30th Birthday - What To Wear?

I've been scouring the interweb for some birthday outfit inspiration. My actual birthday night out is pretty low-key. It's being held in a local pub with my lovely friends and I'm not making a massive deal about it therefore I want to keep my outfit low-key too. The other thing is Jamie is treating me to dinner, now I know it's in one of three places: The Witchery, Howies or Chaophraya with drinks beforehand at The Devils Advocate, so for that I am looking for something a little more dressy.

So getting the easy ones out the way I thought something like these for my night out with friends, simple and low-key.
 

Boohoo skater dress, £25 / Kiss The Sky lace cami tank / Skinny jeans / ALDO black leather boots, £34 / ASOS strappy shoes / Jimmy Choo pink handbag, £765 / Maison Martin Margiela silver charm, £370 / Kate spade jewelry, £30 / KENNETH JAY LANE clip-on earrings, £24 / Glitzy Rocks sterling silver stud earrings, £9.00

 When it comes to the second part, my birthday meal. I'm at a complete standstill if I'm honest. I've been looking over my old favorites ASOS and AX Paris and so far have come up with the following: now don't even get me started on shoes and accessories.

John Zack floral pattern dress, £33 / ASOS blue v neck dress, £24 / AX Paris macrame dress / ASOS pink cape, £24 / Asos shorts / Pleat Front Chiffon Long Sleeve Playsuit - AX Paris

So what do you think? Can you suggest somewhere else I should check out?

Winter Wedding Dilemmas

In the coming months I have two evening wedding receptions to attend. One of which the female guests were asked to wear a floor length gown, and for which I've chosen this black JS Collections maxi dress. I spotted this dress about two years ago in House of Fraser but with no reason to buy it the £150 price tag made just a little bit pointless. I missed it in the Summer sale and then it hasn't been back in stock since *sob*. 

I did however keep a close eye on ebay and picked in up 'as new, worn once' for £15.95, how's that for a bargain? I do have to get it altered slightly but I would have had to get that done regardless.

Jamie's mum has given me a pair of earrings to wear, they were the first pair she bought when she got her ears pierced so a lovely pair of vintage that look similar to the ones below. 

The red dress I bought back in February in the ASOS sale, mainly because although I have a few lovely dresses there was nothing I could lift out at short notice and with a boyfriend that attends quite a lot of corporate events you just never know. However this one hasn't made it out the wardrobe yet.

I'm trying to be a little thrifty so close to Christmas so have been looking for shoes and a bag I can use for both, Jamie being the only person who will be at both, and have settled upon gold or black. So with the help of Polyvore I've been putting together some ideas for both events.

 

To go with the red outfit I've decided to have my hair down and hope to god it will actually keep a curl. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos and going through Pinterest to get some suggestions and I think it should be OK. I may add in a few extensions just to give some volume. 
For nails & make up I'm going to go light & natural. I think I will DIY French Manicure my nails and keep my makeup to nude shades. 

For the black outfit I'm going to go for a 'messy side bun', which again I've been researching lots. Having fine hair that doesn't back comb well is a bit of a nightmare. But a few lightweight products and plenty kirby grips should help. For nails I'm thinking a deep maroon, slightly 'gothic' vibes that will tie in with the Ghillie Dhu but again I'll probably keep my make up subtle and light. Mainly as my little eyes don't carry off a lot of make up, but I have almost two months so I may practice a lot and see what I can achieve, any advice is more than welcome.

So any fashion bunnies out there, what do you think? Does this work? Black or Gold? Something different altogether? And all you lovely beauty bloggers - HELP!

Guts, Ghosts & Gore Oh My! Edinburgh Dungeons Review

When I was asked recently if I fancied popping along to Edinburgh Dungeons I absolutely jumped at the chance. I LOVE all things scary (we're currently watching 'Would You Rather' on NetFlix) so couldn't wait to sample the guts, ghosts and gore of Auld Reekie.

Being a local I have been to the Dungeons before but it was a very, very long time ago so I was looking forward to seeing how much it had changed. I wasn't disappointed.  From the first few steps inside I was feeling a little nervous. The ambience, the creepy music, the decor, all fantastic.  

The tour was filled with Scottish history, from Burke & Hare to William Wallace, the Cannibalistic Bean family and much, much more. 

I don't want to give too much away, there were certainly more than a couple of jumps & screams from our group, myself & Jamie included and you have to go in with an open mind because they do pick on members of the audience. Jamie ended up in front of the judge and one of Sawney Beans creepy-as sons wanted me to be his girlfriend. It was a great laugh. The staff were fantastic and it's definitely something I'd recommend. 

Our whole tour lasted about 1.5hrs and with tickets costing from just £9.50 for kids and £10.95 for adults (online pre-booking), there's also special offers for Family and Group tickets - it's definitely worth it. 

After the tour you do have an opportunity to buy some pictures that are taken of you during the tour. We got a picture from the final part of tour, the Drop Dead, it wasn't the most flattering of me but I think it captured exactly how I felt. 

Maybe if enough of you lovely people click through to the Dungeons link I'll share it with you all. Until then it's staying safely on the fridge. 

*disclaimer: I was given two free tickets for the purpose of reviewing the Edinburgh Dungeons. All views are my own and all reviews are 100% honest.

It's a prawn thing!!

This months Degustabox contained 'Carnation Cook with It', which Nestle claim:

"Made using fresh milk, and with half the fat of single cream*, Carnation Cook with it! is a fantastic, low-fat cooking crème that's great for your favourite savoury dishes – from hearty soups and casseroles to pasta bakes and sauces."

So I decided to rustle up one of my favorite dishes 'prawn thing'. My friend Jen passed the recipe to me and over the time I've been doing it I've tweaked it and this is one of the final forms. Sometimes I add some spinach in at the end too. 

Ingredients: prawns (cooked or raw), 5-6 mushrooms, garlic (as much as you can handle), chilli (ditto), red onion, salmon (optional) and some sort of pasta/spaghetti, (I used chilli linguine that mum had brought me home from Rome) - we love a bit of spice.

This is one of the easiest, but tastiest dishes. Great for when you get home from work and just feel like laying on the sofa. Just a few simple steps. 

1. Pop a pot of water on the boil and add your chosen pasta to cook away whilst you do the 'hard work' 

2. Gently fry the garlic and chilli - top tip, put the garlic in whilst the pan heats, it stops the garlic hitting the pan hot and burning straight off. 

3. Add in the onion and gently fry until the onion softens slightly. 

4. If you're prawns are raw add them now to give them a few minutes to cook, otherwise add in the mushrooms for 1-2 minutes, followed by the cooked prawns (and salmon if you're going the whole hog).

5. Let this cook for a further 2-3 minutes before adding your cream, usually I'd use Créme Fraîche but as we're giving the Carnation Cook with It a go I added this. 

6. Lastly, if you're adding spinach now's the time, give it a minute or so before draining your pasta and mixing it through. 

Voilá, you're done. 

And the verdict on the Carnation Cook with It? I couldn't tell the difference if I'm honest. As this can be kept in the cupboard and has a good shelf life I think it's something that would make it's way into our monthly shop. 

This months box came with two of these so I'm keen to try something new, Carnation have a few suggestions on their website but if any of you lovely lot have any suggestions do let me know.