We started back doing our Parkruns this month! Happy with my time of 34.01 – here’s to getting back to it again 👟
Me and my twin sister Sarah organised our bestfriends baby shower. It went really well and everyone had a great time! Lots of delicious food, fun games, presents and laughs 👶
Pancake day! One of the best days in Feb 🥞 I managed to have two pancake meals, haha.
We celebrated Valentines Day this year with our traditional meal to a local Turkish restaurant. It was delicious as always.
As you may have see from my previous holiblog post, we went to Northern Italy for the Feb half term. It was brilliant. We did Verona, Lake Garda, Milan & Venice (again!)
We had a brilliant time, there was so much to see and it was beautiful. We were also mostly, pretty lucky with the weather.
I thought I would (try) doing a post a month called my monthly highlights. I thought this would be a good way to share what I’ve been up to. A little diary of sorts.
So, without further ado – here are my January highlights.
Our first film of the year, Disney’s Wish 🎥
Back to running on the track, at our running group! 🏃♀️
Testing out my new headphones that Tim got me. We’ve been doing lots of gaming this month!
🍫Fun in London watching Stranger Things: The First Shadow. A brilliant show.A fun afternoon playing a murder mystery for my besties birthday, with my husband and her family. Great fun, and Granny did it!!!An evening in London, on a weekday (oooh ah!) To see ABBA Voyage. Absolutely fantastic.
I usually do a little reading challenge of some kind each year, over here on my blog. This year, I decided to take the pressure off. I was just trying to read a bit more and read more of a variety of genres. (Which I think I definitely achieved!)
I have kept a list of all of the books that I have read throughout 2023. I kept a list that is in sections depending on the type of book that they are.
I have highlighted our 2023 Book Club books in pink.
In 2023 I read… 🥁
47 books
Let’s take a look…
Books
The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict
The Maid by Nita Prose
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
The Murder List by Jackie Kabler
The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain
The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
The Magpie Society: One for Sorrow by Amy McCulloch & Zoe Sugg
The Magpie Society: Two for Joy by Amy McCulloch & Zoe Sugg
The Curfew by TM Logan
Verity by Colleen Hoover
The No Show by Beth O Leary
You and me on vacation by Emily Henry
The Shell Seekers By Rosamunde Pilcher
Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer
The Book Lovers Retreat by Heidi Swain
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle
Fairy Tales by Stephen King
The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent
Confess by Colleen Hoover
The Minaturist by Jessie Burton
Sleepovers by Jacqueline Wilson
The Best Sleepover in the World by Jacqueline Wilson
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Mother by TM Logan
The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns
That Festive Feeling by Heidi Swain
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Novellas
Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
This Winter by Alice Oseman
Kindle App Books
It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
Audio books
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling
Needful Things by Stephen King
Friends, Lovers and the big terrible thing by Matthew Perry
The Twat Files by Dawn French
Graphic Novels
Heartstopper Vol 1 by Alice Oseman
Heartstopper Vol 2 by Alice Oseman
Heartstopper Vol 3 by Alice Oseman
Heartstopper Vol 4 by Alice Oseman
Heartstopper Vol 5 by Alice Oseman
Autobiography
Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton
Friends, Lovers and the big terrible thing by Matthew Perry
7. ‘Puss in boots: the last wish’ with Sarah & the boys. ☆☆☆
8. ‘Titanic 25th Anniversary edition’ in 4DX with Sarah ☆☆☆☆
9. ‘The Whale’ with Sarah ☆☆1/2
10. ‘Whats love got to do with it? UNLIMITED SCREENING with Tim ☆☆☆
March
11. ‘Aftersun’ with Tim ☆☆☆12. ‘Scream VI’ with Sarah & Charlotte ☆☆☆☆
April
13. ‘Mummies’ with Sarah & the boys ☆☆☆14. ‘The Super Mario Bros Movie’ IMAX with Tim & they boys ☆☆☆☆15. ‘Renfield’ with Tim ☆☆1/216. ‘Evil Dead Rise’ with Sarah ☆☆☆17. ‘Missing’ with Sarah ☆☆☆☆. 25
Till
Empire of Light
A Man Called Otto
Elemental
Love again
Guardian’s of the Galaxy: Vol 3
One Life
May
18. ‘The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ with Tim ☆☆☆☆19. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3’ with Tim, Dan & Wes ☆☆☆☆20. ‘Book Club: The next chapter’ with Sarah ☆☆☆21. ‘Love Again’ with Sarah ☆☆☆☆
June
22. ‘Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse’ with Crash ☆☆.523. ‘The Boogeyman’ with Sarah & Demi ☆☆☆1/224. ‘National theatre live: Fleabag’ with Tim ☆☆☆☆25. ‘Greatest Days’ with Eloise ☆☆☆☆26. ‘The Little Mermaid’ With Tim ☆☆☆☆
July
27. ‘No Hard Feelings’ with Tim ☆☆☆
28. ‘The Tunnel of Summer: The exit of goodbyes’ with Tim ☆☆☆☆
29. Insidious: The Red Door with Sarah ☆☆☆30. Oppenheimer IMAX with Tim ☆☆☆☆
August
31. ‘Elemental’ with Sarah, Noah & Casey ☆☆☆☆32. ‘Barbie’ with Tim, Charlotte & Wes ☆☆☆☆33. ‘Haunted Mansion’ with Tim ☆☆☆ 34. Unlimited Screening: ‘Theatre Camp’ with Tim ☆☆☆
September
35. ‘Canterville Ghosts’ with Tim, Noah & Casey ☆☆☆.536. ‘The Nun 2’ me, myself & I ☆☆.5
October
37. ‘Saw 10’ with Sarah ☆☆38. DISNEY 100 (& FROZEN 10 YRS) Frozen with Charlotte & Evie ☆☆☆☆☆39. ‘Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie with Noah, Casey & Evie ☆☆☆40. ‘Trolls: Band together’ with Tim, Noah & Casey ☆☆41. ‘Five nights at Freddy’s’ with Sarah ☆☆☆.542. ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ with Sarah ☆☆☆☆
November
43. The Hunger Games: A Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes with Tim ☆☆☆☆☆44. Thanksgiving with Sarah & Charlotte ☆☆.5
December
45. Elf (20th anniversary screening) Me, myself & I ☆☆☆☆☆46. Teddy’s Christmas with Sarah, Noah & Casey. ☆☆☆47. Secret Screening…. with Sarah. (Next goal wins) ☆☆☆48. Napoleon with Tim ☆☆.549. One Life: UNLIMITED SCREENING with Sarah & Tim ☆☆☆☆.550. ‘What Happens Later’ with Sarah ☆☆51. Wonka with Casey ☆☆☆.552. ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ with Sarah ☆☆☆☆☆
I am so happy that I got to my target of 52 films, the equivalent of one a week, all year.
Chuffed with that!
Favourites…
Till
Empire of light
A Man named Otto
Love again
Elemental
One Man
Guardians of the galaxy: Vol 3
Here’s to 2024, and hopefully, another good year of cinema!
(Well it’s actually pretty much over as I write this haha)
I hope you’ve had a good one.
Thank you for coming along for this Blogmas journey of 2023! I can’t remember how many years I’ve done it for now (alot) but I have really enjoyed it again this year.
That table in your kitchen or lounge that slowly gets filled with delicious Christmas nibbles throughout December, all ready to enjoy in and around the festive period.
It’s nice to have some festive nibbles around for any wrapping sessions, festive film nights, or if you have any guests pop over.
We have a nice mixture of sweet & savoury going on.
Let’s take a look at ours…
This is a new addition but we liked the look of this as I love chocolate and my husband loves sweets.
These are my favourite mince pies from the COOP.
Pringles are a must. These are mine and my husbands favourite flavours (Mine on the left, his on the right)
Heroes! The best of all the festive chocolate tins.
A tin of shortbread is a Christmas must have.
My Nana always had these at her house on Christmas day so I had to pick some up when I saw them.
A selection of festive chocs! Lindt originals alway look so festive.
It is mainly sweet goodies to be fair, haha, but we have savoury crisps and plenty of party food and cheese and biscuits to counteract the sweetness.
I also have keep my festive headbands/glasses/hats etc on here incase I need them or any guests need to be made more festive 🤣
Now that the Christmas holidays are in full swing and the kids are at home, I thought I would share with you a few fun, easy, and relatively quick recipes for little festive treats.
These ideas are so cute. I’ve either made them with my Nephews or made them with the children at work. Either way, they are lots of fun and great for keeping the kids occupied.
I’ve included links to help you with how to make them.
I thought that I would share with you one of my favourite Christmas decorations …
My Harry Potter themed Christmas tree.
I themed the tree around the colours of my favourite Hogwarts house – Gryffindor.
First, I started off by wrapping the tree with red and gold tinsel.
Next, I added the hand tied Gryffindor ribbons.
Then, I arranged all of my different Harry Potter baubles.
I have quite a few now as Primark have done some lovely sets over the last few years.
I also picked up a few amazing Gryffindor themed decorations at the studio tour in Watford.
I predominantly place my red and gold Gryffindor baubles as well as my general Harry Potter baubles, around the front of the tree. The others go around the other side to even it out.
Finally, I add my tree topper!
This year, I went for my sorting hat. I do have a Harry Potter Hogwarts Crest topper, but I could not find it in our storage unit (sad times)
The Sorting Hat looks so effective up there, it makes a brilliant topper.
I am really happy with how the tree came out this year.
I do think that I need to have my coloured fairy lights on the tree next year, just to enhance it a little and make it stand out… especially as I have a set that are red, yellow, blue, and green, which are the Hogwarts house colours.
Top tip 1: If you’d like to do your own Harry Potter tree but you can’t find any baubles for sale, then you could do what I did the first year I had one… use your Harry Potter Memorabilia to deocarte your tree ie Hogwarts train tickets, Yule Ball programme etc
Top tip 2: Buy some baubles that are the colours you want to represent on your Harry Potter tree (ie Red & Gold for Gryffindor, Silver and Green for Slytherin) You could hang them as they are or decorate them yourself to make them themed baubles.
I thought I would share with you my festive nails for today’s post.
Having my nails done is one of my favourite things to do, and I especially love it at Christmas time. This year I managed to fit in two sets of Festive nails!! Let’s take a look…
This was my November set. I went for a simpler design using those classic festive colours, red and gold.
I love the accent nails and the combination of the super glittery gold and shimmery red.
My next set for December (that I got today!!) was super festive.
We went for a lovely nude base with adorable little festive nail art drawn on each one.
She did Candy Canes, a Christmas pudding, a Christmas tree, and holly. She finished them off with a sprinking of snow on each nail
They look so awesome, and after a super festive weekend and only 3 days of work left, I am feeling extra festive now!
So one of my favourite things about the festive period is all the times spent reading festive books and watching Christmas films.
I thought I would update you on which books and films I have read so far as well as what’s next on my list.
Let’s start with books!
I haven’t read as many as I would like at this point as I have been so busy, but I am hoping that once the holidays start, I can fit two more festive reads in.
So far I’ve read:
‘The Adventure of the Christmas pudding By Agatha Christie
Roseanne Byford 