Weekly Favourites

This week has a bit of everything, bit of Summer, bit of Autumn,

bit of Stevie Nicks, bit of Outlander, bit of Jamie Fraser,

bit of wine and a bit of beer!

Book

Finding Fraser~KC Dyer

I love anything Outlander related so when I found out there was a novel

about a women on a quest to find her own Jamie Fraser! I knew I just has to read it!

I am only quarter of the way through and it has already had me in giggles!

So far Emma has encountered a tanned Jamie stripper, been robbed by an Irish chancer, and basely robbed an airline!

I can't wait to read what happens next!

Blog

WritelikenoonesWatching

Charlotte's blog is actually one blog that I have been following since I started blogging!

I love following her Mum advice, hauls, recipes and her journey as she became a Mum

for a second time to her daughter Daisy. She has had a rough time of it lately and sometimes I just want to giver her a virtual hug! 

Her vlog channel is also very good and I love her weekend style vlogs 

I will definitely be featuring her vlog channel here again

Movie

La Belle Et La Bete

I rediscovered this beautiful old 1946 movie while having a clean out the other day!

I have it on an old VHS tape so I hooked up the video player and then got lost in this

stunning black and white movie! I first saw it at the age of 16 after I heard Stevie Nicks wrote a

song after seeing this movie. I found a copy on ebay and after I watched it I knew why Nicks had to write a song after watching it!

This French subtitled black and white old movie took my breath away! Josette Day is brilliant as the slightly aloof Belle but for me Jean Marias steals the movie as not just the Beast/Prince but he also plays Avent (this movies version of Gaston from the Disney movie) I love the twist that he plays both Belle's suitors. The stunning filming tricks such as the arm of candelabra's have been used in different movies as homage to this movie. Written and directed by Jean Cocteau who in my opinion was a legend

Instagram

Little Mama Gems

This account follows Gemma and her hand crafted small business 

but also her life as a mum, wife and gin drinker!

Album

In Your Dreams~Stevie Nicks

This is my favourite solo album from Stevie since her first album Bella Donna

For me it's classic Stevie and takes her back to her roots. It's romantic soft rock at its best, I think working with Dave Stewart has added a dept to her music. These two know what works for Stevie and I love every single song on this album. It has a kind of Gothic feel to it, with Stevie referencing Anne Rice in the song New Orleans, Mr Rochester in Wide Sargasso Sea, Twilight in Moonlight, Edgar Allan Poe in Annabelle Lee and true love in Italian Summer. She also sings about her love affairs in the songs on this album Mick Fleetwood in Secret Love, and of course Lindsey Buckingham in Everybody Loves You and You May Be The One.

Drink

Castellore Pinot Grigio~ Aldi 6.50

I really enjoy a nice Pinot Grigio and this is my favourite from Aldi

This Italian wine has a fresh citrus taste to it, it's a lovely dry crisp wine

I love to drink it with seafood or pasta

Schofferhofer~Aldi 1.80

Hubby has been loving this German light wheat beer from Aldi

It keeps it's frothy head for the whole glass 

For such a cheap beer it has a great quality

Vlogger

PeruseProject

I love Regan's booktub channel! She comes across as a person who really does loves to read.

While I don't read alot of the genre she does, she is mostly into fantasy and YA. While I do like some fantasy I am more of an adult fiction reader.

That being said I still love watching her reviews of all different book, her unboxings and book hauls. I have actually bought a book called Queen of the Night due to one of her book hauls and can't wait to read it!

Store

Boohoo.com

To be honest I had never bought anything from this online store

before but I have another wedding coming up in September

and was looking for a new maxi dress and they have some

really reasonable ones but so pretty too!

So that's my favourites for this week

Now someone pass the prosecco it's finally FRIDAY

Weekly Favourites

This post is late this week as I seem to have lost a bit of my blogging motivation!

I will still be posting in the month August but will be taking a break from my

meal plans and on the box posts, as I am taking a break from meal planing and Slimming World at the moment due to illness. We are also not watching much TV at the moment due to the Olympics and most of our favourite shows finished up until the autumn but a few good show will be starting back soon like Poldark, Bakeoff and the new ITV show Victoria which I will be watching and review in September!

Book

Time To Say Goodbye~SD Robertson

Bitter Sweet~Miranda Beverly Whittemore

I have been really enjoying reading this month

with not watching much TV I have spent most of my time reading!

Two books I read this week I really enjoyed the first was called Time to Say Goodbye

This book started off really strong and pulled on my heart strings but as the book went on I think it lost some of the joy that made it good to read. I have mixed feeling about this one and will be fully explaining my feelings in my monthly book review at the end of the month.

The other book I read this week was Bitter Sweet which I loved the book took a totally different turn and was a really good and enjoyable read, a book that stays with you after reading.

Blog

ComfyReading

As well as doing lots of reading I have been enjoying blogs about books and reading!

This blog called Comfy Reading I really like. I enjoy Kerrie's honest reviews and sometimes

takes me out of my comfort zone when thinking of books to read.

Movie

Creed

I enjoyed watching this movie the other night with the hubby

It was his pick AGAIN but I don't mind watching no brainer movies after a long day!

This moves the Rocky movies into modern day with Sly handing the legacy over to deceased his

friend Apollo son Donnie. Rocky trains him, while also fighting cancer and the fight scene at the end of the movie set in Liverpool is worth watching the movie alone for! 

Instagram

Middle Earth Cottage

I love this beautiful account with pretty cottage life pictures

Beautiful pictures of nature, food, animals, scenery and homelife

Album

Hounds of Love~Kate Bush

I have two favourite albums ever one is Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

The other is this album Hounds of Love by Kate Bush, it's been a while since I have listened

to completely. I have been listening to a radio station called Magic and they have been playing alot of Kate which sparked me to dig out this album and listen to it fully. I love the first few songs Cloudbusting, Running Up That Hill and Hounds of Love are fantastic songs, but for me when The Ninth Waves starts the hairs on my arms stand up! 

Jig of Life, Hello Earth and The Morning Fog are my favourites from The Ninth Wave collection but I love almost everything from this album! 

Make-Up Product

Catrice Prime & Fine Primer 

Normally No7 or Estee Lauder are my go to make up and skin care

but I am on a bit of a budget this month so thought I would try this brand

To be honest I wasn't expecting much I am normally not a big fan of low cost make up

Wow was I surprised! This primer is amazing! I found this light to the touch and doesn't cling to my face as other primers can. It took the redness from my face and doesn't feel cakey as some primers can and most importantly it doesn't break me out which often happens with my sensitive skin. A bargain for four euro!

I have also been using there Even Skin Tone Fountain I found this okay, not something I will be changing my normal fountain for but it is good for every day use. I use 010 Vanilla but that might be a bit too light for me! The coverage is medium okay for every day use but nothing compered to my favourite Estee Lauder Double Wear! For the price of seven euro it is another bargain!

Vlogger

ViennaWaitsBooks

I really love this Booktube channel, from Kristyn we have the same taste in most books

Her reviews and thoughts are so honest that I would read books that she reviews even if there

outside my comfort zone! I have actually bought The Crimson Petal and the White because of her review alone! 

Store

ASOS

We have another wedding coming up in September so I quickly got online

and found a beautiful dress on this great website which I love!!

So that's my favourites for this week

Now someone pass the prosecco it's finally THE WEEKEND

Weekly Favourites

I thought of doing this new post every Friday or Saturday (you know when life gets in the way!)

It will be a little recap of what I have been loving that week! So here goes!

Book

Spectacles-Sue Perkins
This week I had alot of different hospital appointments but this book

got me through them! If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen the post I put up

Thursday morning when I was waiting in a hospital waiting room, drinking a dye thing before a CT scan and was laughing my arse off at some of the stories in this book, I was getting very funny looks from some of the other patients but I didn't care! I actually read this in two days and really really enjoyed it. I will be reviewing it in my July book review.

TV Show

Gotham
Most of our favourite shows have finished there current run

and Outlander is on a week break but that means a two week break

from our screens in Ireland. So we have been watching the last half of season two

online of Gotham as it's not being shown here in Ireland for some reason!

I am enjoying this dark comic book show!

Blog

mylittlebabog

I really love this blog of this Irish family of five soon to be six!

It's a blog that is new to me but I am really enjoying the post and the pregnancy updates

Movie

Labyrinth
When Oisìn is asking for the TV but I fancy watching something too
I always but this movie on, we first watched it together when David Bowie passed
away in January, of course its been my favourite forever but Oisìn loved it.
It has just the right about of puppets, singing and dancing to keep him amused!

Instagram

Sadie C
Sadie is new to Instagram but I love looking at her
beautiful and ladylike pictures...I am really enjoying watching her Instagram account grow as
this woman takes some beautiful pictures

Album

Trouble In Shangri-La - Stevie Nicks
I have dug out this cd and re-listened all week
I do have the album on my ipod but I just love the artwork on this album
Although later Stevie said it isn't one of her favourite albums and it was very hard to work on, as the studio had one idea and she another, she said she felt like some of the creative decisions where made for her. Which is why it took her another ten years to release a solo album, and in that album she was the boss and it was recorded in her home. 

Trouble In Shangri-La is a bit of a mix bag with country, pop, dance and rock influences. Some songs date back to the early 70s Candlebright and Sorcery are from the days before Fleetwood Mac when she and Lindsey Buckingham where a duo. My favourite song Planets of the Universe is a song from Rumours which never made it out of the demo stages. But most of my favourites are Fall from Grace, Bombay Sapphires and Love Is where written the time of recording. 

Vlogger

The Michalaks
This channel is quite new to me, but I love it!! The Michalaks are a young family of three who do weekly vlogs. I really enjoy watching what they get up to around London, there vlogs are very well edited and beautifully shot which make it so easy to watch. Myself and Oisìn love watching there little boy Grayson who around the same age as Oisìn so we have lots of toddler giggles when we are tuning in! I don't normally like over styled vlogs but I really like this down to earth family

Store

Iclothing

I recently bought this beautiful dress for a family wedding and was so happy with it

Everything I have brought from this store is so glam but also really comfortable and of course affordable prices.

So that's my favourite for this week

Now someone pass the prosecco it's finally FRIDAY!!

Over The Summer

Over the summer I felt I needed a little break from blogging

I found I wasn't enjoying blogging

So I took a break over the Summer to enjoy being a family

We had so much on here is what we got up to over the Summer months

In June my Mam and I went on my very best friends hen do

in Dublin it was great fun. We had drinks in her parents house then on to

a party bus, before cocktail making and a three course meal it

was a fab night!

Soon afterwards we flew to Croatia for our other friends wedding

it was a stunning day. The bride looked amazing and I couldn't help but

relax while sipping champagne while looking out to sea at the drinks reception

Oisín was made feel so welcome, he was the star of the show, clapping at the

speeches and dancing with the bride and groom at the reception

It's was a beautiful wedding that we will be talking of for years to come.

We stayed in Croatia for a week after the wedding and had our first family holiday

We had a wonderful week Oisín swam in the sea, we drank cocktails, went to Dubrovnik (Kings Landing to Game of Thrones fans) ate lovely food, went a amazing boat tour and went out in the evenings thanks to my Mam babysitting. It was a wonderful first family holiday can't wait for our next one!

We had lots of fun filled family days out 

we went to Dublin Zoo and Oisín really enjoyed seeing all the different animals

everything was a tiger or a dog to him! I have lots of different memories of going to Dublin Zoo as a child so I was really excited to bring Oisín. We had a lovely day plus it didn't rain which is rare after the summer we had in Dublin

We also went to the RDS Horse Show which is fast becoming a tradition for us as we went last year and we look forward to it all summer.

Oisín really enjoyed it this year he went on his very own horse ride this year

but he hated it and only went half way around before he got off!! 

Summer has also been filled with small little family days

Like when Granddad babysit Oisín for a morning alone and I came

home from work to find them both playing on the swings!

Oisín loves his Grandparents and loves to take Nanny's washing out of her washing machine!

We also celebrated my Great Aunts 80th birthday and had a great night out

My most favourite day of the summer was a month ago

when my best friend got married. I was honoured to be her bridesmaid

and got to walk up the aisle with my little boy Oisín who was pageboy

I can't wait to see the professional wedding photographs 

My friend looked amazing the sun shone and the wedding was stunning from start

to finish. I was also honoured to say a speech at the reception and then got to dance the night away!

It was a most beautiful day and fun filled night that I will never forget

So now Summer is over and to be honest weather wise it never really started here in Ireland

With so much going on this Summer I am now looking forward

to a relaxing candle filled Autumn!!

Mum Blogger of The Week

So delighted that MummyPages chose me

as Mum blogger of the week

I was really love this website it is my
go to website since I found out I was pregnant
I counted down the weeks with its week by week pregnancy
tracker
Now it's great for any  questions I might have or
for looking up tips
I also love it's daily mummy's chat on twitter
which I love to join in when I'm not in work
  

When I saw the article today he really brightened

my rubbish day
So thank you MummyPages for making my day

You can take a look at the article here.....

Changes!!

Hi all I am just changing some things on our blog. Hope you like the new layout...Leelou blogs do some really great layouts =)