Revlon Ultra HD Lipsticks | little review

Hey everyone! Long time no speak! Well I have no excuses..other than life got in the way (does that even count as an excuse?).

So, without going on and on about what's been going on with me, I thought I'd talk about some lipsticks I've been loving recently! 

These are relatively new Revlon lipsticks. I only have three shades, but I definitely want to get some more. Revlon describes them as completely wax-free on their website and they are HD because you are achieve a wonderfully opaque look with just one smooth swipe! 

 

One thing to note is that although there are 20 different shades available, there aren't an abundance of light/nude colours to choose from. I have the shade Rose, which is one of the more natural shades and I have to say that it is just as pigmented and just as smooth as the brighter colours.

If like me, you love brighter colours for your lips definitely check out these lipsticks you will not regret it!

So I'm going to let you into a little secret.... I am the worlds worst for applying lipstick, seriously, I get it on my teeth, I can never get one side of my lips to match the other side symmetrically! But these have been amazing for me, because with any other lipstick it takes me ages to get it right. I put this down to the wax-free formula, but more so to I feel like the way the lipstick itself is cut makes it so much easier to apply.

Finally,  lets just talk about the packaging of these bad boys! I love it so much, the shade is on a sticker at the bottom which means I am store them in a lipstick holder upside down. Also, I really like the clear plastic jacket because you can see the shade in the bottom of your bag really quickly (if like me you have umpteen different lip products living in my bag).

Useful Apps to Help You Get Fitter | Healthy little Changes

Something which has really been helping me with my weight loss, has been finding a few really great apps! So I thought I would share them with you.

MyFitnessPal - Calorie Counter

I am pretty sure this app is the most popular one out of all the ones I mention. I have been using MyFitnessPal for just over a year now, (it helped me lose weight this time last year) and if I were to pick one app out of all of these to recommend you use it would be this one! 

You set up a profile based on how fast you want to lose/gain and how active you are, then it calculates a daily calorie allowance for you. The idea behind this app is that you LOG EVERYTHING, anything you put in your mouth and any time you workout you need to log it. Doing it this way really opened my eyes to how bad some of the foods I would usually eat were, and motivated me to research better options! There is also a barcode scanning feature which is handy when logging your food on the go. As long as you weigh everything correctly and stick to the nutritional goals (fat/protein/carbs) set for you, you will see changes on the scales. 

There is also a large social aspect to this app, not only can you add your friends from Facebook, but you can also interact with others through the forum section, there are forums where and possible question you could have, has been answered by others using the app. You can post new questions yourself, or engage the others within existing posts. I have made loads of friends through reading and commenting on the forums, once you have become friends with someone, you receive updates of how they are doing on your news feed. If they workout, complete their diary for the day or even if they have lost weight at their recent weigh in, you can like and comment on these updates and you also get likes and comments on your own! 

The website quite a few additional features, I use the reports section of the website quite often, you can look at the trends of the changes in your body over a period of time. I like to see how my weight loss changes within the month for example, through looking at the chart I can see that I tend to maintain the week before my TOM (Sorry if that TMI!). You can also chart how your measurements are changing as well. 

There are loads more I could say about this app but I don't want to go on, honestly just download it and give it a go yourself! My username is kk2aa, feel free to add me as a friend!

Pump Up

This app is basically Instagram with a focus on heath/fitness, the people who use this app have their own goals towards becoming healthier. Some are trying to lose weight, some gain weight, there are others who just are aiming to tone up what they already have. I love this app because it's not all really fit people showing off their super toned bodies, there are plenty of people just like me who are just trying to reduce the flab! 

Everyone is really supportive, there is also a recent posts feed so whatever you post goes directly onto there and you get loads of likes in minutes! I don't know about you but I get all proud of myself if I get quite a few likes on something, it motivates me to keep sharing the experience/journey.There are pre-made workouts for you to use, I found these really helpful when I was first starting out and you can also post when your weight has changed. I have started posting on Pump Up almost every day so feel free to add me if you would like to! My Username is kk2aa

Daily Water

This is a really simple app, its helped me to increase the amount of water I drink on a daily basis. You enter your weight and it tells you how much water you should be drinking in a day. You can choose the capacity of the container you usually drink your water in and then each time you finish a full container you click it in the app and it logs that you've drank it. As you log more and more water throughout the day, a sunflower grows on the main screen, if you complete your goal for the day you are left with a fully grown sunflower. I don't know what it is but something about wanting have fully grown sunflowers at the end of the day, want to meet my goal and it's really helped me get into the habit of drinking more!

I'm pretty sure this particular app is only available on Google Play Store, but any water logging app will work the same way and help you to drink more water throughout the day! You just might miss out on the sunflower growing!

Step Tracker - FitBit

Obviously, I know that not everyone has access to an activity tracker like a FitBit, and I will be doing a review based solely on the FitBit in the future. But I just wanted to highlight how helpful I've found using a step tracker in general! It has encouraged me to be more active and reach my step goal each day. I find myself getting off the bus five stops early on my way to work so that I can walk the rest of the way, I go out for an hour walk in my lunch hour and now it would be weird if I didn't! It's just got me moving loads more, and isn't that the main basis for weight loss eating less and moving more?

I didn't always have a FitBit, so I used an app called Accupedo which is a simple app which also allows you to set a step goal for the day and I found it to be quite accurate! I know there are many phones which have a step tracker built in now and many more apps which will do it so have a look around on your app store and take a wack at it!

YouTube

Last month I completed Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred (review to come!) and I was lucky enough to find the complete DVD on YouTube so I didn't have to pay a penny! Sorry Jillian I'm cheap. But after I finished the shred, I went on to discover that YouTube offers a wide array of fitness videos which are completely free, many require zero equipment and the best part... you can do them in your living room! 

I love all of Blogilates videos she is so upbeat! Although sometimes I marvel at her, shouting 'how is she doing that!' at the TV when she makes a really difficult pilates move look ridiculously easy. The FitnessBlender videos are good too because there is so much variety, there are videos of all lengths so you can choose one depending on how much time you have, and you can focus on a specific area of the body or just do a full body workout if you want to. The FitnessBlender videos are also good because they tell you how many calories you've burned, this makes logging the calories on MyFitnessPal loads easier.

Getting fitter doesn't require a gym membership, in fact I have been in the gym less since starting this journey 8 weeks ago because I enjoy working out at home so much!

Staying Motivated When Trying To Lose Weight | Healthy little Changes

Trying to make changes to your lifestyle, is never easy. It's staying motivated which is one of the most difficult aspects of the journey. You go through times of being upbeat and confident in yourself, but you also go through times where you feel like you are never going to reach your goal! It's very easy at times like these to give up and return to the bad habits you had before. But before you eat that giant piece of chocolate cake, yes you....put in down! I thought I'd write a list of tips, which have helped me to stay motivated over the past 8 weeks or so. I hope it helps!

1. Create a schedule.

I find that healthy eating is easier if I keep to a set schedule. Make sure you don't leave to much time between meals by setting specific times for the main meals of the day and even snack times! For example, I have breakfast at 10, lunch at 2 and dinner around 6ish. I usually have a snack around 4 in the afternoon as its the biggest break between meals. Splitting up the day likes this prevents you from getting too hungry between meals, as well as from skipping meals. Once I skipped lunch and came home and was so hungry I couldn't wait to cook food so I quickly reheated Lewis's pizza from the night before and devoured it all!

2. Create a workout regime to suit you.

Make time where you can to exercise, and figure out when you are most enthusiastic to workout. I tend to enjoy working out in the mornings because it gets it out of the way for the day, but I know others who love working out in the evening or even really late at night! On work days I don't have time to workout in the morning, so I have been utilising my lunch hour by walking for the full hour. I get home and do an half hour YouTube workout while the dinner is cooking. Try not to convince yourself that you don't have time to workout, even a 20 minute workout 5 times a week can really help! 

3. Research low calorie/healthy food choices.

I have been using the calorie counting technique to lose my unwanted weight, as a result I don't have many calories to play with on a given day. So researching low calorie meals and even low calorie snacks has really helped me! There are websites like this one, which lists loads foods which come in under 100 calories. Doing a little bit of research helps to make you more aware of which foods are high calories and which are low. I've filled my cupboards with an array of different low calorie snacks. So now when I get the munchies, instead of chomping on a whole pack of chocolate digestives (I have the biggest craving for these right now) I only have low calorie choices to pick from! I don't have that feeling of guilt that comes after eating something you shouldn't have, you know you didn't need to eat all of those digestives! Researching for meals also helps you to create different options for each meal of the day, its easy to stick to the same meals because you know they are safe, I am really guilty of this, but mixing it up helps keep things more interesting!

4. Make new friends.

Finding others who have similar interests/goals to you has really helped me! I mainly use apps (MyFitnessPal and Pump Up) which are social but also fitness centred. Everyone is working towards their own individual goals on there and I found that many are really encouraging and lovely. It also allows you to interact with people who have succeeded in reaching their goals already! I have even made a friend through Pump Up who has already lost six stone in just over a year, she did it completely through healthy eating and working out (which she did at home with a set of dumbbells and an exercise mat!) and she is such a motivation for me! Having a support like this is invaluable when you feel like you're losing enthusiasm. 

5. Don't deprive yourself.

Allow yourself a treat every now and again. Yes...I don't have a treat everyday like I used to but I have limited myself to only eating chocolate on Sundays and making sure it still within my calorie allowance. The important thing to take into account is that you are making a lifestyle change, you need to create a lifestyle which is sustainable for you. You shouldn't deprive yourself of the things you enjoy, you just need to make sure you eat them in moderation. This works differently for different people, I like to save my treat for the end of the week and the day that I weigh myself because it prevents me from straying within the week. Also, if I've lost weight that day, which after all is the plan right, I feel like I'm treating myself for doing well!

6. Don't let turn down social invitations.

Since I started calorie counting, I know that I have been a little apprehensive about going out to restaurants with family/friends because I may not have have access to the nutritional information. But if you say no to going out because of this, you could start to resent the decision to eat healthier. You can make healthy choices when eating out, choose a smaller portion or even something from the lunch menu, swap chips for a jacket potato or ask for no dressing. Many restaurants do print the calories of their meals on the menu itself or even on their website. But nevertheless, one meal won't ruin your weight loss in the long run or undo all the work you have done so far. Enjoy it while you're there and start the next day a fresh, try not to let one day where you over-ate morph into a week! 

7. Try not to weigh yourself everyday.

Some people are obsessed with weighing themselves when they are trying to lose weight and I used to be one of those people! Weighing yourself every morning and sometimes twice a day hoping to see a loss. But, I found that by doing this my mood and motivation would depend on the scales. The fact is though, your weight doesn't always stay exactly the same and it fluctuates throughout the week/day. So, this time around I have stuck to weekly weigh ins. I chose Sundays because it keeps me motivated throughout the week, and I can start a fresh each Monday. Once, I have reached my goal I hope to focus more on losing inches rather than pounds so I will be weighing myself less often then.

8. Compliment yourself.

Honestly, this is one of the most important tips I can give you. 'Be your own motivation' its a very well used expression but its so true, no-one will reach your goals for you, only you can! Try your hardest and compliment yourself when your clothes start to feel different, when you've worked out really hard that day, or you choose a healthier option when something really unhealthy/tasty is offered to you! It's also important that you're not too hard on yourself when you maybe don't make the best choice or you can't get to workout as much as you wanted to. It's a journey that you're on and you need to accept that you will have days like that but don't let those days turn into weeks, start each day a positive!

I really hope these tips helped! If you have any of your own I would really appreciate it if you posted them in the comments below! Lets all help motivate one another!

Where My Motivation For Losing Weight Came From! | Healthy little Changes

In the past I have always wanted to eat better and lose weight but I have never committed to it completely. I would stick to it for maybe, a week, and then I'd go out for a meal with friends or something and over eat. I would let this one slip up demotivate me from carrying on, I would think 'Oh  well...you've ruined it now' and I would let the over/unhealthy eating continue for weeks/months. Or, something upsetting would happen to me and I would let it consume me and the goals I had set for myself. I'd make myself feel better by eating something I knew I shouldn't or by skipping a workout. If I'm completely honest there has also been times where I just couldn't be bothered to do it any more and I would just give up as pathetic as it sounds I'm sure we have all done that!

This time around the origin of my motivation came from the same place it always does, wanting to feel more comfortable in my clothes and wanting to gain my confidence back. You are always really determined and itching to do it at first, I wizzed around the the supermarket only buying foods which would aid in my new diet, I walked everywhere I could and I bought new workout clothes!

But, after that initial burst of enthusiasm wears off, how do you keep motivated? All I can say is that something just clicked for me, others call it a 'breaking point'. All the doubts you've had in the past, you just don't have, you know you can do it and nothing is going to stop you. It is this feeling that stops you from blowing your calorie allowance on a meal with your friends, instead you choose something from the 'light bites' section of the menu. You search for people on social media with similar goals to yours and you realise that you're not the only one trying to do this, in fact there are loads of people who have succeeded in reaching their weight loss goals who started out much heavier than you. If they can do it so can you! 

I made being healthy my main focus, but more importantly I put myself first! If you are not doing this completely for yourself and if you don't commit yourself to it entirely, you will always struggle with motivating yourself. Love yourself and do it for you and before you know it you'll be there achieving your goals!

There are a few ways I have been able to continue to feel motivated, if you're interested look for a link on Wednesday on my Facebook for 8 tips to staying motivated for weight loss!

My Past Attempts at Losing Weight & My Current Goals | Healthy little Changes

This isn't my first attempt at trying to achieve a healthier lifestyle, I have tried umpteen times to eat better, lose weight and become stronger through exercise. Last year, I even achieved a stone weight loss before I allowed a stressful time in my life to get in the way and distract me from my goals. At that time, I gave up on myself and the goals which are so important to me, because life was getting out of control. I had just finished University and I was so terrified of the fact that I was without education for the first time in my life and I didn't know what was coming next that I gave up on everything, other than what was easy. 

By the end of March this year, I had gained back the stone I had lost! But, I am in a much better place now and I have the motivation to reach my goals again, but this time I won't be giving up. There are a few things which have aided my new found determination, apps I have found and people I have talked to but I will talk all about those things in a separate post. 

First, I want to show you my before photos from early April. Although I have already lost some weight since then, its important to me that I start at the beginning. I will provide progress pictures throughout the series and all will be dated until we catch up! (Please excuse my moody face on these pictures, I wasn't loving being this exposed and having my picture taken but I guess that's the whole point isn't it!)

I started out at 13 stone (182lbs), but here I had already lost around 7lb, unfortunately these are the first pictures I took of myself. I was just about to start working out 6 times a week here so I took these pictures in order to compare my progress, so I'm sure you'll see them again!

I hope to get down to 10 stone (140lbs) eventually. I do have target dates for getting to certain weights and the knowing that I have those targets, helps me stay more motivated towards achieving my goals. It is important that you are realistic when setting yourself time targets because if you don't give yourself enough time you are much more likely to get overwhelmed and give up all together. 

My Goals

- Have more energy.
- Be more positive.
- Explore new foods and try new recipes.
- Develop a better relationship with exercise. 
- Feel stronger.
- Have more confidence in my appearance and with myself in general.
- Drink more water (I hear its great for the skin! Bye spots!)
- Lose 40lbs to get back down to my weight before college.
- Make new friends who share in my interest in becoming healthier.

I will explain my reasons for setting these specific goals within further posts, my aim with this blog post was just to provide you with an outline of my main aspirations for myself! 

If any of you also share some of my goals, or maybe you've written your own, feel free to share them in the comments below! 

little note: It took a lot of courage for me to post these pictures, I would really appreciate it if any comments could remain positive. Lets all encourage one another not bring each other down.

Making little Changes....Introducing A New Lifestyle Series!

Let's face it we all have things about ourselves that we would love to change, I'm not talking about not loving the shape of your nose or the fact that your feet are a size bigger than you would like. I mean, that we all would love to change aspects of our lifestyle for example by socialising more or making more of an effort to learn new things. 

In my case, I have wanted for the longest time to improve my relationship with both food and exercise and adopt a healthier lifestyle. That sounds like a very simple task doesn't when I word it like that wrapped up in a cute little sentence, in reality any attempt to make a significant change to our lives is extremely difficult! 

Nevertheless, I am attempting it and I wanted to bring you along for the ride! So I'm starting a new series of blog posts through which I share every aspect of the journey, from my goals and why I'm doing this to the tools I have found helpful to keep me on the right track. The series is called 'Healthy little Changes' and I will be posting at least once a week, the first of which is scheduled for tomorrow evening! I hope that through this series, I will be able to not only keep myself accountable but I hope that some of the tips I find along the way can help some of you who have similar goals to realise them!

My Planner 2015 | Review and Organisation Tips

I'm sure we've all had that experience at the beginning of the year, when we are faced with the responsibility of buying a new diary. I take the idea that my choice will stay with me for the entirety of the year, very seriously. I know that sounds kind of dramatic but honestly...I can't help it!. I wanted to make sure that the diary I chose was the right one for me which meant I wanted to it to be fully customisable to my needs. After much deliberation I decided to go with a planner from Personal Planner UK. The level of personalisation available to you at creation is amazing, you really can change almost every aspect of the planner to how you would like.  

There are four sizes to choose from, I just chose a standard A5 planner, but there is also a square version which looked really good. I wanted to make sure I could fit the size I chose in my bag, so I stuck with the A5 at a price of £19.95. 

You are able to customize your front and back covers by using a block colour or you can upload a picture. I took full advantage of this and created a collage in PicMonkey, for the back cover and to enable me to insert a quote on the front cover. If you want more than one picture to appear on your cover this is the best way to achieve that, because you cannot upload multiple pictures using the website.

Almost everything is customisable within the week-to-view space, I chose the a grey theme with small white stars. You can have the days horizontal or landscape, ruled or blank or even striped with different colours. The bottom of the page is split into what they call modules, there are all sorts of options for these sections. You can choose, a to do list, graph paper, or leave it blank, you can even insert a module to plan your dinners for the week! 

Personal Planner stood out to me especially because of their personal dates feature. When you are creating your planner, you are able to enter all of your personal dates for the year, I mainly inserted birthdays! All you do is put in the persons name and their birthday with the year they were born. When the planner is printed all of your dates are entered into the correct dates with the age that person is going to be. You can see this in the picture above on the 17th February, it was my birthday! This is such a nice way to keep track of all your important dates throughout the year, and if you decided to get another Personal Planner for the following year, you can carry across all of your dates!

The remainder of the planner is split into three, and you can choose what you want to have within these sections. The choice again is vast, you can have sudoku puzzle pages or graph pages, also there is an option for you to create your own address book if you want to! I chose to have a year-to-view, colouring pages (because you all know you still love colouring) and just standard lined paper because I'm a listoholic!  

























Just in case you lost your planner, there is a space for you to write a message, for who ever should find it on the front page. But, I decided personalise this page with a quote,  this is one of my favourites from Harry Potter.

Planner Decoration

     

I try to use as much colour as possible when decorating my planner, the staedtler pastels pens are great as well as all forms of washi tapes ( I found most of my washi tapes in The Works). I found these emoji stickers on ebay and I think they're brilliant! You can find all sorts of stationary online and in shops like Paperchase to suit your own personal preference!

I know that putting such emphasis on your choice of diary, may not be very significant to a lot of people. But anything which helps me to organise myself better is welcomed, even if it only helps me to remember to update my utility meter readings (sad but true). I've been using my Personal Planner since January and I've been consistently utilising it as well as making it look pretty ever since. I would definitely like to think I will repurchase another for next year!

Saving Money...

Okay, so I wouldn't say I'm good at saving money. In fact I am terrible at it! But this year I decided to make a conscious effort to save more! So I wrote a list of five ways we can all save a little extra. Whether your goal is as small as that perfume you want, or as big as a deposit for a mortgage (I'm no where near that by the way).

1. Make a list of savings goals - think small. 

Many people do this at the beginning of each year, I know I do. But the biggest mistake we all make is to focus on all the big things we want straight away. Focusing on the big stuff when you are trying to save can be overwhelming, smaller goals are easier to manage. Make a list, but think only of small goals to start with, maybe you need to save up to get your mom's birthday present in a few months time. Once you have achieved a small goal, tick it off your list, success, will give you the confidence to work to even bigger goals. You could even split big goal into smaller goals, for example, you need £1000 for your summer holiday, this would scare the life out of me but if you say you want to save £100 a month for 10 Months then it seems much more manageable!

2. Saving with your bank

Many people have a savings account with their banks. But, unless you set up a direct debit/standing order with them to deposit regular amounts into your savings account, many go unused. I bank with TSB, previously Lloyds TSB, they have a savings scheme called Save the Change. The concept is that as long as your account is in credit, when you buy something they automatically put any change to the nearest £1 into your savings account. I love this idea because although you're not saving heaps and heaps of money, the pennies do actually add up over time! You could also do this yourself, at the end of each day, put any spare change you have in a jar. .

3. Take part in a savings club. 

A work, we have a number of different savings clubs going on throughout the year. I'm part of a weekly and a monthly one. For the weekly one you give in £2 a week for a £104 pay out at the end of the year, whereas within the monthly one you give in £10 a month. The monthly one is a little different, they split your money into two so that you receive £50 for your birthday no matter what time of the year it is and £60 at Christmas (you don't pay in December). Both are really effective, especially because someone else has your savings so you can't dip into it. If you don't have anything like this where you work, maybe you could create one!

4. Make it fun

Lewis and I have made saving money into a competition. I saw the 52-week money challenge on Pinterest at the beginning of the year and thought it was a really good idea. Basically you start by saving £1 on week one and it increases by a £1 saved each week so the second week you would save £2 and so on. We changed it a little by saying you just have to pick a number between 1-52 to save each week. By doing this, for the weeks when you may not have much money you can choose the smaller amounts. The competition is that the person who has saved the most so far is the winner. There are loads of links to this challenge on Pinterest.

5. Make money doing surveys.

I would say this is the most effective way I have found to save money. Well, for me anyway, I use a website called Valued Opinions. I have been using this site for well over two years, but I have tried many different survey sites before. This one is the most reliable, I get at least a couple of surveys a day sent through to my email, and they credit your account straight away. Once you have accumulated £10 on your account, you can then redeem a voucher for the amount. The choice of vouchers vary from Amazon, to M&S to Sainsbury's. Last year I saved up all the credit on my account until Christmas, I saved £80 all together in one year. It helped so much when Christmas came around so I've decided to do it again this year. So far I have £48!! The surveys are great to do while you are watching TV or in your lunch break and they only take around 15 minutes.

You could also try:

• Leaving your credit/debit card at home.
• Unsubscribing to promotional/sales emails to prevent online shopping.
• Use the Sleep On It concept (if you think you want something sleep on it before you buy it, if you still want it the next day after thinking about it then get it).

Saving money is so difficult for so many people, me included. But, I have managed to do better this year by making some of these small changes. If you decide to try any of them be sure to let me know how you get on!

The Casual Vacancy by J.K.Rowling

This month has been a slow month for me on the reading front. Partly because I decided to read this book, but mainly because I have an addiction. I'm ashamed to admit it, I have fallen victim, like so many before me to becoming addicted to watching TV episodes, one after the other. The culprits being, Revenge and more recently, The Black List. This addiction has slowly started to take over the bulk of my spare time, this is serious guys! But hey...admission is the first step to recovery right?

But seriously, it's taken me all month to finish this book. Like many others I bought it as soon as J. K. Rowling released it. As a avid lover of all things Harry Potter, I was desperate to get my hands on anything written by J. K. I didn't read it straight away though, mostly because I'm easily distracted. Although, deep down I know that it was because I was afraid that I some how J. K would disappoint me by producing something different. I had heard that she had deliberately written an adult fiction rather than another children's fiction, she wanted to show people that she isn't restricted to one type of writing style. But at the beginning of this month I needed something new to read, and I decided I was ready to delve into this new and unfamiliar territory.

I needn't have worried, this book is so incredibly different when compared to the Harry Potter books, that at times I actually forgot that they were written by the same person. Just a warning, its a little hard to get into. Let me just give you little bit of background to the story and then you will understand why. 

The story is set in Pagford, a little town located in England's West Country. Pagford, consists of all the stereotypes you would expect to find in such a town. Everyone knows one another, everyone is linked to one another and nothing remains a secret for long. Following the death of one of the towns most influential inhabitants, we are then led along the path of understanding all of these complex links, the story is written in the third person it switches to and from the perspectives of each of the different characters throughout. 

The reason I felt it difficult to get into at the start was just because this section of the book focused on informing the reader rather than exciting the reader. Now, in hindsight I know that this section is extremely significant, without it the second half of the book would have not have been anywhere near as enticing.

If you like juicy gossip and scandal you will also like this book. It's just like a soap opera, a completely new concept for me. I've never read anything like this story before and although sceptical at the start I can say that I would read the sequel if she ever writes one without hesitation. 

I can't go into the main plot, or any of the juicy happenings within story because it would defeat the point and you should go on that journey yourself. But I will say that if you have read the Harry Potter books and you are as fond of them and of J. K for creating them in all their magical glory, as I am. You will be shocked at first by the language she uses in The Casual Vacancy. Let me just say, that this is most definitely an adult novel. Suddenly my mental image of her is no longer of a fluttery sheltered lady who lives in the imaginary magical world she created, in her mansion but instead I see a woman has her eyes open, who is aware of all the hardships life can hand you and also has a deep understanding of social behaviour. 

Once you get over the fact that J. K is not afraid to swear constantly in her writing. You actually can't help but be taken in by the different characters and situations being played out by the story. 

I'll end with a little fun fact: it is said that the little town of Pagford is very similar to the town of Yate in Gloucester which was J. K. Rowling's birth place. Maybe, just as she used her childhood home as her inspiration for the Dursley's house in Harry Potter, she has used Yate as the basis for Pagford!

Since reading this book I have discovered that the BBC did a three part drama based on the story! I will definitely be watching it... if you are the kind of person who would rather watch the film than read the book. Firstly, shame on you! but maybe you would enjoy the TV adaptation. 

Our First Trip to London - Harry Potter Walking Tour!

This weekend Lewis and I embarked on our first trip of the year....

Back in January I saw a really good deal for train tickets and a show in London, so I decided to book it for us to go for Lewis' birthday (18th March). Before I knew it I was bugging my theatre loving friend to advise me on which show we should see, which seats were good and whether I was getting a good deal on the hotel. Back then, it seemed like an age away but it came round so quickly and we went last weekend! It was a complete surprise for Lewis, he came home from work after a half day and was welcomed by a back pack and me hiding in a cupboard! 

We stayed in the Travelodge at Marylebone, our room faced the station, I would definitely recommend the hotel. We paid £80 for the night which would be quite steep anywhere other than London. I thought it was pretty decent for where we were, so close to the train station and the underground.

Failing to keep up on the surprises I told Lewis once we had got to the hotel that we didn't have much time to chill. We needed to get ready to go out. We traveled on the underground to Charing Cross, which came out at Trafalgar Square. Its a lot smaller than I had imagined but I think that was the case for London in general. I thought everything was going to be overpowering and intimidating but it was great!

We ate at Garfunkels on The Strand. This was based on a recommendation from my theatre nut friend, she had assured me that the prices where none too different compared to your average TGI Fridays etc. One thing that had worried me when I was organising the trip had been the price food and drink in London. I was right to trust her, we both had fish and chips which was lovely and the waiters were all Italian and couldn't do enough for you. Afterwards we took a short walk a little further down The Strand and found the Lyceum Theatre, to see The Lion King, without much difficulty.

The seats we had, as you can see from the picture were brilliant. Especially when you consider that I had saved £20 on each ticket by buying through Amazon Local. There was no photography allowed during the performance so sorry for the lack of photos.

As someone who has never seen a West End show before, I thought it had everything. It captured a story from my childhood and brought it to life on the stage so brilliantly. If you have seen it before you will know that the actors are quite literally the animals, with the help on very clever costuming and props. The songs written by Elton John enhanced the atmosphere of each scene spectacularly and I left wanting to watch it again.

 

On the walk back to the underground we were able to see The National Gallery and the fountains all lit up in Trafalgar. Of course we couldn't resist the photo opportunity. There's me there with my Lion King merchandise, a T-Shirt, Mug and Programme. My mom always told me that you have to get a programme at these kinds of things for sentimental reasons and I just can't help myself.

We got the underground back and for some crazy reason decided to take the stairs rather than the escalator! You think its a great idea before you look up and realise that you can't actually see where the stairs end! That's Lewis at the top speeding up, leaving me trailing behind!

The next morning we were up and out quite early. The plan was to go on the London Eye before we had to get to Leicester Square for a Harry Potter walking tour. We got some great pictures while walking across The Golden Jubilee Bridge. We were actually quite blessed by the weather that morning but it went overcast in the afternoon, I was just glad it wasn't raining!

  

There was a huge queue for the London Eye, even at ten in the morning. We decided to just take a long walk along the river and back across the river and walk to Leicester Square. This meant we could walk past Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and The Houses of Parliament as well.

Lewis was in awe of this guard with his MP5, so of course he needed to take a picture. If I'm honest it was the first time I had seen an armed guard as well!

We did eventually find Leicester Square, we thought we were lost at one point but thankfully Lewis had Google Maps on his phone (which was needed countless times over the two days) and we soon found where we were supposed to go. We saw that there is an M and M World and had to take a look, it is without a doubt the most colourful place I have been in (other than Disney World of course!). M and M's were on everything, from mugs to luggage tags!

The Harry Potter Walking Tour

The following photos are from our Harry Potter walking tour. If you are a Harry Potter fan you would love this tour! You find out little snippets of extra information giving you insights into how they filmed the films and the reasons why certain buildings and streets in London were chosen. The guides were really knowledgeable about J.K herself and also pointed out interesting things to see along the way.

Cecil Court, the inspiration for Diagon Alley.

The Millennium Bridge, blown up by the Death Eaters at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Over 1 million pounds was spent taking pictures of this bridge from different angles and recreating it using CGI in order to blow it up. It was the most expensive scene across all of the films.

St Paul's Cathedral, they used the staircase which sits within the dome section of the building for the spiral staircase which leads up to Divination in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The old Ministry of Defence building, also the location of the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince/ Deathly Hallows Part 1. This street is home to a red telephone box which is referred to as the visitors entrance to the Ministry of Magic by Mr Weasley. It is also the street where Harry, Ron and Hermione stun three Ministry workers in order to take there place using Polyjuice Potion.

One of the most interesting things we were told is that in real life there is a whole city of hidden rooms and corridors beneath the Ministry of Defense building. This makes it the perfect location for the Ministry of Magic it just adds to the magicalness of it all!

We walked through the infamous Borough Market, known for being the largest and oldest food markets in London. Unfortunately, we weren't able to sample any food because we would have lost our group, but the smells as you walked through were amazing! 

We crossed the Thames once more and were able to see London Bridge and the HMS Belfast relatively up close as well! 

Leadenhall Market, the original Leaky Cauldron location from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Imagine all the windows and the walls painted black and you'll see it!

Kings Cross Station, Platform 9 3/4. This was by far my favourite part of the tour. If you are ever in the vicinity of Kings Cross and you have some spare time, you need to go and get your photo taken entering Platform 9 3/4! They have someone there taking pictures and you can choose which house you would like to be in. You can buy the photos or just have someone take one for you on your phone, which is what we did.

They also have a Harry Potter gift shop, it's jam packed with merchandise and you can play with the wands and get yourself some Chocolate Frogs or a scarf of your own even. 

We only spent a day and a half in London and although it doesn't seem like much time, we were able to fit a lot in! We could have stayed an extra night and made it into a weekend, then we would have been able to have a little more chill time. We will definitely be going back, it was a lovely break, and navigating the city was much much easier than I thought it would be, there is so much to see and do.

If you are interested in going on the Walking Tour, this is the company we went with. They do loads of other tours as well!

Amazon Local always have deals on the latest West End shows, click here to have a look at what they have on at the moment.