My Top Five Books of 2013

As you probably know by now, I absolutely love to read, and 2013 gave me a fantastic opportunity to do just this, when I was asked to be a part of the brilliant Orchard Book Club.

As well as giving me justification to read lots of books, Orchard has provided me with some great opportunities.

I have been asked to beta read books for authors, which allows me to not only get my hands on stories before they are published, but I am also allowed, and encouraged even, to suggest changes and give my own opinions on how I think the story could be improved.

I am actually allowed to have some input in the stories the authors write.

Quite Fantastic!

I've also been lucky enough to interact with some fantastic authors, and have even had the privilege of meeting some - even sharing a pizza and a drink with one of my favourites.

What a fab day that was!

And then there are the Orchard Girls themselves, who are just fantastic and I class the ladies as some of my besties.

Regardless of how geeky we may be viewed, without our shared love of books I would never have met these lovely ladies.

And - contrary to popular belief - we do do more than just read, and we really, really do know how to have a good time.

And of course -  because of Orchard, I've been able to add quite a lot of fantastic books to my list of loves throughout 2013.

So here are some of my favourite reads from the past year - My Top Five - they are in no particular order - I couldn't rate them at all - they all deserve the number one spot in my opinion.

I have read way more books than this, and I really did struggle to come up with a top five, but I was very ruthless.

So - here it is:

Niedermayer & Hart

M J Johnson

This book is simply fantastic.

It is supernatural in it's own subtle way, and I loved every page of it.

I have featured this book in more detail on my blog (here) and although it is quite a long story, it really grips you and once you start reading, you really won't want to put it down.

Brilliant.

AngelFall

Susan Ee

I adore reading about anything supernatural - Vampires and Angels are right up there at the top of that list - so when my lovely friend suggested this book, I couldn't resist.

Angelfall wasn't a read-to-review book, I choose it simply because I wanted to read it.

The angels within this story are nothing like you're stereotypical, fluffy winged creations and are more muscular, more male and are a great deal more dangerous than any angel image I had in mind prior to reading.

I would recommend this to anyone, it really is a great read.

The follow up story World After is also amazing, and I read that book within a day.

This follows on immediately from Angelfall and is another definite must read in my opinion!

How To Catch Butterflies

Samantha Fontien

Samantha is an amazing lady, who I have had the absolute pleasure of meeting.

I have also beta read for her, and am currently working on her upcoming book Dragonflies, which is just fantastic!

I have posted about this book before and the follow up book "How To Catch Butterflies Part 2".

I love them both, but I chose this one to add to my top five list, rather than book two, simply because this was the story that initially introduced me to Samantha, her fantastic characters and her brilliant story writing abilities.

Eric Elmoor and The Gauntlet of Godric

Tommy Meyers

If you like all things Harry Potter and Hobbit-ish then you will love this book.  There are more to come in the series too - one very soon, which I have already been asked to beta read - *excited*!!

This book also features on my blog in more detail and it just had to feature in my top five list.

It is fantastic.

Inescapable

Amy Bartol

I had the pleasure of meeting Amy Bartol at a book signing event I attended recently in London (here), but hadn't read any of her books at that point.

Having noticed the feather on the front cover though, my supernatural radar was alerted and I just had to buy this and give it a whirl.

I wasn't dissapointed at all - another book filled with mystery, attraction, and the paranormal - I loved it.

Plus there's a whole host in this series, and I will be buying every single one.

As I said, it was very tough to choose only five of my favourites.

I really have read a lot of amazing books this year, and I want to take this opportunity to Thank the Orchard Girls - in particular Nicola, for getting me on board.

I owe you a lot lovely!

Here's to a lot more reading in 2014

Remembering The Good Stuff

It's almost time for the New Year celebrations to begin, and to be waving goodbye to 2013 and greeting 2014 with a big hello...and no doubt a big stinking hangover to boot.

And there's no doubt I'll have another set of New Year's resolutions that involve weight loss and going to the gym more often...just like every year.

Y A W N

How boring and predictable eh!!

So I've decided that this year, instead of just focusing on all of the things I want to change, whether they be about myself, my life in general, or where I want to go, it might be a really nice change to actually remember the nice things that do happen throughout the year.

And let's face it, no matter how much of a rubbish time we have, there are always those few little things stuck in between everything that really make us smile, but they kind of seem to get lost among the everyday mundane chores and tasks.

And then the New Year comes, we focus on all of the negativity that we remember, and decide that we need a major shake up and to change everything, so we make resolutions - again.

Maybe if the happy times were more prominently remembered, we wouldn't feel so down on ourselves.

It was my Dad's Very Soon To Be Wife that gave me this idea quite a few months ago to be honest, and I think it's a great way to remember the nice things that happen.

She wasn't particularly happy about reaching a milestone birthday, and a friend gave her a little glass jar filled with blank post it notes, and told her to focus not on hitting "the dreaded age", but to jot down all of the lovely things that happened during "that" year on the post in notes, and put them into the jar.

Then, on the eve of her next birthday, she was to sit back and re-look through everything great that had happened during the year she wasn't looking forward to.

Kind of a brilliant idea to put things into perspective isn't it.

It's easily adaptable to New Year too.

All you need is an empty jar and something to jazz it up a little bit.

Seeing as ribbon is something I have zilch of in my house, I found this lovely deep purple neck scarf from years ago, and used that.

My bow tying skills aren't the best, but hey-ho, I gave it a go.

Now, let those Good Times Roll & here's hoping I have a nice, post it note, great memory filled jar by this time next year.

I'll still no doubt plan to go to Slimming World every week and reach my weight loss target by February, and still, I'll aim to hit the gym four times a week or more, but, at least I'll have this lovely little way to remember all of the nice things that happened to me during 2014.

And it really does make a great, thoughtful, very inexpensive birthday gift too.

Happy Good Time Remembering

A Soap & Glory Christmas

 I have to admit it - I am well and truly shattered right now - I can literally hear my bed calling my name.

 I think Christmas has totally taken it out of me.

Well, I think it could be a combination of the Christmas Festivities and me partaking in my first gym session for...lets just say "for a while"...this morning.

Oh, and I have just braved Leeds shopping so that the Hubby could visit The TSHIRT STORE and buy something (or a few "somethings") for a night out tomorrow evening.

(They have a pritty good sale on some of their fab t-shirts too I must add - 50% off of a whole load of them)

So Yep - I am pooped.

But not pooped enough to stop me wanting to express my love over my fab little Christmas pressie to myself.

I know it's more than likely that every blogger in the country bought this lovely Soap and Glory "The Yule Monty" set just before Christmas - I mean, the offer Boots had it at made it very hard to resist - £27 rather than the RRP of £60...!!

I just love it so much and I wanted to share.

First there's the gorgeous, limited edition Jonathan Saunders bag that everything comes in.

Very lovely.

Very roomy.

Very versatile.

Inside there were a whole host of full sized Soap & Glory bath and body products, including a body scrub, a beautiful body butter, a mascara and a plumping lip gloss to name just a few.

I couldn't wait to get stuck into everything, and my first "try outs" were the Body Scrub and the thick, luxurious body butter.

This body scrub is exactly what my skin was crying out for if I'm honest.

My knees and elbows in particular suffer from being really dry, and they really need a lot of  time putting into making them un-flakey.

Time which I very often, can't be bothered investing.

But after one use of The Scrub Of Your Life, these problems didn't seem such problems anymore.

Dry skin - be gone!

The rest of my body felt great too - I could really tell that all the nasty dead skin had been rubbed away, leaving behind some really fresh feeling skin, and all without any harshness at all - thanks to the little orange, beads inside

Great Stuff.

The Righteous Butter is just amazing too.

It smells great, and absorbs straight into the skin - no greasiness at all, and no worries about sitting down/putting clothes on for ages afterwards for fear of getting it all over the place either.

My skin even felt lovely and soft, and still smelt pretty good the day after too, proving that it really does soak deep into the skin and works it's moisturising magic properly.

I received this lovely Bright and Bubbly Fruitigo gift set for Christmas too from my sister, and I can't wait to test out all of the mini goodies inside of there too.

It's very easy to see why everyone loves a little bit of Soap & Glory.

They're certainly a firm favourite of mine

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This is a mega quick post just to wish everyone a very

! !MERRY CHRISTMAS! !

It's very safe to say, I have eaten way too much l-o-v-e-r-l-y food today - so much so in fact that I'm a tad scared I'm going to bust out of my Christmas Day Onesie any second now.

I seriously look about eight months pregnant at the moment, with my very own food baby!

But I'll think about the gym another day...right now...well I think I'll have another chocolate if you please.

Santa certainly came to my house last night, and he made an eight year old boy extremely happy.

Our living room resembled a wrapping paper factory post major explosion by 7am this morning.

Yep - we were up that early.

At 6.15 we were up and at the pressie stack already, but to be fair, it was almost a lot LOT earlier, when at 2am my said eight year old decided that then was the time to get up.

He was very swiftly put back to bed and luckily for me, he fell back asleep.

Until 6.15 that is.

Anyhow - it comes but once a year - so make sure you all continue to eat, drink and be very VERY Merry!!

HAVE FUN.

Christmas Eve

!Happy Christmas Eve Everyone!

It's certainly been a hectic few days for me.

I swore that I would be more organised this year and not do exactly what I ended up doing yesterday - dashing into town totally last minute in search of things on my son's Christmas list.

It was chaos.

But to be fair, it wasn't my fault.

A gift my son had asked for was being taken care of by someone else.

Or so I thought.

I found out a day ago that they hadn't actually been bought, and being one of the two things my son actually put on his list to Santa, I just couldn't face the disappointment come Christmas morning.

Hence my mad dash around every place I could think of that stocks books.

Pure Craziness!

But now I'm sorted, and I managed to find what I was after...plus a few more little bits...everything is now done and dusted.

*Breathe*

There's just the wrapping to begin....

But I'm not focusing on that right now, I'll tackle it later this evening I think.

Nothing like last minute eh.

But as I said, it's been a pritty hectic few days, and I've had no time to even pick up a piece of sellotape, let alone wrap a gift - or ten.

Part of this hecticness falls to attending my Pre-Christmas family meal at the weekend.

We always go out on the last Sunday before Christmas, to the same restaurant - Sandal Farm in Queensbury -  and I think it's probably been about twenty years, maybe more, that I've attended, so I'd say we have a little family tradition going on.

There's always a lovely four course Christmas meal to enjoy (I wolfed my Duck Liver Pate starter before I remembered I needed to photograph it - oops - but trust me, it was lovely), a little bit of a disco and an entertainer for the kiddies.

Santa comes too and gives the children a really nice, age appropriate gift.

Once upon a time it was me getting the gifts from Santa, but now it's my son's turn....

Yep - that makes me feel very, very old.

Anyway, I decided I would wear one of my cheap-as-chips £5 Primark dresses from my recent shopping splurge.

Photo apologies - there's a last minute shameless selfie and my 8 year old's photography skills!

I initially walked past this dress on the rail when I was shopping, assuming that at only £5 it just wouldn't fit properly.

On the way to the changing room, I grabbed it anyway just to "give it a try".

I'm so glad I did - the dress fit lovely and it was really flattering.

I did try a size up from what I am usually though, so this probably helped with the fit being so nice, but I marched right back to the rail and picked up another three, all in different patterns

£20 for four dresses - you can't say fairer than that!

For the meal, I teamed the dress with thick black tights and my little black, newly purchased New Look boots

So, after eating far too much food, it was time for home, and to slob out in front of the TV...which is pretty much the order of the day for the rest of my Christmas Eve.

Have Fun Everyone.

Enjoy

Bombardino From Lush

Having received a lovely Secret Santa gift from the equally lovely Hannah through Hayley's fab project recently, I decided that the LUSH bath bombs included in my gift (here) were sat a little too patiently in my bathroom, and really did need to be used.

I am a little behind the times when it comes to Lush I must admit.  I have only used one (I know - slap my wrist now!) of their fantastic bath bombs before and have only very, very recently ventured into one of their beautifully smelling stores for the first time!

Crazy aren't I - I have really been missing out!

So, last night, after a little trip into town - WHY I put myself though this torture on the last Saturday before Christmas I will never know - I figured that I should put my lack of Lushness to rights, and plopped this little fellow - Bombardino into my bath.

I mean he smelt so wonderful sitting in his little bag, how could I not.

Lush describe Bombardino as taking inspiration from "a drink traditionally made in the Italian Alps with eggnog, brandy and whipped cream" and I certainly understood this from using him.

Immediately he began frothing and fizzing away, and made a real little journey around the bath - the frothing obviously didn't want him to keep still at all.

Backwards and forwards he went, all whilst turning the bath water a really bright yellow colour - obviously the "eggnog" influence.

The top of the bath water was covered in a real creamy-like froth too which I took to represent the "whipped cream".

Hmmm...so just the "brandy" to add...I think I'll have to remember to include some of that next time (in a glass and not in the bath of course)...

Well I need to make sure I get the whole "Alpine drink" experience now don't I...  ;)

Bombardino just kept on and on fizzing and frothing - there was no stopping him!

Relaxing in the bath, I noticed a really subtle scent from the lemon oil that was infused within the bath bomb, but I wasn't overwhelmed by it to be honest.

The scent was much more prominent when this little fella was inside of his bag rather than in the bath, which I was a little bit dissapointed about to be honest, but my skin felt lovely and soft afterwards, which I'm thanking the cocoa butter within for, so I'll let him off for his lack of lemony-ness.

I was really curious about his eyes too, and was giddy to discover that they were chocolate drops!!

Which, very obviously, smelt fantastic...and...well...chocolaty!

Fab!

I just love all of the little extra surprises the Lush bath bombs throw out!

Christmas And A Wobbly Tummy?

I L-O-V-E all that Christmas has to offer - time with family, gifts, cosy days lazed on the sofa watching movie after movie, festive Christmas music played all day long...the time off of work...

 I love it all...but...I have to admit I do worry that I may go a little bit overboard, indulging in another of my 'Christmas Favourites' - eating lots and lots (and lots) of lovely, calorific food.

Y-U-M

I'm really quiet anxious though to be honest, that I'm either not going to fit into any of the new clothes I have just bought, or that I'll eat so much I'll have to be rolled back into work in January.

I do love food you see, but it kind of can become an issue - once I start eating it, there's just no stopping me.

Usually, in a 'normal' week, I follow a healthy eating plan - Slimming World is my 'diet' of choice - and I've followed it for about 6 years now, so I kind of know what to eat or to avoid to stop me pilling on too many pounds.

Don't get me wrong, I do have the odd day...or week...off and I do eat far too much chocolate (yum!), but on the whole I try to eat quite healthily.

Christmas has it's own set of rules though I'm afraid and it's because I really don't want to waddle back into work in the New Year that I am very pleased to have these sleek, shiny new scales in my possession.

These Ozeri Bathroom Scales are the perfect addition to my bathroom - they look stylish and very modern with their glass, glossy black finish.

The large number display is really easy to see and it lights up a very attractive LED blue colour, which has xBright technology - so the results are immediate and very clear to read.

 I found the scales really accurate too thanks to the four high precision GX sensors that are built in - so no more moving myself and the scales around the bathroom to find the spot where I weigh the least...

Yep, I really have done this before...numerous times.

Anyway, my crazy weighing habits aside, I liked that these scales were really easy to operate - a simple step on was all that was needed to activate them - no tapping them and waiting...and tapping them and waiting some more, thanks to their StepOn technology, the reading was ready straight away.

The only negative thing I found was that the scales operate in either kg or lb and not stones, which is what I'm used to using and gauging weight losses and gains on.

But I suppose if I dust my Maths head off, a conversion from lb to stones isn't all that complicated to work out at all, and it won't be something that puts me off using them that's for sure.

Fingers crossed that a sneaky weigh in with these every now and again over the festive season will help reign me and my greedy tummy in and help keep me away from the After Eights and Quality Streets a little bit.

Or at the very least they may just help to prepare me for the worst for when I tumble into my first Slimming Wold group of 2014.

Fingers crossed for an un-wobbilier tummy for 2014

*PR Item provided for honest review

The Graffiti Kings and The TSHIRT STORE - A Very Successful Saturday

It would seem that the TSHIRT STORE had quite a fantastic opening day on Saturday 14th December, after their very successful introduction into the retail world last Thursday (here).

Saturday 14th December saw thousands of people flock to the new flagship store in Leeds, situated on the ground floor of the Trinity Centre, all wanting to see the delights that the store has to offer.

Also on hand were world renowned Graffiti Kings who had agreed to a collaboration with the TSHIRT STORE to create a fantastic piece of art, live, within the Trinity Shopping Centre.

Naturally, this caused a massive buzz of excitement among the Christmas shoppers, who all wanted to hear more and see more of the Fairtrade, organic, street-clothing brand.

The Graffiti Kings (who were the official graffiti artists for the London Olympics) worked hard between 11am and 4pm, to totally transform a full wall opposite Trinity Kitchen.

The finished creation was a very impressive masterpiece and it really helped to bring a taste of the underground subculture to the people of Leeds.

Something very important to the TSHIRT STORE owners and staff.

But that's not all.

All of this week, the TSHIRT STORE are encouraging people to pop along and take pictures of the finished art work and then tweet them using the hashtag #snapandshare to @TSHIRTSTOREUK.

In return, tweeters will receive a 20% discount code to use against their first TSHIRT STORE purchases, both online or in store.

I've sampled all that the TSHIRT STORE has to offer, and it's definitely worth a pre-Christmas splurge.

Happy Shopping

Onesie Wonder

Onesie, Onesie Onesie.

The chilled out lounge wear craze that has seemingly taken over the world!

Well, OK, maybe nothing quite so dramatic as that, but they are definitely popular, and I'm sure one will appear on almost everyone's Christmas list this year.

I actually remember when onesies first hit the shops and became really popular, about a year ago - I wasn't convinced at all to be honest, and just associated them with baby-wear for grown-ups!

I certainly didn't want to own one.

Even my then seven year old refused to wear one, despite all of his friends having them.

(Independent soul he is).

But oh, how things can change.

In November, my son turned eight, and he was given a onesie as a gift from his Great-Auntie - and with her having great taste (she always buys fab pressie's!) it was a really fashionable one, and he absolutely loved it.

He even wore it to school recently for a "PJ Day" so he could show it off to all of his friends.

After a little bit of research, I found out that it came from F&F at Tesco and was a purse friendly £10.

Good stuff!

So, after seeing for myself how amazingly comfy these here onesies could be, I decided that I might just want to own one myself, and yes, I jumped on the "Baby-Wear For Adults Bandwagon".

I was given the perfect opportunity to get one too, when as a Thank You for entering a Christmas competition (here), Tesco allowed me to choose a gift from their F&F's Christmas Range.

Happy Days.

Naturally, I headed straight to the onesie section, and came across this fleecy, festive, cosy little number for a fantastic £12!

It is so comfy and soft - once it's on, it won't be coming off that's for sure - perfect lounging around the house all day wear.

And I suppose it could double up as a reindeer costume too, with its little antler detail...or maybe that's just my excuse so I can wear the cosy little thing as much as possible!!

I just have the Husband to "Onesie-Out" out now and we're all sorted.

Perfect Christmas Day Outfit's!

TShirt Store, Leeds - The New Flagship Store

I had the pleasure of receiving this brilliant invite - complete with iPhone case - through the post this week for the grand unveiling of the fab new "street" store hitting Leeds - The TShirt Store - which is situated on the ground floor of the Trinity Centre.

And last night was the event night.

Arriving fashionably late (that's unreliable, plan destroying trains for you!), myself and Kelly met the lovely Leeds ladies inside The TShirt Store, and were greeted with a glass (or two) of delicious fizz, a slice (or five) of amazing pizza from PizzaLuxe and some fantastic music from the fab in-store DJ.

Browsing the store, I found some amazing, uniquely designed t-shirts, all eye-catching, fun and fantastic.

I can definitely see the fashion conscious of Leeds making the TShirt Store their first port of call from here on in.

The student population of Leeds are never going to have been so nicely dressed.

My personal favourite Tee was this Skeletor number.

I just have to have it for the Hubby...it's right up his street...I think I'll treat him with it for Christmas.

All the t-shirts on offer, are made from the highest certified organic, fair-trade cotton, and it's very clear to see how extremely passionate the manager, and all of the staff are about the products, and in wanting to make the brand an even bigger success.

Staff were very friendly, welcoming, and keen to gather the ideas and thoughts of the customer, offering a real unique, personal service, and everyone felt included, and a real part of the evening.

On hand too, were Shackleton PR's - Chris Hughes, Nathan Brush and the lovely Lucy Baird who also helped welcome everybody, and then showcased the 2014 plans, ideas and concepts for the store - all of which sounded pritty fantastic to be honest.

As well as the fantastic t-shirts, there's also a great range of sweatshirts, hats, iPhone cases - even socks - to tempt you.

All are designed with the unique, individualistic, high quality concept in mind.

I think this cute little bird number needs to be mine - I love an over-sized sweater...and one as cute as this - well, what's not to want!

But this event wasn't the end of the all important week for this unique, flagship store - Oh No - tomorrow - Saturday 14th December - will see the store open it's doors to the fashionable public of Leeds for the very first time.

And to make sure the occasion is marked properly, and etched in people's minds for months to come, the world renowned Graffiti Kings will be on hand, producing an amazing piece of live art.

You don't get much more "unique" than that.

The Graffiti Kings will be stationed opposite Trinity Kitchen from 11am - 4pm creating their masterpiece...and being the official artists of the London Olympics...well...it's sure to be an absolutely spectacular piece of art.

And something not to be missed!

Plus, what's more, anyone who takes photographs of the art work in progress and tweets them to @TSHIRTSTOREUK using the hashtag #snapandshare will receive a very generous 10% off of their first purchase in store.

Trust me - you will be spoilt for choice, so the discount will come in very handy.

Make sure you pop along tomorrow and make The TShirt Store a must-stop part of your day.

You won't be dissapointed!