Crafty Kate: Date Night on a Lolly!

To help start this topic I think you need a bit of background history -

My boyfriend and I have been together 5 years, and have lived together for almost 1 and a half of them. A month after moving into our new home, he got a new job which meant he had to work shifts. For the first few months I found it really hard. I was never good at being home alone at night even before I left home, so this panicked me a little because I knew I could no longer avoid it. (Ok, well I suppose I could go running back to my mums everytime my OH did nights, but that would just be teeny bit silly!). After a while I got used to it, but in replace of that came the loneliness. He works every other weekend. One weekend it'll be days, whereby he'll be home for around 6.15pm, but falling asleep by 7pm. The next weekend shift it'll be nights, so I will see him for approx 10mins each day over the weekend due to him sleeping in the day. When he does overtime it is usually on a weekend, so as you can imagine, some weekends I will barely see him at all. With me working Mon-Fri 9-5, this obviously sometimes doesn't mix very well.

We've both known it for a few months now, but we began making very little effort with each other, and what effort we did make, it'd be same old, same old. We got ourselves into a little bit of a rut, and we're not ashamed to admit it. The most exciting spontaneous thing we did was either eat out (which we do a lot so it never felt special) or catch a film at the cinema. Time at home was spent with me on the laptop and him watching films. He's not very spontaneous and I felt like I was the one that was always coming up with ideas on places to go, and I began to get a little tired of it.

That was till I came across this fab little idea that will hopefully spruce up our spontaneous side and be a little more adventurous (err, no, not in that way) and just generally spend some quality time with each other.

I've named it 'Date night on a lolly' - simply because thats what it is literally, although not metaphorically, obviously.. (can yo imagine?!)

What you will need :

Some coloured lolly sticks (preferably 4 colours)
A Jar (or some form of containter)
A marker pen
Your creative brain!


1. Decide on which 2 colours you both want (they can't be the same!) (in an ideal world my sticks would have been pink and purple, but it just wasn't happening!).
2. You need to divide your colours into 2 categorys. 1 colour represents ideas that cost less than £20 (or even free), and the other £20+. (You can obviously change this amount to suit your financial needs).
3. Think of a small list of ideas for each category and write them on the lolly sticks with a black marker pen. Note: These need to be things that you would like to do that your OH would have to either do for you or participate in. (The other idea of this is getting them involved in things that they don't normally take interest in.. i.e. girly movies!)
4. Get your boyfriend/husband/girlfriend to do the same, obviously, but don't let them peek on your ideas!
5. Put them in a jar (I've covered the inside of mine with paper, just so you can't read the lolly's through the glass!
6. Decorate your jar to your hearts content... if you wish!
7. Decide on how often you are going to dip your hand into the magic jar, and how often you are going to choose the more expensive idea. (Due to my boyfriends shifts, we've decided on every 6 weeks for the £20+ and every 2 weeks for the £20 and under dates).
8. Each week, or fortnight (or whatever time you've decided on) you take it in turns and pick out your colour lolly.
9. See the magic happen! (we hope!)

Just a few ideas that I've used on my sticks to get you started:

£20 and under

A trip to the cinema (obviously your choice)
Play a board game
Cook a romantic meal (so if you had written this on your lolly stick, it would be your boyfriend that would be cooking it for you, and I mean like, candles, dim lights, the works!)
A Head Massage (these have got to be one of the most relaxing things ever after a days work..)
Watch a film at home
Go for a walk together to somewhere you've never been before

£20+

A luxury meal out (the OH to book and keep the venue a secret)
A day out (somewhere you've never been before, your preference obviously, because its your lolly!)
A night away in a hotel
A random roadtrip out of town

You get the jist....

We've done a handful of each and figured put together, theres roughly a years worth of 'dates' in the jar, so that should keep us going!

Its pretty exciting, not knowing what each other has wrote, so I'm eager to get cracking! Although I'm already bracing myself for a 'watch a batman film' 'date'!

If any of you do decide to do this, let me know, I'm intriguied to know what you put on your lollies too!

Batiste - Paisley Print

You can always bank on Batiste for having funky designs on their packaging, and the latest few are no exception.

This pretty paisley print can of dry shampoo is very pleasing to the eye, and the hair!

I'm not sure whats happening with my own barnett, but its getting very greasy, very quickly. Second day hair definitely needs batiste in order to see it through the day without looking too shabby.

A few weeks ago, for halloween I dressed up as some freaky spider woman. I sprayed my hair with a can of batiste (in order to achieve a grey cobweb look!). Oh.my.god. My hair was a dream for days afterwards. I think I went about 3-4 days without washing it (which was a dream for me! While the chance was there, I was going to take it!). I think I could have easily gone another day or two but I began to feel a bit of a scruff! Admittedly I did use A LOT of batiste but I can safely say it definitely did the job!

This smells yummy too, although I'm no good at explaining smells, so I'll just leave you with the word 'fruity' !

Batiste is a huge part of my hair care routine and I don't know where I'd be without it now. (Ok, yes I do, I'd be going through the chore of washing and drying my hair every.single.night. Yawn!).

*PR sample

A Baby Shower & Bump Painting!

Yesterday I went to my friends surprise baby shower, and got to see her baby bump being painted by a hired face painting pro. Good job my friend isn't the embarassed type, having her stomach out to 20+ people!

Not sure if you can tell but this is a snow globe design! My friend got to pick out of loads of fab designs and settled with a festive one, as the baby is due in a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

These 2 pieces formed part of her baby shower present and were both from Matalan for £7. The white one is my fave, it was super soft and cuddly and had a really cosy thick lining, ready for the winter. I wanted one myself!

My friend loved this bib! Even though I haven't got children myself, I'm aware that its important to make sure that any children you already have don't feel neglected/pushed out/jealous, so I thought this was a great way to make him feel included. I purchased this from eBay from jomillett87 for under £4 (inc P&P).

I want to wish my friend all the luck for the delivery (she's having her first C-Section!) and I can't wait to meet little Oscar!

November's Jolie Box - 'Beauty in the City'

2 days after my Glossybox arrives, the Joliebox comes... in a perfect world they'd be spread out over the month, but we can't have everything, can we?

This is only my second Joliebox, and each time they've come with more than I expected. This month there was a couple more (what I call) proper sample sizes. The other 4 are perfect sizes (1 being a full-size product).

Contents

Manucure Absolue Hand Cream. This was in a small sachet, and I'm glad. You'll understand that more if you read my glossybox review. (I'm basically trying to trawl my way through my ever-growing hand cream stash, to then only be given more through beauty boxes). So this sample will be gone in one sitting, thank god!

Jane Iredale Glow Time BB Cream. This is kinda similar to the above. Its a sachet, and one to add to my ever-growing pile of BB creams. I only received one the other day through GB (DR Jarts) and I'm so excited to use that (although its a decent size so I'll be keeping that till my summer holiday).

Topicrem Sparkling Body 3D effect moisturiser. Although the packaging looks fairly cheap this is quite a nice product. It reminds me of Cocoa Palmers Body Gloss. It smells nice and has flecks of shimmer in (not that subtle, may I add), so this is one I'll probably use around Christmas time.

Dead Sea Spa Magik Facial Wash. I explored this brand via GB when they first started out. I remember receiving some body scrub which I was pretty impressed with, so I'm quite excited to try this out!

Yardley Royal English Daisy Perfume. A sample size perfume that I knew instantly from the brand wasn't going to be for me. With one whiff, I knew it was more for my nanna than me. I shall be passing this on unfortunately.

Galenco SOS Repair Balm. I have quite a few lip balms on the go at the mo because of the weather, however I know this will definitely come in because I use them all year round. Although the packaging is pretty simple, I have tried this and it glides on your lips like a dream. So so soft and smooth. Really feels like it hydrates and soothes. Smells like a basic lip balm but definitely one I will use.

L'Occitane Hydration face cream. I know this brand is fairly popular, and I have tried a few of their things before so I was quite pleased to see this in my box. However I am a little dubious about using creams on my face because they tend to make me break out, or just make me really oily. Yet again, I have quite a few face products beginning to pile up, so I'm gonna have to work my way through them! I will give this a go, I maybe surprised!

Overall, I will admit, nothing really gave me the wow factor this month. I am looking forward to trying a few of the products but nothing made me squeel with excitement upon first glance. 2/3 of the items I received, I only received a few days ago through GB. Obviously not the same brands but the same product (if that makes sense?). I can feel a 'Mission: use-up-all-sample-sizes-before-you-buy-any-more-products' task coming on!

Were you happy with this months JB?

November Glossybox - 'Stocking Fillers'

What can I say? I'm pretty impressed with this months..

Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant. I am a little sceptical and warey about using this because the last time I used dermalogica products I reacted quite badly (I've never reacted to any skin products before), so I'm gonna go easy with this one because I'm scared of the results!

Dr Jart BB Beauty Balm. I'm quite excited about using this, although the majority of it I think I will keep for next summer because I like a little more coverage throughout the winter. I've never tried anything from Dr Jart before so is gonna be a first for me!

Nails Inc top coat. I do have a few top coats but sooner or later I'm going to run out, and its always nice knowing you are using a high quality nail polish!

Crabtree & Evelyn Hand Therapy. It was mixed feelings about receiving this product. I'm excited to be using a luxury handcream because I do use hand creams on a fairly regular basis (and even more so now because of the winter). However I have been working my way through my already huge stash of hand cream and feeling pretty smug with myself on how it was going. So to be then presented with another one.. do you see where I'm going?! Maybe I'll use this one as a bribe to all the others 'you're not allowed to use it till all the others have vanished!'

Alison Claire Mango Body Butter. I've never heard of this brand before, but it smells amazing. Its in a nice luxurious pump bottle too, so it gets my vote. I've only trialled it on my hand so far, so maybe reviews will be coming soon...

All in all, a very nice box, pleased with the sizes of everything too.

Are you happy with this months GB?

A Las Vegas Wedding... (with photos!)

I thought I better do this now as I've been back from Vegas a few weeks and if I leave it any longer it will feel a little 'out of date'.

My brother and my (now) sister-in-law (who has also been my friend for many years.. thats how they met) got married on Oct 2nd 2012 at Caesars Palace in Vegas.

When I told people I was going to Vegas for a wedding, I think a lot of them immediately thought a cheap and tacky elvis style chapel. It was far from it.

Caesars Palace is a beautiful hotel in itself.

Unfortunately I didn't get many photos of the hotel itself, but as you can imagine, like many hotels in Vegas, Caesars was extremely grand in its decor. I think it is one of the more expensive hotels on the strip, and although we weren't staying there (our accommodation was at the MGM) I was luckily enough to see one of the honeymoon suites (my brother had a room booked just for 1 night). What was even more luckier - the hotel had doubled booked so they bagged themselves a free upgrade. The room was amazing, to say the least. I didn't get any photos of this either but think jacuzzi bath, double shower, own little hallway with glamourous mirrors, with a view of the bellagio fountains. In my opinion that has got to be the best view on the strip, especially at night. I could have watched the fountains dancing all night, but unfortunately, like any holiday, we had things to do and places to go!

The wedding itself was a small little celebration of approx 22 people, although the bride still managed to get nervous! It was set in a quaint little garden type behind the hotel, complete with cute white stone benches for the guests, and a marble platform for the bride and groom to stand on. With greenery and palm tree's overhead, and soft romantic music in the background, you really did feel a million miles away from thue hustle and bustle of the strip.

Mother of the bride and bride & grooms daughter (my niece)

This was the beginning of the walkway up to the guests. The archway you can see in the foreground was what I like to call a 'secret' room. Both myself, the bride and her dad prepped in here and waited till the guests were ready.

Sister-in-laws family

My dad, bride & groom, me and the OH



This was taken in the archway that I mentioned earlier. I accidentally cropped a few people out of this photo, sorry Mike!

 

We finished the day in style, by jumping into a hummer limo and travelling down to the famous Las vegas sign where we had yet more photos. The hummer was one of my favourite (yet quickest) parts. The vows had been exchanged, everyone had relaxed, and all 22 of us were in a limo, riding down the strip in style,  sun still beaming and music pumping out. Its gotta be done..we were in Vegas after all!

 





My 2yr old niece posing whilst rocking to the music!

V for Vegas! Can you spot me?!

Me and the OH

We then finished the day off with a meal at a gorgeous Italian restaurant called Maggiano's. The food really was a dream.

 

 

The day was a lot more laid back than what we're used to but nonetheless still very special. After the meal a lot of them went to a rooftop nightclub that celebrities are known to be seen. Obviously being out on the roof, you can only imagine the view of the strip below. Unfortunately I missed this as Mike had to leave half way through the meal due to feeling ill, so I was the good gf and left a bit later to tend to him!

 

 

Would you ever consider a wedding abroad?