Aloha! As we are nearing that time of year again (where has this year gone?!), I thought I'd do a little post on the alternative advent calendars if chocolate is not for you, or if you fancy something different this year.

So here is my pick of the best alternative advent calendars!

Yankee Candle Carousel - £31.99

If like me you are obsessed with scented candles, then this is the one for you. There are lots of different scented tea lights behind each door, as well as 4 votives in the new season fragrances (berry trifle, bundle up, cosy by the fire & winter glow). It is quite pricey, but surely worth it for any yankee candle lover.

Lush 12 days of Christmas - £49.95

Now this one doesn't actually have enough windows to begin opening on the 1st December, but it was so cool I had to include it! Featuring favourites like the comforter shower gel, butterbear, and cinders, this is one I'd love to get my hands on! 

English Tea Shop - £11.20

If you love a good brew then this is one for you. Each box contains a different christmas themed tea bag, including Gingerbread Man & Candy Cane.

Bomb Cosmetics - £24.99

I like this one, it has the look of a traditional advent calendar, but it contains little soaps and bath bombs. Bomb cosmetics are a really good brand too with lots of lovely different scents so I'd imagine this one will be a (christmas) cracker *bad-um-ch*

Benefit - £34.50

This is out of stock online but it might still be available in stores. Again it only covers 12 days, but when it contains products such as Porefessional, They're Real Mascara, and Lollitint, who could complain?!

Make-up Revolution - £45

Another beauty calendar, but containing 24 full sized cosmetics, this one is pretty good value! And revolution's cosmetics are always really good quality so you can't really go wrong.

L'Occitane - £39

Again, this one has sold out online, but it might still be available in stores. I really love this one. It is super cute and I love all the products you get in it. And you know they are going to be excellent quality, and smell amazing! 

So that is my pick of my favourite alternative advent calendars for this year! 

Have you purchased an alternative advent or will you be sticking to chocolate?

xxxxx

TheSundayPost - 15th November

Aloha! I've finally managed to get out of bed on a Sunday morning to write a SundayPost!

This week I've been off work so I've had plenty of time for fun! Here is what I've been up to this week!

1 - Wedding planning. We seem to have hit a bit of a brick wall with it. Quite possibly my fault as I've had no time for it recently due to work taking over my life! Hopefully I can start getting things organised more in the next few months. We still need to settle on a venue!

2 - Mikey bought me these flowers. I love the ombre effect! Sometimes there's nothing better than having fresh flowers in the house!

3 - We went to Dublin! Mikey's dad is Irish so he has lots of family there but I had never been! We decided to take a little trip so I could meet all the family as well as do a bit of sightseeing! We had a great time with lots of good food and beers! I won't share any more photos of our time in Dublin as I'm going to do a photo diary of our time!

4 - On Friday we had a few friends over for dinner. I cooked my favourite dish: Texas BBQ Brisket. I actually think I love that dish so much I'd have it as our wedding meal!

5 - It wouldn't be right if I didn't take a moment to reflect on the horrific events in Paris on Friday night. I won't say much as emotions tend to run high at times like these, and people say controversial things, but all I would like to say is that all those affected by what happened are in my thoughts. I just wish the world could be a peaceful place :( 

xxxxx

October Favourites

Aloha! How on earth are we into November already?! Less than 8 weeks until Christmas!

I thought it would be fun to start doing my monthly favourites post again, since I've actually managed to blog a bit more lately, so here's what I've been obsessed with in October!

Food: I am still completely obsessed with Mexican food! I made this chipotle lamb stew at the weekend for Mikey and I's anniversary dinner. It was so tasty!

TV Show: It's gotta be Downton Abbey! I am so gutted it's gonna be over soon! I am likely gonna miss the final episode as we'll be in Dublin this weekend, but hopefully I can get some wifi to watch it on my iPad! I will be crying like a baby no doubt! They better not kill any of the characters I like!

Song: At the moment, it's Adele's new song, Hello. I'm also loving Beyonce & Naughty Boy's Runnin.

Beauty Product: Benefit Porefessional. It's made such a difference to my skin. As someone who suffers with both dry and oily patches, it really is a must have for an even application of foundation.

Candle: At the moment, I've had Yankee Candle Cinnamon Stix burning almost every night! It's all about the festive candles now!

Event: October has been rather quiet for us but 2 things I've enjoyed were visiting some potential wedding venues, and our anniversary on 31st October which we spent watching TV, eating Mexican food and drinking beers!

That's all for October, now the countdown to christmas begins!

xxx

TheSundayPost - 25th October

Aloha! Don't you just love Someecards? There's always one that sums up exactly how you are feeling! Anyway, as usual here's my weekly post about what I've been up to this week!

1 - Work. You may know that I work in tax and our busiest time of year is coming up with the tax returns due by 31st January. I've got a week off coming up in 2 weeks time, so I'm trying to get as much done as possible just now, so I don't come back to an overflowing in tray! Of course, that means I have no time for anything fun right now. Sad times!

2 - Wedding planning. I wrote my first post on here this week about planning our wedding! We are still on the venue hunt. It was going okay until others started sticking their noses in and telling me what I can/can't do. So frustrating. On Friday I was so wound up by it all that I was genuinely contemplating booking 2 tickets to Mexico and getting married out there with no one present to tell me what to do! I'm sure it will all fall into place eventually...

3 - Dreaming. I am in desperate need of a holiday! I know, I've got a cheek but when we were students, we were off visiting new places about 3 or 4 times a year. Now it seems like we have no time to do anything. In saying that, we are going to Ireland in a few weeks. Mikey has lots of family there which we are going to visit, but for me it will be all new as I've never been before. Hello Guinness factory!

So that's about it for this week! Hope you all have a great week ahead, whatever you are up to!

xxx

BudgetBride // 1

Did you know that the average UK wedding costs about £20,000!? I mean seriously, who even has that kind of money to spare! Call me selfish, but I'd rather spend a couple of thousand on a nice celebration, then bugger off to the Caribbean for a month! And that's pretty much exactly what I'm planning on doing!

I've decided to start this little feature on my blog to document my budget wedding planning and share some tips I'm learning along the way of how to save money. Expect mucho DIY decor posts!

But for now, I'm going to have a little rant about venue costs! 

Of course, not having a £20k budget means we're very limited when it comes to choosing a venue. There's hardly anywhere out there that is willing to let you have venue hire and feed your 100 guests for less than £6000. So it won't surprise you to know we still don't have a venue lined up, although we have viewed 2 and are in the process of negotiating the best price!

I've got an image in my head of what I want from a venue. Ideally, I'd love a relaxed, barn style venue which is a bit of a blank canvas so I can get creative and make it totally personal! Of course, barn venues are trendy now so they don't come cheap. We've viewed 2 different venues which are the same idea, but they are budget friendly. 

The first venue we viewed was a community hall with a difference. It was up in Perthshire, about 50 miles from our home. It wasn't your typical community hall though, it was like a cross between a barn and a giant shed, hence the name The Big Shed. As wedding venues go, the price is extremely cheap. The only issue we have with it is the capacity. It can only hold 60 in the main hall, so that's something we have to seriously consider. 

Our second venue viewing was actually a country house which a family member has recently purchased. It has an old coachhouse in the grounds which is currently being converted into a wedding reception venue. It looks to be a pretty amazing place once its ready, and we think it will be big enough! Now we need to see whether it is going to be within our price range. 

So a couple of tips if you are currently looking for a budget wedding venue: 

1. Have a look at places you wouldn't normally look at. For example village halls tend to have cheaper hire costs and with a bit of love and attention, they can be decorated to look like they cost a million pounds!

2. Don't be afraid to ask around if anyone in your family or group of friends knows someone with a potential venue. That's how we found out about one of our potential venues!

3. Keep an open mind. Some venues might have poor websites, or very little information available. Just email or give them a call for further info. You never know, you might love the place once you get there!

So that's the first of my BudgetBride posts! Hope you enjoyed it and do let me know if you have any tips for me in my search for an affordable venue!

xxx

TheSundayPost - 18th October

Aloha! I can't believe it's Sunday evening already! Where has this weekend gone?!

So here is what I've been up to this week.

1 - This picture sums up this week pretty well. I've been dreaming of better things most of this week, mostly wedding related. Things are slowly but surely coming along on the wedding front. We viewed another venue on Saturday, which I'm pretty enthusiastic about. Hopefully we will settle on a venue soon!

2 & 3 - This week we celebrated 11 years of happiness and purrs with my little furbaby Smudge. It's crazy to think it was so long ago that we took him home with us after he had been abandoned in a forest. To celebrate his 11th adoptiversary, I bought him his favourite food and special cat milk, and wrapped them up for him. Needless to say he's scoffed the lot now! 

4 - I just love Autumn time. The colours are just my favourite. And the fact I can get my layers and cosy boots out again makes me very happy. 

So that's about it for this week! Now it's time to get prepared for another work week. I'm pretty sure I'm in need of a week off now!

Have a fabulous week!

xxxx

Life Lately

Aloha! Time has passed by so quickly these last few months and I've been a terrible blogger, posting zero new posts! But I'm back, and I'd just like to say a huge thanks to everyone who has continued reading my posts, even although there have been no new ones! 

I thought I'd do a little catch up post to get back into the swing of things, so here's what I've been up to lately!

1 - I've been having hours of fun playing around with the new snapchat update. Sad I know. If you don't already follow me, you can add me on katiemccann92 for lots of selfies and food snaps.

2 - We had a pretty freakishly hot September here in Scotland. This meant lots of lunches outdoors which I love. My work is behind a church and I really enjoy sitting in the Church grounds with my lunch and a magazine. It's really peaceful and relaxing, especially when my work is so manic! 

3 - I decided to go back to brunette! I was getting bored of being blonde, and my hair grows so fast that the upkeep was becoming unmanageable. I was having to go to the hairdressers every 4 weeks, which is not good for my bank balance, not to mention my hair! 

4, 5 & 6 - I've been wedding planning like mad! We had our first venue viewing at the end of August, and hopefully another one this weekend. I've been practicing my macaroon baking, just in case I decide to bake my own macaroon tower cake (unlikely). And I've bought every wedding magazine out there in! I just can't help it!

So that has been about it since I last blogged!

Hopefully it won't be so long until next my post! 

Have a great week! 

xxxx