So if you've read my post a few days back on why Christmas is the best time of the year then it'll come as no surprise that I like to make it last as long as possible. Sure it might be one date on the calendar but it starts December 1st we all know that.
If you're also resembling Buddy the elf at this point in the week like I am then here's 8 ways to make it last as long as you possibly can - or at least longer than solely the 25th December.
Read MoreI mean I don't wish it was Christmas every day like the song says but it certainly is the best time of the year isn't it? For me it's more about the build up, the festive period, maybe the whole month of December than the actual day itself. It's the excitement, the preparation, the hint of Christmas spirit. It's the carols everywhere, the really cold sunny days, doing your shopping, wearing your gloves to de ice the car..... it really is the whole season of it.
So here's 6 reasons why for me, Christmas is the best time of the year.
Read MoreSo you're hosting Christmas this year? Maybe for the first time, maybe just for a few, maybe for enough to feed an army. You've got the turkey ordered, the tree is up and the RSVPs are flooding in.
But what about those final touches? Those little things you've maybe forgotten about. The kind of thing that turns a good Christmas host to the Nigella of the table.
Read MoreThere is nothing that screams winter to me more than hearty meals, preferably slathered in gravy. Or cheese. Or chocolate.
I am no culinary wizard but since having my own house with a mahoosive kitchen I have tried my hand at more recipes this year than the whole of my life. Here are my two favourite hearty meals for winter, which just so happen to be so easy to make that I can do them.
Read MoreIt's Christmas 2017 and the first one Joss and I have a whole house to decorate so naturally I got 4 trees and made it a grotto.
This year to celebrate the extra room Joss wanted a real tree but seemed to think that meant relegating the two fake ones I had from uni to the back of the cupboard. He very quickly realised the error of his ways when suddenly we had a 5ft real tree in the hall, a 6ft fake one in the living room, a 4 ft fake one on the stairs and then B&Q had 3ft ones on a clearance sale for TWO QUID and whadda ya know - now there's one on the landing too.
Read MoreWhen you're in your teens your friends, the amount of them and the calibre of them were seemingly the most important thing in the world. If you had few friends you were a loser, if you had loads of friends you were popular and if you were part of the 'cool' ones then all the better.
And then you leave school and go to university and graduate and start working life and those friends you had probably aren't your friends anymore and the rest of the world certainly doesn't know you were part of the popular crowd. Very quickly you're taught that actually it's the quality of friends you have that matters most over the quantity and having lots of friends isn't the be all and end all anymore.
But your friendships in your twenties are just as important as those in your formative years - they're just important in a different way.
Read MoreOur internet went down over the weekend and I kept absentmindedly picking my phone up to Google things and getting frustrated that I couldn't. But it got me thinking about how much we rely on Google to give us answers for things we want to know, how much we rely on that instant connection and gratification online.
So following on from the success of my 'things I text my Mum' blog post, I thought I'd share a little insight into my life through the 54 (yes 54) tabs I have open on my phone at the moment.
Read MoreThere's no denying that autumn is over and winter is no longer coming....it's arrived (and if you didn't get the GOT reference then shame on you.) With the colder temperatures setting in and the persistent rain we're having at the moment, staying in is the new going out. Gone are the hazy summer nights by the beach and back are the hearty meals piled with gravy and a cosy film in blankets.
Since our Halloween decorations went back in their boxes a few weeks ago our living room has been looking pretty bare. We'd quickly got used to all the lanterns and trinkets around the TV a and when they were gone Christmas trees looked a long time away.
With that in mind, our love of seasonal decorations and with excellent timing from Talking Tables, I came up with a few ways of decorating your home for winter - without getting too Christmassy too early (says the biggest lover of Christmas ever).
Read MoreMy life/sleep routine is an absolute mess.
This weekend I was away in Dorset and I slept till 10am because I was just so physically and emotionally exhausted and being away from home gave me the opportunity to get it all out.
I am constantly tired, it's just some days are more tired than others and I have tried to curb it so many times - to no avail. So I've done what I know best; I've come to the blog to explain my lifestyle to you in the hope some of you have some cracking ideas to get me on track again.
Here's hoping.
Read MoreThis is not a social comment on the nature of relationships in our teens vs the ones we have in our twenties. On the contrary, one of my teen relationships ended up being my twenties relationship too. No, this is more a social commentary on starting your relationship in your teens vs starting one in your twenties.
Here's a few thoughts I've been having lately on starting relationships when you're 16 vs when you're 26.
Read MoreAutumn - the favourite season of all basic twenty somethings....including myself.
If you aren't taking photos of your feet in leaves or with your first seasonal Starbucks cup of the year or furiously googling tartan blankets are you even really enjoying autumn?
Here's a few things we're all thinking this time of year....
Read MoreGuess who's birthday it is! Ya girl turns 25 as of about 1.15am today.
Twenty five years old. I have officially left the young voters age bracket if we have another general election and if I made my X Factor debut now I'd be in the Overs category. Twenty four felt like a very 'non' age to me, like a bit made up? Twenty five sounds like a nice solid round number so I'm hoping it'll be a happy, successful year full of adventure (and maybe some holidays or clothes or summin fun).
Read MoreWe're quickly speeding toward the middle of October already, the year is flying by and my favourite month is here (and going all too quick). Come May and I'll be gushing about lighter nights and driving with the windows down and not having to take a coat out with you but then this time of year comes around again and I remember this is when I really come alive. Here's why October is my ultimate fav and why I'm v pleased it's here....
Read MoreBeing Welsh. For those who are it's maybe the best thing in the world isn't it?
There's something about being Welsh that makes you part of community, part of something where people understand you, where people get you, where you all have shared memories.
Here's 43 things you'll know if you grew up in Wales.
Read MoreIt's Monday, it's a new week, it's sunny, I've got glittery nails and my birthday is rapidly approaching round the corner. If you're a regular reader you might have noticed that it's been a quiet one for me over the weekend. I normally blog every day or every two days but ya gal has had a 3 day break and that's why I'm here with a lil brain dump/catchup for you.
I feel like I want to blog and I want to get typing but I've got like a half hour window to write this and I feel like everything I have planned in my schedule is too big a deal for that. So I'm taking my own advice and just getting typing so grab a morning brew and a slice of toast with jam on and settle in.
Read MoreSo you've been called for jury service.
This happened to me just after Easter this year, I took the bundle of letter off the postman and the top one had Her Majesty's Prisons & Courts symbol on it and I just knew. I turned it over praying it wasn't for me and whadda ya know - it was. I was summoned for a fortnights jury service in Cardiff in the last fortnight of June and it terrified me from the moment I opened the letter.
It's a nerve wracking thing. Most people you speak to will either say they wish they could do it or that they'd hate to but I didn't know anyone that actually had. I think the scariest part for me wasn't even the idea of what trial I might have but actually just the fear of the unknown. The letter you get sent with your summons is very formal and very brief, just giving you an outline of your summons and what forms you had to fill in next.
So from a young person who has recently done the biggest service you can as a British civilian; here's what to expect after you've received your summons.
Read MoreGirls are super heroes - I have come to this conclusion over the years of both being a girl (shocker) and watching other girls. The things we can do, the things we can multi task, the things we go through and the things we put up with.....but we can't do everything.
Here's a list of things other girls can do that I've never been able to master;
Read MoreI promised a lil while back that I'd talk about my kitchen refurb more in depth as it's where most of our time and money went when we were redesigning our house. We started the work for our kitchen just after Christmas and it was completely inhabitable for a few weeks until the work was complete.
The work we had done was pretty major, we had to knock down some internal walls to open the kitchen up and then have a new kitchen fitted, with appliances. We had new plasterboards and plaster on the ceiling, we had a window knocked through and fitted, we had units and appliances ripped out, we had new electrics....we really went to town on it and yet only did what was 100% necessary.
Read More"My parents said I shouldn't talk to strangers online.....so I booked a holiday with them."
This very much became the quote of the weekend when I went to Hampshire with my blogging pals. Ok so we weren't all strangers this weekend but we were at one point. Last summer Sarah had the idea of hosting a bloggers picnic and created a Twitter DM with us in it and the rest as they say is history. We were all game for organising the picnic and as most of you know, we hosted BloggersPitP (Bloggers Picnic In The Park) together in London in 2016.
Having met in real life on the most part we made the ultimate commitment and gave out our phone numbers and made the transition to Whatsapp. We haven't really stopped talking since then, if one member of the group goes out you can regularly expect to come back to 300+ messages.
So we did what any friendship group does when they're hankering to escape real life and take loads of candid photos - we booked a weekend away in Hampshire in the countryside.
Read MoreLiving in the moment can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people I suspect. To me I guess it means being truly present in what you're doing, about appreciating what you have in front of you and also appreciating life is short and the moment is important.
As a family and as I'm sure like most families we have experienced loss and I think for a short time at least it makes you stop and take stock and think. It makes you really think about yourself. about your problems, about what's important to you and what's not. I think when you experience loss or something dynamic in a family or a friendship group or a relationship you DO live in the moment - but it never seems to last.
Life moves on, things go back to normal somewhat, day to day chores and arguments and nit picking resumes and you forget how you felt. I feel like very few of us hang on to that feeling and truly live in that moment.
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