Hibernating Till 2016!

I ordered a couple of things from Cult Beauty which arrived yesterday...nothing super exciting but just some bits I saw on the website while picking up my moisturiser (Tata Harper Rebuilding Moisturiser for Combination/Oily Skin).  I do love this moisturiser and even though it's very pricey, I think it's worth it as it is 100% natural and I don't buy it very often as it lasts a long time! I actually didn't even need to buy it right now as I have quite a lot of my other bottle left but I just like to have back-up! The other Tata Harper product I swear by is their eye cream but unfortunately they were sold out so I'll have to wait to repurchase! 

I haven't found a shampoo & conditioner that I'm absolutely in love with yet which is why I decided to trial these two brands: the first is Davines and I picked up Volu Shampoo & NouNou conditioner. I thought the packaging looked kind of cool & different and the reviews were very good so I'm excited to see how they work! I also got the Rahua Shampoo & Conditioner which are made from organic and 100% natural ingredients. I actually used them for the first time last night and am pleased to report that my hair looks and feels silky soft and my colour looks fresher & more vibrant for some reason! (Which is odd, because I actually desperately need a visit to the hairdresser's). 

Lastly I treated myself to a new eyeshadow palette...I got the Stila Soul Palette which is full of the most beautiful natural & earth tones in both shimmer and matte finish (I'm SUCH a sucker for shimmer even though I do try to balance it out with matte shadows in the crease so I don't look like a disco ball!). I had been using the Tarte Amazonian Clay Eyes and Cheek palette which I loved but I've run out of some of my favourite shades so it was time for a change! Plus who doesn't want an excuse to buy a new palette ;) I've worn this the past two days and so far I'm really liking it! 

This has been my uniform for the past while of hibernating staying home with the kids & making the most of these post Christmas snuggly days before the New Year starts and everything goes back to normal again with work, pre-school, playgroups, activities etc. Big cosy jumpers, skinny jeans and my UGG slippers which were a Christmas present from my mum and one of my most-used favourite gifts ever! They are SO comfy! My jumper is in a dusty pink from Ganni, the jeans are light grey skinnies from 7 for All Mankind and my Christmassy bedsheets were a great find from Homebase (they are the really soft flannel kind!). 

I hope you are all having a happy New Year's Eve...I will leave you with this gorgeous video that the very talented Ellie made for us which shows a little look back at what 2015 brought to us. I really love this, it just shows how much has happened & changed in one year! I will be back in 2016 with lots of fun new posts & videos for you guys. Thank you for continuing to read here and for sticking with me! Your support is always appreciated :)

Grey All Day Everyday

Another day, another grey jumper & white jeans combo!  These two photos were taken one day after another and I basically wore the same uniform. I'm currently loving winter white and greys together! I tend to always love grey anyway but during the colder months I feel I gravitate towards it even more! This jumper is from & Other Stories (was a birthday present from my sister) and my jeans are old Hello! Skinny ones which if I'm honest are now a size too small so I think I need to donate them! I got them pre-pregnancy in a size 25 but the waist is now uncomfortable!

This outfit is all new - I got both the sweatshirt and jeans from ASOS while doing some sale shopping! The jumper is from Love Moschino and I absolutely love it! It's a casual jersey material embroidered in all kinds of beads & sequins with the words "SIMPLE is the new black". The jeans are by 7 for All Mankind and are the high-waisted skinny cropped jeans in white. I basically bought these to replace the others (got them in a size 26 and they fit perfect!). I will have a haul video up soon of everything I got in the sales if you guys are interested! In the meantime starting Friday I will be back to regular uploads of 3 days a week (MON-WED-FRI) so look out for those! 

Merry Christmas 2015!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I know it's been a while since I updated on here but I think all my fellow mamas out there know just how crazy it gets coming up to Christmas! So I thought I'd give you guys a recap of how it all went. The weekend before we enjoyed a festive lunch with Lucy (our friend/personal trainer whom we love so much!) and here's what I wore. This green polo neck jumper is from a brand called Gestuz. I wore it with my leather leggings from Michael Kors (last year's purchase) and of course my gold Scorpio necklace (this is the new one, not the original!) I curled my hair using the TIGI Fat Curl Stick which I bought almost two years ago & I still love it!

That Sunday we went to the Harrods Christmas Grotto to visit Father Christmas. It was such a magical experience and I highly recommend it if you have small children! Here was my look that day, I opted for a nude lip (this is Bobbi Brown liner in Cocoa and YSL Rouge Volupté in #1) and loose "day two" waves. My shirt is from Rollas and I wore it with a plain white Tommy Hilfiger henley and my 7 For All Mankind skinnies.

We visited Santa Claus with our friends Sabrina & Adam, their two sons Xavier & Luay and our other friends Iram & Omar and their little girl Racil. Everybody had a blast and Emilia & Eduardo were talking about the experience for days after! I thought Eduardo would be more afraid than he actually was but he surprised me by being super confident and forward! 

The day before Christmas Eve the kids & I decided to build our Mickey Mouse gingerbread house which I'd bought for them a few weeks ago and had been storing in our kitchen cupboard (probably the only organised thing I actually did this Christmas!) They had so much fun decorating it and I kind of let them go to town on it and do whatever they wanted. It didn't end up looking even one tiny bit close to the picture on the box but the main thing is they had a good time! (For those interested, I bought the gingerbread house kit here.) 

Getting my Christmas workout on! Yes I worked out over the festive period...not on Christmas day because I could not physically move after our dinner but I did squeeze in 4 sessions last week. But then again I've probably eaten my weight in mince pies over the same length of time so they both balance each other out, right?! And no, I haven't lost weight - this mirror is just verrrry long and makes you look stretched out (in a good way!). 

This was how our hallway looked the night before Christmas. I stayed up till 1am wrapping and cleaning (Santa appreciates a clean house don't you know!). It's definitely a lot more exciting now that Emilia & Eduardo are at an age where they understand better what's going on! Although this also meant that Emilia was so excited she came into our bed at 6am to show us what she'd got in her stocking...next year maybe I should aim to get an earlier night on Christmas Eve! Also Eduardo has not been doing very well with his big boy bed :( Unfortunately he was up almost every night every half hour or so always ended up coming into our bed which meant no sleep for mummy & daddy! So we've put the bars back on his cot for now...we'll revisit that idea in a few months I think!

Two excited little monkeys on Christmas Day! Pretty much everything they are wearing is from Zara. How cute are Eduardo's fox shoes?! He actually has a matching hat & mittens too.  

I kept it very casual for my own outfit wearing a red & black check Tommy Hilfiger shirt, black henley top & matching skinnies but I did sport a red lip which is rare for me! I'm wearing Rimmel Kate lipstick in #1. Eduardo was Mr. Grumpy Pants which came as no surprise given the lack of sleep he had the night before so I had to resort to making funny faces in order to get him to smile for a pic! 

And that pretty much sums up our Christmas for this year! I hope you guys had a wonderful time & that Santa was good to you! Here is the playlist for my Vlogmas series in case you needed to catch up on any of them! 

I have since stopped vlogging on my channel but will be back to three videos a week starting from 1st of January. In the meantime I'm vlogging a whole lot more over on the SacconeJolys channel so be sure to check it out! And you can watch our Christmas Day here: 

Big Boy Bed

It's Friday and you know what that means!! *chants* Pizza Party Friday Night! That's right, there was some serious Domino's Pizza partying going down in the Saccone Joly household this evening! I ordered my faves, tuna delight pizza on a thin Italian base (Jonathan & I get a medium half and half to share) and OF COURSE what would a Domino's be without cookies. I genuinely look forward to these cookies all week...ha ha ha! And yes, I do have perfectly delicious home baked Christmas cookies sitting in an airtight container in my kitchen. But I still ordered these and enjoyed every bite :) 

In other news Eduardo hit a huge milestone today! He moved into a toddler bed! Well, let's be clear here this is his original cot bed which we just transformed into a toddler version by taking away the bars. I still love this bed so I don't know when we'll get him a new one even though Jonathan has his heart set on a car bed. (Whether that's for him or for Eduardo nobody is really clear on that yet.) We knew this day was coming soon but I didn't expect it to be today, until Eduardo climbed out of his cot during his naptime and landed on the floor with a THUD. We were absolutely horrified! :( So we knew it was time to move on. I gave him his little toddler pillow tonight and to my complete surprise he settled down to sleep and was out like a light! I think he loves it and is really proud to be a big boy!

Here's today's vlogmas episode! It features a more detailed version of my workout, baking Christmas cookies with the kids and Jonathan wearing knickers on his head...ha ha ha. Enjoy!

Baking Gingerbread!

I've been slacking on the blog lately...and I apologise for that! But sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day for everything I want to fit in. I feel like this month has been crazy and flown by! I wake up, work out, eat breakfast, spend most of the day distractedly editing videos whilst also trying to fit in some kind of crafts or fun activity time with the kids, tidy up after them, feed them, panic online shop for Christmas presents, edit some more, cook/eat dinner, clean up, bathe the kids and put them to bed. By the end of the day I'm exhausted...and I still feel like I have 10000 things left to do! I am dreading going to the post office tomorrow as I know it's going to be completely manic! And I also have to somehow squeeze in filming a Christmas baking video *insert monkey covering eyes emoji here*

Anyhow, enough complaining before you guys think I'm an ungrateful cow...ha ha ha! I swear I'm not! I love my blog & writing to you guys so I will always try and make time for that. AND I'm fully aware that there are lots of people out there who are far busier than me & probably a lot more successful at getting it all done on time too. (Says the girl who still hasn't managed to post ONE Christmas card o.O) This outfit is verrrry simple and not anything you haven't seen before but I do love this Abercrombie Christmas jumper which I bought last year from ASOS! It's so soft! My jeans are by GAP the 1969 Always Skinny - these are my proper pre-pregnancy jeans that only fit me comfortably if I'm being really good workout & diet-wise! I instantly regretted wearing them as we ate a roast chicken dinner today. Oops. 

(yes, that is a hairbrush in our ice-maker...thank you Eduardo)

Today's Christmas craft was baking Christmas cookies! Actually these are what my mum called plätzchen, which I think is basically the German for gingerbread (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!). One of my favourite childhood memories is of baking these with my mum, a tradition that she carried on from when she was little. Just to clarify, my mum is Irish but her mother is German so that's why she called them plätzchen! Here's a sneaky Throwback Thursday of me about a year older than Emilia doing the exact same thing as her!

As you can tell Emilia was pretty excited about baking cookies :) She also did a great job decorating them though I very nearly sustained a minor injury while reaching for the box of sprinkles on the top shelf of our kitchen cupboards. (Think 25 different tubes of sprinkles crashing on top of me and smashing all over the floor...yeah. Baking with kids is easy, baking with idiots such as myself not so much.) 

Here's today's vlogmas episode if you haven't already watched it! It involves me having a heart to heart with you guys, cooking breakfast, working out, showing what I ate that day, bathing the kids and getting weird with some googly eyes. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy check it out! 

Body Shaming

Yesterday's outfit has become one of my faves...these flannel shirts are AMAZING for layering and keeping warm on cold days! This one is by Levi and is super soft & cosy. I paired it up with a basic black round-neck Vila top and my black Ted Baker skinnies. I also just wanted to address some of the body shaming comments I've recently received on many of my outfit pictures.  One comment in particular which I saw on my Instagram said something along the lines of "her legs aren't that skinny in real life, please stop with the Photoshop". I just want to state for the record that I have never ever distorted or Photoshopped my pictures to change the size of how I look. When I post an Instagram, it's just from the camera on my phone, I filter it and plop it up...that's it. I've only ever used Photoshop to alter the levels/contrast/lighting of my pictures (and these are the higher quality ones I take sometimes for my blog). I honestly find comments like that so hurtful because I would hate to think that anyone actually believes these kinds of rumours. Obviously when you pose for a picture there are more flattering angles which will make you look slimmer I'm not going to deny that I do that...of course I do! But truthfully I never want my body to look "skinny" - I actually love how it looks with some curves.

It hurts my feelings when people say "you've lost too much weight" because 1) I know I haven't and 2) I'm a perfectly healthy weight for my height. I'm 166cm and 55kg, according to a recent nurse's check-up which puts me in a totally normal BMI. 3) I am also a lot more toned than I ever have been as I'm working out and exercising consistently for the first time in my adult life so that might be a reason why I look a bit different than before 4) I do not diet. I can't diet as I love food too much and I love to eat! I just try to have a normal, balanced, healthy diet where I eat everything in moderation! 

I don't take it as a compliment if people say I'm "skinny" just like how I don't appreciate it when I'm told I look fat. Both are body-shaming adjectives and they're not very nice for any woman to hear, no matter her shape or size. My focus is on being healthy, strong and happy. I hope you guys can see where I'm coming from & what I'm trying to say!

If you'd like to watch vlogmas day 15, here it is! It basically involves me going on a little rant about makeup vs. no makeup (I'm very ranty today...ha ha sorry about that!), goofing around with Emilia & Eduardo, brushing their teeth and putting them to bed! Nothing very exciting but hopefully you enjoy :) 

Pyjama Day!

Yesterday ended up being a pyjama day for me as I spent the whole day signing cards and lounging about in my pj's but not for the kids! They were super stylish in their fab Christmassy get-up and so I couldn't resist taking a picture of them in front of the tree! Emilia's skirt, cardigan and boots are from Zara, her tights are by DPAM and her bow is from Belle Vintage. Also can we just take a moment to appreciate how cute her pigtails are?! I was actually amazed when I went to do her hair at how long it's got! Eduardo's shirt is from Baby Gap while his jeans & shoes are from Zara. And like always, they are surrounded by a flurry of Maltese, ha ha! 

I know I took a day off blogging yesterday but honestly by the time I got to bed it was 2am and my hand was cramping from all the signing I did! However you guys are all worth it and I hope all of you that ordered a Black Friday necklace will like your card :) Also another bit of an announcement (as promised): as I mentioned that Christmas delivery is now "sold out", Stilnest have come up with a lovely solution of offering gift cards instead. So if you were disappointed or you had planned on buying my necklace for somebody as a Christmas gift, perhaps that would be a helpful alternative. The gift cards will go live for purchase at 4pm GMT tomorrow (Tuesday December 15th). I hope this helps some of you and otherwise, remember delivery for my jewellery is always available for the New Year!

If you would like to watch what I got up to yesterday, check out Vlogmas Day 14 above! 

Signing Your Cards

Sorry this blog post is so late but our internet went down late last night which is normally when I write these, so I couldn't post anything until now! Yesterday was relatively quiet as I stayed home pretty much all day signing these! I am about halfway through signing 1000+ thank you cards for all of you that purchased my necklaces on Black Friday. I'm still so overwhelmed by the number of you who ordered...thank you SO much! Also I can confirm that the first batch of orders have been shipped already (yay!) so I can't wait to hear what you guys think when you receive them! Unfortunately there is some bad news I have to deliver...and that is that my necklaces are now officially SOLD OUT for Christmas :( This is due to the huge number of orders which led to Stilnest having to put a stop to things for the meantime just so that they can focus on getting all of the first orders out in time for Christmas. I know I originally estimated that the cut-off date would be the 14th but we honestly could not have anticipated just how many of you there would be...and there have literally been thousands! The last thing we wanted was for any of you to be disappointed so we thought it only fair to make this decision. However, I still want to make it clear that the necklaces themselves are not actually sold out it's just that if you order one now you will not get it in time for Christmas. I hope that makes sense! All necklaces are made to order, so you will have ample opportunity to buy them after Christmas or anytime you would like in the New Year!

I will also be announcing an alternative solution for those of you who didn't get a chance to buy one for Christmas which I think that hopefully you guys will like :) So stay tuned for that which I will be announcing tomorrow! In the meantime, I will be signing your cards & I hope you know that I do so with a whole love of love! Emilia even helped me sign a couple so a few of you will probably be receiving a "lightly decorated" card...ha ha!

And in case you missed it, here's Vlogmas Day 12! Featuring a rather weird & hyper ending where you get to see just how crazy Jonathan & I get after the kids go to bed...no, not that kind of crazy :P I blame the lack of sleep!

Filming in London

Today was a bit of a crazy day...it started with an early wake-up call as we left the house at 7:30am to head into London to film with ITV. We went to Whittington Hospital to help raise awareness for Text Santa and showcase the partnership between Macmillan Cancer Support and Tottenham Hotspur, who have developed a rehabilitation programme for cancer patients through exercise. We took part in one of the training sessions, spoke to the personal trainer and interviewed some of the participants. Jonathan & I also took this #TextSantaTruprintSelfie in our Primark Christmas jumpers. If you tweet a selfie wearing your Christmas knit with the same hashtag, £1 will be donated to Text Santa for every retweet you receive. So Jonathan and I decided to have a bit of a competition to see who would get the most retweets! So far I think he's winning...but then his jumper is pretty epic. I mean, look at that knitted carrot nose! 

If you'd like to find out more about how to fundraise or donate to Macmillan, Make a Wish UK or Save the Children this Christmas, check out the Text Santa website here! 

Today's vlogmas is another mummy vlog featuring our Christmas tree! I'm so relieved it's finally here and up in our house. I actually have been getting so anxious about how disorganised I am for Christmas that I ended up buying three wreaths today in a panicked frenzy...yes, I realise I have issues in life and no, I do not need that many wreaths. In any case, enjoy the video! 

Santa's Reindeer

This morning we went looking for Santa's reindeer and we found one! Well, two actually! Dasher & Donner happened to be hanging out at our local garden centre...ha ha ha! Emilia & Eduardo were totally amazed, it was such a magical moment to see their reactions! Not to mention the fact that reindeer are actually very cute. The real reason we were here was to finally pick our Christmas tree. I feel like we were so late this year but it's because of all the travelling we've been doing! I've actually started to panic a little bit about how disorganised I am with my Christmas preparations...I need this month to slow down! Anyway, thankfully we were lucky enough to find the perfect tree that both Jonathan & I are extremely happy with so at least we have one box ticked! I also set up Emilia & Eduardo's mini Frozen trees in their room which I will try to snap a picture of tomorrow.

I don't think anyone realises just how much I miss & long for these sweet little puppy faces when we're away. The dogs came back yesterday evening and I was ecstatic! I am in fact "that" crazy woman who stays up late at night stalking our dog walker/minder's Facebook page to see if any new pictures have been uploaded since I last checked. I then creepily like and comment on every single photo of our pups at a ridiculous hour of the night...put away the laptop...then proceed to feel guilty about all the other dogs' photos that I didn't like, log onto Facebook on my phone and continue liking every single picture of every dog Helen has ever uploaded. Because trust me, they will find out and be very offended. (Yes, these are the worrying thoughts that crowd my brain at night...and also the reason why my dogs are all now wearing Christmas jumpers (see princess Bianca above). 

These Christmas jumpers were sent to our PO Box from Pet London! We got two red, two green and two brown all in size L (large) which are a bit big on our dogs...I think the Medium would have been a slightly better fit but having said that the Large fits Theo & Sina quite well! Ha ha! 

Don't forget to check out today's Vlogmas Day 10 which features Emilia singing Christmas carols, our morning in Chewton Glen, locking ourselves out of the house and Theo being an adorable teddy bear. 

First Christmas Concert

This morning we left Chewton Glen which we were all pretty sad about actually as the hotel was absolutely beautiful! One of the loveliest places we've ever stayed for sure - I really want to take my mum there as I think she'd really like it! We had a wonderful time at the Gleam Christmas party & it was so nice to see everybody again for breakfast this morning. Emilia & Eduardo worked the room like little pros...you would think they were the bride & groom at their own wedding! Before heading home we managed to snap a family selfie; Emilia was super into it - Eduardo not so much! I wore my Whistles beanie, Primark khaki jeans & Ugg boots again along with a Tommy Hilfiger long-sleeve underneath my Abercrombie chunky knit cardigan. It was freezing today! 

One of the reasons we were in a bit of a rush to get home was on account of Emilia's first ever Christmas carol singing afternoon at her pre-school/nursery at 4pm. She had been practising all of her Christmas songs for weeks and we really didn't want to miss it. I think it was a bit confusing for her as we only got back from Ireland the day before yesterday and she has sort of been whisked all over the place & as a result of that she's missed a few days of pre-school. So to end up getting thrown in there randomly on an afternoon after all of that travelling was probably a bit strange! But she looked absolutely adorable and Jonathan & I were both SO proud of our little girl singing her heart out all bundled up with the other girls & boys in her pre-school garden. The loveliest thing I noticed was how her eyes were darting all over the crowd while she was singing and I knew she was searching for us (who she couldn't see as there were too many people!).

If you'd like to watch my vlogmas day 9 it's another mummy vlog featuring our Christmas party! Hope you enjoy!

Christmas Party Time!

No sooner had we got back from Ireland when it was time to embark on another journey! This time we set off to Chewton Glen for the Gleam Christmas party. Here's what I wore during the day (super casual). I wore my very old khaki Primark jeans, a new Henley top from Free People, a navy & green check shirt from Tommy Hilfiger, my Whistles furry bobble beanie and my new tan Ugg boots from my mum! 

For the party this evening I wore a simple fitted black Ted Baker dress with a gold embroidered neckline which I picked up from Brown Thomas while we were in Ireland. I wore it with my black patent Louboutin Pigalles & Kate Spade wristlet. Thankfully I squeezed in a much-needed manicure before the party and even managed to curl my hair...phew! It's been a whirlwind couple of days but this evening was so lovely and I'm really proud & happy to be a part of the wonderful Gleam family :) 

Today's Vlogmas episode is another mummy vlog featuring our trip home to the UK (yesterday) which ended up being a little bit stressful! I hope you enjoy! 

Flying Home

We are back in the UK! We all woke up bright & early this morning to enjoy the last breakfast in our beautiful hotel room before making our way to Dublin Airport to catch a morning flight home. Unfortunately our plane ended up being 40 minutes delayed so we didn't get in until 1pm. Even though it was a very short flight, I think everybody was a bit cranky/ill/sleep deprived or a combination of all three so it was actually quite a stressful flight as neither Emilia nor Eduardo were having any of it. But to be perfectly honest, I didn't blame them as I felt the same way! This trip to Ireland was so lovely and I'm really happy that we got to see everybody before Christmas but between Emilia having a chest infection, both of them getting conjunctivitis, and me losing my voice & being bunged up half the time...let's just say I was very glad to get into my own bed tonight!! 

Today's video is another mummy vlog which it wasn't meant to be but because my voice is still almost non-existent and we are travelling it's a lot easier to do these than sit-down videos however I do have a lot of those planned for the month, so don't worry if you prefer them to vlogs! Hope you enjoy!

Baby Chloe's Christening

Today was Emilia & Eduardo's baby cousin Chloe's Christening! We headed out to the church early this morning as we had a big of a nappy & Lemsip emergency (we ran out of both!) and poor Eduardo was subjected to wearing a Princess Aurora Pull-Up...not that he seemed to have a problem with that! On the contrary he seemed pretty chuffed with himself and kept pointing to his package and saying "PUNZEL" (He thinks any princesses other than the Frozen ones are Rapunzel.) I on the other hand felt like death warmed up...unfortunately my stupid sore throat/cold/stuffiness seems to have got worse and I was badly in need of a decongestant. I've also become a mute just in time for the Christmas party season which makes having a conversation with anyone a very difficult process! 

After the Christening we went back to Jonathan's sister Leah's house for some yummy food and Emilia & Eduardo got the chance to spend the whole afternoon playing with their cousins! Chloe looked so cute in her little white dress! When the party was over, we headed back to our hotel where I completely passed out :( I cannot even begin to express how much I HATE being sick whilst travelling! Yet it happens to me so often...argh!! Jonathan took Eduardo out to the Disney Store & to pick up some last minute Christmas shopping bits we needed for next week while I basically curled into a ball with Emilia in our hotel room. Thankfully our flight tomorrow isn't TOO early so we'll have time to have breakfast here before we start our journey back to the UK. I even managed to wash my hair AND squeeze all of the kids' presents into our overly stuffed suitcases...so I'd say I'm feeling pretty triumphant tonight all things considered! 

If you like watching vlogs then you're in luck because Vlogmas Day 6 is just that! A mummy vlog from my perspective...so it's basically my version of what happened yesterday, ha ha! To watch Jonathan's version you can click here. (Mine is better, obviously ;) 

We're in Dublin!

This morning we said goodbye to my mama / Emilia & Eduardo's Oma and like always it was a very emotional affair! :( I may currently be only two and 1/2 hours away but I already miss her so much. How cool is it that there are three generations of women in this picture though?! Do you think we look alike? I think we all look like our fathers, ha ha! My mum looks like her daddy (my Opa), I look like my dad and Emilia looks like Jonathan...or so most people say but I actually think that we all have the same eye shape. In fact Emilia's almond eyes have always reminded me of my mum! (From what I write on my blog it sounds like I basically think both my children just look like my parents but that's actually not true...I do see A LOT of Jonathan in them as well!)

We braved the crazy storm that is currently sweeping across Ireland and drove through wind and rain until we finally reached our destination - Dublin! I did grow up in Cork...I've spent most of my life there but I have always loved Dublin. I actually think I like Dublin more than Jonathan does and that has always been the case! Maybe because he grew up here it's not as much of a novelty for him as it is for me. We checked into the Shelbourne Hotel for the first time - we normally stay at the Westbury but it was booked out :( However we were definitely not disappointed! I'm kind of blown away by how kind & accommodating they have been, not only to us but to Emilia & Eduardo as well. If you have children you know how it is...if someone does something nice for you, of course you appreciate it. But if someone does something nice for your child - that brings it to a whole other level of appreciation, am I right?! So you can imagine how I felt when we arrived back in our room after Jonathan's family dinner to find THIS waiting for them. Pink and blue mini slippers with two cuddly teddy bears each wearing a t-shirt embroidered with their names on. Not only that but there is a freaking Winter Wonderland constructed entirely out of gingerbread and sweets downstairs in the lobby including a moving gingerbread train which is transporting marshmallows around the track. If a few houses  go missing tomorrow...you'll know I had absolutely nothing to do with it ;) 

And if you're in the mood for some vlogmas viewing, check out today's video above! It's a quick little outfit of the day including the kids' outfits and mine from when we recently did some Christmas shopping in Cork. It's also the first day I started to lose my voice (the next day it was completely gone!) so I apologise for how quiet and raspy I sound!

Last Day in Cork

Hello my beauties! Today was our last full day in Cork :( This morning Jonathan and I left the kids with their Oma while we went to the bank to do some boring grown up stuff. We then did a bit of Christmas shopping for Jonathan's nieces and nephews before heading back to the hotel to catch up some work & enjoyed a relaxing room service lunch! Today I wore my new black polo neck jumper from Suncoo, grey wool leggings from Selected, my Whistles boots and my gold Scorpio necklace.  

We all reunited for dinner at Jacobs on the Mall. This restaurant will always be special to me because it's the one where I spent my last birthday with my dad. My family, Jonathan and I ate here for my 20th birthday dinner...my dad was still alive for my 21st but I spent it in the UK with Jonathan as by then I had left home. Aside from that though, the food is absolutely amazing! I had the seafood tagliatelle which is not like a traditional Italian seafood pasta dish at all but I love it all the same! It's totally influenced by Irish cooking in that it reminds me of a seafood chowder with big chunky pieces of fish, lots of fresh seafood and a creamy sauce. For dessert I had this rhubarb & vanilla crumble served with vanilla ice-cream. OMG. This is heaven on a log...literally. The rustic presentation was pretty impressive! And you better believe I licked this slab of wood clean!!

    

If you've been keeping up with my Vlogmas series, you might already know that my baking video went up this evening. This week we baked a marble cake with Emilia & Eduardo! 

Reunited

Here's what the two little tykes wore today. This was actually taken right before heading off to the doctor's as Emilia had a bit of a chest infection & needed some antibiotics :( It also seems Eduardo has developed conjunctivitis in one eye (arrghhh!!!). And to top it all, I have lost my voice! I think I got ill from the crazy late nights I've been having lately! There just aren't enough hours in a day! Anyway, how much do you guys love these matching outfits!? They are both wearing items my mum got them from GAP - Emilia's dress and Eduardo's jumper. Emilia's shoes & tights are both fro Zara as are Eduardo's high-tops. And his jeans are from H&M. 

It turned out to be a beanie day as it was pouring rain this morning and freezing cold in the afternoon! I stayed back at the hotel to catch up on some work stuff & joined everyone in the afternoon for lunch and a bit of Christmas shopping for my family! I wore my black Ted Baker jeans, Whistles boots, Tommy Hilfiger flannel shirt and Velvet t-shirt along with my black Ted Baker hat with a furry bobble which I think is so cute!

This evening we were finally reunited with Jonathan after a very long two days of being apart. We took the opportunity to enjoy a date night at Orchid's restaurant in our hotel which was absolutely delicious!! I kind of wish I had taken a picture of my dessert. This was my second night eating here in a row and last night's baked Alaska & tonight's apple crumble were to die-for!

I hope you're enjoying Vlogmas over on my channel! Here's today's video - I did a Twitter Q&A and answered questions about my celebrity crush, got way too emotional about Robin Williams, and opened up about balancing work & personal life as a work-at-home mum!

Feeling Christmassy in Cork

Today was our first full day in Ireland! Emilia wore head to toe Zara & Eduardo wore his Armani jeans and a Hugo Boss jumper I found in his box of big boy clothes which I had been saving since he was a newborn & got lots of gifts from people! I think this was from our PO Box! His shoes are also from Zara and they are holding their favourite toys of the moment, Pinky Pie (we can't go to bed without her) and Leona Eduardo's cat / tiger (he can never make up his mind!). This morning the kids went off to my mum's house so that I could get a ton of work done...it is amazing how much you can accomplish in 1-2 hours by yourself!! I joined them in the afternoon and we went to Brown Thomas for a late lunch & some shopping! I didn't buy anything very exciting, just two outfits for the children and some makeup!

I also got the chance to give my mum & sister their Saccone necklaces!! And I was so happy to see how wonderful both of them looked on! My sister Erika is Capricorn and my mum is Taurus. It's probably a bit weird to say this but every time I meet somebody who's a Taurus I think of my mum. I secretly think that this is the reason I love our manager Francesca so much because she has the same star sign as her! I don't know if anybody else thinks this way...maybe it's just me!

As part of Vlogmas I uploaded the second instalment which of course is a What I Ate Wednesday! How I've planned these videos out is kind of like an Easter egg or I suppose maybe an Advent calendar in the sense that they are all totally different & vary day by day so you never really know what you're going to get! (Although Wednesdays will probably be What I Ate...ha ha ha!) I really hope you enjoy! 

Hello December!

Happy December everyone! I'm back!! I know you probably didn't expect a post from me today...in fact, I wasn't even sure if I was going to get one up as today was absolutely insane!!  Yet here I am in a hotel room in Ireland at 2am writing a blog post because that's how much I love you guys ;) Today the kids & I travelled to Ireland without Jonathan (*sobs*) for the first time to visit my family before Christmas. I was really nervous about the trip beforehand but actually it went a lot smoother than expected and both Emilia & Eduardo were extremely well behaved. Yay! Here was my comfy travel outfit; I wore a Levi's flannel shirt which is super soft & cosy, my Tommy Hilfiger henley, Ted Baker ripped jeans, and grey Uggs. I also threw on a large grey Moschino scarf for added warmth when we landed as it was freezing!!

We snapped this picture right after picking up some presents for Oma!! (My mum) Emilia & Eduardo were so excited to see her! And we kind of took this photo for Daddy, because of the "Wish You Were Here" postcard. We miss him so much & can't wait for him to join us on Thursday!! Love you Jonathan <3

Today also marks the first day of Vlogmas (which I am participating in)! And here was my first video of the month - my winter fashion haul featuring items I bought from ASOS! I hope you enjoy and let me know your favourite!

Let it Go

This morning I had the cutest rendition of Frozen's Let it Go performed for me by these two monkeys...while holding hands...and standing on their "stage" aka our fireplace. Eduardo got pretty into it as you may have already noticed if you follow me on Snapchat (my handle is asacconejoly). His facial expressions were something else! Also check out his swag in this picture...this boy is getting too big for my liking! His jeans & high tops are from Zara and his jumper is from Joe Fresh. The jacket is from Jo Milano and is made from wet-suit material! Emilia's outfit is all Zara (jumper and skirt) except for her tights which are from DPAM. Her eyes still look bad in this picture but that's because she's squinting...thankfully they are actually a lot better and the conjunctivitis has almost completely cleared up. Alleluia!

I can't believe tomorrow is the beginning of December...this next month is going to go so fast, just like every year! And we're starting it off with a bang, as we're off to Ireland tomorrow! It's just the kids & me till Thursday as Jonathan has to work :( But we will get to spend some quality time with my family before heading up to Dublin to spend the weekend with his family. I'm a bit nervous about travelling with the kids on my own but at least it's only a short flight and we don't have far to go. Emilia has already requested that she sits beside me on the plane...ha ha ha! I told her that's probably very likely. ;) 

I hope you guys enjoyed these daily blog posts through the month of November! Let me know if you want me to continue through December...I am very excited to announce that I'm doing VLOGMAS this year which means I'm uploading 24 main channel videos between tomorrow and Christmas! I'm so excited about it although it does mean that my blog posts may not be everyday...however I will do my very best!

Feeling Festive

I've been feeling so Christmassy lately and I'm not sure why! This Christmas jumper is from Superdry and I love it! My jeans are by Ted Baker and I wore this outfit with my grey Uggs. Today I saw they were putting up the Christmas lights in our town and got really excited. We were actually supposed to take the kids to visit Santa Claus but we decided Emilia was too sick as her eyes are still extremely weepy :( She has drops now so hopefully that will help get rid of this awful conjunctivitis but every time I see her bloodshot streaming eyes looking up at me my heart breaks into a million pieces. The poor little thing wanted to sleep with mummy last night so I gave in and let her come into our bed at about 2/3am. Thankfully Eduardo hasn't caught anything yet but I'm washing everyone's hands like a crazed lunatic and shrieking "don't touch anything!!!" after Emilia wipes or touches her eyes with her fingers.  

We did manage to brave the outdoors and do some Christmas home decor shopping this morning...I picked up some new items for our living & bedroom! Which subsequently led me to clearing out my entire closet & drawers at 9pm this evening. Three huge charity bin bags later and our bedroom is now super organised and a little more festive! Our bed sheets & faux fur throw are from Zara Home, the two faux fur cushions and "Merry" cushion are from Homebase. Our bed, lamps and end tables are from Ikea, as is our dresser/chest of drawers. I bought the light-up star from Homebase, my clear make-up organiser is from HerClutterBox, and the wooden tray on top of the dresser is from John Lewis. I also get asked a lot where the "J" and "A" letters on our bedside tables are from - I got them from a shop called The Lemon Tree. I did a bit more decorating downstairs too which I can't wait to share with you but we are going to Ireland next week to visit family so I will probably do the main bulk of my Christmas decorating when we get back! 

Pizza Party Every Night

You can't see it in this picture but Emilia actually wore a teeny tiny cutesy little ponytail today! It looked so sweet on her especially with this grey & pink outfit...she looked like a little ballerina! And her hair has got quite long recently so there was a lot more to work with than I had expected! Both Emilia & Eduardo's outfits are from Zara Baby today. I think I have shown Eduardo's before but Emilia's is new. I bought a grey jumper with a silhouette of a girl in a pink tutu on it in an effort to get her to wear more items of clothing that aren't dresses...she still made a fuss when I dressed her this morning but I tried to explain that we do not own enough dresses to wear one everyday of the week (blatant lie by the way...thankfully she's not old enough to know any better YET!). I also got her these leggings in a light pink which are super thick & great quality. I'm not sure where her headband is from because it was a gift in our PO box but it matched perfectly. Eduardo's shirt is lined on the inside which makes it super cosy and his leggings were some of the Halloween inspired ones I picked up in October. 

Poor Emilia is suffering with conjunctivitis at the moment :( It's so frustrating because while she is at pre-school I feel like she is constantly picking up something, especially this time of year. I hate it! She's a real trooper though and thankfully it hardly ever manages to dampen her mood but it's still not very nice to see your child ill. I hope that by this time next year she will have strengthened her immune system & won't be as bad! 

We were really naughty and ordered Domino's pizza for dinner tonight! But missed out last night so I think we deserved it (even if we did have pizza twice already this week...*hangs head in shame*)! My huge weakness are their cookies...they are so yummy! I almost prefer this to the pizza, ha ha! The one I always order is the Tuna Delight on Italian base, and Jonathan and I normally go half & half. What is your favourite pizza OR side dish/dessert to order?!

Black Friday

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures today as it was pretty hectic & I had lots to do but here was my outfit of the day! I'm wearing two new items that I recently hauled from ASOS. The cream polo neck (or "turtle neck" as it's called in America!) is by Ganni and I am absolutely in love with it. It's the perfect new addition to my winter wardrobe! So cosy & perfect for chilly days. Underneath I'm wearing army green combat skinnies by Diesel. Buying jeans or trousers online is always a bit of a gamble. I recently got some boyfriend jeans in my size that were way too big...whereas these ones fit like a glove BUT you wouldn't want to wear them whilst devouring a big meal if you know what I mean! I got them in a size 26 and I am normally in between a 25 and 26. So if you're in between two sizes I would definitely pick the bigger one. I did film a haul video on a lot of clothing that I recently purchased including these two items which will go live sometime next week! 

In the meantime, feel free to check out our brownies video that we filmed yesterday! These really are the world's best brownies...let me know if you bake them and I'm sure if you do you will agree! 

Also I know it's really late by the time this blog gets posted but I just wanted to mention that I did run a Black Friday special today with my jewellery where everyone who purchased a necklace on Black Friday will get a personalised signed thank you note from me. The only reason I didn't offer a discount code or anything like that is because we launched so recently that I didn't think it would be fair on all of my other customers to do that. I hope you guys know what I mean & will understand where I'm coming from! But I am looking forward to sending out your thank you cards! And thank you to ALL of you who have bought my necklace - no matter what day you did! You are all wonderful :)