Bedroom Makeover Plus Our New Leesa Mattress!

(I was not compensated for this post but our mattress was provided for free, for review, in collaboration with Leesa. More in disclaimer at end of post)

We're renters. We have been for some time, and the way Dublin house prices are going, we will be for some time more. We're also savers, but until we can get a deposit together to make our own mark on a house, we can do gentle updates on the 100 year old house we're currently renting!

If my landlady happens to be reading, those updates do not include drilling holes in the wall, promise.

Those gentle updates started this month; we cleaned out our long suffering spare room and gave away about 13 bags and boxes of clothes, books, bags, shoes and household bits and bobs to charity or to the recycling centre.

We got a new TV for the bedroom to make cosy nights in that extra bit cosy.

We finally framed prints that we've bought over the years that have just been gathering dust (in the aforementioned spare room) and have hung some of them. Some are still languishing, waiting for me to buy more Command strips (no holes drilled here, remember!) and I found a glass and metal, grey touch lamp in Next that adds to the general snug feel of things.

Most importantly though, we got a new mattress. I've always included mattresses in that list of things you should spend money on; winter boots, a good coat, skincare, an umbrella, and mattresses. If you're putting it on your face, you're hoping it'll get you through bad weather, or you're trusting it with the care of your back, spend a bit more and make it an investment.

Weirdly, we had been talking about getting a new mattress a few days before I got an email asking me if I'd like to try a Leesa mattress for the blog*.

I've had a dodgy back for years; over a decade of nursing and midwifery have taken its toll and about five years ago I had back surgery on one of my discs. Since then, I've thankfully been good in that department but I have to take care of it; walking and yoga help, as do supportive shoes but I had been thinking about how often you're supposed to change your mattress. The Internet tells me 7-10 years, but that depends on how well you look after it. We moved into this house five years ago and the mattress had already been in the house a good few years at that stage. So, it was time for a change!

Leesa are an American brand that have recently launched in Ireland. Apart from rave reviews of their mattresses, I also really appreciated their brand ethics. There's a 100-night risk-fee trial period, so if you don't like your Leesa after sleeping on it for 100 nights, they'll collect it and take it back no problem. Amazingly, they also donate one mattress for every ten sold to charitable causes. So far they've donated over 30,000 mattresses, which is pretty cool! If you're interested, you can read more about that HERE. They do good work.

So how do you go about getting your mattress? Firstly, we measured our base. Ours is a King size (sizes range from Single to Super King). I placed the order, which takes on average 6-9 working days to build each one from scratch and get it delivered directly to your door. It arrived in a massive box that confused me slightly as this was not what I was expecting! I got Himself to lug it upstairs and unbox it; it's tightly rolled up and vacuum packed, so you unroll it and take off all the plastic covering. As soon as you do it starts to puff itself back up, as if by magic! We left it a couple of hours to fully re-inflate and also opened all the windows as recommended in the instructions- there's a strong enough chemical smell, kind of like glue, when you first use it. That smell initially eases but was still faintly there a few weeks after so it takes time to go completely. And then there nothing left to do but go to bed!

It honestly wasn't until we slept on the new mattress that we realised just how bad the old one was; bumpy with a dip in the middle and overall, it had started to lose its structure. I don't really know how we were managing on the old one, except that the electric blanket must have masked a lot of the problems.

There's three layers with the Leesa; a base foam layer that provides dense core support, a middle memory foam layer that provides relief from pressure and a top layer of cooling Avena foam designed to provide a better airflow so you don't overheat and adds a nice added bouncy-ness! After sleeping on it for four weeks now, these are my findings:

(puts on lab coat and exchanges glasses for more scientific looking goggles)

We both have found our respective old-crock issues (mine is my back, Himself's is his knee) have overall felt better and I think this is down to the increased body support we have for 8 hours (wishful thinking) each night.
Also, and this might be just a novelty thing cause it's still new to us but every night feels like staying in a hotel. Not just any hotel, but one of those fancy ones with those massive comfy beds that you refuse to leave. The other difference I've noticed is that I'm not waking up during the night feeling really warm or sweaty (sorry for the TMI), which I hadn't connected to the new mattress until I read on the site that the top layer is designed to be cooling! It all makes sense now!

So if you're furnishing a new home or renting like myself, I'd suggest being good to yourself and getting a new, properly supportive mattress. Even better, Leesa have given me a €100 off discount to pass on, using the code NURSEFANCYPANTS. You can have a look for your own HERE.

Wishing you all a comfy nights sleep! (smug, well-rested voice)

*I'm not being paid for my review, or to talk about it on my social media sites. I was provided with the mattress, free of cost and asked to give my unbiased, honest opinion on it, with no input from the brand on the content of my post. I think it's important to highlight this as I am always honest in my reviews and this is no different! I get asked regularly to review products or to accept sponsored posts, but I rarely do, unless it suits me and the blog. I made an exception for Leesa because I love the ethos behind the brand and the reviews I read online about the mattress made it obvious that it was a really good fit for us and the lifestyle section of Nurse Fancy Pants.

The Best of March

Mostly so far this month I've heard a lot of "I can't believe it's April already, where's the year gone?!" and in fairness, it has flown by!

March was a good month. We had our trip away to Galway in the midst of Snowmaggedon, lots more great beauty products tried out and more great food, great books and great podcasts.

Glenlo Abbey & Dinner on the Orient Express (kinda)
We headed off to Galway to celebrate a big anniversary as soon as the roads were drivable during the big snow storm. We try and make a trip to the West once a year as we love it here. Glenlo Abbey is a fantastic hotel; the rooms are beautifully decorated, the staff are helpful and friendly and the food is delicious. Speaking of which, there's a carriage from the original Orient Express on the grounds of the hotel and we had one of our meals here. As Agatha Christie fans, we both loved this!

Clarins Eye Mask & Lip Balm
I've been dealing with undereye bags and very dry lips lately so these couldn't have come at a better time. Review HERE.

Afternoon Tea in The Merrion Hotel
I spent a lovely afternoon here recently with my female in-laws, sipping prosecco and eating dainty sandwiches. Always such a treat.

Cheese & Wine Festival @ Eatyard
Eatyard in Portobello reopened recently and have been running themed festivals at the weekends. I went with friends for the wine and cheese festival, which was excellent. A tenner in gets you €10 worth of tokens (I got myself a full Irish cheese board) and a free glass of wine, although I went back to one of the independent sellers for another glass later. They just did a gin festival, which I missed but I'll be keeping my eyes open for more of the same.

Meeting Louise O'Neill and Marian Keyes (again..I love her) with my book club
Tatler hosts excellent events every so often with authors like the above in conversation with each other. Previously I attended one with Lindy West, which was also brilliant. For your €35 ticket, you get a glass of champagne, nibbles, a goody bag, a chance to meet and chat with the authors and in this case, a signed copy of Louise's new book, Almost Love. I went with some of my book club, and we loved chatting with Marian and Louise (we're all on first name terms now, obviously). A great evening and we read Almost Love for the club this month!

Grief Is The Thing With Feathers
This is the Enda Walsh adapted play, starring the ludicrously talented Cilian Murphy. We managed to get very last minute seats and in spite of not sitting next to each other and me barely being able to breathe with a dose of sinusitis, we enjoyed it in the end! The acting performances were outstanding, as were the set pieces. It's a brilliant play, albeit quite grim and surreal. More of an experience than anything.

The Backlash Against the Result in the Belfast Rape Trial
The only possible good thing that could come out of the absolute horror show that was this very high profile trial was the resulting outcry from women and some men online to the jury's decision of not guilty. I won't go into that further here, but it was somewhat comforting to see so many #IBelieveHer posts on Instagram and Twitter. And I still do believe her. I hope she's recovering with her family and knows how supported she is.

Hush: A Buffy Podcast
I feel like I've mentioned this way too much on my Instagram stories but I started listening to a new Buffy The Vampire Slayer podcast; Hush is created by a married couple living in Ireland. Both are of course big fans of the Buffster (they even named their daughter Willow, which is really cute) and are going through each episode in detail-it's a nice trip down memory lane. I haven't watched the full first series in years so I'm enjoying it.

And those are just some of the highlights form the last month. 

Are any of yours on here?

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The Best of February!

Yes, we may be in the middle of a snow storm right now, but it's nice to look back on the parts of the month that did not result in me being forced to stay indoors, watch the Tom Cruise version of The Mummy and eat the only snack foods that were left in my local petrol station (you can imagine) after Snowmaggedon set in. 

West Cork 

I think the country and its mother listened to this Audible original podcast this month. Based on the ongoing investigation into the mid 90's murder of French woman Sophie Toscan du Plantier in West Cork, it's similar to the This American Life podcast Serial but possibly even more interesting as it's so close to home. Chief suspect Ian Bailey is interviewed throughout and although he comes across as a terrible person, it's still hard to know whether he's actually innocent or not. It's a weird one but definitely worth a listen! If you don't have Audible, you can get a free trial and an audiobook of

your choice to try! 

The Dry

I'd had this on my to-read list and my kindle for a while but even though I read lots of good books this month, I'm specifically recommending this thriller set in the Australian countryside where a cop has to return to his oppressive hometown after his childhood best friend and his entire family have been killed. They shared some dark secrets from their teen years about the death of one of their friends that neither of them have ever quite moved on from. It's very atmospheric- well worth picking up, even though I read the entire thing in my head in the voice of several characters from Home & Away. 

Black Panther

We'd been waiting for this one for a while and it didn't disappoint (not completely anyway). The character of the Black Panther and pretty much every woman in this film are just brilliant. The women are all warriors- not something you always find in a Marvel movie, or any film for that matter. Plus the exploration of various African tribal costumes, cultures and traditions were really well depicted. There is a but, however. I felt it was too long. Like, could-have-been-a-half-hour-less-too-long and I would happily watch more scenes with Danai Gurira kicking someone's ass. Extra points for Michael B Jordan though. Swoon. 

Hey Donna

We've been planning to go to this new restaurant in Rathmines for a while now. It's where Jo Burger used to be and is owned by the same people. Since the changeover, it's really bright in there, there's books, plants and light everywhere so it's a nice place to go with friends or for a very pleasant date night! Plus, Lebanese food is always a winner. I would suggest the roast aubergine, the labneh, the roast potatoes and the apricot gin cocktail. Himself recommends the lamb! I also went there for lunch with my sister another day and had an excellent chicken salady wrap thing.

Buxom Lip Cream

I had originally picked up a tiny sample size of this with my Sephora rewards card when I was in Vegas, wore it for the night of our vow renewals and quickly became obsessed with it. It's like the original Pout lip glosses if you remember them? 

Pure cream (No shimmer), a tingly sensation that puffs the lips up a bit, a minty-vanilla scent and a gorgeous flattering pink shine. This is the perfect gloss. I bought a full size and some on-sale Paddywax candles from Debenhams online when I was feeling sorry for myself after putting my back out and I have zero regrets. I love it! (the candles were also a winner). You can find the lip cream HERE, on sale, although the shade I got, Rose Julep is low in stock. 

Halo Hair

I finally got my hair reblonded after leaving it be for the last 4 months. I tend to let my roots grow out as long as possible cause my own hair colour is pretty light but every so often it's fun to go super bright blonde. It felt appropriate coming in to Spring but what wth the snow I guess I'm looking more like an Elsa tribute act now. Anyway, the blonde is courtesy of the wonderful Alison in Halo Hair on Drury st, to book find them online HERE. 

The Start of the Snow

Look, we all got excited there at the start of the last week in February when we found out we were getting some snow. Of course, it's turned out to be so bad that people have lost electricity, some have had holidays cancelled, have had injuries, can't get to work, or worse (in the case of a lot of my colleagues in the health service) have had to sleep in work or nearby hotels. Zero craic. It was beautiful to begin with though. Snow make everything pretty. 

Contributing to Happy Magazine

I was delighted this month to be asked to be a contributor by the lovely Holly, formerly of Sweet Like Cinnamon blog and now editor of Happy Magazine, a site created to provide daily positivity for people going through cancer in Ireland. I'll be sharing my book reviews there and there's some excellent articles to be found on it, so if there's anyone you know who you think would like Happy Magazine, you'll find it HERE!

Beautiful New Shoes

These are from the bridal collection on asos but that did not stop me. I've been practically stalking these shoes and they kept selling out while I weighed up whether or not to get them until they got them back in stock recently and I said feck it and bought them. They are very high and extremely fancy but I am nothing if not a trier so I'll make the extra height work and as you may be aware, I am myself, very fancy so I think I can pull these off...Find them HERE. (I'll show these in more detail on Insta, the photo here is small and they deserve more of a spotlight ;)

And that's the lot for February. 

How was your month? 

Do we have any overlapping favourites?

I'm guessing West Cork could be in there somewhere?!

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The Best of January

At last, January is coming to an end. My least favourite month of the year, and probably most other people's also. Christmas is over, it's dull and dark. Dreary, cold and wet. 

No more sparkly lights, nights out or continuous opportunities to drink Prosecco.

Somehow though, we still managed to make the most of it!

My month in review is a simple concept but it's a nice way of stepping into a new month with a bit of positivity. I'm gonna do this in bullet points cause otherwise I'll write an essay and no one wants that. 

• We went to see our favourite painting (and if I'm being a knob I'll say "our wedding painting" also) The Meeting On The Turret Stairs in the National Gallery's Burton exhibition, which was wonderful.
• We finally got to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I still haven't clarified in my own mind how I feel about that film as it's so multi-layered but I definitely can recommend it.
• I read some brilliant books and got my years goal of reading 70 off to a great start. I read 6 books this month with favourites including; Practical Magic (Alice Hoffman), Little Deaths (Emma Flint) and The Mother of All Questions (Rebecca Solnit).
• Mostly we stayed indoors to hibernate and watched the feck out of Netflix. The Crown season 2 was enjoyed with a healthy dose of anti-colonialism and we've also been binge watching Elementary, which is surprisingly entertaining.

• I made my triumphant return to my pilates class, which may or may not have crippled me but we'll worry about that in February. 
• Nollaig na mBan (Women's Christmas) was spent with family in The Westin eating tiny sandwiches and sipping prosecco, which was a lovey treat (I lied about the lack of prosecco opportunities in January).
• We booked our Copenhagen/Mälmo/Stockholm trip for May. You should know by now that I had nothing to do with that- it was all Himself (I did buy a swimsuit for our trip to the Amalfi Coast though so that's kind of the same thing as holiday planning, if you think about it)
• We helped christen our beautiful nephew and godson, Tom. 
• We finally got to try Hang Dai for Himself's birthday; a fancy and very cool Chinese restaurant that had been high on our list of Dublin spots to go for food. We will be back.
• Beauty wise, I loved trying the new SOS Primers from Clarins and the MAC Lunar New Year lipsticks, which Himself has described as looking like tampons. Thanks, Himself. 
• Lastly and most excitingly, Leo Varadkar has announced that a referendum to repeal the 8th amendment will go ahead this year and in May, no less. Got to get the old campaigning boots back on and also possibly organise a flight home for a day to vote from the previously mentioned trip to Sweden! 

Phew! That feels better! I think I demonise January a bit too much, lots of good things happened! How was your month? What lovely things did you do to make the start of the year a bit more bearable?

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Audiovisual Favourites 2017

This is my chance to reflect on all things film, TV, and podcast that I loved from the last year.
Books and beauty will get their own posts, fear not!

Podcasts:

This was the year I properly got into podcasts, having previously loved Serial in 2016. During the Summer I happened upon My Favourite Murder and quickly caught up on all the previous episodes I had missed. 

I love this because it combines an interest in True Crime with witty and fun female presenters that are endlessly listenable to. At times, it can be a bit bleak and yes, I have shed a tear but Karen and Georgia have also made me chuckle warmheartedly, not something you can usually say about that genre. They have a huge fanbase, doing live shows, one of which is coming to Dublin this year (I missed out on tickets, like a fool). There's also a cat called Elvis who pops up at the end of each episode, meowing for cookies. It's heartwarming really.

I also tuned in to My Dad Wrote A Porno for a while but after starting the second series, it got a bit samey and I tired of it. It's still fun though, if you're looking to both laugh and cringe on your commute to work. General premise is one guy's dad wrote a terrible porno and him and his two friends decided to read it out loud and laugh at the ridiculousness, which is great for the rest of us.

A few of my favourite youtube/bloggers started podcasts this year too, including Estee Lalonde doing The Heart Of It With Estee Lalonde where she discusses a whole host of topics, including tattoos, feminism, travel and strength, amongst others. She always has a special guest per episode that is an expert in that topic, which makes it even more interesting. Looking forward to season 2!

I also enjoyed At Home With... by Lily Pebbles and Anna Newton, two of my favourite beauty bloggers. They go to a different person's home each episode and discuss everything from their home decor to their wardrobe, work life etc. Depending on the interviewee it's interesting and the two presenters are really pleasant to listen to.

I've also enjoyed tuning in to the Banging Book Club, presented by three book Youtubers, they take a different book about sex or where the storyline involves sex in some way and review it. There's a big variety of books but unfortunately they haven't posted in a while so I stopped listening around June.

Films

I actually kept a list of all the films we watched this year so I could keep track and make this post a bit easier! I won't go into too much detail cause you can really easily look these up but these are my top 17 films of 2017. I narrowed it down to 17 like a champ except that I had a leftover space in my grid, so I made it 18...cause I'm adaptable like that! Some of these came out in 2016 (like Rogue One) but I only got around to seeing them this year. 

Moonlight (beautifully made, touching and unique), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (a late contender), La La Land (the perfect antidote to the January blues), Thor Ragnarok (extremely good fun. Plus Jeff Goldblume), Logan (not your average comic book movie), John Wick 2 (Not as good as the first but still brilliant fight scenes. Plus Keanu Reeves), Girls Trip (absolutely hilarious, I watched on the flight to LA and laughed so hard that I then put it on again for the flight home and made Himself watch my favourite scene with me), Trainspotting 2 (nostalgic, funny and sharp), Get Out (very clever and very terrifying), Hidden Figures (inspiring, emotional and infuriating), It (everything I wanted it to be- true to the book, scary, funny, smart. LOVED IT), Atomic Blonde (it's here for several reasons- Charlize, the 80's Berlin setting, the soundtrack, the clothes and THAT fight scene. G'wan Charlize, you ledge), The Invitation (a tense, slow-building, unexpectedly shocking horror), Baby Driver (fast paced, great soundtrack, adrenaline filled car-chases and Jon Hamm. The storyline goes off the rails somewhat but it's still enjoyable), Dunkirk (I spent the entire thing on the literal edge of my seat. Every scene is beautifully shot and you become completely invested in the characters. Plus, Cillian Murphy), Manchester By The Sea (leaving aside the terrible human that is Casey Affleck, this is an absolute punch to the gut of a film. Brilliantly made but very bleak),  Spiderman Homecoming (a reboot that's actually worth watching. It's fun, self-aware and has a decent Spiderman), Rogue One (a Star Wars story so not part of the official series but it does some explaining along the way and it left me extremely emotional. Sob). 

TV shows

There was lots of good TV this year, mostly via Netflix to be fair!

Westworld (a truly brilliant sci-fi. A must-watch), The Handmaid's Tale (nauseating, true to the book, terrifying, excellent drama/dystopia), It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (it's on series 11 or something ridiculous but we somehow only got into it this year. All of the characters are terrible so you feel no pity for them when it all goes wrong. So funny), The Crown (I think we all watched this one this year! True story period drama with excellent actors and fascinating storylines), Stranger Things 2 (I preferred this to the first series actually, it's as creepy, funny and entertaining as the first series but a bit less upsetting. Poor Barb), Mindhunter (more true crime- this is the story of how the FBI's behavioural analysis unit was set up. Also true stories and I read the book after watching it cause it was so intriguing), Master of None (DEV, COME BAAAACK!!! Perfect television, we had to hold ourselves back from binge-watching the entire thing), Riverdale (pure trash teen drama that makes no sense a lot of the time but has a cool vintage comic vibe thanks to its origins. The murder storyline is nicely creepy and Luke Perry is playing someone's Da, so basically he's only slightly older than he was in Beverly Hills 90210), The Keepers (a traumatising documentary about the evil and depravity of some members of the Catholic Church. It's deeply upsetting and infuriating but an important watch), The Good Place (hilarious and unique- this is like no other TV show around. The storyline flips every so often, totally unexpectedly), This Is Us (we only dipped in and out of this one but we both liked it so will restart it again soon. Great cast of characters with two different timelines to keep things interesting), Game of Thrones series 7 (DRAGONS!!!!), Rick and Morty (I avoided it for a while cause it can be seriously gross sometimes but it also has full-on belly laugh moments), Peaky Blinders (I feel a fool, a fool I tell you for not watching this 'til now! We're just about to start series 3 and we are obsessed!!! Brilliant TV!), The Sinner (very creepy, sinister mystery that we spent a week binge watching, trying to look away from but desperate to know what the resolution was), Big Little Lies (a really refreshing book adaptation focusing on female friendships, domestic violence and that perfect Big Sur coastline), The Defenders (a combination of all the other Marvel superhero Netflix shows- Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage and the Iron Fist. Snooze on the last one, the rest are great), Catastrophe series 3 (as hilarious as ever and featuring the amazing Carrie Fisher in her last episodes. Sob). 

Special shout-outs to the Youtube videos of one of my fave authors, Marian Keyes, John Oliver and his extremely sarcastic and satirical late night political show which I catch up on when I can, and ASMR, a calming series of soothing sounds, whispers, etc to help you relax and sleep. 

What did I miss?!
Let me know what your favourite TV, film and podcasts of the year were!
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The Baby Box | Review

As a midwife, I'm often sent interesting press releases about products that can help new parents or parents to be and I don't usually talk about them here or on my social media (it's not what my blog is about, in spite of the name!), unless I feel they're really innovative or something you would all like to read about. 

Step forward, The Baby Box!
This is an Irish company you can only find online (HERE) that provides complete new-born baby gift packages, full of essential and luxury items for babies for their first 9 months, and an ideal gift for new parents to get them off to a great start. 

You can choose from a variety of sizes and prices with a full 10 versions of the Baby Box available, ranging from €25 to €250 and all with free delivery.

So far, so great, right? Well, I've even better news because for every box sold, 10 children have been vaccinated from measles, polio and tetanus. The Baby Box is celebrating their first year in business and simultaneously are celebrating the milestone of vaccinating 10, 000 children from the developing world in partnership with UNICEF. That's pretty amazing and when I heard that, I had to share that with everyone- I personally spend a fair amount on baby presents for friends of ours and if I could be doing some good for families in need at the same time, I would have been all over this, long before now! Such a great idea!

The concept of The Baby Box originates from Finland, where they have drastically reduced their infant mortality rates through providing "maternity packages"- essential items for the first 9 months of a child's life, otherwise known as The Baby Box! 

Business aside, you probably want to know what's in it!

Quite a staggering amount actually:

Milton Antibacterial Hand Gel (great to pop in your changing bag for when you're on the go), a cuddly elephant toy (squee!), 2 100% Cotton Extra Large Muslin Swaddles (underneath the elephant! These always come in handy and you can never have enough of them).

Burt's Bees Getting Started Kit, including Baby Shampoo, Baby Lotion, Nourishing Baby Oil, Diaper ointment and Buttermilk Soap (I love everything Burt's Bees related- the Mummy Bee set is lovely too), Tommee Tippee Complete Care Baby Health & Grooming Kit and a packet of Water Wipes.

Tommee Tippee soothers, BabyKing 100% Pure Cotton Giant Pads (great for cleaning bums!), Sudocrem (the original and best.. Is there any house in Ireland without a pot of this I wonder?!), a 100% Cotton Hooded Towel and 100% Cotton Luxury Bath Robe (imagine how snug the baba wearing this will be after his or her bath!)

A pack of Pampers New Baby Nappies and a bag of Irish Breeze Extra Large Cotton Balls.

I love this, it's so unbelievably soft. 100% Cotton Luxury Blanket.

A box full of gorgeously soft baby clothes in beautiful gender neutral prints (no pink or blue here so you can give them without worry!), including 3 vests, 2 sleep suits, 2 hats and 2 bibs, all 100% cotton. 

You'll also be interested to know that you can use this particular box itself as baby's first crib, as it contains a mattress that conforms with top international safety standards for crib and cradle safety. If you already have a crib you can use this as a second one for staying in grandparents/siblings houses, or to have somewhere else in your own house, like downstairs. 

The box is strong and sturdy and easy to move. It's recommended you place it on a flat, horizontal surface and once baby is able to sit up, kneel or pull itself up, you shouldn't use it anymore. So handy!

It also comes with its own 100% cotton fitted sheet and the mattress cover is machine washable. 

This fella is €250 but as you can see, everything you need is in there. If you think how mach baby grows alone cost, it's good value! 

I feel this would be a really lovely gift for first time parents, especially if it's a family member or a close friend that you want to treat and help out with the cost for their upcoming transition to being parents, which let's face it, can be incredibly expensive. If I had to choose another option from the site to give as a gift, it'd be the Baby Bath Kit, which has everything you need to bath your little one. 

Very cute!

The Baby Box haven't paid me to talk about this, they sent me the box to see what I thought and I really love both the concept of the gift and the charitable message behind this company. 

If you want to read more about the ethos behind the company, you can have a look HERE.

What do you think of The Baby Box?

Is this something you'd buy for a loved one?

To the comments!

XX

Surviving The January Blues

I'm not normally one for the S.A.D (seasonal affective disorder) but over the weekend it hit me hard, pretty much out of nowhere. I had slept poorly the night before and wasn't feeling physically great plus we had watched the very last ever episode of The West Wing the night before and to say I was bereft was an understatement. But the weather. I was out and about and literally everything my eyes fell upon made me feel a bit down. 

A recent walk along the canal

Everything was dark and gloomy and had an overall look of misery to it. And then, I realised. January, you bastard. This is classic January. Yes, everything is Wintery and dark in December too but in December you have Christmas; lots of lights and presents and nights out and basically, things to look forward to. Not so for January. So I decided to compile a list of things that usually helps me through the gloomier months in the hopes that they may help you too and may even kickstart my own return to Pollyanna-ness. 

1) Surround Yourself With Comfort

This means; electric blankets, snuggly jumpers, lots of coffee, fluffy slippers and in my case; new pillows for a better night's sleep. We got these on sale in Kildare Village- they're medium support so you can sink into them but still feel like you're being held in a loving, hypoallergenic embrace. I'd also recommend picking up the 100% brushed cotton bed sheets from Penneys, which are comfort personified. I suggest all of these because the time you won't spend at work or with your beloved human companions should really be spent in bed, toasty as a cinnamon bun, á lá Homer Simpson. 

2) Watch Pleasant TV/Films

I'm struggling a bit with this one myself so hit me up with tv suggestions that aren't intolerably grim, if you know of any. I started Crazy Ex Girlfriend and am enjoying it, in spite of the cringe and we went to see La La Land last week, which was glorious. I had a smile on my face for the entire film and even if musicals aren't your thing, I'd suggest you try it out anyway, you may well be pleasantly surprised. If nothing else the colours, music and dance scenes are an absolute antidote to the cold, dark Winter. 

3) Read Good Books

Well, you'll want to be reading something when you're snuggled up in your 100% brushed cotton sheets, that is when you're not watching something on Netflix. These are my two book club reads for January. So far, I'm liking both.

4) Wear/Buy The Good Make Up

I've written about this before and how as a make up fiend, I tend to "save things for best", meaning, the particularly beautiful make up gets kept for a later use that might never happen, for fear of destroying it. 

Well, last month I ordered some of the Too Faced Peach collection, and instead of saving them to take blog photos and then maybe covet them for a bit longer, I've just gone ahead and used them. That and the Anastasia Beverly Hills contour palette and a brand new bottle of my favourite foundation, YSL Le Teint Touch Eclat. Here are my super happy snapchat photos of them on my face and my delighted mug.

I will have reviews of the Peach palette, blush and lip oil and the ABH Contour Palette soon, hopefully! 

I'd also add to this; paint your toe nails something bright and cheerful, always puts me in a good mood when I look down!

5) Book Things to Look Forward To

I'll talk holidays in a minute but what I'm thinking here is filing up your weekends and days off with things that are fun- days off to do nothing are great too though, don't get me wrong. I enjoy time spent flying through books, drinking endless cups of tea and browsing twitter in the comfort of my centrally heated home but I also quite like to plan ahead for things like afternoon tea, nights out with great people and gigs, plays etc. We have the David Bowie musical, Lazarus this month, Cirque du Soleil in February and hopefully The Wedding Singer (the musical and also one of my favourite films- I have no shame, cause it's hilarious. Plus so much 80's) in March. I'm also planning a 20k charity walk in April, which I'll need to start walking to prepare for- so exercise and fresh air will also no doubt help!

6) Holidays!

I'll be blogging about some of the great places we went to last year soon, to give yis some ideas, which we're also doing ourselves by checking out cheap flights on Ryanair to various European destinations. Greece is winning so far!

7) Treat Yo'self.
Treat yourself to good food (eat the damn chocolate), the luxurious bubble bath, body butter and face mask. I'll be using my Shiseido sheet masks this week, which I've been saving and I'm currently using a Rituals body lotion that smells so good, it makes me feel better every time I lash it on. I don't want to get you in debt either but...buy the dress/shoes/bag. 

8) Fresh Air

Lookit, I know it's manky out there but once you get out it's not actually that bad. I always feel better once I've been near the sea- the air leaves my head a bit clearer and bonus point for how scenic it is.

And that's my lot for the moment.

Bearing in mind I'm not a mental health care professional so these are really just suggestions for when you're struggling a bit with the blues, nothing more serious. 

Do you have anything to add that can brighten up January a bit more?

To the comments!

XX

Obeo- Tick One Thing Off Your Resolution List Right Now!!

I don't know about you but top of my New Years resolution list every year is "sort your life out". This usually entails a massive Spring clean. This year for instance, I've bought those vacuum pack storage yokes with the intention of sorting out the clothes in the spare room. I also do several charity drops to Enable Ireland throughout the year and last January, I bought Marie Kondo's The Joy Of Tidying Up, of which I read one chapter, that suggested I give away most of my books. Obviously that was the end of Marie. 

Once I've the Christmas tree put away though, I get really into overhauling the house. The kitchen and bathroom are transformed, the laundry basket gets noticeably less full and I hoover the bejaysus out of the place. If you're anything like me, you'll be in a similar revolutionise-the-house mode right now and so, I bring you Irish brand, Obeo that'll sort out your food waste while leaving your kitchen prettier, smelling better and overall, a bit tidier.

I'm all about making life easier but unfortunately, we don't have a brown bin in the part of Dublin where we live (the brown bin is the one specifically for food waste) and nor do we make compost out of our rubbish as we also don't have a back garden (the joys of post Celtic Tiger Ireland, am I right?)  so for the purposes of trying out Obeo, I turned to my sister who has both a brown bin and a penchant for spending less time sorting out her bins, as I guess, we all do. 

Obeo is a non-leakable, sturdy brown box that you can keep on your kitchen counter and add all of your vegetable peels, plate-scrapings and general food leftovers into without having to go to and from your brown bin outside the house. Why not just use a plastic bin bag as you normally would and then put it out before bin day you may ask? Well, this fella is biodegradable- it's 100% compostable so if you care about the environment as much as you do not having a manky, open plastic bag of rotting food in your kitchen, then this is a win-win. 

The Obeo box closes over, hiding away any smells, while it stays completely strong and sturdy- no leaks, so no rotten bin juices (truly, there is no combination of words worse than "bin juices") and when you're ready for bin days, out it goes; no muss, no fuss.

Back to my sister though. When I asked her to review the Obeo box for me, she said "I've heard of them but I think they're too pricey". In fairness, household waste is probably not something any of us want to spend our hard-earned shekels on but after that one free use, she's now hooked and has been buying her own for almost a year.  Bottom line here- this is a good product that works well, makes your life a bit easier and helps the environment at the same time. I'm giving this two enthusiastic thumbs up (my sisters thumbs, but thumbs nonetheless).
If you have a brown bin, you need to try Obeo.

This'll give you a better idea of how it works, in case my flu-addled head has failed to explain it properly:

I've seen these in most Irish supermarkets (Dunnes and Super Valu included) but you can look for your nearest stockists HERE or get a subscription online HERE. My sister buys a subscription of 30 Obeo boxes every 3 months for €22 (free p&p), which sounds good to me considering how much I spend (a lot) on the recycling bags for our part of Dublin. Each box is designed to last about 2-3 days, longer depending on your amount of waste. I wasn't paid to write this but I like to support Irish brands that have something new and innovative to offer and anything that can help the environment is a major plus in my eyes. Especially now Donald "the Chinese invented Climate Change" Trump is president of America. 

Have you tried Obeo?

Is there a worse combination of words than "bin juices"?* 

To the comments!

XX

*Moist crevice is worse, maybe.

Christmas in Bruges!

At the start of December, we jetted off to Brussels for a weekend of festive fun. We stayed there from a Thursday night to a Sunday morning and did every possible touristy thing we could, including their very large Christmas market. While we enjoyed that, we both felt the day we spent in Medieval Bruges (only an hour by train from Brussels) was, although smaller, more special and more atmospheric. 

The Christmas market by night

The town is only a short stroll from the train station and although you can hire a horse and cart, it's an absolutely beautiful place to walk around. In fact, I think the word picturesque may well have been coined with Bruges in mind. 

Pretty idyllic, eh? The streets themselves are suitably old-school and a joy to walk through. All of the chocolate shops in Belgium seem to be located right here and yes, we did buy much chocolate-y treats. 

By the time we'd walked through the streets of Bruges and got to the main square where the market was on, the sun was about to set and it looked even more Disney-esque than before:

There was also a relatively small ice-skating rink, which we didn't partake in cause I'm clumsy AF and manage to injure myself in my sleep, so instead we got alcoholic hot beverages and watched others enjoy the winter wonderland-ness of it all:

And of course, it's beautiful by nighttime:

Above is the tower featured in the Colin Farrell movie, In Bruges, that (SPOILER-the film is really old so it's your own fault if you haven't seen it and this spoils it for you) Brendan Gleeson falls to his death from. Again, SPOILER. 

You can pay to go to the top but it involves many steep and windy stairs, so we gave it a miss.

There's lots of arts and crafts, gifts, knitted hats and scarves, Christmas tree decorations etc to buy but personally I'm all about the gluhwein, hotdogs, frites and churros and they were there in abundance. 

The Bruges Christmas market is running until the 1st of January this year, if you've any days free between now and then and are super keen to go travelling!

Have you been to Bruges? 

Is it on your travel hit-list?

To the comments!

XX

Bath & Body Works Candles

It had been high on my list to get to a Bath & Body Works while we were in the States. Mostly I wanted some of their famed Hand Hygiene gels (once a nurse, always a nurse) and of course, their Autumnal candles. As it turned out, I wasn't overawed by Sweater Weather or Autumn Leaves, the two I had planned on getting and instead I let my overriding love of sugar draw me to these:

(shout-out to the advent calendar in the background)

Warm Apple Pie 100% smells like I am actively baking an apple pie. I'm not really sure what wizardry went into this but it makes my mouth water every time I sniff it (which is on the regular). If you can imagine a delightfully buttery crust with the sweet scent of caramelised apples, this is what you get. Plus, it's calorie-free! 

I'm a bit obsessed with cinnamon of late and have found myself adding it to everything- coffee, porridge, my usually cinnamon-free Banana Bread recipe. So it was probably unsurprising that Cinnamon Sugared Doughnut would be coming home with me too. Yes, it does indeed smell like a warm doughnut with that sugary, cinnamon-y hit. 

Anyone else absolutely STARVING right now??

*drools*

And, three wicks each for a more even burn!

I got these (and my all important hand gels) in an outlet version of B&BW so they were a lot cheaper than usual but I think they're normally around the $22 mark each. I was lucky that we also had enough of a weight allowance on the way home that these weren't a problem in their glass jars and I was even luckier still that Himself masterfully rolled these up carefully in his jeans, so no breakages!

I think these can be shipped from the states but probably at an extortionate price.

These are definitely one to add to your shopping list if you're planning a trip stateside any time soon!

Have you tried any of the Bath & Body Works candles?

Any favourites?

XX

Marks & Spencer Beauty Advent Calendar 2016!

It has become tradition now for me to get a beauty advent calendar for the run up to Christmas. Usually Himself gets me one (see HERE for last years L'ancome/YSL/Kiehls one) but this year I spotted this fella from Marks with a special offer I could not pass up. 

I had been at a fashion show where I fell in love with a pair of shoes from M&S, which I promptly bought the following day for €42. Handily, when you spend €40, you can then buy the calendar for another €40. Let me tell you how good a deal this is; unlike some calendars, you get the full 25 days. 

Benefit is 12 days for €46, while Charlotte Tilbury is 12 days for €195 and Asos, €66.67 for 24 days. So, you're getting a bargain, is what I'm saying. This post will be up on the 1st of December so it'll be worth checking M&S to see if they have any left as they may well reduce them in price after the 1st!

So what's in this then you ask? Well, *SPOILER*, obviously but these are what I'm most excited by:

• Alpha H Liquid Gold
• Eyeko liquid liner
• Rodial Super Acids X-Treme Acid Rush Peel (although the word 'acid' used twice there is a little worrying)
• Nails Inc Nail Polish in Picadilly Court
• Burts Bees lip balm with Peppermint & Vitamin E
• Pür Correcting Primer Prep & Perfect
• Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm
• Skyn Iceland Icelandic Relief Eye Cream
• Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse
• Ren Evercalm Global Protection Day Cream

That's only 10 out of 25 and there's so much more in there that I'm really eager to try.

Sure lookit, I know these are frivolous and no doubt plenty of people think they're a terrible waste of money but I'm still using the excellent skincare and perfume that were in last years one and it means I've been able to try products that would ordinarily be out of my price range in their full size. 

I'll be doing daily reveals over on my snapchat, @ Chloe M (nursefancypants) except for days 2 & 3 where I'll be showing you the Christmas markets of Bruges and Brussels instead (there will be a catch up on day 4 though!).

Have you bought a beauty advent calendar this year? Are you planning to get one at the last minute?!

To the comments!

XX

New England Road Trip: Salem.

I am at last getting around to blogging about this part of our New England road trip (read more of that HERE). It's been a year now as we were there in September and October of 2015 but sure better late than never. I mostly wanted to keep Salem til now as it's coming up to Halloween and is the perfect time to reflect on our experience there. You should know in advance that I am a major lover of all things Autumn and Halloween so this was basically Chloe heaven. America is big on Halloween at the best of times and Salem was like that but on speed. And we were there two weeks before the actual event itself so that should tell you something. 

Where To Stay

Really, you can stay wherever you like as there's plenty of options but we stayed in a fab B&B that I felt was worth sharing. The owners of The Stepping Stone Inn were so friendly and really helpful when it came to advising us on where to eat and what tour to go on etc. Plus we loved the historical house and the decor was very cool. 

It was also really close to the centre of town so we were able to walk everywhere, which was super handy.

Where To Eat

We found a great deli that do the best sandwiches. We stopped into Scratch Kitchen on our last day for lunch and were served bacon dusted popcorn (amazing) while we waited for our Reuben's. Well worth a stop in!

Where To Shop

Salem is a beautiful place to walk around and window shop. There's lots of great book stores, tourist gift shops and witch/Hocus Pocus related stops plus, street stalls! 

I particularly loved a vintage style shop, Modern Millie, where I fell hard for the Dickens book clutch (below), that I sadly had no room for in my suitcase. There were also lots of cool 50's style dresses. Swoon. 

Bewitched In Salem is a good shop to go to for all things spooky; horror books, t-shirts, post cards, collectibles, figurines etc. Our tour also left from this spot, see more of that below. 

What Tour To Go On (cause you NEED to do a tour. Salem is history central).

Right. So there's loads of tours you can do but the Bewitched In Salem tour is widely considered to be the best and most historically accurate. Our tour guide started by saying that there would be no amateur dramatics because the real history of the town and the Salem witch trials were scarier than anything you could make up and he was so right. 

He took us through exactly what happened and brought us to all of the places where these horrific events took place. The tour was at night which added to the atmosphere but was chilly, so wear layers and wrap up! It's also worth booking in advance for this because it tends to get full up fast. 

We went back the following day to see the graveyard as it's illegal to go in there at night.

Our guide had told us which gravestones to look out for, including the worst judge of all that ordered the most amount of executions. Scary stuff. A lot of it was quite sad too so be prepared to feel a bit shaken after it.

This is the Salem monument to the victims of the witch trials; all of the stones around the green represent a victim and how they were killed. 

If you're wondering what "pressed to death" involves, just know that it's extremely grim. 

On a much lighter note, there's different Halloween events on every year with lots of delicious food stalls and fun things to do, like making a show of ourselves:

Then there's the specific witch related popular culture things to do, like visiting shoot locations from Hocus Pocus (the town hall where they filmed the enchanted all-night Halloween party for example, below) and the Samantha from Bewitched statue. It's illegal to not stand beside it and pose like a fool. No, really. Start practising your nose twitch now.

Salem was one of my favourite stops on our trip. We were only there for one night but we made the most of it and did as much as we could and cause of that, we got a really good feel for the place. I'd go back in a heartbeat. It was a really atmospheric place and that aside, it's also a very aesthetically pleasing town with lots to see and do. It's one hell of a history lesson to get too! 

Have you been to Salem? 

Where's next on your travel lust list?!

XX