A week in Brighton - Brighton Pier

Over Christmas I went to stay in Brighton for a week with my family. I've always wanted to go to Brighton because of its mix of city and seaside (#dreamteam), and I wasn't disappointed. I loved how I could get the benefit of amazing shops and restaurants and then simply walk over to the beach and admire the sunset. I also have a bit of an odd obsession with the Georgian style architecture that you find a lot of in Brighton. I've spent many a late night scrolling through property websites, bookmarking apartments and houses (the majority of them being in Brighton), and practically drooling at their perfection. So I was pretty damn excited about the holiday house. In all honesty though, I would have been completely over the moon just to be reunited with my family, so it was amazing that I could be with them in such a lovely place.

City, sunsets, pretty house, family, Christmas; It doesn't get much better than that.

I took a load of photos during my stay so I thought instead of bombarding you with them all in one go, I'd categorise them and gradually post them over the next week or so.

 

These photos are from Christmas eve, when I went to the arcade on Brighton pier with my brother, sister and dad. It's something we've always done whenever staying with my nan in Lowestoft, so It's almost become a bit of a tradition for us when we're at a seaside town. Call me lame, but there is a certain excitement that comes with wasting a load of money in the form of 2p coins, just to win a couple a tacky plastic key rings that probably only cost 5p to make.

 



Reflecting on 2014

I don't know how interesting this will be to anyone because it is something very personal and I do feel slightly uncomfortable posting this, but I thought it would be good for me to just sit down, gather my thoughts, and try and get my head around the past year.

Around this time last year I was crying about 3 times a day, going to a psychologist once a week, on medication, and failing school.

Since then a lot has happened.

I became medication and psychologist free, my mum's cancer got cleared, I started this blog, I dropped out of the international baccalaureate, I moved from France to England without my family to live with my grandma, and started A Levels at a new college.

Wow.

You might be sarcastically thinking 'ooo great... well done...big deal...' which is understandable, everyone goes through lots in their lives. But for someone like me who has always had quite a stable life with every year being pretty much the same as the last, this has all been quite overwhelming to say the least.

I'm not going to say my life is now exactly how I'd like it to be and everything's great, because it isn't, but at the moment I'm just relieved at how much everything has improved. This is the first time in ages that I've felt like there's a chance that things will get good again.

Hopefully in a years time I'll be sitting here blogging about how great 2015 was !

Blogging Everyday of January?

If there is actually anyone out there who follows my blog and keeps up to date with my new posts, you will have realised by now that I'm not the most consistent of bloggers. What usually happens is my blog will be dead for about 2 maybe even 3 weeks, and then suddenly a bombardment of new posts will come through. I want really want this to change, and I think the way to do that is to challenge myself.

The 'Blogmas' band wagon may have been and gone, but I still really want to attempt (attempt being the key word here) to post every single day for one whole month. That's 31 days. I don't even have that many posts on my blog yet!

The reason I didn't do blogmas along with many other bloggers was that December kind of crept up on me before I had even really thought about it, but I will make sure that I'm prepared this time! Bring it on!

What have I got myself into...

Best Mascara Ever?

Let's get straight to the point. Is this the best mascara ever? In my opinion YES.

Obviously I haven't tried every single mascara there has ever been, but I can honestly say that Maybelline The Falsies is the best mascara I have personally ever tried. I do actually have the Benefit They're Real mascara which had a lot of hype over the last year or so, but I've probably used it like twice, just because I found it didn't really match the standard of this one, plus it's twice the price. I think maybe the reason this is so good is that the brush is curved so it really helps to curl your eyelashes, and then the fact that it's waterproof holds the curl really well. You might try it and not feel the same way but I can confidently tell you that it works wonders on my little stubby straight lashes.

Christmas Playlist

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - Michael Buble
Do they know it's Christmas - Bandaid 30
8 days of Christmas - Destiny's ChildSanta Baby - Michael Buble
What Christmas means to me - Stevie Wonder
Have yourself a merry little Christmas - Frank Sinatra
Christmas lights - Coldplay
Winter wonderland - Michael Buble
The Christmas song - Stevie Wonder
White Christmas - Frank Sinatra
All I want for Christmas is you - Michael Buble
Blue Christmas - Michael Buble
Real love - Tom Odell
I want to come home for Christmas - Marvin Gaye
Baby it's cold outside - Michael Buble + Idina Menzel

Flashback to a day in Beaulieu

I was going through the files my old laptop the other day and came across these cute photos from ages ago when I went to Beaulieu with my mum and grandma back in September. I thought I'd share them now because they make me smile and hopefully they'll make you smile too! Who doesn't love donkeys and chocolate cake?

 















 





















 





December Playlist



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking out loud (Alex Adair Remix) - Ed Sheeran
Battle cry - Imagine Dragons

You make it worse -Raleigh Ritchie

You're the one that I want - Lo-Fang

#88 - Lo-Fang

Hustler - Josef Salvat

Open Season - Josef Salvat

Can't stop - Theophilus London ft. Kanye West
Pacifier - Catfish and the Bottlemen

Uptown funk - Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
#icanteven - The Neighbourhood ft. French Montana
Comeback - Ella Eyre 
Fool's gold - One Direction
Girl almighty - One Direction
Stockholm syndrome - One Direction
Once in a lifetime - One Direction
Jealous - Labrinth
Come together - Ben Haenow
I found - Amber Run
 

The Christmas Time Tag!

It's nearly Christmas! And 2 Christmas themed posts on my blog didn't seem enough, so me and Gemma from touch of belle decided to create a new Christmas tag! I love Gemma's blog and I'm sure you will too so go have a look!
I'm going to tag a few people to answer the 10 questions at the end, but I would love for anyone reading this to do it too. If you do, tag me or leave me a link in the comments and I'll have a look!

The rules are of the tag are:

-       You must tag back to the person who tagged you

-       Tag 5 other bloggers to do the tag

-       Have fun!

 

1. Do you have any Christmas traditions?

Me, my brother and my sister have always had a stocking that we wake up to at the end of our beds, and still do! We all wake up ridiculously early to open them up together. It might sound childish but it still makes me happy and excited, no matter how old I am.

 

2. What is your favourite Christmas film? 

I think most people would agree with me that Elf has to be up there with the best. Its so funny and adorable and writing this has really made me want to watch it now! I also love How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Maybe that's because the Grinch is such a relatable character...




... but seriously though, It's such a cute film and so different to anything I've ever seen. If you haven't seen it WATCH IT.
 

3. Do you have any Christmas wishes?

I just wish that everything in my life continues to get better and that I keep getting happier.

 

4. What is your favourite part of Christmas? 

Its a bit of a cliché but I really love watching other people opening their presents and just generally seeing people happy.  

 

5. When do you usually put your Christmas decorations up?
Usually about a week or two before. As much as they love Christmas, my parents have always been strangely strict about not putting them up too early. I do think they're right though because otherwise you'll get too used to the decorations and they won't be as exciting!  

6. What Christmas Food do you spend the whole year looking forward to?
I'm not actually that fussed about the whole Christmas dinner thing because some of my favourite meals are the simple things like beans on toast or pasta, but I love Mince pies so so much! The first mince pie of the year is always pretty special.

7. When do you think is acceptable to start getting into the Christmas spirit? (listening to Christmas songs, decorating...)
I do think that this time of year goes by way to quickly so you might as well make the most of it, however saying that, I cant stand those people who put their Christmas tree up like 2 months in advance. Like I said before, it kind of takes away from the excitement and specialness (is that even a word) of it all. I would say that around the beginning of December is a good compromise.

8. Top 3 songs for Christmas time?
When it comes to Christmas songs, I love anything Michael Buble, so I would have to say the Michael Buble versions of:

• It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
• Have yourself a merry little Christmas
• Blue Christmas

I'm actually thinking about doing a Christmas playlist so keep an eye out for that!

9. What's your favourite shop for buying Christmas presents?
I'm tempted to say Primark because of the prices, but really it has to be Urban Outfitters. Not only do they have amazing clothes, but they also have a big selection of really cute presents for women and men. I think that if I was a bit richer, I would buy all my gifts from there!

10. Insert a photo from a past Christmas that makes you smile!

The people I tag to answer the questions are :

intheeyeof-this.blogspot.co.uk/  +Alice Wright
afrugalofperfection.blogspot.co.uk/ +Jenny G
lovehannahxoxo.blogspot.co.uk/ +Emily Hannah
littlefickleblog.blogspot.co.uk/ +Sam Smethurst
chloexlogan.blogspot.co.uk/ +chloe logan
missannabellasrambles.blogspot.co.uk/

Feel free to use the Christmas Time Tag picture!

A Christmas Gift from L'Oreal

First of all I want to apologise for the photos not being great. Obviously because it's winter, you will have noticed that in the UK any light has practically disappeared by 2:00 pm, so I'm ashamed to say that I have resorted to flash photography. If I have a chance I might try and take some better photos and replace them, but for now they'll have to do.

 

Before you get the wrong idea, this wasn't sent to me by L'Oreal. The other day I was in Boots buying the True Match foundation and saw that there was an offer on where if you spent £14.99 you'd get a free gift box of L'Oreal products. I have to admit, I did fall into the trap and spend about an extra £6 more than I'd planned just to get the gift, but seeing as the contents of the box are worth £30, I definitely don't regret it.

In the box you get:

• Mascara -Volume Million Black Couture  
• Nail Varnish - Colour Riche Nail 408 Exquisite Scarlet
• Eye Liner - Colour Riche Liner Snow White
• Lipstick - Colour Riche Lip 461 Scarlet Crème     

This red shade isn't really something I'd usually go for, but I think it's a really pretty colour especially around Christmas time! I thought it would be good to share it with you while the offer is still available so you can go make the most of it yourself and maybe even be a bit sneaky and give it someone else as their Christmas present.

 

 

 

£1 Photoframes

I'm not even going to try and deny the fact that I go into Poundland more than I probably should, usually to buy chocolate (their chocolate coated raisins are so good omg), but sometimes I find that it is worth having a look through all the other rubbish to see if there's anything else worth buying. The other week I came across these white photo frames and although some people might think they're a bit tacky, I think for £1 they're pretty damn good. I went again a few days ago (for more chocolate raisins of course), and they had even more colours and sizes so I got those as well and I honestly love them. I don't know if anyone will care about this in the slightest and obviously only the UK have Poundland, but I thought It might be worth mentioning to give people a chance to go buy them in case they're gone soon.