Miss Patisserie - Baths for Babes!

Oh hellloo!

This was a long time coming post. I've been so knackered on my days off and after work that I've been doing housework and sleeping pretty much!

Anyway I've raved about Miss Patisserie before HERE, they are a local bath and body company who are vegan, cruelty free and paraben free and now have their very own store in Cardiff! I have been there but totally forgot to take any pictures so hopefully I'll go back soon and take my camera for some snaps because it is SO lovely. It's so fresh and neat inside and the day I was in was when the two owners (a gorgeous looking husband and wife duo) were in and they are such lovely people too!

SO I thought I'd share my purchases with you guys today and talk a little about why I love them so much:

Coral Bay Body Scrub.
Walnut Stone Face Mask.

The Coral Bay body scrub smells like the original Issey Miyake perfume which is one of my faves. I love the little jar it's in, its great for keeping on the side of the bath without getting water in which is my bath pet hate! Besides it smelling absolutely wonderful it also leaves your skin feeling SUPER soft - like seriously soft! I usually find scrubs way too harsh but this leaves me so so soft.

The Walnut Stone face mask is made from Moroccan clay which helps brighten the skin. You just put a little of the powdered mask into a bowl and add a couple drops of water which turns it into the mask, leave it on for 20mins and then rinse it off. I usually do this while I'm soaking in the tub and it just gives me a nice refreshed feeling on my face.

Bath Balls - 4 for £12 plus the box which keeps them fresh and away from moisture in the air.

I went for a little colour theme by accident with my bath balls ha! These bath balls are awesome! They don't just change the colour of your water (like some other brands - no names no names!) they give off a lovely foam aswell. I recently used the 'calming aroma' bath ball which was a total dreamy bath time experience.

Balancing AromaFizz - this has actual rose petals in! 

Miss Patisserie is so wonderful and such a great addition to Cardiff independent shops. I can't wait to go back and explore it some more! 

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5 Awesome Things

Oh Hey!

Can't believe it's December already! As much as I said I wasn't going to bother decorating the house or getting a tree this year I actually went out on the 1st and bought a tree and some decs so I'm actually looking forward to putting it all up! 

Anyway today I want to share with you 5 things I am loving right now

Cheerz Box * - £12.95
Basically this is a cutie little box that you can fill with your own pics from your phone/computer that come out like polaroids and you can even colour the borders! A neat gift idea, I've been hanging mine up around my spare room.

Black Cat Tape Dispenser - H&M
This is so cutie! It fits in well on my new desk and even comes with polka dot tape too! There is a brand new H&M open in Cardiff and it's the largest in the UK (it even sells their homeware!)

Makeup Revolution I Heart Makeup Pink Fizz Palette * - £7.99
LUSH Sunkissed Lip Tint - £5.95
Ok so this is TWO things but pink looks so cutie together! The Pink Fizz palette is full of shimmery shades which I love to give a little sparkle to the dull days. I only really use the lightest of shades as I'm not that brave to branch out!
The LUSH lip tint gives full moisture (perfect for Winter) and also a pretty pink shimmering tint to my lips.

Blanx Advanced Whitening Toothpaste * - £7.49
Whitening toothepaste usually tastes GROSS but this is really minty and refreshing which is a delight. Blanx uses natural ingredients from Arctic Lichen which helps give you sparkle without damaging teeth!

Max & Co frames - Specsavers.
So I went to get my eyes tested recently and my eyesight has got a little bit worse in my right eye and with commuting to work everyday in the dark I feel like glasses really help with making everything clear as I was going to work with a headache. I spend a bloody fortune on these but they are soo pretty and soo me!

In not so awesome news Spirit has chewed my house plant to shreds and also pulled the soil out all over the carpet - twice! Prince has two bully cats who are stressing him right out :( Also no food in the house so I've got hash browns on crumpets for dinner tonight :') haha!!

What things are you loving right now?
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Feeling Thankful

This is a weird kind of year for me where it's not soon enough to think about Christmas and everyone around me seems to be super in the mood for it. I'm working Boxing Day this year so that means I'll be travelling back from Devon on Christmas Day and spending Christmas Night and Boxing Day on my own (apart from cleaning the cats) so maybe that's why I feel totally out of the loop.

The Americans have Thanksgiving (and the creepy Black Friday that us UK folk have seem to gone bonkers for in the past 2 years) which is this week, it seems to be like a little pre-holiday which I think would be amazing to get you in the festive mood. I was given an idea by Ocean about sharing some home-based things that I am thankful for, so here they are: 

My Home:

I haven't shared much of my house on here, I'm not sure why, I think it just doesn't photograph how I really feel about certain rooms. My living room and dining room are my fave, the feel is so cozy and I just don't think any pictures could capture how it really looks. Maybe I will do a few pics of close up things I love one day soon. The first picture in this post is in my dining room and shows my bookcase which is a highlight for me as books (or more specifically all of the books I own) are just something I love to pick up and browse through and  I'm forever collecting books on topics I am interested in. 

The second picture is where I am sat right now, I have a spare room which has a cute little day bed in and a desk which I can actually sit at and enjoy using. It is also currently housing Spirit although he is finding his feet around the house. 

I think the next stage for my house is going to be doing up my bedroom and giving my bathroom a teeny makeover to make it feel more cozy for bathtimes.

The Cats:

In my opinion my house would not be a home without the cats. At first it was just me and Prince but I felt like I couldn't give him attention all the time. In the flat it was easy, there were two of us and also it was so small and he went out alot but here he likes to go out for a bit and then come back home and play with all his toys. 

Now Spirit is back with us I'm really hoping they tolerate each other enough to possibly play with each other and knacker each other out while I'm working all day and snoozy when I'm back. Prince will always be my number 1 boy but now Spirit is here I do have to think about him too. Right now I alternate nights of who sleeps in my room and they are both super snuggly cats but currently both want the same spot on the bed!

Obviously things like family, health and working a job I love I am totally thankful for too but my little home is my place where I can do whatever I want and I love it! Bed at 8pm? Sure! Netflix and stuffing my face with Quavers? You betcha! Leaving the dishes overnight? I 100% am!

What are you feeling most thankful for?
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Purrstaid Kit - Feline LUTD Awareness!

Hello!

Another cat post today and this time I want to talk about Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease! EXCITING STUFF! Haha no really working with cats I see it every day, cats who come in with LUTD and their previous owners never knew and bought them in for peeing around the house or they get it when they come into the center due to high stress. 

A cat isn't like you or I (obvs) and can't tell us when something is bothering them. Signs like urinating around the house is an obvious one to watch out for, another is going in and out of the litter box alot but not leaving much in there or anything at all. 

I've had issues with Prince and LUTD and sometimes the only thing needed to stop it is medication from a vet but also a change in diet! Feeding your cat with a special diet. I know it's not as cheap as buying supermarket brand but your cats health is SO important! To find out more about urinary diet and how to keep your cats kidneys and bladder healthy then have a look at Hills Science Plan and check out preventative ways to stop your cat getting urinary problems.

Lucky little Prince was sent a Purrstaid Kit which contained some Urinary food, a toy mouse, a water bowl (fresh water is so important!), a little pet hot water bottle and a box of catnip (which was immediately destroyed by Prince).

Did you know that 60% of cat owners have had trouble with their cat urinating in their home and 45% didn't know that urinary problems were a common thing. Although 63% of cat owners thought that some cat foods could cause urinary problems, only 3% changed their cat’s food in an attempt to solve the issue.

There is a list of local places that stock urinary food and also £5 off Hills when you register with them - awesome! :)

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Fostering with Cats Protection.

Hello! 

It's no secret I work for the Cats Protection as a Cat Carer, a job I truly get pleasure from helping and rehoming unwanted cats and kittens. A great way we have people helping us due to our high waiting list for our 150+ kennels is to foster! We have a mum and her kittens go out to one of our foster carer volunteers who look after them and follow our weaning and socialization program until the babies and mum are ready to come back and find their forever homes.

A few experienced fosters and staff often foster cats and kittens who are having a hard time in their kennels or kittens who were born outside (feral) and are still able to be socialized. This is what I did!

Meet Spirit:

Spirit on his first day in my house. Terrified!

Spirit came into our care at 10 weeks old, he was found trapped in a garden fence and found by a dog. The people who managed to untangle him and get him inside said he was hissing and terrified. Just as they were about to bring him into us he managed to escape his box and run full pelt into a glass door splitting his lip right upto his nose and cutting all the inside of his mouth. We took him to the vets and treated him accordingly for two weeks before he was well enough to be put up for homing. 

In his homing kennel Spirit would hide out of view and hiss whenever you put him in his kennel. I had just signed up to foster cats exactly like this so they could live in my spare bedroom and I could socialise them and keep them in a quiet space before they were ready to return to the center. With kittens it usually takes 2 weeks to get them to come around to human affection. 

My manager asked me to foster Spirit and get him ready to be rehomed and I was so excited! 

I took him home after my shift and left him settle in a small pen for the night, he was so scared but alot better than he had been in his kennel. The first night I managed to get a few stroked in and by the second night he was playing with his toys freely.

After one week looking after Spirit and helping him grow in confidence, he loved snuggled and would sleep on me for hours and hours. It's safe to say he adopted me! 

Unfortunately I became a failed fosterer and put the motions in to adopt Spirit as my own!

In even worse news the day before I signed my paperwork I noticed some patches of skin that looked off with Spirits face and working with sick cats I knew this was bad news. Reluctantly I knew I had to tell my managers and they were going to hold off the adoption and bring him back into our Isolation unit for tests and treatment. I was a wreck! I cried all the time at work and at home and after 2 weeks of him being back at the center I got the bad news he had tested positive for a highly contagious skin disease - Ringworm. 

I had to bleach the room he stayed in and get rid of any soft furnishings he touched. Luckily I didn't catch anything and Prince never met him so he was safe too.

It's been 6 weeks now and I've just got his first negative last week, so he needs one more which hopefully means in 3 more weeks he will be back home with me! He's 5 months old now and SO much bigger (even his fur colour has changed!) but I get to see him every day and even work with him in Isolation. I'm still going ahead with the adoption and taking a HUGE break from fostering as it's too tempting to keep them! :p

Spirit in Isolation. 

Spirit is such a loving cat and I really cannot wait to have him home - so expect more cat picture spam!

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