Life Lately – Past, Present and Future

I really love this photo! Shall I add it to my “about me” section? P.S. I love Instagram filters! 😛

For my post this week I thought I would do a life lately post and have a catch up about stuff that’s been happening since my last life lately in July (which you can read here). So, go and grab yourself a hot drink because this post is going to be lonnnnng!

I’m going to get this out there straight away and say that since September life has been a bit shit… But thankfully it hasn’t affected me too badly…

September is my favourite month of the year as many know, but this year it was one of the worst. My aunt unexpectedly passed away and I’m still torn about it. October was her funeral and as I’ve been so busy with work throughout October and this month I’ve not really had time to think about it all… Which isn’t a bad thing but I’ve just been so busy.

Due to everything happening one after the other, I am mentally drained. I had a day off work yesterday and it was much needed. I spent the morning doing nothing and catching up on Twitch streams, cleaned my bathroom in the afternoon and ordered a takeaway in the evening. It was a very good day and I loved it so much.

I was bloody knackered this day… Busy work day!

Anyhoo, I don’t want to talk about how shit the past three months has been too much here, but I did want to be honest. I just want to continue to be there for my mom and try and look forward to Christmas as it’ll definitely be a hard year for me, but especially for my mom. I want to try and spoil her as much as possible, especially when her birthday comes around after mine in January too.

Alongside that we’ve also had a second lockdown in the UK, which is set to finish in less than two weeks. To be honest the second lockdown hasn’t affected me. I’m still working from home so I’ve been fine workwise and as miserable as it sounds, second lockdown has been an excuse for me to stay at home and not have to worry about having energy after a busy day to socialise.

COVID and lockdowns has fucked with my head however. I’m happy to stay at home and not hang out with people and be social. I like staying in my house and when both me and Dane have a week off work in December, we intend to do that for pretty much all of it. We’re going to be working on the house and doing things we’ve meant to do the past four years of owning our home.

COVID and lockdown may have fucked with my head, but it has made me realise how much I love my home, but also how much work we still need to do. We’ve neglected it because of being social bunnies since 2016 and I’m done with it. I have certain friends I really fucking miss and can’t wait to see when things go back to “normal” but that’s about it.

I don’t give a fuck if I’m miserable. 😛 Has anyone else had the same happen to them that has happened to me? Aka turning into a hermit. 😛

One of the many pretty baths I’ve taken lately. This one was so damn pretty due to the purple and blue swirling into one another.

I’m getting into the festive spirit a little now in the run up to December. I’m halfway through my Christmas shopping and I’ve already pre-ordered my Christmas food ready for the big day. I won’t be putting my tree up until the 1st December, I can’t stand putting it up early as I find it takes the magic of Christmas away. It comes down just before New Years Eve so we don’t have to worry about putting it down and away before we return to work for a New Year. A lot of people think this is miserable… I think due to being in a home that didn’t really put a tree up this is just something that has passed onto me somewhat.

Speaking of Christmas and the New Year I have so many exciting things I want to talk and share in regards to my blog! 😀

I decided almost a month ago that I would do a MASSIVE post at the start of December about shopping small in the UK. I’ve never done this before in the sense of all stores to be mentioned will be small so I’m REALLY excited for it! With 2020 and lockdown due to COVID, I feel I have shopped smaller more than ever and I love being able to share them with others on my Instagram (theremightbecoffeeblog) so I want to do the same here on my blog too.

I asked you on Twitter what you wanted to see, UK, USA, Europe or everywhere. You mostly voted for me to focus on shopping small in the UK, so that’s what I’ll be doing. I’ll have categories such as beauty, home, kawaii/geek, enamel pins, etc. Are there any categories you would like to see in particular that I haven’t mentioned?

I’ll be looking to research for this MASSIVE post very soon (maybe even after this post is live!) so I can get it out for (drumroll?) 5th December, which is in a couple of weeks! If you also know of any UK stores I should mention, please let me know!

I quickly want to interrupt what I’m talking about to show you these AMAZING Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon leggings I found for a total bargain on Depop! Someone sold them brand new with tags for £40. I snapped them up and I have zero regrets. I’m going to wear these religiously during my week off work. 😛

Alongside that blog post idea for Christmas, I have also decided in 2021 to make a slight change to my blog… and when I say change I mean my monthly posts in particular. I have toyed with this thought the past few months and after reaching out to you guys again on Twitter you all had the same thought as me.

With my monthly favourites posts I am going to move away from mentioning my five favourite beauty items and just mention one or two. I’m planning to share TV shows, movies, music and games I have loved that month, but I’ll only talk about books if I’ve actually read any. I love reading manga, but I’ve not ready any for a while. I’m going to change that in 2021 but I don’t see the point in having books on my monthly favourites if I’m not reading any each month… It’s just pointless.

I’ll be adding some new categories such as – favourite piece of clothing, favourite candle/scent and anything else that comes to mind to be honest with you! It will be random each month me thinks depending on how that month has been like etc.

I didn’t know whether to lump  my monthly favourites and my wish list together so I have more room for content each month but I don’t know… I worry a post will be far too long then, so I am swaying towards keeping them separated. What do you guys think? I do love my monthly wish list posts! 😀

Please take another amazing bath photo! If there is a brand I have fallen in love with this year it’s Bake Bath Love. They’ll be getting a mention in my Christmas Shop Small UK post.

In 2020 I haven’t work with as many people as I usually do with gifted posts, but at the same time we obviously know why this is the case! However, I am hoping in 2021 to work with more people, but we shall see! I’m not fussed if I don’t of course. 🙂

One more thing I want to share with you today is something that I ordered at the start of November as a payday treat for myself. As many know, I love Bee & Puppycat and have done since I discovered it back in 2013 but 2020 has been the year I’m finally buying some merchandise (fan made mostly) from the show.

I finally decided to treat myself to an amigurumi (Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures) of Puppycat, as well as some stickers. He’s by Lunaticgumis and I love him so much! He arrived today and he’s been very much loved already. He’s now on my plushie shelf next to the Puppycat polymer clay keyring that I commissioned from MelonDesignsByEllen. However, I think I will be doing a massive talk about these on a separate post in December. 🙂

That’s basically everything I wanted to catch up with here though… I have some exciting posts coming up in December, which may even end up going through to January too including:

Black Milk Clothing x Animal Crossing – I am beyond excited for all this stuff to arrive… I say all, it’s just three items. It’ll be similar to the one I wrote about the Pokemon goodies, which you can read here for the time being.

Pikarar – This is going to be a huge haul and one I need to share with you all! It’ll include Pokemon and shiba inu clothing! 😀

I’m sure there will be more but those two stand out for me at the moment so I wanted to get them mentioned here. 🙂

Told you I loved them Instagram filters… 😉

I’m not going to ramble anymore guys! What do you think of the small adjustments I’m thinking of doing to my blog in 2021? Make sure to let me know what you think in the comments.

Is there anything else you would like to see more or less of on here? I’d like to hear what you think. In 2021 I want to mostly continue what I’ve done this year, aka one post a week and write about what the hell I want to! 😀

Aside from letting me know what you think, how have you all been doing? How are you dealing with COVID? Are you loving lockdown hating lockdown? Let me know everything. 🙂

Until next time though guys, stay safe, take care and I’ll see you soon!

2018 Top 3 Favourites

I thought I’d do an overall favourites post about 2018, because although I do it monthly and talk about my favourites, it’d just be good to have a summary of favourites from throughout the year.

Of course with talking about my favourite things from 2018, I’ll be mentioning my top 3 favourites from each category I talk about monthly on my favourites post, including beauty, TV, film, book, music and games.

I’m hoping for the New Year to try and include favourite clothing as well! I wanted to start doing this halfway through 2018, but instead I thought I’d wait until the New Year to start including it. You’ll see this coming into my monthly favourite posts starting in February, when I do my January favourites.

But for now, let’s start talking about my favourites from 2018!

Beauty Top 3

1. The Body Shop Banana Body Yogurt (review).

2. Australian Bodycare Skin Wash.

3. Lime Crime Plushies in shades Cherry Soda and Gumdrop (review).

TV Shows Top 3

1. How to Keep a Mummy.

2. American Horror Story: Cult.

3. Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental.

Movies Top 3

1. Deadpool 2.

2. Christopher Robin.

3. Bohemian Rhapsody.

Books Top 3

1. Snotgirl.

2. Himouto! Umaru-Chan.

3. A Polar Bear In Love.

Music Top 3

1. Arianna Grande – “No Tears Left to Cry”.

2. Mahalia – “I Wish I Missed My Ex”.

3. Don Broco – “Stay Ignorant”.

Games Top 3

1. Detroit: Become Human.

2. Spyro Reignited Trilogy.

3. Pokemon Go/Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee!

So those are my top 3 favourites from 2018! I know this blog posts wasn’t lengthy as to why they were my favourites, but I’ve spoken about all of these mentioned here so many times on my blog before, multiple times too and even have some reviews around. 🙂

What were your favourites from 2018? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

I can’t believe we’re into the first week of 2019 now. Where is time going already?!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a lovely week so far.

Eww At Being Poorly… WARNING MILD TMI

Image taken from weheartit.com

Hi guys, Happy New Year! I hope everyone celebrated ending 2017 and entering into 2018 in the best way possible! I know I did and spent it with some awesome people, however my start to 2018 hasn’t gone off to a great start. It’s also the reason why I’ve been quiet on my blog the past couple of days.

I’m poorly, very poorly. 😦

I appear to have a stomach bug which has caused me to be light headed, tired/exhausted, sick and ahem… Other things… I don’t want to be TMI about it but you get the point!

I’m gutted to be honest for various reasons and I’m hoping I’ll be better after today, but this morning I woke up, attempted to get ready for work and just crashed.

Not only have I been sick (and other things…) but I’m not eating properly either. The only food I’ve managed to eat the past few days is a packet of Quavers and 3 drinks of Complan (which if you don’t know is a nutrition drink) one of which sadly didn’t stay down.

Image taken from weheartit.com

Now I’m currently in bed (which I’ve been in since Monday afternoon…) watching some YouTube videos and drinking plenty of water.

My birthday is just 3 days away and for weeks me and Dane had the plan to try and go to an indoor animal park/farm/zoo for the day and even discussed going to the National Sea Life Centre but I doubt very much that we’ll do that now. I also wanted to go for sushi after as I’ve been craving it for months now, but again, I doubt we’ll do that now.

Stomach bugs always make me anxious to eat in case of food poisoning or if my stomach isn’t prepared for it yet. Instead I suggested to Dane that we go Asian food shopping and grab some bits to make some Japanese food at home.

I am incredibly gutted. Sadly due to the last proper food I ate before being poorly, I’m not really anxious that I won’t be comfortable eating eggs for a while, which makes me sad as I love eggs.

I had planned to write some blog posts on Monday evening ready for Monday evening as well as a post for today, but alas this isn’t happening now. I wanted to have a “2017 favourites” post up Monday and then a “birthday wish list” post today.

I don’t know if I’ll work on any blog posts today as I just want to rest. I feel really sick right now and just writing this is requiring a lot of energy from me and later I may need to go out with Dane for a food shop as we have sweet FA!

Anyway, no more ranting from me! I just wanted to explain why I didn’t have my regular monthly posts up the past couple of days. Sadly my health comes first, which I know you guys will understand. 🙂

I’ll try my hardest to get some blog posts up for you guys, including the posts I mentioned that I wanted to write, so keep your eyes peeled for those!

I’ll also be having a “boxing day sales buys” post up ASAP!

I hope all my readers are well and again, had an awesome New Year!

Until next time, take care all.

Things I Want To Do In The New Year But Can’t…

Image taken from weheartit.com

This an anti New Years resolutions post to finish off the end of 2017! This is a things I want to do in the New Year, but can’t and probably won’t…

BUT IF I DO that will be amazing to be honest. There’s going to be all sorts of things on here and not everyone will be able to relate I’m sure but I hope people CAN relate to it and maybe even write about their own anti New Years resolutions!

• Start a Japanese language course.

This is actually something me and Dane was going to pay to start doing in October but we couldn’t due to the course starting whilst we was in Fuerteventura. We then decided to start it in the New Year in January, but sadly we don’t have the cash to spare right now. I’m pretty sure this one WILL happen at some point in the year when we have cash to spare. We could quite easily learn at home to be honest, but we both said that we want to actually go out to a class so we can get out once a week together to do something we want to.

• Book our holiday to Japan.

This really isn’t something I can see happening next year and for the past 4 years now this has been added to my New Years resolutions every year. We constantly tell people that we still want to go to Japan and how we’re “saving” for it. In reality we’re just saving up money we spent on our holiday in Fuerteventura, as well as some financial issues we had when I left my old job. I mean if we get to book a holiday to Japan, FUCK YEAH! But if not it’ll be another thing added to 2019’s New Years resolutions list!

• “Lose weight” and go to the gym.

I don’t want to lose weight. I just want to maintain my current weight, maybe burn fat and replace with muscle and basically try and prevent any signs of body dysmorphia disorder getting any worse. I would love to go back to my pole fitness, or even to the gym with Dane. We’ve discussed it, but I for one aren’t setting anything in stone just yet. It’s money to be honest and I don’t want to pay for a gym membership if I could do with food more. Going to the gym and toning up (both of us!) would be amazing though and to be honest fun to do together.

• Try and be a better blogger…

Ha this isn’t going to happen! I’m just going to continue to be myself, write as much as I can and write whatever the hell I want! I’m gutted about this year though for one thing, blog meets and events. I didn’t go to a single one and yet I went to loads the year before. I wish I could have attended/invited to some so that I could meet more awesome bloggers. I just never feel like I have the time, or did anyway. I’m hoping now I’m in a new job and more mentally well I’ll be able to next year. As I said though, I’m just going to do on my blog what I am now. I’ve said time and time again, I don’t get paid for what I do on my blog and although I love my hobbie, my job is more important and especially Dane and my home. Blogging may be my number one hobbie, but it’s at the back of my mind when I have Dane cuddles and a film to watch. 😛

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Get a puppy!

Again, this really isn’t going to happen! We both said we would get a puppy in the New Year as we both felt ready. That was before financial issues (I say this like we’re skint. We aren’t, I just don’t have any savings right now. THANKS OLD JOB!!!) and realising that it wouldn’t be fair to get a puppy, or even adopt a dog from a local animal shelter as neither of us are home constantly to be with the puppy or dog. I don’t like when people do this with their pets and think it’s okay. It’s really not! It can cause so many issues and it’s just unfair. We used to leave my dog when I was younger if we had to but more often than not someone would be at home with her. If she was left it would usually be for an hour, two hours tops. We probably won’t get a puppy until we have kids… If we have kids…

• Save loads of money!

Urgh this is never going to happen! As soon as I get money paid into my account it mostly goes onto my bills. I recently mentioned this to a friend who said, “What? That sucks!” and I thought about it for a moment and my younger self would have agreed and said, “Yeah man I fucking hate it!” but my older self took a moment to think and I found myself thinking, “Not really. I have my own space to do what I want, when I want and most of all I am investing in my future.” But even so, I will try so damn hard to save up this year!

• Do more photography.

I don’t feel like I take part in photography as much anymore as I used to and I find it’s mostly due to not having time. I mean, I went to Fuerteventura back in September/October this year and I haven’t even taken the pictures off of my camera yet. Fuck sake. My cousin had her first child before Christmas and I plan to go and take pictures of my new little cousin as soon as we’re both free to do so. I’m so excited to take pictures of my cousins little family in their new home.

I actually can’t think of anymore things I want to try and do in 2018 other than focus on me for a change and be happy. 2017 was the year where I had multiple mental health issues and break downs due to my old job. My new job has left me feeling free and happy! I’m still learning and there’s a couple of hiccups here and there but I aim to be better in 2018.

I also want to use this as the year that I focus on me and Dane too, our little family. We won’t be thinking about having children for a couple of years yet, but I want to continue to turn our house into a home, no matter what.

As well as that I want to focus more on my parents this year. I love them to bits and recently I’ve opened my eyes to realise that I do miss them since moving out… But not too much. 😛

I really want to say though that I hope everyone, family, friends and even my readers and blogger friends out there an amazing 2018! For anyone who has mental health issues, you have made it to the end of 2017, just think what else you are capable of.

Do you have any anti New Years resolutions? Make sure to tell me in the comments down below!

Until next time in 2018, take care all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

New Year, Same Nerd

Happy New Year everyone! It is now the first day of 2016 and it’s so weird how quickly 2015 flew by. I am glad about that mind, as for the majority 2015 was a shit year. A really shit year. My mental health wasn’t good, I was stressed out about university, and work, and due to all of those things my money was scarce, VERY scarce. As well as that some other things happened family wise, which weren’t great, but I won’t go into detail about those.

There were some great things that happened in 2015 though. After years of wanting to go, I finally got the chance to go to London with my boyfriend. We went for Hyper Japan, The Book of Mormon, and most of all as a belated anniversary weekend away. It was wonderful, and although I wished we could have stayed longer, it has just made me want to go to London again this year. Which I hope to do soon!

As well as that, I went on holiday twice to Fuerteventura. The first time in January with my parents and my boyfriend, and then again in November/December with my dad. Both times were amazing, and it was great to go back to my second home after 10 years away from it.

I accomplished a lot of things throughout the year, both big things, and small. I finally finished my masters and passed, graduating the day before I flew off for my second holiday. I also bagged myself a new job in November, and I’ve been working there nearly a month now. I love it so much! I bought myself a new car, my second car, and I love it. I finally drove on the motorway, and regularly drove to university in Cheltenham and back… This was with someone mind. I also flew on a plane twice (well four if you count coming home) and although I had a panic attack the first time, the others I was fine. Just before New Year I bought myself a Playstation 4, something I had wanted for a very long time!

I’m pretty sure I have done more than I am letting on, but I just can’t think of much more. I still have so many things I want to do this year, and I thought I would share them here with you now.

• Drive on the motorway on my own.

I want to start being able to drive to my boyfriends whenever I do so wish… Even if I do hate the close he lives in due to how small it is… It makes me anxious worrying about not being able to get out of there after parking. I also want to be able to drive to visit my two best friends, Poppy and Gabriella who both live an hour drive away. It would be nice to just drop either of them a text and say, “Hey what you doing later? Shall I come over and we can go out or hang out?” I would love that so much! I think it would really help my anxiety too.

• Keep up with pole dancing fitness.

Although I haven’t been able to go as much recently due to Christmas and New Year, I cannot wait to get back to my classes on Tuesday as I really bloody miss it! I hope to have my own pole when I get my own house, and I intend to start setting goals of what moves I intend to learn every fortnight. I want to create my own routine, and when I get good enough I would love to do performances, but that won’t be for years yet! Pole dance goals? 😛

• Get my blog to bigger, and better places!

I love my blog so much. It is like my little baby, and considering I have been running it for the past four years now, it’s doing really well for itself! I hope to be able to keep up with it, and even do better with it. I hope to be able to collaborate with fellow bloggers, as well as attend some blog meets too! I am hoping to have a new look for my blog soon too, I want a change for the New Year. Keeps eyes peeled for little changes here and there.

• Finally buy a house with my boyfriend.

This is the biggest goal of the year, and one we both hope to do as soon as possible. With my new job I’ll be saving up as much as I can each month after payday, so that means spending bans! I want to live with Dane so damn much that it hurts. We’ve been together three years in June and it’s time to start planning our lives together. First a house, then a puppy, and when we’re ready we’ll start our own family. I’m not getting any younger, so I need to start being all serious now. I will be writing updates on house related stuff throughout the year!

Without getting all serious, I can’t think of anymore to be honest. I just want to keep my goals simple, and to the point. I also want some jokey goals as well throughout the year, after being inspired by Jemma over at Dork Face (link to her blog here).

• Wear more lipstick! Apart from when my lips are dry, because dry and chapped lips covered in lipstick never look good.
• Try to go to more gigs, because I really miss going to gigs.
• Do more outfit posts on my blog!
• Read more.
• Try and dress up more, because I dress like I did when I was a teenager and that isn’t good!
• Go to London again… And Bristol, because I love Bristol.
• Spend more time wrapped up in bed with Dane, watching anime, and playing games.
• Go see friends more than I do.
• Do more creative writing.
• Play more games!

I really hope my life changes in 2016, as I really want it to be a good year. I want to achieve things I haven’t even put on the list. Things I haven’t even though of really. As I always do, I’ll be keeping you all updated on my blog with how life is going, and of course if I achieve any of the goals (both serious and silly ones!) that I manage to do throughout this year. The only thing I wish for is to see another year with Dane by my side. I love you so much Dane, and thank you for all the help you gave me in 2015. You are my rock, and whilst I was on holiday I began to realise how much I love him, and I want to be with him for the rest of my life… If I was a man I could do some sort of romantic engagement via my blog but alas, 1. I am not a man, 2. I don’t know if either of us wish to get married, and 3. I need to wrap up this post! 😛

What are your goals for 2016? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2015 Top 5 Favourites!

Well at midnight tomorrow 2015 will be officially over, and a part of me is so damn happy. I hated this year for various reasons, mostly due to stress, and my anxiety going from good to worse. Alas, 2016 is looking bright already and I really hope it is my year to improve myself and begin a new and exciting life with my boyfriend.

However, something I did like about 2015 was my blog, and how much it has gone from strength to strength. One of my regular monthly posts being my monthly favourites, and I couldn’t go without mentioning all my favourites from the year.

So here are my favourites from 2015!

• Benefit The POREfessional Face Primer

If there is a product I have discovered this year and truly fallen in love with, it is this one. I used to only use this on my t-zone where my skin would look shiny. This has a matte affect to it, so it was leaving my oily t-zone go away. However, I didn’t find it was working just on my t-zone so I started to use it all over my face, and it worked a hell of a lot better! I’ve nearly finished my first tube now, but I have another one already which I bought before I went on holiday. I have used this throughout the year, and it’s always done wonders for my skin.

• Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in Masochist (review)

I LOVED Jeffree Star’s liquid lipsticks this year! I haven’t owned Masochist and Hoe Hoe Hoe THAT long, but even so I love them. I get nothing but compliments about them from people at work, people in general, family, and friends. They just stay on all day long, and look gorgeous and eye catching too. I hope to own more of these in 2016… I’m after the Valentine’s Day shade next, and Abused.

• Dior Addict Eau de Parfum

My mom bought me this perfect at the start of the year whilst we were on holiday and it is probably one of my most reached for scents this year. I really can’t describe what it is like. So I’ll just insert a quote from The Perfume Shop here, “A sophisticated oriental fragrance with a floral heart, for the passionate, intuitive woman who ignores dictates and follows her own rules. The Dior Addict attitude is best incarnated by its compelling heart note of the Jamaican ‘Queen of the Night’ a rare and elusive flower that blooms only for a few hours and is considered the soul of enchantment. Intensely seductive.” It is a very unique scent and reminds me of a mature, sweet smell. It’s right up my street either way, lasts for ages, and I can’t wait to wear it more throughout 2016.

• L’Occitane Zesty Lime Hand Cream

I own so many of these hand creams and I only realised recently whilst having a clear out of my beauty drawer. I took one on holiday with me to use everyday and it was really lovely to use. I haven’t been using it so much at home since I got back from holiday, but this seems to be one of the only things that keeps my hands lovely and soft, even with my eczema flaring up! It also smells absolutely amazing, really zesty as the name suggests, and fresh. I have the lip balm to match, which is really to use nice in the summer, the same with the hand cream really.

• MAC Cosmetics Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Pressed Powder

I received this powder for Christmas from my mom last year, and I still have some left! Even if I have hit pan… This is an amazing pressed powder and one I was going to repurchase, but my mom has bought me a new one by Laura Geller. It’s just so smooth to apply to the skin and a little bit really does go a long way. I use it over the top of my POREfessional primer and it sets it for the day! It has a handy mirror inside too so when I used to have this for on the go it was really handy. I intend to finish this soon and I’ll probably buy myself another one soon enough, as for just over £20 it is a complete bargain for how long it has lasted me!

So those were my five favourite products from 2015! I would have mentioned more, but I wanted to make it look more condensed down to beauty products I really loved, and couldn’t really live without in 2015.

I will of course continue with my monthly favourites, the next one being at the start of February now! They will remain to be 5 top items of the month, like what I did throughout 2015.

What were your favourite beauty products of 2015? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until 2016, take care all and have a Happy New Year! ^_^

Christmas Presents!

Merry Christmas one and all! Even if it is a tad too late to say now… Everyone is saying, “Happy New Year!” at the moment, aren’t they?

ANYWAY! Christmas has come and gone once again, and as you can tell from my absence the past couple of days, I’ve had a really good one this year. I spent the morning over at my boyfriend’s house with his family, which was lovely. We hadn’t done this yet, so it really did make a nice change. Then in the evening we came over to my house, which was super chilled out. Perfect Christmas!

I worked Boxing Day, which sucked but it was a laugh with my colleagues and we all talked about our Christmas Day’s, and what we got for Christmas.

Tonight I’ll be sharing what goodies I received for Christmas! As I’ve stated the past couple of years when writing these sorts of posts, I am in no way bragging, or showing off about what I received for Christmas. I love reading posts like this (because I’m a nosey cow!) so I always imagine people would enjoy reading mine too… Especially anyone who loves foxes, and anime/manga related goodies, as that’s what the majority was which I received.

I also want to apologise for crappy pictures. These were taken late at night, I was shattered after a busy day, and I knew if I didn’t get something taken, I would have nothing to write about now as I’ve literally not had any time.

So, here are my presents!

As you can see I received a lot of gifts, and this isn’t even all of it! Nope, there is more…

As I mentioned in my holiday haul post here my dad bought me this gorgeous Michael Kors Riley handbag! It has been my go to bag ever since the holiday, and I can see it being used pretty much forever now… I love using it for work as it’s so light to carry and it fits the right amount of items in.

One of the best presents I received for Christmas was nightwear. I haven’t received any for quite some time, so when my boyfriends parents bought me this fox slipper socks, and my boyfriend bought me these woodland animal pajamas, I was thrilled! The pajamas he bought me are so damn comfortable as well! I wore them from Christmas Day to this morning, and I wish I could be wearing them now. I love long-sleeved pajama tops!

My boyfriends family were really generous and lovely this year with their presents to me. My boyfriends brother and his girlfriend bought me Lush, and although my boyfriend states that they didn’t know which gift set I was after, they bought me the exact one! I’d eyed this set up only a week ago in Lush, due to it coming with Twilight Shower Gel, which is a limited edition product, and only comes out in the Lush Kitchen. I haven’t used it yet, but I can’t wait to.

My boyfriends parents bought me various little bits and pieces, from the fox slippers mentioned earlier, a cute little candle with squirrels on it, and this beautiful fox pillow. I snuggled it all morning after opening it, and it now sits lovely on my bed… I’m leaning against it right now, and it’s so fluffy and comfortable! They also bought me some Pandora, but I’m saving that until last.

My families gifts were lovely, and to the point. Alongside all these my mom also bought me a navy dressing gown, but I never got a picture of it, sorry. One of the nicest presents she bought me was this gorgeous fox mug! I had told her I wanted it from Avon for a while, and she offered to pick it up for me. Alas she told me it had sold out, and had secretly hidden it for Christmas. She also bought me a cute little fox purse. I’m unsure what I’ll use it for at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll soon find a use for it. The hair towels were a complete surprise, and I was keen on getting some new ones, so these pink ones will do just the job! I love using these towels to dry my long hair, they really do the trick. As my mom did last year, she has done it again and bought me a new face powder, only this time on by Laura Geller. So far since getting it a few days ago I’ve been using it and it’s lovely, I cannot complain.

My brother is great when it comes to presents, he always gets good ones, and usually he’ll get perfume. He never knows what perfume I’m after (because I don’t really talk to him about that sort of thing) but he always seems to get me something that I think, “Ooo that’s nice… Meh too much money…” and it makes me smile. This year he has bought me the latest scent by Marc Jacobs, Decadence. I can’t even describe the scent for this. It’s pretty unique, and reminds me of something that Thierry Mugler would come out with. The bottle for this does astonish me too, with its little handbag design. This came in a gift set with a shower gel, which I used on Boxing Day. I intend to wear this on my birthday.

My boyfriend bought me so much stuff! Like SO much stuff! But in return, I also bought him lots of things. The majority of what he seemed to pick up for me, they were fox themed. He’s never bought me this much fox related stuff before, which surprised me. He bought me a fox umbrella, and a fox car air freshener from a company called The Fox Project, a charity which helps foxes that have been hurt, and need urgent treatment. Along these he also bought me two pairs of fox socks from M&S, as well as a fox mug. Said mug now lives at his house, as I’m always pestering him for tea and coffee.

Alongside fox related items he had a habit for buying me lots of books this year (as I did for him too), and Umaru-Chan related goodies. He bought me two of these later items, one being a t-shirt, the other this adorable little notebook! I’ll be using that for work as a blog writing book. As I already mentioned, he bought me books, four in total. Three being books 10, 11, and 12 from the Nana manga, and one being the Pewdiepie book, This Book Loves You. I intend to go through it on my day off Wednesday.

As well as that he also picked up this cute little polar bear, as something I can snuggle when at his house, a Simon’s Cat calendar for next year, and a little Yankee Candle Christmas Eve votive candle.

He also bought me a special Pandora charm, but I’ll be going into more detail about that shortly.

These were two of the best presents I received from my boyfriend. I knew I was getting the Umaru-Chan Nendoroid, but the Baymax Pop! Vinyl was a complete surprise to me! I had told him I wanted it, but I didn’t know if he would buy him for me or not.

I am a massive fan of Big Hero 6, and Baymax really melted my heart. I can’t even remember how many times I cried when we went to watch Big Hero 6… It was a lot though! I’m not a huge Pop! Vinyl fan, I think the majority of the figures they release and sell look crap with how their paint work has been done. HOWEVER some of them do look amazing, and Baymax is one of these. He’s pearlescent in colour, and is bigger than normal Pop! Vinyl’s, which I actually really like.

As for Umaru-Chan she’s a gorgeous little figure, and one I fast fell in love with. I have spoken on my blog before about how much I love the anime that she originates from, and so when I got into the anime, my boyfriend knew he had to order the figure for me. I want to open her so badly, but she’s just too nice to open her. Instead I shall just gaze at her from afar and one day-dream of opening her.

Finally we have the two Pandora charms I was given this year. One from my boyfriend, and one from his parents. His parents gave me the little puppy charm (on the right) that is wearing a cute little red Father Christmas hat. It is such a little cute charm, and I wish I could have got some better pictures of it, but alas I couldn’t at the time. He’s sitting down, with his tongue sticking out. It’s a real cutie to add to my bracelet.

The charm my boyfriend bought for me is the fox (on the left) and it isn’t actually an official Pandora… But I don’t care about that! Pandora are taking too long to release a fox charm (you watch, they will now!) so when my boyfriend saw this one for sale on The Fox Project he snapped it up. It’s a cute little fox lying on a log, and I imagine trying to have a snooze. I love this charm so much because it really does stand out on the whole bracelet.

So that’s all… Wait… That isn’t ALL my presents? Is it?

My mom bought me a Kitchen Aid for Christmas. You know, like the ones they use on The Great British Bake Off? YES ONE OF THOSE! I was gobsmacked when I opened a massive present to not only see this, but a ceramic bowl, as well as a five piece kitchen/culinary set to use with the mixer as well. For weeks my mom has been lying about this massive box in the living room, saying it was something my brother had ordered… But it never budged. Until I came home for Christmas, and it had moved and was covered in wrapping paper. I am so excited to use it, even though I’m not 100% sure when I will yet. When I do, I’m sure I’ll have some sort of blog post about it.

Now, that IS all I received for Christmas. Although I did receive a wash set from my sister-in-law, and nephews, and I am yet to see what friends have bought me.

But yes, that is all my presents from Christmas ’15! What did you get for Christmas? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below, or even link me to your blog post about it if you’re a blogger.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a nice rest after Christmas. I would love one, that’s for sure. 😛

Life The Past 2 Weeks…

Well these past two weeks have FLOWN by! With my university life very much done after graduating, an amazing two week holiday, and a new job, a lot of stuff has happened in a very short amount of time. So I’m going to update you all with what has happened, and what I hope to have happen before and after Christmas.

Graduation

So the day before going on holiday I graduated, and quite frankly I still can’t believe it. Mostly that my postgraduate university life is over, and that I won’t have to work on another assignment for it ever again… Until I decide to study for my PhD anyway! But this being said the year that I was studying my MA for was really hard, and not to mention expensive in various different ways. Mostly though it was extremely tiring. I would go to work in the morning, and as soon as my shift would end I would need to drive straight to my university in Cheltenham which was an hours drive away. I wouldn’t get back home until 6pm and then I would need to be awake early in the morning again. It was incredibly draining but now I look back, it was worth it. Even if for a majority of the time I didn’t feel like it would be.

I dressed in a black body con dress for the ceremony, my Black Milk Clothing dress to be exact and I felt beautiful in it! I had pictures taken with my parents and my boyfriend, as well as chatted with some familiar faces. We popped around Cheltenham for a couple of hours afterwards, and then headed home. Me and my boyfriend went out for dinner that evening before I was due to go on holiday in the morning, which was lovely. I’m glad we got the chance to do something together before I was away from him for a couple of weeks.

Holiday

The day after being awarded my masters degree I was off on a two week holiday with my dad, and boy was it needed! Although I had a holiday in January, it was very much needed having another in November/December due to how much hard work I had done for my MA. My dad paid for it as a gift for graduating, which was really lovely of him! The two weeks we spent there really did fly by, and for the majority of our days we lay out in the sun from the late morning, until the late afternoon. Spending the evenings out in restaurants eating, and bars drinking. Of course we also soaked up all the free entertainment, which was amazing.

I like to think I have a lovely light, and natural tan. I do wish I had got darker than I am, but this being said I am pleased to have come back somewhat golden looking this time, as in January we hardly had any sunny days, and this caused me and my boyfriend to come back home looking just as pale as we did when we arrived.

As well as soaking in the rays, and drinking yummy cocktails, we also did a little bit of shopping which included for ourselves, as well as for people for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, we got to see some Christmas decorations whilst we were on the island, and some of them were gorgeous, if not even better than what we get here in the UK!

Overall my holiday was amazing, and to be honest I really didn’t want to come back home. Fuerteventura is definitely my second home. I spent a lot of my childhood there, and going back every time is always like returning home. I don’t know when I’ll be visiting again, but I do hope it’s in the near future.

New job

As the title suggest, I have a new job, which I actually started today, woohoo! I had a warm, and welcoming first shift by both staff, as well as customers. As I always have done since starting my blog, I won’t be mentioning where my new job is. I don’t feel I NEED to say.

I left my old job the day before my graduation which was sad, but at the same time I was glad to be going somewhere new, with new challenges. I love a good challenge me! Due to how new this job is, I don’t really have much to say about it. I highly doubt that the hours I’ll be working will interfere with my blog writing, as they’re pretty similar to my previous jobs hours. Of course, if my posts do slack a little, I will explain why but I doubt this will happen… I’m a good blogger me! 😛

Anything else?…

So, has anything else happened the past couple of weeks? Erm… Not really! I’ve been doing a lot of Christmas shopping, and I have one more present (or two…) left to buy now! I read Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason on holiday (FINALLY after 2 years!) and I fell in love with Bridget again so much more, that as soon as I landed in the UK I ordered myself a copy of Mad About the Boy, which I’m really excited to read.

I also came back home to lots of presents I had ordered, as well as a new phone case for myself, which I should be reviewing soon enough on my blog. I have seen a few pieces of clothing that I would like to pick up for myself soon too, and as I have some vouchers to use up, I may as well pick some staples up for winter.

I am pretty damn excited for Christmas this year, even though I may not be able to spend time with my loved ones as much as I had originally hoped… We shall see what happens though! I can’t wait for my friends and family to see what I’ve bought them for Christmas, most especially my boyfriend as I have made sure to spoil him rotten this Christmas.

Not long after Christmas, New Year and my 26th birthday are looming… But it’s way too soon to talk about these, that is due to come over the next couple of weeks.

For now, this is just a quick update about what has been going on. I also want to thank my friends and boyfriend Dane for helping keep my blog afloat and busy whilst I was away on holiday. It was amazing of them to go out of their way to write posts for me, and I’m sure it won’t be the only time they’ll appear on my blog.

Now it’s late, and I have presents to wrap before I get an early night for work tomorrow.

Until next time take care all, and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Boxing Day Sales and What I Picked up!

Oh sales, we all love them, don’t we? However over the years I have found sales shopping has become more of a chore than a joy and after the chaos that I faced last year, I was put off going out shopping in them this year.

I waited a week before I ventured out and whilst it was still a little busy, it wasn’t too crazy. I also shopped online, which was good as I got to sit on my lazy arse, in my nice soft bed and not worry about any queuing or cold winter breezes.

So before I go away for two weeks I thought I would show you what I picked up.

This first thing I picked up was this beautiful clutch bag. Although this is a sales haul, I didn’t actually pick this up in the sales. I bought it Christmas Day as a little Christmas gift to myself. I’d had my eye on it for ages, ever since Lily Melrose wrote a blog post about it back in December. The stock of the back was running low so I decided to pick one up whilst I could, and with being a student I got £3.00 knocked off of it! Can’t complain at that, eh? I have to add how this isn’t the cheapest clutch bag in the world at £30.00… But I wanted it and I only really paid £27.00 so it isn’t that bad… Is it?  This bag is lovely though, it’s described as mermaid which I thought was amazing as it really does resemble a mermaid’s tail. This is also real leather, which is probably one of the reasons why this clutch bag is a little on the expensive side. I used this on New Years Eve and I loved it! It’s really roomy inside and feels a nice size to carry around. I’m taking it on holiday with me so I can use it in the evenings, I can’t wait!

These items are going to turn into a little bit of a rant… On Boxing Day I ordered some goodies from Lush and have I received them yet? NO! This is the first and last time I’ll be ordering from Lush online again as quite frankly their online service is rubbish. Rant over, onto what I bought. I picked up So White, Golden Wonder and Luxury Lush Pud Bath Bombs in their sale. These were all going at less than £2.00 each, so I picked up 5 So White’s, 2 Golden Wonder’s and 1 or 2 Luxury Lush Puds. Considering there were probably over £3.00 each, I think I got some pretty good deals! When they finally arrive I’ll be so excited to give these a go! Going to use So White on my birthday tomorrow, so will smell of yummy apples all day.

For the past four or five years I’ve had a Simon’s Cat diary and this year was no different. When I went to Cheltenham this weekend me and my boyfriend had a look in the Calendar Club shop to see what we could pick up nice. This was meant to be £8.99 but I picked it up for just over £4.00 or £5.00, which is a bargain in my eyes! So glad I have this again. I know I received an amazing organiser for Christmas, but I want that to take out and about with me, this diary will stay at home.

Alongside that whilst I didn’t buy it, my boyfriend picked it up in the sales for me. I’ve been lusting after Yoshi’s Island for months and when he saw it for £30 in the sale, he picked it up for me, which was really nice. I think this game has always been around that price anyway but either way it was lovely of him to pick this up for me as he knew how much I wanted it. I’ve been playing it quite a bit, but I know I’ll play it loads whilst I’m on holiday!

This was an absolute bargain! I had actually popped this OPI set on my Christmas wish list and no one bought it for me! So on a quick shopping trip out I had a look at what was on sale in my local Sally, as they always have some good sale items on offer! Of course this set wasn’t cheap when it was full price at an astonishing £12.00, so when they told me it only cost £4.50 in the sale I was gobsmacked. So glad I picked this up in the sale though as it’s such a pretty polish and one I know I’ll be reviewing when I’m back from my holiday. I might even wear this whilst I’m on holiday!

This was another item my boyfriend bought for me, but I was going to buy it myself! The reason for his offering to buy this for me is that he really liked it, obviously so much that he was willing to buy it. Can’t moan at that can I? This is an Iron Fist dress and one I had been contemplating buying for a while now. Originally £44.99 and in the sale for £26.99. However when this was put into our basket the price was dropped an extra £10.00 so it only came to £16.99! Bargain or what!? I wore this dress out for New Years Eve and I really did love wearing it. I was really worried that this would be too short for me as it looks really short on the model, but alas this was the perfect length on me. I will definitely be wearing this in the evenings when going out for drinks and for the odd meal. I really love this dress and I can’t wait to wear it again.

This is the last sale item I picked up, and whilst I’m sure I’ll buy more before I go away I just wanted to save one of my favourite bargains until last. I wanted to get myself some new shoes for holiday and whilst I was after a pair of grunge style sandals or some flat shoes I ended up getting these. Whilst in Cheltenham I had a nose in Schuh at what they might have on in the sale and I spotted these Star Wars Vans slip on trainers in the sale. I had my eye on these a few months back but forgot about them until I ventured back into the shop. These were originally £50, down to £29.99! I left it to get some lunch and came back to try them on. Due to my feet being a size 7 and Vans not going over a size 6 in women’s shoes, there was an issue… Although these shoes are for both men and women the men’s ones weren’t in the sale. The women in the store were lovely though and sympathised with my problem so offered to knock the men’s size 7 down to £29.99, which I thought was really nice of them. So after more thinking about it I picked these up! My aunt gave me £20.00 for Christmas so I decided to use that on these shoes, so all I had to pay was £9.99! I can see these being worn a lot over the summer season this year as they’re my new summer trainers. I’m taking them on holiday with me to wear in the day if it isn’t too warm and during the evenings. I wouldn’t say I’m the largest Star Wars fan, but I do really like it! When episode one came out my brother tried to get me into Star Wars as much as possible and he succeeded pretty well. My favourite character is R2D2 and I’m so gutted they didn’t make a pair of Vans with him on them… There is still hope for the future!

So that was my Boxing Day sales haul!

Did you go sales shopping? If so, what did you pick up? Let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! & New Year’s Resolutions

Image taken from rottenecards.com

With the New Year literally hours away I’m currently on my way to Coventry to my boyfriends. We’ll be going out tonight to celebrate New Year’s at our friends house and I for one am mighty excited for it! I still don’t know what I’ll be wearing yet but I’m sure with a good look around my wardrobe, I’ll find something nice to wear.

As much as I wish to get drunk, I don’t want to worry about a hangover in the morning, so I’ll probably not drink all that much, but after my boyfriend has finished work I may ask if me and him can pop to Tesco to pick up some Pringles and Lucozade for myself just incase, as well as any hangover cures for him!

We’ll be traveling back to Birmingham tomorrow morning/early afternoon to watch Sherlock all day and then watch the new episode for series 3 in the evening. SO DAMN EXCITED!

So with a New Year comes resolutions and although many people don’t bother to make them, I always try to every year. Boy, do I have a lot I want to do this year!

2013 for  me wasn’t a very good year. A lot of shit happened including my Gran dying, my aunt being rushed into hospital, losing my old job, I had to postpone my masters course due to the bank mucking me around with my loan and finally I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

BUT where there is bad, there is good too. I met my boyfriend, I started to get help for my anxiety and depression, my aunt made a fast recovery and is now home and well, I soon found a new job and I let go of the most horrible group of friends I ever had and have made a load of new and awesome friends.

So really, whilst a lot of shit happened, a lot of good happened too!

But enough of what did and didn’t happen during 2013, I’m going to make sure 2014 is the year of change for me. I’ll be 24 in 6 days and I have a lot of things I wish to change, as well as do this year, which I thought I would share with you all.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Start to learn Japanese.

For the past two or three years I have wanted to learn Japanese but I’ve never really made it a resolution to try and learn it, until now! A couple of my friends know some Japanese and have offered to help me learn and my boyfriend also wishes to learn so we both downloaded a free Japanese language app called Mirai Japanese. As I have an iPhone I know it’s available on the App Store, but I’m unsure if it’s available on the Android Store. Either way it’s free and is an amazing app! As well as this I hope to try and attend some free classes, as well as pick up a book to help me, maybe “Japanese For Idiots” or something along those lines.

No caption necessary as this is MY image. 😉

• Start my own photography business/company.

This year since meeting my boyfriend I’ve done nothing but progress with my photography and have found myself taking a lot of live photography, as well as some nature too. I would like to start off my own photography business, or company. There is a possibility that at first I would do photographs for bands and people for free to get myself out there and at the same time get my portfolio started and then if my photography got more busy and well-known by people, I would start to charge a small fee for photographs. This being said though, I could do with the money and wouldn’t charge people a lot anyway as I’d be new on the scene! This will be more of a hobby and any money I would earn from it would be saved up to go towards my masters course, which I would still like to go and study in the hopefully near future! Keep your eyes peeled for news and a blog post about my future photography business/company! I currently have one name in mind, which I’m really liking the idea of, stay tuned!

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Learn how to snowboard.

I mentioned in August on my My Goals post that I wanted to learn to snowboard within the year and as of yet, I still haven’t been able to go for my lessons, due to lack of funds. Plus, as the price has gone up during the winter period, I’m going to wait until Spring to go and take the day course to learn how to snowboard in a day. I used to love skateboarding as a teenager but after a scare of possibly breaking my two front teeth, I grew too scared to carry on with it and retired my skateboard. I have my snowboarding pants and gloves, all I need to get now is a jacket, a helmet and some crash pants to help keep my bum protected. My boyfriends been amazing and has said that by April or May if I still can’t afford to pay for my classes, then he will pay for me. Never felt so lucky in all my life! My boyfriend is an amazing snowboarder and I know in his company I would be safe, so I can’t wait to hit (literally!) the snow with him!

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Take up pole dancing classes again.

I really have missed pole dancing and it’s been over a year now since I was last in a class. I lost weight from pole dancing, as well as it giving me something good to look forward to doing every Tuesday evening. Now I feel more confident to drive I have decided that I will be traveling to where all the classes are held and even if my boyfriend is here during the weekend I have decided I will go for the hour class and he could stay at mine. I hate fitness but with pole dancing it’s so much fun you feel the urge to keep going with it and even if you can’t perform a move you push and push yourself to do it! My best move to pull is actually the one I have posted a picture of above, but I didn’t hold onto the pole with my hands. I really miss being able to do this and I know when I start my classes again, I probably won’t be able to do any of the moves I could once do. At only £5 a class, I won’t be breaking the bank by going either!

Any other resolutions I come up with will probably be to stop eating crap food such as chocolate, sweets, crisps etc as well as drive more, although this is on my goals list anyway!

I’m really quite pleased with my four resolutions and I really hope I can keep up with them this year!

So, what resolutions has everyone come up with for the New Year? Or do you not bother with resolutions? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time take care all and I hope you have an amazing New Year! Here’s to 2014.