Last year the girls and I was lucky enough to be sent some skincare products to review from Sebamed.
Sebamed is a German company founded in 1967 that provides skin care products for all ages. You can read more about their amazing range here.
My pack contained a hand and nail balm which was perfectly timed as I had just become a Jamberry consultant and was wearing nail wraps for extended periods of time and finding that my nails needed a bit of hydration in between nail wraps. The balm was lightly fragranced and non oily. It is great to use daily to moisturise your hands and strengthen your nails.
My pack also contained and healing and protective ointment for use on grazes, cuts, blisters and minor burns. Again this product came in handy when I received a burn on my finger from moving trays in the hot oven....in fact I often burn myself in the process of cooking dinner. Again this product was lightly fragranced and provided instant relief from the burn. I continued to apply it for the next day or two and then thankfully no more treatment was required.
I also received an everyday shampoo.....and even though I know you shouldn't I do wash my hair everyday.....I just can't help it!!! The shampoo had a nice fragrance. I felt I had to use a little bit extra to get it as soapy as I like but overall it left my hair feeling really nice and clean.
I found the liquid face and body wash that was included in the pack to be a great product to use at night before going to bed. I'm not always good at removing makeup and skin care routines so I liked the ease of this wash and again it was lightly fragranced. My face felt clean and fresh after using it at night.
My last product in the pack was a body lotion which I used each morning after showering. It was non oily and lightly fragranced and left my skin feeling moisturised which is quite essential with the hot summer days we've been getting here in Sydney this summer.
I've got to say that for someone who usually spends no time on themselves with skincare products it was truly like being pampered trying all of these goodies!
I'd like to thank Sebamed for the chance to try them all, they will indeed be incorporated into my daily routine from now on.
If you would like to know more about their products you can check out Sebameds website, facebook page and instagram.
The girls also blogged about their products on their blog....you can read about what goodies they got and what they thought about them on their blog here.
Okay so I know that we're only 12 days in to 2016 but you know what, so far it's going all right!
By comparison 12 days in to 2015 and we had a flea infested house with a refrigerator that wouldn't work and a lawn mower that died.
Hubby has work, the school holidays are going along pretty smoothly, I've lost half a kilo this past week simply by reducing sugar....it's all good!
We have been chilling at home most days and I have been getting my domestic goddess on! Seriously I have been blitzing up fruit juices, making our own iceblocks, creating edible dinners every single night!!
On top of all that l won a pair of FRANKiE4 footwear shoes.....OMG I am sooo excited!! Cannot wait til they arrive!!
And maybe the best part to date....thanks to our finances being totally crap last year my tax return was better than usual and I have used half the money to pay off some huge bills that we had and I am using the other half for a little family holiday to celebrate hubby's 50th in March....well our little holiday will be in April to coincide with school holidays.....and it's a total surprise....and it is killing me to keep it a surprise!!!!
So here's to a great start to the year! I hope 2016 is treating you well so far!
Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT
Welcome to the first 10 on 10 Photography Circle for 2016
Just to recap, the 10 on 10 Photography Circle is when a group of fab bloggers post 10 photos on the 10th of each month and we link to each other so that you can follow the links around the circle to see some talented photographers!
My 10 photos for January were taken the day that we cut down our Christmas tree last year....just next to the Christmas tree farm was this amazing old Church so after cutting down the tree and putting it in the trailer we popped in to take some pics. These were taken on my iPhone and edited in Be Funky.
I'd love to go back there with my big girl camera one day!
Be sure to pop over to check out Ellen's amazing photos of her family day out in Sovereign Hill here and keep following the circle til you get back to me! Enjoy!!
A month or so before Christmas hubby and I saw some pics on a friends Facebook update of a beach that looked like a great place to take the girls to.
Upon enquiry we discovered that it was at Bundeena.
Neither hubby nor I had been there before. Turns out it' s about an hour and a half from us so on 27th December, having survived Christmas Day and Boxing Day, we decided a road trip was in order so we went to check it out.
We really had no idea where we were going to just typed Bundeena into the sat nav and let it do the hard work for us.
We now know that Bundeena has four beaches....Bonnie Vale Beach which is in the Royal National Park, Gunyah Beach which is a small sand and rock beach, Jibbon Beach which is a secluded sandy beach favoured by the locals and Horderns Beach located near the ferry wharf with shops and facilities.
Horderns Beach won with the mention of facilities and shops, especially as it was about lunch time when we got there.
We can vouch for the fish and chip shop being good!! We sampled their chips, fish cocktails, seafood sticks, calamari and chicken nuggets.
We sat in the park to each our lunch. The park is popular with families barbecuing and having family gatherings. The park also has some play equipment.
After lunch it was time to hit the beach. Hubby and I praised ourselves for remembering to pack fold up chairs for ourselves! Even though it wasn't a really hot day the girls went in and then spent time building sand castles.
There were no waves to worry about and even though there were quite a few people there it didn't feel crowded at all.
After a few hours we packed up and headed to the facilities to get changed. Given that it was the day after Christmas and Boxing Day that might explain the poor maintenance of the ladies room...hopefully next time we go there we will find it to be better maintained.
When we arrived we were also lucky to find a parking spot both close to the fish and chip shop and the park and from there it was only a minute or two walk to the beach. Parking could be a problem due to the number of families there for the day but then that is pretty typical in beach areas.
Overall I'd say Horderns Beach is a good place for younger children and a good place for a relaxing day. Next time we visit we plan to head to Bonnie Vale Beach to see what that is like, I believe you can hire kayaks from there and there are picnic areas etc...
And you know the crazy thing.....the same day that we went their for the first time ever a Mum Of Five Girls facebook reader (and hopefully blog reader too!!) also went there for their first time ever and recognised it from a photo that I posted....crazy hey! Then when I got home my niece had commented on my instagram photo and asked where we were and when I told her she asked what it was like coz she was heading there for the first time ever later that week....totally cray cray!!!
So tell me, have you been to Bundeena before.....have you know about this little gem all along...are we just a bit late to the party lol !!
By the way it was only a day or so ago that I decided to do a review of Bundeena....I would have taken better pics when we were there had I thought about it beforehand...sorry!
Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT
This morning I stumbled upon an eBook....Your Best Year Ever by Kelly Exeter.
Given that it is 1st January, a brand new year full of hope and possibility then the timing seemed perfect.
I downloaded the book onto my iPhone and read it whilst the girls were playing nicely together....which is indication in itself that it is a quick and easy read!
From the beginning of the book it was just like chatting with a friend. The book is personal and Kelly touches on her own experiences of depression, of being overwhelmed with family and business, of trying to change bad habits etc..
The book features 7 chapters which outline 7 ways/steps to change your thinking.
There were quite a few a-ha moments when reading the book with a few of my favourite quotes being these...
"The people who achieve the most aren't the ones with the most time of their hands, but the ones who waste the least of the time available to them"
"...something that enables us to be happy no matter what situation we find ourselves in"
"The beautiful thing about habits is once you create them, they're easy to maintain"
"Tried it. Didn't work. What's next?"
For the low cost of $3.99 and for the fact that it is quick and easy to read I would definitely recommend Your Best Year Ever.....and the timing is perfect if you want a positive start to the new year with simple and sound advice that you can act upon straight away.
2016 could well just be my best year ever....and yours too!!
