LIFESTYLE: 25 date ideas under £25

After seven and a half years with Dann we both know the trials and tribulations of a long term partnership. It's not all whirlwind romance, flowers and meals out, because let's be honest, it's hard work and expensive. Not that a long term relationship isn't hard work, you're trying to sustain the togetherness, without murdering, which can be especially tricky if they've left their socks BY the washing basket, rather than IN it for the 600th time!

But it is nice to have some special time together. With work, social commitments, pets, family, housework, budgeting and all those other 'adult' and 'grown up' things you have to do on a daily basis, it can be hard to fit in some one on one time, and make it more exciting and interesting than binge watching OITNB or SOA on Netflix (though that is good too occasionally).

So I thought I'd share 25 date ideas for your and your partner - be it a first date, one of many, or one of far too many - and they all cost less than £25, so your bank balance won't hate you. In fact some of them cost nothing at all.

LIFESTYLE: A family wedding

I'm a big lover of love, happiness and marriage. And of course this is all started from a wedding. And I loves me a wedding. If you want me to cry during a film, pick one with a wedding, it is pretty much guaranteed (note, I don't often cry at real weddings - I cried at my mums wedding in 2009, that's it... I didn't even cry at my wedding... well maybe one tear... but Dann more than made up for it with his tears! He's such a cutie!).

Anyway, last weekend we attended the last Bradford wedding for this generation as Dann's brother got married. As the older brother, Dann played Usher/Groomsman, and looked dashing as usual in his tails from Moss Bros.
*warning, this post is photo heavy as I just loved so many of the images!!*

LIFESTYLE: DIY wedding memory box

I don't often do DIY in the crafty sense of the word, but I'm getting into it a lot more now, especially since moving home where we've done a lot of DIY in a short space of time.
As it is now very much wedding season and we attended a family wedding recently, I thought I would share a little keepsake that I think every bride will love creating, and the newly weds will love having in their home.
After two years of marriage I finally got road to making ours, after my friend and newbie blogger Natasha shared the link to this box frame from The Range, which she used for this baby memory box for her little boy Oscar. The frame even comes with a set of pearl effect pins to help you create your keepsake.

This wedding memory box is the perfect way to display so on the pretty tiny pieces from your wedding. You spent hours/days/weeks/months working on your big day, getting those tiny details perfect, so it is nice to memorialise them.

FOOD: Homemade no-bake chocolate biscuit cake

Recently, I've been making the most of my kitchen and trying my hand at the typically house wifey antics, whilst Dann plays with tools and builds things. A couple of weeks ago I decided to treat him to my mum's infamous Chocolate Biscuit Cake as he was working so hard on our garden. (note here that when he realised he was getting a treat, he worked extra hard!)

Anyway, to cut a long story short, he loved it. We also took a few slices to a friends house, and they loved it too. And I took some into work for my boss's birthday and they loved it as well. 

So, I've decided to share my recipe, so you can love it too. 

The recipe is pretty much based on one from Ocado, but I finish mine slightly differently.

LIFESTYLE: The amateurs guide to refitting a kitchen

As you all probably know we recently bought our first home. If not, you can ready a little about our experience here.
As part of our purchase we decided to completely refit our kitchen. The house is a bit of a project. It was quite dated, and honestly the style and colours where not to our taste at all.
Within three weeks of moving in we started ripping out our old kitchen - as you can see it wasn't the prettiest of kitchens on our first day! And we really dislike yellow now!

LIFESTYLE: Why our cats are indoor cats

Meet my two boys - Archimedes and Dante.

They are like my cute furry little babies that cause havoc around my home.
Archimedes is three and Dante is one. They are not related. They are both boys. They are both indoor cats.
I know this can be a real bone of contention for some people, especially animal lovers who believe that all animals should be allowed to live and play outdoors where they originated; and to a certain extent I do agree.
I'm an animal lover, because let's face, it they tend to be better than humans. Yes I eat meat, I do however beat myself up about it on a monthly basis, but I also believe that humans weren't meant to be herbivores, or we wouldn't have developed teeth with the ability to chew meat, such is the circle of life.
I believe that captivity to a certain extent is required to keep some species alive, because unfortunately there are some wicked people in the world who will kill a species to extinction because of an unfounded belief in the properties of their organs - i.e. rhinos. Rhinos are still being hunted for their horns, yet the mineral properties and composition of their horns is the same as a human finger nail. So really the poachers should be donating their own finger nails for Chinese medicine.

Anyway, I do also believe that sometimes it is better for animals to live indoors rather than outside, which is why our cats are indoor cats. They have both always been indoor cats. Archimedes is quite happy about this fact as he is quite a cautious fellow and is mostly afraid of his own shadow. Dante is slightly more adventurous, but is also very daft, even within our home.