Now this is not a sponsored post from Tesco or anything lol.. I just found some really good bargains there last night so I thought I would share them with you!

The first thing I saw when I went in the door was the special offer on Pringles “Buy 1, Get 2 Free”! Wow – that is good value. Pay £1.99 and get 3 tubes of Pringles!

Next, I was browsing the magazines. I have a slight magazine addiction for those who don’t know! I don’t buy all that many but I just love to gaze at them in all their glossiness and wish I could afford them all! But when I saw this offer – “Marie Claire only £2, instead of £3.50″ – I had to have it! Especially as it came with a free bangle worth £11. The bangle comes with a blue stone, a green stone or a clear stone. Whoop! I am dying to open it but am saving it for the 5 hour flight which we will have in just over a week to go on holiday!

Another great offer Tesco have is Simple skincare – again “Buy 1, Get 2 Free”. If there is any stock left that is! I have been to 2 Tesco stores so far and everything is sold out! It is not the full range of Simple skincare, just the facial wipes, eye makeup remover and a couple of other bits. But it is well worth it if you use Simple products, and if you can find any in stock anywhere! I will be calling back into my local Tescos every now and again to check if they have any more back in!

Hope everyone is having a good Halloween weekend. Have you come across any great offers recently on beauty products or indeed on food goodies?!

It’s Pawpawrazzi Thursday – which means I have to post a one of my favourite animal pics and link back to the Pawpawrazzi blog HERE! Join us, and link up a picture of your animal!!

So here is a funny pic of my gorgeous cat Jinx. He is an all black cat so I thought it was fitting seeing as it is Halloween this weekend (oooooh!). He is having a big massive stretch & yawn in this picture!

Jinx is a big softie and I love him to bits!

Yes, that’s right – October! When all the shops have their winter stock in full swing lol.. Trust us to leave things to the last minute! Gary & I are going to Egypt in a couple of weeks. We booked it ages ago and conveniently forgot about it. Even when the summer sales were on we never really realised that we should be out looking for summer clothes. I guess we were too occupied with a certain little puppy and work and stuff.

I’m not too bad, as I have quite a lot of summery clothes from previous holidays to wear but Gary was a bit worse off. He ordered flip-flops today off the internet as understandably there isn’t a great choice in shops at this time of year, plus I’ve never known someone to be so fussy about flip-flops! He also still has to get swimming shorts and we both need to get snorkels & masks. Apart from that we are nearly done.

We went to Cheshire Oaks designer outlet on Sunday, and although we went early it was really, really busy! I always love going there as we always get some hot, sugared donuts from one of the  little stalls. Yummy! Although Gary didn’t get any donuts on Sun as he was too full from his Harry Ramsdens lunch! I also noticed a cupcake stall had opened, although I didn’t try one.

I got a good few things in the Jane Norman sale which will do me for holiday. I never really buy things from Jane Norman as I think it is quite expensive for the quality of the clothes, however as these were less than half price I allowed myself to indulge!

Two new tops for holiday. I love the floatiness of the first top, I was thinking I could wear it with cropped white trousers…. which I don’t actually have (yet!!). Any other suggestions?

Two dresses. The white one is kind of crinkly and I thought it was cute and pretty, plus it’ll look nice if I get a bit of a tan. I love the colour of the other dress (one of my fav colours) and it’s got pretty sparkly bits on it which you probably can’t make out from  my photo!

This is also a pretty dress, although the photo doesn’t do it justice. Plus I didn’t have one of the proper hangers to display it on. It also came in the coral colour like the dress above but they didn’t have my size in it. I had to get a size 6 in this one to fit me…. I’ve never been a size 6 in my life! Must be a strange fit! There are also little sparkles on this dress too.

One thing I’ve been reading about Egypt – apparently it can get quite chilly at night at this time of year. Plus they advise to cover up in the evenings because of mosquitoes. We have mosquito repellent but I’m worried if I venture out in clothes like the dresses above I will a) be cold, and b) get eaten by the mozzies! I can’t find any light, summery cardigans in the shops and don’t really know how else I could cover up. I don’t think bringing my hooded tops would look very stylish with my dresses. Has anyone any suggestions for me??

I also picked up these two things in TKMaxx. First, a waterproof mascara for holiday. I have no idea if it is any good, but it was only £3.99 and it is Max Factor so hopefully it’ll be OK. Second, I spied this face cream – Origenere Clarifying Skin Cream. I had never heard of it but after some research on Google I went back and bought it. It is for skin prone to acne and is meant to unclog your pores and clear your skin (over time, obviously). My skin is pretty bad at the minute so I’m willing to give this a go. Has anyone ever heard of this brand - Origenere, or tried this moisturiser?

Apologies for the bad photography in this post. Artificial light and my camera skills don’t go well together!

October’s recipe for the Bake It! Club hosted over at Cooking, Cakes & Children was Sticky Ginger Cake. Yum yum! I had printed off a recipe for ginger cake ages ago and never tried it so I was excited about making this one for the first time!

I had a bit of trouble measuring out the treacle and golden syrup until I remembered my mum’s tip of running the spoon under hot water first. Yay – it worked, the treacle just ran off the spoon

I made this recipe the day before my dad brought my mum over from N.Ireland to visit. She absolutely loved it and made me write down the recipe for her (which must mean it’s good, as I haven’t known her to bake anything in at least 10 years lol). My dad & Gary loved it too. Gary said it’s even better than the Jamaica Ginger Cake you buy in the shops (which is his fav) – so praise indeed!

Before I remembered I had to take pictures, the cake was nearly all gone! So, of course I had to make it again (oh, well!!).

This ginger cake is absolutely delicious, really moist and sticky. I can’t wait until 11am until I can have another slice

You will find the recipe over at Amy’s blog HERE. If you want to join in with the Bake It! Club you have until the end of October to try this recipe (remember to take pictures!).

PS – See that big outside slice in the first pic? Yes, I ate it all by myself and could have eaten more lol

It has taken me ages to get these pics up. We went to Formby beach in Liverpool about a month ago when it was a lovely sunny, fresh day. This was Chester’s second trip to the beach, the first time he got very scared by the water when a wave hit him, so we wanted to get him used to the sea a bit more.

Formby beach is lovely, though it cost us £4.50 ish to park the car. And we were going to get an ice cream after our walk, but they were £2.20 each….!! Rip-off. I would rather wait and get a McFlurry for 99p! (Not now however, as I’ve fallen out with McDonalds lol)

Here are a selection of pics from his trip to the beach. I can’t believe how much he has grown since these were taken and it was only a month ago! He was 4 months old in these pics.

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He was still a bit scared of the sea, he would only go into the very shallow pools of water, not the sea itself! I’m sure he’ll get used to it soon, then we won’t get him out of the water lol..

PS – I have just found out about a fab feature over at Pawpawrazzi blog where every Thursday we post pictures of our favourite pet and link up all our posts. I know this post has more than 1 picture, but I reckon I will join in! If you have a cute pet you want to make “famous” pop over to Pawpawrazzi and join in!

Kate over at her blog: The Five F’s has started a soup meme where we all share our lovely homemade soup recipes. Such a great idea coming into the cold weather – a nice bowl of hot soup is always very welcome!

I love making homemade soups. I recently posted a recipe for Spicy Parsnip Soup that I make, but I am using a different one for this meme. I had always wanted to make my own tomato soup, so that’s what I did!

Ingredients: (enough for 2 large bowls)

720g chopped fresh tomatoes

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

475 ml vegetable or chicken stock

30g butter

15g flour

salt & pepper to taste

Method:

In a large saucepan gently fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add in the tomatoes and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve. I whizzed the food remaining in the sieve in a blender and again passed this through the sieve to get more flavours into the soup.

In a pan, melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking gently until the roux is a medium brown colour.

Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Homemade tomato soup done! It was absolutely delicious, much nicer than tinned tomato soup!

You are all welcome to join in this meme so consider yourself tagged! Post about your favourite soup recipe then link back to Kate’s post. It is a fab way to discover more brilliant soup recipes!!

As many of you know, I have been a vegetarian since I was about 6 years old (22 years ago!). Imagine my surprise when I bit into my Spicy Veggie Deli Burger from McDonalds and discovered that it was chicken. Not a good surprise. And no, it didn’t convert me back to eating meat, it made me feel horrendously sick

Even worse, this is the second time this has happened. Our local McDonalds must have a real problem telling the difference between the chicken burger and the veggie one. It has really put me off eating in McDonalds again.

It is really hard, as Gary loves KFC and McDonalds, and the only thing that I can eat (apart from chips) is the spicy veggie burger… but now he will be deprived as I won’t be wanting to have a quick lunch in McDonalds any more just in case the same thing happens.

We did complain the first time it happened and we were assured that the staff in the restaurant would be re-trained so it wouldn’t happen again… but obviously it has happened again. I felt really ill last night after my bite of chicken , I was really looking forward to our Sat night McDonalds treat as well. To make it worse I didn’t even order a McFlurry to make me feel better after it!

Bah – has anyone else had a bad experience with McDonalds?

Meg is not impressed with the chicken burger either lol!

Ooooh I haven’t done a baking post in a while, so here are some lovely muffins to brighten up your Friday! I saw the recipe in Nigella’s “How To Be a Domestic Goddess” book and I knew I had to make them! You should definitely try them, you won’t be disappointed.

You will need:

250g plain flour

85g golden caster sugar

1 and a half tablespoons baking powder

pinch of salt

160g crunchy peanut butter

60g unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg, beaten

175ml milk

3 x 65g Snickers bard, chopped*

12 bun muffin case with paper cases

* Snickers bars have decreased in size since this recipe was printed so I found I needed nearly 4 bars to give the same weight!

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C / Gas 6

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the peanut butter and mix until you have a bowl of course crumbs.

Add the melted butter and egg to the milk, and then stir this gently into the bowl. Mix in the Snickers pieces and dollop into the muffin cases.

Cook for 20-25 minutes, when the tops should be risen. golden and firm to the (light) touch. Sit the tin on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before taking out each muffin in its case and leaving them on the wire rack to cool. If you can!

Delicious! I loved the way the bits of Snickers at the top of the muffins were all caramelised and sticky!

It is Week 31 of The Gallery and our prompt is “Favourite Photo“. Yikes. I was going to skip this week as I couldn’t think of a photo that I could post. And then I remembered this one (which I had some trouble getting off my old camera!):

Yes, it’s of me, but that’s not why it is my favourite photo! It was taken on November 11th 2008 on the boat from Belfast to Liverpool. This was the day that Gary and I (and the 3 cats) moved to England. I was excited, nervous and sad about leaving my mum. Liverpool has always been a special place for me as I spent 4 years there at university. As soon as I saw the lights of the Liverpool waterfront we raced outside on the deck to get a picture. The picture isn’t the best but it’s what it represents that is special to me.

I think you can see it in my face – the excitement of what was to come. My own house. Living with my boyfriend for the first time. Our new life together. I’m getting butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it!

Head over to the home of The Gallery: Sticky Fingers to look at the rest of the entries. There is also a prize on offer this week, fab artwork from Art Under A Monkey.

It has been well documented that I have a slight hairdresser phobia. I hadn’t had my hair cut for at least a year – partly because I was suffering quite badly with depression and I didn’t see the point of doing anything with my hair other than tying it back, and partly because of my fear of hairdressers.

I’m not sure how or when the fear started. I think it got worse as my anxiety got worse (understandably) and I just couldn’t face walking into such a social situation. I also think it’s partly as I had lost all my confidence I felt I would be “judged” by the fabulous looking, well groomed girls in the salon. It got worse when we moved to England as I didn’t know anybody to give me a good recommendation! I remember trying one, quite expensive salon and I ran out in tears without getting anything done as the stylist was so unfriendly and was not listening to what I wanted.

So – that is what we are dealing with here lol…

I had decided that I definitley wanted to get my hair cut before my London trip last week as it was an absolute state. It was just so long, fine and straggly I couldn’t do anything with it!

My hair, before!

I set out looking for somewhere suitable/approachable. First stop was a small salon which looked nice from the outside and had a Good Salon Guide sticker in the window (good sign, right?). Inside, however it was a different story. The only stylist was sitting collapsed in one of the chairs looking so bored with greasy hair tied up and the decor was a little shabby! I made an appointment anyway, although I later changed my mind and cancelled. I’m always wary about getting my hair cut in a place where the hairdresser themselves can’t be bothered to do their hair nicely (judgemental, I know).

Later that day we drove past a lovely looking salon that I had never noticed before. Yes, it looked really nice but I immediately thought it would be expensive and the staff too snobby! I googled it when I got home and couldn’t find any reviews (as usual when trying to find a good hairdresser) but they did have a Facebook page. I was quite impressed, that must mean they are quite hip and trendy, yeah?

So, I phoned to make an appointment. The receptionist was lovely and gave me a quote of £31-35 for a cut and blow dry for my long hair. I felt a bit more confident after speaking to her….

…So, the day arrived and I felt sick all day! Like really sick, and jittery, and grumpy (lol!). I had already decided to do a mini-review of the hairdressers and I expected to be able to slate them (positive thinking in action, not!).

Heading in, looking nervous!

First impressions – not good. I struggled with the doors on my way in (straight after the pic was taken lol) and this resulted in 3 members of staff behind the desk having a good look at my clumsiness! The receptionist was on the phone, so one of the girls took my name. And yes, I’m sure I didn’t imagine it, I saw her look my hair up and down. And she obviously wasn’t impressed.

Fighting the urge to run out the door, I sat down and waited. For just over 10 minutes. I was actually pretty much bang on time for my appointment and I couldn’t see anyone else about apart from 3 of the younger stylists gossiping in the corner and fixing their hair (very off-putting!). Inside, the salon was really modern, with mirrored walls and big screen TV’s showing a music channel. The music wasn’t too loud either, as I experienced in some salons in Liverpool during my student days, so I didn’t feel I was in a nightclub!

My stylist (Claire) arrived out of nowhere and sat me down to ask what I wanted done. I was quite relieved at this, as some places just take you straight to wash your hair then ask you what you want done when it is soaking wet. I explained that I was nervous as I didn’t really like hairdressers and managed to get across what I wanted. Claire kind of laughed and told me she would take a bit off, then if I wanted more she would do it. Which is what we ended up doing – I think I got about 4-5 inches off the length altogether.

She asked how I wanted my hair dryed (I’ve never been asked this before!) and she did a curly blow dry. It looked lovely, my hair had never, ever looked as good as that!

I asked her a few questions after about what product she had used in my hair to get it so big and bouncy. It would have been a good opportunity to sell me it (even though I wasn’t interested in buying it) but she didn’t even try. Good in a way, as most places try and really push products on you, but bad if I HAD actually wanted to buy it!

We also had a chat about my colour which left me feeling a lot more confident about what I can get done with it. I was then passed on to the receptionist who gave me a skin sensitivity test to use 48 hours before a colour appointment if I decided to make one (this was new to me as well!). I paid my £31 via card, and had no coins to leave a tip and they couldn’t take any extra off my card. The lovely receptionist insisted it was OK, just to leave it but I ended up having to go to Tesco to use their cash machine to get some money for a tip!

I really did want to leave a tip as I was so worried about going, and it is probably the best hair experience I have had in a long time. Claire and the receptionist were friendly and I was so glad to get a stylist who actually listened to me. I left feeling great, and I think I will be back to get my colour done closer to Christmas time. My score 4/5!

If anyone lives in the Northwich area, I would definitely recommend The Hair Shop!

My hair, after!

PS – This is not a sponsored post, I decided to write an honest review myself and I did not get a free haircut!