Bonus print is the way forward

Animal kingdom from the sky

Typhoon lagoon 

  I'm fed up of seeing the same calendar on all my friends walls and thinking I wish I'd done something different. So I did this year I have decided to make my own calendar with my own pictures. I added all my favorite holiday snaps and the end result was amazing.

Discovery cove - TJ and my nephews 

I cannot wait to start seeing my favorite photos at the beginning of every day on display.

The display to do this was easy to I decided which photos I wanted for each day and made the choice of background if I wanted it ( which I decided it looked better without) and uploaded the pictures and waited less then a week for the calendar to arrive.

 The photo album was a little bit trickier due to my internet going down on various occasions during the uploading time. Which was due to poor service provider problems.

Queen Mary Ca.

  When choosing to do a photo album there is so much to take into consideration including photo size, writing (if any), How many photos per page?  

Disneyland Ca.

 The photographs I chose were placed automatically in the album as each folder uploaded from my computer. I found this helped me as it saved time on trying to decide which photographs to choose and put up as my favorite. You could place up to nine pictures per page including captions if needed. 

When the photo albums came back I was amazed at how well they have turned out with such clear pictures and writing on each page. 

Calico and Barstow Ca.

 This picture was printed on a board and came with the fixtures ( no nails) so it could be hung straight away. Again the quality of the photo is amazing. This photo was originally taken on my phone and zoomed in slightly. The photo has come back arger then the original so no doubt it would have had to have been blown up a little to fit the board. 

The image was taken whilst visiting Calico ghost town near Barstow California. 

 I have had another picture printed on to wood but as it holds a direct view of my sons face I have decided not to put it up. The picture quality again for this photo is fantastic and so clear.

It's amazing how they've done it too I never thought about printing straight on to wooden planks before.

 Bonus print have impressed me so much that I will now only use them to print my photos and I print a lot as I also scrapbook.

The prices are the best put there to and if you sign up for email updates they also have some really good offers running most of the time.

New bed .... old bedside cabinets

A few months back I brought myself a new mattress from ikea and a duvan Base.
It was the best decesion I could've made the mattress I had was causing me to have bad back, my shoulders hurt , my neck  felt like I'd slept on a brick all night and when it came time to get up and go. Well I had none.
After a year of trying my hardest to put up with it I decided enough was enough. I began by looking Benson beds, the beds just weren't quite right, so I took a long drive to ikea. Whilst at ikea I looked in the bargain basement and found a king size mattress. The mattress is a made of memory foam.  Being from the bargain basement I loaded it on the trolley and went upto the beds part of the show room. Tried the mattresses out and fell in love with the one I'd found.  With a few marks on the cover I looked at the price and was pleased when I found it to be over 65% off the original price. Maybe I should've checked the price in the first place but I was soo excited to have found it in the bargain basement.
I decided to buy a duvan Base with two drawers. The Base itself is well built and extremely strong. The drawers on the other hand not such a good design. When the drawers have items inside it pushes the Base down and causes the drawers to rub on the Base making it harder to pull out.  On my next visit to ikea I shall be enquiring about Base strengtheners.

During the time that I spent in the shop I was lucky to not have to take TJ around with me, he enjoyed his hour of freedom in the child's creche area. The ball pit is one TJ'S favourite parts of the creche along with the toilets especially in the creche area so he can use it when he needs to instead of asking to go.

I now sleep in pure comfort . I never wake with bad back, neck pains and 99% of the time I wake ready and raring to go.

Stewarts garden centre - Wimborne

Going to Stewarts Garden centre is soon becoming a holiday favourite trip for an hour or two in the last few weeks running up to Christmas. 

With festive decorations around the shop, two live reindeer and a Santa's grotto. It's very popular with children and adults to visit.

 TJ unfortunately this year has decided he doesn't want his picture taken with a santa look a like and is waiting to catch the real santa Christmas eve.  

On display is this fantastic restored vw camper with elves and santa dotted around inside and out. An electric Thomas the tank engine which children or adults alike can push a button to make it go around the vw camper on its track.

Christmas decorations are throughout the shop and although slightly higher priced then some shops it's peaceful and relaxed atmosphere create a lovely shopping experience.

When visiting the tea shop, a pot of tea for two was plenty - we managed six cups out of the two pots that were provided.

We choose to sit next to the back door although a slight draft coming from people going in and out the door it was the best seats. The reindeer were just outside the door playing and tossing the straw across their paddock area hunting for food, which TJ found hilarious. 

Long Johns Fish & Chips

I'm up there among the seafood lovers of poole, and for me this chip shop is the best around.

With sit in and take away services, whether your in a rush or just having a wander through town this is highly recommended place to eat.

In the picture above I've ordered the skippers meal deal. I can eat with the best of them and this meal deal is more then adequate for myself and my mom. 

The fish and chips come out fresh from the fryer and on to the plate. As with all the food it's not to greasy.

The restaurant staff are always happy to help, friendly, on the ball and always smiling.

Christmas shopping

When trying to shop for my eldest nephews Christmas present I've found it so hard this year.
I like to get him something he can build as he's such a clever young man. Over past years I've brought him science experiments such as the build a volcano or make your own crystals. This year I wanted something a little different so I opted for this really cool mug.

I like this mug for two different reasons :

1. Because it's heat activated
2. Because it's the solar system

I had to test it to make sure it worked, and I'm actually tempted to go and get another mug for myself.

The packaging itself is sturdy and in the shape of a small shortened rocket.

The mug is chunky but not to heavy. It's black with small white dots on which represents the stars in the sky.
One the boiling waters been added to the mug it takes a minute or two before it activates, the middle area slowly disappears and reveals constellations.

The cup stays warm for a good 10 minutes so if your a slow tea drinker it would be perfect for you.

Personally I think I made the right decision with this present but we shall see Christmas day.

My mom's birthday at the Glassblower.

From the title of the post Friday the 23rd October is my mom's birthday.
So this year I took her out to lunch in Wimborne, near Poole.
Firstly I'd like to say how much I like visiting this little town for its uniqueness.
We shopped in M&Co, this shop always has good quality clothes in it and jeans that aren't those silly skinny leg fit.
Then lunch was at a small pub but it was so lovely and the food was amazing. My mom and I both ordered the mussels and bread.
When the food came our bread was the size of a small loaf, fresh and fluffy.
The mussels were piled high in a large bowl  that probably could of fed two people in one portion but I couldn't see my mom wanting to share to be honest.
The sauce was amazing, most probably one of the best white wine based sauces I've had for a very long time. It was creamy but not over powering. The onions and wine perfectly cooked together.

I'm thinking of visiting again possibly for Christmas just to eat the mussels again.

Lush, the confession!

Omg I'm in love with Lush's product called 'FUN' .

It comes in various colors and scents Orange, Blue, Pink, Green, Yellow and I recently found out they do a Gold bar.

The product has a 4 in 1 usage. It can be used as play dough, shampoo, bubbles and a soap. 

I have found the Pink smells of vanilla with a slight scent of caramel.

• Yellow smells like play dough.
• Blue smells of lavender.
• Green smells of lemon and lime.
• Orange smells well of oranges.

Tj's favourite is the Green each bath time he covers himself in Green 'fun' from head to toe and acts like an alien.

Myself I prefer the Yellow 'fun' before my bath I break a small bit off and make a small ball and place triangles around so it looks like the sun. before crumbling it up under the tap to give myself lots of bubbles.

Using the product to wash with leaves skin feeling soft and smelling fresh.

I have yet to wash my hair with it as my hair tends to not like anything except Aussie shampoos and conditioners. Tj on the other hand has had his washed and it leaves his hair all fluffy and smelling again fantastic,

I give this product 4 out of 5 a product that I will keep on buying for a long time from now.

Corfe Castle falconry display

This weekend TJ and I attended a local falconry display at corfe castle.

Walking from the National Trust car park, we entered a small shop that sells rocks and fossils. The lady behind the desk, was lovely as we were looking around it started to rain. Me being me I forgot to pack the rain jackets in the car. The lovely lady offered to lend us her umbrella. which I graciously accepted.

The site itself is breathtaking and to be able to walk around in the history and imagine what happened inside the walls is incredible. 
If you'd like to read more then have a look on the webiste  http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/corfe-castle/history/ . 

. The falconry display was amazing. Watching the birds flying around listening to the man tell the audience how they train the birds so they don't fly away was interesting.

The birds flew around in front of crowds with such grace and with what seemed very little effort.

Once the hawk had its prey in sight, it homed in and dived in at such a speed if you blinked you would have missed it! 

My one night off....

For the first time in what seems like forever I got asked out with friends, everyone had a sitter. Everyone was getting ready, including me.

 I'd even gone through with getting my haircut and buying a new dress. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm not a dress fan but for tonight i went out and brought a new maxi dress from M&co in Blandford. I love their clothing range I have to admit at some point I'm not as young as I used to be but when I do have to dress like a grown up this is usually the first place I shop.

Dress I choose

Tried on a few dresses one was multi shades of pink which is not really my color. Although it was a lovely dress I opted on the one you can see me wearing.

Its slightly stretchy and not to heavy, felt lovely on, plenty of room to move in and best of all the price was very good.

Grumpy pose due to concentration

M & co do such good deals on clothing providing not just for women but men and children also.

If you shop online I would recommend M & co.At least once every two months there are sales (this week its 25% off. 

I love this shop so as soon as Friday is here I will be doing a little retail therapy.