Vegan hot chocolates and lampshades

My weekend began as every weekend should: with too many after work cocktails! We went to one of my favourite bars in Glasgow, Citation.

My Saturday morning was spent recovering, and my afternoon was spent having a fun time in IKEA!

I love love LOVE their new stationery section - I wanted to buy it all!

Pick n Mix and vodka with pink lemonade was how I spent my Saturday night!

OOTD: IKEA chic

Sunday was spent in Edinburgh with friends. This AMAZING vegan hot chocolate tasted incredible

Out-of-this-world cakes at The Caffeine Drip

My favourite Saturday purchase was my new lampshade! What do you think? :)

Rather a good little weekend - I loved the winter sunshine and the fact that the frost is starting to thaw. Is this the beginning of Spring?

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Purples and Pinks

Picked up some new lovely things since it was pay day and I haven't bought any new make up in a while! (justification justification)

I've been lusting after the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Balms for a while now, so I finally decided to pick one up. It was well, well worth it. The colour is beautiful (shade 2, Coral) - mostly sheer with the perfect hint of pink, a lovely glossy, nourished finish on the lips, super hydrating and smells of vanilla. Gorgeous packaging as well! My first Clarins purchase and it won't be my last! I really want to try the Instant Light Lip Perfector glosses too.

I also picked up the Complete Limited Edition Eyeshadow Palette in Dead of Night from Superdrug's 'B.' range - not only does it look pretty but the shadows surprised me! Really creamy and well pigmented, and the colours are lovely. I went for mauvey purples since I don't usually wear those kinds of shades but I wanted to branch out away from brown smokey eyes!

Since it was buy one get one half price on that range I also picked up one of their serums. It's the 'B Nourished' serum which is designed for younger skin, aged 20-30. Apparently it's never too early to start using a serum! I've only applied this twice since I got it so the jury's still out on whether or not does anything spectacular, but I will report back in a few weeks' time.

I picked up a 'Luxe Velvet Lip Laqueur' lip cream in 'Kooky' from MUA: a deep purple. Yet to try this but it looks good! 

Finally, I got myself a nail varnish from No.7 in 'sweet lilac'. Such a pretty colour and the quality is excellent too. It's one of their gel-effect polishes and I'll definitely be going back to get more! And such a bargain at £3, since I had one of the £5 off vouchers from Boots.

Who else loves treating themselves to make up as much as I do? Such a rush...

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Winter Walks and Burns Suppers

Hi everyone. Thought I would write up a wee blog post about my Sunday activities, which consisted of: chilly walks in the park with my sister, tea and and banana bread in the Country House kitchen, then back to the house for a cosy home-made Burns dinner of haggis, neeps and tatties! Perfect.

What's your favourite Burns poem? Mines has to be Tam O' Shanter. Tried reading it aloud all the way through last night - it's harder than you'd think!

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Recent Doodles

Trying to get back into drawing again this year because I love it so much: it's the perfect way to de-stress, relax and focus your mind. Also I really want to improve!

Here are some of my recent efforts:

I would love a little puppy like this!

UNIKITTY!!

Had to draw Honey Lemon!

What about you... Do you like to draw in your spare time? What do you usually draw? Let me know in the comments below :)

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Spa Day at New Lanark

Ah, January. That fabulous time of year... Christmas is over and everything feels a bit emptier and a bit, well, sadder. But I have to say - this January has been pretty awesome so far! I have been keeping busy, and aside from the horrendous weather my mood has been higher than I anticipated!

Maybe it's all the hope and excitement of a whole year of promises ahead.

Oh 2015, what will you do to me? What will I do with you??

One of the main things I want to do is get back into blogging again. I miss it and I miss writing in general! So I'm starting the year as I mean to go on.

And this applies to more than just blogging! I'll do another post on my new year's resolutions (because how original would that be!?) but one of the main ones on that list is to LOOK AFTER MY SKIN MORE!

In fact, look after my whole body more. That means, taking the time to have regular detoxes: relax, cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize!

With this in mind, I booked a spa day for myself and my mum at New Lanark Mill Hotel.

My Spa Attire!

Having stayed there before I knew it'd be lovely, and I wasn't wrong!

I had a 'pick me up facial' and a manicure.

Nails Inc Chelsea Manor Gardens pink polish

Donned a fluffy white robe then took to the pool - spent a while in the sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi before swimming a few lengths to finish up before tucking into a yummy lunch.

Left feeling revitalized, energized, relaxed and de-stressed! I would highly, highly recommend a spa break like this to anyone who works hard or has a busy life. Just taking the time out to say THANK YOU to your body now and again does a world of good.

New Lanark is a beautiful, peaceful place and it looked wonderful in the snow.

After time at the spa I spent the afternoon doing a tour of various garden centers and exploring old fire trucks!

What weekends were made for, clearly.

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Autumn fashion: hats!

If there's one thing I love about Autumn / Winter fashion, it's accessories, accessories, accessories! I've always admired the wide-brimmed hat trend that I've seen others sporting recently, but I've never been brave enough to go for one myself. After deliberating over buying a Topshop version, I snapped this baby up in Forever 21 for a fraction of the price!

It's a deep green, which I love because it's a bit different to black but it will still go with a lot of outfits. Looking forward to getting a lot of wear out of it this season!

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A Week in Turkey

Hello everyone. The past few weeks have been utter craziness in my life! But in a very good way. I've started a new job, which has been taking up a lot of my time, but I was also lucky enough to go away to Turkey for a wee week's holiday with my friend. It was an amazing hotel, in a beautiful location, and we had so much fun! I thought I'd share with you some snaps from the week.

It was such a good week, I came back feeling so relaxed! I loved the sunshine but now I'm ready for Autumn. I have a lot of Autumn/ Wintery themed blog posts planned!

Also when I was in Turkey I picked up some amaaazing bargains! Loved Marmaris shopping!

(Can't beat a bit of Turkish delight! And apple tea is now going to be my drink of choice at work)

❤

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I'm back to blogging!

Sorry for my absence for a while! Things have been so so crazy, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. I have a lot of things that I want to write about so there will be many posts to come!

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Recipe: Japanese Gyoza

Hey everyone! So today's post is something a little different. I love cooking and trying new recipes, and attempting to learn to be better in the kitchen! This recipe was inspired for my love of all things Japanese, and the Hairy Bikers who did something similar on their show! Those guys are hilarious. I wish they were my friends!

Gyoza are Japanese dumplings, kind of like dim sum (a favourite of mine). They're little parcels of a thin pastry-like dough filled with either meat, fish or veggies. The Hairy Bikers made theirs with crab meat, but I decided to use chicken mince for mine. So without further ado, here is the recipe!

 ***WARNING: THESE GYOZA ARE EXTREMELY MOREISH***

 So, to make these yummy little parcels of fun, you will need:
 - Flour (about 300g)
 - Water (Boiling - about 200ml)
 - Chicken or turkey mince
 - Pak Choi (finely chopped)
 - Spring Onions (finely chopped)
- Salt
- Pepper
- Chilli Flakes
- Soy Sauce

 ...And that's it! You can add ginger, garlic or anything else to season to your taste.

METHOD:

1. Sift the flour and the salt into a large bowl, adding 1/2 tablespoon of salt

2. Stir in the boiling water until the mixture comes together and forms a dough

3. Cover with cling film and set aside for 1 hour

4. For the filling, mix the mince, pak choi and spring onions in a bowl until it forms a gloopy paste. Add the salt, pepper, chilli flakes and soy sauce to season. Set aside in the fridge until the dough is ready to work with.

5. Work the dough on a heavily floured surface for a few minutes until it is ready to be rolled out - it must be rolled paper thin!

6. Use a cutter (or something round) to form little discs, 4 or 5 inches across.

7. Put a dollop of filling onto each disc, wet the edges and seal forming a little parcel! Repeat the process until you have something like this:

8. Oil up a hot pan and place the gyoza in to fry for about 2 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown. Pour in about 100ml of water and place a lid on, allowing them to steam for a further 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn yourself!

9. Take the lid off, and let them cook for a last 2 minutes before carefully removing them from the pan.

10. Serve your gyoza with a sweet chilli dipping sauce, or whatever you prefer! And enjoy your delightful Japanese creations!

Happy cooking!

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