This year has just flown by. Lately I've been occupied with planning and celebrating my wedding, planning for EGX and London MCM Comic Con that I haven't really been blogging much. I will be blogging about my wedding soon enough once I get my professional photos back from the photographer. 
Every month I try and set some goals for myself as I'm one of these people that would rather spend all day gaming on the PS4 and binge watching Netflix. Without small goals or lists, I'd probably live a life of chaos.
These are my current goals for September and some lifestyle choices that will change how I live right now.

Attend Gym/Get fit & Healthy - My last goal post which was in July! I wrote about losing weight that month, which was something I accomplished but after the wedding, it went down hill and I ended up putting on more weight. Today (28/08/2014) I went to the gym, not to exercise, that will come soon enough but to get my induction so I can meet a gym trainer ( TO BE THE BEST POKEMON MASTER... lolz just joking) who will go through the equipment and my needs for getting fit and active tomorrow. I could just easily run down the street and back to get healthy but with so many distractions in the house I'd fail. And I'm paying. So this will make me want to get my moneys worth. :)  I want to just cut out all that junk food I've been eating, takeaways, crisps, chocolate, biscuits... Goodbye unhealthy Jess and hello to a world of avocado on toast and mountains of veggies. I'm really excited for this. This is one of my main goals in life not just for September. Maybe's I'll even document some of my healthy choices. ;)

Find my voice on Youtube - Ever since I started watching Let's Plays and Vlogs on Youtube, I myself have wanted to start doing youtube videos. I tried in the past but I felt like I wasn't confident or I had nothing to talk about in front of the camera. Hopefully when I go to the events in Sept & Oct. I can vlog them for you guys who have stuck with me on Twitter and in the blogging world. I'll ease myself into it with Q&A videos or just some gameplays for you guys. Sometimes I just find myself uninteresting but I will find some youtube content for you.

Keep ontop of Housework & Decorating - I'm so lazy and tidying up is a daunting task for me. But we've been slacking lately in the decorating and tidying up department.  Since our computers are now upstairs in our bedroom & not in the living room we don't go downstairs much unless the internet is cut off. So we need to get our lazy butts and hoover up once in a while. We've lived in this house a year and it still hasn't fully been decorated. Grr. Time for a change.

Cosplay Cosplay Cosplay - I love cosplay so much and I love attending conventions. I adore seeing everyone's costumes and how well they've been made. And I'm starting out my very first cosplay in October for MCM London. And I'm going to be the McDonalds Girl from the movie The Fifth Element. She's only in it for about 4 seconds but her outfit makes a big impact on me. And it's very different. I just hope someone realizes who I am. I can't wait to see all the artists and stalls. It's just nerve racking that people might want a photo with me. Anyway my goal is to continue working on my costume for October and continue to do new cosplays over the coming months. :D

My So Called Blog - As I said before I haven't really been blogging much so I'm getting back on the blogging wagon. I want to shift how my blog looks and what content I want to blog about. I feel like I haven't completely found my niche. I might even use my twitter username as my blog name as I feel that's more me than "Nerdy Tea Girl" So some changes to my blog will be made over the next month. 

Do you have any goals for this month or year?

Let me know what they are in the comments below.

<3

The London Tea Company*: With 20% Discount For you!

A few weeks ago I kindly got sent a box full to the brim of gorgeous teas from The London Tea Company and these past few weeks I've been going through all the flavours and drinking them but lately the weather has been warm and I've been favoring chilled drinks.

Confession time - I'm not actually a big tea drinker even though my blog is called Nerdy Tea Girl. I like iced tea & green tea though & drink them regularly. So I guess I do drink tea, just not every day. I just prefer a glass of iced water. :)
From time to time I do like a cup of fruity herbal tea and this box was jam packed full of sweet smelling teas. It was absolutely gorgeous. Of course there were black teas & green teas as well. 

Lets start with the two boxes. White Tea Pear Tatin & London Breakfast.
London Breakfast is my favorite drink out of the entire box of teas. It really is a classic tea and tastes better than PG Tips. When I want that rare cup of tea, I reach for a bag of this. You can sweeten it with sugar and a dash of milk and ooh la la, the perfect brew. London Breakfast starts from £2.20 on their website.
Pear Tatin is a White Tea with a hint of ginger. Now I'm not fond of ginger in teas, it's far too strong of a smell but I had a great time trying out this flavour. I must admit I'm adventurous with food but not with teas.
Sencha Green Tea is a lovely tea to drink. I'm quite the Green Tea drinker, so I approve of this one. ;)

Vanilla Chai is one of these teas that have a very strong smell. A smell that made me not want to try this at all. It's a black tea so you are able to put sugar & milk in the cup too and that's exactly what I did. And I must admit, it was rather tasty. The smell was still abit weird for me but it was really nice with 2 sugars and some milk. I suggest you try this.
I drank Raspberry Inferno and left most of it. I wasn't feeling this cup of tea at all. Which is a shame as it has such a lovely smell. It has a tiny kick of chilli which isn't too strong and I was surprised by this, I went head in thinking it was going to burn my mouth! Pure Rooibos is a beautiful tea. You may add milk if you wish as well, which I think I will try next time around. You must try a cup of this!
    

Peach and Rhubarb is a tea which can be drank ice cold. Perfect for a summers day. Fruity & light and perfect for me. :D I'm a green tea drinker & this tea was right up my alley. I love feeling healthy after drinking a cup of this & it has a hint of pineapple & mango. Delicious. Earl Grey. What can I say about this. It's Earl Grey. I love a cup of this in the evening.
     
The Peach and Rhubarb packet was suppose to be Chamomile tea! Wuups, I made a photo mistake. 
I must admit, I still need to try these teas out. I'm not the biggest fan of all three flavours. But don't knock something until you've tried it! :D
I would like to thank London Tea Company for making such wonderful teas. You can buy their range here

The London Tea Company have given me a 20% discount code for you lovely readers. use londontea on your first order. Please note that this is not redeemable against discounted or sale items.

London Tea Company - Twitter | Facebook | Shop

Ta-Ra

Jess

Casa Antonio

Ciao Blogger-rinos.
I was invited to celebrate a birthday at Casa Antonio. An italian resturant in Benton. I've been here before, many years ago whle working at my very first job for the council and it was beautiful then as it is now. I wish I could have gotten better photos of my food but I was too busy enjoying it as well as the atmosphere and beautiful decor.
The decor was a range of deep shades of green, red, yellow and brown. With pieces of Italy dotted around the place and pretty printed leaves running up the walls, it really felt like I had been transported to Italy for a day. A place I would love to visit one day. I'm a lover of Pasta, the accent & the italian renaissance. Ooft.

We had the 3 course meal special which was £6.95. Which included a starter of soup or potato skins & both are delicious by the way. I chose Minestrone soup & my partner had potato skins. The main meal was a choice between a pasta or pizza ,anything else and it was £1 etc on top. I chose a Tomato Meatball dish with tagliatelle it was veramente buono and for dessert was ice cream. I chose chocolate of course as that's my favorite flavor out of Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate. I should have asked for a combo of Chocolate & Vanilla Swiiiiiirrrrrl. Boo-ya. ( Hehe, Orange is the new black reference there for you) For drinks I had water with ice & a orange squash. I don't like anything fizzy while I'm eating and always prefer my drinks icy.

I would love to come here again and take more photos of the decor. It's priced really well. For two of us it was £17. And the staff there are just lovely. :)

If your ever in the North East - Newcastle, check out Casa Antonio in Benton. :)

Arrivederci!

Jess

July Goals

It's July?! Where the heck did June go? This year seems to be going quite quickly. Maybe's it's because this year has been full of events that I'm not use to doing. Next month is my wedding and the month after that I'm off to Eurogamer in London. Exciting stuff. As you know from an old post, I like to set personal goals each month for myself. Sometime's it turns into a To-Do list rather than a set goal list.
I also keep a notebook handy for checklists. I'm a list girl. And I bet you are too.

June wasn't that eventful. I celebrated a few birthdays, checked a few items off my Wedding list & played games for most of the month. July is all about finishing wedding planning, losing weight & making the most of summer.

Lose Weight
My biggest goal right now is to shed a few more pounds before the wedding in August. My dress fits but it's a bit too snug in some areas. Today starts the day of my soup diet. I love soup and I could live on veggie soup for days. The plan is to eat a healthy breakfast, soup for dinner and snack on fruit or have a light salad. Of course I went out and bought a ton of soup, from Mushroom to Beef & Veggies to Minestrone. And half a week's worth cost only £2. Not only am I trying to slim down but I'm also saving money by not buying junk food & takeaways. I hardly drink alcohol, so my calories don't come from that. But I used to snack alot. Whether it was chocolate or sandwiches. It was always the wrong foods. I did snack on fruit occasionally but this time I'm sticking to it. Perhaps after this month of dieting will change how I eat food.

Go Outside
This also ties in with eating healthy. I need to put down that playstation controller, turn the laptop off as I can watch Pretty Little Liars anytime and just go outside. Take a walk. Photograph the place around me. Go to the beach,  Anything as long as I'm outside and hopefully with the weather heating up this will tempt me to go outside more. I've vowed that even on the days I don't wanna get out of bed. I will make myself get dressed and go for a walk. The exercise will do me good. Hopefully I can get into a good routine. (There is a likely chance this will never happen, I'll give it a go)

Finish Getting Wedding Stuff
There is still work left to do and this is the month to finish off loose ends to do with my wedding.
Food needs to be bought for the buffet, Tony's ring & suits needs buying. I need someone to do my hair, I need to make two flower bouquets. I also need an underskirt and a bolero to cover up my spotty scarred arms. I need to finish paying off the wedding & get a venue for the party as well as decorations. This should be done within in the next two weeks. Fingers crossed.

Decorate Passageway
I've lived here for almost a year and the only room that's been painted is the bathroom. I'm quite sick of the last tenants grubby magnolia walls. We need to finish off the passageway, paint the bedrooms & redecorate the living room. It's time consuming & I usually don't have the money to get finishing touches and the paint. So my goal this month is to completely finish the passageway. From fixing those bullet holes (long story) to freshening up the paint. I will make this a home to be proud of.

Clean Clean Clean
I'm quite lazy when it comes to cleaning. I leave Tony to do most of it. So my goal of this month is to take charge and clean the house everyday and not tell myself "It can wait till tomorrow" because it never gets done. Let's give this house a spring clean. :D

Read Read Read
I told myself I would read 3 books a month a few blog posts ago. And this never happened. In fact I've read about a chapter of Will Grayson, Will Grayson and then started to read manga book Attack on Titan.
I have tons of books. I need to just sit outside in the park across my house and enjoy the sunny weather with a good book & a drink.




And these are my main goals for this month. Of course there will be little goals here and there but I think this is enough for one month.

Do you have any goals this month?

Let me know in the comments :)

Ta Ra

Jess

Tea Pigs Matcha Super Power Green Tea Drinks!*

Hello everyone!
It seems that almost everyone in the blogging world has had TeaPigs before. If you haven't, hop on board because TeaPigs are uh-maze-ing. I recently received their new Super Power Green Tea drinks in the mail and oh boy was I excited to try these out. I thought I would try out the Apple flavour first and I have to admit, it wasn't strongly flavored with Apple as I thought it would. You get the flavor of the tea, which isn't bad at all. 
I love green tea, I used to drink it all the time but lately I've only started drinking tea again & I always preferred chilled drinks so I chilled mine in the fridge so it tasted like Iced Tea with a hint of Apple but all the goodness of the Matcha. I actually felt good about myself while drinking this. Is that strange? Since it's now Summertime, drinking these Super Power Green Tea drinks, chilled, is heavenly and I suggest you try them. I've also perked up slightly from drinking. I can't wait to drink the Elderberry & Grapefruit flavors.

The side of the bottle quotes -
"Matcha is a superhero among teas. 100% ground green tea leaves from Japan- essentially a super concentrated green tea containing natural green tea flavouroids (catechins) Matcha tea bushes are grown under lots of shade which boosts their chlorophyll content. The hand picked leaves are ground up by granite stones to a super fine poweder. So when you drink matcha, you're ingesting every little bit of green tea goodness. Thats why we call it super power green tea"

I can see myself buying a bunch of these drinks from the website. I really want to get a pot of Matcha powder for myself to add to my drinks but it's a tad pricey at the moment for me. I would adore the Matcha Pot set that includes a whisk and a glass! Hello Christmas present (or wedding present ;) ) The set is priced at £32.50, a 30g box of matcha tea is £25, a 2g sample is £2 and the super green drinks are priced at £1.89. 
At the moment, anyone who joins up to the website's newsletter gets 10% off their first purchase but can only be used in the first 7 days! Excellent *Taps fingers together like Mr Burns*

Check out their other teas aswell! In the package I also received a teabag of their Lemon & Ginger tea. It was very strongly smelled, I might give it a go. Don't knock it until you've tried it. According to the website, this can be an iced tea drink, so I will definitely try this one chilled! I'm also loving the glass tea pot and cups you can buy in their shop! 

Let me know which is your favourite drink from TeaPigs! :)

Ta-Ra

Jess

Purr Boxes*

Hello crazy cat ladies and bloggers! Today I'll be reviewing... or rather my cat will be reviewing the latest box around, Purr Boxes! Purr boxes are the purrfect subscription box for that feline you love. Now before we start I must say, my kitty got to this box before me, ripped it to shreds and ate half the box. So there are items that have been gobbled and are missing. I will try my best to describe the items that are long gone and enjoyed very much by the cat! Also check Zazzles's youtube video at the end of the post.

Purr Boxes kindly sent me a box to review & Zazzles was the purrfect tester.



What is a Purr Box? 
Purr Boxes are monthly boxes full of goodies for your cat. This includes toys & treats for £9.95 a month with free delivery when purchasing a monthly subscription and £1.99 when buying a one off box. Not bad, ey? There boxes are perfect to slot through the post box...but arn't cat proof. Even though they have assured me that this is the first time a purr box has been ravaged at someone's front door by their feline friend. Zazzle's just got a little too excited about receiving his first ever bit of mail!
Now onto what was inside the box. I couldn't photograph the packet of Catnip or Cat Grass as it had been destroyed, well mainly just the catnip. The grass is safely tucked away ready for the packet to be patched up and planted in a pot. :D

 
Firstly there was this adorable felt bow, if only Zazzles could wear it, because bow ties are cool. Right? Next up was this cute mouse toy that Zazzles did manage to get out of the box and play with, so he enjoyed that! And my favourite item in the box were the Tea for Mews. That's right tea bags for cats. You make it like you would do with any other tea bag, brew it, let it cool down and give it to your cat. Either your feline buddy will drink this healthy catnip drink or just bask in the glory of it's smell next to his or her's bowl. Genius. Just imagine a cat with a monacle, newspaper and a cup of tea for mews! We also have two pieces of wood that I'm not sure what they are used for but I'm sure Zazzles will chew on them? Are they for chewing or something else? Let me know in the comments!

EDIT: The wood is compost pellets for the grass



Next up was this cute sequined feather star catnip toy! Now, Zazzles has been known to be flamboyant with his toys. He likes the pink fluffy feathers on a stick so he was very keen on this sparkly number!
I'm aware that there were more packets of Webbox food sticks. Zazzles mucnched his way through Cheese, Malt and Fish flavoured sticks. Salami was the remaining packet as it was near the back of the box and he hasn't been able to get it yet, the little scamp. Obviously these went down very well! And so will the dreamies when I open them. He is quite literally like the cat on the advert, you know the one. Where the guy shakes the packet and the cat comes running though the walls. Yep! Shake any packet and Zazzles comes running. When he is a good boy I will give some to him but for now he can just bloody well wait.

And lastly, the box. Cats LOVE boxes. I know this one does. :')

So apart from the Grass, Catnip and 3 packets of food sticks eaten, it's been a pretty successful box! Zazzle's was quite excited, he even left a trail of empty packets around the doorway for me to find.
Check out his little youtube video of him inspecting the rest of the box. :D
I have to say, I'm rather impressed with Purr Box. For £10, you do get quite a few things in the box & when you notice the price of some of these items in shops. It's worth it. And it's purrrrrrrfect for cats! Honest. ;)
Get a Purr Box here


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The Wedding Diaries: Budgeting & Bits 'n Bobs

The big day is almost upon us! I've bought my dress and I'm currently waiting for it to be delivered. I'd show you a photo but my fiance reads my blog and I don't want him to spoil it. I managed to get my dress with a big help from my fiance's mum. I greatly appreciate her coming to my rescue. Of course after I was able to get my dress, I started to get very excited. The overall cost of my dress was £59.
I had a dawdle in Home Bargains, knowing fine well they sold wedding bits and bobs such as postboxes, bunting, napkins etc so I bought 30 bubble wands for the favor boxes & a cake slicer and knife for £4.98. Now that's definitely a bargain. I'm still needing chair & table covers and pretty bunting for the party venue though.


Somewhere down the line, I found myself on pinterest. I know. I know. Big mistake but I did get alot of cheap wedding inspirations! I don't have alot of money to spend, in fact this whole wedding is a budget wedding. I'll probably end up on a episode of superscrimpers or the likes but it's not about how much money you can blow on a wedding, even though that would be blissful, it's about how you spend the day with the one you love and everyone around you. Anyhoo, as I can't afford a big flashy photobooth. I've decided to make my own. I have the camera, the back drop and the tripod. All I need is some photobooth props and away we go! I'll also be printing off a checklist of cute camera shots people can take. With things such as "Take a photo of a cute couple" & "Take a photo of the bride & her bridesmaids laughing". I think it's a cute idea to get people to take out their own cameras & make some memories.
I shall be taking the laptop, buying a spotify premium account so I can listen offline and making a wedding party playlist to hook to the speakers in the venue. Waaall-a. Instant DJ area. Just let spotify do the work & save about £100 not having a hired DJ.
I've also decided to make my own flower bouquets. Gathering fake flowers & ribbon from wilkinsons or various craft shops will help the cost a great deal.
As for the food for the buffet, lots of family are helping out and I will be making some geeky yummies too, because it can't be a Jess & Tony wedding without having something geeky on display. :D
I'm going to try and make childrens activity books so they don't get too bored after running around and making bubbles everywhere.

I have so many ideas that I can do. Ahhhhhhh. Of course I shall have a BIG blog post about the event. ;)

but for now...

Ta-Ra

Jess