Velvet dreams

This is the first velvet dress i owned as an adult. I bid on it on ebay on a random whim and was so pleased to win it for 99p!

Black velvet dress-Vintage M&S via ebay, purple tights-New Look
Leather zip up shoeboots-WallisGoldfish bowl necklace-Topshop
Floral scarf-New Look
The purple and black in this outfit make me feel in keeping with all the Halloweeny things going on this weekend.
Has anyone been to a Halloween party or dressed up?
XXX

Party dresses

Well we are fast approaching the party season and that means only one thing. Party dresses!
I don't have any nights out planned as yet but i'm sure we will get a night out as my birthday is just before Christmas, so i've been eagerly looking through the dresses on offer so far. I love the sequins, velvet and lace that comes out at this time of year.
Here are my favourites so far.

Feather beaded dress- New Look

Velvet Skater Dress- Boohoo

2 in 1 Sequin skirt dress-Matalan

Jade and Black lace dress-Matalan

Embellished Collar Dress-Topshop

Have you started looking at party dresses yet? Or will you be wearing an old favourite?
xxx

Bags of love!

The lovely people at find me a gift sent me this super cute tote bag recently.

The vintage style design and colouring is very sweet and the buttons add a bit of texture and its on offer at the moment so is a bargainous £7.99.
I was very pleased to discover that its the perfect size for our library books so it has become our new book bag.

Its well worth paying a visit to the find me a gift website, as well as gifts they have some fab Halloween and Christmas bits in stock at the moment.

xxxx

Meet the Palmers

I thought i'd do a little post on one of my favourite brands today, Palmers.
I've been using them since i was a teen and seem to have quite a collection going at the moment, even Seb is getting in on the act! I love that they are affordable for everyone, do their job well and they smell amazing.

Pictured L-R: Dark Chocolate and Peppermint Lip Butter, Facial Scrub, Olive body lotion, Cocoa butter body lotion, Baby butter, Bottom butter

The face scrub is a new product for me, i kept seeing their facial skincare products and finally got round to buying one so i may well review it.
We use the baby butter when doing baby massage on Seb after his bath, i much prefer it to the traditional baby lotion. The bottom butter is also Sebs, no nappy rash yet!

I've read that Palmers do hair products in other countries, i just wish i could get them here, i really want to try them!

Had to post this photo of Seb stealing back his bottom butter!

Do you use any Palmers products?

xxx

Mummy Monday: Reading

I was shocked when a recent survey found that 1/3 of children in this country don't own a book. How can that be? You can buy books for next to nothing in charity shops and poundshops and there is even the Bookstart scheme where you are given a few free books for your child. I find the statistic very odd and sad.
Reading a book together is so important, not only does it aid development, it gives you time where you are sat close and having one on one time. You don't even need a be a good reader as you can make up your own stories just using the pictures.
I'm an avid reader and have read to Seb since he was tiny, and we now have it as part of his bedtime routine each night. Its one of the few times Seb allows me to cuddle as him as he now wants to be on the move all the time.
We have special books that we keep on his book shelf and others that are in his toybox that he can play with, he loves playing with them and will lie on the floor flicking through and chuckling to himself.
We also regularly go to the library, and come home with a bag bulging with books. I think its fantastic that the library lets you take 15 books out on a childs card and they don't charge overdue fines either. Our local library also runs a pre school group on Wednesday mornings which i;m going to be taking Seb too when he turns 1.
I hope Seb will grow up loving books but even if he isn't an avid reader i am determined that he will be able to read properly as it seems many children are leaving school without this vital skill.

In other news we now have 4 teeth!
XXX

All i want for Christmas

With only 9 weeks to go my thoughts have turned to Christmas this week. We ordered Sebs main present on Friday along with some other little bits.

I would be very pleased to find any of the following under the tree on Chritstmas morning,

And incase you are wondering what we are getting Seb, his main present is this garage, i can't wait to play! To be honest i think its going to be his smiley face thats going to be the best present ever :)What would you like to find under the tree? x

Welcome to the collection

I popped to our local shopping centre earlier this week to pick up some bits in the Early Learning Centre sale and couldn't resist having a look in the sales. I was so dissapointed, i couldn't find anything i really loved in the clothes or shoes sections.
However i managed to pick up a couple of nice bits of jewellery. Firstly i got pearl cluster earrings in Miss Selfridge for £1, these will be nice with my cream lace dress.
Then i got a couple of more quirky bits to add to my collection, the brooch was just £1 and the goldfish in a bowl necklace was half price in Topshop. I loooooove both of these, the brooch will be great on a scarf.

I also picked up some lovely Christmas decorations in Marks and Spencer, i'm getting so excited for it this year :)

Have you been sales shopping? xx

Ofiicial

Well we did it! As long as nobody objects, me and Phil are now able to get married. I was so nervous this morning, we had to be spoken to separately, asked questions about each other and then it was done!
We had a lovely lunch and a mooch around the charity shops(nothing much there), popped to Asda and then came home to make homemade burgers.
The weather was sooo cold today!! We had to put Seb in his hat, gloves and little soft boots(which he proceeded to remove and also took his socks off).

Ostrich print scarf-Topshop, Brooch-Miss Selfridge
Dark green velvet dress-Vintage M&S, via ebay, Leopard belt-Matalan, Black cardi- La Redoute
Pumps-Topshop
Sebs in bed now, so i'm thinking of making hot chocolate and muffins.
Aquababies tomorrow!
xxxx

On Monday night i went out for an Indian for my friends birthday.
It was a new restaurant that we went to, and it was so lovely! As it was student night, i had a hilarious wait at the bus stop when waiting for my bus home with some lovely boys who decided i needed cuddling.

Aztec print dress-Matalan, Leggings-H&M, Orange cardi-Primark

Horse earrings-TopshopJewelled bow pumps-Topshop
Also wore a huge leopard scarf from H&MAnd i have new darker hair! I dyed my hair last week using a foam dye for the first time, it was so easy!
I'm so excited for tomorrow, we are going to give our notice of marriage, apparantly they ask us a load of questions then put up a notice that we intend to marry for 15 days and in that time if anyone objects they can make it known. We're also off the local pub for lunch and then in the afternoon we are going to see the health visitor for a development check, i'm looking forward to finding out his weight and height!
xxx

Nail of the day: Boots 17

I got 2 new polishes from Boots 17 last week yay! I am going to make it my mission this week to sort through my polishes and just keep the ones i really love.
Anyway this is one of my new polishes once on its like a dirty gold and it will be lovely come the festive season.

Currently when you buy 2 products from the 17 range you get a free gift containing a black liquid liner, a berry lipgloss and a dark grey glitter eyeshadow. Its a really nice freebie so worth looking out for.Come on tell me, whats on your nails? xx

Mummy Monday: Messy Play

I have decided to organise my blog a bit more so rather then having random posts, each Monday i am going to a post purely about Seb and me. I'm just so proud of him i want to tell the world about all his new little tricks. It will vary in its content each week.
Feel free to ignore if you come here for fashion/make up, i won't be offended!

This last week we have done lots of messy play. I have quite alot of ideas on this as my background is in childcare. These activities are great fun and promote so many areas of development. I did think about setting up a seperate blog for activities to do with babies but am not sure if i'd get much interest.

I made up some angel delight, popped it into a tub with plastic spoons, forks, paintbrushes and sponges and let him do as he pleased. This kept him amused for over 30 minutes, lots of squidging and painting with it. Its also great as they can eat it(obviously not ideal) but its not going to harm them so is safer then using paints so you don't have to constantly be poised to grab them incase they eat it all.
We have been collecting Autumn leaves and used some of them to paint with, i mixed up browns, oranges and red, dipped the leaves in and then let Seb drag them on the paper.
And finally jelly. I made up some sugar free jelly and put it all on his high chair tray with some cups so he could put it in and tip it out. Like the angel delight its edible and Seb did alot of eating with this one!
He is at such a great age now, into everything and full of beans. When he wakes up in the morning he sits up in his cot and shouts dadadada as Phil is usually the first up in our house and goes to grab him from the cot. He only tends to say mama when he has had a bump or is angry and having a tantrum. We also get yumyumyum and uh-oh.
He thinks he's super clever when he claps and also loves nothing better then to pull himself up onto his knees and turn the TV off.
Come back next week for another Mummy Monday :)

xxxx

This week

I have mainly been

• waiting for various parcels to come including one from Zara containing Sebs winter coat and my shamelessly copied tee(Laura i'm not a stalker i promise!)
• Planning Sebs birthday party! Pirate theme, i'm so over excited about this! Invites are ordered and on the way!
• Getting messy. Now the weather has turned and we are staying in more, its time to get creative. So far we have painted, squidged(and eaten) jelly, collected Autumn leaves and printed with them and glued them and made up angel delight and used that paint with, eat and squidge through our hands.
• Reading the River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook, i got this out of the library and its really fab, a must have for any mums reading.
• Gone chocolate crazy, after a stressful start to the week i gorged on chocolate by eating it, drinking it, having a face mask made from it and painting my toes chocolate brown.
  

What have you been upto this week? xx

Matalan Style Project and me!

I'm sure many of you are aware of the Matalan Style Project, but if not heres a quick lowdown.

Each month Matalan pick 4 bloggers, give them a theme and arm them with a £50 Matalan voucher. The bloggers then put together an outfit within the theme from Matalan. Then the outfits are put on the Matalan blog and people vote for their favourite.

This month i was asked to take part and here is my outfit! These 300 denier tights are amazing.

I would really appreciate it if you could take a few seconds to vote for me(i'm scared of ending up with no votes against the other lovely ladies!) here.

A leopard never changes its spots

A quick outfit from Saturday, when we popped into Wakefield to look round the shops and had a pub lunch. I love taking Seb for lunch now, he just eats some of whatever i'm eating(pasta in this case), its so much easier.
I got this dress last year while about 35 weeks pregnant because i loved it so much. I did wear it a couple of times while pregnant and it managed to keep its shape really well.

Leopard print jumper dress-Oasis, 300denier tights-Matalan, Black ballet pumps-Matalan
Necklace-H&M
On Sunday, we had a cleaning spree and Phil went to see his Grandma who is currently in hospital.
What did you get upto? xx

Autumn Days

Autumn has well and truly arrived, this season always reminds me of Autumn Days which i used to love singing in assembly at school. I wonder if they still sing it in schools now?

Outfit from today, we didn't get up to much, me and Seb did painting and played with bubbles and made some jelly. Also lots of washing and cleaning.
This dress is an old favourite, i drag it out every year. I'm still practising with the self timing photos, i look rather moody here.

Floral dress-Primark, Coral cardi-H&M, Black opaques
Tomorrow we're going to the library to change our books and possibly to the park. I'm also planning on cooking us some lovely sausages and mash, a favourite for Autumn.
xxx

Beauty treats

No fashion buys from me this last couple of weeks, i seem to have been concentrating on beauty buys.
When we went into Leeds last week i couldn't resist a peek into Harvey Nichols.
First up, a new Chanel polish, i got Quartz, its such a pretty colour, and will no doubt become one of my staples along with Black Pearl.
I also got another MAC eyeshadow in Tempting, this is gorgeous and will be nice with Amber Lights.I also picked up 2 more polishes No.7 in Betty Blues and Barry M Hologram Hexagrams

Then i also received an ELF order with my favourite Complexion Perfection plus a few other bits(nail polish, blusher, colour sticks and a brush)

What beauty bits have you been buying? x