Questionnaire - Buying For Yourself

Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a great weekend, ours was busy visiting family in sunny Kent.
On Friday my colleagues and I had a lunch out as this is my last week at work!! I am starting a Primary PGCE at the University of Winchester in September. I am excited and apprehensive at the same time - it has been a long time since I have done any studying!
I will tell you more about that in another post - this post is meant for other things - a questionnaire for you all to complete, please :)
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDR5R3lpU0ZjNWJqWFhJLXpBbkladkE6MA.. You can find the spread sheet here and it is quite simple with not many questions. I would really appreciate your answers so I hope you will take the time to complete it for me.
Everyone who completes the questionnaire will receive an entry into a prize draw to win an item of jewellery from my collection.
Thank you in advance.

Wedding Gift Guide

Now I have reached my mid 20's, the theme of the summer seems to be - weddings! A few of our friends are now getting married and it has reached the all important time to choose the gift.
I have compiled a small wedding gift guide that details a few gift ideas for either the bride or groom and a few gifts for both. Most people, will buy a gift for the couple together but I know from personal experience that sometimes you may want to buy one of the couple an extra gift as well.
When I got married two years ago, one thing that sticks out in my mind from before the wedding was choosing our wedding album. My husband was quite clear in what he wanted – a massive album that had it’s own box. We searched high and low to find one we both liked and in the end we didn’t find one until about a year after the wedding and suffice to say, the photos are still not stuck in! On my search I did find this website http://www.centralcrafts.com/ that sells beautiful photo albums and a range of guest books.
One in particular that I like is this one pictured that is £54.00 for the 33x40cm size that holds up to 450 4x6 photos (the product code is 04424 if anyone is interested!).
Another gift idea for a loved up bride would be a keepsake box and I have found the perfect one for keeping all your secret things hidden away.
This cute box is available on Dancing Wired's Etsy shop priced at $23.95 and as they say - it would make an ideal wedding gift.

A great idea as a gift for the groom (or even a bride!) is a pocket watch, to ensure they make it to the church on time. I found this one at Tempus Fugit's Etsy shop and love the detail on the outside.

The blue on the dial is gorgeous and deep, it seems like an ideal man's watch, but I still want it for myself.

A little extra gift for the bride and groom would be some gorgeous pampering treats - Lush have so many luxurious and fun bathtime treats, including massage bars, bath bombs, shower jelly and lots more to pamper yourselves with. Of course you could always treat them to some luscious candles to help them unwind after the big day, Yankee Candles have some amazing smells.

These are my limited ideas on gifts for the happy couple - have you any more ideas?

French Holiday Part One

During our stay in Normandy the weather was actually typically British! - some sunshine mixed in with rain and grey! Despite that fact we had a wonderful time and enjoyed visiting the local towns.

We visited Le Phare de Gatteville which is situated on the north east point of Normandy. Le phare means lighthouse in French and what a lighthouse it is! With it's 365 steps to the top, I was a little bit pleased it was too windy for a trip to the top on our visit, but at the same disappointed not to experience the great views from high above.

On the same day we visited a nearby town, Barfleur. It was a lovely sleepy seaside town with picturesque views and a distinctly fishy smell - it is a fishing town after all.

We stayed in a great 3 bedroom gite located only 30 minutes from Cherbourg. The owners were really friendly and nothing was too much trouble. The website here shows some good pictures of the gite, including it's location.

Near to where we stayed, was a town called Bricquebec which has a castle in it's centre where we enjoyed a gorgeous lunch of paella. After a slight mix up with obtaining a fork we were sat in the sunshine eating our lunch. After a walk around the market we strolled back to the car and came across a beautiful stream leading down someones drive way, what a great sight to see on your way home!

We did visit a few beaches while we were there and even had the opportunity to pick our own mussels from the rocks and take them home for tea. The beaches were great, so much sand and space but unfortunately the pictures make it look like it was a grey day with no sun - that was not the case. On the sand it was really hot and bright, by the water it was cooler in the breeze but I even went swimming one day! And if you know me, that was an achievement!