Weekend Catch up

Howdy Guys and Gals. This weekend was a little bit of a manic one and I thought I'd give you all a little run down. I've finally got a working phone after loosing it last week. I bought an iphone 3gs for £95 from Amazon what I thought was a pretty good deal. After always having had the Samsung galaxy's I'm now an iphone convert. Friday and Saturday have both been girls nights out. (I'm starting to have a lot of those again recently). Friday night we all headed of to Tiger Tiger and Saturday we headed to the Cockpit, I hadn't been in such a long time and the night didn't disappoint. For all of you non Leeds readers the cockpit is more of an alternative music night out and it's my favourite place. This weekend I managed not to loose anything however I did home home a little beer soaked from events at the cockpit. I must also congratulate my best friend who has now bought her own house and the news of a close friend (I won't name who yet) who is expecting a baby. Feels like everyone's growing up. When I buy a pair of shoes for comfort and not for fashion that will be the day I deem myself an oldie. Saturday morning I also stopped by Bead Hive in the corn exchange and made myself a bracelet (post to come). 

Finally who else had been watching the glasto highlights with envy. I must say I was pretty disappointed with the Arctic Monkeys. I saw them play Leeds Festival a few years back and thought they played a bad set list then so I wasn't expecting much but I thought there opening was very poor. 

I must also let you all know about my good deed of the weekend: I rescued a pair of Jeffrey Campbell shoes from T K Maxx. (Or at least that was my excuse for buying them)

I'm sure you have also noticed the outfit of the day type pic. I did say I was going to start doing more of these but for now its just a pic from the weekend. I think judging by my eyes before I even left the house I should put the wine down. 

How was your weekend?

Sammie

High end Low price

I had been thinking of writing this post for a while and if I'm honest I wanted to keep all my best tricks and trips for myself. However when Fashion Vouchers  got in touch and told me they was hosting a competition for the best money saving fashion websites post with a £100 ASOS voucher up for grabs I was pretty quick to spill the beans. 

Brand Alley

Flash sales websites are always fantastic for finding bargains. I have found recently there have been lots of designer handbags and watches up for grabs on these including Chanel handbags and Rolex watches (not that I can afford either still). Brand alley is my favourite of all the flash sales sites however other flash sales sites for fashion include Secret Sales and Hush Hush. There are also certain brands that seem to appear regularly across the sites including, hunter, Ray-Ban and Louis Vuitton.

Love Fashion Sales

Love Fashion Sales has to be one of the best inventions ever. With Love Fashion Sales you will never have to miss a bargain again. Simply sign up select the brands you love , enter your size details and select how often you want to be notified by email and Love Fashion Sales email you every time items matching your criteria go down in price. 

Cheap Smells 

Cheap Smells has to be be my favourite website for beauty bargains. It's also one of the few places I have found that sell Lolita Lempicka perfume what I adore. The website features fantastic brands for perfume, aftershave, beauty, skincare and hair products. My favourite brands from the website include, Declore, Elemis, Dior, Urban Decay and Paco Rabanne. Other discount beauty websites include Fragrance Direct and Direct Cosmetics.

The Outnet

 The Outnet is a high end online outlet. It features some fantastic brands and the savings can be huge. I find the shoes are especially good and I fell a little bit more in love with this website when I recently notice they had Charlotte Olympia shoes in stock. 

T K Maxx

Probably what the US would call a thrift shop I suppose but T K Maxx has some amazing finds. I always find T K Maxx especially good for leather handbags and I always find I come across frederic fekkai shampoos. I hadn't been in T K Maxx for ages and i popped in at weekend and couldn't believe my luck when I found they had Jeffrey Campbells in stock (I obviously had to rescue them, they was sitting there so lonely been unappreciated). T K Maxx also has an online store and has also launches a flash sales website (I've just had a peek, Fendi handbag anyone). 

My other top tips:

I haven't mentioned eBay as it seemed to obvious, however the one thing that seems underused on eBay is saving searches. If there's a particular brand you love or a certain item your after search a search for it. Then the next time you log on eBay will notify you when new items are listed. 

Check Goofbid for common miss spellings in eBay Listings.

Google Shopping is fantastic to search for were a product is on sale and check the prices across stores quickly. 

What are your top tips?

Sammie

Red Hot Buffet Chefs Table

So last week I was invited down to Red Hot Buffet for the chefs table event. The event was to showcase the type of delicious food served at the restaurant. If you haven't been to Red Hot Buffet I would recommend it. Often when deciding on a place to eat with friends or for a work night out it can be difficult. However Red Hot Buffet has food from around the world to suit the fussiest of eaters. You're rather spoilt for choice. 

First we was all greeted with Red Hot Buffets signature cocktail. Peach Schnapps, freshly chopped plums, a dash of peach syrup and grenadine delicately blended over ice. Delicious. 

The first course was sushi. I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation. Often with a buffet I'm too quick to start piling a bit of everything onto my plate and so to be honest my plates of food look a little bizarre. 

The 2nd course was a Potato Tikki what was based on Indian street food, with a side salad served in a cone shaped poppadom. (Very simple yet I thought it was rather creative). We was given an array of chutneys and sauces to accompany the dish as we pleased.  This was a very flavoursome dish and a group favourite. 

The 3rd course was a seafood risotto. Unfortunately I don't eat seafood (about one of the only things I don't eat) so I just picked at the rice. I wish I liked seafood as the dish again looked delicious.

We finally arrived at the main course. Chicken Tappanyaki noodles.

After the main course came the "pallet cleanser" of fresh raspberry sorbet. Served in a chilled glass.

A quick glass of bubbly before desert.

Desert was pancakes, mine were peach. We was all served a different topping what caused a little fuss, I was secretly eyeing up Emma's who has black forest gateau ones with black cherrys and cream.

The pancakes were served with a shot of Midori, a jelly shot and some very cute macaroons.

Cheers

Finally a selection of petits fours. Creme brule, chocolate brownie and passion fruit cheesecake

Yummy

Sammie

1st Day of Summer

June 21st 2013

1st Day Of Summer

My Summer

Leeds Festival

Ibiza

Summer Shoes

Cocktails

Seaside

Ice Cream

Icona Pop - I Love It

Summer Dresses

BBQs

Friends

Family

Road Trips

Sammie

Cheese that tastes like fudge

I will warn you now this week is going to be a little bit different and all about food. I was recently trying to describe my blog to a friend when I had the realisation the things I seem to like to talk about most on here are shoes, cocktails and cheese. As we all know I'm a cheese fiend, so when I was invited to a cheese and wine tasting night hosted by Old Amsterdam I took little convincing and practically skipped there (or at least I would have if my new shoes wasn't blistering my feet). I would defiantly consider cheese my favourite food, I remember once going on a date when the guy announced he didn't like cheese. I then paid little attention to anything else that got said during the evening as I couldn't stop thinking how can anyone dislike cheese. There was no second date. 

The event was hosted at Sams Chop House in Leeds. When we arrived they has very kindly set the table with an array of breads, crackers, chutneys and grapes. 

Sams Chop House had kindly sent their sommelier George to the event to help us pair up appropriate wines with each cheese. All the group were very impressed with George he defiantly knew what he was talking about and the passion showed. As he was trying the cheese throughout the night he made little trips somewhere and seemed to come back with more wine appropriate to the taste of the cheese. We was all very impressed by this (of course we all was he bringing out more wine) as it showed he had good enthusiasm and hadn't just rehearsed the night.  

Old Amsterdam

The star of the night. I love eating cheese and I don't think there is a cheese I won't eat #secretfatty  . However I find it difficult to describe the taste of different cheeses. Old Amsterdam made by job pretty easy as the cheese really does have a fudge like taste. Since I come home from the event I've been excitingly trying to give the cheese to my family exclaiming it tastes like fudge like a crazy lady. I also found myself eating it for breakfast the next morning. Naughty. 

This was paired with a red Chateua Bonnet Reserve from Bordeaux and a Domaine la Croix Belle Chardonnay Vine de Pays d'Oc from Languedoc Roussillon.

Epoisses

The next cheese was the epoisses. Epoisses is a French word what translates as completely worth the effort and it defiantly lived up its name. This is a soft gooey cheese like camembert and the rind is washed in brandy. The cheese has a very pungent smell what surprising for its mild taste. 

Grogonzola Piccante

I think blue cheese is something people either love or hate, obviously I love the stuff. However for the non blue cheese lovers I would recommend this cheese as it has a much milder creamier taste. 

This was paired with a sweet Chateau Du Seuil from Bordeaux.

Västerbotten

The final cheese is a hard Swedish cheese with a granulated texture. I really dislike cheese with any kind of grainy texture as to me it kind of puts me of eating the cheese when it suddenly crunches however this cheese was exceptionally moreish and had an almost parmesan taste to it. 

The wine we were served with this cheese was a Berri Estates Shiraz from Australia and a Spanish Torres Vina Esmeralda (My new favourite wine)

Sammie

Thankyou to: 

Old Amsterdam

Sams Chop House Leeds

The lovely bloggers I met:

Breadsticklers

Yorkshire Pudd

Simon Says

Monthly Shoe Wishlist

Since I went a little overboard last month and bought a total of 11 pairs of shoes I am keeping this wishlist small. Although 3 pairs of shoes is probably still quite a lot to buy in one month. For me it will be a hard promise to keep. Therefore with this wishlist I'm going for quality over quantity. 

Dr Marten - Raina heels

So these heels are quite expensive but I feel this can be justified as there Dr Marten. It's the most hard wearing shoe brand out there in my eyes and known for quality. I really can't believe it took me this long to discover they make heels! I've been lusting over this pair for weeks now and after the trauma of a taxi driver stealing my favourite pair of shoes Friday, I kind of already ordered them. Bizarrely enough as I was typing this the post man arrived with them. There gorgeous! The post man did seem a little confused when my mum was yelling if there shoes don't give her them. 

New Balance Trainers

I really am wishing for this item as I have been searching for a few months now for a pair of New Balance trainers in my size. I'm a size 5 by the way. It seems there like gold dust at the moment and sold out everywhere. A pair of nice trainers isn't something I currently own and my shoe collection is crying out for them. I think I might settle for a pair of classic Nike Cortez instead although there also proving a little hard to track down in my size.

Vivienne Westwood Melissa

I've been wanting a pair of Melissa shoes for years and there are currently some amazing styles out at the moment. It's been really hard to pick out my favourite pair but I love the chain ankle bracelet straps on these shoes. I've also been eyeing up the little booties as there currently in the sale and I can see them been pretty practical if we get snow again this year. I'm still not sure I could justify the price tag of these so I might have to wait for a sale.

Sammie

My Cocktail Mojito Review

So this weekend has been  a rather stressful one for myself. Considering Friday night I lost my phone,  camera , driving licence, door key (don't worry my filofax is fine I know you was concerned) and then a taxi driver stole my best pair of shoes (another tale for another time.) This weekend defiantly wasn't my best weekend. So when a collection card arrived through the door my mother got exciting thinking her new blinds had arrived. When my father brought back a swishing box back full of Mojito to my mothers disappointment,  I was rather pleased.

The Mojito cocktail and Margarita cocktails courtesy of the Manchester Drinks Company was a very welcomed addition to Sunday afternoons BBQ, although the cocktails would be ideal to take to a festival (I say that with gritted at teeth as all my friends are currently at Download festival, I am not). The larger bags of cocktails are available in cosmopolitan, mojito and woo-woo are available from Asda at £13.99 and serve 14 people. The best thing about the cocktails is the packaging is also designed to keep the drinks chilled so it a nice thought for campers. 

The Mojito Cocktail was lovely and refreshing and tasted just as good if not better then some professionally made cocktails. I'm sure you all need little convincing to believe me when I say I've drank many cocktails in my time. Despite not containing mint leaves and lime wedges all the delicious flavours of a mojito were still there and everyone at the BBQ loved it. 

Powering through with my cocktail tasting. Here at Little Blonde Life I take this duty seriously, I next tried the margarita cocktail frozen. It took some squeezing out the pack and in the end I cut the top of (I think this is actually what I was suppose to do). This again was amazing and I would defiantly recommend it frozen. Again all the delicious flavours were there and the drink was incredibly refreshing.

Have you tried the My Cocktail range?

Sammie

Please note I will not be held responsible for any hangovers. 

Always drink responsibility 

Ben Howard gig Blackpool

So yesterday I headed of to Blackpool to see Ben Howard. I was pretty lucky to even get tickets considering how quickly they sold out and I had been looking forward to this gig for ages!

Naturally the trip didn't go according to plan and we ended up stuck in traffic for nearly 3 hours!

So I entertained myself by blasting out songs with the windows down and took some pics. 

poser. When we finally got moving, I decided to try and spot Blackpool tower.

The tower... Nope just another pilone! 

Finally we arrived.

The gig was amazing and all my favourite songs were played.

Apologies for bad video quality, having problems uploading the better quality ones from my phone. 

Sammie