Disney Haul- March 2017

Hi Guys, as many of you probably know I went to Florida last year which was a dream come true as I am a big Disney fan ( if you click on Florida on the left hand side you can find all the posts about my amazing holiday) . If you read my post about what I took to Florida ( you can read it here) you will know I brought a few items from Primark as they had quiet a few items before I went away. Although I have not decided when I am next going back, I can’t help buying Disney themed stuff, its Primark’s fault. What also doesn’t help is that I found a group on Facebook that post pictures of what items are available in Primark in different stores.

One of my goals for 2017 is to get fitter so I have decided to combine this with shopping at Primark by going for a walk on my lunch break at least once a week it’s about a 10 min walk and then I walk round both levels of Primark. Every time I go now, I take pictures of any new items for the Facebook group and of course I never leave empty-handed. Now if you have read my goals post (you can read it here) I also am trying to save money, due to this I try to set myself a small budget every month and with Primark being so reasonably priced I have been able to pick up a few things this month. Since joining the Facebook Group I have realised I am not the only Disney fan and hope you will enjoy this post.

Jungle Book Travel Cup

This is by far my favourite purchase so far this month as I use it every day at work. For ages I have looked for a travel cup that didn’t have the hole in the top as the hot air escapes and my tea wasn’t staying warm long. Now I have been a big fan of Jungle Book since I was a child and I also love the re-make, so it wasn’t hard choosing which cup I wanted in Primark. My job involves answering calls and before I would make a drink first thing and then get caught up on the phone, by the time I came to drink it was cold and I am sure most of you know cold tea made with milk is not nice. Now that I have this cup with a flip lid when I get a call, I just close it and it stays luke warm for around an hour.

Mickey Throw and Jungle Book Pillow

Now I am going to talk about both these items together as they are actually both still in the bag with the receipt as I haven’t decided if I am keeping them. As already mentioned I am a fan of Jungle Book, I had already seen this pillow in the Facebook Group and was so excited when I found this in my local store in Peterborough. As mentioned in my goals for 2017 post my aim was to sort out my spare bedroom which is supposed to be my study/ guest room. In my mind I pictured me sitting on the sofa in my study with my head resting on the pillow and covered in the throw reading a book. However its March and I have not even started to tidy up this room. Which is why these items are still in the bag, I do like them but part of me thinks will I ever use them and by the time the room is ready there may be a nicer pillow and throw I want.

Beauty and the Beast toiletry bag

If you have read any of my Florida posts (if not, why ever not?) you will know my favourite Disney film is Beauty and the Beast. Again I had seen the toiletry bag in on Facebook and had popped into Primark a couple of times and couldn’t find it, but then I was working on a Saturday and finished at 3:30pm and just popped in on the off-chance and there they were hanging up near the pyjamas so I grabbed one ( I am glad I did , as by the Monday they had none and the space had been filled with slippers). In March I went to visit my friend in Norwich so this was perfect to store all my toiletries in.

Quick update July 2017: The teeth on the Beauty and the Beast toiletry bag have started to fall off making it difficult to close and open. I have spotted in the group that this has also happened to other people. I have only used me bag about twice so far, I am gutted. But some would say you get what you pay for.

Twisted Tale book

The book I had also found out about from Facebook as I was travelling by train to Norwich I had plenty of time to start this book. I picked this up in Tesco’s as they were running an offer buy two for £7, I also picked up Hidden Figures which is now at the cinemas (watch the space for a book review). As the title suggests they are a twisted tale on a classic Disney story, adding a perspective that has not been thought about. There are two more so far in the collection based on Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty, depending on what I think of this one I may purchase the others however I was never a big fan of Sleeping Beauty. I will do a review once I have finished reading it.

Mickey Mouse Socks

As part of my goals for 2017 (see I am trying work on them) I plan to sort out my two spare bedrooms which includes sorting out my clothes. I also have a draw of socks and some of them are over 6 years old and I thought it was time for some news ones, new year, new me. These were a bargain for three pairs and so cute, you will see in my next picture that I also picked up some Winne the Pooh ones. I can now happily get rid of my old ones that are faded and say the days of the week on them ( I never wore them on the right day or a matching pair).

Beauty and the Beast T-shirts

I don’t need to explain why I got this t-shirts, I love Beauty and the Beast. I got this in preparation for going to the cinema to see Beauty and the Beast. I obviously didn’t need both or even one of them but I just couldn’t resist. I love that the grey one has the animated characters on it, I am still not too sure about the live-action version of Mrs Potts and Chip. I will put up a review soon as to what I thought of the new film.

Tinkerbelle Pyjama Jacket

Now this I really didn’t need, but it was reduced from £12 to £5 and I couldn’t resist (I love a bargain, especially if its Disney). Most of my pajamas and night shirts are short selves and on a Sunday I normally spend most of the day in them. This jacket fits perfectly over them and keeps my arms warm rather than putting on my fluffy dressing gown.

Winne the Pooh Socks

As I have mentioned these briefly when talking about my Mickey socks I wont go on about the reason behind these. However I will say Winnie the Pooh is a childhood favourite character, I use to have a Winne the Pooh backpack for school from Argos and one of my close friends had the Eyore one, we loved them. I love the colour of these socks perfect for Spring.

Beauty and the Beast notepad

I am not even going to justify this one, all I am going to say is that it’s from Clinton’s and part of their amazing new range brought out for the launch of the film this March. If you’re a fan like me, I recommend checking it out there are some great items some are in my opinion a bit over priced but if I had the money I would get them.

Well that’s it guys that’s everything I brought in March, looking back I have brought more than I intended to and went over my budget. I will do another post next month with hopefully a few less things. Also keep your eye out for my book review.

Your never too old for Disney.

American Football- Peterborough Royals

Hi Guys this is a slightly different post for me as I am not a sporty person, but Peterborough Royals kindly inviting me on Twitter to come and watch them play. I checked my diary and was free that day and dragged my boyfriend along. Due to my boyfriend knowing a lot more about sport and me not knowing what was going on I am going pass over to him for the rest of this post. He also has his own bog which you can check out here.Over to my boyfriend..

Having never really watched American Football before, I only really know a few things from what I have seen in films. Having seen the ladies preparing for the game it was starting to get exciting to watch my local team playing in a sport that I didn’t really think would have that much attention.

Looking around there were a fair few fans there some were obviously family members and some friends but the turn out was really good and the support the fans showed was even better.

The Royals took to the field against the Saints in the first game and it was not a disappointment.It was a hard fought battle between the 2 teams and the Royals were just edged out of it, the defence struggled a little against the Saints number 36 with her speed but they certainly made up for it with there offence just being tipped 25 – 19. The defence and the offence both showed what they were capable of doing by fighting until the very end.

 

The Royals making there home debut may have lost but they kept there spirits up and prepared for there second game.

The second game was a hard pill to swallow as a spectator seeing the ladies lose to the Portsmouth Dreadnaughts 44 – 6,  I couldn’t imagine how they must of felt, never the less the ladies showed resilience and worked right until the end showing they were determined to keep the Dreadnaughts fighting until the last minute.The ladies worked their socks off through out the game but could not find the end result. The Dreadnaughts defence were strong and managed to keep the Royals offence at bay. The Royals showed great sportsmanship and never looked like giving up for one minute.

As a spectator watching only my second American Football game was surprised by the physicality of the games, these woman were tough as nails and certainly not afraid to get down and dirty for the cause. I’m certainly a fan of the sport and immensely proud of the Royals effort in both games let’s hope we can pick up a win in the next game.

The experience was new and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it (despite the losses).

I look forward to seeing a few more games this season to show my support that this sport can be played by men and women, some of these ladies could give the men a run for there money.

I would like to thank the coaches and players for a exciting experience.

LETS GO ROYALS!!

It Jo again, I have to agree with everything my boyfriend has said. Like I said this is not my normal kind of post as I am not very sporty but I actually enjoyed it. Hat’s off to those women, they are not afraid to get dirty and are a lot stronger than me.Thank you to the Peterborough Royals for inviting me along to watch.I look forward to watching them again and hope they have better luck next time.

SensatioNail Ultimate Gel Starter Kit- Review – Part One

For Christmas I received the SensatioNail – Limited Edition Ultimate Gel Starter Kit from Boots, I actually bought it myself on Black Friday as it was on offer and then my boyfriend gave me the money back and wrapped it up for Christmas. I previously had the Ciate gel kit which you can read my review on here, however somehow the lamp got cracked and it no longer works. I had seen SensatioNail in Boots on many occasions but due to the price of the kit and gel polishes I did not purchase. However, when I saw that the SensatioNail – Limited Edition Ultimate Gel Starter Kit allowed you to mix regular polish with a solution and make it into a gel polish I was intrigued. Below is a list of the contents of my kit.

Contents of Starter Kit:

• SensatioNail Pro 1530 LED lamp with mains adaptor
• 2 colour polishes: Miss Behave & Going for the Rose Gold (3.69ml each)
• Gel base/top coat (7.39ml), Gel Cleanser (27.2ml)
• Gel Primer (3.54 ml), Polish to Gel (7.39ml)
• Mixing pot
• Removal tool
• Nail shields
• Manicure stick
• Buffer
• Lint free wipes.

Nail Shields

The first thing I decided to try was the nail shields and one of the SensatioNail gel colours that came in the kit. The idea behind the nails shields is that it protects your nails and allows for easy removal. It also means you don’t need to prep your nails before or put on a base coat, you can go straight ahead and apply the gel colour. Now I have tried this on two occasions and failed miserably ( I forgot to take pictures apologies). Before trying them a second time I actually watched someone applying them on YouTube, she made it look so easy. On both occasions, I ended up with bumps in the nail shields which showed through after I had applied the colour and top coat. In theory these sound like a great idea as to remove you just soak your hands in warm water for 5 minutes and then peel off. Unfortunately, I was just not able to get the technique right and ended up peeling them straight off.

Gel Colour

After failing miserably with the nail shields I then decided to do all the steps without the nail shields. Now I say I did all the steps however on both occasions I did forget to buff the nails first, which may have affected my result. Also on my second attempt I did not use the nail primer as I was rushing. The instructions are as follows from Boots website:

1. Prepare – Apply our exclusive Gel Primer then Gel Base & Top Coat and cure for 15 seconds.
2. Polish – Sweep on your favourite shade of SensatioNail Gel colour and cure for 30 seconds.
3. Protect – Seal in colour with Gel Base and Top Coat and cure for 15 seconds.

You will notice there is no mention of buffing, however this is one of the tips in the paper instructions. I also cured my nails for 30 secs on each layer, but I am unsure if this makes a difference. On both occasions one of my nails chipped within a day and then after that more did. I was able to literally peel the SensatioNail gel polish off in one piece. I am unsure if this is because of the lack of primer or maybe I had applied it too thickly. The only comparison I can give is the time I had Bio Sculpture gel polish ( you can read the review here) where I had to buff the polish off as it was not coming off. The SensatioNail box says that it should last up to 2 weeks, but I was unable to get mine to last 2 days. I have read a lot of reviews most of them being positive however I was able to find a few people who had exactly the same experience as myself in regards to chipping and the polish lifting off.

I have tried the SensatioNail kit again, this time buffing my nails and using the nail primer however I have also used a different brand of colour. This time I used Elite99 colour changing polish which I borrowed from a friend (one of my 2017 goals is not to buy any polish), which you can purchase online. After two weeks there are no chips and the polish is not lifting like it did previously. I am unsure whether it is the change of polish or the fact I prepped my nails that has made it last longer as I am yet to repeat the process with the SensatioNail colour that came with the kit. I also ensured that I painted a thin layer every time, for the look below I actually used three coats of the colour. I have fallen in love with this polish that changes colour with heat, I love the two-tone effect I get due to my nails being long and also how shiny they are ( the picture does not do them justice). The only thing I have noticed is that after a week and a half they have started to peel from the top as my cuticle has grown.

The main reason I got this kit was to transform my normal polish into gel polish. I will do a review on this shortly once I have tried it out.

Lent 2017- Cutting back on sugar

Lent began on Wednesday (01.03.2017) and all though I am not a very religious person I still like to give something up. Normally I give up chocolate as a bit of a detox for Lent however this year I have decided to go a step further and cut back on sugar. If you have read my post about my goals for 2017 ( you can read it here) you will know that one of my goals was to get fitter and also fuel my body with the correct food.

Why cut back on sugar?

For the past two years I have watched Sugar Free Farm in which celebrities gave up sugar completely for a certain amount of weeks. I find it fascinating to see how much sugar is in things as well as the effect it has when you remove it from your diet. From the show I have seen the side affects of cutting out sugar completely and have decided to just cut back rather than remove it completely. When I look at my diet, my main weakness is sweet stuff, I rarely order take away or go out for dinner ( however if you read my blog you know I am a fan of going to dessert restaurants). I am hoping to see a significant difference in my levels of energy as well as my weight by cutting down on sugar as I believe sugar is effecting my mood ( I am tired most days and often get grumpy for no reason).

Sweets, Chocolate, Cake and Biscuits

The obvious change I am going to make for Lent is to cut out all chocolate, all sweets, biscuits and cakes as I see them as being obvious sugar. As I mentioned a moment ago normally I give up chocolate which isn’t easy but manageable, however I would normally turn to sweets when I want my sugar fix. I also work in an office where people are bringing in cake ( normally to celebrate birthdays) and other sweet delights, so I am going to have to resist temptation.

Switching to Wholegrain

I already eat whole-wheat pasta and bread however I would normally have white pasta if I am out rather than choosing something else or a white bread roll. So for the whole of lent I will be eating only whole-wheat pasta and also wholewheat bread. I was also going to eat just brown rice but due to the difference in price when buying a 5kg bag I went with white rice but I did buy a small bag of brown rice. Instead I am just going to have alternatives to rice for example cauliflower rice which I have spotted in Aldi recently but also available in other supermarkets. I have previously had sweet potato noodles as an alternative to pasta and really enjoyed it so through lent I will probably try to have this rather than pasta.

Fitness

As well as giving up something for Lent, I am also going to do more exercise to try to improve my fitness. My plan is to go to at least one class a week either zumba or aqua fit and at least one work out at home ( I usually make a play list of zumba songs including a warm up and cool down). I suffer with a bad back usually after exercise or cleaning the house so I am hoping improving my fitness will eliminate the pain and strengthen my muscles.

Drinks

As I can’t have sugary drinks, I am going to be having either plain water or fruit infused water. My favourite is strawberry and mint, as I find this quiet refreshing. I am a big fan of fruit teas and normally would have sugar in them, recently I have been having 2 sweeteners instead. I plan to carry this on and see if slowly I can change my palate so that I no longer need sugar or sweetener. From watching Sugar Free Farm I have seen that the celebrities palates were different when sugar (fruit) were reintroduced as they tasted sweeter than before. After my main meals I usually having a craving for something sweet and I am hoping that slowly this will go away. I am going to aim to drink 4 pints of liquid a day so that I can stay hydrated.

Fruit

When ever I have an urge for sweet stuff through lent I am going to turn to fruit or yogurt instead, I went shopping at the weekend and picked up some strawberries and blueberries. I am not a big fan of most fruit but I do like berries so I will just have to stock up on them and some dried fruit for emergencies. I also picked up some yogurt, however I didn’t check the label whilst out and noticed when I got home that it still contained quiet a bit of sugar. I plan to go to the supermarket on my lunch break one day next week and find a yogurt with less sugar and then add berries to it for natural sweetness, if you have any suggestions please let me know.

I know this is going to be a challenge as I love sweet stuff, but I think it’s the kick-start I need to lose some weight and also hopefully get fitter. I will do another post at the half way mark to let you know how I am getting on.