Aloha! I've made it to day 6 of Blogmas! Woohoo!

Here is my usual round-up of what I've been up to this week!

1 - My Christmas tree is up! I bought some new red berry lights which I love! They are now reduced to clear in Tesco for just £7 so go get some if you love them too!

2 - We've had a fair bit of Snow this week! I much prefer the snow to the horrible wind and rain storms we've also had this week! Today it looks like we might get some sun so I'm going to head out into town to finish my Christmas shopping!

3 - On Thursday we went to watch the Street of Light show which is currently on as part of Edinburgh's Christmas celebrations. Unfortunately the weather caused a technical fault with the lights and it was cancelled. This was the best "Street of Light" picture I could take in it's absence! I was so upset, but they've said they will honour our tickets for a different night so hopefully I'll still get to see it!

4 - Yesterday the weather was just awful as Storm Desmond hit the country. I had my flu jab booked for the morning then I was meeting my mum and auntie to go christmas shopping. Thankfully we picked an indoor shopping centre to go to! The weather was perfect for wearing my new Ralph Lauren jumper that my dad brought me back from Florida, as well as my new velvet leopard print leggings which I grabbed in Tesco's Black Friday sale!

As I mention, I've been taking part in Blogmas this week. If you've missed any of my posts, you can find the links below:

Day 1 : A Blogmas Giveaway!

Day 2 : Chocolate Chip Cheesecake & My 200th Post

Day 3 : Christmas Tree 2015

Day 4 : My favourite festive fragrances

Day 5 : Gaga's Angel

I'm away to attempt to finish my Christmas shopping now! Wish me luck!

xxxx

TheSundayPost - 29th November

Aloha! Wow it's the end of November already! I know I say this all the time, but I have no idea where this year has gone!

Here is what I've been up to this week!

1 - Drinking hot chocolate and scheduling posts! I'm going to be taking part in Blogmas this year so I've been super busy thinking up ideas for posts! This will be a huge challenge for me as I am not the most regular of bloggers and I find it hard to blog when I'm working full time too!

2 - I don't get paid until tomorrow so money has been pretty tight this week! Of course, that also meant I couldn't full embrace the Black Friday sales. I did manage to pick up a few things which Mikey kindly lent me the money for!

3 - I had been going on all week about really wanting a burrito from a local Mexican street food place called Pinto. (I blogged about it here.) Mikey surprised me on Friday night by bringing one home for me! It was soooo good!

4 - I bought allll the wedding magazines. I genuinely think I have an obsession with them. I have to buy one whenever a new issue comes out! I've been cutting out all the pictures I like and adding them to my scrapbook, which I'm going to blog about soon!

So that is about it for this week! I'm away to put up my Christmas tree now! I know it's not quite December yet, but there's nothing wrong with spreading some christmas cheer!

xxxx

Life Lately

Aloha & Happy Easter! I am back after a long month break from blogging. It wasn't intentional, just life and uni got in the way, and I've had no time to write any posts! 

So, I thought it would be good to do a little post about what's been going on lately since there have been no Sunday posts or anything!

I went blonde! Well kind of. It's blonde highlights but there's so many of them that I look very blonde when my hair is down! I was really unsure to begin with but I actually love it now!

There was a solar eclipse. I was working on the day of the eclipse but I managed to sneak this photo whilst hanging out my office window haha!

My beautiful baby niece was born on the 29th March! I made up this little hamper for her arrival. It was so much fun to do and her parents loved it! Her name is Elsbeth for anyone wondering! 

My dissertation took over my life. And it also resulted in me getting a lovely cold! It is all done and submitted now so normality can resume. Well, until exams begin at the end of the month! Not long to go before I head out into the big bad world, no longer a student! :( 

So that is pretty much everything I have to report from March! Hopefully I won't have such a large blogging break again! I missed writing my posts! 

xxx

Santa has been! // What I Got For Christmas!

Hello Everyone!! I'm back after a short festive break and I thought I'd show you all you nosy parkers (like me) what I got for Christmas! Santa was very good to me this year and I am so happy with all my pressies!

Morphy Richards Soup Maker - This was from the other half's mum and dad! I had been wanting this for ages so I can make lots of tasty soups to take to work! I like that this does the cooking and the blending for you, so less washing up!

Hairy Bikers Cookbook - My auntie bought me this book as she knows I've been following the Hairy Bikers diet cookbooks recently. I cannot wait to try out the recipes in this book. There are some amazing looking things in here!

Yankee Candle Wax Tart Burner - This was a present from my other half! I recently bought the matching tea light holder and I was desperate to get my hands on this! Also I don't have a wax tart burner so this is a great present! He also bought me 10 wax tarts to get me started. I got 5 baby powers tarts and lavender, black coconut, christmas cookie, icicles and sweet apple ones too! 

Cat Cushion and Small Jar Yankee Candles - This was a gift from my best friend (along with some highly inappropriate chocolate willies!) As you can see, she knows me very well! The scents she bought me were snowflake cookie and cranberry pear, two which I've been dying to try out! And how cute is this cushion?!

Kitten T-shirt - My parents brought me this back from Thailand. It is a lovely long top which will be perfect for wearing with leggings and boots!

Sequin Love Heart Jumper - This jumper is so fluffy and cosy! I've just started getting back into wearing jumpers again so this is a perfect addition to my wardrobe.

Leopard Print PJ's - Of course you need to get some new PJ's at Christmas. These were from Primark and they are just so soft! 

Tartan Leggings - My mum knows my style so well! I've had my eye on these for ages! I already have the matching top and skirt set and the colours are so lovely so these leggings will be well worn! These have gone in the New Look sale so you can grab these at a bargain price now!

Lush Goodies - I had been banging on to my other half for ages that I hadn't managed to get my hands on a bottle of snow fairy yet! Everytime I went into my local store, it was sold out! It was still sold out when he went in to get me some so he bought me this lovely gift box which contains a small bottle! He also picked up the other limited edition shower gel, hot toddy which smells so christmassy!  He also bought me a tub of the famous Lip Service lip balm!

Teddy Bear - This bear is wearing a t-shirt with I love Ed Sheeran on it! That says it all really ha ha! 

Stocking fillers from my parents - I always get a second stocking to open at my parents' house! They bought me this beautiful travel journal which I plan to fill with photos and keepsakes from my travels! They also got me this cute cat keyring and coin purse! And of course a giant tube of mentos! 

These were all gifts from my other half! 

Nashville DVD - I had watched the first season of Nashville on NowTv but they have not put up the second season yet so my other half bought me the DVD so I can finally see it! 

Ugg Slippers - These babies finally made their way into my life! I will now have cosy toes forever more! Just love them!

Husky Sled Ride - How amazing is this! I am desperate to get a husky puppy but we just don't have room for one in our little flat so my other half bought me a sled ride so I can see them at work! You get to spend 2 hours playing with the dogs too which I am so excited for! 

And finally my auntie bought me this giant bottle of Nando's sauce! The other half and I had an argument one night over a bottle of hot sauce and she bought this as a little joke! I'm sure this will be well used in our house since I absolutely love Nando's! 

So that is the majority of my Christmas presents! I will also be writing a little post about the 2 blogger secret santa's I took part in very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that! 

I hope all my lovely readers have had a wonderful christmas! I'd love to see what Santa brought you, so leave me your links below! 

xxx

Graze Box: Healthy Snacking!

I know I'm a little late to the Graze Box Party, but last week we got our first box delivered! When you are trying to diet, you need some healthy snacks for those days where 3 meals just won't cut it! 

In our box we got:

1. Walnut & Vanilla Truffle (sunflower seeds, fudge pieces, walnuts & raisins). I quite enjoyed this one but the other half wasn't as keen. I don't really like walnuts so I picked round them. The rest was great though! 

2. My Thai (mini rice cakes and sweet chilli dip). This was my favourite one! The chilli dip was lovely and sticky and the rice cakes soooo tasty! I will definitely be getting more of this one!

3. Chilli and Lime Pistachios- I didn't really like this one but I don't like pistachios. The other half liked it so I let him eat them all! 

4. Jaffa Cake Flapjacks- mmm this one was also good! If only it was a little bit bigger haha! 

I'm sure I will be ordering more graze boxes. They are so handy for popping in your lunchbox! 

Have you tried Graze boxes? What other snacks would you recommend from their huge selection? 

xxx

TheSundayPost

Aloha everyone! As I write this post I'm currently on a train heading back from Aberdeen, where I've been visiting my best friend! 

So here is what I've been up to this week: 

 A rather late anniversary present arrived for my other half on Monday. I spent ages trying to track these cigars down for him! I finally sourced a box in Poland! 

A week would not be complete without a cat photo obviously! 

Red cups are back at Starbucks! It's officially Christmas! Woohoo! 

On Thursday we went to a Christmas sampler day at a local restaurant. It was a lovely night after a rather depressing day at uni! Post to come next week about this! 

On Friday's we get free Krispy Kreme doughnuts with our stationary order! Mmm! 

As I already mentioned, I've been visiting my best friend in Aberdeen this weekend! It was so good to see her as it's been a while! We had a nice night at the amusements and TGI Fridays, then drinking lambrini in her flat! Haha! 

And now it's home to get ready for work tomorrow! Boo! 

Hope you all have all had a great week! Xxx 

Weigh in Wednesday #3

So in the last week I've kinda fallen off the diet wagon. Oops!
What with deadlines at uni and our anniversary at the weekend, I just haven't had time for healthy eating! It's been so easy to grab a ready meal or fast food on the way home from the library, and we spent the weekend indulging in great food.
However, in saying that last week I was 12st 4lbs.
This week I am still 12st 4lbs!
I can't believe I have stayed the same weight after all the junk I've eaten this week! Hopefully next week I'll manage to lose a bit!
Xx

TheSundayPost

Hey everyone,
Now that I no longer work weekends, this post is so much easier to get up on time! I totally forgot I hadn't updated you all on my change of job! I quit sainsburys in August after getting an extension to my contract in the office I was working in over summer. I've just found out this week that I'm getting a further extension to May 2015! That takes me right up to graduation! Woohoo!
Anyway, what else have I been up to this week?
- Work. I now work Mon, Wed & Fri 9-5. The hours suit much better and give me more time to relax, especially at weekends!
-Uni. Next week is deadline week for 2 of my modules so I've been trying to work on my coursework. I'm awful at time management though. I do nothing until the deadline is upon me and then I'm stressed and doing all nighters to get finished on time!

Banana bread baking! I made another batch of this yesterday. It's such a yummy treat. You can find my recipe for it HERE

Last night I had a craving for an old school ice cream van style ice cream! So obviously the other half got sent to the shops to buy me the ingredients! This was totally worth the diet sacrilege! 

Speaking of diets, the ice cream seems to have done something useful! I'd hit a wall with the diet this week and wasn't losing anything! Then this morning, I'd dropped almost 2 pounds! Woohoo! We'll see if I manage to keep it off until WeighIn Wednesday, since it's Sunday dinner at Mum's tonight (and there is more ice cream on the menu!) 

Have a fabulous week everyone! 

xx

Favourite Things Tag

Wow so it seems my last blog post was many moons ago, for which I am very sorry! Thank you for sticking around! I'm not going to lie, I found I was losing interest in my blog and it became more of a chore than an enjoyable past time. Expect to see some changes round here in the next few weeks as I change things up a bit! I hope you will enjoy my new content just as much! 
So I saw this tag on the lovely Smoking Peaches and thought it would be a good way for me to break back into blogging! So here are my favourite things below! 
The rules are 20 categories, 3 favourite things! 

The 20 Categories

1. Products

- Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel (obviously)

- Tresemme Colour Protect Shampoo & Conditioner

- Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Mascara.

2. Foods

- Pollo ad Astra Pizza from PizzaExpress

- Sour Skittles

- Kraft's Cheesy Pasta (haha!)

3. Places

This one is very hard!

- New York

- Isle of Skye

- Alvor, Portugal

4. Things you miss

- Having my dinner cooked for me every night by my mum

- Having a dishwasher

- Being in New York

5. Things you do when you're bored

- Read through blog posts from other bloggers

- Play angry birds on my phone 

- Online shopping!

6. Things you enjoy when its sunny

- Ice Creams

- Relaxing in the garden with a glass of wine

- Barbeques at mum's house on a Friday night

7. Films

- The Lion King (will always be my favourite film!)

- The Great Gatsby

- Shrek

8. Songs

- Ed Sheeran, Lego House

- Runrig, Loch Lomond (Can you tell I'm Scottish?)

- David Guetta ft. Sia - Titanium 

9. Brands

- Ugg Australia

- Forever 21

- Juicy Couture

10. Outdoor things that you like

- Walking (more recently, hill walking)

- Visiting the Beach 

- Cycling

11. Events

- Weddings

- Christmas 

- Halloween (because it's my other half and I's anniversary)

12. Cartoons

- Family Guy

- American Dad

- The Simpsons

13. Buildings

- The Empire State Building

- Edinburgh Castle

- The Museum of Natural History

 

14. Anything in everyday life

- Rekorderlig Cider

- Afternoon naps on a rainy day

- Yankee Candles

15. Traits in any person, not just partners

- Honest

- Caring

- People who have manners (I can't stand impoliteness!)

16. Influences

- My Gaga (gran)

- My Mum

- My friends

17. Drinks

- Pepsi Max

- Mango & Raspberry Cider

- White Wine

18. Experiences

- Visiting New York 

- Getting into Uni and (slowly) making progress on my course

- Getting my first job and working there for 5 years

19. Things to Watch

- The US Office

- Nashville

- Game of Thrones (can you tell I like US TV shows?)

20. Youtubers

- The Saccone-Joly's

- Zoella

- xameliax

Feel free to copy and paste this over to your blog if you want to take part like I have done! Also if you are interested in food and drink, go check out my other half's blog Whiskybeercigarbeginner and give him a little follow to get him started in the blogging world! 

xx

TheSundayPost #10

Hello! A day late again this week but here is my weekly roundup! Not much has happened this week, although I have managed to blog nearly every day which I am very proud about haha! The blog is turning more style diary now which is great! Outfit posts are something I really wanted to get into so I'm happy I am managing to do it now! 

Wednesday was my other half's birthday (hence the wine picture!). It was a beautiful hot day so most of the day was spent in a beer garden. For his birthday I booked us a trip to Amsterdam in January! Id been keeping it a secret for weeks and nearly slipped up many times! 

I've become such a fan of travelling lately, I just can't stop dreaming about and booking holidays! The Dominican Republic is next on my hit list, so if you've been there, any recommendations would be welcome! 

Sunday wasn't a great day. One of my managers was very mean to me so I spent most of the day in tears. Damn me not being able to handle being shouted at! The evening was better though as my other half's parents came over for chorizo and pea risotto and some of my boyfriends home made banana cake (yummy!) 

This post has quickly turned into an essay so I'll leave it at that for now! Hope everyone has an awesome week! :) 

TheSundayPost #9

Hello everyone! This post is a little late but I just didn't have the energy to blog yesterday! Here is my weekly roundup through Instagram! 

On Wednesday I saw the Queen and Prince William!! I was very excited haha! 

The weather was so gorgeous so I had a little picnic in the park! 

This was my throwback Thursday post. Totally wishing I was on the beach instead of in the office! But only 10 more weeks til I go back! 

And finally, this picture made me giggle. My other half always says I'm such a people hater. I'm not but I'm very easily irritated haha! 

Have a great week :)

Xx

TheSundayPost #6

Hey everyone! Just a little update on what I've been up to this week! 

1- After my Tax exam on Monday, I needed a little pick-me-up so my other half took me to starbucks for my favourite drink (Caramel Coffee Frappuchino)! If you haven't tried this I recommend you do! It's delicious! 

2 & 3- On wednesday we had our final exam which called for a celebration! Of course this involved wine and food! We visited a restaurant in Edinburgh called Twenty Princes Street. I'm going to do a post on our night next week so look out for that! 

4- I regularly get called the crazy cat lady so it made me giggle when there were 3 random cats in my garden this week, one of which was actually sitting at my window meowing to get in! 

5- This sums up the hillarity which was going on in my house when we should have been studying! It mostly involved videos of cats doing funny things! 

6- You may have seen my post yesterday about my end of year uni ball! We've been every year since first year and it's always a good night! This year was no different. It's so lovely to see everyone before everyone goes back home for the summer months! 

So that was my week this week! 

p.s this time next week I'll be lying on a beach in Portugal! (Just saying!) 

Hehe!

xx

TheSundayPost #BEDM

Okay so I have been naughty and deviated away from today's blog challenge topic! It was talk about sci-fi and I honestly know nothing about it and I don't watch any at all. So I decided to use the opportunity to do a little update on my week!

1- On Thursday night we went to a debate about the independence referendum which is happening in Scotland later this year. It was very interesting (sad I know!) but I'm still undecided on how I'm going to vote. On the way home we grabbed a McDonalds because we hadn't eaten and it was very late! Mmm banana milkshake! 

2- I've been waiting forever for this ring and it finally arrived! I love it! No-one understands the meaning of it but it's simba from the lion king obviously! I love the lion king! 

3- I'm right in the middle of my uni exams just now so coffee is my best friend. I found this coffee by beanies in Sainsbury's. It is delicious. They also make irish cream and vanilla flavoured coffee which I am going to pick up when I do my weekly shop on Wednesday. 

4- 2 weeks today until I jet off to the sun for a week! This was the weather in Alvor, Portugal on Friday! Fingers and toes crossed it stays like this for me! 

5- This pretty much sums up my weekend. So much stress, so many difficult people! 

6- I was playing on that status generator thing on Facebook (typical student procrastination) and it gave me this. I giggled at it for a while. This is me every Saturday and Sunday when I get up at silly o' clock for work! Although I don't wake up on the ground haha! 

So that is pretty much it for this week. I've been studying hard all week so I've had no time for fun :( My last exam is on wednesday so hopefully next week this post will be more fun to write haha! 

Have a lovely bank holiday monday tomorrow guys! Pity me whilst I'm stuck in my 3 hour long Tax Law exam! 

xx

Easter Cheer!

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had a lovely week!
So for most people (except me), It's a long weekend coming up! Because I'm so lovely, I've made a hugeee batch of these cute easter crispy cakes to take to mine and my other half's work tomorrow!

These are sooo easy and cheap to make! All you need is some cereal (any kind works but I've used shreddies for the bird nest look), cooking chocolate (85p in Tesco), Mini eggs (£1 a bag in Tesco) and these little easter chicks (Only £1 for 12). 

I just melted the chocolate in the microwave for 1 and a half minutes, then mixed the cereal into the bowl and spooned into the cupcake cases, then decorated. Literally takes about 10 minutes to do! 

Let me know if you have any other cool easter cake recipes! :) And if I don't manage to post again until Monday, Have an awesome Easter weekend! :D xx

Company Style Blogger Awards 2014

Hello guys! Nominations for the company style blogger awards 2014, are now open! If any of my lovely readers out there enjoy reading my blog enough, I would be honoured if you could nominate me for the best fashion blog-newcomer award! I like to think my blog has come a long way since July last year and I'd love to be nominated for an award (haha)! 

You can nominate HERE!!

Also I highly recommend you read Hazel's Slightly Skint Blog who I have nominated for an award because her blog is awesome! 

The Sunday Post#1- Valentine's Weekend

Hello Everyone! :)
Hope you've all had a lovely weekend! Welcome to my new feature as well, The Sunday Post!
Now it is not very often I get a weekend off, but this weekend I managed it! Here's what I've been up to on my weekend off!

Friday
Of course, Friday was valentine's day! I was a very lucky girl, indeed! My wonderful partner bought me the 'think pink' lush gift set and a black cherry yankee candle!

This is an amazing gift set! Everything smells soooo good and I can't wait to use them all! Expect many a lush related blog post in the next few weeks! My yankee candle will be a great accompaniment at bath time! 

After receiving these lovely gifts, my partner took me out to a gorgeous french restaurant for dinner! The food was amazing! I wasn't brave enough to try the frog's legs or snails though! 

This was my outfit for dinner. My dress is from New Look and my cardigan is from Primark. I put my hair extensions in for the first time in ages just for a bit of added volume (not that I need it!) P.s excuse the mess on the bed! I changed outfits about 20 times! 

Saturday

It was my cousin and my great auntie's birthday's over the weekend. They both live in Darlington so we don't get to see them often but since they were both celebrating big birthdays we headed down for a little party! It was so lovely to see all my family down south for the first time in years! 

This was the only photo I took from the party! We dressed my cousin up in a bubble wrap suit which everyone wanted to pop! My mum has loads of good photos from the evening so I'll just have to steal hers! Anyway, lots of drinks were consumed and good food had, so overall a great evening! 

Sunday

And finally, on to today! 

This was our view from our hotel room window this morning! What a beautiful morning it was! We headed to my aunt's for breakfast (which was amazing!) and then we headed on our way up the road after saying our goodbye's to everyone. 

So that pretty much sums up my weekend! I've really enjoyed being able to chill and spend time with my family, shame it can't happen more often!

Hope you've all had a great weekend too! What have you all been up to? 

xx