Twelve posts of Christmas #10 - Christmas presents: gifts I can use

Welcome to the final instalment of my mini 'What I got for Christmas' series. I know 'gifts I can use' is a very generic heading, and I'm aware that I can use all the presents featured in my 'gifts I can wear' and 'gifts I can eat/drink' posts, but it's the only title I could think of to encompass all my remaining presents under one heading. I'm not entirely sure why I feel the need to justify my title... let's move on.

The aforementioned generic title means this is the biggest post of the lot, and it contains some humdingers!

A beautiful new jewellery box from my parents. It goes perfectly with
the colour scheme in our bedroom and holds a surprising amount. 

Neil bought me this pretty frame for our bedroom - blog post to follow on the

pretty photos we've chosen for it! Again, perfect for our bedroom colour scheme.

Two Disney Traditions figurines from Neil - Stitch and Thumper. 

Colouring books, colouring pencils and

a lovely notebook from my colleagues.

We had lots of joint presents for the kitchen from my parents in law, including this

Morphy Richards soup maker. I've heard lots of good things about this! 

A fajita warmer for the next time we have a Mexican feast!

My parents in law also bought us some amazing gifts from Denby.

I can't wait to use these!

And I definitely can't wait for our next fish and chip supper...

it'll be extremely instagrammable. 

I had some lovely Body Shop toiletries from Sian and

Neil - Mango, Papaya and Vineyard Peach.

I also had lots of Soap & Glory goodies from my parents in law and from Nicola.

They all smell so good! 

A cute Jack Russell cushion from Neil's auntie. 

An umbrella from my parents in law, cleverly disguised as a stylish wine bottle!

We had loads of DVDs between us from Neil's family and my

family - here are my favourites!

Afternoon tea voucher for Pettigrew Tea Rooms from Sarah and a New Look gift card

from my brother... the New Look gift card has (obviously) already been spent.

I hope you enjoyed my 'What I got for Christmas' posts - please leave your links in the comment box if you've written something similar!

My birthday haul

I haven't done a 'What I had for my birthday/Christmas' post for a few years... probably not since the crushing stress of planning a wedding. Yes, it really is that bad, but the end result is totally worth it. I thought it was time to rectify this delay as I received so many lovely presents for my 29th birthday a few days ago.

I asked my parents for money for my birthday this year so that I could spend it on a Pandora bracelet which I've been coveting for a long time. I specifically booked a day off work last Friday so that I could go into town to buy my new bracelet. I love it! I bought the bracelet and the 'B' charm with my birthday money from my parents and my grandmother, then Neil bought me another charm over the weekend as a late birthday present. I think the Pandora shop might become an expensive habit over the next few months!

As well as my Pandora bracelet, I also had more jewellery for my birthday... a Jon Richard necklace and bracelet from Neil and a beautiful homemade bracelet from Sarah, my lovely colleague. I've already worn all these unique pieces in the last few days and they'll definitely be coming on holiday with me in September. 

A girl can never have enough toiletries (just ask my overflowing bathroom toiletry rack), and I had more than my fair share for my birthday from my in laws, Sian and Amy. I'm very excited about using the Body Shop bath jelly as I'm currently using the Frosted Cranberry shower gel which I had from Sian for Christmas, and it smells amazing. The Ted Baker goodies from Sian also smell really lovely... everything made by Ted Baker seems to smell divine. Last but not least, I can't wait to try out my in-shower gradual tanning lotion from my in laws. I'm ridiculously pale/transparent at the moment so it's a very welcome solution! 

No birthday would be complete without a few entertainment presents. I have a well populated Amazon wishlist which influenced certain purchases from Neil and my sister... Big Hero 6 and The Theory of Everything are two of the best films I've seen in the cinema this year. I also loved Delivery Man last year, and who doesn't (secretly) love Taylor Swift? Shake it off! 

I've never ever bought a pair of sunglasses worth more than £5, so I was very excited when Neil's parents bought me this lovely pair for my birthday. They definitely look more classy than my Primark specials! Another definite item for my holiday list. 

It definitely wouldn't be a real birthday without some new Disney pyjamas. Neil is well aware of this as he started the Disney pyjamas tradition so he now has to continue with it until the end of time. This resulted in some lovely new summer pyjamas with Eeyore emblazoned all over them... how cute are these?! 

Neil also bought a lovely Animal hoodie for my birthday as he knows I'm partial to that kind of thing. He's a good one! 

I've been banging on about discovering the amazing Limoncello Fever since our recent holiday to Amalfi so it's no surprise that I received the two key ingredients for my birthday from Edwina and my in laws. I've had two Limoncello Fevers today and I can confirm that they're delicious (and quite potent) in this country too. 

Neil's parents' pets are also very generous when it comes to my birthday and they bought me some lovely candles this year. They're very clever!

Although I managed to wait until my birthday to open most of my presents, I actually opened Sarah's presents two days early this year. I had a very stressful day on Tuesday and I'd arranged to meet Sarah at the cinema in the evening. She had my birthday presents with her, and I'm sure you'd agree that it would have been very rude not to open them in front of her. I'll be honest with you here... the Tangfastics are nearly all gone already. However, I haven't tried the hot chocolate sachets, marshmallows or the mug yet so I'm looking forward to those! I really love the inscription on the mug: 'Friends are like stars, you don't always see them  but you know they are there.'

As well as my bottle of Prosecco, Edwina bought some lovely flowers for my birthday which brightened up the office on Thursday. They're also doing a great job of brightening up my kitchen windowsill with their yellows, pinks, purples and greens. 

Another purchase from my Amazon wish list... my sister and my nephews bought me a heat guard for my precious GHD straighteners which will be very useful when I go on holiday. I also had some pretty Cath Kidston earrings from Amy which I can't wait to try out. 

Nicola bought me a New Look gift card for my birthday so I merrily spent it in town the following day. Here's what I spent it on... look at these beautiful colours! 

Last but not least, who doesn't love having chocolate for their birthday? If you don't love having chocolate for your birthday, I don't think we can be friends. Thanks, Neil :) 

So there's my birthday haul for this year... I've been very lucky! Have you written any haul posts lately? I'd love to read them if so, I'm very nosey when it comes to other people's gifts! 

Christmas presents... the toiletry edition

This is the second post in my 'What I got for Christmas' series (read the first post here), and it's a bit of a bumper category. I love toiletries of any kind so I was really pleased when I had so many for Christmas. Edwina bought me a huge variety with lovely explanatory gift tags on each one, and I also had some from my parents, Neil, Phillipa, Siân and Amy. You can just never have too many! I'm now nicely stocked up so I technically shouldn't need to buy anything for myself for ages... I'll see how long I last before I crack. I have a slight addiction to buying toiletries!

My favourites from the pile above are the Peaches & Clean face wash, Iced Strawberry Dream shower gel (smells good enough to eat!), the Minnie Mouse toiletry bag and the Palmolive shampoo for coloured hair. I can't wait to start using all these and they're already all standing neatly in line ready for when my existing bottles/packets run out. 

Moving on to the gift sets I received, I especially love the set of mini Body Shop body butters from Neil as well as the giant Strawberry shower gel. He bought me big bottles of Satsuma and Lemon shower gels from the Body Shop last Christmas and they're both amazing, so I'm expecting great things from the Strawberry edition. I also love the Soap & Glory set from Phillipa and am excited about trying The Scrub of Your Life for the first time as it's been on my wishlist for ages. I had the very pretty Guess Girl gift set from Siân and I'm already obsessed with the perfume scent. I'll definitely be buying more when this bottle runs out! While we're on the subject of perfume, Britney Spears' Curious perfume is an old favourite so I was very pleased when I found a bottle of Curious under the Christmas tree from my parents. I'll definitely be smelling lovely for the next few months!

Lastly, Neil bought me four bottles of Barry M nail varnish for Christmas... he knows me well! I love the limited edition glitter polish, and I always jump at the chance to extend my Gelly collection. These shades are called Blackberry, Blueberry and Plum and they all look really striking. I'll have to write another update on my Gelly collection soon... it's growing rapidly!

What toiletries did you have for Christmas? Do you love the Body Shop, Soap & Glory and Barry M products as much as I do?

Fake Christmas with Neil

It's Christmas Eve! I've already celebrated Christmas once this year with Neil, but this hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for celebrating actual Christmas tomorrow. You can never celebrate Christmas too many times.

Neil and I celebrated our own little Christmas over the weekend as we won't be seeing each other on Christmas Day. We had a Fake Christmas Eve on Friday, then a Fake Christmas Day on... yes you guessed it, Saturday. This Christmas was quite significant as it's our last Christmas before becoming husband and wife next August!

My little tree and Neil's bag of presents

Some treats!

On Fake Christmas Eve, we ordered Domino's pizzas and watched Nightmare Before Christmas. Some would argue that this is a Halloween film, but it always makes me feel very Christmassy. 'What's this? What's this? There's colour everywhere!' We haven't eaten Domino's pizza since our last Fake Christmas so it was a nice indulgent treat. I'd also optimistically bought some Pringles and Cookies and Cream Lindt chocolates. We were too full to even touch those! I'm keeping them for New Year's Eve... I like a bit of forward thinking. 

My delicious Veg-a-Roma pizza

I was genuinely too excited to sleep on Friday night because I was so excited about opening presents in the morning. Consequently, I had an awful night's sleep but was still up at 8am as planned. All the presents were assembled together ready for the grand opening... Neil brought his parents' and sister's gifts for me as well as his own, so I had a very large haul!

There's a mirror in the background... there weren't two large sacks

I had a Welsh rugby shirt, two Disney teddies, a selection box, mug and a big tube of Smarties from Neil's parents, so I was very spoilt. I also had a really pretty Sleeping Beauty mug from Siân and a Guess perfume set. I've been on the look out for Guess perfume for ages so that was well timed. If their perfume is half as good as their bags, it'll be brilliant!

After opening the presents from Neil's family, we moved on to opening the presents from each other. 

As you can see, I was spoilt rotten by Neil as usual! Highlights included Winnie the Pooh pyjamas, Mike Wazowski, a beautiful Disney bag from Florida, Body Shop products, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse in Pluto pyjamas (also from Florida), gloves, nail varnish, earrings and an Italian phrasebook ready for our honeymoon. All very exciting!

However, the icing on the metaphorical Christmas cake came when I opened the very last present. Donald Duck popped cheekily out of the wrapping, and he was holding something in his hand...

McBusted tickets!

This nearly sent me over the excitement edge. I hadn't been able to afford to get the tickets myself and was getting fed up of hearing about people all over the country getting their tickets, so this was a very welcome surprise. I would pretend that I need to swot up on Busted's songs before the big event, but I still listen to them all the time so I won't need to do anything of the sort. 'Everybody bought our seventh album, it had outsold Michael Jackson...'

After all the excitement of opening the presents (and the even bigger excitement of eating cold pizza for breakfast), we drove over to Costa for a lovely hot beverage. 

I had a Black Forest hot chocolate with cream... 

it is Christmas, after all!

We then headed over to Neil's parents' house for a few hours as I wouldn't be seeing them again until after Christmas. They conveniently live near a Harvester, so we popped in there for some food before going into town. After my usual salad bowl full of the most unhealthy bits of the available selection, I had the bacon, pineapple and BBQ burger. I was too excited to take a photo before I started eating, so had to take one when I was half way through. That is one loaded burger!

I did feel disgustingly full after finishing my burger and decided we definitely wouldn't be needing any cinema snacks. After managing to roll ourselves out of the Harvester, we drove into town for the 7:30 showing of Anchorman 2. I must admit that I didn't really get the first film (don't be too shocked), but the second one was pretty good. However, it just got far too random towards the end... they just HAD to take it too far. In spite of the unnecessary randomness, it was a nice way to pass the evening and was very funny in parts. Brick is by far my favourite character!

So a lovely Fake Christmas was had by all... well, by the two of us. Does anyone else celebrate Christmas several times? Surely it's the best way to do it? Let me know!

The Body Shop's never ending Satsuma shower gel

You might remember that I wrote a blog post about my Body Shop Satsuma Shower Gel back in April. In that post, I said 'I'm pretty sure this bottle will last for months'. It definitely did last for months... I've only just finished it!

I've used this shower gel pretty much every day for the last 8 months, sometimes twice a day. I used six squirts every time (I know, I have a very precise technique), so I wasn't even being stingy. These 750ml bottles are fairly expensive if they're not on offer (£12), but the longevity of this bottle proves that they're well worth the money. I've paid £3 for shower gel from Tesco in the past which has only lasted for 6 weeks or so, so it's worth paying more for a product which will last so much longer.

The Satsuma shower gel is listed as a best seller on the Body Shop's website... I can see why!

I'll definitely miss my amazing Satsuma shower gel and its beautiful aroma, but I'll be starting on the Lemon bottle from the Body Shop next. Look out for the review in a few weeks!

Quidco... make money while you shop!

Have you heard of Quidco? A colleague recommended it to me a few years ago and, after some initial scepticism, I am now a massive advocate.

Quidco is the UK's number one cashback and voucher site with over 3.5 million members. Thousands of retailers are affiliated with Quidco which means that you get a certain percentage of cashback when you shop online with them. Some notable participating retailers are Debenhams, Play, The Body Shop and M&S. You just need to ensure that you visit the retailers' sites directly from the links provided on the Quidco site so that your purchase gets tracked. Even if the cashback rate is only 4% or so, this could still be a significant amount if you're spending a lot of money. It's also worth remembering that even the little amounts build up over time. Every little helps! Can you tell that I used to work in Tesco?

Quidco also offers voucher codes for various retailers such as 10% off your order, free delivery, and so on. This can result in huge savings, especially if the retailer in question has already discounted their items as a result of a sale. So don't forget that Quidco isn't just about cashback!

Quidco isn't just useful for your Christmas shopping. You can also buy your phone contract, home insurance, car insurance and a whole host of other household benefits via Quidco. This is where you'll receive the bulk of your cashback as there are particularly some really fantastic deals out there when it comes to insurance. I went with Hastings Direct car insurance this year purely because their cashback deal was the best one, which meant that they were the cheapest option for me in the long run. I've never sorted my phone contract via Quidco as I usually have to haggle directly with T-Mobile to get a good deal, but others have told me that the cashback deals and voucher codes for phone contracts and broadband contracts are great.

As if all this wasn't enough, you can also benefit from Quidco when you're out and about. If you register your debit and credit cards on the website, you'll get cashback on in-store purchases with participating retailers when you pay with your registered card. I've had in-store cashback from Debenhams and Halfords so far and am hoping to make more use of this benefit in 2014.

I've earned £51.97 from Quidco so far and can't wait to earn even more next year. I transferred the first £50 to my bank account when I was struggling a few months ago and it was a massive help and a relief. It's like an extra savings account! The transfer of the money from the website into your bank account is totally seamless and I've never had any problems at all with the process.

So what are you waiting for? You can click here to find out more and to sign up. I'll get some extra cashback if I refer people to Quidco (no pressure), and you in turn will get cashback if you refer your friends once you've signed up. I promise you won't regret it!

100th post!

I'm pretty excited that this is my 100th post. One of my resolutions for this year was to post regularly on my blog, so I'm really pleased that I've achieved this aim especially as I've been so busy this year.

I thought I'd celebrate my 100th post by finding out which ten posts have been most popular with readers and linking back to those posts so that new readers can get a flavour of my blog. As you can see, there's a wide variety of posts in this list which shows that different people are attracted to all kinds of a different posts.

1. There's no surprise quite like a McFly surprise
2. Frantic about Florida #2
3. New shoes!
4. The Body Shop's satsuma shower gel
5. New York #6: Times Square
6. Frantic about Florida #1
7. Date day :)
8. Tim and Jen's wedding
9. Cineworld unlimited card
10. Packing for New York!

I'm not surprised to see that New York and Florida feature heavily in the top ten, and everyone loves reading about the Body Shop, shoes and weddings. I'm quite surprised that the Cineworld post is so popular... I wonder if Cineworld have seen a surge in their unlimited card holders recently? If only my blog was that influential.

Have you read all the posts above? Please feel free to leave some feedback on what you think of the blog, I love reading people's comments.

Now on to the next hundred posts...

The Body Shop's Satsuma shower gel

I am madly in love with The Body Shop's Satsuma shower gel. I had a big 750ml bottle of it for Christmas and have only just started using it, and I want it to last for ever. I can't even describe how good it smells, but it definitely smells 100 times better than any satsuma I've ever had. It creates lots of bubbles too and makes my whole flat smell amazing for hours after I've used it.

As if the smell wasn't good enough, it also makes your skin feel beautifully soft, especially when you follow it up with some Body Shop body butter. Although I haven't got the Satsuma body butter in my collection, I'm seriously tempted to buy it if it smells half as good as the shower gel does.

My giant bottle!

I'm pretty sure this bottle will last for months, and I've got a Lemon one of the same size to use after I've finished this one. No need to buy shower gel for a while!

Has anyone else tried this shower gel? Do you love it as much as I do?

The Body Shop's blueberry body butter

I know I talk a lot about how much I love Soap & Glory, but I also really like products from The Body Shop. Unfortunately, my bank balance doesn't usually allow me to go shopping there very often. However, I was lucky enough to have some Body Shop products for Christmas from my boyfriend, so I thought I'd write a review about the one product I've used so far.

Blueberry body butter

It's actually really difficult to find a decent body butter which doesn't leave your skin feeling sticky for hours after you've applied it. This body butter does the trick! The consistency isn't as thick as other body butters I've tried, so it soaks in to your skin without the sticky greasy sensation. However, the smell stays around until the next time you have a shower, which is always what you want! The blueberry smell is amazing and actually makes me want to run out to the shop to buy some blueberries. I haven't done this yet, seeing as I always put my pyjamas on after applying body butter. 

This product costs £13, which is pretty steep (in my opinion). However, The Body Shop do have sales quite often so it's worth keeping an eye on their website. For example, at the moment their Chocolate and Strawberry range products are all half price!

What do other people think of The Body Shop's products? Too expensive? Or are they worth the price?