A magical weekend

In the lead up to this last bank holiday weekend, I wanted to do something every day with the kids. It didn’t have to be anything big, but take them out somewhere and do something nice. There were a few things on my radar to go to and I made sure we did all of them. The weekend could have easily been a bad one if we’d let it, one of the mornings Squidge was acting up (Sat morning), and over the weekend Dot was really unhappy, crying a lot, after his failed dairy challenge (more on that soon). But we didn’t let it put us off, and as per usual, both kids were complete poppets when we were out.

Friday

I don’t work Friday’s, and I usually treat a Friday as a cosy day at home with the kids, just me and them, I love Fridays. But this Friday I had errands to run, I had to go to the post office to return some things, I wanted to get Squidge measured for new school shoes, and Dot measured for his first shoes. And ideally, I wanted to go to Caerphilly castle to see the new maze and dragon’s lair. We managed to get the post office done, and the shoe shopping, but then it hammered down, and I didn’t fancy the castle (outdoors) in heavy rain. So we popped to the bakery, got some nice bread and headed home. I promised Squidge we’d find time for Caerphilly castle over the weekend.

Saturday

To make the most of the weather, we decided to do this on Saturday as no rain was forecast. Squidge loved the butterfly zoo (he was too young to remember the first time we took him (maybe about 8 months old). But as much as he loved it, he was bored after 15 mins, he is only 3 after all, and was excited about the hedge maze. So off we went, he wanted him and Daddy to go left, and Dot and I to go right (me knowing I can’t get to the middle of the maze if I go right…), so off we went! Well, it went as well as you can imagine, Squidge and hubby found the middle of the maze in about 5 mins, I was stuck in there for 16 mins until they came to find me, lol. After that we sat down and had our picnic. It was still pretty early, about 1:30, so we decided to head back to Caerphilly and go straight to the castle (as I’d promised) to do their new maze and visit the Dragon’s Lair. Squidge loved it! He listened to the dragon’s story in Welsh and English, and then ran off to explore the castle to find the maze. He particularly loved the bit where he got soaked with water, he’d have stood there all day getting soaked if I’d let him.

I recorded a vlog of the day, you can watch it here :)

Sunday

We wanted a quieter day on Sunday, so after lunch we packed ourselves off in the torrential rain and headed off to a new-to-us t-rex themed soft play. Both kids had an absolute blast! It’s set up along one wall, so parents can sit and have a cuppa, while the kids play and you can keep your eyes on them. There was an area for smaller kids, and Dot loved that – his first experience of soft play, and playing with other kids. He was nervous at first, but then just wanted to go down the slide again and again and again : ) It was a pretty terrifying drive for me, I don’t like driving down country lanes at the best of times, but when I have to force the car to drive through puddles that look like we could swim through, I get very scared!

Monday

We knew we wanted to go somewhere, probably a national trust place, but we didn’t know where. Squidge had been to our favourite NT place twice in the last week or so, and the weather wasn’t looking great. We were tired from the weekend and didn’t want to do anything big. After a bit of Googling I found the Royal Mint Experience (in Llantrissant, 25 mins from us). Perfect – a tour of the mint, strike a coin, and back home. It was great! Fun to see them being made in the factory and Squidge loved it. We had a picnic sat outside on the benches after, and then headed home (via Tesco so I could buy what I needed to make an apple crumble for pudding).

All in all a lovely weekend. Kids were happy, in fact, so happy from the weekend, it took them an age to fall asleep Monday night, hopefully they’ll sleep better tonight as GBBO and a cup of tea is calling : )

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Weekend essentials

Whilst there are a million and one things I could take when going for a weekend away, I think I've narrowed it down to some pretty sweet choices.  I tend to go away quite regularly to visit family in west Wales, and when I do, I don't want to take a massive amount of stuff with me, so I thought I'd share with you the type of things I take and why.

Dior BB cream

This really needs no introduction, if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll already be bored of me banging on about this.  It's lovely, light weight, reasonable coverage (at least if your skin is not terrible) and for me, doesn't cling to pores, move or crack much. If you're not sure what foundation cracking on your face is, give it a few years and you'll discover it.

Dior BB eye cream

You gotta love a set!  I first saw this on Estee's YouTube, she was busy raving about it and just after I discovered the normal BB cream from Dior.  Anyway, fast forward a couple of months and I'm in the middle of sorting out my makeup, low and behold I discover a sachet of this I'd ripped out of a magazine.  The next day I tried it, that was the day I fell in love with it.  I hastily ran out 2 days after that I spend my Boots points on it and haven't looked back since.  Yes it's expensive, but O.M.G it's worth it.

Max Factor clump defy mascara

I surprised myself by putting this in, but it's such a fool proof mascara.  It gives great lashes (even on the bottom set) and more to the point, it stays put.  It doesn't flake off all over my face leaving little black specks of super smudge sprinkles, nope, it stays where it needs to be, on my lashes.  It's the most expensive mascara I've bought from the high street, but I'm ok with that, the quality equals high end mascaras costing £10 more.

Chanel Ecriture liquid eyeliner

Yes I know, I did a whole post about how the Collection fast stroke liner is better, but I still love this one.  The Collection one does have a nicer matte finish, but the applicator isn't as good, it's harder to use and gets all over your lashes (making it harder to apply mascara as it sets hard).  Besides, I still have this to finish, and another one waiting to be used, it's so good though!

A palette

I know this is ambiguous, but it all depends what you'll be doing that weekend, to decide which one to take. At the moment I'm loving theBalm's Balm Jovi palette, it fits in my makeup bag neatly, has lots of well pigmented eye shadows, a beautiful highlight and an amazing blusher (I've worn the blush every day the last 2 weeks!).  It has a diverse range of shades, from deep dark bluey purples, to peachy neutrals.  Be careful if you use this though, there will be a little bit of fallout, but hey, it's hard to find a palette that doesn't have any fallout these days!

Vichy life serum

I tend not to take my full skincare kit with me when I go away for the weekend, I pretty much just take Bioderma.  So, the life serum is a life saver!  It works really well with unkempt and tired skin, wakes it up leaving it nice and refreshed and ready for makeup.  I've actually been using this every day regardless if I'm having a good skin day or not, definitely one to replace when it's empty (full review coming soon).

Bourjois matte primer

See yesterday's review for my full thoughts on this.  When I'm away I don't want to be fussing over my makeup all day, so having it stay in place and not so shiny is a must - this is great at doing that - read the review to find out why :)

Urban Decay eye shadow primer potion

This is another essential for me, if I don't use this, my shadow creases in about 1-2 hours, so it's a must.  I've tried others, but I always come back to this, but next time when this has eventually run out, I will try their matte one instead.

Bourjois 24 hr creme shadow

Another one where you need to go and read my recent review about it :)  In short, this is awesome, perfect cream to powder finish, helps keep my eye shadow in place better than the Maybelline Colour Tattoo and is so much easier to work with (less sticky & more blendable), I prefer the range of shades they have for this too, I think they're more sophisticated and delicate.

Setting powder

Another ambigious one I'm afraid. At the moment I'm trialing the Japonesque setting powder* (which is pretty decent, but early days yet).  I usually use my Maybelline fit me powder which I still haven't finished, but it's utterly on it's last legs with very little left - I'm on the cusp of just saying enough is enough and considering it done, I can't really get any powder on the brush any more.

HD Brow kit

No makeup look would be complete without some well looked after brows.  Mine are very pale and thin and in desperate need of filling in each day, so I don't leave home (for extended periods of time!) without taking my HD Brow kit in Foxy* with me.  The powder is lovely and soft and goes a very long way.  Have a look at my full review to find out more.

There you have it, sorry I've managed to waffle on for so long, but hey, you wouldn't expect any less from me!  Hope you're all having a lovely day xo

This months Biggest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Amy from Srslylou

 

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