Christmas Tree Brownie Baking - BLOGMAS DAY 8

Hello everyone! As you can tell from the title I took on some Christmas baking. I got a recipe from Sainsburys here after looking on my trusty Pinterest. Usually I'm a decent baker, the same applies here but my opinion on the finished product may be slightly different... 

Ingredients

• 150g cook’s Belgian dark chocolate (76% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
• 150g unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest and juice of 1 clementine (I USED A SATSUMA, CAUSE THEY'RE JUST THE FUCKING SAME TO BE HONEST)
• 3 tbsp port (I USED RED WINE AS AN ALTERNATIVE) 
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• a good pinch of ground cloves
• several gratings of nutmeg
• 100g plain flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder

To decorate 

• 75g royal icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp gold and silver sprinkles – we used star sprinkles
• 12 x Cadbury chocolate fingers

Ingredients taken straight from the Sainsburys website 

I love baking at the best of times but at Christmas time it's even better to have fun and experiment with recipes you've never tried before. Dan and I are planning to make Terry's Chocolate Orange brownies again soon, they ruled last time and Dan definitely got a lot of credit with his work friends. 

I cannot wait for Christmas time in the future when I have my own home and can freely bake whenever the fudge I want, and be a mum who bakes cookies for their kids when they get home from school. Or the mum who makes gingerbread men as little presents for people, I want to be THAT extra. 

They turned out looking fairly decent, so pat on the back to me. A great way to spend only a couple of hours on a day off! 

I'd say the following out of ten: 

Taste - 5/10 (personal preference) Dan said 5/10

Ease of baking - 8/10

Disaster level on my part - 6/10 (they look OKAY) 

Just to remind you the entire recipe is here so let me know if you're trying these out for Christmas! (I'd advise you to avoid using ground cloves however, they made them taste WEIRD. What else do you have planned to bake or cook this Christmas season, let me know! 

Shannon x 

My Tattoos

Hey everyone! 

I did a little poll on Twitter to see what post you'd like to see next and you wanted a post on my tattoos. I have a few and actually rediscovered a post I did back in 2014 on my first two little tattoos - I totally forgot I did that post!

Well since then I've had five new tattoos and I thought I'd talk through them and why I got them and why I love them all individually so much, let's go... 

Watercolour Heart

So, this is my little water colour heart on my inner right arm. I actually got this tattoo with my mum, we got a matching tattoo it's adorable! I love water colour tattoos and I want my whole right arm to be colourful and my left arm to be black and grey. But anyway, this tattoo is so important just because I share it with my mum it's out little thing together and it means the world that I can share something forever with my mum. 

Watercolour Umbrella

This sounds EMO AF, but, I just bloody love the rain. I really do, I love going for walks in the rain, I love sitting in my room and listening to the rain. It's my favourite and I wanted a tattoo on my body to represent that. This is so cute and goes so well with my heart which is just underneath it. I want to add some more seasonal/weather inspired tattoos on my upper arm to kind of go with this. 

Balloon

This is probably my least favourite if I'm honest...oops. I'm going to get this added to, it's on my arm with my watercolours so I think I want some colour added. I literally got this done at the same time as the heart just because I felt like it. It was meant to represent me being free and letting go but to be honest I didn't think about it enough, I really want to add more to it to represent what it was truly meant to. It actually just looks like a sperm, so maybe I'll just say it's to remember the time before I was born, right? 

Pinky Promise

For my 21st Birthday my best friends got me a tattoo voucher so I wanted to get something for them. That's why I got a little pinky promise tattoo, I wanted them to know that I promise to be their friend forever and that they mean the world to me. I love this one purely for that reason! Probably my most painful one but it was worth it. That 21st birthday present was my favourite of that year and I get to keep it with me forever, and I get to keep that promise to my friends. 

Daffodil 

OKAY SO, this is now my absolute favourite! I literally got this done on Wednesday. Tuesday night I was like "Cor I fancy a tattoo" so I emailed my studio that I go to and they got me in on Wednesday. 

The reason for this is firstly, I want a lot of floral tattoos, I want my whole left arm to be covered in flowers really. But the other reason is that on the day of my Grandads funeral all I seemed to see was Daffodils, everywhere! I kept looking around in the car up to the funeral and on the way back and they were all I saw. From that moment I was like, I want a god damn effing Daffodil. I have a plan for a tattoo for both my Grandads so this isn't the 'official' remembrance tattoo for him but it means a heck of a lot. I love it so much. 

That's it for now! Plenty more planned and I am STOKED. Share with me below or on Twitter your tattoos, I'd love to see them! 

Until next time, 

xox 

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A Fresh Start.

Hi everyone!

As you may have gathered from the previous post, times have been a little tough lately. But here I am, ready to let the last few months go and start a fresh with life.

I realised my worth, again as I say was in the last post  - I've been so much more happier recently than I was in a very long time. This proved to me that maybe I wasn't happy for a much longer time than I realised and God I'm glad I'm where I am now. They say everything happens for a reason and I've never believed it until now. I'm quite happy with the result of my absolute heartbreak and shite that I went through.

I'm here, in my cute little bedroom at my mum and dads house surrounded by cute little flowers and photos and I feel so warm and happy now. I hadn't felt that in a long time.

I'm ready for a new start and a fresh outlook, a different future to the one I thought I was going to have. I may go back to university, I may go and get a sweet new job, who knows! I'm just excited to give myself a chance, focus on me and look forward to all the good things.

I'm not dwelling on the past one bit, that is something me, a few months ago, would never have thought I could do.

I'm going to start blogging a lot more (I've said this a billion times) but really, I am! I can't wait to sit down at my sweet little desk and just write and write, I love blogging and always have done. I'm going to reignite Vicious Prints and get some new items on there which I am very excited about! And I'm just going to keep focusing on my recovery and all the good things in life.

What kinda posts would you like to see?! Continue to see posts like these, real life feelings and progress? Or others? Let me know I'd love to have al little chat.

I'll be back as soon as possible!

Lots of love xo

Rome 2016!

Hello everyone! 

It's been almost 2 months since myself and Ryan went away to Rome, we go to Dublin next week so it felt right to FINALLY do a post about it! 

It was incredible, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been with the absolute love of my life. It was just perfect. The weather was sweet, maybe even too hot. The food was bloody incredible oh my god, don't, I am still mourning the loss of the Italian pizza when I eat a disappointing pizza from England. Sigh, forever in my heart. The landmarks were just insane, honestly the whole place just blew my mind. I don't understand how the buildings were made so many years ago, it was just amazing! 

So, we started off going to Heathrow. Ryan does not like tubes but we were getting the train and tubes, HE NEARLY DID NOT GET ON THE TUBE. I am still traumatised, a lady on the tube gasped and we looked at each other through the window like this is the end. It was so dramatic, should've been a TV show. All was well though, he got on. Our flight was then delayed so we went to a restaurant and just chilled for hours and hours with both our anxiety levels rising because we both don't like flying, what a mare. 

Ryan being mis because of the delayed flight, the viewing platform and me having an air pee lolz.

Okay, so we got to Rome and we got pushed into a Taxi...there was already a man in the taxi. Why? Was this a thing? Apparently so when another man got in. It was so bloody weird, and then the taxi driver started to drive while on his phone, looking at a map, just being a fuckin nut nut it was crazy. No one warned us about the crazy drivers! 

Day 1 we walked to the Colosseum and wow, in-fucking-sane, I still can't believe it. How?! HOOWWOWOWOWOWOw. 

Our walk to the Colosseum and the ruins around the area! 

When then walked to the Piazza Venezia, and that was just so huge and crazy. It was white, was I in heaven? Maybz. 

Also, we spent about €17 on GELATO. Okay, we knew it may be pricey but after that it did not cost that much. I think we were mugged off, but it was worth it right?

Evening with Pizza and Gelato!

At a cute fountain outside the Piazza Venezia

Day 2 we went off to the Trevi Fountain! It was gorgeous, it was the one thing I was super stoked to go and do. We also went to the Spanish Steps but they were shut...the steps were shut? Yeah. Anyway, the whole area around there was so Italian. The shops, everything. We looked around the shops, got asked to come into so many cafes, not today thank u. It was lovely, then we had dinner on Gay Street which turned out to be our favourite street to have dinner on and it was beauts, another pizza obvz. Then we went and saw the Colosseum at night and wow, nothing like it. 

Beauts Day! 

Day 3 we went to the Vatican and Vatican City. So the Vatican Museums were insane, like there was too much stuff everywhere on the walls on the ceiling on the floor in my FACE. It was incredible and I'll never experience anything like that again. We also climbed up 500+ steps almost facing our death to see the view of Vatican City, and it was unreal. Worth the pain of the 500+ steps and seeing Ryans whole being sweat and almost die. We went to the T-Bone Station that night too, not very Italian but Ry has always wanted a T-Bone Steak and he looked v proud of himself for destroying it. 

Part 1 of the Vatican, all those beautiful ceilings! 

Part 2 of the day, that view and Ry with his T-Bone.

So our last full day we went to see the Pantheon, just in the middle of a little place and the history behind places like this as I said before was just blowing my mind. It was great. We also went and saw the Piazza Navona and it was like the Covent Garden of Rome in my opinion. That night we had dinner with the view of the Colosseum again and we finished fairly early so off we went to the Ice Bar! It was so cold (obviously, duh) but so bloody funny, me and Ry had already had a bottle of wine with dinner then we were the only two in there and we were just having such a laugh. It is now one of my favourite memories with Ryan! 

More Pizza I love myself. 

Of our titties in the Ice Bar

And that was that, the next day we went home and now I have all these new memories with my love and I can't wait for the next adventure next week to Dublin! 

Hope you've enjoyed this post! 

Positive Tuesdays, they're back!

Oh my god HI. I'm bringing back Positive Tuesdays, if you were about in my Uni days you'll know all about these. Have a look here, there's loads!

I enjoyed doing this, let me fill you in on the dealio with these. Every Tuesday I will look back on the week I've had and pick out all the good things, it's a day of positive reflection. A moment to focus on the good and forget any of the bad and document it to look back on when I need to! I loved doing it back when I was struggling at university.

It did help, it helped slightly then however I feel now as I am well into my recovery and getting better that these will help me so much more! Please join in, use the hashtag #PositiveTuesdays on Twitter and label your posts with it, I'd love to read what's been happening with your week and all the good stuff that's made you happy! I love to reflect on all the funny, weird things that have happened to and believe me on planet Shannon there's a lot.

I hope this sounds like a good idea to other people? I know I'm so stoked to be bringing it back! Shannon 1 - 0 Mental Health.

Anyway, MY WEEK. What's been happening?! Well, we've gone into our second week of living in our brand new lovely house ahhhhh - my first homeware haul was put up last week so check that out if you'd like!

The Great British Bake Off started again and me and Ry were stoked so we made banana bread - or attempted to - with the left over bananas in the house. We had no scales, Ryan aka Paul Hollywood thought oh no it's fine we'll just measure FLOUR WITH A SPOON. We only used two table spoons, the banana bread came out sludgey and looked like a slab of pork. The more I think about it the more I want to gag and fall into a hole and live there forever but we tried. Our first baking experience in the house was not a great success but at least we enjoyed it? Haha.

Honestly, not a lot has happened this week, I've hung out with my family and my puppers a few times so that's been GREAT. Look at them, they're adorable! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

Well, that's it my return to Positive Tuesdays, let me know if you join in I'd love to see some more posts! 

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Homeware Haul Part 1!

Hello everyone, I'm on a roll! So this shall be my first of a few homeware hauls, we haven't got everything in the house yet  - I'm currently sitting on a pile of blankets and cushions while we wait for the sofas. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor while watching the telling which is also on the floor, I think it's kinda cute though. In years to come me and Ry can be like "so we spent weeks on the floor... WEEKS." 

I'm not too good at this whole living away from home thing just yet, I know I lived in London for a year but I spent most of that eating doritos hungover in a mess in a duvet burrito. Tonight I tried to boil an egg...3 times. THREE TIMES, T H R E E. Not once, not twice but three times. That's a waste of three whole eggs, don't tell Ryan he'll get the waste police on me.

ANYWAY, we picked up some really sweet little bits to make this house a home! There's still so much more to add, but here are a few of my favourite little bits that we picked up. 

Firstly let's go to the kitchen, we went for copper! We could have gone OTT with the copper but of course we were not sure what the kitchen would look like (we've been collecting things since the start of the year maybe?) - however we bought some very sweet pieces. 

We got the Tea, Coffee and Sugar pots from Next (£16.00), well my parents bought these as well as the kettle which was from Sainsburys. We then purchased the Toaster from BHS (RIP, forever in my homeware loving heart) - this was I think £23 instead of £40?! Throughout the whole search we made so many savings it was nUTS. The knife set for example which I think is like Ryans child was £36 instead of £120, I'm sweating. 

We then got these sweet little mugs with a voucher I got for my birthday from my friend Ben, because aren't they just cute. I love these little Alphabet pieces. These were £4.00 each from Next! 

Onto the living room, very incomplete as I previously said with the lack of sofas! But once everything is in I'm going to do another post - especially when I get the desk in the spare room aGH. Anyway, back onto the living room we got these beautiful effing cushions oh my GOD. They are the most beautiful things I've ever set eyes on. These are from Marks & Spencers, they were pretty steep at £15.00 each and are like the size of a pea but still wow. Cutest little things again on the whole alphabet theme so people know whose house they're in, right? 

oH MY GOD I LOVE THEM

Now the bathroom, upstairs we got some lovely lilac bath mats which are just beauts but I haven't taken a photo of them. The picture below is the beautiful toothbrush holder with a sweet little heart pattern from Sainsburys! We got a matching soap dish and toilet brush holder  - they're just so sweet. The only annoying thing is not being able to have the tiles and flooring that we would like as we rent, but we've made it all work. Here's just a little peak at the toothbrush holder! 

Moving on to the random little bits around the house, one day I purchased this cute little chalkboard from Tiger. I'm pretty sure it was about £7.00 but I honestly cannot remember it was months ago, it's so sweet though we keep writing each other little messages when the other is at work or messages for when the other gets home from work. It's quite hard to work such different times from each other, but little messages are very cute to come home to. 

These little vases from Next, no longer available though bOOOOO. But they actually inspired the colours I wanted in the accessories for the living room, I think I'll be keeping these in the living room and not in our bedroom. They were £5.00 down from £14.00 in the sale, honestly we should have our own bargain hunting TV show. 

Finally, I'm going to show you our bed cover! I'm really unsure what colours we should have in the bedroom. Until we get furniture I don't think I will be super sure but anyway we picked these super sweet bed covers up from Tesco! I'm pretty sure they were also in the sale, they look like little watercolours and you know I love me some watercolour. Ryan looks pretty wrapped up in it. 

So that is the lot for now, like I said I will do another once we get more stuff in the house and it all starts coming together. Oh, it wouldn't be right to leave this post without showing you a bit of Ryans nerd cave... 

This is in the spare room and on the other side of the room I'm going to have a desk and it's just going to be mega sweet.

I hope you've enjoyed this post, share with me your love for all things homeware in the comments! 

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Blogmas: Day Nineteen!

Hello everyone!

I had a very productive day today, the creative juices were flowing (that sounds SO wrong and horrible, I take it back) I woke up and put on my Christmas jumper, although I didn't wash my hair because hello, I will wash my hair for no man. Actually, there was no man, I didn't even leave the house today.

Dinosaur socks are obvz well Christmassy 

I finished my wrapping today, my parcels look like actual parcels I felt like I was working in that post office in The Grinch, not blowing my own trumpet here but they look good! 

Wowweee, ooo la la 

After chilling with my mum I begun to make some gingerbread men/snowmen/snow flakes! I like to think I'm an okay baker but then my mum has to step in and help because believe it or not, mums know best. It's a fact of life! The recipe was from the BBC website, after trying to find a decent one I went with that because hello I'm not made of money I can't go out and buy a million and one ingredients so that was a pretty simple one which you can make too if you check it out on their website here! 

looking raw and anaemic, not v ginger at all 

They came out really quite nice, then I went and made them look like absolute psychos with the decoration, my mum being my mum said they looked nice but I think they look like they've been to a midnight rave and had a bit of 'fun'. 

All in all, I've had a very nice, festive day! I've tried to ignore a lot of negative thoughts I've been having for the sake of myself and also my mum. I need to enjoy my time at home, not spend it focusing on bad body image and anxiety.

I'm now going to spend my Friday night with my mum watching Text Santa - which you can donate to by clicking this link if you'd like, it's a good cause! 

I hope you've had a nice day and continue to have a nice weekend, let me know what you're up to in the comments. Have you been doing any festive activities? 

x x