This is going to be a bit of a ramble down memory lane so feel free to step away now but before you go, click on a few other pages to help the old bounce rate.
Its roughly 20 years since I first visited Gran Canaria whe I was 13 or 14 years old. We came for a week and it was an allocation on arrival break. We stayed in an complex called Babalu and a couple of nights ago we drive past it in a taxi and it looks exactly the same. I've been told they've changed the lift from a funicular to a regular up and down lift. (Pulls a funny face, Does that make any sense?)
That holiday was one of the best of my life, I made friends with a girl called Becki and we spend days doing handstands in the pool then lying on her balcony using carrot oil when we thought the parents wern't looking. By night we were given some money and we went dancing and drinking Caribbean Twist type alcho pop in a bar called Hippodome (now Yates) in the Europa Centre. Dancing to Spice Girls wanna be and other classic tunes.
We kept in touch and I went back to Babalu in the school holidays with Becki and her dad where we followed the same pattern, I read Train Spotting the book and we danced and drank our summer away. This might seem odd at 14 we were easily served in pubs and clubs but it felt real and grown up and our parent were cool with it and compared to our peers we were fairly tame. Sadly we fell out on that holiday and had no contact afterwards. We had some amazing times and spent most of those six weeks holidays together. I had a ten days in Sheffield with her and she visited where I live the we had the fortnight in Gran Canaria together.
I then visited the Island around another ten times. All bar one time at the top of the hill in Puerto Rico and I had some fun times. We then stopped coming to the Island, One of the reasons was cost. We went through a good 6 years of doing private rentals and the cost of flights to GC was huge compared to other places. We've bounced from Fueteventura to Lanarote for the past few years with a side trip to Tenerife with my friend Nat.
A few weeks ago we were looking for a weekend in Liverpool but for an extra few (hundred) pounds and a re-jig of my holiday allocation we managed to get a week in Gran Canaria. This time we decided to stay at the bottom of the hill and I'm glad we have as it's felt like a totally different resort. We've been very tame and been home before out short cut gate closes at 23.45 and the first night we were in bed before 7pm (we were tired)
This holiday for me has been restorative, catching up on sleep. getting a tan and even if I do say so myself I've got a decent colour. Even my feet look brown. I've got an epic amount of inset bites. I don't remember getting bites here before but it's been a good nine if not ten years since our last visit. The rose tinted specs may be on.
We are creatures of habit and may have only been in three bars and two restaurants but this week has bee just when I've needed. We've been to the beach three times and neither of us are beach lovers. Give me a pool any day of the week but it's been amazing and I know I use that word far too much.
Our hotel is behind the main commercial centre and there is a gate out to a path that runs along side it so it's only a five minute walk away. It's not noisy at night despite being so close and the hotel has free wifi that works in the room. It actually works better in the room than the public areas which is a novelty but a good one. It's meant I've kept up with Blogmas with out it impacting on the break as I've blogged if I've wanted to, I didn't even really need to write this as I should be home or almost home as this goes live but I've got the time and the wifi so why not!
My love of Gran Canaria has been rekindled and we've been talking about booking another break for next year.
I'm currently in Gran Canaria with my mum for a weeks pre-Christmas break and I'm loving being back on the Island after about ten years break.
I'd forgotten how much I love it here, we're staying in Peurto Rico and it's the resort i've been too about ten times if not more.
There are lots of shops including one of my favourite clothes shops Encurentro, a Funde Grube and Allkauf as well as the usual sea side shops selling buckets, spades and inflatable crocodiles.
We only had a quick wander round before settling ourselves on the beach. We paid for two sunbeds and a brollie and it cosr 9 euros which isn't bad as another beach costs 12.
I've only even been to Mogán once before around eleven years ago on a Market day and it was a little too much for me, I also thought of it as quiet with not much going on but we've been sat here planning a trip to stay there for a week or ten days at some point next year.
I feel like our days of not visiting Gran Canaria are over and expect to be back at least once next year.
For this holiday in Gran Canaria (where I am blogging from my balcony - I'm amazes by the speed of the wifi) I've brought a selection of mini products which I've collected from beauty boxes over the past few months)
I am a user of wipes and when I go away I always buy Barbaria wipes from the local supermarket as they are the best I've ever used and make my face feel really clean. I use them when I get back from a night out and in the mornings for a quick clean.
To supplement the wipes I use a selection of other products while I have a shower. For this trip I've brought the Nuxe honey face wash and facial exfoliators. I'v also brought the Nuxe body exfoliator which I will use every other day to get rid of the build up of sun creams and get rid of dead skin.
Before I use the wipes at night I will use the Clinique Take The Day off eye make up remover. This is oil based and gets rid of the most stubborn eye makeup easily
In the last Love Me Beauty Box I got a Bare Minerals serum. I've used this for the first time today and it made my skin feel great.
For moisturisers I've brought Clinique Day and Night creams. Both of these work well for my skin and while I don't always feel like I need a night cream on holiday I felt this was small enough to justify brining.
A winter holiday is exactly what I needed but when it came to what make up to pack I was really unsure.
It's not that long since I came back from Lanzarote and I too far too much make up on that holiday. This time I've really paired it back and possibility haven't brought enough. There are shops so i'm sure for a week I will cope but this is all I have brought on this holiday.
Benefit Porefessional - This is a teeny tiny sample size. I do like this product and I've had a couple of samples previously. it does have tint too it but I don't think it effects how the product works but I'm still not sure I want to commit to a full size products.
Number seven Intelligent Colour foundation - This is my go to holiday base. I have mine in medium and while it does have a slight silicone feeling to it. It blends well and does colour match me well. it is also light for warm evenings.
The only lip products I've brought is a blistex lip balm. This has SPF 15 in it and helps to protect my lips. This one has a slight medicinal quality to it and my appretice at work has got me hooked on it.
For eyeshaddow I've stuck to two products the Maybeline Creme de Rose Colour Tattoo and the NYX Jumbo Pencil in Iced Mocha.
The only eyeliner I've brought it one from Seventeen in black. This is a simple Khol pencil and is easy to use and sumgdes nicely.
I was trying to get my eyebrows shaped and tinted before I came away and didn't manage it so I've brought a Rimmel eyebrow pencil. This is a good colour match for me but I do go through phases where I love this then I won't use it for months.
The other eyeliner in the picture is an Essence in black midnight sky which my mum brought and i mistakenly picked up for the picture. Its worth mentioning as this is a beautiful soft eyeliner which has some navy and silver sparkle to it.
My Mascara is the bare minerals Lash Domination. I grabbed this as one of my Love Me Beauty Items last month. I've only used it once as I liked it, the packaging is tiny and the wand is almost the same size as the tube. I did find it tricky to apply but I think that is because there is only a very small cap to hold on it.
My final item is a Milani bronzer in Hermosa Rose. This is such a pretty product that gives a slight glow as well as bronzes
Decorative Functional Stickers £2.20 per sheet
Fox Decorative, Autumnal Decorative and Floral Decorative are the sets I picked. I grabbed these as I thought they would work well in my Stigu Planner as some of the weeks have circle boxes. I haven't compared the sizes but by eye, I think they will be fine.
Decorative Stickers £2.20 per sheet

One of the things that attracted me to this shop was the huge numbers of decorative sticker sheets, without buying kits and while there is a number of kawaii stickers which I think are cute but I don't think I love enough to order there are plent of other cute designs.
I decided to grab the weather stickers as I do want to try and track the weather next year and I couldn'r resist the pastel baking stickers. I don't do much baking but I'm sure I could start or use them when it's back off o'clock.
The next two sheets are the Autumnal and Christmas sheets stickers. I drink a lot of coffee. I frequent coffee shops on a regular basis so these will be used and how cute are the other stickers on the sheets.
Half Box Stickers £2.20 per sheet
Sampler Sheets - Free Gifts

Often but not all the Etsy shops I've ordered from provide a small sampler sheet with 6-8 stickers but in this order I got a full sheet with a mix of stickers, a sheet of 2 Christmas Full Boxes and a small sampler which I think might be the standard sampler.
I'm so happy with the stickers I've received and feel like I will love how these look in my planner.
After a long day in Manchester and once the Christmas Markets had closed we found ourselves in search of food. We wanted somewhere close to Victoria or Exchange Square to catch the tram home and decided to try Cabana Brazilian Barbecue.
Luckily on Saturdays (Thursday - Saturdays) The Kitchen is open until 11pm. We shared cheese dough balls and sweet potato hummus between three of us and both were delicious. I spotted a couple of other things on the sharing menu that I'd like to try.
There are plenty of cocktails to choose from but I struggled a little as I'm not a fan of rum but if you are this is the place for you.
I settled on Carlos the Godfather which is a mix of Gin, elderflower, lemon & lime. It was refreshing and not too sweet. I would have one again. For my second I tried a Rum based cocktail and didn't enjoy it but I know that is due to my aversion to Rum.
My choice was decided almost before I looked at the menu when it came to the main course as I knew I went for the Bossa Burger and upgraded it to add bacon and cheese. This came with skinny house fries and they were pretty good as well.
It was a struggle but we managed a pudding, our first too choices weren't available and we were a little disappointed but as it was the end of service it was only to be expected. The one we went for was a warm chocolate fondant and it was perfect, just the right amount of melt and a rich chocolate cake with ice cream.
Over all I was really impressed with out impromptu visit, despite it being late the staff were friendly and polite and the atmosphere was good. I'd go back and want to try a fair few other menu items.
#Blogmas2016 | Manchester Christmas Markets - Food Highlights
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
#Blogmas2016 | Book Review | A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Thursday, December 01, 2016When I saw it was the girl gang book club book of the month and it was in the zoella book club with WH Smiths (I bought the first set and was impressed) it made me buy it and I decided to read it straight away before even taking photos to make sure I was in time for the chat and as I type I’m planning on rereading it right away so that I can go through and make notes ready for the chat and to try and make sense of it all.
And at time of editing the post I'm still only half way through my second read and I missed the chat.
It’s a fairly short book and has taken me a couple of hours (4 tram rides) to read. This morning I whimpered, then let out a loud sobs I read a page on the tram. Meaning everyone turned to stare at me.
The first thing you need to do is read the Authors Note at the beginning. I found this really moving and has a important and hopefully spoiler free details in it.
It covers a difficult illness that has made Conor a carer at such a young age. It also touches on bullying and dealing with a step family across the other side of the world.
I've know Beth for a few years and we both love a lot of the same things including planning and stickers.
We've chosen to use the Whimsical Snow Globe Kit which which is for the Erin Condron Vertical planner. This isn't the planner I have but as my planner is not a standard size i'm sure I can make this kit work for me.
There is a really good mix of sheets, including, full boxes, washi strips, check boxes, day labels, functional stickers and deco stickers.
Bath Products
Now winter (ok, ok I know it's still autumn) I take a lot of baths, mainly because we only have hot water when we have the heating on (boiler won't do hot water only) and this month I've used up three products.
Bath Bomb - I picked this up from The Curve Fashion Festival and it was very nice, I wouldn't say it was the best bath bomb I've ever used and I have three more of these to use. I wouldn't go out of my way to track down the seller to buy more but if I did come across them again I'd probably buy a few more. I think these were £1 each so are very good value.
Bath Salts - I've done myself a mischief and hurt my neck and back, meaning I've turned to bath salts to try and help ease and relax my pain levels and I've enjoyed using these. The black packet are Therapie Roques O'Neil and this size pack (100g) retails for £10 which is a lot of money. This came in one of the many Latest in Beauty boxes I've bought over the last couple of years. I'd put off using them as it made it sound like you'd be covered in a layer of salt that needed to be brushed down but that wasn't the case. They smelt amazing but for the price I don't think I would buy them myself but they were lovely and relaxing and they dissolved quickly in the bath water.
The larger pack are from TK Maxx and cost £3.95 for 1kg which I think is much better value. I've had a look on the Westlab website and they retail for £5.99, however they are being sold on ebay for £12.99. These dissolved well and I did feel very relaxed. We've bought a couple more pack from the same brand but different types of salt but I will be picking up another bag of the epsom salts at weekend.
Shower Gel
Is it just me who feel like shower gel lasts for ages then you use two up at once? This seems to always happen to me.

Original Source - Sweet Apple and Vanilla Milk - This was part of a gift swap and isn't a scent I'd have chosen for myself but I adored this. It made my skin feel lovely and salt and the scent reminds me of milk bottle sweets with a lovely light apple aroma.
Imperial Leather Fruit Chew - I am loving these imperial leather shower gels at the moment I've tried a couple from the swizzels inspired range and this really does smell like fruit salad chews.
Hair Products
If you've watched any of my empties videos you will notice a hair product theme, a type of product that pops up pretty much every month and that is dry shampoo. I never used to use it but this year I've got lazy and now I only wash my hair about twice a week. I could do with washing it daily but I've come to depend on my dry shampoos.
Elnet hairspray - This little tin has lasted me well, it came from a beauty box and as someone who rarely used hair spray it's been a great addition. Small enough not to take up much space but handy to have in. It worked well and always handy to have.
Batiste - I prefer the fresh over the blush scent, but both worked well for me and as I'm using it so often I always have a couple of these can on hand. I've been buying them from home bargains but i've noticed in boots a lot of the cans have had a bit of a redesign.
Aussie Winter Hair 3 min miracle - Another disappointment. I found this quite drying on my hair. It's not terrible but as someone who has dry hair I though a this hair mask would make it more oily but it seemed to feel quite dry but also really nice and shiny which is a real contradiction. Over all I'd say I wasn't keen. The scent is different form the original three min miracle but it smells nice and you can tell it's an aussie product. If one of these arrived in a beauty box i'd use it but I wouldn't go out of my way to pick one up.
The Others
John sons Cotton Bud - It's probably time I stopped mentioning these and there is rarely a month that goes by that these are a staple and they are worth buying over own brand ones.
PS...Love This Oval Cosmetic Pads - I've been buying these for a while and they are fine. 90p for a pack of 100 which I think is good value. I do prefer the oval pads over cotton rounds. I wouldn't say they are a holy grail item but I will rebuy them.
Vaseline Intensive Care Spray Moisturiser - This is a bit mixed for me as I hated the scent. The moisturising part well but I was reluctant to use very often as I couldn't get on with the strong scent.
Makeup
Boots No 7 Dramatic Lift Mascara - I was a little disappointed in this. It was a little dry and I only got about 3 weeks use out of it before if felt like I wasn't picking up any product on to the wand. I'm not sure if mine was bad or if i'd opened it when I first bought it and it dried up but I didn't have a great experience with it.
What products havee you used up this month?