A Day On The Emerald Princess

I've lived in Southampton for the last six years and there is hardly a day that goes by where I don't see a ship in the dock, or hear the sounds of the horns playing tunes before their next journey (Which I love). So when Princess Cruises invited myself and several other bloggers from SotonBloggers a chance to walk around the Emerald Princess I was definitely interested. Having never been on a Cruise ship before I was excited to see what people get to experience while they are traversing from one country to another.

The experience was for the majority of the day, so I got to arrivals early so that I could get checked in and meet/catch up with the other bloggers that where also in attendance. We then made our way through security and on to the ship. It was like going into different world. The Emerald Princess has recently had a multi million pound refurbishment and you could see this as soon as you stepped aboard. 

We started in one of the bars and were offered complimentary cocktails and bakery goods (The best breakfast). We then went on the tour starting in the Share restaurant, going on to view the cabins, on board cinema and then when up to the upper decks to see The Sanctuary spa. In tropical conditions this would be the ultimate spa, where you can top up your tan while enjoying a facial. We then ended our tour by going into the Galley. Once the tour was complete, we all sat down to have a three course meal lunch and had another chat. The food was amazing and the service we had was friendly and attentive. After this it was sadly time to depart as the Emerald Princess was about to embark on an 11 day cruise to the Canary Islands. 

I loved the time I spent aboard and honestly wished I was one of the people going away for a few days to paradise.

Our Engagement Party

(Pictures taken by illustratedteacup)

On the 30th of July, Alice and I were able to celebrate our engagement with our friends and family. As Mettricks Old Town is the place that we spend a lot of time in, there wasn't a more fitting place for us to hold our event. If you have never been there, Mettricks Old Town has a very rustic feel to which fits the area perfectly and was ideal for the decorations we had in mind. Neil and the team at Mettricks were amazing from start to finish and were constantly ensuring that there was food and drink available to all. 

For our engagement, Alice and I chose to both wear navy, both my shirt and trousers were from Matalan and my shoes were from Primark. I was pleasantly surprised with both the quality and comfort of my outfit as I wouldn't normally think of either place if I was looking for a smart outfit to wear. 

The decorations were either sourced or created by Alice who did an amazing job in both organising and creating the little memoirs of our relationship throughout our four years together, that where scattered through the venue. My favourite of these was the way she included her late grandfathers into the even with picture of them both and re-purposing one of their old navy suitcases. 

I honestly do not think we could of had a better evening, it was really enjoyable to see family and friends come down to Southampton from all over the world to celebrate and catch up. All of the pictures you see were provided by our friend Rachael, who also asked me to be a Godparent to her's and Dan's son Henry. I couldn't have had a better night with people who we care about. 

Hearthstone and Chill

No no no this isn't on the same level as Netflix and Chill. Hearthstone has been my go to game when it comes to chilling out, whether that be after a long day at work or because I've tilted myself into oblivion playing other games. Hearthstone is a free to play, turn based card game that is linked to World of Warcraft. You can choose to play as a hero from one of the nine different classes to out manoeuvre your opponent and get them from 30 HP to 0 as soon as you can but it's not that easy as that. Each player gets 30 cards from a deck that they have hand built containing minions, champions and spells that you can find in World of Warcraft.

Once you're through the usual tutorial (which is actually a good one for F2P), you unlock Jana who is the hero for the Mage class. As a way to ease yourself into the game it is recommended you unlock the remaining 8 classes and get them all up to level 10. This will then allow you unlock class specific cards and give a little bit more of an idea what crafting is to start building your own decks. This also assists in helping to obtain cards for the daily tasks, which if you complete, you're then rewarded with coins to use at your disposal.

When you reach at least level 10 on each class (this is the preferred route but you can start ASAP), you're then ready to progress to other areas of Hearthstone. You have your usual player matches, ranked where you start at level 25 and try to progress to a lower level (which if you get to level 20 before the month is done you get a reward). The expansions which you go through are designated storiess to obtain more cards as you progress, these can either be bought using real money or you can save your coins and purchase that way. The arena is where you use your coins, create a deck from random cards and see how long you can go without losing. Tavern Brawl is where there is a random and wacky situation you play out just for the fun of it.

The last feature that has been introduced which I love, is the ability to now stream Blizzard games through your client on to Facebook. Allowing your friends to watch you game as you go. I love Hearthstone and it helps pass the time in many a situation as you can also play on tablet or mobile phone. I wouldn't use any other game to spend my spare time on.

What games do you play seriously and then in your spare time? Let me know.

Sotonbloggers Freak Shake Event

On Saturday I met up with twenty bloggers at Orange Rooms in Southampton, for the Sotonbloggers Freak Shake event. This was the first blogging meet up I had been to since starting blogging, I arrived at 12:30 with a few others to help set up the event then made my way to the bar to grab a Mojito (what else would I have?!). The weather unfortunately was cold and wet but everyone that came was nice, friendly and more than happy to sit down and talk about blogging.

The Freak Shakes were 2000 calories of milky goodness and came in three different flavours, Vanilla Doughnut, Strawberry Tart and what I chose, Chocolate Muffin. These were ridiculous in size, being served in large jam jars with a full sized Doughnut, Muffin or Strawberry Tart (they also provide dairy free milkshakes on request). After the standard photo session took place for Instagram I got started on my milkshake eventually finishing it and falling into a sugar coma.

Once we had all eaten or been defeated by our Freak Shakes, we bought further drinks and sat as a group to talk further, chill out and enjoy each others company. This then led to the TV promo style group picture, which looks awesome. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous about the meeting as I was only 1 of 2 male bloggers there despite the fact that I actually knew quite a few of the girls at the event. I had a really good time with everyone and would strongly recommend going to a blogging event at least once. 

If you have been to a meet up before, what was your favourite? 

(Photos provided by myself & Rachel from illustratedteacup.com)

Lush - Ickle Baby Bot

You can guarantee a trip made into town is always an excuse for browse in Lush Cosmetics but I find the majority of their products are aimed at the female audience, guess what.... Men wash too and occasionally we also like a bath bomb in our baths for a little masculine pampering. Whenever Alice drags me in to shove flowery scented products up my nose there is one I always make sure goes in the basket for me and that is Ickle Baby Bot. 

Ickle Baby Bot is actually a bath bomb aimed for children to be used before bed to help them sleep but as it seems to be the only bath product without glitter, petals or a strong feminine scent, it has long been the bath bomb of my choice. 

I also buy Ickle Baby Bot as it's delicate to skin and as I suffer with dry skin, irritations and eczema, I find that it doesn't cause any problems or flare ups. It contains Chamomile Blue, Lavender and Sandlewood aromatherapy oils so it's also great for when you need a relaxing evening which is when I usually find Alice has used my last one. 

What's your favourite bath bombs from Lush?