Summer Outfit Wishlist

Playsuit 

Bag

Sandals

Necklace

Earrings

 

I've been shopping way too much recently... maybe because of the nicer weather we've been having.

So I've had to put myself on a spending ban for a while. The only shopping I'll be doing this week is the food shopping at Asda! But I can still browse the internet and dream of being rich enough to buy everything that I like, right?!

I would love this outfit for my holiday.
 

Would you wear any of these?

x

The Disney Tag

I found this Disney tag on Belle's Part of Belle's world blog...

I loved reading her answers and I'm a big fan of all things Disney so I couldn't resist completing this myself. 


1. Favourite Disney film?
I don't think I have just one favourite! At the moment I'm loving Tangled and Frozen, but thinking of older films I spent lots of my childhood watching The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and Cinderella.


2. Favourite Disney Character?
This is a tough one - there are so many to choose from! I love Olaf :) 


3. Favourite Disney Princess?
I think it's Rapunzel. Tangled is such a great film. Although of course I'm also a big fan of Cinderella, Belle and Aurora.


4. Rather be Aurora or Cinderella?
Cinderella!
The three fairies who look after Aurora are sweet, but Maleficent is way too scary! Cinderella is a true princess story.


5. Rather be Hercules or Tarzan?
To be honest I may have seen these when I was very little, but I was never a fan of either of these two films... I don't really know the Hercules story?


6. Rather be Lizzie McGuire or Raven Baxter?
I'm not sure I watched Lizzie McGuire but I do remember That's so Raven! I would have to choose her. Seeing into the future could be useful! 


7. Favourite Disney song?
Another tough question... I know it's all very new but do I love Let it Go from Frozen. With older songs I would have to say The Lion King's "I just can't wait to be king" - it's such a happy song!


8. Which Disney character would be your best friend?
Rapunzel :)


9. Which Disney character would be your pet?
Pascal from Tangled is super cute! ..ooh or Zazu from The Lion King.


10. Have you ever been to Disneyland?
Yes, I've been to Disneyland Paris when I was younger. I can't wait to go back one day!

Are you a Disney fan?

x

Wedding Planning: My Dress Shopping Experience

Hello :) I've been thinking about starting a couple of wedding planning posts for a while. I don't seem to find many wedding related posts so I'm not sure if anyone will be reading - I may just be talking to myself?!

I'm getting married in August out in Greece with just a few close family guests.

We will be having an evening party at a hotel when we return... it's my fiancés choice as I just don't like the attention of throwing my own party, but I know that our families will enjoy it.

I have been doing my best to make the party as wedding-y as possible in order to hopefully make our families who won't be at the wedding feel that they haven't missed out on too much. We are having decorations and a wedding cake, etc.

I wanted to note some of the planning in my blog, so here goes part one...


Dress Shopping

I wanted dress shopping to be something that my mum and sister would be involved with so that they could share that experience with me. I know that my mum really enjoyed visiting the bridal shops with me and seeing me try on lots of dresses.

I tried on so many different styles - I was almost certain that I wanted a not-too-big dress. There were so many pretty lace dresses in all of the stores - that style seems to be big this year.

I loved the experience of trying on all the beautiful dresses. It does make you feel like a princess :)

After trying on dress after dress at five different bridal stores I had thought that I had narrowed it down to two favourite dresses..

I tried on a few lace dresses and there was one that I really liked. It felt really pretty and had a bit of sparkle too, which I knew I wanted. Here it is...

The other dress that I liked was completely different to this.
(Excuse the blurry iphone photos)

It had a ruffled skirt and, looking back at the picture, I think that the skirt was really what I liked about the dress. It felt lovely and floaty :)

One Saturday my mum & I returned to the two different shops that stocked the two "favourite" dresses to try them both on for a second time. The assistant told me that if I still liked the other dress then it was likely that neither of these dresses were "the one".

To be honest I thought hmm... I don't really believe in all that...

But then as I looked around the room a different dress stood out to me... It was hanging with the bigger dresses that I never would have considered trying on before. I thought it would be way too big and princess-y. 

Out of the whole rail it was the only one that I wanted to try on, just to see what it was like.

I was so glad that I had noticed it!

As the assistant tied the back up for me I actually said "wow" about this dress - I felt that it was a perfect wedding dress!

The other two were instantly wiped out of my mind - I was scared of choosing something different to what I had pictured in my mind, or going too over the top (with it being a wedding abroad).

But I loved it and decided not to choose what felt like a safe option when it came to a wedding dress. (I'm usually a safe-option kind of girl!)

I had chosen something that I never thought I would even want to try on.

The shop assistant joked about how I would be ditching the wedding abroad and throwing a huge princess wedding in a castle with hundreds of guests...

I didn't go that far - but I'm excited to say I did order the dress :)

So here's my dress...

Or at least just the back of it for now :)

It's very sparkly and pretty - I love it. I've learnt that everyone's opinions on wedding dresses are very different. I suppose that's a good thing, otherwise we would all pick out the same dress!

My advice to anyone wedding dress shopping would be to try on all styles and shapes - even the ones that you think you would hate. Looking at a dress on the hanger isn't the same as trying it on... I chose something I never thought I would go for!

Wedding dress shopping has been a really fun experience for me, my mum & sister.

I now have some lovely memories of wedding dress shopping that I will keep for a very long time :)

Do you dream of trying on your dream wedding dress?
Or have you already found it? 

 

x

Yankee Candles: Latest Buys

Last week I visited my local Yankee Candle shop. What a gorgeous shop - I love it!

There's so much choice when it comes to scented candles, and they also sell gorgeous accessories such as candle holders, fridge magnets and gift sets.

These Yankee Candle samplers shown in the photo above are £1.80 each. They are perfect if you are on a bit of a budget and there are so many scents and colours to choose from.

For me, a large jar of Yankee Candle (priced around £18) is just way too expensive. It's a candle, after all! But treating myself to different scented testers now and again is nice - I love going into the shop and having a good smell of the different types.

When I visited the shop last week, I found this cute glass "bucket" candle holder to fit these gorgeous samplers.

 

I currently have orange accessories in my living room, so I picked up this for just £2.99.

 

It was the last one, but they also had dark pink, light pink and clear glass holders in the same design.

 

 

 

There were lovely gift sets available that include four buckets and four samplers for £18.99.

 

 

 

 You can find them here.

 

 

Do you use Yankee Candles?

 

x

Primark Buys: Holiday Shopping

My local Primark is about half an hour away from me. I have an out of town retail park near me that I go to all the time for clothes & home accessory shopping - it's great.

As a result it's really quite rare that I go to Primark as when I do go into town it's the only shop I'm going for!

I like to have a couple of visits to Primark each year - the summer/holiday shopping visit is always my favourite. I don't know about anyone else but I also love Primark shopping on my own! I'm always there for at least an hour by the time I've searched all three floors.

Here are the main items I picked up for my summer holiday:

 

These sandals were just £4. These will be great for this summer and my holiday to Greece this August.

 

 

These shorts were also just £4! They are nice and light - perfect for the 30 degree heat.

 

 

More sandals - these were just £6 and are gorgeous!

 

 

These shorts were also just £4.

 

I also picked up some Primark essentials... a new hairbrush, hair accessory and also one of their fab hair towels to wear when you get out of the shower- at just £1.50 they last ages - love those!

 

I didn't pick up as much as I normally would on a summer holiday visit - I tried on lots of tops but none of them felt quite as nice as they had looked on the hanger...

 

That was disappointing!

 

However I'm happy with my Primark buys - total bargains as always!

 

x

 

 

Travel Bucket List #2

 

 

So here goes part two of my travel destination bucket list! If you missed part one, you can find it here..

 

As I previously mentioned, I am lucky enough to have fitted in a good few European holidays plus a trip to Australia and New York before buying my house.

 

There are so many places that I want to see, but unfortunately the high cost of travelling and responsibilities of every day life stand in our way.

 

This is my list of places that I really want to see at some point in my life - I don't mind when - and I don't know when I will be able to afford these trips... I just know that I really want to see them one day!

 

 

 

New Zealand

 

I would love to visit New Zealand one day. However knowing that it's still a few hours of flying further on than Australia, I think I would have to combine this as part of another trip. Maybe if I'm lucky enough to return to Australia one day we could fly on to NZ from there before coming home.



 

 

 

 

Paris, France

 

A little closer to home, I have been to Disneyland Paris as a child but can't remember as much as I would like to! I would love to take a romantic trip to Paris, seeing the sights and eating ice cream in the French sunshine. And of course I would love to visit Disneyland again!



 

 

 

 

Montreal, Canada

 

I would love to visit Canada one day. Montreal looks like a beautiful place. My step-dad has been there for work and said it was great. There are other areas of Canada that I would like to visit too, it's just one of those countries that I'm drawn to!

 

 

 

 

The Maldives

 

Total luxury anyone? It's unlikely that we'll be able to afford this type of holiday any time soon! But I can look at photos and dream, right? It's staying on my lifetime wishlist. We may get there one day :)

 

 

 

 

Chicago, USA

 

Another that has been on my list for a while, I'm not sure if it originates from my childhood obsession with TV programme Two of a Kind... I get that that although it was set there, they probably filmed in LA... but I've always thought of Chicago as a place I'd like to visit. I have read that they have great shopping and my fiancé and I would love to go watch a baseball game with a hotdog and pretend to be American for an afternoon!

 

 

 

 

The Caribbean Islands

 

I'm not too fussy on which island I would visit... Dominican Republic... Cuba... Jamaica... Antigua... They all look beautiful! Over the last few years I have felt that I couldn't be bothered to fly for around 10 hours just for a beach holiday, but I would definitely like to do it one day so that we can experience the beautiful turquoise waters!

 

 

 

 

The Great Wall of China

 

Finally more of a sight than a specific destination - The Great Wall of China.

What an amazing place. I hope to be able to fit this into my travels one day.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my travel destination bucket list.

 

Again, if you have been to any of these places already and have any tips or advice on the best places to go please leave me a comment!

 

I would love to hear about other people's travel experiences.

 

x

 

 



Money Saving tips: Don't waste a single £.

 

 

I believe that the saying "Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves" is very true!

My sister & I were brought up by our fabulous mum in a single-parent family. Money was always tight, so we've been taught how to make sure we don't waste a penny!

Now that I have my own home we have bills left right and centre... it's not cheap.

I'm so glad my mum taught us so well with money!

Here are some of my tips for saving those pennies that won't take up too much energy but will work in the long run...

 

1. Don't let supermarkets rip you off.

I've noticed that it is important to double check the size and price of an item before you pick it up. It often seems to be the case that the cereal box straight in front of you is £2.00 for a medium size box... if you take the time to look down a shelf then the next size up (exactly the same product) is often only 20p more...or sometimes the same price, or even cheaper when on offer!  
This is the case with lots of products.
They say that better value items are likely to be placed on the top or bottom shelf...where we are less likely to find them!


2. Turn off the plugs.

A pet hate of mine is when my fiancé insists on charging his phone over night... It means we use electricity for approximately 10 hours when the phone is fully charged after one hour.
It might not cost much each time, but surely over time this would effect the electric bills. So I nag him not to do it and he makes the effort to put it on charge for an hour before bed instead :) 

3. The occasional bulk buy.

Ok so not to sound drastic... but I always buy the family size packets of 16 toilet rolls on offer - even though there's only two of us living here!
It usually works out so much cheaper than buying a four pack.
If it saves us approximately £2.50 every time I buy them then I've saved quite a lot since we moved in!

4. Visit Home Bargains.

Kitchen roll is so much cheaper at Home Bargains, and I find that some of them are just as good as the ones you pay more for at larger supermarkets (some not so much so choose carefully).
Also crisps! Lots of multi packs here are £1 for 6 bags. Much cheaper than bigger stores.
I also like to find toiletries here. The other day I picked up a St.Ives Apricot facial scrub for £1.50... it's £3.40 at Asda & Tesco, and even more at Boots.

5. A Take Away over a night out.

Ok so not every time... but we occasionally get a Nando's take away, rather than eating in the restaurant. We collect our favourite meals and sides and it comes to around £20 for both of us. It tastes just as amazing, and we save money on drinks by having them at home, instead of buying them at the restaurant.

6. Special Offers.

It's great to pick up items on offer - two for £2, buy one get one free etc. I always look out for the best deals and if it's cheaper to buy two lots of washing powder then that's what I do - even if I only need one right now. Storing extras in the cupboard is no problem if its saving you a couple of pounds each time!

7. Taking treats from home to work.

If you occasionally fancy a nice chocolate bar, then it's worth buying the multi packs when they are on offer. You can often find a pack of four bars for a pound, making them 25p each... if you buy one singly in the shop its around 60p each... well worth the mini bulk buy!
Same goes to cans of pop. Around 60p each in a vending machine but you can get 10 for £2.50, again 25p each, if you get the fridge pack on offer instead.

8. Cheaper stores for pretty home accessories.

Some really gorgeous, good quality home items can be found for a great price! To name some of my favourite stores, Asda have some lovely home accessories including photo frames, candles and cushions for a good price. I also find that Wilkinson's have some lovely items!

Ok so some of these things may sound a little fussy! Maybe you wouldn't bother doing any of these? But over the months, the money that you save will really add up, and then you can spend it on something nice :)

These are little changes that won't take up your time but will, over time, save you money so that you can spend it on more important things!

Clothes... make up... nail polish... shoes... beauty products... holiday funds... new dvds...

The nicer things in life :)
 

 

x