Blogmas #7 - Christmas wishlist

A couple of days ago, I promised you all my Christmas wishlist. So here it is, just incase any of you fancy buying me any of the following items!
Clockwise from the top left corner are a few things I'm hoping Father Christmas might bring me this year. A few of them are a little far fetched I know, but if you don't ask, you don't get... right?

Matalan Faux Fur Throw - All the throws I currently own are from when Pete and I first moved in together. Our colour schemes are now totally different and they look a little out of place, so I think I shoulde definitely be allowed a new one.

Emma Bridgewater Espresso Cups - After getting a Nespresso machine for my birthday in September, I have a slight obsession with teeny tiny espresso cups. These gorgeous Emma Bridgewater are no exception.

Yankee Candle Honey & Spice - This is my all time favourite scented candle. It is one of the few winter candles that doesn't have a Christmas smell, so can be used from October right through to February.

Whistles Bobble Hat - I fell in love with this after watching Anna Saccone's Vlogmas Asos haul video. I am totally gutted that it's no longer in stock and can only pray they get more in time for Christmas. Unlikely I know, but a girl can hope.

Nicholas Wylde Diamond Present Pendant - I know I won't get this, but I have asked and asked for it, so could there be a very small chance it might end up in my stocking?! This pendant is from the new collection at Nicholas Wylde where I work and I am totally in love. After all, diamonds are a girls best friend.

Emma Bridgewater Bliss Cushion - Another Emma Bridgewater item (I love her stuff). I just think this is totally cute and so relevant to my life at the moment!

White Company Geranium Scent Diffuser - I am totally in love with all things White Company. But their geranium scented things are a particular favourite. I have the candle and the smell always makes me feel very calm and relaxed.

Lancome Grandoise Mascara - I bought this shortly after I had Luke and now refuse to wear anything else. It is amazing and makes my usually tired eyes look big and bright! Anyone whos a fan of falsies without the hassle of glue, this is the mascara for you, and a Christmas list essential!

So there you have it - a small sample of my exceptionally long Christmas list! What's on your wishlist this year?

Happy Blogmas! X

Blogmas #6 - our festive week in pictures!

Quite frankly this week has been a little bit of write off. After Luke's spectacular vomiting display in the pottery painting shop, a trip to the doctor confirmed a nasty bout of gastroenteritis so we have stayed in most of the week and lounged around in sick stained pyjamas (yummy mummy?!) 

However as promised, this weeks 'week in pictures' is a festive one! 

We had a rather lovely start to the week painting pottery for Christmas gifts and decorating the tree. However our placement of the tree turned out to be a bit of a mistake as Luke is now far more interested in the fairy lights than eating his breakfast. 

We also sent off for this years Christmas cards, with Luke starring as a super cute Santa! We took the photo last week when he wasn't poorly - I'm really pleased with it and can't wait to see how the cards turn out. The photo was so easy to set up and only involved a beanbag, a throw, some baubles and fairy lights! Not as good as a professional but they look the part. 

As some of you may know from my Instagram, Saturday was a bit of a disaster day! After a week of being mummy mattress for a poorly baby, I was extremely sleep deprived so slept through my alarm, threw my breakfast down my self and to top it all off I ripped my favourite Ted Baker skirt when I gracefully fell out of my car...! However a new skirt and Pret's nut roast sandwich cheered me up and the rest of the day wasn't too bad (and ended in watching my all time favourite movie The Holiday and drinking much needed wine!). 

And that brings us to today which has been a slightly desperate yet very fun attempt to finish the last of my Christmas shopping! Luke is also now officially sitting up all on his own, and he is getting really strong! I have to admit it's scaring me slightly as crawling isn't that far off, and that means baby proofing everything and running round like a headless chicken! 

What have you been up to this week? Let me know in the comments :-)

Happy Blogmas! X

Blogmas #5 - The countdown to Christmas

Although I absolutely love Christmas Day, one of my favourite parts is actually the lead up to Christmas. 

I love the decorations, the fairy lights and the carols. The markets, the mulled wine and dressing up for the work Christmas party. The Christmas food, the of buying presents and all in all that general festive feeling. 

But simple as it sounds, one of my favourite traditions in the lead up to Christmas, is opening the Advent calendar.

My parents are religious, so growing up I was never allowed a chocolate advent calendar (it took away from the meaning of Christmas) I had ones with pictures. As a 6 year old, you can imagine how unimpressed I was when all the other children opened their door to find little Santa chocolates and I got a picture of a robin. 

Ironically now I much prefer the picture calendars. You can get such beautiful ones with lovely pictures and (you've guessed it) lots and lots of glitter!

This year, when my Daddy dropped by with an Advent calendar 'for Luke' I wondered, at 8 months old, how interested he would really be. 

On the December 1st while we were having breakfast, I put the calendar in front of Luke and was surprised at how taken in he was. His eyes were like saucers and he had a look of total wonder on his little face. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen, made all the more special by the fact that the calendar was from Grandad. 

Now we open the calendar every morning at breakfast and Luke is totally entranced. It has made one of my favourite Christmas traditions all the more special and I'm actually going to be quite sad when we get to the last door. 

What is your favourite part about the lead up to Christmas? I'd love to hear your count down traditions. 

Happy Blogmas! X

Blogmas #4 - I want I want I want...

Anyone who knows me will tell you, I am a very materialistic person. I can't help it, I just LOVE stuff! Shoes, bags, clothes, make-up, homeware and don't even get me started on jewellery. So as you can imagine, when Christmas comes round, I am in my element. I already have a rather long Christmas wishlist this year (which I shall be publishing properly in the next few weeks, should any of you wish to get me a present!) But to give you a rough idea, is currently looks a little something like this:

- Lancome mascara
- Yankee candles
- White Company candles
- Estee Lauder lippy
- Ted baker coat
- Riding boots from Dune
- All saints shearling coat
- Whistles bobble hat
- Diamond present necklace from work
- Tiffany bracelet
- New handbag
- Fur bed throw
- Sparkly cushions
- New phone case
- Emma Bridgewater espresso cups

I won't bore you with anymore for the moment, but you get the gist. A lot of the time with me it's want, want, want.

While pottering round town the other day doing some last bits of shopping, I added several things to the ever growing list.
As I walked past Starbucks immersed in my own little world of Christmas and trying to decide between an americano and their rather delicious hot mulled fruit, I spotted a homeless man curled up under a blanket looking cold and suddenly my mental Christmas list seemed a little bit insignificant. I felt horribly selfish that the most important thing to me was making sure I got everything that was on my list when there were people who wouldn't even have dinner or a place to live this Christmas. It got me thinking, it is so easy to get caught up in the materialistic side of Christmas and just want want want, that sometimes we take our lives for granted and forget to just be thankful for what we already have. I am blessed with so many wonderful things that not everyone is lucky enough to have.

I am blessed with a husband who works incredibly hard so I can stay at home with our little boy.

I am blessed with parents who are always there for me at the drop of a hat.

I am blessed with a job that I love.

I am blessed with a happy, healthy, smiley little boy.

I am blessed with a fridge full of food (cliche but true) and a warm home (once the heater gets fixed...)

I am blessed with a dog who gives me cuddles and a cat who brings me socks as presents.

I am blessed with a wardrobe full of lovely clothes.

I am blessed with friends who are there for me, no matter how far away.

I am blessed with people who make me smile when I feel low.

I am blessed to have all my wonderful Grandparents still with me.

I love Christmas and I love giving and receiving presents, seeing my family and sharing delicious food. I am not saying that we shouldn't enjoy these things but maybe while you are writing your Christmas lists this year, think of those less fortunate that you and make a mental list of all the wonderful things you are blessed with.

Happy Blogmas everyone :-) X

Blogmas #3 - Christmas nails!

So as some of you may know I am a big fan of gelish nails. Although I get them all year round, Christmas is by far my favourite time of year as you can really go all out.
I get them done by a lovely lady called Bex. I go to her beautiful house and get made a cup of tea (which I get to drink while it's hot!) and get pampered for a couple of hours. Luckily for me is very talented and has a huge range of Christmas nail art! Check out the pics on her Facebook and Instagram and you'll see what I mean - I think Rudolph's cheeky face has got to be my favourite.

As I have mentioned countless times before I love anything that sparkles (I think I may have been a magpie in a former life) so when Bex mentioned that she had some new loose glitters I got very over excited.

This time round I have gone for red loose glitter nails with a little bow on my baby fingers like they have been wrapped up, ready to put under the tree. I'm totally in love with them and have already had tons of compliments. 

I have managed to squeeze in one more appointment for a final set of festive nails before Christmas Day so I'm thinking I might go for gold glitter with black snowflake stamping... what do you think? I'd love to see any of your Christmas nails - tag me on Instagram if you want to show me your creations!

Happy Blogmas! X

Blogmas #2 - Nearly Yummy Mummy Christmas tree!

The Christmas decorations are finally up in the Nearly Yummy Mummy household! I usually have the house sufficiently glitter bombed and ready for Christmas by the first of December. As a self confessed addict of fairy lights and anything sparkly, I like the tree up as early as my husband will allow (apparently the beginning of November is too early?!)
This year due to a migraine on my part and hideous bouts of sickness from the baby, decorating the house happened a couple of days late. However the decorations are now up, and I am feeling super festive!

We unfortunately can't have real Christmas trees in the house as they make me really sneezy. I have to say I'm a little bit sad that we don't get to have the lovely pine smell wafting through the house as it's so Christmassy. However I make up for it with copious amounts of festive scented reed diffusers and thankfully it means I'm not hoovering needles out of the carpet for months!

I am usually a fan of matching everything - I love to co-ordinate! But my Christmas tree is the exception to the rule. When Pete and I first moved in together, we decided to buy one really special tree decoration each year. Now this didn't quite go to plan as I got carried away the first year and bought about 9, But since then I have been very good and stuck to our little tradition.

My favourite places to buy decorations are TK Maxx and a beautiful independent shop in Bath called The 25th of December which is a lot of fun to shop in as it just oozes Christmas. I always leave feeling ten times more excited than when I arrived. This year we did something a bit different. Back in October when we were in Cyprus, we found a beautiful Christmas bauble in one of the shops and decided to buy it as this years decoration to remember our first family holiday. It felt very strange buying a Christmas ornament in hot, sunny Cyprus, but it's beautiful and I love it. 

One of my favourite pieces on my tree was actually something given to me by a very dear friend rather than one I bought myself.
Every year my best friends from school and I get together to catch up, eat good food and drink lots of wine. I think it might be favourite Christmas tradition, and every year the hosts mum showers us with beautiful gifts. Last year I got given the most beautiful Christmas tree decorations from Liberty in London. They are mercury glass hearts which have a hinge and open up so you can hide a chocolate in them (chocolates which I have yet to buy...) They are by far my favourite ornaments and they make my tree look super glam and fancy :-)

As a last minute Christmas idea thought up whilst traipsing round Tesco, I decided to make Pomanders. They smell totally amazing and once I have dusted them with orrisroot they will be finished and ready to make my house smell delicious. I have to say it was oddly therapeutic making pretty patterns out of cloves, I highly recommend it.

I have also dotted cutesie Christmas ornaments around the house like tea light holders, Father Christmas paraphanelia and glittery pine cones (they're a must in my house!).

I am now starting to get very over excited about Christmas and I'm sure I will only get worse as I'm about to head online and get our Christmas cards printed! What is it that gets you in the festive spirit?

Happy Blogmas! X

Blogmas #1 - Christmas pottery painting!

I woke up this morning to see Twitter covered in #blogmas posts. As a big lover of Christmas (I am an avid fan of anything that allows me to cover the house in even more glitter!) I have decided to join in. So welcome to Blogmas day 1!

As it is Luke's first Christmas and my first as a mummy, I feel the need to go a little overboard this year. I mean you only have one first Christmas! 

So this morning we went to Flying Saucers pottery cafe to make some Christmas presents for Luke's Grandparents. 

I had the idea of doing handprint mugs after we had Luke's hand and footprints done on a plaque at 4 months old, so when a friend asked us to join them for pottery painting, I was totally on board. 

With 5 mummies and 6 babies (one set of twins!) it was a manic adventure to say the least. The little ones were not totally in love with the idea of being painted and printed so shouting and tears were a fairly dominant part of the session! 

That being said, Luke was very compliment and I was actually really pleased with the way the the handprints turned out. 

I then added bunting around the top of the mugs and polka dots to fill in the gaps. I wanted to personalise them a bit so I wrote a little message on each of the mugs. My mother in law is more of a 'cup and saucer' kind of lady so I wrote a something around the saucer which I think looks really cute, if I do say so myself! 

As my mums didn't have a saucer with it, I wrote 'Granny's cup of tea' on the bottom so people can see it when she takes a sip :-) 

Unfortunately the end of the session took a turn for the worse as Luke was spectacularly sick over himself, his seat and me. He's since seen the Dr and is all ok but may have a little bit of a bug. Not that you'd guess it - two minutes after converting everything in sick he was back to his happy, chatty self! 

Unfortunately this meant I didn't get a picture of the finished pieces (I also had to skip making a first Christmas bauble which was a bit sad).

However they will be ready next week so I will pop a photo up on my Instagram so you can see how they turned out. 

Pop back tomorrow for our next Christmas adventure. 

Happy Blogmas! X