Blogmas Day Eleven: A Harry Potter Christmas Tree ⚡️🎄

Hi guys 👋🏼

So every year we have two Christmas trees (because why have one when you can have two!!)

I have already posted about our regular, lounge Christmas tree but, we also have a very special Christmas tree in our bedroom…

**Drum roll***

It’s a Harry Potter themed tree!

(What a suprise 🤣)

Originally I used bits of memorabilia to decorate my tree with a Sorting Hat topper, but as more and more Harry Potter stuff has become available (thanks Warner Bros and Primark!!) I have built up quite an extensive collection of baubles.

Most of them are from Primark sets but a couple are from the Studio Tour in Watford, as are the ribbons.

Without further ado, lets take a look at the different stages I went through to create my awesome Harry Potter themed tree.

First up…

Lights

They have had a little upgrade this year… but what could be more magical than star shaped fairy lights in the four house colours (nothing, exactly!)

After that…

Tinsel

I go for red and gold as although all Hogwarts Houses are represented on the tree anything like tinsel or bows are very much in a Gryffindor colour scheme.

Next…

Baubles

As I said, alot of the sets come with a bauble for each house, so all are represented… but more heavily represented are mine (Gryffindor) and my husbands (Hufflepuff) favourite houses.

I bought two new sets of baubles this year (from Primark)… the top one is from a set of four and each bauble is clear with cute, thin tinsel inside to correspond with its Hogwarts House… the tinsel also has lots of tiny little stars in it. The house emblem and name is also written on the front in the same colour font.

These are my favourites so far. They are so pretty.

I also picked up another set with four baubles. Each one says something from the series, eg: ‘Platform 9 3/4, Lumos, Forbidden Forest & Golden Snitch’

Then..

Ribbons

Gryffindor themed of course!

And Finally…

The topper

I bought this in the sale last Christmas time. I think I got it just after Christmas so it was a bargain.

This is the first year I will have used it. It looks great.

Here is the final tree! – Looking super magical if I do say so myself 😉

How is your decorating going?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

14 days Until Christmas!

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What have I read so far… 2022 edition 📚

Hi guys 👋🏻

We are halfway through 2022 (HOW!?!) So I thought I would do a halfway round up of what I have read so far…

So far…

Harry Potter and the Philosphers Stone: Minalima Illustratred edition

I know what you’ve done by Dorothy Koomson

Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer

22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling

Her majesty the Queen investigates… The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett

Trust me by T M Logan

The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse

The Land of Stories: An Authors Odyssey by Chris Colfer

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Love, Locked down by Beth Reckles

Nalas World by Dean Nicholson

This was a man by Jeffrey Archer

Midnight is a lonely place by Barbra Erskine

Walking on Sunshine by Giovanna Fletcher

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

The Summer Fair By Heidi Swain

The Baby is not mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite

The Donor by Clare Mackintosh

1. My Favourite book so far: ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’

This is an absolutely fantastic book. It had me at the synopsis – never have I sent a synopsis to so many people because it sounds SO good. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I didn’t want to put it down. The characters and their relationships were lovely and it was a great reading experience.

2. The most gripping so far: ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Tim’ & ‘The Hunting Party’

These were both brilliant books for making you say ‘Just one more page’. There was lots of drama, lots going on and lots to keep enticing you to the end.

3. My Least Favourite so far: I know what You’ve done.

Simply because I didnt find it as gripping as Dorothy’s other books and I found the characters less likeable. It did have a good few twists though.

4. Easiest to read: ‘Love Locked Down‘

It was weird reading a book about the madness that was the beginning of the pandemic but it was quite cool reading about something that you’ve actually been through in a relatively light hearted way. I liked the variety of characters.

5. One I would recommend: ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time.’

The time loop and just the sheer depth of the plot ans suspense made it a fantastic reading experience. I really enjoyed her writing style.

What have you been reading recently?

What has been your favourite book so far?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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#blacklivesmatter

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Racism destroyed in one minute

This lady speaks the truth and this is the change that we need to see.

‘Be the change that you want to see in the world.’ -Mahatma Gandhi

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July Reads 📚

Hi guys 👋🏻

Here are my reads for July 2026.

Book List

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Heartstopper Vol 6 by Alice Oseman

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Ask Me What I’m Reading by Eleanor Goymer  ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

The Women Who Saved Shakespeare by Mai Black

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Opposite of Murder by Sophie Hannah

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book club – July

The Women Who Saved Shakespeare by Mai Black

Favourite read – July

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Audio books – July

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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A Book Haul 📚

Hi guys 👋🏻

I popped into town and bought myself a few books from my favourite independent bookshop, plus a little extra book themed item, so I thought I would share with you what I picked up!

Let’s take a look!

I love these covers. I have read the first three books in the ‘Dream Harbour’ series, and I am currently reading number four!  ‘The Daisy Chain Flower Shop’ is book six, which brings me onto my next purchase…

This is just a picture of the cover because I ordered this one as they didn’t have any more of these in stock, so that will be arriving at the weekend! Woohoo!!

This book comes highly recommended in my local indie bookshop and if you have followed my blog, or know me, you’ll know that me and my husband love Italy! So I love that it is set in Rome.

I won’t lie, the cover attracted me first because I like pink and green and sushi 🤣 then I read the blurb and it sounded intriguing and then I realised it was written by the comedian Mark Watson, who is very funny, sold!

Any book that has bookshop in the title piques my interest and this sounded so cute! And its a nice short one. I’ve read a couple of translated fiction books in the last couple of years and always find them quite different to my usual read but also really interesting so I’m looking forward to this.

I got this one to read to the children when I go back to work in September. This book is all about celebrating the magic of reading, and I’m all about that ✨️

I also, FINALLY, picked up the ‘Book Club’ hat from Primark! I love it and it was only £4.50 🧢

Would it too much to actually wear it to Book Club?!?! Haha 😄

What books have you purchased recently?

What’s your next read going to be?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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June Reads 📚

Hi guys 👋🏻

Here are my reads for June 2026 …

Book List

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince by J K Rowling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Floating Venice Bookshop by Annabel French ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Long Shoe by Bob Mortimer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu ⭐️⭐️.5

Book club – June

The Long Shoe by Bob Mortimer

Favourite read – June

Harry Potter and the Half Bloof Prince

Audio books – June

Harry Potter and the Hakf Blood Prince

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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My 2026 reading intentions- halfway 📚

Hi guys 👋🏻

So we are somehow halfway through the year!!

This year I wanted to set some reading intentions for 2026. I find Reading Challenges, although fun, quite tricky to stick to, especially set titles as I think my book choice (unless it’s for Book Club) is quite driven by my mood and what I fancy at the time, as well as releases in certain months.

Lets see how its going so far…

Try to read at least 4 books a month.

January: 5

February: 6

March: 6

April: 3

May: 4

June: 5

Try and read at least 2 different genres each month.

January: Thriller, Fantasy, Festive, Romance.

February: Memoir, Thriller, Romance, Fantasy, Contemporary Fiction, True Story.

March: Thriller, Romance, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Crime/Detective.

April: Fantasy, Mystery, Crime, Romance, Historical Fiction.

May: Thriller, Domestic Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Japanese Healing Fiction.

June: Thriller, Fantasy, Humorous Fiction, Crime, Contemporary Romance.

Try and read/listen to 1 audiobook each month.

January: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Audible)

February: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Audible)

March: A Neighbours Guide to Murder (Spotify)

April: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Audible)

May: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

June: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Try and re read at least 3 of my favourite books.

So far…

  1. The Harry Potter Series
  2. The Notebook

Try and read 3 classics.

So far…

  1. Oliver Twist

Try and read 2 books out of my comfort zone.

So far…

  1. Oliver Twist

Go to some non Book Club, book events

So far…

  1. Author Event: Louise Candlish
  2. Author Event: Tim Sullivan

Try and read at least 30 minutes a day.

Most days I do this 30 minuted (min) split over my morning, lunch break and in bed before I got to sleep.

Did you set any reading intentions for 2026?

How are they going?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Our 10th wedding anniversary 💗

Hi guys 👋🏻

I started this blog just over 10 years ago!! 🔟

🩷💚

It all started because I wanted to document our Wedding planning and all the fun leading up to, and including, the big day!

… 10 years later and me and my husband have just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a party at the weekend, with family and friends 🥳 🎉  We had a great night! We also went out for a yummy meal and to the cinema (on the night of our actual anniversay)

I blog about books, travel & hobbies these days (mainly books if I’m honest) but thats how it all started!

So happy anniversary to us & my little blog page!

Here is how we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary 💗

As I said, we decided to celebrate with a party 🥳  an idea I’ve toyed with for a while now.

Our theme was a very similar vibe to our wedding – Pink and Green and Italy 🇮🇹

We went for Pink and Green decorations, we used our original glass bottle table decorations (some still had the green and pink candles in!!) with similar fresh flowers, including my favourite pink Gerberas.

I also used the origianl mini Venitian mask decoration on top of the cake, that we had on our original wedding cake.

I also bought two more, one pink, one green to decorate the food table, when we went to Venice in May Half Term.

We had pink number 10 balloons and lots of pink and green balloons too!

For the food, we went an Italian theme of course! I always wanted pink Macarons as wedding favours but I couldn’t make them 🤣 but my sister is now an assistant in a kitchen so she made them for us, woohoo!

We also had an assortment of Italian themed snacks and then lots of pizza, of course.

The star of the show was the Venitian Cicchetti. From salami, mozzarella, pesto, basil, mortadella, balsamic, tomatoes and much more- these were a big hit and I was chuffed with how these came out.

I made a 4 layer, naked Victoria Sponge to round off the food 😋

One thing I always wished we could have had at our wedding was a professional photobooth, so this time we decided to hire one!  This was ALOT of fun.

It was great to chat to everyone who came, enjoy some drinks, dance and take silly photos. We even got a little ‘first dance’ in, to our original first dance song ‘Stand by Me’ 💗 and rounded off the night with ‘Never Forget’ in a circle of dancing, just like our actual wedding – perfect.

We had a brilliant evening and it was so much fun! We didn’t want it to end. The perfect way to celebrate 10 happy years together.

On our actual anniversary I decorated the flat and cooked us a yummy little cooked breakfast. We exchanged cards and gifts before work. My husband sent me some flowers to my work too which was very sweet 💐

In the evening, we went out for a yummy meal at a local Turkish resturant that we enjoy. Followed by a trip to the cinema to see ‘Disclosure Day’. We both really enjoyed the film. A lovely day.

Pretty chuffed I’ve kept my blog up over the years and enjoy keeping it as a sort of diary/record of memories, holidays, trips, books and hobbies that I have enjoyed over the last 10 years.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Venice ’26 🇮🇹

Hi guys 👋🏻

In May Half Term myself, my Mum and my two sisters took a trip to Venice, Italy. We went to celebrate my Mums upcoming 70th Birthday!

Shes always wanted to go to Venice, so thats where we went. If you’ve followed the blog for a while (or you know me) you’ll know that Italy is mine and my husbands favourite country to visit, and Venice is my all time favourite place to visit EVER.

We had an awesome time and I really enjoyed showing them around, and taking them to different spots that me and my husband have discovered on our own trips to Venice. I felt like a Venitian tour guide haha.

Here’s what we got up to!

We stayed in a lovely air b n b apartment… a great location only 30 mins from St Marks Square.

It was perfect for our short stay, very comfortable, clean and cosy. It was right by a canal so it was great to watch all the various boats go by at different times of the day.

My Mum had a list of things that she wanted to do/see… (in no particular order)

1 Rialto Bridge

2. Visit the Islands, Murano, Burano, Torcello

3. Gelato! 🍨 Pasta 🍝 Pizza 🍕 Campari 🥃

…all the good stuff.

4. The Bridge of Sighs

5. St Marks Square inc the Basilica & the Bell tower

We also visited some lovely early gardens.

6. Exploring the little canals and streets.

7. A gondola ride

8. Enjoy the Venice Vibes ✌🏼

We all had a great time, and most importantly Mum did!

Venice is such a beautiful and unique city, it is like nowhere you will ever visit and I love it. I can’t wait to go back already!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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May Reads 📚

Hi guys 👋🏻

Here are my reads for May 2026…

Book List

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The New Neighbours by Claire Douglas ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Want To Know A Secret by Freida Mcfadden

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu ⭐️⭐️.5

Walking on Sunshine by Heidi Swain ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book club – May

The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu 🐈

Favourite read – May

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix & Walking on Sunshine by Heidi Swain

Audio books – May

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Audible)

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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A weekend away in Kent ☀️

Hi guys 👋🏻

This weekend we stayed at an air bnb in Hollingbourne, Kent with my husband, mother in law, my husbands Grandad, Auntie and cousin.

We drove down on Friday after work in order to make the most of the weekend.

It was a good drive and we had a few hours to look around our accommodation and relax together.

We spent Saturday visiting a few places nearby, including a little railway and the town of Maidstone. We had a look around, went to the local museum and had a delicious lunch at the Muggleton Inn (love the name!)

We spent the afternoon relaxing, reading (ofc) and then we had a lovely dinner outside in the beautiful warm evening. The weather has been amazing.

We rounded off the first day with some snacks and games after dinner ☺️

On Sunday, Me, Tim, Tim’s Auntie and Cousin visited a nearby, local Goat Sanctuary (the first completely dedicated Goat sanctuary!!) 

It was a very lovely, calm and relaxing place. We had a lovely time. The goats were lovely. I went in to one of the smaller pens but I didn’t go into the main one haha – I left that to the others.

I decided to use my birthday money to adopt a one of the goats, Blaze ☺️🐐

He’s a lovely tan and white colour and was very calm and friendly. I fed him a bag of goat food and Tim fed him too.

Such a lovely chap 🙂

Such a cool place! Id love to come back and take a goat for a walk!! (And visit Blaze ofc)

We all met up for a delicious roast dinner, for lunch. The pub was lovely and the food was really yummy.

We enjoyed looking around a little nearby village, called Lenham, before we headed back to chill out before we packed and headed home. We have been so lucky with the weather this weekend.

Another lovely Biannual Byford/Bailey May Half Term Holiday, together.

Happy Half Term ☀️

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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April reads 📚

Hi guys 👋🏻

Here are my reads for April 2026…

Book list

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J K Rowling

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins-Reid

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book club – April

Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd

Favourite read – April

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J K Rowling

Audio books – April

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J K Rowling

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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