My happy place: Southwold, Suffolk.

Hello! It’s no secret that I’m in love with Southwold. Yesterday Dr Robotnik and I finally had a day off together so we had been planning to to head there and introduce Ginger to Southwold at last!

I have been demoted to the back seat for a long time. We bought Pebbles a booster seat for the car a while ago as it’s a great way for her to be strapped in and still allows her to look out of the window, then when Ginger came along she wanted one too of course!

It was a gorgeous day. Warm enough for ditching the coats, breezy enough for the dogs to come along and not quite hot enough for me to burn! Win win!

We have been regular visitors of Southwold in the almost 8 years that we have been together and we will never get bored of it. So peaceful and pretty everywhere you look. Being a winter gal I especially love it on those freezing cold days where you wrap up in 1739 layers and drag your moaning other half and huffy dog for a battle against the wind!

The Pier is one of my favourite places. There are plaques on the barriers all the way around that people can purchase and have whatever they like written on them. Yesterday as it was crazy busy and we were wrangling an excitable puppy so we didn’t stop to read any, probably a good job too as I usually end up crying like a mad woman. Here’s some photos I have taken before though.

How true is this!?

A proposal!

I absolutely love this one.

There’s also the ‘Under the pier show’ which is the oddest arcade you will experience. The machines in there are brilliant! I particularly love the ‘espressive photobooth’ with a few surprises inside!

Another Southwold gem is the brewery. The Adnams brewery tour is fabulous! We’ve done it in the past and I highly recommend it. Assign a designated driver though because at the end you can try lots of beers and some spirits, they aren’t stingy either! They were more than happy to open whatever people wanted to try and urged everyone to drink. I hit the jackpot as Dr Robotnik was driving but we plan to go back by bus and do it again! The tour itself is so interesting too!

If you plan on bringing dogs there’s plenty of places to eat and drink where you can sit outside with your pooches but we also found a lovely dog friendly pub called The Lord Nelson. The food was delish!

This was taken in January, hence the scarf and lack of Ginger!

I love nothing more than strolling around Southwold pointing at adorable cottages and huge houses and telling Dr Robotnik they will be ours one day!

Pebbles found her own little cottage to go with her own ‘Pebbles’ beach hut!

The ‘Pebbles’ beach hut.

Speaking of beach huts, my amazing best friend Jen has booked us a beach hut for the day on 10th June so I’m counting down the days! 48 to go! I can’t actually wait to chill there for the day with Dr Robotnik and the dogs and pretend we’re proper posh!

We aren’t proper posh however and yesterday we didn’t buy any food or drink there (apart from a cold bottle of water for the dogs) because it’s really quite expensive, the only downside to Southwold! Due to our tight Disney budget we left and got some chips once we were home, because a day at the seaside isn’t complete without chips.

I’ll stop rambling on about Southwold and bombard you with a few pictures of yesterday instead! Thank you for reading! -Misha x

And finally, a nice family picture ruined by my dodgy pixelating skills!

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Happy Housiversary! 🏡

Quick disclaimer, this post is full of cheese. Sorry!

Six years ago we bought a house. We moved in 19th April 2012.

Lots can happen in six years.

We turned the house into a home, after a couple of months of blow up sofas and camping chairs, our bed was a mattress on the floor and blank walls stared back at us. I now wake up in my ridiculously comfortable bed and look around my room to see pictures of family, friends and memories. Photographs, ticket stubbs and wristbands fill the memory box in the corner of my room. I walk down the stairs to be greeted with not one but two waggy tails, one from underneath 10 blankets and the other hopping up and down like a little fury pogo stick. I walk around the furniture that we have spent days deliberating over and get ready for the day. I feel content.

I sit on the sofa where many conversations have taken place, plans have been made and talks about the future are endless. I feel warm.

Of course my favourite thing about this house is the person I share it with. He has spent hours decorating it, often compromising his own taste in order to fill it with the flowery girlyness that I desire. He has put up with my messy, unorganised mayhem and trail of lights I leave behind me for six whole years. He cooks for me, we always go to bed at the same time and we laugh every day. I feel loved.

I feel happy. I feel happy and lucky every single day.

Our house is small but cosy. The seagulls are noisy but remind me of how lucky I am to live near the sea. Our garden has no grass but lots of love grows there. Ok that one was too far on the cheese scale, I apologise. The bills eat at my wages but it’s all worth it for my tiny little place in the world to call home. -Misha x

Pink Parcel Review.

Hello! Just a quick little review of Pink Parcel today!

What is Pink Parcel?

It’s a monthly subscription box for ladies, it’s designed to arrive at that dreaded time of the month. Inside the parcel is all the feminine hygiene products needed for the month and some little beauty and lifestyle treats to brighten up those days where you just want to drop kick everybody in the face then crawl into a hole with a mountain of chocolate. Just me?

How does it work?

Visit their website, then all you need to do is sign up, choose between tampons, sanitary towels or both and which ones you would like then pick a day for delivery! It’s £12.99 per month. The shape of the box is designed to fit through most letterboxes too so no trips to the sorting office!

Here’s the link!

Pink Parcel

What’s in the box?

This is what you receive, 3 boxes and a little bag. The ‘For you’ box contains all the little beauty and lifestyle goodies. The ‘For night’ box contains night sanitary towels, they send these as well as the tampons or sanitary towels you choose. The ‘For now’ little drawstring bag contains a couple of the sanitary items you choose, ideal to pop into your handbag! I keep these bags stocked up all over the place, I have one in my bag, one in my car, one in my work drawer and one in my work bag that I carry back and forth…Well prepared! Lastly the ‘For later’ box contains more of the sanitary items you chose.

April’s goodies!

The April box had some body wash, lip scrub, an eyeliner, under eye mask, perfume, some little chocolates and a tea bag! It’s a great way to try products that you wouldn’t necessarily have tried. However I haven’t tried any of this month’s products yet, not even the chocolate!! Boxes I’ve had in the past have had some bloody great products though! Excuse the accidentally hideous pun. I’m particularly excited about the under eye mask as I’m carrying some seriously large bags at the moment!

What I think.

I had subscribed to pink parcel over a year ago and kept it for a while, the only reason I had cancelled was in a bid to save money for Disney! I missed my monthly goodies though and signed up again ready for April’s box, I didn’t enjoy buying stupidly expensive tampons when there were no goodies or chocolate to soften the blow! The price of Pink Parcel has gone up since I was last subscribed but in my opinion it’s still well worth it. You receive more than enough tampons etc to get you through the month with some left! Before when I used to receive these monthly boxes I ended up with a stock pile of the night sanitary towels that I never really used so I’ve decided this time round when they build up again I can donate them to women and girls who can’t afford them or who are homeless, I noticed my local bank were accepting donations the other day! I just love that when you’re feeling a bit crappy thanks to the spots having a party on your face and stomach cramps that force you to cling on to that hot water bottle like your life depends on it you have a well deserved little treat to look forward to! So a big smiley face and thumbs up recommendation from me!

After all menstruation is no joke. Period. -Misha x

An interview with my mum.

Last night I had a lovely evening with my mum, we went to our local Indian restaurant, ordered far too much food then whipped over to Wetherspoons for cocktails. I saw the opportunity for this post because when I started planning future blog ideas I knew this was one that I wanted to write as there’s questions I’ve never actually asked my mum that I thought would be fun to document! You’re next on my list Grandma!

What was the most rebellious thing you did in high school?

Sitting in the sand dunes during cross country and waiting for everyone to come back was about the most rebellious thing!

Like mother like daughter, I had a permanent ‘sick note’ from P.E lessons thanks to my friend’s letter writing skills! However I was always magically cured if the lesson involved netball or dance 🤔

When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up?

A nurse.

How old were you when you had me?

28.

Had you been trying for a baby?

Yes for about two years, I was taking Clomid fertility tablets and doing temperature charts.

I’m your only child, did you only ever want one or did I put you off having more?

I think it was just circumstances and the Doctor even said I was an older mother having you at 28!

At this point I put down my cocktail and exclaimed ‘Whaaaat!?’ Considering I’m 27 and having a baby isn’t on my ‘to do’ list for a little while! Mum tried to reassure me that times have changed. I then prompted her to answer the question she had expertly avoided, had I put her off?! Apparently not. 🙄

Who was the first person you told that you were pregnant?

Your Dad then Grandma and Grandpa.

My beautiful Grandma!

My incredible Grandpa and I .💛

What did you love about being pregnant?

Eating! I also liked being able to feel you moving.

Can I just point out that we are definitely mother and daughter…Mum mentioned eating before being able to feel me moving! 😄

What did you want to name me if I was a boy?

I’m not even sure we had any boys names!

Were there any other girls names you liked other than Misha?

Well we liked the name Paris from Mica Paris (she is a singer) but then realised we liked Mica instead but chose to change the spelling to try and prevent it being pronounced wrong. We also liked Autumn.

This was all news to me and I couldn’t actually believe it because Autumn is my favourite girls name! For some reason all these years I thought it was between Misha and Summer! I must have had my seasons muddled up!

What did you think I was going to be when I grew up?

Well you were convinced you were going to be a lollipop lady so that! I thought you were going to be a nurse though.

I had huge goals. For anyone that doesn’t know a lollipop lady, or man, wears fluorescent clothes and stands at busy crossing areas near schools during school run times carrying a large sign on a stick. They walk out into the road to stop traffic to make it safe for children and parents to cross over. Usually these people are retired! Haha!

Did you ever lose me? Like at the shops?

Yes but only briefly, not for very long. I think we just went down different aisles!

Did I ever embarrass you as a child?

No I don’t think you ever did!

I don’t think I believe that.

In what ways do you think we are similar?

Our personalities, sense of humour and taste in clothes, although I wouldn’t wear what you wear I do like it.

To be fair I would probably still wear this outfit and I’m reppin’ Mickey Mouse still at the age of 27!

In what ways do you think we’re not alike?

You’re beautiful, you’re more ditzy and you’re vegetarian.

I argued the beautiful point because of course my mum is beautiful!

Thank you for answering my questions Mum, Love you lots. -Misha x

March Favourites 🌻

Hello! I’ve previously admitted to being a lover of blogs/vlogs/YouTube videos and one of my favourites to read and watch are monthly favourites! I love to know what other people are enjoying as it’s a great way to find out about products etc that I wouldn’t have necessarily tried! So here’s my very mixed bag of March favourites!

Shorter hair!

I started the month with new hair! On the 1st of March I had a hair appointment, the beast from the east was visiting us so I battled my way through the snow ok admittedly the snow had stopped and when I say ‘battled’ I mean I walked 2 minutes round the corner clinging on to Dr Robotnik through fear of slipping. I’ve always had long hair, it’s kind of a comfort but the last few times I’ve braved having it cut slightly shorter so I continued that braveness is that a word? I was so pleased with the outcome, it was definitely the shortest it’s been since I was young but my goodness it takes much less time to wash and dry and I can actually be bothered to style it instead of my usual wash & go technique!

Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector.

Anybody that knows me knows that I don’t go anywhere without hand cream, due to my job I’m forever washing my hands and this winter my hands have really suffered! It started to feel like nothing was really working, my hands were so dry and sore. It was time to pull out the big guns. Body shop hemp hand cream has rave reviews and I’m years late to the party as I had previously let the smell put me off. I’ve been using it before bed as it works better when it has time to work, I’ve used my normal hand cream during the day in between washing my hands. After just one night my hands felt better and now a couple of weeks later they’re cured! I don’t even really mind the scent anymore, it kind of reminds me of Amsterdam 😂 Total miracle cream and I’ll never be without it now!

Body Shop Strawberry Shampoo & Conditioner.

Sticking with the body shop theme I had ordered this shampoo & conditioner at the same time as the hand cream and I’m in love. I had originally ordered it to leave at work (I sleep at work so shower there once or twice a week) but it’s not quite made it there yet as I want to use it more! The smell is beautiful and it actually lasts, more often than not shampoos that smell amazing don’t usually stick around once you’re actually out of the shower but this does! It even has Dr Robotnik’s seal of approval as he has used it a few times too! I now need to buy more to leave at work, and to hide from Dr Robotnik!

Lucy & Yak Dungarees.

I can’t even tell you how long I’ve lusted after the beautiful brightly coloured dungarees on Lucy & Yak’s Instagram page. I love the ethos of the brand too, their website explains it far better than me but they have been working to make sure that everybody involved in the production process are happy with a comfortable working environment. The dungarees come in a reusable material bag that is 100% recycled and the mailing bags are 100% biodegradable. The clothing comes without tags all in a bid to reduce the use of plastic wonderful am I right!? Beginning of March I finally ordered some and they did not disappoint, they are BEYOND comfortable and I’m all about that comfort chic style ✌ I was a bit of a chicken and when faced with all the fantastic colours to choose from I chose…black. I opted for black as I had never braved dungarees of this style before and just wanted something nice and easy to style that can be worn with most things! However since receiving them I now have eyes on the blue, maroon and green ones! I feel they may accidentally fall into my shopping basket very soon! The quality of the dungarees are top notch and they are so soft! I’m raging that I ever have to wear any other clothes in my wardrobe to be honest.

Dr Foster.

I was very late to climb aboard the Dr Foster bandwagon! It was one of those things I kept saying to Dr Robotnik that we needed to watch but never seemed to get round to it! One night we were doing our usual flicking through Netflix trying to find something to watch that we both agreed on this usually means an hour of looking through everything then turning Netflix back off due to conflict of interests 😄 Along came Dr Foster, I was instantly hooked, it would have been easy to binge watch right there and then if I didn’t need to be up at silly o’clock the next morning! It took us no time at all to watch the first series and we found ourselves looking forward to getting home and watching it! We’re now in the middle of watching the second series but as it’s not on Netflix we’re watching it on occasional evening’s at Dr Robotnik’s mum’s 😄 Totally recommend, Suranne Jones is incredible.

Great British Bake Off, Stand Up To Cancer.

Anything that involves cake & Noel Fielding is a winner in my book! I bloody love the bake off so this has made my Tuesday evenings magical!

This blog!

That’s right I’m putting my own blog and blogging into my monthly favourites as it has definitely been one of my favourite ways to pass the time in March! I’ve wanted to start a blog for absolutely ages and I’m so proud of myself that this month I’ve actually started it instead of just talking about it! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing the posts and planning future ideas. Yay for dogsanddungarees!

March playlist!

11 year old Misha would have been buzzing to be up front of the Alien Ant Farm gig….but so was 27 year old Misha!

Below is a playlist on Spotify of all the songs I’ve been loving throughout March! As you can see there’s more variety than a Woolworths pick ‘n’ mix! None of them are particularly new out or anything, some are all time favourites like Offspring, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Sublime, No Doubt and Korn because I don’t think a month goes by without listening to them! Alot of the playlist is heavily influenced by the fact that we have booked Slam Dunk tickets so I’ve been listening to a lot of the bands that will be attending as I’m like an excitable puppy! I was lucky enough to see Alien Ant Farm, Bowling For Soup & Soil in February so a couple of them managed to sneak their way into the list.. Especially AAF, I had the best time seeing them! I managed to get right up front, I needed the toilet all the way through their set but refused to let go of that front barrier as it’s no fun being 5″3 at gigs! I also discovered a love for ‘The Front Bottoms’ in March! Well that’s something I never thought I’d write! Unfortunately I didn’t discover this love earlier and missed an opportunity to see them in Norwich February!

Can we just take a moment to marvel at my technical genius for somehow getting this Spotify thingy on here.. I did it all by myself! Fingers crossed that it actually works!

So that’s it for March! Thank you for taking the time to read! Please let me know what you’ve been loving throughout March! 💛 -Misha x

My March 2018!

Hello! Are you ready for me to waffle on about absolutely nothing and everything all at once?! Definitely just bust out a little bit of Green Day then! I’m a super sentimental person so felt writing a diary style post about March would be a wonderful way for future Misha to look back on and reminisce!

March started off very white and cold! Norfolk was a real life winter wonderland and I was enjoying it for once! My job isn’t one where a snow day really exists so in the past I’ve powered on through and slid my way into work, special shout out to the year the buses stopped running and I waddled home pregnant penguin style with my excessively large overnight bag, falling over every 10 steps. This year however my two days off fell on the two worst days of snow so I was very smug, to make it better Dr Robotnik had the same days off! I declared it too dangerous to go out anywhere and held Dr Robotnik captive. We ate all the bad food and chocolate…I allowed Dr Robotnik out to fetch supplies. We had a really nice two days of chilling, literally. We took the dogs out on our road to have a little play in the snow, to our surprise our cold weather/rain hating Pebbles was having the time of her life. Ginger not so much. We did however practise Ginger’s recall and she was spot on.

On the 1st March I had a hair appointment booked and I was not about to miss it. Luckily for me my hairdressers is a short 3 minute walk round the corner. Dr Robotnik being the hero that he is walked me round so that I could cling onto him through the snow! He knows I’m a liability. I was very brave and had quite a lot cut off!

I’ve done quite a bit of overtime this month so haven’t really had much time for galavanting or adventures, just the usual dog walks and crashing out on the sofa after work. Rock and roll.

Mid March I was getting slightly fed up, I adore my job and little home life but felt like I wanted to channel some energy elsewhere and after the endless conversations with Dr Robotnik beginning with ‘one day I will…’ I actually started this blog. Dr Robotnik was a total babe about it all, he whipped out his laptop with Photoshop and helped me think up a name for the blog. The name actually took a few days because nothing felt right. Once Dogs&Dungarees was decided Dr Robotnik worked his magic and made my little logo 🌻 He was very patient with me throughout the whole process because I’m stupidly indecisive. So on top of work and extra hours I was really enjoying working away on my first posts and planning future ones, I’m so pleased I finally got there!

I got to spend a bit of time with my friend Shellie and her lovely little family. She has the most squishable babies! Her little boy is 2 & 1/2 years old and her little girl is 6 months old. There’s exactly two years between them both, Shellie has always been the most organised one of our friendship group so naturally her babies were born the same day! They made us a lunch at their house one day and I was allowed to play with tools! A couple of weeks ago we also went bowling. I lost. Even beaten by the two year old 😎

Ginger started her puppy training classes in March and she’s taken to it very well, she’s so eager to please and lives for the praise so we think she will enjoy staying on for more training once she’s completed her puppy course, it’ll be nice to see her do well as she’s a clever little thing behind those soppy eyes!

Please note: Not my hairy legs!

The end of March arrived and due to Easter falling on 1st April this year it was Good Friday, I just worked but was lucky enough to get Easter Sunday off. Saturday 31st evening we went out with some friends to ‘The Fur & Feather’ absolutely beautiful pub joined to Woodfordes Brewery. I had a Beetroot Risotto, it was pink so I was loving life! If you’re local I really recommend this place it has a nice atmosphere, good food and good beer!

Let’s just ignore the fact this is supposed to be about March because I’m now going to talk about the 1st of April! Easter Sunday was spent at Dr Robotnik’s sister’s house as she had kindly put on a buffet and Easter egg hunt for us and her two little ones so that was lots of fun! During the evening I went out with my bestie Jen, she turned 27 the day before so we needed to celebrate! First we devoured an Indian then headed to Wetherspoons for cocktails! We have come to the conclusion that at 27 years old we’re not cut out for going ‘out out’ anymore, sat in our comfortable clothes quietly catching up and people watching we saw some sights! At one point I was stood at the bar waiting to be served and had squealing girls one side, I’m under no illusion that I’m sometimes prone to a squeal or two with my unusually high pitched voice but this was another level, then the other side of me was a bickering couple because the boy had left her to chat to someone she didn’t know but they soon made up and with it being Great Yarmouth their conversation turned into one that I won’t repeat here! 🙉 I was very grateful when I finally got my beer & Jen’s vodka and retreated back to our quiet corner!

Happy 27th birthday Jen!

March was a lovely little month! I’m hoping to write one of these posts for each month as I have lots of awesome plans this year that I want to document and look back on. Hello future Misha reading this! Peace out! -Misha x

Cruelty Free & Vegan Beauty 💄

Today’s post is slightly different, I started this blog to write about lovely things that will make me happy but at the same time I feel that subjects like this should be spoken about more.

Cruelty free beauty.

I’m not too sure how we’ve got to 2018 and testing on animals is still a thing! Admittedly up until recently I had been completely naive to just how many brands are not cruelty free! We’ve come so far in science and research that animal testing is in my very humble little opinion is completely unnecessary, you’d think figures were declining but I was saddened to read that animal testing figures are on the rise in some parts of the world. Unfortunately fully knowing if products are cruelty free or not is a bit of a minefield. Although brands may claim that they are ‘committed to the elimination of animal testing’ – Estée Lauder they could be involved with selling in the Chinese market where animal testing is required by law. It’s also difficult to know if companies use third parties to test their products or ingredients.

Vegan beauty.

I can almost hear the sighs coming from people because I mentioned the ‘v’ word but there is a difference between cruelty free and vegan products that aren’t always clear. Just because a product may claim to be cruelty free it doesn’t necessarily make it vegan friendly as it could contain ingredients using animal by-products. I’m talking about Collagen, Carmine, Beeswax, Keratin, Guanine, Lanolin and Squalane. Again this is something I’ve been slightly naive to. I knew this happened but just wasn’t really aware of how much. I remember the moment when I was a college student studying beauty therapy and was learning about Lanolin, I was completely horrified to find out this was sheep sebum found in a lot of moisturiser, it completely grossed me out. I think however Lanolin can be sourced humanely from sheared sheep wool. This all may sound very hypocritical as I am not a vegan and I don’t currently follow a vegan lifestyle, however that’s something I’m hoping to change but that’s another post for another day.

I’ve now made the decision that I don’t want any part in the suffering of animals for the sake of my long lashes and pink cheeks, especially as there are some fabulous cruelty free and vegan alternatives out there.

I’ve spent my adult years trying out different makeup items and building up a collection of favourites that I like and always repurchase but after some research then looking inside my makeup bag it’s clear I now need to start searching for new favourites as pretty much my entire staple products that I use daily are now no longer cool with me.

I love and adore all of the products I currently use and I will continue to use them whilst searching for alternatives or until they have run out/expired as I wouldn’t want them to go to waste, I will just choose not to repurchase them.

I would really appreciate some recommendations of cruelty free and vegan make-up or skin care brands! Some brands that I’ll be looking into are Kat Von D, NYX, Body Shop, Tarte, Charlotte Tilbury, Urban Decay and Anastasia Beverly Hills as I’ve either owned other products of theirs previously or heard amazing things about them!

I am planning on writing a follow up post about the changes I’ve made when I have found some replacements for what I currently have and show what products I’ve swapped to etc as hopefully it will help others in my current situation!

I hope this post hasn’t come across preachy or pushy in any way. I do respect everybody has their own opinion and we are all different. Thank you for reading. Normal service shall resume with more sunshine, rainbows and happy posts soon 😄 -Misha x