A night at The Gallivant, Camber Sands

Carrying on from yesterday's post on our recent trip to Rye & Camber Sands, I wanted to write about our stay at The Gallivant, but being such a gorgeous hotel I felt that The Gallivant deserved a blog post of it's own. 

We'd had a hectic few weeks at work and with our house move on the horizon I had the irresistable urge to just escape the stress of everything for a couple of days and be somewhere tranquil. When looking at last-minute, one-night seaside getaways, I immediately fell in love with The Gallivant, a boutique Mr & Mrs Smith hotel on the East Sussex coast. It was exactly what I was looking for - somewhere beside the seaside but not with the hustle and bustle of a town, rural but not in the middle of absolutely nowhere and classy but not ridiculously overpriced. I'd seen a few photos on Instagram {all hail social media} and had heard nothing but good things. To my delight I managed to get us a last minute double 'cosy' room for the night, on the hottest day of the year! And so it was official: we were off to the seaside!

An afternoon in Rye and Camber Sands

Do you ever have the urge to just drop everything and escape for a few days? I often feel like this and I think it can be the most refreshing, rejuvenating thing you can do sometimes. A couple of weeks ago, that's exactly what we did! After a busy few weeks at work, a university assignment handed in and with just a week until we were due to move out of our flat I was feeling rather exhausted and there was nothing I was craving more than a couple of relaxing days away, somewhere different and more peaceful than London. On my lunch break at work on the Tuesday I texted Rob "pleeeeeease can we drive to the beach tomorrow?" fully expecting him to reply with a no, but to my delight he agreed! The weather was forecast to be twenty four degrees on the Wednesday {in April, can you believe it?!?} so I booked us a last minute stay at The Gallivant at Camber Sands {a hotel I had been wanting to stay at for a while - blog post to follow}. 

This week's happiness

Firstly, apologies that there was no #thisweekshappiness last Friday. I've no other excuse other than I'm a rubbish blogger and didn't have the time due to work and a load of other things that seemed to absorb my time... But here I am, back on a roll with the blogging!

Things that have made me happy this week...

Sunny weather, happy feet

Hasn't the weather been glorious this past week?! It's been hard to believe we are in April, it has felt like Summer has arrived prematurely with bright blue skies, warm afternoons, mild sunny evenings and everyone in true British BBQ mode. I dusted off my sandals and have been enjoying summer dresses with bare legs, which equals happy toes!

Beauty: More Skincare Favourites

It's been a little while since I blogged some of my recent skincare favourites so I thought I'd share what my skin has been loving recently... 

La Roche Posay
"Efflaclar H Multi-compensating Soothing Moisturiser"
As I've mentioned before in my previous skincare post, finding the perfect moisturiser is always a difficult task for me. My skin is naturally incredibly oily {and not to mention acne prone} and I seem to find it difficult to find a good balance between not applying moisturiser at all in fear of over-greasing my skin, and lathering my skin in moisturiser in fear of it not getting enough moisture/hydration. Most moisturisers leave my skin feeling totally yucky and even more oily than it is naturally! I've been using this Effaclar H moisturiser from La Roche Posay for the past month now and I've got to say I really like it. It's designed for skin which is naturally very oily but has been 'weakeaned by drying skin care products'. I've been using some antibiotic gel recently as a means of clearing up my acne, which is quite drying, so I've found that using this in conjunction with that has worked wonders.
It leaves a bit of a sheen on my skin immediately after applying but after a bit of fresh air the greasiness disappears. My skin looks and feels really fresh. It's a little pricey but as with all La Roche Posay products you really do get what you pay for, and this stuff does exactly what it says on the packaging.

Packing my life into boxes...

As I write this blog post I am sat in my living room, surrounded by boxes. This will be the eighth move I have made in seven years, which is crazy really! I moved around a lot during my university days.  But this move is different. Rob and I are finally buying somewhere of our own, somewhere which will be ours to keep, for ever and ever if we so wish. This move is much more permanent and scary.

The flat we have been in for the past 18 months has been the first place, since living at home with my parents, that has really felt like a home for me. In previous flat-shares with various friends and strangers there was always a subconscious awareness that the place wasn't really home... just a temporary residence. But our flat has felt like a real home to me, with all our belongings, and it's become a place I will treasure in my memories.

This week's happiness {and a rant}

Things that have made me happy this week...

Creme eggs <3

I can't even count how many of these I've eaten over the past two weeks but you seriously can't beat a cadbury's creme egg. Maybe they're one of the silly reasons I wouldn't ever want to move abroad... cadbury's chocolate is the best! I even got given one by the vicar at church on Easter Sunday, how lovely is that?!

#ThursdayThoughts

Too often I can be really hard on myself, blaming myself for how others are feeling, not seeing the positive side to things and allowing myself to stress about things that simply aren't worth the stress. 

Be kind to yourself today! I love this quote so much. "Just let go. Just be".

Lydia xxx

Fashion: The perfect Springtime coat

One of the chores to tick off on my never-ending 'to-do' list recently was to have a big wardrobe sort out. I do this a couple of times a year, packing bags of clothes to give to local charity shops and other bags for the bin. With warmer weather on the horizon as Summer slowly approaches {fingers crossed for good weather!!} it was time to say goodbye to my Winter wardrobe for another year. When finishing such a task, it often feels like there's a gaping hole and dare I say it, like most women, I allow myself the cheeky excuse to do a bit of shopping! This year I was determined to find myself the perfect Springtime coat. I have a few warm, Winter coats which have lasted me a couple of years now and will undoubtedly last a few more. But what I didn't have was an 'inbetween' coat. One to wear when it's still a bit chilly but the sun is out and you don't need the excessive warmth of a Barbour or a Duffle. {#firstworldproblems}

This week's happiness

Things that have made me happy this week...

Blossom

Beautiful baby pink blossom spotted on my walk through Greenwich Park this week. Blossom fills the park at this time of year, it's got to be the prettiest thing about Spring for sure! I took these photos on my way home from one of my nightshifts, it was such a beautiful morning.

#ThursdayThoughts

Happy Thursday, keep sparkling!

Lydia xxx

{From now on, Thursdays on the blog will mean #ThursdayThoughts where I will share a thought, a quote, some inspiration or just how I'm feeling. Hope you enjoy!}

Easter Baking: Chocolate Mini-Egg Nest Cake

Happy 1st April! 

This is a rather special blogpost for me as its my 100th post! I'm so glad I finally jumped on the blogging bandwagon last year, it was something I had wanted to do for a long while but didn't quite know how - and somehow I've managed to blab my way through one hundred whole posts!! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my blabbing!

So the Easter Weekend is fast approaching and what more could you want at Easter time than a huge chocolate cake covered in Cadbury's mini eggs?! I created this delicious mess of a cake this week and it's too good not to share. It's a firm Nigella favourite, Nigella never lets me down.