How to make Monday's not so bad.

Okay, so Monday's have this negative stigma, and I understand why. You have two great days off for the weekend to unwind and relax, then Monday comes around and you have to force yourself back in to the early morning routines and have nothing to look forward to until the following weekend. So let's change that! Here are my tips to make Monday's not so bad (and any other day of the week)!

Firstly plan your weeks in advance, if you are occupied in the day between a certain time (work, school, other commitments) then plan something to do after! It doesn't need to be anything eccentric just something enjoyable;

Go for a walk or drive, go somewhere you love to explore or somewhere you've never explored before. Take a camera and take photos, get inspired. You could go alone or with friends/family/your dog. Arrange to go over to someones house or invite them to yours for a catch up. Go out for dinner or drinks. Plan to bake something you can devour. Go to the cinema, is there a film you've wanted to see for a while? Read, get so involved in a book that you forget about your own life. Get creative, write, paint, draw. Tidy, maybe not the most relaxing option but it keeps you occupied and theres no better feeling after everything's clean!

      This is Hayle, Cornwall. Along the canal there are brightly coloured houses which contrast against the bank beautifully.

Great flat lode, Cornwall. The great flat lode is a public pathway of loads of mines left in their natural form over a few miles. It's a great place to go to explore or unwind and there are informative posts explaining what each one was used for!

 Great flat lode, Cornwall

 This is Gwithian, Cornwall. I took this photo on the walk back from the beach to the car.

   Daffodils 

Gwithian, Cornwall

 Potreath, Cornwall with my dog Poppy

 Car selfie with the girls

This was taken in London at Winterwonderland. 

 After roasting marshmallows on the beach we went to the bench and watched the most beautiful sunset together at North Cliffs, Cornwall

 Being brave dipping our toes in the sea at Portreath, Cornwall

 Grabbing a bite to eat at Lounge, Truro

Getting creative experimenting with my watercolour pens, I have a degree in Art so it's fun to go back to it now and again!

Visit to Chapel Porth, Cornwall

The other day I took a drive to Chapel Porth in Cornwall, which is a short drive from my house. For those of you who want to visit, head towards St Agnes then when you come to the main round about there, there should be a sign stating where the beach is, it's the first turn on the roundabout. The drive is down a narrow cliff which is exposed to a big drop. There are no supportive fences or anything reassuring closing off the edge to be honest, but keeps the place looking rural and a bit eery, I like it. On this particular day the carpark was jam packed, I managed to find a space to park near the toilets, next to the parking machine. The carpark was £2.00 until 'Dusk', I loved that it said that, it reminded me of Peter Pan. The beach was beautiful, its a little walk across some pebbles but once who get past that the sand is golden and soft, there are a lot of streams to the side, next to cliffs that lead in to the sea. The water was clear and people at the beach' dogs enjoyed running through them. The weather was quite overcast but blue sky broke through now and again. Here is a selection of photos I took form the day!

The ULTIMATE chocolate cookies

I originally got this recipe from Jamie Oliver's Devil's double choc malt cookies which you can access here: Jamie's recipe

I altered his recipe but kept the same measurements for the foundation of the cookie. The good thing about these treats is that they can be made healthy(ish) or more indulgent depending on what you choose to add. These of course will be more indulgent, the family loved them, they were gone in minutes! The prep time is around 15mins and baking time is 12mins so they're a real speedy snack to make! Now let's get baking!!

Ingredients you'll need: 

50g unsalted butter 

200g quality dark chocolate 

2 heaped teaspoons of malt (Horlicks) 

200g self raising flour 

50g of milk chocolate 

50g of white chocolate 

Preheat oven to 170c/325f/gas 3

Melt butter and dark chocolate in a pan on a low heat until smooth and combined

Then remove from heat and stir in condensed milk 

Pour all dry ingredients in a bowl and add the melted ingredients, fold together until well combined 

Add all chocolate chunks in to mixture leaving some aside to melt and drizzle on top of once cooked 

Use a spoon to make ball shape cookies you can do big or small depending on how many you want to make 

Bake for around 12 minutes, or until your preferred consistency, take out drizzle your melted chocolate and devoure! Enjoy!!! 

A stormy day - CORNWALL

Some snaps captured at Portreath harbour, Cornwall. This is by my local beach and I wander down a couple of times a week as I love the beach. This evening in particular was extremely stormy, waves were gushing over the walls of the harbour and the sea itself was roaring! I hope to pop down again over the weekend as the sea is meant to be even more rough, they were building sand banks up today to contain the water from overflowing in the carpark! I love weather like this at the sea side!

Mac Burgundy times 9 palette - REVIEW

I'm a big face of Mac skin based products, when I saw they did these palettes, I knew I had to get one. The eyeshadows in the palette are smaller than the normal Mac eyeshadows, but still a decent size and perfect for makeup bags and travelling. There are four colour options for the palette, Burgundy, Amber, Purple and Navy. Burgundy caught my eye but I'd also like to try the Amber palette.

 

The burgundy palette consists of; honey lust, poppyseed, quarry, antiqued, embark, noir, haux, star violet and and sketch. I think the colour selection is good, however, poppy seed (middle of the top row) isn't as pigmented as the other colours, and once you rub it enough to get colour it is very similar to quarry, just slightly lighter (the one next to it). 

Honey lust, poppyseed, quarry, antiqued, embark, noir. 

 Haux, star violet, sketch. 

There's a good mix of colours to have an everyday eye look and a night time look. The darker colours are nice to warm up an eye look in the crease. The lighter colours are nice for everyday looks and I love using honey lust in the corner of the eye in to the middle, it adds something. 

I would definitely recommend this palette to anyone who wants it, for eyeshadows it's reasonably price at £30. It gives you enough choice to test colours you may want to purchase in the full size for your collection.