Inspired by you guys...HD brows

I've always been nervous about tampering with my eyebrows- I've seen the results of over plucked brows on friends and it ain't pretty!

I've had minor waxing/ colouring done before but I was eager to give them a little more shape.I'd heard bits and pieces about HD brows and liked that although they were very 'styled', they weren't super skinny brows.

After I read this particular blog post, I decided to give it a go. The salon is local to me and I like that Jerri's brows looked thick but groomed.

{Let's pretend there aren't any wrinkles/random brown splodges of skin discolouration eh?}

I forgot to take a before picture (as to be honest I hadn't thought about blogging about this until afterwards)but these are the after shots (word of warning- if taking a close up of your eye area and are over 30, you might want to heavily crop it like I have- scary crows feet ahoy)!

So what did I think?

The treatment itself wasn't at all painful, if anything, it was quite relaxing. She did mention that she'd used a powder to fill the gaps using a palette but to be honest, I felt they looked a bit too OTT with this on so I wiped it off as soon as I got home! Other than that, I love the result and the shape. 

At £37, it certainly isn't cheap. I won't be getting it done the recommended every 5-6 weeks. Instead, I'll aim to follow the shape by plucking myself (I'm a bit weird as I find plucking relaxing) and just get your average £8 colour once every couple of months. If, like me, you're a bit nervous doing your own brows, it's certainly worth shelling out initially to get the right shape.

Happy plucking everyone!xxx

PS- any other questions about the treatment, please feel free to ask below.

Inspired by you guys... bath time toys

Ben loves his bath time but as he's getting older, there are less and less bath toys available aimed at his age range. I have bought a few things in the past such as this shoot the duck (fell apart on second use), these bath crayons (a nightmare to wash off) and this football game (ditto the duck game). Normally, we've had little success and so Ben tends to play with plastic figures/ bottles etc.

Then I saw this inspiring blog post. What a fab idea and great for any age!

We went to Hobbycraft to get some crafty bits for various projects but the only foam we could find was quite thin and smooth textured. Unsure it would work, we opted to buy one sheet of grey (40p) as a trial and, if successful, we would buy the £4.99 bumper pack (the bright colour version) with 50 sheets of foam.

I have to say, this is super easy, super cheap and really satisfying to do.

You need:

• Foam 
• Scissors
• A pencil
• Ten spare minutes

Draw your desired shape in pencil (if you're super confident you could even skip this stage). I got Steve to draw mine as I'm not blessed in the drawing department, if you're like me, you could always print your desired silhouette from Google images etc and draw around that.

Cut it out

Wet and apply to tiles!

How easy is that? Now we know this smoother/ thinner foam works too, we're going to be cutting monster body parts, shapes etc (as shown in the previous linked blog)for Ben to wrap up for Christmas. As he's a bit older, we'll also give him some uncut sheets to make his own designs (though I think he'll have to do those outside the bath).

Happy crafting everybody!xxx

Inspired by you guys...goals

A Beautiful Mess is one of my all time fav blogs and when I sat down tonight I was inspired by the idea of creating a goal list that was activity rather than goal orientated so with that in mind...

*September Goals*

1. A Perfect Autumnal Day Out
Make the most of our National Trust membership and visit 
Washington Old Hall before it shuts for the winter months.

2. A Cosy Night In
Have another board game night. We had one recently and Ben played (and loved) Cluedo for the first time. Ideally, we'd spend one night a week doing this but time slips away and life gets in the way...but not this month! This month I'm making sure I fit in at least one games night.


3. Enjoy a Gift
For Christmas I bought a Lomography Diana camera as a 'family' gift- it's still sat in a box! I'm determined to make use of it before next Christmas comes around. Typing this, I'm realising that it makes sense to take it on a little day trip to Washington Old Hall and let Ben loose with it while we enjoy the tranquillity of the place.

4. Cook Up a Storm
Try at least one new recipe each week. I've actually been pretty good with this over the summer but my fear is that now the holidays are over and I'm back at work I may get a little, erm, lazy with this goal. At the moment my inspiration is coming from Slimming World, The Hairy Dieters and, as ever, River Cottage. (The image is of a Slimming World sweet potato and spinach curry I made recently).


5.Get Crafty
Some of the mums from Ben's school and I had a few craft nights but we need another! The last was Valentine's so I'm determined to organise one for before Halloween. It's now officially a September goal.



Well, now I feel all virtuous after actually focusing on my goals, I'm off for an early night. Tomorrow should be lovely: Ben is trying a new break dancing class, I'm having lunch with the ladies of the family and then we're off to our good friend's house warming celebration.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend planned.xxx

Inspired by you guys... Glazed Pork

I was vegetarian from the ages of 11 until a year or so ago; I stopped eating meat because I felt the treatment of animals before slaughter (such as transportation) is often unethical. However, now you can pay a bit more and buy really decent meat that has had  a good life. I tend to get mine from the Blagdon Estate as much of their meat is born, raised (free range) and slaughtered on site (no hours of transportation or being cramped inside all their life). Since starting to eat meat again, my taste in meat has changed a lot from my preferences as a child but one of my favourites now is pork.


After reading this recipe here- link! I thought I'd have a go at this. I just simplified it down to two ingredients, Dijon mustard and an apricot glaze (you could use jam but I found this glaze in the baking section of the supermarket for cheaper than the price of the jam). Again, the recipe itself was slightly simplified (I did it two times and I can't say I didn't notice much difference when I didn't bother leaving it for hours to marinade).


Ingredients: 
(For four chops)
*Dijon Mustard- 2 tablespoons
*Apricot glaze or jam (I assume you could swap this for other flavours)- half a standard size jar
*Pork chops (again, I assume other meats would work)


Recipe:
1. Take the two condiments and mix then in a bowl. I used two tablespoons of mustard and half a standard size jar of the apricot. It seems like a lot but the flavours really mellow in the cooking.
2.Baste the meat with some of the glaze and heat a griddle/ frying pan. Pop the meat on (I didn't bother with any oil).

3. After a couple of moments, flip the meat and baste the other side. Repeat this until all the mixture is used.

4. After ten minutes, remove from the heat and enjoy!

The Verdict?

Yum yum yum! The flavours were subtle and we allowed the meat to go brown on the outside but the glaze meant that the meat was still very tender on the inside. We made this again the following week because it was so tasty! This is a really quick way to add a bit of spark to your dinner.

Thank you Becky for the inspiration!xxx

Inspired by you guys... Shop your pantry

Generally I'm in charge of the food shopping in our house as I tend to do most of the cooking. Steve is a great cook but I take take pleasure in cooking so generally I cook and Steve (bless his heart) washes up afterwards (and I really mean he needs blessing as I'm the type of person who uses loads of pans when cooking).

Anyway, a few weeks ago I was totally inspired by Ashley's great idea to shop your pantry which you can find here- link!This gives a far more comprehensive guide then mine (which is more a test drive of her idea). She also does a second update here- link! It's an organised and cost effective way to plan your meals based on what you already have at home.


The basic premise is that you list everything you have in your home and base meals around them, using up what you have and planning meals so there is as little wastage as possible. I love this concept as it's cost effective and saves time in the long run plus (excuse the pun) food wastage leaves a sour taste in my mouth!


This is how I did it:
1. List the items you already have in. I must admit I didn't list every last thing (e.g. mayo, different types of cheese etc) but instead will just add these to the chalk board when I run out and add them to the shopping list.

2. Create a grid for the days of the week. Plan meals to cover each day of the week, as I went I did a small tick next to each item I already had (on the original food stock list) so I knew it was being used, then added any ingredients I didn't have for that particular meal to the shopping list. There were some scribbles as I reconsidered the order depending on which fresh foods would go off first.

3.As Steve eats toast for breakfast every morning each week day, I have cereal at work and Ben has it at the childminders, I left gaps in weekday breakfast/ lunches and just added what I would need straight to the shopping list e.g. sandwich meats, fruit etc.
4. I picked three new recipes to try this week but I'll try them on Sunday and Friday so I'm not stressed about cooking them after a long day at work. I also planned to keep one freezer pizza (for those emergency nights when you're shattered).
5.I then went back to the shopping list and added other things such as cleaning products, bird seed, light bulbs etc.

There were a few bits and pieces left (such as 50 party size sausage rolls that were never used at a party) but I guess they'll have to wait for another day! Also, I didn't put it into sections in the supermarket (if I'm honest it's just because I forgot) but I'll just take a pen this week and cross them off.


The verdict so far:
I was quite surprised how short the shopping list was as I felt I had nothing in at home but when I reevaluated, it just wasn't things that went together. I'm hoping I should be able to buy the food for between £50-£60 but I'm not really sure. I didn't plan a strict budget this time and only planned for one week: it's my first week trying this and I'm a bit clueless about how much we normally spend and also I'm aware we run out of fresh food such as milk and fruit on a weekly basis so would need to restock. I'll report back on how I found this in a month or so when I have a chance to really get to grips with it.


Thanks Ashley from The Vanilla Tulip for such a great idea and happy Friday everybody!xxx

Inspired by you guys... Green Smoothies

I was reading an article about targets for the following year and it made me realise that I need to try and be more organised and get things done! I see so many great ideas from fellow bloggers and think 'Ohhhhh, I must try that...' but it always gets shoved to the bottom of the pile as more practical day to day snores, opps, I mean CHORES, take over.


So here is a pledge to try and get one thing done per week, either after being inspired by others or my own little brain waves.


Starting this week, I'm adding some green to a smoothie after seeing this idea here- link! (Note: I heart the brilliant ideas from A Beautiful Mess and recommend you check them out).I don't think I'll manage a full week of smoothies but one day per week is a do-able trade up on my usual fruit-based smoothie. 


Here's how I was inspired by the great gals at A Beautiful Mess:

Usual Smoothie

Ingredients:

Blueberries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Plain yogurt

Cherry yogurt

Water

Mint

Vanilla extract

Sweetener

Green Smoothie:

Ingredients:

Spinach

Banana

Raspberries

Coconut

Yogurt

Water

The Verdict:

The spinach was great as I couldn't taste it at all, I'll definitely be adding leafy greens to my smoothies from now on. However, do not add desiccated coconut- what a lumpy mess, think dog vomit! In future I'll opt for fresh coconut.