My Week in Pictures #25

It's been a while since I last wrote one of these posts (again) but it's been an odd few weeks. I've been spending a lot of time with my laptop writing my dissertation, no change there hey, and I just feel out of the loop really. I've also had some exciting news come my way, but I'm not one to jinx anything so I'll be keeping that one a secret for the time being.

One thing that I have been enjoying doing quite a bit recently is walking, it sounds lame I know. But now the nights have become lighter and the weather hasn't been too bad in the UK, it's been nice to take my dog out walking in the evenings. Not far from home are quiet country roads which are perfect to take the dog down so she can have a run off of the lead. It's also been nice to take the dog in the car and go for walks elsewhere and recently me and my mum took her to Southwold. It's such a lovely place to walk and she was able to go onto the beach which she loves. I took my camera out for a test drive which was actually quite scary, but also really good fun.

I've really been trying to limit what I spend each month recently too and my three purchases are photographed in this post. These sunglasses from Toyshades @ Asos which I am in love with, this cactus sweatshirt also from Asos and two new books from Amazon. I've not totally put myself on a "ban" as such but I really want to limit it much more than I would normally, as I can go slightly wild.

I've also been spending a bit of time with family as usual and recently it was my nephews 2nd birthday. We're waiting for a nice weekend of weather to go and celebrate it properly at the zoo. Overall it's been a random few weeks and I cannot wait to get back to some sort of normality when my dissertation is out of my life for good! I hope you're all enjoying your extended weekend, if you got one!

Stanley's 1st Birthday

 

Today I wanted to share something slightly different but something very special. A year ago today my youngest nephew was born very premature. At that thought many different emotions start to take over and you don't know what to think. There was a time where the future was unknown but 1 year on, thankfully he's one healthy and happy baby boy.

Yesterday my family gathered to celebrate his 1st birthday which was a lovely way to spend a Sunday. It's a nice time to get together as a family and celebrate something special. It's amazing to have seen the progress my nephew has made over the year and continuing into the future. We ate party food, we sang happy birthday, we ate chocolate cake and we had lots of laughs. It was the perfect day and the birthday boy himself seemed to have a great day. Although conked out by the end of the afternoon. Also after trying to bang the birthday cake off of the tray!

I suppose this is just more of a memory post, something to look back on and to share a miracle story with you guys if you have any interest/enjoy lifestyle posts. It's just a quick post but it's special for me to do and one to remember.

Happy Birthday Stanley :-)

Happy Easter

I love days like today, it means so many different things for different people. Religion, family, food etc. For me personally it's all about family, as you can probably see by all the pictures. This is just a quick post to share my Easter weekend with you as unfortunately, within Retail, you don't get many days off so I am back to work tomorrow :( I had a lovely weekend filled with seeing all of my family, eating chocolate, roast dinners, walks in the cold and just quality time with the people who mean the most to me.

I am very much a family orientated girl so spending as much time with my family as possible always means a lot to me. I never want to miss out on a moment, although my job tends to pull me away from that. I seem to miss out on things such as family get togethers which I absolutely hate. So this weekend was super fun and stress free from work. Juggling my time between the two is always hard, you'll know exactly what I mean if you work within Retail. Late nights, long shifts and working weekends. As much as I do enjoy my job, I think I can speak for most people, spending time with the important people is so much more special.

Ramble over, this quick post is just to share my weekend and to say that I hope you too have had a lovely weekend filled with the things you love most. P.s. I hope you all think of me whilst I'm working my long 9 hour shift tomorrow if you have the day off ;) xo

Birthday celebrations 23/02/13

  

So it was my 20th birthday last Saturday, yes I was no longer a teenager. It feels weird to say that I'm not twenty, although obviously like every other birthday I feel absolutely no different. On the same day it was also my mum's birthday so it's always nice to do something together, as a family. Basically this is just a quick post to share with you some of the pictures I had taken throughout the day.

First is my outfit, I wore a dress from Primark which I love, I also have it in a red floral pattern which I have featured in an outfit post. I just love the shape of these dresses and there only £13 I believe which I think is a bargain! It was a pretty plain outfit just partnered with some silver accessories from Accessorize and my Michael Kors watch.

Next was my main birthday present from Mum and Dad which was a new camera! I was so excited about this, my old camera had done it's time and was on the way out simply because it was rather old. I love this one, not quite like the professional ones out there, but nonetheless is perfect for me. It also has Wi-Fi which I think is pretty darn amazing.

Then my two nieces and sister made me and my mum a birthday cake, to be honest it looked pretty amazing. We were told that once we cut it open we would be in for a 'surprise' and once we did, it was a pretty rainbow cake! It was pretty delicious too so overall they done a good job!

After that it was a quick testing out of my new camera and photo shoot for me, my two nieces and mum. My sister took a few (it's pretty hard to keep my nieces entertained with boring smiley pictures) so just thought I'd share one of those with you :)

Finally I just took a few pictures of some other bits and bobs I received in the morning from friends and family. I literally love all of my presents and again don't want these pictures to be taken the wrong way, just helping you guys be nosey ;) he he. I also must mention that my boyfriend got me converse, they are my new babies. They are also white so must be kept well away from any muddy puddles! I also went and visited my dad in hospital so was lovely to be able to see him for a couple of hours with the rest of my family, and I also received a couple of Cath Kidston bits from him which was lovely :)

Hope you enjoy this birthday post and having a nosey into my day :) See you this time next year, will be the big 21st then! xo

50 Random Facts About Me

1. I've been with my boyfriend for 4 years

2. I love the smell of bonfires

3. I have a phobia of birds - mainly pigeons, they scare the hell out of me!

4. I absolutely love The Hills, I've watched every season billions of times and still can't get enough of it

5. I have 2 nieces and a nephew who I adore

6. I am a pretty fussy eater and just stick to what I know and love

7. I danced for around 7 years and completed all of my exams with honours

8. I love driving

9. If you didn't know already, I have a huge collection of nail varnishes and cannot stop buying more

10. I sucked my thumb from birth until the day the dentist told me to stop and I did. I was around 12

11. I've always had a dog in my life and don't think I could ever live without one

12. Lauren Conrad is definitely one of my idols

13. With every pair of shoes I buy I have to buy a pair of insoles to go inside them. Yes I have weird sized feet

14. A mini is my dream car, in cream

15. I've moved house 5 times in my life, I miss my last house it was the best

16. My last year in high school was one of the best years, I miss it

17. I love looking through old pictures and remembering all of the memories

18. I would love to travel to Australia and L.A., I'm hoping I'll bump into Lauren Conrad ;)

19. I love being tanned but am not a great lover of fake tan

20. I buy way too many mascaras to try and find 'the one'

21. On the 23rd of this month I will no longer be a teenager, that's scary

22. An old friend introduced me and my boyfriend over MSN, classy, but since that day over 4 years ago, we've spoken every day

23. I cried when my brace was put on and taken off

24. I have a small blue birthmark at the top of my nose which only shows up on some days

25. I can only sleep in pitch black and silence

26. I've seen loads of musicals with my mum, Hairspray being one of my favourites

27. I used to go to Smash Hits concerts all the time when I was younger with my family

28. Covent Garden soup is my favourite

29. My biggest pet peeve is the sound of people eating, even typing this makes me cringe, yuck!

30. I love swimming and always took part in galas and loved swimming lessons when I was younger

31. I love watching snow, it's so pretty although very annoying

32. I'm very OCD about my bedroom

33. I don't like coffee or tea, I do love a good hot chocolate though

34. I'm always on Twitter and Instagram

35. I'm always buying skin products to help with my spots and blemishes

36. I love buying DVDs and my collection is getting slightly out of hand

37. Since working in Accessorize I buy way too much jewellery

38. I've never been a lipstick kinda girl and never wear it

39. I love The Sims

40. I love a good girly night in with films and food

41. I've never worked somewhere with so many lovely work mates

42. I'm always internet shopping, I just can't stop myself

43. I drive a bright blue corsa, you'd never miss me!

44. I'm really rubbish at painting my toe nails, I'll paint them and then leave the same nail varnish on for months

45. I've always wanted to go up the Eiffel tower

46. I have a younger brother who constantly shouts on the xbox, my god it's the most annoying thing

47. I hate people who are always late

48. I can only blink with one eye, trust me I've tried hard

49. I love a good back massage, my boyfriend is getting there

50. I always like to read a book although it takes me ages to get into it and I hate long chapters

I hope you enjoyed this more personal post, I've seen it floating round a lot of other blogs and thought it would be rather fun to do myself! I'd love for you to leave your links below if you've done this tag :) Have a good week ladies xo

What I got for Christmas 2012

 ☃ Benefit They're Real mascara ☃ MAC Mineralize skin finish ☃ Soap & Glory At First Blush ☃ Soap & Glory Thick and Fast mascara ☃ Topshop nails in Rising Star ☃ Essie nail varnish ☃ Benefit boi-ing concealer ☃ Cath Kidston Bath & Soap set ☃ No7 goodies ☃ Lee Stafford hair growth treatment ☃ Boudoir Beauty set ☃ Benefit PORE set ☃

 ☃ Four Christmases ☃ Friends with Benefits ☃ Christina Aguilera - Lotus ☃ Would I Lie to you? ☃ Lauren Conrad - Starstruck ☃ Tangle Teezer ☃ Sanctuary set ☃ New satchel ☃ Chocolates ☃ Jewellery goodies ☃

 ☃ H&M shirt ☃ Primark blouse ☃ Forever 21 jumper ☃ Primark top ☃ Asos mickey mouse top ☃ River Island dress ☃ Hunger Games trilogy ☃ Piggy bank ☃

 ☃ Christmas nails ☃

 ☃ Christmas day outfit - Primark cardigan £14, dress £13 ☃

 ☃ My gorgeous present from the boy ☃

 ☃ Having fun with my nieces :-) ☃

 ☃ Tree and so many presents! ☃

 ☃ Decorations ☃

This may seem like a slightly late Christmas post but I guess it's better late than never hey! Also I only had Christmas day and Boxing day off work and I haven't had a day off since so have been oh so very busy but thankfully I'm sat here now with a day off tomorrow so can finally relax for a while and write up this post for you guys as recently due to work being so busy I've just felt completely out of the loop. And I have so many posts that I keep meaning to write up but just haven't had the time to.

First things first, basically I've taken some pictures which I wanted to share with you lovely lot just showing some of the bits I got for Christmas, I know some people love these posts and I know others hate but I don't see it as 'bragging' or 'showing off' just simply letting you guys have a nose at what I was so grateful for over Christmas. It's not just the receiving of the presents, I absolutely love giving presents, especially the ones when you know you've got something they will really like! It really is such a good feeling.

Anyway I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, I had one of the best Christmases EVER! Not only did I enjoy spending the whole day with my family, eating chocolates, watching Disney films, giving and receiving presents but me and my family also got one very, very special Christmas present... Christmas Day night my sister went into labour and at 3:50am on Boxing Day my little baby nephew was born, weighing 8oz 9lbs he is absolutely gorgeous, mum and baby being absolutely fine! I'm just completely goo goo about him at the moment, cuddles all the time!

I'm not going to go into detail about the presents I received, you can just have a good ol' nosey at all the pictures! I'm so thankful to my family and friends for everything that I received and I hope you all got some wonderful presents as well. If you've written a Christmas post then please leave the link below as I'd love to have a read! :-)

I really hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you enjoy this post! :-)

xoxo