Styling Your Home To Match Your Personality

When it comes to my home, I'm quite restricted with how far I can go to making it cosy and homely - because we live in a rented house. I'm very happy in my current house and I've lived here for over five years, and we are currently saving for our own home. So until then we're happy making this house our very much loved first family home. Fortunately my landlord is very flexible with decorating and home styling - so long as we put everything back to the old basic magnolia before we eventually leave. Even though he's very understanding and happy for us to decorate, it's still a little bit restrictive when you don't own your own house. So styling my home has meant I've had to think carefully and wisely about how I do it and still make my mark.

Christmas With Bombay Duck

With Christmas quite literally around the corner, now is the time to get your gift buying into full swing. There's always a few people you've missed off the list, an extra teaching assistant to buy for at your child's school or a another Secret Santa gift to buy. (Please tell me it's not just me that this happens to?!) Just because Christmas is now within reach, doesn't mean your gifts of choice need to be rushed, questionable decisions that you're not quite sure if the recipient will enjoy. Bombay Duck are a one-stop shop for all your thoughtful and stunning Christmas gift needs, and what's more is that they'll guarantee Christmas delivery on all orders placed before 18th December. (But you can also get express delivery up until 2pm on the 22nd.)

The A-Z Of Me

I love the posts that show you more of the face behind the blog, they're always some of my favourite things to read. So when the very lovely Jennifer Helen blogged about the A-Z of Me I felt inspired to write my own, just because it sounded like a really fun post to write! Plus, I love to share insight into some of the weird and wonderful ways of my world. So without further ado, here's my very own A-Z of Me... (I'm pretty pleased that I managed to get something for all but 6 letters, and obviously they were the really hard ones!)

Through My Christmas Keyhole

The day finally arrived...

The day that the tree went up in the house of Lady Writes! *shakes my jingle bells*

I love Christmas. I really love Christmas. It's my favourite time of the year. And I always like to have my tree up and my house decorations ready on/by December 1st. But seeing as that is a Tuesday this year, it meant that we needed to do it today so we were ready for the 1st. I don't know who was more excited - me or my five year old!

Every year when putting the tree up, I must have Christmas music on. It's a rule. I also must have one of my Christmas candles burning, so those are the first things that I unpack when I get everything out of the cupboard. Without these two ingredients, festive mood of the highest level will not be achievable - and where's the fun in that?!

I must admit, this year after having a whole week of being poorly, my patience isn't what it usually is and the tree lights just wouldn't quite go how I wanted them to.. The result was that the whole lot nearly got dropkicked out of the patio door. Note for next year - when putting the tree up, ensure there is wine in the house.

However after a gazillion attempts, I got the lights just right and we cracked on with the baubles. Now. I am one of those women who coordinates her Christmas tree colours to her living room. Yes, I am she. I have no shame in this. However, it took me years to find just the right shades of cream, green and mink/silver baubles to perfectly match my wallpaper. Since I found the perfect colours, I swear I treat those balls with so much care that anyone would think they were small children to be nurtured and protected. I can't have them breaking after it took me years to find just the right ones now can I?!

As much as I love coordinating my tree, I'm not quite ready to banish the festive red and green from my house forever. So we have lots of little bits and pieces in traditional Christmas styles and colours which I group together underneath my feature wall. These are a mixture of things I've made myself and things I've bought over the years - and I love them all, even if they don't match the decor...

Two of my favourites are the large snowman and Santa figures I have which I stand on the table in the lounge. They really don't match anything (which drives me nuts) and they are so big they really aren't practical (especially because their legs extend and they then become the same height as my son) but I bought them at a Christmas fair in London and I love them, so without fail, these guys are always strutting their stuff at Christmas. My little man loves them and they are super sweet...but the table is behind the sofa, so in the evenings I don't have to look at how badly they clash...yes, I'm Christmas OCD okay?! Oh and then there's my Gingerbread shop house light, which looks so cute when lit in the evenings - I love this and at least it matches the snowman!

This year I also wanted to Christmas-up my twiggy tree, which is more of the neutral white/cream shades which matched the tones I have on my feature wall. I keep a matching star on the back of my door at Christmas, which is right next to the twiggy tree, so I bought some seriously cute mini decorations in the form of wooden hearts and mini stitched hearts to match. (They were ridiculously cheap from The Range - in fact, I highly recommend you get to your latest shop and have a look - they have some really lovely, inexpensive Christmas bits at the moment). And I'm so pleased with how cute it looks, I'm tempted to even keep a few of the neutral coloured hearts on it after Christmas. You know, just because...

I have loads of random bits and pieces to keep my house feeling festive, but these are just some of them. And yes, you guessed it, I'm Christmas OCD when it comes to matching. Oh we'll, could be worse right?!

 I hope you're excited to put your tree up too!

Imperial Candles - Scents and Sparkles

I'm really, really excited to tell you all about Imperial Candles. If you haven't heard of them before, don't be duped into thinking that they are just another scented candle brand - they aren't! They are so much more than that...

I'm THE biggest scented candle fan. I have them all over my house as I'm a bit obsessive about my house smelling nice. I've tried room sprays, oils, all sorts in my time, but nothing does it like a good scented candle. The ambience of a burning candle is also just so relaxing and homely, that sprays just don't cut it.

Imperial Candles are in a whole different league to other well known brands though because they are like the adult version of a Kinder Egg! Confused? Well, Imperial Candles come with a jewel inside every candle. Yep, not only do you get an amazing candle, you also get a piece of jewellery hidden inside too. Scents and sparkles all in one!

The candles themselves are hand poured and made of soy wax, and no additional additives are used - which is one of the big points for me. I suffer from awful migraines and some scented candles have been known to set one off. When I realised this was a trigger I decided to only use brands that steer clear of the nasties - so that's a big pro for me from Imperial.

When mine arrived I was so excited! I could smell the lovely scent coming through the box - Black Raspberry Vanilla. Vanilla and Raspberry are two of my favourite scents individually, so when I saw this scent on the website, I knew exactly which candle I wanted. The scent didn't disappoint, it's lovely and fresh and has a really nice musky smell to it - which is exactly my style, and great for scenting my whole house.

The candle itself is a really good size too. So it's brilliant value for money as I know I'm going to get so many burning hours from it. In fact, I've had it burning every evening and weekend since it arrived and it's not even hit the mid point yet. It's a 21oz candle and cost £28.99, so considering you get the jewel inside too, it's a fab price.

The candle has two wicks and I was intrigued to see if the depth of scent would match up to bigger brands - let me say this, it's better! It's strong, but not overpowering and once it's been burning for even a few minutes you can start to smell it right away. It's not like some candles that take a while to release the scent - once this gets going, you can smell it almost straight away. The strength is great too, it's strong enough that it will scent my whole house in a short time - which is exactly what I wanted. Massive tick.

Jewellery wise, I was like a kid at Christmas waiting to see the foil packaging with my surprise peaking through the wax. I kept sneaking a look to see if I could see anything, and when I began to, I used the candle at every opportunity to get to it faster...not one to be patient! When I opened it, I was so pleased. I got the most beautiful and sparkly ring, which by fate is exactly the style of ring that I love and I've worn it every day since I got it out of the candle. Check it out...

Every Imperial Candle comes with a guaranteed jewel worth between £10 right up to £2000. So when I say it's like an adult Kinder Egg - I mean it! Some of their candles can include earrings and  necklaces etc. but you can chose the option of a guaranteed ring in your candle, and you give your ring size when ordering too - so you know it will fit. How amazing is that?! It's made just for you.

As well as the candles, Imperial also offer a range of bath bombs - which also have jewellery in them too which is so fun - not that I need any encouragement to enjoy a bubble bath! And as it's approaching Christmas, Imperial have now released some amazing sounding Christmas scents - again with the bonus of jewellery inside - it would be like Christmas came early when you got your jewel. I was looking at their Christmas scents and they have things like Santa's Cookies and Apple & Cinnamon as well as loads more. I love having Christmas scents in my house throughout the festive period, so these sound amazing.

Now I've had my candle for a few weeks, I can say I'm thoroughly converted to Imperial Candles. Strong scent, sweet and musky - exactly as I like, additive free, great value AND jewellery too? This is a win/win. It's my birthday next week and on my wishlist next is the White Jasmine candle - it even sounds lovely!

Make sure you add an Imperial Candle to your Christmas list this year - you're going to love it!

Follow Imperial Candles here:
Website: www.imperialcandles.co.uk
Twitter: @ImperialCandles
Facebook: Imperial Candles 
Instagram: imperialcandles 

The Girls Guide To Being Safe

No matter what your relationship status or whether you live alone, or with friends/family/housemates, there are going to be times when you find yourself in questionable situations. I'm not talking about questionable - stuck in a dress in a fitting room and torn between crying for help and facing embarrassment, or risking a rip... No, I'm talking about the things that genuinely risk our safety, and not just our pride.

I've always been a really independent lady. I moved out of home when I was 18, I've always worked hard, paid bills, held down a job (or two at the same time!) and I'm of the attitude that I can do things for myself. (Just because I can do things for myself, doesn't mean I wouldn't like my man to do them for me - emptying bins, changing lightbulbs etc. haha) So when it comes to my safety, I'm also quite headstrong and have always been of the opinion that I can handle myself. Ready to go home on a night out, but my friends aren't? I've got no qualms about getting a taxi alone. Going for a jog at night - no fear. I've lived on my own for years, I've never been the scared type.

Until this weekend when I was woken up in the night by sounds which at first I put down to an animal, but quickly realised was actually someone trying to force their way into my house through my downstairs patio doors. My initial shock and fear kicked in and the adrenaline pumped as I phoned the police who came out with police dogs to hunt down the man who'd been intruding in my garden, trying to break into my house, as well as my neighbours. In those twenty minutes or so between initially hearing noises and the police arriving, for the first time ever, I felt completely vulnerable as I realised at that point I was at the mercy of another human being, who's intentions were not of the moral kind. I felt foolish for being blasé about safety previously...not that I'm an idiot - I keep all doors and windows locked at all times. But I guess, I'd never really seen a reason to be more than the average amount of cautious/careful.

Fortunately, the police caught the guy who was in my garden on the same night. But it really made me think about safety, and has made me pull my socks up a bit.

So I've come up with the following mini guide for keeping safe:

1. Always keep your phone battery charged at night. Scarily enough, only two nights before this all happened, I had broken my phone charger and my battery died, meaning I had no phone or contact point at all should there have been a problem. Should this have been the night in question, who knows what would have happened if I hadn't been able to call the police?

2. Don't leave any valuables, keys etc. on show. Even just on a table when the curtains are drawn. The smallest gap in the curtains could give a burglar the incentive to do more than just look through the window. Keep all valuables in your bedroom with you.

3. Have a plan, should the worst happen and someone enters your house. Have a plan in mind for what you'd do, where you'd go etc. Sounds scary but better to be prepared.

4. If you have security measures - use them. I have a security light in my garden - which has never been turned on because it shines into my bedroom and keeps me awake. Now I won't ever be turning it off again. The same goes for alarms, CCTV etc. If you've got them - use them.

5. Increase your security measures. If you don't have an alarm or CCTV, consider getting some. Not only can it deter those with questionable morals, but it could catch anyone who would be tempted. If you don't have chains or bolts on your doors, and you'd feel safer getting them - then do. If you live in a rented house, most landlords would have no problems with you installing these methods.

6. If the worst happens, make sure you've got insurance. I don't have much with value - well, I don't have anything of high value in my house! But my contents as a whole, out-value my savings. If everything was to disappear tomorrow, I wouldn't be able to replace it all - so insurance is important - and totally affordable.

7. Mark your items. You can now get invisible liquid that you put on any item of value and covers a code that will always be marked as yours. Under UV light the code can be revealed, so if ever anything is stolen, you will always be able to claim back what is yours when/if it's found.

8. Finally, don't hate your neighbours! They are the closest people to you in an emergency (proximity wise) and should you ever need someone in a split second, better to know that you've not burnt your bridges with unnecessary partying that's kept them and their children up all night. A bit of friendly 'hi, how are you' is all it takes.

So, there you have it, it's not rocket science but my recent experience has made me reassess these, and address the areas that I've been lax in. I hope it helps you all do the same too!