magicallypriy

First of all let me start this post by saying MERRY CHRISTMAS! If you don’t celebrate then I hope your day is still full of joy. It can be a hard time of the year so whatever you’re doing - know that you’re not alone and please keep yourself safe. You matter. I can’t believe it’s the end of Blogmas. There were points I really didn’t think I’d be able to complete it. Admittedly I struggled a lot and perhaps that showed in my writing at points. However, I’m proud of myself because I kept going and I didn’t give up. Mostly because my girlfriend didn’t let me, haha! In seriousness though - I wouldn’t have been able to do Blogmas without her. Whether it was her not letting me give up, or when I bounced ideas off her or even when she’d inspire me with wonderful ideas! So Jade - thank you!  Another big thank you to all of you for reading my posts and sticking with me through my first Blogmas journey. You’re all wonderful. Seeing as it’s Christmas, I don’t want to keep you guy...

It’s Christmas Eve! Which means it’s the penultimate day of Blogmas. So for today’s post, I thought I would take a look back at 2018. It’s been a year of both bad and good. My health took a swan dive for the worse but I’ve also created lots of long lasting memories this year. I travelled across the U.K. for various gigs and shows and I saw artists that I never thought I’d see (Harry Styles, for example) and it wouldn’t be a complete year if I hadn’t seen my favourite band, Busted. Not only did I see them at two performances earlier in the year but I also saw two of their intimate shows at the infamous 100 Club in London back in October. One of most incredible things about this year was the five Disneyland Paris trips my girlfriend and I were able to go on. From my birthday trip at the beginning of the year to our most recent trip for Halloween. Both of these trips were surprises booked for me by my wonderful girlfriend. We also had a lot of theatre trips this year seei...

How are we less than 48 hours away from Christmas?! And how is Blogmas nearly at an end? This whole year, particularly this month, flew by. Although, I do remember January dragged and everyone was complaining about how ‘it’s still January!’ Now, in a blink of an eye - we are at Christmas Eve Eve. How that’s possible, I don’t know.  Today was spent going to Tesco Extra (yup the really big one) and battling through the crowds of people and their trollies to make sure everything was bought for Christmas Day. The way people act, you’d think the grocery stores were closed until the end of 2018. Although it was still busy, we managed to buy everything we needed successfully. Apart from the mince pies. They were sold out. At this point, I declared that Christmas was cancelled because that’s the point really without the mince pies?! Thankfully, we diverted to Waitrose on the way home and they had mince pies so I allowed Christmas to continue as normal. Christmas Eve Eve ki...

So this Blogmas may be entitled ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ but I didn’t drive because firstly, could you imagine an emotional wreck like me behind the wheel of a car? Not a great combination and secondly, I went via public transport but it doesn’t sound as catchy (nor is there song for it) to say ‘Taking the train home for Christmas’ does it?  The first thing I did when I reached home was go and finish off the Christmas shopping. Thankfully all my presents are bought and tomorrow they’ll all be wrapped and under the tree! The original plan was to go and get the last minute food shop done too but we didn’t have enough time so that’s going to have to be done. On Christmas Eve Eve. God help me. As usual, putting up the Christmas tree was left for me to come home to do so that was one of the first things I did after we went shopping. Now the tree is up and the crackers are brought - it feels a bit more festive in the house. The next few days are going to be full on w...

With Christmas being a matter of days away, I thought I would have some fun and do a Christmas This or That for todays Blogmas! Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Definitely Christmas Day! Nothing beats waking up in the morning and thinking ‘it’s finally Christmas!’ Real Tree or Fake Tree I’ve always had a fake tree - you don’t have to cut down a real one and if you invest in one, you can keep it for years to come! Tree Ornaments or Tree Lights? Definitely both! I love decorating my Christmas tree with lights and baubles and special ornaments.  Indoor decorations or outdoor decorations? Indoor. This year we’ve got quite a few Christmassy bits for our flat and it’s so wonderful and festive. I would love to decorate the outside of my future home though! Christmas Carols or Christmas Movies? Christmas movies. One of my favourite thing about this season is the endless list (and my firm favourites) of Christmas films you have to choose from. Sant...

Having a girlfriend who bakes the most delicious treats is a blessing and this Christmas; it’s even more so. Personally, I feel like baking is something that becomes even more fun and magical over the festive season.  There’s just something about baking and having the warm scent of tasty goodies wafting through your home over Christmas that makes them even more special.  Yesterday, I came home and Jade had made Mickey Mouse shaped shortbread biscuits. She used this recipe as her guide https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/food/recipes/shortbread_1290/amp and gave the biscuits that Disney touch by using Mickey Mouse shaped cookie cutters purchased on Amazon.  Half of the Mickey shortbread biscuits were then covered with a blue icing and topped with snowflake sprinkles; which really helped to bring an extra touch of Christmas magic to these delicious treats. The other half were Nutella covered and sprinkled with tripe chocolate swirls - who do...

Christmas is the season for magic and happiness. However, that’s not always the case for everyone. For some people, the holidays can be a really hard time of the year, for a number of reasons. For Blogmas Day Two, I talked about my own battle with grief over the Christmas season and how that’s affected how I celebrate the holiday over the past five years. Grief over a loved one is a big factor that impacts how a person views the holidays. It’s particularly tough if you’ve recently lost someone or if you’ve lost them close to Christmas time. It can, of course, hold very painful memories for you which is perfectly understandable. Another thing that affects how a person feels during Christmas is Mental Health. The big taboo that people are still scared to talk about because of the stigma attached to it. However, Mental Health is so real and is something a lot of us deal with on a day to day basis. There’s no shame in it, and for some people, the holiday period can amplify that. ...

It can be hard to think of Christmas as a time for fashion and wearing cute outfits when all you want to do is wear your fluffy pyjamas, stay in bed with your electric blanket on and say to heck with your fashion rules: I’m going out in a million layers; which is perfectly reasonable.  However, despite the bitterness of the cold weather - you can still take the opportunity to bundle up and wear your favourite cute outfits. My favourite thing this winter has been finding as many cute and sometimes fluffy jumpers as possible. Take one look at my outfit choices this season and you’ll immediately know that the theme has been pastel/multi colours. The choice for jumpers has been so impressive this year and I’ve really been making the most of buying jumpers that fit under the categories of stripy, fluffy and colourful. Obviously I’m layering up beneath the jumpers because it’s too cold not to. Other thing that has been a favourite of mine this season is my blue teddy coa...

Christmas is obviously a wonderful time of year but it can also be quite strenuous on our bank accounts so it can be quite hard to find things to do during the season that doesn’t have you running a mile in the opposite direction because of the price. For today’s Blogmas, I thought I would talk through a few things that you could do this Christmas in London on a budget. Markets Obviously markets such as the infamous Borough Market are open to people all year round but there’s something so much more magical and Christmassy about going to a market at Christmas time. You wrap up warm and walk through to the different traders with plenty of cheese, mulled wine and mince pies available to your hearts content. Even if you don’t want to, or can’t afford to buy anything – it still feels special to just walk through a market at Christmas time and take in all of the festive touches; perhaps even treating yourself to a warm drink to help combat the cold and crisp winter air. As well as th...

Today in our flat, we celebrated Christmas early as we’re all at homes with our families for actual Christmas. We started the day with hot drinks and biscuits for breakfast before getting on to the exciting thing: opening stockings and exchanging presents. My stocking fillers included a giant Lindt chocolate teddy, Mickey Mouse shaped Bath Fizzers, chocolate coins and a candy cane. My girlfriend, Jade, bought me the One Magical Night Tangled Traditions ornament. If you read my Wish List Blogmas, you’ll know this is something I’ve wanted for a while and unbeknownst to me - my girlfriend had already bought me it! Our friend/flatmate, Eden, bought me the Ralph Breaks The Internet themed Rapunzel sweatshirt, which was also on my wish list so as you can imagine - I was very pleased with these! Our day also included watching two favourite festive films in the household - Love Actually and The Holiday. What says Christmas better than films that pull at your heartstrings a...

If you know me, then you’ll know that Disneyland Paris is my favourite place on earth. I’m still to experience a Christmas in Disney (we were supposed to this year but went for Halloween instead. No regrets) but I hope to make it happen one day as nothing would beat experiencing this festive season in the happiest place on earth. For today’s Blogmas, I thought I would talk through some things that I would love to experience in Disney at Christmas time. A Very Magical Main Street Walking down Main Street, humming along to the loop and grinning up at the castle is obviously already so magical, so I can only imagine how much more Magical it would feel during Christmas time with garlands and decorations galore. The Main Street Halloween decorations leave me feeling magical and excited, so I know that it would be the same for the Christmas decorations. Merry Stitchmas Stitch is my favourite Disney character so knowing that he has his own Castle Stage show during the Christmas ...

Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton were brought together when they were cast in Bat Out of Hell, which is currently playing at the Dominion Theatre in London.  They portray Falco and Sloane respectively and audiences of the musical quickly became fans of this pair; particularly their strong voices when dueting.  Fowler and Sexton, knowing how well their voices blended together embarked on the journey of creating an album: ‘Vision of You’. The album tells the story of Falco and Sloane and is the most perfect gift for fans of the musical and of the remarkable duo. There’s a lot of songs on the album that had me excited for the albums release, including ‘It Just Won’t Quit’ which was originally in Bat Out of Hell (sadly not anymore). Fowler and Sexton’s cover is a beautiful homage to the musical and to the version sung by Christina Bennington and Andrew Polec. Vision of You starts off strongly and beautifully with ‘Falling Slowly’, which I first heard when I saw ‘O...

Christmas music is one of the most enjoyable things about the festive season; merry songs are playing everywhere you go and your Christmas loving heart is bursting…or maybe that’s just me. Anyway, for today’s Blogmas I thought I would do something differently. Instead of telling you what original songs should be on your Christmas playlist, I thought I would recommend some covers of your favourite Christmas songs by my favourite artists/people that I’m a fan of. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – Busted To kick off the list, I figured what better way to start than with my favourite band. We all know and love ‘Hark!’ and for some of us, it’ll even bring back fond memories of Christmas assemblies and singing it in school. In 2003, Busted dropped their cover and this version is obviously quite different to the one you’d sing in school, but it wouldn’t be Busted if it didn’t have their own pop-rock kick to it. This gem definitely needs to be on your playlist because it’s the perfect son...

Last month, the lovely Natasha from Ears Ever After organised a Secret Santa for Christmas for Disney fans in the UK. As soon as I caught wind of the #DisneyChristmasPresentSwapUK floating around on Instagram – I knew I wanted to be involved and I’m so glad I did as it was so much fun being sent a person to pick out presents for; based on their favourite Disney characters. Yesterday, I received my Secret Santa parcel yesterday and I was incredibly touched by the thought that had gone into each little gift that I had been given. I had listed my favourite characters as Rapunzel, Stitch and Piglet (wow me in a nutshell much?) and my lovely Secret Santa delivered ; meeting all three of these characters and I’m not going to lie; I nearly cried when I opened the package. I’m an emotional person and opening presents that had been thoughtfully picked out for me really meant a lot. My gifts included: Stitch Luggage Tag For someone like me who frequently travels (Particularly to D...

This Monday marked the U.K release of Disney’s Live Action Winnie the Pooh film – Christopher Robin. The film took the cinema by storm during the summer and so for today’s Blogmas, I thought I would talk you through why this DVD needs to be on your Christmas list. Reunited With The 100 Acre Wood Gang Everyone I know grew up with a special place in their hearts for Winnie the Pooh and friends; some more than others (shout to my girlfriend whose style icon is definitely Pooh Bear himself). Winnie, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit and Owl are all back in this heart-warming family adventure as Pooh, along with the help of his friends and Madeline Robin, helps a grown up Christopher Robin to remember the good and fun side of life. These characters have always been so special to everyone that grew up with Milne’s stories and so having them brought to life once again on the big screen was special and now you can bring the gang home with you on DVD and join Pooh in a game of ...

For today’s post, I thought I would share with you all four items that are on my Disney themed wish list; not just for Christmas but also for 2019. Maybe I should have started this off with ‘Dear Santa…’ Disney Dreams Collection 2019 Diary 2018 became the year where lots more plans cropped up with Disney trips, theatre visits and gigs alike. There’s nothing I love more than all of these different adventures, however it sometimes becomes hard to keep up with all of the different dates. That’s why I decided for 2019, I’d need to become even more organised and buy a diary so I can make a note of everything happening on different days. Of course the first thing I searched for was a Disney themed diary, and that’s when I stumbled across the beautifully designed Thomas Kinkade Disney Dreams Collection on Amazon. Thomas Kinkade Studios also sells Disney colouring books, calendars etc and when I looked through the images provided for this diary on Amazon; I was sold and knew that this ...

This Christmas has appeared to be the season of cute and cheesy Netflix original Christmas films with movies such as The Christmas Prince 2, Princess Switch and The Christmas Chronicles. I’m a sucker for this genre so I, for one, am happy that Netflix is providing us with all this content. Last night, I ticked another off my list by watching The Christmas Chronicles which had everything you could possibly want from a Christmas film: cute little girl with a strong belief in Santa, Reindeers, Elves, a sibling relationship that strengthens throughout the film and then obviously, Kurt Russell as Santa. The film follows the Pierce family, who are all struggling in their own way after tragedy strikes them. Kate and Teddy are brother and sister and both are coping with their feelings differently. Teddy’s heading down a troubled path, whereas Kate immerses herself in watching old family Christmas videos and recording her own video for Santa. The sibling’s relationship has been damage...

Hello and welcome to Day Nine of Blogmas! Today is a Sunday which means my plans for the day are eating copious amounts of chocolate and watching Christmas films. It’s what you’re supposed to do over the festive period, right? For today’s Blogmas post, I thought I would attempt to do The Christmas Tag and answer some Christmas themed questions… What are your favourite Christmas movies? Well, if you read my blog post from yesterday, you’ll see what Disney Christmas movies I love but apart from those, I also love films like Home Alone, Jack Frost, Miracle on 34 th Street, The Holiday and also newer Netflix films like The Christmas Prince or Princess Switch. I’m a sucker for cute and cheesy festive films. You also can’t go wrong with the likes of Elf, The Grinch, Love Actually, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus etc… Basically, give me a Christmas film and I’m happy. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? Christmas morning, always. It’s a traditio...

Christmas films are obviously one of the best ways to get into the festive spirit and to make it even better? Disney Christmas films. For today’s Blogmas, I thought I would talk you through five Disney Christmas films you should watch this season. Nightmare Before Christmas Okay so it’s the age old controversial argument. ‘Is Nightmare Before Christmas a Halloween or Christmas film?’ Well I say it’s both. Why should it be limited to one of the holidays when you can join Jack and Sally on their adventures throughout Halloween and Christmas? Plus, if you don’t watch it during Christmas then you wouldn’t get to celebrate with Sandy Claws! It’s the perfect film for people who love both Halloween and Christmas and that’s definitely never a bad thing. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure  This is perhaps the cutest and most heartwarming 20 odd minutes you’ll spend in your life. Once Olaf realises Anna and Elsa don’t have any Christmas traditions of their own; he goes on an adventure ...

Christmas brings with it lots of treats and exclusive products from various retailers. One of the best things about the season is when Lush’s exclusive Christmas products become available. Their fun coloured, exuberant scents and natural ingredients are what make them so popular; and their bath bombs of course! So as soon as Christmas comes around, everyone is ready to go and stock up on their favourite Lush products. For day seven of Blogmas - I thought I would talk you through my favourite Lush Christmas products. Snow Fairy Honestly give me every snow fairy product there is available and I’m happy. It’s most definitely my favourite Lush product overall so of course it would be top Christmas product. For me, nothing will match it (apart from Comforter but we won’t discuss how Lush took away the body wash of that) with its sweet smell, gorgeous pink colour and the serious Princess vibes it gives you. As well as the shower gel, Snow Fairy is also available as a Magic Wand bubb...