Autumn is most definitely, finally here!

Autumn is well and truly finally here, however you track when it starts (In meteorological terms autumn begins on 1st September but in Astrological terms, Autumn starts on the equinox which this year was 22nd September).

What does that mean for me, well for a start it marks my most favourite time of year, I love Autumn through to Winter. Firstly we have nice crisp mornings, walks in the beautiful woods turning all shades of colours collecting conkers, home to a nice squash soup and a good old cup of tea. Yes folks tea, which means my tea drinking has increased which means you can expect to see more tea videos and blog posts from me! I usually like to change my home decor when the season changes, I take out all my Summer stuff and replace it with an Autumnal theme but I haven't quite gotten round to doing that yet but I most likely will during Vlogtober so that I can show you all. I have decided to try and do Vlogtober this year on my Ginger Juice YouTube channel which means I will be posting a vlog every day in October. I enjoyed vlogmas so I thought why not try vlogtober!

Then we have Halloween although not widely celebrated here in the UK I still like it but of course us Brits have Guy Fawkes night, on 5th November a chance to have a bonfire, some nice warm chilli, soup in a mug and watch the fireworks. On a personal note I have my wedding anniversary with Mr B on 17th November and then the Christmas festivities begin. Whooop whooop!

I am already in the Christmassy mood from making up Christmas dashboards, printing out my inserts and setting up my Christmas planner because I have already begun filming my Christmas planning series which will go live on Friday 3rd October. Seriously folks it comes around sooner than you think it will.

Mr B and I have been out forraging for blackberries which this year have been so plump and delicious. I am so lucky that my husband loves to cook and finds it relaxing. The great thing about our house is we both love to cook but usually at the weekends Jon bakes a scrummy treat. Last weekend he made a crumble with the blackberries and I filmed him making it for his YouTube channel (wholesome day) which I have embedded below for you in case you would like to watch it.

Man I could go on about Autumn so much! I am really looking forward to 1st October, the start of my instagram challenge as I can't wait to see all of the Autumn inspired photos you guys will be posting. My brain is whirring with ideas for photos that I want to take. Do you love Autumn as much as I do? Let me know that I am not alone, what does Autumn mean to you?

I am also hoping to enter this competition...

One of the reasons I am inspired to create...

I really can't believe it, we will have been in our house for one whole year tomorrow! The time has just wizzed by in some ways and in others it feels like we have been here for ages, I guess that is a sign of feeling totally relaxed and at ease with where you live. Many of you if you have watched my vlogs will have seen my house. When we moved here we always said that this would be our 'forever home' the place where we can grow old and grey, I don't think anything could make me want to move unless it was to the coast or to emigrate, I really do love it here. I know that I am really lucky and blessed to live here and I am thankfully for that every single day.

Of course one of the contributing factors to my love of this house is the location. We live in a small-ish village where there is only 321 dwellings, we have a village shop / post office, a nice little pub and most importantly a lake. A beautifully stunning lake with an awe inspiring surrealism to it.

My instagram snaps all with no filter!

We are really lucky to have a view of the lake from our back bedroom window and it makes me smile inside and out every time I draw the curtains in the morning. The lake is sort of a kidney bean shape so it curves round the village, this means that the lake is literally right at the end of my road and in fact everyones road.

I have a lot to thank the lake for, it brings me inner calm, peace and tranquility and most importantly the changing seasons and weather conditions are a major source of inspiration in my art work. I am currently painting a series of weather goddesses all inspired by living by the lake. The lake has a radius of ten miles and for most part it is surrounded by open fields and countryside so that vast expanse of nothingness really opens us up to see some interesting weather conditions. I just love it!

So in honour of living here for a year I thought it would be fun to do the 'all about my home tag'. I actually create a few different videos over on my Ginger Juice YouTube channel that don't always get a corresponding blog post, in fact my Vlogs never do for a start so if you are interested in finding out more about what I post over there then come on over :D

If you would like to do this tag in either a video or blog post the questions are below for you. Please let me know if you do, I would love to come and read / watch. My answers to the questions are in the video!

Questions:
What is your home design style?
What do you love most and least about your home?
What is your proudest DIY project that you completed for your home?
What is yoru favorite piece of furniture?
Who is your favorite TV designer or decorater?
If I walked in your home, what fragrance would I smell?
What is the best and worst kept spaces in your home?
What is your favorite home accessory?
Hardwood floors, carpet or tile, which do you prefer?
What is your favorite cleaning product for your home?

Outdoor art journaling - what is a girl to take?

It was an absolutely gloriously hot and sunny day on Saturday and I made the most of it by spending time out in the garden. We had nothing that we needed to do, not a single thing so why not make the most of it is what I say! You never know when and how long the good weather lasts here in England so enjoy it each and everytime it is here!

So going outdoors and doing a bit of journalling, what is a girl to take? It is a hard choice sometimes, especially when you don't know what you are going to create. Limiting yourself to a few items is great because it forces you to get creative with only what you have but that can also be hard if your muse has decided to go and sunbathe and is not interested in helping you one bit! At least being only in the garden I could nip inside if I wanted to grab something so that is not a big deal but even so you have to limit yourself a bit because you can't take it all out there with you. Well you could but I would have to spend ages carting it back and forth. You get the picture!

I recorded an impromptu video on what I took out with me as I really enjoy watching those types of videos and thought you might like to see what I take with me. It was so bright out there so excuse the squinting me.

Did you like my shed? It is not quite finished yet, I want to chintz it up and put some girly touches on it (which Mr B is very happy for me to do I hasten to add). I want to change the scaggy perspex window for nice clean one but Mr B needs to tidy up his randomness in the shed first. Then I want to put bunting up and I want to also put a nice decal on the door and maybe some wooden scalloped edging to the window. I haven't quite decided yet but in my mind it looks lovely, just a bit of a long term work in progress kind of thing.

Would you like to see a couple of the pages that I created? I am going to show you two here which are collage type pages and then another page that I create you will find over on the Journal Gypsies blog on Wednesday!

If you would like to know where any of the products show came from please do ask and I will try my best to remember.

If you would like to see our vlog from that day you can watch that below. Or over on my Ginger Juice YouTube channel where I vlog about twice a week along with book reviews, vegetarian food, hauls and tag videos.

Book review Monday - Kismet Knight Vampire Shrink - Trilogy review

I am back this week with another book review and this time it is of a series, well a trilogy - Kismet Knight The Vampire Shrink.

There are a few spoilers in this video, not big ones but more like plot synopsis so please bear this in mind and if you don't want to know too much about the books then please don't watch the video.

If you have read any of these books I would genuinely like to know what you thought about them as I do like a good chit chat about books!

On the whole I really did enjoy this series, there are a few elements that I wasn't so keen on but on the whole it was a really enjoyable read. I never look at any other reviews until I have made my own just after I did, I went on to Goodreads to see what other people though about the book - very mixed reviews! I can see why. As I say on the whole I did enjoy the series. Some aspects of the books were cheesey and some things never felt like they got completed. An easy going red though. I will let you watch the video to find out more...

Cuppa Tea Pet? January 2014

I didn't review any of the tea that I had been drinking during December as I was knee deep in Vlogmas but I am back this month to talk about tea! This is a monthly series whereby I talk about the tea that I have drunk in that month and my thoughts on it. Part vlog and part review. If you don't like tea or talk about tea then this video is not for you  ; )

Book review Monday - Of Bess and Mist...

Yes it is Monday so it is book review Monday!! Yay!!

This week I have for you.... Of Bess and Mist....

Flowbox - January unboxing and my last

As you know I have been having the Flowbox for a couple of months now, this one being the third actually. I first started getting the Flowbox as I wanted to try new and different products that were vegetarian and eco and the Flowbox does just that. This however will be my last Flowbox for I am not sure how long, if at all. My primary objective with getting the Flowbox was for new things as we are very limited where we live with only a very small health food shop in our town. One of the things I would have liked to have seen with the Flowbox is details on how much each item costs and where you can buy it from online which unfortunately they don't tell you on their crib sheet so I couldn't buy the items even if I wanted to without some research!

Don't get me wrong I have really enjoyed receiving the Flowbox and it has had some lovely items inside, all full size. It is just that well, it is £22 a month and I already go food shopping etc and buy what we need so this is on top of that and as you don't know what you will be getting it is a duplication in some items. Of course it is nice to try new things but we don't always NEED those things if you see what I mean.

We are trying to have a 'good' year and save some money as we want to save for a BIG holiday in the next year or two and also we want to buy some furniture for the house. When we were looking at where savings could be made and on what, well unfortunately the Flowbox was one of those things as over the year we could save £264 and when you look at it like that, that's a lot of money for something we don't really need.

So there we go. I am not saying that I will never get another box, just for now it is a luxury that we don't really need. I have enjoyed you Flowbox so maybe I will see you again in the future!

Book Review Monday - Immortal Beloved Series by Cate Tiernan

Now that Vlogmas is over I can get back to my usual posting schedule with book reviews being on a Monday. So to start the year of with a bang I have for you the Immortal Beloved Series by Cate Tiernan which consists of three books.

1. Immortal Beloved
2. Darkness Falls
3. Eternally Yours

I do like my vampire books but I found this to be a refreshing change, still keeping on the immortality line but without the vampire bit obviously. I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable series. It had a couple of downsides, that being that the second and third books kept on wanting to recap on things that had gone before but I didn't let that stop me enjoying the series as a whole.

It wasn't that dark as I thought it was going to be and as the titles suggested it could be, it was quite modern in the way it was written almost like a memoire. A big thumbs up from me but you can watch / listen to the entire review in the below video with, I might add, no spoilers!!

let me know if you have read the books and what you thought too!

Book Review Monday - Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Book review Monday! I still can't believe how quickly each week does come around! This week I have for you Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce. I fairly pleasant read. I don't know what else to say that isn't already in the video lol!!

Glossybox time!

It's Glossybox time again. After the disappointment of the October box I was really hoping that November would be a great, or at the very least a good box. I am delighted to tell you that it was and it has totally redeemed itself with me now.

Here is my review of the products from last month and November's unboxing.

Another Graze Box review and Unboxing

Another graze box review and unboxing for you today my lovelies!





To get your 1st, 5th and 10th box free you can use this code if you would like to: https://www.graze.com/uk/p/ANNAB6LRU Just to confirm I am not paid or sponsored to do this, I do it just because I like to and you guys have said you like them too!

Winter Wonderland Experience at Center Parcs Elveden 2013

We have just returned from a mid week break at Center Parcs. Our anniversary is on 17th November so we go on holiday at that time of year every year. We have been to many different places but one of the places we often find ourselves returning to is Center Parcs. We booked a while ago not thinking anything of it and when we received our paper work we found out that it was the very start of their Winter Wonderland Experience. Well you can just imagine our delight when we found that out.

Center Parcs is a really lovely relaxing holiday experience and one that we have enjoyed many time before but the addition of the Christmas aspects was truly magical and it was lovely to experience something a little bit different. Even though  we don't have children, we delighted in looking around all the festive elements and Center Parcs truly did make it a very magical experience.

Of course I took my camera around with me and I thought it would be a good practise experience for Vlogmas, so I vlogged most of our holiday so if you would like to see what we got up to and how lovely the parc was then do take a look. I have included some photos on this post too!

Book Review Monday - Faery Tale by Signe Pike

Book review Monday and today we have a non fiction piece / travel writing / memoire. I find it really hard to categorise this one. I don't normally go for non fiction but this was about Faeries so I had to didn't I! It was great, I really enjoyed it.

Book review - The Dark Heroine - Abigail Gibbs

Hi folks, it is Monday (crikey doesn't it come round fast!) Well you know what that means, it is book review day. This week's book is The Dark Heroine by Abigail Gibbs, which I am not kidding, is so totally, unbelievably addictive. A little predictable but I was gripped none the less!

My First Ever FLOWBOX unopening!

As you know if you have been following me for a while now,  Mr B and I are vegetarians. I have been a veggie on and off for nearly my entire life. Mainly on than off to be honest. At one point I was veggie for ten straight years. It helped that my Mum was also veggie so she cooked the most scrumptious meals for us. My Dad is and always will be a massive carnivore! I also like to be conscious of what I am putting in and on and around my body.

I prefer to go for more natural or environmentally products where possible. The only thing I find is that I struggle to find good or new products. My town isn't all that big and we only have a very small health food shop that couldn't possibly stock lots of things. I guess in a way I was starting to get a bit fed up with the same stuff all the time.

As you know I already subscribe to Glossybox and Graze as I do unboxing and reviews for those for you which I know from your comments you love to see! Whilst browsing the net one day I came accross an advert (I think, I can't really remember now!) for The Flowbox and I was really excited to find out that this monthly subscription box would be full of eco-friendly products for the home, toiletries and also vegan food. Perfect!

The Flowbox launched only this month with this being the first ever box that they sent out so I was even more excited to share it with you guys! So I hope you enjoy my unboxing. I was really very impressed with the variety and type of products as well as the size. No sample / trial sizes here!! It even included a box of tea. Yay!

Now I paid for my box and will continue to do so, I don't have an affilitate link or anything but I do have a coupon code for you to get £5 off your first box should you wish to sign up. Just to clarify, I don't get anything for this (in case you were wondering), I am just passing it on for you!  Use code GOFLOW13 for £5 off at https://www.theflowbox.co.uk

My bunny nesting

As you know I have lady bunny rabbits and of course they get their monthly time when they come into season and with that they start to nest. It is so cute to watch them nest and I thought that I would share it with you. I checked with Splodge and she said she didn't mind as long as I gave her a carrot! As you can see she is a busy bunny making her lovely nest and getting it all cosy. I just don't have the heart to tell her that there is not a man in sight nor is there likely to be one anytime soon. Bless her!

My bunny nesting

As you know I have lady bunny rabbits and of course they get their monthly time when they come into season and with that they start to nest. It is so cute to watch them nest and I thought that I would share it with you. I checked with Splodge and she said she didn't mind as long as I gave her a carrot! As you can see she is a busy bunny making her lovely nest and getting it all cosy. I just don't have the heart to tell her that there is not a man in sight nor is there likely to be one anytime soon. Bless her!

Book review - Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

I have another Book review for you. I have decided to make Monday's book review day or anything to do with books as I might not have a review every week, it depends on how much I read! So if it is not a review it might be a haul or a tag or something like that. I can't make any promises that it will be every week, I just might not have anything to share but I will try. Anyways, anything bookish that I do have will be on a Monday!

The book that I have today is Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. Do let me know what you thought of this book if you have read it, I would genuinely love to know!

I heart Fall (Autumn) Tag!

I thought it would be fun to do the I heart Fall (or Autumn as us British gals call it) Tag! I tag anyone that would like to do it! If you would like to do it here are the questions:

1. Favorite Fall lip product?

2. Favorite Fall Nail Polish?

3. Favorite Starbucks Fall Drink?

4. Favorite Fall Candle?

5. Favorite Fall Scarf or accessory

6. Haunted house, haunted hay ride, or haunted corn maze?

7. Favorite Halloween movie?

8. Favorite candy to eat on Halloween?

9. What are you dressing up as for Halloween?!

10. What is your Favorite thing about Fall?

Let me know if you have done it too so I can come watch your video.

Cuppa Tea Pet? October 2013

As you know if you follow me on Instagram that I drink a lot of tea. I have been asked what teas I drink and what I thought of them so I thought I would start to do a monthly series of well just that so I hope you enjoy! Please do let me have your recommendations for tea too as I love trying new ones.