It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas! Yep, there is no escaping the 'C' word now, everywhere you venture you are bound to be hit in the face with Christmas merriment and cheer. And I for one am loving it! Unsurprisingly, I have always been a fan of this time of year, birthday and Christmas all rolled into one, yippee.

Not to make you all jealous (she says smugly), but I have finished my Christmas shopping, it's all wrapped and ready to go. Yes I am one of those annoyingly organised people who sits smugly sipping hot chocolate while so many others run around trying to get their last minute shopping. Ho ho ho. I am certainly a Christmas elf, a smug, well organised Christmas elf! <polishes halo>

Enough of the smugness, I will, of course, continue to shop well into December.  I plan however to restrict my weekend hours in favour of evening due to the frankly mental conditions that greet us all at the weekend when we are insane enough to shop! That said, the husband and I did venture to Bluewater today, but it was bearable shopping, with a clear mission in mind. Hubby had some delicious leather converse to pick up and I had my new iPhone 5 to collect. Yum on both accounts. I also had to try on some watches as I am still trying to narrow it down and decide which one I would like the husband to purchase for me. Still undecided, bugger. Birthday is getting dangerously close. It may well end up as a Christmas present so I can buy myself more time to decide. Indecisiveness rules again. Grrrr.

And now for a round up of some outfits from this week. Nothing from yesterday due to a very lazy day relaxing at home (not sure joggers and hoodie constitute good style!):

 Work:

Long line black vest: Primark

Oversized black knitted top: New Cos purchase

Red skirt: Mango

Tights: Marks and Spencer

Biker boots: Dune

Zebra print scarf: Zara

Bracelet: Pandora

 Work:

Long sleeve thin top: Cos

Black and white spotted skirt: Forever 21

Long grey cardigan: H & M

Tights: Marks and Spencer

Biker boots: Dune

Brown jersey scarf: Cos

Work:

 Pin-stripe ruffle front shirt: H & M

Black peg leg trouser: Be Beau at Matalan

Long grey cardigan: H & M

Tan tassell pumps: Topshop

 Work:

Long sleeve thin top: Cos

Grey boxy knit: Topshop

Floral print skirt: Mango

Tights: Marks and Spencer

Biker boots: Dune

Brown jersey scarf: Cos

 Today:

Long line beige vest: Primark

Oversized black knitted top: new Cos purchase

Green skinny jeans: Zara

Sneakers: Converse

Leather bracelet: Mulberry

 

 Today:

Grey jacket: Antoni and Alison

Burgundy arm warmers: H & M

Checked scarf: H & M

Bag: Mulberry postman's lock hobo

And an outfit from last weekend:

Beige long line vest: Primark

Cream linen top: H & M

Striped jacket/cardigan: Zara

Scarf: Newly purchased Warehouse 

Dark denim jeans: H & M

Slipper shoes: Primark

Bag: Mulberry postman's lock hobo

Well, now my Christmas shopping is all 'wrapped up' (boom boom) I have no choice but to finalise my Christmas/birthday lists for distribution to the husband and my parents...a hard job if ever I heard of one...

More soon, I'm putting together a Christmas wish list blog for perusal and perhaps inspiration...

Two blogs in two days...

Hell has not frozen over. I have indeed managed to blog two days in a row after an absence of, hmmm, what was it now?  3 months?! Hurrah!

Today was nothing too exciting, just a quick runaround and chores. I schlepped to TK Maxx fully intending to purchase a few Christmas gifts (they have some very nice OPI and Leighton Denny gift sets in at the moment), and instead got distracted by items for myself. Fail.

I think I may have mentioned before that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with TK Maxx. I have found some amazing bargains in there in the past, but on other occasions, it resembles the private dressing room of Lilly Savage. I had time today so had a good rummage and found a few items that set my heart a flutter. I tried on two jackets and purchased the one that fit me well (the other I loved but was a large size small so had to be left behind). I'm not sure how I'll pass off said jacket as 'Christmas shopping', I'm hoping hubby won't ask to see what I purchased when he gets home.. It's not even like I managed to buy any other gifts that I can show him.. double fail.

Antoni and Alison jacket, £37 reduced from £150.

And now for today's outfit, nothing too exciting, practicality a must for shopping and chores:

Thick stripy jersey top: H & M
Long line white vest: Primark
Blue jeans: River Island
Hi tops: Converse (These are permanently attached to my feet at the moment, they are perfect for running around in).
Checked scarf: New H & M purchase from yesterday. Annoyingly not on their website.
Leather double rivet cuff: Mulberry
Sunglasses: Missoni (not because I am a poser but because of the blasted winter sun, I nearly crashed my car when driving without them the other day).

Cream coat: H & M
Grey wrist warmers: H & M
Bag: Mulberry

I will try not to leave it so long between blogging in future, I ordered the boots from yesterday's epic boot saga so will hopefully have some pics and a success story soon!

Lush haul

Hello Cinnamon swirls, and happy Sunday to all! I have had a lovely day with hubby, we went shopping for some family Christmas presents and managed to get pretty much everything! I am going to get everything wrapped up now so I can feel super smug and organised! We ate at Cafe Rouge after our successful shopping trip, which was yum as always : )

Today's blog post is about a two of my favourite things: nice relaxing baths and Lush! I don't know about anyone else, but I always prefer to have a bath than a shower, I just love lighting candles, using gorgeous smelling products, and having a lovely long soak! I find baths so relaxing, which is very much needed in my life when I am sooo busy!! Bath time is most relaxing and complete for me when I have some Lush products to use, I really find Lush products hard to beat. I recently added the Lush gingerbread house bubble bar to my Christmas list, but couldn't resist buying it when I was in Lush the other day! I also purchased the Magic Wand bubble bar and a couple of bath bombs, which I haven't tried yet.

Magic Wand Bubble Bar £4.95. I love the lollipop style, the gorgeous neon pink ribbon and jingle bell!

Simply swish the wand under the tap for roughly a minute... mounds of frothy bubbles will pile up instantly!

As you can see, the bath water has turned a gorgeous girly pink colour and there are lots of lovely bubbles!

After one use, the bubble bar looks pretty much the same, I reckon this will  provide me with a fair few more baths making it excellent value for money. I stored the stick upright after use to dry off, ready for its next use.

Gorgeous little gingerbread house bubble bar. I love the cute roof with sprinkles : )

I broke off about a third of the gingerbread house and crumbled it under the tap. The water turned a festive pumpkin orange shade and smelt divine! Again plenty of gorgeous bubbles!

I have been so impressed with both of these products. The snow fairy magic wand is the epitome of femininity, it smells just like candy canes and candyfloss. The gingerbread house smells like sweet gingerbread and cninamon, and is a perfect Christmassy scent. Both produce long lasting bubbles, and the scent lingers on the skin long after the bath is over! I found that they both made my skin really soft as well, which is an added bonus.

Has anyone else tried these products?? I can't wait to try the rest of my Lush haul, and I will definitely be stocking up on more gingerbread houses and magic wands to last me long into the new year!

More soon lovely readers XOXO

Christmas shopping : )

Hello strawberry swirls, how are you all?? Good news, I have finally shaken of my illness, after repeated trips to the Doctor's and 3 different antibiotics! I went back to work on Thursday and Friday which was great, and now it's half term so I have 9 lovely lazy days off! So pleased : )

Today hubby went off to hockey as usual and I spent the afternoon running some errands: I booked Mr Woody into the vet for his myxomatosis injection and a toe nail clipping, returned a faulty item to TK Maxx (which had all the Christmassy things out, I literally squealed out loud!) and then went into town to buy a photo frame for my new piece of wall art. When hubby got home we went to Bluewater in order to start our Christmas shopping, for relatives and each other too. I was so excited when we drove in because John Lewis had their Christmas lights up and they were so gorgeous! I bought hubby some lovely things and I noticed (accidentally on purpose!) a pleasing pile of presents for me in the boot of the car... now just have to be good and resist temptation to go snooping before Christmas! I am really glad that we've started our Christmas shopping, I plan to buy a few more presents at the end of the month, and save my final Christmas shop for when we are in London (blogged about here).

My first blog award!! Thank you so much to Launa in Ponderland for awarding me my first blog award, it means so much to me that people are reading and enjoying my ramblings and news! Thank you all : ) xoxo

What I wore: a light grey super cosy over sized jumper from Topshop, jeans from All Saints, Ugg boots and Mulberry bag

Winter nails: painted with my new No7 nail polish in disco nights, with Rimmel  glitter polish  in disco ball painted over and concentrated most heavily on the tips.

Well that's all for today, hope you are all having a fun weekend, until next time sugar fairies xoxo