Goodbye 2017

What a year! I have had one of the best years of my life, I have created so many memories that I will forever treasure and made friends I know will be in my life forever. I started the year being placed at Camp Grove Point for the summer and at the time little did I know that this would turn out to be the best three months of my life. I celebrated my best friends birthday with her and made her an incredible cake. We spent my mums 50th having a big family meal in which i made a mint cake for her and going to a spa with back massages all around. I performed some amazing shows with my college family like Midsummer nights dream and Him and Her. A completed a whole month of being a vegan which I was so proud of myself for. I enjoyed many nights out with Linds and celebrated Amy and Alisha's 18th's. I finished college with D*D*D* and after 3 years I left waitrose. I died my hair pink for a while which I loved and inspired me to do more different styles with my hair. I then spent my summer in Maryland at the worlds greatest summer camp in the world eating to much food, going down slip and slide and singing camp songs. I then spent 3 weeks solo travelling. I came home with shorter hair, a tan, a family and a whole heart of memories. Once I was home I moved to Sheffield and started Uni and made some of the greatest friends. I also became so much more confident with my body and realised that weight is not the be all and end all. I joined Lacrosse, played my first tournament and went to every single social. I had a whole weekend of celebrating my 20th and experienced my first escape room. I had so many good days out like Jump Inc Trampoline park and exploring the Peak District. I did my first performance at uni with my besties, which we absolutely smashed. I had my lax Christmas Meal which was so much fun, spent Christmas with my family and tonight I am spending New Years with one of my bestie Scott.

 Ive had one of the best years and I'm excited to see if 2018 can top it! HAPPY NEW YEAR x

A Day To Remember

The 29th Of December every year is a sad day for me and my family as it is a day that 14 years ago my hero and Grandad took his left breath and went to live in heaven. To this day it is a day that we always do something as a family to celebrate the brilliant man he was and the life that he had, this year we all went out for a nice meal. This year however hit me harder than others, I ignored social media and anyone that tried to contact me and I spent the day thinking of my Grandad. This year has been the best year of my life and I've accomplished so much. I finished my college course with the highest grade possible,I went and worked in America for two months and then spent a month solo travelling around America. I got my mental state to the best way its been in years and Im still continuing to work on it. I got into university and moved to Sheffield becoming more independent and learning what its like to live on my own but also with flatmates. And when I think of all the things small and big that I have achieved this year I can't help but become saddened by the thought that I can't share it all with my Grandad as I know he would be so proud, but I know he is always watching and will continue to be by my side every day. So I plan to make every year from now better than the last and to keep making my Grandad proud. I miss you more and more everyday Grandad, I love you xx

Christmas Presents

I was very lucky this year and received so many amazing presents and I wanted to show you what I got as I personally love seeing what people get and I always go back to get inspiration of what to ask for for Christmas and Birthdays. My parents did an amazing job with my presents, they got me a new pair of gorgeous grey suede converse and some knee high boots which I've wanted for forever, I also finally have the too faced pretty peach palette. Two years ago Costa did a christmas special of Tiramisu Latte and it was my favourite and since they haven't done it again so mum got me the syrup for it so I can make them for myself at home and boxing day I made two and they were incredible! My sister got me a River Island Khaki bag that I asked for and a pair of small silver hoops, she also got me a "grow your own Mr Grey" as I am the person in the family that constantly gets "have you got a boyfriend" "are you still single", so she thought that was a hilarious gift. My grandma got me the "kiss me under the mistletoe" too faced melted set which has four beautiful lip colours. From my Twinny all the way in Australia, she absolutely spoiled me once again and got me a black Mimco clutch that on the back is personalised with my initials which is just incredible! I got a few other incredible gifts from friends and family but these were just some I thought I would share with you, I am so thankful for everything x

My Winter Morning Routine

My morning starts with me scrolling through my phone feeling cosy and warm. I work out six days a week so unless it is my rest day I will always do a workout before breakfast, whether thats me heading to the gym, going on a long run or doing a workout dvd, I love working out it makes me feel so energised and achieved for the day. Im then always super hungry so I will make myself some breakfast which is always two weetabix, soya milk, honey and banana cut up on top and I always really enjoy it. Whilst I eat my breakfast I will catch up on Vlogmas, watch a christmas film or watch Gilmore Girls as I am obsessed with this series at the moment. Its then time to eventually get out of bed and get ready for the day, since coming home and having the option of a bath I've been obsessed with them and of course its not bath without a bath bomb and I've been loving candy mountain for the festive season. I then do my makeup and hair, pick out an outfit, on this day it was a shift long sleeved grey dress with black tights, my khaki jacket, my black Mimco bag and black ankle boots. I then head out to do whatever I am doing that day.

Christmas

I have had the best couple of days celebrating Christmas with my family and I thought I would share some of the pictures that I took. On Christmas eve I spent the morning pampering by enjoying a bath with a Santa Bath Bomb, tanning and doing a face mask. I then met up with a friend for a Honeycomb Latte from Costa, I also popped in to see a friend who was enjoying a drink at the pub with their family, I loved that I got to see them before Christmas as this time of year is all about spending time with the people that mean the most to you. In the evening we had the BEST christmas buffet, we had everything from sausage rolls, to crips to a ham joint yum. I finished my evening in my new christmas pjs that mum had got me!

Christmas day was truly magical and I was so happy to be spending the day with my family x

On boxing day we started the morning watching the hunt, an event we go to every year. We then had my auntie, uncle, cousins and some family friends over for the afternoon and enjoyed a yummy meal made my by mum and finished off with my yule log.

Im so thankful for the time I got to spend with my family and all my gifts that i received, I truly had the best Christmas and am now excited to spend time with my friends and celebrate New Year x

Christmas Chocolate Yule Log

For me Christmas isn't Christmas without baking something yummy and this Christmas I've made cornbread and now I'm making a chocolate Yule log and it was delicious so I thought I would share the recipe and the finished product with you.

Ingredients:
450ml Of Double Cream
4 Large Eggs
100g Caster Sugar
65g Self Raising Flour
40g Cocoa Powder
275g Dark Chocolate

I first preheated the oven to 200c and greased a 33x23 centimetre swiss role tin. I then proceeded to make the sponge, for the sponge I whisked the eggs and sugar together with a hand whisk until it was pale, light and fluffy. I then sifted in the flour and cocoa powder and folded it in with a spoon being careful not to beat out the air in the mixture. I then poured the mixture into the tin and baked it for 8-10 minutes until golden and shifting away from the edges. I placed a piece of parchment paper bigger than the cake on the table and turned it out onto it, from the longer edge I rolled up the swiss role and left it to cool.

I then went on to make the icing whilst the cake was cooling. I melted the chocolate and 300ml of the cream until completely melted, I then popped it into the fridge to firm up. I whipped up the rest of the cream.I also made my own decorations that were super simple but super affective, I melted some white chocolate and on some baking parchment made circles of white chocolate. I then took a tooth pick and some green food colouring and put the food colouring on the white chocolate and shaped it to look like trees, I then added a star on top and added some red food colouring onto the star to finish off, I then put them in the fridge to set.

Once the cake was completely cool I uncurled it and put it onto a cake board, i then evenly spread the cream over the cake and re rolled it up.  I diagonally cut a small chunk of the cake off and placed it on the side of the cake to look like a tree,I then spread the chocolate icing over the whole cake. Taking a fork I dragged it along the icing to look like tree bark, I dusted icing sugar all over the yule log to look like snow then added edible glitter to glam it up. I bought snowflake hundreds and thoughts and sprinkled them all over.

Lax Christmas Meal

Last Tuesday was my Lacrosse Christmas Meal with the girls and the boys team and it was an extremely fun night and was so special to have a Christmas celebration with the Team!  I wore a red dress with black heels and my silver glittery clutch bag.We had a three course meal at the Genting Casino in Sheffield, when we arrived I was very impressed it was very posh and festive. We all received a free drink voucher so I had a glass of rose. We took pictures and mingled all together and then took our seats, we were sat boy, girl which was a really good way to mix us all up and have us mingle. My starter was tomato soup with crusty bread, I then had a turkey dinner with all the trimmings and finished my meal with Cheesecake with a berry compote and it was one of the nicest meals I've eaten, I throughly enjoyed it! We then had awards, which included things like "funniest girl", "best uncoupled couple" " best double act", I won "Women's Biggest Flirt" which is quite funny. We then continued to enjoy chatting to everyone. After we headed to players bar for about an hour, before ending our night in Viper Rooms. It was such a fun evening and was a great way to end the semester and to celebrate Christmas all together. Merry Christmas Lax x

Solo Travel

Travelling alone can be a pretty scary and daunting thing to do, this summer I faced this and it was one of the best things I have ever done. There is something quite freeing about being alone in a new city. I had nobody to tie me down, I could do whatever I wanted and explore the cities in my own time. It felt so personal because nobody experienced what I did and I like that I have that one thing completely to myself. I will never be able to recommend stepping out of your comfort zone and going  to a completely new city on your own, theres no doubt that at times it can be scary and a little lonely but it changes you, you discover things about yourself that you never knew (cliche I know). I will always feel proud of myself that I got myself to and around so many new cities and saw amazing things completely on my own. Ive always been an independent person so solo travelling for me was something I was excited about, it made me appreciate my friends and family company but made me realise how much I like being by myself and that I can do anything I want and I don't need anyone to achieve my goals. So go, go to a new city and explore it all by yourself, step out your comfort zone and spend some time on your own, you'll learn things you never knew.

My Top 10 Favourite Christmas Films

I love Christmas and watching christmas films is an essential part of my December and therefore when the 1st rolls around I am straight onto watching some of my favourites. I enjoy watching a whole lot of Christmas films and these are my ultimate top 8.
8.If you've never heard of or seen A Christmas Carol, where have you been? It is an extremely famous Christmas story by Charles Dickens, my favourite of course, is the Disney version.
7.Arthur Christmas, unless it is disney an animated film has to be exceptional for me to enjoy it and Arthur Christmas is on that list, I adore this film, I love how its not the elves or santa that saves Christmas but someone who was completely underestimated.
6. Is it really christmas if you don't watch Home Alone? Home Alone is a fabulous christmas film and one I cannot get through December without watching.
5.The Holiday is an amazing film with some incredible actors, house swapping is not really something that ever happens so I like the fact that this film is based around what would or could happen if two strangers swapped lives.
4.Love Actually is such a heartfelt family film, I love the music and the mini story lines that run throughout. I also love that you see how different people spend the run up to Christmas, classic hilarious film.
3.The Grinch and Elf are hand in hand as I love them both the same amount. The Grinch is an amazing film and watching it this year will be extra special as I've actually seen the set and it is just as special and amazing in real life.
2.Elf is another classic christmas film and it being set in one of my favourite cities
1.My ultimate favourite christmas movie has got to be "The Greatest Store in the world", this film is funny and heart warming and always gets me in the christmas spirit. Its not a super well known film like elf but is a definite must see, I love it.

My Christmas Day Routine

Christmas day is my favourite day of the whole year and it always follows the same structure so I thought I would tell you my christmas day routine.
My day starts at about half 7/8 when I wake up and put my Christmas tree lights on because I love making my room feel super festive, I then grab my stocking (that has my name on it!!) and head into my sisters room to wake her up. With stockings in hand we head to my parents room and wake them up and all open our stockings together. After its time to get ready for the day, we all like to look nice on Christmas so I always pop some fake eyelashes on, curl my hair and pick out a nice dress or playsuit. I then eat breakfast whilst watching something Christmassy, what I eat varies from croissant, to yoghurt and granola! I always have a cup of tea or a hot chocolate! Its then finally time to open our main presents underneath the Christmas tree, this always takes us forever as we like to watch everyone open their presents so we take it in turns, I usually always have the most! We then head down to the pub to have a drink and see our friends in the village, around 1-half 1 its time to head home, I prepare starters which is always salmon, prawn sauce and blinis! The main meal is what I get excited about, beef or pork with all the trimmings, yum! Dessert for me and my sister have Chocolate Mousse and my parents have Christmas pudding! After we are stuffed to the brim we play board games and card games. We end our night with Christmas Pjs on and watching Mrs Browns Boys and drinking Baileys! I adore Christmas and wouldn't have our day go any other way x

Home For The Weekend

This weekend was a pretty special weekend for me as it was the first weekend that I went home since moving to Sheffield and it felt so good to be home. I headed home on the Friday night and spent the evening eating nandos, listening to christmas music and putting up my Christmas Tree and Decorations. I woke up on Saturday morning feeling refreshed, I had forgot how comfortable my bed is. I then did my Charlotte Crosby 3 minute belly blitz and it was so much fun. For breakfast mum had got me The Collective Russian Fudge Yoghurt, which is my favourite, granola and strawberries, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I then got ready for the day and wrapped all my friends christmas presents, I am super prepared this year. Me and my parents then headed to a small shopping centre near where I live as I needed to get a few bits to take back home, we also went into M&S and got some of their christmas snacks to enjoy around Christmas as they do the best snacks! For lunch we went to Costa and I had my favourite of the cheese and tomato toastie and a honeycomb soya latte. Once we had finished my parents dropped me off home so that I could get ready to go to my best friend Jess's. The town she lives in it was there switching on of their christmas lights and its a tradition that we go together. We had mint Belgian hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream and shared roasted chestnut. We walked around the market and watched her little brother go on some of the rides which was incredibly cute. Jess then got pizza and I got a cheese burger which was delicious. We headed back to Jess's house and she made me our favourite green tea which is gingerbread. Jess is a beautician and gave me gel nails for free, I have the best friend ever. We caught up on all our gossip and spent time with her family as they are pretty much my second family, we then also got some chips and garlic bread to share as we always eat so much food when we are together. I loved catching with her, I miss her so much when I'm away from her for a long period of time. I had a lie in on Sunday and then had a bath because oh my have I missed having a bath, I ate the same breakfast as yesterday in the bath whilst watching some vlogmas. I got myself ready and then made some cornbread which was a food that I tried when I was in america and loved and wanted my family to try it and they actually loved it! We then headed over to my auntie and uncles for the day. For lunch we went to Carluccios, I had a Bellini with Venison tortellini and green beans. We spent the rest of the day at my auntie and uncles and I got to play with my cousins which was super cute! We got home around 8 and I got ready for bed, popped Elf on and ate two of my mums homemade sausage rolls. Monday morning I headed home, I loved being home for the weekend and I'm already excited to be back for Christmas and spent more time with my family x

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Traditions are something most people have and I adore finding out what peoples are so I thought I would share some of mine with you. My first one is every year on the 1st of December I make myself a hot chocolate or tea and a chocolate, put christmas pjs on, stick on a christmas film or christmas music and decorate my room and put up my christmas tree. It is the perfect way to get me in the Christmas spirit and I love my room feeling super festive.Costa is my favourite coffee shop and they always do the best Christmas drink selection and when December rolls around I always make it my mission to try each and every one of their christmas drinks and I can't say I have failed yet. Another Christmas tradition for me is getting a new pair of pjs on Christmas eve to wake up in on Christmas Day. A tradition I think most people have is an advent calendar, since I can remember we have had a cloth advent calendar that mum fills with chocolate treats, this year however I no longer live at home so I will have to get a regular advent calendar which I don't mind as long as I have an advent calendar. As I'm the youngest I used to always wake up first, but as I've got older we all wake up pretty much at the same time but it is still a tradition that I go into my sisters room to get her and then we go into my parents room together. Baking any time of the year is huge love for me but christmas is extra special because theres so many options of great things you make my favourites are anything Gingerbread flavoured, mince pies and a Yule log. And although it isn't baking I also like making the most delicious extravagant hot chocolates! Every Christmas eve me and my family always have a Christmas buffet which includes homemade sausage rolls, cheeses, mini sausages,bread and other many delicious finger foods. My final christmas tradition is every boxing day me and my family go to the hunt and watch the horses and dogs run around a little town near where I live, it is not a full hunt as they don't actually hunt foxes but they do do the running across the field part. We always also see my best friend Jess and her family there and I love going, it wouldn't be Christmas without it!