What I Wore February 17th

You've seen a lot of photos previously from the 17th of February because I joined in with Photo An Hour, but as I said in that post, Lee and I popped out for tea so this is what I wore to go out.

We had talked about going to the cinema to see Black Panther, but I had a really busy couple of weeks coming up so I didn't want to go out for too long. So we decided to just go to the pub at the top of our village. It's a chain one but it's a pretty decent standard of food, plus they do homemade chips that are like chip shop chips and are really nice. Plus it's cheap! We decided to go early, so got there about 6pm, although the place was already really busy!

I usually go for a hotdog or a burger but I was in the mood for something different, so I went for these chicken kebabs, with chips and pitta bread and yoghurt dressing. It was really yummy so I would get it again! Oh, we also had a cheesy garlic pizza bread to start with, which was nice too.

I wore my oldest Scarlett & Jo dress which I don't feel like I've worn in ages, it is still one of my favourites and I love the pattern on the dress. It's held up better than some of my other S&J stuff too, I've found a few of their bits have gone bobbly when I haven't even worn them that much. This one hasn't, though!

I love the faded look of the flowers, so gorgeous

Really delicious tea!

Photo an Hour - February

I quite often join in with the Photo An Hour that is organised by Louisa and Jane, but don't always post the photos here. I join in on Instagram there, so you can follow me there to see more! But I managed to keep going all day on Saturday 17th February, so I thought I'd share my photos here.

I was cuddling in bed with Lee and the cat. She'd been fed when Lee had to go down to answer the door to a post person about an hour earlier than this

We've been working really hard on decluttering the house, most especially the bedroom at the moment, so this is us sorting out the soft toys that live on top of Lee's set of drawers

I had a shower just before lunchtime because I was feeling really grimy and disgusting

This very cute vintage dressing table set belonged to my dad's mum, my grandma who I never knew. I love it, I think it's so cute. It's been buried under a load of stuff, but now it's got pride of place on my chest of drawers

My nails! This is Mottle by Illamasqua and it is gorgeous! It has tons of black bits in it which adhered really nicely to my nails. I will definitely wear this again. Also, my nails haven't been this long since autumn 2016, it's ridiculous

Just after this I went up to the attic to do some writing. Yes, a lot of letters have rubbed off my keyboard

I was watching Superstore, which is a really fun comedy starring America Ferrera, I would recommend it

Lee was adjusting my new office chair. It's great, but the back needed moving slightly. 

The sunset was really gorgeous - grey and pink and purple and orange. I can often see a really nice sunset from the attic.

There's actually a gap of a couple of hours here as we went to the pub, but when we got back we started making a cheesecake ready for our lunch guests the next day.

And finally, I was upstairs watching TV and drinking this - it's really nice!

Trip to Batley

In the middle of February I went to The Mill in Batley. It's not too far away from where I grew up in Wakefield, and we used to go quite a bit when it first became a shopping centre. It used to be Skopos Mill, and it sold fabrics, so I think we even used to go there to buy fabric when I was little - my mum is a dressmaker so it was ideal. It became a shopping centre around twenty years ago maybe, along with some other old mills in the same area, which were made into flats. My dad was the quantity surveyor on some of the flats, so I always think of him when I drive past :)

The Mill has four floors in the main building, and a few shops outside. I noticed this time, too, that there's a new garden centre bit - I'll have to go in one of these days. I like to go and look round the Yankee Candle outlet and treat myself to some candles, and it's also the best place for me to buy shoes. There's a Pavers outlet and they have hundreds of shoes to choose from and do wide fit ones. I bought a pair of basic black shoes from there just before Christmas in 2016 which were so comfortable but which had started to fall apart, so I knew I needed to go back. I was trying to meet up with my friend Gillian and her baby, but Lily wasn't very well so Gillian couldn't go. I decided my need for shoes was great enough that I should just go by myself, so I went off pretty early on Wednesday morning.

I went right to the top of the mill to start with, to look at the Yankee Candle outlet first. I actually wasn't very impressed with their sale selection, although maybe it was just too far after the January sales. I like to buy the votive candles best, they burn for about fifteen hours so I can swap fragrance often and not get bored of them, but the outlet didn't have very many of them left. I got five for £5, though, and a little jar one.

Then I went for an early lunch in the cafe. There was barely anyone in there and the staff were really friendly. I had a really nice goats cheese and onion chutney panini, and sat reading my book while I ate and drank my coffee. Then I headed downstairs - I should say that the mill has escalators right up the middle and a huge lift for prams and wheelchairs, so it's easy for the vast majority of people to get around. I looked at shoes in Cotton Traders and then headed to Pavers. Oh, I think I had a mooch round the Peter Jones outlet too, because they sell nice things that you just never know if you need or not.

I ended up buying three pairs of shoes in Pavers. One is pretty much exactly the same as the pair I was replacing, one is the same brand but patent and a little bit smarter, for work, and then I bought a pair of boots because I've been after some black boots for ages but couldn't find any in wide fit for my feet. They're all leather so they're good quality and should last.

Lastly I went into The Works and bought some things for a swap that I'm doing soon, and a Star Wars book. I didn't think Lee would be very interested in it but he's ended up picking it up before me!

The Mill is a really nice shopping place and I'd recommend it if you're in the area.

I took some photos:

My delicious lunch. It was cheap, too!

The patent shoes. The brand is Loretta I think

These are the shoes very like the ones I was replacing. They're so comfortable and easy to slip on and off.

And these are my boots! They have a zip on the inside which is good for getting them on and off. They're kind of like Chelsea boots but mixed with brogues?! Lovely.

And finally here's the candles I bought. The spiced orange candles are so yummy. I like orange fragrances a lot. I've had the vanilla lime ones before, too. The shea butter smelt nice, and the little jar is wild mint which smells amazing!

Food of the week - beginning of February

As previously, we had some really delicious food at the beginning of February and I thought I'd share photos. I often find it very difficult to know what I want to eat. Lee does most of the shopping and cooking, but we were getting stuck in a rut of eating the same things. I've been trying really hard for the past few months to think of new things I want to eat and to help preparing it. Lee and I have a spreadsheet for recipes that we can dip into when we need to, and we've got into the habit of chatting late on a Sunday night about things we might want to eat that week.

Lee works from home two days a week which means that he's on hand if we want to bake anything that takes a little bit more time, like roast potatoes. That has really helped us over the past year and a half with making food. I like to eat vegetarian a couple of times a week just because. Lee doesn't eat red meat or pork, so we tend to eat chicken or vegetarian anyway. Saying that, I did have a really yummy steak on Valentine's Day. We don't really celebrate it, but I popped into Tesco and got a meal deal for £20 which turned out to be excellent - it was two mains, two sides, and a dessert, plus wine, for £20. I got champagne! Which was £14 by itself - ridiculous! But it was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Anyway, the same week as Valentine's we had these two things:

I only came up with this recently but it's SO delicious. It's roast turkey, and stuffing, in a sandwich. We roasted some potatoes to go with, and had gravy. The sandwiches are moist and delicious and yummy. I would also like to try this with some kind of vegetarian roast instead of the meat.

We often make salmon and broccoli pasta but I saw a recipe for a bake, made with a white sauce in. It was really good! We put cheese on top. Lee, who doesn't like either white sauce or cheese particularly much, really liked this. I would hundred percent make it again. It was this recipe. 

It was Shrove Tuesday so we had pancakes for pudding. We bought a jar of chocolate sauce from the local shop which you just heated up in the microwave and poured over. It was really nice and easy.

Hah and here's just a cute picture of the cat. She conquered the washing basket!

What I Wore February 10th

As I said previously, we headed to Glossop to see friends at the beginning of February and I made a bit of an effort with my outfit and face, so here's a post about them.

We recently sorted out our whole bedroom, getting rid of my dressing table and replacing it with a chest of drawers in order to have more storage space. We went through all of my clothes, which meant that I rediscovered loads of old favourites that I really want to wear again. I also bought myself some acrylic storage for make up, so I can now see my make up much more clearly, which has made me determined to wear more of it. Hang on, let me show you the new storage solutions! (Do I sound like a proper professional blogger now?)

There are three different sets here - the thing that holds brushes, the thing that has nail stuff and cotton wool pads in it, and then the bigger unit towards the back, which actually comes in three parts. There's big drawers on the bottom holding palettes, smaller drawers in the middle holding blushers, compacts, and little eyeshadows, and the thing on top which holds lipsticks, mascaras, and a few other bits. I'm totally in love with this set up! I may get another of the bigger units at some point, but at the moment it works really well. I LOVE being able to see everything. I went through all my make up and binned a load of old stuff, and my mum bought me a few nice new bits for my birthday.

On the left is this see through box which holds all my hair clips/combs etc, and the dry shampoo in front of it which I don't use often but when I do I like to have it close at hand! Then there's a kitchen roll holder which I use to hold bangles on. I may move these at some point to next to the rest of my jewellery, but that's a work in progress at the moment

The drawers themselves. They were from Argos and have five big drawers and two small ones. I now have a whole drawer for knickers, a who drawer for bras, and a whole drawer for my comfy round the house clothes! It's amazing.

Anyway, I got rid of some clothes while we were going through them. Some I put aside to take to the March clothes swap in Sheffield, but some I put on eBay to try to make some money off them. Last time I did this they did really well so I'm hoping this lot will too. I found this netting skirt from Scarlett and Jo which I think I've only worn once before (despite loving it) and this t-shirt with an old school tattoo print on, so I paired them together and put my black cardigan over the top. Lee took my outfit photo when we got back and I think I look pretty terrible, but I thought I'd share the photo anyway. I liked this outfit, I felt pretty badass!

All in black which is unusual for me!

A better view of the skirt.

Because it was so cold I actually dried my hair, and was pretty pleased with how it looked. I finally feel like I like my hair again after about a year of hating it. I'm starting to go grey at the temple but I like it!

Ready to go out - my lipstick is from Illamasqua and is really dark. I love it! I could've used more blusher I think, but I kept it and my eyeshadow light

And here's Lee and I in the pub!

Trip to Glossop

Near the beginning of February Lee and I went to Glossop to meet up with Amy and Mike for food. We hadn't seen them in ages and one of the things I want to do in 2018 is get out more at the weekends to do fun things, and I'd also like to see some people more often as I feel like there's tons of my friends that I haven't seen in ages. So I'd messaged Amy and asked if we should meet at The Globe. It's about equidistant between our house in Barnsley and theirs in Manchester, and as Amy's vegan it's perfect because all the food there is vegan.

Lee and I try to eat vegetarian fairly often and sometimes go full vegan, but we both definitely like vegan food like this. We went there with Amy and Mike but it's about three years ago, so I was really excited to go again. We got there about 6pm, and managed to get a table. There aren't tons of tables and they don't take bookings, so you can end up waiting a while for a table, but it's worth it. We were lucky and didn't have to wait, but that's the beauty of getting there early. 

We ordered separately from Amy and Mike and the food came staggered, which was a bit of a shame but none of us minded too much. I had pitta bread and hummus to start with. The hummus was homemade and absolutely gorgeous - it wasn't too liquidy and had a real chilli kick to it. I really must make my own hummus one of these days. I forgot to take a picture of it though! Lee had a hotdog roll, which comes deep fried and which costs only £1.40, total bargain.

Then I had chickpea and spinach curry with tofu, with rice. We shared an order of chips and I had some vegan mayonnaise which was really yummy - I couldn't have told you it wasn't made with eggs. The curry was pleasingly spicy and the tofu was really good. The chips are homemade and honestly they're a reason to visit in themselves - chips like mum used to make!

Lee had sausage, chips, and onion gravy, which he was really pleased with. They have about fifteen main courses, including curry and chilli, and quite a few different sides dishes. It's really cheap - a main course is between £4 and £5 and really, really delicious. Perfect for vegan friends but also if you're new to vegan food!

For dessert Lee and I both had chocolate cake and ice "cream" - all also fully vegan. Lee had mint chocolate ice cream and I had Death By Chocolate which was so yummy. Desserts are around £3.50. Oh, they also have some vegan and vegetarian wines which are clearly labelled and not too expensive. I had a nice bottle of Prosecco all to myself.

We were there for ages just chatting, it was a lovely time and we'll have to do it again soon!

Chickpea and spinach curry - I'm pretty sure I had this last time but it's so good. The rice is nicely spiced too. Their boiled rice is gluten free, it said on the menu

Chips, and the vegan mayo just seen on the right

Chocolate cake and ice cream. Delish!

Day out in Sheffield

At the beginning of February I had plans with two friends in Sheffield, so I set off around ten thirty because I had an errand to run on the way. I'd got dressed and put some make up on, which isn't something I always do, but I went with an uber bright lipstick and a neutral eye. It was freezing out, even though it was really sunny, which fooled me because I didn't bother to put my coat on when I got out of the car!

I drove down to Meersbrook to meet my friend Pippa for lunch. We went to Make No Bones, which is a vegan restaurant that also has gluten free options. Pippa's been before but I never have, so we had made plans to meet up. It's forever since we saw each other so it was really lovely to catch up. All the food is freshly cooked and served by enthusiastic and friendly staff. The menu was really varied and I honestly would have liked to try most of the dishes. I'll have to go back I guess! I went for mushroom arancini because arancini are one of my favourite things ever, and for poutine, because I've never tried it and I wanted to. Both were really good - salty, fresh, and yummy.

I would have liked to try a dessert but I knew I was meeting Laura so didn't have one. Next time, though! Pippa and I had some really good conversations and we really will have to get together again soon.

We said goodbye just before 3pm and I drove to Meadowhall. It wasn't too busy when I arrived so I parked really close and went in by Paperchase. Laura and I had planned to go to the new Godiva cafe in the Oasis - well, it's really just on the outside of it. It's new, it used to be two shops, but now there's plenty of tables as well as a big counter. They have sandwiches, and breakfast food, and chocolate fondue, and chocolate afternoon tea, as well as lots of different types of hot chocolate and cakes! Laura had been before, but I hadn't. I'll definitely go again though - I know my mum wants to go!

I had a chocolate mousse cake and a small hot chocolate taster. Then because I liked the hot chocolate so much I had a bigger one. It was salted caramel and it came with a chocolate basket and salted caramel popcorn. I would recommend it all, but the hot chocolate is really nice - really thick and sauce like.

Laura and I spent ages chatting, which again was lovely. The cafe was pretty busy which was good, but we didn't feel like we were being rushed out of there. I would like to go back for lunch sometime soon.

I did of course takes photos:

My face! Foundation is from the Body Shop, lipstick is from Barry M

Poutine! What this photo doesn't show is all the delicious gravy underneath

Arancini - they were crispy and stodgy and amazing

My mini hot chocolate

Chocolate mousse cake and a tiny Godiva chocolate - these desserts look so special but don't cost the earth

Finally, my salted caramel hot chocolate with chocolate basket and popcorn :)