Sunday 30 November 2014

Homeware: Kitchen Inspiration

This is my first ever homeware post so bear with! Recently my Mum bought a few new things for our kitchen just to give it a little boost and I think it's made such a nice difference. I really love how some of the things matched because I am definitely one for a uniformed look! I hope you like the pieces and it gives you some inspiration!
Kitchen Homeware 
Kitchen Homeware 
Kitchen Homeware
 These are spices which are in a magnetic container, I think it's really cool how they stick to the fridge like this!
Kitchen Homeware
 Love my cat placemats! 
 
I think having a little plant is a nice touch in the kitchen, we also have a little chilli plant on the windowsill!

Kitchen Homeware
Kitchen Homeware
 We always have a bowl of fruit and veg, here there are butternut squashes and peppers!
Kitchen Homeware
Abi :)

Friday 28 November 2014

Christmas Nails - Primark

Honestly, I'm not really a person for false nails because I have quite odd shaped squarey/circley nails rather than nice oval ones like some people, but walking through Primark and seeing these nails for just £1 I thought even if I just wear them for a few hours I'll be happy! 
primark false nails Christmas 
primark false nails Christmas
I really love them and they'd also make a great little Christmas present for someone too! I'll probably be wearing mine on Christmas day but then again maybe not because I don't want to care too much about my nails whilst unwrapping Christmas presents!!

What nails will you be wearing for Christmas?

Abi :)

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Presents From America!

Last week my boyfriend FINALLY arrived back from travelling around America and gave me a nice bundle of presents which I thought I'd share with you!
I was lucky to get lots of 'American' treats such as Reese's, Twizzlers, Hershey's and an I <3 NY t-shirt so I was happy about that as (obviously) we don't really have them in the UK and what we do have are a lot more expensive here than over there!

What are your favourite American things?

Abi :)

Monday 24 November 2014

My Pet Peevs

Adverts on YouTube you can't skip
Source
People cracking/clicking parts of their body
Crumbs in my bed
Source
When you're trying to walk round/past someone in the street and they just won't let you!
Drawn on eyebrows, not just filled in pencilled eyebrows but DRAWN ON EYEBROWS
Source
When girls don't stick to GIRL CODE
When people get EVERYTHING handed to them on a plate

What are your pet peeves?

Abi :)


Sunday 23 November 2014

Fudge Kitchen's Fudgey Hot Chocolate!

Fudge Kitchen Drinking Fudge Selection
The other day my parents went away to Oxford and came back with a nice little gift for me: hot chocolate! If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know I LOVE hot chocolate so I was very happy! The box was beautiful in presentation and I opened it to see a nice assortment of different flavours: mint, orange and mocha just being a few - I'm a bit scared to try the chilli flavoured one though if truth be told!
Fudge Kitchen Drinking Fudge Selection
These hot chocolates aren't like any I've had before (believe me I've had my fair share of hot chocolates!) they're presented in little envelope packages and come in a little sachet as a liquid! You just heat up milk and stir in the liquid and there you have it: hot chocolate! I have tried ginger, mocha hot chocolate and the classic hot chocolate and can confirm that they do indeed taste fudgey which I love! If you fancy a change or a different drink I'd definitely recommend these, they're scrumptious!
Fudge Kitchen Drinking Fudge Selection
Fudge Kitchen Drinking Fudge Selection
Fudge Kitchen Drinking Fudge Selection
Fudge Kitchen Drinking Fudge Selection
What is your favourite hot chocolate?

Abi :)

Saturday 22 November 2014

The Yummiest Custard

A slightly more healthy food this time, but Mum bought this custard the other day and it is SO good. It's Vanilla flavour and you can even see the little Vanilla seeds in it which I love and so I thought I'd just share it with you haha!
vanilla custard
vanilla custard
vanilla custard
Yet another random post, but if you can get your hands on it it's really worth a try! It's also a lot healthier than the REALLY processed yellow custard!

Abi :)

Friday 21 November 2014

Spontaneous Sweet Treat

'Sweet treat' is becoming a popular phrase of mine, basically I have a HUGE sweet tooth and eat a lot of sweet things BUT I also do eat a lot of fruit so I feel like it balances it out a bit! Anyway, the other day I was in town with my friend and went to Topshop...to buy sweets - yup! Watermelon flavour!!
And...that's it haha, just another random post from yours truly!

Abi :)

Wednesday 19 November 2014

A Midnight McDonalds

Oops I've done it again: craved something at an inappropriate time! It was gone 11pm the other night and my boyfriend showed me one of those discount leaflets you get through your door, on this leaflet was lots and lots of burgers then BAM I fancied a McDonalds!! I had a Chicken & Cheddar Classic with fries and a banana milkshake!
McDonalds

Abi :)

Monday 17 November 2014

10 Annoying Things About Make Up

make up
  1. Generally, the best make up is the most expensive
  2. It takes quite a lot of time to put on and take off properly
  3. Not being able to wake up and go straight out whilst looking presentable!
  4. Smudging your mascara because you've blinked or sneezed
  5. Buying a foundation which makes you look like an Oompa Loompa
  6. Poking yourself in the eye with eyeliner, mascara or anything else
  7. Getting powder/blush on your clothes
  8. Finding storage for it all!
  9. Having too much choice in a shop and taking AGES deciding which product to get
  10. You don't want to wear it because you should embrace 'natural beauty' but you don't want to scare anyone away!
Abi :)

Sunday 16 November 2014

How To: Get Social Media Icons on Your Blog (Blogger)

As you may (or may not) have noticed I have new social media icons WHOOP! I thought I'd write a post on how I did it as it took me a while to find out how and I am not very into the whole HTML and other scary computer whizz things haha!
Firstly, I searched 'social media icons' on Pinterest and there were LOADS to choose from! However, make sure which ever ones you choose are free unless you would like to pay for some.
Once I'd chosen the ones I wanted I downloaded them, I don't know if all of them do this but this person had kindly done duplicate copies of each icon in different pixel sizes so I could choose the ones that would look and fit best on my blog. I then went to an image hosting website I used ImageShack but you could use Photobucket or any others and uploaded the icons.

Just for ease I opened up a Word Document (any other place where you can add text is fine) and copied THIS: 
<a href="WebsiteAddressHere"><img scrc="ImageLinkHere" /></a>

WebsiteAddressHere - enter YOUR website addresses e.g your own Twitter, Facebook, Intsagram, Tumblr etc

ImageLinkHere - enter the image link from the image hosting website you're using, to do this right click on the icon you've uploaded and click 'copy link address'
Once you've done this with all of your social media and other links you wish to include go into Blogger - Layout - Add Gadget (to wherever you'd like the icons to go) - HTML/JavaScript. Copy and paste the links you've made make sure there are no spaces between the links and that the quotation marks are still there. Like this:
Add a title to the links such as 'My Social Media Links' or 'Other Places to Find Me' if you like and hit save. PREVIEW your work before clicking 'Save arrangement' just in case you're not completely happy with it. Then that should be that! I hope you found this understandable and helpful!

Abi :)

Saturday 15 November 2014

My Response to THAT Kim K Photo

Another serious post from yours truly! Just want to point out I don't really 'know' Kim Kardashian too well and my views are just of the PHOTO and not her as a person, also everyone is entitled to their OWN opinion, and yes I do know that she can do whatever makes her happy as everyone can!
Source
Kim Kardashian: TV star, model, writer, fashion designer, entrepreneur and…outrageous (to say the least). Everybody seems to have heard of Kim K; people know she’s famous but don’t really know how or what for, the answer: a leaked sex tape.

On November 12th social media and other pockets of the internet were flooded with people’s reactions of a new photo of the reality star which showed her smothered in oil, wearing nothing but long black gloves and holding up a black dress just below her derriere, she wears minimal make up and her hair is tied back in a high top knot meaning all attention is focused on her infamous behind.

The photos were from a photoshoot for Paper magazine’s website which were accompanied by the words ‘Break The Internet’ which trended worldwide on Twitter. Within minutes of the photos being liked, shared and favourited the internet was overrun with hilarious parodies of the image. Popular parodies included Kim being made into a centaur, hotdog  and a Simpson’s character, comedienne Chelsea Handler even posted a photo imitating the reality star with the caption ‘Guess which one’s real.’

The photo may come as somewhat of a surprise to many because 3 years ago she swore she’d never do a nude photo again, which begs the question: why did she do it? Attention, money, awe, hate and fame are just a few possible reasons.

Among the many tweets supporting, ridiculing and challenging Kim Kardashian were actress Jasmine Lennard’s who tweeted ‘Where was the baby while she shot that disgusting cover?’ and ‘It’s officially gone too far, is Kim K what you want your daughters to aspire to?’ This is quite a fair and valid point: let’s not forget that Kim Kardashian is actually a Mother of a year and a half old daughter (North West) as well as being a wife to the rapper Kanye West - is she really the best role model for her daughter?

Another Twitter user wrote: 'I'm not sure if Kim Kardashian respects herself, her body, her privacy, or anything for that matter.’ It would seem that this is very much the case as she doesn’t seem to have taken into account the fact that someday her daughter could see those photos of her own Mother as well as the sex tape…

Piers Morgan has noticeably come out to defend the TV star and suggested women resent Kim for her fame and money, yet women’s reactions to the explicit photo would insinuate they are more ANGRY at the fact she doesn’t give Mothers a good or responsible name (or image) and is most definitely not a good role model – let’s not forget her 72 DAY marriage and the fact that her ‘fame’ came as a result of a leaked sex tape.  Morgan then went on to compare the photo to the first man landing on the moon and Mandela’s release from prison, is he really implying that yet another nude of Kim K is a historic event?!


It’s people like Kim which are the reason why so many girls and women feel insecure about their body. The photo borders on pornography, so why is it so readily available to access?  Does it empower women in society or make them feel irrelevant because they don’t look like Kim? Do all men now want and expect women to look like her? Instead of ‘breaking the internet’ Kim seems to have created a definite divide between men and women, women are disgusted whilst men (like Piers Morgan) seem to be celebrating over the photos. 

What did you think of the photos?

Abi :)

Friday 14 November 2014

Two Ways to Make a Gingerbread House!

It's the run up to Christmas which can mean: Christmas shopping, writing cards, finding an advent calendar and doing some festive baking! I have only ever made two gingerbread houses but I made them differently each time, here they are:

The first way is a bit of a cheats/beginners way (it was my first ever one) where you buy a kit which has all the bits made for you - although this was more of a gingerbread cake than a biscuit - and you glue the pieces together with royal icing which is either provided or you can easily make it HERE's a recipe for it. And for anyone interested, HERE's a link to the kit I got as an early Christmas present one year.

The second way is doing everything BY HAND. I did this last year and I'll warn you in advance IT DID TRY MY PATIENCE so just keep at it and you will get there in the end. For this you will need: gingerbread house cutters HERE's some and a recipe for gingerbread like THIS one. The main ingredients for the gingerbread are: 250g unsalted butter, 200g dark muscovado sugar, 7tbsp golden syrup, 600g plain flour, 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda and 4tsp ground ginger.Once you've melted the butter, sugar and syrup together mix the other ingredients in to make the dough, then roll out and use the cutters to cut your required shapes and bake for about 12 minutes on a preheated oven at about 200C. Once cool, make some royal icing (icing sugar and egg whites) to glue the pieces together to make the house and also to add any decorations on like chocolate buttons, fruit pastilles or smarties.


Hope you enjoyed this festive post!

Abi :)

Wednesday 12 November 2014

My Favourite...Hot Drink!

YUP, IT'S HOT CHOCOLATE! I actually don't really like hot drinks that much as I always burn my tongue and then don't end up even tasting the rest of my drink! Here are a selection of my different hot chocolates this year enjoy haha!
hot chocolatehot chocolate
hot chocolate
hot chocolate
Abi :)