This year has seen huge changes in my life: the start of my second year as a vegetarian (and moving away from pescatarianism, but not inflicting really hard and fast rules on myself – there was an incident with a tuna sandwich – there, I said it); committing to the #Ruleof5 (still haven’t bought anything new); taking a new project at work with more responsibility; I daren’t even say it but *whispers* hopefully a new cottage coming our way… completing ‘Run the Month’ for Prostate Cancer UK – running a marathon over the course of January and raising over £800, something of which we’re rightly pr ..read more

Every year, my final blog post of the year is one of my absolute favourites to write.  I love a New Year – it’s even better than September for me – just a fresh, clean notebook all ready to fill with memories made: laughter, food, travel, love and fun.  Last year I wrote about softness, and so much still resonates with me now: the feeling you have when someone loves and understands you so completely that you can be 100% yourself.  A lovely pal of mine (follow Sasha on Insta – Inmyjournallately) was talking about this great journal prompt recently. A couple of questions that ..read more

We’re a bit of a mixture in our house over Christmas: there are vegetarians, meat eaters and vegans all coming for Christmas dinner. You would think this was a bit of a faff, but honestly , with a few easy swaps it’s a doddle to cook Christmas dinner for vegans, veggies and meat eaters alike without any stress or having to make ten different dishes to suit everyone.  Here’s a quick guide to doing Christmas dinner for vegans, and a load of top tips about everything else, from the yummiest sides to desserts, and some snackage options too.  Oh, and just so I don’t have to keep saying it ..read more

I love autumn don’t you?  Quite apart from the whole fresh notebook/new pencil case loveliness that September brings, there’s the bonus of darker, misty mornings (I don’t mind these at all), scented candles, lamps lit and snuggly throws on the furniture, Sunday walks and roast dinners (although ours look a little different these days without the meat, they’re still just as delicious), pumpkin spice and cinnamon everything.. We’re enjoying the last of the summer from the garden: the few last tomatoes; basil, oregano, rosemary (all drying, ready to be added to soups, pasta sauces and roast ..read more

Plant based baking can be a bit touch and go.  Baking without eggs can be a challenge, but I’ve made this super easy vegan lemon drizzle cake recipe a few times recently and it’s always come out really well.  I made one with aquafaba (the liquid from chickpeas) for Charlie’s last birthday and it really wasn’t nice – a bit dense and cardboardy tasting – but this one genuinely doesn’t taste any different to a sponge cake made with butter and eggs, I promise. There’s an awful lot of reasons why having a best friend who’s a therapist is a good thing.  As well as knowing that I’ll al ..read more

If you’re a regular, you’ll know that I’m a very proud Monica Vinader insider. This basically means that I can offer you, my lovely reader, not just insider info: sneak peeks of new collections, early notifications of sales, etc, but also a hefty 20% Monica Vinader discount code too.  I’ve written before about why I love Monica Vinada – the pieces are great quality, handcrafted from sustainably-sourced materials and what’s more, every piece of Monica Vinader jewellery is covered by a five year warranty on receipt of a valid proof of purchase. This warranty applies to everything, regardles ..read more

Ahhhh, the summer sunshine is finally here; we’re all about spending our precious time off pottering in the garden (my dahlias are growing, and I couldn’t be prouder) and taking lazy walks to the pub for a sunny beer.  If, like me, you’re still aiming towards that chic capsule wardrobe, the shopping is an absolute dream this time of year.   I’m trying to be good and have been operating on a ‘one out, one in’ basis.  I’ve been selling quite a few bits on Vinted – and quickly found that I’d accrued a bit of money to spend.  So here, without further ado, is the weekend wi ..read more

Ahhh adulting.  Isn’t it a pain? If I had my way I’d be lazing by a pool somewhere warm in a cute little villa that was mine all mine – and I’m working towards that, believe me – and definitely not thinking about things like bank accounts and insurance, but for now, a bit of adulting is somewhat necessary, so I’ve pulled together a little list of  life admin: top tips for sorting the important stuff, featuring some companies that I really rate right now for all those bits of inescapable life admin. Get some term life insurance quotes We live together – we’re not married and we both h ..read more

You know I’m the biggest Beauty Pie fan.  I use allllll the products every day and I absolutely love them. The Beauty Pie gold standard for skincare is the Beauty Pie ABC+SPF skincare routine and I thought I’d go through how it works for me and what it’s done for my skin so far. I’ve also got some insider top tips and recommendations for lovely make-up bits too. Let’s get going, shall we? So what is Beauty Pie exactly? If you want to know a bit more about Beauty Pie and how it works, have a look at my original Beauty Pie post here .  It’s basically like an exclusive beauty buyer’s cl ..read more

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas.  We stayed at home and shared a few gorgeous days of family time with lots of delicious food and a few bottles of fizz. Heaven!  I love the opportunity for a fresh start, and happily, 2022 once again brings us 12 new chapters, all with delicious, clean white pages all ready to fill up with all sorts of new experiences and memories.  We got chatting the other day about having a word for the year. I had to laugh, because when I searched it on here, the word I chose for 2019, basically one massive chaotic year of ..read more