Some Crabtree & Evelyn Goodies

 

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C&E is a brand I've kind of been familiar with for a little while, I've been given bits and bobs from there over the years and I've used the products in hotels (Hilton hotels, to be specific), but I'd never went out of my way to go and shop there myself.

 

My future mother-in-law is the new assistant manager in our local branch, so Craig and I have been a bit nosey and had a pop in to see what kind of things they sell. I always just kind of thought they were just a standard bodycare shop but it turns out that they sell so much more than just lotions and potions for your body!

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First of all, let's talk about the jam. I've never tasted jam as good as this, I'm slightly obsessed with it! They don't have any nasty ingredients in them and perfect at satisfying my sweet tooth at the moment. I think we've got nearly every flavour in our flat, we haven't tried all of them yet but my favourites so far have been the good old raspberry and strawberry. I don't feel they cost much more than what you'd pay at the supermarket but you can definitely taste the difference in quality.

 

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Scented drawer liners - who doesn't love them! These are so pretty in my drawers and the scent is strong but not overpowering. I can't comment on the longevity of them yet but they've been in for a week and the scent hasn't started to fade yet. I think these are about £6 for four generously-sized sheets.

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I have this Pomegranate candle in our bedroom and it is absolutely beautiful. It is on the pricey side (about £25 I believe) but I've said before that I really don't mind paying for quality and candles are one of those things I will pay more money for. What I've noticed about these candles is that they last so much longer because the wax all burns down together. It doesn't do that annoying thing that most other candles do, which is just burning down the middle and leaving all the wax on the sides. I always feel like that's such a waste! I've been using this and several of the mini candles for a good month or so now and they're still going strong, so although it seems expensive on the outset, I definitely feel like I'm getting my moneys worth out of them, and that makes me a happy customer :)

Blog Everyday in May Tag: Top 3 Worst Traits

#24: your top 3 worst traits

My worst trait is definitely not knowing (or knowing, but not caring) when to keep my mouth shut when someone has rattled my cage. My mouth used to run away with me quite a lot more when I was younger, I'd like to think that I'm a lot better at biting my tongue now and able to let the little things go. I get it from my dad, he literally has no filter!

I'm a littleee bit bossy (my nickname when I was little was bossy boots). I'm a perfectionist and like things done a certain way. I don't know how Craig copes to be honest. I do most of the housework not because he won't do it, but because it's not up to my sky-high standards! He'll do something and I'll just do it again the 'right' way. It used to bug me when my mam did that when I was younger but now I've just morphed into exactly the same thing!

Finally, I'm a very straight-to-the-point kind of person which can lead to people thinking I'm a bit harsh when they just want to talk. I really don't mean to be and I can be sympathetic, but a pat on the back isn't going to solve the problem. I like to be more pro-active and find solutions rather than talk something through then not doing anything about it. This is also a quality I get from my mother!

Updates

Phew it has been a crazy week! A lot is happening, mainly baby-wise. He's basically going to be here anytime now, I'm guessing three weeks. My poor bean still isn't even 5lb yet so it's basically crunch time and it's been all hands on deck. It's very likely he'll have to come out within the next two or three weeks so I had to have steroid injections in my bum which can I just point out now is not fun! It stings like a mo-fo for like 10 minutes after whilst all the solution spreads! They are to help his lungs mature because although as of the end of next week he wouldn't be considered a premature baby anymore, his development is 2 weeks behind 'schedule' so they need to make sure that they're strong enough for when he comes out. Anyway, we've spent this week packing the hospital bags, finishing the nursery, preparing for the baby shower and if I'm honest, generally freaking out! I keep wondering what or who he's going to look like? I definitely think he's going to be a mini Craig, if only because at every scan he's been 'showing off' if you get my drift, I'm pretty sure his dad was one of those kids that ran around naked all the time haha.

Anyway, the BEDIMT! I'm missing Monday out because what we're struggling with right now is too depressing and personal to get into right now and Tuesdays because I don't think I've been posting long enough to have any favourites. So I'll jump to Wednesday:

#22: rant about something

I could rant about SO MANY things right now haha! But I'll try to stick to the stuff that annoys me in general rather than what annoys me right now as that is pretty much everything:

1. People riding their bikes in the middle of the lane especially on the dual carriageways. I've seen many a near-miss, they annoy me especially if there's a perfectly good path they can go on
2. People on the road in general actually, and people who have blatantly seen you coming and still walk out slowly like tomorrow would do
3. When people write on FB that there's no need for name calling online, that it's so nasty etc... then you scroll down and they've been calling people names? I don't get it?
4. People who complain about things that they could change but never do anything about it
5. It seems people irritate me a lot..? Oh dear :s this could be the hormones talking right now, I'm sure I never used to get so irritated by these things so easily!

 #23: things you've learned that school won't teach you

Basically everything. I don't believe you learn anything until you start making your own way through life on your own terms and learn through experience. I think when you're young (school-age) you think you have everything figured out but the truth is that not everything works out according to plan. My plans didn't pan out the way I always dreamt they would, but sometimes there's a better path that you'd never considered.

People will try to trample on you to either get ahead (career-wise) or just because they're not very nice people in general, in my experience though that's usually because something bad has happened to them. It took me a long time to realise that! Happy people make other people happy. Instead of getting upset if someone says some not very nice things about you, dig for answers - there's always something that's happened to them that's made them the way they are. It's rarely that personal, unless you know them and have genuinely done something to hurt them, it's just the way they are. Don't sweat. I know that's a hard concept to grasp when you're in school but as you go through life you will start to notice some of the same qualities in people!

You get out of life what you put into it. Don't let anybody (teachers or otherwise) tell you that you can't do something - you can do anything if you work for it!

Blog Everyday in May Tag: Childhood & Favourite Blogs

#18: tell a story from your childhood

There's one memory that really makes me laugh and that was during the school holidays when me and my brother were young, and we started a water fight with my dad outside. It started off with little water guns and eventually esculated into throwing massive buckets of water over each other - the kitchen was practically underwater by the time we were done with it!

#19: your favourite blogs and what you love about them
 Love My Dress Wedding Blog - I literally could spend hours looking through all the wedding photos!
The blogs on about.com are always very useful, literally every topic under the sun is covered on that website
Skinny Taste is where I get a lot of recipe inspiration from

Blog Everyday in May Tag: Favourite Photo

#17: a favourite photo of yourself and why

I'm on the right

Let me explain: I was pretending to be running along the beach Baywatch-style here!

I like this photo because it kind of sums up my personality: I don't take myself too seriously and I'm a tad bit goofy. I know when people who don't know me see photos of me and assume I'm actually being serious when I'm posing a particular way in a photo, when actually I'm usually taking the mick and I'm exaggerating it for a laugh on camera! The slo-mo Baywatch run before the Baywatch-theme pub crawl was funny at the time anyway!

Blog Everyday in May Tag: Lot in Life

 

#16: something difficult about your 'lot in life' and how you're working to overcome it

I'm not too sure how to approach this one as the biggest thing that we have to deal with as a family at the moment is not something I want to get into too much detail about right now. Other than that, there isn't really anything I can think of. My family life has always been good, bad things have happened but difficult periods happen to everybody at some point. I'm one of those people who tries not to worry about small things as things can always be so much worse. My grandma used to always say "there's always someone worse off than you!" and I guess that is true! So, I don't think I have much to contribute to this topic today as I can't really complain about anything that nobody else has had to deal with at some point in their lives!

Blog Everyday in May Tag: A Day in the Life

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This is a typical day at the moment whilst I wait for Flynn's arrival into the world. I think I've made it sound kinda boring, but I intend to make the most of the down time that I have now!

My day usually starts at around 5:45 - 6am. Craig starts work down the road at 6:30 and I get up with him most mornings unless I'm really tired! The first thing I always do is put the kettle on and make tea to wake us both up a bit.

When he's at work, I usually spend the morning cleaning the flat and doing whatever errands need done. He comes back from work at midday and we'll have some food, then we'll either relax in the house, go out and do bits and bobs that need doing, or go out together or seperately with our own friends. Now I'm coming to the end of the pregnancy I'm also napping in the afternoon again as the fatigue has crept back in.

After 6 is when we usually settle down and watch a lot of crap TV or have movie nights with popcorn, have a bath and in bed by 10pm!

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