips.)

 

 

 

 

Belladonna - a fab shade of fuchsia, its bright, fun and super cute. Just like touch it smells and tastes amazing, however is also shares its sister's problem of not wanted to stick around. It's such a shame as I love the colour, it just doesn't seem to last 5 minutes.

Next up I tried the slick stick eye liner in black, it's an intense shade of black and unlike its lipgloss cousins it is seriously hard wearing. The only issue I initially had was getting it to work! That pencil did not want to work, so much so I accidently ended up breaking it. Luckily you twist the bottom and a little more pencil pops up.

 

So there's my mini review of my Illamasqua products, let me know what you think. Do you use Illamasqua? What products have you tried?

 

 

chlo XxX

 

Daily Skincare heroes

I am definitely not a morning person! I am always rushing around in a haze of lateness, checking emails whilst I brush my teeth and applying make-up while I play Candy Crush ( I admit it- I'm a Candy Crush addict!) Therefore I tend to favour a simple (but hopefully affective) skincare regime.

My first port of call is always these two beauties! I have tried many different cleanser and toner duos but I always end up returning to Decleor aroma cleanse. The cleansing milk is ultra light and dissolves even the most stubborn make up, it contains essential oils of lavender, petitgrain and mallow which not only smells lovely but leaves my skin feeling fresh and clean. The reason I love this cleansing milk so much is that it is light weight and has a delicate smell, whenever I have strayed and tried other cleaners they always leave my skin feeling greasy and oily.

I always follow cleansing with a tonifying lotion, it just feels so wrong not to use a water like product when cleaning my face. The Decleor Aroma Cleanse Tonifying Lotion perfectly complements the Aroma cleanse milk, just like the cleansing milk the toner has a delicate smell and leaves my skin feeling refreshed and clean. Some toners I have tried in the past have left my skin feeling stripped and dry but I find this toner has the right balance of cleansing and hydrating.

John Lewis currently have an offer on this Duo, which you can find here John Lewis it has the 400ml bottles in the Decleor Winter Sale for £42 ( that's for both!)

Next I follow with a light weight moisturiser, I find my face can get a little oily throughout the day so I need an oil free moisturiser to help hydrate  my combination skin.
I love Dermalogica active moist, it's sheer, easy to apply and fragrance free. I also love that a bottle lasts absolutely ages!



I sometimes use a primer before I apply make up but as I don't have a favourite one just yet I thought I would leave that part of my routine out. Let me know what primer you use!

I always drag my heels a little before going to bed, which gives me a bit more time to pamper myself. I love my little Estee  Lauder trio! 

Before going to bed I cleanse and tone again, then I apply Estee Lauder advance night repair eye serum, I'm finding the older I get the more I am noticing my eyes looking tired and puffy. This serum is great, it's very light weight and absorbs easily. I also find that I only need a little bit to use on both eyes.

Next up is the Estee Lauder advance night repair, there are so many review out there on this super hero, it plumps, hydrates and smooth. It's basically sleep in a bottle!

Finally I finish up with Estee Lauder resilience light night cream, this is the newest member of my skincare staples but so far I have no complaints. It feels moisturising and luxurious plus it smells amazing, it also absorbs into my skin well but doesn't feel like it's disappearing instantly.


And there you have it, my everyday skincare heroes! What are your daily go to products? I would love to know, leave me a comment below!


Chlo XxX

Webster's Pages Personal Planner

One of my New Year resolutions has been to get more organised so I thought I would take the plunge and splash out on a Personal Planner. I stumbled across this blue delight on amazon. Webber's pages on Amazon and I have to say it is AMAZING!

It comes beautifully presented in its own beautiful box and the quality of the planner is stunning. The paper is really good quality and it is full of uplifting quotes and inspiring pictures. The outside cover isn't leather but it feels buttery, smooth and luxurious. The rings are tight and allow for your planner to be filled and personalised, the clasp allows for you to add more inserts however it does already come with an array of helpful taps and sections.

 

I really cannot get over how beautiful the illustrations and images are. There are 5 taps included - write it down, memory keeping, lists to love, staying inspired and calendar.


Write it down-This section includes the headings thoughts, ideas and dreams.
Memory Keeping- This is were you record 'a day in the life of' for each month, there is also space to draw/stick a picture or images and write down memorable quotes of memories for each month.
Lists to love- Who doesn't love a list? This section invites you to record all you 'to dos' and offers space to record dreams/ambitions, monthly goals and plans. There is also space to record weekly menus and shopping lists.
Staying inspired - This is probably my favourite sections (but most likely the least useful section. ) This section provides lots of amazingly beautiful and uplifting prints and quotes such as"you can do anything" "Dream Big" and "Enjoy every moment" - I love it!
Calendar- Not one but two calendars! one smaller calendar with space for small notes and plans and a weekly planner to add more detailed plans. The boxes are great for a personal size planner.  The weekly layout also has plenty of space for planning as well as a very crisp and clean appearance

The tabs are bright and cheerful with positive affirmations, there are so many wonderful prompts to stay motivated and creative in this planner. There are so many cute features which will appeal to all.
I adore this planner and really think it is worth the month. It's so flexible, with the help of a few coloured pens I use it to plan and organise both my work and personal life.

I choose a bright blue colour but it comes in a whole range of colours to fit your style, I am completely in love with this planner and couldn't recommend it enough.


Do you use a planner to help you keep organised? What do you use?
I'd love to hear about it

Chloe XxX

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Travel plans

 

 January is always a slightly depressing month for me, all the jovialities of Christmas has come to and end and there is a brand new year empty laid out in front of me.
In a bit to combat the January blues we have been frantically holiday planning. We are planning to visit Canada in August, we going to visit Vancouver, Lake Louise, Calgary and Banff. I can't wait to see the Rocky mountains.

Last year we took our first cruise, We choose the Disney cruise and it was AMAZING! The ship was beautiful and Disney's Private Island was amazing! We loved the cruise so much we have decided to take another Disney cruise, this time whilst we are in Vancouver we thought we would get the Disney Cruise to Alaska! I am a huge Disney and Wildlife lover so this cruise looks like a dream come true, I have my fingers crossed that we might we Whales!

 

This Photos were taken on Castaway Cay- Disney's private Island in the Bahamas.

 

 

As part of our wedding present our friends Nat and Tom got us both National Trust membership, last year we went to some amazing places, so this year we are hoping to use our membership to visit other National Trust venues. I love being outside and the National Trust grounds are a great place to visit for a mini weekend adventure.

 

 

We are also hoping to have a European City break at Easter but haven't worked out where we would like to visit yet. What are your 2016 travel plans? Have you visited Canada before? I would love to know your 2016 plans

 

Chlo XxX

 

January bargins

I always try to resist shopping in January, Christmas takes it toll on my bank account so I try to hold on to my few remaining pennies in the New Year however Matt and I had a few Christmas presents to swap so we ended up braving the January sales.


I bought Matt a (what I thought was) lovely, stylish blue Hugo Boss wallet for Christmas, however Matt wasn't so taken with it so we headed to John Lewis to swap it. Matt choose a brown leather Hugo Boss wallet, we headed over to the tills to exchange the wallets, I was expecting to pay a little more however the cashier handed me a £50 John Lewis vouchers- apparently the wallet he had chosen was in the sale! Amazing!

Next we headed to Warehouse were I spotted this gorgeous metallic gold dress. It looks great, I love the contrasting black bow which really pulls my waist in plus it has pockets which are great because I never know where to put my hands. I thought it would be great for the Christmas/New year season ( only another 11 months to go.) This Jacquard Prom dress was originally £70 but £40 in the sale.

Warehouse Gold Dress

We refuelled in Byron's and both opted for the seasonal Father Cheesemas. It was epic- soo much cheese! If that wasn't enough I also got a side of Mac and Cheese to feed my post Christmas Cheese withdrawal.

Next it was my turn to swap Christmas pressies, Matt bought we some beautiful new underwear sets in Victoria Secrets, unfortunately they were the wrong size. Whilst I was swapping I noticed a beautiful coral bra in the Sale. 

Finally we headed to the Yankee Candle shop, I love Yankee Candles! The Christmas candles always smell amazing. We picked up 2 large Christmas smells for  £12.50 they were originally   £37.99!

Christmas Eve is my favourite smell in the world, it is amazing. It's sweet and candy like, it reminds we of snow fairy from Lush ( which is also one of my favourite smells.)
Christmas Cookie is lovely too, its sweet and sugary and always makes me very hungry! I thought £12:50 for these two large candles was a fantastic price.

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2016 goals!

I must admit 2015 was a pretty great year for me, I achieved a lot of life goals last year including
- getting married
- visiting 6 countries
- finally getting to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and trying Pumpkin Juice for the first time ( I spend the entire time there squealing with excitement)
-finding a great personal trainer
- trying a Disney Cruise ( I'm hooked)
- swimming with dolphins
- visiting a live volcano

Many great adventures were had in 2015 and I am looking forward to sharing them all with you, however right now I want to focus on the future and how I would like 2016 to look for me.

Here are my 2016 goals

1) learn new things
I love writing but my computer knowledge is limited, when it comes to navigating around the Oasis website I'm an expert but when it comes to coding/blogging/editing I am a complete beginner. I am hoping that this year (and this blog) is going to really help me learn a little more how to code.
I also want to learn some other things too, I received a very unusual ( but appreciated) Christmas gift of a Ukulele ( it's sooo cute.) I'm looking forward to learning how to pluck one or two strings correctly play it.

2) have more adventures and travel more
I was very lucky last year to visit a few places on my bucket list. This year I have Canada and Alaska in my sights. I also want to have a few smaller but equally as exciting adventures to look forward to. I am going to visit the Chocolate Hotel in Bournemouth soon and have suggested to Matt that we should climb Ben Nevis (eep!)

3)look after myself more
I really need to start looking after myself more, that means going to the gym REGUALLRY eating healthy (sadly chocolate doesn't count) and making sure I get enough sleep. I have developed a really had habit of going to bed far too late then spending an extra hour on my phone surfing the web and it must stop!

4) Declutter
I always look at other bloggers home decors with envy so this year I am going to focus on getting my house to look amazing and that means throwing out all the junk. I also need to do a huge wardrobe raid and donate those hidden clothes to a charity shop.


What goals have you set yourself this year? I'd love to hear all about them!

love Chlo
xXx
 

New Beginnings

Hello!
I'm Chloe- this is me ( and my other half Matt)

 and this is my brand new blog!
 A long time ago I studied journalism at University and subedited our University newspaper and I have been desperate to get back into writing again, I have been wanted to start a blog for aaagges but I've never really worked out how to ( until now!)

I am planning on writing a lifestyle blog, which will hopefully cover a multitude of things including travel, fashion, weddings and all things in-between (Wish me luck)



What sorts of blogs do you like? Do you have any bloggers tips?
Please let me know in a comment!

Love Chlo
xXx