Happy New Year! 2015 Thoughts and 2016 Resolutions..

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

I hope that hangover isn't too bad! Surprisingly I haven't woken up feeling too bad, don't get me wrong I don't feel as fresh as a daisy but nothing a strong coffee can't fix!

We had a lovely evening, we went to the local pub where they serve Thai food, which is amazing! Had a few drinks with the in-laws and was home for about 8.30pm with some music on and a few (a lot) more drinks to see in the New Year.

 

It's 2016, can you believe it?! It only feels like 5 minutes since we celebrated the Millennium, the years fly by it's scary.

 

This is going to be more of a chatty post which I'm enjoying writing already as I usually do reviews etc. I quite like reading other bloggers posts where it's more of a chat, I think you can get more of a feel of personality. I'll try not to blab on too much!

 

So 2015 was a year of up's and down's. We didn't go on a holiday as we bought our first home in 2014 so we had a cheapish year but we did have a few weekends away, including a camping weekend which was brilliant. (I can see you scrunching your face at this! haha) The site we went to had proper power showers and hot water which is enough for me! I don't think I could do 'proper' camping.

We celebrated one year in our house in August, fastest year ever! We then celebrated our 10th anniversary in December, again crazy times.

There were a few bumps in the year with family members in hospital but touch wood everything is ok now.

Proudest moment of 2015 definitely has to be my sister's graduation, seeing her in the cap and gown was rather emotional. Also the fact she got a First was more amazing. I'll leave a link below to her blog :-)

 

We're now in a new year with new opportunities and of course resolutions.

Now I'm not one of these 'New Year, New Me' sorta people, I believe if you want to make a change it shouldn't just be for the New Year. However there are always a few things you think of that you'd like to do which maybe you didn't the year before. One of the things people need to consider when making resolutions is how realistic they are, there's not much point making a resolution such as 'I'd like to travel the world' when you know it isn't possible for whatever reason, also when it comes to the end of the year it just makes you feel rubbish because you didn't achieve it. My New Year's resolutions may not sound very exciting but if I can achieve them it'll be a great 2016 :-)

 

 

1. Book our wedding and Disneymoon for 2017
This is possibly the most exciting of my resolutions, if we're able to do this it'll be one of the best years ever!

 

2.Give Blood
I've considered this for quite a while and helping out charities and causes is something I'd like to do more of this year. Not just donating money but really getting involved and helping to make a difference. There are two reasons I haven't donated blood yet and they are because I am petrified of needles and as silly as it sounds i'm scared i'll faint! But I have taken the first step and signed up to be a donor I just now need to actually give the blood! I believe the next one I can sign up for is in March, once I have donated i'll be posting a blog of how I got on!

 

3. See more of the UK.

Most people like to travel and will be saying they'd like to see more of different countries but there are so many cities and towns i'd like to visit in the UK. There are quite a few cities I haven't actually been to like Liverpool and Newcastle, these are two places I really want to go to. I'd also like to visit Brighton I've always wanted to spend a weekend there, preferably when the weather is a little better!

 

4. Do more for charities

This is part of my second resolution above, rather than just donating money i'd like to get involved with charities, I've always wanted to help out in a soup kitchen for the homeless or help spread the word to make a difference.

I recently did a post for Coppafeel! Which I really enjoyed just to think someone will read that post and do the necessary checks which they wouldn't necessarily do, it could quite literally change someone's life.

 

6. Improve my blog

I've only been blogging since November so i'm still a newbie but I really want 2016 to be the year for my blog, I'll be looking to improve my blogs by improving the photos I include and to do this I hope to invest in a good camera! I'd also like to attend bloggers events and meet new people, this is one of the reasons I wanted to start blogging. 

7. FitnessThis is one of the most common resolutions, the gyms are packed in January because of people wanting to lose their Christmas weight, adverts on the TV are all slimming products and products you can buy to help tone!
Leading up to Christmas I was following the Slimming World program and actually really enjoyed it, so I'll be going back to this but also doing the Insanity workout - if you haven't done this but want to try something new I'd highly recommend it, it's brilliant!

I'll be doing weekly blogs of my progress and food/exercise diaries for you to follow along with me on my 'Fitness Journey'.

 

I don't have a huge list of resolutions but if I can achieve all of them by the end of 2016, I'll be very happy!

 

Let me know what your New Year's resolutions are and if you have posted a list on your blog leave the link below so I can check them out!

 

My Coppafeel! post - click here

My Sister's blog - Ellie Kathleen

 

 

Maxine x

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Coppafeel! Check Your Boobs Campaign

When writing posts on products whether they are beauty, lifestyle or fashion etc and to think someone will read your posts and purchase those products or recommend to others is something most bloggers love to think but what if you wrote a post on a subject that could change someone's life...literally.


One of my New Year's resolutions is to really get involved with certain charities and campaigns that can make a difference to others and not just by donating money. So here's my first one, a charity that I feel is possibly one of the most important charities out there and that's Coppafeel!

Coppafeel! was founded by Kris Hallenga (and her twin sister, Maren) just one month after Kris, who at the age of 23, when most of us are mainly worrying about what to wear to that party the person you fancy is attending or looking in the mirror thinking why do we still have spots (?!), was diagnosed with breast cancer, and if that wasn't the worse possible news to receive she was then informed it was -is- stage four which is the most advanced.
But how is that possible when breast cancer is for older women right? Wrong.
If you have breasts which is pretty much 100% of us including men! Then you are/can be prone to breast cancer, whatever age you are.
Almost 50,000 women and 400 men get diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year. 5% of those diagnosed are already at stage 4....there is no stage 5. Which is why checking your boobs is so important to make sure you stay as far away from stage 4 as possible.  

 Now instead of Kris locking herself away from the world and letting it take full control of her life she decided to take advantage of this diagnosis and get the message out there that breast cancer can effect people of all ages but mainly get her message to the youngsters.

I recently watched Giovanna Fletcher's latest vlog where she is informing her Sister -In-Law Carrie Fletcher of the importance of checking your boobs and discussing Coppafeel!
Giovanna and Carrie are official Boob Ninja's who help to spread the word as much as they can.
After watching this I thought it would be amazing if I could somehow get involved and what best way to do this then include on my blog and get the message out there to as many people as possible. Which goes back to the beginning of this post where I mentioned 'imagine if someone read your post and you change their life...literally.'

After excitedly deciding to do this I emailed the lovely people at Coppafeel! and expressed my interest in getting involved and publishing a post on my blog. Within hours the lovely Sinead replied to my email and made it very clear how happy she was for me to get involved and really help to spread the message.
Sinead informed me their latest campaign is #Showerhijack where they are trying to encourage as many of us as possible to check our boobs in the shower by including the 'check your boobs' and signs/symptoms on shower gel bottles.
This campaign is supported by I Love.....Cosmetics.
It really doesn't take long to check and can literally be life saving.

Shampoo. Condition. Coppafeel. Rinse. Job Done.

 

 

Another one of their campaigns is #Brahijack and this one is encouraging lingerie retailers to include a tag in bras reminding us to do that all important check.
You probably don't know this but some retailers have actually started to do this including Curvy Kate (the first to start this campaign) and Asos.
Actually there are quite a few partners who help with the Coppafeel! campaign who you maybe didn't know were involved, I'll include a link to these below with the other important links for you to check out.

So the message here is to check your boobs! Check for the signs and symptoms and if you aren't too sure about something or have concerns then please go to your local GP. For the sake of 30 minutes out of your day you could be saving your life.

I've included below the all important links to help you check those boobs and also get involved with Coppafeel! Help spread the word to your friends, family and work colleagues and don't forget it's not just women who can be diagnosed with breast cancer almost 400 men are diagnosed in the UK every year.


Coppafeel! website - www.coppafeel.org
To help spread the word and receive a full information pack click here
Friends and Partners of Coppafeel! - https://coppafeel.org/what-we-do/our-friends/
I Love....Cosmetics - https://www.ilovecosmetics.eu/

Giovanna's YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/Giovannasworld
Carrie's YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/ItsWayPastMyBedTime


Also if you want to be reminded to check your boobs you can sign up for the following;

Free text message reminder - Click here
Email - Sign up here
Shower Stickers - Request here


Help spread the word on Twitter including #TeamBoob in tweets and following @coppafeelpeople

 

Maxine x 

Tanya Burr Macaroon Lip gloss - Christmas Special Edition

I have been so impressed with the Tanya Burr Deck The Hauls Advent Calendar so far and I'm only on Day Two! The First day was an Eye Shimmer (You can check this out on my Instagram) and today's was this amazing Christmas Edition Lip gloss.
I was wondering whether or not to post about this product as it's only available with the advent calendar - I really hope it becomes part of the all year round collection - but I just had to show it off as it's gorgeous.

The lip gloss is the shade 'Macaroon' and is a candy frost pink, it's so pretty and perfect for Winter. The scent is also something that has made me excited about this product as it smells like sweets in a pick 'n' mix! Anything that resembles sweets is a definite winner for me.

Going by the first two products from the calendar so far, I'm looking forward to see what is behind the next 10 windows. I'm really pleased I decided to get a beauty advent calendar this year and will definitely be looking at others next Christmas.

I'll  be keeping an eye out on Superdrug's website to see if they do decide to make this product available all year round as I know it'll be popular.

I'll be posting every product from the Deck the Hauls Advent Calendar over on my Instagram page :-)

Maxine x 

To see the other amazing products in Tanya's beauty collection visit the Superdrug website here.

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Must See Christmas Movies!

We all know one of the best things about Christmas is Christmas movies! There are so many that you just have to watch around the holiday season including those cheesy ones that are made-for-TV.

I've put together a list of the movies I have to watch as tradition.

Home Alone
Elf
Love Actually
The Muppets Christmas Carol
Santa Clause: The Movie
Miracle on 34th Street
White Christmas
The Grinch
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
A Christmas Story
Christmas With The Kranks
I'll Be Home For Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
The Santa Clause
The Polar Express
Scrooged
The Holiday
Jingle All The Way
A Christmas Carol
Four Christmases
Arthur Christmas
It's A Wonderful Life
Fred Clause
Jack Frost
Trading Places

If there are any movies you have to watch as tradition which aren't on the list, let me know in the comments below :-)
Maxine x