Bubble bubble.

With these dark days seeping away the sunshine, it's always a time when we turn to home-comforts. We get out the pyjamas a few hours earlier than normal, snuggle up in a blanket to read our books and we make good, heart-warming food.

The past few meal times I've been struggling to come up with some hearty, comforting dinners, but I have found my rescue in Tesco Real Food.

In the past couple of weeks I've cooked up two of the recipes found in their free Tesco magazine, and they have both been brilliant!

(1) Sausage and root veg with honey and orange dressing (scrummy link)

(2) Bacon, red onion and blue cheese pasta (yummy link)

Now both of these dishes were inexpensive, and were made from ingredients I had in the fridge/freezer and needed to use up. They didn't take much preparation but were nice hot dinners to have at home. After the success of both of these dishes I decided to follow the advice from the Tesco magazine and look online for more recipes. I've found so many I want to try! Here are a few (with clickable links in pink!):

Fish pie with sweetcorn

Sticky chicken with egg fried rice

Ham, cheese and pineapple swirls

Bacon toad in the hole

Parmesan crumb chicken with winter slaw

And I could go on, but I'd rather you just went to the website and found out for youself! It's gotten me out of a dinner-rut!

Jukebox jelly.

Some tunes for an early weekend.

1. Rebecca Ferguson - Nothing's Real But Love
I loved Rebecca's soulful voice when she was a contestant on the X Factor last year, and here she is with her debut single looking every bit the popstar.
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVs55XkYzls

2. Slow Moving Millie - Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
This song has already featured on my blog as the background music used in the John Lewis Christmas advert. It makes you feel warm and all snuggily inside.
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j4hg9VrYX4

3. Sara Bareilles - Breathe Again
I love this song, I can't believe I haven't featured it before. It's mellow, and slow, and a little, well, depressing. But it's deep moodiness just draws me into it even more.
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOwvpRZKR4I

4. Colbie Caillat - I Do
For the romantics out there. A cute and quirky song about saying 'I do!'
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0oyglKjbFQ&ob=av2e

5. I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business - Growing Pains

Simple, but lush.

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwooB1PDKDg

Key & Classic (II)

Key & Classic: a piece of clothing or accessory that can feature in your wardrobe to build up your 'classic' look.

Each K&C blog post focuses on one particular theme that you can introduce to your wardrobe, so eventually you will have a collection of lots of loveliness that can be used again and again to outfit-build. 

The Leopard.

Too much leopard print looks tacky. However, accessorising with leopard-print is classy and it provides a pattern to a plain outfit. 

As shown above, leopard print can be used to just bring life to a dull, dark outfit and can instantly turn a plain outfit into something more eye-catching.

1. New Look. £15.99.

2. Topshop. £14.

3. Topshop. £16.

4. Miss Selfridge. £8.50.

5. Clothing at Tesco. £8.

Please, please, let me get what I want.

After Bonfire Night on the 5th November...I think it's totally appropriate to get ready for the festive season. I don't mean putting up the Christmas tree or listening to Christmas tunes all the time (that's something I save for the month of December!)...but I think it's time to revel in the feeling of Christmas and to do things like: start to write your Christmas list, maybe even start looking out/making presents for friends and family and enjoy the Christmas adverts on TV!

This is the best Christmas advert I have ever seen. I felt all tingly inside when I watched it and even cried at the end. EMBRACE CHRISTMAS!

Key and Classic.

I'm a very picky shopper. I don't buy myself a lot of clothes and although I do keep up with current trends, I never usually divulge in them. (Block colour pop might be all good and great for some people...but to me it's going to be out as soon as it's come in!) I'm more of a classic dresser. Some of you might interpret that as plain, however I think that clothes should be investments that you buy because they are classic and going to last a long time, regardless of the fashion changes.

So, I'm going to do a few blog posts over the next coming weeks (months even, depends how much I like them!) featuring a different classic piece of clothing that could feature in your wardrobe. (And it's not going to be ones to break the bank balance!) The key is to find clothes that suit your shape, suit the fashion trend currently...and can continue to be worn again when the fashion trend's frivolous ways depart.

I'm going to jump right in the deep end with this blog post, pull out all the stops; and introduce to you the most flamboyant (but versatile) garment you could have in your classic wardrobe:

The Sequin. 
Now, sequins can be classy. They are very on trend at the minute but also keep recurring throughout the years. I think the best way to wear them is as part of an unpatterned outfit.

If you're not brave enough to embrace the sequin-laced dress...then you can tone it down with just a sequin top/purse with dark block colours.

1. Oasis. £25.

2. Oasis. £65.

3. H&M. £24.99.

4. Matalan. £25

5. New Look. £12.99