Austria Part 4 : Graz

Our next day trip was to visit Graz and then on to the thermal baths in the evening. Emma wasn’t feeling well so she didn’t join us which was a shame, so I think that means we must go back there so she can visit the amazing thermal baths.

Graz was a really nice city, the buildings were beautiful, the people were friendly and we were never far from a Christmas market. We started our day in Graz with a coffee and warm pastry which the only way to start the day when you are in Austria. We then made our way around the city, we did lots of walking as we always do and managed to find one of the best views across the whole city.

I don’t have any photographs of the thermal baths apart from one I put on instagram but you may have to search back a bit to find it.I had never been to a thermal spa before and I can tell you it’s something you can’t miss out on. We went in the evening which meant the air was even colder for when we skipped from one pool to another but it also mant that the sky was full of stars and it was all very relaxing. There was also a village of saunas, in Austria people go into the sauna naked. Im not really into being naked so if someone told us we had to remove our towel I just moved on into another one or into the steam room. We went to the Quellen Hotel & Spa, if you are in Austria then you must go.

Have any of you ever been to a thermal spa ? Can you recommend any good ones?

It was quite late when we started to travel back to the hotel, we had a two hour drive which would have been fine but the weather decided to let it snow. It snowed and snowed, we couldn’t see the markings on the road it was getting that thick. You must keep in mind that we were travelling round the mountains so not only was it dark but it was pitch black due to being surrounded by the beautiful (by day) mountains. So we were on a long journey back to the hotel in lots of snow, it was quite scary as we were one of the few cars on the road and we didn’t have chains on the wheels. It got to the point where we thought we may have to stop somewhere and sleep in the car, but we kept going even though visibility was very hard. I am glad to tell you we got back safe and sound thanks to our driver Richard but I have one more snow adventure to tell you of and that was even more scary than this one.

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Posted on the 31st December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 5 Comments ↓

Posted in Austria, Graze, holiday, Travel

What I Wore: Hats and Mustard Yellow

I spent ages deciding which hat to wear this morning, I wanted to wear a floppy hat but it wouldn’t have been right. I decided to go with my usual UO bowler hat. I did have a little issue with my hat nearly being taken away by the wind today and yesterday but I made sure I held on tight.

I was wearing my New Look mustard shirt with a red and white polka dot neck scarf, I can’t remember where this was from however.

I wanted to show you a close up of my neck scarf, I think that a neck scarf looks fantastic under a shirt collar. If you do up your shirt to the top you can make really good use of the collar and always have something new to add to a shirt.

- I like to wear a neck scarf under the collar, I have lots of scarves and there are many ways to tie them so it means that I can give my outfit a new twist depending on the scarf I add.

- I also like to add a badge or pin to the collar tip of a shirt, I showed you this here. It adds a subtle change to the shirt and can turn a plain collar into the main statement of your outfit.

A sneaky blurry photo just because I like them.

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My Day

I went out in the morning to a local town, there wasn’t very much there so we picked up some bits for lunch and headed home to make some fresh hummus. After lunch and a spot of cleaning the house I went to the beach for a walk with my family. It wasn’t very cold but all the colours were saturated which made it look very interesting.

Coat and bag : Topshop
Rocket Dog boots: Spartoo shoes
Hat: Urban Outfitters
Scarf: Burberry
Tights: Christmas gift
Skirt: Gap

I am not used to posing for these outfit photos yet, I know I look slightly awkward but I intend to improve on this. I am going to invest in a new tripod tomorrow, my last one is in Manchester and slightly broken. I hope that having a new tripod will give me the motivation to jump infront of the camera more and stop hiding behind it.

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Posted on the 30th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 5 Comments ↓

Posted in hats, What I Wore

Hand Gel for Sensitive Skin

If you have sensitive skin you will know how hard it is to find a hand gel which doen’t cause irritation to your skin each time you use it. I got the Cuticura hand gel from the Boots store at the airport before going to Austria, I use it every day and sometimes a little too much but It hasn’t cause any irritation to my skin.

This Carex hand gel is for sensitive skin but it really didn’t do me any good. I found that each time I used it my hands would, now this may just have been on my skin because my mum and sister both use this and find it fine. I just wanted to mention to you that I would go for the Cuticura hand gel as opposed to the Carex one if you have very sensitive skin.

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Posted on the 29th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 2 Comments ↓

Posted in Uncategorized

Austria Part 3 : Salzburg

Hello everyone, here is part three of my Austria trip, this post is going to be about my visit to Salzburg. Have any of you been before or do any of you live there ? I would really love to know if anyone reads my blog who lives in Austria or Germany, they are two of my favourite places.

We decided that we should rent a car as there wasn’t much snow at this point, on Monday morning we picked our car up and headed off to Salzburg which was about an hour away. The view was lovely as there was a low mist over the mountains, I took some photos through the car window and am quite pleased with how they came out. I really like how the mountains look, when I went to Italy the other year it was very similar and it’s also the same where I stay when I go to Iran.

We spotted lots of castles on our way round the mountains, I think if we go again we would try to visit some of these castles as they looked very pretty.

The weather started to get a little worse on our way to Salzburg, little did we know it was a sign of things to come (more on that later). Salzburg was beautiful, there were lovely buildings delightful coffee shops and lots of markets round each corner you walked. You were never far from a cup of Gluehwein and that is just fine by me.

My friend A taking photos.

E and Richard leading us to the town.

I think lots of people come to Salzburg for a weekend of Christmas shopping and enjoying the Christmas markets. It felt very festive while we were there, the Christmas decorations were out and of course the Christmas markets really get you into a festive mood.

After hours of walking around and taking in this beautiful place we stopped for a quick chai latte before walking a little more to find some food. We ended up eating at the main market in Salzburg, it’s always hard to decided what to eat at the markets as there are so many kinds of tasty foods available. I shared lots of photographs of the markets on Instagram.

I really enjoyed my day in Salzburg, we ended it with a trip to Aldi to buy some yummy treats for our evening meal. I would like to go back to Salzburg very soon, I think it would be nice to have the chance to explore it a little more as it is such a fantastic place.

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Posted on the 28th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 10 Comments ↓

Posted in Austria, Travel

Winter Face Cream Review

Over the past two months I have been using Barefoot SOS face and body cream, it has really done a fantastic job for my skin this winter. It is a very thick cream which I use at night and in the morning. You have to ensure that your skin is getting more moisture in the winter because the cold weather can dry it our very quickly. Barefoot SOS has made it’s way to my top two creams, the other being Clarins HydraQuench Rich Cream. My mum got me a tub of this for Christmas as I haven’t had it for a while, I will be doing a full review on it when I start using it. For now I am still using the Barefoot SOS Rescue Cream, it comes in a tube of 50ml and it seems it will last a long time. You only need a very small amount because it’s so thick.

I haven’t started using this cream on my body yet, I use it on my face and my hands and I have had no irritation at all. The cream is designed for extremely dry and sensitive skin I only put this on once in the morning and it lasts me till the end of the day. I don’t feel my face getting dry through the day which is really good, especially in this cold weather. I will make sure I try this on my body, if it does such a good job for the face it’s bound to do the same for the rest of the body.

Price: £10.50 – I think this is a really good price for such a good cream, I usually pay much for for my face cream during winter time. I think that £10.50 is a fair price for a product which will last you right through winter and keep your skin healthy and glowing. The fact that you can also use it as a body and hand cream means that it is multi-purpose and you are buying more than just a face cream. If you have eczema you should try putting this face cream on any sore areas of skin, it is steroid free (yay) and they say on the website that it’s good to help you wean yourself off using steroid based creams.

I am keen to try more of the Barefoot SOS range, I have been very pleased with this face and body cream and expect that their other products will be just as good.

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Posted on the 28th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 3 Comments ↓

Posted in Mypure

What I Wore: A Blur of Colour

Skirt : Topshop, Tshirt: Asda, Cardigan: Topshop, Scarf: Paris, Necklace: Dorothy Perkins Hat: UO, Tights : Christmas gift and the packaging is in the bin now, sorry.

Some of you may see this as nothing but a blur of colour, out of focus photo gone wrongt. I see it as how I feel, I always say I want to include more colour into my outfits and I am going to make sure I document my colourful outfits more often. I want my outfits to be a blur of colour, as I dash past someone in the street I want them to feel the warmth from the bright shades I am wearing. I want to leave a colour trail behind me like in a long exposure photograph of lights. I think wearing bright colours can not only make yourself feel more happy it can also make someone else smile. I will always love my navy and red colour combination but I am going to make sure I experiment and embrace different colours into my outfits. Even if that means a brighter shade of red or a deeper shade of navy, bringing in new colours can really spice up your outfits.

Do you wear colourful clothes ?

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Posted on the 27th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 5 Comments ↓

Posted in What I Wore

Inspiration and Yogi Tea

I started the day with a cup of Yogi Tea, this one contains lemongrass which I really like. I have been reading some articles on Forbes and Mashable to get some inspiration for my 2012 goals list. I met all the goals from my 2011 list which I am pleased about, I just need to step my game up for 2012.
Do you set yourself goals each year ?

I am going to finish sorting my room today and then work on my goals and some other things I need to get organised with. I hope you all have a lovely day, I will be back later on with an outfit post.

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Posted on the 27th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 4 Comments ↓

Posted in inspiration, motivation, My day

Boxing Day Walks.

Hello everyone, I have had a lovely day today and I hope you have. I have been walking on the beach, sorting our my room and just relaxing. I stopped and had a hot chocolate on the beach, it’s not something I usually order but it was an italian make and I thought it would make a nice change. I was right, it was yummy and that was from the beach hut cafe in Southwold, if you go you must try it. I sat watching everyone walking up and down the beach, there were so many people out today and nearly everyone had dogs.

I don’t do the sales, every now and then I will check the sales online but I don’t go out of my way to look. I may keep an eye out for any hats in the sale, I got a few from UO two years back as my sister was ordering some things from the website. I have since worn those two hats so much and they were more than half price, I should really go and have a look after this post.

Do you relax or hit the sales (unless you are working) on Boxing Day ?

xx

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Posted on the 26th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 3 Comments ↓

Posted in My day, Southwold

How Do You Make Gluehwein ?

This is how you make Gluehwein / mulled wine.

I have made two lots of gluehwein over the past two days, I first used this recipe but it was too sweet for my liking to then my dad changed it a little. It is very easy to make and as long as you have the few ingredients needed then you can have a batch of gluehwein / mulled wine ready in no time at all.

We used 15-20 cloves – put as many or as little as you want in. I love the Christmas spice taste so I added lots.
1 cinnamon stick.
Two oranges ( Small size ).

2/3 Spoonfuls of sugar – Added and taste to see if you want to add more.

1 cup of water.
1 bottle of red wine.

First you add the water, sugar and cinnamon stick to the pan and mix whilst bringing it to boiling point, then turn the heat down whilst you move onto the next stage.

Next slice one of the oranges and add it to the pan, cut the second orange in half and squeeze all the juice into the pan. Put as many cloves in as your like ( I used around 15/20 ) and then mix. Mix the contents of the saucepan till it is thick – Timing may vary on this part, we only did it for around 10 minutes because the consistency became thick quite quickly.

Add the bottle of red wine and then mix. This is where you can add more sugar if you feel it is needed, some like it much sweeter than I do so it’s really up to you how much sugar you add. When the contents of the pan is steaming you can take it off the heat, then sieve into a jug.

Sorry for the dark photo, I didn’t have time to change the settings before we poured it into the jug.

If you are using a glass jug half boil the kettle and pop some cold water into the jug, then add the warm water from the kettle and swirl it round. Once you have done this (and removed the water form the jug) you can add the gluehwein. The reason for warming the glass jug is to prevent it from breaking when the gluehwein goes in.

This jug is from our first attempted where we just finished off a half bottle of wine, we then made the second batch. I really want to make one more batch whilst we enjoy the Christmas holidays. gluehwein/mulled wine is perfect for when you get in from a long walk in the crispy cold weather.

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Posted on the 26th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 6 Comments ↓

Posted in Uncategorized

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone, I hope you have all had a lovely day whatever you have been doing or whatever you celebrate.

I would love to know what you have done today, do you celebrate Christmas or something else ? Or maybe today isn’t a day of celebration for you. I love how different each and everyone of us are, I like how we all have our own unique lives. I feel so lucky to have friends all over the world and to have made so many fab friends from blogging. I am curious to find out what you have all done today, I will share more about my day with you tomorrow.

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Posted on the 25th December, 2011 by prettygreentea — 7 Comments ↓

Posted in Uncategorized

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