Wednesday Wants #1

I need all of these things in my life right now...

I've shamelessly stolen the idea of "Wednesday Wants" from a million other bloggers - sorry!

MAC Girl About Town lipstick...

One of my favourite shades. So summery, so long lasting, so moisturising on the lips. Mmmm.

 

Out in the garden where we planted the seeds...

Navy dress: BS8

Gold squirrel necklace: H&M

Tan belt: Topshop

Black leggings: Topshop

Tan brogues: Topshop

Rings: JWLRY and Elsiebelle

I went to Bristol yesterday with my husband, as neither of us had any interest in watching the Royal Wedding and we wanted to make the most of our day off. It was like a ghost town! I bought the diplodocus ring from a little boutique on Park Street, and my husband bought me the navy dress from BS8, which is one of my favourite shops in Bristol. 

In the (horrid!) close-up photos, I am trying to show you my make up, but my silly laptop camera has washed out the colours! I am wearing my usual base layer, with MAC Fleur Power blush, Urban Decay Sin eyeshadow and Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Electric. Oh, my nails are Topshop Green Room. I love this colour, but the formula sucks. Unusual for Topshop polishes actually - all of the other shades I have apply beautifully.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine!

Here's a bonus photo of one of my outfits from last week. I wore it to meet some friends for an after-work drink.

 Polka dot dress: Topshop
Grey jersey cardigan: Topshop
Leggings: H&M
Studded pumps: Topshop


Oops, an almost entirely Topshop outfit!

Look me in the eyes under expanding winter skies...

Wow, what a glorious few days! Sunny bank holidays?! Whatever next? I am sitting writing this post wearing something I haven't worn for at least six years - TROUSERS! Yes, I ventured into the world of cropped trousers last week and haven't looked back since. I've only bought one pair (so far) but have several bookmarked for when I have some money... These are the ones I've got:

Trousers: River Island, Tee: H&M, Studded pumps: Topshop, Fish necklace: Accessorize, Squirrel necklace: H&M, Flower bracelet: Accessorize.

I also tried on these two pairs, but didn't buy them. The first pair are actually supposed to be full length trousers, but since I have very long legs they actually look cropped. I think they could do with being rolled up a little more though.

Trousers: Dorothy Perkins, Top: Dorothy Perkins, Brogues: Topshop

Trousers: River Island, Top: Cath Kidston for Uniqlo, Brogues: Topshop, Necklace: Tatty Devine via eBay, Rings: eBay

Another thing I've got into recently is crackle nail polish. I bought the Barry M black crackle polish AGES ago but it just sat in my make up bag unused until I decided to use it in the week. I've worn it over Models Own Feeling Blue and Collection 2000 Hip Hop, each time adding a coat of Seche Vite as I prefer a glossy crackle effect rather than the matte effect that the polish alone gives. 

Barry M Black Crackle over Collection 2000 Hip Hop

Barry M Black Crackle over Models Own Feeling Blue

Penultimate photo for today is a terrible changing room picture of my new River Island dress, which my mum bought for me in Birmingham on Thursday. The picture washes out the colour somewhat - it's actually a vibrant bright orange shade:

Dress: River Island, Brogues: Topshop, Necklace: Tatty Devine via eBay, Rings: eBay 

Final photo for today (I promise!) shows my running triumph from Thursday - I ran just over 5km! I am at the end of week six of my nine week programme, so I think I am doing pretty well and am therefore entitled to feel a little smug!

Well, that's all from me today folks! I hope you are all well and enjoying the weekend.

xxx

Just a few photos

My new Primark dress (£1.04 via eBay) and free American Apparel tights.

My lunch of sliced tomatoes, sliced mozzarella and coriander pesto.

Close up of my lovely lunch.

My H&M squirrel necklace.

Badly-painted nails in Essie Mink Muffs.

Freshly-dyed hair and scrunched up face.

I hope you all had lovely weekends and enjoyed the sunshine. I didn't do very much actually, although I did go for a couple of runs - I am now up to week 6 on the C25K plan!

Look out upon the Myriad Harbour...

Just a quick outfit post today as we're off out to see Andy's mum in about ten minutes! I am wearing a new dress which Andy bought for me yesterday - I love it! I think I need to practise my poses as I always look so uncomfortable in my outfit posts. I hate having my photo taken though, as you can probably see from these beauties...

Dress: Matalan

Jeans: Topshop

Boots: Asos

Necklace: Accessorize

I won't bore you all by listing my make-up, as you can see I'm not wearing very much anyway! Let's call it the natural look...

Also, I want to thank all of you lovely people for following my blog - I can't believe that 107 people are interested in my ramblings.

I've been keeping going with the Couch to 5km programme I mentioned a few weeks ago, apart from a week off whilst I was in hospital. I am in the middle of week four and absolutely loving it. Definitely check it out if running is something you're interested in but you're not quite sure where to start!

We're off to see the wizard...

Dress: Topshop via eBay

Vest (just seen): Topshop

Tights: H&M

Brooch: Dorothy Perkins via eBay

Shoes: Office

Lips: MAC Faux

Eyes: MAC Shroom shadow, TBS Carbon eyeliner, Max Factor Masterpiece mascara in black

Face: MAC Select concealer in NW15, MAC Pro Longwear foundation in NC15, TBS All-in-One Face Base in 02

We're off out to Cheltenham for a surprise birthday party shortly. I am looking forward to it, haven't been out for ages! I think I might end up changing the tights to failsafe black ones in a mo though, I feel a bit chunky in these ones! Also need to redo my hair, I swear it looked fine two seconds before taking the photos. Annoying!

Hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday. 

Normal service has resumed...

Just had an email from a lovely person telling me that she couldn't comment on my blog posts anymore, and that there was a message saying that you had to be a member to post! I thought this sounded a bit odd, but went into my settings and, lo and behold, the "members only" checkbox was ticked in the comments section.

I sure as heck didn't tick it, so who did?!

Anyway, reader comments are now enabled again. Thank you to the lovely Lucy for letting me know - goodness knows how long it would have taken me to find out otherwise!

Anyone else had this problem?

xxx

Oh what can I do, I'm still dreaming of you...

Such a glorious day today! I added touches of coral and orange to my outfit and make up today, as I feel they are such spring-like colours. I went for one of my favourite lipsticks (Topshop Brighton Rock) and my underused MAC Melba blush. I don't know why, but I tend to overlook Melba in favour of more pinky shades. Photos were taken using my laptop's inbuilt camera, so look a little washed out I'm afraid! I've added the close up one of my legs as I'm always concerned about the size of my thighs but think they look ok in this picture! Perhaps I have been worrying about nothing all this time, or perhaps it's just a flattering photo...

Firework print dress: Dorothy Perkins

Camel cardigan: Topshop

Orange tights: Accessorize

Vampire blood necklace: H&M

Lipstick: Topshop Brighton Rock

Blush: MAC Melba

Plus the usual MAC Select concealer (NW15) and MAC Pro Longwear foundation (NC15).

What are your favourite spring shades?

The Sainsbury's "Five Family Meals for £20" Plan - Day Four

Today's recipe: Bangers and mash with onion gravy

Didn't really need the recipe for this one, but we followed it anyway for the sake of fairness. The sausages took a little longer to cook than the stated 25 minutes, and we had three each rather than two as we are little piggies. They're only 84 calories each though, which is pretty low for sausages. Let's not talk about the fat and salt content though, eh? Also, TOO MUCH MASH!

This was lovely, but you can't really go wrong with bangers and mash can you?! We worked out that our meals cost just 30p each though, which is AMAZING.

Picture:

Overall score out of 10: 8

I really need to start taking the photos with our DSLR rather than my pathetic iPhone camera. The food looks so much better in real life, and I'm not doing it justice at all. Trouble is, I don't want to be bothered with focussing and so forth when faced with a plate of food, I just want to dive in. Not literally, but almost...

The Sainsbury's "Five Family Meals for £20" Plan - Day Three

Today's recipe: Herby tomato & mozzarella chicken

Again, very easy to make. We skipped the frozen green beans, and made egg fried rice rather than having plain boiled as, let's face it, plain boiled rice is boring. This was really tasty, although the Basics range mozzarella was a little bland - if we make it again, I think we'll buy better quality mozzarella.

Pictures:

 

Plus bonus one of Andy's hand moving faster than the speed of light:

Overall score out of 10: 8.

The Sainsbury's "Five Family Meals for £20" Plan - Day Two

Today's recipe: Garlic mushroom and turkey bake

This one was less faffy than yesterday's (not that yesterday's was particularly faffy) and took 20 minutes to prepare. The recipe said it should take 15, but I don't think we did too badly! We put a little grated Cheddar cheese on top of the potatoes as we are both cheese fiends. It took 45 minutes too cook rather than 30, but it was worth the wait. Absolutely DELICIOUS! Creamy sauce, soft potatoes, tender turkey, rich mushrooms and, erm, leeky leeks.

Pictures:

Overal score out of 10: 9. Point lost due to recipe timings being a bit skewiff!

Oh, and I had yesterday's leftovers for lunch with a poached egg: