5 of the best snacks to eat mid-morning

The period between breakfast and lunch is a killer so here are some snack suggestions you can keep on your desk for when hunger strikes. And save you from raiding the chocolate in the vending machine.

1. Perkier bars*
These new 100% plant based quinoa and sprouted grain oat bars are packed with goodness and perfect to help keep your energy levels up mid-morning. They're also free from wheat, gluten and dairy. Thanks to the quinoa, the bars really fill you up. The slow burning energy keeps you feeling satisfied before you can tuck into lunch. And keeps you away from the dreaded biscuit drawer! My personal favourite is the fruity goji and cranberry flavour. Who needs a chocolate bar? #getyourperkyon!

2. Yogurt drops
I got this idea from Sarah a while ago and it's genius! Simply pick your favourite fat free Greek yogurt and using a teaspoon, drop into a baking tray. Pop in the freezer over night before taking to work the next day. It's a great way to keep your sweet tooth at bay but without the guilt.

3. Fresh fruit salad
Is it me or does fruit taste so much nicer when it's cut up in a bowl? All the peeling is too much of a faff when you're in your flow. Make up a fruit salad the night before. Try something a little out of the ordinary and choose fruit that's in season. Clementines, apples, pommegrantes and cranberries are all in abundance in December.

4. Hummus and vegetables
Hummus comes in all different forms now at the supermarket but if you're feeling adventurous, whiz up your own batch at the weekend for the working week. I'm loving red pepper hummus at the money with carrot batons and sticks of cucumber

5. Popcorn
Popcorn is great because you can satisfy your sweet or savoury tooth. There's more varieties on the market than ever. Plenty of brands offer healthier versions too. It's better for you than a bag of crisps but you still feel like you're treating yourself. Win win situation!

What are your favourite snacks?

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5 ideas for a cosy evening

I don't know about you but now the nights are getting darker and the air is getting colder, I'm looking to hibernate. Once I get home after my commute into the city, I'm straight into my snuggly pyjamas and locking up for the night. Staying home doesn't have to be boring, use the time to have concentrate on making your soul feel happy.

1. Films and chocolate. Could there be any better combination? I love nothing more than popping my favourite film or boxset on - Peaky Blinders may have been watched about four times over the last few weeks - and snuggling under the duvet with a good box of chocolates. My favourites ones of late have been these delicious Lindt limited edition orange lindor truffles*. I may or may not have scoffed a whole box as I was drooling over Cillian Murphy with a cup of Tetley's new Super Fruit Boosts cup of tea*. Even with a razor blade sewn in his hat, he's still a babe.

2. If you can't face going out on a Friday night after a long week at work, invite your BFF round for a slumber party. Order in your favourite takeaway, get under the covers and prepare to chatter the night away. Sometimes the best tonic is your friends. They are just as weird and wonderful as you are.

3. I live for long, bubble filed baths with a bit of Craig David on Spotify to take away my troubles. Light your favourite candles, grab your most gorgeous smelling hair mask and warm up your vocal chords for an evening of bath singing and soaking. You'll get out feeling refreshed and ready cosy up in fleecy pyjamas.

4. Ban technology for the night - yes even the addictive Instagram - and switch off. I promise you'll sleep so much better and make a start on that pile of unread books on your shelf. Get lost in a world of make-believe and before you know it it'll be time to enter the land of nod.

5. Pop to the supermarket and stock up on marshmallows, squirty cream and Cadburys hot chocolate to make yourself the hot drink of dreams. Pile those fluffy balls of goodness sky high and sip away your troubles. There's nothing a good cup of hot chocolate in front of the telly can't solve. We all deserve a treat in winter time.

What do you do to make the dark nights seem less daunting?

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New Year goals - How I'm getting on

We're now in August -  how on earth has that happened?! - so I thought I'd have a look back at my New Year life goals and see how I'm getting on.

1. Read more books
Well I haven't read as many as I'd liked - I was aiming for one a month. But I am reading the second Game Of Thrones book which is a absolute monster so I'm not too disheartened with my total. So far I'm on my 5th book of the year which isn't too shabby. The Girl on The Train, The Fault In Our Stars, The Railway Man and A Game of Thrones: A Song Of Ice and Fire are all been enjoyed this year. Any recommendations?

2. Learn a new skill
Well I never tried to learn any of the news things I promised. But I did take up Lindy Hop dancing. Well I haven't been in about 4 weeks as real life has gotten in the way. But I've really enjoyed trying out something new. It's a lot harder than you would think! I've really missed not going and have a lot more time on my hands so I'm going to pick it up again.

3. Learn to budget
Erm yeah. The less spoke about this the better. This hasn't happened. But I been putting away money to buy a house and the fund is slowly growing. I just haven't stopped spending money on needless things.

4. Concentrate more on my blog
I finally invested in a URL for my blog and am saving up the money for a new layout overhaul. I've been trying really hard to include a variety of content that I would love to read on a blog and hopefully something you like to read. That's why you've been seeing a lot of food recently! It's something I'm passionate about and am really enjoying featuring. I feel like all my time investment is paying and feel really proud of my little space on the internet.

5. See more of the world
I vowed to travel more and this year has been a whirlwind of different places. I was lucky enough to go to the state of Illinois - including Chicago - and Luxembourg on press trips. I'm not quite sure how I got so lucky either! I've recently got back from a week in Barcelona and have a trip to Scotland booked in for October to see a friend. I've seen a fair bit of the UK too thanks to weekends in Wales, Liverpool and Oxford. I'm hoping if my money plans out ok to have a weekend away in Salzburg in December. But who knows.  I won't be jetting off to Amsterdam, Budapest or Newcastle like I thought I would be.  But it's funny how travel plans change and that's the beauty of them.

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13 things no one ever told you about saving for your first house

1. When you decide to treat yourself on payday, shoes are out of the equation. Instead you start to get excited about tea towels. It's a downward spiral from now on. You don't even know who you are any more.

2. Putting away a huge chunk of your savings each month breaks your heart just a little bit each time. Despite you knowing it's for a good reason.

3. When you look at your current savings, you wonder if it's acceptable to jack this house lark in and go travelling around the world instead. Those beaches in Thailand are calling your name.

4. You think it's perfectly acceptable to spend £20 on two copper letters because they look nice. Let's face it, buying cutlery is boring and you can always use plastic ones.

5. You can spend hours looking on Rightmove at houses way out of your budget. We all have to aim for something right? That multi million house might be yours one day.

6. You dream of having a walk in wardrobe but your boyfriend is adamant that the spare room is going to be a games room. The house may be two years away but it doesn't stop you getting annoyed. There's not going to be enough room for his clothes in your wardrobe.

7. The final amount needed for a house deposit makes you feel a bit sick and want to bury your head in the sand. Since when did you become this grown up?

8. Thanks to Rightmove you know the average house price all over the country. And the world. A 4 bedroom, two bathroom house in Texas for only £60,000? I'll have that please.

9.  Despite knowing that it's about time you took the plunge to buy a house, you still mourn the lack of holidays you can have. You could have a city break each month for the amount you're saving. You would also end up living in a cardboard box.

10. You seem to spend all your time blaming things on the house savings. Want to come out at the weekend? Nope got a house to save for. What to have a bite to eat? Nope got a house to save for. You begin to bore yourself.

11. Conversations with friends revolve around saving for a house, mortgages and homeware shops. You're all in the same rocky boat. Clinging on to the life jacket.

12. Mortgage rates make you want to gauge your eyes out. With a blunt needle.

13. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is hard. But deep down you know that house will be one of the proudest achievements of your life.

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14 reasons how you know you're a true Essex girl

1. You spend your life trying to speak nicely whenever you meet new people but they always see through the act. It's such a relief when you can just speak in your native tongue.

2. You find your Essex accent comes out in force when you've had a drink. You struggle to even understand yourself.

3. You have one pair of white high heels tucked away in your wardrobe. Because those shoes are the perfect summer shoe.

4. As soon as you open your mouth, everyone immediately knows where you come from. Then the jokes start.

5. You find yourself constantly dropping the H from words.

6. You've spend a good proportion of your childhood at Lakeside shopping centre. It was the only place to spend your Christmas and birthday money.

7. TOWIE may have put your county on the map but time someone shouts 'Shut UPPPP' in your face, you want to punch them.

8. You get annoyed when you go out and the TOWIE stars have cornered off the best part of the club. Just where are you going to dance now?! Then you feel all excited because you've spotted someone you've seen on the telly.

9. You have about 7 different types of fake tan in your bedroom for when the matter arises.

10. You go out in East London for a change of scenery on a Saturday night only to realise the whole of Essex had the same idea. There is NO ESCAPE! That's what you get for living 20 minutes away from Liverpool Street Station.

12. You still opt for an Smirnoff Ice when you go on a night out in a club. It's the cheapest thing and reminds you of your youth.

12. Innit is a crucial part of your vocabulary.

13. No 'out out' night out is complete without a shed load of bronzer. It makes the world go round.
 

14. You feel very protective over your little county and will defend it all night long. Only you are allowed to run it down.

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4 Tips For Saving

Saving. The word that nobody likes. There's no two ways about it, saving is bloody hard. Especially when it's a house deposit. But that's a blog post for another day. I don't know about you but I love expensive things - unfortunately I can't afford to blow £800 on a handbag from just one months wages. So until I win the lottery, here are my fool proof tips to help you save and not even realise you're doing it. That Mulberry will be yours in no time!

1. Get a £2 jar.
I cannot sing the praises of a £2 jar highly enough. I was kindly given a ceramic urn for Christmas last year and it said on the tag that a full jar of £2 coins equalled over £1000, Say what? Obviously I got very excited at the thought and began to religiously seek out the coins to fill it up. It's been going over a year now and it's around 3/4 full and I'm going to smash it open soon to treat myself to a brand spanking new MacBook Pro. It become almost like a game as you hunt around for the special coins - I've even asked friends to swap with me as I'm so desperate to fill it up.

2. Empty your purse of change daily.
If you're anything like me, your purse will be brimming with change. At the end of each day I empty everything out of my purse £1 and under into a pot. This is such a great way to help let the pennies build up as you hardly notice it. Just last week I managed to get £16 in change from a few months which is obviously being converted into £2 coins at the bank!

3. Set yourself a weekly budget.
At the end of the month when I get paid again I'm going to withdraw £50 from my account every Monday and that will be my money for the week. I'm hoping it will help me take a serious look at my spending habits and stop any frivolous spending - after all it has to cover all luxuries! My left over wages will be put towards a house deposit and into a holiday fund. 2015 will hopefully be the year I become a saving goddess!

4. Write down everything you buy.
It's so easy to spend money willy nilly - it gets to the end of the month and you wonder yet again how on earth you have just £3.56 left in your bank account. The odd bottle of diet coke, copy of Glamour magazine and a Twix soon add up. If you write every single little thing down in a notebook, you'll soon see where all you cash is going and see what you can cut out.

What are your top tips for saving?

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5 life goals for 2015

1. Learn a new skill.

Since leaving uni, I've missed learning. I know you learn all the time at work but it's just the same thing. I feel like I need to push myself to do something new and to keep my brain ticking over. This blog is my only hobby apart from spending all my money on ASOS and socialising down the pub. Both things that will need to be cut down on when I start saving for a house. I've got a whole list of things I'm debating which mostly make me sound like an old lady. I want to badger my nan to teach me how to knit, finally figure out how to sew after three years, work out the in and outs of SEO and HTML and take a few lessons in floristry.

2. Invest more time into this blog.

I felt that my blog kinda fell off the radar in 2014 and it didn't really reach it's full potential. This year I really want to improve my content and photography to help give it the shove it needs. I'd like to really pour my heart and soul into my little corner of the internet. It's never going to up there with the big guns but I think it can be pushed a little harder. It's given me so many opportunities so far and I'd like to continue it as it's been a fun four years! I've enjoyed making it more into a lifestyle blog lately and making my posts a little more personal. A massive thanks to everyone who reads it and hopefully you'll all stick around!

3. Learn to budget.

I spend money like nobody's business once I've paid my bills for the month. I actually think I might keep ASOS and Topshop in business. But this year I have to become a bit better. I'm going to withdraw £50 a week and that will have to pay for all my luxuries. Once it's gone, it's gone. I'm hoping it going to help me re-think exactly what I buy and make me appreciate what I have. Wish me luck!

4. See more of the world.

I've well and truly been bitten with the travel bug now and don't really want to spend my money on anything else. I won't be able to go on any big trips like New York this year but I'm going to try my hardest to see a fair bit of Europe - hopefully a trip to America is on the cards in 2016. I've already got a trip booked to Barcelona for a week in August and am hoping to squeeze in Budapest, Newcastle and Amsterdam too. Fingers crossed!

5. Read more books.

As I no longer get the train into work, my reading habits have really slipped. Over the last few months I've hardly ever picked up a book apart from when I have a bath once in a blue moon. I'm going to try and pop my iPad down when I get into bed and squeeze in 30 minutes of reading. It should help my sleeping habits plus it's always enjoyable to lose yourself in a another world eh?

What do you hope to achieve in 2015?

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6 things I learnt in 2014

1. Travel is good for the soul.

I've always wanted to see the world and this year I ventured a lot further afield than I have before. I was lucky enough to go to New York, Glastonbury and Bruges alongside various weekends in the UK. New York was absolutely amazing and helped me realise a ten year dream. Next year I'm going to start the dreaded house fund as I dig deep to buy my own house. But I don't want to sacrifice travel so I'm going to have to cut back on a lot of other things. Like they say, travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer so I'm willing to stay in a bit more so I can fulfil my wanderlust. It's worth it.

2. Make more times for friends.

The above photo was taken a few days ago at my friends birthday pub trip that obviously eventually got out of hand, like all trips to the pub with these lot do. I stayed at home during Uni and was stuck with the lads as all the girls more or less moved away. I've got a deep affection for this lot and feel very protective over them - next year marks nine years since we all got to know each other at Sixth Form. Luckily one of the girls moved back home so I'm not outnumbered too much! I didn't really make much time for my friends this year as I let my work take priority and spent a lot more time on my new friendships. That night out on 27th made me realise that making time for your old friends is essential as well as nurturing those new friendships. It's also made me think that it's about time the lads got themselves girlfriends!

3. It's ok to go at your pace.

I spent a part of the year having a bit of a meltdown at the prospect of turning 26 without having much to show for it. But it also made me appreciate my career. I've always been a career girl and was desperate to jump on the ladder and went without a lot to get to where I am today. Hand on my heart, it has all been worth it. Everyone is different and people do things at different times. It is neither right or wrong.

4. Material things don't always make you the happiest.

I've always been a lover of things and am slightly proud of the amount of money I can spend in one shopping trip. But this year I came to the realisation that this isn't the root of all happiness. I know right? Buying that new dress might make you feel good on the day but you can't buy the things that make you happy in life. Memories don't have a price tag. Those evenings you laugh about when you're with your friends, those nights in snuggled in front of the telly with your boyfriend and the days you spend with your nan putting the world to rights are the things that leave you with a big smile on your face.

5. I can do anything I put my mind too.

I had a job title change earlier on in the year and made the switch from pictures to editorial. I'll be honest, I was a wreck for about 3 months constantly doubting my abilities and struggling with the huge change at work. But eventually I began to manage my time better and grew more confident in my abilities when I started to pull things off. I'm still learning but I think I'm - well hope! - improving and it's all thanks to my sheer determination not to be a failure. I haven't quite grasped it all yet but I no longer feel like I'm treading water. I feel like I'm getting somewhere. It just goes to show that hard work does pay off even if it takes six months.

6. It's ok to say no
I always have FOMO and say yes to everything. It can be a blessing and a curse. It means that I've done some amazing things but always that I'm constantly exhausted and feel like I'm running at 100mph all the time. I moved offices this year out to Essex from London and it means my commute time is a lot longer - I don't get home till around 7.30-8pm. I've had to say no to a lot of things as I simply can't muster the energy. But you know what, I actually don't mind. It nice to just come straight home after work and jump in my PJs and paint my nails. Rock and roll!

What did you learn in 2014?

Excuse the grainy photos - they're just a few iPhone snaps of my favourite things I've done this year. It's been a good one 2014!

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25 things i've learnt about being 25

1. Conversations at the pub on a Friday night now consist of pensions and house deposits.

2. People will find it strange when you say you're not too sure about having children. They tell you not to worry as your biological clock will start ticking soon... That old chestnut.

3. It's still perfectly acceptable to wear crop tops.

4. After being with your boyfriend for eight years, marriage will be the talking point at any family get together. They will also find it strange that you don't want a ring on your finger.

5. Those crease under your eyes are permanent fixtures when you smile.

6.  Life admin is very satisfying to do on a Friday night.

7. Those hangover now last for two days.

8. Netflix marathons are the way forward and you wake up as fresh as a daisy the day after. Result!

9. Thanks to nearly three years of full time work, you will find it impossible to sleep in after 9am on the weekend. Those midday uni lay ins are long gone.

10.  There's no better feeling in the world than being id'ed on a night out. You still look youthful!

11. You still find it hard to make your wage packet last longer than two weeks. At least you live like a Queen in those first two weeks of every month eh?

12. You can still bust those shapes on the dancefloor to TLC and remember all the lyrics to Yeah by Usher.

13. You find it mortifying when you find out someone is born in the 1990's even though you were only born in 1989.

14. You still choose to buy that dress over being able to afford a night out. Who needs wine when you have sequins?

15. Backstreets boys will always rule over every other band.

16. Those group of friends you befriended at the tender age of 17 in sixth form are keepers. They know your inner, most darkest secrets and they still wants to be friends. Amazing.

17. You still pinch yourself you're living your childhood dream of being able to write for a living. It won't ever get any less surreal.

18.  You can't really get away with eating junk food every day. Sometimes you have to eat healthily as much as it pains you.

19. You will still always choose a burger over vegetables.

20. After 25 years you still struggle to stay on your feet. Drunk or sober.

21. You're just too old to appreciate mosh pits at a gig.

22. Your parents will always be your biggest cheerleaders.

23. It's brilliant to finally have a solid group of girl mates after being one of the lads for many, many years.

24. Seeing the world is one of the most humbling experiences ever. Travel is truly amazing.

25. You still refuse point blank to be a grown up.

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