GETTING READY FOR SPRING 🌼 ASDA Stacey Solomon Spring Home Decor New In VLOG HELLO MARCH

Hello guys. Welcome back to a brand new video and welcome to March. Spring is officially here this month, I think. Officially? I don't know. But yeah, it's definitely feeling like there's a spring in the air when we have that odd bit of sunshine, which just feels so nice. We've got some flowers in the house, which are kind of starting to be on their way out. I'm not going to lie. They are Valentine's flowers. So they've been a couple of weeks and yeah, they're surviving, not thriving, I'll say, but they're looking beautiful still. So we've still got those set out. Today I do kind of want to think spring. That's kind of like the forefront for today's vlog. I wanted to maybe head up into the storage in the garage where we've got our... In fact, the spring things might be downstairs still. We've got all the Christmas decorations up there and I think I've moved autumn decorations up there, but spring might be downstairs still. The plan eventually is to use the garage storage as decor storage, like seasonal decor, things that you only get out once a year. So yeah, so that's the plan is to have all the boxes and everything up there. So after each season, I've just been filtering through, picking my favorite decor and putting it up there, which I've obviously done now for autumn and Christmas. So yes, spring is next. Spring and summer, I don't really do anything different for spring and summer. It's kind of like a continuation. I guess you've got Easter, but I don't do loads of Easter, Easter decor, I wouldn't say, or at least I don't want to necessarily do lots of Easter decor. For me, Easter decor is having a glass egg or something sat out on the counter filled with mini eggs. That's my Easter decor. Anything chocolate related, given that Easter chocolate is, hands down, hands down, the best chocolate. I won't have anyone else tell me otherwise. Better than Christmas, better than Valentine's, Easter chocolate, just crack an Easter egg open. And the M&S ones, the outrageously chocolatey one, the custard cream one, the speckled eggs chocolate bar. Have you tried that yet? Absolutely delicious. Mini eggs, oh yeah, love it all. So today we're thinking spring. Maybe I might get around to doing a bit of spring cleaning, organizing at some point as well. I've got my spring mug from HomeSense. This beauty is perfect for spring. It literally is spring in a mug. So cheers, guys. Let me know what you're drinking. I've got peppermint tea, which is a go-to for me. If not coffee, I'm usually drinking a peppermint tea, maybe a chamomile in the evening. What should we start with on today's agenda other than getting down the spring decor? Well, maybe that actually. Maybe tidying away anything that doesn't need to be out for that. I also have, actually, a hen do. My bestie's getting married and I have some hen do goodie bags that I'm organizing and putting together. I will check with her to see if she's happy following the hen do. By the time you're watching this video, the hen do will already be live, but she doesn't know I'm organizing these. So I will, once we've had the hen do, I'll check in with her and make sure she's happy. I've got some fun little ideas that I thought might be good inspo for you guys. If you're also getting married or have a wedding that your bestie's getting married at and you're one of the bridesmaids and you also want to do something like this. I have taken the reins on doing the goodie bags for everyone for the whole hen party who are coming to the hen do. There is literally 17 of us, so there's quite a lot. I have a separate bag for the bride to be, but I thought I could do an overview of some of the bits that we're including. I've done my goodie bag, so I'll open that up with you to show you what everyone is going to get included within their bag and also with the Joma jewelry, which is all personalized. I think I might even use the tag that they've done the personalization on. If you can see there, it says Team Bride Freya. I might even reattach this to here so that we can see everybody's individual, we can see the names on the bags, and then just keep the jewelry item within here, slipped in here like that. Firstly, a Jo Malone fragrance. We have three fragrances, a selection that they have very kindly sent over. You guys know I'm a big fan of Jo Malone, and I just think this as a gift is just incredible. Three of the scents that they've sent over are the English Oak and Hazelnut, which I already have a big version of. Also, Grapefruit, which is a nice one for spring and summer. I've selected that one to be within my goodie bag. Obviously, if people want to swap and mix and match, then they can. Then the bride's favorite scent, Peony and Blush Suede, is also the third and final scent that Jo kindly included. Everyone gets a 30 mil fragrance, beautifully wrapped in the Jo Malone gift box, and again, with beautiful wrapping. We have from Jo Malone Jewelry a piece of jewelry for everyone. Now, these are all matching, and again, all personalized. Just the fact that they do personalize things like this, it's such a lovely touch. Not only is the tag personalized, but the actual bracelet itself, if I can just focus on it, it says, Jo Malone Jewelry, a little Freya, teen bride. Then it says, wear this pretty heart for all to see. We are celebrating the bride-to-be. Even if these are just keepsake items for people from the day, then I just thought that would be lovely. Six Stories have very kindly been very generous, especially with the bride, so I'll show you the bits that they've sent over for her, but I've also got these socks for everyone. We've got a mixture of grey and black. I've also done a little scratch card for everyone, and in here is this little sleeve that I picked up from Etsy, is the scratch card itself, also a penny. I've been saving my pennies. You can see it there in the back. I've put a penny in everyone's, and then I've printed off these stickers again from Etsy, where it says, for richer, for poorer, and then just where I'm covering my thumb here, it has the bride and groom's names and their wedding date, the date they're getting married. So yeah, I thought that was a nice little addition to everyone's bag. I also bought these little cellophane bags and ribbon from Hobbycraft, and did everyone a little lint. I think this too, I just kind of went with the colour theme for this, being neutral. I picked up, I think this one's tiramisu, and then the brides one, I put a champagne one in. Again, we love LMS, have sent over a hydro gel eye mask for everybody, and also a travel size of their, one of their best sellers, the Pro Collagen Cleansing Balm, it's an absolute favourite of mine. So they have sent over these in three cents. We've also got the rose one, and also the black cherry. We've also got some vitamins or some energy tablets from Well Woman, these are from Vitabiotic. I think what I will do is I will put one in everybody's like hangover kit bag that I've had from, ordered from, I think I ordered it from Timeo, which says, I regret nothing, hangover recovery kit. And in here I've put for everybody, the Well Woman energy tablet in lemon and lime, no, lime flavour, sorry. And then I've also got in here some collagen. We've also got this little nail kit, some electrolytes, and a little pack of paracetamol. There may be some sore heads after the hen do. And then just again, another little to have and to hold your hair back, a little champagne coloured scrunchie with these little gemstones on. And then the bride has an ivory version. So again, with the bride's bag, we have some more six stories, but it's perfect for the wedding. We've got the little garter. How pretty is that by the way? It comes with some wedding morning affirmations. I thought that was such a lovely idea. They've also sent over a beaded bride, champagne tea and white in a small for her. And I don't want to open it. And then also a little veil with the bride to be on. And of course the tote bag. And we've got the white version, her perfume, and then the Joma jewellery, just slightly different. Hers is just a little something blue. And it says, this beautiful crystal is just for you to be your little something blue, which is such a nice keepsake again for the wedding. Even if it's not necessarily worn, it's just something that will go in a nice little memory section for the wedding. And the fact that it's blue as well, a little something blue from all of us hens for the bride to be. And then she'll also get a couple of the other goodies, like the hangover kit and everything else, scratch cards, the chocolates, that kind of thing too. Okay. All the goodie bags are all packed up. Everything is packed up and ready to take to the hen party. I feel like I need a bit of fresh air, a bit of change of scenery. So what I might do is pop out. I've seen that Stacey Solomon has a stunning range in new in for spring and she is killing it with Asda, her collection. I just feel like she creates everything that we all want, which is perfect and on a budget. So I am going to head over to the Asda to see if we can just buy any new in things. And then anything that I do get, I'll of course share them with you. So keep fingers crossed. We have plenty of stock and we have lots of selection. I have seen, the main thing that I've seen online is like a blue hydrangea style setup. So yeah, we'll see. Sorry, that was a thigh slap there for you all. Let's go see what we can see. Asda might even pick up some foodie bits for dinner. I'm just thinking as well, kind of peckish for lunch. I've got food on the brain when I'm out and about. I am such a lazy person when it comes to eating in the house. That's one thing I don't do is spend money going out drinking, but I do like to treat myself to a little coffee out and about or a lunch, which is probably not the best habit to be in. Oh, update on Iron Flame. Look, I've got literally three chapters. I'll definitely, I would have thought finished that today. So ideal timing because I have on Onyx Storm, the third book prepped and ready for, I'll take it away with me. If I get a chance to read, I don't even know if I'll get a chance to read because it's not really a sit down Sunday holiday skiing with family as well, spending time with family, but I will take it with me anyway to at least kickstart it. And it's such a good book series. I'm really taking my time with it because I have friends that have read it and saying, just don't speed read it. Just enjoy it while you've got it. Because she is, I think the author is writing or prepping for a fourth book, but who knows when that will be. I mean, if you're still at the brainstorming stage, I'm imagining at least a couple of years, a year or two, I don't know. How long does the book take to write? It would take me a long time, but yeah, let's go downstairs. Just come up in my filming room to grab a new battery for my camera. And I thought, whilst I'm up here, it's pretty good lighting. I've got the ring light on though because it is looking a little overcast outside, but I did pick up some absolute gems from Stacey Solomon's range. Oh my goodness. Wait till you see this. She has gone full blown Nancy Meyers, Cottagecore, English, well, what do they call it in America? They call it Coastal Grandmother Chic, Berry. Oh, I just love it. Just let me tell you this. So firstly, this set, this one's my favorite because it's my favorite color. The kind of greens, which I have a lot in our kitchen anyway. The island is green. We have lots of crock and crock pots, crockery bowls and stuff that are in a tinge of green. So this one is just me all over. So, so pretty. For spring specifically, I would say spring and summer, these floral designs are just perfect for being seasonal without Easter. So like I said, you can have it out throughout the duration, not necessarily just for the sake of a couple of weeks for Easter. So I got both of these. Well, in fact, I also got, I got two of the side plates because I thought these would be ideal for coffee and a cake. You know, if you've got a friend coming over or something. So I thought I would get two of those. And then as for the bowls, I thought for little server bowls, individual, just me, whatever it is. Then I went for the larger kind of pasta bowl and then the little side bowl as well. Let me tell you the prices of them because again, very impressed with the prices. So the Stacey plates were £3, the bowl £3.50 for the smaller one, £4 for the large one. And then I got this ginormous one at £18, but this is stunning. It's the blue, which again is very traditional for that Nancy Meyers, even like Ralph Lauren. He has lots of blues in his decor. I love the scalloped edging. This is a beautiful, I would say like a fruit bowl would be really nice sat out on the Island. Got a plain like stone coloured one that we have out all year round. And this could be a nice replacement for it or have that one with fruit. And then this one alongside it, maybe in the pantry or something just with lemons or something like that, just styled up nicely. And then of course in use as if you're hosting as a salad bowl or something like that. Does it say you're not allowed to use it for food? No, it says it's fine. It's just not microwave or dishwasher safe. So just hand wash only. Then I saw these little tea lights. If I'm honest with you, I thought these were a little overpriced. I hate to say it because there was things that were so cheap, like the plates and bowls at £3 I thought was amazing value. And then there were these tea light holders, which were £6 each. So I thought these would be almost better priced at the £3, whereas the plates and bowls I would have paid £6. So anyway, you win some, you lose some. And I do think this is a really pretty design. It's obviously not just a standard tea light holder. These have a kind of almost petal scalloped edging, really pretty detailing for in the centre of the table. I thought outdoor dining in summer as well, having a couple of candles lit outside. I've got some Citronella tea lights that I like to use out there, so they'd be perfect for that. They're a nice thick glass as well. So they are lovely. I just thought, you know, had they been a bit cheaper, I might have got a few more of those. I keep seeing this when I go to the supermarket and it's sort of the £20 mark, £22. In the supermarket, I have seen it as cheap as like £15. Asda, it was £8. £8 something, £8.50 maybe? Hold on, let me look at receipt. £8.98. Okay. So it was £9 basically, but go math, we're rounding it down. Too be shy of £9, but it's £8 in my brain. It's a deep, meaningful conversations with myself, a Vex King book. I love his books. I have a couple of them now and they're a really good self-help type motivational read. Very short as well and easy to get through. It's one of those that you can put pen to paper or pick it up mid chapter. You don't have to read it chronologically necessarily. Although the Capricorn brain in me can't fathom the thought of picking up a book and skipping to a different chapter. I've got to read it in order. I'm a list ticker type person. So yeah, anyway, I saw this and yeah, I've had it on my list, but I thought, but then when I saw it for £8, I was like, yeah, it's going in my basket. Good gift idea as well. So it's kind of like if you like the five minutes a day journaling, that kind of thing. I journal every single day. I have my one line a day that I fill in. I've also got a Q and A type book where it asks me a question every day. And it's a five year journal as well. So you can be reflective over the years and see if your answer changes. So I love a bit of journaling and this is ideal for someone like me. Firstly, it has kind of like a bit of information, how to fill it out. And then some gratitude lists, ask you some questions, your core values. And then day to day, it follows a pattern like this, where it's kind of like affirmations, habits, feelings. Yeah. Ah, oh, this is even better than I thought. It's not a structured, you follow it every single day. The questions are different every day. Oh, I love this. And it's not dated, which is ideal because you can just say at the top of the page, it says today is, and then you can write the date, affirmation of the day. Have I done the following to nurture myself today? Mindful choices, being present, express gratitude. So that's the same. And the in my feelings section is the same, which is just write whatever's on your mind kind of thing. That's a little section here. But the questions on the other side of the page, you've got three questions a day and they are different. So for instance, what habit or behavior of mine shows love for myself? What motivated me to start this habit and what benefits have I noticed? How can I deepen this practice in my life? Who are the most influential people in my support system? What have they helped me heal? What valuable things have they taught me about myself? I just love a reflective journal. I also got this just randomly from the gift wrap section. I needed a gift bag and they had the matching wrapping paper to go with it. But this is just a good spring like generic gender neutral bag to have with the little gold dots as well. And okay, that is everything that I got. So not loads, but very happy with every single find there. So get yourselves to ASDA if you also want to get on board with the whole Nancy Meyers, Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren, coastal grandmother, you know the drill. Speaking of coastal grandmother, remember I told you about the fact that we were looking at a house in Wales? An offer has been placed. We'll see if it actually goes through or anything. But I feel like because it's one of those, it's not our home. It's nice to give kind of live updates. It's also something that I'm not, it's more so a passion project for Tom. I would say it's like a bit of an investment thing. Not even necessarily something that we might renovate and do up straight away, but more Airbnb, see it as a business and have the plans in the future to potentially do it. But I still think even if we were to get it, I would like to initially give it a bit of a lick of paint rather than structurally change anything initially. I think we'd go in and paint and decorate, which is the fun part anyway. So yeah, fingers crossed for that. We'll see what happens and I'll keep you guys posted. But that's all I have to update you on that as of now. Nothing really too exciting, but who knows? I'm in the storage room and I'm just going through all of my spring Easter deco bits that I have. A lot of it is actually more so Easter than I thought. So I feel like I need to have a bit of a sort through, a bit of an organize and go through everything kind of in a bit more detail. So what I think I will do is save everything in depth and actually decorate with these bits in like a separate decorate with me for spring video. But just to give you an overview, I've got a couple of things that I've got to put out. This I found in an antiques type shop, not too far from me. So I thought we could maybe pop that somewhere. We've got some random little kitchen bits. I mean that olive oil thing, that's not even necessarily spring Easter. It'll just look nice out in the kitchen. So I need to pop that out. We've got some faux stems, these little straw carrots for decorating with, some glass eggs from the White Company, some seasonal wreath, oven glove. I don't know why I couldn't think of the word oven glove there. Oh, these ones are from the White Company as well. This is what I meant by like an egg filled with mini eggs, something like that. I think that we're going to do more so this year. I'll have the odd, you know, wooden bunny that I might pop out more so at Easter. But for the most part, there is lots of, yeah, Easter decor in here. So I need to have a look through like my faux stems, florals, vases, like this vase. I feel like I want some fresh flowers in these because the shape of this vase, it's like a tulip edged shape. It just makes your bunch of flowers look really pretty and quite like widespread. And I just really like it. So maybe next time we get some fresh flowers. And again, in that decorate with me video, I could use this tulip vase. I also need to maybe do a donation charity run because this wreath, for instance, it's beautiful, but I bought it last year, I think it was. And I do remember feeling like, oh, I don't know if I love it because of this kind of peachy tone to it. And obviously the blush pink is pretty. But when I saw the Primark edit one that I have on our front door currently, I just much prefer it. So I am going to donate this one and keep the other one for hopefully, I can't imagine myself finding one that I prefer to the Primark one that I've got on our front door currently. So yes, no need for a second. Or I might even possibly do like a vintage sale or something. I don't know. Is vintage just clothing or would you be interested in ever considering homeware stuff on my vintage page? Let me know. We have a sleeping munchkin on our hands. Are you going to say goodbye to everybody? Are you going to make me come down all the way down here? Just did the biggest sigh. He's like, here she goes again. But people like to see you on camera. Look how chilled he is. Are you a chilled guy? Oh, thank you for that paw. Guys, that's all you're getting today, I'm afraid. We'll just let him snooze. Given that it is now the start of a new month, it is March. Let me know what some of your February favourites were. I feel like I used to do this quite a lot at the end of my videos. I used to share some of my faves and there probably is a list of a few things that I'd need to get together in my brain, but on the top of my head, nothing jumps out. So let me know if you've discovered any new favourites, whether that's TV, beauty, fashion, whatever, in the comments below and I will be sure to check them out. Maybe even give me inspiration to try out some new bits myself. Otherwise, I'm going to close off today's video here. I hope you guys have enjoyed it. Stay tuned for my upcoming next video or two will be all skiing related. So we're going from spring to the slopes, but then we will be back to spring, at least coming back to a home that is feeling ready for spring. But yeah, thank you so much for watching. Thumbs up if you did enjoy it, subscribe if you haven't already, and I will hope to see you all very, very soon in my next video. Bye guys.