Lush bath haul

As I said, we had a huge corner bath in the cottage so I had planned ahead and went to the White Rose Centre a few weeks ago with my mum to buy some bath bombs. I don't go into Lush very often; I tend to stock up on Snow Fairy around Christmas and then never step in again. I also don't often buy bath bombs, so I let the very friendly staff member sell me a few. I love Lush staff members, they're always really friendly and enthusiastic, and they always know loads of stuff about the products.

I didn't take a picture of my entire haul, what kind of a blogger am I?! But here's a rundown of the ones we had.

First bath: Metamorphosis - this was a gorgeous bomb that started off dark grey. It made the bath water look filthy like I'd been wallowing in mud all day. It had yellow and pink in the middle and a layer of glitter. The smell is really nice - it's supposed to be black pepper and myrrh, it smells really warming and relaxing. I'd definitely buy this one again.

Second bath: Intergalactic - the water went a gorgeous blue colour and there is so much glitter in this bomb. I was covered in a thin layer of it and left it EVERYWHERE. It smelt of peppermint and citrus and felt really invigorating. I definitely want to use this one again. The glitter was so much fun in the bath!

Lee's bath: Rocket Science - Lee had his own bath on Tuesday afternoon, instead of just jumping in mine after me. He has really sensitive skin but the Lush stuff never seem to aggrevate him, which is good. I bought him Rocket Science, which is a smaller and therefore cheaper than the others. It still packed a punch though, Lee really enjoyed it. It is very lemony and turned the bath a gorgeous blue. Lee really liked it so I think I'll buy him a few for Christmas.

Third bath: Never Mind the Ballistics - This is a weird bomb! It's got a layer of moisturiser on top of one half, which melts and leaves the bath water really soft, making your body really soft. It did make the bath tub really slippery so be careful. It smells really orangey which I loved. I probably wouldn't buy this one again, though.

Fourth bath: Chin Up, Buttercup - I liked the smell of this but didn't think it was anything astounding. I also didn't like the bits of lavender coming off at the beginning and ended up scooping them all out. Within the bomb are little bits of moisturiser which melted eventually. I didn't really like them though. It's a shame because the lemon and lime scent is fabulous!

I also bought two Mmmelting Marshmallow Moments after the sales assistant said they smell the same as Snow Fairy (which is a sort of candy floss/bubblegum flavour if you don't know it). They're only tiny and you can put them to melt in the bath like a bomb, but Lee and I used them as soap. They've got one rough side which made them really exfoliating on my skin. I'd definitely buy these again!

Lee's Rocket Science bomb, the water was a lovely greeny blue

Intergalactic - this leaves a LOT of glitter!

You can see some of the glitter here. Just gorgeous, I loved it 

Chin Up Buttercup. The water was really quite yellow! 

Week in the Yorkshire Dales - Day 4

I didn't take a lot of pictures on Tuesday. We had a late start to the day and went to Bedale. I'm pretty sure we've been there before but I didn't remember it too well. We went in a bunch of charity shops and craft and gift shops, we bought a couple of things but nothing spectacular. We went for lunch in Panettis, which was really gorgeous little bistro. I'd have liked to go there for an evening meal because it was really nice. As it was, I had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toasted muffins. I can't remember what Lee had! A tuna sandwich, most likely (he eats a lot of tuna).

After Bedale we headed to Leyburn, which we definitely went to on our honeymoon twelve years ago. We had a little wander round. I bought myself this year's Yankee Candle advent calendar as it was only £22.50 in a shop! We visited a little chocolate factory on the way back, there wasn't lots going on there but you could see into the factory which was nice. Then we had planned to go to the tea room in Aysgarth as it was just a few doors down from our cottage, but when we got back to the village it turned out to be closed on Tuesdays. So we drove through to Bainbridge and got to the tea room there around 3.30. The owner told us that she was just doing drinks and cake, which was perfect for us! I had this amazing piece of chocolate slab cake, it was really delicious.

Lee had a long bath when we got back into the cottage. I did a little bit of writing but that was the only writing I did all week. I gave myself permission to just not worry about a daily word count. I can catch up in the rest of October and November, I'm sure. It felt nice to not worry. In the evening we had burgers for tea - beef for me, vegetarian for Lee. It was a lovely laid back day.

This was our cottage, the little green door in the middle and the window to the left of it and above. It was tiny but fine for two of us. 

At the chocolate factory were all these pamphlets by children about their visit, I really liked them 

The amazing cake

I wore this paisley print dress that I wore recently in York. Comfortable for wandering in! 

Finally, here are my Hufflepuff socks from the recent Harry Potter collection at Primark. I'm not that into Harry Potter, but I thought the socks were cute. I had often been told I am a Hufflepuff so I did a quiz and it turns out I am! Gosh. You can see my unicorm pyjama bottoms too, they're from Yours Clothing. 

What I Wore October 9th

You've already seen that I was wearing my Girl Gang t-shirt on the Monday of our holiday, but I thought I'd show the outfit in full.

I love these Scarlett & Jo skirts, I do wear them a lot. Two of them, the mint green and yellow ones, are just one single layer so they're not overly warm in the autumn or winter. This one and the chiffon blue one, have three layers. A lining, a half layer of netting, and the skirt itself. This makes them much warmer, so I packed this purple one to wear on holiday. I also had my long leggings on underneath, which are from Evans, as opposed to the shorter Asos leggings I've been wearing most of the summer.

My girl gang t-shirt is relatively new and I love it. I particularly like the sleeve length. The day was quite warm so I just put my black cardigan on over the top, but took it off in the cafe. I also, on a different day, wore the t-shirt tucked into the skirt.

Week in the Yorkshire Dales - Day 3

On Monday of our holiday we went across to Sedbergh. I'd never been before and didn't know too much about the town, but it was close enough by to where we were. When we got there we found a plethora of bookshops which was great! I had, the week before our holiday, got in my posession my first Jane Austen ten pound note, and I wanted to spend it on books by women. Charity shops and secondhand shops were an ideal place to do this!

We wandered round the town for a bit and then went into this Mad Hatter's themed tea room for lunch. Lee had a jacket potato and I had the cheese platter which was SO good, I would eat it again right now. I liked the cafe, I thought it was really cute and had plenty of stuff to look at.

On our way back we had a bit of a drive round. Lee indulges me and goes up hill and down dale as directed. We saw the viaduct at Garsdale and if I'd realised the Ribblehead viaduct was so close I would have had a trip there too! But I didn't. Next time!

We decided to go to an ice cream and farm shop near our cottage for ice cream. It was really nice, I had chocolate and honeycomb which were both nice. They were some llamas and some pigs and some ducks to look at. It was cute!

We went back to the cottage for yet more relaxing. Lee actually said he thought it was the most chilled out I'd been in months. I definitely needed it. I got a huge cross stitch project finished which I'm really pleased about, and I wasn't worrying about anything at all. We ate salmon and broccoli pasta for tea which is something we eat quite a lot at home; it's yummy and really easy to make.

Here's my day's photos:

The view from the sofa in the cottage. We could park just in front of the green you can see. This was the best weather we had all week, but that's the UK for you. I wouldn't swap it!

Hills on the way to Sedbergh, I think this might be Whernside actually?

It was so gorgeous

Real flowers on the table in the cafe!

Cute themed stuff

The cafe - we were the only customers which was a shame, but it was a damp Monday

Lee

Me, representing my own girl gang for the day

Hot chocolate in these Alice themed mugs 

Queen of Hearts decoration too 

My gorgeous cheese platter. My cheeses were Cheshire maybe, something similar to that, Wensleydale with cranberries, and Brie. SO good. 

Hills on the way back with the weather setting in

Garsdale viaduct

Looking down into Wensleydale

Llamas at Berry's farm! 

What I Wore Sunday 8th October

As I said, Lee's mam and stepdad came down to see us for Sunday lunch at the pub in our village, the George and Dragon. We had rung to book a table and I was glad we had because it was quite busy and when a group came in who hadn't booked the landlord was really rude to them. It seems like he's rude quite a lot as we heard another group complaining about him later in the week, and TripAdvisor seems to agree! There's just no need to be like that!

Anyway, we each had two courses - a starter and a main. Everyone except me had soup to start with and they said it was really nice. I had beetroot cured salmon and a celeriac remoulade, it was so fancy and really nice! Then we all had roast dinner - Lee and Gary had chicken and Bev and I had beef. It had been slow cooked and was falling apart delicious. The potatoes and Yorkshire puddings were homemade and were really yummy. I'd recommend the food but not so much the service!

We didn't have dessert but they sounded nice too. Bev and Gary came back to the cottage for a cuppa before they set off home.

I wore this Scarlett & Jo dress that I like wearing, although I haven't in ages. I also put some make up on and was impressed with this liquid lipstick. I like it on me!

My eyebrows never behave themselves. And they never match. Sisters not twins, etc. 

 

I love this dress, it's so fancy with the pattern and the gros grain ribbon sash. It's sleeveless so I put my long sleeved cardigan on. 

Week in the Yorkshire Dales - Days 1 and 2

Lee and I were away in the Yorkshire Dales at the beginning of October. We booked a week in this cottage in Aysgarth, which I would utterly recommend as it was really lovely and cosy. We set off on Satirday 7th October, took the cat to my grandma's and stopped for lunch on the way, then stopped at Morrisons in Ripon to buy shopping for the week. We really like to cook when we're away on holiday and had a list of meals to make.

We arrived at the cottage at just before 3pm and unpacked everything. It is a cottage for two people but it was spacious enough. In the living room was a big sofa and a chair, and the bed was king size, which gave us both room. There was also a huge corner bath which I'd prepared for by buying a bunch of Lush bath bombs. So the first thing I did was have a bath! I never have a bath at home as our bath is tiny, so it was a luxury to have one.

After my bath Lee had one too and thn we both got into our pyjamas to relax for the rest of the day. We've both been quite stressed and ill recently so to have time to just do nothing was just lovely.

On Sunday Lee's mam and stepdad came down from Durham to have Sunday lunch with us in the village pub. I've got separate photos for that so I'll do a different post, but it was lovely to see them. Once they'd gone we again got into our pyjamas and watched films for the afternoon. I'd taken a bunch of candles and having them lit really added to the cosiness of the place. In the evening we had "bits" to eat, eg lots of yummy delicious things. We had also made some Malteser cake to take away with us so we had that for pudding.

Anyway, here's a few photos of the first couple of days:

This was the tiny and very cute back garden with the hills of Wensleydale in the background. We didn't have great weather so couldn't use the garden, but there was a table and chairs if we had had better weather!

Malteser cake. This is the recipe, it's an Australian recipe and I don't know what "chocolate ripple" biscuits are, so we use Maryland chocolate chip cookies instead

On Saturday evening we had this salted caramel cheesecake from Morrisons, it was yummy

The candles on the right were shaped like little houses, my friend Sam bought them for me for Christmas ages ago and I finally used them. They were cute. The tealight is a Yankee Candle one

Here was the table laden with "bits". What does your family call this kind of snacky buffet meal? 

What I Wore 5th October

I bought this top when I went to Meadowhall to meet Laura, Rebecca, Georgina and Alfie. As I said, Laura and Becks and I went to Simply Be first. I tried on a few bits but this was the only one I really liked. It was £12 in the sale which I thought was reasonable. I wore it for work a week later, it's a perfect top for work and it was good for the temperature when I left the house. You can't see it overly clearly but the stripes are a royal blue and the top is white. I'll definitely be wearing this for work again.

Lee snapped this photo when I got home, I was absolutely knackered and wanted to get my pyjamas on dead quick!