Keeping my mind off the pain | Boden Diminishing Discount

The radio silence on here has been forced I'm afraid as last Sunday I had a massive flare up of nerve pain down my right leg which has literally grounded (bedded) me since. I'm hoping with a couple of weeks of rest and anti-inflammatories, I'll be back to myself again and thankfully this time, although invariably connected to the back, I don't have any back pain so I'm fairy mobile when the pain meds are working.

Judging from the messages of support and well wishes I've been getting all week, I'm most definitely not alone here. I've been amazed at the number of you who are suffering and how many are finding it hard to have their pain appreciated at home or work. My heart genuinely goes out to you all - nerve pain is so difficult to treat and so debilitating.

But as any of you who suffer with spells in bed will testify, social media is a great distraction and for me, it gives me a chance to fill fantasy shopping baskets. I don't have the time to constantly check out my favourite shops online so it's such a treat to have been able to do so this week (while binge watching The Affair!)

So as if they knew about my fuzzy medicated brain, the guys at Boden started a diminishing discount today which immediately prompted me to create a basket. I will say that the DimDis is sometimes a sign of an impending sale but you can never be sure and anything that's selling well won't last that long anyway. So I'll take 25% and free delivery & returns for now and here's my wishlist..a bit all over the place but there's a fair bit of green and navy going on...starting with this top:

Pleat Front Top

Ballymena Means Fashion | Return Visit

I was invited back up to Ballymena on Saturday past as it was the day that the Ballymena Means fashion event took place. The sun was shining and the kids were busy with activities that my husband was able to bring them to so I was a free agent with shopping on my mind!

You may have seen my last post where I went up in advance of the event to see what was on offer so on this second visit, I was keen to visit a couple of shops I'd not had a chance to get to first time round.

McKillen's Fashions was first on the list. I discovered a few brands I've never seen before including Coaster Copenhagen

and Garcia Jeans. This jacket is amazing and so on trend.

All the Ruffle Tops

I've recently added two ruffle tops to my wardrobe and I wanted to share them here. It's a trend I love  to look at but which makes me nervous as my top half is my slimmer half and I don't like to add too much bulk there if I can avoid it.

But I think I've found a couple of tops that I can channel the trend with and co-incidentally, I got both in Ballymena...where I've been spending too much time in the shops (further blog post to come). 

M&S Spring Picks | As Seen In Vogue

Way back last year, I was invited over to preview the M&S SS17 range before it went into production. What a privilege! Myself and some other bloggers were asked for feedback on the range to inform the decision making process and it has been brilliant to see some of these items finally arriving in-store.

Tan Review | BPerfect 10 Second Tan

I'm not a massive beauty junkie but one thing I can't get enough of is fake tan. I'm asked regularly to review beauty products and I mostly decline...however I'm always game to try a new tan. Simply because I've found tans I love to use but the holy grail of the perfect tanning product has always eluded me if I'm honest. They've improved loads over the years but still....

So a couple of weeks ago I was asked if I'd like to try a product called BPerfect tan which has been developed by a local guy, Brendan McDowell. He started his business with a brow product (which I also reviewed - more below) a few years back and has expanded it to include lash products, mineral powders and this 10 second Tan:

Blogging Friendships & A Competition | Seven Boot Lane

A couple of months ago, Seven Boot Lane gifted me some trainers (which I featured on this post). Around the same time, they gifted some gorgeous boots to my blogging friend Emma from Life at the Little Wood. And we got to talking (as bloggers do) and thought it would be a nice thing to share each other's new shoes on a joint blog post...with photos taken while having coffee and a catch up. Following on the theme of blogging friendships, our other local blogging friend, Nic came along to take the photos.

3 Spring Additions for your Wardrobe | Victoria Square

Last week I was given the challenge to find 3 items to zing up my wardrobe for SS17 - all in Victoria Square, Belfast's most stylish shopping centre. Well, I'm not going to turn down an opportunity like that - the bonus being that my beauty blogging friend Nicola from Strawberry Blonde Beauty Blog was in at the same time, sourcing her 3 top beauty buys for SS17. You can read about them on the link above.