Light at the end of the tunnel

We have been having fun with this house move of late. The solicitors are blaming the mortgage company the mortgage people are blaming the vendors its just ridiculous.

I am sure there must be light at the end of the tunnel but it seems everything comes at once.

Perhaps soon I will be able to post a happy post! I am struggling with many things at the moment, but the mister did take me out for a lovely dinner. He is the best.

Change, new change, change again

I am really looking forward to moving into our new home and feeling like we are getting on somewhere in our little life. I am a big one for finishing projects. My favourite crafts are things that can finish in an afternoon!!

Not only the house move is going on at the moment, I have 2 essays in by the end of the week and work is just crazy busy.

Don't get me wrong there is a part of me that enjoys being busy and getting somewhere but there is another part thinking ok come on, I need a break! I think that the house will be the biggest thing for me. I am so very excited at the thought of 4 bedrooms to ourselves. We pretty much live in one room at the moment so having  lounge to sit and watch telly in, a study instead of the bed to do my college work and a kitchen that we can create and save money in. I definitely have my rose tinted glasses on at the moment!!

I am still pondering this enjoying your job situation, I think that growing up there is so much pressure to make a decision about what you want to do, who you want to be and at 18 how can you know? I know I am a fine one to talk because although career wise I don't know what I want I did get married at 19. That is one decision I never sit and ponder over. I genuinely feel that I made the right decision there. Its just what to do to earn the money.......

A lovely weekend

Although we have had a lot of sad news recently, it has meant big family get togethers and it has been really lovely catching up.

Once everything was sorted we went for a walk in Mount Edgecombe park; although misty the foot ferry was idyllic and it was nice to feel as though you were getting away from the rat race so to speak.

We did hope for a cream tea but unfortunately the orangery was closed and there wasn't anywhere else to go! So we settled for a cuppa in the sunshine.

We took the opportunity to grab a few photos of us and I thought I would share one with you .....

Tutorial: How to press and dry flowers

We lost someone close to us recently and that has meant that we have flowers around. In order for us to always remember this person and dedicate a small place in our hearts forever I decided to dry some flowers from the display. 

The red roses were so beautiful they needed keeping! 

All I did was pinched some of the husband's fishing line and tied small circle around the roses heads to try and keep the flowers to hold together throughout drying. I tied the line in my hand and then threaded the rose through; tightening once in a good place. This did take a bit of practice but I am really hopeful!!

Next I tied the stem onto a coat hanger in order to be able to hang them in the airing cupboard to dry. I have put some newspaper below them just in case anything drips/fall off!!

 To press the flowers, I have simply folded a piece of a4 printer paper and arranged how I wanted the flower head to look. Then I placed it in a heavy book and squashed together. I have also placed these books in the airing cupboard so that hopefully they dry nicely together!

Once all of the flowers are dry and hard I will be putting them in something to be kept. It requires further thought but I think it might have something to do with old coffee jars.......

Here comes the positivity .....

So I sat down to write this post and everything I came up with was a moan, drip or full of negativity!
Therefore I will try and gloss over them to create something much more inspirational... maybe.

Having started my first 'real' job about 6 months ago I am slowly learning that the world of work isn't somewhere you will necessarily love or look forward to. Unless you are really lucky.
Being in HR the majority of people come in with bad news or to moan or to turn their moan into bad news for me. Yet I still find myself thinking all of this is ok because I am getting what I want, the things that are important to me outside of work. At home.

At home isn't always easy because we still live in 1 room of my parents house, waiting for the illusive date we may move into our 4 bedroom new home. I am also putting myself through college to get my degree that will in theory get one step closer to having a job I completely love. I have married the most perfect man for me and cannot contemplate life without him. I know that I wouldn't be anywhere near getting our first house at 21.

Monday morning blues....

I most certainly woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! I was frowny and grumpy all the way to work, then when I pulled into my space there was a group of contractors waiting for a skip who neglected to tell me. So by the time I got to my desk I had to go and move the car. Luckily it wasn't raining. 

I checked a couple of my favourite blogs before coming here and realised that quite a few people are starting healthy eating programmes or focusing on the good things they have going on. Whilst I think this is a great idea I am just not in that place yet. Normally I would be championing the positivity and I don't entirely know why I am not - I think it has something to do with feeling ill, plus I am just ok being a little bit of a sour puss and staying under my duvet until this week is out!

Currently I am working on a finance report for college, but for here I am working on a shift dress tutorial. I have the design in my head and the ideal material it is just a case of figuring out how I will explain my stages because  I don't work with patterns!!!!

Trying to make a button!

Busy Sunday

Today, we went to breakfast with the misters parents. We do this pretty much every Sunday and it has pretty much become our routine.The family is going through some tough times at the moment but by supporting each other I think we will be ok.

We popped into the city centre to pick up and outfit and managed to find 2. It was good for the mister to get some time with his dad, I helped his mum with the outfits which was really good because we like similar things and I wasn't spending my money!! Speaking of money, the car has to go in this week. I am not looking forward to paying that bill. Luckily I put money aside each month so that we aren't short every time something happens to it! Our little adventure car is great, but the sooner we get a more stable one the better!

After some shopping we popped over to the cinema with my mum and grandma, its her birthday in the week. We saw 'The King's Speech', it was a really interesting film and I was pleasantly surprised!!

Once the film was over we picked up our shopping for the week and just came home. I had some accountancy work to finish and the husband likes to play on the xbox. That way I don't feel guilty for not spending time with him. Tomorrow night I need to finish my reflective statement and hopefully hand that in on Wednesday. If I have time I will do some more to the accountancy essay.

If only I had time to create this dress I have in my head, I have drawn it so many times in so many different ways. The trouble is my sewing machine is caught up under a lot of motorcycle things and really I just want to move into our house to get my room all set up. I cannot wait to have my own room!!

I think it is going to be another busy week, that I am sure will just fly by!

Saturday Antics

Today was a bitter sweet today, I seem to be quite moody lately and we aren't too sure why. If I am honest I think it is stress but I just don't want to deal with it. Anyways, we did have quite a nice day.

We took a walk over the bridge into Cornwall and the weather was just lovely!! It was nice not to have to wrap up and just enjoy the birdies. Mr HB practised his fancy camera skills with the tripod!

This was the little love as we waited for his parents to join us in visiting a local craft fair.

I do love this boy!

Thought of the day

Today was one of those days where I just I felt needed my mum. Sometimes I have days where everything gets on top of me, nothing is ok and I am going to ball my eyes out as soon as I see her just to feel the release that I am no longer carrying it around by myself.

My Mum is brilliant, we can craft together and we can talk for quite a long time. The best thing I ever did was move out. I definitely feel that our friendship has grown twice over since moving out - not that it was ever bad, just that natural time had come where I was a wife and we needed our own space.

We have also been told that we wont be moving on the 25th but it shouldn't be too much longer, I keep telling myself the end of April just so that we don't get our hopes up to high!!!!

Beauty on a budget ... Part 3 Olive oil

For the third part of this Beauty on a budget series I came up with the idea of using things we probably already have in our homes, after all our budgets can only handle so much luxury!!!
Olive oil is a really great base for sauces and cooking in general.
In the Mediterranean, it is rumoured that a lot of the health problems the UK is suffering from are not present because of the consumption of a healthier diet - based around olive oil.

For the purpose of the beauty on a budget series, I have started to use olive oil on my elbows and hard skin on my feet. This is great at softening the skin and creating younger looking fresher skin.

My newest experiment has been using olive oil in rejuvenating face masks. Mix a teaspoon of olive oil with 1 mashed banana and use after the bicarbonate of soda micro-dermabrasion (in a previous post)
I think this will become my new sunday evening routine as I am finding it is really helping bring my spots out - not great but my theory is the sooner they have appeared the sooner they can leave!!

Another long day

Work just seems to be crazy busy at the moment, topped with the fact I keep making mistakes I genuinely feel rubbish at my job. I started a new job 6 months ago after leaving a very comfortable job that I could do in my sleep.
I am studying at the moment for my degree in HR and yet the work doesn't interest me, it doesn't get me excited and full of passion that I always anticipated I would get when I found my path. This has gotten me thinking that maybe I haven't found my path yet.
I am really drawn to counselling, guidance and advice at the moment. I am not sure why but I think I would like careers advising or something similar because I have learnt from experience getting transferable skills in something you are interested in is much more beneficial than getting a qualification that won't help with any other walk of life.
We were supposed to be moving a week friday but that looks as though it is about to be moved to as much as 6 weeks!! It just feels like forever and like we wont actually own our own home.

Luckily I have a lovely husband and came home to a lovely message above my head in bed:

This is what it said:

Sometimes the smallest gestures mean the most, his lovely attention to me really lifted my mood. It is crazy how much I love that boy!

Sunshine!

It has been nice waking up to a slightly fresh morning with a little frost, sunshine in the early morning just brightens the office a treat! Makes work seem that much easier.

In the south we get quite mild weather but the last week or so has been lovely, I even managed to go for a walk today without a coat!! Just my cardigan was enough.

We have then spent the evening with the in laws (Mr HB's parents) I am practising knitting some booties, I like to keep a stash of knitted things for our future babies/presents for friends that are expecting. Hand made gifts always mean more to me! But I am soppy like that!!

Diet Plans for PCOS

There are many diet plans for PCOS out there, however, the majority of advice I have received since being diagnosed has been to just eat as healthy as possible. PCOS is not life threatening however it is very distressing until managed. I have been told that as I don't want children tomorrow, I need to focusing on loosing weight and trying to self manage my symptoms. Some of my symptoms are too personal for me to discuss at the moment. Therefore, I am sharing my experiences and working through my own emotions by writing about them.

Upon research though, I have found that Low GI diet plans and High protein plans have supported research suggesting that they are the most efficient way of loosing weight when the body has a resistance to breaking down insulin. The priority for any diet is to stick with foods that don't affect the blood sugar.

All of these insights are things that I have found and experienced. However, I am not medically trained and cannot give fail safe advise. Speak to your doctor before undertaking any diet.

I have also found that anyway you can incorporate exercise into your day will really help. I have started walking at least 2 miles a day with a dance class once a week.

My biggest piece of experience that I would like to share so far, is that you need to talk about it. If you want to talk with people about it, go for it. If you can only post online anonymously then thats another way of dealing with it. Verity the charity - in the UK has some great information and the USA sites have some good recipes.

Beauty on a budget ... Part 2 Cutting your own hair

This is something that my sister introduced me to about a year ago now.
Ever since Mr HB and I decided we wanted to buy our own house we have been saving like mad! It sounds silly that we are saving to get ourselves into debt but we want to own our home and have the stability of not renting, plus in England it is the done thing and makes sense for us!

So, instead of spending £40 every 6 weeks or so, I went to the 99p store and found a bargain set of scissors - that were purposefully made for hair cutting and gave it a go.
Because my hair is long I mainly just trim the ends and add some layers to give it some body.

To trim the length I flip my head of dry hair forward so I am upside down looking at my knees, brush my hair and bunch it together. Then I just take 3cm or so off of the ends in a pretty much straight line. Then I flip it back and check the length - check the ends to make sure I have all neat ends again.

To cut a layer I get a thin section and twist it between my fingers, then you take the scissors and open them so the hair is being cut by almost open scissors. Cut towards the floor so it is cut at an angle. Untwist and scrunch at the roots to see how it falls. I like to do this with random sections of hair so as not to have chunky layers. However, that is personal preference!!

If you are just starting out cutting your own hair I would advise you to do it small amounts and only take off amounts. Because you can always take more off. But you cannot put it back on!!!

PCOS Diet day 1

Dieting day 1

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs
Lunch: Cooked ham and sweet cherry tomatos - 2 good handfuls
Dinner: White fish stir fry
Snack: 8 Brazil nuts, 4 apricots

2L's of water with at least 6 cups of decaf tea!!

Today I have felt quite positive because I feel like I am making a positive change to our future! I know it sounds silly but I really feel good about dieting this time. I am also using the boots laser system to try and tame my other symptom! But its ok, I am working towards how I want to be. If you can't have everything, just have control!!

Dieting with PCOS

I was diagnosed with PCOS about 2 months ago, this is something that I am ok with. At this moment in time I am ok with it.
Mr HB has been an absolute star because he has this mans viewpoint where he is very practical and pragmatic, he tends to bring me down to earth.

So I have started to think about the future and we have been talking quite a lot about what we actually want. We are about to complete on a 4 bedroom house because we know we want children, we know that the house is somewhere we can see ourselves growing our own little family. This got me thinking about how I could help our situation and potentially avoid some of the heartache associated with Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome.

This has therefore made me look at my weight, I have a BMI of 29 so I am deemed overweight, by about 2 and a half stone. Mr HB and I feel that we probably wont think seriously about starting a family until I have finished studying. I only have a year left but the mister finishes his apprenticeship in two and we know that money will be a lot easier then so it seems to make sense that we wait about 2 years until we start trying.
Which has given me a time scale. I want to loose the weight before we start trying and I know that the doctors will take us more seriously once we are deemed 'healthy'. We will also be older, at the moment we aren't taken seriously very often because getting married at 19 isn't in vogue!!

To sum up the point, I will be posting about my progress and the type of food I will be eating. I will be following the The Harcombe Diet, I did this diet just before christmas and I had lost about half a stone - then christmas kicked in and I lost the plot!!!

My aim is to find dinners we can both enjoy but that are helpful to my waist!!! I am hoping to do some before and pictures but I need to be brave for that. I will also take progress pictures to make sure I remember and stay motivated.

Beauty on a budget ... Part 1 Bicarbonate of soda

Well, after a fruitful day car booting (therefore spending) I felt like a bit of a pamper (but on a budget) this evening. I really love Clinique products but the cost reflects the quality!!

I use the number 2 range I think, its about combintion skin anyway. As I am still early twenties my skin is very erratic and sometimes its really ok, and other times I just want to scream!!

Today was one of those days, I hadn't washed my hair because I wanted to dye it but I felt really ugly for most of the day! Just one of things that I am sure most ladies can relate to... so I popped a little Baby talc in my roots to make them less shiny. This is something I really rely on these days otherwise I would have to wash my hair every day and I just don't have the time. But to the point.....

Teeth Whitening
I am only speaking from experience and would really recommend speaking to your dentist before trying this, I use Bicarbonate of soda to whiten my teeth. It costs about 50p from tesco's in the home baking aisle and its brilliant! It has so many exciting uses I am sure my home will never be without it. All I do is mix a teaspoon with a little water to make a paste. I then use my toothbrush to spoon it onto my teeth - DO NOT swallow whilst brushing your teeth in the normal way. It will taste disgusting. I wont lie! However, if you do this every other day and only once a day  - on the other occasions just use your normal toothpaste, I use a sensitive pronamel one to in theory help build the enamel where you have just stripped it with the bicarb. I am amazed by my results and it is something I have stuck with for quite a few months now.

Microdermabrasion
This sounds very clinical but its not! Basically, your skin is always growing and shedding. But it can build up and it helps to remove it to bring out the new more youthful skin underneath. Again, speaking from my own experience, I have found that using 3 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda with water will really tighten your pores and strip back the skin. It is vitally important that you do not do this too often as it would probably make the skin raw and red. I use this skin treatment once a week just to freshen my face and dry out any spots.If you have any trouble with sensitive skin I would suggest doing a test patch somewhere hidden just in case!! Once you have rinsed the paste off of your face, towel dry. Make sure you wait until your skin goes shiny before applying your moisturiser to let your skin breathe. Then I would suggest a rich moisturiser as you have taken a good layer of skin off.

The above beauty treatments are things I have developed myself and therefore only tried on myself. I have not had negative effects but that doesn't mean you wont. Therefore, if you try any of my ideas do not expect the same results.

Good News!!!

We have some great news!

We have brought a house!!!! It is likely that we will be in by the end of March, there is no chain so its just as quick as it can be!

I did debate whether to use this picture as it is extremely flattering! (not) but its me and at the end of the day we are just so very happy!!!! 

As soon as we put the sign up we went for another look around and I am just so excited!! I am secretly keeping my fingers crossed because we have had so many go wrong up until now and I genuinely am just waiting for something to go wrong. 

I will be doing before and after photos to treasure forever! As well as some tutorials on things that I put in our house. 

Our weekend started early...

We took today and Monday off from work to have a weekend catching up and doing things we want to do. Today we went to Totnes market and picked up some fabric, lace and webbing. It was all much cheaper than picking things up in Plymouth town centre. 

Totnes is an interesting place - i love the market and the friendly feel but there is just something not quite right about the place for us. It just doesn't fit. But i cannot resist fabric nor a bargain!! I will post a picture tomorrow. 

Tomorrow we are just around Saltash but that should be good - we have a few things to pick up for the house! Then in the evening we are off out to see my Mum. And sunday the Mr and I are getting up quite early to go to Exeter car boot sales! We have made a list of the things we need to get ready to move with. Just the essentials for now!

Blogs that inspire me

I am really new to creating this space, I am still not 100% sure quite what I want to do with it. Part of me thinks this will be a place for me to share all of the things I love, but there is another bigger part that is so happy with how my life is at the moment I almost am afraid of forgetting it.
Don't get me wrong, I have loads still to achieve but I have this relatively new job that i finally feel as though i am getting the hang of, friends that are in totally different places but we still have an appreciation for each other, our search for the most perfect house might actually be over!! And a husband who I just couldn't ask any more of, he is just brilliant. He lets me cause arguments so that i can resolve whatever it is i am working through. He is patient and he inspires me to try to love him the way he loves me.

I have to be honest, Danielle over at Sometimes Sweet was one of the main blogs that i follow that inspired me just to give this a go and figure out the point as I go along.
Rachel of Smile and Wave is so colourful and sharing of her life that i felt it important for me to jump and see what i could create in my spare time.
Finally, Miss James of Bleu Bird Vintage intrigued me into sharing our journey in this crazy world. I love the pictures of her little baby and she has really helped me get into vintage fashion.

So, there it is, just an honest blog that maybe one day i will figure out the purpose of!! Do you ever feel the same? Is this common with blogging?