Creamy Vanilla Porridge with Spiced Pear Compote

The chilly weather of Autumn isn't my favourite but there are many things about this season that I absolutely love! The layered fashion, the cosy nights in and most of all the warming comfort food and drinks that come with the colder months.

I am currently trying to make healthier decision with what I eat as I haven't been feeling 100% lately and I wanted to see if it was anything to do with the food I am eating. Some of my favourite foods at the moment are pears, anything lightly spiced and avocados (even though they aren't Autumnal). For breakfast this weekend I decided to try and make my own porridge with a pear compote and it turned out so well I wanted to share the recipe with you.

INGREDIENTS
Porridge
2 cups Scottish Oats / 150ml of Whole Milk (or dairy free alternative) / 3 drops of Vanilla Extract

Pear Compote
3 Ripe Pears / Handful of Raisins / Handful of Walnuts / 2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon & Nutmeg
/ Tablespoon Coconut Oil / 2 Tablespoons of Maple Syrup

METHOD
Peel, core and chop your pears and add them to a non-stick pan. Turn up the heat and add in all the rest of
your ingredients. Cook this mixture for about 10 minutes or until your pears are soft, stirring occasionally.

While your compote cooks, add your oats to a small pan and add in your choice of milk. Stir
continuously until the porridge is at the consistency you like it. Add in your vanilla
half way through cooking and stir for a few more minutes and then your ready to serve!

Add in your porridge to the bowl and top with the chunky compote. There will be enough
for another serving so put it in tupperware for your next breakfast.

Enjoy
Love Khrissie

Cleansers that have improved my skin

Its been a while since I posted about anything beauty related, or posted anything at all in fact. Its been a rocky road for the past few months and I haven't been feeling it so I gave my personal hobbies a break so I could concentrate on looking after myself a bit more. My skin was looking drab and lifeless with more breakouts than I have ever experienced and it was really getting me down. What you learn through your 20s is that having good skincare is a much better life decision than having the best makeup on the market. So here are my top 4 picks that I have been loving the past few months.

Chidem Vitamin Cream Cleanser / For radiance, firmness & sensitive skin

I found this in a my draw as I was having a sort out and have been addicted to it ever since. Vitamin based skincare has always been a hit with my face, it really does take to it like a duck to water. Vitamin C is especially a firm favourite with my 26 yr old skin. Its really helped with minimising my spots and imperfections, with my skin feeling freshly clean and radiant after every wash. This was actually gifted to me at a Blogger event and I'm so grateful as this is always the best way to discover new brands. Its not the cheapest in the cleansing world but at £36.50 I personally feel like it is totally worth it, plus the packaging is something you can proudly keep on your bathroom sink.

I massage 2 pumps of this into my face with a dab of water and wipe it away with a muslin cloth, first with warm water and second with cold to close those pores. The smell isn't going to wow you but it has a naturalness to it which is bearable once you get used to it. Great for sensitive skin and perfect for a wiping away all the dirt from the day without feeling dried out .

Biore Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser / For clearing pores and dirt

I happened to pick this up when I was buying some Biore nose strips at Boots. It was on offer at the time, costing only £3.75 (originally £5.24) so I thought it was a good one to try considering it was quite cheap and stated it was great for pores. Charcoal based products are proving quite popular at the moment, especially when its in its natural form as it can transform your skin by drawing out dirt from deep down or whitening that smile. Since using this is have noticed a difference, my skin feels so much cleaner after each use and my pores have minimised in size.

I use this in the same was as all my cleansers, as this is my favourite way to clean my face. The gel consistency feels soft on the skin and I love the minty fresh feeling of this on my face once I have washed this off, although it can give quite a tight feeling after use so make sure you give it a moisturise. It states to use this everyday but I have oily/normal skin so I only use this a couple times a week to make sure this doesn't dry me out. 

La Roche-Posay purifying gel / For a excess sebum & acne prone skin

I use this cleanser on days when I need a thorough clean. You know those days where your face feels gross and you want to get every ounce of make up off and feel fresh. This foams up really well so it does just what I need. With added thermal spring water this makes a great cleanser for sensitive skin. This active water helps to soothe the skin and acts as an anti-irrirant so there should be no cause for concern on this reacting with your delicate skin. 

As I have normal cheeks I tend to concentrate this on my t-zone where I get the biggest build up of sebum on my face. I add product to my hands and add a little water, foam it up in my hands before I apply it to my face. This helps with the control of the foam so you can concentrate it on the areas you need it the most. You can either splash your face with water afterwards or use a muslin cloth to wipe it away. This retails at £11 in Boots, which is mid-range for a cleanser but you can find it on offer for around £7 most of the time so keep an eye out on the skincare deals. 

InsitU cosmetics face scrub / Made for you (personalised)

I came across this brand at a blogger event and what attracted me to it first of all was that I could get it personalised with my name and product based on my personal preferences. Now I have one of those names that is spelt differently from what you find in the shops, Im sure you can guess I got a little bit over excited at this prospect. InsitU is on the pricer side of skincare but I think its totally worth getting if you have the budget, even if its one thing. This particular one retails at £31 and I have since noticed they have improved the formula and it now comes with a natural loofa to help those pesky dry patches.

When choosing your skincare you have a few options to choose from. Picking if you want a moisturiser, cleanser etc is your first call but then you get to make it your own. Adding in your name to get written on the bottle is the first thing, you then decide what mood boost you want added to the product, you then tick what kind of skin you have before finally telling then your biggest skin concern. This then gets made and delivered to your house for you to use. 

I love to use this with my cleansers for an added boost of exfoliation. As I have sensitive skin Im always aware about being careful with exfoliators as I tend to react to them. This is an exception so I have been sticking with this for a long time. My skin feels so smooth afterwards, giving my skin a dry free complexion. 

I hope this has been helpful to some of you with your with skincare problems. Just know that one cleanser/toner doesn't fit all and mix it up and I have found using the same one day in day out doesn't always benefit you. Especially being a girl with ever changing hormones with my acne prone skin. I'm still on my way to achieving the skin of my dreams but just making sure you wash every night before you go to bed and give your face a cleanse in the morning, you will quickly notice a difference if you don't do this already.

Enjoy your week!

Gin Festival London

Gin Festival London is a once per year event. Filled to the brim with hundreds brands that bring in the crowds like a magpie to shiny things. This is a gin festival so if this drink isn't your cup of tea, then your probably not going to like it, but if your open to trying something new, I would definitely give this a go. I am a newbie to the gin crowd, so for me this was a perfect way to get stuck in.

When you first get to the festival you are given a booklet, a little bag which I found really useful to carry my glass in (if it wasn't in my hand which was 90% of the time), a pen and a sheet too add your details too if you wanted to purchase a bottle of your favourite after but not want to carry it home. We then headed to the tills where we each brought a card for £20 which gave us enough tokens for four drinks each. Off to the bar we went...

We were guided to a large room where four bars awaited us, each labelled from A-D. We found that each one had a rough theme to us based on the flavour notes given to us in the book, but it could have just been a coincidence. I personally found bar B was full of the strongest percentage ones and C full of spiced gins.  Deciding it would be a good strategy to try a drink from each bar we looked through our books to find one that took our fancy. The key flavours I was looking for were fruit and citrus as I find this helps to freshen the drink making it easier to consume. I already knew spiced gins weren't my thing so I stayed clear of those from the offset.

My first taste was from a brand called Brockmans, it was deliciously fruity with notes of blackberries, perfect with your standard tonic water. This was actually my favourite from the whole day and I will be purchasing a full bottle of it in the future. Now with each gin it tells you which tonic compliments it the best but after trying a few variations I noticed that the lemon and elderflower tonics overpower the gin flavour. If you were there to try the real flavours of the gin I would keep to standard tonic for this purpose. I personally LOVE elderflower in my gin so I was all over that and the lemon tonic made one of mine taste just like lemonade which was delicious and very easy to consume.

The are also food stands, (I tried an a-maz-ing nacho veggie burger with halloumi in - ugh dreamy) Live bands were playing in the bar, there was an outside area filled with deck chairs to sit with your favourites and enjoy the day. During the day I ended up consuming about six drinks and got quite merry from it. It was nice to forget the world and laugh at stupid things such as when I was explaining how people sniff their gins first for flavour and somehow managed to get a straw wedged up my nose.

It was a really lovely start to my bank holiday weekend and would highly recommend giving it a go next year. Are there any festivals you've been loving this year? Please let me know as I want to make a conscious effort to go to more in 2017.

Lets get personal : Grief

Oh how life can change in an instant! That moment where your breath is taken away from you and you forget how to breathe. A feeling of deep emotion so numbing your not sure if your dreaming or still awake. That was yesterday...

I came home to the beats of Beyonce on my new Skinnydip cat headphones, looking forward to a good takeaway and a catchup of The Island with the boyfriend but to walk around the corner of the doorway to see my mum. I imstantly stopped in my tracks and fired out the questions that came flying through my mind. 'Grandad?' 'Cancers back?' 'Terminal?'... All answered with a softly spoken and sad toned 'yes'. That's when that moment hit me.... As we chatted and spoke through the days events I couldn't help but think how lucky I am to have the family I do! No matter what life throws at us, we always pull together and stick by each other no matter what. That's what life is all about.

It's now the next day and I sit here in the car, whizzing by everyone else living their daily lives feeling as if the world is going in slow motion as we creep towards the hospital. The fear of the unknown and the memories of a healthy grandad who's smile and personality could light up the darkest of tunnels. A man who has been the only father figure I have known who I want to walk me down the isle, hold my first baby and travel to New Zealand with to live out our travelling dreams.

This is a new chapter in my life and one I could have never written myself but as I live this new chapter I will share it with you. I think it's important to support each other whether you are going through a traumatic time or not and for some I hope you can find comfort that you are not alone. This journey is going to be incredibly sad but I am going to do what I always do and be positive, think forwards and make the most of every moment because every second of every day really does matter

................................
I wrote this back in April, a few days after my birthday with the notion of posting diary like entries of my experiences with loosing a loved one, but it just became too hard. It felt insensitive and wrong and so I had to take it down. Enough time has now gone past that I can now share my experience with you, in the hope I can help someone who might be going through the same experience. More soon....
................................

'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade'
Love Khrissie X

Ladies Day Outfit 2016

Sometimes you just want to throw on some jeans and a t-shirt and be done with the day (me everyday) but there are others where you want to make a real effort and feel like a grown woman. I find it difficult to reach maximum confidence with an outfit but I do have a few tips.

- Be comfortable in someway. This could be through the material of your outfit or the shoes you wear. If you choose something you are constantly adjusting then there is no winning.

- Choose colours you love and compliment your complexion. It difficult to get out of wearing monochrome as it goes with everything, right? but colour can really do wonders for you if worn in the right way. So use the races as an opportunity to show your personality and Sasha Fierce confidence.

This is my ultra feminine outfit which incorporates the S/S trends of this year but still keeping it sophisticated for the day. I have brought in a lot of tones of colour to avoid black and so with neutral makeup I think this could look fab!

Pinks and florals are one of my favourite looks for S/S as they can really bring some sunshine and happiness to an outfit, which in turn makes me feel confident on the inside.

Dress: ASOS / Bag: Accessorise / Shoes: ASOS

What will you be wearing on your trip to the races this year?

Love Khrissie x

Mums on the Go Afternoon Tea

Its that time of year where we all tell our mums how much we love them and how they are the best mums in the world. No, literally mine is the best! I think this is a wonderful day of the year as many of us cannot survive without our mums, and I am definitely one of them. I ring her on a daily basis and shes always there for chats and giggles whenever I need her but I hardly get to see her in person.

Shes in Essex and I'm in London and although its not forever away, it does make it difficult to make the time to see each other to spend some quality time, making happy memories. Mothers Day is the one day I always make sure I am there for her wherever I am and its always a reminder that I should make more of these days throughout the year as you really need to make the most of the time you have.

There are lots of people in my life without their mums or nans this year and it makes me terribly sad. I cant imagine a day where you want nothing more than to see your mum and you cant. So let that be a reminder that time really is precious!

To mark the occasion I took my mum to The Orangery the Kensington Palace for afternoon tea* as part of the 'Mums on the go' campaign with WatchShop, so we could relax and have a good catch up over delicious food. The staff there were fabulous and attentive with perfectly bright smiles and huge charisma. The tea comes to you quickly, served on beautifully decorated bone china plates with assortments of sandwiches, scones and delightful sweet treats. The scones were to die for and I had a particular love for the perfectly portioned lemon eclair. yum! If only there was more of those.

The food was quickly scoffed but we managed to savour one for my sister to try as she was joining us later on. I would highly recommend The Orangery to anyone who loves afternoon tea. The views are stunning from the windows too so its a great place to sit if you want to escape the bustle of the city.

This was my mums first experience at an afternoon tea and she loved it. I definitely want to make more time do try new things with her this year. Id love to take her out of her comfort zone and try and skydive and also go to comedy nights, have a nice meal in a tall building and even take her to a silent disco and she does love to dance.

Mum, your the best and I will always try and make time for you, no matter how busy we get.
What are some things you would love to do with your mum if you had more time together?

Happy mothers day to everyone, my thoughts are with all of you!
Love Khrissie x

*some of the costs were covered by the Moms on the go campaign by Watchshop to help give some recognition to all that mums go and with not much time to do it. This was about spending quality time with your mum with the minutes you do have, as every second counts with your loved ones

Do something new

One of my resolutions for the year is the task to try or see something new each month. This stops me being such a lazy human for one and gives me goals and something to look forward to each month. I also have a happiness planner that I am filling in and loving ( I will share a post on that soon) that uses a quote each day to help you with happy thoughts. They are all amazing but this one really hit home with how happiness works...

'The three components of happiness are; something to do, something to love and something to look forward to'

- Dr Gordon Livingston

This is an amazing quote to live by and one that is totally do-able, so why not give it a go. Having something to look forward to can be really simple. You don't have to spend a lot of money but you can always save for certain things if you want to. Just doing something once per month and giving yourself something to look forward to is already one step of the way to a happier you. 

After having a few thoughts about things to do I thought I would share a few of my own monthly goals with you:

1/ See a new theatre show or ballet

At Christmas I went to see The Nutcracker, a story about a child's imagination brought to life through dance, brilliantly designed sets and costumes so flowing it made me want to spin around in my seat. It starts with a Christmas party where everyone is excited about the festivities to come and a girl is given a nutcracker toy. The story unfolds when it comes to life in a way you would never imagine and the relationship between the girl and the nutcracker transforms right in front of your eyes. It was enchanting and oh so magical, the perfect show to watch to get you in the Christmassy spirit. The casting was perfect for this production and the costumes to die for, a dream world for every girl out there. 

I did go to the ballet show at Christmas last year but it was so wonderful that I just have to experience it some more. I want to go and see Swan Lake this year and The Northern Ballet, who did the production of The Nutcracker, are actually performing it this March for a month. You can have a look here for dates and tickets if your interested, especially if you have never been before. This is THE most famous in the world so if you go to see any of them, this has to be it!

2/ Go to either Scotland, Ireland or Wales

Now this is quite embarrassing to admit but I have only been in England and never ventured out to the other parts of the UK. I have flown to other countries but never taken the steps to experience what I already have around me. Its bonkers I know but it is something I am going to change this year. 

Going to Ireland for St. Patricks day would be a perfect weekend trip away and I have always loved the thought of staying in a log cabin in the countryside of Scotland where it has a hot tub! How dreamy!

3/ Paintballing

This is going to be my February task of the month. One I am a little terrified of as I am going to bruise like a peach after getting pelted with paint balls but something I have always wanted to try and if I hate it as least I know. I will report back on that one at the end of the month, with some pictures if I can get any. 

So that is three of my ideas that I am thinking of so far. I am going to post about each month as I do it now I am getting back into the blogging swing of things. Next up will be my experience of bouldering, its a bloody great workout I can tell you now, but more of that next time. 

Have a great week! 

Love Khrissie x

I've got my new shoes on...

Simple weekend outfits are my favourite. A subtle combination of trousers and a t-shirt, when paired together well, created a stylish harmony that could fool even the savviest of fashion goers. I'm not saying I have it all but I try. I try with all my lazy mindedness to fit into the London fashionista category.

Now if your thinking, this is way too much effort for me then listen to my one simple trick. Its all about the shoes... The drabbest of outfits can be easily saved with a fabulous pair of booties or personality ridden flats. These are two of my newest pairs of shoes, not that I have many but I am starting a new thing where I have a wardrobe of shoes, simple clothes and thats all.

You can make your personality shine in what ever way you please and its amazing how the simplest pairs of shoes can make a difference to how you feel too. These Miss KG boots £49 are a new favourite of mine, simple in shape but quirky with its gold buckle and heel cap. They are from a Kurt Geiger's sub brand. More affordable than your average pair but still give the same impact style wise. These aren't my everyday, go to work shoes but a pair I tactically wear with those outfits I want to spruce up a little bit.

Now the second pair are a pair of silver pewter brogues £45, that bring out the tomboy in me. Great paired with some tailored trousers and a blazer for a simple look that I would wear out shopping or for a trip to the cinema. I got them from Cloggs where they host a variety of shoes from numerous brands, these being from Clarks. So you can imagine how comfy they are.

Both of these shoes are in the sale at the moment, so get them while you can.
What are your favourite shoes at the moment?
Love Khrissie x

New year: The same ME

Hello and Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful time enjoy the end of 2015 with friends, family and all your favourite people! I sure did! It was lovely to relax, travel to see people I barely see and eat lots of delicious food. 2016 is now upon us and wow how time flies as you get older.

Now this time of year is filled with posts and status's about new years resolutions, getting healthier and so on. I'm definitely not one of those people, not because I'm a negative or miserable person but because I have realised you have to approach a new beginning in the right way. In a literal sense it really is just another day but emotionally the thought of starting fresh is a great thing.

Everyone is much more positive for their future and accomplishments that I really love! So I am setting myself some goals for the year instead so I can stay happy and positive all year through. I am/ used to be just this person but life is hard and it does ware you down and I have come to realise I need to embrace every emotion a little more, the ups and downs are part of life and if you don't accept that, then thats when you get caught up in a web of self destruction (to put it bluntly)

So to help myself start this path of happiness and acceptance I have a few things I would like to achieve. I am putting no pressure on myself and this will make me fail and I will be taking a step backwards so for me it is all about baby steps.

1/ I have bought myself the 'Happiness Planner'
This is a planner where you document each day, with goals, feeling and ask yourself a lot of questions about what you want. I am really excited for this as I am hoping it is going to help me find what I really want out of life. I have been feeling like I have been having a quarter life crisis for the best part of last year and I really need to hone in on what is making me unhappy. I'll do a post about this all when I receive it as I think it may help some of you too!

2/ Something new each month
I have decided I want to go somewhere new or try something I have never done before each month. This is going to help me feel a lot more positive about how I am living my life as I always feel down about missing out on all the world has to offer. Either down to money or because my anxiety stops me from going out as much as I could.

I have planned to go to Scotland in April for my birthday with my family as I have always wanted to go. I also want to try rock climbing and I had a go at bouldering already this year and really enjoyed it. I'll be writing a post on that soon. Planning my future is the key for me, having a plan clams me and so knowing I have something to do each month, big or small, is stepping stones to my own goals.

3/ I have signed up to a online learning course
I was looking through Groupon in the new year and saw a voucher for an online children's book writing course and thought, yes! Now I'm not the best writer but I do have a good imagination and with practice I feel I can get a lot better. I eventually want to write a whole book, just for young kids and illustrate it myself too so I can add that as an achievement of 2016.

Do you have an goals for the year ahead?

Sorry this is a little late,
I wanted to re-brand the blog and have a fresh start but I wont be able to start that yet as I've had a
lot on with my a career move which has taken up all my time.

I will be back soon, better than ever as I would like this to be a place that I am proud of.
Love Khrissie x