HELLO NOVEMBER 2023

 

 

FABULOUS THINGS THAT HAPPENED LAST MONTH

1. A lovely family party at my Mum & Dad’s for my birthday!

2. Belle settling in well at Uni

3. Two very successful weekends adjudicating in Birmingham

4. A lovely birthday – the last one in my 40’s!!!!

5. Some very much needed time off work for half term!

 

LIFESTYLE, LEISURE, PLACES & HOME

My Morning Routine

Since lockdown I’ve spent a lot of time working on myself and trying to regularly practice self care which is vital for well being. I’ve found the most beneficial thing for me was to get into a good morning routine of habits & rituals that I practice every day regardless of what I’m doing, how I feel & how busy I am.

One of the first things I do which I absolutely love is write in my journal. I practice gratitude, write down what I envisage for my day, week, month, choose a daily affirmation. It’s a daily 3 minutes in the morning at the start of my day & 3 minutes at the end of the day in my 6 minute journal.

I always, always make my bed in a morning – it clears my head and if your bedroom is tidy everything else falls into place.

I am a big believer in affirmations and the art of positive thinking. I picked my list of my favourite affirmations which give me positivity & self confidence and I recorded myself saying them. I listen to them in a morning or in my car on my way to work.

Mindfulness, yoga, visualisation & meditation are all things I like to incorporate into most mornings. I try to get up early to start my day with good intentions and a positive morning routine always helps set my day off to a good start.

  

BEAUTY, HEALTH & STYLE

My weekly home facial

Facials are one of my absolute ‘go to’s’ for self care & I try to book myself in for a professional facial as often as possibleIn between facials however, I do always ensure my skin care routine is good on a daily basis & I also like to give myself a full facial every Sunday morning.

I think it’s vital to look after your skin more & more as you get older both inside by eating healthily with superfoods that feed the skin & by drinking lots of water and also with a good regular skincare routine.

On a daily basis & use Clinique take the day off makeup remover before Garnier micellar water. This is followed by Elemis cleansing balm for a deep cleanse and finished with Elemis pro collagen marine cream & elemis pro collagen vitality eye cream.

I go one step further every Sunday. After a deep cleanse I then apply a face mask, I’ve tried many brands and some of my favourites are Elemis superfood berry mask, Body Shop Nicaraguan Coffee Intense Awakening Mask & Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Mask.

Once I’ve rinsed off the mask & splashed my face with cold water, I then put on a thick layer of moisturizer, I find a cheaper brand such as Nivea works well, and I use my facial massage machine (£49.99 Amazon) for 10 minutes working to lift & stimulate my facial muscles.

Once this is completed my face & neck feels rejuvenated and I just apply an eye cream to complete my DIY facial.

Top tip – always ensure you treat the neck & decolletage area as much as the face.   

 

RESTAURANT OF THE MONTH

Diggle Lock – Uppermill, Saddlewoth 

My teenager Max loves nothing more than a few hours walking along the canals in Uppermill then a lovely lunch at Diggle Lock. Excellent rustic fayre with an all day brunch menu or an equally good lunch menu, it hits the spot either before or after a walk. It’s also dog friendly which is perfect for us as we love to take Dora for a walk in Uppermill.

www.digglelock.co.uk

 

COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH

Bonfire Bonanza Cocktail

Ingredients

500ml British cider

200ml cloudy apple juice

3tbsp demerara sugar

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

25ml spiced rum

50ml amaretto

Apple slices & mini sparklers to decorate

 

Method

1.    Put the cider & apple juice into a saucepan & heat gently

2.    Put the sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg onto a place and mix together

3.    Dip the rims of four serving glasses into the cider mixture to moisten then press into the sugar mixture to coat

4.    Add the spiced rum and amaretto to the cider & stir

5.    Carefully ladle into the serving glasses

6.    Thread a fan of apple slices onto the end of the sparklers & add one to each glass to serve.

 

FILM/TV SHOW OF THE MONTH

The Great British Bake Off 

Wholesome, comforting & homely! I love this show, especially at this time of year & I’m loving that it’s gone back to its roots this year with traditional weeks such as bread, cake, pastry & biscuits.

 

BOOK OF THE MONTH

‘Evergreen’ –  Lydia Millen Gordon

I’ve followed Lydia on YouTube for a few years now & I always enjoy & relate to her content. I adore her style both in fashion and around the home and try not to miss any of her videos. The concept of her book, finding the Evergreen in every season and every aspect of your life is right up my street and I absolutely love this book. It’s beautifully written & illustrated and I loved the hard copy so much I also bought the audio book to listen to in my car.

 

THIS MONTH I'M LOVING

Autumnal colours, Autumnal clothes, Autumnal cosiness, Autumnal ‘feels’!

 

THIS MONTH I'M NOT LOVING

Matthew Perry passing away - heartbreaking!

 

THIS MONTHS FAVOURITES

1. Elemis superfood day cream

2. Strictly Strictly Strictly!!!

3. Blood Brothers the musical – Max & I watched it in Bradford this week, his first time & my 5^th. Love it!!!!

4. Yankee Candle Pink Sands

5. My new 6 minutes a day Journal

 

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH