A day at the coast

This weekend, despite the freezing cold weather, was spent at the coast. Me and my family went for a walk along Southwold's pier and then into the town center. Southwold is a lovely place to go for a walk along the beach, visit the pier and check out the chic, little shops. It really is the perfect place to go, especially on a Sunday and especially as a family. Yes it's December and yes it was absolutely freezing however, it was lovely to get out as a family as well. We had a light lunch at the Adnam's Cafe halfway, mainly in order to warm up and it worked. It also had great food! 

The pictures above are just a few I snapped whilst walking along the sea front, using my iPhone. It would have been the perfect time to take my camera however, with 4 young nieces and nephews my hands were slightly tied. So I just quickly snapped away on my phone. I do love this time of year, and despite the temperature, I really love going for walks. It's a great way to get outside, get some air and take some photos - which I don't get to do all that often!

I hope you enjoy the photos and this quick little post :-)

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!

A Sunday in Southwold

With relatively recently purchasing a new camera and not using it all that much out and about, I wanted to take advantage on a recent trip to Southwold. My mum and I took the dog in the car and went for a lovely walk along the beach front and then through the little streets. Southwold is such a pretty, picturesque place and is located in Suffolk if you've never been before or are wondering where I'm talking about. I didn't take many pictures as was more having a good old fiddle with all the settings, I'm still such a newbie when it comes to using a big, good camera like the one I have now. So I thought I would simply just share a couple of shots I did take with you on this dreary Sunday, as looking back at these pictures I'd love the sunny weather to come back! I hope you've all had a lovely weekend :-)

My Week In Pictures #24

I apologise for being slightly MIA this week but it's definitely been a busy one! The beginning of the week was my birthday, then it was the first lecture this year at uni that I had to attend and finally the end of the week saw me with a sickness bug which I'm currently still in bed with although the worst of it has definitely gone! So yes, it's been a pretty hectic week and I simply just haven't had time to sit down with my laptop and write a blog post; let alone write any more of my dreaded dissertation.

First thing I wanted to mention was my new found hobby of scrapbooking which I recently did a full blog post on. There wasn't anything particular which spurred me on other than having a lot of printed photographs and not knowing what to do with them all. I headed to the Paperchase website and ordered myself some supplies and got stuck in. I really enjoy doing it and it's just something I can do to relax a bit more, not that I have much time for any of that at the moment. But when I do and when I finish uni, I will have more time to spend on it which I'm looking forward too.

As mentioned it was my birthday at the beginning of the week although it really didn't feel like it. I celebrated with some friends the weekend before and was supposed to be celebrating this weekend; but unfortunately this sickness bug got in the way which is such a pain. However I am hoping to go out this coming weekend to finally celebrate again. On my actual birthday, which I share with my mum, we just went out to a local pub for some food which was nice and chilled. I always say "nothing special" but it was a really nice family meal. Oh and the Spectre DVD was a pressie, I'm soo excited to finally watch it!

I've been testing out the new L'Oreal Extraordinary Clay range recently which I picked up in a bundle from Boots. I'm still testing so I won't give away anything for certain yet, although keep your eyes peeled for a full blog post in the future. Something like this range has always appealed to me as it is exactly my hair type, oily roots and dry ends, so keep your eyes peeled for my review.

That's my week wrapped up in a snappy blog post and I'm honestly now considering bed. I haven't left my bed or pj's in 4 days, I have work tomorrow and would really like to feel better very soon! I hope you've all had a lovely week! P.s. can you believe we're in March this coming week?! Madness.

My Week in Pictures #23

A lot has gone on recently, especially since my last one of these posts. I do love writing these posts but I am aware they are becoming less frequent. I am blaming uni work at the moment, alongside personal matters, which seem to be taking over all of my time. I've still be trying to have "me" time where I aim to forget about the work on my shoulders, although it doesn't always works it's been nice to have.

Something I've been opting to do quite a bit recently is read and I've been reading the Divergent Trilogy. I'm now on the final book and I've absolutely loved them to the point where it's hard to put them down. There are also films alongside the three books; two of which are out on DVD already and I believe the third is coming to cinemas in March time. If you enjoyed the Hunger Games then I would definitely recommend these to you, they honestly are absolutely brilliant books and I will probably do a more in depth review in the future.

A few of my friends, and everyone else that I've read talk about this, have been raving about Pretty Little Liars for years! I've been wanting to get into it for so long but I don't have Netflix (shock horror) and recently as I've mentioned, just haven't had enough time to sit and watch TV. I went shopping recently with my dad (another shock horror) and saw this in HMV on sale for £30 so I grabbed it up. I haven't watched any yet but I am really hoping I will love this box set and cannot wait to get involved, albeit slightly behind everyone else.

I also recently purchased a new camera, with the help of one of my friends (I practically copied her!). I got rid of my old camera simply because I'd lost the charger and it wasn't all that great quality. I spent quite a bit of money on this camera and I've had a little fiddle with it but I haven't had a full on go with it yet. I cannot wait to use better quality pictures on my blog and also spend time taking pictures on days out, walks etc. I picked the Sony A5000 camera and it's very pretty!

That's all the updates I have for you this time around, let me know how your January has treated you! It's definitely been a long month, I'm sure you'll agree. I'm looking forward to an evening with friends and a takeaway :-)

My Week In Pictures #22

It's been a while.. Christmas has now been and gone which feels so quick but I swear it's like that every year. The build up is huge and then it's over before you even knew it started. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas however fast it went.

I actually finished work on the 23rd of the month this year which was so lovely. I cannot remember the last time I didn't work on Christmas Eve so this was particularly exciting for me. Not that I did anything special, I went to visit my sisters family and my grandparents, then sat on my bum watching Elf before Christmas was over. I now have until the 4th January off work which is also very, very nice. It's been so super busy recently so it's so nice to actually have a break.

This Christmas, for me personally, was very different. A couple of people missing which therefore changed the whole day in retrospect. My family and my sisters family actually went out for Christmas dinner which was again something very different for us. We have never been out for Christmas lunch before and I can say now that I don't think we will be doing it again in a hurry. I'm not criticising the food, the main course was lovely but there just wasn't really an atmosphere in the pub we were in. I know there are other places to go which may have what the pub we went to didn't, but from our experience we weren't all that impressed. On the other hand it was so nice to spend quality time with my family. We are quite a close knit family and we are lucky that we get to see each other so often anyway but as you all know Christmas just feels more special.

With Christmas now being over we have New Years to think about. I'm not fully into New Years, I can go out or I can stay in and probably end up asleep before midnight. I know some people really get into it every year but that's just not me. A glass of bubbly wouldn't go a miss though hey.

I did actually manage to get uni work out of my head for a few days over Christmas but not that's over, I really need to get my head back in the game. I have a dissertation to write and it's literally just constantly looming in my head. I'm going to allocate at least one, maybe two, days from my time off work to get stuck into it and do some reading. You never know I may even write something down on a word document!

Overall Christmas has been different but still just as lovely to spend time with my family and my nieces and nephews growing up. I swear you can't not smile when watching children unwrap presents, it's just too cute! If you are also getting a break this Christmas then I hope you are enjoying you're time off :-)

My Week In Pictures #21

I swear I always say this but it feels like a long time since my last one of these particular posts although the past couple of weeks have flown by. It's been slightly hectic and I feel like I've been constantly busy but I can't fully tell you exactly what I've been doing.

For the first time in my life last weekend I fully lost my voice! I started off squeaky and then ended up sounding like a rattily, old man. I got the piss taken out of me fully for two days until it finally came back and I must say, ordering in a restaurant with no voice was slightly embarrassing. Even more so when your brother in law claims you went out on a huge binge the night before. Yes, I was drinking the night before but I can tell you it definitely wasn't that.

It was my sisters birthday and we had a fab night out! Full of Prosecco and laughs, with new and old friends. That particular night it also snowed for the first time this Winter in the UK! Not that it lasted at all of course, but sitting outside in it with a glass of bubbles was really lovely albeit cold.

I've been inundated with uni work, no change there hey! I have one more essay to do before Christmas and I'd like to say I'll feel relieved after that but unfortunately not. The looming dissertation is just the worst feeling and as soon as this next essay is finished I will be starting it finally. At least I know my topic now which is one positive, just need to get writing which is the scary part!

So overall it's been a busy couple of weeks which will probably only increase as it gets closer to Christmas! But how exciting that it's December next week?! It's mad that it's gone so quickly. Let me know your favourite thing about Christmas in the comments :-)

My Week In Pictures #20

What a mad week it's been this week! It was the first time this Autumn that I've had to de-ice my car which is mental. It seems way too early for that to be starting here in the UK but on the other hand today it is 2 months exactly until Christmas - also mad.

I've met up with my school friends this week and had a lovely 2 course meal at a local restaurant called Wine Vaults. It was bloody lovely and so nice to catch up considering that one of them has just got engaged!!

After a year I finally found the perfect camel coat and I found it in Primark would you believe. I always find it hard to find anything really nice there as my local one isn't great. But when I spotted this I couldn't not buy it. It was a bargain at £25 and I've been wearing it a lot since purchasing it.

I've been spending a lot of time with my nieces and nephews recently which has been lovely. That socks and shoes combo is my youngest nephew and just how bloody adorable is it?! I couldn't help but snap it because I love it so much. On the other hand, my nephew didn't so much as he's not a fan of socks, bless him!

I've been naughty and buying even more from Boots which is terrible but a haul is up on my blog of this photo. But I have also been shopping today and purchased even more - yes I'm slapping the back of my hand right now. It's all for good reasoning as Boots are now stocking NYX make up so of course I had to buy some things - expect a haul soon.

Hopefully this week will be slightly more chilled but I'm sure it probably won't be simply as my work load is huge. I hope you've all had a lovely week and weekend with an extra hour in bed :-)

My Week In Pictures #18

I told you it wouldn't be long until the next week in pictures post and this one will be scheduled for whilst I'm sunning myself in the South of France. The bikini shot just shows my excitement for holiday as I purchased a new load of them just in time. I'm very much a mix and match bikini person but I understand you girls who love them to match just as much.

I went to my first kettle bells exercise class at the gym this week and actually really enjoyed it. Boy it was hard work, considering I'm not normally a gym goer and I ached an awful lot. But the exercises and the diverse people who attend were really great. I really think I will be going back when I return from my holiday hence the new trainers. These ones are actually from Primark and they are SO comfy! They have memory foam insoles hence the comfort side of them but I also think they look a lot more expensive than they actually were.

I made an online Boots order of some necessities that I actually think you will have seen already in a previous post that I scheduled. So if you haven't checked that out already then you can do so, I purchased one of the new Rimmel Kate Moss nude lip sticks which I am just in love with.

I also just enrolled fully onto my final year at university which scares me slightly but also I'm excited as it is my last year. I know the final year is going to be difficult, with a dissertation and all that jazz, but the relief once it's over I feel is going to be huge.

So whilst I'm sunning myself (hopefully) I hope you've enjoyed this little catch up and have caught up on all my other scheduled posts that I've set for this week. I'll be back in the UK on the 31st, practically September?! Where on earth has the summer gone? It's actually crazy!

My week in pictures #12

What feels like a very long time ago I used to write my week in pictures posts rather a lot, weekly - you guessed it. I can't tell you why I stopped as I have no idea myself but I do feel like they are great posts. A couple of my favourite bloggers share the pictures they have taken recently and I enjoy reading them. This got me thinking, hence why I'm writing this post today, about starting mine again. Don't fret I have many more beauty posts lined up but I have realised I've done two lifestyle posts in a row. It's fine by me so I'm hoping you guys, as readers, approve too.

So the pictures basically revolve around; my cute westie, my naughty desserts, random pretty flowers, my gorgeous baby nephew and finally everything new that I've been buying recently. A couple of weeks back I just had the serious urge to splurge which was not great for my bank balance. Why does it always seem that when it's nearly payday, you see loads of new things you want/need to buy. Why can't shops wait until payday and then bring them out? This way it may help my bank balance slightly.

I've got a week off work next week and have so much to do it's actually rather stressful. My bedroom is currently in boxes, the walls covered in poly filler and there's dust everywhere. Basically it's a state but it's all in prep for me to redecorate on my week off. I just hate it when it gets to this stage, it's all messy but technically ready to go but you have to wait and live in the mess for a little while longer. I simply just want to get started but the time will come and then I will probably moan even more about the mess! But fingers crossed the out come is better than what it started as. I may take some photos and do a post on the transformation!

I hope you're all having a lovely week, we're half way through the week so not long until the weekend! Let me know if you enjoy reading these posts and leave your links in the comments if you write this type of post :-)

Paris

What a beautiful day it is today in England! There hasn't been a cloud in sight all day and I decided to spend my day by the beach with my mum and dog - chilled. So I finally have edited a few of the pictures I took from my recent trip to Paris for my 21st birthday. I didn't want to bombard this post with pictures so just chose this select few to share with you.

I enjoyed Paris so much, everything was super pretty and for years I've wanted to see and go up the Eiffel tower so we did just that. It was so amazing, the view from half way up was incredible! We didn't go right to the top just because we didn't pick the best day for weather to go up it (it was foggy) so they told us there was reduced visibility so we just went half way. We were typical tourists including the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysees and then just general walking around. It's such a nice city to simply just walk around and see what you come across. Of course there was some shopping involved, although the exchange rate isn't that different so things didn't work out much cheaper, if any!

I hope you enjoy my Paris pictures :-)

Fisheye Photography

I like to think I know what I'm doing when it comes to photography but I'll be honest with you I really don't. I'm just one of those people who loves to take pictures and edit them. If you have an iPhone or similar I'm pretty sure you'll all have Instagram.. if you don't redeem yourself now. It's the most amazing app where you can edit photos with a few taps on your screen.

I first came across fisheye photography when I discovered the Lomography cameras which really cool retro cameras and I was instantly drawn to them. The only down fall was the fact that the take films, and as I'm one to take a lot of pictures I think it would also take up a lot of money. But whilst browsing the internet on a daily basis I then came across this little gem. I found this on Amazon at a fraction of the price compared to the actual camera.

It's just like a case for your iPhone and then the actual lense just screws on as and when you want it to. Then you're free to go wild. It really is that simple. I find it so easy to just snap away on my iPhone, even more so as it's got a moulded shape in my hand, but it's amazing. It also comes with a nice pouch so when you're not using the lense you can pop it in there and then into your handbag so it doesn't get damaged.

I personally love fisheye photography as I think it makes a normal picture so much more interesting and exciting. It grabs more of your surroundings and fits more width into your pictures and I always love a round photo. I went to the beach the other day for my boyfriends birthday and took rather a lot of pictures with this new gadget so may do a post including those. It was a beautiful, sunny and surprisingly warm day at the coast so was lovely :)

I really would recommend this if you've got a good eye for photography or are just like me, someone who is snappy happy! You can get one here and they are only around £13 which I think is a bargain :) I hope you enjoyed this different post and I'd love you to leave me a comment and let me know if you'd like to see some other photos from my day out! Hope you're all having a lovely week xo