"Italy will always have the best food"

I've been back from Italy for over a month now and I must say, i'm missing it so much!! Italy has been on my wishlist of places to go since... well, just as long as I can remember. I have always been so fascinated by the simplicity and beauty of Italy and its amazing people. My boyfriend and I just knew that we had to go to Italy this year and it took a while for us to choose a particular region as it all looks so beautiful and unique, but we ended up choosing Tuscany and Umbria.

We stayed in the most gorgeous hotel called Borgo Tre Rose, which is situated just outside of the little village of Valiano. The settings were perfect and so picturesque - just what we had in mind! It actually confirmed what we had always imagined Italy to be like.

"Italy will always have the best food" - Diane Von Furstenberg.

Needless to say, the food was incredible. My boyfriend and I are both MASSIVE foodies and love to eat out whenever we can. It was so much fun trying new places and eating our favourite food everyday. In fact, the way in which Italians eat is just so ideal. They will often start off with some delicious home-baked bread, then a first course consisting of a small, simple pasta dish, followed by meat with a few vegetables or potatoes and then finished off with dessert and possibly a coffee. This may sound like a lot of food but because each course was slightly smaller in size, it was just the perfect amount and it was great to be able to taste so many diffierent flavours each night - ideal for foodies like us!

The hotel we stayed at had a lovely restaurant which served a set menu everyday. We only ate there once, but the food was incredible and we'd definitely recommend it to anybody staying there (they even cater for people suffering from a gluten intolerance/allergy - hallelujah!) We found a gorgeous little family-run Pizzeria in Pozzuolo which did amazingly authentic pizzas; this was probably our favourite find whilst we were out there! Just incredible! 

There's so much I want to say about Italy and what we did there but it has left me pretty speechless and I'm just in awe of its beauty. I will do another blogpost soon of some of our favourite photographs so you get a feel for the area we visited as words just cannot describe how beautiful and amazing it was. Here's a little teaser... This was the Piazza Grande in in the beautifully picturesque town of Montepulciano. 

(Photo taken by Jason Smith)

To be continued...

Chocomania - Because every girl NEEDS chocolate!

I think it's fair to say that women are renowned for their love of chocolate and I must say, I am no anomoly to this stereotype. In fact, not many days go by where I haven't eaten at least one chunk of chocolate or something containing chocolatey goodness. When doing a bit of online present shopping before Christmas, I stumbled upon the magnificent Chocomania range at The Body Shop. I know i'm a bit late joining the Chocomania bandwagon but it wasn't until recently that I REALLY started to look through the entire selection that The Body Shop had to offer. Even though I only bought two products from their Chocomania range, I must say that I was sold immediately!

As you can see above, I bought the Chocomania Shower Cream and the Chocomania Lip Butter; both of which are amazing products that are good for your skin (huge bonus!) First of all, I will talk you through the scent of Chocomania. On first opening of either of these products, your senses just go wild! Your nose is hit with a wonderful, slightly sweet, slightly bitter hint of chocolate and the aroma just encaptures you, taking you into an idyllic world that might be found in the head of Roald Dahl, like his timeless classic of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The packaging is nice and simple with minimal text on each product. I like this minimalism as let's face it, nobody wants to read lots on products anyway! I really do recommend both of these products and can't talk higly off them enough! The smell alone is enough to attract somebody i'd say, but they're also soft and gentle on your skin too - even better! The lip balm is super nourishing, silky (but not at all greasy) and lasts for ages (if you can resist licking it off because it smells and tastes like chocolate!) The shower cream is just as good and comes out of the bottle like gloriously silky, melted chocolate, the only difference is you put it on your body, not in your mouth - oooh!

I think it's safe to say i'll definitely be checking out the rest of the Chocomania range at The Body Shop! I just can't wait to have more choccies that won't harm my figure - a woman's ideal world I think!

My adventures of 2014 so far!

I must admit this post is a little belated as i've been so busy dealing with lots of exciting changes in my life. I'm not one of those people that will set a 'New Year's Resolution', if i'm honest I think it's just a little clichéd, they're not normally SERIOUS goals and they never usually go to plan anyway, so what's the point in that? What I thought i'd do this year is something a little different. I decided I would think of one goal to complete by the end of the year, but it was to be something important and manageable.

Having finished university last year, it was obviously a plan of mine to kickstart my career in design. I was slightly torn between what I should set my goal as. Should it be 'starting my career' or 'getting a new car'? Both were important to me, of course they weren't equally as important but nevertheless they were both still important. I decided I couldn't choose between the two so said to myself that I would complete both by the end of 2014. This seemed like a good personal challenge to give myself.

The real reason i'm writing this post is because i've been feeling quite overwhelmed lately due to the fact that i've already completed both of my goals. Shocked? Yes, me too! It all happened within one month and was VERY unexpected to say the least. In early January, I received an email offering me a 6 month internship doing something absolutely amazing! I would be a Graphic Design and Marketing Intern! It sounded perfect and of course, I accepted the very generous offer straight away! Needless to say, I really love my new job and the fact that i'm beginning to live my dream in terms of my career.

A little later on in Janaury, I went to my nearest Suzuki branch to just 'have a look' at the new Alto SZ. What I didn't expect that day was to be leaving the dealership having put a deposit down on a brand new Suzuki Alto SZ! I've now had the car for nearly one week and i'm absolutely loving it. It's a gorgeous car to drive and looks super pretty! (See photo below!)

So having completed two of my goals for 2014 within the first month, I almost feel like I should set myself one more (yes, I like to keep challenging myself!) Having been with my boyfriend for four years this coming April, we're wanting to get our own place so that is definitely the next big thing for 2014 hopefully! Just need some luck to come our way in terms of money. Fingers crossed!

(Please ignore my face. It often goes a bit stupid-looking when i'm very excited about things like a brand new car! Who can blame me, right?!)

Hope your 2014 is going as well as mine is so far!

 

Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch rockin' out at the LG Arena in Birmingham

Earlier on this month, Jason (my boyfriend) and I set off to Birmingham for two (slightly contrasting) events, Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch on the Thursday and then the Clothes Show Live on the Friday. We'd booked to stay at the Premier Inn on the NEC complex and arrived there just in time for check-in after a day of Christmas shopping in Tamworth. We had a lovely meal in their Thyme restaurant early that evening before heading off for quite a chilly walk over to the LG Arena to see two of our favourite bands, Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch. Needless to say, the event was absolutely fantastic! In fact, it's probably the best gig i've ever been to.

Avatar were on stage first, followed by Five Finger Death Punch. FFDP were incredible, just as expected. I first saw them live at Download Festival 2013 and they just blew me away if i'm honest. Ivan (the lead singer) performed exceptionally well and put on a great show as always. If you haven't seen them live, I really would recommend seeing them if they're your sort of thing. Ivan knows how to keep the crowd entertained and often does little sections where the crowd can join in and really feel better linked with the band.

As for Avenged Sevenfold, words cannot describe how good they were! This was only my second time seeing them I think but they get better everytime; their show was just spectacular! I'll be seeing them headlining Download Festival 2014, which i'm really excited about already. I'm intrigued to see how they can improve on their performance in Birmingham, i'm sure it's not even possible. Again, Avenged Sevenfold are an absolute must-see live! Their show was just out of this world, it featured a giant deathbat which had flames inside it and around it, as well as a line of flames on the stage, which were all perfectly timed with the music.They played a lot of songs off their latest album, Hail to the King, which has had a tremendously good reaction from their fans and the metal industry. In fact, it's quite possibly their best album yet!

I had a fantastic time in Birmingham and I must say i'm on the look-out again for more gigs to go to soon! But until I book anymore, I guess i'll just have to look forward to Download 2014. I took a fair few photos at the LG Arena and back at the hotel so here are some from that night... Enjoy!