Tuesday 31 May 2016

Summer Prints and Holiday Style

It’s getting to that time of year when people are stocking up their summer wardrobes and buying holiday clothes ready for their trips away. We go to Gran Canaria in July and I couldn’t help but pick up some bits for the holiday as I usually leave it last minute and all of the good things are gone!

I have had to buy a whole heap of bits for holiday as we haven’t been on Holiday since we went to Lazarote in 2014 and I hate to admit that not a lot fits me like it used to, especially bikinis! I’m not blessed with perky, petite boobies anymore unfortunately and the cheaper, less structured tops simply don’t hold ‘me’ in or up and so I have to make sure I buy bra type bikini tops that are Bra sized rather than generically sized (10, 12, 14 etc). After hunting down a few, I found that Asda was the best place for these tops and really reasonably priced too! All 3 of my bikini tops were £8.00 - two bra style ones from Asda and the Sports type one is from Sainsburys! 

I also got a few cover ups for the pool and beach as I’m not that confident strolling round half naked anymore - both of the cover ups were from Primark. They have some lovely bits in for summer at the moment, like I said before, I think now is the best time to buy as all of the good things are still available. I can imagine that a lot of the stuff will vanish as the holiday season gets closer and closer. I grabbed 2 of these aztec style playsuits which were £5.00 each and then the white lace style cover up which also comes in black, for £8.00. 






So many places have some gorgeous prints at the moment, dresses, shorts, jumpsuits and skirts. I’m a lover of loose, non-fitted style dresses and they seem to be everywhere at the moment. Maxi dresses are perfect for summer and holidays - dress them up or down and you can wear flats or heels too! The purple and blue printed dress is a maxi from Primark for £8.00 - the red flowered print is a shift style dress, again from Primark for £10.00 - the green and yellow print is a midi style loose dress from H&M and was £24.99 and the Blue striped dress is also from Primark for £10.00 however they didn’t have many of these left so it’s already a popular piece! 



Do you love prints for summer? Or do you struggle to buy bikinis like I do? I’d love to know where you shop for your holiday clothes! It’s always nice to see what other people have bought or are styling for the summer season! Lets just hope we get more than a few days worth of sun this year... 

Wednesday 25 May 2016

Leicester City Stay

If there’s one city that’s pretty damn popular at the moment, it’s got to be Leicester. With the triumphant win of the premier League a few weeks back, Leicester is sure to be visited by lots of fans coming from near and far! Leicester is around 40 minutes away from us so it’s not too far but it’s just a little too far for it to be classed as our ‘local’ city, so when we took a little over night stay, I thought I’d share with what you where we stayed and how it can work for you if you’re thinking of planning a trip! 

We stayed at the Leicester Marriott Hotel which is around 10/15 minutes out of the main city centre but is directly opposite Fosse park - an ever-growing shopping complex that also has a selection of great restaurants too! The location of the hotel is perfect if you don’t like to be around the hustle and bustle of the city centre - a little like us as we took Millie with us and we like to know that the hotel is going to be quiet. Arriving at the hotel, the car park is secure which is reassuring when you’re leaving your car in a carpark overnight or for the weekend. 

Marriott Leicester






Check in was simple and straight forward, no long winded questions, no forms to fill out, simply give them your name, sign the sheet and get your keys! There is also a mobile check in option but we decided to speak to humans and not to the robot! The lobby is HUGE, with a concierge desk, an in-house Starbucks, a Bar and a restaurant with lifts and stairs leading to the rooms and also the Leisure facilities off to the back of the hotel. We were in a Business King room which also had a pull out bed in for Millie (looking at around £119 a night for a Friday night stay Room only). The room was perfect, a good size so Millie had space to play, the bed could fit us all with room to spare, the bathroom was a really good size and there were tea/coffee making facilities too! 

We went into the city for dinner on Friday night and headed to Las Iguanas to try their new menu out (blog post to come soon!) and it took us around 15 minutes to get there as we hit a bit of Friday night traffic but it was simple to follow the signs into the city centre from the hotel and simply come off the ring road, past the Football and Rugby ground and into the centre. Saying this, if you wanted to visit the Football ground, it’s about a 10 minute drive from the hotel! 





Saturday morning we woke after a sound night sleep and I headed down to the gym. I had a super quick work out using the Treadmill and Cross trainer and then jumped on a couple of resistance machines working on my arms as I’m desperately trying to get rid of my bingo wings! The gym and pool are available to guests during their stay with early opening and late closing times and it was nice and quiet too! You get a towel for both the gym and pool (including a sauna and steam room) and there are lockers for your belongings. All of the facilities were clean and tidy - the family changing room was a good shout as we were both able to get dressed and get Millie dressed with plenty of room! 

Marriott Leicester Gym










We’d definitely return if we ever had any functions or events to attend in Leicester with super comfy rooms and beds and being so convenient to the city centre - it beats driving back so late at night and also means that we haven’t got to debate about who is driving and who can have a cheeky drink! You can look at availability for the hotel here or call and book a room. 

(Thank you to Marriott Hotel for allowing us to stay with them and use their facilities)

Sunday 22 May 2016

Toddler Fashion: Summer Dresses

Summer is (hopefully) on its way and so we’ve started to get some holiday clothes sorted and Millie is loving wearing Dresses at the moment! Everywhere we go, she wants a new dress and it’s fair to say she’s very specific and knows exactly what she wants. Gone are the days that Mummy or Daddy chooses what she wears - she picked pretty much every single one of her dresses and I thought I’d show a few of them off as they’re such brilliant value for money! 






Pineapple Hat - TU at Sainsburys £5.00
Pink striped Dress - Next £6.00 or 2 for £10.00
Trainers - New Balance




Blue striped Dress - H&M £2.99 




Cat print Dress - Primark £3.00 
Gold Hi-Top trainers - H&M £5.99




Butterfly Dress - H&M £3.99

We’re massive lovers of H&M clothes, especially for Millie as they’re such good quality, clean well and don’t shrink and they seem to last ages as the sizes come up a little bigger than other shops. We’ve got another bag full of dresses but these were Millie’s favourite picks so we may be having another fashion show soon to show off the other dresses we got! 

Where do you shop for your little one’s clothes? Do you have a favourite store?

Saturday 14 May 2016

Wendy House

Dare I say it? Is the Summer here now?! I hope so!! We finally have a garden we can enjoy the sunshine in and Millie also has somewhere safe she can play outside too! She got a few garden toys such as a slide, trampoline and balls etc for her birthday and loves playing out on them and now, she also has a beautiful Wendy house to play in too! 

The aim was to get her a playhouse for her birthday back in April but because the weather has been so bad, we’ve not been able to put it up for weeks - last weekend graced us with glorious sunshine and now, its up!! We got the ‘BillyOh Mad Dash 300 Bunny Playhouse’ from Garden Buildings Direct which was around £194.99* and it comes with a super cute picket fence! You can also customise it to a colour of your choosing and I believe choose alternative flooring - all super easy to change on the checkout screen! Delivery was also really quick, within days it was hand delivered and the driver unloaded the van himself and took photos to prove that he had delivered to the right address. He called about an hour before he arrived just to check we were in too - how convenient!?

So it arrived in quite a few bits, it looked a little daunting thinking ‘oh my, I can’t assemble that!!’ but, Adam was the one to build it and he did it all on his own within about 4 hours! He said the instructions were really easy to follow (he’s rubbish at reading instructions!) and the swearing was minimal... It now sits perfectly at the bottom of the garden and Millie loves it! 












We got all of the little cutie accessories from B&M just to make it a little more homely and special for Millie. The lights are solar too so you haven’t got to worry about leads and wires everywhere! She has a cute little rug inside too but it was hard to show you so when we’ve popped some pictures up and got her a table, I’ll show you the inside! Not sure how many of you noticed Millie's balance bike but they are awesome tools for outdoor fun and developing motor skills. If your kids are into things with wheels Fuzion scooter has amazing pro scooters

It’s definitely a favourite and she’s loved playing with it - I definitely think that if you’ve got a child (boy or girl) who loves to play outside, it’s a huge investment and you won’t regret it! It's been a great addition to our garden which we've loved decorating since we moved in, I think the only thing now that would make it perfect is a little fairy garden at the end with a water fountain with some solar lights around it.
Take a look at what other playhouses Garden Buildings Direct have too as they have some AMAZING multi-storey playhouses with slides and all sorts of attachments!!