March Review.

Hello everyone.

So nice you could join me today. 

Happy Easter Monday. Did you have a lovely weekend? Mine has been amazing and just how I wanted it to be. 

Good Friday was spent in the garden, cutting the grass and finishing off the hedge I started a couple of weeks ago. It’s nice and tidy now so hopefully I can keep on top of it. 

Saturday was also busy but I was doing housework in between seeing the kids and grandkids who popped by at various times. 

On Sunday we had the annual Easter Egg Hunt. All the grandkids came round and enjoyed looking for the eggs and sweets that my daughter had arranged in the garden. It didn’t look like much when it was sitting on my dining table but when they came in with buckets overflowing I realised they had plenty. It was like a mad house with lots of laughter, and few squabbles and plenty of chatter - it was a good sight to see and hear. Do you have the Easter bunny arrive at your house?

So in the afternoon we had 15 to a big roast turkey dinner. It was delicious and as usual I overate, especially when the dessert was served! I’d made a bread and butter pudding, inspired by a friend who’d made it for me and David a few weeks ago. It was made with brioche bread which was delicious and went down very well with a splash of cream. Guess what’s happening today though? 

Well I’m doing it all again with my son and his family and my other son who couldn’t make it yesterday. There’s plenty of turkey left so it’s just a case of making more roasties and preparing some more veg. 

It’s the first Monday of April, therefore it’s time to look back on last month’s posts to see what I was doing  ….

Welcome to the March Review. 

Sunny yellow for my first post in March. I was trying desperately to entice the sunshine, alas it’s not fully arrived here yet, but there’s been hints of what’s coming with the odd warmer & sunny days. My pretty dress is from Izabel London. It’s a company I’m pleased to say I’m still affiliated with. Checkout the full story via this link. 

Skiing in Andorra - Chic & Stylish Linkup.

Hiya. 

How are you?

Sorry there was no post on Monday, I’m away skiing and as you can imagine the first day is rather busy!

I’m in Andorra which is a new place for me to try and having never skied here before it’s been wonderful. 

The transfer was quite long as we flew into Barcelona, the other airport in France wasn’t an option because apparently the road from there had been damaged by an avalanche! Scary to think that could happen!

The hotel is in the town of Arinsal which is about 5 mins bus transfer to the gondola and then a ten minute journey up the mountain to the lockers where we kept our skies etc  

It’s been a new concept for us as we normally opt for a ski in ski out hotel, but this hasn’t t been a problem and has also given us the opportunity to visit some of the local pubs. I must say everyone we’ve met so far has been so friendly and welcoming - the hotel restaurant manager even gave us a lift up to the gondola on the first day!

My Christmas Presents - Chic & Stylish Linkup.

Hi there everyone. 

How are you?

I’ve had such a busy few weeks and haven’t had time to blog which is sad for me. Family life has been choc-a-block so making time to partake in my favourite hobby has been truly difficult. Anyway how’s your past weeks been? Have you checked out the new fashions, or maybe tried a new hobby or recipe? Do let me know and join the linkup below. 

Let me tell you about my last couple of weeks. I’ve been enjoying two birthday presents from David. Firstly he surprised me with a night at Canterbury Cathedral. He’d booked the classical music event which was set in an Illuminated Canterbury Cathedral and was incredible. 

It featured the legendary Hans Zimmer and John Williams, whose famous musical scores were presented in an illuminated cathedral & were stunning. You may be aware that they both have composed some amazing soundtracks and musical scores for various films and have received accolades and awards for their outstanding work. Our evening in the cathedral, which was preceded by a meal in The Ivy, was fantastic. It really was an enchanting evening that had me entranced from the moment I walked into the fabulous setting. 

April Review.

Hi there everyone.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Can you believe it's the first of May?  Where does the time go?

It's Bank Holiday for us here in the UK, and I've not got much planned.  David is working on the new build and I have booked gym classes as usual today, but not sure what we'll be getting up to this afternoon.

Have you got something nice planned for today, do let me know what you're doing.

So as usual at the beginning of the new month I like to take a look back over the previous weeks and recap on what I've been wearing and what I've been doing - stand by for the April Review.

Without further delay shall we dive right in?

I started April sharing some Spring dresses.  I picked up these three stunners in Matalan and any of them will be suitable for summer holidays or special events - I've only got one wedding this year but not sure these are quite what I had in mind, this one especially as I would never try to upstage the bride and wear white! Hop over to the post to see the other choices.

Skiing Insurance & Fun Times - #Chicandstylish #LINKUP

Hi there,

Welcome to the blog today.

Hope your week is going well.

It's been a funny week for me and the main silly reason is my computer.  I mentioned last week that it's stopped working so has been sent off to be, hopefully, repaired!  Fingers, legs and toes crossed ... lol.

I've been lucky enough to use David's and also my daughters, but with them being so different to mine it's been quite hard work.  It's almost been like learning everything from scratch.  Having to add the linkup, adding to Mailchimp, loading photos to the computer and then trying to find where they are stored have all been a bit of a nightmare to be honest.  I've managed to finish off last Thursday's post and Mondays post was brand new.  It's taken a lot longer than usual but fortunately it's published okay, so I'm feeling a bit more positive about it now.  David and Sophie will be finding my photos on their computers when I'm back to mine, I'm sure they'll be popping up in all sorts of places ... lol!

I checked up on all our insurances.

So do you recall I managed to get away for a cheeky weekend skiing?

Daivd and I travelled down to Valmorel in the French Alps one Friday a couple of weekends ago and returned on the following Monday.  It was Easter weekend so missed out on the celebrations with the family, but I've made it up to them by doing an Easter Egg Hunt last weekend with a wonderful roast beef dinner.  We're also having the whole family over on the Coronation weekend when we'll be having the roast turkey we've frozen since Christmas (we buy two for that very reason!)

This post is sponsored, but all the content is my own honest comments.

Ski Trip to Les Arcs - #Chicandstylish #LINKUP

Hi there,

Thanks for joining me today and big apologies for no post on Monday.

I hold my hands up to just being lazy and not getting back into it after returning from skiing.

Skiing, as I imagined, came and went so quickly - I blinked and was back home again with all the washing to contend with.  That's the worst thing about going away isn't it, coming home to all the laundry!  Read on to find out all about my week in The Alps, it might even tempt you to go!

Silver lining to returning from my trip was the arrival of the brick layers who started on our new build.

For those of you who don't know, David and I bought the property we live in to knock it down and re build two new houses on the plot - it's huge and you might have often read about me moaning that there's so much grass to cut!  So the second house is started and you can see some piccys on my IG account Mummabbuilds.  Our new house will be started when this one is finished, but I don't know when that will be! Ha ha. 

Styling a Shirt Dress from Roman.

Hello my friends, welcome to the blog and I'm so happy to see you here.

How's your January going?

I’m very carefully starting to look forwards to my skiing holiday.  All being well I'll be hitting the Milky Way in Sestriere.  It will be my second visit and I can't wait. The anticipation of what the weather and snow will be like thrills me.  I've skied for quite a few years now and have encountered nearly every senario, for instance ... icy slopes, too much snow, not enough snow, skiing in a snow storm, skiing in a blizzard, skiing in a cloud and the best skiing - in perfect sunshine with blue skies to boot.  I literally love every part of a skiing holiday, from getting to the airport to enjoying apres ski, are you a fan or would you give it a big old wide berth?

When I'm skiing I like to dress casually with a pair of jeans and a nice top or a tracksuit.  I've bought some gorgeous chunky boots to wear and hope they will complete a trendy outfit or two, I won't be taking any heels with me - just no good on the snow! 😆 

Today I'm sharing a stylish shirt dress from Roman Originals, this I also won't be taking to the slopes!

But do let me know what you think of my versatile floaty frock.

Cheeky Ski Weekend to Valmorel + #chicandstylish #linkup

 

Morning, how are you all?
I'm on a bit of a downer after having a smashing whirl-wind weekend away skiing.
Since our earlier ski trip to Tignes hubby and I had missed the slopes so much - sad that we'd have to wait another year until we'd be enjoying skiing again, so much to the kids disgust (they wanted to come too) we booked a cheeky weekend break to Valmorel in the French Alps.

Last Friday we drove down through France after an early (5.00am) Channel Tunnel crossing, arriving at the foot of the alp around 4pm.  We started our descent up the mountain, wary of the brown, bland scenery that definitely lacked any snow.  As we climbed the narrow road, we were eventually greeted by patchy snow that made way to full on snowy peaks, paths and roof tops.  We found the Hotel and parked the car, enchanted by the sight of the quaint little town.  It's central walk-way was covered in snow, and sparkly festive lights hung through the middle, I anticipated how pretty everything would look in the dark - it did, alas I didn't get any photos!  At the far end of the town were trampolines and a fun merry-go-round - all for families with kids to be entertained.  There were also plenty of ski hire outlets with everything you'd need for fun and safety on the slopes.  We hired skis for a reasonable price prior to leaving & also purchased our ski passes in advance - which came in the post some weeks ago!
Enticing shops and restaurants lined the side walks, I looked forward to musing the menus to find the best places to eat and peruse the little shops selling cheese, wine and saucisson to take home.