Chrissie Manby Book Launch on Royal Princess

I was recently invited by Princess Cruises to the launch of Chrissie Manby's new book, A Proper Family Adventure. The book is based on a family cruising around the Med so Royal Princess was the perfect backdrop to the book launch. Royal Princess was launched in 2012 by the Duchess of Cambridge and it is a truly stunning ship. I've been brought up around cruise ships all my life so I was really excited to be able to go onboard for a tour and lunch as well as the book launch.

I've read Chrissie Manby books for years so it was great to be able to have a Q&A with one of my favourite authors. I was also given a copy of the book to take home with me so I'm determined to schedule in some downtime so I can settle down and get stuck in. 

Bee Good Facial Exfoliator

I've reviewed and tried almost all of Bee Good's products now, the only two products I'm yet to try is the Daily Moisturiser and Hand Repair. I've loved each and every product so far so when I found out about their newest item, I was eager to try it. The Honey & Camelina Facial Exfoliator was recently released and I had a tube fall on my door mat so I could give it a test drive.

Bournemouth's Hidden Gems

I recently travelled down to Bournemouth to stay with Travelodge and came across some places that I wanted to share with you. I love a hidden gem* and know of many in Southampton. The three places I found in Bournemouth will seem quite touristy but I find that sometimes the most wonderful places are staring you right in the face, places you possibly wouldn't go because they're so obvious.

V Festival with Boots UK

*Sponsored post*

When I first received an email from Boots about V Festival it was a few days before the Southampton Blog Event and I didn't read it. The lovely Sarah emailed me again reminding me about the email and that they'd need to know by the Monday and I'm so glad she did because when I finally read it on the Sunday at around 11pm I couldn't believe what I was reading, Boots wanted to take a friend and I to V Festival for the weekend! I still can't believe my little, old blog brings me these amazing opportunities, I'm so grateful! 

Bournemouth with Travelodge

Bournemouth is so close to where I live in Southampton but I've never been there so when Travelodge emailed me about being part of their campaign called #bloggerslodge I said yes straight away. I was able to choose which Travelodge I wanted to stay in and Bournemouth Seaview was a no brainer. Right on the cliffs over looking the beach with beautiful views of the sea. 

We arrived in Bournemouth around 8.30pm and walked from the station in time to watch the sun set over the cliffs. Welcomed in to Travelodge with smiles, check in was painless. The room was on the fourth floor and had beautiful views of the water which we couldn't quite appreciate until the following morning. After a quick food stop in a local chippy, friday night was spent chilling in the hotel, watching the fireworks out of the window and an early night in time for spending Saturday exploring.

The August Southampton Bloggers Event - The Raffle

We had some incredible prizes sent through for the Southampton Blog Event and I cannot express enough how grateful I am to each of the companies that sent through products. We were raising money for the Epilepsy Society, a charity close to both mine and Amy's hearts. We priced the raffle tickets are £2 each and we raised a huge £350! Thank you so much to each and every one of you who purchased raffle tickets and donated to such a wonderful cause.

The August Southampton Bloggers Event - Goody Bag

After a good few months of emailing companies here I am finally writing my own post on what was in the fabulous goody bags handed out on the day of the event. The Southampton Blog Event was more than a week ago now which is crazy and if you read Monday's post you'll know that there will be posts all week filling you in on all things #sotonmeetup!

The August Southampton Bloggers Event - Venue

Our venue for our latest event was the newly refurbished Revolutions in Bedford Place, Southampton. With the help of their events pro, Nina, any stress I had when it came to the venue disappeared quite quickly. With the refurbishment finishing just a few weeks before the 8th August it was a bit touch and go but the minute I had the email to say it was complete I hot footed it down there to have a sneak peak. 

The August Southampton Bloggers Event

This week is the start of a post from me every day showing you all inside the Southampton Blog Event from the venue, Revolutions Southampton to the Goody Bags, Raffle and of course a photo reel of all the beautiful ladies and (one) male who came to the event. Southampton Bloggers as we're known was set up by myself and Amy after a lack of blog events in Southampton.

Hampshire on a Plate at the Meon Valley Marriot Hotel

Fine dining isn't usually what I'd go for, getting a group of people together for food is sometimes hard enough with our jam packed diaries so the venue is usually where we can decide on the quickest. When myself and a friend were invited out to Meon Valley Marriot Hotel to try their Hampshire on a Plate set menu recently we made sure our diaries were free pretty quickly.

Why Happiness Is Important

Being happy is much easier said than done. Life can get in the way, ups and downs happen and the slightest thing can throw off your good mood. Viking are making it their mission to spread happiness again in conjunction with World Happiness Day, spreading a little joy and some sweet treats with the #emergencyhappiness campaign. My own box of happiness arrived just at the right time as I was having a rubbish day but each little thing I pulled out the box put a smile on my face because the majority of items reminded me of happy memories. It's surprising how something can transport you back to that moment but it's also so comforting.

Vichy Aqualia Thermal Serum

I've used a serum in my skincare routine for quite some time now as I really notice a difference to the feel of my skin when using one. I finished my usual serum not too long ago and switched to the Vichy Aqualia Thermal Power Serum which has fitted into my routine quite nicely.