Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts

Thursday, 7 February 2013

Book Review: Lauren Conrad's 'Style'

 I accidentally opened some mail yesterday that turned out to be my Valentine's Day present from my husband!
He gets serious brownie points for picking this out, I love books like this and will quite happily stare at Lauren Conrad's pretty face for an hour or so!
The book is surprisingly bulky and full of beautiful glossy photos of Lauren, clothes, shoes bags makeup etc. I love how it's set out, with its catagories starting with 'Fashion: Building your Wardrobe' and ending with 'Lifestyle: Events and Parties'.


At first I thought the book was going to be full of unattainable expensive designer looks, but it's full of tips of what to do with skinny jeans and basic white t shirts. The clothes that Lauren wears throughout the book a similar to clothes I already have, or pieces I can easily buy in Topshop or Missguided.
There are tips about what shoes go best with what pair of jeans, how to style jewellery to different outfits, even how to dress for your shape or downplay a particular body part you hate.


The section on hair and beauty is a treasure trove of tips, advice, tutorials and hair-spiration that will make you want to try out new looks.
There are several different hairstyle tutorials, all natural looking and easy to obtain. She also teaches you how to achieve perfect blow-dried hair at home.
Lauren has added in a daytime and a nighttime makeup tutorial, as well as skincare tips and advice about what products to use.

This book really is a must have for any girl's bookshelf who is interested in fashion and beauty.
It isn't full of impossible looks that you can only achieve with a paycheck like Lauren's, all the looks are very girl-next-door and Lauren comes across as very knowledgeable and, of course, stylish.

Love, Laura
xxx

Friday, 14 December 2012

Hubby Christmas!

Men are SO hard to buy for. 
My husband has everything he needs, and anything that he wants usually borders around the ridiculously priced DIY items... which are boring to buy and out of my Christmas budget!
I prefer to buy him lots of little things rather than one big present. Buying for him this year has taken me four days! This isn't due to indecisiveness, it's mainly because whenever I've sat down to buy things Nahla has distracted me!
I thought, whilst she's asleep, that I would write a quick post about what I bought my husband this year. There are so many fun and quirky gifts out there, I was spoilt for choice!



I bought a few different types of these funny post-it notes, there's the Nag Note, the WTF note, the Passive-Agressive note and loads more. Simon's constantly forgetting things that I ask him to do, so I thought these would be a fun way to remind him.


I think this mug says it all... I bought this for him to take to work, I'm sure it'll give his workmates a laugh!


Simon swears like a sailor, it drives me mad. Especially when he randomly swears in a sentence...
'There was this really cute squirrel that I saw on the way to fucking work today.'
I bought this so his swearing makes him sound more like he's a well-travelled gentleman rather than a prat.


My lovely husband is now a father, which means his dancing is no longer cool.


Now that he's a Dad (and is in the process of growing a moustache, which makes me despair) he needs this book. Its full of hilarious pictures of Dads rocking the Hipster look.

Every year I ask him what he wants and he always replies 'Don't worry love, I don't need anything.' So if he inwardly complains about my gift-giving he can ram it.

Merry Christmas to the blokes!



Sunday, 4 November 2012

iPhone Photos...


Super-busy Papa-to-be. We picked up Baby's pram this week and also picked up her bottles and sterilising equipment, just in case I can't breastfeed. It's good to be prepared!


New slippers for the labour ward :]

 
 I've recently had an obsession for quirky nail polishes. These Models Own ones are made up of sequin-like confetti and look so fun!


I love reading and I love my classic like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but every now and again I like to take a break from all the hard-going plot lines and kill a few brain cells by reading a trashy book or an auto-biography. I'm only a few chapters through, I probably will finish it if I can't get past her writing 'Me and me Mam' rather than 'My Mum and I.'


Ohhhh bother. Somebody left it too late to take off their wedding ring. Somebody ignored the advice of her midwife, convinced herself that she wouldn't get 'pregnancy swelling' and didn't think that putting on two stone would affect her fingers.
I tried everything to get my wedding ring off; ice, conditioner, oil, thread, cling film... you name it! In the end my husband dragged me into the jewelers to have it cut off. £1,200 of beautiful gold and diamonds in pieces, all because I 'couldn't be bothered'. 
It'll be easy enough to fix though, once my swelling's gone down I can have it re-sized. My husband even suggested getting it engraved like he did to my engagement ring, which would be lovely. He also suggested getting a replacement for the time being... but he's not bought that up again, maybe he had time to think about it??


I've been feeling very autumnal recently so was chuffed when a blouse I picked up in Glasgow last year managed to fit me! Even with my chunky baby belly!


Our 4th Wedding anniversary was lovely, we had a nice dinner and Simon made me some beautiful origami flowers which took him forever. I still can't believe we've been married for four years!


We had a great time in Lush when we went to Inverness to get baby things. Even my husband bought a few things for himself, I think I'm turning him into a product addict too!
I love the smell of the flower bubble bath at the top, I was so surprised at how many bubbles I managed to get out of one little chunk of it! I have a feeling that they're going to last me quite a while.


I finally managed to get my paws on GOSH's Holographic nail polish! I love it, it only lasts a couple of days (at a push) but it looks so amazing when its on!


This weeks midwife appointment went ok, my usual midwife wasn't there so it was a bit strange to not have my usual chatter and banter with her. Also, she tends to answer all of my stupid questions with a really in depth explanation, whereas the other midwife just smiles and says 'That's normal.' Which is a bit irritating. My normal midwife understands that I like to know every possible scenario and situation, she understands me very well.
I was weighed and was very surprised to find out that I've only put on 2 stone, a stone of which is all baby, placenta, water etc. It means I only have a stone to get rid off after she's born, so I'm in no rush or panic now! Although I do weigh as much as my husband, which is a bit rubbish :(
The baby is fine, measuring on time, very VERY wriggly and active. She's running out of room in there so I'm finding it so difficult to get comfortable and fall asleep.
I'm also starting to get incredibly awkward and painful contractions and backache, I'm hoping this means that I won't have to wait much longer!


Lovely chunky shot of me here in Starbucks with a peppermint hot chocolate. This was just after I had my ring cut off, hence the stern face.
I don't have many pictures of this stage of pregnancy, I think it's because I feel so chunky!


Horray! It's mine and Lara's 1 year anniversary! I can't believe this picture was taken a year ago, so much has changed! Mainly my waistline!
We went to a little cafe for lunch and had sandwiches, then stared at nail varnishes for a couple of hours. It was lovely, I'm looking forward to having the baby so I can enjoy the occasional night out again! The first one being our work's Christmas dinner, which should be a hoot!


Oh the drama! We bought our first nappies this week, who knew it was so complicated... different weights, different heights, all numbered, all with the same picture on!
I was going to try and be super-green by using washable nappies like my mum did with my youngest brother, but, after much thought, I realised that I NEVER do washing. I am terrible at remembering to fill the washing machine, take the wet clothes out, drying clothes etc. My husband is the one who tends to do the laundry, even he sometimes lets it build up too.
So, no, I'm sure during the first couple of weeks we would be good at chucking the fabric nappies in the wash, but after a while the novelty would wear off and I don't fancy having the back-log of half-soiled nappies to deal with.
So we've gone down the slightly less greener (but still green!) route of disposable eco nappies. They cost the same as regular ones, but are made up of decomposable materials so they don't hang around on a landfill site for 10+ years.
They're also chlorine and fragrance free which will stop any allergic reactions or nappy rash, we also bought the wipes too, for the same reasons.
We shall have to see how her bottom gets on with these!


I shall leave you with this adorable cuteness. Normally Charlie-cat hates my husband, I'm not sure if he's tolerating him here or is in too deep a sleep to notice that he's near him.
Either way, so precious :]