Yearly Archives

2017

YouTube new requirements

Should I stop vlogging?

January 14, 2017

You might already know that I had a go at Vlogmas last year (It feels weird saying ‘last year’!) on my You Tube channel. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, ‘Vlogmas’ is a You Tube challenge to put up a vlog (video log) (Just in case my parents are reading this!) every day of December up until Christmas. I reached as far as day nineteen and sadly I had to give up. Even though I use an external hard-drive for the videos to free memory space; my old laptop just couldn’t keep up. Whenever I tried to edit my videos the mouse would freeze or go really slowly and the whole thing became impossible. Well Chris has been telling me for a while I needed to upgrade, and I have been coveting the pink macbook and I have finally bought one. Hooray! I can get back to video editing! Anyway, the question is, now that Vlogmas is over and I’ve nearly caught up on editing the videos; should I carry on?

Your Best Year 2017 by Lisa Jacobs, book review

January 12, 2017

This is a productivity workbook and online business planner and I first discovered last year’s version in March. I’m very excited to actually be starting this where I should be – from the beginning! I had a quick flick-through when I bought 2017’s planner in December. Take a look at this You Tube video for my first thoughts and comparisons. I’ve now spent the last three days properly reading the book and filling everything in ready to start the year; so I’m now ready to write the review….

Weekly Wardrobe – Christmas Party

January 9, 2017

I’m back with my regular Weekly Wardrobe feature, in the outfit I wore for our village Writers’ Group Christmas party. It was far too late in the day for photos outside, so we rigged up this handmade background (more on that another day) and a studio flash set-up. It was a pretty muddy day, so I only have socks on as I wore wellies to walk to and back from the party, and just had socks on while I was there as I knew it would just be sitting round a table and no-one would see my feet anyway! I couldn’t think of any stand-in party shoes at the last minute, so here I am, authentically in my socks!

The Beauty Bargain you need to know about today!

January 7, 2017

I am a fan of Boots No 7 beauty products – on the whole they work very well for my skin, so I was pleased to spot this gift pack in the Boots January sale called the No 7 Beautiful Skin Collection. Originally £14, it’s now half price at £7, which makes this a real bargain. It contains small size tubes and bottles of Radiance Exfoliator; Day Cream; Night Cream and Cleansing Lotion. But the main one to note is the full size bottle of Overnight Revitalising Eye Balm. The same size retails normally at £12, so if this is a product you’re likely to use, then the whole pack is an absolute steal. I’ve just bought two packs! My local Boots had stacks the other day, but only a few today, so get out quick to grab this while you can! Or I’ve just found it online. On a side note, they’re also doing a three for two on Boots No 7 beauty products in their usual price range at the moment and you’ve got one more day to use the £5 off beauty products and £3 off make-up vouchers they’re handing out at the till. (You’d have to work out if the three for two is better value as you can’t use both offers at the same time.) So there you are – just a very quick beauty tip I thought you might like to know about!

Exposing a fireplace and other renovating adventures

January 6, 2017

Some of you have been following the renovating side of this blog since we moved in eight and a half years ago; so I thought I’d do a quick update of a couple of the smaller jobs that we’ve done recently. The first clue that there was an old fireplace in our bedroom was the hearthstone that we found when lifting up the beige carpet to reveal the Georgian floorboards. The second clue was the obvious difference in sound when knocking on the wall. The third clue was the whacking great hole behind the plaster when we hit it with a hammer….

Happy New Year! Reflecting and looking ahead

January 3, 2017

Welcome 2017! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas or whichever seasonal celebrations you may have been having. Every other year I host Christmasses for my side of the family and another one for Chris’s side of the family (we wouldn’t all fit in at the same time) and this year it was extra lovely because everyone was able to come. I really wish the Christmas holidays could last another week – I can only just sit down and relax a bit. The run-up to Christmas was mainly spent cleaning, tidying and moving things to the garage to make space for people to stay. I’m writing this knowing that most people are back to work and school etc today and not knowing how on earth I would manage it if I had a normal job! I slept until 11:17 this morning! The only other time I can ever remember being as knackered as this was when we moved!