Saturday 31 August 2013

Small haul

I don't tend to buy a lot of things in one go, so although this is called a 'small' haul it's not all that small for me! Over the last week or so I've bought a few things and as I was feeling quite uninspired I decided to post about the things I got!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been struggling to find clothes to wear which fit in with my sixth form's uniform rules, so I've been searching for skirts and trousers to wear. On Wednesday I went to London with a group of friends (read all about it here) in the hope of buying plenty of things there, however I didn't find many.
I did get this dress though:


This was the main thing I bought in London. I'd been panicking that I hadn't bought a lot when I saw it in Dorothy Perkins. It's not a shop I often go in but they have some very cute things and it's not too expensive; this was £29. I love the colours and print, and it's also knee length so perfect for sixth form.


The only other thing I bought in London were these sweet owl earrings in Forever 21. I don't understand why there aren't more Forever 21 stores around the UK because the stuff is really nice and reasonably priced! The jewellery is so cheap, these were £1.65.

On Friday my mum suggested we went shopping to get a few more sixth form things and so I agreed to go, though I didn't expect to get anything. We looked in a few shops but there wasn't anything that I really liked, then in H&M I spotted this lovely blouse which was half price. They had other colours and patterns but I thought this one was lovely and at £3.99 was a bargain.

(the huge circle is a tag and not some strange design)
My mum made me try on some trousers and I'd found a pair when I spotted these. I really dislike the way my legs look in trousers, so aside from leggings with oversized jumpers I hardly ever wear them. But I decided to try on these too as my mum kept insisting I'd find a pair I liked. Now, although they don't quite transform my legs in the way I wish they could, I actually felt okay in these and decided to buy them. At £9.99 they were another bargain so I'm glad I got them.



I've never owned a cleanser before and my facial routine tends to be 'wash face with water then occasionally apply moisturiser' but recently I've been getting more spots so I thought it was time to buy one, particularly as everyone on youtube considers them an essential.
I have very sensitive skin so I went for this one, I think it was around £3.

I've only used it twice so far but it seems good.

I also bought this gel make up remover because I was running out, but also because gel seems more interesting than all the previous liquid ones I've had. This was only about £1.50

I didn't technically buy this and I've had it for about 2 or 3 weeks so I'm not sure if it should technically be in this haul but oh well!
My aunt is a school teacher and so at the end of the school year gets gifts off children in her class, and anyone she doesn't want she passes on to me. One of the things she gave me is this:
At first I wasn't that keen on the smell. I'm not that sure how to describe it, it's vaguely citrusy and spicy at the same time, but I actually have come to like it. As you can see I've used a lot! I tend to find that moisturisers don't absorb quickly enough and you're left feeling slightly sticky, and I expected to feel like that with this, but I didn't! It absorbs into the skin quickly and easily and leaves you feeling moisturised a long time afterwards. This is from M&S and is definitely a good buy.

This morning me and my dad went into Primark and I picked up a few things. I love shopping for socks and I wanted a few cute pairs to wear to sixth form when I saw these. They're so cute and much cheaper than other shops.



The multipack were £2.50 and the white pair £1.50 which I thought were great prices!

Finally I got this really cute cup, not exactly for me but I think I'll be the one using it. It's great for taking out and until I picked up this one I didn't realise they're plastic which is good as I thought they would smash. This was only £2.50 and would be great for taking tea or coffee to sixth form.


I hope you've enjoyed reading this post and feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions for posts :-)! Laura x

Monday 26 August 2013

Back to school

I don't even want to think about school (well sixth form) so we're going to not think about the actual lessons part and focus on the fun stuff, aka stationery and clothes!! Now that I have my gcse results and know I'm definitely going to sixth form I've been thinking (panicking) about outfits and getting stuff ready which is fun but also confirming that summer is coming to an end.
This post is going to be in a few parts, I'll start off with clothes!

Sixth form clothes

My sixth form allows us to wear our own clothes instead of a uniform which I have worn for the last 12 years of my education. Some people may be excited by this prospect but I have dreaded this for ages! I struggle enough on non uniform days, let alone 2 whole years. To make it worse, we have a strict uniform code, including no jeans, no leggings, no short skirts, no bare shoulders etc which means I can't wear most of my clothes :-(((
I've bought a few things to comply with the rules though I think they'll relax the rules after the first few weeks. These outfits aren't exactly what I'd usually wear and I'm still unsure about them but hopefully they're not too bad haha.

Outfit 1:




I love this skirt because I think the pattern and colours are lovely! But it's just below knee length (is this called midi?!) and this isn't a style I would usually go for, however I'm forcing myself to like it, partly as it's for sixth form haha. I think it looks pretty with this blouse tucked into it, as the blouse is quite plain but has the detailed collar. I feel a bit like this isn't the most flattering look as it appears that I have no waist, however it's quite formal and smart but still pretty so I do like this outfit.
Skirt- £22 Dorothy Perkins
Blouse- Primark last October, around £10

In winter I'll probably wear a cardigan over this and maybe tights, though I'm not sure which colour would go with it? Also my shoulders are bare with this so I'm already breaking one rule oops

Outfit 2:


I love skater skirts andhave quite a few, however they're probably too short for my sixth form uniform code. Hopefully when worn over thick tights they want have a problem with them. The blouse is very detailed which is why I paired it with a somewhat boring skirt. The colours don't completely go but I think it looks a little like a school skirt. I like this outfit however the blouse is too big which I wear as oversized but I find the shoulder pads make it a little too formal so I would probably cut them out. The skirt's a little too big so I may have to use a safety pin to hold it up haha.
Skirt- Forever 21, £5.95
Blouse- It was a gift from a friend but I think it's vintage

Outfit 3:



This is the one I'm probably least sure of, also I'm aware the blouse is completely see through here and I would wear a top under it as I did with the first outfit! I didn't notice until after I'd take them oops. I feel uncomfortable wearing a maxi skirt and I'm not sure why! I guess it's because I hardly ever wear them so I guess I should try to get used to it as I actually think this looks okay! It's quite simple and plain with the collar adding a little detail, so I guess I'd wear a necklace or something to make it more interesting.
Blouse- as in first outfit
Skirt- £5 from a shop in London

Outfit 4:




This is the outfit I like the most and feel the most comfortable in mainly because I love to wear dresses!! I got this in the new look sale in January and I love the collar and I just think it's really pretty. I'm not a massive New Look fan but they occasionally have some nice things and this one of those occasions! It's quite plain but with a patterned cardigan I think it looks really cute!
Dress: New Look, £9


As you can see I don't wear trousers often, though I intend to buy a pair of high waisted trousers when I go shopping next week!

Other back to school stuff!!

As well as clothing I stocked up on some stationery and a new school bag as my current one is quite literally falling apart. Here are some photos!



I'm using my pencil case from last year- a Cath Kidston make up bag, and using the same old pencils, glue etc. However I got these 3 pens from a paperchase outlet:-)

 I'm also reusing my folders as I spent so long decorating them, though I got this new blue one in Asda which I'm yet to decorate.
 I always run out of paper so it's good to have a pad like this, though if you're buying them check the paper quality because some of them are rubbish


 I always lose pens throughout the school year so I bought a pack of 10 biros to constantly top up my pencil case as I run out.

 I am so in love with my adorable new school bag!!! It's bigger than it looks (it will fit A4) and I just adore it. It was £32 from Accessorize and I'm so glad I got it aww


Thanks for reading, please leave comments and follow me :'-)! Laura x

Friday 16 August 2013

'My First Time' tag

I really like watching these on youtube so I thought I'd do it on here :---)! (not sexual just to warn you!!)
I haven't been using my blog a lot because to be honest I'm not sure what to post! If you have any suggestions feel free to comment! I have no inspiration at the moment :-(!

Do you still talk to your FIRST love?
I don't think I've had any 'loves' so I can't really answer this! However if we're counting crushes then it was a boy when I was 4 who kissed me (against my will) in one of those ball pits at a birthday party and I remember his lips being really dry ew. I don't speak to him!

What was your FIRST alcoholic drink?
Hmm probably like a bit of wine or beer that one of my parents were drinking. If it's the first proper drink I had it was probably at a New Year's Eve party with my friend when we were 14, where we mixing loads of alcohol drinks to make a 'cocktail'. Fosters, rum, pineapple juice and vodka combo was not pleasant.

What was your FIRST job?
I volunteered in a charity shop for 6 months partly for my Duke of Edinburgh but that wasn't paid. My first job is where I currently work, at a B&B owned by my friend's family :-)

What was your FIRST car?
I haven't had a car yet and I won't get one any time soon!

Who was the FIRST person to text you today?
My mum to offer me and my friends a lift to our other friend's house.

Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?
Hmmm I'm not sure! Maybe my friend Lauren as we went to her house today?

Who was your FIRST grade teacher?
I'll do it as my first teacher at school, when I was in reception aged 4. Her name was Mrs Burdett

Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?
When I was 3 we went on holiday to Tenerife and I think that was my first time flying
 

Who was your FIRST best friend & do you still talk?
Her name was Juliette and we were friends at ballet aged 3. No we don't talk now

Where was your FIRST sleep over?
At my friend Mollie's house (still one of my best friends aw). I remember being seriously excited and we went to bed at 11 thinking that was like impressively late haha cute times. I think we were 8

Who was the FIRST person you talked to today?
My mum

Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?
 I've never been in a wedding as in I haven't been a bridesmaid! I've only been to one wedding and that was my uncle's when I was 9

What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?
I went downstairs and put the kettle on

What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?
Scouting For Girls with Mollie in year 7 so I was 11

FIRST broken bone?
None so far :-)

FIRST piercing?
My ears as my 10th birthday present

FIRST foreign country you've gone to?
Probably France

FIRST movie you remember seeing?
My first movie was a Winnie The Pooh film and I fell asleep at the cinema. However I don't remember that but I remember going to see a Rugrats film with my dad at the cinema when I was very small

When was your FIRST detention?
 I think I got a detention in year 7 for talking in an RS lesson and I was nervous all day. It only lasted 10 minutes at lunch time haha

Who was your FIRST roommate?
I haven't had one. This isn't a roommate but I just suddenly remembered sharing my room with my cousin one Christmas when I was 8 or 9 and we stayed up later talking and we were laughing so loudly my mum came and told us to go to bed.

If you had one wish, what would it be?
I'm going to be totally predictable and say world peace

What is something you would learn if you had the chance?
Hmm maybe piano or guitar or a foreign language? This is so weird but I'd love to be able to make really beautiful cakes :'-)

What were the first lessons you ever took?
Ermm probably learning to spell at nursery. I have a weird memory of cutting out a different letter of the alphabet each week

Sorry if my answers were boring but I hope you've learnt a bit about me! I'm busy over the next week or so but hopefully I'll post soon! If you want to do this tag it's actually quite fun! Laura x

Thursday 1 August 2013

Really long holiday post!

When I'm working I think up stories in my head which probably makes me crazy but it means I've planned this entire post in my head already so I just need to type it out!
At the start of July I went to Rhodes for a week with my parents and my friend Mollie and it was so so so fun! So yeah I'm going to blog about it and post some photos but I had such an amazing week. Also an advanced warning for the photo layout, I'm rubbish at using this! Sorry! Also this is ridiculously long, sorry again haha!

Saturday: Our flight was at 3pm so we arrived at the airport at 1 and queued for ages to check in. When we'd got through into the departure lounge we went and got lunch at a little restaurant and as it was our main meal that day I had a veggie burger and chips which was so nice, but we started panicking that our flight would be called so we had to eat really quickly. When they called our flight we queued and got on, however it was slightly depressing leaving England during a heat wave! The flight was just over 4 hours, however they're 2 hours ahead in Rhodes so we arrived at 9pm local time. I love flying but my ears popped and it was so painful for most of the journey which was not fun.

A couple of photos I took on the plane, the Alps are in the bottom one
When we arrived in Rhodes the heat hit us so much. It had been warm in England but this was something else, even though it was 9pm. We collected our cases and waited on the coach for half an hour as some people's cases had gone missing. After an hour on the coach we ended up arriving at our apartments at 11pm. It looked really pretty and we checked in before going to our apartment. We wanted to buy a few things so we asked where the nearest supermarket was and were told it was 50m away so at 11.55pm we walked down to the supermarket to get milk, water and bread before going back to go to sleep.

Sunday: Today was Mollie's birthday! Stepping out onto the balcony to have breakfast was the weirdest thing because it was absolutely boiling; over 30 degrees celcius and compared to the air conditioned apartment it was weird. We went to a meeting with the travel rep who told us about various trips and then went for a swim. At the meeting we found out that we had access to 5 pools, one of which was on a roof terrace and looked amazing and we aimed to go in all 5. The roof terrace one was my favourite. We had some lunch and Mollie opened her presents before we went back in the pool. At around 4.30 we went back to the apartment, just as the rep came in with a cake for Mollie! The cake was amazing and from the bakery in town, however the bakery was up a steep hill and in the boiling heat I would not have wanted to walk there!
Mollie with her cake wearing the top I gave her for her birthday aw
Afterwards we went to beach for a swim before going out for dinner. The sea there was incredible and warm and omg I want to go back! We walked into the town to find a restaurant and it became clear very quickly that Rhodes is not used to vegetarians! We did go to a nice place though where I had a hamoumi salad intended to be a starter, it was nice but not very filling.

Monday: Mollie and I overslept meaning that we left to go to the town of Lindos at around 11.30 and it was so, so hot. It's supposedly the hottest place on the island and I genuinely thought I was going to melt. Unfortunately the extreme heat put me into a bad mood which I now feel guilty for as I guess I was not fun to be around! The shops were adorable but the unbearable heat made it hard to appreciate, and stopping at cafe was literally a life saver. Here are a few photos of Lindos. We went back to the apartments around lunchtime and spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool, swimming and at the beach before having a meal in the apartment that evening.

We got crepes (photo below) and they had a kinder bueno spread- it was amazing!
It was so beautiful in Lindos and the sea looked amazing
I like this photo because we're both trying not to laugh as Mollie had just called my dad 'dad'

 Tuesday: This was my favourite day of the holiday, however I don't have many photos. We went to a water park! It was honestly so fun and we go to one every time I go on holiday. It was supposedly the biggest one in Europe and it was so good!

A photo from the website

There were lots of rides, some of which you could go down in double rubber rings which was so fun. My favourite was a huge bubble. It was like a bouncy castle material with a huge sprinkler thing at the top which sprayed out water and bubbles. There were ropes up it so you could climb and slide down, it was so fun and here's some photos of it. It was on the side of a mountain meaning the views were incredible and there was so much to do that we had such a good day- it was so fun that we were too busy to have lunch! Afterwards we caught the free shuttle bus back to the apartments and later went out for dinner at a lovely pizza restaurant (photo below)




Wednesday: We had a fairly quiet day by the pool and at the beach, and this is where the post loses any excitement! I managed to read 5 books while we were away which considering I started on Wednesday was quite impressive! It was so hot that we'd sit for around 20 minutes on the sun loungers in the shade before getting so hot that the had to jump into the pool to cool off! However the pool was great so I'm not complaining!
A disposable of Mollie and I in the pool

  
this photo shows the location better- it was beautiful

That evening we weren't going out for a meal as we ended up doing it on alternate nights because it was quite expensive, so we went out for a drink instead. I had a lovely pistachio milkshake at one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. 
Mollie and I in the beautiful cafe overlooking the sea

 Thursday: We visited a little town called Lardos, which had been advertised as an 'unspoilt Greek town' so we went with mixed expectations. As I'd expected it was just a little town very much like the one we were staying in. We ended up spending about 45 minutes there which was a bit pointless however I had a nice milkshake and some delicious ice cream so it was okay.

Afterwards we had another day relaxing by the pools and swimming in the sea, before going to a lovely restuarant which had it's own pool and roof garden. We didn't swim but it looked nice.

Friday: This was our last full day and we had another relaxing day which probably sounds boring but it was actually a nice break after exams. We went out to the cafe again for another drink and had dinner at the apartment. Afterwards we went out for a walk into the town and looked around the shops. We bought my brother some fake ray bans and I bought some presents for my friends and I love how on holiday the evenings are more lively than the days, and because it's so hot it's really nice to be out. We went back to the apartments and my parents convinced Mollie and I to go to the karaoke which was hilarious. This was because hardly anyone was there and we ended up sitting at the front. We'd hoped to laugh at any bad singers but the woman running it announced that she would like a singer from each table and we started to panic. Because it was so empty we felt we couldn't just leave so had an ingenious idea. Under the table I called Mollie who then answered the call, I hung up and she said loudly 'mum? mum i can't hear you here' before getting up and walking away from the table. I then waited for a moment then followed her saying 'mollie what's going on?!' and we broke into a run and escaped. It was actually hilarious omg
Me looking not very traumatised despite our ordeal
Saturday: Aw this was a sad day because it was our last. My parents paid extra for late check out as our flight wasn't until the evening and we wanted the apartment for the day. We finally went in the fifth pool and swam in the sea for the last time. We ate a late lunch at the cafe at the apartments where I had a veggie burger- well a hash brown in a roll and we got on the coach around 5.30pm. The airport was awful. It was quite big but there was no restaurant and only one shop, however there was a nice ice cream place where I had nutella ice cream. Because of the time difference our flight was 10pm-2am Rhodes time and I was so exhausted that I attempted to sleep the whole way back which was difficult because they seemed to have an announcement every 2 minutes! Mollie sat next to me crying at The Fault In Our Stars aw:'-) Here are a couple of photos from the last day




As you can see the sea was beautiful!

I had a lovely time in Rhodes and we hadn't been on a family holiday for 3 years so it was really fun, especially with Mollie there :-)
Hope you all have a lovely summer xxx