L'Occitane Classic Beauty Advent Calendar

Features press sample - see disclaimer

Tis' the time of year for advent calendars galore and one of my favourite skincare brands, L'Occitane have two to choose from full of skin-loving treats. I look forward to their release each year and this is now my fourth year of having one. 

I find advent calendars are a great way to discover a new brand and get to try their products before committing to something full size. From hand creams, face cleansers and soaps to their much-loved oils and perfumes, it's a fab treat to open each day in the lead up to Christmas. 

A Seafood Delight at Oxford Brasserie

Oxford Street, Southampton is home to an abundance of independent businesses - from independently owned bars, restaurants and coffee shops to salons and lifestyle venues. It's somewhere Arran and I gravitate to for coffee or a stroll with our son most weekends but we haven't taken the time to eat there. 

During August, Eat Out to Help Out gave my best friend and I the opportunity to explore the area more and so we slipped into Oxford Brasserie one evening and had such an enjoyable time - it was only right I shared this with you too!

It's time to say Goodbye to Summer

This week marked the official start of Autumn and I am beyond excited - it's my favourite time of the year but I can't help but mourn the summer. 

Like everyone, we had a lot of plans for this year and our summer was due to be full of fun days out, picnics with friends and their little ones, mini-breaks around the UK and a Parisian mini-moon but as we know, things don't always work out. With 2020 being dominated by COVID we've had to make the most of a crap situation so that's meant lots of sunny walks to the shore, takeaway coffees and pastries in the park and running wild as the sun shone on us. 

As much as our summer wasn't what we expected, we made plenty of memories, had a lot of laughs and spent some wonderful moments as a family and so in the spirit of making the most out of an uncontrollable situation I wanted to share some of our favourite moments, like a little diary entry I suppose to look back on in years to come. 

Harmony at Home with Hive

*This is a paid partnership with Hive - see disclaimer*

In recent months our home has become more of a sanctuary than it already was so in order to really make the most of our living space we installed smart products from Hive, giving our home that little bit extra. 

Hive is one of the nation's favourite connected home providers boasting products such as the Hive Active Heating, smart plugs, sensors and lightbulbs as well as indoor and outdoor cameras. It allows you to completely control your home, save money and reduce your carbon foot print - making life that little bit easier for all of the family. 

With staying in being our new normal, it meant we could use their easy to install products to create more ambience at home and make some tasks even easier especially with both Arran and I working from home.

What I've been reading through August

Lockdown has been bloody marvellous for reading, hasn't it?

This month I hit my Goodreads Challenge of 75 books! I set my total at 75 because that was what I read last year so I'm intrigued to see how many I can clock up by the end of 2020. We're still staying home a lot at the moment - we've ventured out a little more than we have been and it's been nice but I'm not quite ready to let go of our time at home as a family, it has been so valuable to us all. 

With September here, our routine is starting to look a lot more normal especially with our son going back to preschool which I'm so not ready for but that does mean I can spend his mornings there with a cup of coffee and a book so not all so bad! 

This is the first month I haven't read over ten books - I've only read three! What I've done is include those three and one I read in July but forgot to include so there are four mini-reviews for you to look over. 

As always, I keep everything I've read on my Books 2020 highlight on my Instagram so if you're looking for any more recommendations - be sure to look there too.