I think we’re quite prepared for the arrival of our little one. My little insta family have been an absolute dream at recommending the best bits and bobs for both the baby and me. Obviously as a first time mum, I am completely clueless and to be honest, I am (and always have been) a sellers dream. I remember when I was little and my brother used to set up a ‘shop’ for me to come and browse. I used to spend my hard earned spending money on ripped up pieces of paper for 5p (that Joe used to say were fabulous for writing numbers on), pieces of broken lego, and my own Celine Dion CD that I had coincidentally lost 2 days earlier. And nothing has really changed since then. If you say it’s essential, I’m going to want it.

SO, in a bid to avoid any unnecessary baby buys, I’ve asked fellow mums for their must haves. These are the bits that I have bought so far:

Sleepyhead Deluxe

This is one of those things that I had heard about long before becoming pregnant. They’re expensive (£120) but people rave about them. I know there are cheaper brands and some people have given it bad reviews but for every one bad review there are hundreds of positive ones. Luckily, Sean and I had some John Lewis vouchers left from the wedding so the majority of these baby bits we managed to get from there!

Ewan the Dream Sheep

I didn’t have a clue who Ewan was but mums on insta were going mad for him. If I’m honest I don’t particularly like the look of him. I’m all for traditional bears BUT he is apparently a miracle worker. My friend, Claire, has recently had a beautiful baby, Thomas, and she’s already raved about Ewan. He glows red which mimics the colours the baby sees in the womb and he makes the same sorts of sounds to help the baby to sleep.

Gro Egg Thermometer and Night Light

This was our final purchase from John Lewis and again, something that came highly recommended. The gro egg is a thermometer that glows a different colour according to the room temperature. I really don’t know what temperature is right for the baby so this will keep my mind at ease especially as we are going on a family holiday to Greece when the baby will be around 8 weeks old!

Ascher Children’s Dimmable Bedside Light

Okay, so it’s not the most attractive beside lamps but I love it. The lamp is dimmable and at its lowest, just produces a really soft yellow light. I thought this would be perfect for whilst I’m breast feeding and Sean is sleeping. Being the really considerate wife that I always am, the light wont wake him but will be enough for me to feed (God willing I am able). It also has a strap on the bottom that you can pull and hold so you can carry it from room to room if need be or hang somewhere. And for £15, I thought it was a bargain.

My First Playmat & Gym

This was our first buy for the baby and if I’m completely honest I’m getting the feeling I’m going to regret it. I like things that are very neutral and won’t spoil the decor of the house BUT I know I am naive to think that I’m going to be able to source old wooden toys that my baby is happy to play with. I’m really not that bad but, as cute as this is, I’m worrying that it won’t give the baby enough stimulation and I’ll end up buying the Fisher Price Rainforest Music and Lights Gym. I can’t decide whether or not to take this one back and get a voucher for Mamas and Papas (which I’m sure will come in handy over the next few months anyway). Any ideas or reviews on the Mamas and Papas Gym please let me know!

Ameda Lactaline Personal Dual Electic Breast Pump

Finally, my cousin (who is the breast feeding queen) was selling her breast pump. She had had three during her time breast feeding her babies and this, she said, was the best. I bought it second hand so it was only a fraction of the price from new! I am wanting to breast feed but I know that it isn’t always possible. In all honesty, I am really not about the preachy mum life and believe that whatever you think is best for your baby is up to you. Fed is best is my eyes- regardless of if that is breast or bottle. Speaking to other breast feeding mums, the first 6 weeks, they say, are the hardest. So I do want to persevere as much as I can. I wanted to express milk a little later on though. Not only will Sean be able to feed the baby, but it also then helps with night feeds which is fab! Does anybody know what the best bottles are for babies that are part bottle-part breast?

That seems to be all we’ve bought bar plain white baby grows, white blankets and a cot. I will post about the nursery once it’s finished but for now, the cot still hasn’t arrived and we’ve only just painted it today! (Farrow and Ball Cornforth White is the dream!). I am looking for a nice white chest of drawers and wardrobe if anybody has any ideas? I like the Ikea Hemnes drawers but they have recently changed the design on the single wardrobe to sliding doors and I can’t tell if I will like it from photos on the website. Our next buys are: an angel care bath support, some bottles and a tens machine.

Not forgetting the pram we have chosen (which deserves a separate blog post), is there anything else I have missed that you would recommend?

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

Lots of love,

Hiiiiiii! Oh goodness, it’s been so long since I’ve written on here but I genuinely don’t feel I’ve had the time. However, some pretty exciting things have happened in the last 12 weeks or so, so I thought it was about time I got them down on paper  screen.

SO where do I start? The first 12 weeks. I hate to be clicheic (is that how you spell it?) but I knew I was pregnant wayyyy before I did the test. I’m lucky and when I’m due on I get zero symptoms, bar the obvious, which is why I was so curious as to why my boobs were suddenly so sensitive on honeymoon. We must have only been in Florida 10 days or so but they were just different to usual. Not painful by any means but, well.. just different. I told Sean on many occasions but he just threw it off and kept on telling me not to convince myself I was pregnant as I would be upset if I wasn’t once we were home. Anywayyyyy, thinking I may have been didn’t stop me from flinging myself around on every roller coaster and drinking every strawberry daiquiri in sight.

(Goshhhhhhhhhhhhh, to be that skinny again, even though I thought I was fat! I WILL get back to this sharpish after baby… more on my plans to come in a separate post).

Once we were home, we got back into the normal swing of things. We both went back to work and I knew (but Sean didn’t) that I was due on on the Thursday we returned. I did a test that morning but nothing showed. Friday morning came and still no sign of anything but again, I tried to tell myself that me being abnormally late (even though I usually run like clockwork) could be down to the mini-pill that I took on the days leading up to the wedding to delay the inevitable. I woke on Saturday morning at 5am and decided to do my third test on my first wee of the day (because that’s when you have the highest levels of HCG). Again, nothing showed. Starting to be a little down hearted, I told myself I wasn’t going to do another test until Monday morning. But obviously that was a lie. I couldn’t wait and on the Sunday, unbeknown to Sean, I did my fourth test. I brushed my teeth and vividly remember saying the Hail Mary whilst pacing up and down. When i turned it over, there were TWO pink lines. My heart went into my mouth and I could hardly breathe. Sean was there when I opened the door and handed him the test and he too, couldn’t believe it. We stood in stunned silence.

Sean didn’t think the home bargains 99p tests were credible (I’m not sure why) and so insisted on going and buying the most expensive clear blue test he could find. Lo and behold that too came back positive. We didn’t really know what to do with ourselves. Never in a million years did we think we would be so lucky as to conceive on the first go. The honeymoon was obviously very successful!

A few days later I also checked the 5am pregnancy test from the Saturday which also showed a really faint pink line but my weary eyes weren’t going to see that so early in the morning!

I couldn’t hold in my excitement and a good 12 months earlier had already planned how I wanted to tell our parents. I had bought some cute little knitted boots from Ebay and found the sweetest poem online to attach. Our wedding present to our parents failed epically, as I hadn’t checked everyone’s diaries, so we popped round to my Mum and Dad’s with a little brown box and told them it was their belated gift. My Mum said she would open it after she had eaten her dinner (no rush Jane) and as she did, we carried on chatting about the honeymoon etc. My one regret is that I didn’t capture their reaction on camera. My Dad at first wasn’t taking much notice until my Mum nearly started choking. Because I usually wrap up gifts the same, she expected it to be a night in a hotel somewhere. They were both so happy and I think a tear rolled down my Dad’s cheek (crying twice in the space of a month is so not like him). Sean’s parents were equally as pleased and so the waiting began.

The little book ‘Letters to my Granchild’ I also thought was super cute and I ordered that whilst I was on honeymoon (so eager to be pregnant) from Ebay too.

Gosh, it was the longest 8 weeks of my life from that moment. During the 12 weeks I did tell a couple of my friends, but not many, and that’s really hard when you’re so excited you could burst. In all honesty, I think I was given an easy ride in early pregnancy. Bar the exhaustion (which wiped me out), I was lucky and was only sick a handful of times although, I did feel sick most mornings and nights. It was nothing I couldn’t deal with so long as I was getting a good 10-12 hour sleep each night.

At our first midwife appointment, I was already around 11 weeks and still hadn’t been given a scan date which worried me. The following Tuesday of October half term the hospital rang asking if I could come in for a scan. Obviously, i worried thinking that they had found something that they didn’t like in my bloods which is why they had rang so suddenly instead of sending out a letter as normal (classic over thinker).  But thankfully everything was fine and baby played ball showing up on the screen as soon as we went in. She dated me at 12+2 and gave me a due date of the 13th May. Finally, we can announce our happy news!

Since then, life has been pretty normal. I’m not as tired and I found a new love for drinking gravy. Cravings wise, I just want anything savoury. Cheese in particular. My diet has settled down in the last week as I went crazy for the first 2 months. I had already gained a stone after honeymoon (lived the dream in 3 weeks) so I’ve gained an extra 18lb from my pre-pregnancy weight in just under 19 weeks. I am trying to control it now, though it is hard at Christmas. I’m hoping that I won’t gain much more if I do try and reign it in, so that I haven’t got a mountain to climb once Baby H arrives in May.

So, yeah! That’s where I am up to. I’ve been off school for the last week as there was a virus going round but my bloods came back today and I’m immune so all is good and I can go back tomorrow! Only 4 and a half days left of term! How crazy is that?! We also fly out to New York next Friday (best wedding present award goes to Sean) for Christmas and then we have our 20 week scan as soon as we are back.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on for far too long but I’ve actually really enjoyed writing. Hopefully, although I’m making no promises, I’ll be back soon to update you all on our exciting bump adventures to NYC and beyond!

I hope you all have the BEST Christmas with your friends and families.

Love,

I started planning my wedding aged 3. Well… that may be a slight exaggeration but I’ve been planning it since I can remember. When Sean proposed the first thing I said after ‘Yes!’ was ‘I can finally plan a wedding!’

I booked everything in the first two months. I made moodboards, read endless magazines, saved photos, devoured blog after blog, wrote lists and attended every wedding fayre going. The wedding was my life for a year and 8 months. Whilst this might sound like hell to some of you, it was my heaven. I loved nothing more than dashing home from school to a night of wedmin. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t talk about it and, more importantly, there wasn’t an hour I didn’t think of it. I was obsessed (in a good way). Just completely in love with all things wedding.

The last 10 weeks of wedding prep flew by and all of a sudden it was the day. All chat prior had been about the day. The lead up, the hen do (‘S), stag do, food tasting, flower arrangements, ceremony wording, finishing touches etc. Even at school the children were so excited that they made a wedding countdown! But those amazing 24 hours passed so fast and nobody really prepares you for the massive comedown. How can you ever return to normal when your normal has been centred around something that doesn’t exist anymore? Surely this should be the happiest time of my life but actually I’m empty and lost.

On honeymoon, Sean didn’t understand why I cried all the time but a lovely lady on Instagram said the only way she could describe it to her new husband was by comparing it to Christmas Day.

‘You’re so excited for the lead up to Christmas and think about it every day. Then on Boxing Day you’re so sad that it’s over. Apart from you know that Christmas comes once a year and your wedding day isn’t going to happen again…’

Our wedding day was the most magical, perfect day of our lives so right now I’m trying to find myself and re-establish my life routine as a wife. Luckily, having lots to look forward too helps but even the thought of going to New York at Christmas (major husband points for the best wedding present) doesn’t compare to dreaming about the wedding.

I think once I’m back into a routine at work my feelings will hopefully settle. I’m joining a new gym with classes to fill up those nights that were packed with wedmin and I’ve planned meet ups with my friends and trips away.

I’m not really sure what the point of this blog post was but I hope somewhere amongst the ramblings some of you are able to empathise with me.

If you are planning a wedding then enjoy every moment of the lead up, even the long days and sleepless nights. Every single ounce of stress will be worth it.

Lots of love,

So, on Thursday night Sean and I sat very excited as we had a message to say that our first professional wedding photographs were being posted and we definitely weren’t let down.

First of all, can I just say a little bit about our wedding photographers. Oli and AJ at Foxley Photography are the most amazingly talented and wonderful people we have ever met. They are, first and foremost, lovely inside out. They ‘blended in’ so well with our day and we felt like we just had our friends with us capturing special moments.

Sean and I fell in love with them from day one. They travelled over an hour to our house for our first initial meeting which was so lovely of them. We loved the idea of having two photographers because two photographers meant twice as many opportunities to capture the moments and it also meant that every moment could be captured from two different perspectives. Think photos from both ends of the aisle!

Oli is slightly crazy. You’ll often find him hiding in the grass, hanging from a tree or even in the middle of a pond but he will do anything for the creative photo he has in mind. AJ is equally as wild and has an eye for what works well. Together they are just the perfect pair.

Okay, so a sneak peak:

How is it possible that only a few photographs can stir up so many emotions? Thank you Oli and AJ for being the best at what you do.

Love,

Hello!

We’ve had the best time on honeymoon in Orlando and obviously food has to be one of the highlights. I thought it would be handy to blog about some of the amazing food we’ve had and our favourite places that we’ve eaten. 

Over the course of the three weeks, sean and I compiled a ‘Top 5’ for best meals. However, we soon realised that: 
1. We weren’t going to agree as Sean will only really judge a restaurant on the quality of its burger and 
2. We genuinely didn’t have a bad meal. 

This meant choosing only 5 was too difficult, especially when each restaurant was so different. So for example, I didn’t choose the best meal at Charlie’s Toothsome Factory but the other meals and the overall experience (setting, dessert, staff etc) was SO good how could I knock this out of my ‘Top 5’?!

Okay, so basically it’s easier to tell you where we enjoyed and what we liked. To make it simple I’m going to split this blog into two parts: fast food dining (good places to eat on the parks or fast service) and restaurants or where we liked to eat at night time. So starting with night time meals: 

Planet Hollywood

Sean and I both agree on this one, this has to be the best we had in terms of food, service, entertainment and setting. It is literally the overall package. We’ve both been to planet Hollywood’s in the U.K. but they weren’t half as good as this. We went to Planet Hollywood with our new found honeymoon twins, Heather and Sean (who are also both teachers and got married on the same day) and I know they loved it here too! 
So starting with the good stuff…. FOOD! 
We LOVED the ‘High Roller Sampler’ which had: chicken crunch, buffalo wings, five cheese dip (so good!) and peri-peri shrimp. The presentation was amazing and it came on a carousel type platter which was cool too! 

I had the LA Lasagne for my main which was really tasty. Honestly, like no other lasagne I’ve tasted before and Sean (obviously) had a burger which he says was the best of the honeymoon. 

Our cocktails came in light up souvenir glasses which we were able to keep and our server, Amanda, couldn’t do enough for us. She was a star. The whole restaurant occasionally bursts out into song as they project the video and lyrics onto the side of the dome. Amanda also managed to get us a shout out AND a live streamed video link of our table which, as you can imagine, we were all very excited about as it’s probably the closest any of us will ever get to being on TV. 

A definite go-to on Disney Springs if you’re in Orlando!

P.s look out for the man photobombing in the group shot! So funny!

Cheesecake Factory 

Have you been to America if you haven’t eaten here?! Ok, so mixed reviews in terms of the main meals. I absolutely loved mine (we went twice) and had chicken and pasta. Sean enjoyed his burger (how predictable?) but said it wasn’t the best he had tasted. However, let’s not lie, we didn’t really go there for the main meals. The dessert. Wow. Red Velvet Cheesecake has to be the nicest thing I’ve eaten. It’s what my dreams are made of. Sean loved the salted caramel cheesecake and we both tried the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup one and as nice as it was, it was very sickly (that didn’t stop me finishing it though). Service was fab although if you are going I would suggest going early as there can be quite a large wait time!

Charlie’s Toothsome Factory

I had been fantasising about this place since January and oh my goodness did it live up to expectation. From the architecture, interior design, food choices and cocktails, down to the staff in their characterised uniforms and mock English accents! It was a show from start to finish.

Food wise, I admittedly chose an appetizer for a main (!). Bad choice obviously. So it didn’t exactly satisfy my need but the Sean x2 and Heather’s meals looked amazing. Again, it’s the deserts and freakshakes here that set them apart. The deserts are HUGE, so warning, share a sundae, don’t get one each.

But definitely worth a visit on the City Walk at Universal.

Raglan Road

Heather and Sean recommended that we visited Raglan Road before the end of our trip and I wish we had done it sooner. It’s a little Irish Pub in the middle of Disney Springs that has character and atmosphere in abundance. We were two and a half weeks in when we visited so the sight of sausage and mash on the menu made me so excited! Sean ended up having the bangers and mash which came with a stew underneath and I had glazed ham. YUM!

Oh and their wheat bread starter was the BEST!

House of Blues

Another of our favourites on Disney Springs! We found ourselves at Disney Springs a lot as it was just across from our hotel so really handy to get too and from and we could both have a drink! Fab food and service but definitely book a table! The BBQ chicken flatbread is to die for and Sean raves about the BBQ burger he chose! Cocktails are strong so beware!

Like I said earlier, we didn’t have a bad meal during the whole three weeks but these were definitely our favourites. Other places we ate at were: Longhorns, Outback, Dominoes, TGI’s, Crackerbarrel and Olive Tree- all of which we would recommend too!

W had the most amazing honeymoon and now I’m settling back into normality I wish so badly that we could re-do the whole of summer all over again.

I can’t WAIT for the wedding blog.. I’m just waiting for the professional pics!

I hope you’ve all had a fab summer.

Lots of love,

P.S. I gained a stone but all is good!

Hello (again)…

So, I lied. When I set this blog up at Christmas it was with the intention to blog every week (or so) about recipes, wedding plans and life in general. But then life took over, well, wedding plans took over and now I’m here on honeymoon sipping strawberry daiquiris piling on the pounds admiring my beautiful ring…. and husband.

Before I make anymore empty promises this is only a check in for now. I do promise, however, to get back to blogging once I’m home and back into a routine. I love it and now that I’ll have more time to myself (eek!) at night time and weekends I will try to get blogging a bit more than once every 6 months. I’m sure that won’t be hard to beat.

For now I will leave you with a few photos of the BEST day of my life. I’ll stick with the classy ones for now… no one wants to see a drunk bride asleep on a hay bail do they? 😏

Lots of love,

Mrs G-H x

I neglect this blog way too much, but I will keep up with blogs as and when I can (I promise). Anyyyyywayyyyy, I have had a few messages from people asking for me to write a blog about where to go in Manchester! Now I cannot claim that I am an expert Manc, but i do loveeeee a good night out in Manchester, or even a day trip shopping and 100% it is my favourite UK city for a number of reasons: the people, bars, atmosphere and obviously, the food!

So first things first. My favourite places to eat:

1. Thaikhun, Spinningfields

I absolutely LOVE Thai Food. If you haven’t tried it- you need too! Thaikhun is perfectly placed in the middle of Spinningfields and serves delicious food and cocktails. It is surrounded by other quirky bars too so a fab place to head for a night full of cocktails and food!

2. Luck, Lust, Liquor and Burn.

This is another of my favourite places to eat. It serves a mixture of mexicany style foods as well as burgers, salads, tacos, burritos etc. It goes without saying that obviously the cocktails are good too. Would I ever go somewhere where they aren’t? P.s. the sweet potato fries are the bestttttttttttt.

I am also a huge fan of places like: The Refinery, The Restaurant, Almost Famous, Banyan, Tattu, Oast House and Rosso. There are so many more that I can’t think about but if you are wanting good grub then head for either Spinningfields or the Northern Quarter where you will find so many divine places to eat!

Okay, so onto cocktails. Besides the restaurants that I have mentioned above, most of whom also serve cocktails, here are a few of my other favs.

1. Apotheca

Great cocktails and a great atmosphere. What more is there to say? Apotheca also has an Italian Restaurant attached to it called ‘Dough’ which is good too! It is in the Northern Quarter and opposite from Lust, Luck, Liqour and Burn if you wanted to try there too!

2. Walrus and Tusk

I love it in here too! Technically two separate bars but they are next door to each other in the Northern Quarter. They offer a 2-4-1 on certain cocktails too which is obviously always handy! I would have also written about another bar I love next to Lust, Liquor and Burn which is modelled in the style of a Hawaiian beach bar. Its lovely, as are the drinks but I cant remember its name!

3. Alchemist

A favourite of everybody’s right??? It is a little more expensive but it’s in a great area and the atmosphere is always amazing. Food is served here as well! Make sure you try the bubblegum daiquiri they are soooo good!

Now i realise why I spend so much time in Manchester! This isn’t even touching the surface!Albert Schloss is also fab for drinks as are many more but this is a lo-down of my favourites at the moment!

I hope this helps!

Lots of love,

Kate x

First of all, I feel incredibly guilty. I genuinely have not had time to write over the past few weeks! So i’m going to do a very quick update on my first 2 weeks on slimming world after my hugeeeeeeee Christmas gain.

So in my first week i lost a huge 7lb which i was extremely proud of. I have massive gains but massive losses also which obviously evens itself out.

So here are a few of my favourite Slimming World meals over the past few weeks. I’ll link all the recipes underneath.

Sticky Chicken served with basmati rice, peas, sweetcorn and greens.

http://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/sticky-chicken.aspx

Katsu Curry!

http://www.slimmingeats.com/blog/chicken-katsu-curry

Pea and Ham Soup!

Meatballs!

http://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/italian-meatballs-in-tomato-sauce.aspx

All my meals have been made from scratch this week which I think has made a huge difference. I’ve found that actually, i really, really enjoy cooking and look forward to planning healthy meals that Sean and I can enjoy. Obviously, a lot of my favourite sweet treats/snacks come at night time in the form of a treat plate! In the past when I have lost weight (or struggled to lose weight) I have binged on a Saturday or Sunday. By binge i mean a full…. on…. binge. I would eat anything and everything in sight until I felt so sick that I couldn’t move. For me it was a release, something to look forward to each week. Now, I know that with slimming world I can have treat plates EVERY NIGHT. This keeps me so much more motivated to stay on track knowing that every single day I can eat chocolate if I wish. Here are a few of my favourite treat plates this week.

Speedy fruit (always)

Special K Chocolate Delight (hexb)

Lemon Fibre One (4)

Mini Randoms (2.5)

Reeses Snack Peanut Butter Cup (4)

Danio Cherry Yoghurt (1.5)

Crunchie Multipack (6.5)

Mini Jellytots (2.5)

Mullerlight Light Coconut Goodies (2.5)

Double Chocolate Hifi Light (3 if you have already have had a hexb) OR (2 bars are a hexb)

In week two I lost 2lb which at first, I was disappointed with as I wanted 2.5lb to take me into the 12s again. However, 9lb down in 2 weeks is still soooo good and I am loving food AND losing weight.

What more could a girl want?

Lots of love,

Kate. xo

P.S. keep going girls, summer will soon be in sight!

I am sure you will have seen on my Instagram that I have a slight obsession with lace. More specifically, black lace. Lace tops, bralets, jewellery- you name it. The more I have consciously shopped for it recently, the more I have found it. There is no way I would have worn half the outfits I wear now when I was bigger. I always dressed like a typical Mum when i was heavier. Swing dresses, baggy tops, cardigans and big boots- and don’t get me wrong I still wear some of that now. But, as my waistline has decreased my confidence has increased, so now I feel I can dress in typically ‘younger’ styles of clothes. Things that show off my body- because I am proud of how far I have come. Here are some of my favourite outfits from the past few weeks!

This is one of my favourite outfits at the moment. I wore this whilst out with my parents in Manchester. The ripped jeans are from Topshop, the sheer top is from New Look and the bra is from Ann Summers! The black, ripped jeans i wear alllll the time. Not only is black slimming, which is incredibly important at this time of year but I find them really comfy and so easy to dress up or down!

This mesh top is from River Island and my all time favourite going out shoes are from a little boutique in Manchester called Garage Shoes which is sadly not there anymore. I can’t wear heels for the life of me, but these are the comfiest ever!

This top is from a small boutique in Poulton-le-Fylde called Noosa but I also know it is available online called Glamorous.

And this top I picked up in the sales from Miss Selfridge for only £20! I am going to do another blog post about my sales buy as a few other cute tops were purchased too!

Covered in lace from head to toe from H&M. And this is another H&M number with jeans from New Look and shoes from Primark!

One of my favourite day-time outfits. Top from New Look, dress from Primark and boots from Tesco! (I LOVE Tesco clothing!)

This top had mixed reviews on Insta but I ended up loving it- it was only cheap from Boohoo.com!

I now realise just how much of a poser I am. If anyone were to look at the contents of my phone I am sure they would be repulsed. It’s just full of pictures of me and food! Oops.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed!

Much love,

Kate. x

I LOVE Christmas. I love the food. I love the parties. I love the decorations. I love the gatherings. I love everything about the festive feeling and season. I gain at least a stone over Christmas every year (maybe next year will be the year to challenge that) because I literally eat everything in sight. Chocolate for pre-breakfast, pate for breakfast, prosecco and celebrations for breakfast dessert… you get the gist. By the time Christmas is over you can usually find me in a food coma rolling round like a fat elf sobbing uncontrollably wondering why I have done it to myself. The answer is- I genuinely cannot control myself over Christmas. It is that simple. Those of you with will power please send some my way. Anywayyyyy…

Here are some of my favourite things I have munched my way through the past few weeks. P.s. I promise, come New Year, this blog will have much more healthy food than fattening.

Breakfast (my fav meal of the day)

Chocolate Porridge. The food of God’s. I obviously had this for Breakfast on Christmas Day. I made creamy porridge (on the hob), added some choc shot and then stirred in a mini kinder bar, some milky bar chunks and a Thorntons advent calendar chocolate. Just divine.

Moose Coffee Pancakes. A-mazing. Enough in one portion to feed the 5000, these pancakes are drizzled in maple syrup and topped with streaky bacon. I needn’t say anymore. We went to the Manchester cafe but I know there are also a couple of cafe’s in Liverpool too!

Dinner and Tea (o whatever you Southerns’ call it)

This was by far my favourite dinner time meal over the festive period. French toast with bacon, brie and caramelised chutney. So festively filling and just the right amount of sweet and savoury. This was at my favourite local cafe called ‘Salt of the Earth’ in Poulton-le-Fylde.

Homemade Bakes

Cinnamon swirls and mince pies- the definition of Christmas right? I love baking these as they make my kitchen smell SO good. Plus, Sean hates them both which is a win-win as that means there is one more for me! However, I am a slight cheat. I will do anything for ease. The pastry used for both of these were from a ‘just-roll’ packet. But regardless, they tasted delicious and went down a treat at both work and home.

Drink

My ultimate favourite regardless of the season and I just LOVE the new packaging!

I hope you’ve all had a fantastic Christmas and eaten like a pig. To those of you who have managed to stay on plan, I salute you. Maybe one day that will be me, but for now I will continue to stuff my face until the hard work starts on the 2nd!

Happy Christmas.

Lots of love,

Kate x