Birthday Weekend In Pictures

This post is a little late - I was going to put it up last night but the boy came over and we booked a holiday to Turkey! We're going for a week at the start of September and I'm excited already! I'm going to be living in the gym for the next two months!

My weekend kicked off on Friday night with a 7 mile run. Probably not how many people would choose to spend a Friday night, but I beat my 6 mile record and this makes me happy! Apologies for the phone camera photo, I don't take my Canon on the treadmill with me!

On Saturday morning I treated myself to banana oatie pancakes with peanut flour sauce. They sort of fell apart a little bit when I was flipping them, but don't be fooled by how they look - that shiz tasted goooood.

The boy gave me an early birthday present *squeal* so I could wear them out for dinner and drinks on Saturday night. Best shoes boyfriend ever!

I'm squashing my Sunday nails into this post - Barry M Peach Melba. I can't believe I put off buying this shade for so long as it's just beautiful!
I shunned a birthday cake in favour of raspberry and strawberry Eton mess, made with 0% fat Greek yogurt sweetened with a little bit of icing sugar and vanilla essence. Much much nicer to eat in the weather we had over the weekend!
So pleased to get some of the items I have been lusting over!
Presents presents presents make me happy!

Right, I'm off to lay in bed and watch season six of The Hills, a very happily received gift!

Chicken in Piri Piri Sauce

On Sunday, me and the boy had a quiet night in with a film and this lovely dinner we made out of Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals Book.

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts sliced length ways

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

Fresh thyme

Piri Piri Sauce:

1 medium red onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp paprika

1 red chili

Method:

Slice the peppers into large chunks and season the chicken breasts.

Griddle or pan fry the chicken breasts and peppers until the chicken is golden and the peppers are soft.

Blitz all the sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Pour the sauce into an oven proof dish and lay the peppers, chicken and thyme over the top.

Pop the dish in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce is hot and bubbling.

Serve!

We ate ours with roast potatoes and a side salad. I think I over-lemoned the piri piri sauce but it was still a very tasty and filling dinner!

What have you cooked recently? What's your favourite recipe?

Snapshots

"Everyone has days when they take rubbish pictures and you can't give up just because of a few bad sessions! If everyone did that nothing or no one would be successful."

Wise words indeed from the boy.

Fun at the Fair!

A very un-beauty related post, but I started my Photography course this evening! The course is a continuation of one I did back in October/November and the class tonight happened to coincide with the annual fair that sets up in the City Centre for a couple of days.

These photos aren't the best; I struggled with the light as it was neither daylight or darkness when we were taking the photos, so these are the best of a bad bunch if I'm honest - must pratice more!

The Weekend In Pictures

mr whippy; new phone bling; blue sky; lazy day; wedges; sunglasses; pink blossoms; pear cider; nachos; no nachos; banoffee mess; frappes

Sunday Nails - Nail Wraps Part 2 + Blog Award!

These are the cute nail wraps from Wednesday's post in action!

You do get quite a few wraps in the packet as they are for fingers and toes so if you make a mistake you can try again (which I did a few times).

They are pretty easy to apply once you get the hang of them - following the instructions on the back of the packet, you have to remove the shine from your nails with a nail buffer, pick a wrap that matches the size of your nail, smooth it onto your nail then apply heat from a hairdryer until it softens and sticks firmly.

The only problems I had with them was the leftover wrap at the end of the nail; the excess is supposed to be filed off with a wooden file but I just couldn't seem to get it right and ended up with a bit of a rough edge that didn't look very nice! When I came to do the second hand I trimmed the ends off before I applied the wrap to the nail so there wasn't as much excess to try and file down, and this seemed to work a lot better for me.

As for staying power, I applied these on Friday and I'm no longer wearing them - maybe I didn't heat them enough, or they weren't applied with enough pressure but they ends started to curl off after a few days.

I would definitaly use these again for a night out or a special occasion becuause they are different and create a talking point, however I'm not sure if I would want to pay full price for something that only lasts maybe a few days

Has anyone else tried these? I'd love to know your opinion of them!

P.S.

Samantha from Corsets, Crafts and Cupcakes has awarded me a Blog Award!

According to the rules I have to tell you seven things about myself so here you go...

 - I wear fake nails all the time to stop myself biting my real nails - bad habit!

- I love to bake cakes using vegetables instead of butter.

- Last year my boyfriend and I visited New York for 5 days and it was the best holiday of my life.

- My hobby is photography and I'm hoping to start an Open University course in the Summer.

 - I can't stop buying shoes.

- In one week I'm starting my new job and I know it's going to make me so much happier than I am in my current job.

 - I love monkeys J

The seven blogs I want to pass this award onto are...

http://cutenerdglasses.blogspot.com/

http://daintymakeup.blogspot.com/

http://milkandlotsofsugar.blogspot.com/

http://peachesxomakeup.blogspot.com/

http://peluxe100.blogspot.com/

http://thecrazybitchbeautygazette.blogspot.com/

http://trulymadlybeauty.blogspot.com/

I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend!

Let It Snow!

This was the view from my window today - I do love the snow but I'm more than ready for the warm weather now please!

I took this photo using my new wide angle lense which I love, however I really need to get out more with it, I haven't really had a chance to use it properly yet.

Hope you're enjoying the snow if you've got it!