Winter Primark Haul | December 2012

I can't quite get over how good Primark is at the moment, I've been absolutely loving their winter stock and there's so many cosy jumpers that I could snatch up, plus I've had my first taste of a 'midi dress' from Primark and stocked up on them so now I'm all sorted for outfits over the next few weeks of festivity. A lot of people have been saying that Primark prices have increased and it's not 'cheap' anymore but I don't think that a single thing I bought was over-priced or expensive at all, everything was extremely good value for money in my opinion.

 

The items below are what I bought on a visit to Liverpool to last weekend:

Sheer Maxi Dress: £14

This dress doesn't look very sheer on the picture, but it is and it has built in shorts/knickers at the top so obviously you don't have the problem of your underwear being on show. I thought this skirt was a bargain for £14 and is extremely nice for Primark - it has two slits going all the way up the front of it, is an amazing colour and I like the belt that came with it too! I wore this skirt on my birthday night out and got lots of compliments on it - I love it so much. 

Both of these midi dresses cost £10.00 each and I'm looking forward to wearing them on nights out over the next few weeks. The grey one is extremely fitted and makes me feel like I daren't breathe in it and it shows every single lump and bump.. but as long as you're having a good body day it's very flattering! The black one is a lot easier to wear because it's looser and a stretchier jersey material so gives you room to move and breathe! I think both of these dress will be pretty timeless and can be worn again and again so were a good staple purchase for just a tenner each!

 

Striped Knitted Jumper: £10

 

Dipped Hem Fox Print Shirt: £6

I saw this shirt in a recent Primark haul video by Kate (Dolly Bow Bow) and thought 'Ooo that's cute' but when she said that it was only £6.00 I just knew that I had to have it! It took me a while to rummage around and find but I finally did and I'm glad I spent the time looking for it. Such a lovely little bargain shirt for every day casual wear.

 

Slouchy Jersey Top (White): £6

Slouchy Jersey Top (Blue): £6





Bobble Hat: £3

Definitely a winter essential! It's been so cold recently that I can't leave the house without a hat on.. plus it's good for covering up bad hair days. For £3.00 everybody should have one.

Scull Scarf: £3

Necklace: £4

 

Primark is absolutely manic at the moment with Christmas shoppers rampaging everywhere, but if you can bear the crowds then get yourself down there ASAP because there are some bargain gems just waiting to be found!

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Weekend in Liverpool: Michael McIntyre Live Arena Tour

I hope you all had a very good weekend and are enjoying your week - only 4 weeks til Christmas! Despite being almost 20, I am definitely still like an excited small child around the festive season with my daily countdown and extreme love for all things Christmas related! I had one of the best weekends that I've had in a reaaally long time and have decided to share it with you all, hope you enjoy..

 

For my boyfriend's 19th birthday present (in August!) I booked two tickets to see Michael McIntyre's 'Show Time' arena tour and an overnight stay in the Novotel Hotel in Liverpool city centre. We stayed in the Novotel last year and both absolutely loved it and enjoyed the luxury of a pricey 'executive' hotel room so I thought it would be a nice idea to take a trip down memory lane and stay there again, and also it's best to stick with what you know sometimes - I didn't want to risk picking a hotel that turned out not to be so great so played it safe. The hotel was just as amazing as we both remembered it and is in a prime location; one minute walk from the shopping centre and about five minutes to the Albert Docks and Echo Arena.

 

On the Friday we arrived, checked in and as it was only 4pm thought it would be the ideal time to hit Primark as maybe it would be quieter than Saturday morning and I was right, it was busy still.. but definitely bareable and gave me the chance to peacefully mooch around all three floors and spend a considerable sum of money... :D After treating ourselves to some Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a quick bite to eat we got ready and went to the Echo Arena. I was so excited for this! I tried to explain it to my friends as 'you know if you watch a comedian on telly and it's a bit like 'ha ha that was funny'.. well seeing them live definitely makes it a lot more like 'hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I can't breathe, oh now I'm crying!' kind of funny and I can safely say that there were lots of laughs, it was a brilliant show. We planned on having a couple of drinks in Concert Square when the show finished but we were both just too tired and all I wanted was to get warm and snuggle up in bed. We wandered back across the docks and through Liverpool One having a peek at the ice skating and just taking in all of the festivity and Christmas decorations - it was a lovely romantic little walk.

Waiting To Be Picked Up | Wheel On Albert Docks | Michael McIntyre | Novotel Bed

The Lovely Lad Himself | City Centre | Christmas Tree | Christmas Lights & Decorations

 

The next day we hit the shops about midday and my bank account took a beating ..oops! I'm not sorry though because I got myself lots of lovely new things and made a start on Christmas shopping. I happily bought myself a pair of new disco pants in navy by Glamorous that I found in Bank with a little bonus of 20% off everything in store that weekend! What wasn't so great was that Tulisa's big chavvy face was slapped on the front of the shopping bag and I had to carry it around all day. Then I spotted Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant and suggested that we went there for lunch but when we went in they told us it'd be a 45 minute wait and our tummies were rumbling so unfortunately we didn't get to try it out.



 Shopping | Buying Christmas Presents | Decorations in Liverpool One | Jamie Oliver's Italian

Instead of Jamie's Italian we instead went for lunch at Las Iguanas - somewhere that I have wanted to try out for a really long time and it definitely didn't disappoint! I got a beef 'big burrito' and John's was chicken and we shared quesadillas for a starter. The food was aaaabsolutely amazing and I'd happily go again and would now choose it over a Nandos any day. Lunch was my treat so when our waitress brought over the pin/card machine to pay she passed it straight to John and I had to embarass her by taking it back out of his hands right infront of her and opened my purse to get my card out. Don't be so stereotypical - girls can pay too!



John in Las Iguanas | Las Iguanas | Beef 'Big Burrito' | Enjoying My Lunch

 

When we arrived back home on Saturday evening we were each heading off for a night out with our friends as it was the weekend of an annual festival in my home town: The Dickensian Festival, where everybody basically dresses up in old fashioned clothes, drinks mulled wine and eats roasted chestnuts while browsing our own version of Christmas markets. The evening always promises to be a great night out because it's always so busy and I had a really good time with the girls. The next day was a typical Sunday for me with a cooked breakfast.. bacon fried egg and cheese bun - thanks John! A chill out day and then a lovely homemade roast dinner with apple crumble for dessert with John's family later on, finally topped off by watching the final episode of Prison Break and ending up a sobbing mess even though I've seen it before ..but it really is just so touching and emotional!

 

If that's not a good weekend then I don't know what is!

Super loved up and happy!

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'What I Got My Boyfriend For His Birthday'

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I know that this isn't in any way related to beauty, make-up, hair, fashion (ok, there is one item of clothing that I'm going to show) or anything else that my blog is typically about, but I am assuming that most of my readers are beautiful females and that a large chunk of you are likely to have a man in your life. In that case this post may actually be of some kind of use to you if perhaps you have a boyfriend/husband (or maybe even a brother) with a birthday or an anniversary coming up and you need some hints or ideas for what to get them.

I find buying gifts for males such a challenging task and for 19 years my dad and granddads have had to put up with a new book and a pair of socks from me on special occasions. Last August when my boyfriend turned 18 it had been the first chance I'd really had to go all out and treat him so I in in my full effort and filled a huge box with individually wrapped presents, each one numbered from 1-18. Some of these were just little things, 'stocking fillers' if you will, such a lottery tickets and a scratch card, a car air freshener, socks, boxers or a set of golf balls (golf is his passion), whereas others had a more meaningful background to them and had personal touches such as a DVD of the film that we watched on our first dates and a framed picture of us on a formal occasion (*I'm not trying to make anyone throw up by being overly soppy here!). Then there came the pricier gifts such as a new pair of trainers, a couple of Hollister tees and a bottle of Jagermeister - he did hit the legal drinking age after all - and while all of this was very fun and exciting it did mean that I had exhausted almost every gifting option on the first chance I got. Rookie mistake. Did I mention that I included a batch of homemade cookies that spelled out 'Happy 18th Birthday'?

Since then we've had Christmas 2011 and Valentines Day 2012 both of which have left me stumped for gift ideas and have settled quite boringly and unoriginally on just a new t-shirt or new jumper, often with a DVD or an Xbox game and some chocolates thrown in there too just to mix it up a bit.

So now here we again, one year on, and now my lovely lad is turning 19. Not a huge milestone or anything like that, but a birthday is a birthday and you want to celebrate it all the same. This time around I strayed away from the material gifts (slightly) and opted for something that was a little bit more of an experience - something that we could do and remember. So here is what I got him for us to celebrate him becoming another year older:

Moonpig Card

Everyone needs a card, and if you had a browse at my 'Instagram Diary of Marbella' post (link) then you are likely to recognise most of these pictures on the card. I got the extra large size as a bit of a novelty but it ended up coming to just less than £7 which is definitely more than I typically spend on a card.

Michael McIntyre Live Ticket

Something for us to do together. Something for us to remember. Something for us to get excited for. It means a road trip away to one of our favourite cities and something the promises (hopefully) to be fun and entertaining. There was a couple of other events that I could have chosen from but a lot of them were a long time in the future and this was the soonest one; two months from now, and we both enjoy Michael's humour anyway. When I showed this to my sister she was slightly confused why it said just '1x' on my DIY ticket and thought that I was making him go alone! I just meant to show that this was his ticket and I assure you that I bought a 2nd one for me to join him.

Friday Night Overnight Stay

Liverpool isn't miles and miles away from where we live, it's only about an hour and a half driving but staying over just saves the hassle of worrying about getting home late at night after the show finishes and also it means that we can blissfully spend the night in luxury and have a 'city day' on the Saturday to prolong the trip; perhaps go out somewhere fancy for breakfast and lunch with a splash of shopping in between.

Jack Wills Polo

Okay, I said I'd only slightly moved away from the materialistic gifts, ha. But what's a birthday without a new addition to your wardrobe? I do think that Jack Wills is over priced for what it is, especially when you aren't always getting what you pay for in terms of quality, but it is one of my boyfriend's favourite brands (thanks to my influence) and I picked this up in one of their sales so with some money off it did make the price a bit more reasonable.

In Time DVD

A DVD - how original and exciting - I know! We both buy each other a lot of DVDs and have filled up many of Blockbusters loyalty cards in the past, but we do spend quite a few rainy weeknights after work cuddled up and watching films while scoffing our faces with sweets, especially now that summer is bidding us farewell and the darker nights are soon to be creeping in. We saw this film at the cinema together and both LOVED  it - favourite film of the year without a doubt.

Chocolate, Sweets & Cake

Need I say more??

Also, his birthday isn't actually until Saturday which is two days from now, so I hope he doesn't see this before then and ruin the surprise ...not that he's a regular reader of my blog or anything!

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