300 posts!

Happy new year! I've somehow timed my latest blogging milestone to coincide with the new year... what a convenient coincidence.

I thought I'd continue with my milestone tradition by discovering which posts have been most popular since I started my blog. I changed my blog name and URL in the first half of 2014 which had a detrimental effect on my blog views, so a lot of the posts below also featured in my '200 posts' entry. However, there are a few newbies in there (specifically the restaurant reviews!) and I'm hoping there'll be a few more new posts in my '400 posts' entry, whenever that milestone comes around.

So without further waffle (I do love a good waffle), here are my ten most popular posts...

1. Hollister Addison... best perfume ever?
2. Film review: The Great Gatsby
3. Frantic about Florida #2
4. Duffy the Disney Bear
5. Costa, Nero or Starbucks?
6. Cineworld Unlimited card
7. There's no surprise quite like a McFly surprise 
8. New York #4 - Rockefeller Center
9. Restaurant review: Harvester
10. Restaurant review: Cedar Tree Farm 

The ten posts above are clearly a very eclectic mix... from beauty to film reviews to Disney to holidays to restaurant reviews! This proves that all kinds of unique people with different interests read my blog, and also that people seem to enjoy reading a wide variety of posts from contrasing categories on a lifestyle blog. I've never liked to pigeonhole myself into a particular category in any aspect of my life, and this philosophy applies to my blog too.

Have you read any of the posts featured above? What posts would you like to see more of in 2015? Let me know!

Walt Disney World Photo a Day Challenge

I know May seems like ages ago now (I ask again, where is this year going?), but I thought I'd write a quick blog post on the Walt Disney World Photo a Day challenge I took part in throughout the month of May on Instagram.

The challenge gave me a chance to relive my two amazing holidays to Walt Disney World and brought a bit of daily Disney magic to my Instagram profile. I love looking back at my photos from Florida so it was a great opportunity to search for specific themes and to reacquaint myself with some beautiful photos I'd forgotten about.

Here are my favourite five photos from the challenge:

Cinderella's Castle, just before the night show

Duffy and I met the real Duffy the Disney Bear!

Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival - Lady and the Tramp

Neil proposed to me in this little pavilion! Read all about it here

With Duffy in Downtown Disney, outside the biggest Disney Store in the world

Did anyone else take part in the Walt Disney World Photo a Day challenge? Please send me your Instagram links! 

200 posts!

Newsflash... I've reached the very exciting (for me) 200 post landmark! I'm very pleased with this achievement as I've only been blogging properly for just over a year, and last year was an extremely busy one where I sometimes struggled to fit everything in.

When I first decided to start blogging regularly, I was worried that I'd constantly struggle to fit it in with my hectic schedule. However, I've found that writing is a good way to relax and to make sure I put aside some time in the evenings to do something I'm interested in, even if it's only for fifteen minutes.

When I reached my 100th post a few months ago, I wrote a blog post about my ten most read posts up to that point. I've decided to do the same for my 200th post... not very imaginative, I know.

So here are my top ten most read posts so far...

Film review: The Great Gatsby
Frantic about Florida #2
Cineworld Unlimited Card
There's no surprise quite like a McFly surprise
Duffy the Disney Bear
Hollister Addison... best perfume ever?
Costa, Nero or Starbucks?
New York #4: Rockefeller Center
Barry M's Gelly Range
Marks & Spencer's £10 Dine in for two

Apparently the people who stumble upon my blog are interested in films and the cinema, Florida, McFly, Duffy the Disney Bear, perfume, hot chocolate, New York, nail varnish and food! I am genuinely curious about the reading trends on my blog so it's good to have a rough idea about what posts people are most interested in.

Have you read the posts above? Which posts would you like to see more of in 2014?

Christmas presents... the teddy edition

I love teddies more than any adult should. Do you remember my blog post entitled 'Too many teddies'? I definitely have far more teddies now than I did then. Most of my teddies have actually been bought for me as presents, and this Christmas brought even more fluffy gifts.

I had 6 teddies for Christmas... I think I need a bigger flat! Neil bought me the adorable Mickey Mouse teddy in Pluto pyjamas below (on the left), all the way from Downtown Disney in Florida. I absolutely loved this teddy when I spotted it while we were on holiday in September, but didn't have enough money left to buy it for myself. Neil also bought Donald Duck and Mike Wazowski for me... look how cute they are! I've wanted a Donald Duck teddy for a while to add to my classic Disney character collection, and Mike Wazowski in his MU cap has been on my wish list since seeing Monsters University last year.

I also had two teddies from Neil's parents. They bought me the Mickey Mouse teddy on the right hand side, holding a miniature Duffy the Disney Bear, and the Minnie Mouse teddy in the pretty gold dress. I've had my eye on this Mickey teddy for ages as I'm such a big Duffy fan, and the Minnie teddy is so sweet and is a limited edition product. She has '2013' stitched into her left shoe! Neil's parents bought me the '2012' Minnie for the Christmas before last, so I'm building quite a Minnie collection. 

Last but definitely not least, Neil bought this Nemo mug from the Disney store which came complete with a little Nemo teddy. Cutest face ever? Just look at those eyes! I already have a Nemo cushion which Neil bought for me in Florida a few years ago, but this little Nemo is possibly even cuter.

Did you have any teddies for Christmas? Send me your links!

Duffy's first Christmas

It's Duffy's first Christmas! He had his very own Christmas jumper especially for the big occasion, and I took him home with me for Christmas so that he could join in with the celebrations. For those of you who don't know what I'm on about and are wondering if I've somehow been hiding a baby or a dog for the whole year, I'm talking about Duffy the Disney Bear. The whole idea of Duffy the Disney Bear is to dress him up in different outfits and to photograph him in various places around the globe. You could say I'm a bit obsessed... you'd be correct.

Here's a snapshot of what Duffy got up to over Christmas!

Did anyone else spend Christmas with Duffy the Disney Bear? Send me your links if you're as crazy as I am!

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!

Wintery things #1

I love winter! I mostly love it because it makes me feel all Christmassy, but I also love wrapping up for the cold weather in my scarf and gloves, digging out my winter outfits, drinking a lot of hot chocolate and lighting my Yankee candles. I always find that it's so much easier to find nice winter clothes than summer clothes... does anyone else agree?

I've only been blogging regularly since January, so I haven't had a chance to blog about my love for November/December until now. I thought I'd illustrate my love for winter by sharing a few photos I've taken lately of lovely wintery things. Hopefully I'll be posting a few of these posts as I take more photos, but here are the first five wintery things I've got excited about...

Christmas tree in St David's 2

Lovely hot chocolate at the Ocho Lounge in Penarth

New mittens!

Duffy's winter jumper

Winter pyjamas!

Does anyone else love winter as much as I do? Do you have any photos to share?

Duffy goes to Florida

I thought it was time to take a break from writing about theme parks, so I decided to write a blog on Duffy's holiday to Florida. Regular readers of my blog will already know that I'm a bit obsessed with Duffy the Disney Bear. I bought him in the UK a few months ago, so I was very excited about taking him to Disney World for the first time.

Don't panic, I didn't actually take Duffy everywhere when we got to Florida. He stayed in the resort most of the time, but he did have little outings to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Downtown Disney. Duffy is much more well known in Florida than he is in this country, so I didn't have any strange looks while I carried him around. I'm afraid this isn't the case when I carry him around in the UK.

I did acquire quite a few new outfits for Duffy in Florida... in my defence, one was in the sale and I had three outfits from Neil and his parents as gifts. Buying outfits for Duffy is a bit addictive and is total marketing genius by Disney. Genius or exploitation... I'll let you decide.

So, without further ado, here are some photos of Duffy enjoying himself on  his first outing to Florida...

At the airport

On Disney's Magical Express!

Enjoying the view at Old Key West

Relaxing on a Disney bus

Sampling a Ghirardelli's sundae in Downtown Disney

Outside the biggest Disney store in the world!

Casually driving a car in Epcot

Chilling on a bench in Old Key West

Sulking at the Magic Kingdom as a result of the rain

Posing with a mad lady in a Minnie Mouse poncho... ahem

Meeting the actual Duffy in Epcot!

Going home :(

Have you taken your Duffy to Florida? Do you think I'm totally bonkers? All comments welcome!

Epcot... Just beautiful!

Epcot is my second favourite Disney park, very close behind the Magic Kingdom. I like to think of Epcot as the 'grown up' Disney park as its Disney elements are very subtle. It has some fancy restaurants, masses of shops and some of the most beautiful views you'll ever see. What's not to like?

The park is made up of two main areas: Future World and the World Showcase. It has a large lagoon in the middle of the park where you can actually get a boat to different areas of the World Showcase. You might think this sounds lazy, but Epcot is huge. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes!

Spaceship Earth, Epcot's iconic landmark, is one of the most impressive things you'll see in the whole of Disney World. It is absolutely MASSIVE, and there's a ride inside it! The ride is a very slow and relaxing train which takes you right to the top of the ball while telling you the story of mankind from the very beginning to the present day. Test Track, Mission Space and Journey into Imagination with Figment are also great unique rides which you won't want to miss. All these rides are in Future World, which largely focuses on technological innovations.

After spending the morning in Future World, you definitely need to go for a wander around the World Showcase. Make sure you leave enough time as it's a big area to cover! The World Showcase, without any exaggeration, is one of the most fascinating places I've ever been to. Eleven countries are literally showcased around Epcot's lagoon with restaurants, shops and landmarks accurately reflecting each country's culture and lifestyle. People from each respective country are employed to work in the World Showcase which adds to its authenticity, and everything in the World Showcase is imported from the countries themselves.

China

Germany

The UK!

Morocco

Japan

Italy

As you can see, a huge amount of effort has gone in to making sure the representations are as authentic as possible, and the countries themselves all have a big say in how their own little corner of the World Showcase is depicted. My favourite countries are China, Japan and Italy. I love the food in China and Italy, and China and Japan's gift shops are amazing! 

After spending all day in the park, Epcot's night show is a good chance to stop, take in your surroundings and marvel at the beauty of the park. You can watch the night show (Illuminations: Reflections of Earth) from anywhere in the World Showcase area. I'm not going to try to describe the show because I could never do it justice just by using mere words, but I can't think of anyone who wouldn't think it was spectacular. I can see why some people would positively hate the night show at the Magic Kingdom, but Epcot's night show is majestic and isn't cheesy in the slightest. It celebrates the diversity and multicultural nature of Epcot, along with its focus on innovation, and is just an amazing spectacle. They play some fantastic music throughout the show... the memories are actually giving me goosebumps! A firework show is incorporated in to the night show, and it's probably the most impressive firework show in Disney World. So to sum up, Epcot's night show is great and you should definitely witness it at least once!

I met some lovely characters in Epcot this year... Duffy the Disney Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Donald Duck! Although the park isn't overtly Disney-esque, there are still plenty of opportunities to meet characters if you're in to that kind of thing. I didn't meet any characters when I went to Florida last year, but I wasn't quite so shy this year. Duffy was definitely my favourite character... he even gave my Duffy teddy bear a hug!

Although 'beautiful' is a very overused word, it does pretty much sum up my opinion of Epcot if I could only use one word to describe it. Just look at this view over the lagoon... it's hard to believe that this is in the middle of a Disney World theme park!

I haven't covered half of what I love about Epcot in this blog post as I could go on for ever, but hopefully it's given you a flavour of what Epcot is all about. Have you ever been to Epcot? What was your favourite part?