{#BEDM} five favourite posts

My five favourite posts are:

I'm a PostCircle Angel - I love being a part of PostCircle, I can say without doubt that I've made some lifelong friends being part of this great community.

{teapigs} matcha green tea - I love it! It has changed the way I feel and my health {for the better}! I a matcha shot daily. If you're feeling rundown then give it a go!

Home sweet home - I love my home, there really is no place like home... your own bed, your favourite cup / mug, lounging about... and relax.

Smitten Saturday - My village.  I love the walks, the animals you see each day... my little bit of heaven.

My Kiddos - I love them...


I hope you enjoyed my five favourite posts.

A x

{teapigs} matcha green tea

Hello, hello! Have you heard of matcha green tea, or more importantly teapigs matcha green tea? I was kindly sent a modern matcha kit to try it out for two weeks in January. Perfect as I was tackling this year with my new 14 goals in Twenty 14.

To give you a little snippet of matcha green tea, it's been shown to increase energy. It's also high in antioxidants and lots have seen benefits in their skin and also their performance when training.  It so versatile that it can be drunk hot or cold, in water or juice or in smoothies! You can also add it to your porridge or bake with it!  Gulp.. I was keen to try out this little pot of green goodness!

In the kit there was a 30g pot of matcha green tea {which you store in the fridge once opened}

A measuring spoon {little cute thing}

A teapigs shot glass

An electric hand held whisk

And a cute little badge!

teapigs matcha shot

I opted to take a shot each morning, so I measured out my half a spoon of match green tea {around 1g} and my shot glass of water and whisked {I did try this in the shot glass and it went everywhere, so the next day I whisked in a bigger glass then poured into the shot glass}. It didn't taste of anything much, just a mild taste of green tea and it wasn't unpleasant. I've been taking my shot each morning with breakfast without fail for two weeks.. how do I feel?

I do feel a little more refreshed, anyone who knows me will know how busy my lifestyle is... working full time, running a small business, three kids {make that four if you count the Mr}, lots of travelling and I'm a clean freak so always busy and I've not even mentioned my total obsession with #Postcircle.

Usually on my days off, the mornings will be hectic with laundry, cleaning, prepping dinners / lunches and also entertaining the little one with painting or playdoh or something creative {she takes after me, loves the arts}, by mid afternoon when we have a little chill out time I am usually zonked and can easily doze off when littlest naps. But since taking matcha I've not been flagging, I feel I can keep going for longer... ok by 7pm I'm ready for my bed, if only I could go! So I can relate to the increased energy, although it's not instantly obvious, you are most definitely not buzzing or high in any way. 

I've also been thinking about the benefits of matcha being high in antioxidants... Now I can catch a cold at the change of the weather, the change of season and sometimes I can catch the cold just by thinking about it and when I do, I suffer quite bad. In the past three months I've had two bad bouts... right now {touch wood}, I'm feeling fine so I am hoping that the high levels of antioxidants are working in keeping any germs at bay. I'm going to keep going with the matcha shot each morning for a while now and let's see if the cold arrives and if it does how it is compared to previous bouts!

I've not noticed any changes to my skin yet, but it is only two weeks in. 

One thing I really have noticed is... how to describe this... an inner calm? I'm quite a stressed out person {although in the public eye I might look calm and collected}, I am a born worrier. Lately, I've felt a kind of stillness inside and can quite happily just sit and collect my thoughts. Is this related to taking the matcha shot? Who knows, but I like it!

Have you tried matcha? I'd love to hear what you think. I'm going to keep going and I'll report back in another two weeks time!

Oh... this product won a slimmer award!! Here's hoping it helps my weightloss!

Thank you to teapigs who sent me the matcha kit to review. The review above is my honest opinion of the product.

teapigs {spiced winter red tea}

I was relaxing in sunny Tenerife when the lovely people at teapigs emailed and asked if I'd like to review their 'spiced winter red tea'... eventhough I may have been sipping a San Francisco Cocktail I emailed straight back to say yes! I've tried a few different varieties of teapigs tea before and have loved them all thus far!

The package arrived today, perfect timing as it was a chilly -4 outside! I so wished I could capture the scent and let you all smell it... think berries, cinnamon, snow angels, warmth, smiles, Christmas....yes all of that, it smelt delicious.

I {im}patiently waited the 3 minutes whilst the tea temple infused then it was time to hug my mug... whilst me and the littlest watched Beauty and the Beast {I love that film}. The tea didn't disappoint in anyway what so ever, I thought I might just have been blinded by the fact that it was a nice warm drink when it was so chilly outside so I had another cup just to be doubly sure...I love it!

It's not fruity {I'm not a big fan of fruit teas}, it's more a warm, soothing, lightly spicy tea. Perfect for this time of year. It would make a perfect gift for your favourite tea drinker. The Christmas Shops is now live on the teapigs website and there are some great gifts... some of my favourites are:

pick n' mix sample packs... this is a great way to try out the different varieties without buying the bigger boxes and it's a great price too. I might just be purchasing this for myself and to share with some of my Postcircle friends, I think we all love tea!

I have far too many cups / mugs but I love this afternoon tea for two gift set {Santa, are you reading this?}

Oh yummy festive teas how lovely you'd be in my stocking!!

And you can buy the spiced winter red tea here... 

A treat for all you lovely people... if you enter the code XMAS13 at checkout you'll get a whopping 20% off {excludes cheeky deals, mix & match and matcha kits}... code valid until the end of December! 

Well that's my cup empty {I may have had 5 cups of this delicious tea today but not to worry it's naturally caffeine free}...

Let me know if you try it and what you think?

A x

The lovely teapigs people sent me a box of spiced winter red tea to review. 

This review is my honest opinion of the product.  

Smitten {Matcha Style}

Can I just say... we're going on our haw-lee-days tomorrow morning! Just a little excited! OK, now I've got that out my system.. I'm linking up with Glasgow Mummy for Smitten Saturday, pop on over and join in!

The lovely people at teapigs sent me some Matcha Tea to sample for their #MatchaMay. When it arrived it looked very much not like tea... it was a green powder!  But an information booklet and note were provided and it explained the process for producing it AND the health benefits so I was looking forward to trying it!

There's lots of ways to serve your Matcha Tea but I opted for simply adding hot water and whisking until smooth. It was a dark green in colour and had a much stronger smell than normal green tea but it was really nice!! I don't think it's the type of tea were after a hard days work you'd rush home and make a cup to relax...I think for me it's more of drinking a cup with a main meal or early morning knowing the health benefits.

teapigs Match Tea

I am a huge fan of teapigs and I love their green tea with mint. I am considering buying some Matcha Tea as I imagine it will help me focus as I have such a busy lifestyle. It is quite expensive but when you break it down per cup it's not so bad. You can even add the powder to baking / cooking!! Take a look at the links and see how amazing this tea sounds! I still have some of my sample left, which I'll keep to kick off my healthy eating once I return from my {all inclusive} holiday in the sun {have I mentioned that yet?}

So there you have it.... I'm Smitten with teapigs, such a cool brand! If you pop over to www.teapigs.co.uk and use the code BLOGGERS12 you can get 15% off, you can also sign up for their newsletter!

Don't forget to check out Glasgow Mummy page and link up and tell us what you're Smitten with.