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

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

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/

Daisy: http://daisysays.co.uk/

Nikki :http://www.nattynikki.com/

Betty Pamper: http://www.pamperandcurves.com/

Kaye: http://www.polishedcurves.com/

Kellie: http://www.bigfashionista.co.uk/

Christy: http://www.sprintingwithscissors.blogspot.co.uk/

Cathy
xx

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