Birthday walks at along the Cleveland Way

For every birthday that I have, I've always got to make sure I'm doing something on the day. I understand that as some people get older, they start to be more lax about their birthday, even working on their special day. I really enjoy planning something fun and different to do on the day. As my birthday falls in August, a lot of the activities I've done of the years have been outdoors such as strawberry picking and exploring Florence.

This year, with our newly purchased walking boots in tow, I decided we'd brave the English coast for a walk along The Cleveland Way. Reading that along the Boulby Cliff & Staithes trail you can be at the highest and lowest point of the East coast of England, we thought this would be a perfect route to try.

Starting at Staithes top car park, we ventured down into the Harbour which was adorably quaint. I wished we could have stayed for fish and chips and took in the views. Alas, we kept walking uphill and then along the coast taking in the breathtaking North Sea and to our left, Boulby Mine.

We walked as far as we could before the trail started to take us further up. It was a hefty climb but when we reached the top it was pretty epic. The view of the North Sea, coupled with the colourful flowers and historic landscape was stunning. Although it was super windy, we stayed here for a while taking lots of photos and a few cheeky selfies.

As we went to explore the next part of our route, this is where we went a little wrong with the map. Only new to this walking malarky, our map reading skills aren't the best and we managed to walk our way through someone's farm. When we'd finally escaped the squealing pigs and eerie silence of the farm (which felt like something out of a horror film), we tried to get ourselves back on track, which we eventually did. 

Chuffed with how we managed to get ourselves back on the route, we finished up the walk in no time taking in more farmland, seeing the Boulby Mine from another angle and walking through forest area inhabited by hundreds of birds. Seriously, we came into an opening and approximately 200 birds all scattered to the edges of the wood, darting through the grass. Very surreal. We finally trekked up the road and back to the car park only minutes before our parking was up. A very satisfying feeling.

After completing this walk, I'm looking forward to trying out a few other routes along the Cleveland Way. Have you been on any good walks lately?

Picnic in the park

As Matt couldn't be with me on the day of my birthday I also took off the day after so that we could spend some time together. After deciding to do some house cleaning on the morning, we then packed up a picnic and headed out to our local park, Stewart Park in Middlesbrough. We did have plans of going out to somewhere further afield but in the end we were too hungry for the big drive out.

The weather was glorious with the sun shining and a gentle breeze blowing. We set up camp in a fairly quiet area and starting snacking on our grub. I'd made us each a sandwich then we had some spicy Walkers MixUps, peach ice tea and finished off with some strawberries from the farm.

It was a lovely little afternoon which makes me really appreciate mid-week days off. It was great to sit in the beautiful park, in the sunny weather not having to think about anything. We will definitely go again. We're already planning what bits to buy for our next picnic.

Turning 24

Birthday present posts are always a bit controversial so let's start by saying I'm not trying to brag about my presents. I know that I'm someone who loves a good nosy at people's gifts, and it's nice to document what you got for later in life when you fancy a look back, so I thought I'd do a post about mine. If you aren't into birthday posts then click off this post. If you are still here then let's have a look at what I got for my 24th birthday. I did good for a gal that is getting on!

First from my mum, I received a George Foreman grill and the DVD of Home. When you move out into your own home you start to ask for more kitchen based items, last year I received a set of colourful knives. So this year I asked for a grill. I'm obsessed with grilled chicken but hate cleaning out my grill pan! I though this would be quicker, easier and healthier as the fat drains away! The DVD was an added extra!

From my friend Jess, I got a whole host of goodies including an Inside Out Disney mug, a nautical notepad and tea strainer, a pack of four chocolates, a candle and a fancy soap. These were all very thoughtful gifts as she knows I love anything nautical, candles and just recently declared my love for Inside Out the movie. Matt's family got me a gift card and some sweeties. Yum! 

Last but no means least are the gifts from Matt. I decided that I wanted a little black backpack so that I didn't always have to wear over the shoulder bags as I was getting a bit sick of them. I found this one on the Whistles website. He also picked up a Diptique candle, my first, in the scent Violet, the Fast and the Furious DVD set and a Pop Vinyl Baymax. Such lovely presents which were all well thought out.

Hopefully, you liked this post and enjoyed the nosy into what I got for my birthday! Do you have any birthday present posts?

Birthday strawberry picking

Whenever you start to plan for your birthday, you know whatever you do, it has to be special. I always have to make sure I'm doing something on my birthday as I'm definitely not spending the day at work. In the past, I've been out shopping, happened to be away on holiday and some days are spent chilling with family.

This year was no different and I set to planning my day off. Out of the blue, must be something I saw on Instagram, I decided that I wanted to go strawberry picking. An odd activity but something I'd never done and always quite fancied. Mum found some places we could potentially go but many were out of strawberries. Thankfully one still had strawberries in abundance, a country farm not far from York called Spilman Farm.

It was relatively easy to find, especially as we followed our sat-nav, and when we arrived it was very quiet. No one else was around so we picked our strawberries in peace chatting away across the rows of plants.

We decided on a large basket for our strawberries and set about filling it. At the end, the lady in the shop weighs up your bounty and you pay for what you've picked. My massive basket came in at £7.50. The strawberries were lovely. So sweet and juicy. It was great to know exactly where they'd come from.

I'll definitely be visiting again next Summer, but maybe I won't get as many strawberries. A small punnet should suffice.

Gingerbread Smiles turns one today!

I honestly can't believe how far this little blog has come in a year. I first started this blog one day bored, sitting in my bedroom. I have no idea where the thought came from to set it up but I went for it and I am so glad that I did. This year being a blogger has given me so much more than just a place on the internet to post my reviews and ideas. I've made so many good friends that I've actually met in person and so many more that I can't wait to meet. The online blogging community is so lovely to be part of, I swear they all welcome you in with open arms and can't do enough to help you or just chat to you. I'm so happy I've made such great friends through blogging.

My blog has given me such amazing opportunities to attend events with other bloggers as well as being sent lots of amazing products to review that I would have never imagined would have happened when I began. I'm so pleased to have organised two blogger meetups in Middlesbrough introducing the Geordies to our little town. I can't believe they went so well and that people actually went out of their way to make them so great. Thanks for ALL the cakes guys!

Another thing that I think blogging has helped with is my confidence. When I am at an event I am so much happier walking up to strangers and introducing myself. Before I would have never dreamed of that but when you are in such a friendly blogging community there is nothing to lose. This has definitely translated into my work and personal life as I am more likely to have the confidence to speak up or talk to new people.

Don't get me wrong blogging is hard work. Sometimes you want nothing more than to sit around in your PJs all day watching TV but something inside you makes you get on your laptop and start typing your heart out. I'm so pleased with the direction my blog has taken as it has naturally landed where it always should have. I don't wear a lot of makeup so to start my blog as a beauty one was probably not the best idea. I'm at a happy medium calling myself a lifestyle blogger having the chance to write about all sorts including places I've been, food I've eaten and the occasional post about new makeup!

I hope you all enjoy what I write about and continue to follow me for another year.

The Primrose Bakery, Covent Garden - London

The Primrose Bakery is quite famed for their special swirl iced cupcakes and their many cupcake cookbooks that are sold in all shops. They have two actual shops, one in Primrose Hill and the other in Covent Garden. We visited the Covent Garden shop which is a sweet little shop a few streets from the main square with a some tables to sit in.

We've visited the bakery a few times before to take cakes away, and mum even attended a cupcake decorating class, but we hadn't had chance to get a cake and sit down. As it was mum’s birthday we decided to get a pot of tea and sit in. As I was paying for our two chocolate cakes, my treat, I sneakily asked the girls if they could put a candle in mum’s cake. After quite a while waiting for our cakes mum got impatient and asked if we could have them, turns out they didn't have a lighter and told mum this much to her confusion. Why did she need a lighter? They had put the candle in the cake anyway so she soon cottoned on.

After the candle debacle we sat and ate our cakes blissfully sipping our tea. My cake was lovely, there was just the right amount of chocolate buttercream and the sponge wasn't too dry. The decoration was Primrose Bakery’s famed swirl with a little icing flower on top.

If you are looking for a pit stop on your tours of London definitely try the Primrose Bakery for a cupcake!

Fancy a steak? El Gaucho, York

For my boyfriend's birthday we had a day trip to York. As we are major foodies when visiting new places, we decided to scope out where we would eat before we arrived. We chose a place for breakfast(brunch) and a place for tea. Unfortunately we arrived after the place we'd chose for breakfast stopped serving so had to find a cafe for a greasy English brekkie.

The place we chose for dinner was a suggestion by one of Matt's work colleagues. It was an Argentine steak house called El Gaucho. Me and Matt are lovers of steak and love to try new places so this was perfect for us.

As per usual we had a bit of trouble finding the place but that is just our bad sense of direction. It was down a street which had a lot of other lovely looking restaurants on. Inside it is quite small but there were a lot of tables dotted about as well as lots of random Argentine related art on the walls.

We both chose to have the sirloin steak - me choosing the 11oz and Matt choosing the 14oz! When it came it tasted lovely! It was full of flavour. I accidentally knocked all my salad off my plate whilst trying to cut my steak just after I took the above picture. I told the hostess and she didn't seem to mind too much...oops!

I should mention before the steak we were given a basket of bread with some sort of herby/garlic butter to put on. It was soo nice. I wanted more than one slice but didn't want to ruin my dinner.

If you are in York on a night time (it opens at 6pm) you should definitely try this out.

Have you been before? Do you love steak as much as I do?!

Happy Birthday to ME!

My 22nd birthday fell when I was in the sunny city of Florence! This is only the second time I have spent my birthday away from home, but I guess as you get older birthdays are less oriented around staying at home. On my birthday we took a trip to the seaside town of Viareggio, about a 1hour 40mins away from Florence on the train. It was a lovely sunny day so there were a lot of people on the beach.

I was a very lucky girl this year and got what I feel is a heap of great presents off a lot of lovely people! As well as my shoes that I posted here I also got the below!

Here we have a cookbook called Breakfast Lunch Tea, Minion Stuart, a cute kiss mug from UO, a Thomas Sabo bracelet, OPI - When Monkeys Fly, Chanel - Paradoxal & Taboo, Dior - Dialotine, Murad Pore Perfection starter kit, Murad lip protector, Topshop gift card, sweeties, a bird necklace and a Minion iPhone case.

I feel so lucky to have got all my presents and am thankful for them all!

Is your birthday coming up soon? What have you asked for?

My birthday shoes!

For Florence I wanted a nice pair of high top trainers that I could walk around in during the day. As my birthday was coming up I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get these!

I went shopping and came across Nike Blazer high tops. I had to have them, but what colour?! I was sold on the pale blue version for a while until it came time to get them and they had a red pair in! I think fate stepped in when there wasn't my size in the blue, guess the red ones were coming with me!

Here they are...

I have worn these only twice so far as they are pretty tight! I think I need to wear them in a bit more to soften the leather around the edges up. When I wore these on the plane, coupled with my gold chain, I felt a bit like Run DMC... I don't know, I think it's just me who thinks that...

When shopping for high tops I came across another pair of beautiful shoes that I had to have. I asked my mum if she would get them for my birthday and she did! Result! 

These are the most adorable jelly shoes you have ever seen. They are textured around the edge and smooth inside with a fastening across your ankle. The bows on the front are black and glittery, they sparkle soo much! They are made by a company called Mel, whom I'd never heard of before I walked into Schuh but now I want them all!

What shoes have you bought recently? Have you got either of these shoes? Which is your favourite?!