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Jersey Diary – Day 1

October 21, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

I don’t often have time to blog daily but this week we’re away in Jersey and it’s definitely a “down-time” holiday. Because of that we’ll be in most evenings and I’ll have plenty of time to update. Today is Saturday and the day we officially went away, though technically we left the house yesterday and stayed in a Travelodge near Liverpool.

We got up this morning and grabbed a Subway lunch before packing the car up and heading to John Lennon’s Airport in Liverpool. We parked the car, walked to the airport and headed on through check-in and security. Once through we had plenty of time to waste so we looked around and then chilled out.

Eventually we were called to Gate 9 where we pretty much headed straight out and onto the plane. The journey was fairly uneventful (except for a bit of turbulence) and we arrived after only an hour. Once off the plane, we picked up the rental car from Hertz and then headed the very short distance to Boscobel Farm where we would be staying for the week. We rent a car in Dubai so we knew where to go.

We are staying in Apartment 1. It has a twin room (with extra pull-out bed), a double room and a sofa bed in the lounge. The kitchen and lounge are together in one room and then there’s a bathroom too. We’re on the ground floor.

We all unpacked and then headed out to a local shop for food. We found an Iceland as the first place and stocked up on food for breakfast and also sandwiches (plus several bottles of wine). We bought pizzas for dinner and then came home to cook them. We spent the evening watching TV and relaxing, before heading off to bed.

Filed Under: Travel Diary Tagged With: airport, apartments, easyjet, family, flying, hire car, holiday, jersey, liverpool, plane, self catering, shopping, travel, Travelodge, warrington

Getting ready for “Back to School”

August 26, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

There’s still one week left in August but already I’m beginning to think about the kids going back to school. As much as I love having them around for the summer holidays (and I promise I’m not sick of them and looking forward to sending them back again), I do dread the expense of “back to school”. For some reason, Summer seems to be that one time when they need loads more school uniform, new shoes and then a leather messenger bag , lunch boxes stationery etc.

School Uniform

With Lily’s school uniform, I’m very lucky that a school jumper or cardigan with the logo on, is not compulsory. As such, all her uniform tends to get bought from places like Asda and Tesco, who have tops, skirts, trousers etc. all around £4-5 mark. These are also great places to get PE kit, socks, underwear etc. Megan on the other hand, wears school uniform that is all very specific to her school and is quite regulated too. Last year, when she started in Year 7, I spent almost £200 on new school uniform and that was only one blazer, one pack of shirts, one skirt, one trousers etc. Luckily this year I don’t have much she needs to top up on, other than some more short sleeve blouses.

 

Shoes

Ever since the girls first started wearing shoes, I have always taken them each year to get their feet measured at Clarks and then buy a pair each to last the year. While I’m all for shopping on a budget, £35-40 is well spent on a pair of Clarks shoes, given that they do last the whole year. Today I took the girls to get their shoes and funny enough the girls ended up with the exact same pairs as this time last year (except in bigger sizes of course). Megan is now fitting in a 3.5, while Lily is in a 1.

Backpacks

As well as the obvious school uniform necessities, there are plenty of extras that are needed for the school year. Last year Megan had a backpack from Asda Living which was really cute, but unfortunately it lasted about 3 months before one of the zips broke. In the end, she made her way through three backpacks during the whole year and we’re anticipating similar this year. That said, all the backpacks we bought previously were fairly cheap and so after quizzing her on what friends seem to have, Jacks Wills seems to be a brand we could try. Luckily Lily bought herself a Joker bag during the middle of last year and she is very keen to continue using that, along with her every growing collection of pom pom keyrings.

Stationery

Last but not least of course, is all the stationery, notebooks, calculators etc, that are needed – especially for Megan at secondary school. For the most part she has everything from last year, but a trip to Smiggle last week gave us a top up on some mechanical pencils and highlighter pens. To be honest there was a lot more there that we could have bought, but we behaved ourselves for the time being. Megan did join the Smiggle VIP club however, so no doubt we’ll be back there before too long.

Filed Under: lifestyle Tagged With: Asda, back to school, books, Clarks, jack wills, kids, school, school uniform, shopping, smiggle, stationery, Tesco

Harry Potter Ball – take two

August 30, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

As you may remember, I posted a little while ago about a Harry Potter convention and Ball that I went to with my best friend and two daughters. It was a little disappointing to be honest and left me feeling like I could have done better myself. Having talked it over with Nat (or maybe ranted in the car on the way home) we decided that maybe we should plan our own – perhaps for her 30th next year.

This got me to thinking about what I would wear – the changes to what I wore this time and what I could improve. The largest change of all, would be to lose some weight. We’re hoping in fact that this may motivate us! She got so many lovely compliments in the dress she was wearing, that I really want people to look at me and say the same. For that reason I would definitely pick the same dress. I have worn it twice now and I love it. However I definitely think I could do with some accessories so I’ve been doing some research.

Gryffindor Ball
Gryffindor Ball

I love the idea of a heavy piece for a necklace – something like this beautiful Victorian necklace from Berganza. I also love this cuff bracelet from House of Fraser and these ruby earrings from India Times to really give the Gryffindor vibe (I’m sorry, but I love red far too much to not be a Gryffindor). The ring probably isn’t that necessary to the outfit but I love to pull a bit more of the ruby in and this would be a nice subtle touch.

Since the girls are Ravenclaw and Slytherin (Lily is like me, torn between Gryffindor and Slytherin), I decided to look for some ideas for them too. They won’t be going to Nat’s 30th but just in case we find another decent Harry Potter ball to get invited too, I thought it would be nice for them to have accessories.

Ravenclaw accessories
Ravenclaw accessories

Megan is quite delicate so all the pieces I picked are delicate too. They all feature sapphires as I figured this suited Ravenclaw colours. Of course no ball outfit would be complete without Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem too.

Slytherin accessories
Slytherin accessories

Lily likes to be fierce in everything she does so I know she’d rock the brightness of the emerald pieces. The snake earrings (despite the fact her ears aren’t pierced yet) and the snake bracelet are by far my favourite choices. She also has a huge amount of hair so this beautiful comb would look great. Finally the necklace is nice and solid so it would hang nicely around her neck.

Sorry Hufflepuff but you lucked out. No one in our house is interested in being from Hufflepuff so I decided not to do one for you! Besides, really not a fan of Amber or yellow coloured stones either.

What would you pick if you were supporting your favourite Hogwarts House to a Yule Ball?

Filed Under: about me, lifestyle Tagged With: accessories, Berganza, bracelet, earrings, fashion, Gryffindor, hair comb, harry potter, Hogwarts, House of Fraser, hufflepuff, jewellery, necklace, Ravenclaw, rings, shopping, slytherin, Yule Ball

Travel Diary – 21st May 16 – Paris Day Two

June 2, 2016 by Bel 1 Comment

Yesterday I posted my Travel Diary – Day One and so today I’m sharing Day Two. Sadly this day wasn’t at all what we had planned, but we made the most of it anyway.

Day Two

On Saturday morning, I woke up with the most sickening of headaches. I do get headaches a lot so that’s fairly standard but this one was migraine worthy. When I sat up, I felt sick and when I lay down, my head banged. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how I was going to get through the day! After several trips to the bathroom, thinking I was going to throw up, a drink and some paracetamol, I finally found a position in bed to rest my head so it didn’t hurt and also not feel sick at the same time. Chris decided to get up and keep an eye on the kids, while I slept a little longer.

When I eventually got up, my headache was mostly gone and I felt a bit better. Chris had taken the girls swimming which was lovely for them as I was already worrying about ruining and wasting the day. Sadly I had ruined our plans – which was to head back to Paris and spend the day there shopping and sightseeing. It was midday and there was no point tackling the hour there and hour back, especially feeling a bit rough. Everyone grabbed a late lunch and we tried to decide what to do. I got myself upset for ruining the day and everyone agreed we should head to Disney, even if it was just to Disney village. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day so this seemed like a good save for the day.

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Lily put on her Disney bounding Ariel Town dress and I put on my Ursula ears and necklace. We all headed out to Disney which was about a 45 minute drive. When we got there, I actually felt pretty excited. I was sort of disappointed that we weren’t actually heading into the parks but since we only had a one day pass, I didn’t want to waste it on only half a day.

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We first headed to World of Disney, where we browsed around and I actually found a gift I would like for my birthday, which my mum offered to buy. Other than that we didn’t spend anything though, as I knew I might be getting an annual pass the following day and knew this would give me a discount.

Next we grabbed some churros and nutella from a little food van and enjoyed the sun. Mum and Pippa decided they wanted to sit for a while and so we all got a drink and sat down. After a while, Megan, Chris and I decided to go for a wander, as I’d never actually looked around Disney Village. We went in ever single shop and it was really nice. I saw some beautiful ornaments in The Art of Disney and even some clothes we wanted in other shops. We had a lovely afternoon and took an hour or so to browse.

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At around 6pm, we went back to the car and headed home. We’d parked at the train station instead of the Disney Park itself and this made it not only nearer to walk, but cheaper for half a day. It took around the same amount of time to get back as it had to get there and so when we got home, dinner was straight on. We all sat around and ate lasagne, drank wine and chilled out. Afterwards the girls played in their room and Chris and I went off for a game of pool.

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Finally we headed back to the accommodation and I put the girls to bed. Chris and I headed up to our room and watched TV on my iPad. After only one episode we were exhausted though and we headed to sleep ourselves.

All in all, I really enjoyed our visit to Disney but I was disappointed to not get back to Paris. I had wanted to see several more things and I don’t know when I’ll next get chance. That said, the weather was beautiful and it was nice to get an extra dose of Disney that wasn’t expected, the girls loved swimming again in the morning and it was definitely nice to get an hour playing pool with Chris in the evening.

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Filed Under: Travel Diary Tagged With: art of disney, churros, dinner, Disney, disney village, Disneyland Paris, Eurodisney, headache, lasagne, nutella, paris, Paris Trip 1, Pool, shopping, swimming, wine, World of Disney

My 37th Birthday

May 30, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

On the whole I avoid putting the actual age I am, on my blog. It’s not that it particularly bothers me (turning 30 never did) but I have to admit that inching closer to 40 does somehow make me feel old. However I’m sucking it up this year and trying to embrace it – and I’m going to let you know what a great birthday I had!

For a start, it was a Saturday (May 28th). Amy and Olivia came down to visit for the weekend, Chris was off work and even Amy’s O.H. was coming to spend the day with us! Though technically my birthday had started at midnight where Amy and I were still up and sitting in the dinning room, we soon headed to bed and started again properly in the morning. Chris sadly woke me at 7am when he got up and though I had hoped for a lie-in, it wasn’t to be! I got up and was greeted by many “happy birthday”s and Amy kindly made me a cup of tea! I sat down on the sofa to open cards and gifts from them all, which was really lovely.

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The girls got me the Evil Queen from Snow White, in hag form. This is a Disney Tradition that I’ve been after for a while and I’m not sure why as she’s ugly as hell, but I love it regardless! Chris got me Seven Dwarves on a Log – again another Disney Tradition that I have loved for literally as long as I can remember. It was always far too expensive to consider getting but now it’s mine, yay! Finally Amy and Liv got me a box of goodies, including an Ursula decoration, Regina in Pop Funko, an art print of Belle and the Beast and a Tinker Bell scarf (I put it on straight away, so forgot to photograph it). There was also a limited edition print that Amy had found in a charity shop, which is literally amazing!

After this we sat around for a while relaxing, but the kids started to get hungry so I put on some breakfast. We had freshly baked croissants and pain au chocolat, along with margarine, nutella and chocolate/peanut butter spread. We actually didn’t even manage it all which was a surprise between six of us.

Photo 28-05-2016, 09 47 17indexEveryone went off their separate ways then, to get dressed, to have another cup of tea etc. My mum arrived around lunch time to give me her gift and then Amy’s O.H. arrived too. After a while we headed out to Nottingham with the plan to play mini-golf with my Pine club golf gifted by my brother. We headed home, got the girls to bed and then my friend Nat and her O.H. came around. We spent the evening chatting, laughing and drinking wine until about 1am.

While it maybe doesn’t sound like the most spectacular of birthdays, the evening was everything and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thankfully its a whole year now until the next one but I’m glad this one turned out pretty great.

Filed Under: about me Tagged With: Amy, Belle, birthday, breakfast, Chris, Disney, Disney Traditions, drinking, Evil Queen, Five Guys, hag, Lily, may, Megan, mum, music box, my birthday, Nat, Olivia, rose, seven dwarves, shopping, snow white, snowglobe

April Round-up

May 3, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

april
Watching: Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA (I’ve managed to watch all 7 series), Once Upon a Time (I started again from the beginning with Lily and now Megan), Suits (1-4), the usual weekly episodes of Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, The 100 etc etc. Megan, Lily and I also watched Saving Mr Banks for the first time.
Reading: Six Lies and Kingdom Keepers: Disney at Dawn – I’m not doing much reading!
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): This month I made some bunting and also a lampshade for my sewing room/dining room. I also made a Prince Charming jacket, along with the usual orders.

And in other news…
– We finally got the house on the market, all the paperwork approved and the brochure made. We’re at least on the way to moving – whenever that might happen!
– Went shopping with Megan and Lily for a few nice bits of clothes. Megan did a mini photo shoot but got herself all upset that she didn’t feel very natural and thought she was ugly.
– Went to Doncaster and experienced Cosmo with the kids. Also found a great little outlet village which we’d never been to before.
– Lily managed her 25m badge in swimming lessons and I was so proud of her because she hadn’t even been able to swim properly at the beginning of the 6 weeks.
– Went out for dinner with my mum a couple of days before her birthday. It was supposed to be just the five of us but my Auntie Pat and Bernard joined us last minute.
– We went out for Sunday lunch to celebrate my nephew’s 9th birthday.
– I attempted (and failed) screen printing for the first time. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t do it, but newspaper got stuck to my screen!
– Got several new art prints over the month and also started collecting Itty Bittys from Hallmark.
– And very last minute, my best friend Amy came to visit!!

Looking forward to in May:
– My birthday has to come top of the list, even though its pretty much the last thing to happen in the month. It’s not really because of my birthday or the gifts, but because Amy will come down again and Nat’s coming over.
– Going to Paris! Finally, after all these years, I’m taking a holiday to Paris. It’s only 3 days but we’re doing the Eiffel Tower and Paris itself, as well as DLP of course.
– Maybe seeing Captain America: Civil War? I really need to watch Winter Soldier first though.
– As well as my birthday, half term starts at the end of the month (though technically runs into the next month). As always, I enjoy my time off with the girls and especially not having to head out every morning to take them to school.

Honestly there isn’t really anything happening in May other than the small trip and my birthday so we’ll just have to see how it goes!

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Filed Under: monthly round up Tagged With: Amy, april, cavery, cosmo, dinner out, disney prints, Doncaster, Easter holidays, Morgan's birthday, moving house, mum's birthday, round up, selling the house, shopping

Our pre-Christmas Break – Newcastle

January 13, 2016 by Bel 1 Comment

As you might be able to tell from my lack of posts so far this week, it’s a busy one! I have so many things I want to write about but no time to actually get writing. However one thing that I wanted to make sure I wrote about, before we got too far away from Christmas, was two wonderful trips we had in December. The first (this post) was to Newcastle the weekend before Christmas and the second (my next post hopefully) was a trip to Disneyland Paris, the weekend after Christmas.

On Friday 18th December, the girls had already broken up from school the day before and so we had a fairly lazy day. However we packed and got ready to go away, setting off for my mum’s house around 6pm. There we met up with my partner Chris, who had just finished work and was leaving his car there and the four of us set off on our weekend away. We were staying in a Travelodge in Newcastle (technically Gateshead)and it was one I hadn’t been to before so I was excited. I vowed to not get stressed with the kids and really enjoy this family time we had near Christmas! The journey is a fairly long one, about 3 hours, but we broke it up by stopping for a Burger King dinner at a services on the way. This meant it was about 11pm when we got to the Travelodge but the lady on the desk was wonderful and friendly, meaning that even though it was late, check-in was stress free.

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We pretty much headed straight to bed and so in the morning we didn’t bother to set an alarm – just getting up when we woke naturally. Chris headed down to collect the Breakfast boxes, while the girls got dressed and I jumped into the shower. I have to admit to being a little disappointed with the Breakfast boxes – I’m sure there are people out there who like that type of thing (like a Graze box I guess) but for us they were just too much fruit/nut/seed, especially on the first morning.

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On the first morning there was only one “Good Morning” box left and so we had three “Rise and Shine” boxes. The contents of the Good Morning box were better than the other – having Cornflakes and milk, orange juice, a Nutri-grain bar (strawberry) and a blueberry muffin. The “Rise and Shine” box on the other hand had a heavily seeded, fruit and nut muffin, with an almond and something cereal bar, a yoghurt and some orange juice. Needless to say we didn’t eat much – Lily had the blueberry muffin and Megan had the cornflakes, while Chris tried a bit of everything and left it. I didn’t even attempt anything as I just knew I wouldn’t like it. Though this was a big disappointment, I have to admit it was the only one of the whole stay.

After getting dressed, we headed out in the car, down the road two minutes to the Metro Centre. Here we planned to spend the whole day, even meeting up with Amy for part of the day. When we arrived it was easy to find parking and so we entered on the ground floor and started to wander around. Since we’d not really managed breakfast that morning, we treated ourselves to fresh pretzels and that was amazing!

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We did quite a lot of shopping and bought a few bits. Megan had birthday money to spend and Next vouchers too so it was nice for the girls to feel free to buy things too. At around lunch time we met up with Amy and we all headed to KFC for food. It was quite busy but not too bad considering it was the weekend before Christmas!

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In the afternoon we wandered around the top level of the shopping centre. However when the girls got tired (and Chris wasn’t feeling 100%) we sat down for a coffee and to catch our breath. After a while Amy and I wandered off to Primark together and left the girls with Chris. Eventually we headed back and sat down again for a short time. We decided what we were going to do next and since it was almost time for Amy to leave, we said our goodbyes. I headed to the car to drop off the bags and Chris took the girls into the nearby arcade. Though we aren’t big into gambling or anything, we do love our 2p machines and the girls love anything that spits out tickets!

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After killing some time in the arcade (and spending plenty of money), we cashed in our tickets – the girls very kindly got Chris a Pac-Man tankard) – and headed back to the Travelodge. Here we all just lay on the beds and chilled out for a while. The girls claimed their free half an hour of wifi on their iPads, I read and Chris played on his phone. Eventually we decided we should eat dinner and so we headed out of the Travelodge again and went to the nearby TGI Fridays (literally a 2 minute walk).

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Despite the fact it was a Saturday night, TGI’s wasn’t too busy. They fitted us in to a nice booth and we got a lovely server who made balloon animals for the kids and gave really good service the whole night. Going to TGI’s is a real treat for us as at home our nearest one is at least an hour away. It was nice to spend time just chilling out, enjoying a glass of wine (because we walked) and eating amazing food.

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After dinner we were full and tired and so glad to not be far from the Travelodge. We walked back, the girls got changed for bed and then lay there playing on their iPads for a little while. I read again and Chris played on his phone and once we felt our food had gone down, we all went to sleep.

Again in the morning, we just woke when we woke naturally. Chris went for the breakfast boxes and this time we all managed to get the “Good Morning” boxes. This meant that Megan and I could both have cornflakes and Chris and Lily could have blueberry muffins. Sadly Chris was the only one to like Strawberry Nutri-Grain bars too so we just packed those to take home with us, along with some of the orange juice that was left. We packed up all our stuff, checked out and headed to the car. We’d have a lovely weekend away and the Gateshead Travelodge was so close and easy for the Metro Centre (and TGI) that we would definitely go back again!

We headed home and stopped for lunch at a services on the way. It was a lovely weekend break but it was good to get home too!

Filed Under: where we ate, where we went Tagged With: arcade, Christmas break, December, eating out, gateshead, going away, kfc, Metro Centre, newcastle, pretzels, shopping, TGI Fridays, Travelodge, weekend away

How To Refresh Your Look In The New Year On A Budget

January 7, 2016 by Bel 1 Comment

The “new year, new me” is a common resolution, which surely involves many aspects of your life. Taking better care of yourself and perfecting your look is often a part of it! Perhaps you want to move on and become a new you, or just change the way others see you – refreshing your personal look is always a nice step. However, you have to be financially prepared for such a big decision. This operation may require quite a lot of spending, but with our tips you should be able to find whatever you need on the cheap. Read on to learn more about the following ways to keep your threads fully up to date on a budget!

Take Inventory Of Your Own Closet

Fashion experts often speak about a “one year” rule. This means that any clothing that has not been worn within the last calendar year must be discarded. While taking stock of your own closet may allow you to get rid of items that you no longer wear, it can also help you to uncover pieces that you have been neglecting to add to your wardrobe rotation, allowing you to make upgrades without even opening your wallet!

Make A Budget

There is nothing wrong with setting aside a budget for refreshing your look in the new year, but there is something wrong with obliterating the budget you have set to purchase items that you will barely wear. Make a list of the items that you need most and decide how much you are going to spend on each of them before heading out to the mall or opening the laptop to shop from home.

Check Out The Clearance Rack

The items that are kept in the front of the store often look the most enticing, but they are not worth their exorbitant price tag. Instead of falling into the trap that retailers have set for you, by browsing the items in front of the store and working your way towards the back, reverse the formula and check out the clearance rack. Some may be afraid there’s a stigma associated with purchasing such clothes, but it is one of the best ways to get inexpensive pieces that help to round out your wardrobe. Other than that, don’t forget to search online at such websites as Discountrue.com and check for coupons for the store you’re shopping at. There’s a multitude of vendors offering great discounts such as Kohl’s or Nordstorm, so you should be able to find what you’re looking for!

Don’t Use Credit Cards

While you should use coupons as much as possible, what you should not be using are your credit cards. Using cash for your clothing purchases in the new year will keep you from falling into debt, especially since the post Christmas season can leave some of us financially tapped out. Avoid packing the plastic as much as possible and keep your shopping limited to the cash that you already have on hand.

Avoid Weekend Shopping

Did you know that you are far more likely to find massive savings when you shop on a weekday, as opposed to a weekend? It has been proven that retailers tend to offer far better deals on workdays. That happens because there is much less incentive to offer a quality deal when store owners know that there will be large amounts of foot traffic anyway.

Filed Under: guest post, promo Tagged With: debt, guest post, money, new year resolutions, shopping

Week 36 – Monday Round-up

September 9, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

I am so behind on everything right now that I’ve realised its Wednesday and I still haven’t rounded up last week! To be truthful it was the usual mix of nothing some days and loads the next, but I will try to recap as best I can remember!

Monday we were still in London and I posted about that day here. Since we were actually back by Tuesday, life pretty much returned to normal. The girls went to their dad’s house and Chris was at work so I had a day of sewing, blogging and watching TV (not necessarily in that order!). I made some decisions about the month (that sadly haven’t really happened yet) and tried to take a determined approach to life since it was September 1st!

In the evening I sat down to make loads of hair bows and watch Grimm. It was actually pretty awesome ;)

In the morning I got up and headed out for the girls, about the same time as Chris headed out to work. I picked them up and we headed to Asda Living to pick out some school uniform for Megan and a few last minute bits and pieces they needed. Afterwards we went home and while the girls sat and played on their computers (and Disney Infinity on the Xbox), I made more bows and watched Grimm… right up till bedtime. Other than that there was the odd bit of getting ready for school etc. but that was pretty much it.

On Thursday the girls were back at school and we had the usual mad rush in the morning. After dropping the girls off I came home and started to sew. Nat came around for the day and although we mostly sat and chatted, she helped me cut out pattern pieces etc. until we both needed to pick up the kids from school. After school we all just flaked in front of the TV and computers, recovering from a busy day! Friday was fairly similar, except that I dropped the kids off at school and went on a ribbon hunt in Lincoln. I realised Nat was off so called her to meet up for coffee and we spent the morning chatting and drinking coffee/hot chocolate. I headed home as I needed to go to the post office and get a few bits done. However it wasn’t long before I was back out to get the girls. That evening I spent sewing, getting both a Woody dress done and also working on a Wendy cosplay.

Saturday morning and it was the weekend. The girls had no school and Chris had no work, so it should have been heaven – except I felt awful! I had a headache all day long and this resulted in me crying on and off through frustration. However I managed to get some work done in the end and my headache finally cleared by about 7pm. Sunday was another day of sewing and another day of everyone being off. We spent the day doing our own thing but sat down to a family dinner of fajitas in the evening.

It was a lovely week but as always, highs and lows. This week is fairly crazy so far but I’m beginning to think that’s the new norm!

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: back to school, coffee, Disney infinity, fajitas, Grimm, hair bows, hot chocolate, kids, london, Nat, school uniform, September, sewing, shopping, Wendy, Woody

My Dream Staycation

August 15, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Money is tight for the majority of people these days and so holidays are definitely classed as a luxury! I’m always looking for the odd getaway weekend here and there and with six weeks of summer holidays upon us, what better time to take a break? However I for one can’t afford to book flights anywhere and a staycation is really the only option. So far we’re three weeks through the summer break and sadly we haven’t managed to visit anywhere. I’m working hard on getting my new business up and running and that means we’re all being even more careful with money than we might be otherwise. Not only that but we’re hoping to finish decorating our house soon and get that on the market, which will mean an expense moving house on top of everything else. So when I was asked to share my Dream Staycation, the ideas came fairly easily. There is no place in this country I love to visit more, than London!

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Though there are heaps of places in the UK that I’d love to vacation (York and Bath being two that are high up on the list), London owns my heart when it comes to Staycations. Living in Lincolnshire, a very green and very quiet county, even our cities aren’t that big or loud. Lincoln – our nearest (and my dearest) city, it basically an overgrown town rather than a city. Don’t get me wrong, I love that balance of countryside alongside city, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love to experience the real city life whenever possible!

Theatre

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One of my most favourite things to do in London is go to the theatre! Wicked is by far my most watched musical, totaling four visits so far! I’ve also seen Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Blood Brothers, Grease, Thriller and many more. Of course there are places other than London to attend the theatre but there’s nothing quite like the feel of theatre district, especially at night!

Shopping

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No trip to London would be complete without some shopping. After all, the staycation is saving you money – you need to treat yourself a little. My favourite shops to visit are definitely Lush and the Disney Store, so Oxford Street is a must. However the plenty more shops to visit and with a Starbucks on almost every corner, you can’t go wrong!

Sightseeing

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There are so many places to visit in London and I’ve always fancied taking an open top bus ride to see everywhere. There is Buckingham Palace, Big Ben (and the Houses of Parliament), the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square… the list goes on and on! There are so many places to see that I don’t think you will ever see them all, but I’d like to go up the London Eye too and try a different point of view!

So London is my dream staycation and these are just a few of the reasons why. However the biggest question is really… who would I take on my dream staycation. Well that’s a no brainer. This wonderful bunch!

family

Thanks a bunch to ThinkMoney who asked me to enter their competition!

Filed Under: competition entry Tagged With: bank holiday weekend, dream staycation, family, holiday, london, shopping, sightseeing, staycation, summer holiday, theatre, thinkmoney

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Hi, my name is Bel!


I’m a forty something, mother of two, self-confessed geek!

Here on my blog you’ll find;
books I’ve read, clothes I’ve made, movies I’ve watched, cakes I’ve baked, products I’ve tried, places I’ve been, pictures I’ve taken… plus lots and lots of DISNEY!!

I’m a lifestyle blogger – covering a little of everything I love <3

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