Challenge One | #BloggersDoItBetter

Hello! Welcome Back! I have been a bit absent over the last week.. oops! Last weekend was spent in Budapest (stay tuned for some photos) and then its been a busy week since.

BUT.. I am back. And what a way to come back with the first challenge of the #BloggersDoItBetter Challenge! I am super excited for this first topic, being as I LOVE this time of year. When Gemma emailed with the Topic, I have to say that my initial thought was to create a list of what spring means to me. It was harder than I first thought. 

Baby Animals

As you can see, for me, Spring is a lot about nature. I am an animal lover at the best of times and love visiting farms over and over. Naturally at this time of year there are a lot of baby animals floating around and this excites me so much! I could sit/stand and watch baby lambs, pigs, rabbits, chicks all day long! 

Bright Colours

I am not one for wearing a lot of colour. I tend to stick to black tops with jeans and maybe push the boat out to some grey or brown occasionally. This spring however, I am trying to experiment with colour and wear some more 'spring' colours. For my recent holiday to Budapest I bought some more colours including these shoes which I am loving. 

My love for black and brown also ties into my handbags, which got me looking at various 'spring' coloured bags. Here is what I found, perhaps I will invest in one this spring..

Flowers

This time of year is beautiful when you walk/drive around and observe all of the new colours of flowers growing. There is something so special and uplifting about seeing rows upon rows of daffodils and big beautiful trees covered in blossom. It's enough to put anyone in a good mood surely!

What are your favourite things about Spring? Do you share any of my thoughts? I'd love to know what you think :)

Come and chat to me on twitter here!

♥

Beauty Blogger Tag

1. Is your hair naturally straight or curly?

When I was younger, I had ringlets, as I grew up I found straighteners and literally straightened it to death! Now its a mix between wavy and curly. I quite like it but I'm hoping it will get nicer as it gets longer so it's not all flicky all over the place!

2. What is your natural hair colour?

I have actually had sooo many different hair colours!! I have now stopped dying my hair as I am growing it out so its a browny gingery colour :)

3. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon?

When I started dying my hair I went to a hairdressers as I got highlights, then I started to experiment at home and it was a lot cheaper!

4. How often do you wash your hair?

Recently I found out that it's not good to wash your hair too often, and that the natural oils which are produced help your hair to grow, so I have started to wash it twice a week.

5. Do you wear it the same style everyday or change it?

Now that's its a bit longer I do like to experiment with different styles. I try not to use loads of heat on it to help the growth so I tend to try different braids or failing that I do just 'shove it up'!

6. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon?

I bite my nails!! Ahh awful I know... anyone have any tips to help me stop!? :/

7. How often do you change your nail varnish?

See above!

8. Do you polish your toes in the winter too or just in the summer?

As I can't really use polish on my finger nails, I do like to polish my toe nails so tend to do this a lot, though as I don't own that many it doesn't often happen.

9. How long does it take to put on your makeup?

On a work day, about 10 minutes. On a non work day, about 30 minutes. On an evening out, about 45mins- 60mins.

10. What do you do first? Face or eyes?

Depends!!! If I'm doing a heavy eye then I will do eyes first so as not to ruin my face with fallout. If not I'll do face first.

11. Do you 'collect' makeup or just buy what you need when you need it?

Ohhh, I would love to collect, I can't afford it at the moment :(

12. How often do you wear false eyelashes?

I have actually only worn them once! Maybe because I can't apply them myself.

13. Do you do a full face of makeup everyday?

At work I wear bare minimum, but at the weekend I do a full face :)

14. Do you wear makeup when home alone or with family?

I do sometimes as I love the actual process of doing my make up and experimenting with different looks.

15. Will you leave the house without makeup?

VERY RARELY!!

16. How many high end products do you have?

I have a few bits.

17. How often do you wash your makeup brushes?

I tend to go by when I feel like they need doing, it's usually every 3-4 weeks.

18. Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when getting dressed?

I decide when I look in my wardrobe ha!

19. How often do you change your handbag?

I think this depends on what I need to use it for. Sometimes it can last for weeks/months.

20. What time do you get up and go to sleep?

I always go to bed at 10pm and usually fall asleep at around 10.30-11pm. In the morning I am awful at getting up: I have an alarm at 6.30am, 6.45am, 7am, 7.15am before I eventually get up at around 7.30am!!

21. How often and when do you work out?

I have started playing badminton with Martin, we want to go at least once a week :)

22. Left handed or right handed?

Right handed!

23. How tall are you?

5ft4

24. Do you speak a foreign language?

Nope.

25. How many pets do you have?

One rabbit and 3 Guinea Pigs

26. How often are you on blogger?

Every night for different amounts of time.

27. Do you read the comments posted on blogs?

Yes!! That's the best part!!

28. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts?

Yes, though I don't know when I'm going to be able to buy them all!!

29. What kind of camera do you use to take photographs?

I use Martin's camera!! I know nothing about cameras but its a Lumix gf5 with a sigma30mm lens.

31. How often do you clean your house?

Every weekend Martin and I have a deep clean of the house. Obviously the kitchen gets done daily :)

32. What is your favourite colour?

Pink and green and now purple!

33. What is your favourite fashion/beauty magazine?

I don't actually really read any magazines! Should I?

34. Do you swear?

Sometimes, but never badly: very rarely.

35. What are you doing with the rest of your day?

 Catching up on telly, looking at blogs, watching youtube then bed!!

If you complete this Tag, please let me know as I have LOVED this one and would love to read your answers! 

Come and chat to me on twitter here!

♥

I Don't Cook On Days That End In Y...

Hello lovelies!

Ever had the feeling where it's got to the end of the day, you've just got in from work or a long day elsewhere and you're soooo hungry. You open the fridge, have a look around. Nope nothing there. Move to the cupboard, have a look. (And when I say look, I mean simply LOOK, no moving things!) Back to the fridge. This process continues until you finally decide on a throw it all together meal, run to the shops for some ingredients or just simply reach for the take out menus? Anyone? Because I know that was a daily occurrence for me before I started this....

I was bored of constantly having the same process every day and noticed that I was spending a lot of extra, unnecessary money on daily trips to Tesco or on Fast Food. I also was very wary of the fact that eating take out a lot is not good for you! Well, for me anyway- a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips seems to be the way for me. 

Enough was Enough.

I decided to make a weekly food plan, decide every week what I would be eating for dinner and then Stick.To.It!!!! At first I used scrap pieces of paper to jot down my ideas, but I soon found that these were getting lost and then soon crept in to the old ways! For my birthday I received a Next voucher and was having a nosy in there when Martin spotted this Meal Planner. Needless to say I loved it (especially as it matches my red theme kitchen).

Since planning my meals I can honestly say cooking has been a lot easier. It has also had the added advantage that I only buy what I need to from the weekly food shop, resulting in a lower weekly food budget and no sweet treats! Even better for the waistline!

If you have this daily problem, I urge you to think about this, and perhaps share your experience? What are your favourite go to meals?

♥

Experimenting With Make Up | Mac

So some of you may know from reading my birthday post that I got a mac make up session from my Mum and Dad. This happened a couple of weekends back and I'm finally writing up my experience to let you know how it went!

A New Challenge |

I have been searching for inspiration for my blog posts- already I know. I actually have a long list of ideas in my drafts but can never bring myself around to actually writing them. Then along comes the #BloggersDoItBetter Challenge!!

Beckworth Emporium | Photos

This weekend was again, lovely! I'm so glad that the weather seems to be staying nice because as I said in a previous post, it really effects my mood. On Saturday we decided to visit Beckworth Emporium: A garden centre/food hall. We have heard lots of good things about this from friends and colleagues and decided to visit ourselves. 

Here are a few pictures from our time here, there are some beautiful colours, enjoy!

Wreck This Journal | Update 1

So I finally did it!! It took a lot of building up to start to wreck my journal but I finally talked myself in to doing it.