Weddings Days

Many of you will know after reading my blog that this past weekend has been the weekend of my Mum and her partner’s wedding. It was an amazing fun filled two day event, even if it was a little tiring. We are currently all sat around my mum and her new husbands house, eating Dominos in our PJ’s and looking through all the pictures, so I thought I would share some with you.

Friday night was an informal gathering and a chance for both sides of the family to meet and mingle. There was a lot of chatting, laughing and drinking going on, and with the help of my game of ‘Crazy Little Game Called Love’, a lot of scheming. The game is one I have come across through the hours I spend reading wedding blogs… I a woman obsessed. The game involves taking pictures of famous celebrity and royal bride and grooms and superimposing your own bride and grooms face in place of the famous star. The pictures turned out great, and were very humorous. The game itself brought out everyone’s competitive side especially when a drinks voucher was revealed as the prize, overall it proved a great ice breaker for everyone.

If the game itself didn’t break the ice, the sight of my Grandma having her head shaved by my mother, definitely did. My family has unfortunately been affected by breast cancer both now and in the past, so to help raise money for a cause both very close the our hearts and central to the wedding she decided she wanted to raise money by having her head shaved. No one was told beforehand, so it proved to be quite a shock to many, however she raised around £400 for charity, deeming it very successful. Everyone again did not know that Grandma has a beautiful wig that she wore for the Wedding day, so there was no bald bridesmaids running around, well at least not at the ceremony, it soon came off when the dancing started.

I only have a small selection of pictures of the ceremony, as I was too busy enjoying the day/carrying champagne and flowers around to take pictures, but you can see that pink was a strong theme in the wedding, as it is my mums favourite colour, and relates to the breast cancer charity. From the third picture you will see that shoes also played a big part, my mum wore hot pink stilettos on under her dress, and each bridesmaid had a different pair of sparkly shoes.

Many of the lovely guests who attended commented that it was the little details that made the day so spectacular, many of which were handmade by my mum and her willing helpers. Above are a selection of these little details along with the pictures I took while getting ready… seemingly the only free time I had.

*The hotel* *The view from my room* *Champers and cake for breakfast* *Hair clips* *OOTD-bridesmaid edition* *Curly bridesmaid hair* *Wedding favours* *Wedding Breakfast* *Assiette of deserts* *Wedding cake and flowers* Pink Wedding Popcakes* Curly hair 15 hours later*

I plan on posting another couple of wedding related posts, one with more of the wedding pictures, so you can gain a greater idea of the day. The other on the popcakes we baked and decorated for the guests. So keep checking back if you like cake or beautiful photographs.

Have any of you been to a wedding recently? What made the day extra special and stand out for you?

Graduate Girl| My Graduation

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I now have letters after my name and am a fully fledged graduate. I graduated from Northumbria University with an Upper Second Class degree in International Business Management; it took me long enough! I am very pleased to have graduated and have some very happy and sad memories from the years I spent studying both in Newcastle and France. I seem to have gone through it all with my studies, so am very relieved to be finished with this stage of my life.

I had a great day, and was a very lucky girl thanks to my ever so generous family. I received so many lovely things; seen above. I was never expecting such great gifts, but cherish every single one, and am happy that I can keep them all as mementos of my special day. I received various Pandora charms, vouchers, the biggest bunch of flowers ever, a Michael Kors rose gold watch, and my first ever pair of Louboutins! I am especially excited about my watch as I have wanted one ever since I first saw one; and obviously over the moon with my Louboutins. I had been joking for months saying I only wanted to graduate wearing a pair of Louboutins, but never in a million years expected to receive a pair.

The day of my graduation seems like such a whirl wind now, I don’t even remember certain things as there was so much to take in. It was a very stressful and overwhelming day, but I will run you through the general idea of my day.

My ceremony started in the morning at 10.30 am, so it was an early morning for me to make sure I was looking my best for it! After my ceremony I met various members of my family for photos, we then all had refreshments of Bucks Fizz and Cupcakes.  I then had professional pictures taken and made a quick stop back at my flat to have a cup of tea and rest; it was an extremely tiring day. I went for Lunch/Dinner in the afternoon at Gustos; one of my favourite restaurants on the Quayside in Newcastle. Dinner and drinks were gorgeous, as always, and it was great to sit down and take in the day as it went by vey quickly. After dinner my family left to travel back home, and my boyfriend took me to Malmasion to toast my achievement with some Champers. We spent some time there relaxing and celebrating then retired home.

Overall I had a lovely day, was lucky to celebrate it with family who spoilt me rotten; and both I and them are proud of my achievement.

I hope my followers and reader who have graduated this year enjoy their special day also.

A walk in the park| OOTD

Dress- Asda

Cardigan- Tesco

Belt- H&M

Shoes- Primark

Bag-Zara

Long time no see! I have had a busy few weeks trying to organise my life. As many of you know who follow my Twitter (Follow Here) I have landed myself my first grown up, real, career starting job, no more waiting tables for me! I am becoming a marketing assistant but have the responsibility of setting up an in-house marketing department with the help of the director and manager of the company, along with the creation and implementation of the marketing strategies; big responsibility, but I’ve got many ideas and can’t wait to get started. I am obviously over the moon, however it is located back home in the Lake District, so I am having to move away from my boyfriend and the life I have built in Newcastle and back in with my Mum in rural Cumbria; its going to be a big change. I am also off travelling Finland and Lapland next week, so am trying to squeeze everything in my backpack for then, which is always a struggle as I am not a girl who packs lightly.

Amongst all this excitement I have had the chance to spend some quality time with my boy. One of the evenings being the one featured in this post. We decided to go for dinner at an Italian in Jesmond in Newcastle, and as it was a gorgeous evening took a long walk in the park on the way there. To say people were making the most of the weather was an understatement, the park was full of people, but its great seeing families and friends spending time together.]

For the evening I chose to throw on this quite smart dress, which is from Asda. I have worn it previously for presentations at university, as it is formal yet quite fashion forward with it being midi length, yet it is still very comfortable. I decided to dress it down by wearing canvas ballerina pumps, a cardigan and my trusty Zara bag.

I hope you have been keeping well while I have been absent from my blog.

Happy New Year| My Year In Pictures

Happy New Year to all my lovely followers and readers, I hope you all had  a great night, however you spent it. I myself spent it with my boyfriend and his best friend and girlfriend, we had a little couples night in. We ordered a takeaway and played Pictionary and toasted the New Year in with a lovely bottle of Laurent Perrier…yum yum! So all in all it was very civilised, especially considering I can’t even remember last New Years Eve…. I must be maturing.

2011 for me was a year of dreams coming true, due to my amazing 5 months spent living and studying in France. Since I was a little girl I have always wanted to live in France, so to actually accomplish this has made me a very happy lady. I had the best time of my life, visiting some amazing places, meeting great new friends and making perfect memories. At times it was hard, especially leaving my boyfriend and family behind, but I think it has made me grow as a person.

During the summer of 2011 I got the chance to backpack around areas of Europe with my boyfriend, I especially loved Italy.

One major high point of 2011 was my mother overcoming her battle with breast cancer. She had been fighting it for 18 months prior, so this year she has been announced as being cancer free and is in remission, she also got engaged to her boyfriend, so my mum’s health and happiness has been a great blessing to me.

My best friend also got married in the summer to her lovely fella, and I had the honour of being Bridesmaid. We had a great time planning the wedding, a fun filled Hen Weekend, and a perfect wedding day.

I also celebrated 4 amazing years together with my boyfriend. We went to Edinburgh for a romantic weekend, and stayed at an amazing 5 star hotel and spa, and had dinner at a 3 Rosette restaurant, it was perfect.

For 2012 I have a lot going on; graduation, finding a job, perhaps relocating, my mothers wedding, hopefully passing my driving test.

At the moment I feel quite daunted by the prospect of this year, as come this time next year, I could be in a whole new location working at a new job that I hopefully love, but it’s my life so I have to live it!

What are your main goals for the year? What will you cherish from 2011?

Christmas Time In Pictures

This is the past week for me in pictures.  I have had an extremely busy Christmas week. I only had 3 days off work, and still managed to clock up 360 miles travelling to see all mine and my boyfriends family. When I arrived back in Newcastle my father and his girlfriend visited for a few days, so it has only been till today that I have had a day to myself. Not that I am complaining I have had a great Christmas.

I hope you all had a lovely week.

Diet Tips| Dinner Do's and Don't

After my article on "18 days to look fabulous" a few comments mentioned that they find the many dinners they share with family and friends the hardest part of trying to be healthy during the holidays.

So I am going to share a couple of tips I have picked up.

Make sure even when following these tips that you enjoy your dinners. Do not spend Christmas worrying about what you put in your mouth, still indulge, just don't over-indulge!

• Fill up half your plate with vegetables or salad. These obviously are extremely good for you both on your waistline, but also your skin and hair. The more food you have on your plate that has less calories, the less you are going to eat over all. 

• Try everything, don't panic about eating something that may have a high calorie count. Just make sure you only have a couple of bites. Mariah Carey followed this rule to lose weight for her world tour. It is called the Morsel Diet, named so, because you have a tiny portion/couple of bites of whatever food you want, but ONLY a couple of bites. (I'm not saying to follow this diet, just follow the rule for your big dinners)

• Only have what is on your plate! Do not nibble before hand when preparing food, and do not take seconds. If you must, have more meat, more vegetables, not more potatoes. 

• Ask for a smaller plate. If with your own family, this is a simple ask, if not do not worry. If you have a smaller plate, you can not fit as much on it, so will definitely eat less.

• When at a buffet at a party or other event, follow the same rule. Have one plate only, fill it half with salad or vegetables, and have plenty of chicken legs (they always seem to have these at buffets) Just keep away form the carbs (pastry/ crisps etc) and stock up on protein (chicken, ham, sausages)

• Do not nibble on sweets, crisps, nuts throughout the day! If you must have some then portion it, take a separate bowl and have a handful (one handful) and eat this portion and this portion alone. If you don't portion and instead nibble and graze, you do not realise how much you have eaten, and can over eat very easily.

• For desert, have some!! (only if you want) But have a normal portion, not a huge one, you can always say you are full from dinner, so can not manage a large portion. The key with dessert is, if you can have it without cream, ice-cream etc; this can easily add another 200 calories.

It really is all about portion control, here's a picture to help you.

If you can not follow these tips, it does not matter! What you need to do is pick 3 or 4 big events, and have whatever you want during these dinners/parties, and just eat moderately and healthily for the rest of the time.

I hope these tips help you take control of your diet over the holidays. Let me know what your favourite portion control tip is. 

18 Days To look Fabulous| Tone Up Quickly

It is 18 days till the big night, New Years Eve! This means we all have 18 days to look and feel amazing for the big event (whatever your plans are.) Most people spend the occasion catching up with those we have not seen for a while, so what better occasion to turn up and make jaws drop. It is obviously very hard to maintain our weight throughout the holidays, never mind lose weight. However it is doable, especially during the week between Christmas and New Year, as the majority of parties and get togethers happen before Christmas day. 

So what I'm suggesting is that we do not punish ourselves with relentless calorie counting, but instead make healthier choices. Here are my top tips;

• Do you need an extra glass of wine after the 3 you've already had? Try swapping a large glass of wine (185cal)  for a vodka lime and Soda (76 cal), this will save you around 110 calories.

• Always have a healthy breakfast. You can at least start the day right. Have a healthy filling and nutritional breakfast, for example a smoothie, for your vitamins, then scrambled or poached egg on wholemeal toast. The protein will ensure you stay full untill lunchtime, and if you are hungover the eggs enzymes are good for your hangover (if you can stomach it.)

• Have a health lunch as well! If two out of 3 meals are healthy, it will make a difference. Plus if you have eaten well for most of the day, you will less likely want to ruin your good work, by indulging too much for dinner. Have some soup, hummus with carrot/ celery/ pitta bread, or warm Chicken and pasta salad (in a tomato sauce, not creamy!!)

• Have a 30 minute brisk walk 5 days out of 7. Try going for a walk after your dinner, this will help your digestion also, so you will feel less bloated. Wrap up nice and warm and take the family or dog with you. If you don't fancy walking at night, then try walking to work, or get off your bus or tram a stop early and walking the rest. It may only be 10 minutes extra, but it will help boost your metabolism meaning you will burn more calories when you are sat at your desk all day.

• Do some strength exercises, even if you are new to it. Did you know that for every pound of extra muscle you gain, you burn an extra 150 calories a day! Plus it will help your posture, and the dreaded cellulite! So if you plan on wearing a short dress you need to be doing some lunges! 
• All I am asking you to do is 50  bicycle crunches in the morning when you wake up, and 50 before you go to bed. Bicycle crunches work the whole abs area, so will help trim your waist quicker. 
• Plus 50 squats while you brush your teeth in the morning and again in the evening. It is better than just standing there, plus squats are a great calorie burner, but make a great difference to the toning of your legs and ass... We'll all be looking like Beyonce in no time.

Now I am absolutely certain that everyone of you reading this will be able to do these small but significant things every day over the next 18 days. It really will make a difference your body, your skin, your hair, and it will ensure you look fabulous on the biggest night of the year.

Lets go for it! Let me know what your plans are for the New Year?

Christmas Time, Tree time| Christmas Tree Inspiration

So it's that magical time of year again where all the Christmas tree's start appearing again. As someone who is very proud of her tree decorating skills, and see's herself as being creative I love nothing more than admiring other peoples Christmas trees.

This evening I was lucky enough to be spending a few days at my family home, so was there in perfect time to help put the tree up. I love my dad's house at Christmas as it has an old fashioned vibe going on, everything is colorful, glittery and miss match, but yet cosy and heart-warming. We get a big real tree, and have lots of fun and arguments disputing when the tree is level and even. We then have a section each to ram as many baubles, beads and glitter on. I had such a great time with my little brother and sister, Dad and Step mum.

I've also Included a few pictures of my very different tree at my own flat in Newcastle. It's not quite the same, a bit more artificial and modern, but I still love it. 

How does everyone else decorate their tree? Modern, Traditional, miss match or minimalistic?