Aloha! I've seen a couple of these posts going around lately so I thought it would be fun to do a post of my own. So here goes...

1. I've had many career aspirations. I wanted to be an interior designer until I was about 13, I started a journalism degree then I switched to do a Law degree, and now I'm training to be a tax accountant! I doubt I will ever fully make up my mind!

2. I detest raw tomatoes.

3. I'm not a big fan of films. I get bored too easily. There are exceptions to this though!

4. I used to dance competitively (Latin American & Freestyle) until I was 17. I miss it.

5. If I won the lottery, the first thing I'd buy would be a round-the-world holiday. Then I'd buy a house, get married, adopt some cats and dogs and live a comfortable, happy life!

6. The first band I saw live was Boyzone with my mum. I was 10.

7. I don't like the texture of bananas but I love the flavour.

8. I had an imaginary friend as a child. He was called Kenny and according to my mother, I used to talk to him all the time. I don't remember this at all.

9. I've broken 3 bones in my life so far. I broke my pinkie playing netball, my foot after falling down a flight of stairs (I was texting), and one of my toes after slipping at the side of the pool in Mexico and being too vain to just fall in the pool instead of trying to steady myself.

10. My idea of a good night is spending it at home, watching Netflix with Mikey and a beer after eating a tasty home cooked meal (usually something Mexican).
11. Mikey and I have been together for 4 and a half years and we are due to get married in 2017!
12. I am obsessed with buying candles but I've never lit half of them! I'm a strange one!
13. My favourite ever meal is probably fajitas! I love a bit of spice!
14. Talking of spice, I get the hiccups 9 times out of 10 when I eat spicy food. It drives everyone around me insane. Drinking water out the wrong side of the glass is the cure!
15. I can't eat more than 3 potatoes or more than 4 fork fulls of rice or my throat begins to close up! I dunno if it's like a mild allergy or just a strange gag reflex! Either way, it's annoying!
16. Despite being a blogger, I still have a special place in my heart for print media. I still buy magazines every month, usually more than 1 a week!
17. I love to travel. Being in a new place doesn't scare me and I love the challenge of finding my way about. It annoys me that we have we have put all holidays on hold whilst we save for our wedding - but it will be worth it of course!
18. When we go out to a restaurant, I always look at the deserts before the mains. I guess you could say I have a major sweet tooth!
19. I love supermarkets. I have to wander up and down every aisle just in case I miss a bargain or a new product I haven't tried!
20. Mushroom soup makes me feel physically sick. Don't know why. Never tried it, never will.

xxx

Lifestyle | TheSundayPost - 28th February

Aloha! Who can believe we are already heading into the 3rd month of the year?! We will soon be entering the 'less than a year until our wedding' period! February has been a bit of a quiet month. I've been stuck in a bit of a rut of working all week and being so tired by the weekend that I sit on the sofa all weekend in my PJ's!

Here is what I've been up to this week!

1 & 2 - I had Monday off work as I still have a few annual leave days to use before the end of March. I had spent the whole weekend in the house so I decided to get out and go for a walk! I picked a cracking day to do this as the sun was shining. It was still super cold though! I was trying not to fall on the ice whilst taking these pictures!

3 - I bought this cute little jug whilst I was out on Monday. It's obviously not meant for flowers but I think it looks cute! I've got a full haul featuring this jug coming soon!

4 - I couldn't resist these PJ's in Tesco the other night. They were reduced from £16 to £9. I used to have a cat called Puddy after my mum kept saying tweetie bird's 'I tawt I saw a puddy-tat' saying! The name just stuck! Unfortunately he died about 6 months after we took him in (he was a stray that starting living in our greenhouse). We think he may have had cancer and his owners dumped him rather than face the big vet bills to manage his illness. Poor puddy! At least we gave him a comfy, loving home to live out his last 6 months! 

So now we are moving into March, which will hopefully be another good month! Hopefully I'll find the energy to get out the house a bit more as we move into Spring! 

And just incase you missed it, you can find my blog from this week about Yankee Candle for Spring 2016 HERE.

Have a great week!

xxx

Home | Yankee Candle Spring 2016

Aloha! Back in July 2015 I did a post about the 2016 Yankee Candle releases and the first collection, My Serenity, has just hit the shelves in the last few weeks! Of course this meant I had to get my hands on them to try out, so I did just that!

Moonlight - A subtle blend of bamboo, woody notes and bergamot - as intoxicating as moonlight on the water

This is not the type of scent I usually go for as it's quite musky and smells a bit like men's aftershave but it's still quite nice. Not my favourite, but I didn't expect it to be. 

My Serenity - The definition of calm - warm pear and orange mingle with tropical flowers and soft musk

This one surprised me as I thought it was very nice on cold sniff, but it gave me a bit of a headache when it was burning so I had to blow it out! :( 

Lemongrass & Ginger - A fresh, clean mixture of gentle lemongrass and just-cut ginger - pure invigoration

I thought I would hate this one, mainly because I can't stand the smell of ginger, but to my surprise, it's actually my second favourite from this collection. The lemongrass is much more prominent than the ginger so it's smells lovely and fresh - just what you want for Spring!

Peony - The rich scent of Spring's most coveted bloom - the peony - entices with notes of bright sweetness

As expected, Peony is my favourite from this collection! Perfect if you want to pretend you have peonies in your house all year round like me! 

Now to count down until the next collection is released in April!

You can have a sneak peak at what's still to come here! 

xxxx

Lifestyle | TheSundayPost - 21st February

Aloha! Another week has been and gone and here I am sitting typing this post in my PJ's having not left the house all weekend! I am such a lazy bean!

Here's what I've been up to this week!

As usual, the dreaded work! I used a days annual leave on Friday though and I'm also off tomorrow so that's nice! 

On Saturday I was a little bit hungover after spending Friday night round at a friend's house! I decided to light this candle so I could pretend I was on a tropical island! It's part of the Yankee Candle coconut collection and is the Coconut and Pineapple one. It smells just like malibu and pineapple. Yum! 

I cooked up this yummy smoky beef stew on Saturday night! It was a bit of an experiment but it was really tasty! I'll post the recipe here soon!

And on to today. I have done nothing useful today except finally go through all of these wedding magazines and cut out the pictures I like for my wedding scrapbook/moodboards! It's taken me all afternoon! 

And I also cooked this Sunday roast! We haven't had one in ages so I thought it would make a nice change! I slow cooked the chicken and it made such a difference! It was literally falling apart!

And now it's almost time to start a new week! I think tomorrow I'm going to take a wander up into town and see what bargains I can find to treat myself with, as well as buy boring household items we need!

Have a great week!

xxxx

Food | Red Velvet Macarons

Aloha! Last weekend I made these Red Velvet macarons as a valentine's day treat! They were so tasty and turned out pretty perfect so I thought I'd share the recipe here! Get your stand mixers at the ready, here's how you can make them too!

Macarons Ingredients:

* 3 egg whites

* 70 grams of caster sugar, sifted

* 120 grams ground almonds, sifted

* 180 grams icing sugar, sifted

* 1.5 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted

* ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 teaspoon red food colouring (I used Dr Oetker gel colouring) 

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:

* 115 grams cream cheese, cold, cut into cubes

* 115 grams of unsalted butter, softened

* 1½ cups of icing sugar, sifted

* ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

* ½ teaspoon of lemon juice

* pinch of salt

* 1-3 teaspoons of whole milk (optional depending on consistency desired)

Instructions

Macarons

1. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat - if using a template, slide underneath parchment paper before piping. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl sift together ground almonds, icing sugar and cocoa powder.

3. With a stand mixer or hand mixer, whisk egg whites at medium speed until the egg whites begin to foam. Slowly sprinkle in caster sugar.

4. Slowly increase speed to medium-high and beat until a firm meringue forms with stiff glossy peaks.

5. Beat in the vanilla extract and red food colouring.

6. Use a rubber spatula, gently fold the almond mixture into the egg whites. Only fold the batter in one direction by sliding the spatula into the centre of the batter, then lifting it up and letting the batter fall back onto itself. It should take about 40-45 strokes to work the batter. The batter is ready to pipe when it has a smooth, shiny surface and flows in one large ribbon off the spatula. 

7. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag with a plain round tip.

8. Pipe rounds onto prepared baking sheets following the templates if using them, leaving space between the macarons to allow batter to spread.

9. Once all macarons have been piped, pick up baking sheet with both hands and tap it firmly on counter several times. This will remove any air bubbles.

10. Let macarons sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on humidity levels. The macarons are ready to bake when tops are no longer sticky to touch. Gently slide or remove paper templates from underneath before baking.

11. While you are waiting, preheat oven to 160 C. When macarons are dry to the touch, lower the oven temperature to 150 C and bake for 14-16 minutes (if your oven doesn't have room for 2 trays at once, bake in 2 batches), rotating trays once. Let macarons cool completely on parchment paper before removing. 

Filling

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter until lightened up, for about 3 minutes.

2. Add cream cheese 1 cube at a time and beat until fluffy and incorporated.

3. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on high for 3-4 minutes.

4. Transfer to a pastry bag for piping or you can simply use a butter knife or spoon to fill the macarons.

Assembly

1. Match up the cooled macaron shells with similar sizes and shapes.

2. Pipe filling onto a macaron shell and sandwich together with a second matched up shell. Repeat until all shells are used.

3. Store in an airtight container, in the fridge, for 24 hours.

And there you have it, some tasty macarons! Not a recipe you can do in a flash, but so worth it if you have an afternoon to kill! 

Happy baking!

xxx

Lifestyle | TheSundayPost - 14th February

Aloha & Happy Valentines Day!

I hope you've all been spoilt by your significant others today.

Of course, love should be expressed every day, not just today!

As usual, here is what I've been up to this week through my iphone camera!

I decided to try some different recipes this week because we've been eating the same meals for the last few weeks and it was getting a bit boring! I started the week by making these chicken schnitzels! They were pretty yummy and got a big thumbs up from Mikey!

I'll share the recipe on here soon!

Tuesday was pancake day! We try not to eat too much junk Monday to Friday so I tried to make semi healthy pancakes. I obviously made my own batter from scratch! None of your betty crocker shaker bottles here thank you very much! I then sliced bananas and sprinkled some blueberries, sugar and a drizzle of syrup. They were delicious!

I was off work on Friday as I had a hospital appointment in the morning. Thankfully my knee is not as serious as first thought. It turns out my knee cap is away off centre. I'm going to start a course of physio to see if it improves. Because I don't need an operation (yet), Mikey and I had a couple of drinks after he finished work. 

Then I met up with the girls from my work as one of them was having a leaving do. It was a good night. I've not been out in town for ages as I have to drive to work and it's a pain to take the car home then go back out on a Friday night!

On Saturday, Mikey had an all day class at uni so I spent the day cooking up a storm in the kitchen! I made this tasty beef keema which went down great! 

I also made these red velvet macaroons as a valentine's treat! They didn't last long! Let me know in the comments below if you'd like me to post the recipe! 

Today was valentine's day and we spent it in our PJ's watching rubbish on Netflix and eating! We ordered a chinese as a treat. I don't think we've had a takeaway since October!

Finally, this was in my fortune cookie from the Chinese. I can dream right?!

Have a fabulous week! I'm counting down to the weekend already!

xxxx

Fashion | Primark Haul

Aloha! I've not had many posts up lately, so sorry for that! I'm back today though with a Primark Haul! I picked up these things in January with some of my Christmas money as I was in desperate need of some new workwear! Here is what I bought!

Plain Black Blouse £10, Patterned Blouse £13

The plain black one is super soft but my one complaint with this would be that it creases so easily! Like even just sitting in the car in the morning, I get out and I look like I've not ironed it, which I think looks a bit scruffy!

The patterned one is chiffon material so I don't have this issue with this one. I like the faux-layering on this one, and the unusual neck which has a little metal clasp.

Blouse £10, Skirt £8

You can see from this picture what I mean about the creasing on the black blouse above as this is the same one but in cream! Still, it is okay if it's worn tucked into a skirt.

Like this skirt for example! I've had this on loads as I just love it. You can't beat a bit of tartan!

Black Blouse £10, Pink Blouse £6

Unfortunately I had to return both of these as they were just too small and I couldn't get a bigger size in either of my 2 local stores. It's a shame as I liked them both! 

Duvet Cover Set £13 (kingsize), Pillowcases £2.90, Fitted Sheet £4, Throw £3.90

I can't go into Primark without picking up some home bits! I've been using the throw as a blanket to keep me cosy whilst sitting on the sofa on an evening. It's so soft and warm. And it matches my red sofas perfectly!

Blouse £13, Diffuser £1

This blouse is the same style as the one at the start of this post. Again, I had to return it as I couldn't get a bigger size anywhere (I have big chest issues with blouses!)

Cardigan £4.90

All the cardigans were on offer when I visited my local Primark which was good news for me as I desperately needed a new black one! This one is lovely and soft. I wear a black cardigan almost every day to work so I go through them so quickly so Primark ones are perfect for me!

That's everything I picked up in Primark in January! Now it's back to saving my pennies for the wedding!

xxxx

Lifestyle | TheSundayPost - 7th February

Aloha! Another week has passed already and here I am writing another Sunday post. I just don't know where the weekend goes! Here is what I've been up to this week!

I captured this pretty photo on Monday on my way to work. These are nacreous clouds and could been seen all over Edinburgh! I thought they were so pretty with all the rainbow colours!

This week's throwback Thursday! We've started looking into the possibility of making a very special trip to NYC next year - more to come on that one!

I've never been so happy to see Friday! I've reduced my hours to working 4 day weeks for the next few months and I can't wait to just chill out on my extra day off! I miss being a student!

This weekend was spent watching rubbish TV with a little tipple! We got these valentines edition tennents lager bottles in our local Tesco. I thought the Scottish slogans on the front were pretty funny! And I'm such a classy lady with my tennents lager obviously!

So now the countdown to Thursday evening is on! I finally have an appointment with the knee consultant this week so I can get my useless knee sorted out!

Have a fabulous week!

xxxx