Insert My Blog Name Here

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH? DON'T ASK ME . . .

2019-05-31T13:42:00.003+01:00

I work in the city centre of Glasgow, so when it comes to lunch times there’s an absolute plethora of eateries to choose from. Do you want a sandwich a bit fancier than a Tesco pre-packaged one? There’s a whole host of places to try and decide between, a veritable army of combinations from the simple to the more adventurous.

If you’re not in the mood for a sandwich, then don’t worry, the options are limitless. You could get a takeaway from a fish and chip shop, or a noodle bar, or choose a healthier salad bar type option. Or if all else fails, a cheeky Mickey Ds. People in my office are constantly coming back in to the office with fancy, droolworthy meals, and I’m almost always incredibly jealous. SO. MUCH. CHOICE.

The world should be my oyster, but in actuality, I’m overwhelmed and it seems like even ordering an oyster isn’t as simple as just saying – “can I have some oysters please?” I still need to make another twenty decisions about how my oysters are presented to me, and therein, I think lies one of my problems.

Is lunchtime anxiety a thing? I’m not sure, but it certainly feels that way to me. The actual idea of having to actually order even just a simple sandwich is something I find so stressful. Is that just me? I can only deal with the familiar, and even then I can barely deal with that.

For example, let’s take a simple Subway. Now, I always order exactly the same thing when I go to Subway. Every time without fail. I stand in the inevitable queue and I rehearse it in my head over and over. (If you’re ever with me when I go to Subway, you will find me strangely uncommunicative, and this is why.) “6 inch meatball marinara on Italian herbs and cheese. 6 inch meatball marinara on Italian herbs and cheese. 6 inch meatball mariana on . . .” There is no veering off that route. If I went in to Subway and they’d changed the names of the bread I’d probably turn around and leave. I then very much rely on them asking if I want it with cheese and toasted, because the initial part of the order is my limit and takes it out of me. And then I always ask for red onion when it comes to the salad bit, purely because I feel like I’m judged if I don’t add anything at all. (Which I’m sure I’m not but you can’t really help how you feel.) I always feel like my meatball sub is very well deserved at the end of this “ordeal”.

I only really do well with ordering food when it’s really straight forward. So I can go to Da Vincis and order a mac and cheese with chips (drool) with a lot more ease than the aforementioned Subway because it’s so many less words to remember. (Although I will have anxious thoughts that they might have ran out, and then I will be irrationally humiliated). Or I can go to Greggs and order a steak bake, because I’m familiar with their products and it doesn’t require too much interaction with another person to request such a simple (yet tasty) product.

Put me in a place I don’t know with too many options and I feel completely out of my depth. Even worse, put me in a place where the sandwiches all have weird names that are in no way related to their contents and I feel like someone is actually having a joke with me, they’ve written down all these names especially to mess with my head, and once I say the weird name out loud Ashton Kutcher is going to pop out and tell me I’ve been Punk’d.

Is it really any wonder I tend to bring a packed lunch? It’s not for the sake of my bank balance (although that’s a consideration too, to be honest), it’s for the sake of my poor stressed-out brain...

Is it just me? Does anyone else also have this issue? Please tell me I'm not alone . . .

THE ONE WHERE I TRY TO MAKE SOME EXTRA CASH . . .

2019-04-27T11:43:00.002+01:00

I've been trying to make a bit of extra cash of late . . . all those trips away and dinners out I love don't come cheap after all, and I'm RUBBISH at saving so I figured I need to try and MAKE more money! So I figured I'd share some of my ideas with you guys, and was hoping maybe someone else might have an idea for making extra money that I haven't thought of yet. So here goes . . . here's how I'm making, or hoping to make, extra dosh. (Please note there are some referral links included below, and I would be super grateful if you wanted to use them as it helps me on my money-making journey even more!)

CASHBACK SITES (Verdict: these are ALWAYS worth signing up for!!!)
Cashback sites are probably the easiest by far way of making some money back, in my opinion, because you can make money back on things you were buying anyway. So those three Boohoo dresses you decided to buy last week? If you'd went on to Boohoo via a cashback website, you'd be getting a small percentage of the money you paid back. If you're thinking of booking a holiday you might want to check to see if the holiday company you are using is offering cashback through one of those sites because even a small percentage off an expensive holiday could be a lot of money back in your pocket. I've even used cashback sites to switch credit cards (£30 cashback on a balance transfer) so it's always worth having a check of these sites before purchasing!
Give Quidco or Topcashback a go!

MATCHED BETTING (Verdict: not for me! Maybe I'll return to it one day though)
Now I've read tons about matched betting lately, and I decided to give it a go because it seemed like one of those things that once I got my head around it, I would understand it, be really good at it, and make absolutely tons of money. In reality, I watched the how-to videos on it, thought I'd got a good idea of it, and then felt like I didn't really make much of a profit - I also didn't really understand the liability fee on the lay side of things and actually ended up feeling like I'd lost loads of money. Luckily, I then ended up with some free spins on the casino on that site which I ended up making most of my money back on, so that was lucky. Which leads me on to . . .

INTRODUCTORY OFFERS ON CASINO/BINGO WEBSITES (Verdict: Successful. For me.)
Turns out I quite enjoy a slot game! Even when I'm not necessarily winning. I discovered that there are quite a few online casino sites offering good introductory offers, such as a certain number of free spins on certain slots once you've deposited and wagered an initial bet (usually of a minimum of ten pounds). So I gave a couple of these sites a go and on most of them I've made a profit just by using the initial bet/wager and free spins. The good thing about some of these sites is that you play with your tenner first, but as soon as you have wagered your whole tenner (even if you have winnings from it), the free spins will appear and you can use them straight away. Often this means that you have maybe already won a good amount of money (if I still have close to a tenner that's definitely a good thing!) and the free spins are then likely to boost your winnings further and put you into a profit. It's not always the case, and I would definitely not recommend choosing anywhere with wagering requirements on bonus funds where you need to spend your deposit first, but there are a few good sites you can try where you can have a bit of fun playing some slots and as an added bonus maybe make a profit which I've shared below. I also made 25 pounds without depositing any money last week just because of a couple of wee offers, so also worth keeping an eye on any emails from them. Just remember it IS gambling and you're not guaranteed a win . . . however it is also fun!
Heart Bingo
Monopoly Casino
Jackpot Joy
Starspins
Virgin Games

SURVEYS (verdict: mostly a waste of time!)
You know those adverts that say things like "make 800 pounds a month doing surveys"? Well, even if that was genuine, I wouldn't want to. Surveys are DULL. And more often than not, you spend ages doing one only to be told you're not suitable, which is actually utterly rage-inducing. However, yougov seems decent enough and while you need to make 50 pounds to be able to withdraw, I'm halfway there despite doing surveys pretty infrequently! If anyone knows of any other decent ones, please let me know!

MUSIC MAGPIE (Verdict: the jury is still out, but I'll keep you updated!)
Now, I don't know about you but I have an absolute shedload of CDs and DVDs lying around that I haven't watched or listened to in ages. Let's be honest, in this day and age Spotify and Netflix are taking over a bit . . . and are so much easier! A few years ago, I made a good bit of money (I think it was about 120 quid) selling some stuff on music magpie, so I have been keen to try again . . . so last week I downloaded the app (which necessitated me getting rid of several other apps because the storage in my phone has been pish recently) and scanned over 70 items into my phone. Do you know how much it's offering me for this? 17 quid. I've got to admit, I'm tempted just to do it. I can't see myself getting most of them sold on my own, it seems like a good way to declutter, and I'd probably rather have that small bit of money for stuff I'm not using. In addition, I've found they're actually willing to take quite a few books off my hands too, albeit for not massive amounts either. It did, however, feel like they were mocking my music taste because nearly every CD I scanned resulted in the message along the lines of "oh sorry, we're not too keen on that one right now." Er, okay, music magpie, I get the hint - you hate my tunes!

ZIFFIT (Verdict: the jury is still out, but I'll keep you updated!)
I've got to admit, if my taste in music is debatable, my book taste probably isn't much better. But I discovered that Ziffit will take a few off my hands, and mainly for slightly better money than Music Magpie. However, I couldn't download the app for Ziffit due to the aforementioned lack of space on my phone, so had to type the ISBN info in manually, which made it a slightly more laborious process. And then I managed to lose the limited amount of books I had managed to type in so far. However, I have left those books in a pile, and intend to trawl around for some more. Once again, I'm probably not going to make a massive amount of money off this (possibly a fiver for ten books or so) but I still think it's worth it to get rid of some clutter and add to the moneypot, every little helps!

EBAY OR DEPOP? (Verdict: I don't have one yet - I need your help, guys!)
I have absolutely loads of clothes I can sell, including clothes I've had for years that I KNOW I'm never going to wear again . . . because there's no way I'll ever fit into them again.I just need to get off my arse and actually list them. But I can't decide whether I'm better to go with Ebay or Depop. Has anyone got any thoughts on these sites, and what one is better? I've sold many an item on ebay in the past but it was years ago and I'm not sure if Depop would be a better option. Any advice would be really appreciated! (For the record I HAVE started listing a couple of dresses on ebay, so feel free to pop by and check them out - my seller name is polly_poptart)

So that's my money making ideas for now. Have you tried any of these? Have you found any other ways of making extra money by selling, surveys, gambling or any other methods? I'd love to know so feel free to share in the comments! And wish me luck! :-)D

WHY I COULDN'T BE ON "COACH TRIP" . . .

2019-03-09T10:00:00.000+00:00

I like my routine in the morning. You know, struggle to get up for approximately an hour and a half, hitting snooze constantly, eventually dragging myself out of bed to sit in the living room, doing my make-up while watching "Charmed" re-runs on e4 . . . That's my idea of routine. Laugh all you want, but it works for me. Sort of.

But over the last year or so, e4 have been messing up my routine by giving up on "Charmed" (why e4, why???) and frequently showing repeats from the previous night of the most recent series of "Coach Trip". This does not please me one bit as I find it a bit shit, if I'm going to be brutally honest. And I can't ever imagine why someone would really want to go on it. Especially not me. Here's why . . .

1) Long coach trips are BORING
Look, I went on a couple of coach trips as a kid so I feel like I know my stuff on this. There was a school trip to EuroDisney when it first opened. A trip to Paris again a couple of years later with my family. And a few years after that another coach trip to Ostend in Belgium. Sitting in a coach for hours on end is not fun,. The most interesting thing that happened to us was being shown the red light district in Brussels, always appropriate for a coach consisting of mainly old people and two families with teenage kids . . .

2) I randomly get travel-sick
Long journeys also can make me feel sick. They might not but they might. There's no rhyme or reason to what makes me feel travel sick. Reading sometimes does, sometimes doesn't. I can feel sick or not regardless of what seat I'm sitting in. And I'm not fun when I'm feeling sick. An easy pick to be kicked off the coach, methinks!

3) I get really easily irritated
Being stuck in close proximity with a person, or people, who really annoy me with no way of escaping from them is my idea of a nightmare.I mean, what am I going to do, throw myself off the coach? And from what I've reluctantly watched of the show, I feel I would be irritated with a lot of other contestants.

4) Having to act all enthusiastic about the organised activities
I just can't. I mean, if it turned out to be something I really wanted to do, then maybe I'd actually be enthusiastic. But if it was something sporty or ultra competitive, I'd just hate it. I'm not very athletic. I don't want people seeing just how not athletic I am on tv.

5) The nomination process is just so awkward
Having to stand face-to-face with the person you want off the bus and give your reasons for it, justified or not, is just so awkward. I cringe just watching it. Imagine having to take part in it. Eek!

6) I just don't get the point
So the prize for the winning couple after driving around the country in the sunshine for god knows how long is a . . . holiday? What have they just been doing for the last few weeks if not being on holiday?

Could YOU be on "Coach Trip"???

LETS TALK HOTEL BREAKFASTS . . .

2019-03-07T06:27:00.000+00:00

Let’s talk hotel breakfasts.

As you may well know about me, I am very partial to an overnight stay or twelve, and often, when you’re staying away for the night, breakfast is included as standard. Now, we will never pay extra for a breakfast if it is not included . . . and this is because we rarely make it to breakfast.

In 2017 when we did a six night tour of various places in Scotland, we had a breakfast included with every single stay. Out of those six nights, we made it to breakfast twice.

I’m not quite sure exactly what the issue is, but it’s probably mostly down to inherent laziness. I’m actually similar when I’m away with work, everyone else will arrange to meet for breakfast and I’ll say “I’ll meet you at the door after breakfast” – it gives me longer to get ready and more importantly, longer to hit snooze repeatedly and stay in bed. Likewise when me and the fella are away – the breakfasts tend to be pretty early (and usually end about an hour before checkout) so I’m hit with a bit of a dilemma. Do I . . .

force myself out of bed early to make yourself look presentable for breakfast?

or

get up at the last minute, go to breakfast looking like I've literally just rolled out of bed (which I have) with yesterday’s make-up Alice-coopering down my face and hope I'm recognised as a guest at the hotel and not thrown out?

or

stay in bed, get an hour or two extra beauty kip, and then skip breakfast entirely (then likely spend the rest of the day with a rumbling stomach, or succumb to the nearest McDonalds drive-thru)?

It truly is quite the conundrum.

In addition, I can be a bit picky about breakfast food.

One – I don’t really like bacon that much. (When I say that to people the majority look at me like I’m a martian.)

Two – I don’t really like sausages that much. A roll and sausage, yes. Sausage by itself, no.

Three – I don’t like a grilled tomato.

Trying to order a cooked breakfast can therefore be a bit of a minefield because really all I want is a plate that’s half mushrooms, half baked beans, with possibly a bit of egg (which I have to be in the mood for) and definitely some toast and butter (so I can create my own beans on toast, because why wouldn’t you?). And if you want to throw in a potato scone or two, I won’t say no. But I don’t like being a fussy orderer so I usually just go for the full caboodle and then the fella ends up with half of mine too. A buffet is probably ideal (despite me not being a fan of buffets in general) as I can just choose what I want . . . but then there’s still no guarantees they are going to actually have the food options I want.

(Something I do love about hotel breakfasts though? Orange juice. I will always drink as much orange juice as possible because it’s my favourite and I’m a bit addicted, and once I start drinking it I don’t want to stop so I therefore limit myself to having it only at hotel breakfasts rather than ever buying it. True story.)

When I started typing this, I never realised how much I would have to say about breakfast (it reminds me the bit of a time I wrote an entire blog post about cheese and couldn’t comprehend how much I would actually have to say on the subject) but apparently I can still go on… here’s another thing that stresses me out about breakfast. If it’s a place you’ve never been to before, you rarely know the seating system. Do you sit down wherever you like? Do you have an assigned table with your room number on it? Do you wait to be seated? Will you have to share a table with everyone else who was staying in the building the night before? In some places you even have to choose a time slot for your breakfast. (Or put your order in the night before even!) It’s such a minefield.

There is a positive though – sometimes you are pleasantly surprised by the quality or variety of breakfast offered. I’ve stayed in a place where there was something like 12 different breakfast options (that was one of the order-the-night-before places) and I had a delightful breakfast featuring poached eggs and halloumi. Another place had different courses for breakfast if you so wished. And another offered such delicious varieties as buttermilk waffles or an actual breakfast burger! That was a very difficult decision...

Spoiler alert: I went for the waffles.

Do YOU enjoy hotel breakfasts??? What has your favourite been?

P'S FOUR (FAVES) ON FRIDAY . . .

2019-01-04T07:15:00.000+00:00

As you might have noticed (or might not have) blogging was not really my friend last year. So I've been dithering with the idea of doing a weekly series highlighting some of my favourite things - whether or not I actually stick to it is another story but I'm hoping it will at least get me posting a bit more regularly.

So welcome to P's Four (Faves) on Friday . . .

BOOKS: One Day in December by Josie Silver

I'm currently reading this book, and loving it - while Laurie is sitting on a bus one day, she looks out of the window and spots a guy who she instantly feels a connection with. But will she ever actually meet him in real life? It turns out it's sooner than she thinks, and in unfortunate circumstances. Is he really the guy for her? I'm interested to find out anyway!

FASHION: This faux fur coat from Boohoo

Yep, I bought another one. I couldn't resist it in the sale. I now own four faux fur coats. How many faux fur coats are too many faux fur coats? Asking for myself.

APPS: Q Live

I have been playing Q Live now for a good few months - it's an app you can download that hosts a twice daily quiz (at 1pm and 8pm) during the week, as well as a daily one (8pm) at the weekends. You are asked 12 questions, and if you manage to answer all of them correctly, you can win a share of the money pot. There are some bonus prizes too along the way - I haven't won yet (I have made it as far as the last question and then dropped the ball on that) but I live in hope. It's a free app and if you use my referral code pollypoptart I'll get a free life, so get right on that . . . I need all the help I can get!!!

TV: You

Have you watched it yet? You really must. Joe (played by Penn Badgeley) is a handsome bookstore manager who meets a girl in his store and feels a connection with her. And then proceeds to sort of stalk her in order to win her heart. Does he succeed? Do we want him to succeed? And do we put too much information about ourselves on social media, the way the (anti)-heroine Beck does? It's definitely up there with bingeworthy series.

Happy Friday!!!

2019, WHERE YOU AT?!?

2018-12-29T20:23:00.000+00:00

So it's the 29th December.

How the hell did that happen? I swear to god it literally seems like only about a week ago that I posted on Instagram at the end of 2017 . . . and now 2018 is screaming to an end! Why does time go so bloody fast???

Yet another year where I've not managed to lose any weight. Well, that's technically not true - once again I've lost and regained the same half stone over and over again. Where I've failed to save any money. Where I've failed to get my flat or myself in order, telling myself I'll do stuff and putting it off, where I've ate too much junk, imbibed too much wine. Where I've spent a ridiculous amount of time on Instagram but only posted something like ten blog posts all year . . . in terms of general life and health it has probably not been a success.

I can hopefully turn this around in 2019. In October next year I'm going to be turning the big 4-0 (jeez) and I'm determined to do this in better shape than I've been in years. I started back at the gym at the end of this year (okay, I've only been three times so far, but still, it's a start) and I want to get out walking more - we're talking about possibly doing the Kilt Walk this year too, which would involve a lot of walking training if we do commit to that.

But anyway . . . there was still loads of good stuff to happen in 2018. I had lots of amazing times travelling with the amazing fella - a few trips up around the Highlands in the first couple of months of the year, followed by two amazing weeks in Kefalonia in May, seven days in Crete in August, and a return to Ibiza for my 39th in October, as well as a well deserved long weekend on a farm in Shropshire complete with hot tub over the summer. Bliss. At the moment we have no holidays booked for next year, but I do have a hen weekend in Prague in 2019, and we have a couple of hotel stay voucher deals to book up, including one on the Isle of Skye!

While I have not had much motivation to blog, I have read loads of books, eaten loads of great food, cooked tons, and managed to grow my instagram following to over 1200, which took me AGES, but it's good to finally get there, I've also managed to post a few pictures that got more than 100 likes, which is such a big deal for me. I know there are people out there with 10s of thousands of followers who are far more successful than I am, and I would love to be there one day but at the moment this is an achievement for me. I've worked so hard on my Instagram this year and I'm proud of what I achieved. I would still always love more engagement though so, if you don't already, do a girl a solid and pop by my grid once in a while . . . hopefully you'll like what you see and keep coming back for more. ;-)

Next year I am going to have to finally take control of my money, start a budget and get some savings (any tips on saving money and making extra money, please please let me know!), lose that few stone that's been plaguing me for several years now, hopefully get away on a couple of lovely holidays,and just generally make the last year of my thirties a great one. I am also going to make a continued effort to be kind because I feel like there's way too much unnecessary unkindness going around these days, and it drives me nuts. No one needs to be nasty. No one.

So, with all this in mind, so long 2018 . . . you've been a good year, and I've liked you a lot, but it's nearly time to welcome in a new year, along with my usual cliche of "new year, new me" . . . which I'm hoping that for once I ca turn from a cliche into a reality. Let's see how that plays out . . . Cheers everyone!!!

HAS INSTAGRAM MADE ME A BETTER PERSON (SORT OF)?

2018-11-23T06:48:00.000+00:00

Ah Instagram . . . I love it!

I’ve spoken before about how I’m a bit of an addict when it comes to the old ‘gram, desperate for my next fix. And that hasn’t changed at all, if anything I become a bit more obsessed with it by the day.

Yes, it has its faults. I spend way too much time on it, I am forever irritated by the fact that I don’t have as many followers as others. That I don’t seem to have a hold of that elusive formula on what makes people click “like” (I can get 100+ likes on one photo and then struggle to limp to 30 on the next). That people I know - and like - unfollow me. That people I only know through Instagram - but like- unfollow me. I hate spam comments that make no sense. I hate that I know no matter what I do my pictures will never look as good as some of my favourite Instagrammers. (That’s despite knowing that comparison is the thief of joy, and that I should never compare myself to a stranger on Instagram etc etc. I’m not saying I want their lives. I just want their ability to pose, their outfits, their Peggy Porschen-esque settings and their figures, okay???)

But then . . . myself and the fella were talking about the ‘gram (I totally call it that now btw, we’re old pals), and I came to a strange realisation: can Instagram, in some ways, make you a better person?

I know it might not make sense to some . . . but if I wasn’t in love with Instagram, I’d probably spend most of my weekends slobbing out in front of the telly, eating junk, in my PJs. Don’t get me wrong, I still do this some times . . . but my motivation to get up, out and about is partly prompted by Insta.

People talk about “doing it for the ‘gram” and I think there’s a lot of truth to this.

Here’s why I believe Instagram has improved me:

Firstly, it helped me to become a more confident cook and experiment more with food. Seeing other people’s food photos inspired me to try new things and, while I don’t post as many food pics as I used to, I did used to love posting the food I created to see reactions and likes. Kind of related, it also helped me at times stay accountable for my health, as I would post lots of pictures of healthy food, or my Polar watch showing how many calories I burned. I actually made a separate fitness account to keep track of that . . . I just need to start using it more often! When I do manage to get into a health kick, I find that Instagram account does inspire me to some extent, as does looking at other people’s accounts who are on similar journeys.

On a similar vein, the fella is a big runner and likes to post collages featuring his map from Mapmyrun along with some pictures taken along his run. Sometimes when he can’t be bothered doing a run, knowing he can make a post like this after he runs motivates him to actually go and do it . . . even when we’re on holiday. Because, let’s face it, he’s going to get a completely different set of photos on holiday than he will back home, and therefore the motivation is increased tenfold.

I get out and about a lot more. I see all these people posting pics with amazing backgrounds and okay, I might not be able to rival a lot of these settings . . . but I have Scotland, don’t I? And Scotland is bloomin’ amazing so I make it my aim to showcase it on Insta as much as I can. Last weekend it was Ardnarmurchan and Glen Coe and Fort William . . . this coming weekend it’s a variety of castles. We’re always searching for “instagrammable” places . . . so if you know of any more in Scotland that I’ve missed out please let me know!

And of course I want a bit of variety in my pics so sometimes I want to be in front of the camera in front of these settings . . . and I want to look nice while doing so, so I actually make an effort (most of the time anyway) when I go on these visits so I look vaguely presentable in front of the camera.

I feel like it makes me more creative as I’m always trying to think of a new or unusual way to take a photo, or props I can use to do so. Okay sometimes it involves me wearing a pair of kids unicorn ears from Poundland that turns out to look worrying phallic, taking a cloud shaped light to a remote beach on a Scottish peninsula, or throwing a bunch of balloons around a hotel room while pretending to swig from an empty bottle of cava, but the end result can be sort of fun . . . and the outtakes hilarious.

Once I even agreed to go to a giant adult ball pond because I knew I’d get some great pics and Instagram stories from it. Well, there was also Prosecco and my friends there, so the pics for the ‘gram were just an added bonus to be fair.

So all in all I definitely think that Instagram has (mostly) made me a better person! Even if I AM always looking for my best Instagram pic fix!

How about you?

WHAT I'M LOVING RIGHT NOW . . .

2018-11-12T20:38:00.001+00:00

This year seems to have been a bad one when it comes to blogging; it's just been blog break after blog break for me! But I've had a lovely year all in all so I can't complain if that means the old blog suffers, especially since it's just a hobby!

So it's been a while since I've wrote a "What I'm loving right now" post either . . . Figured I might as well start back with one of those!!!

The dress below. . . I saw it on boohoo, fell in love with it instantly. But it seemed it was not to be. For I ordered it, got the notification that Herpes (my pet name for the well known courier company) was en route with it . . . and then it never arrived. Only when I checked the tracking did I discover they had for some unknown reason decided not to even attempt delivery and back it went to sender.

I nearly gave up on it at that point but I decided to give it one last try - and it arrived! And it was everything I dreamt it would be. I even got a lot of love when I posted this picture on instagram for it. And, to make it even more of a dream dress, it's only 16 pounds! Here is a link if you love it too.

As someone who has lived near Glasgow for the first twenty three years of my life and have been a city-dweller for the next fifteen or so, this Claire Barclay Draws necklace is right up my street. I would definitely recommend paying the website a visit as there's lots of quirky jewellery with a unique Scottish twist on there... lovely!

I seem to be trying to get a bit of a faux fur coat collection going on at the moment, and when I bought the leopard print dress, I also could not resist this black number from boohoo. It's mega cosy and goes with everything! (Well, everything but the leopard print dress, strangely enough!)

I've been spending a bit of time in Ashton Lane of late, and it just is so unbelievably pretty at nighttime with the fairy lights. Sooo damn instagrammable!!! (Oh, and the cheese fondue in Brel is to die for! But not to diet for . . . )

And speaking of instagrammable locations, when myself and the fella headed across to Edinburgh last weekend, we happened across the quirkiest little lane that looks like something straight out of the wild west . . . but it's in the middle of Morningside! You should definitely check it out if you have never been before!

My freeview box decided to kick the bucket a couple of weeks ago, so we've been re-watching a lot of tv series on DVDs. Modern Family and The In-Betweeners probably more so than any others! They're both hilarious and perfect for curling up on the sofa with!

What are YOU loving right now? And do you have any good suggestions for funny tv shows I might like?

P'S TOP PICKS: MY FAVOURITE READS SO FAR THIS YEAR!

2018-09-23T12:12:00.000+01:00

Now, if you know me but at all, you will probably know I love reading and, in particular, I am a big fan of the chick lit genre.

And yes, I know there has been a lot of debate around that label of chick-lit, and I know some authors pegged within that genre mind it and others do not, but as far as I'm concerned, in my opinion, the phrase denotes a storyline and characters that I am ultimately going to fall in love with and not want to stop reading so if it's wrong to call that chick-lit then I'm sorry, I don't want to be right.

So, last year, I decided I was going to read 40 books at least over the course of 12 months and I managed exactly that. This year, I decided not to put as much pressure on myself and aim for 30. I haven't uploaded many (or any) of these on goodreads as of yet but, given I read 16/17 books in a two week holiday in May, I think I'm probably going to be okay to meet this target. BUT I thought I would share some of my favourites that I've read this year in case there are some like-minded individuals who are looking for some great stories to read on holiday or just a nice story to escape in while you're wishing you were on holiday . . .

I read "One in a Million" by Lindsey Kelk a couple of months ago and I absolutely loved it. It's Pygmalion/My Fair Lady-esque with a modern day edge as we're thrust into the world of social media, namely Instagram. I love Pygmalion, I love a makeover, I love a love story and I love Instagram so this was right up my street and if you are a fan of any of the above and/or Lindsey Kelk's novels, I would thoroughly recommend it.

I put off buying "Eleanor Olipant is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman for AGES as I wasn't sure I was going to like it based on the synopsis of the novel. I finally read it over a long weekend in Shropshire back in July and I couldn't have been more wrong. I was hooked from the outset on the quirky character of Eleanor, I was desperate to know why she was the way she was and, best of all, I realised as I read that it was actually set in Glasgow! I really enjoyed this book.

"The Good Girlfriend's Guide to Getting Even" by Anna Bell was another great read, where a sports widow decides to get her own back on her boyfriend, with at times hilarious results. But will he find out what she's been up to and, more importantly, did he really deserve to be treated this way? You'll need to give it a read to find out.

"The Little Bed and Breakfast By The Sea" by Jennifer Joyce was one of the many books I read in Kefalonia and it really was a lovely little read. Characters you want to get to know better, immensely readable, I just loved it. (I'd definitely recommend Jennifer Joyce's novels in general, I'm actually currently reading another of hers and it's been great so far.)

I've been quite interested in visiting Copenhagen for a year or two now and Julie Caplin's "The Little Café in Copenhagen" did not make me feel any less like visiting. Kate is a publicist working for a Danish department store planning to open in London . . . she has to take several journalists on a press junket to the Danish capital and she might find herself falling for more than the city. Great read which I couldn't put down.

Last but not least, I'd recommend "Bricking It" by Nick Spalding. His novels are so humorous and never fail to disappoint - this one about a brother and sister who inherit a dilapidated mansion and decide to renovate it is no exception, it's laugh out loud funny.

What have been your favourite reads this year? I'm off on holiday (again!) in less than a week, so I'm definitely looking for some poolside reads, recommendations are always appreciated!

ON WHY I DON'T LIKE AUTUMN . . .

2018-09-10T20:49:00.000+01:00

I don't like Autumn.

It feels like I'm in the minority with this, but it's true. Here's why

1) I like warm weather. Now, I know this seems ridiculous considering I live in Scotland, which isn't exactly known for its temperate climate, but I like the promise of Spring and the odd hot Summers day we occasionally get as a wee consolation prize for living so far north. Once Autumn hits, even the chance of warm weather disappears. (Although it does occasionally like to confuse us by having a seventeen degrees day in the middle of November)

2) I dislike dark nights closing in earlier and earlier. Some find it cosy, I find it imposing and oppressive. I hate going to work in the dark and leaving work in the dark. Don't get me wrong, it's a good excuse to curl up on the sofa with a mulled wine and a Modern Family boxset but I would do that anyway, whatever the weather. I don't need an excuse.

3) Loads of people love talking about how much they love autumn fashion and getting all wrapped up in layers . . . I am patently not one of those people. I don't really like having to wrap up warm to go outside. Even though our weather still isn't great in summer, it's usually mild enough that you can get away with a flimsy blazer and ballet pumps with bare feet. I dislike having to layer, and I hate putting on loads of clothes to keep warm only to end up too warm after I've exerted myself by walking from the car park to the office.

4) Wet leaves underfoot makes me feel a bit queasy. I don't mind when they're dry and crispy but when they're all mushy . . . it's quite disgusting. Especially as I'm probably still wearing ballet pumps with bare feet because denial.

5) On the rare occasion when the sun DOES come out, it's absolutely blinding. I don't really want to be blinded by the sun when it's only five degrees outside and my teeth are chattering.

6) Autumn also usually coincides with Christmas paraphernalia appearing in the shops, usually in the place where the holiday stuff was previously. In my opinion, Christmas should not start until December. The onset of autumn just reminds me how vastly unprepared I am for the 25th December, and that is not something I want to be reminded of this far in advance of the festivities.

7) And last but not least . . . next spring and summer seem soooo far away. Autumn is really just the gateway to winter and winter takes even longer to turn to spring.

Nah, you can keep your autumn. I might just move abroad somewhere sunny instead . . .

Are you a fan of autumn or, like me, do you hate it?

VISIT KEFALONIA . . .

2018-08-20T13:05:00.001+01:00

So back in May, I visited the Greek island of Kefalonia for the first time. And I absolutely loved it.

It's terrible that it's taken me until now to even talk about it and the only thing that's actually kicked my ass to do it is because I'm away to Crete tomorrow (another Greek island I've never visited before) and if I don't do Kefalonia now I never will! And yes, I know I know, I'm ALWAYS on holiday but we got a good deal on Crete too so it was really a no-brainer. (For my guide to finding cheap deals, go here.)

Popping down to Argostoli (dress is from Boohoo and still available - link here)

So anyway Kefalonia was lovely. We opted to stay in the resort of Lassi, which is one of the larger resorts on the island (but actually still quite small), and the apartments we stayed in were just on the edge of the resort. The Royal Apartments were new for 2018... so new in fact that we were the first guests to arrive! Which was kind of an honour as we absolutely adored the fortnight we spent there. Fairly basic apartments but set up a hill so we had gorgeous views, amazing sunsets, and a lovely pool area down some steps.

Lassi itself is a nice resort, not too wild (Kefalonia isn't really that kind of island to be honest, which I was relieved about) and there were absolutely tons of nice restaurants. We actually did eat at a different place every night for a fortnight, and still missed loads of places out! I lie, we did eat at one place twice but that was just because it was our last night and we really wanted to go back to that restaurant. That restaurant was Amvrosia (I've popped in a wee link to the trip advisor reviews as I can't seem to see a website for them) and I'd thoroughly recommend, but notable mentions also go to Phaedra, Retseto and Ionio. My mouth is watering just thinking of baked cheese and tasty mains all washed down with a carafe of white... and all for incredibly low prices too (usually eight quid for a litre carafe of wine, which is not to be sniffed at!).

Lassi also has some lovely beaches although because the resort is quite hilly they do have quite steep paths/roads down to them. So if you're not physically fit you may struggle - the good news is, I'm not that fit, and I struggled, but I still managed it! ;-)

Just over the hill is the capital of Kefalonia, Argostoli, and I was absolutely smitten with that town. Although when I mentioned "steep" in the previous paragraph, steep is an understatement with reference to Argostoli. It is quite the walk down to the front (And don't even get me started on the walk back up!) BUT the views are immense, looking across the water to dramatic hills that made me feel like I could be back in the Highlands on a sunny day. On our first visit we sat at a restaurant next to the water with a carafe of white wine and some baked feta with flaky pastry and honey and it was just such a lovely day.

On another we walked across the nearly mile long bridge to look for sea turtles in the water, and towards the end of our holiday rented a pedalo. We also caught the ferry over to Luxuri, around ten euros for both of us to get there and back. I'll be honest, that particular day was very hot and there wasn't much in the way of shade, so after a quick walk around Luxuri, we stopped for a sandwich and some wine in the lovely little square then hopped back on the next ferry to Argostoli.

On the De Bosset bridge - playsuit is from New Look (bought instore) and bag is from Primark

We also took a trip around to the lighthouse between Lassi and Argostoli, which was about a two mile walk and very instagrammable. (This thought was cemented when we watched a couple get changed into all white clothing in their car so they could conduct a photoshoot on it. :-) )

At Saint Theodore's lighthouse (midi dress from asos)

There's absolutely tons of other stuff to do on Kefalonia, many other beaches, and villages and caves to visit - we decided not to overdo it on our first trip there and stuck to the nearby attractions mentioned above but if we go back (which I hope we do, as soon as possible), I do hope to see a lot more of the island. It definitely is an absolutely stunning place and I still wistfully look at my holiday pictures from May wishing I was back there.

If you like beautiful scenery, lovely weather and delicious food, then Kefalonia is definitely a place you should consider visiting!!!

Have you ever been to Kefalonia? What's your favourite Greek island?

WHY I COULDN'T BE A "LOVE ISLAND" CONTESTANT . . .

2018-07-27T20:06:00.001+01:00

So after a couple of years of avoiding it, I decided to give Love Island a chance this year. I was getting a bit sick of everyone talking about it apart from me last year, and having no idea who any of the people were that they were constantly gossiping about so I figured "if you can't beat them, then join them".

And I have to admit, I've found myself a wee bit hooked. I'm so invested in the villa dwellers now that I practically feel like I'm living with them.

I'm #TeamJani all the way (I even cried the other night when Jack asked Dani to move in with him - I blame Aunty Rose's imminent monthly visit for that, honest)
I raged on Scottish Laura's behalf when Megan decided to steal Wes from her (and he himself be stolen!)
I rooted for Doctor Alex and then gradually started to loathe him (now my previous fondness for him has a Do Not Resuscitate note scrawled all over it)
I've wanted to punch Josh's smug face more times than I can count,
AND I nearly exploded when shady Idris told Laura that new Jack had instigated "that" kiss with Georgia.

I also spend more time than is really necessary looking at Love Island related memes on Facebook and Instagram (surely Love Island is the pinnacle of the existence of memes), especially ones relating to Georgia and the word "loyal".

And if all of this means absolutely nothing to you, then that's exactly the person I was last year, and the previous seasons. And I'd like to say that back then was a better time, but do you know what? I've enjoyed watching it A LOT, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with my time once it ends, and I love hearing people talk about it. I have had to stop myself butting into so many conversations about the antics going on within the villa. And I've been told this is the most boring one yet!!!

Anyhoo, do you ever think that YOU could go on Love Island? I definitely don't think I could. And here's why . . .

***I'm pretty sure I'm way too old, for a start. Considering 29 year old Laura has had absolutely shitloads of jokes made about her age (and I'm pretty sure they only put another Laura in there so they could legit refer to the old Laura as "Old Laura"!), and I'm 9 years older, I think I would be ripped to shreds for my age in there. On the upside, possibly I could get a lucrative wee deal (no pun intended) for adult nappies or something like that after I leave the villa . . .

***I would really not be good at the whole "dating on camera" thing. You might be new to my little corner of the internet so you might not know I have no internal filter and, back in the day, I've said such delightful things on dates like "did you enjoy your pee?" when I don't know how to fill the tiniest of silences. You think Doctor Alex is awkward? You ain't ever went on a date with me. And you probably wouldn't go on a second, like the guy who pretended he had swine flu and then got back with his ex just to avoid another date. And no, I'm not kidding about that . . .

***I couldn't deal with the trolling This is a pretty serious one, given recent events. Yes, there's been a lot of shitty behaviour going on within the house, but we need to remember it is a bit of a pantomime, it's meant to be entertainment, and there's some heavy editing shit going down. There''s been some downright nasty things said about people in the house, slagging off physical appearances, calling people horrible names . . . I don't think I could cope with that . . .especially on top of the old jokes I'd be getting already.

***Looking so perfect all the time would be bloody difficult. I mean, how gorgeous are all of those girls?? How ripped are all those guys? I know there's been talk about how some of them have had work done, to varying degrees, but they all were gorgeous in the first place and the idea of walking into that villa in a bikini to face them actually makes me feel a bit like I'm going to be a bit sick in my mouth. I mean, do you think they'd let me have a body double for like, all of the scenes? While we're at it, actually, how about a face double too? Preferably with a face like a young Bridget Hall?

***I think I'd get bored. Is there a telly? Or books to read? I'm guessing the phone they're supplied with doesn't have wi-fi either or they could have quite easily found out that it was Georgia who initiated the kiss with new Jack and all of the drama wouldn't have kicked off about that. I need books and wi-fi at the very least, even in a gorgeous villa like that. I would be so bored so quickly without. Surely that's not just me?

***Getting dumped on screen wouldn't be fun. I mean, getting dumped in private isn't fun either, but look what poor Laura has been through. Binned for other girls twice AND THEN HAVING TO STILL SEE THE EXES KICKING AROUND WITH THE NEW BIRDS?? Absolutely horrendous. And having your reaction shown on the telly to this? And splashed all over the cover of the tabloids, and memes getting made about it? Absolute carnage. Not for me at all. I cry a lot at the best of times (refer back to me crying over Jani earlier), I would be flooding the villa with my tears if I was treated badly.

One more reason why I probably couldn't go on Love Island???

I think the boyfriend might object. ;-)

Do you think you could go on Love Island? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

THOUGHTS I HAVE BEFORE I GO ON HOLIDAY . . .

2018-05-11T21:02:00.000+01:00

It feels like a long while since I've said this but . . . I'm off on my holidays in just a few days!!!

There's a lot to do beforehand and as I'm working right up until the day before I go away, there's not much time to get stuff done. Here's the sort of stuff I think about during this time . . .

Will there be mosquitos? Are they already aware of my imminent arrival and setting up camp to wait at the airport for me? (On a related note, today we snapped up half of the mosquito repellent section of Poundland as a precautionary measure. They'll probably still get to me.)

Do I have enough space for photos in my phone? I really don't want to stumble upon something instagrammable and be unable to actually capture it. I'd better spend at least an hour combing through all my current photos and deciding which ones are expendable. What can I say, it's the Instagram addict in me . . .

Pants. Do I have enough? I'm sure I have absolutely plenty of knickers but every time I'm about to go anywhere they all decide to disappear into some sort of Underwear Black Hole. This is especially true this time as we're away for a fortnight.

Why do I suddenly hate every item of clothing I own? Nothing makes me dislike my wardrobe more than when I'm faced with the prospect of only taking a small fraction of it away with me and I suddenly don't want to take any of it.

Do I have enough euros? Always a fear. At the moment, I haven't even bought mine yet so that's also a concern.

Should I tidy my flat? I mean, I don't tidy it any other time of year but while I'm not actually using it, it makes sense for it to be tidy, obviously . . .

Will the weather be nice? I've been pretty lucky in most of my abroad holidays but there's always a wee risk that you might have a couple of crap days. Even worse, me going abroad tends to result in the weather being much nicer back home. I mentioned that to a colleague the other day and he asked if I could leave the country more often. Charming.

And, most importantly of all . . . will the wine be cheap? I don't even think I need to dignify that with any sort of justification . . .

What do you think about before you go on holiday?

HOWNOT TO LOOK AFTER YOUR SKIN . . .

2018-05-04T09:57:00.000+01:00

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm an absolute PRO when it comes to taking care of my skin. So I thought I'd share my top tips for you all because I'm nice like that.

You. Are. Welcome.

EXCELLENT SKINCARE TIP 1:
Repeatedly forget to remove your make-up. Eventually it removes itself. I think?

EXCELLENT SKINCARE TIP 2:
Or, if you shower at night, just stick your face under the stream of water and it'll come off no bother. Promise.

EXCELLENT SKINCARE TIP 3:
Buy the cheapest products possible. Just because then you can spend more money on clothes and wine . . . and everyone knows wine is the ultimate cleanser, right? Cheers!

EXCELLENT SKINCARE TIP 4:
Buy one of those sachets of peel-off face mask just because you like the feeling when it dries and you can peel it off your face. (Isn't it just like when you were a kid and used to deliberately get glue on your hands so you could peel that off when it dried? No? Just me?) Do this once or twice a year as a treat because fun!

EXCELLENT SKINCARE TIP 5:
If you do occasionally remember to take off your make-up and do a cleansing routine, forget to take any of your products when you are off for an overnight stay somewhere. But it's fine cos the hotel soap will totally do the same job. Or you can just take a night off from cleansing - you deserve it, you managed to complete your routine three nights in a row last month after all. Everyone deserves a break.

EXCELLENT SKINCARE TIP 6:
"Double cleansing" . . . that's when you remember to cleanse at least two days in a row. Right?

Okay okay, full disclosure here: I'm joshing with you. None of those are good skincare tips. Apart from maybe tip 4 because peel-off masks really are fun. And I really still don't really understand the concept of double cleansing, despite ~~reading about it on the internet twice for at least ten minutes~~ researching it extensively.

But to be perfectly honest, the above techniques, tongue-in-cheek though it may be, have been employed by me in the past. Looking after your skin is hard and I am lazy. These two facts are not compatible. But I've managed to hold down some form of a routine (mostly) for the best part of this year now and I do feel like I've been helping my skin quite a lot. So, as an apology for all of my skincare ~~sins~~ tips above, I'm going to share a few of the products I love.

Nip + Fab Dragons Blood Fix Pads
These have changed my life. I use them morning and night, they make my skin feel really cleansed and smooth and I love them. They have acid in salicylic and hyaluronic acide in them which . . . well it is meant to be really good for your skin, and I do feel like they have made a difference to my skin, as well as being a nice easy way to cleanse in my opinion. They're generally about ten pounds for 60 pads but they are quite often reduced on offer or part of a deal in Boots or Superdrug so they are always really good value for money. I'd highly recommend.

Nip + Fab No Needle Fix Night Cream
I've never been very good at sticking to using night cream or anti-wrinkle treatments and, sadly, at 38, it's started to show. :-( I started using this because I liked the name of it - I don't really fancy having to use needles on my face so the name appealed to me. This smells lovely, and makes my skin feel soft and smooth. It's quite a small tub for the full price but it does last a while and, once again, it is quite often on offer.

Sanctuary Spa Radiance Exfoliator
I think exfoliating my face is my favourite beauty treatment, it always makes my skin feel extra soft afterwards and glowy. This is by far my favourite exfoliator, it last ages and it's only ten pounds so it's excellent value for money. Also it smells fabulous.

Olay Total Effects 7in1 Anti-Ageing Moisturiser
When I was in my early teens I used to use Oil of Olay as my moisturiser - I do wonder sometimes if that's why I used to get constant knockbacks from pubs when I was 17 and then ID'd a lot until quite recently. ;-) But I have always had faith in their products as a result, and when I remember to actually buy this it makes a great daytime moisturiser, it contains SPF15 which is very important in this day and age . . . and as a wee bonus, it makes a good primer for foundation. Mental reminder to myself to buy some more....

Montagne Jeunessee 7th Heaven Cucumber Peel Off Mask
Well there had to be a peel-off mask in there didn't there? I love this one, it smells very refreshing (which is ironic because I actually actively dislike cucumber as a food), and my skin feels so smooth after I've managed to resist trying to peel it off until it's completely dry.

Astral
I feel like this needs no introduction, it's a classic, it's been around for years and in my opinion it is the best moisturiser ever. I absolutely love to smother my face and body in it. It lasts for ages and it's an absolute bargain.

So there you have it - these are my go-to products for having mostly presentable skin. Do you agree with any of these or have any other suggestions of products I should try? And, most importantly, do any of you follow any of my tongue-in-cheek tips occasionally? Please say it's not just me . . .

AN UNEXPECTED BREAK . . .

2018-04-20T12:41:00.001+01:00

So I appear to have taken somewhat of an extended blog break once again.

It really wasn't my intention. At all. I had all these posts planned, I just needed to write them. But days turned into weeks and now it's been two months and I've logged in and my blog is all like "who are you, stranger?" - I'm feeling very ashamed. Sorry blog.

The worst bit is not that much has even happened in the last two months to stop me from actually posting. I've just been very very lazy. I'm now trying to think of what I've actually done recently and struggling. Let's see . . .

We popped up to the Highlands for a weekend at the end of February. It was an utterly gorgeous long weekend, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I met a curious deer who was just wandering around Torridon, had a smile-out with a sheep (it's a thing, even if I just made it up!), got chased around the car by another, more belligerent sheep, and drove down the amazing road to Kinloch Hourn (which is apparently the longest dead-end road in the UK and is DEFINITELY worth the drive).
We also spent some time over on the east side of Scotland over a couple of weekends - Perth and Carnoustie in one weekend, and Aberdeen and Broughty Ferry in another.
We booked a holiday abroad - we're off to Kefalonia in just under four weeks time for a whole fortnight and I'm so excited about this. I'm also desperate for chick-lit recommendations for my holiday reading so please hit me up if you have any must-read tip-offs for me - I am going to read a lot of books in two weeks. Also, any recommendations of places to visit in Kefalonia would be gratefully accepted as well!!!
I have read seven books since the start of the year. I'd highly recommend Jill Mansell's "This Could Change Everything", Jane Fallon's "Faking Friends" and Anna Bell's "It Started With a Tweet" if anyone else is looking for a chick-lit recommendation or three.
I've started another diet and am actually doing okay on it for a change. It's the Blood Sugar Diet and, although I've not been sticking to the principles all of the time (I'm still allowing myself the odd night out and treat) I've dropped half a stone. Still a loooonnnnggg way to go though.
I've been buying loads of lovely stuff online. You can probably expect a post on this at some point. If I remember to log back in.
I've been very active on Instagram. As you may remember from my last post, 5000 years ago, I am a bit of an Instagram addict. You should really go and follow me over there, and I don't really know how many more times I can tell you this. ;-)
And, most importantly of all . . . while I've been M.I.A., my blog turned ten years old. Ten!!! I had always planned to do some sort of giveaway when that happened, and then I missed it. But . . . I might still do something in honour of it very soon, providing people haven't given up on me and abandoned my blog forever. TEN YEARS OLD. Who can believe it?! It's almost ready for high school!

Anyway, I'd love to know what everyone else has been up to in the last two months. (I have to admit my reading of blogs largely fell by the wayside during this time too . . . sorry about that!) Are you still reading my blog? You been anywhere nice? Done anything fun? How old is your blog? Feel free to pop by and share and I promise I'll try and be here a bit more often.

REASONS WHY I'M AN INSTAGRAM ADDICT (AND YOU MIGHT BE TOO) . . .

2018-02-07T09:53:00.000+00:00

I'm not even going to question whether or not I'm addicted to Instagram anymore. I definitely am. Here's why:

1) I can't enjoy my food properly until I've taken a picture of it. (At this point, I don't even know if it's going on instagram, I just want it to have that possibility.)

2) I have trained the fella so well that, if my food is hot, he will blow the steam away without me asking as I try to take the picture. (I'm not even kidding. The second I whip my phone out he takes a big massive breath in preparation, on auto-pilot. He's amazing.)

3) When we talk about what we want to do at the weekend, I rarely have a suggestion other than "somewhere instagrammable." I am fully aware that this is rarely helpful.

4) I use the word "instagrammable" a lot. Is that a word? It should be. The wooden carved couches down at Castle Semple loch the other weekend, for example, were highly "instagrammable". And, at the moment, I'm staying at my sister's cat-sitting and there is so much in her house that is "instagrammable". Which is ironic since she isn't on instagram herself, or any other social media for that matter. (Apart from Bebo, and that was my fault.)

5) If I haven't posted a picture or an instagram story in 24 hours I get a bit panicky. I can actually remember the last time I didn't post for more than 48 hours - it was November and I didn't post for nearly a full week as I had an eye infection and hadn't left the house all week so I had nothing to post. It was a sad sad time. Possibly even sadder that I remember exactly how long I didn't post on instagram for as a result.

6) The first thing I check when I wake up is my Instagram account to see if I've got any more likes or followers overnight. Then I check it again like 10 minutes later. Then again 10 minutes later. Etc etc etc . . . (Also, I'm lying. It's every five minutes.)

7) The fella must be sick to death of me telling him to "do a funny Boomerang" for Instagram stories. Although he is ridiculously talented at them. (Not sure it's a marketable talent but please let me know if it is.)

8) He also must be sick of having to take 50 million pictures of me in the one place with me barking orders like "no, take it from above, HIDE MY DOUBLE CHIN PLEASE!"

9) I'm always thinking about what to put on Instagram next. Right now, even as I type, I'm thinking "do I put up the picture with all of the cool cushions in it right now or save it for later? And if I do, should I follow that with a landscape picture or a picture of the cat? Have I posted too many cat pictures recently? I wish I had a dog so I could post pictures of that and balance it out. My sister's niece has a greyhound - should I try and borrow her even though I have only met my sister's niece like twice and she was about 2 at the time as it was at my sister's wedding 11 years ago and if I contact her and ask her 'can I borrow your dog for Instagram?' she'll probably think I'm crazy?"

10) I'm constantly looking at my surroundings wondering if there's an Instagram picture opportunity in them.

Okay, that's probably enough for now. I'm off to check my Instagram likes and then roam my sister's place for even more "instagrammable" items. Please do pop by and follow me on Instagram if you don't already, then you'll get to see the madness in action. There's a very good chance I'm about to post that cushion picture I mentioned above. It'll be worth it, honest . . .

Are you addicted to Instagram too? Do you agree with the above points? I'd love to hear from you and, if you have any of your own reasons why you feel you are addicted to Instagram, please feel free to share them. :-)

WHAT I'M LOVING RIGHT NOW . . .

2018-01-28T15:00:00.000+00:00

I'm so happy to be getting back into more regular blogging again . . . let's see how long that lasts, eh? In the meantime, let's get into the things I'm loving at the moment . . .

CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY

I had heard of the Cards Against Humanity game a few times towards the end of last year, but finally got a chance to play it at Christmas and I loved it. I find it kinda hard to explain but you basically just have to try and find the funniest, most offensive answer to play out of the cards you are dealt. Cue hilarity. It's amazing.

THIS ASDA SKIRT

I found this jacquard skirt in Asda last week, for a mere ten pounds. I absolutely love the pattern and the style of it, and who doesn't love a bargain!?!

MY IOLLA GLASSES

For the first time in my life, I actually have a pair of glasses I like. This model is Bruce in rose tortoise, and they only cost £65. As a contact lens wearer for like 25 years I'm probably always going to favour those, but it's nice to actually own glasses I actually feel confident in. Iolla have some great frames so they're definitely worth checking out.

LODGE LIFE

We just spent three nights up in a loch-side lodge in the Highlands for the lovely fella's birthday and it was just great to get away and relax, while exploring the area. I especially loved coming back to the lodge and chilling out at the end of each day, while the snow lay outside. We even made a snowman!

MY FAUX FUR COAT

I got this QED coat for my birthday from my siblings, and I feel like I never take it off. It's champagne coloured (very fitting for me - although out of interest why is it "champagne" and not "prosecco" or "cava" coloured?) and it's so very cosy, particularly during all the recent cold snaps up here. I'm so glad it's in my life. (Sadly it doesn't appear to still be on asos - sorry about that!) but there's a nice blue one and a lovely animal print one there!)

What are you loving at the moment?

ON CHEESE . . . AND THE BEST CHEESE TOASTIE I HAVE EVER MADE!!!

2018-01-26T07:30:00.000+00:00

My name is Paula and I'm a cheese-aholic.

It seems to be a pretty much known fact about me anyway - possibly the first sign of being addicted to cheese is the fact that everyone you know seems to know about it. And as a result every other time you're tagged in something on facebook, it is something related to cheese. An opening of a new cheese café, a recipe that basically is just made entirely of fromage, or a funny clip about . . . people who are addicted to cheese (although if you do like cheese that is definitely worth a watch!).

To be honest, I've often shared this same post before someone tags me in it. That's how on top of my cheese addiction I am. (Although it probably also means I'm on Facebook waaayyyy too much too. But let's not get into that right now.)

In my world, almost everything tastes good with ~~a lot~~ a bit of cheese added to it. There are a few things that perhaps don't really need it . . . like curry for example. But you can have paneer curry so that's basically a curry made entirely of cheese, and it's utterly delicious. (And if you can't find paneer, halloumi makes a pretty good substitute. Just sayin'). That being said, if I'm having a chicken korma, I'm unlikely to add cheese to it.

Although we were ordering a takeaway last night and one of the curries apparently had a sauce made from cream and Scottish cheddar . . . I was definitely intrigued by that.

A baked camembert is one of my great pleasures in life. I try to limit myself to only having it every once in a while. It's very difficult for me.

If I'm in a restaurant and there's some form of deep fried mozzarella listed under starters on the menu, I am highly unlikely to be able to resist.

Speaking of mozzarella, I'm a bit obsessed with buratta. Which is essentially mozzarella stuffed with further mozzarella . . . and cream. I had it for the first time near the end of 2016 and I became a bit obsessed with finding it again. I found a pizza takeaway place that offered it as a pizza topping and I was so excited - the pizza was delicious and I couldn't wait to get another. Next time we ordered however they got the order mixed up and put the buratta on the fella's pizza. I could have cried. (To his credit, he tried to give me the bits of buratta that he could salvage but he had went for pesto on his pizza and it kinda ruined it for me.) Another time, I was so excited that a chain restaurant was offering buratta as a starter but I swear it turned out to just be regular mozzarella. I didn't say anything, and I love fresh mozzarella anyway, but I was so disappointed.

Basically, it seems me and buratta are not meant to be so I should probably stop forcing it.

Another amazing cheese is Arran cheddar with chilli in it. Anytime we buy this, it's gone within the hour. Luckily we don't find it a lot. However, we did find that Tesco do a cheese with chilli and lime in it and it is everything!

Okay, so I know you're probably shaking this head looking at this and thinking "is she still talking about cheese?" but as a disclaimer, the post is called "On cheese . . ." and I did lead off by saying I was a cheeseaholic so there wasn't really anywhere else it could go.

However . . . if you've managed to keep reading this long, I'm going to tell you all about an amazing cheese toastie I made recently. It's in the picture at the top, and I'm about to tell you how you can recreate it too if you're so inclined. I posted it on instagram at the time and it proved to be quite popular. And, like I said on the post itself, it was one of those meals where you're eating it just not wanting it to end . . . and I was gutted when it did end.

All you need (for one sandwich) is:

two slices of sourdough bread

grated cheese (I went for the aforementioned chilli and lime cheese from Tesco and grated it myself - I think grating your own cheese works better than buying ready grated) - as much as you like

mozzarella (I just bought a ball of it and shredded it myself) - also as much as you like

red onion, sliced

red pepper, sliced

I assembled the sandwich with all of the cheese, some red onion and red pepper and stuck it in the George Foreman. (You can do it in the frying pan if you want but I was trying to make one for the fella too so it seemed easier to do the main part of it in the George). Then I waited until the cheese was all melted and the bread felt suitably toasty.

Then I took a tip from Jamie Oliver, melting a bit of butter in a frying pan with some more grated cheese, before sticking the sandwiches in there and swirling them about until the cheese started to melt. Voila! The result was a cheesy taste sensation!

I made some sweet potato fries to go with it and they were alright (I'm yet to find the perfect recipe for those) but the main event was one hundred percent the cheese toastie. It was absolutely awesome.

And you are welcome. ;-)

Anyone else obsessed with cheese? Just me??

P'S READING CHALLENGE . . . PART 6!

2018-01-25T07:30:00.000+00:00

So I fell somewhat behind with my reading challenge. In a way. Mainly because I could never keep up with blogging about it! I started writing part six up about two months ago, but didn't publish it.

So a wee update, if you've happened upon my blog by chance and never read it before. Last year, sick of my reading habits dwindling over the years, I decided to aim to read 40 books . . . and to hold myself accountable by listing them all on my blog (if you click on the "P's Reading Challenge" label on the bottom of this post you can check out my other posts on this subject). At first I was way behind, I think it took me three or four months just to read the first five books. LUCKILY I went on three laze-around-on-a-sunlounger-with-a-book holidays which helped immensely with the challenge.

I had been doing five books per post, but since 2017 is now over (where did the time go???) I decided I may as well finish off my challenge with a bumper post. Sorry about that!

So what else did I read in 2017? Let's find out . . .

The Truth About Gemma Grey - Sophie Ranald

I was immediately intrigued by this book because the heroine of it was a vlogger. Although I don't vlog myself, I am interested in watching others' blogs and so this topic was definitely of interest to me. Gemma goes viral by accident after having an on-screen breakdown after her boyfriend dumps her . . . and she is quickly propelled into a world she is completely unfamiliar with, thrust into a world of stringa-attached freebies and hobnobbing with some of the most famous youtubers around. But is this actually the life she wants? I devoured most of this on my flight to Kavos earlier this year and was transfixed throughout. A great read. 8/10

The Diary of Madison Brown - S.J. Crabb

Although I found this book entertaining, I did struggle a bit with it and I actually had to leave it a couple of times and go back to it after reading books I preferred. I found the humour mainly lay in the main character's ditziness and she seemed pretty one-dimensional and arrogant to me. I also don't like it when good fortune just constantly falls into someone's lap, and that's how this book felt - there was no struggle for it. It had its moments and I wanted to see how it ended and I enjoyed it enough . . . but I'd never re-read it and I probably wouldn't recommend it. That being said, I wouldn't rule out reading another book by Crabb - I think it was just the character I wasn't a massive fan of . . . and you can't like everyone! 5/10

Whatever Happened to Vicky Hope's Back-Up Man - Laura Kemp

There's been a many a plot based around the age-old "if we're both not married by *insert age here* we'll get married" plot, but this book certainly put a bit of a twist on it. Vicky has just been dumped and been forced to move back home, which makes her think about getting in touch with her back-up man, Mikey, as well as her former best friend Kat. However, there's a massive secret one of the three is hiding, and it could threaten to ruin any of their relationships re-forming. I have to admit I saw the plot twist in this one coming really early on and I did find this book a bit hardgoing at times, but it was definitely an interesting read and I did are about the characters. 6/10

A Proper Family Adventure - Chrissie Manby

I read A Proper Family Holiday a few years ago and, although I'm never a big fan of follow-up novels featuring the same characters, I did feel like I wanted to revisit this particular family. I wasn't disappointed. Their "adventure" this time features a cruise, which made me very jealous as I've always wanted to go on a cruise and I love to read about them. And I loved it. The characters are great (the kids are particularly hilarious) and I was so disappointed when the story came to an end. (I think I've actually missed one of the family's stories in between the first one and this one, but I kinda feel like it was explained in this book and I therefore don't really need to read it. By all means, feel free to read them in order, just definitely read this one!) 10/10

If You Could See Me Now - Keris Stainton

This is my second Keris book read this year, and her first adult book (yes, I occasionally still read Young Adult and I'm 38 - I don't care!) and I was looking forward to this coming out for ages. It didn't disappoint - Izzy, our heroine, feels a bit like her life isn't quite going how she planned . . . but then something very unexpected happens (I don't want to give it away but I don't think it's a twist I've saw in a book before) and after she's over the shock, she uses it to make some giant changes in her life. There's also a great hero in it, which is always a very important plus point for me. You should definitely invest in a copy of this book, it's brill - I promise! 9/10

The Hating Game - Sally Thorne

Lucy and Josh share an office and are work rivals, possibly even worst enemies. But there's a fine line between love and hate, and this book is a fascinating, romantic and funny look at that line. I was absolutely transfixed by this book almost from the outset. I keep returning to read bits because the relationship at the centre of the plot is so captivating. A definite must-read in my eyes. 10/10

The Break - Marian Keyes

If there ever is a red letter day in the book world, it is when Marian Keyes has a new book out. Her book "Rachel's Holiday" is probably my favourite book in the world so anytime she has a new book out I'm very happy about this. And I had just so happened to have won an amazon voucher in work just as her book came out so I was very excited to pack it into my Kindle and take it on holiday with me! Amy's husband decides he wants to take a break from their marriage and go travelling and this is about Amy trying to survive without him while he takes that break. The premise, I have to admit, annoyed me, but as the plot continued it became clear nothing was quite as it appears. I wouldn't say it was my favourite Keyes novel by any means, but it was still a cut above so many books. 9/10

The Holiday Cruise - Victoria Cooke

Oh how I love a holiday-esque type book . . . especially while on holiday, which I was while I was reading this! Hannah's marriage has fallen apart and, as a result, her beauty salon business has also been affected. So she decides to apply for a job on a cruise ship. It's fun, it helps her forget and the only rule is that you can't get involved with the guests . . . oh dear! A great read. 9/10

The Worst Case Scenario Cooking Club - Chrissie Manby

Another book I was looking forward to being released, I was not disappointed by this at all! Three people from very different walks of life are brought together at a cooking course and it's wonderful. It also made me very hungry. 10/10

Izzy's Cold Feet - Sarah Louise Smith

This book was okay but I liked the idea of it more than I liked the story itself. This is about a girl on the verge of getting married who starts to wonder if she should have been with one of her exes. I found it quite hard to feel sorry for Izzy, if I'm perfectly honest and I think that's what put me off it a bit. It was an enjoyable enough read though. 5/10

Love to Hate You - Anna Premoli

I enjoyed this book of two rivals in work becoming romantically intertwined, however as I'd not long before read the aforementioned The Hating Game, I didn't feel quite as attached to these characters as I did to Jennifer and Ian in Love To Hate You. I did thoroughly enjoy it though and was rooting for things to work out with them! 7/10

Cocktails and Dreams - A.L. Michael

I've enjoyed every A.L. Michael book I've read so far and this was no exception. I enjoyed the character of Savvy and her messy relationship with her mother, the hero was delicious and who doesn't enjoy cocktail chat? Great read - it's part of a series so I will definitely need to read the others! 8/10

The Truth About Ellen - Sarah Louise Smith

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you met your teenage hero? And what if you then ended up involved, years down the line, with his bandmate? But you haven't told your new fella about your past? That's Ellen's dilemma and it's immensely readable. 7/10

The Hygge Holiday - Rosie Blake

Clara, a mysterious newcomer to a small village, ends up accidentally running a toy shop . . . and making a massive success of it. But who is she and what will the toy shop owner's son, high-flyer Joe, make of her. I loved this book a lot! I don't even know how to pronounce "Hygge" but just reading it made me feel all hygge inside. 10/10

Mistletoe on 34th Street - Lisa Dickenson

The last book I read of the year - and I had to completely read it on the Kindle app on my phone thanks to my broken Kindle. I always feel like I need to read a Christmas themed novel at Christmas and I rarely get around to actually doing it, so I'm glad I managed it this year. This was a great read, set mainly in New York (in case the title did not make that obvious), and it made me feel all festive just in time! 10/10

So I managed it. Somehow, against all odds, I read 40 books exactly in 2017. I haven't yet managed to finish one book in 2018 sadly, however, I was doing similarly last year at this time and I did only just get a new Kindle last week, so I'm not going to beat myself up too much yet.

Did you set yourself a reading challenge last year? Did you succeed?

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . . DAYS 6 AND 7!!!

2018-01-23T09:46:00.000+00:00

It started snowing on and off between the Thursday night and Friday morning in Oban, but it was largely gone by the time we woke up. Skipping breakfast once again (so far we made breakfast on the Sunday only, despite breakfast being included in every hotel we had stayed in), we set off on our way.

Always time to be silly!!!

Our next destination was Crianalarich, edging closer back to Glasgow as it was our last full day on the road, so we had a bit of time to play with. We stopped off on the beach just to the north of Oban, with some lovely views of a snow-covered Mull and some silly selfie opportunities.

Looking over to Mull from Oban

Then we headed down towards the Slate Islands, since one is accessible via the Clachan Bridge, otherwise known as the Bridge Over The Atlantic. From the Isle of Seil you can access the other islands in the group by boat - one day we will do this!

Gorgeous views from the Isle of Seil

Eventually we arrived in Crianlarich where we were staying at the Ben More Lodge. We were staying in what was effectively a little chalet, with a bed, couch, tv and a little bathroom - it was so warm and cosy.

Crianlarich looked amazing in the snow

After having a wee walk around the snow covered area, we popped over to the pub there for dinner, a couple of drinks and some pool. As it was dog-friendly there were a couple of them kicking around, which I always love, and just as we were leaving some live traditional music was about to kick off. The food was really tasty too, and the price of both the accommodation and the food really reasonable. 100 per cent recommend.

Such beautiful scenery!

The next day the snow had picked up, much to the fella's delight, so after we got up and made it to breakfast (it had to happen again eventually!) we headed back towards Glen Coe to get a few snowier pictures than before!

Snowy scenes

Once we'd managed to capture the area in all its snowy beauty, we reluctantly began heading home towards reality, knowing we at least had one more day of the weekend before we had to return to our desk and PC and normality of office life. It really was such an amazing road trip. We spent too much money and drank and ate too much crap . . . but I feel like some amazing memories were made.

Glen Coe looking unbelievably dramatic!

I'd say I can't wait until the next road trip but we're literally just back from the next one. That being said, I still can't wait for the next one! And with not-yet-booked-but-upcoming trips to Ardfern, Torridon and Carnoustie coming up, it hopefully shouldn't be long before we're on the road again . . .

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . . DAY 5!!!

2018-01-14T21:48:00.002+00:00

I had to get back to it eventually, didn't I? Ridiculous that I'm still posting about a trip that happened nearly two months ago now but life always tends to get in the way!

What a view!!!

So we're on to Day 5 . . . and we woke up in the Isles of Glencoe Hotel to a gorgeous view! Unfortunately we were not the only ones who thought so and there were a bunch of photographers with tripods and everything blocking the view outside our window. Eventually we got the view to ourselves and it was worth the wait.

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

We skipped breakfast once again and then headed towards our next destination, the lovely town of Oban. We were booked to go to the distillery at four, so we had a couple of hours to spare before we needed to get ourselves checked in to the hotel. We snapped some pictures at Loch Leven and Linnhe first. Then we discovered Loch Creran, a new find for us, which really was lovely.

Loch Creran

In Oban, we checked into the Columba Hotel (which was the sister hotel of the one we stayed at in Dunoon) and then headed over to the distillery. Now, we've did this tour before and it's a good one - it only costs ten quid as well which is pretty reasonable. We enjoyed a couple of drams in the bar afterwards and I also had a whisky ginger cocktail which was absolutely delicious.

Afterwards we popped to Cuan Mor for dinner and had a little walk around the town before heading back to the hotel. Not a massively eventful day, perhaps, but it was a lovely day all the same. Lots of good pictures for the old Instagram too, which is never a waste of time. ;-)

Oban looking pretty in purple

Roll on day 6!

P'S TOP PICKS: BEST SONGS OF 2017!!!

2017-12-28T09:30:00.000+00:00

I'm very much aware I haven't actually finished writing up my November Scottish road trip posts . . .please excuse me on that; life got in the way and also I do struggle with writing so many travel posts in one go. In the meantime, let's take an interlude while I look at my favourite songs of 2017.

First up, this is probably my favourite song of the year.

I was in Lanzarote in April/May of this year when I first heard "It Ain't Me" and it was the same with this next song. Now I had no clue of the hit that "Despacito" would be at that point but I firmly maintain it didn't need Bieber to make it a hit in the non-Latin world. I far prefer the original version, just me???

Now, I've said before I tend to be a bit behind the times when it comes to music so I only discovered this song after it had been number one probably for five million weeks but Dua Lipa's "New Rules" is a song that is the perfect anthem for the old me, who was never good at getting over a break-up. I could have used these rules. And it's bloody catchy as well. Although she seems to have an aversion to keeping her clothes on her shoulders???

And I'm a bit obsessed still with this Foo Fighters song . . . just me? Fun fact: the little girls in this video are actually Dave Grohl's daughters!!!

And last but not least . . . it may be a tad predictable but I couldn't NOT include a wee bit of Ed Sheeran on my list. I struggled with what one to choose but I'm going to go with "Shape of You" ultimately. Also, if you ever fancy a cute laugh, you should look up the Teletubbies dancing to this. It's a class act. ;-)

What are YOUR favourite songs of 2017? I'd love to know.

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . . DAY 4!!!

2017-12-05T21:52:00.000+00:00

Glen Coe

Day 4 of our so-far-mainly-wet roadtrip and we woke up to . . . more rain. Le sigh. However, today we were headed away from the Cowal Peninsula and up to the gorgeous Glencoe area so even if the weather didn't change, there would be more photo opportunities.

Loch Fyne

Hopefully.

We travelled back up to the A83 and along towards Inveraray. Loch Fyne was still beautiful, if a bit gloomier than we were used to.

Kilchurn Castle

We then headed up past Loch Awe and ate cheese and crackers across the loch from the dramatic Kilchurn Castle.

Cheese disposed of, we took the long way around to Glencoe via Tyndrum, which meant we could pass the lovely Loch Tulla. There's a viewpoint just above it, normally full of cars of people taking in the prettiness and enjoying some fresh air (or, in many a case, popping out for a fag). As we went to pull in, we noted there was only one car already there. Which made sense, as it was a random Wednesday afternoon in the middle of November.

However, there was another occupant in the car park - a magnificent stag!!!

The Loch Tulla Stag, admiring the view!

From various Facebook pages and many an Instagram account, I've since gleaned that this stag does seem to frequent this viewpoint - however, at the time it was quite the unique, magical moment. Obviously, we stayed out of the way of him, at the other side of the car park, with the safety of the car between us, as others stopped to view him and take his picture. Eventually he wandered off - which was a good thing as I think we'd have been stopped there all day otherwise!

Glen Etive

Next up we headed to Glen Etive and as well as the usual lovely sights of mountains and waterfalls and streams, we also encountered more deer. Once again, keeping ourselves in the safety of the car. (Seriously, some people seem to forget that no matter how friendly and curious they may seem, they're still wild animals!) They really are little posers in Glen Etive. (I wouldn't be surprised if that's where the Loch Tulla stag hailed from too.)

Wee posers . . . see the wee one popping up in the middle? I didn't notice it until looking at the picture ages later!

Ghost deer?!?

One of the most photographed houses in Scotland??? (Glen Coe)

After this delight, we headed through Glencoe towards our hotel, taking in the amazing views along the way . . . and with one final stop along the way . . . the gorgeous manmade Glencoe Lochan. This is only a short walk from its car park and the pay-off was more than worth it. I'd definitely recommend popping up there!

Glencoe Lochan

Our hotel was the Isles Of Glencoe Hotel - I'd got a voucher deal for it on itison a couple of months ago and it was totally worth the money. The loch view from our room was amazing (I'll cover that in my next post, don't you worry!) and so we sat by the window enjoying the peace and having a couple of wee drams of whisky. Bliss.

Dinner was part of our deal, and it was delicious. I have to admit, the venison option was tempting . . . but after spending so much time around incredible deer, I just couldn't do it, and opted for the vegetarian option of a chickpea and sweetcorn burger instead. Highly recommended. As is the hotel.

All in all, I think Day 4 was my favourite of the entire trip. But we did still have another two days to go . . .

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . . DAY 3!!!

2017-11-28T07:00:00.000+00:00

Day 3 was probably the worst day for pictures . . . and that was because of the blooming rain striking once again! The visibility at the Tighnabruaich Viewpoint was non-existent for a start - shame as the views of the Isle of Bute and surrounding water from up there are usually exceptional.

However, we managed to catch the beautiful Loch Striven in amazing light - which was lucky, as on the way back it just looked . . . well, wet! The reflections of the trees and mountains earlier though were just incredible.

It took me ages to work out what loch I was looking at though - that's one of the problems of loads of parts of Scotland - the 4G tends to either be either limited or completely off!

Another lovely find was Col Dam, which looked stunning despite the weather. Luckily it was signposted so I didn't have to try and find out what it was called. ;-) Especially since I can't really find anything out about it online!

We drove around the Cowal Peninsula in the rain the rest of the time, and eventually had to give up and head back to the hotel for drinks, surrounded by staff putting up Christmas decorations (still too early by the way.) Luckily there is an Italian restaurant which is part of the hotel, which has an interior door so this saved us having to brave the weather again. Phew!

We headed for bed, hoping that the next day would bring us a break in the weather. Did it? Well, you'll have to wait and see . . .

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . DAY 2!!!

2017-11-27T07:00:00.000+00:00

So day 2 dawned and we woke up to . . . rain.

Now, it was hardly unexpected - we do get a lot of rain up here after all. But you just hope that this is not going to be the case because it has the potential to ruin a holiday . . . and, most importantly, your pictures! We were going to try our best not to let it though!

So after getting soaked just walking to the restaurant for breakfast at the Oak Tree Inn and checking out, we decided to head along towards Rowardennan first, which is an even smaller village (I'm not even sure it's big enough to be a village to be honest, but it's very pretty anyway and definitely worth a visit) than Balmaha, right at the end of the same road. More east side views of the loch (you can also go up Ben Lomond from there if you're so inclined), and we also popped by Milarrochy Bay en route . . . a lovely little beach, home to an extremely photographed tree.

Milarrochy Bay

Our destination for the next two nights was Dunoon so next up we would head over to the west side of Loch Lomond, via Balloch and turn onto the A83 at Tarbet, taking the road route around to Dunoon. You can of course get the ferry, but the road is so damn pretty it's hard to resist this option. Even in the rain.

Rowardennan

We still had some places to stop at en route though - Loch Long at Arrochar, and Jubilee Point on Loch Eck. We also stopped at Firkin Point which is very nice, but a fly flew into my right eye there, which had barely recovered from a bad bout of bacterial conjunctivitis, so I'm not feeling friendly about that particular place right now.

Reflections on Loch Long

The Arrochar end of Loch Long always offers fabulous views, regardless of weather. It's just a shame there's so much rubbish in the Loch (we were there again today and it reeked!). However, we couldn't even see anything at the Rest and be Thankful on the A83 as the weather worsened.

Jubilee Point

Once we got onto the Cowal Peninsula, the weather thankfully let up again a bit at Jubilee Point, which I was happy about as it's a gorgeous little viewpoint surrounded by mountains, with an almost tropical vibe... maybe that's just my opinion though!

The fella thinks that it always rains in Dunoon. Granted, it is starting to feel that way, as it seems it does every time we visit. (And he also did a half marathon there in that same rain a couple of years ago, which would not have been nice!) And, when we pulled into the town, the weather wasn't great. We checked into the hotel which was to be our base for the next two nights, Argyll Hotel (this was my birthday present from the fella. Thanks!). And we very quickly decided that it was time to cut our losses and head to the pub. So that's what we did! Sinbads for a couple of drinks, followed by dinner at the 51st State Bar and Grill. Then we headed back to our hotel so ~~I could catch up on Made in Chelsea~~ we could re-charge. And hope for better weather the next day.

Drinkies!

Unfortunately we have no control over such things. If only . . .

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

*Insert My Blog Name Here*

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH? DON'T ASK ME . . .

THE ONE WHERE I TRY TO MAKE SOME EXTRA CASH . . .

WHY I COULDN'T BE ON "COACH TRIP" . . .

LETS TALK HOTEL BREAKFASTS . . .

P'S FOUR (FAVES) ON FRIDAY . . .

2019, WHERE YOU AT?!?

HAS INSTAGRAM MADE ME A BETTER PERSON (SORT OF)?

WHAT I'M LOVING RIGHT NOW . . .

P'S TOP PICKS: MY FAVOURITE READS SO FAR THIS YEAR!

ON WHY I DON'T LIKE AUTUMN . . .

VISIT KEFALONIA . . .

WHY I COULDN'T BE A "LOVE ISLAND" CONTESTANT . . .

THOUGHTS I HAVE BEFORE I GO ON HOLIDAY . . .

HOW*NOT* TO LOOK AFTER YOUR SKIN . . .

AN UNEXPECTED BREAK . . .

REASONS WHY I'M AN INSTAGRAM ADDICT (AND YOU MIGHT BE TOO) . . .

WHAT I'M LOVING RIGHT NOW . . .

ON CHEESE . . . AND THE BEST CHEESE TOASTIE I HAVE EVER MADE!!!

P'S READING CHALLENGE . . . PART 6!

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . . DAYS 6 AND 7!!!

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . . DAY 5!!!

P'S TOP PICKS: BEST SONGS OF 2017!!!

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . . DAY 4!!!

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . . DAY 3!!!

SCOTLAND THE BEAUTIFUL: A SCOTTISH ROAD TRIP . . DAY 2!!!

Insert My Blog Name Here

HOWNOT TO LOOK AFTER YOUR SKIN . . .