How My 2016 Went

2016 has flown by and we're all getting ready to welcome in a new year.

So I thought I would share with you all what 2016 was like for me.

There were some amazing highs I visited New York for the first time it's been at the top of my bucket list since I was around 13.
This holiday was fantastic and despite me getting ill the day before going I powered through and honestly I loved it. The sights were everything I'd imagined and more. My favourite had to be the Empire State Building at night it was stunning!

I started a distance learning degree with my work. Progression and all that once I complete this job will have a Bachelor of Science. I've finished two modules so far and have achieved solid 2:1 marks in both. Wasn't sure how I was going to fare with uni work but turns out I'm managing it rather well.

Blogmas #25: Merry Christmas!

It's CHRISTMASSSSSS!

Just a quick post after copious amounts of food and drink to wish everyone reading this a Merry Christmas.

I hope your day has been lovely and that you all got everything that you wanted!

I've been truly spoilt and had a wonderful day celebrating with family.

Currently snacking and watching the TV special christmas programmes. 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Blogmas #23/24: Christmas Eve

So I missed another Blogmas yesterday 2 out of 25 isn't bad right?

Christmas eve is finally here and to be honest it doesn't feel like tomorrow is going to be christmas where on earth has this year gone!?

I've spent my Christmas eve at the Birmingham Christmas market with family. 

Lots of food has been eat and mulled wine has been drunk. 

It was all very festive with the cute style stalls on display. As I've said previously I do love a good Christmas market.

The rest if this evening will be spent relaxing and possibly watching Elf aka the best Christmas film!!

This post is short and sweet as the mulled wine has made me a tad dozy.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas eve!

Thanks for Reading!

Blogmas #22 Christmas Gift Guide: Book Lovers

Christmas Gift Guide for Book Lovers

It's probably a bit late for another gift guide but for all you last minute shoppers out there here are my gift guide suggestions for any book lovers.

1. Book Lovers Calendar - This is available from Waterstones and is the perfect calendar for any avid readers.

2. Books I Have Read & Books I Want to Read - This is also from Waterstones and is great for writing down observations on books you have read and making notes on any book titles that have caught your eye to remember later.

Blogmas #21 Winter Lipstick Choices

Winter Lipstick Choices

It's almost Christmas where has the time gone and how have I managed to post for Blogmas nearly every day madness! I thought I would quit after the first week.

Todays Blogmas post for you all is on my winter lipstick choices, if you read my blog or follow me on Twitter you will know that I am a massive lipstick fan. I own far too many with some of them being similar shades (what can I say I'm a sucker for a dark red.)

Blogmas #20 Festive Hot Chocolate from Starbucks and Costa

Festive Hot Chocolate

If there's one thing I really love around this time of year it is that the coffee shops bring out all of the festive drinks.

I always opt for a festive hot chocolate- always!

So I thought I would share with you my favourites from Costa and Starbucks this year.

First up was the Costa Mint Hot Chocolate this tasted divine and you even got a mini candy cane - so cute!

Blogmas #19 Chocolate Covered Peppermint Creams

As you saw from my last Blogmas post I baked some festive peppermint cakes, if you have not seen this post you can check that out here.

After icing and decorating these cakes I had ALOT of leftover icing which seemed such a waste to throw away.

I remembered once making peppermint creams out of some icing and thought why not give it a go with the leftovers. So to the runny icing I added in more and more icing sugar and mixed until the icing formed almost a dough. I then made this into circles and placed them on a plate in the fridge to harden for at least 3 hours.

Blogmas #18 Festive Cupcakes

Today's Blogmas is some more festive baking! I love a bit of cake baking and decorating.

I found some mini candy canes and knew I wanted to put them on some cakes. These are my interpretation of peppermint cupcakes.

The ingredients you need for this are:

- 4 ounces butter

- 4 ounces caster sugar

- 2 eggs

- 4 ounces self raising flour

- Icing sugar

- mini candy canes for decoration

- Peppermint flavouring
- Red food colouring

Blogmas #17 Lush Father Christmas Bathbomb

I felt like I needed abit of a pick-me-up after a long week so I headed over to Lush to pick up a christmas themed bathbomb to put me back in the festive spirit.

After having a look and a sniff of all the different Christmas bathbombs on offer. I opted for the Father Christmas bathbomb. One because it epitomises Christomas and two because it smells like candyfloss! This is my first Christmas bathbomb purchase from Lush this year (slacking I know!)

Blogmas #15/16: Christmas Traditions

So I missed a day of Blogmas! This was due to many reasons and unforseen circumstances that I just did not get a post written or have any time in the day to get it done. If I was a more organised person this post would have been written well in advance and ready to just press publish. Alas I like to leave things to the last minute and rush through them.

This post will count as day 15 and day 16 to keep the number order going.

Blogmas #14: Shrewsbury Winter Festival

Last weekend was the second Shrewsbury Winter Festival. I had gone to the one last year and really enjoyed so jumped at the chance to go again this year.

The only catch to this I would say is that you have to purchase a ticket for £6 whereas every other Christmas market or fayre I have been to recently has been free admission. Seems a bit of a steep price purely for entry considering the volumes of people that would visit it.

But nevertheless it was still a good Christmas market with a wide variety of stands, a lot from local  businesses as well so that's always a good thing.