Review: Original Source Vanilla Milk & Raspberry Shower Gel

I mentioned not too long ago that I'd bought a couple of Original Source shower gels and I was obsessed with this one in particular, or more specifically the smell of it, just like pick n mix sweeties! It's been great to use over the winter period as it's very creamy and moisturising and it made my bathroom smell lovely. This shower gel is also suitable for vegans so it doesn't contain any nasty ingredients. I would definitely buy this again, it's a gorgeous product and it's a bargain! The 250ml bottle is £2.30 from Boots. Visit the Original source website here.

The Ten Day You Challenge - Eight Fears

1. Spiders
I think Craig genuinely thought I'd gone into a premature labour the other night when he heard my screams from the bathroom caused by the ugliest looking creature I've ever seen in my life! This spider was red, had massive jaws and a pointy bum which looked suspiciously like a sting. I've never seen anything like it in my life - at least not in this country! I can just about get away with the regular standard black house spiders as long as they're removed quickly but this was something else! Apparently (according to our research) it was a woodlouse or a 'hunting' spider. Shudder. Anyway, that is fear number one..
 
Is it weird that I've held tarantula's and not created a massive scene like the one above though? They were actually really soft and not that scary once I got used to them being there..

2. Real Life Documentaries 
I've seen too many documentaries about how people get stalked and then brutally murdered, or how children get abducted and live in a random person's basement for 18 years before being found. It scares me that they even happened somewhere in the world in the first place, so moral of the story - watch less TV?

3. Being Sick/Diseases
Yes, I realise nobody actually enjoys being sick but I've always had a weird thing about germs and getting ill. I'm not OCD but I just like to make sure everything is clean and disinfected, and as long as I have hand sanitiser with me everywhere I go, I'm usually happy!

4. Heights
Not so much inside buildings and such when you just look out the window, it's more when there's a risk of me actually falling. It really bothered me how the grand canyon never had any barriers for example, that's a LONG fall for anyone who takes a bad step!


5. Deep Water
I'm scared of drowning so really don't like being out of my depth and being dunked under water, a harsh lesson that Craig learned in the swimming baths once when I literally flicked like a drop of water at him then he retaliated by picked me up and throwing me in the water. I was hysterical and I swear the whole room went quiet as all these old ladies tutted disapprovingly at him haha. It's funny now but at the time I was distraught!

6. Bad Things Happening
I think most people have this fear, but I think I get more scared for my family and friends than I do for myself. I try not to think about this too much but I do worry about bad things happening to them

7. Horror
I really don't do well with most scary movies! I rarely watch them, and when I do it's usually because somebody else has persuaded me to!

8. Failure
I really don't like to feel like I've failed at anything. Anything I do, I try to do my best. I'm a bit of a perfectionist but I don't think it's a bad thing, at least I can look back at things like university and know that I did the best I could and not think to myself that I wish I'd put a bit more effort in.

Bump Blog #2: Growing Pains

As the title states, I'm having some major growing pains at the moment! I had a tiny little bump for ages then all of a sudden I 'popped'! My tummy still isn't massive compared to other women who are at the same stage as me but I've been told I probably won't have a big baby due to my height and weight.

I didn't go into too much detail in my first post as I'd been pregnant for a while by then and I thought it would be easier to just kind of summarise everything up until that point! I wanted to go into a little more detail about some things now. I read a few pregnancy blogs and I always feel so much better afterwards because I can relate a lot to the girls who write them, so there's no doubt that me recording my pregnancy and sharing my experience for other's to read can only be a positive thing!

So let's start with the interesting topic of my mother being my midwife. This will definitely make the birth a bit different to everybody elses. I know a lot of women have their mother's there, and mine will be too.. she will just be delivering the baby as well! I'm not bothered about my mam being 'down there' and seeing everything as I'm pretty certain that when the time comes I won't care who sees what as long as they get the baby out! Obviously she had to make sure she had permission to do this first, but actually we didn't really have to have a long chat about it, it was pretty much a mutual decision. She's a very experienced midwife who's been delivering babies for a long time and has worked her way up into job positions that give her more responsibility, so I know I'm going to be in very good hands.
I've also decided to start preparing for the birth a little earlier than other's probably do, and this is because I'm prone to a little anxiety and the more I know, the better I feel. So I have stopped reading the awful birth stories courtesy of Google (for my own sanity as well as Craig's) and instead read as much as I can about what to expect, pain relief and how to prepare, as well as what to expect in the first few weeks. I've also decided to sign myself up to a pregnancy class which focuses a lot on yoga in pregnancy, hypnosis and positive affirmations. I'm not really into this kind of thing normally, but I thought it would be interesting to look into. I've spent enough time in hospital to know that staying calm as opposed to letting fear take over tends to make things go a lot quicker and smoother. So anything that is designed to help me relax is a good thing and Craig is really happy that I'm doing it. The whole point of the course is to try and look at labour as being a calm and natural experience (although I know I'm definitely not going natural haha) rather than a scary and painful one! Of course I can't say too much about this right now but I will report on how effective I think it was later on.

Now, the moment every expectant mother eagerly anticipates... baby kicked for the first time the other night!! I know at the last scan we seen the baby practically doing somersaults in there but Friday night was the first time I properly felt it moving about. I'd felt 'different' about a week and a half before that, kind of felt like I had butterflies in my tummy but nothing for definite. I thought I was imagining it but now I realise I probably wasn't as most women say they feel the butterfly sensation first before they feel the kicks. On Friday I felt a gentle prod in my tummy so I called Craig over and we just lay there in silence with our hands in the same spot waiting to see if I'd imagined it or not! We both felt it kick again not long after, and I'm so glad he was there so that we could experience that together. I would have been pretty sad if he wasn't there to feel the first kicks with me. I've felt it a couple of times since then but they're very gentle kicks at the moment which will no doubt get stronger in the next few weeks!

Thankfully, a lot of my nasty side-effects have gone away - apart from heartburn, but I have medicine for that which keeps it under control now. After months of non-stop sickness I can finally say it's mostly gone, I only get it occasionally now. I'm more energetic and in a better mood overall now that I'm not ill everyday - much to the relief of my family and friends haha. I mentioned before that I was avoiding going out a lot in case I was ill, and now that I'm better I'm enjoying going out a lot more. I'm not going to clubs (I tried one sober night out in town, despite being warned by my friends with children that it's not fun, and I was demented so will not be doing that again!) but I just like going out to restaurants and to the cinema and seeing my friends while I've got the energy and the time!

The Golden Globes 2013: My Favourite Looks

I'm just looking through the red carpet pictures from the Golden Globes, and I thought I would show you my favourite dresses from the night! All photos are from Wire Image unless I say otherwise.

Hayden Panettiere & Amy Adams

Jessica Alba

Heidi Klum

Megan Fox (I hope I look this good a few months after giving birth!)

 

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

What are your favourite outfits from the night?

Fun Winter Dates

Image: weheartit

Try a New Recipe
Instead of going out, find a recipe you both really want to try, get the ingredients and make it together, then eat in front of the fire with a blanket and candles.

Go to a Spa
And sizzle in the sauna! Check local spa's package offers where you can use the facilities for a few hours and get a treatment or two as well.

Go See the Decorations
At Christmas time, go and get hot chocolates then go and see the town's decorations and maybe try some ice-skating.

Get Some Winter Sun!
If you can afford it, go away somewhere hot for the weekend. It's so nice to get away from the cold and drizzle even if it's just for a few days!

What kind of dates do you like to go on during the winter?

Video Review: Sleeprollers

My first video...

 

Aahhhh :/

 

I hate public speaking or speaking on camera (yet I have no problems having lots of people looking at me and speaking when I teach aerobics classes? I don't understand either..) so this was pretty challenging for me, but having a missing camera cable and not being able to talk about all the new products I have is not fun so I had to do what I had to do!

 

 

Cringe! No idea why my tutor said I would actually suit a job where I have to present to people, was he kidding? Nice that someone has faith in me though haha

 

Sooo I also meant to say that on the official sleeprollers website a standard pack of 20 with the drawstring bag is £17.95 with free delivery. This is the best price I've found them at. Follow them on Twitter too, and follow me as well if you like

Monday Morning Pinspiration

Good morning all! Early post today as I have an exam this morning, wish me luck!

 

Welcome to 2013

Image: weheartit

I said in my previous post that I don't normally make resolutions and just kind of make goals as I go along. But I just thought I'd share a couple of things I hope to achieve in 2013.

I Will.. Become a Mother
As you all know, we're going to become first time parents this year, so my biggest wish for this year is for the final half of the pregnancy to go smoothly and to receive a healthy baby at the end of it. As the weeks go by I'm getting more and more excited about finally meeting him or her and I've started trying to prepare myself by reading as much as possible about what to expect during labour and in those first few months. I know it doesn't matter how much I prepare, I'm still not going to know how to do everything until the time comes, but I find that the more information I have, the calmer and more confident I am about the arrival.

I Will.. Get my Degree
I will sit my exams as late as three or four weeks before my due date, so getting behind one of those tiny little desks that you get in the exam room is going to be interesting! I was determined that I was going to finish university this year before bambino comes and as I've said, I've got a lot of support which has really helped. I have no doubt that I can finish this and get a good grade.

Image: weheartit

I Will.. Eat Better
I'm not the best cook in the world, so I've done the next best thing: invested in an army of machines to do the hard work for me! It's brilliant because I can still make healthy meals, smoothies and my own bread and not slave away in the kitchen for hours, which to be fair, nobody has the time to do. I've already started doing this in the last week by digging out all of our recipe books then going to the market to get the fruit, veg and other ingredients we need. I used to have fruit for breakfast, something with salad for lunch and a dish with veg for dinner before I was pregnant and now I'm feeling a bit better and not as fussy with food anymore, I'm starting to get back in that routine again.

I Will.. Set a Date
Obviously wedding planning has taken a back seat in the last few months and we're probably not going to get married when we originally said we would, but that's ok. We have all the time in the world to do it. We probably won't seriously start thinking about this again until everything with baby has settled down, but we do want to decide the venues and set a date at the very least.