Empties Three

These are more products that I have used up in the time since the last one. Each time I use up five products I will put up a new Empties post.

Hello Kitty Shampoo and Bath Gel

I used this primarily as a body wash. It smelt amazing with the scent of grapes. It was a jelly like texture that felt amazing on my skin. I suspect it was actually made for kids but I don't care - I loved it. Got it on clearance originally. Should have bought more. Haven't been able to find it again :( Would happily buy it again.

Sunsilk Co-creations Purifying Scalp Care Shampoo and Conditioner

Now, I've struggled with dandruff for years and was looking for something that would help with that and strengthen my hair. Unfortunately these didn't really work. So I'm still on the hunt for my perfect shampoo and conditioner.

Natio Lift Skin Firming Serum

I'm on the hunt for a more budget friendly serum so I tried this out. It didn't really seem to do anything to help my skin. It just stayed the same. Maybe it gave a little bit of extra moisture but other than that - no noticeable difference

Bath and Body Work Pleasures Mango and Mandarin Body Lotion

I loved this stuff. I was given it years and years ago by an American friend. Unfortunately Bath and Body Works products are hard to come by in New Zealand so I can't get a replacement. I'm currently trying to use up all of the moisturiser that I've been given over the years. So I don't need a new one but if I were to go to the States - I would buy this in a heartbeat.

Travel Tuesday - Ireland - Glendalough

This is what started my obsession with round towers. I wanted to find others around Ireland that didn't have so many people. 

I will post pictures of them at some stage (we went to four more after this).

Glendalough is situated in a beautiful, lush, green valley with a river and a lake nearby. It's quite close to Dublin in the Wicklow Mountains so it's quite easy to get to.

This place is seriously so magical...I hope the following pictures do it some justice:

My Tea Collection - other teas

Strawberries and Cream

This is seriously delicious. It has little bits of strawberry and what looks like chunks of dried yoghurt. It all comes together to make a deliciously tangy drink that turns pink. I always add a little bit of milk because the pink colour then comes more apparent (yes I am obessesed).

Ingredients: Hibiscus petals, rosehips, elderberries, apple pieces, strawberry pieces, freeze dried yogurt pieces, flavour. 

Toasty Nougat

This is one of the first teas I tried from T2 and there's no going back now. It seriously tastes like nougat but in liquid form! It has little bits of nougat and nuts that you then soak. So yummy!

Ingredients: Apple, nougat bits (sugar, glycose syrup, almonds, honey, egg white, natural vanilla) and flavour. 

52 Weeks of Memories - Week 14 - Special

Whenever I look at my left hand - I think of the most special day (so far) of my life. And the most special person.

Things I love About Autumn

It's now autumn here in the Southern Hemisphere and that means it's finally starting to cool down!
Here are some of my favourite things about Autumn..

• The cooler weather - Seriously, I get over the warmth of summer so quickly. There's only so many clothes you can take off (legally)! I love not being too hot and not being too cold.

• The clothes - I love clothes that are designed for autumn. There are so many cool sweaters around! I bought a new one with pandas on the front from Farmers recently that I've been living in while the weather's been a bit chilly (I may or may not be wearing it now). See here for it.

• The leaves - I absolutely adore seeing the leaves change colour and fall to the ground. It hasn't really started here yet but I can't wait until it does.

  

  Yes, that is me. No, it is not recent.

• Warm drinks - The cooler weather means I can have multiple teas again without overheating! And you all know how much I love my teas! I'm also partial to a nice hot chocolate :)

• Snuggling - I love to snuggle, but in summer it is too hot to do so generally (I still do in small doses). I love snuggling with AJ, my blankets, my stuffed animals, generally anything snuggleable will do :D

Travel Tuesday - Birthday in Dublin

So when we were planning our big European trip, I stipulated from day one that I wanted to be in Ireland for my birthday. So we flew there the evening before my birthday and spent the day wandering around and exploring. One thing that we originally wanted to do was go to the Guinness Brewery and the Book of Kells. We decided against the brewery when we go there and saw the prices and all of the tour buses parked outside. We also decided to postpone the Book of Kells to another day as the queues were too long (we went on our last day in Ireland instead - lining up before it opened).
Here are some pictures from the day - I'll caption the ones where I remember where they were.

An awesome street lamp near my Auntie's place

Trinity College

We like this because we're immature 12 year olds at heart

Oscar Wilde Statue, Merrion Square Park

Wolfe Tone Statue, St Stephen's Green

River Liffey

Temple Bar

Dublin Castle

Christ Church Cathedral

St Patrick's Cathedral

Looking in at the Guinness Brewery

River Liffey

An awesome looking childcare centre

I have no idea what this is supposed to be but it looked cool.

My Tea Collection - Fruit Teas

It's no secret that I love tea. It's also no secret that I love fruit. Put the two of them together and you have a winner.
I went to the supermarket a few months ago with AJ and while he was off getting something else he left me with the trolley in the tea section. By the time he returned I had put at least half of the Healtheries fruit teas in the trolley. He stopped me (much to my indignation) and said that I could try other types once I've used up the ones I have. I am thinking of sneaking some more in next time we go to the supermarket though :P

So onto the teas...


Healtheries Tangerine and Orange
I was first introduced to this tea by my Aunty Maureen (RIP) back in 2009. It has the delicious flavour of the citrus fruits though I will warn you that it tastes more of the rind then the actual fruit pulp. It does say on it that it's a dietary supplement which I'd never noticed before (it has Vitamin C in it). I'm a little bit over it now to be honest and will probably not replace it once it's used up.

Healtheries Cranberry and Apple
This has a delicious tangy taste to it that I adore. You can definitely taste both the cranberry and apple. It would be equally delicious cold as hot.

Healtheries Hawkes Bay Nectarine

This tastes like nectarine juice. It is seriously one of the nicest fruit teas I have.

Healtheries Pomegranate and Grape with tangy orange peel

This probably has the strongest  flavour of all of the fruit teas I have. It has a real tang to it that is delicious and really wakes you up. 

Healtheries Tropical with mango, pineapple and passionfruit

This is a great blend of tropical flavours. It's really refreshing when cold so I normally let it cool down before drinking it.

Healtheries Crisp Green Apple
This is the nicest apple tea I've found and I've been looking for a while. It has a beautiful crisp apple taste (as it says).

Healtheries Central Otago Apricot with passionfruit
I was disappointed with this tea. It really doesn't have a lot of flavour at all. Even when left to soak for ages.

Twinings Raspberry and Peach

This drink is a delicious blend of raspberry and peach. It has a really strong flavour that is really refreshing.

Twinings Mango and Strawberry

This is AJ's favourite fruit tea as it has the strongest flavours of all of the teas here. I think it tastes more of strawberry than mango. It's very nice but personally I prefer other teas.