Man Gifts

My husband is the hardest person to buy presents for ever. I never know what to buy him for a birthday or Christmas so I have to start planing about 6 months in advance.
It's his birthday on June 10th, so why oh why did I think that it would be a good idea to marry him 5 days before his birthday?! This means that I need to get him anniversary gifts and then just 5 days later, I have to get him birthday presents!
Now don't get me wrong, I adore buying him presents, he is so appreciative of anything I get him and so good at doing a 'surprised, happy face' when I've maybe got it wrong! I just never have any good ideas of what to get him!
As I'm 99% sure that he doesn't read my blog, I'll go ahead and let you in on a few secret ideas that I have.


Kindle- he's always stealing mine and we're going to Turkey on July 9th so I think it will go down well as he loves to read on holiday.

Converse- My Mr H is somewhat a collector of converse, so he can never have enough pairs!

Wallet- He has a beautiful Vivienne Westwood wallet which is looking a bit worse for wear these days, but I know he's a fan of the designer, so maybe a similar one?

Gig Tickets- Not sure what gig, but he's happy going to see any live music so could be a good idea.

I just had to add this picture in for the gig tickets part- I just love Seth Cohen, anyone else?

Smellies- He will never admit it but loves to secretly use bath bombs, moisturisers and yummy shave creams.

Flip Flops/Holiday things- like I said, we go on holiday about a month after his birthday, so I could get him some flip flops, sunglasses and t shirts.

For our anniversary, we have already ordered our gifts to each other- Leeds Festival Tickets. As the firs year is paper, we thought it was a nice idea. We have also given ourselves a £20 budget to get a few other bits a surprises. I've seen a few bits that I want to get him- a t shirt in Primark with the Las Vegas sign on it and a pair of cufflinks that look like poker chips. Both fit in with with our wedding as we got married in Vegas.


I'd love your opinions on any other gifts for men that are hard to buy for. I love unusual, interesting, thoughtful presents, and i hope that maybe I've helped you guys with some tricky gift ideas! Let me know!

House Hunting

I'm feeling pretty stressed right now, but then isn't everybody when they are looking for a new house?
We currently live in the city centre, which has its pros and cons. It's fab for shopping, nights out, socialising and not needing to pay for taxis or buses. But then I hate it as it is such a tiny flat and we have a lot of stuff, the noise, not feeling as safe as outside of the city centre and not having a garden.


We moved here around 2 and a half years ago, we hadn't been together very long, we went out partying probably 3 times a week and both worked 5 minutes away. So much has changed since then. Neither of us work near home (well my husband won't be in around 2 weeks), we will be getting a car that we will need to put somewhere, we don't go out anywhere near as much as we used to and we will hopefully be starting a family in the near future.


I'm longing for a garden, a proper kitchen and somewhere that I can do my washing without taking it to my mums. That's another thing; my hubby drives, I don't. So to go and see my mum (which is very often) I either have to pay £4 to get the bus (as I hate her having to pick me up and drop me off) or walk for an hour and a half.


I have been looking online at houses to rent in the area that we want to move to for months now, which was a bad idea as I knew we wouldn't be able to afford one till now. I've fallen in love with loads and been upset when they have been taken by somebody, but consoled myself with the thought of how quickly there have been new ones. So why is it, now that we can afford to move, there is NOTHING that we can afford in the area that we want. Absolutely nothing. It's like when you go shopping and have no money, you see a million outfits that you love, but when you go shopping with money to spend, you don't see a thing you like!


I'm not asking for much- all we want is a 2/3 bedroom house in the right area (which isn't a small area) with a garden and a bigger kitchen than we have now. I'm really hoping that something comes up soon as I have got my hopes very high that we will be moving soon.


Keep your fingers crossed for us guys!

Mothers Day

It was Mother's day last Sunday (18th March) and my sister and i spent a lovely day with my mum and Grandma. I just love any excuse to buy people presents and spoil people, especially my mum.
I bought my mum a lovely navy scarf with red and white spots- it was just so "her"' I had to get it for her, a blueberry candle, a little shabby chic heart hanging ornament (she collects heart ornaments) and a big bunch of pink flowers.

                                          

 I went over to my mums for lunch, we had chicken stew and veg, which was gorgeous, followed by apple tart and ice cream- my favourite! And of course a few glasses of wine! It was just lovely to spend time with my mum, grandma and sister.
My mum loved her gifts and we all sat down and watched a movie- The Pact, which is an adaptation of a Jodi Picoult book that we've read. My sister and I decided to make some mothers day cookies, so we left her to it for a bit and messed the kitchen up a lot! They turned out ok actually- they didn't look amazing, but tasted great!

Our yummy cookies.

Waiting for the cookies to bake...

I love spending time with my family and we had such a great day. Hope you all enjoyed your Mothers Days too!  

Leeds Festival 2012

If you are a music lover, this is the place to be in August.

It will be my 3rd time going this year and I just can't wait. I am SO excited about the lineup. Foo Fighters are my favourite band in the world ever so I almost had a mini breakdown when they were announced. It will be the second time I've seen them and I'm so excited. I am also looking forward to seeing The Cure, Kasabian (who are from my hometown of Leicester!), Florence and The Machine, Eagles of Death Metal, oh the list could go on and on.
I love going to Leeds Festival, the atmosphere is amazing, everybody is so friendly- you can just start chatting to people and make friends! The music is always the best and it is just the best experience ever.
I'm determined to not take so many clothes this year, as when i went in 2009 and 2010, I took so many outfits that I ended up having to carry to the campsite with me and then only wore about half of what I took- I lived in my pyjamas!
I have found a gorgeous pair of wellies, they look like biker boots but are made of welly material, I'm going to be getting them from Amazon at some point soon.

Wellies by JuJu at Amazon £29.99.

So if you're going this year let me know and I can stop by your tent and say hi! And if you're not going, why on Earth not??!!

Bel Ami

I had a very random night last night. What I thought was going to be a quiet dinner with the girls turned into a drunken, late night, screechy visit to the cinema.
We started the evening at the amazing Wagamamas, we had a lovely time- there was the three usual girls that I see once a week or more and two old friends that we hadn't seen in a wile, so we had a great catch up and had gorgeous food. Every time I go to Wagamamas I mean to try something new, but I just can't stay away from their Teriyaki Chicken Donburi. It is just TOO yummy! I love Wagamamas, the food is always great, and the green tea is free!

Teriyaki Chicken Donburi.

We decided after we had eaten that the night wasn't over yet and went to the nearest pub. My friend Nomes and I shared a bottle of Rosé and as everybody else decided it was home time, we decided it was Champagne time! So we had a bottle of pink Champers and were quite giddy. We decided that it would be a good idea to go and see a very late showing of Bel Ami- the new Robert Pattinson film. We didn't have a clue what the film was about, all we knew was that we had to see Rob then and there!

We were the only two people in the showing, so got quite silly, screeching like 14 year olds every time he was on the screen!

To be quite honest, I didn't think the film was amazing, I probably wasn't paying attention due to the tipsyness and love of Rob, but there was just no proper storyline and it moved too quick to understand properly what was going on. 

As the film is set in Paris in the 1800's, the costumes were really beautiful, as I'm sure you can imagine. i also thought that Christina Ricci and Uma Thurman were great- their English accents were actually quite convincing. I don't think it's one I'll be watching again though.

Puppy Power!

We will hopefully be moving from our tiny flat in the town centre to a house with a garden, which won't be in the city centre in the coming month. I am excited about this for lots of reasons, the main one being...
We get to have a puppy!!!
I have been looking at puppies online now for years, reading up on the best ways to look after them, what is best to feed them, which breeds we would get on with best and the cutest leads, collars and dog beds.

Louis Vuitton Baxter Collar.

Louis Vuitton Baxter Lead.

We don't want a big dog, as we doubt that the house and garden that we end up having will be huge, and also because it is going to be our first dog, we think that a smaller one would be easier to look after. 
I want to call it Brody if it's male, as I loved the name for a baby, if we ever had a boy, but my husband really didn't. If it's female It will be called Chloe (as I love it when animals have human names) or Phoebe after our favourite Friends character.
I will keep you all updated on the puppy situation when it happens, but for now, here are some of the cutest...

Awwwwww!!!!

The Queen, Duchess Catherine and The Duke of Edinburgh's visit to Leicester

We had such a lovely day on Thursday (8th March 2012). It was the first day of The Queen's diamond jubilee tour and as I told you in an earlier post, her first stop was where I live- Leicester!
I absolutely love the Royal Family, so you can imagine how excited I was- I was expecting to meet Kate and become best friends!
The night before, I looked up their itinerary and we decided that we would leave our flat in the city centre at 11am and walk down to Magazine Square, which is where DeMontfort Uni is, and after the train station was going to be their first stop.
We got to the opposite side of the square and had to stand there, as it was already full of people waving flags and waiting for The Queen's arrival. 
The cars came along, after the police escorts at 11.45am on the dot and the crowds went wild, waving flags, clapping and cheering, and there they were, across the road from us! The queen looked lovely in bright pink, waving and smiling at everyone, but I unfortunately didn't get to see Kate, so we decided to go on to the clock tower later to get another glimpse.

The Queen, Prince Philip and Duchess Catherine arriving at Magazine Square.

Heading for the red carpet.

Their car waiting for their return.

We popped to Starbucks for a Caramel Machiatto and then decided to go and wait at the Clock Tower to see them again. There was still around 2 and a half hours to wait until they were due to arrive and my husband thought I was crazy, going to wait so early, but we were so glad we did! There were big crowds already forming and luckily we got to the front, but a little further from the Clock Tower, where they were going to be.

There were some brilliant street performers and we got to see the dancers rehearsing, so we were kept entertained. People were handing out flags and others were chatting and making new friends, it was just such a lovely atmosphere.

Some of the street performers.

We knew that The Queen was on her way down the street before we saw her, as people were cheering, screaming and clapping and then we saw the cars. I almost screamed!!! I was right next to Kate, there she was in the car waving and smiling at us all, she was just so beautiful, she looked every inch the princess.

They got out and watched the dance that had been rehearsed for them, then went and sat down while a speech was made and The Queen was presented with a photo album and she unveiled a plaque. We then all sang the national anthem and gave three cheers for The Queen, it was just such a lovely day!

FOTD: Natty Blue Eyes

My husband did very well with my presents last Christmas, this FrontCover baked eyeshadow palette was one of the lovely things he got me and as it is full of colours that I wouldn't wear every day, I haven't used it yet too much.
So I thought that I would do an eye look for a special day we had on Thursday (more about that here).
I don't usually go for blue eyeshadow, with me having blue eyes. Also because anytime I do wear it, my mum laughs at me and says it reminds her of the 80's, but I had a little experiment and loved the look I came out with.


This is the lovely palette. I know he got it from Boots, but it was around Christmas time, when they have all their lovely gifts in stock, so I'm not so sure if it wold be available now.

I love all the colours in the palette, and they are lovely quality- very pigmented. I wore them over Urban Decay Primer Potion, hardly needed any eyeshadow and it lasted all day.

I sometimes also use the bottom layer as a shimmery bush/bronzer/highlighter which reminds me of the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Nectar.

For the eyes, I used 'Cloud Dance' from the top row as a highlight under my eyebrows, and then used 'Babys Eyes' from the second row all over the lid and in the inner corner, finishing with 'Dark Arts' in the corner and crease and blending it all together.

                                                       

What I'm wearing on the rest of my face...

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in 'Shell'

MAC StudioFix Powder in NC15

Urban Decay 'Naked' eyeshadow (on my eyebrows)

MAC Sheertone Blush in 'Pink Swoon'

Diorshow Blackout Mascara

No7 High Shine Lipgloss in 'Whisper'

The Queen and Duchess Kate Are Coming To My City!

One thing that you will learn about me is that I have a huge obsession with the Royal Family. I was so excited about the Royal Wedding, and completely fell in love with Kate, I even cried when she walked down the aisle!
So you can imagine my major excitement when I discovered last month that on 8th March 2012 (TOMORROW!) The Queen will be coming to Leicester- where I live! I'm sure you can imagine my double excitement when, a few days later, it was announced that The Duchess of Cambridge would be joining her!!!!
I almost passed out!
So tomorrow, my day will consist of stalking the Royal Family. I'm not getting my hopes up that I'm going to see them, but if I do, of course I will be putting any pictures on here for all to see.
I will leave you with a few favourite pictures of the Royals.

My Favourite Dress of Kates

The Queen and Princess Margaret

I adored her second wedding dress