Surprise... I'm pregnant!

I can't even believe I'm writing this, it feels so surreal. You may have already seen the exciting news on my social media over the past week or so but if you haven't, I'm pregnant!

Ahhhh.

This has been the hardest secret Liam and I have ever had to keep. Well, we told our immediate family the day after we found out (before I was 4 weeks), because Liam was too excited, bless him. But waiting to tell the rest of the family and our friends was so hard. All I can say is, people aren't lying when they say the first 12 weeks drag. I feel like I've been waiting an absolute lifetime, yet I feel like how the hell have I gotten to this stage already?

I knew I was pregnant before I even took a test. I just didn't feel myself. I had period-like cramps two weeks before my period was due which never happens! I was constantly tired and struggled with insomnia. And oh my god the bloat in the evenings was unreal! 

 I'm now just over 14 weeks, so I am due at the end of September which feels forever away, but I know it'll come around so quickly! I'm not gonna lie, my first trimester has been pretty interesting. The nausea was so awful. I weren't even being sick, I was just feeling sick 24/7. Along with headaches, dizziness and lots of days spent in bed for the majority of my first trimester, it's been a mixture of good and bad days. I'm so glad that I'm feeling much better now and much more myself!

This is something Liam and I have wanted for such a long time and we are both so over the moon. We are so lucky and grateful to be able to experience this amazing journey.

MALTEASER EASTER CUPCAKES

Following on from my last Easter Baking post, I'm bringing you Malteaser Easter Cupcakes! I was so excited to make these, mainly because of the decoration part. Not to toot my own horn but these were bloody delicious.

Ingredients:

Cupcake Ingredients:

125g Self Raising Flour

150g Light Brown Sugar

150g Unsalted Butter

3 Eggs

25g Cocoa Powder

Buttercream Ingredients + Extras:

125g Unsalted Butter

200g Icing Sugar

150g Malteaser Bar

Malteaser Bunnies (enough for 12 cupcakes)

Malteasers (enough to share between 12 cupcakes)

Method:

For the Cupcakes:

- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake cases.

- In a bowl, whisk the Unsalted Butter with the Light Brown Sugar until fluffy. Add in the 3 Eggs, Self Raising Flour and Cocoa Powder and whisk until well mixed.

- Evenly distribute the mixture into the 12 cupcake cases.

- Bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes until baked through. Leave on a cooling rack until fully cooled.

For the Buttercream:

- Melt the Malteaser Bar in the microwave or in a saucepan on a hob.

- Pop the Unsalted Butter into a bowl and gradually, slowly whisk in the Icing Sugar until it is all combined. Then, up the speed on your whisk and mix until smooth and fluffy.

- Add the melted Malteaser chocolate to the Buttercream and mix in until smooth.

For the Decoration:

- Pipe the Buttercream onto the cupcakes. (I couldn't find my piping set so I had to make do with a teaspoon and butter knife).

- Then add the Malteasers and the Bunnies to the cupcakes, decorating how you wish. (I managed to get my hands on a bag which included the full size bunnies, mini bunnies and the Malteaser balls all in one bag which worked out cheaper than buying them all separately).

These were super easy to make, I can't wait to do this again with different chocolate treats.

MINI EGG COOKIE SQUARES

If you know me personally, you will know that I never bake and if I do, it's usually a good ol' box of Betty Crocker cake mix. This is the first ever time I've baked from scratch and honestly, I could take this up as a hobby! I decided that I wanted to bake some Easter treats this year and had so much fun making these Mini Egg Cookie Squares.

Ingredients:

275g Plain Flour

1 tbsp Cornflour

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 tsp of Salt

115g Unsalted Butter

55g Granulated Sugar

135g Light Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

300g Mini Eggs

100g Milk Chocolate Chips

Method:

- Preheat your oven to 190 degrees and line a square baking tin with parchment paper.

- Mix in a bowl, the Plain Flour, Bicarbonate of Soda, Cornflour and Salt together and leave to the side.

- In another bowl, add the Unsalted Butter, both the Light Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar and whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth. Then, add in the Egg and Vanilla Extract and whisk until smooth again. 

- Then, add in the ingredients from the first bowl which you left aside and mix in with a spatula. Milk Choc Chips can now be added as well as the Mini Eggs (leave about 15/20 of them to the side), again fold these in with a spatula to create a thick cookie dough.

- Once all folded in, put the mixture into the baking tin - you may have to press it in with your spatula or fingers. After it's all even and level, you can then grab the remaining 15/20 Mini Eggs and press them into the top of the mixture. 

- Bake the traybake in the oven for 20-24 minutes.

- Leave the traybake to cool off for about 10 minutes, then remove the cookie from the tin and put onto a cooling rack to cool further. Once cooled, cut the cookie traybake into squares.

I was honestly so chuffed with how these turned out! I know cookies can be a bit hit and miss on timing so I thought they would either be undercooked or burnt but they were the perfect in-between. Family also gave great feedback on these Easter treats and wanted me to bake them again.

My Self-Care Sunday Afternoon

I love a good self-care sesh and a Sunday is one of my favourite days to do that. Mainly because it's my day off, but also because it's the perfect day to unwind, relax and prepare for the week ahead.

I love to have a good ol' candlelit bubble bath. I light my favourite candles and either pop them around the bath or on my bath tray - this is one of my favourite ways to de-stress and relax. 
My skin changes so much when the seasons change, so I like to do a good proper skincare routine and slap a face mask on.

Whilst my face mask is on, I also like to apply a hair mask too. My blonde hair can get very dull, brassy, and dry, especially at the moment as I haven't been able to get it done, so a good hair mask always manages to replenish it and freshen it up.

I also like to put fresh sheets on my bed along with jumping into clean pyjamas. There's nothing like getting into fresh sheets with fresh PJs on, right? I then like to make myself a vanilla latte or a hot chocolate and grab the blankets and sprawl out on the sofa binging a Netflix series or TV show.

How do you spend a self-care day?

A NEXT Beauty Box for Only £20?

I have been so excited to write this post for you all, because did you know that Next did beauty boxes?  Neither did I. It actually came to such a shock for me, because of the amount of times I've shopped their website and I've never come across them.

This is my first ever beauty box. I have considered Glossybox and Cohorted before, but I never got round to trying them out. I was so close to purchasing the Look Fantastic beauty box over Christmas but I was too late to the game as it sold out so quickly.

Next currently have a range of different boxes at different prices. I decided to go for the Self-Care Beauty Edit Box for £20, because as soon as I saw that Bobbi Brown, Smashbox and TooFaced were included in this box, I was sold!

Next states "As with all our Next beauty boxes, the total combined value is based on full-size and travel-sized items only; sample-sized items (that may read 'not for resale') are NOT counted in this value."

Next also states that this box is worth over £70, which just didn't add up to me. How can two full sized products and three travel-sized products add up to over £70? So, I decided to do a little bit of research beforehand to see how much the box is really worth. Adding up the full sized and the travel-sized products, this box is actually worth over £50 - coming in at exactly £53.95.

Even though their calculations aren't correct, I still think it's definitely worth paying £20 for as it includes some amazing brands and pricey products that I've always wanted to try but didn't want to splurge my money on before trying them first.

Overall, we have some great little products in here. I've always wanted to try Bobbi Browns Vitamin Enriched Face Base - it is sample sized but a little always goes a long way with Bobbi Brown so I'm chuffed. 

I have also wanted to give the Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara a go for a while but never got round to it as I always had lash extensions on, so I'm glad that I can finally try it. 

The Rabot Liquid Chocolate Body Mask smells absolutely incredible, it literally smells like you've just whisked up a chocolate cake mix. This product is hefty and will most probably last me a while, I just can't wait to smell like chocolate 24/7.