Someday Summary - Wednesday 18th

Hello my little sugar plums! I'm going to start a new 'thing' where I summarise my random day of antics and have a general chit chat about my week just like a little diary, that's not so private haa

I would call it "Monday Summary" or something to that extent 

but I seriously can't commit to that! Far too much creative pressure!

Like I said in my last post, this whole concept is inspired by the, what I call 'vintage' 

Zoella blog posts, i really like the idea. its like a written version of Grace Helbigs Fridiary!

*I'm currently writing this post with 2% battery left in my mac keyboard which is making this post 10x harder to write, with it constantly disconnecting- gahh-batteries! I feel like I'm constantly buying the bloody things.

*I planned this post eating Jaffa cakes, simultaneously whispering to myself 'full moon, half moon, total eclipse’. Yes I'm that cool

*I'm trying to convince myself that £50 is an acceptable amount of money to pay for Zoeva brushes; it's a shame that the common sense side of my brain is ruining the fun

*I'm trying to arrange to have my contraceptive implant taken out, (gross I know) its not going well, I need to book a whole day off work for a 20 minute consultation with the doctor and book another day off to have it removed, I'm bloody not parting with my much needed holiday just to spend my time sitting for hours in the hospital... so I need to come up with a plan... help?

*Its exactly a week till payday, my ASOS shopping basket is primed and ready. ..Again

* Brought a game called city skylines which I'm totally obsessed with, its similar to SimCity but better! I feel like when I'm not playing it I'm still thinking about it, it's almost as bad as my Sims addiction

*I keep having weird dreams that I'm going to be abducted by pirates!? I have no idea why!

*I'm going through a really good makeup phase atm, I've managed to get a natural everyday look down to a tee! I would show you a photo, but nobody got time to see that! I say down to a tee, by that I mean I actually have a makeup collection that’s half decent now (after many years) and I’ve gotten better at contouring my massive moon head...waahhoo

*Currently getting in to the summer mood re-visiting my favourite music YouTube channel of 2014 "The Sound You need" there 'popular uploads' playlist is amazing and totally awesome to get you in the "summer evening drinking with mates and having a BBQ" mood!

Here’s a snippet of what I'm currently chilling too

And that's me for this week sorted! I'm really tempted to do a nice healthy recipe for next weeks post since I haven't done a recipe tutorial in ages! Hoped you like this kind of post and I will see you next week!

Toodlepip xx

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TheATeam's Top Tunes

Spring is upon us, the festival line ups are coming at us full force how good are the British festival lineups so far! and all the summer tunes are busting through our radios to get us in the summer mood! So who's excited? I know I am!

Music varies between different peoples taste, I for one like a good mixture of Upbeat tunes to the down-low type genres, and i figured i would share my top 10 summer playlist that totally gets me in the mood and stupendously excited for festival season!

10) Florence + The Machine- What Kind Of Man,

I Literally can't wait for the whole album to be released, I have been waiting for this for what seems like forever. I am a massive fan, i have seen her live twice and although the tune is a bit on the down low side i can see Florence being once again my spring/summer Artist favourite!

9) Sia- Elastic Heart feat. Shia LaBeouf + Maddie Ziegler

this video seriously makes this song epic! the story it portrays is beautiful! I think this is a great 'go to' song to get you motivated!


Can I just PHWOER at Shia <3

8) Milky Chance- Stolen Dance

You may have not heard of them but Milky Chance are amazing! I highly recommend them! who would have thought reggae mixed with electronic could sound so cool.


They're worth a check trust me!!

7) Klingande- Jubel

A bit of deep house- I never thought them words would come out of my mouth! This is a summer club tune thats just epic, I just want to go out and get dancing!!

6) RHODES- Breathe

This song is a massive come down from the partying, but I still love it! "chill-axing" and calm but also helps with them depressing moments.

5) FKA Twigs- Water Me

She has been recently played on a lot of top radio stations and is classed as an up and coming artist, I would watch this space- seriously, her tunes are so mesmerising and the concepts behind her videos are super creative/original!

4) Parra For Cuva Ft. Anna Naklab- Wicked Games

This is more of a Pick me up tune, and also a must listen to song! its a bit more upbeat which I feel totally encapsulates the Spring feeling.

3) Sigma Ft Paloma Faith- Changing

This is already a chart topper, I just love it and want to share it with everyone! It totally captivates my attitude and ethos at the moment, as I've moved down to London embracing a new journey!

2) Neon Jungle- Louder

This is much more 'girly' sounding song, Its a great song and I think they will go far, especially if they keep on writing stuff like this!

1) Grimes- REALiTi

I Love Grimes, she creates such cool, quirky and fun, chillout music. I adore the videos too, I think they're totally wicked!

Hope You Liked this little starter playlist! Have you got any recommendations for awesome summer tunes? What festivals are you most looking forward to? let me know!

"March-spiration"

Spring Has Finally Sprung

Hello my little sugar plums, how are you doing this fine spring morning!? I'm in a very good mood today, the sun has finally started to break through the misery that is winter allowing the frozen ground to finally start flourishing in to beauty again. I love how spring takes back the beauty that was stolen by winter. My back garden is slowly but surely coming back to life, there is something artistically beautiful about watching the spring plants blossom into beauty. I've currently got a backyard full of daffodils, I'm contemplating picking them and making an arrangement, but i feel guilty for ruining something that is so naturally beautiful to create an arrangement that will inevitably destroy? 

Do you get me or am i overthinking stuff again... haha i will make this an issue for future April :) Anyway, its bloody March! if you've been living under a rock how have 2 whole months flew past without me noticing!? Today in England we have just had our first proper sunny day, the temperature hit 15 Celsius! geezz time to thaw out guys! there will be men topless walking down the street next, amiritee! But what i particularly love *cough hate cough* about this month is how temperamental the weather is, although i say it's sunny, it's still bitterly cold i cannot emphasise bitterly enough the other day i was tricked into a false sense of assurance that that it was warm because the skies were clear and the sun was shining gracefully across the rooftops ohh gosh was i wrong i chose to leave the house in just a cardigan acting as my coat and some suede dolly shoes, i didn't even make it to the end of my street before the rain started, lets not forget i totally forgot my brolly too so i turned to head back home only to be stranded under a tree of misery trying to protect my freshly washed hair from the inevitable wetness of the rain, needless to say the so called tree *cough twig* wasn't enough protection and i had to briskly walk home, nobody got time for running What once started off as a beautiful sunny day had so quickly changed into the day i walked home drenched though resulting in my current illness; runny nose, sore throat, you know the kind... THIS IS WHY I DON'T LIKE LEAVING THE HOUSE!

* I created this post listening to this chill step playlist!
This is honestly one of the greatest playlist for any sort of productivity. Its what got Amreeta and i through many all nighters in the out of hours library trying so desperately to finish our dissertations and final major projects. I recommend any sort of music with no/hardly any voice's through it as it allows you to concentrate on your work rather than the lyrics.
Happy Listening!

Thanks for reading! I hope you guys have an awesome rest of the week, i have another little post being sorted as we speak for next week, i want to start a new weekly "Someday Summary" inspired by the beautiful Zoella from what i call her 'vintage blog posts' i love the concept of giving the world a brief snippet of your daily life, so look forward to that ;)

Toodlepip xx

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February Favorites

Hey Internet, April here!

Ooh my goodness, where has the time gone! i cannot even express my confusion on how fast this year is going! Since i started my new job in January, a whole two months have flew by stupendously fast.  Sorry i haven't made time for blogging! lets hope that March is a more successful month for me to blog! I promise i will try harder!

Anyway this week I'm going to be going through what products i have been loving this past February. This list mostly contains me raving over beauty products that i received for Christmas! So well done to my family for buying products they knew i would enjoy!

Firstly this quote! isn't it amazing! it's what I've based my life around  these past couple months! I've realised that with a bit of positive reinforcement i can do anything! whether it's beating my anxiety issues (granted i still get a bit wobbly sometimes but on a whole I'm much, much better with dealing with situations that tend to cause me to have a bit of a panic. I'm proud of myself to have been able to do this without medication, I've seen a few people become reliant on anxiety meds and its not what i wanted to do, i didn't want to be reliant on something to make me feel better but not solve the underlying issue, i wanted to be able to solve the issue the best i could instead of putting theoretical band aids over a problem to hide the issues) 

(image)

I am totally in love with this song, i discovered it on my 'recommended videos' on YouTube, gave it a whirl, and volla, instantly my new favorite song.

Song of the month! Bipolar Sunshine- Daydreamer

I absolutely love this song, i stumbled across this band towards the end of January and its been in my 25 most played since.

Next on my favourites list is something unexpected. I asked my parents for makeup brushes for Christmas as my 'then current' brushes were rubbish! i asked for a starter set of Zoeva brushes, as i had read a lot of reviews raving about them and the obvious fact that the brushes were rose gold (look at me swoon over makeup brushes haha) but on christmas day when i opened a package expecting zoeva brushes, i was shocked to discover number 7 brushes, not that i was ungrateful, i was slightly amused because i know my mum had gotten confused in the store, anyway being the awkward person i am, i never mentioned it and started using them, much to my suprise they are amazing! i'm actually going to buy the whole set next payday because the brushes are amazing! they leave no brush marks when applying foundation,  they blend eye shadow brilliantly and they clean up beautifully too!

what a happy accident!

Next on my hit list of favs/must haves are Rimmel's lasting finish foundations (i rather using this than my benefit foundation) The foundation itself is brill, it has good coverage, the only downside is that it does dry out towards the end of the day, (if you do long days) this isn't really an issue for me as i don't really like wearing makeup for too long anyway. What also surprised me was the actual amount skin shades the brand offers, it is amazing, i usually have to mix multiple foundation shades together to get my skin tone shade correct so this is a time saving god send for me!
lovelovelove





lastly on my little list of favs, i have quite possibly come across the best £7 i have ever spent. This tube of heaven has been a godsend! it has cleared my skin up amazingly, it totally obliterates black heads and cleans out pores! my skin has never been so clear, even during the time of the month it stays clear! i use it every evening as a two part cleanser and makeup remover! serious heaven in a tube...


Anyway, i hope you have enjoyed this post, and i will definitely try harder to be getting a post out every week :) hope you guys have an awesome week and i will see you soon!

Toodlepip xx

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Pancake Day

Hey guys its April & Amreeta....ooohh that's right joint blog post!

This week we are going to be telling you how to make the perfect British AND American pancake! for both the sweet and savoury monster within you!

Everyone has a little pancake monster within them that doesn't allow you to just eat one pancake and be satisfied but instead makes you involuntarily eat a million pancakes!

 Aprils British Pancakes

Ingredients 

• 110g/4oz plain flour, sifted
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water

How to make the perfect pancake batter;

• Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl 
• Now make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it 
• Then begin whisking the eggs - any sort of whisk or even a fork will do 
• Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don't worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk) 
• Then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream

Cooking your creation!

• Now get the pan really hot, It's also helpful if you use a ladle to pour the batter into the hot pan
• As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter
• It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a spatula to see if it's tinged gold
• Now the best bit! FLIP the pancake- don't let all your hard work be wasted by flipping it on the floor or in my case, flipping it to high and it sticking to the ceiling

To Serve

• Sprinkle each pancake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and a dusting of either caster sugar, or icing sugar
• Fold in half, then in half again to form triangles, or simply roll them up

Alternatively, you can top your pancake with whatever your heart desires! Milkyway spread, ice cream, Nutella, fruit/fruit compote, nuts, cream, melted chocolate!

Either way its not good for the diet so you may as well go for it!

Taadddaahhh.. your British pancake is complete!

Amreeta's American Pancakes

You will need: 

• 1 cup Self raising flour 
• 1 egg 
• 1/2 cup Milk 
•  4 tsp brown sugar 
•  Pinch of salt 
• Olive Oil 
• Maple syrup 
•  Fruit of choice

1) Add the flour, egg, milk, salt and sugar to a bowl and mix until smooth.

2) Heat a non stick pan on low- medium heat and add 1 tsp of olive oil, making sure the olive coats the pan. Spoon the mixture into the pan, I usually do two small pancakes to a pan or one medium sized one. When bubbles start to appear on the surface (2 minutes) you can flip the pancake.

3)Let it cook on the other side for another 2 minutes until brown on both sides.

4) Place onto a plate and serve with maple syrup and fruit of your choice.

And there you go, both of our delicious pancake recipes! Which one is your favourite?
tweet us your creations at @ateamlifestyle

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World Nutella Day ~ Nutella Hot Chocolate

Hey guys! :) 

If you've already read the title of this blog post, you will know that today I am going to be making Nutella Hot Chocolate, in celebration of #WorldNutellaDay
This was a firm fav of mine at university, and I mean come on who doesn't like Nutella!

You will need:

• Nutella
• Milk
• Whipped cream
• Marshmallows 
• A mug
• A whisk
• Tablespoon

1) Using the mug as your measuring guide, pour the required amount into a pan. Then add two tablespoons of Nutella with the milk. Use the whisk to distribute the Nutella and make the milk frothy. You should end up with something that looks like this

  2) Pour it into your mug and top with whipped cream and marshmallows.

I hope you guys try this out and if you do, don't forget to tweet me a picture :)

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Make your own Katsu Curry!

Hey guys its Alex!

Japanese Inspired Katsu Curry!

So I have a big obsession over Japanese food, but really fail at cooking it (especially sushi) so when I was really board the other day i thought; wouldn't it be nice to find a simple katsu curry recipe 

Katsu Curry can't be that hard? Can it??

I eventually found the perfect recipe that seemed simple enough that I could follow and adapt in my own little quirky way- Here's the link for the non quirky recipe :) 

To start I bought some chicken goujons and Uncle Bens microwavable rice, this cut time and cost!! and after getting all the basics of the dish I needed to concentrate on the sauce….

This is how I got on :) 

What you will need….

Ingredients:

3 tbsp sunflower oil 
2 medium onions, roughly chopped 
25g chunk of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped- this was debatable and i didn't add in the end
4 garlic cloves, sliced 
3 tbsp medium curry powder 
1⁄2 tsp ground star anise- or I have Chinese 5 spice which did the trick 
1⁄2 tsp ground turmeric 
4 tsp of plain flour 
500ml chicken stock (made with 1 chicken stock cube) 
4 tsp tomato purée 
2tsp freshly ground black pepper
ohh and then i added a tad soy sauce when cooking the onions.

-My first move was to fry the onions with some sunflower oil for about 5 mins- but make sure not to burn them like I did, just let them go golden - I may have aded soy sauce- you don't need it though.

-Then add in 4 garlic cloves with the onions, sliced into iddy, biddy, diddy chunks 

-With them slowly frying, add and mix in all the turmeric, curry powder, black pepper, the star anise/five spice and sprinkle in the flour. 

-Once mixed up in the pan add the chicken stock slowly, then add in the purée, I suggest at this point taste the mixture and see if it needs more flavouring. 

-Let the sauce mix on a light flame to simmer. If its turned thick and paste like, add more water and slowly stir mixture. This is when I popped the rice in the microwave and the chicken was nearly finished being cooked in the oven.

-Once everything looks cooked put the rice and chicken on the plate with the sauce, you need to pour the sauce into a blender or use a stick blender to grind the mixture down to a smooth and creamy appearance and then its ready to serve

Daaadaaaa easy peasy lemon squeezy!!!

Tuck in and enjoy, let me know how you get on!

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Healthy New Start

Motivational Mondays....Oops Its Wednesday!

Hey Internet,

Hows everyone been recently? still keeping up your new years resolutions? or did you fail miserably like me?

 I said i would drink more water-FAIL. I said i would make more time to blog-FAIL. 

I've failed miserably, but not to worry, to be fair on myself, i did say i would try to be healthy (as a non resolution) and its worked! (this is the key, make things 'non resolutions')

 I have been super healthy, like more healthy then i have ever been in my life! 

well done me! The hard bit was trying to stay motivated and somehow i have managed it! I've been mostly influenced by +Sprinkleofglitter with her whole #glittergetsfitter reading through everyone's progress on instagram, its seriously been a massive help! and now I've got Dan and Phil bloody running, so i suppose Ive gotta start doing that now- since I'm so easily influenced!

Progress so far; I've lost about half a stone which is about 7lb, i have been eating salad everyday and having fruit smoothies for breakfast after recently purchasing a smoothie maker, i been like a master fruit mixologist making all kinds of fruity goodness! 

Ive made being healthy FUN

Just want to point out i know there is a ton of sugar in fruit smoothies, but because i don't eat vegetables its my only option on the smoothie front...

Not only am i eating healthily, I'm actually leaving my 'bed-cave' (as my dad like to call my bedroom) Ive got this app on my phone that counts the steps i do per day, I'm trying to achieve 10,000 steps a day! its a hard target and i hardly reach it but its nice when i get close. Ive also been using a 'slender tone' machine, its a belt that you use to tone up your muscles whilst exercising, i use it whilst doing squats and sit ups.. sometimes when I'm feeling lazy ahhemmm..most the time i just put it on max and just lie down, its very intense, but it does work and the toned feeling is more or less instant

+ Here a few of my favourite healthy smoothies;

1) strawberry smoothie;

strawberries, low fat yogurt, banana and almonds

2) baby spinach ginger and peach smoothie;

baby spinach, peeled grated ginger, peaches, honey and water

3) Mango Yogurt smoothie;

cinnamon, lime juice, mango and low fat yogurt 

4) mixed fruit smoothie

oranges, blueberries, banana, pineapple and strawberries

I hope i have motivated you to carry on with your diets? or start a healthy routine? what you have to remember is that the results won't be instant, much to my distress.

You might as well give it a go!

let me know how your new year diets are going and recommend me any tips and tricks! 

I need all the help i can grab! we all gotta help each other!

Toodlepip xx

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Healthy Cookies!

January is the month of diets and for everyone who has a sweet tooth, this can be a hard thing to deal with. To get you guys in the baking mood but to still keep healthy, I concocted my own "healthy cookies". 

Whilst most recipes call for white sugar, I substituted it with maple syrup, a healthier aulturnative. Maple syrup contains antioxidants which benefits your your immune system and even though it is sweeter than sugar, is has fewer calories. Another healthy substitute is adding seeds in replacement for chocolate chips. If you don't want to add seeds you could add anything from nuts to dried fruit.

Quick little tip for you guys, make sure you do not over mix the cookie dough otherwise you will end up with a tough cookie! (pun not intended haha) 

Ingredients:

• 115g butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 1/2 cup flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 
• 1 tsp hot water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup seeds/raisins/chocolate chips

1) Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. In a bowl add the brown sugar, maple syrup and butter, cream together until mixed. 

2) Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together.

3) In a separate bowl add the bicarbonate of soda and hot water. Mix together and add into mixture along with the salt. Next gradually mix in the flour until fully mixed. 

4) Add the oats and mix well. 

5) Add the seeds or a mixture of anything you want to add. Mix until everything is fully combined and evenly spread through.

6)Using a tablespoon as a measurement scoop out the mixture and place onto the tray. Make sure the cookies are equally sized. Place in the oven for 10-11 minutes 

7) Once done, let the cookies cool on a cooling rack or you can eat them instantly!

If you enjoy these cookies make sure to bake them and tweet me picture! 

How are your January diets going so far?

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"January-spiration"

Afternoon my Lovely's,

Its a tad chilly here in the UK, we've had a very "white" beginning to January, with all this snow and below zero temperatures, its time to get the heating cracked up and snuggle into the sofa with a warm hot coco.

The best thing about January is the fact basically everyone is on detox or in "diet mode"  I am just saving money, actually thats a lie...i'm just spending all my money it in the sales. 

As you all know I have a obsession with Vintage Clothing and I've have just moved to the Big city, London, and i kid you not, just across the street from me is a magnificent vintage shop called Mint.  This is seriously going to break my bank balance

Anyway, i went for a mooch this morning and realised January is THE month to be wearing cable knit jumpers! they are everywhere! I am literally stocking up as we speak! There is so much verity I am slightly obsessed especially with styles like;  novelty 80s prints or plain cream and grey colours.

So for your eyes only here are some photos I have found to create my January Cable Knit inspiration!!

Look of the week;

I love the simple cream cable knit partnered with a busy flowery dress, to make it more wintery add some tights and boots, maybe a scarf and beanie too.

Another accessory for January is a vintage coat 

whether they are oversized jackets or dainty coats, they all look amazing for this time of the year!

Anyway i hope you have had a wonderful new year and have a fantastic January.

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