My Christmas Experience for 2018!

Merry Christmas to all my amazing followers, although Christmas is almost over for me as I write this. I hope you’ve all had an amazing day whether you’re religious or not. Personally, I’m an atheist even though my Irish family are Catholic, but Christmas has always been a time to spend it with family, eat delicious food and have a lot of fun!

Which is exactly what we did for Christmas 2018, kicking off the festivities at my mum’s house on Christmas Eve for a buffet and games night, which always gets way too competitive! We also looked through some old photo albums and you can see a very old picture of me below (note: I absolutely loved this outfit, especially the boots). It was so much fun to reminisce and look back on the presents we used to get as kids and laugh at our ridiculous fashion sense.

I feel so lucky to have so many people that love, care and know me so well because I got some great gifts that I can’t wait to use. My dad has been saying for years that my Christmas list needs to be something other than books, so I put down art supplies and that’s exactly what I got. I cannot wait to branch out into different mediums in 2019 instead of sticking with pencils and just look at all those colours!

Of course, I got some great new books, which I will post about in my wrap up for the month, and a controller for the Xbox as my old one broke a while ago, so now I can play with my boyfriend again. Honestly, this is all I could have wanted. It’s harder to buy for people as you get older because when we want or need something, we just buy it ourselves, but this pile of things I love made me so happy.

This year was a little different for Christmas day as it was the first time that my boyfriend and I would be having it on our own in our house. Over the years we have spent it with my mum, with his family and with my dad in Ireland, but we got to do it ourselves and it was so much fun. I’ve done big meals before, so I wasn’t too stressed and everything ended up being timed perfectly for dinner, which was three courses. Unfortunately, I ended up doing too much food for the main course, but it was so delicious I wish I could have it again!

Then we proceeded to watch Ant-man and the Wasp, before walking a few streets away to my aunty’s house where my mum, uncle and some cousins were drinking away. The best part of Christmas is always spending time with family and laughing, and while I wasn’t in Ireland to celebrate, I spoke to everyone on the phone/face timed them (which is a lot of people considering I have 8 auntys and uncles, and two sets of them have two kids each, as well as my granny and grandad).

Now, I am sitting on the couch, feeling so grateful that my year is going to end on a high note because I know the next 6 days will be amazing (even if I have to work for some of them but it’s fine cause I work from home).

I hope all of you ate some tasty food, got the gifts you were wishing for and enjoy everything that Christmas is! Although, I don’t think I’m quite ready to pack my tree up just yet because I love it too much!!

It’s My Birthday!

This week has been amazing so far. Not only have we found a place to live, I also got to celebrate my birthday with my favourite people. At work we get a gift day for our birthday that doesn’t come out of our annual leave, which meant I was off on Friday. But before I left on the Thursday everyone came over to my desk with gifts and chocolate cake to celebrate. I hadn’t been expecting it at all and I may have felt my cheeks get a little warm from embarrassment.

Yesterday I went out for an early birthday meal with my boyfriend for an Italian and it was amazing, as you can see from the pictures below. It helped that I got a £25 gift card from work that could be used at Zizzi’s. The food never disappoints and we were left feeling very full (I will admit, I had a food induced nap, it was amazing).

My actual birthday was spent getting my hair sorted at the hairdressers (and my hairdresser kindly gave me an extra treatment for free) and then I headed home to open my presents from my family. My mum went out and bought a ton of kitchenware for our new home and it’s made me so excited for moving in. There’s still a lot more to buy but at least I’m off to a great start. I also got some books from my dad and sister that I am super excited to read! As well as this I received some beautiful flowers from my boyfriend that are making the room smell lovely, and a brand new coat in a style that I have been searching forever for (I’ve had my current for 6 years, it was time to move on).

Overall it has been a great day and I feel very lucky to have so many people that care and love me. Now it’s time to go and have some of the delicious chocolate cake that is waiting for me downstairs!

Wrapping Up The Week (12th February – 18th February)

Once you get past January the weeks just seem to fly by! Already we are over halfway through the month and I am halfway through reading all of my TBR list. I’m back to reading two books at the same time to try and speed things up, so I’m hoping it’s going to work!

This week has been a really good one in terms of work, but unfortunately not so much for my writing at the beginning. For some reason my anxiety was spiking, and while I don’t tend to talk too much about this topic online (I keep it to myself), it did affect my creativity. Luckily for me my attitude and outlook was starting to change and I managed to write nearly 3,000 words this weekend. I also received something that I hope will help me to stay organised and it is….The Happiness Planner! It’s gorgeous (as you can see below) and I can’t wait to get using it this week.

I’ve been a little slow when it comes to reading and I think it’s because I’m taking a while to get into the book I’m currently reading, reasons of which I will mention in the following sections.

Books I read and reviewed…

I finally got my review up for Reign of the Fallen, which I read last week, and absolutely adored. I’ve been raving about this book a lot on my blog and it deserves every bit of love it has been receiving from the reading community. You can read my review and check out my thoughts here.

I am currently reading…

So, where do I begin? Overall, I’m liking Zenith, even enjoying it in some place, but it’s taken me some time to get into the story. There are flashbacks, different character perspectives, lots of withholding of information and it’s a little slow in places. But there is also some action, humour and likeable characters. I am curious to see where the second half of the book will take me.

I also started Between the Blade and the Heart, which is due to be released on the 22nd of this month so I am trying to read it before then. I’m only 11% of the way through, so I don’t have much of an opinion right now, but I like how different the world is. Fingers crossed I can get a review up by the end of the week.

Posts from the week…

Top Ten Tuesday: Books With Incredible Romances

WWW Wednesday – In A Galaxy…

Again, another quiet week and I think it was definitely to do with the mental health issues I had in the week. But fear not! I am much better and raring to go! Especially because I get to use my new planner.

My WIP…

I am currently at almost 84,000 words and I am SO close to reaching the climax of my book (and my amazing plot twist) that I just cannot wait! Only a few more chapters before I get to the gritty stuff. Honestly, I am so excited to get to the editing stage and I can make the changes that have been running around my head. There’s a few plot holes, but I know how to fix them and that’s all that matters.

Other Fun Stuff…

This weekend my boyfriend and I went into town and visited the new restaurant, The Cosy Club, for brunch. It has a 1930s style, as seen in the photos, and it was amazing. Such a cool and interesting restaurant that features some of the history of Lincoln (the city I live in) and the decor is to die for. I love the mix-matched chairs and the vintage flair. Not to mention, the food was amazing too! Of course I had to go for a fry up.

Afterwards we went to a wildlife park, but that is a story for another blog post. Stay tuned!

I hope that the rest of you had an amazing week and got up to some fun stuff at the weekend! Fingers crossed I will be going to see Black Panther next weekend so if you’ve seen it already let me know in the comments.

Day Out In Dublin & An Irish Wedding

The last couple of days have been super busy, but a great way to round off the year. On Thursday my sister, my boyfriend and myself arrived in Ireland to visit my dad and family. Since then it has been nonstop, although I wouldn’t have it any other way. While we didn’t do much on the Thursday (we saw The Last Jedi), Friday and Saturday were jam packed.

While I’ve been to Dublin many times, I had never seen the Christmas lights so of course we headed out to see them (and spend some money, too). All in all, we spent six hours walking around the shops (yes, I was moaning near the end because my feet hurt) and grabbing a bite to eat at The Hard Rock Cafe. Apart from my boyfriend, we had eaten there before and it was a great treat, so here’s a few photos of what we got.

That platter and burger was as good as it looks and the cocktail was surprisingly strong. After that we spent the next few hours looking around the shops, navigating the streets and spending the Christmas money that my family gifted me. Of course, I bought myself some new makeup bits and I finally got to try macaroons!

Yesterday, the time came to celebrate my cousin Eoghan and Olivia’s wedding day. It was a wonderful day that started with the church service at half 12 and carried on at the reception in one of the nicest hotels I’ve been in. The set up for the evening meal was gorgeous (I’ll put some photos in) and the food was delicious. I especially loved the glittering dance floor and the Mr & Mrs light up sign. There was also a photo booth that everyone flocked to, to take silly photos.

There were four courses altogether (I forgot to take a picture of the soup), but it was all so good! The servers were amazing, always bringing out the food quickly and you were given a choice of chicken or beef for the main, and either black forest gateau or baked Alaska for dessert.

It was a great evening full of laughter, drinking, dancing and singing. Also, it was the first wedding my boyfriend and I had been to together so that was also pretty special (we were also asked when it would be our turn, still a while to go).

When was the last time you went to a wedding? I hope you’re all having a great New Years’ Eve and are looking forward to 2018!

Merry Christmas + Bookish Gifts

Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays if you don’t celebrate Christmas)! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful day and enjoyed spending time with your loved ones. For me, it’s been a blast and I couldn’t have wished for anything more. I have to say that my Christmas Eve lasted until at least two in the morning (very late and I was very drunk), but we had so much playing games, laughing until I had a coughing fit (still ill from my cold/flu) and eating some amazing food with my boyfriend, mum and sister.

As we were up late the following the night, we didn’t wake up until around ten and our morning consisted of eating croissants (a family tradition) and opening up our presents. I got a selection box, some money and of course…bookish gifts that you can see below.

I’m going to take a moment and talk about the Kindle Paperwhite that my amazing boyfriend got for me (along with a hot pink leather case and the charger adaptor). Rewind to about five or six years ago and I would be proudly telling people that I would never buy a Kindle and that I was a traditional book girl. Well, I certainly changed my tune as I had been on about one for a while and he got me it! Safe to say I am very happy and have two new books for the Kindle, which are:

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

As well as this I received three books from my dad that were from a list of about six (of course, he chose the three that I really, really wanted). What surprised me is that The Last Magician is actually the US version (I can tell from the flimsier pages) so it is much bigger, but I like that.

The rest of the day was filled with helping my mum prepare the Christmas dinner and boy, did it stress me out a bit. Luckily, nothing burned and everything was ready on time. And let me just tell you now, it was absolutely incredible (although the food defeated us in the end and we couldn’t finish it all). Here is a picture of the spread and me in my green crown.

Overall, it has been an incredible day and getting to spend it with the ones I love is more than I could ask for. Tomorrow, for Boxing Day, we are heading over to my boyfriend’s parents house for a second Christmas Dinner and once we are home, it will be Games Night round two!

I hope you all got what you wished for and had an enjoyable day. Merry Christmas everybody!

Wrapping Up The Week (20th Nov – 26th Nov)

Why do the weekends always go by so quickly? I cannot wait for the Christmas holidays to come around so we can lounge about doing very little and eating as much as we want (food coma anyone?).

Once again I had a very busy week. I heard back from a couple of jobs who offered me the positions, but I am still holding out on one that I’m hoping will contact me within the next few days. Fingers crossed, because that is the job I want (and it pays really well, too, which always helps).

As well as that I have been getting stuck into my writing and I couldn’t be happier. All of a sudden I have these great ideas pouring into my head, I have come up with the ending of my first book (dramatic twist lined up that no one will see coming…check) and I am so excited. Last night I didn’t get to sleep until half 1 because I was typing away and managed to write 3,300 words, way more than the 1,000 I set myself to write each day. My brain is a little tired today so I’m not expecting to write nearly as much as that.

Books I read and reviewed…

If you are looking for a book review…I don’t have any to offer this week and I can only apologise for that. I am still making my way through Glass Sword and for some reason I am struggling. The book isn’t bad by any means, but I’m just not in the right frame of mind to read it at the moment. I might take a pause with it and start something a little lighter.

I am currently reading…

Like I said in the above section, I am still reading this, but I am going to take a break from it. Maybe letting my own writing takeover isn’t the best thing, but you gotta go with the flow sometimes. I’m sure I will get back into it eventually as I do want to finish these books for when the final instalment is released next year.

Posts from the week…

Having A Huge Book Clear Out

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’m Thankful For

What Are You Reading Wednesday And Getting My Writing Mojo Back

First Lines Fridays

Writing And Pinterest: An Epic Love Story

I feel that even though I’ve not read a lot this week, I have still stayed quite productive with my blog. Five blog posts isn’t too bad and I enjoyed writing all of them.

Other Fun Stuff…

Now that it is less than a week until we can begin to open our advent calendars (mine is a Thornton’s Continental one) and I figured it was time to get my little fibre-optic Christmas tree out. I even bought brand new red and gold baubles, and I still have to head out and buy some tinsel for my bookshelf and mirror. Who else is getting excited? I even changed the background of my laptop to become more festive and I love it!

I am a self-declared foodie and will try anything as long as it is tasty! Indian is one of my favourite cuisines (nothing beats Italian though) and my boyfriend decided to treat us to my favourite Indian takeaway from MaCh. It is a little out of town, but it is definitely worth the trek! We will often eat at the restaurant itself, but as we were a little tired from our late night we settled for eating in. My favourite dish is Sag Aloo, a mixture of spinach and potatoes which is just divine!

I hope you enjoyed reading about what I’ve been getting up to and that you are getting into the festive spirit as well!

A Day of Crazy Golf And Eating Ice Cream

Yesterday, for our most recent date, my boyfriend and I decided to visit the famous Daisy Made Farm (famous if you live in Lincolnshire at least). All of my friends would go on about how great it is and that the ice cream is to die for, but I had never gotten around to going. Finally, we made the decision last week that our Sunday morning would be spent checking it out and we weren’t disappointed.

The last time I played Crazy Golf was when I visited Orlando, Florida when I was 12 years old (which seems a life time ago now). It’s safe to say that we had a blast and didn’t stop laughing the whole time. Unfortunately, Matt beat me…twice! I’m normally a sore loser but I feel that I took it well and was relatively pleased with the amount of hole-in-ones that I got (I had 3 on our first round and 3 on the second as well). A couple holes were a little difficult as I kept chipping it so it would bounce off of things (I’m not even going to tell you how many shots I took on one hole as it’s too embarrassing).

As it is a farm there are a few animals that you are able to see. The obvious being the dairy cows that are kept in the fields surrounding the farm, but there were also two calves kept separate that were too cute! They kept mooing at us (as you can see from the picture above) and eyeing us up. You could also catch glimpses of rabbits and guinea pigs in their hutches and llamas too! As well as this, there were a few pygmy goats nearby and one in particular would not leave us alone, probably because he was hungry!

And speaking of hunger, we stopped to grab a bite to eat in the cafe on to stop our stomachs from rumbling. I’m a sucker for anything that has bacon and brie, so when I saw a bacon, brie and cranberry panini I snapped it up right away. It went so well with our delicious, fresh milkshakes in tiramisu and chocolate flavours (you can choose any of the ice cream flavours to use so the possibilities are endless).

The trip to Daisy Made would not have been complete without buying a litre of ice cream, which they packet themselves, and out of all the flavours we chose mint choc chip (because you can never go wrong with that). Although, if chocolate had been available I would have chosen that as I am a self-confessed chocoholic.

Have you ever been to a dairy farm and had fresh ice cream? I would love to know and I hope you enjoyed reading about my great day out!

Visiting the Kitty Cafe in Nottingham

For mine and my boyfriend’s 3rd anniversary we decided to head to Nottingham for a long weekend. We live about an hour away so the drive there wasn’t too bad and our first stop when we arrived was to visit the amazing Kitty Cafe. If you haven’t heard about or been to this cafe then you definitely need to check it out (especially if you’re a cat lover).

The Kitty Cafe opened in 2015 and is all about helping to re-home cats and kittens that come their way. While some actually live full time at the cafe, there are always new ones being brought in and when we went there were two kittens called Merry (grey) and Pippin (Creamy Ginger) (any LOTR fans?). Not only do you get an hour to play with these adorable cats, you can also taste some delicious food and the coffee is just as good!

As you can see from the images above Pippin tried to take a little nibble out of my cheesecake (and he was successful) before a member of the staff came over to lend a helping hand. He had managed to make his way up to us by climbing up Matt’s leg, much to our amusement. Let’s just say that he was relentless when it came to wanting the food as we saw him badgering a family across from us who had also ordered cake (sweet-tooth kittens?).

At any one time there are about 20 cats and kittens available for re-homing in the cafe, and here are just a few that we managed to snap as they were always darting about and playing with different people. I can honestly say that I would have taken any of them home! Some, however, are actual residents, such as the famous Heathcliffe pictured below (I loved the name) and is the cat that everyone wants to see:

Isn’t he gorgeous? And he was absolutely huge compared to the rest of the cats around him. Our one hour slot seemed to fly by and before we knew it, it was time to leave.

If you are ever in the area or want to experience something different, I would definitely check this place out. The staff are so friendly and make sure that you are well looked after. You can find out more about the Kitty Cafe by visiting their website here.

Let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever been to somewhere that is completely different and unique>