Tag Archives: Lifestyle

Christmas at Dealz

21 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by in Lifestyle, Shopping

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A few weeks back I went to the Dealz Christmas event and they had some gorgeous gifts and decorations and all for €1.50! Apologies in advance for this post, I love Christmas and I will keep saying how gorgeous everything is ha ha. The event took place in early in October but I did my best to hold out this post until most people were interested in Christmas 🙂

They decorated a few room styles in different colours, golds and silver/blue.

They have all this tableware for only €1.50 each, and they are dishwasher and microwave safe.

How cute are these cushions and gift bags? 

Dealz also have their own sweet range, they also do branded sweets and these do sell for more than €1.50 but they are still at a great price. They also had some cute homeware pieces that can be used all year.

Everything should be in store now, I will be stocking up especially on the tableware and cushions!
Amanda xxx

 

*I was invited to this event, my review is based on my opinion of the products. 

Easilock Launch Event 

21 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by in Beauty, Lifestyle

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I was recently at the Easilock launch event in the Cliff Townhouse in Dublin. The venue was gorgeous and I definitely need to go try it for dinner! Easilock hair extensions are now available in pharmacies around Ireland and I got to see some of the samples at the event. It is made from a fibre hair technology and is heat resistant so can by styled very easily. At the event you could get the hair extensions put into your hair and it looked very easy! 

I didn’t try them out as to be honest I have pretty thick head of hair and extra hair is definitely not a good idea. Everytime I go to the hairdressers’ they always comment on how much hair I have and how light it feels after a cut! There was a few things from Easilocks that I was very interested in, the celebrity range includes pieces to style your hair. I love the braid people have in their hair and Easilock do a braid headband that just sits in your hair!! 

Easilocks celebrity range

They also launched a homecare range for the extensions that can also be used in your natural hair. Shane O’Sullivan says that you should be buying a shampoo that looks after your scalp, something I never even thought of. I will buy creams for my face to keep my skin hydrated and (hopefully) younger looking but when it comes to my hair I buy whatever is on special offer in the supermarket. The Easilock homecare range includes shampoo and conditioner both of which are free from silicones, sulphates and parabens. 

I definitely think I will be investing and doing some research into was is best for my scalp and hair. I have noticed over the past few months my hair seems in a worse condition than normal and never looks great. I was blaming the weather but maybe it is the products I am using?

Amanda xxx


Athlone Fashion Trail

04 Tuesday Oct 2016

Posted by in Fashion, Uncategorized

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Last weekend the Athlone Fashion Trail took place and I was lucky enough to get picked to go along with other bloggers from Into the West Blogger Network. For any of you who follow my blog you will know I went to the Galway Fashion Trail back in March and had a brilliant time.

The day started off in Colm Quinn BMW in Athlone, once again we were treated to a great breakfast and prosecco 😍. We got to look at the gorgeous cars and they told us about their new garage in Athlone that has cars starting from €4000, click here for more details.

Falling in love with the M3

The gorgeous Mini showroom

After being chauffeured into town in a lovely 5 series, the fashion trail started in Kadee Bridal, what girl doesn’t want to see a wedding dress fashion show??

Continue reading →

Healthy Breakfast!

20 Friday May 2016

Posted by in Food / Eating Out, Healthy Living

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So last weekend I finally got around to making banana and oat pancakes. I don’t mind bananas but I will only eat them on their own not in anything so I was pretty sure I was going to hate these pancakes. They are really good and actually pretty much taste like normal pancakes, they would probably be more like a crepe to be honest.

Here is the recipe:

2 Bananas
Half a cup of porridge oats
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract

I sw a few recipes that added almond milk or normal milk to the mix so it wouldn’t be as thick. I have vanilla extract from baking so I used that to add more flavour.

To start blend the porridge oats, I think your supposed to blend them to a powder but my blender didn’t and you couldnt notice the oats in the pancakes. Then just throw everything in and blend for about 5 minutes and then leave to rest for 20mins and then you are good to go.

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My recipe made about 6 small to medium pancakes, I just added some freshfruit and a little bit of sugar. Yogurt would also be really good with them.

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Hope you enjoy it!

Amanda xxx

Competition Winner

21 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in Competition, Uncategorized

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My Christmas competition closed on Friday at midnight and I have picked a winner, sorry for the delay!!

The winner of all of this:

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Is………….drumroll………….
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Thank you to everybody who entered!! I will start gathering up pieces for the next competition.

Amanda xxx

Bombay Duck London

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Lifestyle, Shopping

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I came across Bombay Duck London a few weeks ago and I am in love with everything they sell. The company was started by two sisters who loved to travel and got their ideas from travelling and England. For anybody out there who loves pretty home ware and colourful patterns they should definitely check out their page.

I have seen many bloggers with Initial Cups and I went looking for some online, these are beautiful!

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They are £12.95/approx €18 each, click here to buy. They are a brilliant idea for a gift for anybody and I love the gold. They also come in black instead of gold.

They have so many mugs to pick from, here is another really cute one with quote on it. It is the same price as above, click here if you want to buy it 🙂

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They have also have tea sets and this one really reminds of the tea set from Beauty and the Beast. How cute is it! Click here to buy the tea pot.

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You should definitely check out their site for cute gifts. They don’t deliver to Ireland however you can use Parcel Motel who offer you a virtual address for deliveries to Ireland. It is a great service, register and get a unique code for you and an address to get the items delivered to. It costs €3.95, and the parcel will be left in a Parcel Motel location for collection at a time that suits you, click here to find out more about Parcel Motel.

Amanda xxx

Photos are courtesy of Bombay Duck London and used with their permission . Bombay Duck did not contact me or ask me to write this blog post, I wrote it as I fell in love with all the products on their site.

Fitness Update – September 8th 2015

08 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Fitness, Lifestyle

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Happy Tuesday everybody!! (I am off for the week so can’t help but be happy!!) So this weeks fitness update is mainly about walking more and making the most of the last few weeks of brightness after work.

Over the past two weeks I have started walking home from work everyday and this is about 5kms.  I worked out the other day if I walk home from work five days a week, over four weeks I will have walked 100kms!! This seems like a pretty good distance and should increase my fitness.  I also worked out that by working home everyday I am also saving €50 over four weeks, so that is obviously a good reason to buy myself a new pair of jeans or boots 🙂

I am also trying to go for a walk most evenings after dinner, I don’t mean a power walk. Sometimes it is nice to just go out for a stroll and enjoy the walk and get some fresh air.

We are heading away for a few days this week and hopefully we stay somewhere that has a swimming pool, really want to relax and go for a nice swim.

Pretty short post for this weeks fitness update.  What exercise is everybody doing and any suggestions for something new for me to try?

Amanda xxx

September Challenge

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Fitness, Healthy Living, Lifestyle

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I have seen a few pictures going around the place to do a September challenge. So this involves taking a picture of whatever the word of the day is, eg day 1 goal of the day.

So here is the photo challenge I am going to use:

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There are loads of different ones going around so just pick whichever one you like the look of. I will be updating mine daily on Instagram, so head over and follow me and you can see what I am doing! My username is @thechatterboxdiaries

Amanda xxx

(Picture is not mine)

Fitness update 11th August

11 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by in Fitness

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Hi guys, here is this weeks fitness update 🙂

As I said before I ran home from work, I finally bought a proper bag for running and ran home from Wednesday! I like the run home, it is great being home early and finished my exercise for the night. I was awake early on Saturday morning so went for a 4km at 9.30. I was having one of those days were I just felt uncomfortable and fat so wanted to go out and get some exercise. I did feel a lot better after it.

There was no Zumba on last week as the instructor was away on holidays so I tried to just walk as much as possible.

We decided we wanted to try out a gym, so we went to the Spencer Hotel in the IFSC, in Dublin. The gym is really nice, it is small compared to the huge gyms. There was a great variety of equipment and no huge queues. They also provide towels which saves the hassle of carrying a towel aswell!

Amanda xxx

Low Carb Diet

30 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by in Lifestyle

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I know people have different views on low carb diets, its not healthy, you will put the weight back on straight away when you start eating carbs again.  I am currently doing a no carb diet, I don’t  think any of  the above views are true. Like any diet if you start eating the same as you did before you started the diet you will put on the weight.  Also you don’t have to just eat frys every day.  I have started doing low carbs for about 10days before I go on holidays.  To work out the carbs in food I deduct the fibre from the carbs to get my net carbs. Here is a breakdown of what I eat on a daily basis on this diet:

Breakfast:
During the week I am limited enough and normally have a slimbo with ham and cheese.  Slimbos have approximately  15 net carbs depending which type you buy.  Obviously you put what you want into these including bacon 🙂 Brennan’s do a low carb bread ‘Brennans Be Good Wholemeal’ that was about 8grams of carbs per slice!

Lunch:

Not going to lie, I have struggled a bit with lunch options.  I do have access to a canteen in work and normally stick to a salad and cold cuts of meat.  Some days I have the option of a chicken breast, roasted meat or an omelette. Mushroom soup is also quite low depending on the brand.

Dinner:

Dinner is probably one of the easier meals, I have been eating a lot of Caesar salad.  I have been trying Caeser salad with chicken and chorizo and it is so good!!
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Another dish I have tried is courgetti courgette stripped with a julienne peeler so its like spagetti) with chicken and a creamy pesto sauce.  The chicken was in a marinade which explains the colour, I can’t say if marinade is allowed but I am not being overly strict on my carb count.
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Another meal I am enjoying is omelettes, you can throw anything and it is quick and easy!!
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Snacks:

So for snacks I am having sugar free jelly, peanuts and some chocolate.  Not the healthiest snacks really!

So for anybody who wants to do a low carb diet, I am only giving information on the diet I am currently following.  I am not a nutrionist or now much about diets, I am following this in the healthiest way I think fit.  I am drinking as much water as I can and also doing a bit of walking.

Amanda xxx