Thursday Things

aka a random blog title for a random post!!

I'm finding that, without a camera phone, I am forgetting to mention a lot of things as I haven't taken photos.

Take today - these are the photos I took at home in the morning...

And the story behind the photos - would you believe that this is a winning hat??! Haha. Izzy's school had an Easter Fayre today, and years R, 1 and 2 did a hat parade. There were lots of hats - clearly made by the parents - with nests on top/super tall/pink and fluffy etc etc but the majority of Izzy's class had bought hats like the one above. Anyway, 2 children from each class were chosen as "winners" and, much to my astonishment, Izzy was one of them. Her teacher said the reason Izzy's hat was chosen was that it was clearly made by the child...well you can say that again!!! Last year Liam helped Izzy to make a hat from scratch, and she then refused to wear it. So this year I just gave her the bonnet, some Easter stickers and the sellotape and left her to it...clearly the way to go in future!! She was happy that she won a bag of little chocolate rabbits anyway, and it meant I got out of queueing for the tombola - the queue was so long, and standing still in the heat was really uncomfortable, so as Izzy already had some chocolate, we went to the ice cream shop instead. One mango yoghurt cone for Izzy and a raspberry tub for me and Toby...we then headed to the park for a bit before coming back home. We also walked along the seafront - such gorgeous weather, so pretty - I wish I'd taken the camera with me!

In other news today, I lost 3.5lbs at Slimming World this week, whoop! Obviously I won't lose anywhere this much each week, but it was a nice 1st week boost! Afterwards, *ahem*, Mum and I went for cake. She has made a "deal" with me that each week after the meeting we'll go for coffee, and if I've lost that week, she will treat me to coffee & cake, whereas if I stay the same or gain then I have to pay but - more importantly - we will only have coffee. Motivation right there (!!) Today I had marmalade bread and butter pudding with (lots of) double cream, mmm! Next week I think I will have some kind of cake instead though - this was delicious but quite stodgy. When the lady first poured the double cream I thought it was loads, but the pudding soon soaked it all up!

On Monday evening I placed an order with Cream Supplies which arrived on Wednesday morning:

Chai tea syrup for a friend's birthday present, gingerbread syrup and raspberry iced tea syrup for me (but I'm resisting opening them until Sunday in case my friend has already bought the chai syrup in which case she can have one of the others), salt and kale chips. I wish I'd taken a photo of the inside of the kale chips, because they are already all gone. De-licious! :)

During the day on Monday, my sister and I went shopping. No photos of the food I ate as I didn't take the camera - times like those are when I'd always have used my camera phone. I ate way too much but it was all delicious - iced coffee and (divine!) emmental and mushroom toastie in M&S for breakfast, and lunch in Cafe Rouge. I ordered a small houmous with crisp breads and a small salad with chicory leaves, walnuts, blue cheese and pear...but then I also ended up eating most of Toby's macaroni cheese and chocolate ice cream! Needless to say I was stuffed after this, but I still managed to fit in an iced chai latte from Starbucks...I don't live near a Starbucks so I have to make the most of it when I'm near one!! ;)

As well as lots of food, my sister helped me choose quite a few new clothes to buy. The closest I get to an OOTD photo:

No idea where the jeans are from, but new top is from the Mantaray range at Debenhams. I tried on four tops in Debenhams and this one was the one I liked the least, but was the only one I ended up buying! I really like it now though - the shape actually seems to fit me properly for once :)

In Debenhams I also bought a pair of exercise trousers as I currently only have one pair which limits how often I can work out (well, that's my excuse anyway!):

I also bought a few strap tops in H&M to go under other tops, plus the pink one might be acceptable to wear on its own once I've lost a little bit more weight - I bought it tight as the next size up was already baggy and would have (hopefully!) been way too big by summer!!

And finally, we stopped off at M&S where I bought a pair of black leggings (to wear under dresses that I haven't actually bought yet!) and two more tops...

Hopefully these will last me for a while! I deliberately tried to buy slightly longer tops as they are so much more comfortable, especially for the bending/twisting/picking up etc that is involved with spending time with Toby! Because I don't have a huge number of clothes that fit me/I feel comfortable in, they get worn so quickly. The tops I bought last summer for my honeymoon are already super faded!

Final thing in this random post, Liam and I made plans today for our wedding anniversary weekend. It is still 3 months away but I am so excited - we're going to London for the weekend!!! :-D We're going to be there from the Saturday lunchtime until the Monday afternoon, so any recommendations of places to go/things to see/places to eat etc are very welcome! I can't remember the last time I went to London...not since I was about 12 I don't think. When I was growing up we only lived about an hour train away, so we used to go several times a year for shopping/theatre etc, but now we live more than 3 hours away so never go...sad times but it does make this trip extra exciting! We haven't actually booked anything at the moment - thetrainline.com hasn't even released tickets for the dates we want yet - so I imagine I will be mentioning it even more as we get closer and our plans start happening a bit more. In the meantime I already have a very long Word document listing all the things I want to do - I imagine the 2-3 days are going to fly by!!

So, obvious question...have you ever been to London? If yes, where were your favourite places to go/eat? And if no, what would be at the top of your list? Wholefoods Kensington was the first thing I wrote down, haha, but I'd also need to include some non-foody things in the plans for Liam, and perhaps some sightseeing as well as eating!! ;)

Successful Day

I intended to write this post last night, but I was just too exhausted – things have been really hectic around here the last few days! So this post will mainly focus on Thursday – yesterday – as that was my “successful day”.

My Mum and I went shopping in Exeter, on the hunt for summery clothes for me to wear on honeymoon! Sadly no trip to Starbucks as Mum always likes to start a day shopping with a coffee in Marks & Spencer. I had a latte with no sugar or sweetener, and didn’t even notice until after I’d finished drinking. Success #1! I have such a sweet tooth and usually add so much sugar/agave/sweet freedom to hot drinks!

Rejuvenated by our coffees, we hit the shops! To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of clothes’ shopping – normally getting worn out after an hour or two – but I managed to buy quite a few items! :)

We first went into Burton to buy Liam a suit for the wedding (he had already bought a dark grey one, but now is going to wear a light grey one…long story!!) and ended up buying a hoodie for myself!

A men’s shop I know, but the hoodie looks and feels great (so soft!) and was on offer at £15, bargain!!

We then went into Next, and I came out with a black skirt (good for evenings as well as daytime) and a navy top (not to go together!)…

as well as a bright pink cardi that I love!

I really needed something to wear over tops if the evening gets cooler, and this is perfect!

I seem to have bought from all the shops that my teenage self would have thought of as non-trendy or “sad”. However the clothes in the younger shops no longer suit me. I’m a 25 year-old mother of two. I’d rather wear clothes that suit my body shape than try to pretend to be something I no longer am. And hey, being 15 wasn’t all that great anyway!!

So with that out the way, next up was Debenhams, where I bought two tops.

As you can see, I mainly bought tops yesterday. I already have a couple of pairs of linen trousers and a couple of skirts, as well as jeans and some dresses I can borrow from my Mum for the honeymoon. Tops are what I needed desperately as all mine either fit but are way too short (i.e. from my younger days!) or are too big and/or stretched out of shape…not attractive…I feel so much better when I’m actually wearing clothes that fit!!

The final shop we went into before lunch was BHS. I wasn’t expecting to find anything in here, but I actually ended up buying another two tops…I think I’ve got enough to last me the 6 day honeymoon now!!

The white top is just a basic. The pink top is a nice thin fabric that will be perfect if I end up getting slightly burnt and need to keep cool! Hopefully won’t happen but best to be prepared!!
I also couldn’t resist buying a plate and bowl that were reduced…

Summer’s almost here!! :)

It was then finally time for lunch…we were starving!! We went to a vegetarian restaurant, Herbies, that Mum goes to quite a lot but I’d never been to. All the food is vegetarian, and a lot of it is marked gluten free…perfect! We shared a starter of nachos with cheese, guacamole, salsa and sour cream…

Mmm, so good. I loved the guacamole especially! Herbies was the busiest Mum had ever seen it, which was lucky really as it meant we had a 5-10 minute wait for our mains – needed as our tummies were already a little full from the nachos!

Mum ordered the soup of the day – broccoli and ginger – which came with a huge loaf “roll” of bread…

and I went for the Spicy Vegetable Satay – baby corn, mushrooms, green beans, pepper, courgette and sugar snaps in a spicy peanut sauce, with rice…

both meals came with huge salad bowls containing green salad, spicy rice salad and homemade coleslaw…

I was already really full from the spicy vegetables, so only ate the coleslaw and green salad. Plus I had a small taste of the rice and it tasted like it contained soy sauce, which often contains gluten, so I thought it was best to avoid as much as possible.

There were also some amazing gluten-free desserts on the menu – fruit crumble, chocolate and chestnut terrine (this sounded great!), flapjack and some others I can’t remember (!) but we were both way too stuffed to even consider order dessert! Next time we’ll skip the starter so we’ve got room left for something sweet! All the food was really delicious and fresh tasting, we’ll definitely be going back again! They also have a really good value children’s menu with things like jacket potatoes on it, so will possibly take the family next time…although daughter would probably want something “exciting” from the adult menu!! As we were leaving, a man came in on his own to eat, as he’d been recommended the restaurant as the best vegetarian in the South West, so it sounds like Herbies is well known!

Soon after lunch we headed home, happy, full and worn out! The day was a really good one :) I also purchased some sets of underwear, both for the honeymoon and the actual wedding day (exciting!) but I’ll save them as a surprise for Liam!!!

When we were at lunch, we got a phone call from the hairdresser saying she’d had a cancellation, so could either me or my sister come in for our second hair trial at 5. We’d decided we needed 2nd hair trials as neither of us were happy with our hair in the first ones and didn’t want the stress of it on the actual day!! My sister was busy so I rushed to the hairdressers. Glad I went. Compared to the last trial of 2 hours +, this one only took half an hour and both me and my Mum love it, yey! Another success!

I love that the front has kept my parting this time – felt much more “me” and natural. I think we’re going to aim to use one medium-sized fresh flower in my hair on the actual wedding day, but tried both clips in to get an idea…

I’m so relieved to get this sorted! My sister has her second hair trial next week, so I hope hers goes as well! I think the hairdresser understands the natural look we’re going for now, phew! :)

Things are going really well on the wedding front actually. I got quite a few things checked off the list today (Friday). This morning we met with the florist at the venue, and then went for coffee to discuss the flowers she’s going to use in the bouquets etc. She’s an old colleague of my Mum’s but also works in a flower shop that specialises in local, seasonal flowers, so we’re going to try to keep in season as much as possible.

Speaking of flowers, these are not the one’s we will be having at all (ours will be purple and cream for starters) but I’ve been wanting to post a photo of these all week! This is what they looked like when we bought them on Tuesday…

and this is what they looked like a couple of days later…

They’re all pointing upwards now! I love having bright flowers around the house, they make everything seem more cheerful even when it’s grey and rainy outside (HELLO weather?! It’s June – we should be having sunshine!!)

I also spoke to the caterer today, to discuss the food requirements in more detail – we have 7 vegetarians coming, one of whom is vegan, and one gluten-free (me!) so we’ve had to re-think the options a bit. I think it’s fine though – she was going to do couscous stuffed peppers, so is now going to do rice or quinoa (my preference) in them instead, without cheese, so they should suit everybody at least. Bulked up with bread and/or new potatoes plus salads…hopefully nobody will go hungry!

Liam and I are off to see the registrar on Monday to go through all the finer details of the day. We have to take with us print-outs of the readings plus details of the music we’re going to play in the ceremony for approval (as none of it is allowed to be religious) so we’re going to go see Liam’s family tomorrow to confirm what reading his Mum would like to do (Liam’s sister didn’t want to do a reading so his Mum is instead). My sister has already decided on the reading she’d like to do so that one is sorted.

Phew, wedding talk over for now. I can’t believe the wedding day is 3 weeks tomorrow!!

Today’s food has been pretty random, and I haven’t even photographed it all – a couple of days “off” and I’ve got out of the habit! I do want you to show my delicious dinner though…

Smoothie In A Jar!! Banana-Blueberry-Peach smoothie in a Dark Chocolate Dreams Jar no less, yum! Sadly this was the last of my last PB&Co Jar…sad! Luckily I placed a small iHerb order today…just got to wait the 2 weeks ish for it to arrive by Airmail!!

Right, that’s me done for the day. Hope you’ve all had good Fridays…any plans for the weekend?? We haven’t got many plans at the moment…a relaxing day or two is needed I think! Oh, also don’t forget to enter my giveaway!! Thanks to those that have entered so far!