How do people get back into the swing of things after a break? Before Christmas, I went to a log cabin in the wilds of the New Forest (about as wild as one of those carousels with teacups) and had NO INTERNET. Yet, I still managed to blog daily via a non-3G connection on my phone doing the classic standing on a chair and holding the phone at a 37 degree angle until I saw a bar (“I’ve got a signal!! I’ve got a signal!!”) thing…
Fast forward three weeks: introduce a bottle of vodka, GTA IV and the leftovers from the Celebrations tin and it takes me all the effort in the world just to get a wash.
What I’m trying to say is, I’m feeling delicate. And a bit slow. And this is my rubbish excuse for only now posting about my Christmas pressies when the rest of the blogosphere are planning their Valentine’s gift guides, the bastards.
Anyway, I must have been a very good girl this year because Father Christmas was extremely kind to me. Not as kind as he was to my husband who got a 46″ telly, a graphics tablet, AND a book about space. Sexual favours I expect… but regardless of my husband’s devious ways of ensuring that old St. Nick favours his stocking, I did very well indeed. Wanna nosey?
Mr L got me this beautiful silver necklace from Etsy, it’s so delicate and perfect <3 – who knew he was capable of such good taste anyway?! I don’t usually wear much jewellery – I still haven’t even taken my wedding band to be resized – but I’ve barely taken this off since I unwrapped it on Christmas morning.
He also bought me a Heart Rate Monitor for running… in theory, this should help me work out my perfect pace for burning calories vs. being able to actually prolong the workout! When I was running last year, I had a habit of starting off too hard and fast and exhausting myself well before 5k, hopefully this will help me find a suitable pace.
He also got me a running buff, kind of like a neck/throat/mouth warmer… my asthma hates this cold weather for any kind of exercise and last year, I was running with a fleece scarf tucked around my gob – I looked like a uncoordinated ninja!
To rebel against all this fitness malarky, I also got a beautiful red lipstick from Estee Lauder, you can be sure of a FOTD soon!
This one’s a bit cheaty because these sandals were a bit of a present to me… from me! I’d been craving them since I saw them in Selfridges early last Summer, I even instagrammed them! I eventually spotted them at the KG outlet in Gunwharf Quay while I was having a bit of a shop with HelenJNT, and snapped them up for a bargain price. Now I’ve just got to wait for the sun to come out!
I told you I was a spoilt girl, I got a new phone! Usually, I’m about 2 years behind everyone else when it comes to phones… but we justified the splurge on the fact that if Mr. L is going to port his games onto iPhone, he totally needs an iPhone5 in the house so that he can bug test. I’m giving him my iPhone4 and he’ll retire his HTC. It’s actually killing him a little… he is not much of an Apple fan… poor love. WHATEVER!!! I’VE GOT AN IPHONE5! MOAR INSTAGRAM.
I’m currently baby-ing it and being laughed at because I’m refusing to remove the plastic covers until my screen protectors get here!
Leila got me (thanks Mr. L!) a beautiful candle which she found in T.K. Maxx, it couldn’t actually be more perfect – it’s rich, woody, and a little bit masculine (just how I like ’em!) It’s both warming and calming with the tiniest hint at incense… honestly, the girl couldn’t have chosen better.
My last gift (which you may have spotted at the back there), is a new lens for my camera! Woohoo! It’s the Canon 40mm 2.8 pancake lens, so it’s really slimline and will be great for taking out and about with me. It’s a beaut and very reasonably priced!
I also got a cake pop maker (yeahhh!), a cook-book, a lovely scarf, some socks (essential) and some money. I don’t think there’s any way that I can be possibly be well-behaved enough to beat this haul next Christmas, I’m a very lucky girl.
What did you get for Christmas? Tell me!
Ooeee, nice lens! That’s gone straight on my Amazon wishlist. I got a lot of smellies, clothes, a bit of money, a slow cooker and vouchers. Santa was kind. I’ve blown the money already. The vouchers are as yet unspent as I have to get off of my arse and go to town to spend ’em. xx
Yeah, I’m <3'ing my new lens hard! I'm excited for you that you got a slow cooker - I'm still completely in love with mine and rarely resort to doing stews in it nowadays, so versatile - keep me uptodate if you find any amazing recipes! x
What a lovely selection, you lucky lizard, you. I’d love an iphone. My HTC wont connect if it doesn’t feel like it, it’s a right grumpy old git. Lovely shoes, lovely necklace – the monitor would prompt me to stubbornly eat toblerone. But good luck lady! Running is good for you and all. Santa did good for me this year too, Santa sent me to the Harry Potter tour yesterday (very nice) and has forked out for F1 tickets! Woohoo! Bring it on. Happy new year lovely. x
I am super-lucky! Running is terrible for the knees but my God did it firm up all my wobbly bits while it lasted! So jealous of the HP tour, everything I’ve heard about it makes me want to go! Happy new year to you too babe x
Oh man, I love those shoes! I am such a Carvela fan! 🙂
Should also add that I was a spoilt girl too; I got some Prada Infusion D’Iris (my fave!), some lovely Clarins goodies, a clutch bag and a fab necklace. Also we got National Trust membership which is such a great present, I forsee lots of day trips this year 🙂
Ahhh Infusion D’Iris is lovely, especially in the warmer weather – my bottle saw a serious dent in it last spring! I have an NT membership but I’ve barely used it this year, so naughty – think it runs out in march, better make the most of it before then. Lovely pressies, thanks for sharing!
Hello from Detroit! I’ve been a fan of your blog for some time. I’ve never seen Infusion D’Iris, but I’ll keep my eyes open. My go-to winter fragrance this year has been Prada Candy, which is really sweet and warm.
This Christmas, Santa was good to gals on both sides of the pond. I got a Clarisonic Aria (which I love), a gift set of five different Clinique mascaras, a memory foam side-sleeper pillow from Brookstone, Betsey Johnson earrings, fancy jammies, booze (yay!), a Sephora gift card, a Joy Division t-shirt, Juice Beauty CC cream (LOVE), and other little odds and ends.
I just want to comment on the running thing. I have always hated running, mostly because I’ve always been in really bad shape, I’ve started out too hard when I’ve tried taking it up, had to take a pause and never gone again – until next time I’ve gotten overly ambitious. I found a book (in Danish, but something similar is probably readily available in English, too), which has a beginners program that actually starts at ‘couch level’ – 2 min’s running, 1 walking, for 15 minutes, 3 times a week. That’s with the added instruction to run in a tempo where you can still hold conversation! I know you and everyone and also me know to take it easy when starting out, but I found it a massive help to have a program that said when to stop. The benefit of being able to keep it up, because my body/lungs don’t hate me after a run meant that improvement was a lot more obvious, and getting hooked a lot easier. The steady increase of time and tempo in the program meant it kept being easy, but I could always look 2 weeks back and see that there was actual, steady improvement in me, too. If you like injury-free competition with yourself, I can absolutely recommend it. Also the Endomondo app, for timekeeping/-tracking!
Eh – and with those 5 miles you are obviously way above that level, but a detailed program that fits, was my point! 🙂
Love the necklace! You’re so lucky
Hi Charlotte!
Found your blog through makeupsavvy. Love, love, LOVE your blog especially the photographs. Did you take any courses for photography? Do you know of any free resources I can use to improve taking shots with DSLR?
Many thanks
Eff x
Hi Eff, no I’m self taught from around 2007 onwards – ILovePhotography used to be a great forum but I haven’t been on there for a long time. Also Bryan Peterson’s book Understading Exposure is one that anyone with a camera should own. Thanks for the compliment xx