The wedding of the year

Blogger has finally decided to reboot hurrah! 

Sunday's post:::

Yesterday was one of the highlights of my year. Right up there with the day I discovered Henry Cavill.

This was my outfit

A proper photo for once thanks sis ;) it didn't take me long to find DC when I got there, he was the one  pacing the hotel grounds with a few a4 sheets of paper in his hands. 

Doesn't he scrub up well??? He looked pretty yummy to me once I had sorted out his tie and the lady who made the button holes had repinned it on correctly ;)

One last rehearsal before it was time to go. 

Caption- DC to the groom "you do realise what you're signing up for here don't you?????"

KIDDING. 

We don't make too much of a bad couple I reckon ;) I thought it was best to get the pretty photos out of the way before the champagne started flowing. 

30 seconds after I took this photo you could see me running up to the groom for him to spit his chewing gum into my hand, really I am a good friend who goes to great lengths to keep the bride happy ;)

The ceremony was beautiful and the readings from both mothers made my wedding date and I completely teary. I had not brought any tissues and was just shy of asking the row behind for a spare. 

Talk of my wedding date here she is looking beautiful as ever. We had so much fun entertaining babies and trying (failing) to keep the boys in check. 

Our wedding favours were too cute and completely yum. Mini cake in a jar? They know me too well 

I am biased but this was pretty much the best 11 minutes of my life. He did so great and didn't falter once. He got a bit emotional towards the end and it took some fresh air afterwards to get him back to normal. I think the pressure and emotion of the day got the better of him, he had to cope with his nerves until gone 6pm bless him. His speech was funny and cute and embarrassing for the groom to the right degree so everyone was very proud of him afterwards and the congratulations lasted about an hour. Go DC!

After this it was time to put the camera away and have a couple (few) drinks. I had the best day ever and I can't believe after 18 months that it's over. I can't wait to see the wedding photos especially to see whether we pulled off the heart shape guest photo on the lawn. 

Congratulations Mr & Mrs King!

Dans x

Run like there's someone chasing you, the best lunch hour & the big weekend

Today so far has been a mixed bag:

Woke up late (expected)

Still felt absolutely terrible (expected)

Great day at work (unexpected)

Fabulous lunch break (unexpected)

Didn't feel like running (expected)

Best run of my life (unexpected)

Let's start with the run. I love surprising myself by having an absolutely fantastic run. Today I was running like someone was chasing me, and I even tried to slow myself down after worrying that my chances of a heart attack were rapidly increasing but my legs had their own game plan that was different to my head. 

There's no better feeling for me than a <30 min 5km run. I wish I could pinpoint the exact time that I hit 5km but I was concentrating on finishing the last 20 seconds or so without either being sick or fainting and falling into the road. 

30 minutes 

1/8 Monday: 4.66km, 6:27min/km av pace

2/8 Wednesday: 4.67km, 6:26min/km av pace

3/8 Friday: 5.09km, 5:54min/km av pace

4/8 Monday: 4.73km, 6:21min/km av pace

5/8 Saturday: 4.74km, 6:20min/km av pace

6/8 Tuesday: 4.64km, 6:28min/km av pace

7/7 Friday: 5.06km, 5:57min/km av pace

Not bad at all for a run I could have easily slacked off until tomorrow morning. 

I went out into town at lunch with my friend and we had such a great lunch break. There is a strict criteria for a lunch break to officially be classed as great in my opinion:

1. It doesn't rain

2. It involves retail therapy

3. It involves food

4. It involves freebies

5. It involves friends (this should come first) 

Today's lunch hour hit the spot. 

1. It didn't rain. 

2. I bought this gorgeous dress from Henry Holland to get me through my Autumn nights out and it had 25% off. The cost per wear on this £26 frock is going to be excellent. And I feel GOOD in it. 

Apologies for the worst outfit photo ever but I don't have a great mirror or any friends to take my photo right now. 

3. This mysterious bag and cup contain the best things you can ever buy from Costa coffee - a tiffin cake and a Terry's chocolate orange mocca latte. 

No this did not help me on my run but it was an amazing idea at 1pm. 

4. For the next couple of weeks you can get a free hand cream from the Body Shop with a Voucher Codes code. No purchase necessary. 

Yes my work desk does need a good scrub. 

5. My friend C is actually the best. 

SO. TOMORROW. THE BIG DAY. 

it's our friend's wedding that we have been waiting for only since the beginning of time. I can't wait to see the bride and groom, can't wait to spend the day with my wedding date - the other best man's girlfriend, and I CAN'T WAIT to hear DC's speech. I know he is going to be fantastic. He has practised and practised and it's so funny so fingers crossed I'm not the only one that's laughing. I will secretly try and get a recording in so I can show everyone how fantastically great he is. 

I think this will be my outfit:

A second apology there for the rubbish photo. 

So DC is with the groom and best man tonight and I am home alone but do not fear, I have my favourite m&s dinner:

I also have this to tuck in to:

I promise the spoon was only put there for the photo opp and there's only a 99% chance that I may devour the whole lot. 

NOT TO MENTION I'm not even lonely tonight because I am spending the evening with my second boyfriend:

Watching Joaquin Phoenix in The Master. 

So I am sorted. After I do two loads of washing, the washing up, and a bit of a kitchen clean. There is a 110% chance I won't get round to this. 

Dans x

My life in pictures #11

I am sat here with a stinking cold looking out of the window at the rain thinking, where did the lovely Bank Holiday go? It just whizzed by so fast! We had such a great weekend with friends and family.

 

 

First up was our friends' wedding that we had been looking forward to for soooo long. DC tried his shirt on in Topman and then bought it online, and he made the mistake of leaving it to try on until 10pm Friday night - and it didn't fit! I don't understand how that happens to often when they're supposed to be exactly the same size! So we had a panic trip into town at 8:30am Saturday to swap his shirt.

Here's me with some of the bride's closest friends, two of who were bridesmaids and one did a reading. It was raining in the morning before we left but after the ceremony the sun came out and it was beautiful.

 

The wedding breakfast was amazing - we had caramelised onion tart for starter, chicken for main course and a mix of three desserts - meringue, chocolate brownie and a passionfruit cheesecake - I obviously took no photos because it would have been a bit rude.

 

How much of a genius idea was the wedding favour? A mini bottle of Baileys from Mr & Mrs Bayley - genius!

 

The wedding breakfast didn't finish until 6.30pm so it went straight into the evening 'do. They had hired a band who were AMAZING, and they had a photobooth which was equally brilliant! There were props to wear and each session printed a set of four photos, and two copies - one for you to keep, and another to stick in a wedding book for the bride and groom. We had so much fun!

 

Sunday was a bit of a write off but Monday we went to our national park with some of DC's family, it was such a sunny and lovely day. We had an ice cream as soon as we got there and then walked up Old John (look it up) and back down, before madly going back up again to meet with DC's auntie who had just arrived.

 

 

Look at that sky! After our long walk we drove to DC's Mum's house for tea and her famous homemade cake - her cake is so amazing you can't ever say no!

 

Dans

Make up splurge

I am Dani and I am a Clinique addict. 99% of my make up is made up of their products - mascara, foundation, concealer, blusher, eyeliner, eyeshadow... all of it except my trusted Rimmel matt powder.

But I am not a millionaire and even with my lack of control I just couldn't face a mega Clinique bill when I suddenly ran out of everything. And anyway, why is it that you always run out of everything at the same time?? What's with that??

I was desperately in need of some makeup ready for our friends' wedding on Saturday, so off I popped to Boots on my lunch break to see what I could see.

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid foundation in nude
I have plenty of my Clinique even better foundation, but my colleague at work the other day (also a bridesmaid at the wedding at the weekend) mentioned that she needed some SPF-free foundation ready for the evening 'do. Why? I asked. Oh, the camera flash bounces off of my SPF foundation and makes my face look white, she answered. OH! Everything suddenly made sense. All of those photos where I have a ghoulish white face compared to my naturally coloured neck and body.

So I bought my old trusted Dream Satin Liquid foundation - I used to love this as it gave me a lovely dewy complex. The only mistake I made was that even though it doesn't say in the tube that it contains SPF, I forgot to double check online, so I'm just hoping that it'll be OK.

Maybelline Dream Terra Sun bronzer
I fell in love with Benefit's Hoola bronzer when I bought it in a miniature 3 pack from Boots along with a mascara and powder foundation for £9. But as I was running out I knew I wouldn't be able to afford the real deal, as I know it's over £20. So I purchased this Maybelline bronzer today, not knowing how it would turn out and I have to admit that I love the results. It's quite subtle so you can build it up without it looking streaky.

Maxfactor Masterpiece mascara
This has been my go-to mascara ever since I started using it. I think I originally found it in my mum's makeup bag, used it and fell in love. I always alternate between this and Clinique's High Impact mascara (when I have more £ in the bank) but I feel as though this mascara frames my eyes so much better and it never lets me down. I can really build it up without it becoming clunky.

Maxfactor Colour X-Pert waterproof eyeliner in deep black
I always feel so plain Jane without my eyeliner. I always feel as though my eyes need to be framed else they just look boring and non-existent, especially with my fair eyebrows and eyelashes. I switched to Maybelline / Clinique gel eyeliner when everyone raved about it, but even though I've been using it for over a year I still can't get the hang of a perfect flick with a brush and always end up with smudged, dodgy eyeliner. I stuck with it but I feel much more comfortable with an eyeliner pen, and this one completely does the trick.

Boujois Rouge Edition lipstick in rose tweed
I love a subtle lip colour (I always want to try red but am not brave enough) and it has to be matte - I really dislike sheen on my lips. My favourite lipstick is Clinique's Long Last in Creamy Nude but as I've been rocking this for so long I thought I needed a change. This Boujois lipstick is AMAZING. It's such a gorgeous colour and seems to be pretty long lasting too (I'm sipping on a hot cuppa at the moment and it's staying put).

And here is the end product of my makeup haul:

The only products I added were my Clinique Blushing Blush Powder Blush (I don't need to buy any blusher for a zillion years as I have so many Clinique samples it's unreal) and Even Better Eyes concealer (the most reliable product in the history of makeup). At the weekend I will most probably add some eyeshadow and my Benefit high beam, and a couple more lashings of mascara to make my eyes stand out and ensure it lasts throughout the day.

Total: £32 - Boots are doing a good few buy one get one half price offers at the moment.

What's in your make up essentials bag?

Dans x

Zatchel update and a few more savings...

So after my failed Zatchel purchase on Sunday, I sent their Customer Service guys an email expressing my disappointment and asking if they would honour the purchase.

I didn't hear back from them and put it down to them being super busy putting through the orders from their birthday flash sale. But I finally got an email from them on Wednesday apologising for the website problem, and for taking so long to get back to me, and also informing me that they have put my order through at sale price and the bag will be with me as soon as production and delivery allows.

So this beautiful barrel bag will be with me soon - thanks Zatchel!

Saving - £22.50

Last week when I got an email through from Topshop launching their sale, I was really disappointed to see that the dress I had bought for our friends' upcoming wedding had gone into the sale at £20!

1. I paid £42 for it!!
2. I hadn't even worn it yet!!

It was hanging up in my wardrobe with tags still on. By the time I came around to try and buy it on sale on Topshop.com it had sold out. My colleague went into our local Topshop on her lunch break on Friday and picked me up a 10, but mine was an 8 and they had sold out, so she came away empty handed. I know it's only a £22 price difference but that's a lot in my shopping budget!

So when I was on my way home from my spa break this week we popped into Leeds city centre and hallelujah there was my size 8 dress in their Topshop sale. I bought it for £20 and I'm planning on returning the original dress with its receipt on my lunch break on Monday when I'm back at work.

Saving - £20

As you know I bought this beautiful Marks & Spencer blazer last week when browsing for a jacket for the wedding.

It was £55 and I have no idea why I thought it would go with the dress I bought for the wedding, I think I was secretly just thinking of an excuse to buy it!

Well the other day we finally received our £25 M&S gift voucher from Sky for signing up to their broadband and phone at the start of the year. So next week I'm planning on returning this jacket (once I've found the receipt...) and buying it again with the voucher.

Saving - £25

So saving £67.50 this week really can't be bad! It's obviously worth the hassle of scouting the items out and returning the originals to the shops. Any effort for a bit of saving is good by me!

Dans

Girl in need of a dress

I have a friend's wedding coming up in May, and another one is September that DC is best man for. I have only been to one wedding before and that was kind of a last minute thing that I just threw on a dress from the back of my wardrobe for.

This time, I thought I'd better plan in advance. I thought seems as we're heading into Spring (although it's snowing outside today) that the shops will start to stock more dresses that will give me lots of lovely options. But I'm wrong, because at the moment I can't seem to find anything!

I don't even know what look I want to go for; so at the moment I'm just looking for some inspiration. I fell in love with this Warehouse dress that I found on ASOS - it was actually in Warehouse not too long ago before it dropped into the sale and disappeared all together. Now it's out of stock on ASOS too so I don't think I have a chance of getting my hands on it. Isn't it pretty?

I also spotted this dress yesterday while having a quick look around Marks and Spencers. This is from their Limited range and it looked great on the hanger / mannequin but not so good on me (I seem to be having that problem a lot lately!)

 

So I need to continue my search and hopefully something will catch my eye soon. The danger with searching for a particular item for a particular date is that I always seem to find so many other things along the way and end up spending far too much than I originally intended to! I also want to try and buy something that I can wear for parties or a night out into town - I'm tired of buying one off things that I never get out of my wardrobe again because they are too fancy.

 

Whilst I was in Marks and Spencers, there were so many things in their Limited and Indigo range that caught my eye - I'm sure the other shoppers thought I was going mad with all of my 'oooh'ing and 'ahhh'ing.

 

So I think I did pretty well yesterday to walk out of Marks and Spencers empty handed but I do feel tempted to go back and make a purchase or two! I think M&S are really improving on their clothing ranges, targeting all different ages of women and men and moving a bit further away from the 'old lady' stigma which most of my generation I suppose attaches them to. The only thing I would say is that some of the pieces are quite expensive, but then I guess I probably wouldn't think twice about spending that much money in Topshop or Zara, so perhaps it's about time I gave M&S a chance! And isn't it always slightly satisfying when someone is impressed with your top / shoes / bag and asks you where it's from, for you to answer with "Oh I found it in Tesco / Sainsburys / Clarks" ... or is that just me!

Dans