Aloha! As you will know, I've recently moved into a new house, which can only mean one thing...homeware shopping!!

Here is some of my recent purchases!

Clock - £3.99 B&M

We needed a kitchen clock, and as I have a coffee addiction, this one really appealed to me. And for a bargain £3.99, I can't complain!

Letter Holder - £3.99 B&M

Another B&M purchase. I've always got mail lying about my house so I decided I needed somewhere to keep it all together!

Storage basket - £3.99 B&M

Cookbook Stand - £2.49 Home Bargains

I'm using this storage basket to store all my yankee candle wax tarts in. They were in a glass jar before but I've ended up with so many that I was running out of room!

I was in desperate need of a cook book stand too. Thankfully I'm no longer having to prop my books up against the wall!

Yankee BlackCat Jar Holder - £12.99

Yankee BlackCat Jar Clinger - £2.99 

Granny Smith Yankee Candle - £19.99

Of course, I had to get a few home treats from Yankee Candle. The 2 black cat items were the 2 I was needing to complete the collection. I already have the burner and the tea light holder.

So that's everything I've bought so far. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come! 

xxx

EDN // The Glasshouse Hotel

Aloha! On the 9th May, Mikey and I had our annual end of year uni ball! Little did I know, he has booked us a night in the Glasshouse Hotel, a beautiful 5 star boutique hotel right in the heart of Edinburgh! For 160 years the hotel was a church, then in 2003, Marriott came along and turned it into a wonderful luxury hotel!

On arrival at the hotel, we were informed we had been upgraded to a suite!! And there were more surprises to come! We arrived at our room, where I found flowers, champagne, and an engagement ring!

But less about me, more about the hotel! 

Spacious room! I loved that there was a partition between the sitting area and the bed! And the bed was actually the comfiest bed I've ever slept in. I was so sad to have to get up the next morning! 

All the suites are named after Whiskeys, which is a pretty cool idea.

As you can see, our room looked out onto the rooftop garden, and had a little terrace area for sitting outside! Of course, being Scotland, it was raining on and off all day so you had to choose your moment well! 

I love having a bath in a hotel room. I have no idea why, but it feels extra luxurious when it's not your own home. I know, I'm strange.

Breakfast feast the next morning! We had to get room service because the room was too nice to leave! The breakfast was really good. You can't beat a good fry up after a night out!

And here we were right after getting engaged! This was on the rooftop terrace.

I should also mention the hotel bar! Aptly named the Snug, it's a really nice space to chill in, especially if you can get round the fire! The bar operates an honesty policy after 11pm, which means you can pour your own drinks as long as you fill out tab sheet as you go! 

Because we were in a suite, we were allowed a free whiskey each. I don't drink much whiskey so the hotel were kind enough to let me swap mine for a disaronno! 

If you are looking for a nice, luxury place to stay in Edinburgh city centre, I'd definitely recommend the Glasshouse! 

To book, or for more information, click here! 

xxx

Primark Haul

Aloha! It has been ages since I last did a Primark haul on here, so I thought I would do a little post about the bargains I have picked up lately! 

Sandals £12

I picked up these to wear to my graduation (which is tomorrow!) as I really didn't fancy attempting to walk in front of hundreds of people in stilettos! This is mainly because I'm still suffering slightly from breaking my toe in Mexico! These are dead comfy, and they are wide fit so hopefully my little feet will be okay in these all day!

Tote Bag £1.50

In Scotland we have to pay 5p for every carrier bag we use. When I saw this at the till, I had to get it. Obviously because it has a cat on it! Also because I'm saving the planet though! I keep this rolled up in my handbag so whenever I need to pop to the shops, I always have my own carrier bag!

Cardigan £5 (reduced from £10)

This was a pretty difficult item to get a photo of! It's a batwing style cardigan in quite a thin material so it would be suitable for wrapping around you on a chilly summer evening (or just every day if you live in Scotland!) I'll probably wear this to work as its easy to chuck on over a blouse and skirt!

Blouse £3 (reduced from £10)

Talking of blouses, I got this bargain one for every day work wear! I've just found out I've got a graduate job (woohoo!) so I'll need to start dressing more professionally! I also bought this in black, which was also only £3!

Dress £5 (reduced from £13)

How pretty is this dress! It would be lovely to wear to a wedding or a special occasion. I will probably end up wearing it as a work dress once I've found a blazer/cardigan to match it!

Nail Polish £1.50 

Earrings £1

My mum swears by this long wearing nail polish! At the moment, they only have it in 2 colours, this bright red and a hot pink. I was looking for a red one for my graduation so I was pretty happy with this! According to my mum, this is like having shellac on, and I actually noticed they had a gel effect top coat polish for just £1 if you really wanted to strengthen that effect! I've yet to try it, but I'll put up a post once I have! 

These earrings were purchased also to wear to graduation. I plan on wearing my hair down so there was just looking for a simple pair. At £1, I can't really complain with these!

Okay so this last purchase isn't actually from Primark...it's from H&M and was a bargain £5.99! It was such an impulse purchase but I can actually see me wearing it quite a lot! I have a whole wardrobe full of cat print items and I'm forever adding to it haha! 

So that's all my recent purchases from Primark (and one from H&M)! I'll probably be doing a little workwear haul soon as I prepare to start my new job, so look out for that! 

xxx

Bye June // Hello July

Aloha! June was a long, tiring and very busy month for me! So much has happened, and there are still some exciting things to come! So here is my monthly summary!

Right at the start of the month, we got the keys to our new flat! We've moved just outside Edinburgh as we can get more space for our money, and so far it's been great! Look out for some homeware posts as I spend some of the vouchers we got as engagement presents! 

The second weekend in June was the local racecourse's ladies day. I'd never been before and my mum and auntie have been talking about going for years! So this year we decided to get tickets! It was a good day out, despite it being possibly the coldest June day ever! This photo was taken in the limo (fancy, I know) as we dropped my auntie off. This is my little cousin Riley :) 

Then, I found out I'll be graduating with a 2:1 in law next week! Woohoo! I can't believe uni is actually over! It's been a long, but rewarding 4 years! 

Then I finished off the month doing what I do best...drinking cocktails! 

And now it is July! This month has some more exciting things in store, namely my birthday! As well as graduation, and some other big changes! 

Xxx

Frozen margarita recipie

With this super hot weather we've been having recently, what better way to cool down than with a frozen cocktail! 

This recipie is best prepared a few hours in advance, and left to chill in a freezer before blending with ice! 

For 2 cocktails you will need: 

1/4 cup tequila

1/4 cup triple sec (tesco do a bottle for £9) 

5 tablespoons of fresh lime juice. 

1 tablespoon of caster sugar

3 cups of crushed ice. 

Sliced lime and salt for the glass. 

The method is simple. Chuck everything in a blender and blitz until smooth. Rub the lime around the rim of the glass, then roll in salt and pour in the cocktail! 

Enjoy! 

Xxx

Yankee Candle // Out of Africa

Aloha! The start of July brings a new Yankee Candle collection, which is always an exciting time for me. I managed to get my hands on the new collection a little early, so I thought I'd do a little post so people can see what's coming! 

The new collection is called Out of Africa and features four new scents: 

Egyptian musk: with hints of vanilla bean, cedar wood and musk.

Kilimanjaro stars: cool mint & patchouli. This is a calming fragrance, smells a little bit like Lynx deodorant to me but I love the name of it! 

Serengeti sunset: lotus flower, Amber, fruit & citrus. I don't like to diss Yankee, but I had this in my burner last night and I didn't think it gave off a very strong scent. I did have a bit of hayfever though so maybe my nose was blocked! 

Madagascan orchid: floral notes of African orchid. I love the smell of this one. 

These should all be available in store from 1st July but many stores have already put their stock out! There are also some new melt warmers and votive holders coming with this collection, including a votive holder with zebras on it! 

Xxx

Art therapy // Colouring in for grown ups

Aloha! I thought I'd blog about something a little bit different today. 

I've seen loads of people posting on Instagram about colouring books for adults. I dunno about you, but I loved colouring as a kid and was really keen to try it out! 

So I got my hands on this book. 

It is available on Amazon for £6.99 which seems quite steep for a colouring book but I guess it is a bit more sophisticated than what you used as a kid. 

Mikey has been away 2 weekends in a row so I've been feeling particularly anxious, especially as we have just moved to a new flat in a new area. So I though this would be a good time to test out the anti stress power of colouring in! 

It was definitely relaxing, and distracts you from whatever is going on around you (kids running riot outside in my case), which is good. And also if you are a big kid like me, it's good fun too! 

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone, even if it does seem a bit sad to still be colouring in at 22 years old! 

Here is the first picture I finished colouring.

Of course I did the cat one first. 

Have you tried colouring for grown ups? Did you find it to relieve stress? 

Xxx