Monthly Roundup - NOVEMBER

 

 

Hey Guys!

Hope your all well?

 

This month I decided to do a Monthly Roundup,and chat about the things this month that I have enjoyed the most.

 

Novemeber is one of my favourite months,it's my Birthday and the weather starts to get colder and this November was no different..

 

My First Family Wedding as Mrs Jakes.

 

 

So at the start of the Month Gareth's Cousin and Lovely other half got married!

It was a beautiful day and ofcourse the vows made me cry ha ha.

The bride and groom looked fantastic,and I was lucky enough to get some photos for them on my camera to capture the day for them too.

 

This was also my first wedding as Mrs Jakes - and when I come to think of it,the first wedding I've been to since I was 5 !

 

Family Time & Biopsy Results.

 

 

In the middle of the month I ended up back in Birmingham with my Family for a few days while I went to get my biopsy results (don't worry guys I have a blog post coming up after this one to tell you how it went).

It was lovely after such a stressful few weeks to just hang out with some of my family back in brum and feel alot more carefree for the first time in months!

 

Feeling Content.

 

 

So with positive(ish) biopsy results I have felt alot more relaxed and calm about the future and I am starting to get better help for my anxiety and mental health as a whole which knock on this month has just left me feeling 100% content with life!

 

I'm generally a happy go lucky person as it is but just having a positive looking future medical wise has helped me millions!

 

What have you enjoyed this month?

Comment below and be sure to let me know your blog links so I can get reading :)

 

Stay Safe & Speak Soon.

 

 

 

 

4 Years Post Transplant (number 2..)

Hi Guys..

Four Years ago today ?

I received my second transplant which saved me once again from the brink of death..

 

I am in the process of writing letters to my donor's family's if they wish to receive them but for now here are a few words I have written.. 

I am nowhere near a poet but they're a few words from the heart :)

 

Unseen,Unheard But Loved.

I'm not to sure how to start,

a letter that comes right from the heart.

 

So just for now a few simple lines,

how your life impacted mine.

 

Rewind four years and there I was lay,

Frail and Helpless,needing help right away.

 

Miles away,to me unknown,

Your soul left your body which once was its home.

 

By air and By Road Your Gift Arrived,

An amazing gift that meant I survived.

 

Once I awoke,both scared and unsure,

I couldn't believe you gave me a cure.

 

Both Selfless and Heroic yet you remain unknown,

But now your gift lies in my body - It's brand new home.

 

Every Day continues to be a Gift,

one which many choose to dismiss.

 

But not you, you were selfless and brave

and allowed me to life way past what could have been the end of my days.

 

I often wonder who you may have been,

what you had done and what you had seen.

 

But one thing I'll always know?

You are my unseen,unheard but forever loved Hero.

 

 

For my Donors,May You Rest Peacefully. <3

I Promise I will Continue to be your eyes while you cannot see and try and experience as much as I can as you have given me the most precious gift any of us could ever receive life - I will continue to live my life not only for me ?

But for the three amazing unsung heroes who made it possible for me to experience each and every day since I turned 18..

 

Stay Safe & Speak Soon Guys.

 



#UKBA15

Hey Guys!

Hope your all well?

 

This is just a super quick post to inform you all of some news !

 

Talking Transplants had made it through to the public vote of The UK Blog Awards 2015 - eeek.

 

Talking Transplants is in Both Lifestyle & Health  so would love if you could all possibly vote for me?

 

Of course feel free to leave your links below so I can vote for you guys too,the great part about being a blogger?

Supporting the rest of the community :D

 

If you would like to vote for me in the Lifestyle Category you can vote HERE.

 

And if You'd like to vote for me in the Health Category you can vote HERE.

 

I'd love for Talking Transplants to do well to continue creating awareness of Organ Donation!

 

Stay Safe & Speak Soon.

 



Winter Warmers - Beef & Vegetable Casserole

Hey Guys!

Hope your all well ?

 

Some of you who follow me on twitter may know I love to cook,and when it comes into the colder weather I am always excited to start cooking more comfort food.

Yesterday the Temperature dropped all over the UK which meant only one thing could be eaten for dinner.

Stew!

 

 

For this stew (or casserole which ever you may call it) I pulled up a recipe from good old BBC Good Food,which has amazing recipes on,and is the only place I get inspiration from to be honest.

I did change it a little bit but you can find the original recipe here.

 

 

To start you want to take 2 celery sticks and cut those into pretty thick chunks.

Of course use as much as you wish,I did end up using three.

 

Then take two large carrots and again chop these into pretty big chunks.

The key to a good stew in my eyes is chunky veg!

 

This is when I started to change it up a little,I decided to add in one onion cut up into chunks as I thought it needed just a bit more veg for my taste.

 

I also used two garlic bulbs - I crushed one,and chopped another.

 

Then to the pan add 3 bay leaves,the recipes calls for 5 but to start I didn't want to over whelm the stew so used 3 for the first hour of cooking then added the last two towards the end.

And you will also want to add in some thyme.

 

Now you have all the veg in the pan (the pan is not on the heat just yet)

Mix in One Table Spoon of Butter & One Table Spoon of vegetable oil,I used Flora cooking oil which is supposed to be healthier - we just prefer the taste to vegetable oil.

 

 

Soften the vegetables for ten minutes..

 

 

After five minutes I decided to add some potatoes into the mix just to bulk this out a little,as this will last me and Gareth two days once bulked out.

 

 

Then take two tablespoons of plain flour and stir into the mixture this will help make the gravy nice and thick,keep stirring until the flour no longer looks dusty (this sounds strange but you will see what I mean in the photos below)

 

 

 

 

Put two tablespoons of both tomato puree and two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce into the pan and mix this through.

 

 

Crumble in Two Beef stock cubes..

 

 

Gradually stir in 600ml of Hot water..

 

Then add in your beef and stir and bring to a gentle simmer.

 

 

At this point you can either put this in the oven at 160C/140C fan/gas 3 for Two and A Half Hours then uncover for 30 minutes

OR

I transfer mine over into a slow cooker for a few hours!

 

After a few hours you have the finished product.

It tastes so yummy and is the perfect warming dinner when the weather gets colder!

 

You could put dumplings in this (which I will be doing next time) or maybe if your vegetarian remove the beef and add in different vegetables,that's the great thing about stews you can slow cook what ever you like YUM!

 

I serve mine up in a bowl with some bread but my hubby prefers his served over a jacket potato but its also great over mash!

 

What is your favourite Winter Warmer?

See you next time with another recipe !

 

Stay Safe & Speak Soon

 



I'm Feeling 22!

Hey Guys!

Hope your all well?

 

So as some have you may have noticed I have disappeared from Talking Transplants for a little while.

On the 16th November I turned 22 - Wahey!

Since Gareth had a week of we were making the most of spending some time together,

so I figured I would share what I've been up to with you all <3

 

 

On The Saturday it was our good friends Wedding Anniversary so we planned to go for deserts and Drinks that evening,but we had also planned to go and visit Woburn Safari Park in the day.

 

Due to the fact I knew we would be about all day I decided to choose something to wear that was pretty enough to wear out later that night - so paired this floral dress from H&M with my JustFab Zyree Boots.

 

 

Sadly,when we got to Woburn due to the fog the actual safari was shut so instead we talk a walk around the foot safari.

 

 

 

 

 

After Woburn we quickly popped into Milton Keynes and Grabbed some Lunch at Jamie's Italian,can't for the life of me remember what I ate but I highly recommend The Refresher Mocktail they do there sooo good!

 

 

 That evening we went for some lovely deserts in Hitchin - I went for the Classic Apple Pie which came with Cinnamon Ice Cream and was just heavenly and of course I forgot to take a photo (tskk I call myself a lifestyle blogger eh haha)

 

 

 

My Birthday Bath this Year - Yes I take my Baths seriously,so occasions deserve a dedicated bath too...

I decided to go for Lush's Snow Angel Melt as it is so luxurious and leaves the skin feeling heavenly,perfect when its your birthday!

 

 

I woke up to my cards and pressies which made me all emotional when I opened this one from my little sisters as Annabel has wrote in this one and was so so cute.

This year was the first birthday I have ever spent away from family so it felt very strange,so this made me smile!

 

 

 

I epically failed to take many 'Selfies' or photo's of my outfits other then over on SnapChat - OOPS.

But my dress is from New Look for any of you who are intrested which I again paired with my Just Fab Boots.

 

 

 

 

 

That evening we went to Prezzo with our friends again,and had a lovely meal to celebrate me turning 21 then popped over to a lovely little place for cocktails in Hitchin.

Well I say cocktails,I only had one for Birthdays Sake - Which was delightful I may add.

 

 

I will be recreating my makeup look soon as I received MAC's Holiday Pigments from my gorgeous Husband so can't wait to show you them all in quality photos like they deserve ha ha.

 

The rest of the week continued to be full of day's of playing with new makeup (MAC's Faux & Cyber to be more precise..)

 



 

When we went for coffee's as we always do on a Sunday,I decided to go for the whole 'Kylie Jenner' inspired lip with some rose gold shades on the eyes - I'm curious if you guys would like me to recreate this look too?

 

 

And when we got to re visit woburn (yep the lovely guys down at woburn gave everyone free return due to fog!) I went for an extremelly natural makeup look as the rest of week had been alot darker toned..

 

 

 

But when it came to paying a visit to London?

Cyber came out to play!

I loved this shade even more then I imagine so can't wait to share more looks with you all!

 

 

 

I really enjoyed this Birthday,

But as much as I did it was so so hectic I am enjoying sitting down on our corner sofa typing up more blog posts for you all !

 

Stay Safe & Speak Soon