It’s that time of the month again…where my Degustabox arrives! This is my third box from the company and it surprises me every time. It’s one of my favourite times of the month now!

What I love is that some of the products can be used as ingredients to make some amazing food.

1. Alfa One Rice Bran Oil - £2

I loved that I got this purely because it can be used as your standard olive oil, such as for frying or roasting! To make it better it is nutritionally well balance and high in natural antioxidants, some of which has been shown to reduce cholesterol absorption, great huh?

2. Koko Dairy Free Original - £1.39

I’m yet to use this one but it was sent with a great recipe for pancakes seeing as pancake day is coming up! It contains less calories than skimmed milk, 0% cholesterol and is 100% allergen free. Apparently it tastes very similar to cow’s milk and doesn’t curdle in tea or coffee which is great!

3. Kabuto Noodles - £2

This is essentially an instant snack and is a combination of authentic Asian flavours and quality ingredients. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan of this and found it quite unappetising.

4. Sukrin Bread Mix - £5

When I found this I was certainly intrigued and I noticed you could use the mix to make a whole range of foods such as bread (duh!), tortilla wraps or scones. I opted for bread as I thought I would enjoy this most and I did. This is a gluten-free mix with only 1g of carbs per slice, um hand me some more please?! It is also free from wheat, egg, sugar, yeast and soya. You also only need to use water to bind so you don’t need anything extra.

5. Finn Crisp - £1.20

This is actually something my Mum always has in the cupboard so they must be good. I would probably have mine with feta cheese and some tomatoes and salad. Yum! It is rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and as it is baked with sourdough, it’s low in fat with a distinctive tangy flavour.

6. Magners Light - £1.25

I was also intrigued by this, alcohol with low calories? Send me more! There is only 103 calories per bottle and the Orchard Berries flavour is delicious.

7. Little Miracles - £1.49 each

This is a brand that I was already aware of. These were 2 new flavours I hadn’t tried before so it was good to try them and they were the perfect pick-me-up. They are non-carbonated, refreshingly light and contain only 90 calories per bottle. They also have no artificial colours, flavours or sweeteners. Essentially these are a tea based drink with added fruit flavours!

8. Mornflake - £1.50 each

I can’t say that I’m a massive fan of porridge but these were almost enjoyable. The great thing is that they come with either a little pot of golden syrup or nutella. My favourite would have to be the nutella one, who doesn’t love nutella?!

9. Haywards Piccalilli - £1.89

I’m yet to try this but I wouldn’t be so keen on it if it’s on its own. It came with 2 recipe cards which sound better! I’ll keep you all posted.

The last product was a special gift which was Clipper Green Tea with Lemon. Eek, more green tea!

So, all together the products total came to £20.71 so a saving of £8 seeing as I paid £12.99 for the box. 

It was another great box this month and I cannot wait for this months box!

Day Zero Challenge Update

I literally can't believe that it's February already, where has the last month gone? I always feel like I haven't achieved very much, so I'm going to start this month by getting things done. January always seems like the month where you're in limbo a little bit, a bit lost that it's the start of the new year. 

However, I got a lot done on my to do list and I can now get down to serious business. Making way for the more important things now the "admin" is out of the way so to speak!

You will probably have read my Day Zero Challenge post from the beginning of the year. It's something that I'm making my way through until over half way through 2017. But I feel like I've already ticked off a substantial amount in January already, so here is what I have done so far:

• Write a personal mission statement
• Keep a "my day in six words" diary for a month
• Sort out my pinterest
• No alcohol for one month
• Declutter my wardrobe/chest of drawers
• Write a travelling bucket list
• Write a weekly weight loss post in January
• Write a letter to myself to be opened at the end of 1001 days

That's already 8/101 done, which may not seem like a lot but since I have over two and a half years to complete the challenge, this is actually a fair amount! I have a few more that I want to get through in the next month or so, meaning I'll be back with an update soon enough.

Don't forget to check out my original post here.

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Filofax Organisation

For me this year (or in October to be exact), I managed to bag myself an absolute bargain of a new diary insert for my Filofax. It's the first year I didn't get a Filofax brand insert.

This one is by Paperchase and it came with the nicest dividers as well as note paper and address paper too. I think this was around the £8 mark so it was an absolute steal for me.

Diary:
First of all I have my diary insert. I mainly use this to keep track of my work hours and any personal appointments. This way when I look back, I know what I did and when!

Addresses:
This is mainly of family! They've got to be kept somewhere and this seems the most fitting place.

Notes:
This is quite an important section for me. It keeps all the little things I need to remember. I write down ideas, blog posts and all things important.

Planner Supplies:
This has a whole section of it's own. I have a pile of to-do list inserts in there to keep track of the million and one things I need to do. I also have the insert of page markers and post its. This isn't the original post its on here as I used them all up. So I kept the dashboard and put new markers to colour code my work days by when I'm getting paid so it's easier for me to work out. Then I use the post its to note down anything important about that week.

I like to be crazy organised and I like to be able to refer to what I've done recently. Some may think it's a bit much but if I don't then I feel a bit lost!

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Z is for...Zoo

I’m just going to start by saying how much I love going to the zoo. I’ve never been one for animals but ever since we got dogs I’ve been a lot more open to the idea of them! We went to New York Zoo a while back which was great, they had baby snow leopards that had just been born which was really cute! 

Longleat Safari Park has to be my favourite hands down though. We did the safari in my car and I was a little bit concerned that the monkeys would attack my car but fortunately they didn’t! 

Giraffe Selfie anyone?

I’ve been to a few others recently but this year I’d quite like to go to ZSL London Zoo and also London Aquarium!

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Desk Staples

I technically don't have a desk, more of a window sill and a drawer that I keep extra bits in that I don't use as much. So I'm imagining if I really had a desk (fyi it would be white with some drawers...!).

Weekly planner - so I can see what I'm doing that day or week
Notebook - a pretty one, typically A5 sized
Pen pot - with a whole load of pens of all colours, my writing needs to be pretty!
Ringbinder folder - also in a pretty design holding my editorial calendar and blogging goals
Jar of washi tape - I have so many that it seemed better to keep them all in a jar and it's much prettier that way
Scrapbook - I'd like to have room for my scrapbook so that I can look at it when I want and also add to it all the time

That's what I would have as my desk staples, if I had a desk obviously.

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What's On My iPhone

So it still so happens that I'm quite behind the times and I still have an iPhone 4.

However, it still does the job which is most important.
I only have 2 pages on my phone. Obviously I have apps like Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, to keep updated with what's going on with family, friends and other blogs. Also who can resist a bit of Snapchat now and again?

The first page is pretty much full of your standard Apple apps but a lot of them have been put under one category, purely because I don't use them enough. I know you're probably wondering where the music is and it's there but I use my iPod because it has four times the amount of storage. 

The second page is pretty much miscellaneous, including Bloglovin' and Pinterest, what my lunch break is made up of!

I also recently downloaded 2 photo prints apple, one of which gives you 500 free prints a year and you just pay postage which is pretty cheap compared to some photo websites. The other is called Polabox, where you can print photos as polaroids at 35p a photo or you can also get photo strips, at £6.45 for 5 strips of 5 photos.

I also have static to keep track of followers on various social media platforms. Plus Timehop because I like seeing how far I've come in a year. And lastly C25K, so I can get off my ass and workout!

That's what's on my phone, what's on yours?


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Tips for Getting Organised

1. Get yourself a Diary, Notebook and a Pen
I definitely rely on all of these things. My diary normally keeps all of my personal things such as work times and little notes on what to do. Although occasionally I will write down a note on a blog post I want to do. I use the notebook to draft all of my blog posts before I type them up. There's something satisfying about putting a pen to paper.

2. A Ringbinder Folder with Dividers
I keep a folder with my blogging goals in and also an editorial calendar in. I use the editorial calendar to plan my blog posts so that I know what I need to do. I like having my blogging goals there so I can remind myself what I want to achieve this year.

3. Expandable Folders
I have 3 of these, each with a different purpose. One keeps all of my personal documents that I need to keep, one keeps old pictures, posters and odd little bits and the last keeps all my blogging inspiration, so I have articles on different topics and a silly amount of recipes.

4. A Weekly Planner
This is more for personal use, again including work hours, meal plans, shopping lists and mini to do lists. I don't use this as often as I should but I'm going to start!

This is what I consider the most important things I need to get organised, a lot you could do electronically if you prefer, by setting up several calendars each with different purposes. But I really like putting it down on paper.

How do you keep organised?

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I was nominated for this award by Viola whose at A Piece of Viola. I was pretty surprised when she nominated me! A pleasant surprise though. 

Rules for this award

1. Thank the person who nominated you and add their link to your blog
2. List the award rules so your nominees will know what to do.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate other bloggers.
5. Contact your nominees and provide a link to your post.
6. Display the award logo (button) on your blog, whether on your sidebar or about page, or special award page.

7 facts about me

• I’m 22 this year, but I'm definitely not going to be feeling it. Sorry Taylor Swift.
• I love green tea.
• I do love a good boy band. One Direction in particular.
• I love trashy TV. All those British Reality TV shows? Yeah I've seen them. 
• I have an amazing sense of direction. 
• I'm sort of obsessed with notebooks, I have around 20 that are waiting to be used...
• I really really love going to the Zoo

My nominees
Emma Luxton  - Essays And Wine 
Rebecca - Brunette Lifestyle
Hannah - Hannah Delacour

I don't normally go for all these award things, but I think it's nice to know that someone appreciates what you've been blogging about and that it has helped them in some kind of way! So for that, Thank you Viola!

Y is for...Yes

I just want to apologise for not doing one for X, I tried very hard to think of one and the best I could come up with was X-ray and I’ve never had to have one but I didn't want to waste a whole blog post on that, if you have any other suggestions for X please let me know!

Onto Y, this year I want to say yes to a lot more things. I’m always so hesitant and I find myself saying no a lot. I want this all to change! I do find myself a lot busier these days and I obviously do need time for myself, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do any writing…but there are still things that I know I could say yes to, so here’s to say yes more. 

"Come Dine With Me" Menu

"If you were on Come Dine With Me, What would your menu be?"
This is always a question that is in the back of my mind, and until now I haven't been able to decide what I would do.

Starter:

Naturally I got a good few cookbooks for Christmas and as I was flicking through one I found a starter that would be perfect in my opinion.
A Duck salad would be great as it is complex with the cooking of the duck and light enough for a starter. This is a roasted duck and watermelon salad with toasted cashew nuts and the picture is literally mouthwatering! By the looks of it, this is an asian inspired dish and looking at the ingredients I can see why, there are all kinds of flavours involved. 
One thing that caught my eye was the dressing, it's definitely one I'd like to incorporate into other dishes.

Main:
I think this is the course that I struggled with deciding on the most. I thought fish would be most suitable but I really think I would go for chicken. 
The dish I have in mind is chargrilled chicken breasts on linguine with a chilli and garlic salsa puttanesca. What a mouthful! (see what I did there...)
I would most definitely make my own pasta to make this simple dish more impressive. These simple bunch of ingredients all come together to make such a delicious, comforting dish. If I had something like this put in front of me, I'd think it looked pretty good.
I'd perhaps make the pasta so it would have spinach in it, not only would it add a lot more colour to the plate - no on likes a plate of beige food - but it would also add flavour (slightly) and a whole lot of added nutrients.

Dessert:

Now I've known, deep down, what I would do for this for a while which is a melt-in-the-middle chocolate pudding. I made these for the first time at Christmas, and if I do say so myself, they came out perfectly. It was the right balance between cake and chocolate sauce and it would obviously be served with ice cream. Some might say that this is too much for a dessert but if the first two courses are balanced right and everything is time correctly then, in my opinion, it would all go down a hit.


I wouldn't necessarily call this a winning menu but if I put this 3 course meal on the table to my best standard, then for me I would be happy and rather proud of myself.

I haven't given loads away about each of the meals, purely because I want to eventually make each of them to share with you all. 


What would you have as your Come Dine With Me menu?

Storing Photos & Birthdays

Over the weekend it was my mum and sister's birthdays. I don't mean to blow my own trumpet but I was pretty pleased with the presents I put together.

For my mum I got one of the new season Chanel nail varnishes (Exception to be exact) and some walnut whips, all her favourites.

For my sister, she got one of the Fujifilm Instax Cameras for Christmas, so I put together a little make-shift scrapbook kit for her. I bought a notebook with blank pages, and relatively small, a bit smaller than A5, to fit the photos in. I then got a nice blue pen to add a note about the time the photo was taken. And of course some washi tape to stick the photo down. The great thing about wash tape is that it doesn't ruin the paper and that way my sister can take out the photos if she wants to use them for something else.

We went to The Charter Restaurant in Salisbury for their birthday lunch. I just can't resist sharing this beautiful food with you!

On another note, I'm going to work on my own scrapbook soon. I ordered some photos from the free prints app on iPhone and I'm waiting for them to be delivered so I will give you an update when they do!

Self Love Tag

1. What does self love mean to you?
For me, it has to be looking after yourself, appreciating yourself and making sure you are the best you can be for yourself. It means doing things for you, to make you happy and not doing everything for everyone else. As well as being positive despite what you actually think about yourself, chances are everyone else thinks you are wonderful the way you are.

2. What is your favourite way to pamper yourself?
Mine would have to be curling up in bed, probably with a cup of green tea to destress and watch something on Netflix while painting my nails some pretty colour.

3. What are you three favourite hobbies/pastimes that make your soul feel on fire?

• Blogging
• Cooking
• Baking

4. What movie always puts you in a good mode when you're not in the greatest mood?
Frozen, like who doesn't like Frozen? I don't think I even need to say any more about this.

5. Who do you trust so much that you would easily believe in anything and everything they said?
My parents. I believe pretty much anything they tell me, and anything positive they tell me always calms me down and keeps me going!

6. What quote totally motivates you?
"Everything will be alright in the end, and if it's not alright then it's not the end"

7. When was the last time you took yourself on a date? What did you do?
Well this is awkward, I don't remember...Maybe it's about time I did!

8. What make-up or beauty products makes your feel like a million bucks?
If I have a good lipstick and some pink blusher, I feel pretty great! My skin has also been behaving quite well recently so that alone makes me feel so much better when I'm putting makeup on.

9. What is the last thing you did for someone else that made you feel amazing?
I made my Nan a photo cube for Christmas, I knew she would love it when I was making it and she did. Seeing her happy makes me happy too.

10. Do you feel comfortable with and without make-up on?
If I'm at home then I'm only truly comfortable without makeup on but if I'm out then I'm only comfortable with makeup on. I guess my point is that if I'm seeing people then I prefer to have makeup on.

11. What piece of advice would you give a child about to grow up with the pressures of today's media and its crushing expectations?
Do exactly what you want to do, if you've got a dream then go for it, why wait for someone to tell you what to do? There's no need to be like everyone else when you can be you.

12. What song puts you in a good mood every time?
I love Uptown Funk, but the one by Fleur East. Also anything by One Direction (soz) puts me in a good mood. Anything I can sing along to loudly puts me in a pretty good mood, mainly while I'm in the car driving by myself!

13. What is the best advice someone gave you or you realised about life?
That it's ok to ask for help when you need it, so many people are ashamed to ask for help but how will you get things done right if you don't ask for help when you need it?

14. Who makes you giggle like a giggle monster?
My family, we can say the weirdest things and be in hysterics for hours.

15. What is something about society that bugs you that you wish didn't?
A lot.

16. What is one of your favourite things to do on the weekends?
I've been working 6 days a week recently (yes I've been told I'm crazy and I'm about to burn out so I finally have Today and Tomorrow off), so with only 1 proper day off I normally stay in bed for a while, relax then I'll go do some shopping and of course there's plenty of blogging involved.

17. What is something you're really proud of that you've done?
This blog, it's been going for 8 months now and that's probably the longest I've ever done something for. And for all the people I talk to now because of it, I never thought I'd be able to build something like this but I have and who knows what the future holds now.

18. What is one of your favourite memories with one of your friends?
There have been some good times over the past few years but I don't want to go into too much detail about them.

19. What advice would you give someone who needs a boost in confidence?
You're great just the way you are, you don't need to be anyone but yourself and you know deep down that you can do this. Sure things may take a bit longer than you hope but it's all about the journey and your life will be better because of it. 

20. Lastly, how do you plan on investing in self-love?
I know I need to become mentally healthier but I also know that I physically need to look after myself. The food I put in my body needs to be healthier and I should exercise more. Though I also need to relax and destress more often, I don't give myself enough time to relax after work, I mean I've now been sat at my laptop for 4 hours writing and researching, I should have switched off hours ago!

--
I'd love it if you could all take a moment to think about these questions, jot them down if you want and write down a few words for each question. Everyone should think about self-love a bit more and make this year a year that you think about yourself some more.

W is for...Writing

I know a lot of the time I talk about how writing for the last 7 months has been so great. And it really has, I think if a lot more people wrote down how they were feeling a lot more then the world would be a much better place. You wouldn’t even necessarily need to share it with anyone but I’m sure you would feel tonnes better just to let it all out a little bit. 

There have been several bits of writing that are still sitting in my drafts which I will probably never get round to sharing with anyone but the point is that I felt so much better by writing down how I felt and it doesn’t even take that long to put a pen to paper to let all your worries out.

The British Tag

I am so proud to be British, we have the best food, the best country, the best weather...oh wait, but we do have a beautiful countryside! Thanks to Rebecca at Brunette Lifestyle for the tag!

How many cups of tea do you have a day? How many sugars?

I reckon 1 or 2 a day, either green tea or your typical breakfast tea. I love a good cup of green tea but there's some kind of comfort in having a great cup of breakfast tea. 

Favourite part of the roast?

Mmm, this is difficult and making me so hungry. My Dad can whip up a great roast dinner, so I reckon his yorkshire puddings, but for me a roast dinner is never complete without some carrots!

Favourite dunking biscuit?

Er rich tea, is this not obvious?! They are literally made for dunking.

Favourite quintessentially British past-time?

Baking, obviously.

Favourite British word?

Cheeky. That's British enough right?

Cockney rhyming slang?

Elephant's Trunk for Drunk.

Favourite British sweet?

Fizzy bubblegum bottles, I used to eat them all the time...

What would your pub be called?

Adele's Place, original I know, there would be copious amounts of wine and cocktails, and free wifi and bloggers from everywhere could hang out and share their ideas and work together. Sounds fun right?

No. 1 British person?

This is so hard! I've been thinking about baking recently (duh, when am i not), so Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood would be up there. I also saw them cook live at the Good Food Show which was good!

Favourite shop/ restaurant?

My favourite shop has to be Hema, or maybe Tiger, it originates from the Netherlands I believe and they have so many different great things for pretty good prices too. Check out their website here so you can see how great it is.

What's the first British song that pops into your head?

One Direction of course, Night Changes.

Marmite- love or hate?

Love, I do have to be in the right mood for it though.


If you've taken the time to read all of this then I tag YOU. Yes, you. Only if you're British of course. 

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Quotes

It's official, I am completely hooked on Pinterest, if I have any spare time it's likely that you'll find me on there. Here are some of my favourite quotes right now:

"The Bad News - nothing lasts forever,
The Good News - nothing lasts forever"

And here's a little screensaver I made to go with it. 

"Working towards something everyday, even if it's just a little bit, can create an amazing end result"

"Always remember to fall asleep with a dream and wake up with a purpose"

Again, here's another screensaver I made.

V is for...Visit

If you’ve read my Day Zero Challenge, then you will have seen that I want to visit so many places, it’s not travelling so to speak as I want to visit my sister in Nottingham (hoping that she’ll let me…!) for example. I wouldn’t call this travelling so it’s more that I’m taking a trip to visit people. I’m excited about all the good times I’ll have by visiting places. Obviously there are so many more places and things I want to visit than the ones on my Day Zero Challenge list, these are just the ones that seem to be most achievable that I would be able to afford. I’d quite like to visit Disneyland at some point soon (hint, family, hint)…

Wish List January 2015

I’m back with my second wish list! I made one before Christmas, essentially as a hint to my family for what I wanted for Christmas and I got a few things off of it so it paid off! However I’m back now with a few things that I’m saving up for which will make my new year a bit easier and more enjoyable, plus working towards a few goals that I’ve listed on my Day Zero Challenge.

Smashbook

I got one of these for Christmas and it is so much better than I could ever have imagined. You can see the big plans I have for it on my Pinterest here.

I got the pink one (obvs), so I’d like to go for a bit of a change and go for the 365 folio, so that I can document the whole year. You can also see that there are loads of accessories, unfortunately I have too many craft bits I don’t know what to do with so I’ll have to wait before I buy any of the Smashbook ones!

Blair Waldorf Pencils

What Would Blair Waldorf Do? I mean what a question, and a damn valid one at that. They are currently sold out but I’m definitely going to buy some when I find some in stock somewhere, a completely valid purchase regardless of how skint I am. Who cares what Beyonce would do, it’s all about what Blair Waldorf would do.

Terramundi Money Pot

I’ve wanted one of these for a while and they’re not actually too expensive. Then again you are basically spending £20 to smash something…They hold a fair bit and I’m really bad at putting money aside then taking it again and spending it. So this would stop me from doing so! I like the colours and stripes of this one!

Soap And Glory Blusher Stick

I read a really good review about this about a month ago and now I’m dying to try one. I love all kinds of pink blushers and having a creamy blusher definitely lasts longer than a powder. I’ll have to treat myself to one of these at some point. Plus it’s a lot cheaper than I thought so it may be sooner rather than later.

Photoshop

Last but not least, I am dying to try Photoshop. I’m sure it’s simple to use once you get the hang of it but I feel that my photos could really benefit from it and it gives me a bit of extra knowledge should I ever require it in the future!