January Favourites

The longest, most tedious month of the year is finally drawing to close and I for one am glad to see the back of it. It hasn't all been doom and gloom though; heres some of my favourites during the month of January:

1. Coasts 

So I don't know if any of you remember but in my 'Top Gigs of 2015' post I mentioned that a certain band (who were by the way number one on that list) were set to release their debut album on the 22nd of this month. I was most definitely not disappointed when I received my parcel from amazon (naturally I had pre-ordered) and I may or may not have had the album on repeat ever since it was released.

I am not alone in my love for this album (and the band obviously) as they went straight to number 1 of the Alternative Album chart on the 22nd and hit no.4 of the regular Album chart.

2. Harry Potter

Spurred no doubt by the passing of Alan Rickman  (R.I.P.) who will ALWAYS be Professor Snape to Potterheads all over the globe I have been re-reading Harry Potter this moth and am currently about half-way through Half Blood Prince. To be honest I actually skipped 1 and 2 in favour of starting Prisoner Of Azkaban. The Harry Potter series for me and I'm sure many people can agree is rather comforting to come back to over and over again. We grew up with the characters of this story so diving into the world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is like being welcomed back by old friends.

3. My Nespresso machine

Having already written an entire post on the subject I'll try not to waffle on about it.

Waking up to fresh coffee everyday that tastes just as good (if not better) as barista made never gets old and I recently purchased a top up of coffee capsules. Indeed I now have in excess of 200. The next coffee's on me it would seem.

Ok I know I normally do 5 items in these kind of posts but its January so yeah...that

How to make a Homemade Coffee Scrub

I was watching Dragon's Den on the BBC this week and one product in particular caught my fernet (and therefore it must be true) eye...any ideas to what it could be? clearly there are no clues in the title.

Yes I am indeed talking about Grounded's coffee scrub. These caffeine rich scrubs are, according to the internet and therefore it must be true,  fast becoming the latest beauty trend and I have therefore decided to try my hand at making one of these scrubs.

As my various forays at making beauty products have shown (Don't believe me just read   or there's this one too  ) you can find a great many beauty products all around your kitchen. For example honey is a fantastic antiseptic and used to be used on wounds, bananas are rich in potassium which hydrates and moisturises the skin as well as being a very good source of vitamins A, B and E and even coffee is a super, smashing, great exfoliator which stimulates blood flow and is used for diminishing cellulite - so if you want to make this scrub and slap it on all over then be my guest. I shall however be using it as a face scrub.


For the super easy to make scrub you will need

1 scoop of ground coffee

1 tbsp coconut oil

1tsp honey

If, like mine, your coconut oil is very hard you may have to warm it slightly before adding the rest of the ingredients and mixing thoroughly making sure that each component is equally dispersed. My scrub smells deliciously like liquorice all sorts and even though all the ingredients used are edible; this is for your skin, not your tummy.

The scrub should be very thick in texture yet you may want to add a few drops of water if it is too thick that it is too difficult to apply.

Using a sponge or just your hands apply the scrub and with circular motions massage your face for about two minutes.  Wash off the scrub using a warm flannel. Follow up with your usual cleanse, tone and moisturise routine and your skin will be left feeling super soft, smooth and as you would expect from a coffee product; rejuvenated and awakened.

The new Nespresso machine

I got a Nespresso for Christmas and it's quite honestly one of my favourite things. From flat white, cappuccino, latte macchiato to straight up black coffee it's like I became a barista overnight...well not really I can't do any of the fancy stuff. 

One of the great things about my Nespresso U Magimix machine is how easy it is to use. I mean even I could figure it out! Just pop your pod in, pull the lever down and press the small coffee cup button if you want an espresso and the big coffee cup button for a lungo! Press the button again to stop it if it's giving you too much coffee. 

(When switching it on you should press the button once first to activate it and the buttons will glow green to show that it ready and waiting.) 

In fact the most difficult part is remembering to put the water in the holder bit at the back....and keeping it topped up if you are making lots of coffees. 

Another really great feature of Nespresso is that the machine comes with a 16 pod starter set allowing you to taste the coffees before offering more. I definitely would have ordered the wrong type without this so I'm loving my trial pods. 

I also wrote myself out an inventory of coffees and tick them off as they get drunk but that might just be me being really organised....or borderline OCD. 

As well as the U Magimix machine I also received in my Nespresso bundle the Aeroccino and oh my god this is genius. I've had the little hand held frother things before in the vain hope of creating a latte similar to the ones you get when you go out for coffee but they pale in comparison. 

The Aeroccino does two things by spinning the milk around with the frother whisk thingy attached it not only heats the milk up but also gives you a gloriously thick, frothy finish. When you press the button to start the machine it will run for 90 seconds but as with the Nespresso you can press the button again at anytime to stop it. If you want cold frothy milk give it will take about 30 seconds . 

I regularly get migraine headaches and caffeine is a one the worst offenders in contributing to these so I'm super happy that Nespresso do decaf versions of their Lungo range. Indeed as all of the coffees on the Nespresso menu list the intensity I can tailor which ones I drink and when. For example when other headache triggers are spiked I can have a weaker coffee whilst when levels of stress etc are quite low/manageable I can have a stronger coffee type. 

Dear Anxiety

When struggling with anxiety and especially social anxiety being around other people; especially lots of people can be intimidating and often quite terrifying to be honest.

Social occasions are for me are often something that should be avoided at all costs but you would be wrong to think that I was avoiding you because I want to.

Those with social anxiety (or maybe it's just me) shut people out as a defence mechanism but that can lead to a very lonely existence and losing touch with the people with whom you were once closest too.

When you feel inadequate and like a bit of waste of space then even when you are in a room with dozens of people you can feel quite alone. If somebody talks to you it makes you wonder why they are wasting their time on someone like you and you desperately want  to be invisible. 

I have anxiety but I am not letting that defeat me…even though it's putting up quite a good fight.  I've already found some strategies for coping and even some natural remedies but what else?

Being the centre of attention makes me feel uncomfortable  as do large crowds but you know what I've found that I can deal with? Being in a crowded room where nobody pays you any attention.

I've been going to a lot of gigs over the past few years and whilst I have been alone for the great majority of these (what can I say, I am alone) I have found that I can tolerate being in the room, where ever it may be with just the music and shut everyone else out.

It's not been exactly plain sailing as I've had to leave early on quite a few occasions as I couldn't cope anymore and there was that one time…..ok maybe twice…when I had a little bit of an anxiety attack but I'm still trying.

So dear anxiety, you ain't the boss of me.