So here is a little bit more about me , just in case you were wondering :)

What is your middle name? Sarah, when I was younger I wanted to change it to sierra because I thought it sounded way cooler.

What was favourite subject at school? History

What is your favourite drink? A nice glass of sauvignon blanc

What is your favourite song at the moment? I have so many but they have all disappeared from my mind at the moment 

What is your favourite food? I was obsessed with mac and cheese for a little bit and now its mackerel pate.

What is the last thing you bought? L’Oreal infallible matte 24 hour foundation

Favourite book of all time? Probably the harry potter series  but I also have a few others.

Favourite Colour? Mint green

Do you have any pets? 2 Labradors (Bailey and Harley), one Russian dwarfs hamster (hammy) and two guinea pigs (fudge and otty)

Favourite Perfume? Jimmy Choo

Favourite Holiday? Beach for summer, snowboarding for winter

Are you married? No

Have you ever been out of the country, if so how many times? to many to count on two hands

Do you speak any other language? Partial Portuguese

How many siblings do you have? 1

What is your favourite shop? Zara/topshop

Favourite restaurant? I like trying different places so it’s always changing

When was the last time you cried? This afternoon (I’m a crier, so sue me)

Favourite Blog? The Londoner

Favourite Movie? Teen witch

Favourite TV show? Pretty little liars (AHH the A reveals tonight) Once upon a time, Vampire diaries, Reign and Arrow. Pc (for now)

PC or Mac? Pc (for now)

What phone do you have?  IPhone 5

How tall are you? 5ft 5

Can you cook? Yes, my boyfriends a chef however so you can imagine the critique is high.

Healthy Courgette Soup Recipe

This soup recipe is super quick and easy, you do not need to be a chef or even necessarily capable in the kitchen to make it!

This recipe makes a thick and naturally creamy courgette soup

Or if you fancy a bit more of a watery soup just add a bit more water to it.

You’re going to need:

1 chicken Oxo cube (you can also use a vegetable one if you wanted to make it completely veggie, I just find the chicken one gives it a bit more taste)

6 courgettes

I large onion

Salt + pepper

Tools:

Large pan

wooden spoon

Hand held blender (a normal blender will work too just be careful when transferring from the pan)

Crumble the Oxo cube into your pan and add water, I call this one by eye but you want to fill in about quarter of the way up the pan (you can always add more if it’s not enough)

Stir until dissolved

Peel and chop you onion and courgettes and tip into the pan.

mix all together, pop the lid on and let it boil for 15- 20 mins

Once the courgettes are a mushy and thoroughly cooked,  get your blender of choice.

 I use a handheld one as it’s easy to clean and I honestly can say washing up is my worst nightmare!

Blend it all up and add salt and pepper to taste!

Voila simple healthy soup recipe 

Procrastination is something I struggle with a fair bit. 

"I will get round to it"

"Later"

"I don’t have time right now"

Are a few of the excuses, it’s something I will have to work on and I promise to do so.

I really do like putting pen to paper and fingers to keyboard so please to bear with me.

I’m going to bounce back with this scrummy healthy recipe!

I admit healthy doesn’t come around a lot in my life so I’m giving myself some major brownie points here......... mmmm brownies.

Let me know what you think.

xxx

New Layout!

So today I decided to give the blog a makeover!
Out with the old in with the new.
I look at it like buying a new outfit, it makes you happy :)
so I bought my blog a new outfit and now its a whole new happy place!
I need to change my text font but I will work on how to change that.

sooooooo.....
do you like it?

Forgive me?

Helloooo,

I haven’t blogged much recently…….I’m feeling terrible because I so desperately want to write a long long blog but just haven’t had the time because of work!

I’m thinking I’m probably going to do an “about me" in a couple of days when I have time to sit down and write properly.

Life has also been a bit pants, works been stressful, I’m extremely overtired and I’m just not feeling healthy.

I feel like it’s time to get on the health wagon again and exercise, I’ve always wanted to try yoga or Pilates but just never go round to pushing myself

 I’m one of those who says "oh I would love to do yoga!" whenever I’m out for drinks with friends just sound like I’m a total health machine (not ever going to happen)

My issue is I’m such a foodie!!

So help me out

What are your tips for being healthy?

I would honestly love to hear them!

Please forgive me for being so silly and leaving blogging for too long!

I pinkie promise I will be much more blog orientated from now on ;)

Small Haul!

Having been a good girl for the past month or so I decided to give myself a slight break.

I hopped in the car with mum and dad (they are off to Barbados today so needed some holiday bits)

And off to Swindon outlet we went!

Swindon outlet is packed with shops like Hobbs, Super dry, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Ted baker

To name just a few, it’s a real mix and they have just had a refurb. So if you had ever been before you will notice a bit of a change,

The first shop we went into was Jigsaw, now I have never really considered jigsaw my style at all!

I always thought it was an older shop and I wouldn’t find anything I really liked that suited me.

Keeping to a tight budget as it easy to get excited by price cuts I mooched through the racks and saw so much that I desperately wanted.

But ultimately the biggest steal I have ever gotten was hidden in between two jumpers on the "sold as seen" rack.

"Sold as seen" means that the items are faulty whether it be a rip or a tiny hole, my dress had a rip under the left arm (hardly noticeable as its lace.) 

Original price £150 

Sale price £40

I am in love with this dress, I wore it to my staff party but unfortunately only got one grainy mirror snap.

Meet my new Handbag!

 Now I tend to keep things till they are broke, after 5 years of me tossing my old old old Paul’s boutique handbag around it was time to let go.

I popped into Kurt Geiger thinking of getting some shoes to go with the dress and this beauty called to me like a siren!

  Now I restrained myself from buying it there and then and went for one more lap before I caved and bought it!

Hey it was either that or popping into ted baker and spending a small fortune!

 I couldn’t afford to shop too much and was running late for my staff party so had to dash home before I broke the bank and turned up embarrassingly late.

Thought I would share what I’m reading at the moment

Diana Gabaldon-Cross stich (in America its called Outlander)

Revlon photo ready and collection lasting perfection review

I found a new foundation and concealer I’m in love with!

I used to idolize benefits foundation, and it was all I really wanted in a foundation, it gave me a dewy look and it worked well with my wake me up concealer but oh how things have changed!

It has started drying out my skin and making it flake (err not what you want!) originally I thought I wasn't drinking enough water or moisturizing enough, so I heavily involved more of this into my daily routine.

This still didn't work though, so I went out on the hunt for a new foundation at a reasonable price that wasn't going to break the bank as January can get a bit tough for the old purse.

I hit boots and decided to give the Revlon photo ready a go as I have heard good things and have never used a Revlon anything before.

Normally I’m not very good at matching foundations to my skin tone and always end up going to light or too dark, this time however I hit the nail on the head it’s a perfect match!

Thanks to the high coverage, my winter spots (I have a bit of sweet tooth) get covered without concealer and any that sneak out get covered by my new concealer.

I can’t stand cakey foundation it just feels way to heavy but this just so natural.

At the moment my sleeping pattern is really all over the place and just generally sucks, so I have heavy bags under my eyes most days which always makes me self-conscious as I love makeup and doing my eyes is one of my favorite things to do.

I look tired and haggard and I just hate it.

Thanks to the collection lasting perfection concealer I’m much happier as it covers everything

It’s just a tad lighter than my foundation so acts as a bit of a highlighter as well.

I highly recommend giving both of these a go!

I’m off to my work staff party tomorrow so I may do a get ready with me post

Thanks for reading

Ellen

xxx

Windy walks with an old friend.

Having been feeling a little down recently I decided the only thing for it was a dog walk!

I hopped in the car (wellies safely stowed in the back as it has been very windy and wet recently.) and headed to my parents to pick up this little scally wag!

This is Harley, we got Harley when I was 8 and I honestly could not imagine life without this little man.

Harley isn’t like most dogs he doesn’t get overly excitable and is just happy to lie down and have a cuddle instead of chasing a ball.

Going for walks with him is like going for a walk with an old friend, he takes his time and likes to take in all the different smells.

At thirteen years old he has had a pretty good life including moving to Portugal for five of those years.

It’s a good age for a Labrador so obviously we are all thinking of the next year or so being his last,  it makes me want to savour every last bit of his presence before he's too tired to rise from his little doggy bed for more than a minute.

In his old age long walks are now a thing of the past so I lassoed him with a lead and off we trotted round the block quickly, which was enough to make his doggy chops draw back in a smile.

Visiting my parents is now a bit different from popping round for a cuppa as about 8 months ago they decided that they were going to run a pub.

So going to see my mum and dad also means a nice hearty pub lunch as well as a nice cuppa, I wasn’t to hungry today so I just went for creamy basil mushrooms on toasted bread (with a naughty side of chips shhhh!)

 I will do a proper review on the pub and food on a later date but although you may think I’m biased as they are family I wouldn’t bother blogging about the food if I didn’t actually love it!

I mean why waste the time and space?

The Royal Oak in Burford has got an amazing atmosphere thanks to its regular local drinkers and also good home style food, so go give them a visit trust me it’s worth it!

Outfit

Wellies – Hunters

Jeans- Topshop

Jumper- Crew

Jacket- Crew

 Dont you just love a good walk?

Ellen 

xxx