Strawberry Lemonade Nails - Nail Art

I wanted to get back into nail art so I decided that I would ease myself in gently using a white nail art pen and some gorgeous spring colours. As you can see the nail art I've done is not hard to do, just dots and stripes, but I actually think they look really good.



The colours I used for this were OPI - I Just Can't Cope-acabana and Avon Speed Dry - Strawberry. Both are gorgeous colours seperatly but together they are brilliant and remind me of strawberry lemonade. I'm going to try and get a bit more creative this summer with my nail art and hopefully show you my creations!

Recipe - Chicken Paella with Schwartz Flavour Shot

Recently I came across a new subscription box in which every month you get different food products. The Degustabox can contain snacks, drinks and ingredients. In the first box I received I had two types of the Schwartz Flavour Shots, one which was for a Spanish Paella. I had always thought I didn't like paella as it was made with seafood but inside the packaging was a recipe for chicken paella so I thought I'd have a go!

This recipe is Schwartz's, I've just made the effort to type it up for you!

1 Schwartz Spanish Paella Flavour Shot
1 Onion
100g (4oz) Chorizo, diced
450g (1lb) boneless chicken breasts, diced
325g (11oz) paella or risotto rice
1 litre (1 3/4 pints) water
1 red pepper, diced
100g (4oz) frozen peas

1. Prepare all your ingredients - dice the onions (or use frozen like me), the chorizo and the chicken.

2. Heat the pan and add your Schwartz Flavour Shot.

3. Add the onion and chorizo and gently fry for five minutes.

4. Add the chicken and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.

5. Add the rice, stir and fry for another minute.

6. Add the water, peppers and peas. Bring to the boil whilst stirring. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender, stirring occasionally.

This was a lovely spicy dish which I think would have been hard to achieve without the amazing flavour shot. I hope I can use the other shot that I got which is the Italian creamy herb tagliatellle.

The Living Room - styling our home

Since moving into our new house we've been working tirelessly to make it ours. The first two rooms were the bedroom and the living room. We are really happy with what we've achieved so I wanted to do a post to show it off! Here is what it looked like when we moved in...

Photo from Rightmove

We basically stripped the wallpaper, painted every surface, had the carpets cleaned (we are clean freaks!), changed the light fixtures (we have a dimmer!) and added our own furniture. Here is what it looks like now...

As you can see we've gone for a dark grey accent wall with white furniture but also some wooden furniture. With the light shades, we've added a pop of mustard colour which we hope to couple with some accent pillows to finish the room.

We decided to have a two-seater and a chair on one side of the room and the TV, unit and bookshelf on the other with the coffee table in the middle of the room. The TV is up on the wall which looks super cool and I think it helps keep the room looking spacious even though we have quite a bit in there. We've also got a small dining table coming from Baker and Stonehouse for the right corner as you enter the room but that probably won't be here until July as it is a 20 week lead time!

We've added many little things to the room like candles, flowers, DVDs and books to personalise our space. We have amazing double doors which open on to the garden in which we get the sun all day so the front room is always toasty. This means we need to get some blinds which we will probably be getting soon.

As I say, overall I am really pleased with what we've achieved as we think it looks really stylish and modern but still very comfy.