Jurlique - A Skin Survival Trio

It seems I'm spending all of my time waiting for snow at the moment - or more accurately waiting for the news that potentially goes along with the arrival of snow...

~ Having a snow day ~

There's nothing quite like a "stay at home and don't come to work" day slotted in to the middle of a very mundane, run-of-the-mill kind of a week to totally make a person feel happy.

And for this, I do love snow

My skin however, does not feel this passion I occasionally have for the white stuff

Nope, not one little bit.

My skin does not love the snow at all

In particular, it does not love all of the blustery, gale-force, freezing, icy-ness that goes along with it's arrival.

It just ends up feeling all tight and dry and, well, very horrible and quite battered really.

All uncomfortable and unhealthy

~ Yak ~

Luckily for me, after having a rummage through some of my stashed beauty bits and bobs, I came across a cute little bag from Jurlique - which I was very kindly given during the brilliant BBloggers Meet up in Sheffield a little while ago (full details here).

I had never heard of the brand before - which isn't all too surprising for me if I'm honest - I have a total lack of knowledge around anything and everything "skincare".

I'm very happy and willing to learn though and was naturally very pleased when I came across these again and dragged them out of hiding.

Jurlique was first established when the joining of a German botanist and biochemist occurred, in the heart of an Australian hillside farm back in the 1980s.

Since this date, the brand has developed and continued their passions to find the purest, most natural skincare around.

And I don't feel short changed in the slightest.

My little trio of sample sized bottles has impressed me no end

I was particularly excited to try out the Antioxidant Face Oil I have to say.

Now this oils job is to smooth fine lines, improve skins' luminosity and deeply moisturise...

...how could I say no to that...

Once upon a time though, and not too long ago either, I didn't even realise oils for the face were a thing.

Or that they could be so brilliant...

I just assumed adding an oil to my face would automatically mean spot outbreaks, and that is 100% not the case
(well, not for me anyway)

After cleansing my face as usual, I followed the instructions (obviously!) and applied three drops of oil to my fingertips and warmed them a little by rubbing my hands together, then I gently patted the oil into my face

I couldn't put my finger on the scent of this, but it was very subtle and very rich and really very lovely.

The three little drops were more than enough, and the oil was absorbed into my skin in no time at all.

I did use this on it's own for the first night of testing, and when I woke up in the morning, honestly, my face was so smooth and silky - I couldn't stop touching it.

I really love this oil and want it to last forever and a day.

And because I decided to use the oil at bedtime, the perfect morning routine addition was the Rose Moisture Plus Moisturising Cream

...which is said to help with dehydration and reduce the signs of premature ageing

~ JACKPOT ~

But I'll be honest, the fact that this is rose scented kind of put me off of it a little bit.

I'm just not a floral scented products kind of a gal at all.

...but...

...that was before I had even opened it, and when I did I was very pleasantly surprised.

I applied a small amount of the cream to my fingertips, rubbed them together a little and again, patted the product all over my face.

The rose scent was extremely subtle, but was really...well...nice I suppose... it was all soothing and fresh - and I liked it a whole lot.

Once applied, my face was instantly oozing moisture and I even found that my make up applied much easier and quicker too.

~ Which is always a bonus ~

Now, the third product in this little collection of three came in the form of the slightly smaller sized tube of Recovery Night Cream, said to be responsible for restoring smoothness and improving elasticity

I used a pearl sized amount of this (ever an instruction follower), rubbed into fingertips and patted it into my skin - after I had applied the serum and just before clambering into bed...

It was brilliant

Again, I found this to be slightly floral, but not an overpowering scent at all and it totally just melted into my face.

I have used these products daily now for about two weeks, and the difference in my skin is amazing.

I haven't (touch wood!) had a spot appearance in all of this time, my skin looks so much healthier and it feels so soft all of the time.

I'm certainly a fan anyway

And although the full sized trio set would put me back £102 - which I know is really quite expensive (it is for me anyway) - I would (and am) really considering making the investment.

I really do love this stuff and know I will be more than a tad upset when it is gone

Thanks for popping into our goody bags Jurlique...I may never have discovered you otherwise

Now bring on that snow - my face is ready for it

*Beauty Event gift - all words, thoughts, pictures are 100% my own

A Lil' Bit of Hate....

This was not today's intended post, nor was it something that I ever even thought I would write about.

Hating

Yep - hating

A very small, minute "incident" occurred last night that got me to thinking about this subject a little bit.

It was a little "hating on me and my blog" kind of an incident to be exact

* s o b *

Now, I know I'm not destined to write novels and I know that my writing will never earn me mega-bucks but it is something that I really enjoy doing.

It is something that I have always enjoyed doing actually - writing, reading and managing to get the things swimming around in my head out into the world to make some sort of sense - it's fab.

Which naturally means that I love my blog and I often wonder why I didn't delve into starting one a lot earlier than I did.

(...probably because I was oblivious to the whole blogging world and it's existence if I'm honest...)

But anyway, as with all things, everyone has to start somewhere.

And with all new and never before experienced tasks, surely it's OK to not really have a clue what's going on; to not be the absolute best and to then want to strive to do better...

...well that's what I tell my son anyway...

(and this poster is stuck on the side of my fridge permanently because I want him to know that this is very much so OK...)

And this is what my blog is to me - something I have developed and still am developing all of the time.

Which suits me just fine.

~ I invested in a nice new camera to make my photographs look better

~ I have a lovely laptop now to try and edit posts more efficiently

~ I spend more time reading and re-reading the things that I write

...all in a bid to improve the posts from my "early days"...

...some of which are a tad cringe-worthy with rubbish quality photographs I'll openly admit.

But as I said, my blog is a developing, evolving, work-in-progress - and I like that.

So why am I telling you all of this today?

Well, as I was looking over some of the early-days posts (and picking them apart myself) I found one - not one of my best I'll admit - which related to my Hubby, and because he has now started a blog himself (here) he decided to share my post in one of his hobby groups on Facebook.

Now the post in question was a very short, very tongue in cheek view of something that I know nothing about really, but at the time, I wrote my own mini account of it.

It was just a small section of my opinion on a subject

Now the "problem" stemmed from the fact that the members of the group that the post went to certainly did know a great deal about the subject within the content of my post

And yep - cue some hate

~ My first taste of blogging hate ~

And it made me feel not so fantastic to be honest

One person totally ripped apart my post and then my blog and then made comments to the fact that I was "very condescending"

How can one comment from one person I don't even know, and will never meet, make me feel so bloomin' lousy?

It's crazy

But it did

How all of the "big" bloggers and YouTubers deal with things like this on mass scale I'll never know

But after a little mope, I put it all into perspective:

~ it was one of my first ever posts and certainly wasn't my best

~ the negativity was one bad comment from one person

~ and, when all is said and done, it was just someone's opinion after all

We are entitled to our own thoughts aren't we.

And then looking past this, a lot of people (a hell of a lot of people actually) in the very same group as that one person did understand my viewpoint, and did say nice things about the post and they did realise that I was just being quite sarcastic and not serious at all...

So why on earth did I focus on the negative so much?

By writing posts, I know that I put myself out there - the things I write and the opinions I have will never please everyone or match up with all of the opinions of the world, and that is how it should be.

Everyone is different after all

But by writing and expressing my own thoughts and opinions, I don't think myself, or anyone who does this, should feel that they must be accepting of nastiness from others either.

Yet we all do have a right to express how we feel...

I'd really like to think that there is a way for us to be able to do this though, without being hurtful or nasty...

Either that or I grow a thicker "I don't care" skin

Ted Baker - Faked To Perfection False Nails

! ! ! S N O W  D A Y ! ! !

~ Yay ~

After the fairly excited ripple of chatter that could be heard through my workplace yesterday regarding the potential of work-preventing snow descending upon us throughout the night, imagine my utter devastation (slightly dramatic!) when I woke up this morning to find the roads clear and the paths only spattered with a light icing-sugar type dusting of the white stuff.

No snow day after all.

Disheartened, I forgot about it and got on with my daily morning routine, but just as I was putting on my coat, getting ready to leave the house the message arrived...

...no work for me today...

Happy doesn't even cover it!

So I dropped my son off at school - which was fantastic to be able to do - popped to the shops (for snow-emergency milk and bread) and then it was home time.

On went the kettle and up went the feet.

I fully intended to relax to the maximum and thoroughly enjoy my day.

I popped a movie on and decided to have a little bit of a pamper session, using my new Ted Baker fancy-fancy false nails.

I didn't even realise Ted Baker did things like this to be honest, but I'm rather please that I've now found out that these have recently launched in Boots.

Very handy to know.

They are just so pretty, and come in a range of different styles too.

And just look at the pretty packaging

It pulls me in every time - I can't help myself.

 The rose gold stripes against the cute pink colour is fab and a real indication of how lovely the actual nails will be - with their baby pinkness and complementing rose gold tip.

~ Lovely ~

And very lady-like

I actually really miss having long nails at times.

Once upon a time I always had them you see - really long, carefully painted acrylic nails.

They looked great, but after keeping up to them for years my own nails became ruined.

I stopped having them done and eventually my own nails recovered, but sometimes, I really do miss them.

And that's where these lovely falsies come in handy - especially for a fancy occasion to help add a little bit of something extra.

...plus no polish drying time is required either...

~ Huge bonus ~

So, inside the pretty box are the false nails.

They come in an assortment of sizes and there are twenty four in total, along with a tube of nail adhesive glue.

Everything you could need in one place

So how do they fair?

Well, really well actually.

I was pritty impressed.

I think I managed to stick the full set on in about ten minutes - and that was because I was taking my time and being really careful.

The nails sized up well to my own nails and after putting a small amount of glue onto the back of the false nail it stuck so quickly with no mess or fuss at all.

Brilliant

The length is perfect for everyday use too and the design is simple, classy and really rather pretty.

The finished result is also a lot neater than my nail painting efforts that's for sure...

I'm letting the Hubby wash up this evening - I want to make sure these last and last

*PR Sample - words & photos all my own

Five Guys, Leeds - What Did I Think?

~ New Year ~

It goes without saying really that at some point there will be a fair bit of New Year Planning being put into action by a whole host of us.

There are certainly a fair few things I'm hoping to get out of 2015 that's for sure, and some of them do revolve around those normal, run-of-the-mill things that we all seem to want to try and make happen, particularly in the new year...

~ eat healthily and stick to a diet plan

~ join a gym (again) and go as often as possible

Well, those were some of my planned intentions anyway

But if I'm being brutally honest, I just can't be bothered with it all at the moment - not one little bit.

And I don't even know why.

...can I put it down to the really cold weather and say that this is what is forcing the mounds of sweet treats down my throat...

* s i g h *

Hey-ho, tomorrow is another day and all that jazz...

But whilst I was still well and truly stuck in the eat-everything-in-sight phase and wasn't even glancing in the direction of the put-the-food-down-right-now action I needed to take, I figured what the hell - I may as well just go for it.

And go for it I did - I popped along to the newly opened Five Guys in Leeds and I totally stuffed my face.

Go out in total burger style eh!

I have actually seen a lot of bloggers raving about this place and I wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about.

I have to admit, I was quite impressed with the laid back, relaxed, All-American-Diner feel that it had about it.

It was really spacious, bright, open and obviously really very new and really very clean.

But I came a little unstuck when it was time to order.

Whilst the menu isn't extensive, I wasn't sure what I wanted or what was available or what I needed to add with what to get the best out of everything...

~ A R G H ~

I don't do too well with the unfamiliar...especially when the unfamiliar requires me to be quick.

I'll totally admit, I turned into one of those customers - the ones you never want to get stuck behind because all they do is "umm" and "arrr" and can never settle on anything.

Yep - that was me.

I think a part of me was a bit put off with the prices too though.

Paying around £8 for a burger was a little too much for me to handle - especially in a fast food place - but maybe that's just me and maybe I'm just really stingy...

But anyway, I opted to have a Little Cheeseburger which was just over £5 and added a little portion of fries and a regular drink into the mix, and I think it all totalled to just over £10...which I must admit, I still do think was a little expensive for a burger and chips.

...especially when you take in to account that for my little family of three to order this small meal (which wouldn't have been enough for the Hubby in any way shape or form) the cost would have been well over £30...

But like I said, maybe that's just penny-pinching, moaning old me being fussy.

What I did like was the fact that all of the food was prepared for everyone to see and that it was all obviously very fresh

Oh - and I liked that the burgers were called patties...very Spongebob-esqe

And I certainly liked the drinks machine.

Yes - the machine that provides the fizzy drinks (the refillable fizzy drinks may I add) was a tad special.

If you fancy a diet coke, simply select it on the touch-screen menu...but oh...wait one second...

~ will that be a diet cherry coke
~ or a diet vanilla coke
~ or maybe a plain diet coke

Or how about a diet Schweppes lemonade...

~ a fruit punch diet lemonade?
~ a strawberry diet lemonade?
~ an orange diet lemonade?

...you get the idea...

There were just so many unheard of drinks options contained in this one little machine...

The red Tardis of fizzy pop

It was fab and a definatite talking point at our table
(hmmm - does that make us sad....)

Now, I know I had my little moan about the cost of everything, but I have to say, I was really impressed with the quality of the food.

The patties were really tasty and had nothing "processed" about them in the slightest.

They weren't greasy or fatty at all.

My Little Cheeseburger had one of these patties inside and the bread bun was really soft and really yum
(hmmmm bread...)

I chose to have jalapenos and raw onions inside of mine...both of which I love...oh, and some tomato sauce too

I certainly did enjoy it

There were a whole host of extras available to add to it too depending on personal choice, and if I'm honest, if I hadn't felt under pressure (by myself) to pick something quickly then I would, without a doubt, have added more to mine and totally bulked up my burger as much as I could.

~ Greedy ~

The fries were amazing too and I felt that for the smallest of portions, I had loads of them.
And this impressed me no end.

They had a real "home cooked" taste to them - quite rustic, not greasy at all and were really, really more-ish.

Overall, I was happy with all of the food that I had and really enjoyed it.

The price is probably where I found my only issue...

...that and the fact that my friend had a little bit of an "unwanted table experience" involving a splinter, a pair of tights and a fairly un-helpful staff member...

But I don't really suppose that this would be something to happen on a regular basis everyday...

But it did put a little dampener on that section of our afternoon nonetheless.

I hope to be back at some point Five Guys - it looks as though the world (...well OK - Leeds...) certainly does love you

Let me know what you think if you have popped in to Five Guys before

How A Hair Novice Worked The Click N Curl Curlers

If you know anything about me at all then you will know that I don't mix well with hair styling.

My hair is fairly long (I recently had a few inch chopped off so it's not as long as it once was) and oh-my-goodness is it thick!

So thick in fact that this is part of the reason I have to keep it at such a long length.

When I was younger - in Middle School (yes - I am that old) - I had my hair cut into a bob.

With a fringe.

A very thick fringe.

...well you can imagine what happened can't you...

My hair just grew and puffed out, about as far away from head as it could go.

Which totally explains why I was given the amazingly kind nickname of "Mushroom".

How lovely

But looking back now, I can't really blame the kids for giving me such a glamorously lovely name (although obviously at the time it wasn't the best label to have) - I did look like a bloody mushroom!!

All thick fringed and chin length hair, expanding out about as far as it could possibly go

~ traumatic ~

I learnt that by growing my hair and keeping it long helped rid me of some of that horrific volume

The heaviness of my hair combined with such a long length helped to pull it all down and naturally stopped my hair puffing outwards as much.

It's been long hair ever since let me tell you.

But the thickness of it is still ever present and is still a total nightmare at times.

Which means washing, drying and styling is a huge Grade A pain in the behind and is the reason I very rarely do anything at all with my mop myself.

I would much rather pop to the hairdressers for an hour and have it all done for me.

Beautifully clean, smooth hair in no time - and with no stress.

Amazing

However, there are those rare occasions when I have to give it a go myself.
(unfortunately)

And today was such a day.

I was well overdue a wash - my dry shampoo just wasn't cutting it - and I really wanted to give the box of Click N Curl's I had sat waiting a good old try.

(find them here)

I've had this pritty fancy box in my possession for quite a while now but my total inability to style my hair meant that I had to keep flitting off to the hairdressers and I just didn't get round to giving these a go.

But today was the day...

~ I opened the boxes

~ I read the instructions

~ I decided that the smaller red barrel curlers were for the front and the top of my hair and the large blue and medium purple sized ones would be used for the sides and the back of my hair

~ I had a plan.

~ My hair was freshly washed and semi-dry.

~ I sat down, Click N Curl's at my feet and set to work.

~ I clicked the handle into the first barrel, rolled it into my hair and pressed the release button....

But why I thought it would be easy - what with me being a total hair novice and all - I will never know.

I just couldn't do it.

The barrels wouldn't stay in my hair

~ I used smaller sections of hair.

~ I used larger sections of hair.

~ I used smaller barrels.

~ I used thicker barrels.

Nothing.

I got my hair all tangled up in them.

I sulked.

I gave up.

I stomped around the house - very much resembling a young, stroppy child.

I went and sat on the sofa, huffing and ate too much chocolate to ease my mood.

(chocolate has medicinal purposes don't ya know...)

And then I calmed down and put my adult head back on.

I went onto the Click N Curl website (find here) looking for hints and tips to help me and I came across this brilliant video

And help me out this did.

I was able to re-approach the abandoned Click N Curl's with a new sense of knowledge and found I was able to use them with no problem at all.

~ Miracle ~

I realised that before, I was putting the brush on the top of the strand of hair I was using and then was rolling the barrel and my hair back up and over the top of my hair.

What I realised I should have been doing was placing the barrel on the underside of the strand of hair and then rolling it up towards my scalp, but on the underside of the hair, rather than on the top of it.

Once I used this technique I was good to go.

I made sure I rolled the barrel close to my scalp - so that the bristles were touching my head - and I gave it a little wiggle to set it properly, then pressed the release button on the handle and the barrel - miraculously - stayed put!!

Being new to this hair styling malarkey, I put all of the curlers into my hair and then used the dryer to apply heat afterwards.

Drying, rolling, curling and clicking all at once just wasn't happening for me!

Not quite yet anyway...

I found that the barrels did get quite warm (so becareful) and it did take a little while for them to fully cool down, but I listened to the instruction video and made sure I waited.

Once they were fully cool, I rolled the barrels back up and out of my hair and was really pleased with the effect I had achieved in such a short time.

A nice, natural curl.

Of course I need more practise, but for a first attempt, I think I did OK.

As it turns out, the Click N Curl barrels are really easy to put in, to take out and they didn't tangle at all - when I knew what I was doing with them that is.

So the moral of today's story...

Make sure you follow instructions properly before you totally stress out.

I mean if I managed to use these and end up being really impressed with how easy they were and the effect that they created, then trust me, ANYONE can use them.

Daily curl adorned tresses, here I come

*product sent to use and review - words & pictures are all my own

Fancy-Pants Afternoon Tea At The Grand Hotel In York

I'm a little partial to treating myself every once in a while.

Who isn't?

I love occasions where I am allowed to be spoilt and have an opportunity to enjoy the "finer things in life".

And let's be honest, why wouldn't I - it's not as if such things crop up very often now is it.

So when they do, I make sure that I'm there, taking 100% full advantage of the situation.

And that's exactly what I found myself doing last Sunday afternoon, in the rather chilly (yet very beautiful) York City Centre.

You may recall last year when I posted about attending my first ever afternoon tea outing (the post can be found here) and how it was unlike anything I had ever thought a piece of cake and a cuppa could be

(obviously for positive, pretty reasons)

However, certain aspects of the day weren't 100% to all of our tastes, and very eager to please, the lovely people at the hotel - The Ceder Court Grand Hotel and Spa (find here) - invited us back to experience one of their more usual afternoon tea packages.

Which was very kind of them now wasn't it.

As with last time, the hotel was immaculate, luxurious and oh-so very pretty

Everything from the curtains to the fireplaces to the seating to the pictures were outstandingly opulent, classy and exceedingly beautiful.

I can only imagine what the actual hotel bedrooms would be like if this was the fantasticness of the dining areas.

Very fancy-pants I'm betting.

Anyway, once we had all arrived - there were supposed to be the nine of us, but unfortunately two lovely ladies couldn't attend - we were directed towards our dining area and greeted by a lovely lady who immediately made us feel welcome and very much at ease and relaxed.

Stepping into the Afternoon Tea Room, there was a definite second or two of silence which swept its way across our little group.

I'm going to put it down to us all being slightly in awe of all of the prettiness - it's safe to say that we were very happy with what we were seeing.

The room was beautiful.

And somehow, the atmosphere throughout was just so different to the last time we visited the hotel.

This time the party-like, casual feel was replaced with something more formal and "proper"...but it wasn't in any way stuffy or uncomfortable at all.

And just look at the pretty table set up...

And our menu...

There were a fair few options available to us that's for sure.

Like a Hendricks Gin and Tonic afternoon tea...

Hmmmm....

...but alas, it wasn't to be, not on this occasion anyway...

(unfortunately)

We were steered in the direction of the Grand Afternoon Tea and my warm drink of choice to accompany this?

~ A Lazy Sunday Medium Roast Coffee

Which was perfect and arrived in the most adorably fancy little coffee pot.

Enjoying those "finer things"??

Indeed I was!

And then it was food time.

First up, a lovely array of finger sandwiches...

All yummy, all well presented and certainly enough for five "fingers" each - which I thought was plenty.

We had:

~ Cucumber & Dill

~ Roast Beef & Black Pepper

~ Smoked Salmon

~ Egg Mayonnaise & Watercress

~ Ham & English Mustard

I sampled each one (of course!) and enjoyed them all.

Although I couldn't eat anymore than the ones that I had, we were asked if we would like extras bringing out to us - which I though was a very lovely touch.

We enjoyed a good old natter as we ate and the staff were fab and friendly.

They really upped the fun factor of the afternoon and as amused as they were at a table full of ladies taking far too many pictures of sandwiches and pots of tea, they humoured us and even joined in, picking up our cameras and offering to take snaps of us all together.

Such a great touch.

And it worked perfectly as the pictures were brilliant too.

But as the sweet treats had been served, it was time to get back to focusing our attentions to yet more eating.

(It's a hard life)

We were presented with a perfect silver stand filled with cakes to share between three of us.

One of our party had a nut allergy and was given her own separate plate of allergy considered goodies - which was very important

(safety first!!)

I delved in and started with my two mini scones - one plain, one fruit - and lathered them with copious amounts of clotted cream and strawberry jam

Soft, fluffy, light

~ Yum ~

I finished both of them in no time at all and won't hesitate to say that I thoroughly enjoyed them.

I'm not a huge fan of tea loaf, so I left mine, but the other ladies around the table expressed how lovely and tasty it was.

So I took their word for it...

...whilst moving quickly on to the treats gracing the top tier of the cake stand.

Now the cute little ice-cream cone actually consisted of rhubarb flavoured meringue shaped into ice cream, and a mini custard filled cone.

I managed a little nibble of the meringue - before it dived off of my cone and plopped itself onto the floor

* sob *

But what I had managed to try before this was very sweet and really rather nice.

The custardy cone was delicious and I practically inhaled it I ate it that fast.

The little lemon cupcake with vanilla frosting was next and was a tad...different.

It wasn't soft and fluffy in a fairy cake kind of way but was a little harder and slightly dryer than expected.

I actually enjoyed it as it was less sweet than some of the other items and helped to space out all of the sugar a little.

The frosting was hard-ish too and had a little lemony sauce hiding at its centre, which was lovely and zingy.

Moving on, and slowing down slightly as the levels of sugar began to take hold, it was time for the little jar of Banoffee Cream with Banana Crumb Topping...

...which was like a little mini cheesecake really.

I loved it.

The banoffee flavoured cream wasn't too overpowering, and the biscuit base was just amazing.

Very, very sweet though.

The square, dark chocolate delice was next up...

...and I knew from the moment I saw it that I wouldn't be able to finish it.

Not that it was terrible or anything - it really wasn't - but I remembered it from our Alice In Wonderland experience and just found the chocolate mousse and cakey-ness within way too rich for me to enjoy.

So perhaps this was the least favourite part of the afternoon for me.

That and the fact that I seemed to go into a "too much sugar" slump and was then totally unable to finish everything I had on my plate

I hate wasting food...

But I did do much better than last time.

I have a brilliant afternoon, and the food was fantastic.

Massive "Thanks" to The Grand York for inviting us back and for giving us such a lovely, luxurious afternoon.

And "Thanks" too to the fantastic ladies who made the afternoon so fun and enjoyable.

I can't wait until my next fancy-pants, luxurious experience.

A gal could get used to this kind of lifestyle that's for sure

*this afternoon tea provided free of charge

CityConnect Connected In York

It's kind of crazy how much I rely on the internet these days - but then isn't that the case for most people...

But this isn't at all as crazy as how excited I get when I now see a "Free WiFi" notice propped up in a shop window, and this is something that has certainly developed since my blog began.

I never bothered at all about it before.

But now, now I most certainly do bother about it.

Don't get me wrong, I have always loved my social media and have liked to be connected and in the know (I'm nosey), but I just went with whatever my phone was connected to.

These days though, oooh, if it's got a bit of free wifi I want to be a-part of it.

I even asked a play gym I went to recently for their wifi password - 100% a first for me.

So when I heard that the beautiful city of York was offering free city wide wifi through CityConnect (more details here) I thought I would head on over for a day out and give it a try whilst I was there.

And why not.

What could be better than wandering around pretty streets, window shopping, snapping lots of pictures and being able to upload them right there and then - and all for free.

Sounded good to me.

And something else which was pritty good too was the way in which I was informed about this service.

I was sent a lovely box filled with goodies...

...York-esq goodies at that.

It was fab!

I had lots of lovely stuff, including coffee from Vincent's Coffee, a lil' sample from Benefit and lovely biscuits straight out of Betty's Tearoom.

I have never actually had the pleasure of sitting inside a Betty's Tearoom (yet), but I am still very well aware of just how special those places are.

And after tasting the shortbread biscuits inside of this amazingly cute tin (which I will be re-using to hold my make-up brushes) I really need to get more of their sweet treats in my life - they are so, so good.

I just couldn't resist going to have a little nose at the pretty-ness of the place...

...and I'm not surprised at all that everyone everywhere seems to want to be in there all of the time.

It's so cute - I just want to be in there!

I also had a little wander around York's Chocolate Story Museum shop and totally tempted myself with all of the yummy things I found.

I resisted the urge to spoil myself though and I didn't buy anything, but Kel tried one of the "Best Hot Chocolates In York" that were on offer and certainly agreed that it lived up to it's name.

I made do with waiting until I was back at home and had a delve into my "York Box" and sampled a little bit of their chocolate that way.

It was good!

But I think I really need to investigate inside of the actual museum very soon though.

...I mean, come on - it's a chocolate museum, how can I not visit that...

~ Yum ~

As well as all of the pretty sights...

...I thoroughly enjoyed the laid back feel of the city and thanks to CityConnect I was able to share what I was seeing with the world...well...with my Instagram followers anyway...free of charge and instantly

Good Stuff

Luckily for me, on this particular day I had the pleasure of wandering with a group of very lovely, York-savvy ladies too.

If I had been left to my own devices then I wouldn't have had a clue where I was going and would no doubt have ended up lost, searching out the nearest police person for help.

I'm so useless with directions.

However, on the plus side, if this had have been the case, CityConnect could have become my saviour and found itself being useful in a whole different way than tweeting or pinning - it could have helped me manoeuvre myself around quickly and easily.

No police required.

Whilst I was in York, I couldn't help but get a little blog-inspired I must admit.

There is just so much to look at and enjoy.

My mind flipped forward a good few months and I pictured myself, seated in a city-centre location, laptop in hand, writing a post, seated outside enjoying the lovely sunshine, picturesque backdrop behind me.

...and all with full internet connection too...

...oh, thank you CityConnect..

What lovely days you can help create.

I'm popping back into York again this weekend and shall be fully taking advantage of this service again (well, it would be rude not to wouldn't it!) to put my other goodies to use...

...one of which the very huge wimp in me is very terrified to use...

~ I'll let you decide for yourself which one that may be... ~
(I'll give you a clue - it's York Dungeon)

Eeek

Happy WiFi Connected York Exploring

*box of goodies sent free of charge