Newport Food Festival - What I'm Going to See

Newport Food Festival has been one of my favourite Saturday days out since it began.  This year it is happening on Saturday 4th October and it has been really great to see it grow and develop each year.

This year I've booked to see 4 demos at the Studio in the Riverfront, Tom Westerland, Ping Coombes, Michael Hendry and Honeybunch Cake Company.  They all be "new to me" demos as I know some of the Chefs are regulars at Newport Food Festival and I really looking forward to attending them as I've learnt so much over attending demos during the last few years.

There's so much going on, in my free time I'm looking forward to seeing the Street Performers and visiting lots of local companies in their stalls throughout the town.  My favourite place to visit has been Gower Cottage Brownies - their brownies are amazing.  I've bought from them every year they've been in Newport.  I'm so glad they'll be attending again this year.  One I'm looking forward to visit is Pizza Wheels I love getting buy freshly made pizza from a wood fired oven.  Hoping they'll be making cheese ones (for the kids) and well as spicy ones for my husband and I.

Some of the events I think I might miss this year is the Festival Supper, this sounds like so much fun and the menu looks divine as well as the talks on Beer, Tea, Coffee and Welsh Tapas in lots of different venues from the Market to Waterstones.

Only 10 days to go, I'm loving the countdown on the Food Festival website.  Have you seen it yet?

What are you looking forward to seeing in the Food Festival?

REVIEW: Jesus Christ Superstar, Dolman Theatre, Newport

The musical Jesus Christ Superstar, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, traces the last seven days of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of Judas Iscariot.

This weeks presentation by MY UK at The Dolman Theatre is the Arena version as originally portrayed by Ben Forster, Tim Minchin, Melanie C and Chris Moyles after the ITV prime time show Superstar where Andrew Lloyd Webber gave the UK public the chance to decide who would be playing the starring role of Jesus.

Jesus for this version is played by Jordan Leeming while Judas is portrayed by Connor Hendrýk Fogel and Abbie Davies is Mary Magdalene and they did a really great job within the production.

My highlight of the evening was Jordan Huntley playing Pontius Pilate, singing Trial Before Pilate pleading for Jesus to give Pilate a reason not to kill him.  Dave Jones also gave a rousing performance as Herod bringing a touch of light relief in the middle of a dark emotive story.
                                                   
One complaint for the opening night would be the lack of sharing microphones between cast members as there were several children with one line solos which were not heard due to the loudness of the band. Hopefully this technical difficulty will be rectified for later performances.

Jesus Christ Superstar will be at the Dolman Theatre until September 20 2014.

L'Oreal Paris - Elvive Extraordinary Oil Shampoo and Conditioner

I recently received some products from L'Oreal Paris to review for their web site.  I was so impressed by these products I decided to include them on this web site as well.  

Here are the reviews on the website:

• This shampoo, when used with the Extraordinary Oils conditioner works wonders on my hair.  I've got really weak, thin hair and after using the products my hair feels stronger and shiny-er.  It also works really well on my daughters thick hair leaving it really shiny.

• I love this conditioner. It worked really well on my daughter's hair as well as my own. She had really thick and full hair and I have really thin and fine hair. The conditioner used with the shampoo made both our hair look and feel really shiny and strong. Thank you l'oreal paris

Have you tried this shampoo?  What did you think?

My Daily Makeup Routine - September 2014

At the beginning of the summer holidays ELF ran a 50% off campaign and that was the step I needed to sort out my new make up routine for September.  The picture above shows the haul I managed to pic up for approx £30.00.  Not all of the products above made it into the final list of products I use every morning therefore listed below are the ones that made the cut:

• Mineral Infused Face Primer (in Clear) - this is first on, and as it says on the box it fills lines and helps prepare your skin so make up goes on evenly.  It certainly does that I love the smoothness I feel on my skin after using it.
• HD Mattifying Cream - This is the foundation I am currently using and it is very similar to my favourite foundation - Benefit's Some Kind-a Gorgeous but significantly cheaper.  I find the coverage and the finish very similar in both products so I would definitely buy the ELF one again.
• Eyeliner and Shadow Stick in Black/Smoke - described as "Achieve colour intensity for your eyes with twist-up ease" on the ELF website  and I would certainly agree with this,  I found the smoke a little dark so now I only cover half my eye and use a finger to smudge it across the whole eyelid.
• Volume Plumping Mascara - I choose this because it has a brush similar to Benefit's BadGal mascara.  So far I have no complaints, it's not as good as Benefit's but for everyday use I cannot complain.  It goes on easy and covers all my lashes really well.
• Mineral Blush in Joy - again, this was purchased as a Benefit dupe as well,  I really like Benefit's Dandelion and have used it for many years. I cannot complain about the ELF version, it suitably highlights the the cheek area,

Finally, you'll notice I have not mentioned a lipstick, that's because I'm not really sure about a lipstick at the moment.

What do you use in your daily routine?  Link me up in the comments below especially if you have any good ideas about lipsticks

Project Life January 4

Here are the final pages from January this year.   The first page shows a series of pictures that Tom took when he was wondering around the house with a camera one night.

The next page documents how Andy and Tom have started to watch Doctor Who together and our first Sunday without Andy as he had to work the Sunday Shift.

Seren had homework on Space.  Here is the poster she put together about Saturn:

Finally, recording a bit about Jon, how he is growing and his RoboKinght purchase.

REVIEW:Cats at the Wales Millennium Centre

When we arrived at the theatre on Tuesday night it looked like the rubbish bins of the Wales Millennium Centre had been tipped on the stage but when the house lights went down, the music started and the rubbish tip lit up you had the feeling it was going to be an enjoyable night.

The show opens with Jellicle Cats meeting for the Jellicle Ball and follows the story from the poems in TS Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.  Throughout the show the ensemble’s dance and acrobatic moves astounded with the majority of the cast on stage through the whole show. 

As we were introduced to each cat individually (except for Mungojerry and Rumbleteazer, who were introduced together, and provided one of the best acrobatic routines of the evening) we enjoyed a variety of music styles and stunning dance routines.  Inbetween the dance routines there was lots of integration with the audience which provided some of the comedic elements of the show with the performers showing their cat characters.

The highlight of the evening was the singing which included lots of harmonies and the most famous song from the show Memory which was sung by Sophia Ragavelas.

Cats is at the Wales Millennium Centre until Saturday 9^thAugust and includes many matinee showings so you have no excuses not to miss it.

Project Life 2014 January 3

Here are the next set of Project Life life pages for January.  The first page shows a creative weekend where Seren created a model of Saturn and the boys build a spaceship.  I also documented that NCIS: LA and Hawaii 5-0 started back.

Seren had a phone for Christmas and we quickly got her onto instagram.  Here are a couple of selfie's from her phone:

Finally Tom lost his first tooth.  At 7 he's older than the other two were so it had to be documented as a full page.