Southern Yacht

My little take on plus size fashion, life, travel and smurfs

Thursday 24 December 2015

Blogmas 24 - Christmas Eve and Primark PJs

Hello there,

It's finally here! By the time this post goes live Christmas Day will be nearly here and everything will be wrapped and ready for delivery.

Christmas Eve was a quiet day. Not everything went quite to plan (cue the last minute dash out to Asda) but overall, it was a lazy relaxing day.

I started off by wearing my absolute favourite jumper of the season. It's a Primark special and to be honest I haven't worn it as much as I would have liked as it's just been too flipping hot here in the UK! I think though it should be worn on Christmas Day - whatever the weather.




As there were no plans to set foot outside the door for the rest of the day - it was was time for pajamas and real relaxing. I bought this set from Primark a couple of months ago thinking it would keep me warm. Well it certainly did that - I nearly expired wearing it!


The detailing is so cute! These were an 18-20 and fitted just fine.


From about midday onwards, it was time to track Santa on the Norad web site. This is a tradition we do every year. It was something we started doing it with friends in Australia a few years back so that we could all see at the same time where Santa was at various points throughout the day. I can't imagine a Christmas Eve without it now.

And now, the Sephora Advent Calendar. The last 4 days had a body wash, ribbon (?), nail varnish and finally an eye shadow for the 24th.



Overall, it's not been a bad calendar. As it's the first ever beauty type calendar I've ever bought, I've really enjoyed seeing what goodies there were each morning. Like most, there's been a few odd days, but overall, I'm quite pleased. Next year though, I already have my eye on the Body Shop one. After watching some YouTube videos of it, it looks amazing.

Finally - a very big THANK YOU for taking the time to read my Blogmas posts. I managed to do more days than I thought I would so I'm pretty chuffed.

I hope you all have a peaceful and happy Christmas xx

Cathy
xx


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Wednesday 23 December 2015

Blogmas 21-23 - Last minute shopping and cooked breakfast

Hello there,

Only a few days now until Christmas and it seems to be a whirl of last minute food shopping and hunting for the last present I forgot to buy (why does that always happen? I even have a spreadsheet for present buying as well - arghh!).

A couple of months ago a TXMaxx and HomeSense opened about 10 mins from me. Excellent for shopping - terrible for my purse. I spent a good hour or so on Monday morning having a browse around.

 
Some beautiful evening dresses too - not many plus size though :-(

 

Tuesday was a real errand running kind of day, whereas Wednesday was the start of Christmas! No work for anyone now until next week, so the chance for a few days of unwinding.

We started the day off by having a cooked brekkie at our local Toby Carvery - seemed like a perfect way to start the festivities.



The grounds of the pub are right next to the Itchen River, which was flowing pretty well after all the weather recently.





As you can see from the carpark, it was pretty busy, even early in the morning.


It's really starting to feel Christmassy now. An afternoon of movies and final bits of present wrapping helped with that. Plus this little guy has been varnished ready to be given as a gift on the big day.


I'll do a final round-up on the last few days of the Sephora Advent Calendar in my final Blogmas post tomorrow. Like most of the month it's been a bit up and down, but I have high hopes for the final day - lets hope I'm right!

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx

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Sunday 20 December 2015

Blogmas 18-20 - Christmas jumper day, a Triangle Christmas and mince pies

Hello there,

It's been a bit of an odd Friday and weekend. One of those weekends where you run around like a headless chicken and then end up wondering what you actually did - you know the ones I mean? So I've decided to round it all up into one Blogmas post.

Friday 18th was apparently Christmas Jumper Day. As I've been wearing them since the beginning of the month (maybe November too - shush!) it wasn't a hard task.

I bought this top from Next (size 22). Foxes seem to be everywhere at the moment and with the red sequin bow and beautiful bottle green colour, I was sold. It's still available on the Next website for £16 but I reckon it will be in the sale soon if any are left.



With so many stores starting their sales early, I found a few more tree decorations to go on the (already overloaded) tree.

Cute Santa's key from Asda


Garden gnomes from Sainsburys (yes - I also have a frog ornament too)

These were all half price and less. It really does pay to hang on until the last possible moment if you need any new decorations.

Saturday - the plan to was go to the local Christmas Fair near to where I live. It's an intersection of three roads and is known locally as the Triangle. I say plan, I did go, but failed spectacularly in taking any photos. There were carol singers, farm animals, snow machines and even Father Christmas himself made an appearance in the grotto. So as I didn't take any pictures, here's a great link to a short video of the day from the local community news site for Bitterne Park 



The rest of the weekend was pretty chilled - the first mice pies of the season were made,


Bit wobbly, but very yummy.

The Sephora Advent calendar kept up its tradition of good surprises and a few oddities. The treats this weekend were an eyeliner (yay), travel eye makeup remover wipes (yay) and another patterned tape.


And to round off the weekend - this happened!


Photos will follow in the next day or so once I find some good light - but verdict so far? Very pleased.

Thanks for reading my Blogmas posts. I can't believe we're now coming into Christmas week itself. This month has just flown by!

Cathy
xx








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Thursday 17 December 2015

Blogmas 16 &17 - Winchester Christmas market and festive nails

Hello there,

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I work from home. This is great 99.9% of the time, but at this time of the year, I do miss the Christmas parties and Secret Santas etc. I used to enjoy planning what to wear and all the anticipation etc.

Well, the Secret Santa was sorted this year when a number of us plus size bloggers got together to do one between us - you can see my post about that here. And on Wednesday, some friends who also work from home got together in Winchester for a spot of lunch and a catch-up before Christmas. Not strictly a festive meal at all, but it's the closest I'll get to a works Christmas do - so I donned my Christmas jumper, painted my nails and headed out.


I'm so pleased with my nails! This was the nail varnish I got in my Secret Santa with some Barry M glitter over the top. It's lasted nearly 2 days now without chipping which for me is a minor miracle. I love the contrast of a dark colour on short nails, esp at the time of year (plus short nails makes opening tins and bottles so much easier...)


By the time lunch was finished, it had turned into a pretty dark and miserable day in Winchester, so excuse some of these looking a bit dark.


To be honest, most Christmas markets are similar and tend to sell the same things wherever you are, but what makes this one different is the beautiful location in the grounds of the Cathedral.






How beautiful were these little ceramic houses for burning incense in? This was one of those 'I wish I'd bought one' moments!


The Christmas tree on the High Street - I seem to have chopped the head off - oops...


And finally, a round up of the last few days of the Sephora Advent Calendar. I have to admit, it's been a bit disappointing lately. I love the travel samples and miniatures, but the little booklets on beauty tips do nothing for me. I'm really hoping I've found all of those now and there's only good things ahead.


Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx
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Blogmas 14 & 15 - Bears at Sainsburys

Hello there,

I saw bears in a camper van at Sainsburys today - not quite what I was expecting!




How pretty is this? It was certainly making everyone smile.

Sephora Advent Calendar day 14 - another little body wash. My travel collection is doing very well! I forgot to take a piccie so will do a round-up of the last few days in the next post.

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx
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Monday 14 December 2015

Blogmas 12 & 13 - Christmas decorations, nostalgia and Plus 40 Fabulous

Hello there,

I fully intended this year to have the whole house decorated out by the first weekend of December. Well, I didn't quite manage that, but this weekend we finally scrambled  into the loft and dug out the decs (I use the word 'we' - I stood with a torch and offered encouraging words!).

The centrepiece of any Christmas is the tree. We have an artificial tree, which I know for some is just not Christmas - but a necessity when you have someone in the house with an allergy to pine needles and cats that like to climb, bit and chew. Although saying that, this is the first time in years we have no four legged friends to share it with :-(

I don't have themes or colour schemes for the tree. The only pattern I follow is to have decorations that bring back memories, such as ones that are bought when on holiday or ones that are gifts.



I seem to have a bit of a Snoopy theme here...


...and a duck one too





I gave this little chap a new home this year - he seems quite happy at the bottom of the tree here.


And finally - an update on the Sephora Advent Calendar. The last few days have seen a travel bottle, a ribbon and some travel nail varnish wipes. For someone who likes travel samples, I'm happy.


Hope you enjoyed this peek at my Christmas tree. I've linked this post into the Plus 40 Fabulous campaign that Leah from Just me, Leah and Mookie from Mookie's Life are running.

Thanks for reading and please check out the blogs of the other Plus 40 Fabulous bunch

Mookie: http://www.mookieslife.com/
Leah: http://www.justmeleah.co.uk
Lee: http://www.pinkybellesshed.co.uk/
Vicky: http://www.therandomnessoftwee.blogspot.co.uk
Sarah: http://www.plussizeproud.co.uk
Lisa: http://www.kitandkoboodle75.blogspot.co.uk/
Kaye: http://www.polishedcurves.com/

Cathy
xx




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Saturday 12 December 2015

Blogmas 11 & 12 - Beer!

Hello there,

Welcome to days 11 and 12 of Blogmas! I'm thinking that a post every other day seems to work well - unless I suddenly start doing something wildly exciting...Todays post is one that's been sat in the draft folder for a few weeks so it's about time I published it.

Recently we ambled off to Ringwood Brewery. Now in the past we've been to a whiskey distillery, a gin distillery and a vineyard (Not all in the same day I hasten to add), but no beer yet - until now.

Ringwood Brewery is probably the most local beer producer near to where we live in Hampshire and is the beer of choice when I'm taking presents to friends here in the UK and abroad. We'd heard good things about the tour they ran and as we had tour vouchers to use and beer presents to buy we had the perfect excuse.

I like beer, but I'm not much of a drinker and so decided to drive. Now in the past I've always found tours like this tended to be a bit one sided against the non-drinkers, well not this one. We all met in the bar and straight away they offered you a beer of your choice and unlimited soft drinks for the drivers and decent half-pint portions they were too. They didn't make you feel like the odd one out for not drinking so for that alone they get a big thumbs up!




I'm not going to go into technical details about the ins and outs of brewing (purely because I'll get it all wrong and mixed up) but the tour was relaxed with plenty of time to ask questions, peer in all the corners and taste the hops used. There were lots of us on the tour, easily 20+, but it didn't feel too squashed or hurried.


After the tours, we went back to the bar where the beer drinkers could try the rest of the beers on offer. It seemed to be unlimited samples for the time we were in there! There certainly seemed to be some happy people when we left. They kept me topped up with soft drinks so I was happy too.


Even the non-drinkers got a chance to pull some pints! This was really good fun and a nice extra, not sure I'm cut out to be a barmaid though.


At the end of the tour, we were all allowed to keep our glasses. After an (expensive) exit through the shop, I think it was a really good way to pass a wet and miserable morning and very good value for money. If you're ever in the area, I'd really recommend this, especially for the non-drinkers/drivers.

This character seems to be the Brewery emblem.


Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx
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