My Fab Christmas Gift !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all for some fab Christmas gifts last year but this one is truly amazing! A mirror with a huge jewellery cabinet inside! I love my jewellery and want to keep it organised so this was an amazing gift from my mum!

2008 = Great - Not So Far!

Happy New Year and a very belated Happy Christmas readers!
Christmas was fab I got some amazing goodies, ate some yummy food and generally made merry! After Christmas however things started to go down hill. From Boxing Day onwards I started to develop the lurgy cold flu or whatever it is! Aches, pains you name it, then vomit, snot and now a hacking tickly cough! What an amazing start to 2008 and the football hasn't been much better! Here's hoping things can only get better - I have made some resolutions but I ain't going public with them - they aren't anything spectacular but they are personal ! At least the place looks nice today outside anyways - lovely snow making everything look clean and fresh better than indoors anyways all bare with the tree and the decoration being taken down!
Oh something good did happen I got an A for my first Counselling assignment!

The Reintroduction of Wispa - The Verdict!

Well I managed to grab a couple of Wispa bars from the airport before I went on holiday and I have to say they were as yummy as they always were but like most chocolate bars they were a lot smaller! Why on earth do manufacturers do this - do they think we won't notice an inch of chocolate bar is missing!

Beach Babes!

More pics - me and my mum being beach babes!

The Wanderer Returns!

I am back !!! Returned to cold and dreary England late on Sunday night! God what a change! the temperature in Cyprus never dropped below 30 degrees during the day!

I had fab time - the weather was great, the hotel and resort was lovely, the food was great even I found something to eat - great cheese, veg, yogurt, eggs and cocktails ;) I even put weight on!

The beach was fab and was really relaxing - I have had colder baths than the sea all with ickle fish swimming around your feet. The shops were really good too and I bought loads of stuff including jewellery, smellies, candle holders and of course handbags! We went to Nicosia too which was a nice change from the beach and there were even more super cute shops and big department stores like Debenhams.

Perhaps though the best thing was that I hardly felt a single ME ache or pain in all the time I was there - admittedly the heat made me tired and the airport was a bit bleurgh! but the warmth really helped my aching muscles - that was a huge plus point and is a major reason why we will definitely go back!

Plus the kitty cats seemed to have a good time too what more could you ask?

Here are some pics to make you jealous!

Sunshine Here I Come!

Well here it is my last post for about a week - tomorrow I jet off for a week of hopefully sunny sun in Cyprus. I hope I will be OK with the heat and I don't have any bad spells while I am away. Hopefully the change of scenery and heat will be a good thing (fingers crossed) Obviously feeling a bit erm about leaving the lads but they will be having a little holiday of their own not in any cattery you understand but a cat hotel! so hopefully they will be OK!
Not much else to say really apart from the fantastic news that Wispa bars are been reintroduced on a limited edition basis - well done Cadbury for listening to your consumers Wispa Golds now please!
OK chicks see you soon (hopefully when I am nice and tanned!)

Friends, FAT, and Lactic Acid!

Had my usual week of bits and bobs happening. The week started off by meeting Helen and her bit of fluff Ken who were up north for a few days (Hi Guys!). It was my first meeting with Ken and I have to be honest and say he seemed canny! If you know me I am always very honest so this is a good sign of approval from me!
Me and my mum went to the Metro Centre on Wednesday to do a bit of shopping (see my Primark thread) and have a meal. We had a lovely meal in Chiquitos - they have a new menu out and I had a lovely filling Spanish omelette's but there a few more menu choices which are all possibilities for food allergy awkward girl me.
Only problem is for the next two days I felt absolutely lousy aches, pains , exhausted - generally bleurghhhh! Damn you lactic acid build up! Typical every time I go anywhere and feel normal I feel so bleedin awful afterwards - must improve pacing!
Another negative is that from Wednesday onwards I have eaten like a bleedin horse! Today is the only good day I have had diet wise since then - I am really going to have to show some serious willpower if I am going to hit my holiday target!
Plans - more serious rest so I can hopefully make the Newcastle V West Ham game on Sunday afternoon and maybe some thinking about my holiday packing

Primark Makes Me Scream!

There is a fab article in this months British Elle by Sarra Manning entitled "In Primark no one can hear you scream"
I went to Primark for the first time in a bit on Wednesday and I have to say I couldn't agree more! Clothes chucked all over the floor, chavs everywhere, and queues stretching halfway round the shop grr!
OK I got some lovely cheap stuff but it gets worse - I got two cardigans in black and teal both exactly the same bar the colour so I only tried one on. I got home and realised the teal cardi was on the wrong hanger and was two sizes too small.
Thankfully my mum went and exchanged it today for me - unsurprisingly enough the only one left was the one in the size I wanted on the hanger that matched the size I ended up with!
I think I have learnt a lesson here - always check the size on the garment not the hanger!

Guilty Pleasures - Part 4 - IKEA!

Don't you just love it !

Cheap as chips self assembly furniture, free catalogues and pencils ;), more tealights than you can shake a stick at and free drink refills in the Cafe - you can always find something you just can't live without!

However what IKEA really does well is its foodie stuff. Obviously being veggie the herring and the meatballs are out but yummy dime bars and cakes are most definitely in! Being a fussy foodie and not being able to eat gluten IKEA sells amazing chocolate and safe cheesecake esq desserts including Blabarskaka, a kind of yummy blueberry cheesecake, and the amazing Almondy tart with Dime bar topping! Drooooooooool !

Gluten Free goodies which are definitely a much loved Lou Lou Guilty Pleasure!!

Mam's Birthday Yum Yums !!! Nigella Eat Your Heart Out!

As you know it was my mum's birthday on Friday -Happy Birthday Mum! - Being the lovely daughter that I am I decided to make her a yummy birthday meal!

I slaved over a hot stove all day and made her a yummy mushroon lasagne! (I got the recipe from here but used gluten free lasagne and a homemade gluten free cheese sauce http://www.polkadotmittens.co.uk/recipes/pasta/mushroomlasagne.html) It is absolutely gorgeous and a real change from usual veggie lasagne offerings - we just finished it today and it gets better the longer you leave it - drool!

Also heated up some gluten free garlic and rosemary bread, and made my own garlic and herb butter to go with it!

For afters we had a pudding I got from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook - Frozen Berries in Hot White Chocolate Sauce - yummmmmy!

By the end we were totally stuffed and the diet had gone right out the window - never mind it isn't everyday we eat that well and it was gorgeous - I have had indigestion all weekend it was so rich and I am sure I haven't lost any weight I may even have put some on!

Damn pleasure = pain karma!