Sunday Mornings #3

Hello my little Sunday morning campers! Here we are again, these weeks are just flying by aren't they? I'm not going to lie, I'm a huge Sunday fan. A decent lie in, something on the naughty side for breakfast and then a whole day of lovely nothingness ahead. Let's reminisce about our week shall we?

* Bank holiday Mondays. Don't they just change your week into something much lovelier to handle? A three day weekend and only a four day week. Can we keep the bank holiday every week? We just pottered about and did a little car shopping on ours (O wants a bigger car...). The Mr then made an amazing lamb roast dinner. Think I can persuade him to do the same again today?

* New candles. Yup, as it's getting a little colder, I can definitely justify burning candles again. I got some serious candle-shaped bargains in the Sainsburys home department. You should check it out if you're of the candle persuasion. 

* The east. We spend Friday and Saturday in Manchester visiting the Mr's family and it poured down with tremendous proportions the whole time. Driving back east last night, we were driving into the sun! It's as if all that rain was a bad dream. Don't get me wrong, I'm a westerner at heart and love a good torrential down pour, but it was nice to have a sunny little break. It was great being amongst family again too and seeing that little cheeky puppy again.

* The sky. Hasn't the sky been wonderful this week? I feel like every single evening I've been running out into the garden trying to snap a photo of the sun going behind the clouds or the lovely pink hue that it's been sporting some nights. I just can't get enough of it. Although I can feel the dark nights looming over us...

* Soda bread. Oh yes! After much inspiration from Sally and Rosie, I finally got my soda bread bake on. It was the easiest thing to do and gave me the tastiest bread at the end. The lovely Sally has given me many little soda bread twist ideas, so this won't be the last soda bread I make. Oh and just in case you were wondering, it has been devoured with lovely salty butter and (mostly) Nutella. 

* Autumn nails. Barry M brought out their Autumn nail collection this week and I managed to snap up three of them. I love them all! I really don't need any more nail polishes, but y'know, it's Autumn!

* Guide books. Some of our guidebooks have arrived for our Scandi road trip. We spend the whole car journey down to Manchester reading out facts about Norway and Denmark. Well, I did the reading and O did the driving, otherwise that would just be unsafe. I am SO excited!

Tell me lovelies, how was your week? Was it a good one? Were you lucky enough to have the bank holiday? What is your sky like? Please share them with me in the comments below, I'd love to know what's been putting a smile on your faces this week...

New Music Thursday // Three Favourites

It's definitely a week for favourites on W&P, isn't it? This isn't a typical post for me, but music is a huge part of my every day life. Whether it's my beloved digital radio or my iPod, there's a constant stream of new music filling up my world. Living away from home, we spend a lot of time in the car, so decent music is a must. O and I have a "New Music Tuesday" tradition, where we buy a new CD every Tuesday and it becomes part of our driving/road trip collection. So I guess this is a follow on from that? There are three tunes that have been filling up our little house (and garden, sorry neighbours!) this week and I thought I'd share them with you...

I'm in love with the new Twin Atlantic record, Heart and Soul was a serious summer road trip favourite! O and I try to "out Scottish" them when we're singing along, even though I am Scottish, it's pretty difficult to sing with a Scottish accent, so props boys! Their follow up single, Brothers and Sisters, is another belter of a hit. Perfect for Autumn!

I discovered Royal Blood a few weeks ago and I'm in love! They're more of a roar, turn it up and blast it out the car windows type of band and I can't get enough of this song at the moment...

Lastly, I think we all know what's coming next! Taylor Swift is my serious guilty pleasure! I know she's a love/hate kinda artist, but I love love love her! Sorry (not sorry)...

What tunes have you been listening to? I'd love to hear your favourites, I can never get enough of new band recommendations. There's nothing quite like finding a new record that you love and playing it over and over. 

 

happy face :: three favourites

Today I'm coming at you with three things that have transformed my face. Seriously! I used to be a straight up facial scrub and moisturiser kinda gal, but lately I've been thinking that at the ripe old age of 33 {still acting like I'm 12 though..}, I should start paying more attention to my skincare. After a trip to Boots and a few pounds lighter, I came home with some Good Things swag! Now, I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to cleansing, so I'm sure there are things I should or shouldn't be doing, but here's what my skincare routine now looks like...

* Cleansing: every morning I now grab this beautiful Good Things Manuka Honey Creamy Cleanser along with a face cloth. I noticed the difference in my skin the first morning I used it, no lie! My skin, even before moisturising, seems so much softer and hydrated. So much so that I almost forgot to moisturise yesterday! It smells divine and the formula doesn't have any of the nasty things in it like some other brands. My old facial scrub used to leave my skin tight and I'm just realising, slightly angry. This cleanser leaves it feeling soothed with none of the red patches I used to get. Back in the day, I used to think cleansing was too much of a time wasting faff, but having skin as soft as a baby's derrière is well worth the extra 5 seconds it takes in the morning. 

* Serum: now I'm complete novice when it comes to serum. I didn't even know when to apply it, before moisturiser? After? Instead of? But after some googling and a tweet from the lovely Vivianna Does Makeup, I was sorted. Basically, I use it after cleansing, leave it 5 minutes or so to soak in and then put my moisturiser on top like normal. So far I've only been brave enough to use this in the evening. I don't have particularly dry skin and didn't want to overload my face during the day. Although, saying that, the morning after some serum action, my face feels so glowy, smooth and a little more plump...does that make sense? The one I've been using is the Nude ProGenius Treatment Oil which I got as a sample in a recent BirchBox. I'm not gonna lie, this serum doesn't have the nicest whiff to it, but it makes my skin sing! I'm on the look out for some other decent brands, so please hit me up if you have any recommendations! 

* Moisturising: for years I've been an Olay girl. So I was a bit wary of trying something new. Good Things Miracle Mattifier Moisturiser is the bee's knees! First of all, the smell...berry goodness! I wasn't sure that I would like a fruity scented moisturiser at first, but oh my...I'm a convert! This leaves my skin SO completely hydrated, seriously softer and maybe even a little less shiny? I used to get a little dry patch down my nose and now it's completely disappeared. I've been using this morning and evening and my skin is thanking me for it! 

O has been laughing at all the new face cloths I've been buying to accommodate this new ritual and I may have a Body Shop order {oops} winging it's way to my door mat sometime soon with some new skincare products...

Do you have any favourite skincare products? I've chosen these three because they've completely turned my skin around and I love them so! Have you discovered anything new that's made your skin happy? I'd love to hear about them!

 

Sunday Mornings #2

How can it possibly be Sunday morning again my lovelies?? This week has been so busy {in the most brilliant way}, that I'm glad to have a weekend filled with pyjamas, coffees and trashy TV {Covert Affairs}. Let's discuss what little wonders have made this week a delicious one...

* Having my Mum down for a visit! I've had 5 whole days with the mothership! Is there anything better than having your lovely Mum around when you live away from home? I don't think so! Lots of coffee and whiskies have been drunk and many scones demolished. 

* This week has been full of adventures. We've visited Durham, York and Beamish. Durham and York were their usual beautiful selves and Beamish was so...different from anything I've ever experienced! In every one of these places I scoffed a scone and sipped on a coffee. Not too shabby, eh?

* Scones. Have I mentioned scones? Scones with jam and cream. Or cream and jam, depending on which way you lean. I've polished off far too many to mention this week and now that my Mum has gone home, I think it's time to have a little scone break for a while {who am I kidding?!}.

* Face serums! This week I popped my face serum cherry, so to speak. I've been meaning to dabble in the world of serums for a while now, but when I got a sample in this month's Birchbox, I finally took the plunge. My face LOVED it! I don't think my skin has ever been this happy. The sample I had smelled a little funky, so I'm on the look out for one that's a little easier on the nose. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

* How catchy is Taylor Swift's new song {or T Swizzle as we've taken to calling her!}?? I've had this on repeat all week. Is this wrong? If it is, then I don't wanna be right!!

* Having a plan-free weekend. I've been needing one of these so badly. The last few weekends have been filled with trips home and visitors, so I'm pretty stoked to have this weekend all to myself. O is working, so I've been happily pottering about in my pyjamas, reading, watching Covert Affairs and munching on the choc chip banana bread I made. Nothing could get me to leave the house this weekend!

* Colder weather...I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm LOVING it. I've had my proper pyjamas on in the evenings, lit candles and even used a blanket on more than one occasion. Hello Autumn, I've missed your pretty face!

* Making plans for our Scandinavian road trip in March! We pretty much have our itinerary sorted, now we just need to start booking schnizz before it gets extra pricey. How many months is it til March? Seven? Is it too early to start a countdown? Maybe {never}...

What's been making your week gorgeous? Do you use any lush face serums? Hit me up in the comments and twitter! :) 

floral days + favourite mistakes

I've been messing around with the many settings on my DSLR camera recently, trying to get the hang of different apertures, shutter speeds and such. I'm a complete novice, but sometimes I like seeing the photos that I've completely messed up! Look at this one just above ^^ {the bottom photo}. How trippy does it look?! This was definitely my favourite mistake of the day.

the best afternoon tea i've ever had!

Best afternoon tea ever? Bold statement, I know. But, seriously? TRUE STORY! I don't know why I haven't posted this sooner, O and I went to the Lake District a few months ago for a little weekend getaway. We stumbled across this gorgeous hotel right on the shores of Lake Windermere. If you check out their website, they have a swanky spa and the hotel is seriously the lap of luxury, but all we were interested in was their afternoon tea! We had no idea what to expect and when the sandwiches came out on their own plate, I was a little worried that we wouldn't get a lovely cake stand. This was O's first ever afternoon tea, you see and I had promised him a lovely cake stand filled with tasty morsels. Let's just say, we were not disappointed...

Is that test tubes I hear you say? Oh yes! At the Lakeside Hotel, you don't just choose your tea from a menu, you grab a test tube {or ten}, take a big sniff and then make your decision!

What can I say about these teapots? FANCY!

If you know me well, you'll know that I'm not a huge tea drinker {I know, you're disappointed in me...}, so of course I went for this fruity concoction. O said it looked like Ribena...

Cold cucumber soup in a fancy bowl anyone? I was dubious, but oh my!!! Feels strange eating {drinking?} cold soup, but it tasted AMAZING!

The usual arrangement of sandwiches arrived and this is when I feared there would be no cake stand...

How silly I was to ever doubt the lovely Lakeside Hotel! LOOK! Just look at all those cakes!! I'm not going to lie, we almost did finish this, everything was a pleasure to eat and it was difficult to leave that last bite of cake pop, but by this point I was in a serious cake coma.

Now this wasn't the cheapest afternoon tea that I've ever had, but with the sheer amount of cake and the beautiful scenery, I would've happily paid more than we did. There are different options to choose from too, so if you want to ditch the soup and sandwiches and head straight to the cakes {who would blame you?}, you can do! I'll leave you with one of my favourite photos of the day, except from the cakes of course...

{PS You can now find my review directly on the hotel website here!}

Adventures // Lucy's trip to Loch Lomond

There's nothing quite like driving into Loch Lomond when the sky looks like it's about to explode. The sun was shining for the whole drive up there and then it suddenly morphed into an angry shade of grey. However, if you turned the car around every time the weather took a bad turn in Scotland, you would never leave the house! Since we had the car with us for a change, we decided that we should take our dog {Lucy} with us for a little stroll. That last sentence was a lie, you never take Lucy for a little stroll. She's a border collie and if you have the privilege of being a border collie owner, you'll know that there's no such thing as a little stroll! As she's gotten older {she's the ripe old age of four now}, she's calmed down slightly and is definitely more well behaved! All Lucy wants to do is chase a tennis ball and go for a little paddle...and that she did! Everyone was loving her antics on the beach and I think she's was possibly the most photographed dog in the world that day. It was tough narrowing it down to a few photos, but here's a little snapshot of Lucy's day out in Luss...

Of course I had to include the obligatory kilt shot, no trip to Scotland is complete without one...