Birthdays, Parties & Blog Breaks

For those of you who don't know (shame on you), Friday was my birthday! It was also Tom's birthday last week, so we wrote the whole week off as one giant birthday celebration! It was great fun, although it did mean a break from the internet, so sorry for the lack of planned blogs!

On Tuesday (his birthday) I got him a bottle of Cinnamon & Vanilla Jaeger to try as he's been going on about it for months now (we don't buy alcohol very often) and it was a hit, so I was very pleased with myself. I also got myself some Peach Bellini Oddka, which is reeeally nice with vanilla coke as a side note.

Thursday was an exciting day as I went to the casino to pay for our engagement party (4 days to go!) with Kassi (Maid of Honour #1 & Sister). Tom was too poorly to join us - probably from the jaeger! We had a tour of the casino for Kassi's benefit, discussed last minute details and had a free bet on the roulette wheel which we didn't win...

Then we wandered on over to trade in a game for Tom and get him a new one - Dragon Age: Inquisition - which I'm completely hooked on now. Seriously, I've spent about 15 hours on it over 3 days: obsessed. It took us a ridiculously long time to walk back to the car which made Kassi late for picking our cousin up from school, so I tagged along for the ride. My sides physically hurt by the time I got home from laughing so hard. There's nothing quite like time with family who think just like you!

This doesn't do it justice - it's bright red!

Friday was my birthday! I spent 4.5 hours in the salon - way more than the 2.5 I thought I'd be - getting my hair done and was starving by the time I eventually got home. I had just enough time to throw a pretty dress and some make up on before heading out to the Bonzo Lounge - a new place that's just opened up in Keynsham that does endo-friendly meals. I've been waiting to try this place out for weeks now and it was definitely worth it! I had a gluten-free harissa-spiced chicken burger with hummus instead of mayo. Yum! Plus a few too many cocktails, so Saturday didn't start too well for me, haha!

The weekend was spent playing Dragon Age and visiting fam for a good catch up. Plus I went to see 50 Shades of Grey with the girls Sunday night. I wasn't expecting much and really was just going for the girl-time, but it was actually alright. I think it was better to go in with low expectations as I was pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed, haha.

This week I have my uncle's birthday & my mum's, my scan and the engagement party so it's another busy one for me! But I think I prefer busy weeks - I was getting into the habit of a few too many pj days lately!

How about you? Busy busy busy or still hibernating for winter? :)

Dress Shopping and Pin It Buttons

Happy Sunday lovely readers!

This week has been full of ups and downs with the diet - those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook will have spotted my new obsession with Banana Smoothies! But I was also bad and had more chocolate than I'd like to admit to.. Must try harder next week!

I finally got a date through for my scan - 19th Feb - so I'll find out what the endo has been up to in the last year. Fingers crossed for no difference, but I don't think I'll be that lucky this time.

The highlight of this week was Wednesday, when I went dress shopping for our engagement party with my nan. I'm not a standard size so inevitably a top that fits my chest will be too big for my stomach and vice versa. Plus I'm short, so dresses don't fall where they're supposed to. I usually try to avoid shopping, but we went in with determination to find something that would fit!

We planned to go to Milsom Street in Bath as they have some little boutique stores, but we ended up on Broad Street first and found a lovely little shop. The owner was fabulous and very friendly - passing me all kinds of dresses to try on as we went through the sale racks. She even let me borrow a pair of heels and some jewellery to see what the 'completed look' would be for each outfit!

I tried on 4 dresses in total, all of which were beautiful. It was a completely new experience for me to try on dresses and love every single one! I was wearing my sister's corset on underneath to smooth the lumps and bumps, but that was my only cheat.

In the end though there was a clear winner. The ladies in the shop were raving about it and my nan was giving it the big thumbs up, so it had to come home with us. For the first time ever, we not only found a dress that fitted with minimal fuss, we did it in the first shop we went to! (I know you're not supposed to buy the first one you find, but when you see it you'll know it was the right call!)

I'm keeping the dress under wraps for now - I've been asked for a sneak peek by so many people already! Now my task is to find accessories to match and I have 12 days left to do so. :)

Another achievement this week was adding Pin It buttons to the blog so you can share it on Pinterest now - a small but happy win! So if you like what you read go ahead and Pin away!

What was your highlight of the week or achievement you're proud of? Sometimes endo can leave us focusing on the negative, it's nice to take a look back and give ourselves high fives for the little things!