Life - A Weekend in Northern Ireland

Way back at the end of October, my family and I flew out to Northern Ireland to suprise my Grandma for her 80th birthday. I took it as an opportunity to practice some of my photography skills as well as documenting a fun weekend. I've been lucky enough to grow up spending time over there, exploring lots of different places and building happy memories. This trip was even more special as I got to share it with Andy and show him around all of my favourite places.

Mum & Dad hired a Ford Galaxy, we all bundled in and headed off. The first stop on our trip was to visit some of the filming locations for Game of Thrones. We stopped at Downhill Beach which is Dragonstone and walked along the beach.

From there we headed on to Portrush. I've not been here for years but it's exactly as I remember it. We parked up and walked along the East strand before heading back into town and down to the main harbour where we took lots of family selfies. From there we walked round to a pub to have a family dinner. After that it was back to the car to head over to Portstewart for ice cream at Morellis - this was always tradition on our last night over there in the summer.

The next day we all pilled back in the car and went to the Giant's Cause Way. We had several stops on the way, stopping at Portballintrae as well as view point to see Dunluce Castle. Finally we arrived at the Causeway and we wandered about, we headed out as far as we could on the stones before wandering back to the main site and popping into a little pub for some more food.

That night we were back on the plane heading home, shattered but it was well worth it to spend time with my family. Having just popped over for a weekend, I now really want to plan lots more adventures for 2016.

Any suggestions for weekends away would be great!

Blogger Bookclub - The Book of You by Claire Kendal

Another month and another book. This month's book was The Book of You by Claire Kendal. I'm not normally a thriller book fan, I wouldn't choose the book off the shelf unless someone recommends one to me so I was a little concerned I wouldn't enjoy the book.

The story follows Clarissa who becomes the focus of her colleague's, Rafe, affections. The book flits between 1st and 3rd person, some of the chapters focus on Clarissa and what Rafe is putting her through as she builds evidence to take to the police, while others are the story around her as she sits on the jury in a horrible trial, learning from this the sorts of evidence she needs before her story will be taken seriously.

Once I got my head around the change in person I really got stuck in and couldn't put it down, the more erratic Rafe's behaviour became, the more I could feel myself getting angry and frustrated, I  really grew to hate that character. 

I really enjoyed The Book of You when I didn't expect to! 

Check out the other girls in the book club to see what they thought!

Lorna - Leanne - Lizzie - Alyssia - Chloe

Christmas Gifts - Fit Food

Stocking fillers, usually made up up of tubes of smarties, bags of chocolate coins and, in my house, random trinkets from around the house! I always end up with stuff that I eat within hours and then feel guilty about it, so why not replace the trash with healthier options! 

You can't not have chocolate, a perfect replacement would be Green & Blacks Salted Caramel Thin, I love this, one square a day is my treat. 

For the nut butter addict in your life, you can't go wrong with a jar of the good stuff. Nuts 'n' More Toffee Crunch is amazing mixed into morning porridge or dolloped on pancakes, whilst Buff Bake Snickerdoodle is awesome straight out of the jar for a pick me up!

Finally, snacks on the go don't get much better then Quest Bars in their variety of flavours, heated up they are the food of gods. Propercorn help satisfy sweet or savoury craving, perfect for keeping you away from the crisps. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a Chocolate Orange, well Bounce have that covered with their new Orange & Cacoa Bounce Balls, perfectly orangey and chocolatey, a great replacement!

Just a quick round up of food ideas for gifts, let me know which ones you would pick!