Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone! Hope Santa was good to you! :D 

So, every year I hum and ahh about doing a Christmas 'haul' because of the mixed response but I love watching or reading others', so here is mine! I've been quite select on what I've included and you'll be pleased to know I've stuck to main presents and not bothered to include the many stocking fillers I received. As lovely as a bottle of Avacat is or as cosy as my slipper socks are I'm not sure they are all that interesting :)

So I'll begin with perhaps my favourite. This year I asked my parents for yet another Pandora related present. The new Essence Collection. Not only is the bracelet really pretty, it has a special meaning. My personal team in my business is called the Essence Group. When I heard about this Collection I felt it was so fitting! 

As for the charms, they all carry meaning. I LOVE anything with a meaning or motto behind it. The pink charm is called Passion and is the one I picked out with my Mum. It says do the things you're passionate about and that interest you.

The other 2 charms were a lovely surprise. The purple stands for Faith. It reminds me to have just that in myself. The silver detailed charm is Health. Very apt considering my business is in the Health and Wellness industry. Also a nice reminder to maintain my fitness and strive to be healthier.

I see a theme here! I love Pandora and I was also treated to 2 gorgeous charms for my main bracelet. My best friend Gina got me the beautiful Angel charm. It's very pretty and I like to think of it as a guardian angel. 

Mr. gingerbreadman was a gift from my parents. I'd been after this cute little guy for a while and my Mum knew this. She surprised me with it but gave me a big clue as the pandora bag also had the gingerbread teddy decoration inside!

Now my haul wouldn't be complete without some form of makeup now would it! Benefit is possibly my favourite brand. It was hard to get one of these sets and online the price was doubled once they sold-out...sorry Dad :P There wasn't much surprise when it came to this as I did send him a link to buy it haha but...well worth it! The blushes are divine! I have a big Rockateur blush already and use it all the time so I'm excited to try out the others, along with the famous bronzer!

If you know me or have been reading for a while, you'll know I'm a big kid and no Christmas would be complete without some form of gadget/toy! I really didn't know much about the Fitbug when I steered my Dad is its direction but I thought the concept of monitoring sleep was very novel! Indeed it really does work! :) It also has many other functions such as recording steps taken. It's safe to say I have barely moved since Christmas! :P

Keeping with the gadget theme...I also got a hand blender! I made a lovely banana shake this morning for breakfast and was super impressed. I half expected covering the kitchen in liquid and mashed up fruit but it was all very successful! I'm really not a fan of actual food before 10am so the idea is that I'll use my Forever lite Ultra which is a fantastic meal replacement, mixed with different fruit to keep them interesting as breakfast on work days. Sorted!

PJs, slippers and a dressing gown are a given for me every Christmas and my Mum likes to give me and my Sister Jess at least one pair of matching PJs. A photo together in them is fast becoming a tradition! :)

Tunes! Last year I had a iPod for my car. I've been using it all year and love being able to shuffle all my music. However, if you saw my recent posts you'll know I have a new job starting in January. My last school was a 20 minute drive and my car remained on a private car park- so I left my iPod in my car all day. My new job is literally a 5 minute drive and I'll be parking on the street. Rather than messing about plugging my iPod in for sake of a quick drive and them taking it back out when I arrive...I think CDs are the answer. My parents were spot on with their selections...especially Take That's as I'm going to see them on tour again next year! :D Can't wait!

And finally the sea of edibles!...Wow. I didn't bother to gather all the chocolates and sweets I received but trust me I'm swimming in the stuff! Haha. My Mum said I should bite off Santa's head...however if you understood how big that actually is...no, just no! :P

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!

I know I was very lucky in what I received but Christmas really isn't about the things you get, it's who you spend it with that matters...

I had a sleepover with my niece....all I truly wanted for Christmas...

Merry Christmas!

A chocolate alternative...

Hey again. Can't keep away of late can I! But I've stumbled across something that might be of interest to those of you with a bit of a sweet tooth.

Previous to doing Weight Watcher's, I wasn't someone who was overly mad on chocolate or the likes. I was more of a savory gal. However after enrolling on the plan I somehow started craving sugar, A LOT. I guess I wasn't getting my usual greasy fixes of chips and what not, so sugar became more of a priority?!

I perhaps still can't identify with the major chocoholics of this world, but I am partial to the odd bar or two :)

Weight Watcher's taught me to eat smaller meals but then to treat myself with low cal sweet snacks afterwards...like their mini chocolate cake bites! So, in turn I grew a bit of a sweet tooth and recently I've found it hard to resist buying a chocolate bar after my Uni lunch or snacking on sweet fixes! 

Anyway... the other night, after coming home for half-term, I got given one of these...

Introducing the Sharon fruit!

I don't know about you, but I've never heard of these before! My dad and sister are doing this thing at the moment where each week they are trying a new fruit/vegetable. A good idea actually. Healthy and exciting all in one :)

I've come to love fruit and veg...you can teach yourself, honest! So I was looking forward to giving this a try.

To be honest I wasn't all that sure what to expect. It kind of looks like a cross between a tomato and an orange, but it's skin has a fairly waxy feel about it. 

Following the instructions, you eat it like I would do a kiwi...slice the top off and use a spoon to scoop out the contents. Apparently my sister thought that you ate it like an apple so has been eating skin and all!...She's still here to tell the tale but I personally wouldn't eat the outer shell :P

It's a weird taste to describe but the thing that hit me first was how sweet it was! Literally sweeter than sugar if that is at all possible?! The insides were similar to that of a passion fruit minus the seeds and the texture reminded me of a plum.

Quite an odd but rather enjoyable experience all the same. 

The good thing about this fruit is that it's SO sweet that it literally takes away any chocolate/sweet cravings that you might have had before! Prior to eating this I was considering a bar of Cadbury's, but a couple of spoonfuls into the Sharon fruit and there was no way I wanted chocolate or any dessert whatsoever. You could have put my favourite sponge pudding and custard in front of me and I wouldn't have eaten it! Says a lot, trust me! 

So my advice...if you're struggling to keep your sweet tooth at bay, give a Sharon fruit a try!

Ellie x

Twitter: @ellie1989