september non-beauty favourites.

This post is a little spin off from monthly beauty favourites, instead its non-beauty! I've been into quite a few things this month, so without further ado, lets get into it!

001. Furniture Shopping.
For the past month or so, Neil and I have been purchasing little bits here and there to finally do up our home. The friends we're living with are about to move out, so we can finally put our stamp on it, and decorate it how we like without worrying whether its to other peoples taste. As you can tell, the bits above are for the main bathroom. Would you be interested to see how we have decorated each room? Could maybe do a blog series on each room, let me know!

002. Candles and smellies.
To be honest, I've always been a candle lover, ever since I was small (blame the mother) but when the nights draw in earlier each day, its a sign that Autumn is certainly here, which makes me love candles even more. They make the home look, feel and smell so snug, and its the next best thing to a log burning fire. I popped into Sainsbury's the other day as my oils are on the low side, and I set my eyes on Christmas fragrances, how exciting, however I left them sat on the shelf, but they shall be mine within the next few weeks!

003. Cross Stitch.
Another rather odd habit that I have, is cross stitch. It started last year, and I've just really started getting into it. I'm currently finishing off the one for four Christmas ones. I find them so therapeutic whilst I'm sat down watching tv with a cup of earl grey. I live beyond my youth, I can guarantee when I'm 60, I'll be out clubbing, rather then doing cross stitch.

004. Great British Bake Off.
Everyone loves this programme, and if you don't, why not?! It's such a good show, I don't even know how to bake but I just love it, especially Mel & Sue, they just make it worth watching. I find it very easy to unwind too, with my cross stitch of course!

005. Humphrey.
Finally of my monthly non favourites is this little man. Everyone, meet Humphrey. He's my newest addition to the family. I wont go into too much detail as I'm going to do a blog post on him very soon. All I have to say is he's a Syrian who's black and white with grey speckles on his back, and he's very cute! :)

Hope you enjoyed reading my non-beauty favourites, what have you been loving lately? Let me know if you like the idea of my upcoming blog posts!

baby it's cold outside.

1. khaki fur parka - miss selfridge

2. knitted grey cardigan - topshop

3. grey fur snood - new look

4. loreal colour riche lipstick - boots

5. black buckled boots - new look

6. tartan tea dress with collar - river island

Now that the summer has officially gone, I've come to terms with no more bright blue sky and sunshine and I've prepared myself for the chilly weather, which I cannot wait for since I'm christmas in a person! Today's post is a wishlist/items I've been lusting over.

I really want to get a coat early on this year, and I've got my heart set on a parka, I'm not 100% sure which one yet, however this one from miss selfridge is very cute! The other thing I adore the most is the River Island dress that I actually saw on a fellow bloggers site and fell in love, but they've sold out online! Check out Phoebe's post on it! What are you wanting at the moment? Does anything on my list take your fancy?

i'm doing a marathon!

Yes that's right, myself and a close friend of mine are taking part in the Shine Marathon in a couple of weeks! It's a 26.2 mile route, in London! It gets even better, it's being hosted throughout the night, so whilst your all snuggle in bed, think of me walking miles apon miles in the cold!

Now a marathon normally implies that you run it, however this one is a walking one, I can barely run 10 minutes, let alone 8 hours! When we first signed up, we thought we'd have plenty of time for training, but since work has been manic, there hasn't been a lot of time. I've been training on a treadmill, but its not really the same, plus it's mega boring!

So, that's the route. We start at battersea and end there too, then we just walk along the main attractions of London, which is what makes this marathon so appealing. You get fit, have fun with your friends, raise money for an amazing charity and also visit some amazing places! There's a pit stop every 4 miles for water, snacks, loos and first aid (hopefully I won't need a first aider!) 

I think on the night, we'll pull through! I can imagine with all the people there, in the moment that we should finish with a good time, even though its a competition. The money all goes to cancer research which is very important to me and the people around me, I lost my grandad to cancer, and Neil's lost all of his grandparents because of cancer too. It's an awful thing to have an I don't wish it on anyone!

Do you guys have any tips about what to pack in our backpacks to keep us going? Have you ever thought or done one before?! Any motivation and ideas to get us through it will be much appreciated, we're going to need it! If you'd like to see a blog post about my adventure and what you'd like to see, let me know :)

Finally, if you would like to sponsor me, click here, even if its a tiny amount, it all really does help!

ootd.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had persuaded my lovely boyfriend to take a few snaps of my outfits whilst we were away camping! I am fully aware that these pictures aren't the best of quality, and the lighting isn't too fab either, but I/we tried our best with what we had! :)

 Denim Jacket - Newlook

Floral Cami - Newlook

Watch - Michael Kors

Bag - Mulberry Bayswater (its got raindrops on it!)

This outfit was when we went and visited Bury! Was very quick and simple to piece together, I always team my printed/plain camis with a denim jacket to finish it off! Unfortunately it did rain, so I look a bit blah!

White Tshirt - Newlook

Grey Side Split Skirt - Newlook

Flipflops - Greece

Necklace - Newlook

Whenever I wear this outift, I always feel like a teacher! So I popped my necklace on to give it more of a edgy vibe. I usually wear this outift with the Kate Moss 107 lipstick but it rubbed off throughout the day! I do apologise about the state of my hair, but I was living au naturale since we were camping!

Neil wanted to get involved aswell. What a hottie I've bagged myself! His plain grey tee is from River Island!

Aww, so cute! Hope you all enjoyed this first trial and error type of OOTD. If you enjoyed it, let me know and I shall try and focus on these posts more often. Since I work in fashion I'm always buying little bits and bobs every now and then! What was your favourite outfit and why? Leave a comment, let me know what you'd like to see next and I'll see what I can do! :)

bank holiday camping.

Last weekend I planned a little get away for Neil and I as it was his 24th birthday! I packed up the car, organised pretty much everything we needed (I forgot a few bits, silly me!) waited for Neil to finish work and off we went. It was a pretty momentous moment for me as I've never driven out of the city, so going along big roads, I was basically kissing my windscreen the whole time!

When we first arrived we popped the tent up pretty sharpish as it was getting dark, and cold! We got settled and had a bit of an early night. We awoke to some awful weather, so Neil stood outside with a brolly, in his onesie cooking us breakfast on the gas stove, what a sight! 

On the Saturday we headed off to Bury St Edmunds, one of our favourite places to visit. A good shopping centre, along with shabby chic shops, nice restaurants and the Abbey Gardens too! It was such a shame about the weather, however we made the most of things and enjoyed ourselves. We had a little browse, then went and had lunch at Nandos, after that we strolled a little more down to the gardens!

After that we went and got a coffee, got in the car and headed to pets at home. I'm currently obsessing over hamsters and I wanted a little peak. Neil is adamant that I'm not allowed one, and I just like the idea, but I'm still working on him ;) I'll keep you guys posted! Once I had drooled over the little things and I pleaded to Neil, we got back in the car and headed to the campsite to cook dinner, have a few drinks and chill out!

Sunday morning was Neils 24th birthday! So we woke up, had a cup of tea and he opened his pressies. We had to be ready by 11 ish as his parents popped down to see him! We ended up going to Cambridge for the day which was lovely, the sun was out, a lovely place to visit and we had a lovely lunch, I didn't get any pictures though I'm afraid :( Once we got back we had a little stroll, played badminton and had a bbq!

Monday morning came, and it was time for us to pack up and leave. It didn't take us too long to take the tent down, its just alot of effort! Would we go camping again? Yes, but only with a built in ground sheet, since we borrowed the tent, we've learnt what we need to look for when we purchase our own! It was an experience and we had a lovely time.

Whilst I was away, Neil kindly took some outfit shots for me, so if you're interested, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do! :) I hope you all had a wonderful bank holiday weekend, what did you get up too?

christening.

Hello pretties!

Today Neil and I were invited to go to a christening! Neither of us had been to one before and had no idea what to expect, it was certainly different to what I imagined! It was Neil's niece's that were getting christened, so it was nice to be apart of and watch!

Dress: Newlook. Watch: Micheal Kors.

Contents of my clutch: Calvin Klein Euphoria, Camera, Chewing gum, Cath Kidston mirror, Keys, Lippy and the booklet.

Clutch: Newlook.

Shoes: Newlook.

Currently sat at home relaxing with a cuppa, about to cook my dinner and just chilling in front of the tv! I love Sundays! What other posts would you like to see me do? Suggestions are welcome, feeling happy about blogging again! :) 

Lots of love, 

fritton lake.

The other day Neil and I had a spontaneous idea to have a nice couples day out, so we headed off to Fritton Lake, a place I loved to go to as a child. It was such a beautiful day, bright blue sky and sunshine, a perfect day for a picnic! So that's what we did, I buttered the crackers, Neil did the easy bits and off we went!

Since we're both big kids, we went on the zip wire in the play area!

Not the most flattering of angles!

Then went and hired out a little rowing boat on the lake, not the cleanest water in the world, but it was fun!

Neil made the rowing look easy, trust me, it isn't, I went round in circles :)

After we had our Bridget Jones moment on the lake, we resided to the lovely gardens and chose the prettiest place to have our picnic! Our favorite crisps, crackers and cheese, olives, lemonade and other goodies!

Where we sat and ate, then chilled out and I topped up my tan!

The wonderful gardens and greenhouse in the grounds, it reminded me of the film 'The Secret Garden'

It was a lovely little outing for both of us, once we left Fritton Lake, we headed into Lowestoft, had a browse around the shops and got a milkshake! 

lots of love,

hello stranger.

Well, this is weird, really weird.

The last time I sat down to write my blog was almost a year and a half ago now, and so much has changed in that time, my whole life has quite literally changed.

I finished college in May 2012, so I'm a fully qualified makeup artist and hair stylist, along with my other qualifications that I completed the year before (beauty therapy). I was fortunate enough to be given a job at New Look. I was originally given an 8 hour contract, but that soon got increased to a 20, which is what I'm still on! I love my job, and I'd never thought I'd say it, but I'm good at my job too. You have your good and your bad days, but at the end of the day, I have a job, and I wouldn't be where I am now without it.

I've also got a boyfriend. Which is the biggest thing that has changed. We met in March 2012, and have been inseparable since. We went to France and Spain last year, and we've got a few things booked for this year too. We're going to Olu Deniz in Turkey in June, London in May, and we're off to Spain again next week! We also live together in a flat :)

I finally passed my driving test on valentines day, with one minor! Then got my car the month later. I have a little 1ltr polo, and I love it! I'm not the most confident of drivers, and I hate parking in carparks, I can't do it. But I'm getting there! Oh, I got my braces off too! I love my teeth :)

Still going strong with the diet, taking it a little more extreme, and also going to the gym now! Looking back, I can't believe how much has changed in such a short amount of time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Not 100% whether I'm going to continue blogging, but I thought it was time I did a little update! Give me your thoughts, opinions etc!

So, hopefully as you can tell, I've just tweaked my blog here and there. I was fed up of having the same banner and other bits and pieces, so I've spent the last few days sorting it out! My older followers may notice that all of my posts from 2009 onwards have gone, that's simply because I just don't see the need for them anymore, it was an old part of my life, old ramblings that not many people saw!

This is a new chapter, so, what to start with?!