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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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