Exploring the Castle

A couple of weeks ago my favourite exploring buddy was back in town and it was her birthday! Being the good friend that I am I let Frances decide what activities we would fill the day with. She settled for tea and a trip to the castle. We took the train into Edinburgh late morning and decided we needed to fuel up before the exploring could commence. We headed to The Elephant House which I had never been to before. I know its shocking that its the birthplace of Harry Potter and this was only my first trip.

After some deliberation I settled for a cappuccino and a salted caramel brownie. Oh my! it was so good! The setting of the cafe is super cute and just check out this view!

How amazing is that? However I'm not going to lie I wasn't blown away by the coffee. Its definitely worth a visit for the history and a trip to the bathroom.

If I find myself in the area and in need of a coffee then I'd definitely pop back in but I wouldn't go out of my way to head back there.

After a good initial catch up we decided it was time to make our way to the castle if we wanted to make it for the one o'clock gun. I hadn't been to the castle in years and Frances had never been so we were very excited to get in some serious exploring.

We made it with 15 minutes to spare, paid our tickets, which are slightly pricey at £16.50 but well worth it, and gathered with the tourists and school children to wait for the gun. How about this for a view while you're waiting?

Even though I was anticipating a massive bang, it was hard not to jump out of my skin when it did go off.

The crowds quickly dispersed and we begun our wanderings around the castle.

A lot of the exhibitions don't let you take photos so you will just have to go yourself and I highly recommend that you do, from the military museum to the great hall there is so much to see and if the history isn't enough to entice you then why not just go for these views:













'Oh look whiskey tasting'

yep that happened, it was just a little sip and I'm not really that keen on whiskey but is there really anything better to warm your insides on a cool day? In fact the one I tried was so good I even picked up a mini bottle to take home.


We spent a good couple of hours exploring the castle and I'm so glad we did, theres nothing quite like playing tourist in your own city.

Some new skin care favourites

I'm pretty lucky as far as complection goes, by no means do I have perfect skin, but I very rarely have any huge spots to cover up. So although I wear make up almost everyday its very light which I think helps keep my skin in pretty good condition. Although when it comes to skin care I can be pretty lazy and with the weather turning pretty cold over the last couple of weeks I'm finding that I need to pay a little more attention to my daily routine. I have recently swapped some of my go to facial products and apparently its making a difference....or so my Granny said! Here are a few of my current favourites:

Micellar Water: ok yes this was one of those things that people were blogging about and it sounded good so I just had to try it and personally I think it is as good as what I've read about it. I like to use it when I get in from work to take off my make up, it helps me to feel refreshed after a long day.

Exfoliating new cell scrub: I probably use this twice a week at the moment to help clean out my pores. It always leaves my skin feeling super soft.

Gentle Cleanser: This is probably my favourite of my current go to products, it is quite a light cleanser, doesn't go on your skin too thick but it definitely does the trick.

Gentle moisturizer: I've been using this for a couple of years now but haven't posted about it and just like the cleanser it is quite light. I find nothing worse than a heavy moisturiser that makes you feel like washing your face all over again cause you have a layer of slime left behind! haha maybe thats a little extreme but you know what I mean! This is nice and light and refreshing.

As you can see I have a definite love for arbonne products - they just work for me so well. Once you find something that works it's hard to switch to anything else.

Mademoiselle Macaron

I've been desperate to visit this place ever since I first heard about it and honestly I'm amazed it took me so long to cross it off my to do list. Anyway I finally had a day with not much planned, I needed to head into Edinburgh to run a few errands but knew this wouldn't take too long so decided I might as well make the most of my journey and allow myself a bit of time to relax. After making my way along Princes Street popping in and out of a few shops I found myself at the right end of town to take a left and head on straight up to Mademoiselle Macaron.

Going on a Thursday was great, as it was pretty quiet. I walked in and there were a couple of women sitting at the large table and one young lady just as I walked in the door. Much to my delight the chaise longues were free! can't believe I didn't get a snap of them but I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities.  

I had the best view of the whole shop, although it is rather tiny but it definitely adds to its charm. I had a clear view of the coffee counter with all the different macaron flavours in one direction and the perfect view of the street for a spot of people watching. 

After quite a bit of thinking and taking note of the advice from one of the girls working there I finally managed to decide which of the wonderful flavours to samples. I went for pistachio, chocolate and passionfruit and hendricks gin. To wash them down I had a steampunk cappuccino or two, its quite possibly some of the best coffee you can get your hands on around here, or at least I think so.

I sat comfortably on my chaise longue sipping on my coffee and doing a little writing, but it was time to leave before I became a permanent fixture in the cafe, but not before I picked up a box of treats to take home and share (or at least thats what I told myself).

I am so excited to head back to this delightful little cafe, maybe next time I'll sample one of their lovely crêpes they have on the menu.