True Tea Club Review*

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, or follow me over on my social media, I’m sure you will know by now how much I love tea! I was recently contacted by the True Tea Club asking if I would like to review one of their subscription boxes on my blog. Well, of course, I said yes! Any excuse to try different teas and then tell you all about them! A few days later a little box arrived in the post, and I was so excited to see what was inside.

On opening up the box, I found four sachets of loose-leaf tea, presented beautifully on a bed of shredded paper. There was a little note inside, explaining all about the subscription box and where their teas originate. What I really loved was, on the back of the note, was a table showing a brewing guide for the different types of tea they stock. I don’t think it’s something I’ve ever really seen before, and although I drink a lot of tea, I didn’t realise there were different ways to make different teas.

In my box were four different sachets and four empty tea bags to use if you don’t have an infuser. There is also an option to let the company know if there is a particular tea you have fallen out of love with, and they will make sure they don’t include it in your future boxes.

True Tea Club are based in York, which is lovely, as I like to try and support UK businesses. They specialise in seven loose-leaf teas – white tea, green tea, black tea, oolong, chai, rooibos and herbal tea, so there really is something for everyone! You can choose from three different levels of subscription:

1.    Standard (40 teas/£10 per month)

2.    Premium (60 teas/£15 per month)

3.    Deluxe (80 teas/£20 per month)

So again, there’s a box to suit all tastes and needs, whether you drink tea now and again, or drink it every single day (like me!) Delivery is free if you live in the UK, or £3.75 for international customers. Each month you will receive four different loose-leaf teas, which will change every month, so you get to try all sorts of different flavours. Subscribers also get an exclusive 15% off the True Tea Club online shop so you can buy any teas you discover in your subscription box and really love. And if you decide you no longer want to receive your monthly tea treats, you can cancel at any time.

I was really impressed with the quality of the teas – look how beautiful the ‘Rainbow Chaser’ tea is! My particular favourite was the ‘Mighty Mango,’ which has a beautifully strong, fruity flavour, perfect for going into the spring and summer months. My Dad had a try of the teas too, and really loved the ‘Earl Grey Rebel.’ Overall, I’m really impressed with the teas I received and I love the idea of a tea subscription service.

If you’d like to give the True Tea Club subscription a try, you can get 50% off your first subscription box by using the code “LOVE” at the checkout.

You can check out the club on their social media - Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

What do you think of the True Tea Club subscription? Is it something you would try out, or can you recommend another subscription service for me to try?

*This subscription box was kindly send to me by True Tea Club to review. However, all opinions are my own and I will only ever talk about items that fit with my lifestyle/blog.

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January Happiness Project Round-Up

This year I decided to give my own Happiness Project another go after failing a bit with the last one I tried. If you’ve never heard of The Happiness Project before, you can check out my introduction to it here. I made a sort of bucket list for each month of things I would like to do and also national days I could celebrate. Some I came up with myself, and some I found on Pinterest. But I made sure not to put any pressure on myself to do them all because that would just take away from the whole idea of it being a project to increase my happiness! I said in that post that I would share my project with you over the next year, so today I thought I would go through the things I did throughout January.

First up on my list was to set up a new planner and calendar – a job that definitely needs to be done at the beginning of the year. This is something I tended to do anyway to be honest, but I really enjoy doing it, so I thought I would pop it on my list! I ordered myself a cute Boofle calendar at the end of December, so started by filling that in with birthdays, anniversaries and any appointments I already knew about. Next was my Filofax - I’ve had a Filofax for about ten years now and absolutely love how simple they are to keep. I used to use it as a diary and address book, but now I keep my addresses on my iPhone, the Filofax is mainly an appointments diary. So I filled it in with the same birthdays, anniversaries and appointments as my calendar. I love to be organised and know what I’m meant to be doing – it helps me feel happier because I can plan and keep up with my commitments. But I really wish I could make more time to perhaps keep a more detailed and pretty planner like a Bullet Journal or drawing/scrapbook-type journal. I think I will have to make a list as the year goes on, of ideas that come out of doing this project that I would like to make more of an effort to do.

Something I was really keen to put on my list for each month was to buy flowers. There’s something about having fresh flowers in the house that really lifts my mood, and because no one is going to buy them for me, the next best thing is to buy them for myself! Rather than just buying a random bunch of flowers each month, I’ve tried to specify a type of flower (or bunch) instead. For January, my goal was to buy some white roses, as I always think they are a good winter flower. But I do love a bit of colour, and white roses on their own can be a bit boring. So I chose this bunch of pink and white roses from Waitrose that go with my room décor perfectly.

Next on my January bucket list was to have a Snow Fairy and Epsom salts bath. A bit random I know, but I’m terrible at making time for myself to have a nice bath (please don’t think that means I don’t wash though!) I have one or two (OK, probably more like five!) bottles of Snow Fairy that I stocked up on over Christmas, and it’s got to be one of my favourite Lush products of all time. I’ve also recently been trying out Epsom salts/Magnesium Flakes in my baths to try and help with my muscle pain, but I just don’t make an effort to use them enough. So this was a good excuse to really pamper myself with a lovely relaxing bath. I definitely enjoyed it and really need to make myself take proper bubble baths more often, rather than just a quick dip or hair wash.

Another goal on my list for this month was to light winter candles. I have a ridiculous amount of candles – I just can’t help myself, I love them so much! But I’m terrible at lighting them (are you sensing a theme throughout this post?!) So I decided to light my Yankee Candle, Snowflake Cookie, which is a gorgeous candle for the winter months. It’s quite sweet, so if you’re not a fan of sickly sweet candles this one probably isn’t for you, but I’ve got a real sweet tooth. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly Christmassy in my opinion, which is good as you can continue to burn it into the new year (although let’s be honest, I burn Christmas candles all year round!) I’ve got goals to burn different candles throughout the year, so am quite excited to see what new ones come out for different seasons, despite the fact I really don’t need to buy any more candles!

As well as having some bucket list items on my list for each month, I’ve also found some national days that would be fun to mark. Most of them are quite random and light-hearted, although there are some more serious ones that I felt were important to include. The first one for January was National Bubble Bath Day on the 8th. I know I’ve already included a bath-related goal for this month, but there’s no such as thing as too many baths as far as I’m concerned. So I chose a Lush product from my Christmas collection, The Christmas Penguin, and also added a bit of bubble bath from Treacle Moon (who by the way I love!) to make it really bubbly.

Organised Home Day came next, on the 14th, and this was something I will always have things to do for! No matter how much time I spend tidying and organising, there always seems to be more to do. I actually really enjoy tidying and organising though, which may sound a bit weird to some people, but I just find it quite relaxing and I love the end result when everything looks tidy. I decided to focus on my make-up storage, as I recently purchased the Alex 9-drawer unit from IKEA and have been meaning to start sorting out my make-up for a while. First, I worked out which products will go in each drawer and wrote that down so I had something to work on. Then I found a load of old boxes from My Little Box and Birchbox, which I thought would be perfect for organising each drawer into smaller section. And then I started to put my make-up and skincare into the different drawers. I’ve still got some to do, but I’ve made a good start.

The 18th of January was Winnie the Pooh Day, and as a lifelong lover of Winnie the Pooh I knew I needed to do something to mark it. It was a bit of a challenge thinking of something creative to do, especially with limited time and energy, so in the end I just spent some time reading through one of my old Winnie the Pooh books that I’ve kept from my childhood. I love the beautiful illustrations, and the words bring back so many lovely memories of my parents reading me these stories when I was little. I wish I could have thought of something a bit more exciting to do, but the whole idea of this project is to do things that make me happy, and this certainly did. If I do this again next year, then maybe I can think of something different to do. Perhaps you can give me some suggestions if you have any?!

The day after, the 19th, was Popcorn Day, and what better way to enjoy popcorn than at the cinema?! I have to just add in here that I didn’t always mark these days on the right dates – that was going to get too complicated! But my friend Charlie kindly invited me to go to the cinema with her, her husband and two children to see Sing, and I jumped at the chance. As soon as I saw the trailer last year I knew it was a film that I needed to see, so I was really excited to watch it and thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed. We were all singing along and dancing in our seats all the way through, and it’s definitely something I will be getting when it comes out on DVD. I always used to be a sweet popcorn lover, but just recently I’ve been craving salty food, so opted for salted popcorn. I kind of wish I’d gone for a mixture of both, but hey, there’s always next time.

National Hug Day came on the 21st, and there’s nothing I love better than a good hug. Unfortunately, being single, I don’t get many opportunities for hugs, so I tend to turn to my family, friends and pets for a bit of love. On this particular day, Freddie came and sat on my lap as he often does, and gave me a lovely long cuddle. A hug from him (or any of our pets) will always lift my mood if I’m feeling down. He doesn’t judge me or ask any questions, it’s just unconditional love (and kisses!) I think everyone needs a Freddie in their life!

The last goal I managed to achieve this month was celebrating Chinese New Year on the 28th. I always used to love getting a Chinese, with my favourite being sweet and sour chicken balls with egg fried rice. But over the last few years my digestive problems have got a lot worse and I struggle to manage food like this any more. But my family were all having some, so I thought I might as well give it a go and just have a nibble of some of my favourite things. Waitrose were doing a deal on their Chinese range, so we decided to get some bits from there, and ended up getting a whole feast! I did enjoy getting to taste some of my favourite Chinese foods again, but unfortunately I was quite poorly afterwards.

So, that was all of the things I managed to do in January, but I did have a few more things on my list that I didn’t quite accomplish. I thought I would share them with you too, just in case you’re looking for ideas for your own list. I’m going to hold onto all these ideas and either fit them in as the year goes on, or do the project again next year! The goals I didn’t manage this month were:

o   Write a 2017 reading list

o   Blue manicure and pedicure

o   Decorate my home for winter

o   Read by the fire

o   Go on a winter adventure

o   Make soup

o   Build a snowman (we had no snow!)

o   Blue Monday (Bright Monday) – 16th

o   Handwriting Day – 23rd

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing how I got on with my January Happiness Project. I’d love to hear your comments and if you’ve done/are doing a similar project I would love to hear all about it too!

Have you done a Happiness Project before? What do you think of the idea?

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Sunday Snippets - 5th March 2017

If you’ve read my last few Sunday Snippets posts, you’ll know I’ve been struggling with a nasty virus for the last few weeks. So, this week, I decided to finally give in and take some time off university. I’m rubbish at listening to my body and giving myself time to get better, but it had got to the point where I realised if I kept going, I was just going to get more ill. Taking a couple of days off definitely helped, and I’m gradually starting to feel better (although I’ve woken up today with a really sore throat, so I’m keeping everything crossed it doesn’t mean I’m going downhill again!)

I got up fairly late last Sunday morning and after I’d had my breakfast, I sorted out my medication for the week ahead. I felt absolutely awful – my breathing was really bad and I felt like I was going to collapse. For the rest of the morning I watched The Simpsons and wrote and uploaded a blog post. After I’d had my Fortisip, I imported some photos off my camera, edited them and sent them off to go with an article I’d written. I was still feeling quite wiped out, so rested on the sofa and read through my essay to make sure it was OK to submit. 101 Dalmatians came on the TV, so I watched that, opened some post and dozed a bit. We had some family friends over for dinner, which was nice, as we hadn’t seen them for a while. Once we’d finished, Freddie sat on Rosiie’s lap, rested his head on the table and dozed off. It was on Sunday evening that I decided to take a couple of days off Uni.

I had a bit of a lie in on Monday morning, which was just what I needed. I spent the morning editing my January Happiness Project video and uploading it to my YouTube channel. I had hoped to do the blog post as well, but I ran out of time. I rested on the sofa for a bit and did some Law reading for Uni. I needed to get out of the house, so my Dad took me over to the wheelchair place, as I needed to find a different chair to the one we originally looked at. The sales person was just leaving but pointed out a chair that might be suitable. He asked us if we could go back on Wednesday for a proper chat. When I got home I wrote my cards for March and did some more reading. I wore this new jumper from New Look, which made me feel nice. I actually felt like I’d made a bit of an effort, without having to put any extra energy in.

As I’d decided to take Tuesday off Uni, I had another lie in to try and catch up on some more sleep. I woke up feeling pretty rubbish, but wanted to be productive so put some make-up on and filmed a video for my YouTube channel. I then took a few photos of something I’ve been sent to review on my blog and gave my room a quick blitz with the handheld hoover. It completely wiped me out (but desperately needed doing) so I collapsed on the sofa, had my Fortisip and watched The Coroner. My friend, Sarah, was heading home, so my Mum and I popped over the road to look after baby Charlie while she packed the car. He was being so cute pulling funny faces at me and I managed to get a few smiles. My Mum then took me down to the chemist so I could speak to the pharmacist, and she recommended a different cough medicine. When I got home I wrote a couple of penpal letters and rested on the sofa. In the evening, we had pancakes, which I normally really love, but I felt so sick, it made it impossible to enjoy them.

I had counseling first thing on Wednesday morning. The last couple of weeks have been pretty crap, so it was good to have someone to talk things through with. My Dad picked me up and we went over to the wheelchair place to have a chat with the salesman about a different chair. I put a deposit on a second-hand Pride Fusion, which is rather exciting! When we got home all I wanted to do was sleep, but instead I edited and uploaded the video I filmed on Tuesday to my YouTube channel. It’s quite an important one for Eating Disorder Awareness Week, so if you’d like to hear about my eating disorder story, you can check it out here. In the afternoon I caught up on The Moorside, which I’d recorded, and did some Uni work on my laptop. I had this little fellow keeping me company, although he was more concerned about the cat he could see out of the window! I felt really strange all day – my whole body felt weak, I was struggling to move my arms and legs properly and was finding breathing really difficult. I get this quite a lot, but it doesn’t get any easier to deal with.

Thursday started quite early with a trip to the Doctors for a blood test. Somehow they managed to get it first time, which is unheard of for me! But for some reason I felt really faint, so when I got home I lay on the sofa and fell asleep. I didn’t feel brilliant when my Mum woke me up, but I had an appointment at the hairdressers, so my Mum took me down there. They gave me a cup of tea and I felt a little better after that. It was nice to just spend a bit of time reading a magazine and being pampered. I rested when I got home and watched a bit of TV. My Dad and I then went over to the Peugeot dealership and I had a test-drive of the 2008 SUV. It was quite nice, but felt a bit different, as it was a semi-automatic. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some Law reading and watching Death in Paradise. My New Look order arrived, which included this awesome cat t-shirt!

I decided to give university a try on Friday, as I didn’t want to miss too much and we do some pretty important stuff on Fridays. Our morning lecture was about research methods for our dissertation, specifically surveys. I just can’t get my head around this whole dissertation thing at the moment. At lunchtime I met up with my mentor for 15 minutes and then caught up on a few blog emails. In the afternoon we had our Law lecture and oh my goodness, my brain felt completely fried by the end of it! We were talking about being self-employed and how your sort out everything like tax, VAT, insurance, pensions etc. It all seems to complicated, but I need to start understanding it if I do go into freelance work. When I got home I fell asleep for quite a while. I then opened a few letters that had come in the post, including one from Victoria, who writes over at Lily loves Lola, with this adorable pug stamp!

I had a bit of a lie in on Saturday morning, then my Dad and I went over to the Ford dealership to look at a couple more cars. We looked at the B-Max and the EcoSport, and I had a test-drive in the EcoSport. It was a really nice drive and the boot opening is pretty big so will fit my wheelchair and the hoist. So I bought it! Well, technically I’m getting it on the Motability scheme, but we did all the paperwork and sorted it all out, which is very exciting. This isn’t the colour I’ve gone for – I’ll leave that as a surprise for you! I’m not going to get it until June time, but it’s something to look forward to and I’m happy to have it sorted. By the time we got home I was exhausted, so I had my lunch and then fell asleep on the sofa for a while. I had the most painful acid reflux/pain all day. Every time I breathed in it got worse and it felt like someone was stabbing me inside. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching YouTube videos and writing a blog post.

You can check out my YouTube channel here, where I have recently uploaded a few new videos (and hope to continue doing!)

I’m also trying to post on Snapchat a bit more, so if you fancy following me, my username is Jennycole44.

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What have you been up to this week? I always enjoy hearing about your news and adventures!

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