#BEDN {the end}

It's the last post in #BEDN. I have quite enjoyed blogging more than usual and I think I might just keep it up.

Today's topic 'the end' ...here's going it's the end of my cold virus and I'm well in the morning.

A x

{My posts over the last few days have been awful, I'm sorry.I've felt awful, the cold virus floors me and I just need rest but I get very little respite. The Mr working nights, asleep most of the day and no-one to mind littlest...Thankfully she knew I was unwell and happily played Lego today, she did ask why I wasn't 'big funny' when I was trying to laugh...bless!}...

#BEDN {my Christmas wish list}

Can you believe that there is only one more post, after this one, of #BEDN! Probably what's more unbelievable is that I've kept up!

I had plans of writing an actual gift with list of things such as new leather gloves, earrings, links to delicious Hotel Chocolat goodies {which I'll never get anyway} but after all the fun of Christmas Day is over all I really really want is a long lie... to lie in my bed for as long as I desire to! But the reality is I'm more likely to get leather gloves and Hotel Chocolat than a long lie {which translates to, I'll get neither, Ok I'm confusing myself now}.

I'm still quite poorly with the cold and I'm about to go to bed after I post this. I do hope I wake up tomorrow without a runny nose {or a blocked one}.

Goodnight, see you for the last post of #BEDN tomorrow!

A.......chooo! x

#BEDN {the great outdoors}

My great outdoors trip today was to Glasgow Fort for some Christmas shopping. The Mr was at home with the littlest so I had the opportunity for some me time, eventhough I still feel pretty rubbish with the cold!

Boots had a points event on, so I earnt £12 of points as I spent over £50! Most of tonight's shopping was for my big girl, although I did manage to buy myself a new foundation brush and this from benefit!

I tried on this beautiful ring, I've had my eye on it for such a long time... one day! I opted for a Starbucks Orange Mocha instead.

Chisholm Hunter

I do love shopping at Glasgow Fort, it's open until 10pm every weeknight and from 16th - 23rd December it's open until Midnight!

A x

#BEDN {yes moments}

I'm feeling pretty under the weather today... the cold virus strikes again...

Today has been a day of 'yes moments'...

Would you like lemsip max strength capsules?  Yes
Would you like to drink wine after your 11 hour shift at work? Yes

I'll be fine after a sleep.

A x

#BEDN {home sweet home}

...there's no place like home, there's no place like home {I really do need those red glittery shoes!}. No matter where I am in the world, or whatever fancy hotel I go to there really is no place like home. It's the place I feel most comfortable {and sometimes most stressed when it's very untidy}.

We've stayed here nearly 4 years and for a long time {as it was a new build} we lived with magnolia walls. We've lately been adding lots of colour to brighten the place and you'll see in my kitchen that I mean LOTS of colour... here's some of my favourite places and things at home.

breakfast time with the littlest this morning 

{scrambled egg and toast btw}... 

in the background you'll see my 'feed me now please' print. 

I created this image when I was at City of Glasgow College 

studying Graphic Design & Visual Communication and it was 

part of my Typography Unit. I ate the toast and

 pasta shapes for my lunch after I photographed it.

I love my colourful prints and the best thing... 

I can change them whenever I desire!

pops of colour, I have a bright orange kettle and toaster 

{really wanted a pink one but couldn't find one I liked}, 

some new festive dried fruit and cinnamon sticks 

{that I bought at the Christmas Craft Fare at the weekend}

 in a sex pistols cup and saucer {that's my big girls}

more colour! we had to wait months and months for these 

coloured chairs to come into stock at John Lewis 

{there's a green one too out of the picture}, 

they really brighten the room.

my living room... we recently got a new 4 seater 

sofa and statement chair {that's mine!}, 

we also replaced the carpets with some lovely grey oak wood flooring,

 it's so much easier to keep clean {we had cream carpets before!} 

now we have a huge polka dot rug

my office area and were all my #Postcircle takes place!

I love hearts, this one is on the cloakroom door.

now I have a thing for clocks, there might just be one in each room. 

This one I designed and had the design printed on to foamex 

and then I attached the clock fittings but it's not just any 

regular clock, oh no siree.. it's a backwards clock! 

Yep, you read correctly it goes backwards... 

and the reason why is revealed in the next photo

the clock is at the top hallway and when you look in the mirror, 

to check yourself out before you go out, then you see the correct 

time in the mirror. It was one of my genius moments that 

the Mr at first just shook his head at and thought 

I had gone slightly mad... 

obviously until it all came together perfectly!

SUPERHEROES! I love them! I think my favourite is 

actually Batman but I've not found the perfect Batman 

graphic just yet. Spiderman however sits in the top

 hallway just outside my bedroom door.

Superman, now he's above my bed.

you'll have noticed by now that I do love my wall art and 

apart from the Superheroes it's all designed by me. 

This wallart is in the family bathroom and is 

inspired by The Beatles past masters cover.

this wall art is in the ensuite, it says 

'don't forget to smile but brush your teeth first'

this wall art is in the downstairs loo, it's huge... 

the size of the whole wall... it's a bit quirky, 

still not 100% sure I like it so it may come down 

next year and be replaced with something else.

the last place I'll share is the littlest room. 

I made this cloud mobile when she was just McBump in my tummy. 

We call it 'the twinkles', I love how it hangs from the 

sun ceiling lamp and the clouds gently move and spin and smile.. 

there's rainbow twinkle, heart twinkle and star twinkle 

{glow in the dark stars hang from this one}. 

You'll spot another clock in the background... 

this was an clock I used to have in the kitchen and I put 

Ikea finger puppets on the spikes to 

create a fun clock for the littlest room.

We are about to embark on a huge declutter as we're planning a garage conversion, we also have far too much stuff. I need to be ruthless and just look through everything. Starting with my clothes! I have a wardrobe that I can supposedly walk into... I do remember being able to do that for a few months when we moved in! Time to clear out!

A x

#BEDN {till Christmas}

I think I am in shock at how quickly Christmas has come around. I might still be in denial that December is around the corner... my brain is confused as we're just back from our Summer holiday!

We have a few Christmas traditions here, the children {three of them} each get a present to open on Christmas Eve... it's always new PJs! I think this year I'll mix it up and do something different and make a Christmas Eve box. I read about this somewhere on a blog and I can't remember where, but it was a fab idea... the box will still include PJs but some little extras too. Maybe a facemask, Christmas candle and some chocolate treat for the big girl... PJs, a treat and a book about Christmas for the littlest... PJ bottoms and... and... Ok I'm lost for ideas for my Son {send ideas please, he's 22}.

I'd like to start some new traditions at Christmas so let me know what yours are?

A x

#BEDN {motivations}

I need motivation! If anyone has any spare then please pass it along...

I really need to lose weight. It's not crept on overnight, I see it there... although I try not to look in a full length mirror!  Ideally I need to lose 5 stone, yes 5! Sometime back I signed up for Weight Watchers online {as I can't commit to a weekly class due to our work rotas} and I lost nearly 1 and a half stone within the 3 months! It was simple to follow, although the constant adding in what you ate took some getting used to. But once I got into the diet it was simple to follow and seeing the results made you motivated! 

Once my 3 months was up I didn't renew as we were about to go on an all inclusive holiday, then it was Christmas time {excuses, excuses} then not too long after that I had some stomach problems... I could have still dieted but I couldn't exercise and I do like the two to go hand in hand.  I've since had surgery for the problems and all is well, health wise now. But the surgery has left me with a not too pretty tummy that seriously needs fixed! {why couldn't they have taken away the skin when they removed / repaired my stomach wall?}... anyway, I have now put on the weight that I originally lost with Weight Watchers! So I'm back at the beginning.

I shake my head when I think back to how I was always so so slim and now I'm a size 18/20. So tomorrow I need motivations to kick start my weight loss... please send your tips this way and if I post photos of bad treats on my Twitter or Facebook then feel free to shout at me!

A x

#BEDN {date night}

Sorry...a late post!

When I had saw this title I thought it fitted in well...still on annual leave and the Mr would be at home on Saturday evening. I had thoughts of making a nice meal, watching a movie...I even had some popcorn!

The reality...the Mr has been loaded with cold since we returned from holiday and yesterday I had all day headache. After a quick dinner I totally zonked on the sofa but thankfully when I woke up after 10 pm the headache had lifted {although it's today}.

But talking of date nights, we don't get many at all. We do go out for a lot meals and a few hotels but they are jobs..I'm a assessor {my third job}. But we rarely get to go on a date...overnight baby sitters are in short supply, as who wants to go out a night the town get up at 7 am the next day?

One of my New Year resolutions is to make more time for the Mr and I, if can't get on a date then we have a date night home!

Do you have date nights at home? I really think staying in is the new going out... no taxis, sore feet or a cold journey home!

A x

#BEDN {leaving on a jet plane}

I've just returned from Tenerife, Los Gigantes {on Tuesday evening}, it was a lovely holiday. We stayed at the Laubay Los Gigantes Hotel and it really did live up to it's 4 star status. The whole resort was spotless, I'd struggle to find fault to be honest.

We had emailed the hotel manager in advance and mentioned our room and room location preferences {we always do this, if you don't ask you don't get}, when holidaying with a toddler you do have some requests. We had read a lot of the rooms were over two levels and the littlest isn't that great with coming down stairs so one request was to have a one level room. The others: a quiet area, not too far from the restaurant areas and a sea view. We got it all, the photo above is taken from the room balcony {to the right side} we had a perfect sea view. It was a two room apartment with a shower and a bath. The living area {which my big girl claimed} had a sofa bed. The littlest slept with the Mr and I as our bed was huge and if she sleeps in a travel cot / bed she always ends up in with us {on holiday} anyway. There was a mini-bar in the room which was replenished every day {included in the all inclusive package}, this was great and I'll be looking for this option on all future holidays.

Talking of all inclusive... the food was great! We've been on a good few all inclusive holidays now and this time I've never seen such choice of food and it was ALL delicious. There was a dish to suit everyone. I even saw special sections catering for gluten free, diabetic dishes and soya dishes! As usual I ate far too much, although in my defence I ate loads of fish and vegetables. My usual meals consisted of toast and boiled egg with a slice of cheese for breakfast, with fruit. Lunch was baked potato with loads of salad side dishes and fish if that was on offer. Dinner was fish again or chicken and tonnes of different veggies.... yes and cakes... lots of desserts! Too scrummy to resist {although I did resist some days}. I was surprised that I only put on 2lbs!

What I loved about the dining areas were... table cloths, proper napkins, drinks served to you by the many many waiting staff. If you asked for water it came in small bottles, if you asked for wine you got a new bottle... you could also help yourself from the drinks station but the waiting staff were happy to serve you.

The pool areas also had snacking areas, I didn't eat from these but the food looked great and was all covered over and they had BBQs going on too! As normal ice-cream was served all day long, usually you'd help yourself to big tubs but no... here they served you individual sealed tubs! How fab! Everything felt so clean and hygienic!

We spent a lot of time at the {quiet} pool, it had a tiny little pool that was perfect for the littlest and she could happily sit in there, walk about, pretend to swim and play for ages. Right next to that was the big pool {I say big but in comparison to the main pool it was about a third of the size, yet it was still huge!}. It wasn't that busy at all and at some points during the day I was the only one in there! I do love swimming, I'm not great at it but I love it.

The entertainment at night was just what you'd expect. It was out of season so we didn't expect too much. There was a mini disco that started at 8.30pm, which I thought was a little late for a 'mini' disco as a lot of the kids were really young. This lasted around 30mins then there was a lot of nothing going on, kids dancing about {unattended} on the stage and generally running about then there was a nightly show. We missed the first night's magic show as we were really tired having been up since 5am. But we saw the Parrot Show, Snake Show {which I was dragged up on stage for!}, an Chinese Acrobatic Show, a {another} Magic Show, the Laubay Show, a Michael Jackson Tribute Show and a Queen Tribute Show... all not too bad. They finished around 10.15 each night and by that time the littlest had fallen asleep in our arms.

We didn't venture too far into Tenerife as we were there to relax. But on the days it was a bit cloudy we ventured into the shops. It's quite a steep walk! There wasn't that much going in the town, a few shops all selling the usual holiday things... fake designer bags, jewellery, clothes etc... My big girl bought a few nice things and I bought a lava stone bracelet.

We're back home now and back to reality and to healthy eating! One thing I noticed {more} on holiday is how uncomfortable I am with my weight and it's time to do something about it.

What's your favourite holiday location?

A x

#BEDN {world television day}

I can't lie, I hate the TV. I hate how it can consume you {someone} and they are lost for hours watching drivvle!

We have a huge TV in the living room and mostly all that shows is some Disney Channel for the littlest, she loves Sofia the First {OK, I do like that too}. We also have a TV in our bedroom, which has been switched on probably less than 10 times in the 3+ years we've stayed here.

I do watch some TV, namely:
Downton {If you don't watch this, then I think you are positively m.a.d}
Great British Bake Off {although it wasn't so good this year}
Sometimes I like to watch a film but I'm so picky!

But, apart from that I could really do without a TV.

I know TV shows shouldn't get you {or me} angry but I really can't stand ALL celebrity shows, reality TV, most American shows and game shows... my top HATES are: Deal or No Deal, I'm a Celebrity and Big Brother! If I see any of them on my TV I get mad and it has to be switched over straight away. No-one is allowed to watch these shows when I'm in the room {that's what the record button is for}!

What's your fav TV Show?7

A x

#BEDN {It's only fashion, baby}

Fashion... oh my, it's a subject I'm probably not qualified to chat about. A long time ago I was very fashion concious but now I don't have the time to keep up with the trends, although I wish I did.

As you'll know I've just returned from a holiday in Tenerife and my packing consisted of throwing last years holiday clothes in the case and not really think about a plan of what I'd wear each night! Oh Boy do I regret that! I felt like a total tramp on holiday. I've vowed that I'll never ever ever do that again! So I'll now be scouring the sales for holiday clothes, first on the list is a decent swimsuit {and I do love polka dots}, then beach / pool shoes. I do love the ones pictured {click the image to go to Polyvore for details on the items}... my beach / pool flip flops this year were an old pair of navy blue NIKE ones that once belonged to my Son {when he was in his early teens and was in the Glasgow Swimming Club}... how embarrassing!

So I've learnt my fashion disaster lesson by looking like a frumpy tramp all week! My red face was not sunburn!

A x

#BEDN {Newsflash}

I'm hoping that I've not seen the news yet {as I'm travelling back from my holiday}.. so my newsflash is: I'm home today!!

A x

#BEDN {Anti Bullying Week}

Bullying comes in all shapes and forms, most people wouldn't even know their actions / words could be classed as being branded as a bully... it's a minefield!

When I was at primary school I was bullied, not in your typical pushed about the playground way but mentally. Some girls would decide that the whole class was not to talk to me and it was whispered all around and I'd be ignored by all for days. I never fitted in with anyone, I probably still don't. I was never what was classed as normal... I took ballet lessons, loved classical music {and pop music too}... I can't put my finger on it but I never felt part of a group and I always floated between friends, I to this day still don't have a best friend {apart from The Mr}.

Even in Senior School, the usual culprits picked on me, I remember walking to the bus stop and one girl {who I thought was a friend} just pounced on me to fight. She felt like it.. to feed her 'crowd' no doubt. Kids can be cruel and I think bullies are lacking in something and they are angry about it. It's not as simple as jealousy or anything like that as all us girl had the same things.

I stood up for myself, I never showed the bullies how it affected me. Probably back then it didn't bother me it's only now on reflection that I think how evil some people where. But it's in the past now.

If I could offer advise to anyone, simply be kind.. treat others how you'd expect to be treated. Life's too short.

A x

#BEDN {Relax}

Quite simply, I don't. {Although I am on holiday right now and I would like to think that I am fitting in some relaxing?!}.

Even when I'm chilling out I have a list in my head and thinking of so many things at the one time. I'd love to float and stare at the sky, to me that's relaxing.. weightless.

A x

#BEDN {Hobbies}

Where do I start. Mostly my list of hobbies will be what I'd love to do IF I had more free time, which I don't. But here's the list:

Writing - I do this most often: snail mail
Knitting - so many WIP
Crochet (learning) - I could crochet but I forgot!
Drawing - always doodling, need to find time to sketch more
Designing - always doing this
Photography - miss doing this
Baking and Cooking - this I do find time for
Travelling - when I can
Reading - never enough

A x

#BEDN {Favourite Folk}

The Mr... I often don't celebrate him enough and I should. I should shout out how great he is, for he is. He puts up with me, and believe me that's a task!

My Favourite!

#BEDN {Workspace}

This is my workspace in the office {yes it's the 29th Oct on my calendar as I've scheduled this post, I'm on the beach remember?}. My thoughts will be very distant from this desk space right now... but here it is, my hub. The place I eat far too much rubbish.. I graze! No doubt I'll be starting a diet on my return from holiday!

A x

#BEDN {World Kindness Day}

You'll know I love writing letters to my snail mail friends. I just love writing in general, it's so therapeutic!

I came across this wonderful project when I was searching for some snail mail inspiration and I was overwhelmed by it all. People's kindess in writing encouraging words to strangers and just how these words can help someone, even just a little.

Words can make your day {and sadly they can also ruin your day}. I think if we all took 5 minutes out of our busy days and wrote a letter to a stranger.. words to inspire, boost, encourage, give someone hope.. the world might just be a better place.

Try it.

Visit www.moreloveletters.com

A x

#BEDN {My Hometown}

I'm going on holiday today {I may have mentioned!}.  I've scheduled some posts for my BEDN challenge, so if you pop a message - I'll reply when I'm back next week x

I wrote about my hometown / village not so long ago, you'll find the link here.  I imagine it will be looking a lot duller than these photos but it's still a beautiful place.

A x

#BEDN {remembrance day}

I'm lost in thought for the brave...