Save The Dates

If you follow me on social media, you will know that in September my best friend asked me to be his wife.

It has been such a whirl wind and I did not realise how fast things have to move with planning a wedding (even if it is in 2019!). Being told I need to start looking at venues straight away if I want the most popular time of year was quite daunting, however, we set to this task!

I knew in my mind the type of venue I wanted to get married in and that I wanted it all in one place - less hassle having to move around! Within 5 days of being engaged we had our first venue viewing. We limited the places we wanted to visit to places that were nearby, and the type of venue being a rustic barn. I can find it very hard to pick when lots of things are thrown at me, so didn't want to over complicate the process!

The second venue we viewed was breathtakingly beautiful. I knew from that moment I walked into the walled garden that, that was where I wanted to marry my best friend.

Having secured our venue and a date, I set out to find some Save The Date cards for my day guests. Looking around at the style I wanted online, I quickly noticed the very hefty price tag for having these made by someone. Being that these were only Save the Dates and later on I would be sending invitations out, I decided that the prices people were asking for were too much and I set out at making my own!

Etsy is a very good website if you want to purchase a ready made template and the download was instant. All you needed to open the document was Adobe and away you go! You could select the text boxes to choose the areas you wanted to edit and insert your details.

To print these I purchased some thick letter card from Amazon along with some kraft envelopes, card hearts and twine. Luckily for me I work in an office environment which meant that I had access to a large printer and a guillotine - which did take me some time may I add!

I wanted mine to be simple but rustic as that is the theme I am going for. Also, I did not want to commit myself to a specific colour scheme/ style at this stage as we are only at the end of 2017 and my mind may change within the next 18 months (I am 100% sure on the rustic though - I guess it's a given as my venue is a barn!).

All in all this was such money saver for me. Anyone who knows me will know that I am always looking for DIY alternatives or money saving ideas. Much of my wedding decor will be DIY. I have so many ideas floating around my head and I cannot wait to start assembling things in the new year.

I am sure you will now be seeing many wedding posts from me in the coming months from my wedding venue to DIY ideas!

Weightloss Update : Being Body Positive

So, I have been a little awol for a while, apologies for that - sometimes life just gets in the way and things have been super busy!

You'll be pleased to know we finally moved into our first home back on the 26th May 2017 and life couldn't be better (update on this coming soon). Now living with my partner means making sure I am not slipping back into bad eating habits - as he tends to eat what he wants (mainly sweet things!). The weekends have been more challenging for me since moving as at weekends I am a cricket widow (for anyone else whose partners play cricket will know my pain), and during the winter months I am a rugby widow, which tends to lead to my boredom and therefore meaning I want to eat everything in sight. Somehow, I have managed to maintain my weight of 8 Stone 10lbs - which is my target weight - and at weekends eat that chocolate bar or three (plus the crisps, sweets and naughty meals out). I am shocked that I have managed to keep this up as I feel so guilty after indulging at the weekend, but I have started to learn that you can't live your life on a constant strict diet - who wants to do that! There will be that night out your are invited to, that birthday, or just a date night. You can't live your life in fear of gaining weight. You must remind yourself that you have managed to loose all the weight so whats gaining a pound or 3 and loosing it again? 

I am still sticking to the rules of Slimming World but am tending not to count my syns at the weekend. During the week I will be 100% on plan and pack in the speed foods. If I feel I have an horrendous weekend food wise, which seems to be 24/7 at the moment, I will reign it back in by doing a few syn free days. I know there are different opinions on doing this, but I have learnt that weight loss and maintaining is all about learning what's best for you. 

Body image is always something that I have struggled with since a young age, but have slowly started to over come by demons with that as I have gotten older. I don't think I will be going into detail on my past as I feel that I have talked about these with someone, sought the help I needed and am now living in a more positive mindset - I am trying not to dwell on the past. Maybe one day I will share some of my past with you. I do often wonder if I will ever be completely happy with my weight and how I look, but then I remind myself that I am not where I used to be, and that many people who I consider to have the "perfect" body are also struggling with the same things. 

I can now say that I am probably 70% confident with my weight even if there are a few wobbly bits I would like to work on - but only I can change that. It's all about having a positive mindset and getting up and doing something about it, which I even know can be easier said that done. I have been telling myself all week I must go on a run, lets see if I actually get to it!

House Update & Interior Ideas

I have previously posted about myself and my partners new home we have purchased and had not visited it since September 2016. A few weeks ago we got a phone call to come in and see it on the inside for the first time, and since then we have been back recently!

I was so pleased with our most recent visit - everything is finally coming together. Our kitchen is in, but covered up, but from what we could see we made a good choice. We opted for a basic style of cream doors and wooden worktop, as when making our choices we also had to think if were to re-sell in the future what would be most desired. With the same thought process for bathroom tiles, we opted for grey in our en-suite bathroom and neutral/ beige shades for the family bathroom and downstairs loo.

With a new build there are extra options you can choose to have, to either upgrade the standard things you get with the house, or add extras (such as integrating the kitchen, flooring/carpets (yes, flooring is not included!) doors, chrome plugs, taps etc..). We knew from the outset that we did not really want to go to overboard with extras, if you have purchased a new build home you will know that these things come a costly price - most of the little things you could do yourself in the future for much, much less! We have chosen to add a cooker hood, heated towel rail in our en-suite, and we upgraded the bath in the family bathroom to have a shower over it. I could have easily chosen more options to upgrade, but it would have cost us a fortune!

Last weekend we got the dreaded IKEA trip over and done with (I am not a fan of IKEA due my hatred for people standing in the way and busy places!). We were in and out within an hour or so and had purchased everything we set out to get! Namely the dining chairs, dressing table, bed side tables for the spare room and storage units (mostly for my copious amounts of make up and toiletries). Dreading when the time comes to put all of our flat packed furniture together...

In regards to how I would like our home to look, I am very much pulled towards the neutral soft tones and lots of texture with pops of colour here and there. My Pinterest board definitely is a great help for me. In my mind I know what I want, which is always dangerous for me as I love the expensive things. I tend to find that I get an idea in my head, but cannot actually find anything like it out there in the homeware stores!

It's hard trying to decorate a house you don't live in yet, I am trying to visualize how I want it to look! I have started buying a few decorative items such as below - mainly bedding, curtains, pillows and ornaments - I cannot wait to see these actually in our home! I just keep praying that all will look well!

There are a few things I would like to buy once we have the keys/ moved in, such as a radiator cover for the radiator in the hallway, a console table for the hallway and I would like to paint the downstairs loo, our bedroom and the hallway. Can you tell I am most excited about our hallway?!

I am counting down the weeks now until towards the end of May, when fingers crossed we should get the call we have been waiting for!

Goals For April : 2017 Edition

Here we find ourselves again, at the beginning of a new month wondering where the start of the year has gone! This year (to me) has come and gone very quickly and before we know it we will be in Summer!

With the days becoming longer and the evenings becoming lighter I can certainly feel that Summer is looming over us. With that in mind I definitely have a goals I would love to achieve before the English Summer is upon us.

One of the biggest things I would love to achieve is to get myself back into running. As I have reached a plateau in my weight loss, it certainly seems my body needs exercise - I am most certainly not going to get the toned body I want with just changing my eating habits! For me it is just finding the up and go of actually getting outside...

Secondly, I would love to go on more adventures and meet new people. Having social anxiety, I often shy away from events or places that scare me and I tend to shut myself away from the world. I would like to be able to start overcoming my fears with social situations and put myself out there more. I have a few things coming up in the coming months, which will definitely put me in an uncomfortable place but I am determined to ride it out! This is also one of my boyfriends goals for this year - meeting new people together as a couple is something we are going to try and do. He however has no problem with social situations, he is very loud and and loves meeting people - I guess this is why we work together. We bounce off each other!

Self love is the final goal I have for this month. To me this is the biggest thing anyone can overcome. If you learn to love yourself then your mind and body will love you back! I know that I will not be able to achieve this in the month, but I would love to start looking after myself more, if that means treating myself to getting my nails done, going for a run or simply reminding myself everyday of how far I have come in my journey already.

I have a few exciting things planned for the coming 8 weeks. We have Easter coming up - which means shorter working weeks due to bank holidays, family time and lots of food and chocolate! Me and my boyfriend are off to see Ed Sheeran at the end of April in Birmingham, which we are using as a date night/ weekend away, I have a black tie event to attend, and, our house should (fingers and toes crossed) be completing in May! We will also be hoping to book our holiday for early next year - we are currently looking at the Caribbean or Cape Verde (I have visited both before and cannot wait to show my boyfriend how amazing these places are!). For our birthdays/ 5 year anniversary this year we will be jetting away in September time to somewhere in the Canary Islands for a last minute deal! I cannot wait, I live for escaping reality and lying in the sun. That reminds me...I must start my first goal if I want to get that bikini body by September!

Have you got any goals or exciting plans for the coming months?

The Skinny Bakery : Slimming World Friendly Sweet Treats

If you do Slimming World and are part of the Instagram Slimming World community, you will have no doubt heard of The Skinny Bakery and their low syn treats!

I have been looking at purchasing some for a while now and finally took the plunge. I found it quite hard to choose what treats I wanted but opted for The Skinny Gingerbread Men,  Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies, Skinny Choc Chip Cookies and Skinny Mini Flapjacks.

The treats from The Skinny Bakery are low calories and sugar, making them great for a low fat sweet treat! On the website in the description box they have the syn values for all of their products which comes in very handy!

I love the pastel card casings around the containers and think they are packaged beautifully and have the ingredients contents listed on the reverse.  They all come with best before dates, due to their fresh ingredients, so keep an eye on this (not that they lasted that long in my house!).

My favorite had to be The Skinny Gingerbread Men, I have a love for anything ginger flavored, and at 5.5 syns for all three these really are worth it!

Price wise, The Skinny Bakery treats are reasonable and similar to prices you might see in health food shops. I won't be buying these on a regular basis, as the price will add if if I kept on buying, but will keep my treat box stocked every now and then.

The Skinny Bakery are currently offering 10% off for first time buyers using the code STARTER10 - if you are interested in buying a few sweet treats to try!  If you can't pick they have a very handy option of a Pick 'N' Mix box!

You can check out their Instagram page here > https://www.instagram.com/skinnybakery

Spring Wishlist : 2017

March is here and nearly gone already, how quickly did that come around!? Now we are heading into the first official day of Spring, what better to kick it off with a wishlist of things I would love to get my hands on!

1. New Look Jacket  2. River Island Top 3. New Look Jumper  4. New Look Top 5. River Island Jacket 6. River Island Top

A big trend I can see for this spring/ summer is embroidery. Normally, I am into quite simple looking chic outfits, but I have seen a few floral designed pieces I would like to get my hands on.

The 70's look of bell sleeves is one thing I am lusting over. This style sleeve adds something extra to an outfit, even if the top is plain and simple. I think it creates such a stylish look.

Another trend I love, and have always loved, is denim. Denim is something that is always on trend and you can get your hands on through out the year, but there is something about the pieces above which have something extra!

Having now very nearly reached my overall target weight loss (I am 2lbs away!!) I am even more excited to try on new clothes and feel amazing in them! - You can check out my journey here if you are interested https://www.instagram.com/slimming.jessica/ (I have recently changed my name on Instagram, therefore old links on here may not work...I must update them!).

I can wait to see what else comes out over the coming months. I am bad for buying new pieces and updating my wardrobe on a monthly basis! My bank account however does not love me for this.

My Top 5 : Must Have Base Products

Having flawless, perfect looking skin is a must for me when it comes to wearing make up, It is the most important part for me to get right. From finding the perfect foundation that matches my skin tone to that popping highlighter. In my opinion, if you have that flawless base then everything else will look in place.

My foundation/ base product draw is probably the fullest one of them all. I love trying out new foundations, concealers and highlighters. I am always tempted in by the new high end foundations, which I wish I was not as they do cost me a fortune! 

Don't get me wrong I am a sucker for the high end beauty products, but you can not go wrong with brands such as Bourjois and NYX. High Street make-up has moved up enormous amounts in the past few years, many products which rival high end brands.

Below is a mixture of high street and high end products which I personally love for that flawless looking base! 

L'oreal Lumi Magique Primer :

This primer is stunning if you want a dewy base. It has an iridescent sheen to and is pearl like in colour. Don't worry, it does not stay this shade once rubbed into the skin!

Benefit Porefessional :

Benefit are a great love of mine, and my first higher end (if they are really classed as high end) make up purchase. The Porefessional is great for blurring out imperfections, and filling in the pores in your skin - hence the name. 

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation:

The Bourjois foundation has to be the BEST high street foundation I have found. It gives you a lovely glow and has a buildable coverage, great for a look where you want good coverage with that dewy finish. I always reach to purchase this when I have ran out of my current foundations, and need a cheaper alternative!

Too Faced Born This Way Foundation or NARS Sheer Glow:

You have all heard about my love for the Too Faced foundation, which I have done a post dedicated to previously. Therefore,  won't talk about that one but I could not, not include it to my list! However, another love of mine is the NARS Sheer Glow foundation. Again, great for that medium-full coverage with small particles of shimmer running through it to give you that fresh dewy skin! Can you tell I love to have flawless looking skin...!

Urban Decay Naked Concealer or MAC Studio Fix:

Urban Decay are also a brand which were one of my first higher end purchases, which I still do this day reach for and they never fail to disappoint me! This concealer is great for weightless under eye coverage and blends out like a dream! Another concealer I reach for is my MAC studio fix in the shade SW15, I go lighter in concealers as I love a brightened under eye. This one is a little thicker in consistency but does not budge once set in place!

Maybelline Eraser Eye Concealer:

If you are part of the beauty world or watch/read beauty videos and posts, you will have seen this one before. This concealer is also lightweight and blends out smoothly and I find it has great brightening qualities. I don't go a lot on the sponge on the end, but this is easily removable and for the price you cannot go wrong! 

NARS:

 I have been using this powder for about a year now, and have repurchased! I only powder where I need it, as I am not a fan of the heavy powdery feeling on my face. This is great for brightening and blurring out imperfections. I use this on my under eye area, around my nose, chin and forehead and find that it helps keep my make up in place and looking smooth. 

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder:

Again, if you watch beauty videos or read blogs you will be very aware of this little gem! It is not a finely milled as the NARs one, but does the job you want it to do! It also has a great coverage if you like to use a coloured one. I always opt for the translucent shades, just because I find the coloured powders oxidise on my skin!

The Balm Marylou Maniser:

I only have one option for this category, and is sort of between high street and high end. This has such a lovely creamy texture - but is in powder form and has a lovely golden tone to it. I have tired the odd high street highlighter but cannot yet find one that I love. I like mine to pop and have that creamy texture to it. There are a few more high end I would like to purchase, such as Becca , Laura Geller and Kylie Jenner is bringing out her line of highlighters , which I would love to get my hands on!

Don't forget that having a great brush/ beauty blender to apply these products with makes all the difference. I am always reaching for my Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge to apply my foundation and concealer! I have still yet to try the original Beauty Blender, I can't quite bring myself to spend that amount on a sponge! 

Saving for a house and feeding my make up addiction however is very hard! I can't wait until we are in the house and have stopped saving for flooring and furniture (the boring adult things) , so I can buy all the things I have had my eye on for my new dressing/ make up room! 

I have a post planned for next month showing you my must have eye shadow pallets , so keep an eye out for that!!