New Discoveries

I've noticed/admitted a few things about myself recently. One is that I eat my lasagne in the strangest way possible: I eat it layer by layer, scraping off the cheese from the top then eating the pasta sheet and then the meat, followed by the next pasta sheet.

Living in uni halls has upped my levels of tidiness, particularly pertaining to the kitchen. I keep tidying up as I cook in there, just a random little wipe of the surfaces every now and then.

Another thing I've noticed is that I took a lot of home comforts for granted. Like heating, and quick internet. But, more importantly, having family and friends close by 24/7. I still get pangs of homesickness, especially for Piers and my niece who are possibly two of my favourite people.

I can budget...and then re-budget. Seriously though I can do the organised bit and set myself a budget but every now and then I have difficulty sticking to it. Too much money this semester has gone on DVDs, clothes and presents for birthdays which are absolutely ages away. Whoopsie.

But on a positive note, I've rediscovered my inner working nerd/geek. Why is this a good thing? It's good because within a few months of sixth form I lost all desire to be there, whereas at uni I'm on top of work and I'm doing well. My inner Hermione Granger has awoken! My writing has also picked up again and I'm writing more poetry, letters and short stories, which is something I'd missed after a year or so of absolutely no motivation.

So taking the good with the bad, I think I needed a change of scenery to get me out of the rut I was in back home. I just wish I had some of the people from back home with me. Still, there's always holidays.

Very delayed sale find picture

Wow so two months later than its purchase, here is a picture of possibly my best sale find from the Christmas sales in Peacocks. I found this beaut of a cardigan for £5 and fell in clothing-lust with it pretty much on the spot. I remember seeing this on their website in red and thinking "a red leopard print cardigan,ewww!" I changed my mind for their purple one. The print, which could have been garish and oh-so very wrong, is actually played down really well and looks rather chic for a cheaper high street shop. Peacocks wonder strikes again! Anyway, it's really easy to pair with most things, especially given the clashing prints trend this season which means I can wear it with some of my patterned skirts and get away with it. Plus, gorgeous looking knitwear is kind of an essential up north, if I'm going to wrap up because of the cold I'm determined it will be in pieces that I look at and go "what a beaut!"

Organised beauty

So having itty-biddy shower rooms and no where else to really store all my soaps, hair care and other beauty products other than my uni room has meant I've had to be both a) creative and b)highly organised. Cue giant Tupperware box and some careful stacking. In this giant Tupperware box I have two toothbrushes, two lots of toothpaste, a bath scrubber, a face mask, numerous face creams, cleansers, toners, an eye cream, face scrubs and moisturisers. Shampoos and conditioners go to the side, and you can just about see my washing up stuff as well for when I can't be bothered to go to the kitchen and wash up. Lazy and practical, that's me!

All Aboard

Hi there obviously witty title ;) Another top purchased on a bit of a whim (albeit a fairly cheaper one,this was only £7 from Peacocks) but this nautical trend top has worked out pretty well. Easy to team with jeans or a skirt, it nips in at the waist and the scoop neck and cap sleeves are flattering on pretty much every figure. It is also available in blue with white stripes, which I am tempted to go back and get at a later point, but I opted for this one after some indecision because it felt more summery, which is always good.

Favourite 8 tag

"MY FAVOURITE 8 TAG"

8 TV Shows I Watch:

1. Gossip Girl
2. Doctor Who
3. Instant Star
4. Glee
5. Friends
6. Bleach
7. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
8. 8 Simple Rules


8 Favourite Places to Eat:

1. Frankie & Benny's
2. Cafe Neon
3. Ask
4. Chiquito's
5. Sam Tsang's Chinese take out back home
6. Costa
7. The Tea Cosy back home :')
8. Wetherspoons


8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Piers visiting next month
2. Frankie & the Heartstrings gig tomorrow :)
3. Home for Easter
4. CU Mission week
5. UCCF leader's training weekend
6. Starting on my portfolio
7. Writing up my entry for Vogue's talent contest 2010
8. Church on Sunday


8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

1. 7 hours of uni :|
2. Purchased a new (and very much needed) phone
3. Wrote and emailed my fingertips column in
4. Wrote a few blog posts
5. Bible study with Piers
6. Hung out with Katie and returned her bedding stuff
7. Wrote an article for Detour
8. Sent some vital emails


8 Things on my Wish List:

1. Alexz Johnson's solo album please :)
2. Responses to my important emails
3. Lush BIG shampoo
4. Lush BB Seaweed fresh face mask
5. Harajuku Lovers Summer Cuties 'G' perfume
6. A new pair of ballet pumps
7. Lush Up You Gets shower bomb
8. A real Gerba daisy


8 Things I'm Passionate About:

1. God
2. Piers
3. Family
4. Friends
5. Any and all work I do
6. Good grammar
7. Fashion
8. Music


8 Words or Phrases I Use A Lot:

1. That's cute
2. Fail
3. Boo you!
4. I love you
5. Y'alright?
6. See you later
7. Guten Abend
8. oh hi...


8 Places I Would Love to Visit:

1. Florida
2. New York
3. Turkey
4. Italy
5. Ireland
6. Wales
7. Cornwall
8. Blackpool

You're all tagged followers ;)

"I'd like a pretty top...with ruffles on"

Ruffles may not be the first thing you look for in an item of clothing but the ruffling detail on the hem of this New Look top definitely caught my eye once-upon-a-browsing-time. Followed swiftly by the more muted colourings of the material and the print amidst a lot of black, white, pink. Throw in another beautiful detailing in the form of the back neck tie and I was hooked. The thin over layer of material is covering the satin inlay of the top which feels oh so smooth upon trying this top on. It has a slight v-neck and cinches in slightly at the waist, resulting in showing off the best aspects of the figure. Teamed with my usual boot-cut jeans this made a perfect date outfit. And I'm pretty sure it was £16-18 (I tried finding it online to verify but I'm afraid it's not up on the website.If anybody knows the definite price let me know).

Lush lip scrub review

So I probably wouldn't have ordinarily bought this product had it not been for friend and fellow blogger, Michelle (daisbybutter) who blogged about it's awesomeness and evoked my curiosity. So upon the next moment of oppertunity I meandered into the nearest Lush store and located their little dish of lip scrubs. Poking around them I spotted a bubblegum one. "Yummy" I thought, knowing full well that if I was going to use a product on my lips I had to like the smell/taste (taste for accidental consumption throughout the day).

Anyway, I have been pleasantly surprised with the product as it's been successful to the max removing dead skin and keeping my lips smooth. Lush stocks three different varieties of their lip scrub, each selling at £4.50. The varieties are: bubblegum, sweet lips (which smells like chocolate and is made using vanilla and cocoa) and mint julips (made using vanilla and peppermint). The products have a use-by date of about a year from being made so it's definitely value for money, that's a lot of scrubbing!

Apologies for the blurry picture by the way, my camera has been playing up.

"I only went to Asda for bread and butter...and came back with PJs!"

As said by me, to my father when he phoned and we were berating going into supermarkets wanting one thing and emerging with at least one spontaneous buy. Mine on this occasion was the above pair of PJs. Granted, I did actually need some new PJs given the last ones were now too big around the waist (constant PJ trouser up-pulling is not what you want to be doing during a fire drill at 4am) so my buying on a whim wasn't too ridiculous. At only £8 these PJs from Asda fulfil the two ps I look for when buying the majority of my clothes: pretty and practical. The combination of pink and blue checks on the trousers keeps them girly, and the buttons on the tank top does the same.

"As for the eye mask?" I hear you ask. That was an indulgence in Claire's Accessories, purchased while waiting for a couple of friends to meet me in the shopping centre up here. It was also a pretty good bargain, costing me only £4. Now to adjust to waking up and not being confused that I can't see anything...

Customisation part 2

After a long time lying dormant my grandma's brooches are certainly being put to good use! The most recent use for it was making a bracelet. I had a length of material which originally I was going to use as a neck tie (and still intend to) and needed something to fasten it. Cue grandma's green stone brooch with gold setting and a neck tie was created. However the end sections weren't lying right and thus needed some stitching detail. So that project was put to one side...

Then I was getting ready and wanted a cute bracelet to wear. As I was scrambling through my jewellery pile back home I came across this work-in-progress again and, hey presto, the neck tie became a bracelet, as seen below:

Whoops :)

Sorry for the neglect! I feel like I haven't blogged in ages. To be honest there hasn't been anything monumental going on to blog about. I've been asked to be president of the Christian Union next year (yay!) and been home a fair bit. I've also got new pretty stuff :) Mostly of the Lush variety but a few lovely pieces of clothes in there too. I think I'll do separate blog posts about them though, mainly because I want pictures and I need to find my camera usb cable amongst the unpacked junk in my suitcase. I have begun to allow myself Lush indulgences though, having a) located the nearest Lush I could realistically visit and b)fancying some indulgence of delightfully smelling products. I just have to grasp my focus away from their bath bombs (darn lack of baths in the uni halls I'm in) and instead invest in their other beauty products.

A fair enough trade as I've found some favourites to go on my "beauty buys I enjoy" list. I'm also looking forward to Thursday as, having used all the beauty stuff I've been indulging in, I will smell lovely and have wonderful skin/hair/lips thanks to the products for when I see Piers. Good stuff :)

Stay tuned for the Lush and clothes posts :)