What I'm wearing in Christchurch

Christchurch by liza-aldridge

Back into my Rohan jeans for the flight from Sydney - I couldn't face putting the trainers on so I wore a little pair of blue Clarks pumps which are much lighter!

Today in Christchurch it was a little bit cooler, so I'm in the Rohan linen pants, with a grey T (which is really a pyjama top from Sainsbury's!!) and a lovely dark coral cardie from Rocha.John.Rocha @ Debenhams. Accessorised with a coral button necklace from Evans (I love evans jewellery) and my orange sarong/scarf.

Solid goodness

I've been using Lush's solid shampoo for quite a few years...it's really easy to use, and takes up a lot less room in my wash bag than a normal bottle of shampoo, oh and it weighs less too. So when planning for this holiday, I've gone to Lush for quite a few of my cosmetic products as they do quite a good range of "should be liquid but we've made them solid" items.

I've added the items to a list on Pinterest - click on any of them above and you'll be taken through to the lush website for more info on the item.

• Toothy Tabs - small pellets of tooth cleaning paste which you chew to turn in to toothpaste for brushing. Now, I've not actually used this yet so watch this space for updates. I bought the Sparkle one...vanilla and pepper flavour!!! I'll let you know what it's like once I try them. 

• Number 1 on my list is the shampoo - I've used quite a few of the different bars. I think they must have a dozen or so different types for all your hair washing requirements. I keep going back to 'Ultimate Shine' as it just seems to work for me! Pros: Small, light, lasts for ages. Cons: If you leave it in water it'll melt and go soggy. If you go to the lush website people have all sorts of ingenious ideas for drying it off before putting it away, but I actually keep mine (and use it) in one of those little mesh bags which were popular a few years ago for putting your washing tablets in the washing machine. This means that I can hang it up to dry in the shower, AND, when the soap bar is too small to use, I pop the next one in the bag and the small one gets used up alongside it

• Metal tins - originally designed by lush to keep the round solid shampoo bars in, and then they expanded to square ones for things like the conditioner and the deodorant bars, and oval ones for the massage bars. They're little stainless steel tins which can be used for everything. Not cheap, but I got mine free when I bought 3 shampoos! They work for loads of things. On this trip I have the conditioner in one, and I'm now going to keep the shampoo just in its net bag, so I can use the shampoo tin for my hand cream bar! Pros: light, reusable, protects the bars from the other contents of your wash bag. Cons: can be difficult to open with went hands!!! (Solution to that is to take the shampoo/conditioner out BEFORE getting into the shower.)

• Next on the list is the solid conditioner block. This is their 2nd solid conditioner. The first was 'Jungle' which I didn't really get on with. There's a bit of a learning curve for some of these products, and Jungle and I just couldn't get along. Now they've brought out 'Big Solid' conditioner, and I'm sold! It's a cream bar which you rub in your hands a bit until there's a creamy residue on your hands, just like a conditioner, which you then rub into your hair. Done! Pros: Smells lovely, leaves my hair very soft. Cons: when you rub it in to your hair, unlike liquid conditioners, you don't get the slippy, detangling feeling you're used to, so initially it can be easy to apply too much. You get the hang of it quite quickly though.

• Finally there's the 'tiny hands' hand cream / moisture cream - a small bar the shape of a tiny hand - which you hold between your palms until a bit melts. It's a satisfying experience. Takes about 10 seconds. You then rub this into your hands, legs and whatever you think needs some moisture. Pros: Lasts for ages, smells nice, disappears into your skin very quickly   Cons: The bar is often a little too greasy to go immediately back in your handbag. So at the moment I'm keeping it in the lush paper bag, but I have just read on the website that people often keep it in one of the shampoo tins, so I'll try that next.

Let me know if you try any of these products. I'm a convert. What do you think?

Noodletastic!

Very hot potato curry, noodles, and parathas for brekkie this morning

I added a grilled tomato for extra vitamin value!

Dan added some bacon, and some steamed bun things, to his curry and noodles.

Makes a change from museli :)

Weather today

It's hot hot hot, but not sunny. In fact it's looking rather gloomy and overcast!

Nice Honeymoon Upgrade

When we got to the hotel yesterday afternoon, we got the very nice surprise of an upgrade to a suite!

HUUUUGE bed!












Nice lounge














And some lovely fruit and a cake which says 'happy honeymoon!

We feel properly spoiled!

The boring bit about travelling...

...is the bit where you have to sit and mind the bags, whilst your other half goes off for a wander!!!

Yo!

So, it's become a bit of a holiday tradition (3 holidays and counting) where we've gone to Yo! Sushi in the airport as a pre-holiday tea.

Now, what you have to know is that I completely LOOOOOVE Yo! Ever since our LAST trip to New Zealand, where Rukmini taught me how to make my own, and Dan bought me some sushi rice, seaweed and a rolling mat, I've been really in to the whole Sushi thing I was super impressed that Rukmini's kids took sushi rolls to school in their sandwich boxes. 

Anyhoo...the 1st few times we went to the one in Harvey Nicks (dwahling) we had a couple of really nice dishes (1) miso cod - a really slow cooked soft dish of cod - Amazing flavour, and (2) Dan had the soft shelled crab. One of his fave things in the universe. I had the plain old sushi rolls - I. just. love. them!

Next couple of visits, both of those dishes were 'off' for one reason or another. I think one of the reasons was the volcano exploding in Iceland disrupted their product supply so either the cod, the crab, or both weren't around. 

This made Dan - Mr Stubborn - decide not to go there - ever - again!

That was, until a few holidays ago, when we were at Stanstead (Seville it must have been) and I spotted a Yo! in the airport. In we went for a nice bit of Sushi. Still no Crab or Cod but it was lovely and it is a nice thing to do on hols.

Next time we were in Heathrow (can't even remember why!!!) and we ended up in a Yo...so this time, I even prepared him mentally for the fact that we were going to have to go there.

This time, there actually WAS soft shelled crab! See pic --->

Dan was chuffed to bits.

So was I, coz it meant that he wasn't chomping at the bit to get away, and I could spent a lot of time looking at all the little trays of food going around on the conveyor belt. I love that bit!  

On this particular occasion, they had a promotion on - some super expensive dishes which were £6 a plate. Usually they are £5 and under. 

Anyway...there were several of the £6 dishes (yellow plates for those in the know) which were stunning. There was a salmon ceviche with fish roe and coriander, there was a really deliciuos chickeny garlic thing with sesame seeds (Dan loved that) and there was a tuna carpaccio with a sesame oil...pic below. Needless to say with the Sapporo beer costing £6 a can, it was a bit of an expensive do...but hey...we're on Honeymoon!!!

Finally on our way

Well it seems like a long time since  we got married, but it's in fact only been 108 days!

Anyway, it's about time we went on honeymoon, innit?