Hard Rock Café – Manchester Visit

I’d been meaning to write this post last week, before my house descended into Christmas madness, but work and other commitments piled up, so I’m only just getting around to it now. The weekend before Christmas was supposed to be the date of our wedding, but the original venue cancelled and we suddenly had a free weekend on our schedule. Rather than sitting around thinking about how we could already be married, we decided to book a weekend mini break away together, and Manchester seemed like the perfect escape. We didn’t get much opportunity to explore, given the Christmas craziness, but I did get the chance to visit another Hard Rock, so here is an account of my latest café visit!

Festive Family Traditions

I love Christmas, but it’s been difficult to get excited this year, especially with all the wedding stuff piling up! I’m a bit gutted that it’s already almost half way through December, and the most festive thing I’ve managed is a half assed attempt at erecting the 3ft tree and a quick blast of Christmas tunes on a trip to meet the wedding coordinator. Therefore, in an attempt to get back on track with my excitement levels, I thought I’d share a few of our family traditions with you…

The Readers - #5 The Christmasaurus

Is anyone else feeling festive yet, I know I am! With Christmas officially beginning for many of you tomorrow, I’ve decided to bring the fifth instalment of ‘The Readers’ forward a month and provide you all with even more seasonal cheer in the lead up to the big day!

 

Feeling Festive With The Body Shop Sauchiehall Street

We’re done with Halloween, and Bonfire Night has passed – now it’s time to start feeling festive, right? With the launch of The Body Shop’s Christmas range, I think the answer to that question is, most definitely, yes! Given my general excitement surrounding the whole of the winter season, I was delighted to be sent an invite for The Body Shop’s VIP Christmas shopper event – I was even allowed to bring my Mum along as a guest!

Lush Christmas 2016

I’m sure most of you will have noticed the sudden appearance of Christmas items - especially now that we’ve entered October - however, I’m always extremely excited when Lush begins to introduce its festive products. This year, I was invited along to Lush Livingston’s VIP shopper event for an exclusive chance to celebrate my absolute favourite time of year! After recently reuniting with members of Paul’s family, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with his sister, Nicole - she also has a blog over at Coco Made Her Do It, and she was fantastic company for the evening. I couldn’t quite believe she’d never sampled any Lush products before, so I made sure she left knowing how amazing Snow Fairy is!

 

Five Little Things I’ve Been Loving Recently

I’ve been finding it difficult to de-stress recently – I’m just entering the final year of my PhD, along with planning a wedding and budgeting for every pound in my bank account - my enjoyment levels are definitely not where they should be! My family and friends have obviously been doing their best to calm the beast (for which I am very grateful), but I just thought I would share five little things which have been lifting my spirits of late:

My Greatest Gift this Holiday Season…

Christmas is over for another year. 2015 is almost at an end and - as is usual with the time of year - I’m in a rather reflective mood. I’ve been struggling with how to approach the subject of this post for some time, but I’ve seen a lot of bloggers posting about their recent Christmas gifts, so I thought I’d tell you about mine…

 

On the last postage day before Christmas, I received a letter with the news I had been hoping for – after 3 years, the results of my smear test were finally normal! This sounds like a pretty simple thing, but my life feels like it has been on hold for almost three years, since right after my son was born.

 

I Ate Too Much… But There’s Always Room For Baileys!

Friendship is important. Friends are supportive, they get you through hard times, put up with your complaining and are often thought of as ‘the family you choose for yourself.’ Despite this, friends are usually overlooked at Christmas, especially when you have kids. Families gather and celebrate together, often leaving your ‘chosen family’ forgotten about until the New Year. Not content with this, we wanted to include friends in our celebrations, and this weekend marked our much anticipated annual Christmas meal with friends, or Friendmas as some people refer to it!

 

Festive Coffee, Christmas Markets and Star Wars

When you have kids, making time for your partner can often be difficult, especially in the run up to Christmas. At the end of the day, we are often too busy completing chores, or too exhausted after a busy day at work, to spend any time together as a couple – we needed a day off! To mark the final year countdown to our wedding (we’ve been engaged for a while), we both decided to head into Edinburgh and enjoy ourselves at the Christmas markets, while the kids were at school and nursery.

 

Holidays Our Way

I recently agreed to take part in my first collaborative blogging opportunity in the form of a Christmas themed ‘Blog Hop.’ The whole idea was to share the work of fellow bloggers in a non-competitive way, while still writing about what you enjoy. A list of the other fantastic bloggers involved can be found at the end of this post, please take a moment to visit and discover some hidden gems!