Ten things I couldn't live without.

hey! i've been reading a lot of these 'ten things i couldn't live without' blog posts recently and i really enjoy reading them as everyone has a different list. i decided to do one of my own but apologies for lack of pictures to go with the writing - i've had trouble uploading images so am going to try add them tomorrow!


1. slipper socks! i have a ridiculous amount of slipper socks. they're perfect for me as i have a condition called raynauds which is basically where the blood struggles to flow properly to my extremities, meaning i have icey cold hands and feet all year round! so when i come home from work i stick a pair of slipper socks on the radiator, jump in the shower and then when I'm out they're all warm and toasty to put on. i don't think there's anything that beats that feeling!

2. my macbook, iPhone and iPod. ahhh technology. need i say more?! my iPhone and iPod are two things i carry around with me everywhere i go. my macbook is my prize possession! i bought it in a spur of the moment kinda thing last year and i haven't looked back since. though i sure was skint for a whole month and i mean i literally 0p to my name.

3. moccasin shoes! i have always loved and worn moccasin style shoes for years now. i must own about four or five pairs of practically the same shoes but i just think they're so cute and look good with everything.

4. sam (my dog). my best friend. this guy has a very special place in my heart and i love him so much.

5. perfume. marc jacobs - daisy eu so fresh / victoria's secret - angel are my two go-too fragrances for day time. daisy is an old favourite which i've repurchased many a time for years now. the victorias secret angel perfume is something i picked up whilst in new york last october and shot straight up in to my top three perfumes! it just smells so so good.
 my third favourite is more of an evening or special occasion perfume which is the jimmy choo fragrance. this smells devine and i always get compliments when i wear it. it's a little stronger than what i'd usually go for smell wise which is why i think i prefer wearing it to go 'out out' and what not. 

6. tartan scarf. i. love. my. tartan. scarf. ohhh my gosh so a few years back i was on the hunt for the perfect tartan scarf. i was slowly running out of hope after a couple of months of searching everywhere i could think of until i came across THE nicest scarf in h&m. i snapped it up instantly and it's basically the only scarf i've really worn since. i think i got it in 2011?! and it's still my favourite. it's super thick and warm and long and i love just throwing it on with anything. perfect to battle the great british weather in!

7. a nice cup of tea. oh come on do i really need to explain this further?! (yorkshire, tetley or earl grey is my fav.)

8. hand cream. if anyone works in an environment with food and drinks like myself you'll feel my pain about how dry your hands get after a shift at work! i find even more so in winter when my skin is drier that my hands just turn horrible, flakey and sore. ouch! i tend to pick up hand creams that are for very dry skin or anything that is advertised as 'intensive' as my skin really needs it! at the moment i'm using a palmers intensive hand cream which is working a treat, and smells amazing too.

9. baths. now, i'm usually a shower person on a day to day basis however once in a while i do love to treat myself to a nice long bath. if i'm running a bath i always have to add something to the water or i just find them boring! my favourite things to use are the radox bath foams or pretty much anything bath related from Lush. i love my baths to be full of nice smelling bubbles and colourful water, but relaxing at the same time. it's nice to set the scene a bit too and add some little candles, dim the lights and have a good book at hand or some music to listen too.

10. my kobo. this is something i carry everywhere with me. i bought it last year as a treat to myself and it's one of the best things i've ever bought. i chose the kobo over the more well known kindle as with kobo's you can join local libraries and download e books from them. so instead of having to purchase every single book you want to read you can download library books for free for just under a month which i think is genius! when i got my kobo i bought the 'glo' version, it was a little more expensive than the original kobo but it's glow feature is something that comes in handy if i'm reading on the metro too or from work when it's dark, or if i'm reading in bed before i go to sleep etc. 

and there you have it, my top ten things i couldn't live without. (okay in reality i could live without all of these things but shhh that's not the point of this tag!)

what are some favourite things in your life? are any of yours the same as mine?

xo

fujifilm instax mini 8

so a few days ago, i decided (completely out of the blue!) that i wanted to buy myself a new camera. i searched for a while online at a few different ones and came across this, the fujifilm instax mini 8. this has fast become super popular amongst people around my age and now i have my own and have played around with it a bit i can see why! it's a really light weight, easy to use instant film camera which you can get in a loaaaad of different colours. i was torn between buying myself the yellow or pink one, but as you can see by the above picture i went for the pink one which is super cute! i can't wait to take this out and about with me on trips to different places and snap away at everything. i got mine from a website called 'discounted digital' for £73.99, that was for the camera, batteries and 40 instax mini film. the likes of argos were selling the camera with the same amount of film for way more so i think i got myself a bit of a bargain considering how expensive camera film is these days! i ordered it on sunday night and it arrived on tuesday which was really impressive too!

 whilst looking the instax mini's up on the internet i also came across a lot of cute ways people have decorated their polaroid pictures on pintrest and weheartit. lots of people stick cute tape around them, or place them on colourful card/hang them from little pegs etc. i was feeling crafty so went straight to good old ebay, ordered some cute cath kidston style mini mount board card to stick my photos too and lots of colourful washi tape, ribbon and beads to decorate them with and brighten them up a little. i'm excited for all my craft stuff to get delivered through the letterbox - there will be nothing better than having nice days out with this camera and coming home to stick all my pictures I've collected in my scrap book. 

favoutites #1

i'm super late with saying this but happy 2014 everyone! this is my first blog post of the year (oops), i can't believe i've not had a chance to write anything up yet and it's almost the end of january - i've been so busy with work and other things and i feel like this month is just going far too quick for my liking! i want to make 2014 the year i properly stick to uploading things to this blog. i feel like writing posts for this blog is a far more productive way to spend my free time than just scrolling through my tumblr and twitter feed, or worse - internet shopping (my downfall!) every time i'm on my mac. i'd love to get a decent blog post up either every week or every other week.

anyway, i thought i would maybe make the first blog post of the year an easy one, a recent favourites post of pretty much everything i've been loving throughout december and january! also apologies for the rubbishy iPhone pictures - i'm clever and have misplaced my proper camera's charger. what a good start to the year ey!

first things first, i am in love with these moomin pyjama leggings. they're super cosy, really comfortable and just so cute! i've been practically living in these and a big t shirt which i'll put straight on as soon as i get home from work. i can't remember how much they were but i know they were from primark so they were definitely cheap. :)

this little beauty balm by clarions is incredible stuff. it's a great base for makeup and smells lovely. it is quite expensive but i managed to snap this travel size bottle up on ebay for around a fiver. i like that only a tiny amount covers all of my face so i'm sure it'll last me quite a while!

my sister bought me fall out boy tickets for the end of march at newcastle metro radio arena and i couldn't be more excited! fall out boy were one of the bands i grew up listening too and ahhhh my inner emo can't wait to finally see them live after always wanting too.

my next favourite - these two cute little bracelets i picked up in the h&m sale at the beginning of the month. i love jewellery like this that can be dressed up or down, plus they are adjustable in size which is a god send for people like me who have stupidly small wrists. usually bracelets just fall straight over my wrist and hand and it annoys me so much but these ones can be made as small as you want. :) i think i only paid a couple of pounds for the pair.

oh my goodness l'oreal - i am in love with this foundation! i picked this up while i was in new york in october, however i only recently started to use it on a regular basis and now it is up there with my favourite foundations (it even beats a lot of my more 'high end' foundations!) it doesn't feel heavy on my skin at all but the coverage is still amazing, covering my super pink cheeks. plus this shade (light ivory) is perfect for my skin. and it lasts all day without needing to apply more.

obviously starbucks' festive drinks have been in my favourites this month. i am a sucker for a hazelnut hot chocolate but i also love the salted caramel hot chocolates and their caramel hot chocolates and vanilla hot chocolates. and yes, i do like hot chocolates...

this is a bit of a two in one picture. firstly i am a bit obsessed with wearing my hair in a fishtail plait. i remember when everyone first started doing these a few years back and my hair was too short to do them. :( i only just remembered about how much i love them a couple of weeks back and to my delight my hair was more than long enough to do one! i just love how easy and quick they are and that they look good no matter how messy you do them. perfect for people like myself who hate faffing around with their hair. i also adore this top i got in primark. i'm sure i paid around £8 for it which is amazing. it's so pretty and floral and i love the collar on it. it looks so nice with high waisted skinnies and a big cardigan.

a couple of skin care loves. liz earle cleanse and polish (who doesn't love this), if you haven't tried this already then GO BUY IT NOW. you will not regret it! this is my favourite way to remove my makeup at the end of the day. it's super creamy and thick and it smells beautiful. all you do is massage it over your face, then using a muslin cloth wrung out in hot water, wipe your makeup away in seconds and you're done! i love how my skin feels after using this too, i feel like i've gotten rid of every bit of makeup from my face and it also leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised. another skin care love is the indeed labs hydraluron. this makes my skin feel so plump and healthy and gives me a lovely glow. it's products like this that dry skinned girls like myself love and should use every single day to get rid of flakey dry skin. 

now a bath melt by soap & glory. i was given this for christmas and i've almost finished the tub already! this stuff smells absolutely aaammaaaaazzzzziiiiing! it's such a relaxing, wind-down kinda smell which makes it perfect to use when i get in from a long day at work. it makes the water turn pink, creates lovely little bubbles, and makes the bath water feel so soft it feels like you're being given a giant water cuddle. 

last but definitely not least, my favourite body moisturiser has got to be dream cream by Lush. ohhh i can't even remember how long i've used this for, i always go too and from different body lotions, just because i like to try new things out, but i always come back to using dream cream. although it is kind of expensive, it's definitely worth it as one pot lasts absolutely ages and i also find that you can still feel that you've applied this hours and hours later, which is something i find doesn't often happen with other body moisturisers that just sort of sink in and that's it until you apply more. my skin feels so soft and lovely all day wearing this and it doesn't go sticky or anything like quite a lot of moisturiser can do when you apply them. it just rubs straight in to the skin but lasts all day/night and i couldn't rave about it any more!




FINALLY, other things i have also been loving but can't really photograph are:

music -
deaf havana
mumford and sons
taking back sunday
beyonce
brand new

books -
gone girl by gillian flynn
into the darkest corner by elizabeth haynes
a demon in my view by ruth rendell




what have you been loving this month?

xo

a very lazy weekend...

gooood evening! i honestly can't believe it's december! where has this year gone? i'm properly in the festive spirit now it's december. i have lots of things to look forward too this month - opening my advent calendar every morning because i'm still a complete child at heart, my 21st birthday, i'm travelling up to Edinburgh the day after my birthday, i have my work meal and night out, seeing all my family, christmas!!, anddd the possibility of buying my first ever car if things go to plan. (yay) 

anyway, i had the whole weekend off work which rarely happens and i made plans to just do as little as possible and have some time to myself to be super super lazy. and that is what i did! 

i hardly ever have baths but i treated myself to a super deep, hot bubble bath and smothered myself in victoria's secret body wash, moisturiser & body mist. i am in love with the victoria's secret products and i'm so glad that while i was in new york i picked up so many different things!

i spent the majority of my weekend laying in bed and watching movies. on saturday i was watching loads of classic cheesy christmas films and today i have watched a few disney films because i'm so cool...

this afternoon i got ready and went christmas food shopping with my dad. we got loads of nice things and we went a bit mental buying chocolate which was supposed to be kept for christmas but we kind of ate it all after about five minutes of being back home! oops!

and last but not least, look at my gorgeous flowers i was given for passing my driving test! this is one of three vases, it was the biggest bunch of flowers i have ever seen! i am such a lucky girl right now.

what did you get up too over the weekend? i can't believe there's only three more weekends until Christmas! I seriously need to finish my Christmas shopping. I've not even done half of it yet and I feel like I'm leaving it so late this year. Have you started or finished yours yet? 

xo

hello! this post has been a long time coming. as some of you may know i went to new york at the beginning of october. it was honestly the best holiday ever and i was completely blown away by how incredible everything is over there! you can just imagine how excited/nervous i was - i'm almost 21 and had never actually been on a plane before this holiday!! i kinda threw myself in to the deep end with a super long first ever flight. considering the furthest i'd ever traveled away from england was paris (by ferry) when i was about 13 years old, i think i coped okay! though i'm sure everybody who shared the two flights to get to america with me may disagree - i talked super fast, non stop the entire way there because it's what i do when i'm nervous haha! 

the feeling when we stepped out of JFK airport and in to the taxi to the city was something i can't really put in to words. the sun was shining, it was boiling hot and, well, we were in new york!! what could be better? the best thing was that that feeling stayed with me the entire holiday. i cant believe i did so much shopping, eating and walking in one week. i'd love to go back because there was just so much to do and see that i could easily go back for another week and not do the same thing again twice!

anyway, here are some photos of my holiday, they were just taken on my iPhone so apologises for the rubbishy quality.  

walking through the streets on an evening was so surreal. it was so busy everywhere you went even when it was like 1am!

this was the view from my hotel room. you could just see central park in the distance! it was so cool! especially the night i took this photo when it was a bit misty in the distance and all the lights were shining through the fog.

times square was about five minutes walk from our hotel. we would go for a walk down there every night after we had dropped all our shopping off at the hotel for the day! there was so much to do and so many good places to eat - i miss it!

so many tortilla chips! and avocado!

9/11 memorial. it was so moving seeing this in real life and not just on the tv / on pictures. 

grilled cheese mmmm (apologises that every other photo is a food picture ha!)

the buildings were so tall! 

one morning we went on an adventure right through central park. i couldn't believe how big it was. i kept chasing squirrels like a child and pointing out all the really posh pedigree dogs everywhere! you could easily forget you were in new york, one of the biggest, busiest and noisiest cities while walking through central park - it was strangely quiet and peaceful! so nice! 

i took this walking across brooklyn bridge. it was so so hot this day even though it looks cloudy. there was a hurricane warning over the city and it was super humid! i've never felt anything like it. in the uk we never get weather like that.

obviously i had to try pancakes one morning for breakfast!

just some of the things i bought! saving every penny of my money for months before coming here was so worth it.

and lastly, a giant cookie from a cafe next to our hotel. it was the size of my thigh and it took me three days to finish it!!! 

have any of you been to new york? or anywhere else in america? i'd love to travel back to new york and i'd also love to do a road trip across america some day. hmm who's with me!?

xo

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

there is nothing better than coming home from a bad few days at work, having a super hot shower, making a cup of tea and then curling up in bed with a movie on. i’m watching the notebook (yes, cringe but it's so cute) and then i’m gonna try and get some sleep. tomorrow i have a driving lesson and am going to try and pop down to the hairdressers to see what they can do about my hair (i'm wanting to go slightly lighter and more my natural colour). i kind of just want tomorrow to go really quick because on thursday i'm going for a cinema date and then going for a look round town at all of the christmas stuff in the shops which i haven't had a chance to do yet - i'm so excited haha... i turn in to such a child over the run up to christmas.

have you started getting excited for christmas yet? what's your favourite thing about this time of year? i think my favourite thing has got to be wrapping up warm when it's snowing outside, hot chocolates, all the classic old christmas songs being played everywhere, decorating the christmas tree and buying loads of presents for those close to me!

xo

30 facts about me tag

1. i only take a size 3 shoe and it is the most annoying thing ever because ladies shoes generally start in a 4.

2. i have recently rediscovered my love for reading. i treated myself to a kobo glo which makes it super easy to download books and read wherever and whenever. i enjoy reading crimes and thrillers, the proper gory twisted stuff.

3. despite loving to read scary books, i hate horror movies / end of the world movies. i turn in to a nervous wreck if i have to watch something scary and after watching a horror i will be on edge for days after thinking it's gonna become real!

4. i have super short legs, even if i buy petite jeans or leggings i still have to turn the bottoms up about 3 times so they'll fit me.

5. i naturally have mousey blonde hair. in the past i've dyed it light blonde, white blonde, silver, lilac, dark brown, gingery brown (big mistake - totally did NOT work with my skin tone) and i am currently a sort of medium/light brown and wanting to go back blonde - eeep. 

6. another hair one, my hair used to be super super short! like almost short back and sides. i got it cut when i was about 15 and have regretted it ever since haha. i'm currently growing my hair longer, it's past my shoulders now and i can't believe how fast it has reached this length!

7. for as long as i can remember i've wanted to work with animals. i used to love the idea of being a vet but turns out i am pretty poo at science etc so there's not a chance i could study to become one. i would still love to work as a vetinary nurse, but my ultimate dream job would be working with horses. 

8. i feel like i was not born to live in the uk. it's too cold for me even in the summer. i need to live somewhere where it's pretty warm all year round. although i would miss the winters we have here. (kinda)

9. i am definitely a jeans kinda girl. i wear jeans literally every single day unless i'm doing something nice like going for a meal or if the weather is amazingly nice. some might say it's boring but i love them okay!

10. i broke my arm when i was little by jumping off my cousins bed and nobody really knew i had actually broken it so badly because apparently i just sat there holding it and saying 'ow' 'ow' 'ow' really calmly!! i've also broken a few of my fingers several times, twice from being bitten by horses and another time by crushing them at work.

11. i work in a big cafe making coffees in the centre of newcastle upon tyne. i've worked there since i was 18 (i'm almost 21 now) and i've met some lovely people and i've really come out of my shell from working there and constantly having to interact with strangers.

12. i was so so shy when i was in school and college, i used to get bullied for it throughout my school years and i hated myself for it. i would go bright red even if someone looked at me for a split second, i used to want to die in a hole when teachers did the register and you had to say 'here' in front of everyone else. i used to stay off school if i knew i had a presentation to do. it used to get me down and get in the way of so much. now when i look back at much i've changed it always makes me smile. i never thought i'd be as confident as i am now. don't get me wrong i'd still class myself as a quiet person in general but my shyness is not a big problem in my life any more and i couldn't be happier with myself. 

13. i'm hoping to buy a car by the start of 2014. i'm sitting my test on the 20th of november and i'm really excited to (hopefully) pass and have my own little car to drive around in!

14. i have 13 piercings but only actually wear jewellery in 4 of them.

15. i have a tattoo on my right foot, a one on my right ankle, and one running along my left shoulder towards my neck. i would like my other foot tattooed, my shin, and my lower arm but i know my mum would actually kill me! so i'm gonna give it a few years before i get anything new done.

16. i'm allergic to nivea products which makes me really sad because i love the nivea smell ha!

17. i've only been abroad twice in my life. the first time was when i was 13 with my school, we went to france for just over a week and i absolutely loved it there. i'd love to go back some time and do everything again. i also went to new york last month and i can't explain how amazing it was. i'd never been on a plane before until that holiday and the sheer size of everything once we were there blew me away. i'd definitely definitely definitely visit again and would recommend it to anyone!

18.  i have a thing called raynauds disease. it's a circulation problem that means the blood struggles to reach my extremities so i constantly have ice cold hands, feet, sometimes my legs and my nose. my skin goes a horrible grey ish, red/purple colour often because i'm so cold, and sometimes the blood stops getting to my fingers and toes making them go completely white like a dead person! it really freaks me out every time it happens and all i can do is try to warm them up slowly and gently to get the blood flowing again. it's really painful sometimes and i have to be so careful over the colder months to make sure i'm wrapped up to try and prevent it happening.

19. i have a piece of plate stuck in my thumb under the skin. i smashed a plate at work a couple of years ago and it cut my thumb quite bad and a tiny piece of the plate had got stuck in there without me realising until the skin had healed up. you can see it and feel it under there and it's gross. ewwwww.

20. i would love to go on a road trip across america and/or europe once i have passed my test. it's something i've always thought would be such a good thing to do.

21. i studied a levels when i left school. i did psychology, sociology, classics and english literature. i found it such a struggle in my second year that i dropped out and changed to a national diploma in photography. totally different but hey i don't regret any of it and i'm glad i did what i did. a levels definitely weren't for me.

22. i have a brother and a sister. my brother is 19 and my sister is 16, almost 17. 

23. when we were growing up as kids every one used to laugh when we were together because my mum, my brother, my sister and myself all had blue eyes and really blonde hair. then there was my dad who has almost black hair and dark eyes!

24. i have a dog called sam, he's a rescue dog who came from a home where he was left in a cage every day because his owners didn't have time for him which led to him developing quite bad separation anxiety. we've had him for about eight years now. he's definitely part of the family - i couldn't imagine life without him now!

25. i swear i have a cold 99% of the time. all year round. yay for me.

26. i'm vegetarian and have been for around 8 years.

27. i'm currently trying hard to work out regularly and eat a healthy diet. i feel like it's super important and with my family having quite a few health problems i want to make sure i'm doing the absolute best for myself to try and prevent myself getting any problems in the future.

28. i've never really been a big 'alcohol' person. i rarely go out, i never drank underage when i was a teenager growing up. it's just something i've never really been interested in or felt like i needed to do i guess. i'm not against alcohol in anyway, i mean if i do go out i'll drink more than enough but i just don't feel like it's something i want to do often. i'm not sure if that's because my family/friends aren't big drinkers either?

29. i am terrified of heights, deep water, spiders and lifts. absolutely. terrified. 

30. i have a super sweet tooth and get sugar cravings ALL the time. sometimes i can't help but give in to them and will literally just eat a king size bar of chocolate or a full packet of biscuits in one sitting. so bad!