Florida Fashion & Purchases

Leading up to my Florida adventure I was in a total panic as to what I was going to wear in the American heat in the theme parks. I am a girl who never shows her pins which meant I do not own any denim shorts as I love my maxi dresses. Well maxis are not practical when it comes to roller coasters!!

After many weeks searching the web & help from my younger sister I came across culottes (thank you ASOS). Perfect for hiding my big booty & great for flattering the waist and hip line. The practicalities of shorts yet the prettiness of a skirt. The only problem I had was trying to decide which one to buy as there were so many gorgeous prints to pick from.

My 2 favourite outfits...

ASOS Lilac Culottes

Your Eyes Lie 'I'm a Unicorn' tank top (Got a lot of thumbs up for this top) :)

ASOS Floral Print Culottes

H & M Pink Spaghetti Strap Vest Top

I hate having my legs out or tree trunks as I prefer to call them but ASOS culottes really gave me the confidence to show a bit of skin. Oh they are also great for the suitcase packing as they do not crease easily as they are floaty from the waistband!

With all the walking I did I am so glad I purchased a pair of 'Birkenstock Rio 2 Strap' white sandals. After speaking with others I made sure I wore them in at work and around the houses a fortnight before we went away so they felt shaped to my foot. They really do help cushion the fall as they say. My knees feel every bang going when walking but I found them very shock absorbing. Comfortable yet not comprimising too much on style either!!

Sorry for the ramble but you've most likely seen these in nearly every Instagram summers day picture but above I am wearing my 'Roxy' prescription lens sunglasses. One of the best purchases ever!!! If you got tired of not being able to see properly, then I guarantee you will not regret it!! No more sunglasses over my normal specs :)

Holiday Buys

This was the moment I had been waiting for since I arrived in Florida; purchasing my first boyfriend 'Fossil' watch. I bought this one from the store 'Universal City Walk' which is on the shopping/entertainment walkway located between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

The customer service was brillant in deciding which one to get and the assistant was correct in saying that the colours of my new watch really do compliment my skin tone. Big thumbs up from me; a very happy customer indeed. The only problem I had was choosing which pretty box to keep my new prized posssion in :)

Hotel Grayson Presentation Box

I love how the graphics look along side my beauty products.

My dad calls it 'holiday tat' but a holiday just isn't a holiday without buying any!! Please don't judge, my inner 5 year old coming out my shell.

Transformers Drink Cup

I'm not writing this blog post drinking out of my transformers cup either. Honestly I'm not :)

What big buys do you get or got any secret 'holiday tat' purchases???

Please make me feel better about mine :)

Florida Family Adventure

OK so I disappeared for a while there, it has been a little crazy though in more ways than one! Hope you can forgive me? Again.

If you follow me on Instagram you'll see I am trying to make positive change especially trying to avoid the apprehensive feelings of turning 30 soon but more on that in another post. Time to concentrate on what I do have instead of what I don't...Here goes...

Florida was totally AMAZING!!! It was great to spend time with my family, lots of laughter & screaming on the roller coasters but now I am missing my siblings in particular as soon they will be back off to do another year at university & college. I got very snap happy taking lots of pictures with them all as I hardly have any of us. I now have many sibling selfies to look back at :)

There are so many things I could could write about but I thought a 'Flipagram' might be a fun way to take a peak into the madness that is my Florida Family Adventure...

http://flipagram.com/f/HTXzjknhek

Might do a couple more of the places we visited - let me know if you enjoy & would like to see more?!

Home Sweet Home

Oh my goodness where do I start...

I haven't blogged for 2 weeks & now I'm not going to be able to blog for another 2 more (Florida here we come)...ARGGHH I'm really very sorry about that!!

So if you've been following me you'll see that my 'Dunster Dreams' post shows the meaning behind the name of my blog being the name of the road in which my new home is on. I am so happy right now, I am totally in awe of mine & Nick's new home. I still can't get over us buying a house! Totally totally mega awesomely in love with our new home. OK OK enough of the loved up talk, sorry (not sorry) ;)

As you can see from the above photo I am ever so thankful & feel so lucky for all the lovely cards, flowers, Champagne & such generous gifts we have received from our lovely family & friends.

We've had our first week in our new home & we may still have a lot of boxes to go through but I could not hold out any longer on buying some house accessories so when I saw this little 'Dachshund Doorstop' I just couldnt resist it's cute puppy dog eyes staring at me! Not to mention the pretty floral design. With my new 'milk white' bedroom walls this was perfect to start adding a splash of colour into our room! At only £8 it would have been rude not to.

 Have you bought any home accessories recently?

Got any recommendations?

Wash Wednesday #2

Morning Lovelies, welcome to my second 'Wash Wednesday' post. If you're new to my blog then my 'Wash Wednesday' posts are my love of skincare. Other bloggers' guilty pleasures may be drawers filled with Mascara, lipsticks or eyeliner but for me I love nothing better than trying new shower gels & body scrubs! I don't blame you for thinking 'Crazy Lady'; I think so too :)

I haven't tried 'Original Source' shower gel for years but when I saw the Vanilla & Raspberry pretty pink bottle standing out from the others on the shelf I was drawn in. I sneakily opened the bottle lid and had a quick smell and wow I was sold instantly! If it smelt that sweet from the lid it was bound to work wonders in the shower...And I wasn't disappointed!!!

Apart from the fact that it felt kind & gentle to use on my skin the smell was so incredible; in fact it reminds me of strawberry milkshake which is a very good thing in deed!

At the moment I am a little obsessed with coconut scented products but in particular my vanilla & coconut fragrance mist is a huge favourite of mine but I find this shower gel is a perfect duo with the vanilla scent already on my skin.

As you can see from my photo I am trying to drain every last drop of this product out the bottle but decisions on what to try next...I see on their website there is a coconut scent and a Shea butter with honey! Which one do I choose?

Which Original Source would you recommend?

Dunster Dreams

Feeling happy, loved, exhausted & overwhelmed but I certainly wouldn't change any of that. For those who follow me on Instagram you'll already know that we got the keys to our first home on Friday after we finished work. On the drive to my house I had the kind of smile that hurts your cheekbones & the no worries of wondering where I was going to park as I now had my very own driveway.

Having prepared earlier in the week we had already bought the paint ready to start decorating 2 of the main bedrooms that we'd chosen to do first. After stuffing our faces with Papa Johns pizza my parents came round to help set us on our way to get us started on the decorating.

Later on my sister 'B' came along with her boyfriend. My sister being the lovely lady that she is made us a moving-in chocolate cake with the cutest roses detailed on the top. It has to be said the cake was delicious as always. I hope were lucky enough to get round 2 when we move all the furniture next weekend.

This was my first time painting so it's safe to say that you should definitely wear clothes that you're never going to wear publicly again...absolutely covered in white paint I was. The funniest part was when my mum said 'don't forget to look around when you move as you don't want to stand in the paint'...so what do I do 5 minutes later; yes that's I right stood on the paint lid.

They say that it is in the top 3 of the most stressful things that a person can go through in life; We might not have fully moved in yet & I can say that it hasn't been a breeze but I wouldn't change that. It's our new home, new memories, lots of DIY projects to learning new skills but it's the next chapter in our future which I wouldn't change for the world!!!

Have you bought a house?

How was it?

Any useful tips?

 

Wash Wednesday

Yes it's right in that you're thinking I am only just jumping on the band wagon with the dry shampoo lark...Well believe you me I feel that this product needs a shout out as it really has changed my outlook on trying hair, skin & beauty products.

I'm sure you've had one of those moments where you're always so amazed that your friends hair looked so good even when you know that they don't wash their hair in the shower every day?? It really amazed me as when I woke up on a day I wasn't washing my bed head it looked like it took a trip down the local chippy :( I always thanked the heavens that I didnt work with the general public!!

For someone who is a bit of a newbie when it comes to using products I found the instructions really easy & straight forward to follow. As I was massaging my scalp with my fingertips my messy hair appeared to be getting more bed head like or so I first thought. As instructed I then brush through and styled my hair with a half up half down pony. I am still to this day so amazed that this product turned my hair into a non-greasy volumised style!!

Also how could I not mention the gorgeous coconut smell...mmm my favourite!!

My hair when not washed is flat as a pancake but with Batiste Dry Shampoo I feel good as new & feel as fabulous as my Claireabella bag looks...

I found the Batiste website really useful with an instruction video too (yes I had to watch as I am that rubbish at these things) but even better I have found that they do a 'nourish' range which includes strenghtning & conditioning your hair. Safe to say that these are now on my shopping list :)

Which ranges have you tried & tested?

Buttercup Baby

Good morning my lovelies, hope you are all well? I cannot believe I haven't posted since last Thursday (naughty naughty me), but I do bring good news :) It is looking like were going to complete the sale of the house and get the keys to move in next week. Super super super excited for the paint buying from B&Q...does that mean I'm getting old?!? Oh well.

So being that lazy sloth this week that I am it wasn't last weekend but in fact the weekend before we went on a lovely walk called 'Broadbottom Circular' round Glossop way. It was quite a short walk for us being approx 4 miles but the weather was lovely and warm and took to the path at a nice leisurely pace.

The beauty of this walk I found was that it was not only easy enough for a beginner to follow but the mixture of scenery & path the route took was so varied. Part of the path in the early stages of the walk took me back to being a kid playing adventures in the back garden. Nick was laughing at me as the overgrown bushes either side of us were tickling my skin & I kept screaming 'BUG'!! Yeah I know still a wuss at twenty nine.

The contrast of the green shrubs with an array of rainbow coloured flowers, to then be submerged in a woodland with streams and bridges, & trees that could tell a tale of old. It certainly felt that we were on an adventure.

My favourite part had to be when we reached the highest point of the walk where the fields that we walked through welcomed us with hundreds of yellow buttercup flowers. Stunning!!

How cute are these wheel barrow flower displays? They were outside the farm that you have to pass on the walk. I do love little displays of creativity; I miss my creative side. That might end up being a blog post to show you some little tricks I used to get up to. Intrigured?? I hope so, better stay tuned :)

Oh did I mention there is a pub half way round the walk too?! Refreshment anyone? Mine's a sneaky Malibu + Coke :)

Anyone else enjoy walking as much as I do? Often feel like I'm the only one. Well I am certainly not the cool kid that's for sure. My lovely lady friends don't seem to be too interested in going on walking trips at weekend like I do. Nick's mum has a circle of female friends who often meet up every couple of months and go on a girly weekend away. Walking, food, drink, B&B & lots of fun and giggles. This is something I wish I could do! Maybe one day...

I would like to dedicate this post to the lovely Rachael who was asking to see a post from this walk.

 Hope you like? 

Miss you lots my dear friend...Hope to meet soon?!