My Saturday

I have literally 9 minutes to wrote up this blog post before the day is over so I'm quickly writing to talk about my day! 

At the moment our house is going through a lot of work so I couldn't go downstairs for a few hours! It started off as a pretty boring day but I went to Nottingham to Ikea - we realised it wasn't that great - but I still managed to get a desk lamp! From Next Home I managed to get a few things. As you may know, we moved home 6 months ago and it has been progressing very slowly but we're getting there!

I will show you everything that I got in tomorrow's post. I hope you've all had a lovely Saturday, sorry for this random post but I didn't want to miss a day!

xxx

Niomi's Chocolate Almond Spiced Cookies!

I'm sure you are all familiar with Niomi Smart - British fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogger / vlogger. Naomi uploaded another amazing recipe yesterday to her YouTube channel and the cookies looked so great I had to try them! 

The result was amazing! The spices worked perfectly with the chocolate and almonds, not too overpowering but just the slight hint to give you warm, cosy and delicious cookies perfect for this time of year. So all credits go to Niomi for sharing this recipe. Here is my take on them. 

Just to let you know I did change a few things, I used Lindt milk chocolate as I prefer this over dark chocolate and I also used a bit more maple syrup than the recipe states because it just needed to be slightly sweeter. 

The recipe is as follows: 

Click here to see Niomi making them.

Makes 10-12 cookies. 15 minutes baking time. Allow 30 minutes altogether.

Ingredients

2 cups Ground Almonds

2 heaped tbsp Coconut Oil

4-5 Squares of Dark Chocolate or use Chocolate Chips

1 tbsp Agave Nectar (or 1.5 tbsp pure maple syrup)

1/2 Mashed Ripe Banana

1 tbsp Almond Butter

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger, Nutmeg and Pink Himalayan Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C.

2. Mash the ripe banana and chop the chocolate into chunks.

Tip - the banana will be easier to mash if it's ripe! It'll also taste better.

3. In a saucepan, heat the coconut oil on a low heat. When it is melted, add the syrup and all the spices and salt. Keep on a low heat and stir until ingredients are combined.

4. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground almonds and baking powder. Mix in the mashed banana, chocolate chunks and almond butter.

5. Now add the melted ingredients and stir it altogether until combined. All the ingredients should stick together until the bowl is clean.

6. Take a tablespoon amount of the mixture and place onto a tray with greaseproof paper. Press down to form a cookie.

7. Press the back of a fork onto each of the cookies and bake for 15 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool.

I hope you are all having a nice evening / morning / afternoon! 

Thanks for reading 

Throwback Thursday - My 17th Birthday

As my 18th birthday approaches in exactly one week I thought I'd share a photo from last year's birthday. My family and I went to Nando's for dinner and we just chilled. 

I also got to spend time with my friends at college :) 

Here I am with my brother while we waited for a table. I look quite delirious, I know!

I'm pretty excited for my 18th birthday, sad to grow up but I am looking forward to a bright future (InshAllah!)

The Pointless Book

The other day, whilst ordering Girl Online, I saw that Alfie's Pointless Book was reduced to just under £4 so I added it to my basket to check it out!

I had a quick flick through the book today and I have to admit although it is quite pointless, it's still fun! My brother and I used the book to play the headband game for ages which was really fun! We also played rock paper scissors and used the page from the book to record our scores and a few other things we did. 

The book is full of random activities - from dot to dots, to word searches, to random scribbling, ripping out paper and creating origami - it's just bursting with activities - some were a bit weird compared to others.

I also think this would make a great book for keeping memories! You can add photos on some pages, and other pages ask you how you would describe your week and I just think it's fun to look back on things like that. 

It is entertaining, so if you are looking for a gift for a friend, or you want to participate in fin activities that don't involve technology this is quite quirky and fun.

img source: Google images newmediarockstars.com

Click here to view it on Amazon, it is currently only £3.85!

Thanks for reading : )

My 'No Makeup' Phase

So, recently I have been questioning a lot of things I've been doing & one of them has been the makeup I wear. I've realised that without makeup I feel insecure and ugly. But I want to overcome this and I have started to wear as little makeup as possible to overcome my insecurities and flaws, that and the fact that I just cannot be bothered in the mornings!

For the past three days I have been either wearing no makeup or just a tiny bit of mascara and concealer under my eyes. I feel a lot more fresh and even though my mum says I look 5 years younger I don't mind because I feel good. I feel natural, not fake which is a good feeling!

I feel like I rely too much on makeup and I'm sure I will probably go back to wearing it but I've just reached a point where I'm a bit sick of it to be honest! 

I think this is probably just a phase I am going through - I've been questioning all the decisions I've made recently such as moving to London next year and the university I have chosen. I guess when you are making such huge decisions, it's only natural to feel doubtful. Hopefully I will get over this feeling soon! 

Thanks for reading 

Girl Online: My First Impressions!

Just a disclaimer - this post does not contain any spoilers!

Image Source: Goodreads

I'm sure many of you will know Internet star Zoe Sugg recently released her debut novel Girl Online. I never intended to read it as I thought it would appeal to tweenagers / younger teenagers and so I may not enjoy it as much as they would. But just out of curiosity, I decided to order it online, I've been watching Zoe since she started in 2009 when she had under 100,000 subscribers and to see what she has achieved over the years is amazing! I wouldn't class myself as a fangirl (i.e 12 year olds who have twitter pages dedicated to their idols) but I do enjoy watching Zoe's videos. I'm not saying fangirling over Zoe is a bad thing but I know she is a massive influence and inspiration for young girls across the world. 

On to the book

I received it yesterday evening, started reading it the same evening and finished it today! Even though it is around 350 pages long it is quite quick to get through. 

First thing I noticed and pretty much everyone always notices on a book is the cover and the way it feels. It is nice aesthetically and it feels nice & smooth so that's a bonus. 

I started reading and I realised that this book is not aimed for someone my age (almost 18). The book although it is written quite well, there is no extensive use of vocabulary and I thought places, items and feelings could have been described in a more 'sophisticated manner' but at the same time I think that the book is probably targeted at 15 year olds and under so it would have to be written in this way. 

Nonetheless the plot line is intriguing and it was hard to put down I must admit, but at times it felt very unrealistic and I was left thinking that's so cliche and not realistic at all. The romantic in me did enjoy it, especially the character Noah, some of the things he does are pretty cute - not gonna lie! 

The book also deals with issues such as bullying and panic / anxiety attacks and I think it is great that Zoe included these because the book touched on them quite frequently so for anyone dealing with panic attacks / anxiety the book may be relatable for some. 

My favourite character is definitely Elliot!

I know this review doesn't go in to great detail but I just thought I would give you my initial impression and seeing as I am not an actual critic, I think I will leave that to the professionals! 

Overall:

Pros:

• Good storyline and plot twist
• Represents issues such as panic attacks, bullying, losing friends
• Aesthetically pleasing

Cons:

• At times it was cliche and unrealistic (but it is fiction so I can't argue with that!)
• There was nothing that stood out to me - I can imagine myself really enjoying this book if I was 13 years old but 5 years later I crave something more complex and challenging

I would recommend this if you are 15 or under or want to buy a gift for someone of that age range. If you are around my age I think you would much prefer John Green's style of writing. I just felt Girl Online was a little too kid-ish for me, I have outgrown those kind of novels.

Thanks for reading! 

Winter Essentials Haul

I've just uploaded this weeks video: My Winter Essentials Haul where I discuss a few things I've bought and have been wearing in preparation for Winter. 

Oh, how I crave the sun and its warmth so badly but this is England. And Winter is bloody cold. I do love snuggling up in big scarves, fluffy socks and drinking hot chocolate, I love the cosiness of it all but the way it gets so dark early is pretty miserable.

Anyway here is today's video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS-3G_SfH90

And I leave you with an out of focus shot of my face from a video that didn't make the cut on to my YouTube channel!

I hope you've had a great Sunday!