Christmas Gift Guide 2015 - Gifts For Her

There are so many beautiful things around just now that it was hard to narrow it down for this part of the gift guides. These are nine of my absolute favourite things out at the moment and I'd really quite like one of each (Santa, if you're listening I've been incredibly good). The Kurt Geiger bag is just stunning -and I would be over the moon with a set of those mugs, something you could use each year for Christmas.

1. Winter Coat - £250

2. Jo Malone Bath Oil - £54 (can be engraved)

3. REN Travel Kit - £20

4. Kurt Geiger Bag -£295

5. Sloane Busy Bee Notebook - £29

6. Gold Dust Apron - £28

7. Mickey Mouse Phone Case - £30

8. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette - £65

9. Twelve Days of Christmas Mug Set - £48

...up next, the final installment is gifts for him.

Made Me Happy This Week

We are so close now to the end of November it's officially to hard to to contain my excitement for everything Decembers sure to bring. We spent last night deciding on a few outings and activities we want to do during the month and I can't wait, especially for the Christmas markets. I look forward to them opening in Edinburgh each and every year but this time we've decided to wait and go in December and not before, so next week I'm sue we'll be filling our stomachs with all the cheese, pretzels and mulled wine we can possibly fit in...and then maybe a little more.

1. The discovery of Bluebird tea has, not to sound too dramatic -changed my life! Ok, it's only tea, but seeing as I'm hardly ever without a cup in my hand I'm so glad to have new tasty ones to enjoy. Plus theyre Christmasy...even better.

2. As you can see from the picture above, our little fluff ball is already in the Christmas spirit -how sweet does she look in her tiny festive jumper!

3. Paul being off this week, it's been so lovely having him around more the past few days, and being able to have lots of lazy mornings together.

4. Finding a perfect Christmas jumper on Asos, it's so pretty and festive - I plan to wear it all month long!

5. Feeling very proud that even around this time of year I've been sticking to healthier eating and keeping up with the exercise too.

6. Mid-week walks around the time the suns going down, the light's so beautiful.

7. New make-up arriving, I don't buy new palettes often but when I do they make me so happy!

Have great weekend everyone!

Christmas Gift Guide 2015 - Stocking Fillers for Him

More stocking fillers today, but now for him. I had so much fun finding each of these gifts, so many of them I now want to get for the guys in my life, but seeing as I've already bought nearly all of my Christmas gifts I shall restrain myself. But really, I mean how cool is that bottle opener -a fun gift for any gardeners in your life too.

1. Whisky Wedge Glass - £14.99

2. Shovel Bottle Opener - £10

3. Cosy Bobble Hat - £19.99

4. Novelty Socks - £12

5. iPhone Projector - £19.95

6. Molton Brown Set - £20

7. Star Wars Alarm Clock - £17.99

8. Bodum Travel Mug - £13.40

9. Lounge Trousers - £15

...up next is gifts for her.

Christmas Gift Guide 2015 - Stocking Fillers for Her

It's Christmas gift guide time again!! I absolutely love doing these posts and for my first gift guide of the year I wanted to start with stocking fillers for her, personally my favourite kind of gifts to buy. I love finding little things to add as extras of just as little gifts in themselves. I think these gifts are all gorgeous and would make lovely presents in there own right -not just to stuff in stockings. Number 6 is something I definitely have my eye on, it's such a pretty and unusual desk lamp, and I'd quite like it in my office when it's finished (*hint, hint).

1. Cosy Scarf - £15

2. Festive Nail Polish -£15

3. Copper Tumbler - £12

4. Kitchen Smell Candle - £15

5. Cloud Trinket Dish - £8

6. Salt Rock Desk Lamp - £18

7. Kate Spade Paperclips - £12

8. Star Sign Make-up Bag -£15 (comes with 10 few perfume samples)

9. Daily Journal - £15

...next up is stocking fillers for him.

Made Me Happy This Week

It's another weekend and I'm rather excited about it to be honest. It not been a long week, but a week where it's felt as if Paul and I have kept missing each other so I'm looking forward to us spending the whole weekend together. We don't have any real plans but I feel a nice lunch out and maybe a few DVDs at home are in order! Also maybe some food shopping as the cupboards are kind of bare -not good!

1. The joy you feel coming home and getting changed out of soaking wet clothes, after getting caught in one almighty downpour. Getting into warm over sized hoodies and leggings is perfection!

2. Porridge, porridge and more porridge. It would seem that's all I eat for breakfast when the cold weather sets in, and I have 3 favourite ways to serve it -recipes will be up here soon!

3. Long phone calls with my grandma, she's a funny one when she gets going.

4. Quick afternoon shopping trips with my little brother to look for Christmas desserts, a nice way to catch up too.

5. Online shopping for the perfect Christmas jumper. I've narrowed it down to two and am seriously trying to resist the urge to buy both. Or do I need both..?

6. Mini Milky Ways. I'm pretty sure it's left over Halloween stock in the supermarkets but I picked up a bag last week and they've been the perfect tiny treat for when my sweet tooth craves something.

7. The hilarious things my mum tells me on the phone, always the most random of things. The latest, because of this advert, is that she's quite like a tiny horse.

8. Finishing off my gift guide posts -honestly some of my favourite to do! Also very dangerous as my personal Christmas wish list ends up growing to enormous proportions...oops.

Stuck In a Clothes Rut!

Lately I've found myself in a rut with my clothes, a very dull boring rut -albeit a comfortable one! Paul and I were scrolling through pictures on our phones one night last week, laughing and reminiscing when I realised, in 90% of the pictures I was wearing the same thing...a black t-shirt (I own a fair few) and denim jeggings. And thinking about it, that's really all I've been wearing for the past couple of months. I mean, of course, there are days where I switch it up, but mostly that's been it, covered up with different coats and knitwear.

I tend I do this from time to time, and I've decided no more! I love clothes, so I feel like I'm letting my wardrobe go to waste when I do this. Although I do love the t-shirt and jeans combination, its a classic that's a great base for so many other things, but I don't want it to become my everyday look! I'm going to make a real effort to use more of my wardrobe, and change up what I'm wearing far more than I do now. For example today, I put on a dress I love -with tights of course as it's freezing, and it makes me feel happy -it's nice to have a change.

Do you ever get stuck in these kind of ruts with your clothes, or end up with with what can start to feel like a uniform instead of something you enjoy wearing?

Made Me Happy This Week

{the last of the leaves}

This post is a late one, sorry about that. Today turned out to be much busier than we originally though, from curtain shopping to clearing out the kitchen and everything in between, this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write. Apart from being quite busy, this is the first week real excitement has set in and it's starting to feel as if Christmas is nearly here. It's everywhere now and you'll struggle to go anywhere without seeing it, but I love all -I can't wait to start decorating the house. Fun fact (well, two), exactly 3 weeks today it's Paul's birthday and exactly 6 weeks today it'll be Christmas! All of that and the fact that the last of the autumn leaves are blowing away is leaving me with butterflies when I think of whats coming up in the next few weeks.

1. Mog The Cat. If you haven't seen Sainsburys Christmas advert this you can here, and I have to say...I love it. I said it last, week but I don't like the John Lewis one as much as I have previous years so for me, Mog is the best so far -also the whole thing feels much more festive.

2. Paul's office is finished and finally full of his toys, lego, minecraft and the rest. He and his dad have been working on it for the past little while and now it's done it's just perfect.

3. Monday this week I made the decision to get a little fitter and start working out regularly. I've been slacking for a while now and seeing as this season is full of all sorts of treats it feels like a good idea to start before all of that properly begins -I'll keep you posted with how it goes.

4. Adding a little glitter to my nails, it's a must at this time of year really. Navy polish and gold glitter to be exact...I'm enjoying the combination.

5. Picking up our advent calendars! It's nearly time after all.

6.  The weather this week, which had mainly been rain. But as I've been in door for most of it I've really enjoyed it. There are few things more comforting that a hot mug of tea while listening to the rain against the window.

7. Finding old pictures I forgot we had. Everything is so digital these days we don't seem to ever print anything, it's something I'd like to start doing more and have more out on display.

Happy weekend :)

My First Ever Pumpkin Pie

Until last year I'd never eaten anything pumpkin, I'd never tried the Pumpkin Spiced Latte from Starbucks (I think it was last year -maybe the year before?) and the thought of pumpkin pie made me quite sick. But, this is because someone at some point in my life told me that pumpkin tastes just like it smells, and lets be honest -the smell isn't the best is it?

So last year (again, maybe the year before), my friend basically forced me into trying the Pumpkin Spiced Latte, telling me it was all kinds of sweet deliciousness and that I'd love it. Fully expecting to absolutely hate it I gave it a go -I was instantly hooked, and completely got the hype around them and since then have been all about the pumpkin in autumn. Shame on whoever told me that in my impressionable youth and ruined years of pumpkin enjoyment for me...shame on you!

Anyway...as I now know differently, last week I gave pumpkin pie ago. It was my first time making one, so after reading and watching a few recipes online I used this one here. Not only is the end result excellent, but the man in the video is so much fun to listen to, I ended up watching quite a few from his channel. It's also one of the more simple recipes I found. I had no idea how it was going to turn out, and if it had ended up some hideous disaster then these pictures would have found their way to the trash, but fortunately it was a success so here we are!

If you check out his recipe, what I would say is next time I'd cook mine maybe 10 minutes less that it said to do. I think a lot of the time this can come down to your own oven so that may not be the case for everyone. Also I added a little extra cinnamon than the recipe called for, just because I love it.

Oh, and if your in the UK and are looking for this pumpkin puree, I found it in Waitrose and on Amazon.

Made Me Happy This Week

{look at those leaves!}

I don't know about you, but at this time of year I can't help but feeling tired all the time -it happens ever year, even when I'm not doing all that much. I'm putting it down to the fact that the nights get dark so much earlier with the clocks going back, and much like jet lag I think it takes time to get in sync with it all. My brain just seems to think "it's dark now -bedtime" even earlier in the evening. I'm sure I'll be back to normal by next week and enjoying the dark evenings to the fullest, but for now I'll continue to enjoy naps seeing as normally I don't enjoy them at all.

1. Looking through the vast amount of Christmas magazines that are currently taking over our house. Even though I very rarely buy anything from them I really like having them around.

2. The John Lewis Christmas advert was released this morning and that makes me really happy because it's one of those things that kind of kick of the season each year. Even though, I have to say I don't love this one quite as much, for me it will always be the snowmen and penguins.

3. Leftover treats. It's lovely to have little treats in when you feel like something mid-afternoon with tea, and even better when they've come from a very tasty afternoon tea.

4. Warm baths on cold evenings, even though I do need to stock up on some lush bath bombs.

5. Walking around beautiful Edinburgh, which is made even more beautiful by the multi colored leaves everywhere. Christmas may be the most wonderful time of year, but autumn is definitely the most beautiful.

6. Hot chocolate...it's that time of year again my friends.

7. Tea and hot buttered crumpets -in other words, the meal I would eat for the rest of my life!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

An Autumnal Afternoon Tea

To celebrate the last of autumn before Christmas takes over entirely and to have a good and proper catch up, C and I headed into Edinburgh for afternoon tea. The day was lovely, we both decided that there would be no errands, no "to-do" lists, just a lovely chilled out day where we could slowly walk around the beautiful city -which might I add, is looking rather magical at the moment with the grey sky, fog and autumn coloured leaves.

We decided on the Caledonian for our afternoon tea, it's part of the Waldorf chain and is just stunningly beautiful inside. Tea's served in the Peacock Alley, and I mean to ask, but as it's such an old building we think it would have originally been a courtyard, the height of the room makes it feel so grand -it's one of my favourite parts of the hotel. If you're ever in Edinburgh I'd definitely recommend it.

The menu had an autumn theme to it, there were little bits of apple, pumpkin and ginger through most of the treats (you can see the menu here if you'd like) and everything was delicious -except the salmon sandwich,I don't like fish. I'd also like to say how attentive and wonderful the staff are, we were never without a fresh pot of tea -or a coffee, and the selection of is excellent. 

As I had my camera with me I thought I'd get a few photos of our day, to be honest I had planned on taking more but was so caught up in the day that I forgot -but thought it would be rude not to share what I have.

P.s -what isn't pictured are scones, but as I said...I forgot about the picture taking. Something I feel is perfectly reasonable when faced with so many tasty little treats -don't you?