September Favourites 2015

The month of September flew past in a blur. I cannot BELIEVE we are now coming into October 2015. Time is going faster, right?! This month went at a rate that definitely wasn't normal.

September is a favourite all on its own for me - my birthday falls in this month and we start to come into autumn, hands down my favourite season. So here are a list of little bite and pieces that got me through this month with a smile on my face.

Favourite beauty product: 

This month I was really into this amazing hair mask product I found - of all places - in our hotel gift shop on holiday in Portaventura. I freaking love this hair mask. It makes your hair incredibly soft and manageable. I have never really tried hair masks before, so it has opened that door and I may be on the hunt for more through October.

Favourite music:

It's no secret that my music taste is pretty eclectic. I would pretty much listen to anything, with the exception of hardcore dance and drum and bass! This month I have really been into a new artist for me, Kacey Musgraves and her album Pageant Material. There are some songs that are a little too cheesy-country for me, but I have really been loving the tracks Pageant Material, Fine, This Town, Late to the Party and Are You Sure (a duet with Willie Nelson).

Favourite TV show:

My hubby and I try to make time for a 'boxset' night once a week and we watch a few episodes with a glass of wine. It's become a little ritual that we both really look forward to, and it means that we actually make sure we take time to spend relax together. This month we have been really enjoying season 4 of Parks and Recreation (late to the party). It is definitely my favourite comedy of all time. I don't say that lightly, and depending on when I watch Father Ted again, it might be relegated to a (very close) second. For now though, Leslie Knope, you win.

Favourite movie:

An old favourite

Hubby was gone for the weekend, watching Ireland v Canada play rugby. So I had a very nice Sunday to myself. After a lonely lunch of SW meatballs, I put the heating on, lit my new Yankee Candle (Sweet Apple), cuddled with my pup under a soft throw and put on Meet Me in St. Louis, one of my all-time favourite films. I love old Hollywood, old musicals and Judy Garland. A heavenly way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday.

Favourite book:

Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Hands down. Review posted on the blog earlier in the month.

Favourite article:

I read quite the number of articles in the month, what with all my commuting. I read a particularly interesting one in Rolling Stone with Donald Trump (Trump Seriously: On the Trail With the GOP's Tough Guy). I have a distant and inquisitive interest in American politics and boy, Trump does not disappoint. An absolutely deluded man, this article perfectly sums up ever reason why he should never be allowed to run any race, let alone a presidential one.

Favourite new recipe:

Really enjoyed making the Pesto Chicken Roast recipe I posted earlier in the month. A really good addition was the Parmesan cheese at the end!

Favourite moment:

A toss up between getting on the plane for Barcelona at the start of our holiday and watching my dear friend appear at the bottom of the aisle with her father.

Blackberries

Favourite random thing:

Finding blackberries on a Sunday morning walk recently, which means autumn is here :)

Learned this month:

I have the ability to take control of my weight loss, I just need the determination to go with it, and I'm slowly getting there.

Most proud of this month:

Organising a MacMillan coffee morning (and managing to stay away from all the lovely buns) and in the process raising over £585 for the charity.

Looking forward to most next month:

A quiet month with no plans, and a chance to give Slimming World a really good run!

Book review - Love, Ellen by Betty deGeneres

Love, Ellen by Betty deGeneres

Book 1 - Autumn 2015 TBR list

Ellen and Betty

I love Ellen deG. She never, ever fails to raise a smile. I was really looking forward to reading this book for the longest time, having added it to my ever-growing to-read shelf on Goodreads about 3 years ago! Written in 1999, it is part memoir, part self-help and details Betty's journey in 'coming to terms' with Ellen's coming out and her journey to acceptance and her part in the gay rights movement.

I really enjoyed Betty's style of writing, you can imagine yourself just sitting in a room chatting with her and listening to her stories. She has a warm, grandma quality about her writing which makes you want to pick the book up. I enjoyed her interspersing of facts with tales from her own life, it was a good way to tell her story and to get her points across. However, at times (particularly when she talked about the work she does in promoting and campaigning for gay rights globally) it felt like an endless stream of names she was throwing out of people she had met.

Betty schooled me proper in what things were like for gay people in the US in the 70s, 80s and 90s. It was interesting as a reader in 2015 reading a book published in the late 90s, and it was considered very progressive. And of course, at the time of writing, it was as current and progressive as it could be. She mentions in the book, that as she writes "only ten states have anti-discrimination laws based on sexual orientation". This means in only ten states when this book was written were workers free to come out and be themselves, without fear of losing their jobs. Here, she's not claiming this is as progressive as it could be and goes on to say it should be 50 states, but the thought now of only 20% of American people being free to be themselves in their workplace was staggering. I was 14 when this book was written, so it ain't ancient history. Another interesting theme Betty touched on in the book was religion, its place in her life and the world. It's commonly expected that religious beliefs and acceptance and tolerance of homosexuality are mutually exclusive. Yet she talks about examples explaining why this doesn't need to be the case, and the two can co-exist in harmony. She says, quite profoundly, "Religion should never be an excuse not to love".

I read this on holiday recently, and it was a great read by the pool, on the plane, and in fact, I had my nose buried in this book at the luggage carousel when we landed in Belfast. It was a pleasant easy read, and gave some context to a much-loved TV personality.

Overall score - 3.5/5

Slimming world weigh in - Christmas challenge week 7

So what with holidays and things, it's been a long while since I sat down and had a review of my SW weigh in. I was pretty much forgetting I'd ever seen the words 'Slimming World' when I was on holiday and I properly let go and enjoyed myself over my birthday. Sometimes I think that's necessary, even at an early stage! But I was delighted when I got home to discover I had only gained 1lb. I had some delayed birthday celebrations with the girls last weekend so I got to it fresh again on Monday. I have to say between Monday and my weigh in on Friday morning I really gave it everything. However I may have done some damage over the weekend with the ladies (wait... Cocktails aren't syn-free?!!) because when I weighed in this week I had completely stayed the same!

So Friday morning is my weigh in, and as I left the scales a little deflated I made my way to work for our annual MacMillan coffee morning. The torture! I was so incredibly proud that I managed to keep myself busy making tea and coffee for people and doing all the cleaning up so that I wouldn't be forced to deal with facing all the tables of buns, cakes and pastries. Another bonus was staying completely on plan Friday and Saturday this week. I have to go out for lunch today (Sunday) so I have had a look at the menu and will try my hardest to make good choices. 

I have my meals planned already for this week, so I am in a good place to stick to plan and get a good loss. I am going to take my little dog out for a big walk this morning, and get a couple of spin classes in before work this week. I have a spin bike at home, and it means a 5.40am start for me! But I do feel a renewed sense of determination since coming home from holidays, and with a load of things coming up in the next year - holidays, birthdays, weddings - I know that I have loads to motivate me. 30 has left me feeling somehow rejuvenated.

This week I found the most delicious item! It has definitely been a SW favourite - Twining's Gingerbread Tea. It's a green tea, and completely free on all plans, and genuinely smells and tastes completely like gingerbread. Perfect for these evenings getting darker, wetter and colder. Nothing like snuggling up on the sofa in your jammies with all the curtains closed and hearing the rain battering off the windows...

Little taste of heaven

This week, between my renewed aim of exercising (please let this one stick) and my meal plans I would love to see 4lbs off this Friday. It's ambitious, and if I do it I will be jumping for joy! So here goes...

Portaventura - Trip report

Well, well, well. Holidays are over. Weep.

It is hard to imagine when you're flinging everything in your suitcase, switching your out of office on and trying to get to sleep the night before you travel that you will ever be back to normality. Portaventura was a complete blast! We had four days with wonderful company, glorious sunshine, amazing food and as much wine as I could handle.

Food and drink

The water park

I wasn't great at taking photos of the food we ate (sorry!) however I wanted to describe the set up for our holiday. We booked on an all-inclusive basis, meaning we could eat until we burst! The Merida restaurant at the hotel El Paso is where we had most of our meals. Our breakfast buffet in the hotel was superb - they had anything you could imagine for breakfast. Eggs all ways, Spanish tortillas, bacon, cold meats, breads, pastries, sausages, coffee, juice, the works. As we were going in to the parks each day, we didn't get to see what the lunch buffet was like - not that I could imagine needing it. Dinner buffet was themed three nights per week, and we were lucky enough to hit that up on the Monday night, Italian night. Every kind of pasta, pizza and pasta sauce you could imagine, and the cheesiest, most amazing risotto I have ever tasted. I really loved the food in this place!

  

Bert and Ernie

We were also given vouchers for three course meals in the park each day we were staying at the hotel. This included certain restaurants in the parks, and was great as it meant that we didn't have to leave to come back to the hotel and get lunch, we could stay in the park. The voucher also happened to include a beverage, for which you could choose the local speciality lager - Estrella. I fell in love with Estrella on this trip! I will definitely be hunting some to keep in my fridge when I'm feeling like I need to close my eyes and be on holidays again...

Our final night we dined in the table service Mexican restaurant El Coyote. I had the vegetarian fajitas, which were sublime. The rest had chicken and beef fajitas, and a steak. All included. We also had wine and beer with our meal and at the end got up and walked away without paying for a thing. All inclusive was really hard to comprehend sometimes! (But we managed it.)





The Parks

Tutuki Splash - one of my favourites

Tutuki Splash - splashing

We ventured into the theme park all three days we were there, and had a ball. It was busier than we expected, and we sometimes had to queue for the major attractions, however I don't think we ever queued longer than about 30 mins. The park was in the process of being decorated for Halloween, and each day we would come in to find the park had been decorated a little bit more overnight! I love theme parks, I find them very romantic places - just pure, innocent fun and making happy memories with people you love. My husband and I have some very special memories from theme parks and even honeymooned in Disneyworld!

Shambala

Lounging near the pirate ship - Polynesia

Shambala is without a doubt the best rollercoaster I have ever been on. Dizzyingly high, yet smooth and so enjoyable. I would go back there for that alone. The 300ft drop attraction, Hurican Condor, was the one attraction we had to queue the longest for - and the reason was that the park wasn't running all the seats on it. If they had have done, the queues would have been much smaller. This was the ride my husband was looking forward to the most, as we had been on it before. Unfortunately we didn't get on as much as we would have liked, because of the queues, but once you're on it it's hard to remember being as scared on anything else in your life.

Overall

I had a blast celebrating my 30th birthday with my beloved husband and friends. I would definitely go back to PA in a few years - the new Ferrari World opens there next year. Until then, I think I want to focus on travelling to places I have never been, and I am happy to take a break from theme park holidays for a little spell. Our next trip is to Toronto over Christmas, where my parents live. They live right downtown, and I look forward to showing you around there. The countdown to Christmas...is on.

The pirate ship - one of my favourites

Boo to you!

Wild, ,wild west

Beware

Autumn wear wish list

Autumn is upon us. Pumpkin-spiced lattes, thicker coats, scarves start to appear, boots, hats, dark evenings, warm fires, cosy slippers... Autumn is my favourite time of year. My birthday is at the perfect junction of the end of summer and the start of autumn and it marks the beginning of my favourite run of seasons. Autumn, then winter, then spring. Summer is my least favourite, it has to be said. Often a letdown, the famous Northern Irish weather means BBQs are cancelled and everyone is hot, wet and very bothered. Also, my husband is very busy in the summer so we tend to take any holidays in autumn, spring or winter. And that's reason enough for summer to be at the very bottom of the list.

So, thinking about some autumnal clothes purchases I thought I would draw up a quick list of some seasonal pieces I had seen and was very into.

For work

Next - £34

River Island - £35

It's easy to look polished and stylish at work with these two classic work dresses. Pair with some tights and patent shoes for an autumnal work look.

For chill

Jersey swing dress - River Island - £35

Yellow marl jumper - River Island - £26

Lace sweater - Next - £34

Love these items for lazy days around the house with hot coffees and Netflix, for cinema trips on a Sunday afternoon or for meeting the girls for one of those pumpkin-spiced lattes.

For play

Cream Claudina dress - Monsoon
at Next - £99

Belted Tunic dress - New
Look - £19.99

 

These dresses would be great for a date night with the hubby or a round of cocktails with the girls on the chilly nights in autumn.

Accessories

Dark red leather knee boots - River Island - £120

Faux leather satchel - M&S - £29.50

   These would make for great staples for an autumnal wardrobe - perfect for weekends, workwear and more casual evening outings.