Banana and Oatmeal Muffins

 

Last weekend, I volunteered to run a refreshment stall for the Darent Valley 10K that starts and finishes at my son's school. The organisers start things down there around 6am, and runners start arriving from around 7am, so I knew it was going to be an early start! Not only did I plan on selling the usual teas and coffees, but I thought we could offer some little treats for the runners after finishing their run. So I wanted to share with you a couple of the recipes that I tried out - and yes they were recipes I had not tried before!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being Positive

 

 

I saw this quote on Instagram last week, and it really struck a chord with me. I have felt a little off for a while, not knowing why really, and wanting to pick myself back up. So, I decided to put my mind to it, and planned to get healthy. Not skinny, but healthy.

 

I have always been 'plus size', for as long as I can remember. But I feel that over the last few years, I've become more unhealthy, and lazy. So I am going to take the advice of the quote above, and believe I can. I usually just try here and there, never commit fully, but I am going to do that from now. I have researched more healthy dinners for Mike and I, which was a little hard as Mike is a bit fussy... but I think we'll manage. Our main issue is portion sizes. So that is what I am going to work on first, as well as more vegetables and simple dishes.

I have also started a workout that I found on YouTube. It's a 25 minute workout, with warm up and cool down. I did find it difficult after about 10 minutes, but I persevered and just made sure I didn't push myself too hard. The workout is with a lovely lady called Cece who runs the blog Plus Size Princess, and is a workout with some lovely plus size ladies, showing that we do exercise, and it can be fun. She is currently running a #PSPfit challenge for January, which looks great, and I am going to try and stick to her plan. The main things are clearing out any Christmas food still hanging around, eating nice healthy food, and not to mention, some good exercise. At the end of the video I followed, it is suggested that you do a 25-30 minute workout 4 times a week, so I am going to stick to that. Not to mention fitting in a walk or two around my village during my free days during the week.

 

So that is the plan. Eat healthy, exercise more and enjoy life :)

 

Here is the video I followed, and you can find the lovely CeCe at Plus Size Princess.

Making a Statement

I am ashamed to admit that I don't actually own any statement necklaces, I have always liked them, but just never got round to buying one. I popped into Forever 21 last week with my daughter and they had such a wide range of jewellery, from earrings, bangles and some lovely necklaces. This then reminded me that I need to get my act together and get something! So, as I tried not to leave the house this last week getting Christmas packed up and all the washing done ready for back to work/school, I decided to have a browse through their website to get some inspiration for my first purchase.

 

 

 

I've gone a mixture of colours and styles with these five, and what I think are quite small statement necklaces. I love the floral ones, like the pink one in the bottom left, and especially the teal one in the centre. I do like the more simpler chain ones that don't aren't too long. Hopefully in the not to distant future I will be sharing my review of my first statement necklace, so keep your eyes peeled!

 

 

 

 

 

New Year Sales - Pink Clove

Happy New Year! 2015 is here, and so are a lot of sales from brands I love. So I couldn't resist but to choose my favourite pieces from there current online sales. Now, I am in no position to buy any of these lovely things, but that doesn't stop me from having a good look! So here are my top picks from the 'Up To 60% Off Sale' from Pink Clove - and not to mention another 20% off with the code DAZZLE.

 

 

First up is this top that I have had my eye on for a while. It is an oversized comfy top with mesh inserts down the sleeves. It looks so comfy, but yet I think it could easily be worn with some nice trousers or a skirt for a stylish look for a night out.

 

 

Next up was this beautiful gold studded skater dress. It has lovely little angel sleeves that look so pretty with the skater line of the dress. It's no secret that I love a skater dress, and this would be a great addition to my collection, for both day and night time.

 

 

This skirt then caught my eye. I have just bought my first couple of skater skirts, and am loving them, so this would be a lovely addition to my wardrobe. I'd team it with a plain black top for a stylish evening outfit.

 

 

I do love lace! And this top is a lovely design, covered with a top layer of lace. It has a sweetheart neckline, and a nice length sleeve, and not to mention, looks like a nice length to team with trousers.

 

 

Last up is another skater dress..... This time we have one that is a nude dress with an overlay of black lace. The sleeves are down to the elbow, which is a big plus for me, and it also has a Bardot neckline and scallop edges. Such a beautiful dress.

 

 

 

So they are my top picks from Pink Clove's current sale. Don't forget that there is an extra 20% off if you use the code 'DAZZLE' at the checkout.

Find all their items here.

 

 

 

 

Festive Home

I'm not ashamed to admit that I have already put up a few Christmas decorations around the house. We had got them in from the garage to check on the amount of lights we had for the outside of the house, and everything was just laying there.... I couldn't resist putting a few things up. We are planning on getting our tree and lights up on Sunday, with the grand 'light switch on' on Monday 1st December.

Being a crafter, I love to make my own decorations at Christmas so they can be personal and I think, make it look so homely. This year I have reused some paper bunting and some pegs for hanging Christmas cards/decorations, and have bought and made some other little bits for this year.

I picked up these wooden hanging decorations in Aldi about 3 weeks ago for £4.99 for a set of 4. I really liked the style of them, and I do love to have stuff hanging down from the ceilings at Christmas. The pack contained two tree and two star decorations

A fewweeks ago, I was given a load of craft bits from one of Mike's work friends, and in with it all was a snowflake punch. On a separate note, I had been wanting one for a while, but couldn't find one I liked, so I was so pleased to have this one. Then I went a little snowflake crazy! I punched out a load of snowflakes and decided I wanted to make a string of them. So taking just some sewing thread and a glue stick, I got to work! All I did was glue one side of a snowflake, lay the string through the middle of it, them glue another snowflake to the top, creating a sandwich to hold the snowflakes onto the string. And once I started, I couldn't stop.

I've made long strings of plain white snowflakes and also strings I plan to hang which have a combination of white and baby blue snowflakes. I still have some all cut out, so having a think about what else I can make from them!

I do love walking into my lounge and seeing all the decorations and it feeling all Christmassy. I think I am sorted on the decoration part, but I do feel we need some finishing home touches to really emphasise the festive spirit. So I took a little look on the George @ Asda website to see what little gems I could find. 

You can't beat a good old Christmas candle! The lovely little set of three glass votive are really cute. I love the countdown blocks. Not only a good way to know what the date is, but I think my kids would love being able to change it each day. As the cold nights draw in, a hot water bottle can be a great addition, especially in our freezing house! This one has a lovely Aztec style Nordic print which would go lovely with our decorations. Last year, I bought myself a Christmas mug, but it's tall and the handle is a bit on the small side. So when I saw these two mugs I fell in love. Would be great for our evening hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream :) Lastly, they had a great selection of cushions, and I had a tough job picking favourites. But I had to go for the red snowflake one. It's so bright and Christmassy and I love it! The other two, which seem to be the same size and style, are really lovely. I love the fact they are Christmas themed without being too Christmassy.
Check out the full range of Christmas Home Decor available at George here.

Christmas Party Dresses - Simply Be

Christmas is a busy time of year for us. My husband and I both have large families, so we have a jam packed few days around Christmas trying to see them all, not to mention work nights out, and celebrating with friends too. So we had starting thinking about parties and family meet ups, so I thought, maybe it's time to look at some new dresses for the festive season! So, my first stop was Simply Be.

 

Mesh Prom Dress - £35

 

I really like the look of this dress with the floral stretchy top section, then it flows down to the gathered mesh over the skirt which gives it a lovely prom dress look. This would be a great dress for going dancing in to show off the lovely skirt in all it's glory.

 

Beaded Waist Dress - £65

 

I do try and go a bit more colourful at Christmas, just to be festive, but I really liked this dress. The matching detail of jewels, beads and sequins around the neck and waistband give it a nice glitzy look. The dress is nice and long too, so would hopefully be long enough for me to wear it with tights. The sleeves give it a really elegant look also.

 

 

Kelly Brook Midi Dress - £75

 

Sticking to black dresses, I then noticed this lovely dress from the Kelly Brook Collection. I love the neckline on this dress, and it has metallic threads mixed in it so will shimmer under those Christmas lights. Again, this one is a nice longer length, so would be a better length for my long legs!

 

Lovedrobe Lace Belted Skater Dress - £10 off, Now £45

 

 

I do love a skater dress! I do think that they suit my body shape more than any other dress I have tried so far, so I was attracted to this dress straight away. I think it's a great colour for the festive season, and I love the 'peek-a-boo' neckline and cute capped sleeves.

 

 

 

 



 

 

Mystery in the village.....

About two months ago, our village church was closed off as some major renovation work was beginning. It's such a beautiful church, but they have plans to make it more useable for the whole community. The plans include meeting rooms, audio-visual equipment, new chairs and a full redecoration once all the work has been completed.

So one of their first steps was to remove some of the flooring in the main church building. As they were taking it up, they discovered a vault in the centre of the floor containing a coffin. It turned out to be a small mausoleum with the coffin of a man named Alexander Pitcairn. No one knew that this existed, and the Farningham and Eynsford Local Historical Society got straight onto finding out as much as they could about this gentleman. As soon as I read about it, I was straight on Google trying to find out too! He does have a Wikipedia page which gave us information such as when he was born and what he did in life, and the fact that he did die in Eynsford. He was an English Cricketer who played for Hampshire and MCC. From other information found by the Historical Society connected him to the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific and his brother who found them in 1767, which was also the island that the mutineers from The Bounty went to.

So there is a lot of history about who he was and who is family was, but nothing that ties him to Eynsford in particular. There are no signs of any Pitcairns in the parish records, but I guess that he resided here after he retired from cricketing, but this still doesn't explain why he is buried in a vault under the floor of the church. This is usually for rich or important people from the village, so are we missing something from his life? And also, this mausoleum had been covered up completely, with no markings for people to know he was there. There are so many questions at the moment, and I hope that the people working on it can find out more soon.

A couple of weeks after finding the vault, they decided to open up the doors to the church on a Saturday morning so that members of the public could go in and see the mausoleum. Mike and I had been really interested in the story of this tomb, so we decided to get sown there early. I actually had to take Jack to a party, so didn't have a lot of time, but we got there early and were the first in line. A few of us gathered in the entrance of the church and Reverend Gary Owens said a prayer over the mausoleum. Then we had to put on hard hats, and in groups of about 6, get to go up to, and into the vault if we wished. I wasn't really keen on going down the steps into the vault, but jack went down with the help of a lady and had a good look. Here are a few pictures from our trip into the church.

 

 

It was really interesting to see it up close and to be part of this story in our village. I'll keep you posted if we learn anything new!