5 good things

I have been MIA again for a few weeks, but this time i have a good excuse, starting with my first good thing:

1. I have started an NVQ in Beauty therapy (level 2), my job was really getting me down and i felt like i would be stuck behind my desk forever doing laborious jobs i don't enjoy, so i did something about it, and while i am still working for my company i wont be office based for much longer as i can do all of my work from home as it is all internet/computer based now. So i get to keep the job which will pay for the course but i also get to do the course until i qualify then i can find work as a beauty therapist instead. more to come on this soon...

2. Back to school supplies, starting a new course means buying stationary and other fun things like multicoloured metallic gel pens, highlighters, sparkly notebooks and Hello Kitty pencil cases  and who doesn't like buying things like that???, at least now i have an excuse.

3. This Bag!!!!

Its by Gloria Ortiz (Spanish designer) and is super duper sparkly in real life with silver and coral/pink stripes and nude fabric woven through the handles which are long enough to go over your shoulder. The minute i saw it i wanted it, the minute i looked at the price tag i had to have it, it was literally screaming my name (look it says CHARLOTTE!!!!!) and it was 70% off the already reduced price of 99€ in the Corte Ingles outlet store. I cant wait to wear it!

4. I downloaded an App for my iphone & ipad the other week and as i had paid 2.99 for it and wasn't very impressed (as i thought a lot of things could be easily altered) i emailed the developer and told them so, the next day the emailed me back to tell me i was AMAZING, yes really, and if it wasn't for people like me giving them in depth feedback and suggestions they wouldn't be able to improve anything as they had exhausted their own ideas AND to top it off they sent me a 10 dollar Amazon gift card to spend on whatever i want as a thank you, so sometimes it does pay to complain.

5. The lovely ring Jay bought me for our anniversary, anyone who knows me knows that i love crowns, so much so that i have one tattooed onto my back, this one was bought from a small artisan stall in Guardamar night market on a midnight stroll, it is sterling silver and cubic zirconia and i love it, he also bought me a great pair of studded shoes, happy Charlotte!

What are your 5 good things this week?

Friday 5 good things

I know its been a while since i wrote a 5 good things post but i have been so busy lately and it was easier to think of 5 bad things than 5 good things, and as the saying goes... if you cant say something nice then you're better not saying anything at all.

1. Its heating up here, it was 32º c here yesterday and its going to be even hotter over the weekend, which means...

2. The pool is warm enough to swim in again, so today i got to have my first swim of the year and it was wonderful, now i have no excuse not to get some exercise.

3. the other week one of my friends that i haven't seen since college came over to Spain with her mum to stay with family for a week, so we met up in Benidorm which was about half way from both of us, it was lovely to see her and her mum and we walked about 5 miles round the old town and the full length of the promenade and back.

4.The business opportunity i mentioned a few posts back is going well, i am still working full time at my current job and having to fit in this project in- between which means i have practically no spare time but if it helps us secure a future for ourselves then it will all be worth it.

5. Chrome effect nail polish, this was a bargain from mercadona supermarkets own Deliplus line, they have a new nail effects range out and this was one of the base coats for the crackle range and was only about 2€, i also bought it in gold.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,
what are your 5 good things this week?

5 good things

1. Now that the clocks have gone forward it's light when I drive home from work at 8pm every night, where I live in the countryside, there are no street lights and the roads are full of potholes which are difficult to see in the dark so I much prefer driving when it's light outside.

2. Unexpected days off work, I have had 3 extra days off work in the last two weeks because of Spanish holidays or strikes that we didn't know about. Most are marked on the calendars as red or blue days. Blue days are bank holidays where you can choose to close your business ( so we only open in the morning) or red days where it is compulsory to close. But these were extra days off that werent on the calendar. I love an extra day off.

3. Discovering a new shop, someone told my mum about a huge outlet store of a Spanish department store "el corte ingles" so we checked it out the other day, it was huge and had some really good bargains. I ended up with a few pairs of shoes, amazing jeans with corset detail up the back of the legs and a few tommy hilfiger and Ralph Lauren tops for quarter of the original retail price.

4. Tomorrow the boyfriend and I are going to a meeting for a business opportunity we have been invited to become part of, if everything goes well this could really help us and our future.

5. Celebrations- April is a month of celebrations for us, my mum, brother and boyfriend all have April birthdays so we have been out for a few meals and we have Easter coming up on Sunday. I am not religious so Easter for me is all about the chocolate and I have a box of Belgian chocolates that my grandma sent for my birthday to eat while jay tucks into the Easter egg I bought him.

Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it xxx

5 good things

I haven't been very happy for the last few weeks ( a multitude of little things getting me down), therefore no 5 good things for the last few weeks, so its about time i wrote some:

1. I got my hair done yesterday, highlights and a trim and it was much needed. As my hair is naturally blonde my roots weren't too bad even though it hadn't been touched since before Christmas but i hadn't realised how bad it must have looked until i saw my reflection after, my hair looks a million times better now.

2. The sun is getting hot hot hot here and i am taking full advantage of it, eating my breakfast and lunch outside and reading a book in the sun during my 3 hour siesta (lunch break). My skin is slightly bronzed and glowy and i look and feel much healthier for a bit of warmth again.

3. Its my birthday tomorrow and whilst its a good thing that i have made it to the grand old age of 26 it does mean that i will no longer be 25 and am officially a "grown up". Then again i could always just be "25 again".

4. Birthday cake- i have asked my mum to bake me one because i haven't had a proper birthday cake for years and i really want one this year and i don't eat processed foods so there´s no way i could just go out and buy one, i think homemade always tastes best anyway.

5. Birthday presents.... pretty self explanatory that they are a good thing.

5 good things

Here is this Friday's 5 good things....

1.My big fat gypsy wedding is back on TV. I find it fascinating to watch and i love how ridiculous it all is and how amazing some of the dresses are. If you haven't seen or heard of the show check this out.

2. Its not getting dark now until after 7pm which means spring is on its way, and i cant wait for winter to be over.

3. My lovely boyfriend bought me a new Guess bag for Valentines day, its from the same collection as this one that he got me for Christmas, but is smaller and a cross body style in black pony skin. I seem to be building quite a collection of Guess bags now. (image from google, ps it looks a lot nicer in real life)

4. I finally got to read the end of Bridget Jones´diary, i have always loved the films but hadn't read the book until this year. However my book ended on December 9th with no blank pages at the end which i thought was odd as it seemed unfinished, so i got a second hand copy of the book the other day which had all of the missing pages so i finally got to finish the book.

5. It´s Friday, i finally get 2 days off work to relax.

Happy weekend everyone

5 good things

Happy Friday everyone!!! I can think of a million negative things this week but instead of dwelling on them , here are this weeks 5 good things:

1. Its nearly Valentines day, yay. Even though i believe that if you love somebody you should tell them everyday, multiple times a day even, i love Valentines day, of course i hated it when i was single but being in Love is the best thing in the world and any excuse to celebrate that and I'm there. It is also a good excuse to get our glad rags on and go out for a nice meal, which we cant afford to do very often.

2. I was really excited to learn yesterday that KIKO have just launched a range of magnetic nail polishes, see here . i was debating buying a nails inc one when they came out but at nearly 15 pound plus 5 pound P&P to Spain it just seemed ridiculous to spend 20 pound on a nail polish i would probably only use a few times. so at a 3rd of the price and with a much better colour range i cant wait to try these.

3. My little brother ( actually not so little at over a foot taller than me, but 2 years younger) got engaged this week to his girlfriend of 7 years, they were in the same class all the way through high school then got together when they started college. Of course being 2 years older than him i wish i was engaged first but i am happy for them, which bring me onto my next good thing....

4. Card Town are offering 5 pound free credit to use on any cards on their website as a special valentines offer, so i signed up for my free credit and sent my bro an engagement card. here is the link to the page to get the free credit and you can send all cards internationally and they can all be personalised, the offer ends on Valentines day though so if you want to send a free card get there before the offer ends.

5. I know this one may cause a bit of a stir but.. i was in the supermarket last week looking at the steak and got to a section called potro, the meat looked nice but i had no idea what it was, it was quite a good price so i got some. Then when i got home i checked the translation and found out it was horse meat, yes horse! Well i will try anything once, so i cooked it and it was yummy, i was expecting it to be like beef but stronger but it was really mild. my boyfriend has had it before on holiday somewhere in Europe and liked it then and he loved it too, so that will become a regular food in our house now. And since i bought it i have noticed that most supermarkets sell it, its only taken me 6 years to notice...

What are your 5 good things this week? Has anybody else tried horse?

5 good things

Its time for my Friday 5 good things again so here goes....

1.New car- i got a new car this week! Ive had a Peugeot 206cc since i moved to Spain 6 years ago, i had always wanted a convertible so moving to a hot country seemed the perfect time to get one. Th novelty wore off after about 3 years- leather seats, no air con, alloy gear stick and pedals = a hot grumpy Charlotte. So when my Dad was offered a ford fiesta steel this week he bought it for me and is selling my old car for me. It is a company car and he managed to get it sign written within a few hours of me agreeing to have it. But it has air con which is the main thing i needed and a lot more space than my tiny convertible so is much more practical, now i just need to remember to fill it up with Diesel not petrol.

2. Medieval times- This weekend there is a medieval market in the historic city of Orihuela, i went last year and it was brilliant, everybody is dressed up in medieval clothes, the cobbled streets are covered in straw, there was jousting, birds of prey shows, amazing food, thousands of stalls with all handmade chocolates, jewellery and anything else you could think of, i will be going on Sunday with my mum and leaving my boyfriend at home with his Xbox, here are some photographs from last year:

3. TOWIE- the only way is Essex is back on our TV screens and i love it. My boyfriend, who incidentally is from Essex cant bear to watch it and hates the way it portrays Essex, ( ive never been to Essex so cant argue) so i have to wait until its on ITV player and watch it on my own.

4. Roses- My lovely boyfriend bought me roses again today, not just because he felt like it this time though. Apparently these are for valentines day but he is buying them today because they will be four times the price next week, lol fair enough. They make my office smell lovely anyway. If anyone has any tips to make them last longer i would love to know.....

5. Bubble baths- I love a good bubble bath, unfortunately we only have a shower at our house so i have to go to my parents house if i want a bath. There is nothing nicer than a nice hot bubble bath when its cold outside especially when it smells like cake!

This is the sweet cake bubble bath and shimmering body lotion from Sephora´s Christmas collection, i got it from my brother this Christmas and it smells divine!!! and how cute is the packaging!

This is last years Christmas collection- irresistible caramel- also smells divine. I alternate between these two and the chocolate scent from the permanent collection. I'm trying to make the limited edition sets last as long as possible because i know i will never be able to get them again.

What are your 5 good things this week?



5 good things

So its Friday already and that means its time for my 5 good things of the week

1. Blogging - i am really enjoying blogging, having an outlet to talk about things i love is really making me happy, even if nobody is reading at least i get to talk about things, having no friends in this country is really hard for me and just getting my views out there and hoping that they will be of benefit to somebody else is making it all worthwhile.

2. Followers - i now have 11 followers and i am grateful to each and every one of you for taking the time to follow me, i am finally starting to feel that i am not just talking to myself.

3. I realised today how lucky i am that my boyfriend does the majority of the housework, i do most of the cooking and a lot of washing up but he does pretty much everything else, i know most girls would love to have that.

4. Fiesta of Santa Agueda this week - I live in the countryside, but to get to our house you have to drive through a tiny village which is attached to the main village by a long road lined with terraced houses, there is a small church square and every year at the end of January the villagers celebrate with a fiesta for the patron saint " Santa Agueda" The road is filled with stalls selling handmade candles, baskets, jewellery, sweets, olives and other nicknack's and there is a candlelit parade to guide the statue of the patron from the tiny church to the church in the bigger village where there is a full fairground set up. While i am not religious at all its nice to have something to do and see so close to the house. The only downside is i have to park about a mile away from my house and walk there when the stalls are set up because there isn't space for cars to get through.

5. Nails - i infilled my gel nails last weekend and now they look like this

All nice again, i prefer to do french tips, i think they always look clean and smart and when they start to grow out i can paint them and take advantage of my ever growing nail polish collection. Today while catching up on my you tube subscriptions one of the suggested videos in the side bar was for water marbling, so i watched it and was totally amazed!!  i am a qualified nail technician and i had never seen this before, where have i been? living under a rock?  i have to try this, here is the first video i watched, Amazing!!!!

What are your 5 good things of the week?

5 good things

So here are this Friday's 5 good things.......

1. my lovely boyfriend surprised me with roses this morning, for no reason, just because he felt like it aaaawww

 2. It was my father in laws birthday a few days ago so we are going out for a meal tomorrow to celebrate. Food and getting dressed up = 2 of my favourite things.

3. The weather, its usually freezing here in January, and i bought 3 new coats last year and haven't had a chance to wear any of them yet, however i am certainly not complaining, give me sunshine over a coat any day.

4. I went to the beauty wholesalers to restock my gels so i can do my nails over the weekend, they are in desperate need of infilling, or maybe redoing completely. I love doing my nails, i find it really relaxing, more so with gels than acrylics ( the filing, the buffing, the smell).

5. These arrived in the post this morning, i ordered them a week ago from look fantastic as they were reduced to 70 pound with free international delivery.

I had a pair of GHD´s when they first came out in the UK, a hairdresser put me on the 6 week waiting list for them and i remember them being really expensive when they first came out especially compared to other straighteners, but they were the first of its kind to have ceramic plates and reach such high temperatures and they worked wonders on my really frizzy hair. i used them every day for about a year until they exploded in my face, i sent them back and they repaired them, a year later they exploded again and went in the bin. so 5 years later i am hoping i wont have the same problem.

So what are your 5 good things this week?

5 good things

Every Friday i am going to list 5 good things of the week, Hopefully this will make me more grateful for the things i have and outweigh the negative things from the week. So this weeks 5 goof things are:

1. The January sales have finally started! - in Spain Christmas isn't celebrated until the 6th of January so the sales don't start until after then. Sparkly shoes and party dresses have all been bought, now i just need an excuse to wear them!

2. My Boyfriend - I am so grateful to have him in my life.

3. My IPAD - I got this for Christmas and have been glued to it ever since.

4. Holographic nail polish - Everytime i glance down at my sparkly nails they make me smile. (Review coming soon)

5. My Amazon deliver has finally arrived and i cant wait to start reading the books i ordered and play zumba for Wii.