The things I'm thankful for

Apologies if any of you think this is a slushy post, but sometimes I think its good to reflect on things we have.

Nowadays, don't you find that brands are shoved in our faces and we're told you need this and you need that? It can be so easy to forget what wonderful things you already have in life so here are the things I treasure and are most thankful for.

This guy

Everyday I'm thankful that I get to wake up next to this chump. He is my bestest friend in the whole wide world and makes me smile each day. I'd go on but it'll only make you vomit so we'll just leave there :-).

These two

This pair are brilliant. They're great company when Chris is at work and I never feel alone at home. Ooh that rhymes! And in the words of B&Q, they make our house a home.

Great friends and family

I have some bloody marvellous friends and family who I will treasure forever and no matter what crappy day you've had, they're guaranteed to make you smile. Some even make me laugh to the point of crying or weeing...yup! 

Blogging and the YouTubes

To some it might sound weird that I'm thankful for blogging and YouTube but honestly, it's opened up sooo many opportunities for me. I've got to meet amazing people and go to amazing things- things I couldn't or wouldn't have done if it weren't for writing and talking on the internet. So thanks blogging and thanks YouTube, you're pretty bloody awesome and I'm proud to be a part of the community. Best hobby ever!!

And those are what I'm thankful for. Of course I could have said more, like I'm thankful for cheese. God knows I love me some cheese but the above are what matter the most to me and I feel so lucky for these things. 

This post is really on the edge of being slushy so lets leave it there but I'd really love to know what you're thankful for. If you're a fellow blogger and decide to do a similar post, link me to it! Or if you're just having a read, let me know in the comments.

All the loves,

Winter Favourites

Good day kind sirs, how are we all?

I was thinking of doing a post on my winter favourites but I much prefer waffling you via the medium of video so click below for a few of my favourite things. In winter. This year.

See you all on Fridaaaaay!

I'll take you to the Pint Shop

It's FriYAY and what better way to start your weekend than a post on good food and good beer am I right?


So here's me drinking a blueberry lemonade...

Yup, I was designated driver this night but fear not, Chris was on hand to sample the beers and will be chiming in throughout this post. As for the blueberry lemonade, it was pretty delicious so I didn't feel quite so sad to be tea total.

Chris started off with a pint of Rod Nam Sang brewed by Wild Beer in Somerset which Chris tells me was a "very light and refreshing taste which reminded me a little bit of blue moon, which I drank whilst visiting America. It's definitely a warmer climate drink"

So let me tell you a little bit more about this place. Tucked away at 10 Peas Hill in the centre of Cambridge, you wouldn't necessarily know the Pint Shop was there. I heard about this gem through word of mouth with my bosses referring to it as their Cambridge office where they'll think up big business ventures.

The vision of Pint Shop is to bring good food and drink together, with all walks of life being welcome and taking inspiration from the 1830's beer houses.

We sat in the bar until our table was ready, drinking in the atmosphere as well as our drinks. It was pretty busy for a Monday night which we saw as a sign of good things to come.

Soon after our table was ready and we were lead to the upstairs dining room where you can still have your choice of ales from the board above the fire place. Chris decided to let me choose his beers from here on out which I found novelty but basically went for ones I thought sounded cool! So next up I chose a pale called Summat brewed in Lincoln.

 You can tell from the photo he particularly enjoyed this one! 

The food options were so hard to choose between. Everything looked delicious and we poured over the menu thinking long and hard about what we would treat ourselves to. We both decided on the southern fried rabbit with green sauce for starter. That green sauce though... I couldn't quite put my finger on what was in it but it tasted beautiful and gave a refreshing kick to the crunchy breadcrumbs and tender rabbit inside. So good!

Feeling rather chuffed we celebrated by ordering more drinks so next up Chris had an Amass IPA by Mikkeller. "This was a really nice tasting beer that had the definitive flavours of an IPA. My only regret was not having a full pint. I can see why they serve it in half pints because it would be gone too quickly- that and it was 6.5%. It was bloody nice that beer!"

Onto the mains and we certainly weren't disappointed. The smell of Chris' devilled lamb shoulder kebab on flat bread smelt fresh, fragrant and meaty all the same.

Armed with just the right amount of hot sauce he devoured his dish in a matter of seconds, sharing a side of triple cooked spuds in truffle cheese sauce.

I chose the venison haunch with mushrooms and parsley crumb for my main. All the flavours worked beautifully and the venison cooked to perfection. We were both in silence giving appreciative nods to one another throughout our mains!

Feeling suitably stuffed it was only right that Chris ordered another beer to wash it down- am I right? Right.

This was Chris' final beer of the night. The waiting staff were convinced I was trying to get him drunk as yet again I'd picked another high percentage beer but it sounded cool! This brew was known as Small Beer by Cloudwater and measured 7.6%. Chris descried it as "quite a dark rich flavour that won't be to everyone's taste. It kind of reminded me of a diluted Guinness." To be fair it looks a bit like a Guinness...

Although we were stuffed it was rude not to at least glance at the dessert menu and soon we were justifying our gluttony and ordering a Malt Teaser Sundae which came out with a little surprise for Christoph...

It was his birthday the following day so why not make it a birthday sundae!? Somehow we acquired some room in our stomachs to eat this naughty dessert topped with hot fudge sauce that made the whole thing a little bit of heaven. My new year diet is going sooo well! No regrets!!

So that was our date night at the Pint Shop. I can definitely see us returning, be it for a quick pint or another fabulous meal. The atmosphere is great, the food and drink is great -  what more could you want?

Definitely pop in if you're ever in Cambridge, you won't be disappointed!

Couples 1, 2, 3 Tag

Happy Tuesday you wonderful lot.

I hope your week is a cheerful one. I've finally done a sit down video this week and my guest this week is Chris!

We thought we'd try the couples 1, 2, 3 tag which is actually pretty fun.

I'd also like to wish Chris a very happy birthday today! We went out for dinner last night to celebrate so stay tuned for a review on here soon...

Anyway I hope you like the video and I'll see you soon!

Big love,

#petlovers - The story of our rescue pets

Have I ever told you all the story of how I came to get Harry and Zara?

This is probably my favourite story about the two of them and it all starts in sunny Cyprus...

Chris and I moved to Cyprus in September 2013, being posted there with Chris' job. When we arrived we were told that there were a lot of stray cats an dogs on the island and being the pet lovers we are, we knew we'd like to adopt some pets of our own.

What we didn't bargain on however was just how fast we would get our first one and that was Zara.

Just two weeks after arriving on the island we'd popped to the local shopping mall and on our way out came across a tiny, grey, scruffy thing. Now I'd never been much of a cat lover up until this point, having had allergies to them in the past, but Zara's meow was so sad and she was so helpless I couldn't just leave her right? She was so small and in a busy car park she could have easily been run over.

Without even thinking about it, I scooped her up and took her back to base. 

Zara when she first came home

She was so skinny when we brought her home and was clearly very tired and hungry so we fed her and she soon had a little snooze on my chest as pictured above!

Zara settled in so quickly, we couldn't imagine her not being part of our home and has since become a much loved part of our family.

A few weeks later we came across this little guy...

The photo above is the day we adopted Harry. Previously known as Divo, Harry had been found in a warehouse. Chained up with no food or water, a lovely lady rescued him and took him to the local pound. Unfortunately Harry was still not quite out of the woods at this point... With the pounds being full, the next option was unthinkable in my mind but was due to happen. Harry was going to be put down!

On the day he was due to be put down, a wonderful lady known as Nadia came in to foster a dog and luckily for Harry she chose him. Soon after that we got wind that he needed a home and instantly fell in love with him.

He was so skinny when we got him home and very nervous too but we soon fed him up to a healthy weight and built his confidence too. He'll always be a sensitive soul but has a heart of gold.
As our stay in Cyprus came to a close, we flew back to the UK and of course flew Harry and Zara with us too! 

Both pets love the cooler climate of the UK and have settled in brilliantly. It's been over a year since bringing them here and we're so pleased they like it here.

This year we're hoping to take Harry on some little breaks and seeing as he has his own passport from travelling to the UK, we thought he might like to visit somewhere via the Euro Tunnel. We love including him in our adventures but Zara isn't quite so keen... (funny that, being a cat!)

And did you know that Euro Tunnel are holding a competition? You could win a luxury three night stay for two at Château De Saint Paterne in Normandy. It's of course pet friendly too! The trip also includes a free Eurotunnel short break return ticket valid for up to five calendar days for the winner, their pet and one vehicle, a £300 post office travel money card aaaand a year’s supply of pet food, from Arden Grange, especially chosen for your pet.  All you need to do is share your pet story on your blog, but hurry the closing date is 25th January!

So that's my rescue story of the pets. I hope you enjoyed it and if you enter the competition be sure to link me to your post as I'd love to read your story too!

See you Tuesday!

Belated Birthday Vlog

Hey hey lovelies.

I hope your first week back at work or school wasn't too bad? I thought I'd kick off this week with a vlog as I've been pretty quiet on my channel of late. I'm hoping to do some sit down style videos soon as I haven't done one of those in ages and I miss it!

For now I thought I'd share a rather belated birthday vlog. My birthday was 21st December and I had a rather wonderful time celebrating so if you want to see what I got up to, click the video below!

Until Friday, have a great week!

A Belated Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. I know I'm five days late but better late than never right?

I hope you all enjoyed the festive period, I know I did and I'm thoroughly lethargic and bloated now!

So what's in store for 2016 on Laydey Katabella and what did 2015 bring?

Well in my usual tradition, I thought I'd do a round up.

2015 for Laydey Katabella

If you look back at this years aims and goals I think I have exceeded my expectations ten fold and a huge part of that comes from connecting with the #cambmeetup to which id like to say a HUGE thank you to Pippa for organising and creating such a wonderful community. Through the group I've connected with some many like minded and awesome people who not only share the same passion for blogging but have also become great friends.

I've been to some brilliant events and met some fantastic brands this year such as Hotter, The Sug, BonPrix and many many more. Working with brands was a big learning curve for me which I've thoroughly enjoyed and can't wait to do more of in 2016.

Some major highlights were the Handmade Fair and getting to interview Kirstie Allsopp! Not only was this a blogging highlight but a personal highlight which was quite frankly brilliant (ready the interview here). The Vuelio Blog Awards in November was a fantastic event too, celebrating the success of fellow bloggers and meeting some great people that evening. I'm so proud to be part of such a great community. And of course the many Scarlett London events that took place this year like the #SLbloggerbash and #bloggersfestival which were also fantastic. I also had the priveledge of guest posting for the likes of From Lucy with Love and the Handmade Christmas Fair and I was so chuffed to be asked.

So as far as blogging goes, 2015 was pretty up there and amazing.

What's new for 2016?

Well like last year I had a post on my 2015 blog and YouTube resolutions which I successfully managed to hit- woo hoo! I can still do with continuing on my skills with photography but I do feel I've come a long way so here are this years resolutions:

• Get to grips with Lightroom 5- I recently went on a shoot with my friend Phil who told me he used Lightroom 5 to edit his images and it turns out I also have it yet I've never tried to use it. If I can master that I will be a happy bean as there's lots you can do with it!
• Continue to get better with photography- Something I'm sure all bloggers contend with. I was lucky enough to get a new camera for my birthday which I am in love with and feel will help my photography skills too
• Chill out!! - Last year I busted my gut trying to stick to a schedule with blogging. I'd rather die that not get a post up on time for fear of disappointing myself but this year things will be different.
• Quality not quantity - Similar to my last point, I'd rather post quality content that half arsed twaddle just to get a post out on time. I'll be posting regularly but not quite as regimented
• Do what makes me happy - Because this is my hobby and if it doesn't make me happy -  whats the point?

So those are my 2016 resolutions. Do you have any for your blog?

I won't be posting on Friday -  I'm taking a little break. I need to re-charge my batteries and see whats inspiring me in 2016 so I will see you in a jiffy.

Have a great week everyone,