Kitchen essentials for your first home

I've been moved into my first place now for a couple of months and am adjusting to independent life nicely. After all the preparation and worries involved in moving out its so nice to actually be settled in! One of the challenges of moving into your first place is knowing what you actually need to buy. When you live with your parents everything is there and there are things you use daily that you probably wouldn't even think about when purchasing things for your own home. I've decided to put together a series of essentials that you'll probably need for your first place. I'm starting on the most boring, yet one of the most important parts of the house...the kitchen!

The essentials:

Frying pan 

Pan set 

Knife set 

Cutlery (knives, forks, tea spoons, table spoons)

Plates

Bowls 

Glasses

Mugs

Chopping boards 

Baking trays

Oven proof dish

Cooking utensils

Can opener

Measuring jug

Pizza cutter (you could say this is not essential, but to me it is!) 

Kettle

Colander

Mixing bowl

Weighing scales

Obviously this list could go on forever, depending on what kind of stuff you like to cook. I'm not a great cook, but for me, that is more than enough to sort you out for the first few months in your first place!

I got the majority of my kitchen wear from IKEA. I would recommend going there when you have to buy a lot in one go. It's good value and everything is all in one place, which makes it a bit easier. 

Not the most exciting post but I hope you find it useful. Please comment below with anything I might have missed or anything you would suggest!

xxx

An awesome facial wash!

With all the exciting beauty products out there I feel like it can be easy to neglect the bare essentials. Which is why I've decided to share a new facial wash that I've been using lately. Well I say new...it's new to me! I was browsing around super drug and trying to avoid the make-up area...once I start putting make-up into my basket I cant stop! I ended up walking past the super drug skincare section and picking up one of their facial washes. I've used their tea tree wash in the past so this time I decided to try the tea tree and lemon facial wash.

I like to use a facial wash aimed at spot prevention because although my skin isnt to problematic, I do get breakouts around my forehead. I find that just regularly using a good anti-blemish facial wash and a few dabs of tea tree oil every now and then is usually enough to keep it under control.

This face wash is perfect for me. Tea tree oil is great as it has antibacterial properties to prevent and treat spots. The Lemon oil is to cleanse the skin of dirt, oil and other impurities for super clean skin. The lemon also smells lovely and feels so refreshing. I don't know if this is just me, but I always associate the smell of lemon, and just citrus scents in general, with cleanliness. However some lemony scents can smell a bit bleachy, which made me think twice about purchasing this, but as this is mixed with tea tree it doesn't smell to strong.

On to the most important part...how it makes my skin feel. Firstly I wanted to say that this works better for me than the Superdrug tea tree facial wash. Although the tea tree wash is great at clearing spots away, this one makes my skin feel softer and more refreshed. This also thoroughly cleanses my skin while still being gentle. I also find that this manages to remove most of my make-up, even pesky mascara, so I don't get out of the shower looking quite as much like a giant panda. Definitely will be repurchasing! 

xxx

Things to do this Summer

The lovely weather we have been having lately has got me thinking about plans for the summer. Since we don't seem to get that much sun in the UK I want to try and make sure I make the most of this summer, and make the most of my time off work. I have a week off in 5 weeks...not counting or anything. I've also got a week in July and a couple of weeks in August, wooo! Hoping for lush weather for those weeks but knowing my luck it will end up snowing or something. But I wont let that thought stop me making plans! Not all my plans involve sunshine anyway...some involve potentially being in pyjamas all day and lets be honest, they are the best plans.

SO here's what I want to do this summer...

Watch the new series of OITNB

Visit Thorpe Park again 

Do some baking

Shopping!

Go for walks in the evening 

Visit a new place

Start (and actually finish!) a few crafty projects

Visit London again 

Pass my driving test (Booked in June, EEEK!) 

Go and pick some strawberries

Eat the strawberries!

Spend more time with friends

Try and eat a (bit) healthier 

Get up early and go for a walk

Practice making bath bombs

Go to a BBQ 

Go swimming

Blog regularly!

Try and go out of my comfort zone (shouldn't be hard as literally everything is out of my comfort zone!)

Start and stick to a workout routine

It will be good to see how well I get on with this list, lets see how many things I can get ticked off! It will be good to come back and look at this list if I'm stuck for something to do one day. Hopefully it's given you a couple of ideas as well. Let me know your plans for this summer!

xxx