Dear Debz

Even though I'm 22 now and I live 131 miles away, I still love you! :)

Happy Mothers Day!

<3

Being Creative.

Last weekend I told you all about how I was keeping busy... well, I was procrastinating because I had loads of work to do for an upcoming local authority inspection on Monday. I also promised to share the outcome of the Nutella Brownies I baked! They were awesome!!! :D so the recipe does feature in this post. 

This week I've been feeling really creative. Despite a pretty rubbishy start to the week at work, I've really enjoyed being in my classroom and I've had some really fun lessons. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to the York Chocolate Story on Thursday! We got our hands messy making chocolate lollies and truffles and got to try an Aztec chocolate drink. Our Chocolate topic has been great for some creative teaching opportunities. The children loved drawing symmetrical Aztec patterns for Montezuma in maths and investigating states and matters in science.

As well as at work, I've been feeling pretty creative at home too. Last weekend I bought myself a sketch book after being artistically inspired while staying at the yurt. On Sunday evening I sat for hours (literally) sketching in my new book. I only stopped because my hand started to ache! Art was always one of my favourite subjects at school but it's unfortunate that it clashed with my other options. I think I've given up with cross-stitch and crochet for a little while... mainly because I suck! :P

 Arty things from our holiday in  Devon.

My sketch book. Inspired by paintings from Paint Pallet.

Finally, I will tell you all about the gorgeous, amazing and down right AWESOME brownies I made last Sunday. When I saw these on Lily loves Lola I didn't quite believe what I was reading. How could you possibly make brownies out of just three ingredients? Well, it is possible!

Ingredients:

A 400g jar of Nutella.

2 medium/large eggs.

25g or 1/2 cup of self raising flour.

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C (fan)

Stick all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until it is all smooth.

Pour the ingredients into a lined tin of your choice. I chose to use greaseproof paper rather than butter because then you can just pull them straight out.

Invite a chocoholic friend to eat the remaining mix and Nutella to save washing up (kidding).

Check on the brownies after 20 minutes. They should be crunchy around the edges and still a little wobbly in the middle.

Leave to set, cut up and enjoy!

Spring Feeling

The sun is streaming through my window on this fine Sunday morning! Despite having a pretty intense Monday coming up (we have a local authority inspection at work) I'm feeling really relaxed and positive. I'm currently sat drinking a cup of tea in bed, listening to the delightful voice of George Ezra. Usually I spend my weekends with Ryan and Sundays are reserved for adventures but he is in Essex visiting his family. The sun is far too inviting to spend the day indoors though so I am still going to go for a solo-wander :)

Last weekend was a beautifully sunny one too. We went on a bit of a trek over the moors to visit Rievaulx Abbey and Rievaulx Terrace. I have been to Rievaulx a couple of times before with my family and it is a really beautiful place to spend a few hours. Back in the Summer of 2011, this happened....

Last weekend wasn't too different apart from the sunshine! Apparently it doesn't matter who I'm with, the camera still comes out for silly pictures and self-timer poses. I think Ryan had a good time exploring the abbey even though I kept stopping and reminiscing rather than thinking about the historical aspects! He did get his own back by taking me to the terrace which I'd not been to but he had. The views were spectacular and we even did a spot of sunbathing! 

During the week I still had that Spring feeling, my class went outside for a maths lesson looking at directional language and I didn't want my break duty to end on Friday. Yesterday I was up at the crack of dawn as usual, even though it was Saturday, so I decided to Spring clean some of the flat. I hadn't planned to but the kitchen was just a disaster and I wanted to take my mind off work for an hour. I have to say my mind felt clear and refreshed knowing I had two clean spaces to spend time in. I soon went to sleep last night in my fresh sheets :)

(For the eagle-eyed readers, that is an empty wine bottle I intend to put flowers in!)

Obviously the first thing I wanted to do in my clean kitchen was to make a mess in it! I had the urge to cook and bake lots of yummy things yesterday while I was doing my food shop. I realised that I was clearly procrastinating so I made a deal with myself to finish work and then bake. Sitting down with my home-made sweet potato and chicken curry, with Victoria sponge for pudding, having finished my work for the day and finding 500 days of Summer on Film4 was the BEST feeling. 

Today I am going to take a stroll around the stray, get my fringe trimmed and buy some Nutella to make these AWESOME Nutella Brownies that I read about on Lily loves Lola Blog. I'm sure they will feature on the blog next week if they are successful!

Happy Weekend :)

It's a Lush Life

After missing my usual Sunday post last week, I am back! I'd had a really tough week back at work and wanted to spend my weekend relaxing and escaping from my usual routine. However in usual Jenny fashion I have bounced back to my positive and slightly mental self again.

This week I wanted to talk about LUSH. Last Saturday I went into the Harrogate shop and had a great chat with the girl who works in there about different products that would suit me. I even walked away with a free sample of their skin tint! I've liked LUSH cosmetics ever since my uni housemate Leah introduced them to me in first year, but I could never afford to buy much on a student budget.

Now that I'm earning a fair whack and have a shop only five minutes away, my collection and love for their products is growing. Not only is their stuff AWESOME, they also have fantastic VALUES such as sourcing 100% recycled packaging, being against animal testing and removing Palm oil from their products. 

In this post I'd like to share some of the products that I've tried and loved. 

My current collection.

Face

Catastrophe cosmetic £5.95
This is a blueberry based face mask for skin that is prone to breakouts and problems. My skin is sensitive and reacts to a lot of things. One day it's oily, the next it's dry so this face mask was great for calming my skin. LUSH do a range of fresh face masks for all sorts of skin types so it's worth going in and asking.





Imperialis £12.75
Celestial £11.95
As well as face masks, LUSH also have lots of different face creams because everyone's skin is different! I actually own two different moisturisers for when my skin is playing different games. Imperialis is packed full of plant infusions and is great for combination skin. Celestial is a thicker, more nourishing cream for drier days.



Light Pink Skin Supplement  £8.95
This is a new find for me. I went into LUSH last weekend to buy another pot of imperialis and happened to mention my love of tinted moisturiser. Lo and behold, they have a small selection of skin tints which are much better than choosing between light and dark (I'm talking about you Garnier and Nivea). I managed to get a freebie sample that lasted me all week and was lovely to use! Being the sucker that I am, I went and bought a tub yesterday.

Lips

Popcorn Lip scrub £5.50
I have already convinced a few friends to buy a lip scrub. It basically exfoliates the dead skin off your lips and leaves them feeling soft. It is edible too so you can enjoy whichever flavour you choose.







Honey Trap £5.75
This one is just a super lip balm for using on it's own or after your scrub :)

Hair

Sea Spray £9.95

I bought this way back in the Summer of 2013. I used it a lot on holiday after I'd been in the pool or the sea to give my hair that scrunchy-wave beach look. It smells gorgeous, leaves hair wavy but not crunchy or sticky and it seems to last forever. I now use it on lazy mornings to give my naturally slightly wavy hair some oomph.

Despite all the love I give them, I do NOT recommend buying the henna hair dye from LUSH. Leah tried it during second year of uni and I can only say it resembled elephant poop.

Body

Vanillary Solid Perfume £6.50
The fact that this is so much lighter than carrying round a glass bottle of perfume should make it a winner. I have a vanilla natural collection spray from Boots that I spritz on my clothes each day so this vanilla perfume is a perfect match. I quickly dab a little on my neck and wrists as I'm rushing to work in this morning. It's great for an easy top-up during the day too. I've had compliments about how lovey I smell while wearing this too ;)



I have also tried their shower gel, shower jelly, soaps and bath bombs. Some are amazing and smell gorgeous while others haven't been my thing at all. I just like to go in, have a sniff of everything and just try stuff out.

For the full range of products visit www.lush.co.uk or your local LUSH shop.