This WIAW is from right before we went on holidays so I was trying to use up all the bread we had in the house before we left! My breakfast was the same two days in a row; a wholewheat muffin with peanut butter, banana and chia seeds, a black coffee and water!
Mid-morning Snack
We decided to head to Bluewater which takes about 30-40 minutes and on the way I had packed a snack of this Apple & Cinnamon Frusli bar!
Lunch
We ate lunch at Nando's and I got a grilled chicken wrap with a side of sweet potato wedges. I can't remember the last time we ate Nando's and this was delicious! To drink I just had the usual...water!
Dessert
This is a once a year kind of treat...but Lola's Cupcakes do the most incredible cupcake milkshakes where they basically blend a whole entire cupcake up with a load of cream and it is the most amazing thing in the entire world! I have only ever had these with my mum and my sister Erika as Emilia was always too little but this time we had our first mummy daughter cupcake shake date! She was SO excited and it was the cutest thing! I got my favourite, red velvet and Emilia got a "chocolate heaven" with gold glitter on top. She had about a quarter of it before giving up, lol. I don't know is it because I'm 30 now or am I just not used to them anymore but I used to be able to put this away fairly easily whereas this time I was DEAD after! The cupcake shake has defeated me!! It was incredible but I paid for it afterwards...I felt like I was going to explode!
Dinner
Sorry this photo is a sloppy mess, I'm definitely no food blogger that's for sure! (We need smaller bowls I think...hahaha!) For dinner we had gnocchi with a garlic, tomato & basil sauce. This was just a really easy, lazy weekend meal that was quick to whip up after we got home from Bluewater. Add parmesan cheese on top and it's done!
Evening Snack
After the kids went to bed I was somehow hungry again (don't even ask me why!) and had a bowl of mini wheats with almond milk & cane sugar. Oddly enough I had been craving mini wheats all day since Alessia had them for her breakfast! To drink I had more water.
And that's it for today! Check out the video here:
November Birthstone Choker (Gold Plated) - Anna Saccone
Engravable Bar Choker (Gold Plated) - Anna Saccone
Makeup
- Benefit Porefessional Primer
- Bare Minerals Concealer in Summer Bisque
- Bare Minerals Matte Foundation in Golden Nude
- Bare Minerals Bronzer Warmth
- Bare Minerals Mineral Veil
- Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Love Glow Blusher
- BareMinerals Crystalline Glow Highlight Palette
- Benefit FoolProof Brow Powder in 03
- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02
- Benefit High Brow Glow
- Anastasia Modern Renaissance Palette
- YSL The Shock Mascara
- Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude
- MAC Lipstick in HoneyLove
- Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Kim K.W.
Today's video is all about colour theory, how to find your colour palette and what colours work best for you! Hope you enjoy this highly requested video and please refer to the links below for more help on how to find yours!
Links above with a * are affiliate links. Using an affiliate link means that I receive a % of the revenue made from purchasing products through this link. This doesn't affect you as the consumer or the price of the product.
November Birthstone Choker (Gold Plated) - Anna Saccone
Engravable Bar Choker (Gold Plated) - Anna Saccone
Makeup
- Benefit Porefessional Primer
- Bare Minerals Concealer in Summer Bisque
- Bare Minerals Matte Foundation in Golden Nude
- Bare Minerals Bronzer Warmth
- Bare Minerals Mineral Veil
- Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Love Glow Blusher
- BareMinerals Crystalline Glow Highlight Palette
- Benefit FoolProof Brow Powder in 03
- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02
- Benefit High Brow Glow
- Anastasia Modern Renaissance Palette
- YSL The Shock Mascara
- Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude
- MAC Lipstick in HoneyLove
- Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Kim K.W.
Today's pregnancy vlog features Alessia who I'm sure you'll agree was a really cute addition! She was actually very well-behaved considering she's been teething and as a result has been even more clingy than usual. The outfit is a mixture of maternity and non-maternity items...I'm making the most of my looser blouses and shirts while I still can and before the bump gets too big!
Hope you enjoy my 28 week update! I can't believe I'm already in the third trimester...eek! This pregnancy has gone so fast.
Today I made scrambled eggs on toast for Alessia which always makes me crave it for myself! I make mine with two eggs, almond milk, salt & pepper. I put it on slice of wholegrain seeded toast with butter and I also had a black coffee & water.
Lunch
I had an OB appointment in London so after that we went for lunch at Natural Kitchen which is our favourite spot! I always get the same thing, it's the falafel salad with hummus, tzatziki, mixed leaves & couscous. This is so good and filling! I also got the Cleanse smoothie but it wasn't as good as the Green Machine one I normally get. This one is a healthier version with ginger, cucumber and kale but it's very watered down and not as sweet as the other one! I also took my bottle of water with me and drank that pretty much all day.
Afternoon Snack/Coffee
When we got home I was exhausted and made myself a frothy coffee using the Almond Breeze barista milk and had it with a blueberry frusli bar. I actually featured these in my favourites because I love them so much!
Dinner
For dinner we had prawn curry with leeks, red peppers, onions, coconut cream and brown rice. This is one of our family's favourite go-to meals! The only difference was I used brown instead of white rice as I'm trying to do more wholegrains. It took a lot longer to cook but it was really yummy and the kids didn't complain!
Dessert
After dinner I had an Oreo ice-cream stick (these are to die-for). Much later in the evening I also had a dark chocolate spelt cookie and about four of those hazelnut & cocoa wafer rolls I normally put in a bowl of ice-cream...I wasn't even particularly hungry but was stressing about a stupid lost library book! Looking back I felt kind of stupid for getting so stressed out but pregnancy hormones will do that to you! To drink I just had lots of water. I ended up filling my water bottle up about three times which is the norm for me.
And that's everything for this week's What I Ate! You can watch my video from today above. Let me know if you ever get stressed about stupid things...hahaha! I definitely do!
- Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Love Glow Blusher
- BareMinerals Crystalline Glow Highlight Palette
- Benefit FoolProof Brow Powder in 03
- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02
- Benefit High Brow Glow
- Anastasia Modern Renaissance Palette
- YSL The Shock Mascara
- Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude
- L'Oreal Color Riche Beige A Nu Lipstick
- Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Kim K.W.
How beautiful is our wisteria right now?! I am obsessed with the colour and how it looks in bloom...this was one of the first things I noticed and loved about our house when we viewed it a little over four years ago! It has also really inspired me to plant some and replicate the same look on our new house when we (eventually, finally) move in!
Today's video was all about my spring favourites which included beauty, skincare, hair, a little fashion and of course the best part, food. Below I have linked all of the products/items mentioned. Hope you enjoy the video!
Links above with a * are affiliate links. Using an affiliate link means that I receive a % of the revenue made from purchasing products through this link. This doesn't affect you as the consumer or the price of the product.
Sorry this blog post is a day late but yesterday was a bit mental! We had meetings all morning & a filming session for an Irish TV show in the afternoon...this was on top of all the editing and filming I usually do on a daily basis and unfortunately the lovely girl who normally looks after Alessia for me when I'm working was sick so it was "bring your baby to work day" and we all know how those go! (Not very well...I can tell you right now!) Still we somehow managed to hustle and get everything done that we needed to but my blog will always be last on the priority list, hahaha...sorry!! My poor old blog!
This all got me thinking about a question I get asked countless times in interviews or press that we do and even from some of you: how do you do it all?? The answer is very simple...I don't! I never want any of you fellow mums out there reading this to think for one minute that I do...there is no way that it would be possible. I have three small children, six dogs, a full-time job and I'm pregnant. I am very fortunate to have the ability to work from home but that can sometimes be both a blessing and a curse because the lines get very blurred. Vlogging/blogging, social media and working with brands is my full-time job and although it's not as traditional as perhaps a doctor or a teacher, in order to make a decent living from any profession you need to put in full-time hours.
So when people call me "supermum" or tell me they're amazed at how I manage to keep it all together I just have to laugh...I am no supermum, there are plenty of single mums working two jobs that deserve that title a whole lot more than me. Or the mums dealing with children with learning difficulties or physical disabilities...that's a superwoman in my mind. The stay at home mums who sacrificed their careers to look after their children full-time, or the working mums who are made feel guilty every single day for the time they spend apart from their kids but have no choice as they need to put food on the table. No matter what your situation is, we are all hustling and we're all just trying to do the best job we can do as mothers.
None of us have it all together, even if it might look that way on social media or from the outside looking in. I would be lying if I said that I could accomplish everything I need to in one day with zero help...trust me when I say that there is a whole lot of blood sweat and tears that goes into running a business together with your partner while raising a family and it really does take a village! I have help with my house, I have childcare on the days I work full-time, I have someone who walks my dogs three times a week. Jonathan and I also share a PA who looks after all of the admin involved (which is a whole lot more than you would think!) and we have a whole management team. This isn't a one-woman show, or a one-man show either for that matter, so don't ever think that it is! Of course Jonathan & I both pride ourselves in being very hands-on, both with our children and our business but there is absolutely NO WAY that we would get our jobs done without some kind of assistance. I also know that by writing this blog post I'm probably going to get the usual judgement from a few little trolls...but I'm used to it and I'd rather that than any of you feeling bad about yourselves. I get the "lazy mother" card thrown at me allll the time for having help (especially when it comes to childcare) but the fact remains that I work my bum off every single day for the job that I have, I know what it's like to have nothing and I don't take anything for granted. I love my children more than anything but I'm also not wiling to give up my career. I take a break from a lot of work commitments during the first 12 months of each of my babies' lives because I breastfeed exclusively and that's important to me. But that doesn't make me better than anybody else! The main thing I want you to take away from this post is never to glamourise anyone or think they're "doing it all" because honestly there is no such thing, and at the end of the day we are all just trying to do our best. Also remember that no matter how much you think you see of people's lives on social media, it's always just a small portion and there is so much else going on behind the scenes that doesn't get shown! Nobody's life is perfect and even if you think somebody has it all together I can guarantee that she/he is struggling just as much as anybody else. I hope that doesn't sound preachy because that is not my intention at all. I just know how easy it is to feel rubbish about yourself due to social media, all because you're looking at the highlight reel of somebody else's life. This is why honesty has always been so important to me and on that note, here is another very honest pregnancy update! Where I talk about my symptoms at 27 weeks, the dreaded weight gain & feelings that go along with that, as well as a look at how much the bump has grown since last week! Hope you enjoy the video & are having a wonderful weekend!
Today's breakfast was quite boring but it's something I reach for when I'm feeling lazy and couldn't be bothered cooking anything! I had Weetabix with almond milk (I fill the bowl with milk and put it in the microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds) topped with chopped banana & blueberries. I also had my coffee (black in the mornings) and water!
Lunch
Lunch was a caprese salad with mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, black olives, basil, olive oil and balsamic glaze on top. Today was quite hot so a fresh salad sounded good...though I also added a slice of bread because mama needs her carbs!!
Snack
After lunch I was still a bit hungry so I had some chopped fresh strawberries with natural yoghurt on top. I ate this outside and it felt so summery! I also drank my water.
Afternoon Coffee
Later that afternoon I made myself a whole milk cappuccino/latte/frothy coffee. I think I've mentioned this before but the whole milk really does help with my heartburn!
Dinner
Dinner wasn't anything exciting as I had planned to make shepherd's pie but Jonathan was feeling really unwell, it was very hot and we had plenty of leftovers! So I had leftover chicken korma with rice, peas, mushrooms & onions which was our meal last Sunday. Jonathan had a veggie burger wrap and the kids ate leftover veggie burgers & sweet potato fries from the day before! To drink I just had water.
Dessert
After dinner I had one of these amazing Oreo stick ice-creams which I am obsessed with! The shell of the ice-cream is what gets me...I swear they put some kind of addictive stuff in here because it makes me crazy! The only downside is you only get three of these ice-cream sticks in a pack :( So I need to get more as I've eaten one everyday this week...hahaha! If you haven't tried these, you should. They are even better than Oreos!
If you'd like to watch the video version of this post, you can see it here!
- Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Love Glow Blusher
- Benefit Gold Rush Highlight
- Benefit Browzings in 03
- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02
- Anastasia Modern Renaissance Palette
- YSL The Shock Mascara
- Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude
- MAC Honeylove Lipstick
- Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Kim K.W.
Today's video is a try-on fashion haul where I show you some maternity, non-maternity and breastfeeding friendly pieces I picked up in the ASOS sale. I decided to do a try-on haul because this gives you a better idea of how everything looks like on, although please do bear in mind that my filming set-up isn't ideal at the moment! When we eventually do move house I will hopefully have a better set-up but for now we're working with natural light and a rather cramped filming space in between my bed and vanity table!
This outfit features look number one, which is one of my favourites for casual wear...I have been living in this jumper and was so happy that it went on sale as it was quite pricey! But Wildfox do make amazing quality items and they last forever, wash really well and just get softer with age. Below I will link the rest of the pieces I got if you want to pick them up for yourself! Although I did end up returning the wide leg trousers...they just weren't my style!!
